“Wait! We forgot to buy bowls!” I quickly turned to the four guys who were smooshed against each other in the doorframe, trying to enter the apartment but unable to because I was blocking them.

  “There.” Maverick snapped, and two bowls appeared on the floor in front of me. I sighed in relief and moved to allow them entrance. A box hit the floor.

  “Careful! That’s delicate!” I snapped, picking up the box that contained the gaming system.

  “What is it?” Zephyr asked.

  “You’ll see.” I winked, running to set it up in the living room. If they thought cable TV was interesting, they were going to lose their minds over this.

  “You should take care of your dog,” Maverick hollered from the hallway.

  “Finn, will you do that for me, please?” I pleaded extra sweetly.

  “It doesn’t work like that, Ella.” I could hear the defeat in his voice. Boo.

  “I-I’ll do it!” Aidan volunteered. I could’ve sworn I heard him mutter something about Finn...

  Rosalie stepped into the living room, looking us over. There was almost a disapproving glare in her eyes as she watched Maverick and Zephyr take a seat on the couch while I fiddled with the box. “If there’s nothing else you need, I’ll be leaving.”

  “Wait, you’re leaving already…?” I paused what I was doing to look up at her from where I knelt on the floor.

  “Someone has to deal with the Magus of Historia.”

  “Isn’t that what we’re all doing?” I asked, incredulously. “Isn’t that why we had that meeting this morning?”

  “A meeting that ultimately led to nothing. I thought you and Maverick would have been of more use, but it seems you’ve both come up empty.” She crossed her arms, her expression stoic. "It seems to me you may be distracted by this world's entertainments."

  I clenched my fists, heat emitting from them. Thankfully, I had already dropped the wires. I was about to retort when Zephyr cut in. “Isn’t that a bit unfair, Rosalie? We’ve only just arrived.”

  “And you haven’t exactly given us much information to work with.” Finn crossed his arms as he stepped into her personal space, causing her to back up.

  “I-is that so?” Was it just me, or did she look intimidated by Finn?

  “Working together would prove more fruitful, considering we can compare information with each other,” Zephyr added.

  Maverick stood up from the couch and walked over to the others. “Except Rosalie doesn’t work that way.” He shoved his hands into his pants pockets and leaned his back against the wall. “She works better on her own.”

  A small smile crept upon Rosalie’s lips. She gave the faintest nod before wishing us well and teleporting off. I wondered where she’d be staying, or if Sylvis was simply teleporting her back and forth between Earth and Meridia.

  I slumped down to my butt, sitting on the floor as I sorted through the wires I had dropped.

  “Want some help with that?” Finn crouched down beside me, taking one of the wires in his hand. Our hands brushed against each other momentarily, causing me to quickly retrieve mine.

  “I can help Ella,” Aidan replied, unusually determined. He finished setting up Dimitri's bowls and sat down next to me. He pulled the wire from Finn’s hand as he looked at the end, obviously confused about what it was for.

  “You don’t know how to,” Finn replied matter-of-factly. He didn’t seem annoyed or upset—simply amused.

  “Stupid mindreader…” Aidan mumbled, tossing the wire to the floor.

  I felt bad that he wanted to help but couldn’t. “Is there anything like this in Meridia?” I decided to ask. “Oh! What about the lights? How do those work?”

  “T-that’s static,” Aidan answered.

  “It’s our world’s version of electricity, basically,” Finn explained. “We don’t have any electronics like you do, but our medical technology is more advanced. Aidan wouldn’t have survived if he were from this world.” He was obviously referring to when Aidan had been a baby. How sick had he been that our world’s medical advancements wouldn’t have been enough to save him…?

  Aidan gave Finn a pointed look, and the latter raised his hands in defense. “She already knows.”

  “Still.” Aidan crossed his arms.

  I couldn’t believe they were fighting already. And over something so stupid.

  I glanced up at Zephyr, who had started cooking. Right, none of us had had lunch, and Finn had only had fries. I turned back to the two boys beside me. Aidan was sulking and Finn was twisting one of the wires in his hand.

  “Why don’t I finish setting this up, and the two of you help Zephyr with whatever he’s cooking?” I suggested.

