Sleep had never felt so good even if it was on the floor. My brain was still in a fog from my dream so the fact that a strange girl was still shouting at me didn’t register at first.

She got my attention when she scooped my head off of the floor by grabbing a hand full of hair, “I said, how dare you summon me. What is the meaning of this? Who are you working for?”

I slowly opened my eyes to come face to face with a scarlet blur. As my eyes focused, I realized that I was looking up at a red-haired girl with lots of freckles. Her hair was tied back behind her head in a flowing ponytail. It was in sharp contrast to the midnight blue gown she was wearing.

While my vision may have returned, my head was still swimming from the after-effects of having my mana torn from my soul. It felt like my entire body had fallen asleep. Everything felt like pins and needles. The only part of my body that felt normal was the skin on my scalp which currently felt like it was being ripped off.

“Ow ow ow”, I croaked while trying to will my arms to rise and defend me.

My captor tugged sharply, forcing my head back, “If you want me to release you then you need to start answering questions. Who do you work for?”

My neck was starting to hurt as she continued to hold me up by my head. I struggled to answer, “I don’t work for…anyone. I was trying to summon someone to…to learn magic.”

She dropped me. I landed with a splat in a pool of my own sick. I rolled over on my back, struggling to catch my breath. One of the muscles that were exhausted by mana fatigue appeared to be my solar plexus. Between gasps, I glanced up at the girl I summoned. She towered demurely over me, tucking her hair into what turned out to be a robe. When she bent over to pick up a matching pointy hat I realized that the summoning must have worked.

I summoned the energy to sit up and leaned against my bed, focused on getting my breathing under control. The girl squatted in front of me, but didn’t touch me this time while continuing to interrogate me, “What is this hovel? Did you sneak in here to perform the ritual? Where are the others?”

I gaped at the girl. She appeared to be roughly my age. Judging from her pearly white teeth and milky complexion she probably wasn’t from a medieval world. I took a deep breath and tried to answer, “This is my home where I live. There aren’t any others. I summoned you alone.”

It was her turn to be shocked. Her jaw dropped as she fell on her butt, landing with a thud. She mouthed wordlessly for a second before stammering, “But, how? There is no way. You can’t perform a summoning by yourself. The strain alone would kill…”

She leaned forward, examining me closely. I didn’t have a chance to speak before the red-head continued, “You do look pretty beat up, but you would have to be pretty high level to pull that off. Where are we? Dabia? Don’t tell me you summoned me all the way to Mirith. That would take me a month to get back.”

Feeling was returning to my upper extremities so I managed to shrug, “I don’t know where either of those places are. We are currently in Vista, California.”

“I’ve never heard of either of those places”, she shrieked, her voice fluttering out of control.

I couldn’t help myself and laughed, explaining, “It’s not multiple places. Vista is a city while California is a state. It’s in the USA. I’ve never heard of either of the places you mentioned. I think I summoned you from another world.”

The blood drained from her face as we sat across the room from one another. The girl shook her head rapidly, “No, no, no, no. That’s not possible. There are magical laws that prevent tampering from other dimensions. Who are you exactly?”

The info about inter-world tampering was very educational. The part about my name was a question I did have an answer for so I told her, “My name is Melvin. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Are you a powerful wizard?”

“You thought I was a…”, she cut herself off, pausing to digest the ramifications of my last statement, “It appears you’ve botched the summoning. That means you got me by accident. Thanks a lot. You just ruined my life.”

Wherever she was from, this girl had the same flare for dramatics that I was used to from other girls my age. I decided to ignore her statement and asked, “You look like a wizard. Can you teach me how to read magic? Also, I never got your name.”

The girl smirked at me, “I never gave it to you, and while I can use magic proficiently, I see no reason to teach you anything. You’ve done nothing but cause me problems.”

