“You’re sure about this?” I asked, looking at the ring of keys in my hand.

  “Yeah. I don’t have time to drive you myself. Just… for the love of Freyja do not crash my van.” Lauren glared at me from the pile of paperwork scattered all over her kitchen table. She had a lot on her plate preparing for school next week.

  “You got it.” I pulled the front door open and looked out to the still terrifying open staircase that led down to the parking lot. “Thanks again fo-”

  “Go!” Lauren waved me off. “You’re distracting me…wait!” Lauren waved me back over and I approached her. She quickly jotted something down on a scrap of paper and handed it to me. “My cell number, in case something happens.”

  I looked at it carefully. “Are you sure?” She didn’t give her number out to club members; it was one of the many rules she’d had to try and keep those two parts of her life separate.

  “Well given the circumstances with the Anchors you need to be able to contact me. Send me a text when you get there, then I’ll have your number.”

  “Got it.” I smiled and leaned down to give her a kiss. She held it longer than I expected before pushing me towards the door and telling me to go. I made my way down carefully and very slowly.

  I knew how to drive. I was still unsteady driving the van, I was trained on my father's old pickup and I hadn’t gotten much practice beyond that. So I drove very carefully and slowly and after twenty minutes of driving around realized I was completely lost and had to pull over to put the address to my parents house into my phone's GPS. That felt stupid, having to gps my own house.

  I’d spent most of my time being taken places and zoning out during the trip so I had next to zero firsthand knowledge of the surface streets.I was seeing a bunch of things I never knew existed because I’d never had a reason to go down those streets. It made me a bit curious what else was out there beyond the rows of buildings I could see. I suppose I could see a bit what those urban explorer types were on about. Although I was pretty sure 98% of what I’d find would be used needles and broken bottles.

  I finally made it back to the suburb I’d grown up in. It was nice enough I suppose, mini mcmansions and the lawns were generally kept free of trash, mostly because the HOA Super Ultimate Karen Squad ? were notorious for fines and generally being unpleasant.

  The front of the house was quiet and peeking into the garage, it looked like both cars were gone. I got in using the keypad, slipped into my room, quietly grabbed up a few sets of clothes from my closet, swiped a few of my preferred snacks from the pantry and was out quickly. I felt a little like a burglar sneaking around the house I grew up in. It was weirdly interesting even though up until a few days ago, I’d spent every day here to some extent….just… as little as I could get away with it.

  On my way out I noticed a brown box with my name on it sitting just inside the door and my eyes lit up. I wasn’t sure it had arrived yet but I’d been hoping and double fortunately my mom haden’t had time to snoop! I snapped up the box and tossed it in with everything else.

  As I started up the van a part of me hoped I wouldn’t have to come back, that I could just stay with Lauren and this would be my life now. I knew that wasn’t going to happen. Mia would be back in a few days and I’d be out on my ear and I’d have to come crawling back.

  It wouldn’t be all bad. Homework club would be back as soon as I could pin down some girls with excellent grades who were open to experimentation. A few names came to mind but I’d have to find at least one junior to… train and serve as my replacement.

  Now wasn’t the time to focus on unhappy thoughts though. I needed to focus on the time we have and the promised end to the recent dry spell the two of us had stumbled into. Before that I needed to make one more stop.

  I stood outside the apartment door a bit later and I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to do this. My arms were kind of taken up by bags and the duffle tossed over my shoulder. I wasn’t sure I could safely lower the bags down without spilling the contents all over.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  So I did the only logical thing. I kicked the door. Not hard mind you I was just trying to imitate a knock so Lauren would open the door for me. In my defense this plan totally worked.

  Lauren opened the door and gave me a dirty look. “What the fuck Nichole?”

  “I have returned and I have brought food.” I said waddling into the apartment and trying to find a surface I could use to begin unloading. “Ya know. As a thank you for letting me stay and all.”

  Lauren took one of the bags off me and moved to her small kitchen counter. “You didn’t need to do that.”

  “Thanks Nichole, you are a very helpful, intelligent, and attractive student, I appreciate you and want to show that affection by-” I was cut off by nearly tripping over a chair I couldn’t see in my way. Lauren managed to brace me and stop me from falling over. I was glad she was so tall. “Maybe not intelligent.”

  She chuckled. “Gym always was your worst subject. You’d be a straight A student without it.” I put the other bag down and I felt her arms wrap around my waist. “It’s a good thing I don’t count it.”

  I blushed and gripped the strap of my duffle bag as I felt her hands all over me.

  I faked a cough and wormed out of her teasing grasp.“I’m just gonna change into my own clothes since… Ya know… I have those now.” What I did not say is I was pretty sure being in her daughter's clothes would be… more than a little distracting if things got busy which I was still very much hoping they would.

  Lauren turned her attention to the food while I made my way into the clubroom.

  You know I always thought if I stepped through a portal to another dimension I’d be able to tell like… you figure there would be a tingle or something would feel different. I couldn’t feel anything. It was actually disappointing. Not really surprising since I did it multiple times a week last year and not once had anything seemed off about it other than the design of the room not really matching the vibe of the school's normal architecture. Maybe that should have been more of a clue in itself but in my defense I didn’t know doorways to other dimensions existed. I mean I knew other dimensions existed, everyone knew of the Hells and Asgard from the war against Odin. The story I’d always been taught stated that the whole incident had been wrapped up in a tight little bow a few hundred years ago and we were once again sealed off from the other realms. If Lauren was right about the repeated invasions from the Hells and magic still being left over from the conflict then clearly that was wrong.

  I shook off the thoughts, speculating was keeping me from food and premium quality time with Lauren. I tossed my bag on the bed and started unpacking. On top of everything else was a little brown box I’d forgotten about. I grabbed the box and tore into it, or tried to, the tape was annoying. However I still had the keys to the van and that was enough to get it open.

  I marveled at the faux black leather. The collar I’d bought was beautiful and the engraved metal tag looked brilliant. It had my name on it and Laurens on the flip side. It came with a long sturdy leash and I couldn’t help but put it on right away. The cool material felt nice on my neck and I was able to get it buckled myself after a few tries. It was then I realized there was no mirror around so in a flash of inspiration I pulled out my phone and took a selfie. I don’t normally do stuff like that but this was important.

  Now, I don’t have a real high opinion of my appearance most of the time, but in that one photo I felt like I was just killing it. My hair was as uselessly curly as ever but the dumb smile on my face was outright adorable. There was only one problem and that’s… I was a little overdressed. I took care of that neatly piling my borrowed clothes up off to the side and took another one that was far lewder. It was almost perfect and I couldn’t help but admire it. If it wasn’t me in the photo I’d say I was really really pretty but it was me so my brain began cataloging every little defect and I had to shut down that line of thought before my self consciousness got the better of me.

  Then I remembered something. Lauren had asked me to text her when I got to the house and I’d completely forgotten to do that. I fished the scrap of paper out of the borrowed pants and punched it into the phone… then attached the photo and…

  Sending failed…. Huh…. I had no bars. At all. I guessed it made sense since it was pocket dimension. I decided to leave the collar on so I could show Lauren and present her the leash.

  I finished getting changed and headed back out to the apartment. I stepped out and almost immediately Laurens phone chimed before I could talk to her. She picked up her phone, she stared at it in disbelief for almost a minute. I almost didn’t put the pieces together of what I’d just done.

  She clicked the screen of her phone off and very much failed to play off. She hadn’t seen anything. I put the clothes down and sat across from her on the couch.

  “You are asking for it, missy.” She hissed through her teeth.

  My face felt like it was on fire.