It had been one year since Anna arrived, and Jessica demanded a celebration party. Predictably, June was the first to arrive.

“Where’s the birthday girl!” June had a bottle of wine in one hand, and a glass in the other.

“Out the back.” Eric laughed. “It’s not her birthday, either. Give me a second, I was about to head out.”

He went back to the kitchen, grabbed two boxes of snacks. One for the guests, one for Anna, clearly marked, and accompanied June to the communal area at the back of his apartment block.

Outside, Jessica and Anna were practicing swordplay. It was very obvious to anyone watching that one of them had a lot more experience.

“Oooh! That looks fun!” June laughed. “April said you’d been playing with swords, but I thought it was just for play!”

“Oh, Anna’s not taking it seriously, not yet, anyway.” Eric laughed. “She’s taking it easy today.”

Eric began unloading the snacks on the table, making sure to throw a chocolate bar in Anna’s direction. She caught it without looking, or breaking her stance. Meanwhile, June began setting out glasses and pouring wine.

“Already June? It’s not even lunch time.” Eric grabbed a glass, “Not that I’m complaining.”

“I can see that. Anyway, it’s not a birthday party?” June asked. “April said it was a birthday party.”

“It’s been one year since Anna came back, and…” Eric pointed to the sisters with swords, “one year since those two were reunited. Not a birthday, but an anniversary of sorts.”

“That’s good then. Wine’s good for anniversaries, too.” June shot Eric a look, “Speaking of things with an anniversary…. isn’t it about time… you know…”

“I’m waiting for the right time, June.” Eric replied.

“Eric, Eric, Eric.” June shook her head. “That’s your problem. You wait. You sat in my mouldy book store without a care in the world, never asking for change. You can’t keep waiting for Anna to make the first move.”

“She is rather good at it, though.” Eric pointed to the current spar.

“Do you have..” June began to whisper. “The ring?”

“Yeah.” Eric nodded back.

He’d been mulling over proposing to Anna for the last few months, but had never found the confidence to ask. He’d bought a ring, that part was easy, he just didn’t know what to say, or how to say it to Anna. He hadn’t meant to tell June about his plans, but she had a knack of asking the right questions, and just wouldn’t let things lie.

“Well. I’m tired of waiting.” June laughed. “ANNA! ERIC HERE HAS SOMETHING TO SAY!”

“June?” Eric hissed. “I was going to wait until later. I was…”

“Like having a crowd will help.” June took his wine away. “Get to it.”

Eric sighed.

“Fine… I…” He knew she was right. He was just scared.

“Eric? Oooh! Snacks, which ones are mine!” Anna bounced over to the pair.

“That one, but, that’s not what I wanted to say.”

“MMppfh?” Anna had her mouth full of chocolate. “Mmmgp?”

Jessica took a seat next to June. “Is that wine?”

“Let me pour you a glass, but don’t drink it yet.” June began. “You’ll see.”

“June?” Jessica was surprised. It was very out of character for June. “What’s…”

She saw Eric get down on one knee. “Oohhhh.”

Anna had no idea what was going on. Eric wasn’t saying anything, he was kneeling in front of her, and he was fumbling with a small box in his hands. Seeing June and Jessica’s reactions didn’t help to clear things up, but she did figure something important was happening.

“Eric?” Anna was still eating. “Did you drop something?”

“Anna… I…. Um…” Eric coughed. “Will you marry me?”

Anna stared back at him.

There was a long, awkward silence. Or what felt like one.

“Stand up.” She announced, offering her hand to him. “Stand up.”

“Anna?” Eric was sure he was about to be rejected. He began to put away the ring.

“No, no.” She grabbed onto his hands. “Ask me now, on your feet, standing.”

For Anna, A marriage was a contract of equals. There wasn’t any need for Eric to act like a minion. That was how people made a pledge of fealty, not a declaration of love. To her, anyway.

For Eric, he was pretty certain that Anna was unhappy with him.

“I.. uh…” Eric was beginning to panic. “I uhhh….”

