“Fuck, what the hell?” I complained in an almost whimper.

The blood dripped slowly from my hand, using my other hand I felt where my head had slammed against the door. Thankfully nothing seemed to have opened up. I looked first to Rosary and then to Emma. Rosary seemed unsurprised, Emma, on the other hand, seemed to be freaked out now and had rushed over to me cradling me away from the door. Great, just what I needed more babying.

Those green eyes seemed almost in tears as I stared into them, my heart fluttering just the slightest bit. “Well, that didn’t work.”

“What happened?” Emma asked her face a little too close to mine. I moved out of her grasp, trying to hide the embarrassment that was probably pretty evident in my face, at the very least I could feel a little heat in my cheeks. I moved to the bed near the window and stared out. The window faced into what looked like a dark alley, thankfully. I didn’t feel very comfortable about the idea of watching what was happening out in the town square. It still made me nauseous a little thinking of all that.

“I don’t know.”

“It looked like it was working Daniel.”

“I know, it felt like it was going to work too and then all of a sudden my head just started pounding and I felt more pain then I think I’ve ever felt. Hell, It still hurts, even worse than my cut or where I collapsed into.”

“Sebastian is going to be worried Daniel.”

I winced a little at the name, my other best friend. Also currently the man that was dating Emma. That must have been why she had been staring at her phone. Those two seemed attached at the hips sometimes… Which made her insistence to continue interacting even more painful at times.

“I didn’t ask you to come with me Emma,” I responded with maybe a little more venom then I had meant. I still stared out that window refusing to look at her instead I watched the shadows dance moving in rhythm to the flames of the torches that dimly lit the alley. But I didn’t need to look at her face, I could and did imagine the contours of her face wincing.

“Sebastian has been worried about you too. Ever since we started our second year, you’ve been distancing yourself again.”

A soft creak, I could feel the bed move yielding to the weight as another human body sat in it. Emma sat near me her breath tickling my nose; she seemed to be staring outside too now a complicated expression on her face. Loneliness? Depression? Concern? I couldn’t tell hell half the time I couldn’t figure out my own emotions so why was I trying to figure out hers?

It’d be way simpler if I didn’t expect anything from her emotions. The way she sometimes would look at me that made me think that maybe she wanted things more than friends. Like that hurt look, she gave me when I had told her that I had started dating Thera from our class. I shouldn’t be expecting anything, and all that came out of it was a pain.

A shaky hand rested on my shoulder. “I told Sebastian that you had hurt yourself.”

“Why would you tell him that?” I snarled.

“Because that’s what I thought had happened!” she responded her hand on my shoulder tightening.

“Sometimes you’re so dense, what did you expect me to think when I found you in your room covered in blood? Believe it or not, we DO care about you, Daniel.”

The fluttering of wings stopped my next retort cold as I realized that there was more than just Emma and me in this room.

The weight of the bird-like fairy rested on the opposite shoulder that Emma gripped.

“I don’t know if you two should worry so much.” Her melodic voice chimed.

“Abilities take time to use between uses, us fairies can create illusions for only a limited number of time, and my father from what I’ve been told could only shape-shift every once in a while.”

“Illusions?” That reminded me of that very first day that I spent in Nowhere. When that fairy horde had tried to kill me and punish Rosary for trying to help me, what had been happening was very different from what seemed to be happening.

I craned my neck to look at Rosary, and she nodded, “So maybe you need to give it and you some time to rest?

That suddenly had me thinking what the limits were? What was fueling this power?

“So we might be able to go back to our world as soon as tomorrow?” Emma asked hopefully.

Rosary frowned a little, and I looked over to Emma now finally having the courage to look at her. Her face was mixed emotions of hope and dread.

“I don’t know,” Rosary responded plainly. A rapping at the door stopped our conversation cold. “Yes?” I responded getting up off the bed making my way to the door.

A deep masculine voice responded, “Dinner is ready for all guests. “OK thank you! We’ll be out in a second,” Emma called back, also moving off the bed.

The voice didn’t respond though I could hear the sound of him walking away. “We’ll have to save this discussion for later,” Emma responded, I nodded as she looked my way. “Let's assume for now that we’ll figure a way back soon.

The bar that had once been empty now seemed to be full of life as men and women filled the seats. The bar wasn’t exactly full as many of the seats were still empty but compared to earlier it would have been a welcome sight for any business owner.

“Ah, there you are.” The voice of Jean the Innkeep piped up slightly over the din of the crow. She seemed to have brought a large tray with an assortment of bread, and bowls of steaming stew. “Please move to the corner over there.” She said as she kept moving using her chin to point to an uninhabited corner near the stairwell. Emma and I did as we were told and Rosary clung to my shoulder tightly obviously uncomfortable with the number of men and women in the room especially as she seemed to be the only Demi-human here.

She tried to shrink into my neck, but it was evident that some people had taken notice of her as a couple of men and a woman in a group seemed to be giving occasional glances our way.

