It had been six months since Anna arrived into his life, and Eric still couldn’t quite get over it.

Sure enough there were details like how she was from another world, how she could do magic, or even minor things like the horns, the tail, and the purple skin, but frankly, none of that really registered. Really, It was just a little magical waking up next to someone, and he just didn’t want that feeling of excitement to fade.

Meanwhile, Anna seemed to be enjoying herself. She was making new friends, exploring the city by herself, and wasn’t as reliant on Eric to help her navigate the world. She’d even gotten the hang of idioms and slang, too.

The biggest change? She’d gotten a job. Not just the feeling of independence, or having something to do, but the simple fact that Anna could buy as many energy drinks as she liked.

Not that she needed to. The energy drink company sponsored her and seemed quite happy to supply her with as many free crates as she desired. It turned out that having a purple skinned demon streaming video games was quite an effective marketing strategy.

Her stream had gotten pretty popular.

Eric wasn’t entirely convinced it was a good idea for Anna to stream without a disguise, but on the other hand, no-one really seemed to care. She’d even walked around outside without bothering to hide, and had been approached by several people for selfies.

In the end, Anna went back to wearing a disguise, if only so she could hang out at the bar without being interrupted by strangers. If it wasn’t for the energy drinks, Eric figured she’d probably have given up already. Anna just wanted to crush her enemies, not perform for a crowd.

The attention was fun, but the audience was just a little bit tiring. Especially in-person audiences. As part of her sponsorship deal, Anna not only had to stream her games, but she also had to attend the occasional tournament, and rather reluctantly, attended conferences too.

“Ugh.”

“Oh I don’t know it’ll be fun.”

“Eric. It will not be fun. I will be sitting at a desk, people will keep talking to me as if they know me, and I have to smile and pretend to be having a good time.”

“I dunno, Anna, you could probably scowl and threaten to kill them. I bet a good half of your audience wants you to choke them.”

“Say that again and you’ll be first, Eric.”

“I’m sorry.” Eric was trying not to laugh. “Still, we get to go to a new city? Maybe we can find some food and…” Eric stopped.

Anna was not happy, and it was very obvious. Her tail was curled up, and he knew that meant he was treading on thin ice.

“Well. I’ll be there for you.” He offered her a hug. “We can always just hide in the hotel room until it’s over.”

“Promise?” Anna gave him a hug

“Promise.” Eric replied. “Anyway, I still have to go to work, so if you could let me go….”

“In a minute.”

“Fine.”

Anna patted him on the back. “Good minion.”

It was a pleasant day outside and Eric was a little bitter about having to stay in a cold damp basement, packing books into boxes.

April’s remodelling of the shop was finally complete, and his suggestion of moving the office into the basement had come with unforeseen consequences to his day-to-day life. It was nice to be using a computer less than a decade old, and it was nice to be using a label printer, but he did miss being able to stare out the back window.

“Hey April.” “Good morning Eric.”

He had to admit, the shop floor did look a little less haphazard. Gone were the carefully balanced boxes of books, and instead, a number of bookcases lined the walls, along with some little alcoves with the occasional picture or sculpture.

Whereas before it felt like stepping into someone’s shed or garage, now it felt more like stepping into someone’s library. Still, it did feel a little too neat and a little too organized for a second hand bookstore.

“Do you need me for anything, or is it off to the basement with me?”

“I’m taking Emma out for a long lunch this afternoon. I’ll need you to cover the till in the afternoon, if that’s ok?”

“As long as you’re back before closing.”

“Probably.”

“And if you’re bringing Emma back…” Eric smiled, “… maybe….”

“Yes, Eric?” April knew exactly what Eric was referencing. One very loud afternoon.

“I wouldn’t complain if we closed early. I have a lot of packing to do, still.”

“Ah.” April smiled back. “Sure. How is the little demon anyway?”

“She hates computers. So, pretty normal.”

“Can’t blame her.”

With a wave, Eric headed down to the basement to start work. Checking the auctions, adding a few more books to the listings, doing a few careful searches and phone calls for rare books, and most importantly, packing up the ones that had already been sold. With April running the till, Eric didn’t have much in the way of distractions.