“Yes?” Anna hadn’t let go of his hands. “Ask me again.”

“Anna Spellman, will you marry me?”

“Yes.” Anna nodded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “What’s in the box?”

“It’s a ring.” He held it up for her to see. “It’s traditional, here.”

“Ohhh.” Anna held it up to the light to inspect. “Ohhh!”

Eric had gone a little all out. He’d designed the ring, it had a very simple spell engraved on it. It wasn’t that complicated, but he hoped she’d be a little impressed.

She began to push it onto her finger.

“Um, no. Let me, please?” Eric gently put the ring onto the correct finger. “It’s… It’s traditional.”

“Oh. Do you get a ring, too?” Anna was smiling.

Eric pulled out another ring, and pointed to his ring finger. “It goes here.”

“Are we done?” Anna laughed. “Or are there more traditions!”

“Just Wine!” June began to heckle.

“[I love you, Anna.]” Eric spoke very quietly, unsure of how his pronunciation.

Anna almost cried. “[I love you too.]”

“FINALLY” Jessica leapt up and grabbed both of them for a hug. “FINALLY. GOD. DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I’VE WAITED FOR YOU TWO TO…” She began to laugh. “Nevermind.”

“So, Wine anyone?” June had poured out four glasses. “A toast to the engagement!”

“To my gormless best friend and my beautiful sister. It’s about time. Congratulations!” Jessica raised her glass, and the others followed suit.

With the toast complete, June immediately began the interrogation. Asking why Anna hadn’t said yes immediately, asking what plans the two had made, when the wedding would be, and a number of other questions, all at once.

Anna explained her confusion over the kneeling, and Eric felt rather foolish about it. She wasn’t sure what came next, and so Eric took over answering questions. He also didn’t know, but he had a rough plan.

“I want to take a pre-emptive honeymoon. Anna has been wanting to travel, and I think it would be nice to go explore the world for a bit, then come back home for the ceremony.”

A few minutes later, April and Emma appeared. June had messaged them with the news. April and Emma’s reaction was very much the same as Jessica’s. One of relief and deadpan surprise. June began to ask about April’s plans for marriage but was quickly silenced.

Rachel appeared next, and like the others, she had figured something like this would happen eventually. She was just surprised that Eric had been the one to ask.

The party ramped up as more people joined the fray, friends from Eric’s old jobs, people from the local bar, a couple of Anna’s friends from the esports competitions. All gave their congratulations, and almost all of them repeated the same questions June had asked earlier.

All of them demanded a toast, too.

It wasn’t even the afternoon and Eric was already feeling pretty drunk. Anna wasn’t far behind him, either. Thankfully, no-one asked for a demonstration of swordplay, although Jessica had suggested it several times, just to wind Eric up.

As the sun began to set, the party began to wind down. The plan had been to move onto the local bar, but given the quantity of alcohol consumed already, the plan became moving back inside, and quietly wrapping things up.

At the end of the night, it was just the usual suspects. June, April, Emma and Rachel had been asked to stay back for another announcement.

“So… Um…”

It was Anna’s turn to be nervous.

“Well. It’s been one year since I arrived, and you’ve all shown me such kindness, and I… I have something to say… well.. it’s probably easier to show you.”

With a wave of her hand, Anna’s horns and tail appeared. Her purple skin, too. They’d all seen Anna in her purple skin before, but none of them had ever seen her transform.

“This isn’t really a costume, I.. um… I’m not really human… I…”

Anna trailed off, waiting for some reaction from the group.

June double checked her wine glass. April was a little shocked. Emma was in awe. Rachel, on the other hand, was rather more outspoken.

“I knew it! Well. Something like that. You’re just too good at video games.”

Jessica was the first to laugh. Quickly, the others joined in. Anna realised things hadn’t gone wrong, and couldn’t help but giggle.

“Wait… Wait. The demon queen… is a demon?” Rachel began. “Wait. Is that why Jess made us wear horns?”