I wiggled my toes, happy to feel that I was regaining control of myself, and replied, “It would really help if I knew what to call you. Girl or ‘hey you’ just seems kind of rude. If you really are a wizard, why did you say I messed up the summon?”

“Ugh, fine”, she scoffed, climbing back to her feet, “My name is Kalliphae. I’m not a wizard. I am an apprentice pyromancer. That means I specialize in magical fire.”

I still wasn’t up to standing. My legs felt like jelly. I pushed myself off of the floor using my arms and pulled my way up to my bed. She stood in the center of the ruined summoning circle staring at me expectantly. I said, “Kallif. Um. I’ll call you Kalli. So, you are suggesting that I failed to summon the actual wizard and wound up with you when I failed? I think maybe I didn’t put enough mana into the ritual. I didn’t expect it to be so intense.”

Kalliphae rolled her eyes at me. I made a mental note that this gesture was yet another similarity that her world had with ours. She ignored the way I butchered her name and said, “It’s a miracle the act of summoning me didn’t kill you outright. How much mana do you have?”

I was used to other people not being able to see my stats at this point, but so far the only example I had was Mrs. Hodgins. I answered her question, “I currently have 100 mana.”

She gaped at me again, “How? Unless you have a negative affinity for magic, you’d have to be level 1 to have that little.”

I grinned and nodded, “Yep. Level 1.”

She stomped her foot and growled at me, “Yet you still attempted to summon me? Imbecile. You could have killed both of us.”

Kalliphae huffed for a second before continuing, “It’s a real miracle that you pulled it off. If what you say is true and you pulled me over to another world, I might be trapped here. Unless you become powerful enough to send me back that is.”

That brought a huge smile to my face. She was finally cooperating with me, even if it was for self-preservation. I exclaimed, “So you’ll teach me how to use magic then?”

She looked at me shrewdly for a moment, placing her hands on her hips and asking me, “Do you even have an affinity to learn the language of magic? What class did you get?”

Regular classes were something of a mystery to me still. I assumed that she would be able to see my class like Mrs. Hodgins did at school. That reminded me that I still hadn’t examined her yet.

Name

Kalliphae Hellquist

Class

Pyromancer

Level

7

Affection Level

Apprehensive

I should have just inspected her to begin with. The thing that stood out to me was her level. Mrs. Hodgins had mentioned that a level 5 person was so powerful that they ruled the country they lived in. Kalli coughed expectantly and I remembered she was expecting me to answer. I lied, “I am a level 1 Summoner. More importantly, how are you level 7? I was told the highest level person on my planet is only level 5?”

“Great”, she mumbled, “I’m stuck on a backwater planet with a level 1 peasant. What did I do to deserve this?”

I couldn’t think of a decent answer, so I just shrugged. Her stomach growled with a question of its own so I struggled to my feet and offered, “Come with me. I’ll make you something to eat.”

Kalliphae was interested in everything technological. While she hadn’t said anything about the lamp in my bedroom, she jumped when I flipped the light switch in the hallway. I explained, “That was just a light. Don’t they have electricity in your world?”

She blinked at me and asked, “Do you mean Storm Mages? What does that have to do with your device? Did one visit and enchant your home?”

When we arrived in the kitchen she marveled at the refrigerator, “Do you also employ a frost mage? Perhaps you aren’t a peasant after all. Why is the rest of your home so drab?”

She was both amusing and depressing all at once. I rummaged through the freezer and removed some burritos and hot pockets. I asked her, “Pick your poison. Would you like ham and cheese or beans and cheese?”

“You mean to poison me now?”, she asked innocently as she stared me down with unblinking eyes.

I couldn’t tell if she was being serious so I backtracked, “No, that’s just a saying. What would you like to eat?”

She examined the two packages, peeling the wrapper off of the burrito. Kalli attempted to take a bite before I could say anything and grumbled, “This is frozen. I can’t eat it like that.”