The morning whizzed by and he headed out for lunch. As soon as he left the basement, his phone buzzed to life. Ten messages from Anna, ending with ‘I’m coming over.’ He quickly replied with ‘Bring lunch? Please?’

“Looks like I’ll be eating here, if you want to head out.”

“Anna?”

“Anna.”

“Well, it looks like Emma got out of work early, so, I’ll be heading now. You’ll be back next week, right?”

“It’s just a 3 day convention. I’ll be back by tuesday but I will probably need to sleep.”

“I’m sure I’ll manage.” Emma smiled. “Anyway, time for lunch. Don’t set fire to the shop while i’m gone.”

April disappeared out the front door. Anna arrived almost immediately afterwards, scowling.

“You didn’t answer the phone.” “I was in the basement. I did say you need to phone the… Anna?”

He had explained about the poor reception several times before, but realised now wasn’t the best time to repeat himself.

“Did you get lunch?” “No.”

“Oh. I’ll order some. Or we’ll grab some. What’s up?”

“I don’t want to go to the con. Work has asked me to…” Anna sighed. “They want me to dress up like one of the video game characters. I’m sick of it.”

Eric sighed. “Give me a second.”

He pulled out his phone, texted April to say that something had come up. He told Anna to wait for a moment while he grabbed his things from the basement.

“Right. Let me put these in the post office, and we can go get lunch?”

It was too nice of a day to sit inside, so the pair opted for takeaway and a nearby park. He avoided speaking about work, the conference, or anything too serious, waiting for Anna to finish her food first.

“What’s up.”

“Nothing.”

“That’s ok.”

“It’s .. just… I miss home.”

Eric didn’t know what to say. There really wasn’t anything he could do. They headed home in silence, got on with packing for the convention, and went to bed early.

The next day, they headed out to the airport.

Anna had never been on an airplane before, and had been relatively excited about the views from up high. She was also fairly skeptical about powered flight without the ability to cast magic, but a few internet searches later and she’d come to the conclusion that if you threw anything fast enough, it looked like it was flying.

The flight went without incident or turbulence, and within a few hours they were safely hidden away in a hotel room, paid for by Anna’s employers. They even had staff badges, and Anna was amused by how excited Eric was by that tiny bit of laminated card. Meanwhile, Anna got given a schedule. She had a showcase match on day two, along with a meet the fans, but the rest of the conference they had to themselves.

It was one of those conferences that had started out small and had eventually grown to encompass completely unrelated fandoms. In other words, a gigantic exhibition of consumer culture, plus three nights of getting wrecked in the hotel.

Eric was looking forwards to it. There were some panels he wanted to attend, a few artists he wanted to meet, and with the extra money he’d been making at work, he would be able to buy things too. He hadn’t been to a convention in several years, and was just a little bit excited for the utter chaos that would ensue.

Anna wasn’t as excited. For her, it was work. Worse still, it would be a long reminder of how little she knew about Eric’s life and Eric’s world. TV shows she’d never heard of. Movies everyone else talked about. She had done a little bit of research ahead of time and as a result was filled with dread over the meet-the-fans event. It was nice to see Eric excited, and it was fun to go somewhere new, but she knew that after a day or two she’d be desperate to escape.

To make things worse, Anna would be spending at least one day ‘in costume’. It was waiting for her at the hotel. She’d planned to ignore it, or pretend it had been damaged, but somehow Eric talked her into trying it out.

“It might be fun? You might look cool?”

“Uhuh.”

“You should at least see if it fits.”

Anna pouted back, but she did see his point, and it wouldn’t hurt to check.

A few minutes later, she was standing in front of a mirror, a little surprised at her appearance. She’d expected some skimpy outfit, or something rather impractical, but it was surprisingly comfortable. There was even a gap for her tail.

“How do I look?” Anna knew the answer already. Eric was a little in awe.

“Like a warrior.” Eric nodded back. “It really does suit you.”

“Uhuh.” Anna laughed. “I bet you say that to all the demons.”

