“I was one of the last holdouts. Most of the men in power were spoken for and it is hard to predict, even for me, who will be pivotal and who will be pitiful. But I eventually found someone suitable.”

“I canNOT wait to try this food. Lisa, you have to taste this dip. It. Will. Change. Your Life.”

“Ooh ooh, looks yummy, pass it over here, Stace.”

“Wait a sec, just need to get a pic for Insta first. OK, one sec.

#cheatday, #omgsogood, #girlsnightout, #besties. With @lisatees and @jjacs42.

OK posted. Here you go.”

“Thanks Stace. Wow, that is good. Try mine. Wait, let me get a Snap.”

On and on this went for the entire first course. Next time I should remember not to agree to go to a tapas place until the world runs out of rare earth metals and we don’t have any smartphones left. My own food sat uneaten in front of me, not because I was trying to match Lisa and Stacy’s social media whoring, but because I hadn’t been able to keep anything down since yesterday’s fateful evening with Steve.

It should have been a momentous occasion: the discovery that the world wasn’t what it seemed, that there was something greater lurking underneath the veneer of everyday life. But no, Steve had to leave me with that final parting gift.

The jerk hadn’t even bothered to see if I was OK after the vomiting subsided. When I finally regained strength enough to stand, he was gone and I was alone. In fact, I had probably never felt more alone. And that was saying something.

I spent the entire night staring at the ceiling in my bedroom, afraid to fall asleep lest that green glow trap me in a never-waking nightmare. Why couldn’t he have let me enjoy the discovery of the truth for even a few hours, without revealing the darker, horrific side of magic?

I dragged myself to the office, exhausted, and spent the day trying to forget what I had learned and what I had seen. It didn’t work, no matter how many lines of code my eyes scanned through. I think I fell asleep in the Treehouse for at least an hour at some point, which was good, I guess. But back at my desk, the Quest Board was calling to me.

My mind had shifted into grief mode, a familiar setting, to process this new reality and I had already moved past denial and anger to bargaining.

“What if I just played it safe?” I asked myself. “I won’t go milling about in dark alleys late at night,” I declared. “You can’t get stabbed with a mystical knife if you don’t hang around in an area where the knife wielders are likely to be.” It was just another version of being street smart.

My mind continued warring with itself the rest of the day, one side never gaining enough will to either command my hand to click over to the Quest Board or delete the bookmark forever.

When the texts from Stacy and Lisa began pouring in about our dinner, I broke the stalemate and rushed out the door to meet them.

This was what I needed. A night of distraction. Even if I couldn’t tell them what was going on, just being with other people was enough for the moment, despite them probably ignoring me for most of the evening.

“JJ, have you lost weight? You look great!” cooed Lisa.

I hated that nickname. It’s not like my last name was long or unusual. It’s Jacobs, how much more nondescript could you get?

And yes, I had lost weight, thank you very much, all in the last 20 hours. I wish I never had met Steve.

“Oh, maybe just a little. Trying to eat smaller portions, you know.” I said sheepishly.

“Well whatever you’re doing, keep it up! Anyway, Stace, you should have seen the look on Brad’s face when he saw this month’s credit card bill, I swear…”

I tuned out Lisa’s latest wedding planning squabbling while moving the spoonful of orzo around on my plate. It had only been four months since their engagement, but it felt like that movie The Five-Year Engagement, what with the number of dress fittings, celebration drinks, celebration brunches, and other assorted celebrations that Lisa had concocted. For some reason, news of these outings always managed to trickle my way at the last minute, but I learned long ago that as the member of the trio with the least social capital, I should just be thankful that they were still even friends with me.

“JJ, what do you think of my new haircut? I’m trying something out for the wedding.”

I looked at Lisa’s hair, which looked indistinguishable from its normal look, but I knew better than to say that, so I studied her perfectly coiffed do for a few more seconds before answering.

“It looks cute!” I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster.

“No!” Lisa pushed away the rice balls she was eating in disgust. “I told the hairdresser I wanted to look hot, not cute! UGGH! I have half a mind to storm down to that salon right now and demand a refund. I swear, if they’re going to charge $650 for a cut, they damn well better…”

I ignored Lisa as she launched into a cavalcade of explicit and violent things she was going to do to her hairdresser, who, based on my three-word review, had done terrible, life-shattering damage to both Lisa’s hair and psyche. I sighed.

These were my friends. Not just my friends. My two best friends. My two only friends. Shoot me please. I only had myself to blame. Most people would jettison a bunch of self-centered vapid friends at the first opportunity. But not me. You know how sometimes the first people you meet freshman year of college end up being the ones that stick around the rest of your life? Yeah, well, I had the unfortunate privilege of running into these two during my first 20 minutes in Ann Arbor. They had ambushed me by my dorm room as I was fumbling with all of my luggage.

“Hi! I’m Stacy and this is Lisa.”

I had looked them over warily. They looked like they belonged to the popular set: hair and makeup perfect even though they had just spent hours unpacking, just in case someone important or cute walked by. I meanwhile looked like I had just woken up after a nine-hour bus ride.

“Hi, I’m Jen. Jen Jacobs.”

“Nice to meet you, JJ,” Lisa said. “Can I call you JJ? You look like a JJ.”

“Umm, sure, I guess. My mom used to call me J-”

“Perfect, then it’s settled. JJ, you’re coming with us. We spotted some cute boys hanging out in the lounge upstairs”

I relished these girls at first. Really. I had no one else in my life then except an aunt I hadn’t seen since I was a kid and some neighbors who made sure I wasn’t getting into any trouble those last few months before I left for college.