I laughed and tossed it in the microwave. She leaned over the counter, looking in the shielded window as it cooked, “What is this contraption? Is it heating the food?”

I nodded sagely, “Yep. That is a microwave. I can’t tell you how it works specifically, but it heats the water in the food to cook it. It will be done in just over a minute.”

She waited patiently, watching the plate spin inside of the microwave. When it beeped to inform us the timer had finished the girl jumped back in surprise. I laughed and opened the door, handing the plate to the girl. She poked it a couple of times, marveling how hot it was before taking a bite.

I had just managed to pour a glass of milk when she took a bite and yowled. She spat the food into her hand, exclaiming, “It’s hot.”

I offered her the glass which she took a big swig of before attempting to eat the burrito again. When she finished the burrito I watched her rip open the hot pocket. I was just being impressed with Kalli’s appetite when she said, “Watch this.”

Then she uttered the first word of magic I ever heard.

“Pvruzth”

Her hand burst into flames around the hot pocket. I watched in awe as the frozen meal began to heat without being consumed by the fire. It danced around her hand, licking the crust as it passed over. The flame had no effect on her body that I could ascertain.

Suddenly, a shrill siren blared through the room. Kalliphae dropped the hot pocket on the floor and clenched her fist, extinguishing the flame. She covered her ears and shouted to be heard over the sound, “What in the Seven Sages is that?”

I was busy employing the broom to try and push the safety button on the fire alarm. It took a couple of tries, but eventually, the deafening sound shut off. I explained, “That is a fire alarm. It’s there to warn us in case there’s a fire and we need to evacuate.”

She huffed at me and asked, “Doesn’t it differentiate between magic and physical fire? Magical fire can’t burn a building. Not unless the mage is really strong.”

I was making mental notes on pretty much everything Kalli said. Magic was more interesting than I had imagined it would be. I told her, “The fire alarm doesn’t detect fire. It detects smoke. I guess your magical fire makes the same smoke as physical fire.”

She was about to reply when a sharp knock came from the door. I whispered, “Quick, go hide in the closet.”

Kalliphae didn’t question me. She rushed over to the closet I pointed to in the hall and silently closed the door. I hustled over to the door and opened it up. As I had expected it, it was my neighbor, Ms. Clark. She leaned into my apartment, looking around “I just heard the alarm. What happened?”

I sighed heavily. My mother never felt right leaving a teen home alone all the time, so she decided to commission my busy body neighbor to look in on me from time to time. Ms. Clark took that carte blanche to come into my home whenever she wanted and just be plain annoying. Hoping to get her to go away, I lied again, “I just burnt something in the microwave.”

She sniffed the air and glanced in the direction of the kitchen. Fortunately, the air was still crisp with the smells of a seared hot pocket. The old woman snarled at me, “Try to be careful. I don’t have time to be getting out of bed like this.”

The truth was, the old bat seemed to relish any opportunity to annoy me. Not really having any reason to investigate further, she spun on her heels and went home. I slowly closed the door, not wanting to give her a reason to return.

I started back toward the kitchen when Kalli burst out of the closet. She made a mock gagging noise and informed me, “Why would you hide me in there? That place smelled horrible.”

I scooped the partially cooked hot pocket up off of the kitchen floor and told Kalli, “It was the first place I could think of. The only thing we keep in there is laundry.”

I left out the fact that I had just put week-old gym shorts in that laundry hamper. I only washed them once a week. She seemed to have already put the experience behind her as Kalli watched to see if I would eat the dirty hot pocket. Normally, I wouldn’t touch it, but I was curious to see what magical fire did to the frozen meal. I bit a corner off. As it turned out, the pyromancer had done a good job of reheating the snack. The shell was crispy and the cheese inside was nice and gooey. I gave her a thumbs up which she answered by crinkling her nose in disgust.

I pulled another from the freezer and offered, “We can cook this for you in the microwave, or if you want to magic another one I can disable the fire alarm.”

