by Rain Oxford
Then the door opened.
When the sorcerer didn’t rush into the room, we stepped out into a waiting room. It had modern white walls, gray carpet, and two leather couches surrounding a glass coffee table. To the right of me was a hallway, to my left was a large TV, and across the room from me was a sleek metal reception desk.
Jamie, a psychology major, jumped up from his seat on the couch, where he and his four friends had been watching us on the television. All of them were shaking with excitement. “Well? How was it?” Jamie asked.
“The set was beautiful,” Luca said.
“You finished with fifteen minutes left!” Jamie’s sister, Corrine, argued.
“We’ve done dozens of escape rooms,” I said. “We know all of the usual tricks, like checking under the tables.”
“That’s right,” Luca said. “We’re very experienced wizards.”
“Puzzle-solvers,” I corrected. “That was a unique one and I enjoyed it.”
“What the hell did I drink?” Luca asked, not willing to give them the praise they were hoping for just yet.”
“It was all edible,” Jamie promised.
“The crystal ball was a nice touch,” I said.
“Oh, yeah, laser etching. What’s your critique?”
Luca and I had done every escape room in the city, so when our friend said he wanted to set a new place up, we agreed to let him test it on us. He had been trying to do something different and in that area, he succeeded. It made for a pretty cool birthday.
He invited us to go for drinks afterwards to celebrate my twenty-fourth birthday, but I declined the offer, saying that I had a paper to write. Since it was Sunday night, he didn’t push. The truth, however, was that I wanted to get home and play Oblivion. I had written my paper two months in advance.
I was an English Literature major, and while that didn’t come with many prospects, I enjoyed it. When people learned what my degree was, they usually assumed I was going to be an English teacher, editor, or publicist. What I actually wanted to do was be an author, particularly of crime fiction. It wasn’t death or gore I was interested in but motive.
I stopped before Luca and I started down the street towards our apartment. A moment later, he realized I wasn’t with him and turned back. “What’s wrong?”
“Let’s go this way,” I said, pointing to the dark alleyway to my right. “I want to stop by my coffee shop.”
“It’s ten-thirty at night.”
“They’re open.”
“You have a drinking problem. You’re going to drive this state into a coffee shortage. It’s creepy as shit that way.”
“Even I can see that there’s no one there.”
“You want to go down the dark alley with a full moon? We’ll get killed!”
“We’re not kids anymore, today’s not Halloween, and the moon isn’t completely full. Besides, it’s twenty extra minutes to go around.”
“That alley doesn’t lead home! We have coffee at home!”
“No we don’t.”
“I bought a box yesterday.”
“I know.”
He groaned. “We’re going to die.”
“Nothing’s going to happen.”
“Something’s going to happen to stop us from getting to the other side of the alley!”
“This isn’t a movie.”
“Five bucks.”
“Done. You can buy if we make it there alive. Now let’s get my damned coffee.”
He sniffled dramatically. “Why can’t there be a coffee shop near home?”
“Because we’d be broke as shit.”
“We need a car.”
“We’ve talked about this. We can’t take care of a car. You have to feed it gasoline, change its oil, patch its tires, find a safe bed for it at night, get insurance, and take it to the mechanic.” Since our apartment complex was across the street from the university and a block from the bookshop we worked at, a car was more trouble than it was worth.
“You just don’t think I can drive.”
“And you’re stalling.”
We took two steps towards the alley before Luca stiffened. “Crap!” he pulled a gray rabbit’s foot out of his pocket. “I didn’t mean to take this. I’ll be right back.” He ran into the shop, leaving me standing alone in the mouth of the alley.
I knew I should have let Luca have his way. Weird and dangerous things happened around me all the time. I should have been the one who was afraid to go into a dark alley, but I knew that if anyone messed with me, they would be the one who was sorry. I was cursed.
Since I was five, things happened when I got angry. I would get overheated, which was the only warning I got to calm down before things went wrong. Objects would explode, electronics would fry, and people who my anger was focused on would become sick. My parents brushed it off, saying I was affecting the aura of the room. They made me sound like a superhero rather than a freak or calling a priest like some of their friends suggested.