And they were nice to me. At least at first. They let me borrow their clothes, taught me about boys, and tried to be the older sisters I didn’t have. I perversely felt a sense of superiority whenever the three of us were strolling through campus.

But over time, the compliments turned backhanded, the slights started mounting, and my standing in the group began to decline. But I held on, as much as I could. What other choice did I have? There was no one else.

I felt a buzz in my pants pocket.

I pulled out my phone and nearly dropped it on the floor. The Quest Board had somehow opened on my phone and was displaying blinding, blinking pink text.

“Time for a new Quest?” it said.

I put my phone back in my pocket, my hand trembling. What was happening? It was like the Board knew what I had learned and was determined to wrap its tentacles around me and not let go.

My mind wandered back to the internal battle I had been putting off earlier. It was a bad habit I had accidentally picked up during a meditation class in college; instead of focusing on my breathing, I inevitably created an intense visualization about something that was giving me anxiety and this time it was no different.

It was single-combat: the old, normal me versus the new, magic me.

The normal me was dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and jeans, and I held a wooden staff and shield for some reason. The magic me was dressed as a valkyrie, with a shining metal helm and an axe at my side.

It was not the bloodbath I was expecting. Normal Jen wielded the staff with discipline and efficiency. Valkyrie Jen was the opposite: erratic and emotional. She swung her axe with too much force time and again, allowing Normal Jen to step to the side. This went on for several rounds, until a wicked grin appeared on Valkyrie Jen’s face, and she suddenly lurched forward and struck the ground in front of Normal Jen with the axe.

The earth sundered, a crack forming under Normal Jen’s feet. As the ground split apart, Normal Jen tried to jump to one side, but slipped and fell, her fingers digging into the dirt atop the deepening chasm. Valkyrie Jen walked over to the edge, surveyed her opponent for a few seconds, and then, without warning, sliced the girl’s hands clean off, sending Normal Jen tumbling into the depths.

Back at the table, a small smile began to form on my lips. This was the last time I was going to sit with these two and feel sorry for myself, I thought. I was destined for greater things than being the third wheel to two vapid women.

I took my phone out of my pocket again and looked down. My hand twitched, the burst of confidence expended. The blinking message was still there and I quickly tapped it with one finger, bringing up a single Quest.

“Please bring five three-quarters eaten portions of food to 1690 Bleeker St. in the next 20 minutes. But it can’t be your food. Tricky, I know. Also, a stolen lipstick. Reward: 2 iron tokens.”

I stared at the Quest, which seemed to have been written by the guy sitting at the booth behind me. If I hadn’t just been put through the ringer by Steve and his stupid scar, I would have been totally weirded out and refused to take it. But what would have bothered me yesterday morning wouldn’t even register today in my new reality.

Now that I knew at least some of the truth about the Quests, the requested items didn’t seem like they were destined for some intricate magical concoction. No, if I had to guess, the Requester was hungry and had some spare tokens lying around. Iron being fairly worthless, it was like getting food and lipstick for free. So of course I accepted the Quest without giving it another thought.

“Ugh, this sucks!” I said, still staring at my phone.

“What happened?” asked Lisa.

“My boss just emailed me. Some new investors are coming in tomorrow and he needs some more hand holding on the new code we just finished up. I gotta run, I’m sorry, girls!” I pushed my plate away and began inching out of the booth.

“Oh that stinks, JJ! Let’s have them wrap up some stuff for you to go. I’m done eating anyway, don’t want to add any more inches to my figure since I already had my last fitting. Excuse me?” Lisa snapped her fingers at a passing waitress as I exited the booth, knocking over Stacy’s purse “accidentally” in the process, the contents spewing all over the floor.

“Shoot, my bad Stace! Let me clean that up for you.” I got down on my knees and began scooping up the fallen items, pocketing a neon red shade of lipstick for myself.

I grabbed the food from the waitress and raced out of the restaurant. Ten minutes later, the items were safely deposited on the stoop of a seemingly abandoned townhouse and I was enjoying a leisurely evening stroll back to my apartment.

My mind wandered back to the aftermath of the battle. Valkyrie Jen stood alone at the edge of the chasm, before walking a few paces to pick up the wooden shield that Normal Jen had been holding. She stared at the depictions on the front, and I observed them too.

There was me, staring at a computer screen, my eyes bloodshot; me, waiting for Duncan to FaceTime from Hong Kong; me, trying to pay attention at dinner tonight. Valkyrie Jen shook her head and let out a loud guffaw. Then, with a flourish, she tossed the shield into the air, grabbed her axe from her side with the other hand, and, with a perfectly timed swing, obliterated the shield as it began falling to the ground.

Despite the earlier violence that I had witnessed, this display of wanton destruction raised a little seed of doubt within me. Had I made the right choice? As if sensing the growing moral quandary, the pieces of the shield on the ground began shaking as if they were trying to put themselves back together.

Valkyrie Jen however was having none of it. She snapped her fingers and a column of flame erupted around the broken shield. The flames vanished and when the smoke dissipated, all that was left was a pile of ash. Satisfied with her destruction, Valkyrie Jen then turned her gaze skyward, as if she could see me, as if I was a goddess watching her creation from above. The proud warrior grinned at the sky, clapped the dust off her hands, and walked away.

The scene dissolved into a hazy mist and when I reoriented to my surroundings, I found myself in front of my apartment. A grin had formed on my face, the same grin worn by the valkyrie.

In the end, I didn’t need the battle to convince me which path was the right one. Why? Because for all my fear and doubt, it was really a simple choice between the drudgery and loneliness of my prior life and the chance to be part of something fantastical and extraordinary.

What other choice did I have?

Next: Jen ditches the city and the Quests for some R&R in the Hamptons, but the Quests have a way of finding her nonetheless.