MY HEART DRUMMED IN my chest as I walked back up the stairs with Seth’s arm around me. What did he do? Why did he do that? What was he thinking?

My foot slipped on the wet stones. Seth steadied me before I could even begin to fall. He looked like an empty shell going through the motions.

We got to the next level and stopped. Seth turned me around to face him, brushed my cheek with his thumb but didn’t say a word. Did he believe what Lord Dralik had told him? Did he think I was using him for my own gain?

Vinsor ran toward us from the other side, no doubt wondering about the gunshot. I wanted to know about that too. Why did he kill Lord Dralik after we had already captured him? The whole point of doing this was to prevent deaths.

“What happened?” Vinsor asked as he came to a skidding stop.

“Lord Dralik brought the fairies here. I think I know how to track them down, but I need to go to my world to get a few things.” Seth didn’t move an inch as he said it, still holding me close, still touching my face. “In my world, we call people like him war criminals. There has to be some semblance of law even in war.”

“Shouldn’t we wait for Jill and Ricci to come back?” I asked. “Stores in New York are open all night, so it’s easier to go shopping.” I also wanted to hear their opinion on all of this.

“They don’t sell flamethrowers in New York. Unless we wanna keep nuking fairies, we’ll need something like a flamethrower to kill large numbers of them.” He pressed his forehead to mine for a second, then pulled away and looked down. “Those shoes are from my world, right? What size are you?”

I glanced at my feet, confused. Why did he care about my shoes? What had just happened? “I don’t know.”

Seth crouched next to me and gently lifted my foot, then took the shoe off, inspected it, and put it back on. What was the matter with him?

“Can you teleport us back to Ricci’s barn? My car isn’t far from it. I know where to get everything after we get there, but you should concentrate on looking for information on radiation and controlling the population of invading predator species.”

“Seth, can you take the goggles off?” Vinsor asked.

At least someone else realized how strange Seth was acting. Vinsor, of all people, could figure out what went wrong.

Seth pushed the yellow glasses up and met Vinsor’s eyes. After a minute of the two of them staring at each other, Vinsor gave a sharp nod and gestured for us to follow him out of the castle. Was that an approval of the plan? Vinsor was a great person, but sometimes, I wished he spoke his mind more often.

“Bralazin and I can watch the castle and get everyone settled while you two are away. If you are near a hardware store, please get masonry paint. We need to make the hospital easier to disinfect.”

The elves had already set up one of our larger popup tents against the wall, between two guard towers. It would be our landing bay until we could build something more permanent. The wooden board I used for attracting the arrivals from another world rested on the floor. A bag of extra clothes sat in the corner.

“We should change into something more casual for your world.” I rummaged through the stash and pulled out a dress for myself.

Seth found a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. He changed quietly, making me worry even more about him. I had the wooden medallions that would bring us back. Should I give one to Seth or hold on to it myself?

“Alright, I’m ready. Do I need to do anything?” Seth asked.

I shook my head, hung both amulets on my wrist, took his hand, and warped reality between the two worlds, dropping us into his. With every jump, it got easier and easier. The changes in the air didn’t bother me anymore.

Seth snapped his head back and forth as soon as he appeared in the barn. No one but us there, which was usually the case, unless we got caught by a police officer. Couldn’t happen twice in a row.

We only kept an old, unfinished, wooden table in the barn. No one stayed around to keep an eye on things, and any lock we could use wouldn’t stop a thief when the walls could snap in half with minimum effort.

“Where’s your car?” I asked, not wishing to waste too much time. Every minute here counted for twenty in my world. The longer we stood around, the longer the fairies had to grow their numbers.

Seth took my hand and pulled me toward the door. “It’s hidden in the bushes a few minutes’ walk from here. Do you wanna go shopping with me or should I drop you off at my place, so you can do your research in peace and quiet?”

“Do you have internet?” It would help a lot. Sitting in cafes for hours and trying not to attract attention was never easy.

“I do,” he answered. “Actually, you can help me pack too.”

We sprinted to his car through the low brush that made me regret wearing a dress. The branches tried to rip through my skin, and Seth kept pushing forward. I had never seen him like this, not that I had known him for long, but in the few days I had, he was always gentle and playful. This intensity scared me.

“Seth, what happened to you?” I snapped when we finally got to his car.

He froze and looked back at me, his brows drawn together.

“I’m sorry. I’ll go back to normal soon, I promise.” He didn’t make a move to get in. Just stood there, looking at me. Why couldn’t he just say something already? “Did you wanna keep the child?”

My stomach twisted into knots. What had Lord Dralik told him? “I… It was a long time ago.”

“Nasi.” A glimpse of his old self showed through as he walked toward me and pulled me to his chest. “I’m sorry. I wish you didn’t have to see me like this.”

“I’m worried about you.” I hugged him back. “I don’t understand what happened to you.”

“I’ll be fine.” He gave me a weak smile. “Now, let’s get you back to my place. I’ll feel better after I finish shopping.”

Seth opened the door for me and helped me into the car, then walked around to his side. As soon as we got on the road, his hand found mine and held it all the way to a house on the edge of the city.

I had never seen anyone living in a house this size. Ricci and Jill used to have small apartments in New York, and now that they mostly lived in my world, they’d shrunk it down to sharing Jill’s and even that only so we could have a safe space to teleport to.

“This is nice.”

He had an attached two-car garage on the side of the house. The door automatically moved upward, and we pulled in. Plastic shelves lined the walls. From top to bottom, tools filled the room.

I smiled to myself. Neither Ricci nor Jill knew much about building, but Seth was so different from them, even if they grew up in the same world.

Seth smiled back at me, easier this time than when we had first come to his car. “Let me show you where everything is and what we need to take with us.”

He unlocked the door and let me into a cozy living room. This, too, looked completely different from our New York apartment. Where Jill and Ricci liked darker colors contrasted with splashes of something bright, Seth’s house was decorated in browns, oranges, and greens that made me think of fall.

“I got a few guns here.” He pointed at the safe. “The chest has winter clothes if we need it, and my summer clothes are in the bedroom closet.” He opened a massive hardwood chest that served as a coffee table and pulled out a long dark green bag. “Throw whatever you wanna take into this.”

Then he pointed at the posted note pinned to a corkboard. “The password for the internet. If you need to use my printer or laptop, go ahead. The laptop has the same password.”

“Thanks,” I said and got swept up into another hug.

“I’ll be back soon,” Seth promised, then tipped my head and gave me a short, sweet kiss.