Jessica nodded. “Yep. It worked, didn’t it.” She was quite proud of herself. “Oh, and don’t ask to touch Anna’s horns or tail. That’s not going to end well. Trust me I know.”

“Wait.” June began, “That day, that was you arriving? Waving a sword outside the bookstore?”

Anna nodded back.

June began her second interrogation. Where had Anna come from, was Anna her real name, and she wasn’t the only one who had questions.

“Anna? Did … can you just transform or… um, this sounds very silly, but, can you use magic?”

It was Emma who finally asked the question on everyone’s mind.

“Yes. I guess you can call it that.”

“Right. That’s it for me.” June interrupted. “I know you’ve had a very long day, and I can’t imagine how difficult this was for you. Thank you for letting us in on this secret.”

She stared at April, then Emma, then Rachel.

“I think it’s a good time to let the engaged couple get some rest. Don’t you?” June turned to Jessica. “You too, Jessica.”

The conversation wrapped up quickly. All promised not to tell anyone else, all of them had hundreds of more questions to ask, but knew it could wait.

“I wonder if the bar is still open?” June began. “Anyone up for one last drink on our way home?”

“How about tomorrow?” Anna offered. She also wanted to talk a little more, but also wanted to collapse for the evening. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions.”

“Sure.” June began to round up the troops. “Come on, let’s leave them to it.”

After everyone left, Anna and Eric sat on the sofa, and let out a very long sigh simultaneously. Then they giggled at each other.

“Long day.” “Tell me about it.”

Eric grabbed Anna’s hand.

“Worth it, though.”

Tomorrow they would explain the awkward details, specifically Anna’s plans to return home. It would a lot to take in, and they were both glad to have a break from the near constant questioning that day.

“Eric?”

“Yes?”

“Are there any earth traditions for…um… the first night of a proposal?”

“No… um….” Eric’s brain was exhausted.

“Well, there are from my world.” Anna leaved over and kissed him. “I hope you’re ready.”

Eric awoke with a splitting headache, and rolled over in bed to find that Anna had already woken up. Stumbling into the kitchen, he found Anna hunched over the table, and went in for a closer look.

“What the?” The two rings he’d made were glowing. Yes, he’d put some enchantments on them, but nothing that fancy.

“Oh you’re up!”

Anna excitedly grabbed his hand and pulled it to her mouth. Eric had gotten used to being randomly bitten, so barely reacted. Sometimes it felt like her second favourite drink was his blood.

Anna poured a drop of his blood, and a drop of her blood onto the rings, in what Eric assumed to be some form of ritual. Anna didn’t bother to explain, she was just too busy focussing on the spell. Eric didn’t ask, he knew an explanation would come eventually.

“There.” She put his ring back on his finger.

“Let me.” He did the same with her ring.

No explanation arrived. Anna was just grinning at him, and Eric realised he’d have to ask.

“So, um. What did you do?”

‘[Fetch me a drink, Minion.]’ He heard Anna’s voice in his head.

Eric was still a little bit fragile from last night and it took him a while to realise what had happened. Seeing his confused expression, Anna just grinned at him, and nodded towards the fridge.

He did as requested and fetched her an energy drink.

“Did you just, uh…?” The word he was looking for was telepathy, but it wasn’t entirely accurate.

“I strengthened the blood bond between us, using these as amplifiers.” Anna looked at him, waiting for a reaction. “Try it.”

“Try what?” Eric just looked at the ring on his finger, wondering if he had to push a button.

“Just think about me.” Anna replied. “Words are harder, but images should be easy enough, just think about… oh. Oh. Oh. Wow. Eric.”

Eric blushed.

“I.. um. You’re naked.” A very vivid mental image had been sent across the link. “It’s kinda hard not to think about …”

Eric stopped talking. Anna had returned fire. She was far more practiced at sending imagery and had just sent him a very explicit scene, complete with sound effects. He wasn’t sure if she’d also sent him an emotion or two.

“… that. stuff.”

Every question running through his head had been firmly pushed to one side. Eric was finding it very difficult not to think about exactly one thing. Judging by her smirk, Anna was thinking very similarly.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her back to the bedroom, or tried to. There was a loud knock at the door.