“Shame they won’t let you use your real sword though.”

“Cowards.” Anna laughed. “Hmm. Maybe it will be ok.”

She was still a bit worried it might attract too much attention, but on the other hand, being able to walk around without hiding her horns, skin, or tail would probably make it worthwhile.

Anna woke up to find Eric already dressed and ready to go. She wanted to sleep in, but Eric pointed out it would be better to explore things before everyone else turned up. With some reluctance, she put on her costume and made Eric promise they’d come back to the hotel room for lunch.

It was a little weird.

Anna had expected to be pointed at, or at least a few fans to recognize her, but for the most part everyone was just going about their business. There were two reasons: people saw the costume and not the person, and secondly, she wasn’t the only person with horns, tail, or unusually purple skin.

Several other con attendees had turned up in cosplay, and a number of them had chosen to go as her. The ones in more revealing outfits garnered most of the attention, meanwhile Anna in a rather more practical outfit, didn’t turn as many heads.

One cosplayer waved her over and excitably took a selfie.

“I love your outfit!”

“Thank you!” Anna smiled back.

“Wow! You really look like the demon queen!”

“A few people have said that.” Anna tried not to laugh, “Your costume is great, too!”

“Are you going to watch her match?”

“I should be there, yes.” Anna nodded back. It was fun to not be recognised.

“I can’t wait to meet her.”

“I hear she loves the purple energy drink. You’ll probably get on her good side with a bribe like that.”

“Haha! Maybe I’ll give it a try!”

Eric was standing to one side, desperately trying not to giggle. He took a photo or two, sent the cosplayer a copy, and somehow managed to keep a straight face.

“You do look like the demon queen, Anna.” Eric couldn’t resist a bit of teasing.

“I guess so.” Anna laughed. “Everyone’s saying I look like her.”

“Well, you’ve had your fun. Let’s get lunch.” Anna replied.

The two retreated to their hotel room, and Eric was a little disappointed when Anna changed back into a more casual outfit. Instead of meandering around the convention centre, the two decided to explore the city for a little while.

“Hey! Are you the Demon Queen Streamer!”

“Um? Yes?”

“Can I take a selfie! Please”

It wasn’t until she put on a work hoodie and started chugging energy drinks that people began to realise she wasn’t pretending to be someone else. Eric found it hilarious.

Anna was less impressed, and quickly changed her appearance back to be a little more human, and was thankful that once again people stopped being able to recognize her.

Day two was a bit more gruelling.

She decided to adorn the costume again, but it didn’t have the effect she wanted. People still stopped her and there was at least one slightly obsessive fan who wouldn’t stop talking at her. Her employer did at least come through on the promise of crates of energy drinks.

In the afternoon, Anna breezed through the competition, winning with ease. She did get to meet a few of her coworkers in person, and that was rather pleasant. They did ask for a selfie, but things were far more casual and relaxed. All of them were a little tired of being recognized and Anna was quite happy to spend an extra hour back stage, talking about nothing in particular.

It was the meet-and-greet that would prove the most difficult event of the day. Sitting in a booth, posing for selfies, and having the same thirty second conversation over and over quickly exhausted almost all of Anna’s patience.

Unfortunately, there was one event left. A panel with a few other professional streamers. It wasn’t fun. Up on stage, being watched, being questioned, sitting in a hot stuffy room wasn’t her idea of fun.

It was one thing to change her skin and hide her horns, but it was another thing entirely to pretend she was human under questioning. Anna struggled to remember what lies she’d already told, and ended up giving shorter and shorter answers.

In the end, she snapped.

“I’m Actually A Demon From Another World. Banished here for fighting the gods. This is my punishment. Earth. No more questions.”

Anna stood up and marched off stage. Thankfully, people just took it as her getting into character, like some sort of professional wrestler. Eric quickly took her back to the hotel room, where several crates of energy drinks were waiting.

At the end of day two, Anna really wanted to go home.