Stew and bread were waiting for us; I could hear one incredibly boisterous voice telling what sounded like a drunken story. Laughter shortly seemed to follow as the man’s voice got louder. The smell of the stew made my stomach leap and my mouth water. As we sat down along the circular wooden table, Jean sat down next to us. With plenty of drinks and a couple more large Stews and what seemed to be a salad.

“Rosary was it?” Jean asked in my direction pointed towards the Fae that was trying to pretend she was invisible. “I have been told that most of your kind subsist on fruits and vegetables.” A small voice piped up barely audible against the roar of the other customers.

“Well yes, those of us who haven’t felt the touch at least.” The older woman smiled satisfied at that answer and pushed the salad between Emma and I. “Please eat, I, unfortunately, do not have silverware for your kind, the last time I met one of you was before this city had come to be.”

Rosary reluctantly let go and hopped down to the table. What had she meant by the touch? That fae that was around her before seemed very willing to kill and eat flesh. At least that was that I had of them from my last encounter.

But before I could ask a large shadow blotted out a lot of the light at our table. A large man loomed over the table. I had to crane to see his face. He didn’t look happy, his eyes first stared at me, our eyes making contact for a brief moment before I looked away. Then they went to Emma though she seemed to stare back with a little more grit than me before looking away and finally at Rosary though when she looked back at him, he ended up looking away strangely enough.

The guy was intimidating; he looked like one of those bouncers that I had seen when Emma had forced me to go out drinking for my 21st a little while ago. The muscular man sat down next to me; reflexively I scooted a little away. Who was he?

He grabbed a bowl of stew and some drink though he still seemed to be tense as he took a swig his large hand seeming to engulf the whole cup which was quite a feat as I almost had to hold the cup in two hands.

“I don’t like this.” The man gruffed before taking a long drought. “As you’ve said,” Jean replied.

Emma piped up slightly quieter than usual, seemingly intimidated by the large man. Is this your son ma-am?” Jean nodded, “Introduce yourself to the new help please.”

He shrugged, “Fine; I’m Frederick, my mother has told me that you’ll be helping with the bar while you get acquainted with the area?”

He glared at us, “I don’t trust you, honestly if it were my choice I’d tell you to leave.”

“Fred” exclaimed Jean, “There is no reason for you to be hostile to them, they haven’t done anything to you, the only reason you even had a chance to live was because of the kindness of others, were it not for your fathers kindness when I came to this world I doubt I would have survived.”

“Things were different back then.” He commented though the hostility in his voice seemed to have toned down. “You have no idea how many people I have seen who take advantage of one another here mother; these people could be just like those type of people, or worse…”

Jean sighed, “I love you, Frederick, I know you are concerned about your poor old mother, but you need to trust in my judgment. Besides, it’s not often that an untainted fae will align itself to someone who is up to no good.” The man took another glance over at Rosary, “Yeah, I guess you’re right there.”

Rosary seemed to have taken an interest in the conversation though still seemed intimidated, “How can you be so certain that I’m not?”

“Jean smiled, “Call it my God-given intuition.” Rosary nodded as if satisfied by the explanation and went back to her meal. I, on the other hand, felt lost, again strange talk that seemed to go over my head completely. Tainted? God-given intuition? I wanted to ask, but Fredericks’ eyes seemed to have found themselves staring at me, and I could only shrink back in response. “Boy, tomorrow you and I shall be going out to the market, I’ve got the day off and it sounds like the merchant we’ve been waiting for will be there finally.”

At least he seemed to have given up on objecting our presence. “Emma?” Jean responded,

“Yes?”

“How confident are you with people?”

“In the other world, I worked as a waitress.”

“Good, we’ll be busy tomorrow. We’ve got an envoy coming into town, or so my son has told me, lots of people will be here.

Emma looked over at me with concern. She didn’t seem comfortable about us being separated. Frankly, I didn’t feel pleased about it either, but we should probably heed to their wishes at least until we know the limits of my abilities.

Frederick eyed Rosary again for a moment before looking away. “Rosary? You’ll have to stay behind.”

I turned to him, “Why?”

“Isn’t it obvious? People look at Demi-humans with suspicion. Especially Fae people around here. If you want to Rosary, you can make yourself invisible here in the bar, but out in the market we can’t afford to bring unsavory attention even if I work for the guard that doesn’t give us a free pass as far as Demi-humans are concerned.”

Rosary frowned, “I won’t use illusions.”

Jean seemed to grow concerned at that. “I’m sorry, but we can’t afford to allow you to eat here in plain sight if you don't use illusions then, unfortunately, we can’t allow you down here often. Today is fine but most days would be dangerous.” Rosary nodded, “I will stay in Daniel’s room then.” It was minute, but I could tell that she seemed depressed by that. If she could use that kind of magic to make her life easier then why won’t she?

After that Frederick left and went from table to table acting utterly different from the groups, then he had with us. Jean left us and shortly after Emma and I went back to our rooms, there had been so much that had happened today and yesterday too. I wanted to ask Rosary some questions but left it alone. A smaller bed had been put up near the window for Rosary. And she quickly made her way to it and curled up. The last thing I thought of before falling asleep was the lonely look in the little woman’s face.