“Crap. Jessica. I’ll get rid of her.” Eric grabbed the clothes from last night, and fumbled back to the front door. “Jessica, not so loud. I’m hungover.”

Jessica hadn’t been made to drink a toast every 30 minutes, and so was in far livelier spirits. She pushed open the door and invited herself inside.

“I’m ready for practice!” Jessica looked around. “Where’s Anna?”

“In bed.”

“Is she ok?” Jessica was a little surprised. Anna didn’t get hangovers.

“She’s fine, um.” Eric stopped. Anna was sending him another image. “Can we call it for today, maybe come back at lunch….” Another image. “Maybe after lunch?”

“Oh? I guess.” Jessica went over to the tv. “Well, I can wait here until you two feel better. I finally got the simulation working last night. Fixed the last bug… I thought Anna would be excited….”

She’d gotten into the habit of turning up for morning practice sessions, and didn’t think that today might be a bit special for the happy couple.

“We’re wanting some… alone time.” Another image. “So… if you don’t mind.”

“Oh?” Jessica finally got the hint. “Oh….” She gave Eric a knowing smirk. “I see.”

“Yes.” Eric guided her back to the front door. “We’re going to be busy.”

“Don’t explain it.” Jessica rolled her eyes. “Fine. Fiiine. I’ll go practice by myself.”

“Thank you.” Eric was slowly closing the door.

“I also wanted to mention…” Jessica began. She knew full well what was up but was enjoying being in the way, just a little.

“Jessica. Later. Busy. Please.” Eric still had a hangover. “Later?”

“Fine.” Jessica stopped short of the door. “Just one thing. Actually important.”

Teasing could wait, but she did have something important to share.

“What?”

“When we meet up tonight, I was thinking I should arrive a little early, soften the blow, check things are ok. I know it seemed like everyone was ok with it, but, well, they were all drunk. I’m sure June’ll be fine but…”

Eric nodded back. “Sure, but can it wait? I’m hungover and my wife to be is waiting for me in bed.”

“Don’t need to be so explicit, Eric.” Anna threw her hands up. “Fine. I’m going.”

“Thank you. I’ll call you, ok?” Eric was finding it rather hard to concentrate. Anna hadn’t stopped sending him explicit thoughts.

“Fiiine. You’re also buying me lunch.” Jessica walked off without waiting for his answer.

It was mid afternoon before the happy couple surfaced, and Jessica was a little unimpressed.

“So much for lunch.”

“Well, shall we go out and grab something?”

“I guess.” Jessica wanted to do more study, or more practice.

“Burger?” “Fine, Burger.”

The three filed into the local bar, grabbed a quiet spot, and waited for food to arrive. Jessica brought her laptop with her, and couldn’t resist showing off her progress.

Simulating mana wasn’t the most straight forward of computations. It was a bit like doing high energy physics except none of the calculations were the same. That, and there wasn’t really a text book to work from.

Progress was slow, but Anna was still impressed. She’d been trying to design some sort of mana measurement device, and Jessica had saved a few months of trial and error. It would still be a long time before any serious spells could be designed, but it did feel like she was getting closer to her goal. A spell to return home.

Something she hadn’t really mentioned to Jessica. Anna really wasn’t sure if Jessica would keep working on the program if she knew what the end goal was. Even so, Anna was planning to explain things.

As the discussion on magic wrapped up, Eric noticed the time.

“Should we tell the others we’re here.” Eric began. “I know you wanted to scope out how everyone felt, but… since we’re here…”

“About that.” Jessica sighed. “April and Emma are busy. Rachel is acting a little weird. I don’t think any of them will make it tonight.”

“June will probably turn up.” Eric sighed. “I’m sure of it. She’s too nosy…”

“Do I hear my ears burning?” June had arrived without any of them noticing.

“Yes.” Eric nodded. “We were just saying, you’d be here for certain. Because you’re nosy.”

