Everyone exchanged glances with one another in silence for longer than Janus would have preferred. He kept his eyes averted, hoping for the awkward moment to soon pass so they could return to the issue at hand.

“Well?” Vena looked between her daughter and her guest. “Aren’t you going to introduce us to your friend?”

“If only I knew how,” Ellie grumbled.

“Oh, it’s him!” Lillian jumped down from the second-to-last stair. “That man you rammed into at the festival! But he looks kinda sick.”

Irwin inhaled sharply. “Oh gods, there’s a—a House Faust noble in our home.”

“House Faust?” Vena straightened her hair and tugged the wrinkles out of Bram’s shirt. “Triad’s Mercy, if I’d any idea someone of such prestige was coming here—”

“You actually went and bagged a rich one,” Lillian cackled.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” Ellie sighed and touched her forehead as Janus let out a small whine at the pandemonium unfolding.

Bram wobbled forward with a hand raised to hush the room. “I’m sorry, but; am I the only one concerned that you and your friend just barreled through the front door in such a panic?”

The room grew quiet again and Ellie crossed her arms while looking to Janus for answers.

“Excellent point. Explain,” Vena ordered.

“There is no time to explain.” Janus gritted his teeth. “I need all of you to follow me and create as much distance between yourselves and this place as possible.”

“I beg your pardon? You expect us to just go along with you when we don’t even know who you are? Hells, I don’t even know your name!”

“What if only I go?” Ellie asked.

“No,” Janus and Vena replied concurrently, but only she carried on. “With everything that’s happened to you—to us—you now want to uproot yourself again and grieve us even more?”

“Please, do not yell at Ellie for this,” Janus said calmly.

“Quiet! Don’t call her that, you barely know her!”

“Actually, Mum.” Ellie twisted the skirt of her dress between her hands. “I think we do know each other. Quite well.” She stepped closer to Janus. “It’s like everything but my mind remembers. I’m overwhelmed by familiarity and trust that’d never be there if he really was a stranger.”

Bram drew his hand down his face and threw his shoulders back. “I don’t know what to say. Seems like we need to have a long talk, though.”

“And I made it quite clear that we do not have the luxury of time.” Janus approached the family, sending them each a step back from his intimidating stature. “I apologize. This is never how I imagined we’d meet, but I am begging you for your trust in this crucial moment.”

Their suspicions were not unexpected, but Janus knew their lingering only gave Isadore the advantage. He had to give them something, otherwise his efforts would be wasted.

“I understand how strange this all seems,” he started. “To go somewhere with a peculiar man you’ve never met and with minimal information. But I swear, I will tell you all that I can on our journey and that I shall withhold nothing once we reach a safe place.” Janus glanced to Ellie, whose brow was knitted as she listened. “A xenophobic cult attacked the banquet. Ellie and I were pawns in their scheme, and one cultist in particular will surely pursue us here, if he hasn’t already begun to.”

“That’s why I suggested that just I should go,” Ellie added. “If he’s after the two of us, then we can keep my family out of this.”

“No, Ellie. He already knows too much and has had far too long to familiarize himself with this area. I’m afraid that if Isadore Renard could not find us, he’d—no, I need not say what he’d do.”

There was a booming thud of wood that jolted all present to the source; a chair that Vena had kicked into the table as a crude means to vent her anger. She then slammed her hands down on the table’s surface and uttered a curse.

“Vena!” Bram took his wife by the shoulder, stunned by her uncharacteristic outburst.

“Why did that bastard have to ask me about magical sightings,” she spat. “I knew I should’ve just given him the information and have been done with it, but he just—he gave me a horrible feeling and my instinct screamed at me not to tell him the truth.” Vena looked to Janus with a fire in her eyes. “This is all his fault, isn’t it?”

He nodded. “For all intents and purposes, Isadore is also responsible for Ellie’s disappearance. I regret to inform you, however, that the day he arrived was also the last day your lives would remain ‘normal’. Once a Solar Cultist—or a Solarist, as they prefer it—worms into a common person’s life, everything changes.” A somber frown tugged at the corners of his mouth. “I speak from personal experience…”

Vena heaved a sigh and stared at her daughter. “You’re absolutely certain you trust this man?”

