The next morning, when Millie knocked on Dara’s door, there was a muffled groan.

“Rise and shine, sleepyhead! You’ve got some work to do!”

“What work?”

“Turning in your signed paperwork.”

“Don’t wanna.” The door opened a little bit, and Millie recoiled. Dara looked…

“Did you sleep?”

“Internet.” She wagged a finger, her eyes shadowed. “Do you know there are one hundred eighteen elements? So far? You make elements!” Dara came staggering out, an oversized T-shirt draped over her petite form. “Nobody can make elements! It’s impossible! Neutrons, protons, quarks! What’s a quark?”

“You spent all night on the Internet, didn’t you?”

“Yes! How can you have elements that break up? Nothing can break an atom, that’s… that’s the way things are!”

“Not anymore,” Millie said. “Or are you saying that everyone here is wrong?”

“No! Yes! I don’t understand how it works!”

“See, that’s why you go to school. To learn.”

Dara stared at her. ”Except I can’t talk to my teachers about magic, can I?”

“Well, maybe the magic of friendship, but if you’re talking the magic of turning people in to frogs, probably not.”

“I can’t do—“ Dara bit off the last word and glared at Millie. “Do you know how… impossible this is? It’s like asking someone to turn a circle into a square!”

“Squaring the circle? Oh, I figured that you had a spell for that.”

Dara made an interesting steam-kettle sound.

“Well, don’t worry, Kid. You can think about it when you go and turn some documents in.”

“It’s the weekend!”

“And that’s what drop boxes are for. Also, since you slept late, I used up all the hot water. So you can wash away your magical problems in a tide of freezing water.”

Dara twitched. “I hate you.”

“Good, hate gives you strength, my young apprentice. I’ll have brunch ready for you.”

“What’s that?”

“Breakfast and Lunch got together and had a kid they don’t talk about. He’s Brunch.”

Dara just made a flapping arms gesture and turned to head to the bathroom.

Poor kid, here she was, expecting to walk in and know everything and now she’s probably gonna be taking physics and hating life. Because Millie knew that Dara would definitely want to know more about physics. Maybe I’d better put down some ground rules about experiments—don’t want her accidentally creating the world’s first magical nuke in the backyard. That’d probably get us evicted.

With that, Millie headed off to the kitchen. Dara’s first brunch shouldn’t just be nuked pizza from the night before, after all.

“She threw me out. She threw me out.” Dara stared at the house. Oh, Millie hadn’t said that. She’d just told Dara that Dara knew where the college was and she could explore. What happened to keeping a low profile?

But nothing attacked her when she walked onto the sidewalk, and there was nobody there to even look at her. It was after summer school started, so there weren’t many children on the street, and those who weren’t going to school were probably inside, playing one of the million games they enjoyed.

At least, according to Millie. She’d warned Dara that the games were cursed and if once she looked at them, she would never look away.

I don’t know if she’s being serious or silly. It didn’t matter. Dara had far too much to do to worry about a game.

And according to the information she’d found on the Internet, the library was open. So she could spend some time in wonderful, familiar surroundings.

Dara nodded and set off. It was cool now, but it’d be hot soon, and she didn’t want to lose any time. Not today. If Millie was tossing her out of the house, she was going to use her time productively.

It didn’t take Dara long to get to the campus, although crossing State College was nerve-wracking. Right before she got to it, she saw a car zip through the intersection, against the red light.

Dara stared at the car as it shot off into the distance, and then pressed the button, waiting until her walk sign came on.

Right. That was the only car that went through the intersection. I’m certain nobody is going to try to murder me…

Even so, Dara waited until she was certain nobody was going to ignore the red light before she started walking…

And then before she was half way across, the walk light turned red and started counting down!

“Dammit!” Dara said and started running, but then the folder slipped out of her hands and she ran back to get it. Why does it count down? To let people know when you’re free to murder them? She got the paperwork and managed to run through the rest of the street before the countdown reached zero, sagging against the light pole and gasping from exertion. Behind her, the endless tide of cars started up again.

Doesn’t anyone know how to go slow here? Dara was certain that nobody in that mob of roaring metallic juggernauts was racing a deadline that would see them dead.