  Aidan glanced at Zephyr, then at Finn, then at me, then back to Finn, before Maverick’s leather shoes. Shoes! That’s what I forgot to buy!

  “We’ll go back later.” Finn patted me on the head, and I couldn’t help but notice Aidan’s curled-up fists.

  “W-we’ll help with the food!” He blurted out before grabbing Finn’s sleeve and dragging him to the kitchen. I could hear Finn chuckle as he was dragged away. I couldn’t tell who loved to tease Aidan more — Finn or Maverick.

  “Tired of them already?” Maverick asked as he took a seat on the chair behind me, stretching out his feet onto the table.

  “I’m tired of their fighting.” I pushed his feet off the table just for him to rest them back on the table. Gross.

  “Get used to it. I don’t know what you expected from them. But at least we have some peace and quiet now. Sort of.”

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  I heard a loud sizzle and turned to the kitchen, where the fire in the pan was way taller than it should have been. Zephyr and Finn looked to be telling Aidan off. Had he used his magic to…? Oh no.

  Maverick glanced at the kitchen, noticing my shoulders and jaw slump. I caught the edge of his smirk before he turned back to me. “Yep. They’re Zephyr’s problem now. What a shame after all he’s done for us.”

  “Stop.” I snapped.

  “Stop what?” he asked innocently.

  “Stop making me feel guilty for sending them off!”

  “It’s what I’m good at.” He shrugged.

  “I know! Too good!” I flung the instruction manual I didn’t need at him. He caught it with ease, likely due to his magic.

  I sighed, and Dimitri ran up to me, licking my hand. “Awww, such a good boy!” I pet him on the head, earning a content gurgle from him. One that quickly turned into a whimper as mean old Maverick snatched him away.

  “There’s something odd about him.” He held the dog up to face level as if he were holding a plush, inspecting it for a zipper to rip the stuffing out of. Dimitri kicked and growled. I heard Maverick wince as I turned to see Dimitri running off.

  I finally got the system set up, realizing too late that I only had the one controller.

  “You can duplicate items, can’t you?” I asked Maverick in desperation, hoping he’d be kind and help me.

  “Yeah. What do you want?” he asked, surprisingly compliant.

  “Can you make three more of these?— Four more?” I quickly corrected before he could insinuate I was trying to leave him out. Which I totally was.

  “Easy enough,” he answered through an exhale. He snapped his fingers and… nothing. He snapped again, and still nothing.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, concerned.

  “I don’t know.” He furrowed his brows, equally confused. He turned to the couch, snapped his fingers, and another couch appeared in the air, landing on top of it. What the— We both raced over to keep it from falling on the ground.

  “Couldn’t you have tested that on something smaller?!” I shouted in disbelief.

  “I thought the problem was the amount of ether required. Unless that specific device requires an absurd amount of ether, that doesn’t seem to be the case!” he shot back, though he did look to be apologetic about it at least.

  “Well… Make it go away!” I sputtered, wondering why we were still holding up the magical couch.

  In an instant, the couch disappeared, and I fell face forward onto the existing couch. I heard a snicker behind me. Very funny. Dimitri came over to me and licked my ankle. What a good boy!

  I started scrolling through some of the free games on the system, realizing there wouldn’t be much time to play one of the games I bought, with dinner being ready soon. Just as I had found one I was mildly interested in, Zephyr called Maverick and me over. I placed the controller on the table, hoping Dimitri wouldn’t try to eat it.

  “I hope you’ll have those missing mutt posters ready by tomorrow morning.” Maverick glared at me as he struggled to cut his chicken.

  Right, we weren’t keeping Dimitri… But surely I could take my time working on finding his owner!

  I tried cutting my chicken and struggled just as much as Maverick had. This chicken was definitely overcooked.

  But not nearly as overcooked as the black filet in front of Aidan.

  “W-why do I get the burnt one?!” He glanced from one person to another, looking for an answer.

  “Because you were the one who burned it,” Finn answered as he stabbed his fork into the breast before lifting it to his mouth. The chicken was so tough that his teeth struggled to bite off a piece. I watched in amusement as he wrestled with the poultry hanging from his mouth.