Kalliphae considered the offer and said, “We can micro-what-you-called-it the food later. Show me how to disable that annoying horn.”

I had to grab a chair from the dining room to be able to reach the alarm on the ceiling. I stood on it and unscrewed the device from its mount. Once it popped free, I disconnected the wire that fed it power. I screwed it back in so that nobody would know I had tampered with it.

Kalli observed the process skeptically and asked, “Are you certain that it won’t shriek at us again?”

I tried my best to explain it to her, “Think of it like a machine. I just cut it off from its power source.”

She looked up and nodded as she took in what I said. Seemingly satisfied with the explanation she unwrapped the second hot pocket and spoke the word again.

“Pvruzth”

I watched the flame obediently do its job, cooking the hot pocket. Was magic really that simple? I looked at my hand and whispered, “Pvruzth.”

Nothing happened.

I spoke out loud, “Pvruzth.”

Nothing happened again.

Kalliphae, who was done cooking, took a bite of the well-done hot pocket and informed me, “Knowing the word won’t help you. You need to understand its essence and infuse it into your voice with mana. That’s how magic works.”

Every time she opened her mouth I learned something new. All I had to do was keep this girl close and the secrets of magic would reveal themselves to me. Before we could say anything else, I heard a sound that made my blood chill. Just outside the door, the sound of jingling keys announced the arrival of my mother. Was it already midnight? I looked up at the clock in shock.

“Quick, you need to hide”, I implored Kalli as I ushered her through the hall.

She squealed, “Not in the closet”, as she fought against me.

I steered her into my bedroom and closed the door. I was just in time as my mother announced, “Honey, I’m home.”

I made a show yawning when I made my way back into the living room., “Hi, mom. I was just about to go to bed.”

She smiled wearily at me, dumping her purse and keys on the table, “Did you have a good day today honey?”

“Same as usual”, I droned, reciting my normal reply when she asked this question.

Her smile never faltered and she asked, “Did you eat? I can make you something if you like.”

I nodded, “Yes, Mom. I had a hot pocket.”

My mother bypassed the kitchen and headed for the restroom to change into her nightclothes, “I’m tired too. I have to be up again in 4 hours.”

I sighed inwardly. I was also worried about her eating properly. I microwaved a bean and cheese burrito for her. She enjoyed those. On my way out of the kitchen, I grabbed a few more things I wanted Kalliphae to try.

Mom was already dressed for bed when I showed up with her food. She gave me a knowing smile as she looked at the food I grabbed for myself, “You know, it’s not healthy to eat junk food before bed.”

“I know”, I grinned sheepishly, kissing her goodnight.

I grew apprehensive as I approached the door to my bedroom. I didn’t quite get the chance to explain to Kalli that she needed to be quiet. My mother would freak out if she found out I smuggled a girl into the house.

It turned out I was worried for nothing. Kalli didn’t want to be discovered in my room either. She stood in the middle of the room and whispered while glaring at my bed, “I don’t know what you had planned, but I am not having sex with you.”

Did she just offer to...no wait, she is saying that she doesn't want to...

I froze for a moment, gaping at the redhead who was now staring me down with her arms folded across her chest. My brain temporarily short-circuited as I was suddenly forced to think about her in ways that would be very dangerous to my prolonged existence with my mother sleeping 15 feet away.

Oh Crap. The door is still open.

I quickly shut the door. It was one thing for my mother to catch me with a girl in my room in the middle of the night. It was quite another to hear a girl talking about sex in my room in the middle of the night. I ignored her scandalized look and whispered back, “I am not trying to have sex with you. We just need to get through the night so I can figure out what to do in the morning. My mom will leave in about 4 hours and she won’t be back home until late tomorrow night.”

Kalli backed away from me and said, “I am not sleeping in the bed with you.”

I waved her off, “It’s fine. I’ll sleep in the closet.”