On day three, Anna decided not to go in costume, or more accurately, Anna used her magic to not stand out as much. She hid her horns, her skin, and picked out the one hoodie that wasn’t covered in energy drink logos. Eric did his best to keep her from stabbing anyone, and mostly succeeded.

She did almost snap someone’s hand, but thankfully security staff pulled the man away while he could still walk. It was that point that Eric realised how frustrated Anna had gotten.

It was well past time to go and hide in the hotel room.

Anna didn’t say much. She ordered several meals, and ate them one after the other. She stared at her phone and flicked through the tv. She tried napping, but was just too wound up to relax. Eric knew something was up, but figured it would be best to just stay quiet.

Eventually, Anna decided it was time to try talking about things. It wasn’t the convention that was winding her up, it was Earth. Although things had been fun, the Q&A session had been a blunt reminder that she wasn’t human.

She didn’t just want to go home to Eric’s apartment, she wanted to go Home. To her home.

“Eric?”

“Yeah.”

“If I find a way back home, would you come with me?”

Eric took a seat on the bed next to her, and took a moment to think about his reply.

“Probably. Every day I spend with you is the best day. I know that another few months of this, I won’t be able to imagine saying no. I think the hardest thing would be saying goodbye to Jessica, but she’d understand.”

Eric quietly laughed to himself, “She’d probably encourage me. She’d never forgive me if I let you go.”

Anna leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. “I’m going to sleep now. We’ll talk in the morning.”

In the morning, conversation didn’t really happen. Anna lay in bed, feeling like crap, and Eric packed up their things and got ready for the flight out that afternoon. They checked out the hotel early, and headed out to the airport.

A few giggles over a beer at an airport bar, a quick flight, a drive home, and Anna was finally back in her own bed. She fell asleep almost instantaneously.

Now rested and safely back in the apartment, Anna began to open up. Eric already had some idea of what the problem was. It was the same problem as before: Anna wanted to go home.

Eric had hoped that Anna might feel less alienated after a few days at the convention, but in hindsight realised how foolish he’d been. He’d hoped that a few days out of the ordinary would be entertaining but foam swords and skimpy bikinis weren’t anything like the life Anna had left behind.

“The Q&A was a bit rough…. “

“Yeah” Eric nodded back

“.. but it was the cosplays. That’s what got to me. People dressed as elves, or demons, or dragons, running around with swords.” Anna sighed. “That’s what set me off. It didn’t exactly remind me of home, but… it was enough.”

Anna saw Eric’s reaction, and felt she shouldn’t have said anything to begin with. She tried her best to explain.

“It’s not that I don’t like it here, but I miss everything. The food, the people. I also had a role to play back home, people to protect, things to fight for. Now I just have a costume, a webcam, and a mouse to click.”

Eric didn’t take it personally, but he was a little sad that Anna hadn’t really found her feet.

“It’s just…” Anna sighed.

“I know, Anna. I know. This isn’t home. This can’t ever be home, and even if it could get close, you’d still be thinking about how to get back there.”

“yeah.” Anna just stared at her feet.

Eric couldn’t begin to imagine what it was like for her. Being dragged away from everyone she’d known, pushed into an unfamiliar and hostile world, without any means of support. It wasn’t ever going to be easy for her.

Yes, she had found a job, and yes, she’d made friends, but six months on earth couldn’t really compare to a lifetime elsewhere. Even if he did have a very fast internet connection.

They sat in silence for a minute or two. Eric offered Anna a hug, and Anna sat in his arms for a good few minutes more. She didn’t know what else to say.

It was Eric broke the silence.

“Do you have a plan for how to get home?”

“Magic.” Anna shrugged. “It’s how I got here, after all.”

“I mean, more than that? What can I do to help? Can I even do anything?”

Anna hadn’t really explained much about Magic, but that didn’t stop him from offering to help. Anna, on the other hand, couldn’t see how Eric could do anything particularly magic related.

Sure, she could maybe teach him a spell or two, but what use would a beginner be. Even twenty years might not be long enough for him to get up to scratch.

“Well, I don’t know.” Anna sighed. “Unless you can make a million calculations in your head, well…”

Eric was a little confused. Anna hadn’t really mentioned much about how magic worked, and she’d never mentioned calculations before. Even so, the answer felt rather obvious.