“I do. And if you can’t trust him, then trust me.”

There was a momentary pause as she considered this, then Vena nodded her head a few times. “All right, then. How long do we have?”

“Ten minutes,” Janus replied. “Fifteen at best.”

“Ten,” she whispered. “Well, I guess it’d have been longer if we listened to you from the start.” Vena directed Bram and her children to go dress and grab only what they needed, then motioned to Ellie as they ran off to their rooms. “You go get ready, too. You can’t wear that.”

Ellie looked down at her dress, let out a breathy laugh, and dashed up the stairs, leaving her mother alone with Janus. They were quiet for nearly a quarter minute before Vena stood up straight and placed her hands on her hips.

“I knew I shouldn’t have even talked to that man the moment I saw him standing in the workshop doorway.” She slapped her forehead. “Oh, the workshop! I have to prepare Bram’s dosages—no, shit, there isn’t enough time.”

“You’re an apothecary?” Janus pretended not to know the answer and waited for Vena’s reply. “Bring only the reagents. I have the necessary equipment.”

“A fellow apothecary, are you?”

“An alchemist.”

“Close enough.” She gave an upward nod to the front window. “Can I go to the workshop?”

Janus narrowed his eyes at the window in thought. “If I keep watch.”

Cautiously, he unlocked the door and peered into the night. With nothing to greet them aside from chirping crickets, Janus stepped aside and allowed Vena to pass. She fumbled in the dark with the locks on the workshop door and swore under her breath. Janus then turned his palm skyward and conjured a tiny flame, which prompted from Vena a surprising chuckle.

“Convenient.” After pulling the chain through the handles, she threw open the doors and ignited a lamp. The necessary ingredients were thankfully kept close together on the worktable, due to their frequent use. “Do you know what that man said to me?” she asked, her voice cracking as she wrapped the ingredients in parchment and placed them in a satchel with a few small tools. “He said he’d burn them alive if I lied. My husband, and my children. Something about holy fire and—I don’t know. I was so stunned that I could barely understand everything he said.”

“I’m sorry,” Janus muttered. “I can’t even imagine receiving a threat of such caliber.”

“No, you’d have to be a parent, I’d wager.” She swung the satchel over her shoulder, doused the lamp, and locked the doors. “But even though he threatened me, I still didn’t tell him the truth and I honestly couldn’t tell you why. All he wanted to know was if I knew of any places nearby where there’d been magical happenings, and I did. But I told him I never had. Triad, forgive me…”

“Would it bring you solace to know that your decision potentially saved the lives of thousands of innocent people?”

Vena bit her lip and held her breath. “Not as much as it should. What would a thousand people mean to me if the greatest treasures of my life were burned alive?” She started back toward the house with a shrug. “I know that sounds horrible, but that’s just how I feel right now.”

“You cannot fathom how well I understand,” Janus maundered to himself, and followed her back inside before locking the door. Vena had vanished into the bedroom to help Bram, so Janus occupied himself by browsing the family room while keeping his hearing keen to the outside. For only a moment, his attention was diverted to stifling a laugh when he noticed the mechanized bubble blower on the mantle.

Vena returned to the main room with a second bag slung over her shoulder. “I think we’re just about ready.”

“Good. But I must ask; do you have any other family in the immediate area?”

“My parents live in the city proper, but they just left yesterday morning for an extended business trip in Leruntine.”

Janus was washed over by a nostalgic chill at the mention of his home country. “That is fortuitous. They’re too far by now for Isadore to even consider giving them chase. Any siblings?”

“I’m an only child. So is Bram.”

“And what of his parents?”

Vena scoffed. “He’s lucky if he sees his father once a year, despite living barely a mile away. As for his mother, well.” She lowered her voice. “Bram may as well never have been born, in her eyes.”

“Isadore may still try to use them as leverage.”