  “Who burned the rest of them?” I asked, struggling to remove my fork from the bird.

  “Aidan,” Zephyr answered flatly. “We just managed to save most of them in time.”

  “‘Save’ is rather generous.” Maverick pushed his plate away from him, deciding to ransack the fridge instead.

  Aidan eagerly swiped the overcooked chicken from Maverick’s plate, taking a bite into it just as Finn had. To no avail.

  A bark interrupted my gaze. Oh no! We hadn’t bought any food for Dimitri!

  “I’ve got it,” Finn replied to my thoughts. He stabbed the chicken with the fork again and flung it across the living room, smearing one of the chairs in the process.

  “My upholstery.” Maverick gawked before closing the fridge door. With the snap of his fingers, the stain was removed from the chair.

  “Why do we have to eat meat all the time anyway?” Finn asked, rushing to Maverick’s side and trying to pry whatever food Maverick had found in the fridge out of his arms. Maverick held the food tighter to his chest, and the two running around made it impossible for me to tell what he had.

  “Meat expires the quickest.” Zephyr seemed to be the only person who wasn’t having trouble with— Oh. His chicken was cut into perfect little squares, and his knife wasn’t anywhere to be seen. He must have used magic.

  I glanced back at Maverick and Finn, who were fighting over a tub of ice cream. Boys.

  “It’s the ice cream from the commercial!” Finn turned to me. “You wouldn’t understand.” He sighed dramatically.

  “You know the commercial is played up to get you to buy it, right?” I asked, so done with living with these boys.

  Finn’s eyes lit up in surprise, and I thought Ihad offended him for a moment. “That’s such a good strategy.” He let go of the ice cream, and Maverick stumbled forward. “Anyway, where can I get broccoli-flavored ice cream?”

  “I don’t think that exists…”

  Maverick sat on his usual chair, his spoils from the fridge laid out on the table before him. He picked up the controller and started messing with one of the many free platformers the console had to offer. He became progressively more frustrated with each loss. I watched him narrow his eyes before a look of confusion washed over him. “Magic didn’t work.”

  “You can’t use magic to cheat in games!” I swiped the controller from him. I had long since abandoned the foul bird to its fate — the garbage can.

  “Sure, I can.” Maverick shrugged. “Or at least I should be physically capable of doing so.” He sounded so confused and almost defeated. I had never seen him so bothered over something so trivial. You’d think the console had stolen his meat.

  “I-I want to try!” Aidan rushed over to the living room. He was the only person to finish his food. Well, Maverick’s food. “T-the game, I mean. Not cheating.”

  I happily handed him the controller, and he went game by game, trying each one for a bit before backing out.

  “You can wait until you find something that catches your eye,” I suggested.

  “None of these titles make sense to me.”

  I wondered if they could understand my language just as I had understood theirs. That was stupid to wonder. We were literally just texting earlier.

  Zephyr washed the dishes before joining us. Something looked to be bothering him, though. I was about to ask what it was before Aidan and Finn started getting rowdy again. Thankfully, Maverick tossed a scoop of ice cream at Finn’s head, shutting one of them up. Unfortunately, that led to Finn summoning his lance.

  “Can you guys not tear the apartment to pieces, please?!” I placed a hand on Finn’s bicep, calming him down.

  “Yeah. You two really put the ‘apart’ in ‘apartment’.” Maverick smirked, causing all of us to groan.

  Thankfully, Finn desummoned his lance, and Aidan sat back down cross-legged on the couch.

  My gaze went back to Zephyr, wondering if he was still bothered. He glanced between the kitchen, the TV, and finally the ceiling lights.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Magic doesn’t seem to work on electricity,” Zephyr answered.

  “Huh?” Finn asked, and Maverick straightened his back as he moved to the edge of his seat.

  “The stove, the TV, the lights. Try it.”

  Finn’s gaze flicked to the ceiling light before looking back at Zephyr. “You’re right. Maybe that’s why you couldn’t cheat in that game?” He turned back to Maverick, who made a distorted grunt.

  “What does this mean…?” I asked, not liking how tense everyone had suddenly become.

  “It means this world is more dangerous than we thought,” Maverick answered.