“I mean, does it have to be in my head?”

“What?”

“The computer. That’s what it does.”

Anna stared back. She’d long assumed that nothing on this world would really help her get home, and in doing do had completely overlooked the most obvious means. A computer. If it could simulate a battleground, it should be able to simulate magic, to some degree.

“You’re right. It does. Hahahah! It does!”

Eric smiled back. He wasn’t sure exactly how a computer could help, but he was relieved to see that Anna was back to her old excitable, cackling self. He figured it would be a good time to ask a little bit more about spells.

“So… magic is based on numbers?”

“Of course. Well. Some magic is. You see…”

Anna began running through the basics. There was mana, mana was a form of energy that could be directed. Spells either used ambient mana, or your own mana, and spells could be cast externally or internally.

Certain people had different affinities, mana could have slightly different alignments, but for the most part, casting a spell effectively meant learning to control, measure your mana, and then carefully mixing things together in specific ratios and in specific ways.

“… so with inscriptions, it’s more like you cut a path for the mana to follow, and how the lines connect determine ..”

“Like a circuit?”

Anna blinked. “I guess, but… Oh.”

In that moment she realised how foolish she’d been. It wasn’t just computers she’d skipped over. There might even be other skills that would help.

There was still so much technology in this world that she didn’t understand, and that she had totally ignored it when it came to solving magical problems. She also realised there was an easy solution to both of these problems: Eric.

“Right.” Anna announced.

“Right?”

“I’m going to teach you magic.”

Eric did not expect that. Anna had told him how pointless such an act would be. He wasn’t sure why she’d changed her mind.

“What? Like casting spells?”

“Eventually. You’re going to learn all the theory, and then you’re going to help me design a spell to get me home. With the aid of a computer, too.”

Anna pulled him in for a hug once more, her tail curling around him. She was overjoyed, she finally had some plan to get home, and not only that, she would have help too.

It might take months, it would probably take years, but eventually she’d get home and finish that fight with the goddess.

The next day, Anna was excited to get started on Eric’s education. Unfortunately she had forgotten that Eric had other obligations.

“I need to go to work, Anna.”

“This is more important.”

“I need to pay rent.” Eric sighed. “And I need to buy food, too.”

“I can do both of those.”

Eric paused to think. Anna did get paid substantially more than he did. His job wasn’t as fun as it used to be. Learning magic was a once in a lifetime opportunity. He would be completely foolish not to jump at the chance.

“Ok, but…”

Anna pouted.

“Let me talk to April, and June too. I can’t just drop everything.”

Eric managed to coax Anna into letting him go to work, but Anna demanded that she would come too. If anything he could listen to her lectures while he put things in boxes.

April was amused to see Anna tagging along, but didn’t say anything. When June arrived for lunch, Eric decided it was time to broach the subject.

“So…. April.. June. I think it’s time I move on. Working in the basement isn’t as fun as I’d hoped, April has gotten the hang of the system too, I don’t think it’ll be too hard to find someone to fill in the gaps.”

“So, in other words, you want to quit, right?” June smiled. “I thought this would happen. What do you think, April?”

“Well…. I guess I can manage on my own for a while… but… “ She looked at her mother, “Someone needs to watch the till and someone needs to pack the books up.”

A small staring match ensued.

June cracked first.

“Two days. I’ll do the online orders for two days. I’ll do the till for two days, until you find someone else.”

“We’ll do a four day week. Close the store on friday and only do online orders.” April made a counter offer. “You take mornings on the till, I’ll take afternoons on the till, and we both do packing on Friday.”

“Hmm. Deal.”

Anna was smiling. “So when can I get my minion back? Today?”

Eric laughed. “Today?”

“Is it that urgent?” June asked.

“Yes.” Anna replied.

June stared at her daughter. “I’m fine with it if she is.”

“Fine. Well. I guess this calls for a celebration. You can leave, but only after another glass of wine!” April announced.