“Then let him.” She tugged the slipping satchels back onto her shoulder. “I know what you must think, but I don’t care. Bram’s heart might be stirred if such a thing happened, but I have no love for those people. Even the children have never met them. They’re not a part of this family.”

“I apologize for broaching such a sensitive subject.”

“It’s not worth apologizing for. They made up their minds a long time ago, and so have I.”

From upstairs came the three siblings, one after the other and each with satchels of their own. They were dressed relatively well for travel, and Janus smiled at the sight of Ellie donning the same dress from the night they met, as well as the cloak that he had gifted her.

“Do you think they’ll steal from us?” Lillian asked as she followed behind her sister.

“The cultists have little interest in tangible goods not of their faith,” Janus replied.

“Not that we have much to steal, anyway,” Vena chuckled, then pointed to the hole in Ellie’s dress. “Oh, I didn’t get around to fixing that. Good choice, wearing a slip underneath to protect that wound. But I wish you’d worn something better.”

“Well, it’s the best dress I have for this sort of thing,” Ellie chuckled.

A cough summoned Vena into the bedroom beside the stairs, where she found her husband wheezing and leaning against the dresser beside the bed. The sight of his pale skin and sweating brow was enough to put a pit in her stomach as she rushed to his side.

“I’m all right,” he panted with a faint laugh. “Just never felt so much excitement before. But I’ll be damned if I’m gonna keel over just as things get interesting!”

“Ever the optimist.” Vena hugged Bram’s head with a soft smile, adjusted the straps of his satchel, then turned out the lamp and helped him into the other room. “Did you put out the lamps upstairs?” Her children nodded. “Good, then there’s just the ones left in here. It’ll get pretty dark, so head outside.”

Janus was first to enter into the night—to once more scan the area—then waved for the others to join him. Unhindered moonlight shone down on the house as Vena emerged last from the pitch black interior and began turning the locks.

“Be honest.” Vena glanced over her shoulder to Janus. “Will we ever see our home again?”

“I cannot make a promise, but I will do everything in my power to make it so.”

“Then I’m holding you to that.”

With pain in a heavy heart, Vena stepped back and took one last look at her family home. It was all she’d ever known, save a few years living in Phiana after marriage. The thought of anything happening to her precious home or never seeing it again was almost as painful as losing family. But homes could be replaced and people could not, so Vena gave the house a pained wave goodbye and joined the others on the road.

“Where are you taking us, anyway?” Irwin asked.

“A friend awaits us in a hidden place.” Janus observed the road leading toward the city, then away. “We should avoid the roads, save for crossing the highway to the south. We’re less likely to be spotted the longer we’re out of sight.”

“Before that,” Bram said, shuffling toward Janus. “I’m afraid we still don’t know your name.”

He blinked, stunned by his neglect. “Oh—of course. I am Janus Alscher.”

“Janus,” he repeated thoughtfully. “I’m Bram Martel, and this is my wife, Vena—the carrier of our family name.” He gestured to her at his side, but Vena's repeated mumbling of Janus's family name proved her mind was elsewhere. “And of course, our children, Lillian and Irwin. And you’re already acquainted with Ellie.” Bram smiled at him. “Thank you for helping us.”

“It’s my pleasure.”

Wasting no further time, Janus guided his charges into the small island of nestled trees framed by roads on all sides. It was only about a third of a mile long, but still proved a difficult trudge through rough brush. So closely embraced was the canopy that even moonlight could hardly peer through the foliage.

“It’s too dark to see,” Lillian complained. “I’ve almost tripped three times.”

“We can use light after we pass the highway,” Janus replied. “We’re nearly there now.”

Flickering flame from a lamppost greeted the family and their escort. Wheels grinding from several hasty carriages could be heard approaching from the city. Janus held out his arm and wordlessly halted the family in the brush until he deemed it safe enough to cross. His eyes followed the carriages, hoping to catch glimpse of their passengers, but the drawn curtains made it impossible.

Once the carriages had long since passed, Janus emerged from the brush and gave one last look and listen for anyone else approaching. It was silent; an unusual circumstance but precisely what he wanted. Janus’s feet met the highway’s edge and he motioned the family to follow. With Ellie confidently leading the way, everyone stepped precariously over the stone-lined ditch, up the small slope, and to the woods across the highway.