“I am, yes.” June took a seat. “I also know what Anna did was very difficult, and I’d like to be here as a friend.”

“A nosy friend.” Eric laughed. “I’ll get the drinks, shall I?”

June didn’t leap into questioning, instead she began to speculate on where the others might be. Rachel was a little shaken by the news that other worlds existed, and magic was real. She’d been in a little bit of a rut at work, wondering about her place in life, and discovering that Eric and Jessica and Anna had been keeping things from her made her feel a little depressed.

“As for April? That’s easy. She’s just jealous. You know as well as I do that Emma had just the tiniest smidgen of a crush on Anna, so I don’t think you’ll have problems there. Those two are just out on a date. I think they’ll be normal about it. It is really Rachel I’m worried about.”

The others nodded.

“As for me, well, I still haven’t gotten over you stealing away my best minion, but knowing it was an otherworldy demon from beyond the stars does soften the blow a little. Only a little. I am a little amazed that Eric here managed to keep such a secret from me. I didn’t think it was possible.”

Now that June had shared the gossip, she felt entitled to ask for some information in return. She asked Anna about her original world, how she’d ended up falling to earth, and also asked about her plans to return, if any.

She hadn’t realised it but seeing the gloomy reactions of Eric and Anna, when compared to Jessica’s confused face, June realised she had stumbled onto an issue.

“I’m sure Anna will be sticking around, right?” Jessica asked. “Right?”

“I…um.” Eric began. “Maybe. It isn’t that simple.”

“It’s… complicated.” Anna sighed. “I love you all, I enjoy my time here, but… I really do miss home. There are things here I couldn’t imagine giving up, but there are also things back home that I could never leave behind, too.”

Anna sighed.

“When I first arrived, it was the only thing on my mind. I did find a place here, and you all helped with that, but I can’t shake the desire to return home. Not entirely. I still want to try, I don’t want to give up on it, not yet. There’s ….”

“That’s why…” Jessica interrupted. “I should have guessed. That’s why you’ve been teaching Eric magic, right? Isn’t it.”

She’d noticed that Eric wasn’t upset by the revelation, and instead had been nodding along in the background.

“You’re going to go with her, aren’t you?” Jessica asked. She already knew the answer.

“If I can.” Eric nodded back. “Yes.”

Jessica finished her drink. “I need to go home, have a lie down, have a think about things.”

She got up from the table. Eric went to chase after her, and caught her by the door.

“Jess…”

“Eric. I’m angry. You kept this from me. I do understand, but you need to understand that I’m angry right now. Ok? We’ll talk tomorrow.” She gave him a hug. “I just need time to my self.”

With a nod, Eric watched Jessica leave the bar. He slumped back to the table. June looked very guilty.

“Don’t leave too.” He sighed. “It’s not your fault.”

June nodded back. “I’ll get another bottle of wine.”

Anna felt awful. In just two days, she felt like she’d ruined everything.

“I like June.” Anna mumbled. She wanted to focus on the good parts of the evening.

“She’s a good friend.” Eric nodded back.

“I like the others, too.” Anna sighed.

“They’ll come around. Just might take a little longer than we’d hoped.”

“Yeah…”

As promised, June returned with two bottles of wine. She wasn’t sure how things were going to go, but figured it would be better to demonstrate that she was willing to stick around.

“Anyway, where were we. Ah. Yes. The happy couple. Have you two made plans for marriage ceremonies, yet?”

“Kinda.” Eric looked to Anna.

“Sorta.” Anna mumbled.

It was what they’d planned on talking about that evening, as a way to introduce the idea that Anna might not be sticking around.

“I want to travel, take Anna around the world, but we have an ulterior motive. We reckon that Anna isn’t the only person who’s been dumped here from another universe, and we want to go investigating.”

“This city isn’t really the most magical… I mean on a technical level.” Anna corrected herself. “I’ve done some calculations, it does seem like there are fluctuations, and there’s a high chance that we’ll find something useful at least.”

“For the return journey, right?” June nodded.

“Right.”