She looked over at the closet. The closet door in my room was missing. It was small but just big enough for me to curl up into a ball on the ground. I noticed that the mess on the floor had been cleaned up.

Did Kalli clean up my vomit while she was in here alone?

I was slightly embarrassed, but I decided not to think about it so I grabbed a winter blanket that we were storing for the colder months and lined the floor with it.

Remembering the snacks, I walked over to Kalli who was still looking at my bed cautiously, “Hey, I brought more food for you to try.”

Kallphae eyeballed the items curiously, “What are they?”

I held up the first item, “This is an ice cream sandwich. It’s basically ice cream packed between two cookies.”

Her eyes widened, “I’ve heard of these delicacies. Ice cream in any case. Only the rich have access to it. Can I eat this?”

“Yup”, I assured her, handing over the treat.

She touched it to her lips tentatively, testing it out, before smiling and taking a huge bite. I didn’t wait for her to finish it before opening the can of Pepsi. It hissed at her in a satisfying manner as the can was opened. Kalli gasped quietly and looked at the soda as though it were another exotic delicacy. She asked, “What do I do with that?”

“You drink it”, I explained matter of factly, handing it to her.

She sniffed it for a moment before taking a sip. A giggle escaped her lips as she announced, “It tickled my throat. It has the most peculiar texture, this soda.”

I chuckled. I had known about soda pop since I was a small child. I could only imagine trying it for the first time as a teenager. I wondered what other experiences I could show the pyromancer while she was in our world.

Before I had a chance to object she finished off the ice cream sandwich. I had been saving that for myself. I let out a sigh and vowed to scavenge for loose change again soon for the ice cream man.

Kalliphae got my attention once again by asking, “Do you have anything I can wear to bed?”

We both stopped and stared at one another. Her robes looked like something someone would wear to bed. They were very silky after all. I asked her, “What would you like to wear? I have clothes in those drawers over there. Use anything you like.”

She nodded and wordlessly walked over and started rummaging through my clothes. I watched nervously as she selected an oversized football jersey and a pair of sweatpants. She looked very timid when she asked me, “Please don’t look.”

I turned away, silently contemplating what to wear to bed. Normally, I was completely content just taking off my pants and hopping into bed with nothing but underwear and my t-shirt on. With a girl in the room, the rules changed. I didn’t own pajamas, so I opted to hunt down a pair of shorts and use those with my shirt.

Right when I came to a decision, she informed me, “Okay, you can look now.”

I followed her orders and turned around to check her out. The once intimidating fire mage was undeniably adorable wearing the oversized jersey and sweatpants. I noticed something about the jersey, “You know that jersey is kind of see-through, right?”

She blushed and dove under the covers, whispering, “I didn’t mean look at me.”

I quickly looked away and hit the light switch. Kalli audibly squeaked when the light vanished from the room. I walked over to the dresser and grabbed a pair of shorts. I made my way back to the closet and dropped my pants. I was just pulling on the shorts when she informed me, “One of the class skills of a pyromancer is night vision. I thought you ought to know.”

Too late to do anything different and still feeling safe in the dark, I settled into my nest in the closet and tried to get some sleep.

I was woken up in the middle of the night when my door creaked open. I held my breath as whoever it was at the door paused to see if they had woken me. Kalliphae wasn’t moving, apparently asleep. I prayed that she wouldn’t accidentally give us away.

With my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I watched in horror as my mother walked up to my bed and lean over Kalli. She kissed Kalli on the cheek and whispered, “Live your best life today sweetheart.”

A tear rolled down my cheek as my sleep-deprived mother shuffled from the room to work her morning job, oblivious to the fact that she just kissed a fire mage from another world. I wondered if she did this every night and I just slept right through it. It was at that moment that I knew my mission was to change the world for my mother.

I listened to her lock the door as she left and closed my eyes to get some more sleep. In a soft voice, Kalli spoke in the darkness, “I wish I had a mother.”