It felt more than a little surreal, Ana thought, to sit in Petra’s common room, a universe away from Earth, speaking French to a teenage girl who only a week ago would have been trying to tear her throat out. But everything had been pretty surreal in the last month-and-change; Ana had just been getting used to it.

  “So. Jisha? From Marseille?”

  The girl nodded, sipping on a mug of tea that Mikkel had provided. At first Jisha had only looked at it suspiciously, but once Ana took a sip from her own mug she’d started drinking.

  “And you’re Anastasia. From London. Though you sound American.”

  “You can tell?”

  The girl looked at her with teenage-grade unimpressedness. “The internet?”

  “Right. Yeah, originally from New York, first upstate, then the city. But I’ve live in London for eight years now. Well,” Ana gestured around the room, “until all this.”

  “And ‘this’ is nowhere in France, or Europe, or on Earth?” Jisha stared into her tea, then slurped it, slowly and noisily. “I would call you crazy or a liar, but the things I’ve seen… Have you been here long?”

  “Not really. A little over a month, now.”

  Jisha gestured with her mug toward Messy, who sat with Tellak at a different table. “The woman with the braids and the pointy ears — Me-sten-die? — she’s your girlfriend?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  Jisha’s mouth curled in a small, sad smile, the first Ana had seen from her. “The way she looks at you, it would be sad if she isn’t.”

  Ana returned the smile. “She is. It’s new, but…”

  “But you like her a lot.”

  “Yeah.”

  “I have a boyfriend. Maxime. My parents don’t like him. I was sneaking out to see him when… God. Magic? Real magic? And someone used it to kidnap me?”

  “Yeah. They made you sick. Sent you to attack us. Then we captured you, cured you, and here we are.”

  Jisha looked back down into her tea, like she was trying to find some kind of answer in the steaming liquid. “It’s insane. Absolutely insane. But I saw them, and I can’t…” She trailed off, shaking her head. “Why? Why would anyone do that to me? To us?”

  “They want to destroy this place, Jisha. Kill everyone. We don’t know why, but that’s what they’re trying to do. And we’re going to stop them. Anything you can tell us, Jisha, anything at all that you remember could be helpful.”

  “You sound like a cop.”

  Ana frowned, her nose wrinkling involuntarily at the suggestion. Though that wasn’t fair. Tor was alright, and so was Falk. Her reaction was enough of an answer, though.

  “Well, I was going to see Maxime. We were going to watch some movie with his friends, drink, maybe smoke, whatever. I was just walking, and I felt dizzy, like I was falling… and then I was in a forest. A damn forest! And these guys in weird robes grabbed me. I tried to get loose, but they were so strong— I thought—”

  She choked, sniffed once, then cleared her throat. “They tied my hands behind my back, then to a pole in the ground. Made me sit there… I don’t know how long. Until it got dark. The guards wouldn’t talk to me. I guess they didn’t understand French, or English, or Malayalam. I even tried the little Japanese I know. Or maybe they were just assholes. They talked to each other sometimes, but I couldn’t understand them. The same language as everyone here, I think. It sounded similar.”

  “You never understood anyone?”

  “No, I understood one woman, right at the start. She said something like, ‘Take her away,’ something like that. Then she changed to some other language and the men grabbed me.”

  Ana filed that away for later. “Odd. I understood everyone here from the start.”

  “That’s so unfair. How?”

  Ana shrugged. “Magic?”

  “Bullshit,” Jisha scoffed. She said it in English, heavily accented, forcing Ana to suppress a smile.

  “So, then what happened?”

  “Sometimes there’d be a Crack, like… you know these science demonstrations, with strong electricity? Like that. And they’d bring someone else, and sit them next to me.”

  “Wait, were there ever more than one at a time?”

  “Hmm? No. Always only one. So, they brought people. Two, four, ten, I don’t know how many in the end. Some of them spoke English, most not. The guards would beat anyone who spoke, anyway. When they had enough of us, or it was too late, they got us off the ground and made us walk half the night in the dark. Threw us in a pen with a lot of other people, and I saw that there were other pens, too. It was just…”

  She trailed off again, staring into her cold tea.

  Ana didn’t rush her. Jisha was taking everything better than anyone could have hoped for, but there was no telling what might push her over the edge. Soon the girl started again on her own.