“I want to help.” June announced.

“Really?” Anna was a little surprised.

“Of course. Now, I might not be good at computers, but I am very very good at books. Old books especially. Much better than anyone else at this table, even the minion.”

Eric nodded back. June did speak several languages, and had a real knack for tracking down out of print and rare books. She was great at hunting down information, not just gossip.

‘She can help.’ Eric sent Anna a reassuring message across the bond. ‘She’s good at this.’

“Now, you might not know this but the book store used to be an occultist shop. Mostly silly knick-knacks and random hippie crap, but there are the odd bits and pieces that might help. Tell me what I should be keeping an eye out for, and I’ll tell you what I can find.”

Anna nodded back. She grabbed a pen and began sketching out a few symbols on a napkin.

“These sigils are part of summoning magic and transportation magic. If you see something like that, it might help. The other thing to look out for is…”

“People with horns and swords appearing out of nowhere…” June nodded back. “I figured.”

“That and people who disappeared and returned. There’s a concept of outworlders where i’m from. The gods often pull people out of one universe to live in ours. If you ask me, it’s because no-one else would fall for their trickery.” Anna snorted. “Anyway, that sort of thing….”

Anna went back to drawing a few more symbols on the napkin.

“Um.” June grabbed a notebook from her purse, “Can you draw out that last one again?”

Anna did as requested, filling in a little more detail. “There’s usually some sort of circle attached. These other….”

June snatched the book back and stared blankly for a second or two. Flipping to the earlier pages, then flipping back.

“Anna. Do you recognize this?” June held up her journal. There was another sigil scrawled out in pencil.

“Yes.” Anna nodded. “I think so? Can I take a closer look?” Anna began sketching out the components of the circuit drawn, trying to jog her memory. “Where did you see it?”

“I didn’t” June explained. “Years ago, back when the book store was more witch themed, a customer came in and asked me some very odd questions. Asking for books that had symbols like that in them. Amongst other things. Came back once or twice, nice chap…”

Anna was staring at the symbols. “Eric. Can you check my working?”

“I can try.”

He looked at what she’d drawn and understood maybe five or ten percent of it at most.

“It looks um. You said this was a regulator and uhh….” Eric wasn’t sure, but it really did look like someone had adjusted the sigils to work with the local mana. Something Anna had been experimenting with already.

“Did he leave anything else?” Anna asked.

“I’ll have to check my real notes.” June reached for her journal. “I’ll bring you a copy when I find them. I’m afraid I can’t just leave this with you.”

“Thank you, June.” Anna was smiling.

Something good had come of today, after all.

Now drunk and wobbling, both Eric and Anna made their way home. They stopped in the nearby park, sat on the swings for a few minutes, not really talking about anything in particular, just enjoying the moment.

Eventually, they made it back to the apartment.

Jessica was sitting outside their front door, busy hacking away on the laptop.

“Jessica? Are you ok?”

“Yep.” She didn’t look up from her laptop. “One sec.”

Eric had seen this before. He guessed that Jessica had thrown herself into coding to distract herself, and gotten wrapped up in a problem. She must have found something interesting, he assumed, or she shouldn’t have waited up for them.

He opened the door, sent Anna inside, and sat down next to Jessica.

“Almost done, Eric.”

“I know. Need a drink?”

Jessica didn’t answer. Her code had finally run and come back with the answer she wanted.

“You have beer from yesterday, right?”

“Yep. Do you want to talk out here first or ….”

“Eh. Like it matters” Jessica shrugged.

“How about we have one beer out the back, then…”

Jessica shut her laptop and walked into the apartment. She took a seat opposite Anna, and looked at Eric. He grabbed three beers and placed them on the table.

“Now. I have two things to say.” Jessica took a deep breath. “First up: I’m not angry that you’re leaving, I understand that. I’m angry you hid it from me, and I’m angry that you didn’t ask me if I wanted to come.”

Jessica didn’t wait for a response.