No further were they than twenty feet into the thicket when Janus extended his palm upward and summoned a small light orb to hover delicately near the middle of the group. It was only enough illumination to show them their immediate vicinity, but anyone from afar would likely be able to spot them. To their benefit, the woods were just as dense as the last patch they’d traversed.

After breathing a hushed laugh at how the hovering magic orb had captivated her son, Vena glanced over and found Bram no longer at her side. She dreaded the worst and turned swiftly, but was washed with relief when she found that he had only fallen a few paces behind.

“Don’t scare me like that,” she whispered.

“Sorry,” Bram panted. “I think I had better expectations for how much I could handle.”

Vena handed her satchels to Irwin and Lillian before jogging to her husband, turning her back to him, and lowering to one knee.

“We’re not children anymore, Vena,” he sighed.

“Hush and climb on.”

There was a reluctant pause, but when Bram didn’t know his own limits, he always trusted Vena to. So he climbed onto his wife’s back and locked his arms around her as she held on tightly to his legs, stood up, and trotted back into the light.

“Would you prefer that I carry him?” Janus offered. “It would be no trouble.”

Vena chuckled. “Oh no. It’s much more romantic this way.”

“Maybe for you,” Bram muttered, amusement woven in his tone.

The journey through the woods were relatively short and wordless, save for the occasional question or comment whispered amid the shuffling of flora. But the narrow, rising path finally came to an end at a moonlight-bathed clearing divided by a small cliff in the hillside. Perched precariously at its edge was at tree, whose roots delved deep into the earth and peeked from the face of the cliff. Ellie had an idea of where they were, as she had climbed a tall tree atop a hill to the north some years ago and spotted another jutting curiously from the canopy nearly two miles south.

Janus stepped into the clearing, waited, then gave a brief whistle. From the shadow of one of the dangling roots bounced a small, pudgy rat in a waistcoat.

“Any troubles, Gerald?”

“None at all, Lord Janus,” the rat replied. His eyes met the family and Gerald gasped sharply before darting to Ellie’s shoe. “Miss Ellie! I know you don’t remember me—Lord Janus said your memory was gone—but I can’t begin to tell you how relieved I am that you’re all right! Oh, I’ve missed you so much. We were all so worried when you were taken away and I kept blaming myself yet again, but Lord Janus kept telling me that was no good. But then I tried blaming myself when he wasn’t around and Elise started scolding me, then Mayor Bedelia, and—”

“Gerald.”

“Is this your family?” He peeked out at them. “Oh, they must be, I’ve seen them before when I’ve—”

“Gerald.” Janus repeated firmly. “Enough for now. Aside from overwhelming her, there’s a strong possibility that we’re being pursued.”

“Oh!” Gerald hopped off Ellie’s shoe and scurried back toward the roots. “I understand, Lord Janus. I’ll begin right away.”

Cradled on a higher root was a stick of chalk that Gerald clutched in his tiny paws and used to scribble runes on the face of the cliff. While he was preoccupied by his task, Janus knelt beside a nearby bush and pulled out from beneath it a large, burlap sack weighed heavily by its contents.

“Mind telling us what in the hells is going on?” Vena asked, dropping to one knee to let Bram down.

“I’m taking you somewhere safe,” Janus responded calmly. “Somewhere where neither Isadore nor the rest of the cultists can reach us.”

“And where would that be? This is clearly a dead end, unless you plan on using some sort of—of teleportation magic or something.”

“Lord Janus,” Gerald chirped. “Once I use the incantation, I can only keep the gate open for roughly one minute. And—” He glanced over his shoulder to Ellie and her family. “Well, I’m afraid that transporting this many people may exhaust the spell for twice as long.”

“We’ll make due,” he replied.

“Excuse me!” Vena shouted. “Are you going to answer me or what?”

“Mum, please.” Ellie touched her mother’s arm. “Remember; trust me if you can’t trust them, okay?”