  “The next day they dragged us all out. Hadn’t fed us, or given us any water. They tied us with ropes or chains around this big, what do you call it? A tall stone, like in Mazargues. An obelisk. Like the one here, but really tall. Thirty meters maybe, or more. It was pure white, but with cracks in it. There weren’t many guards, so some people tried to fight, or run. But the guards, they were too fast. Too strong. Nobody got away. They chained us up there, around the obelisk, and then a bunch of them stood around us, and… God, I don’t remember much. Lights. People screaming. Pain. Everything from then until I woke up on the floor is like a long, terrible dream. Cold, hungry, running, fighting… I don’t remember much. I don’t want to.” She finished her tea then asked, “Why did you put me in a cell? Did I fight you?”

  “You did. But that wasn’t why. After we healed you, you were so scared, you didn’t know where you were…. We didn’t want you getting yourself hurt trying to escape. And I should have talked to you earlier, but I was sick, and then I’ve been busy.”

  “What do you do here? The way people look at you, it’s like everyone knows you.”

  “They do, unfortunately. We’re in a bad situation here, Jisha. We’re surrounded by people who are sick, like you were. We can’t hunt, and the farms are ruined. Can’t get any food from outside, either. We’re going to run out soon. So, we’re going to need to break out and fight our way into the forest. And the people here expect me to lead them.”

  “What? Why?”

  “I’m not sure you’d believe me if I told you, but I want to try something when we're done here that might help. First, though… have you seen something called an Individual Summary?”

  “Quoi?”

  Ana willed one of her Minor Growth Crystal into the palm of her hand. It was the smallest she had. Jisha jumped in her seat when the barely-there Crystal appeared, then leaned forward.

  “What did you…? Can you do magic,too?”

  “A little, yeah. But that wasn't magic. It was… Just take it. I don't know that anything will happen, but I hope so.”

  Rayni had said that you couldn't force someone to… what? Get the System to notice them? But no one had ever heard of an adult — or older teenager in this case — without a class, so with any luck…

  Jisha reached out with one hand, but didn’t touch the Crystal. “Take it? What is it?”

  “Magic. Power. Something that I hope will help you understand. Go ahead.”

  Ana hefted the Crystal invitingly, and after another long moment’s hesitation Jisha took it gingerly, muttering about “New Age shit.”

  “Oh!” Jisha said after taking the Crystal. “It’s so strange! It’s like I’m not even touching it.”

  “Yeah, I had the same reaction the first time,” Ana said, smiling wryly at the memory.

  “Now what do I do?”

  “Close your hand on it? Want really hard to absorb it? I’m not sure how to explain it. When I’ve done it I just willed it to go inside me, and it worked.”

  Jisha laughed nervously. “That’s crazy.” Then she took the Crystal in her palm. She got a faraway, focused look and closed her hand. Seconds passed. Her eyes flicked left, right, moved in confused saccades, then burst wide open as she screamed in alarm, falling backward off her chair, shouting in some language that Ana didn’t just not understand, she didn’t even have a reference for it.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Ana was around the table, catching Jisha before she hit the floor. “Sorry!” she said, as Jisha babbled at her in that same language. “I’m sorry! I should have told you what to expect. Jisha!” The girl’s voice had an edge of hysteria in it, so Ana did the first thing that came to mind. She caught Jisha’s eyes and barked, “Calm yourself!”

  Jisha fell silent mid-word, staring back as Ana righted the chair, leaving her sitting back at the table. Ana didn’t break eye contact until she herself was seated again, at which point she looked around the silent, staring room and snapped, “Show’s over!”

  The spell broke. People went back to their conversations, albeit more muted. “Angel,” Messy said softly from her table, “is she going to be okay?”

  “I hope so,” Ana said, then turned back to Jisha and switched back to French. “You got the notification,” she stated. “What does it say?”

  Jisha looked more scared than Ana had seen her so far. “What’s happening?” she asked, her voice strained. “Why am I seeing these… why is it in Malayalam?”

  “I don’t think it is. I don’t think it’s in any language, really. I think whatever it is, our brains just interpret it. It looks like English to me, but I never need to try to translate anything when I want to tell anyone else. So. What did it say?”

  Jisha’s eyes flicked around the room. “Something about being an Apprentice Scholar and spending Advancement Points?”

  Ana looked at Jisha, and for the first time, she had a label: [Human Apprentice Scholar (1)].

  “Alright. Good. There are a lot of things you’ll need to learn, but what you need to know right now is that everyone here, every single person except the other sick people from Earth, have a Class, and a Level. Everyone here sees the messages. Alright? That’s just how it is here. It’s supposed to happen. I know that it’s weird, and crazy, but you’re going to need to learn to handle it if you’re going to have a life here. And to be brutally honest, I don’t think that there’s any way back. At least not yet. So you need to be strong, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  Jisha didn’t sound, or look, okay at all.