Eric had expected the pair to haggle, pushing for a month of notice, perhaps more. He didn’t expect to be allowed to drop everything.

“Surprised, Eric?”

“Well, yes?”

“I’m not. April here has been taking on all the fun stuff you used to do. I honestly expected you to quit a few months ago. I take it that Anna will be the breadwinner now?”

Anna nodded back. “He is the minion, after all.” She laughed. “Now go fetch the wine.”

“That said, can we borrow him from time to time. Just in case of emergencies, covering the till, that sort of thing. No more than one day a week, if that.” June wasn’t entirely ready to let Eric go.

Anna nodded back. “Sounds good.”

Eric thought about interrupting, but he realised that he didn’t really have much choice in the matter. He sighed, and went to get the wine as ordered, hoping that nothing else would be agreed in his absence.

In the end, Anna realised that she’d need to prepare things to teach Eric properly, so decided it would be best if he didn’t quit his job just yet.

“Wait? What?” Eric caught the tail end of the discussion.

“Anna has graciously allowed us to keep you for the rest of the week, and then you’ll come in every friday, until we find someone else to help.” April laughed. “Sound good?”

The boozy lunch continued on till late afternoon. June and April wanted to hear all about Anna’s adventures at the convention, and she rattled off how things had gone. She even mentioned snapping in front of an audience, too.

“You know, if you told me you were an otherworldly demon, I’d believe it!” June laughed. “Who else could steal my beloved minion away!”

“Mom!” April scowled. “He would have left anyway, given how little you paid him!”

Eventually the wine ran dry and it was time to go home. Anna dragged Eric back to the apartment in a hurry. She’d already worked out what his first lesson would be.

“Here", Anna was holding her sword. “Take this.”

Eric did as requested.

“Now, Give me your other hand.”

Anna grabbed his fingers and bit down hard. She carefully squeezed out a drop onto the blade.

“Now, Feel anything?”

Eric shrugged. His finger hurt, but he assumed that wasn’t what Anna meant.

“Try holding the sword, and imagine it curling around your wrist.”

It was a very basic spell. The sword could reshape itself if the owner desired it. She hoped it would give Eric a taste of the feel of magic, and get him hooked. She didn’t realise that Eric would have preferred going into the theory first.

“I… I?….” Eric did feel something. Like the sword was connected to him. “It feels like my hand, my arm even, is a little longer, heavier.”

Anna rolled her eyes. “Ok. Now, sit down, concentrate, and don’t give up. I’ll come check on you in an hour.”

“An hour?”

“Maybe longer. I’m not sure how long it will take you to forge a bond. You need to have a clear mental image, you need to have an empty mind, free of distractions, you need…”

Anna stopped. The sword had reformed around Eric’s wrist, into a small metal bracelet.

“You did it?”

“I did?” Eric looked down. “I did!”

Anna was a little impressed. It usually took a little longer to break in a weapon, especially for someone with no magical experience or ability.

“May I ask, what did you do?”

“I… Er…” Eric looked a little sheepish. “I imagined I was protecting you and umm..”

Anna smiled back. “Aww. Such a good minion.” She kissed him on the forehead. “Now get to practicing. I want to see you make the sword change back again.”

Eric nodded, and went off to try his best. Getting the sword to reform wasn’t as easy, and it did take him a few hours to be able to get it to appear and disappear on demand. In the meantime, Anna was furiously writing up the basics of magical theory.

“Eric. Come here.”

“Anna?”

“Read this. Practice the sword while you do.”

Eric looked over the scrawled out notes. Anna had written it in her native language, and it wasn’t too easy to follow. The real issue was, it looked very, very simple.

“Um. This is a times table. Right?”

“A what?”

“Twelve times twelve. A hundred and forty four. Eight squared. Sixty four.”

Anna stared back in disbelief, then caught herself doing so. She realised that Eric’s world placed a lot more value in reading and writing, and in numeracy too.

“Wait. How much number stuff do you know?”

“I had to work on a till for five years. I can do a lot of basic stuff in my head.”

“Basic?”

Eric tried not to laugh. “One moment.”