A scoff was all Vena could muster as she turned her attention back to Bram. She procured a single vial from the pouch on her belt and placed it in his palm. Bram then removed the tiny cork and downed the medicine in one gulp, giving her thanks afterward.

From inside the bag that Janus had retrieved, he withdrew a large orb swirling with a milky, orange light. The light within itself was most radiant, but somehow did not glow beyond its confines. A peculiar phenomenon that puzzled even him.

“What are you doing with that solar orb, Lord Janus?” Gerald asked from the root.

“I’m going to use a small portion of its energy to cast the sealing spell. Surely she won’t object to that.” Janus cradled the orb in both hands and approached the left side of the cliff. “After all, that’s what she intended. Four orbs were sent, but only three were required to be fully charged.”

“And charged they are.” Gerald hopped up a few roots and tucked the chalk into a tiny, hidden crevice before plopping back into the grass and scuttling to the clearing’s center.

Janus followed an imaginary half-circle line surrounding the cliff face in front of the chalk runes, stopping at six separate points to mutter a chant in an unknown and ancient-sounding language. The orb stirred wildly at each point and released from its dry, shiny surface a single drop of its murky interior to the ground. Janus joined Gerald and collected several drops from the orb in his palm. Then, with an arching underhand sweep, he tossed the liquid at the cliff and watched as it distributed evenly to the six points and etched a hairline thread in the grass.

“Are you sure those cultists can’t detect this?” Gerald asked. “It’s solar magic, isn’t it?”

“It’s a spell meant to mask other types of magic.” He flexed his bone-dry palm. “Unless they were specifically searching for a masking spell made with solar magic, they’ll not be able to sense it outside of a one hundred foot radius.”

Bram and Vena’s concern while watching the magic performance was heavily outweighed by their children’s quiet enthusiasm—especially Irwin’s. Their worries were rooted in uncertainty for what awaited, but neither of them could deny that the adventurous thrill had their hearts pumping.

“Well, that should do it then, Lord Janus.” Gerald scurried out of his lord’s way as he approached the thin, golden line. “Time to create a new gate, since we destroyed the old one.” He turned to the family. “Sorry for how loud that was, by the way. More thunderous than we thought.”

“So that was magic,” Lillian muttered.

Janus extended his arms beyond the golden line and conjured forth a black dome over the chalk runes, which pulsed continually outward until it stopped at the edge and sank away. The rock rippled like water, then stabilized and appeared no different than before.

“The gate is created.” Janus stepped back. “It’s your turn, Gerald.”

“All right.” He spun around. “Now, is everyone ready? Like I said before, I cannot keep the gate open more than a minute, so make sure you have everything.”

Ellie looked at her family and pulled her bag and satchel back up over her shoulder. “I think we’re as ready as we’ll ever be.”

“Don’t worry, Miss Ellie. You’ve done this before. Just, this time it’ll be more horizontal. Assuming our exit point isn’t misaligned.”

“I’ve done this before?” she asked. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Just another drop for the lake of amnesia.”

Janus hoisted the heavy bag over his shoulder and looked out as his charges. “I would prefer to go last, in case we have any uninvited guests. However, if it would bring more comfort, I can step through the gate first.”

Vena chuckled nervously and waved her hand. “No, you’re right. You should be at the end, just in case.”

“All right, then please form a line and take the hand of the person in front of and behind you.” Gerald returned to the face of the cliff and began waving his little arms in an elaborate pattern to cast a spell. A black puddle emerged from the surface of the rock where the runes had once been, then sagged to the ground and held its substance perfectly in place in the shape of a doorway.

Vena stepped forward, determined to lead the way to the other side and prepared to shield her family in the event that everything had been a ruse. Bram stood behind and clasped one hand with hers, then with Lillian’s. After her came Irwin, and finally Ellie, who looked back when Janus took her open hand and gave her a soft, reassuring smile. Then, each of them disappeared into the black void one by one until none of the train remained.

And with a satisfied nod, Gerald leapt into the puddle mere moments before it vanished, leaving not a single visible trace that there had ever been anyone there.