  The next step was for Ana and Messy to bring Jisha to the temple. The woman who waited at the doors was the same one who'd greeted Ana on her first visit, Sahna. “Oh, Mistress Anastasia!” she said. “It’s wonderful to see you. May the Wayfarer bless you on your travels, Chosen. Miss Mestendi, a pleasure as always. And you as well, miss…?”

  Sahna turned to Jisha expectantly. Jisha looked at her with a complete lack of comprehension, then at Ana, silently asking for an explanation.

  “Her name’s Jisha,” Ana said. “She’s the girl from outside that Touanne healed. Unfortunately, she doesn’t speak the language.”

  “Oh, the poor child!” Sahna turned back to Jisha, putting her hand on her own chest and saying, “Sahna,” then making a sweeping gesture to the door. “Welcome!”

  “She’s welcoming you to the temple,” Ana explained in French.

  “Temple. Alright. Merci,” Jisha said, and Ana led her over the threshold.

  As they crossed into the temple, Jisha’s knees buckled. Ana and Messy caught her under the arms as Sahna at the door turned and moved to help, but Jisha stood again, saying, “I’m okay, I’m okay. Oh, God. Goddess.” She stared at Ana in wonder. “I wouldn’t have believed you. There is no way I would have believed you.”

  Wasn’t sure it would work, the Wayfarer whispered. Would have liked you there. One at a time, I’m afraid.

  “That’s alright,” Ana said, not sure whom she was answering. “But you get it now?”

  “Assuming I’m sane?” Jisha’s voice was brittle. “Of course! I understand perfectly! Magic is real, the gods are real and they’re fighting over the fate of the world, and you’re a saint whose job it is to keep us all alive. What is there to understand?” She let out a single, hiccuping sob, smiled sheepishly and covered her mouth with one hand. “I’m sorry, it’s— it’s a lot.”

  “I know,” Ana said, putting her hand gently on Jisha’s arm.

  She did know, and she didn’t. She was deeply grateful that, no matter what had happened, at least she ended up free and able to understand the local language. Jisha had gone through something horrible, and Ana was the only person she could even speak with. How much worse must that be?

  Well, at least the girl had one person she could speak to, now. And since she’d claimed to understand the woman who Ana guessed to be the one who summoned Jisha, she presumably understood at least one of this world’s languages. It just wasn’t the most convenient one.

  “Listen, Jisha,” she said. “I have things I need to do. Do you want to come around with me? I understand it must be uncomfortable, not being able to talk to anyone.”

  “I— yes. I’d like that. Thank you.”

  “Good. I hope that we’ll be able to find someone else you can talk to, but for now, just stick with me, okay? And to make sure you don’t get lost or anything… you’re going to get one of those messages, alright? It will ask if you want to join my Party, and I want you to accept.”

  “D’accord.”

  “You’ll want to brace yourself on something. Or maybe sit down.”

  “Is this like the door again?”

  “Something like that. It’s going to feel good. Like, really good. Just… trust me on this, okay? You’ll understand.”

  “Okay…” Jisha said and sat down on a wooden bench set along the wall. When Ana sent the Party invitation, it only took a moment.

  [Jisha Pillay, Human Apprentice Scholar (1), has joined your Party.]

  Jisha’s eyes became huge, her mouth opening wide with a gasp before she slowly folded forward, bracing herself on her knees. Breathing heavily, she shook her head then started laughing to herself as she mumbled rapidly and indistinctly in French, before lapsing into that same language she’d been speaking earlier. She’d mentioned Malayalam before as one of the languages she’d tried, so Ana guessed it must be that. Whatever it was, the girl sounded half drunk.

  “So,” Messy said once they’d helped Jisha to her feet, and were leading her toward Touanne's. “She’s doing alright? Relatively, at least?”

  Ana looked at the girl and snorted. She still looked mostly out of it, blissed out in the best kind of way. “Vitality boost aside? She’s got a lot to deal with, but she seems like a tough girl. So relatively? Yeah. She’s alright.”

  “Poor girl, though. This must be awful for her. Not being able to talk to anyone… well, except you.”

  “I’ve got some hopes about that. Remind me when we’re done with Jancia and Suren.”

  The patients were both awake when they got to Touanne’s. Speaking to Suren was a quick exchange, a few friendly words of appreciation back and forth. Jancia took longer.

  “Jay?” Touanne said as she led them into her own bedroom, where the Lumimancer was recuperating. “Are you feeling up to visitors?”