He went to his room, dug through the back of his closet, and found his old college textbook.

“I had to study algebra.” He handed the book to Anna. “I’m a bit rusty, but, well, this is the stuff I know. Or used to know.”

Anna flicked through the textbook. She made a very weird face while she did so. She looked up and saw that Eric was smirking.

“Get back to practicing, Minion.”

“Yes, your majesty!” Eric gave a small curtsey.

“It’s General to you, Cadet.” Anna stuck her tongue out.

The book wasn’t the most well written, but Anna did find a few things that were a little familiar. Finding the area of a shape. Handling the rate of change of a spell formula. There was even a whole chapter on symmetry.

She really had underestimated the world around her. Anna began to laugh, then started to cackle. Eric looked over with a smug smile and Anna stared back at him.

“Practice.”

“Yes, General.”

Anna went back to the textbook. Page one. There was a lot to learn, and hopefully she’d be able to use some of it in her magical theory work.

That was why she’d burst out laughing. She might return home a little stronger at magic, despite being stuck in a world without it.

Maybe a few more months on Earth wouldn’t be so bad.

“ERIC!” Jessica was banging on the door. “ERIC!”

She’d gotten a text from Emma. Eric had quit his job. She wanted to know why, and more importantly, she wanted to know why Eric hadn’t told her.

Anna opened the door. Jessica had a feeling that Anna was the answer to both of her questions.

“He’s busy, but come in.”

“Hey Anna.” Jessica looked around the apartment. “Where is Eric?”

“He’s practicing in his room.”

“Practicing what?”

“Magic?” Anna answered as if it were entirely obvious.

“Magic?” Jessica repeated back. “Wait. How. What.” She paused. “I want in, too!”

Anna began to explain her plan. She wanted to get home, it would take a very complicated spell to do so, and she expected to do pages and pages of calculations to get it to work. Jessica was more interested in how exactly Magic would work, despite being on Earth.

“There is a little mana here, not much, but trace amounts. Some things seem to be a little more magical than others. Things like blood magic, soul magic, or enchanted items will work without fail, but stuff like elemental magic probably won’t work at the same scale.”

“Oh.” Jess nodded along, pretending that she understood the implications. “But where does Eric come in?”

“Magic involves an awful lot of calculation.” Anna replied. “Eric made me realise I could use a computer to do it for me.”

Jessica’s eyes lit up.

“I. Want. In.” She grinned. “You’ll need my help, anyway. Eric’s just not as good at the computer stuff as I am.”

“Wait.” Anna was a little surprised. Jessica had never mentioned such skills. “Really?”

Eric was the one to answer her question.

“She works from home, she’s a programmer. She hates her job and never wants to talk about it.”

He had heard the commotion and had overheard the last of the conversation.

“… I was going to tell you about it, but I forgot in the rush.” Eric shrugged. “Sorry.”

Jessica scowled at him.

“You quit your job! You’re learning magic! And You Don’t Think To Tell Me?”

“I… was going to. I only started last night. Anna’s been making me practice!” Eric began to explain.

“Practicing? Already?” Jessica was pouting.

“Yeah…err… she gave me this sword…” Eric made the sword appear in his hand. “And I’ve been learning to control it.” He made the sword vanish.

“YOU GOT A SWORD, TOO?” Jessica was utterly jealous. She turned to Anna. “I WANT IN. AND I WANT A SWORD, TOO! I’M YOUR SISTER!”

Anna tried not to laugh, and failed.

“Fine, fine. You can learn too. In fact. It’ll be good for Eric to have a sparring partner at his own level.”

“Wait, what?” Eric was confused. “Sparring?”

“For the sword, Eric.” Anna looked back. “Of course.”

Jess was grinning. “I’m gonna learn to use the sword?”

“Of course.” Anna shrugged. “It’s a great focus aid for magic. Some of the simplest spells are body reinforcement, and they….”

Jess almost shouted in glee. “I’M GONNA LEARN THE SWORD!”

Anna looked over to Eric with a ‘What did I get myself into’ look. Eric looked back with a ‘You should have known.’