The campus itself was quiet. Most of the students hadn’t arrived yet, according to Millie, so there were only a few walking around, and Dara noticed more than one person with dyed hair, so her hair didn’t stand out that much.

The office was closed, but there was a slot by the door, and Dara closed her envelope after checking all the documents, and then slid the sealed bundle into the office.

“Right.” Dara nodded. Now she was…

Alone at the school. Dara shook her head. She could go check the library, at least. She consulted one of the campus maps set up on a wall and then headed off to the library.

The structure was…

Boring. Where is the crystal dome? The dancing lights? The fountains? It was just a big… concrete box. Dara walked down the central entryway, the broad open space showing that someone had cared about how their library looked.

Except…

Where are the books? There were tables for studying, and some books, but most of the space was open save for the computers.

Oh. They use the computers. It probably made sense. This library couldn’t have summoned spirits to find your book for you after all, and if there were as many books as Millie had claimed, paper catalogs would be too unwieldy.

On the other hand…

“I’m not here to look for anything special. I’ll just wander.” Dara nodded to herself and set off for the elevators. There were lists of what books were on what floors, but Dara just decided to go to the top and work her way down. She pushed the stud, waiting for the elevator to arrive. Eventually, the doors opened, revealing a small compartment. Dara walked in, frowned at the pad of buttons and then pushed the fifth-floor button.

The doors slid shut and suddenly… The elevator rumbled. Dara staggered back, hitting the rear of the tiny compartment, eyes wide as she stared at the ceiling. There were squeaks and moans, and she could feel the floor swaying under her feet.

I’m going to die! Then it stopped at the second floor, and before Dara could make her escape, a pair of girls came walking in, and hit the button to close the door.

“You know, I dunno what I’m going to do this year. I have 15 class credits and the homework is going to be crazy!”

“Told you to take that class last year.”

“Yeah, but Professor Morrison is a beast of a grader. This class is gonna be easier.”

“If you say so…” her companion said. They were both ignoring Dara, who was pressed up against the wall, wondering when they were all going to go plunging to their doom.

Airplanes, cars, and now, now—this! Do these people like risking death every day of their lives?

Dara took a deep breath and held it, trying not to scream.

She was proud of her self control. Dara didn’t run the two girls over when the doors opened and she escaped from the elevator.

Never again. I’m taking the stairs back down.

But then Dara found herself distracted. The top of the library was brightly lit, with light streaming in through the windows. She looked around, noticing a sign informing the students of what type of drinks they were allowed to bring in.

Dara shook her head. Back home, the only thing students would have been informed of would be the punishments the faculty could select if they brought any drinks in.

But there were the books. Endless racks of books.

Not even the largest library and yet… If Millie was right, it was bigger than the college library back home.

The books were different from her home, though. Most of the library books were hard bound, some of them spell-protected from wear and tear. These books were…

Thin paper. Paper covers. Why, you could destroy them if you dropped them the wrong way… Dara frowned. Is it because they’re so cheap? Losing a single book cost money, but Sheila had entire racks of old books that were being sold for almost nothing. If books were that cheap, would anyone care if it didn’t last fifty years of hard use?

Dara walked down the shelves, staring at the books, picking out the titles. Some made sense, like the shelf full of books on algebra. Some were a bit odder.

“The Causes of The Industrial Revolution in England?” Dara frowned. Okay, revolution was simple, but industrial? She pulled the book out and flipped through it.

It’s talking about how they made their machines, how they earned money… Dara shook her head and put it back. She didn’t know enough to understand what the book was talking about, and it was just one of thousands…

Back home, most of the books were books about magic or science. Some books of philosophy, and of course classics of history, but this library…

Maybe they did all this because they didn’t have magic? That they found something else to be interested in?

That didn’t sound right.

And Dara had to take a history course. I don’t think this is going to be as easy as I thought it would be.

On the other hand, the library was comfortable, even if you had to deal with that ridiculous white light that this world seemed to think was easy on the eyes. She headed to the windows, a few students getting an early start on the year, and looked out upon the campus. Okay, it didn’t look bad, even if thee weren’t many statues or banners, but it was…

“I can do this.”

“Do what?” a familar voice said from right behind her.