“Anyway. It’s fine. I’m not mad anymore. I also don’t know if I’ll join you, but I would have liked the option. With that said, here is the second thing. If I had known what you two were up to, I could have done my work a lot quicker.”

She pouted. “That’s probably what pisses me off the most. If you want my help, you need to put your cards on the table.” She sighed. “I mean, you need to tell me everything, ok?”

She looked at Eric for a response.

“Ok.”

She looked at Anna.

“Ok.”

Jessica nodded back. “So, I had a break through with the programming. I realised that you’ve been trying to simulate how magic worked on your original world. Not how magic works here. That was why none of the spells worked out too well. They needed much more mana. Take this symbol.”

She pointed to her laptop. Eric and Anna just stared back.

“What?”

Anna pulled out the napkin from earlier. “This?”

Jessica scowled. “How … What?” She flicked over to another screen, with a very similar sigil to the one on the napkin.

“June showed it to us.”

“Wait. Wait. Really?” Jessica began. “Wait. Is June actually an immortal vampire?”

Eric laughed. “No. Someone came into the shop years ago, asking about those two things. She’d written it down in her notebook. You know her and unsolved mysteries. She likes to hang on to those things.”

“Oh.” Jessica was looking at the napkin, and began typing things into her laptop. “It’s not bad, but I think my sigil’s a little more efficient. You see…”

Eric smiled. Jessica had already surpassed him in magic theory. He did his best to nod along as both she and Anna began talking through the finer points and calculations involved.

Anna seemed relieved too. Although the night hadn’t gone exactly to plan, he did feel like he was a little closer to his goal.

“Anyway…. What else have you two been hiding from me.”

“Well.” Eric began. “Anna and I are planning to travel for a few months, scope things out, see what information we can find. I was planning to tell you that, too.”

“But not invite me. Right?”

“It started off as a pre-emptive honeymoon. That and Anna’s employers want her to go to a few conventions and tournaments overseas… we figured….” Eric stopped. “Jessica, do you want to come with us?”

“No. I hate travelling. I don’t like conventions much either.” She laughed. “Thank you for asking. Anyway. What else. You two have been throwing knowing glances at each other all day. Something else is up.”

“Well…” Eric wasn’t sure how to explain it. He looked to Anna for help.

“I may have bonded my soul to Eric’s when we first arrived.” Anna explained. “Just a little bit of blood magic.” She held up her ring. “These boost the effect too. We can sort of send each other thoughts.”

“Oh.” Jessica stared at the two of them. “Is that why he can do magic despite not really understanding any of the theory?”

“A bit, yes.” Eric felt a little sheepish. “The sword helps too, but …”

“Right. Anything else?” Jessica folded her arms.

“Um.” Eric looked at Anna. She looked back. “I don’t think so. Anna wants to return home eventually, I plan to go with her, we’re linked via a magic spell, we plan to go travelling for a few months, and uh… oh. Yes.”

“What?”

“Soooo this morning… we were testing things out with sending each other thoughts and…” Eric began to giggle.

“Enough. Stop. Fine. Point made.” Jessica threw her hands up in protest. “But apart from those sorts of things, we’re good, yes?”

“Yes.”

Jessica let out a long sigh of relief. She didn’t want to stay angry at the two of them, and she did understand why they hadn’t let her in on the plans. It was an unhappy reminder of how close those two had gotten, and made her feel like a bit of a third wheel. Even so, it was good to clear things up.

It was also comforting to hear that Eric had cheated with magic. She didn’t feel like she was slipping behind.

Now she had let out her grievances, it was time to move on to other topics. Specifically the low attendance of tonight’s proclivities.

“Anyway. Moving on.” Jessica sighed. “I’m sorry about the minions. I expected better of them. Rachel especially. She hasn’t responded to my texts and….”

“It’s fine. I know it’ll take time.” Anna sighed. “I knew this might happen, but felt it was worth the risk. I’m glad June was ok with it, though.”

“Yeah. I am surprised though.” Jessica was smirking. “About June.”

“Really?” Eric replied.

“I really did think she was an immortal vampire.” Jessica laughed.