  Jancia was lying with her back to the door, but when Touanne spoke she slowly rolled over and sat up, leaning back against the wall. “Hi,” she said, barely looking at them, her voice weak not from any infirmity but, as far as Ana could tell, from shame.

  “Hey,” Ana said. “How are you?”

  Jancia looked as though she might cry, but she swallowed and said, “Not great. Overwhelmed. You’re… can you suppress your aura a bit? It’s all back and—”

  “Shit, yeah.” Ana focused on the exercises Tellak and Touanne had taught her, suppressing her aura to something that she hoped would be tolerable. “Is that better?”

  “It is. Thank you.”

  “So, how much do you remember? Do you remember me?”

  “I remember everything,” Jancia said, looking away again. “I fucked up. Fucked everything up. I ruined the Waystone. I tried to attack you, Miss Cole. I abused Touanne and Telly. I— I ran. I got Med killed.”

  Ana wasn’t sure what to say to that. That it wasn’t her fault? True enough for everything that happened inside the settlement, but before that? She ran. That was true. She ran, and left her friends to fend for themselves, and Medicilia had been torn to pieces trying to save Jancia’s life.

  The Waystone is not her fault, the Wayfarer whispered, the voice in Ana’s mind strained with effort. Bringing the infection to it didn’t help. But that’s not the ongoing problem. The white obelisk! Tell her!

  “I have it on good authority that you’re not to blame for the Waystone failing,” Ana said, hoping it would help. “Whoever is attacking us has some other way of destabilizing it.”

  That was a surprise and a half to the others, but this wasn’t the time or the place. When Jancia didn’t respond, Messy stepped in. “Maybe you fucked up,” she said. “Maybe you didn’t. Tellak told us that she was getting surrounded until you fled, drawing some of the attackers off. For all we know, if you hadn’t run all three of you would be dead. Or perhaps you’d all be alive, or Tellak would have died instead of Med.”

  “But I did,” Jancia said, drawing her knees up to her chest. “And Med died. And that’s on me.”

  Messy nodded gravely. “It is. And you’ll have to learn to live with that, because she died to save your life. But for now, do you know what we’re doing? Do you know what the plan is?”

  “Tellak told me. About the sorties, and about leaving.”

  “Good. Well, Ana here is our leader right now. Ana, what’s the one thing you need more than anything?”

  “Fighters,” Ana said without missing a beat. “People who are willing and able to take the fight to the enemy. Who are willing to do whatever it takes to win. The stronger, the better. I’m told that you’re a damned strong mage, Jancia. Can you fight?”

  Jancia pulled her knees closer to her chest. “Against those creatures?”

  “Yeah. You ran once. Will you redeem yourself? Will you join us, and stand and fight the next time?”

  “I—”

  “Even if it means killing a hell of a lot more of the crazies than we can save?”

  “We’re going to stop the ones who caused this?” Jancia asked, a spark lighting in her eyes.

  Ana put her hand on Jancia’s shoulder. “We are.”

  “Then I’ll kill every last one of them, if that’s what it takes.”

  Touanne was badly shaken when they sat down at the front of the shop, leaving Jancia to her thoughts. The talk about killing was part of it, Ana knew, but it wasn’t the whole reason. “She’s different,” Touanne said, her voice trembling with emotion. “The short time I’ve known her, she was always such a bright, happy woman. Always looking for silver linings. Now, I can only pray that she finds a way to carry on.”

  “She has a purpose until we win or fail, to start with,” Messy said, trying to sound reassuring. “After that, I think she’ll need her friends. How did it go with Tellak?”

  “They each blame themselves, so they were both quick to forgive the other while insisting that there was nothing to forgive. It might have been comical if not for the cause.”

  “Sounds like the best we could hope for, honestly,” Ana said. “They’ll each need the other. Tellaks’ holding up well, but helping Jancia is what’s been keeping her together. I think she’s in the same boat now.”

  Touanne and Messy both nodded somberly. Jisha just sat, her face showing that she was reading the mood.

  As much as Ana would have liked to give Touanne time, they needed to move on. “So. Physically, is she ready to fight? Are the others?”

  “I’d say Jancia and Suren can go home today, yes, and the others tomorrow morning if nothing changes. Jancia should probably have Tellak with her, just in case, but I doubt I even need to ask.”

  Ana stood. “Good. Messy, let’s go. Jisha, allons-y.”

  “What’s next?” Messy wondered.

  “Administration. We’re going to see if we can find a language Jisha speaks.”

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