Then, when I was ten, it started hurting people I cared about. My girlfriend, my friends, my parents, and Luca were hurt the worst. Family friends and relatives left quickly after a house fire killed my mother’s parents. Luca got numerous broken bones, sprained ankles, and cuts from the strange incidents. Sometimes, it was something like water suddenly being on the floor with no explanation. Sometimes, it was a lot more serious, such as an electrical fire that started beside his bed once. He had even been shot in the arm from a police officer’s gun that had randomly fired.
Unlike my friends, Luca never even considered running from me. Although Luca believed in the curse, he insisted I protected him from danger more often than I caused it. That, I could believe. He made people laugh even when they didn’t want to, but he was overly trusting and didn’t take care of himself as well as he should.
The wind picked up and lightning crackled. In the same instant that light filled the sky, a red object glowed ominously in the alley, towards the other end. Tension filled the air, as if I was being watched.
My shoulder was grabbed and I jumped a foot in the air. “Dude, you really shouldn’t have any more caffeine,” Luca said. “When the cannibal cuts our throats, you’re just going to bleed coffee.”
“You are morbid.”
“Speaking of which… before we die, I wanted to give you your birthday present.” He pulled out a long, thin, black box, which was tied with wide silver ribbon.
“This had better not be what you gave me last year.”
“No, no. I learned my lesson.”
I tugged loose the silver ribbon, half expecting a bunch of dead bugs, half expecting an adult toy. Instead, it was a fancy gold and black fountain pen. “It’s not going to zap me if I try to use it, is it?”
“No. It’s a serious present.” There was no humor in his expression. If anything, he looked worried, as if he thought I didn’t like it. He started heading into the alley and I followed.
We had gotten into a habit of giving each other gag gifts, some of which resulted in injuries. I didn’t remember ever getting a serious present from him. I picked it up cautiously and opened the cap. Nothing popped out. “Thank you. I really like it.” It wasn’t very clear in the dark, but a nice pen was a nice pen. The moonlight was just bright enough to keep from tripping over anything and make out Luca’s face.
He smiled, visibly relieved. “I know you prefer to write your book notes on paper and then transfer them to the laptop, so I thought you might want a proper author pen for when you’re out in public or signing books for your screaming fans.”
“I have to get published before I can get fans.”
“That’s a matter of you being willing to put yourself out there. I’m sure you’ll be an overnight success, so…” he trailed off and grabbed my arm to stop me. “What’s that?” He was pointing at the ground, where a design was painted in red on the pavement.
It looked like a summoning circle from a movie, complete with a pentagram in the center and magic symbo
ls all around it. “It’s a leftover Halloween thing.” I walked over it, despite Luca trying to hold me back. “See? I’m perfectly safe.”
“If I die, I swear I’m coming back as a ghost or zombie and I’ll get even. I’m not sure what I’ll do, but I’ll think of something horrible.” With that, he stepped into the circle.
Nothing happened.
“See? We’re fine. It’s just graffiti.”
We took another five steps to the other side. An instant before I stepped out of it, the lines flashed deep red. “Oh, shit.” The world went dark.
Chapter 2
Luca and I were standing in the middle of a city that was very different from our homeland. We were on a busy cobblestone road. Many people shouted, but they were shouts of surprise, not terror. I was silent from shock. Unfortunately, Luca wasn’t.
“Did we just fall through the Earth and land in Egypt? We just fell through the fucking Earth and landed in fucking Egypt!”
The sand-colored stone buildings were Egyptian-esque, but not what I thought Egypt would look like, as they were massive and elegant. It was night, so there were torches alongside the roads and lanterns inside the buildings. There wasn’t a single electrical appliance or light bulb in sight. I could see colorful murals on interior walls through the windows, although I couldn’t make any of them out. The buildings struck me as homes, except that at least a hundred people could live comfortably in each of them.
The cobblestone street covered most of the ground and continued as far as I could see in both directions. The only dirt paths were the rare ones between the buildings. People watched us from the safety of the windows while everyone who was on the street gave us a wide berth.
I slowly reached into my jacket pocket, pulled out the five I had set aside for coffee, and handed it to Luca. He put it in his pocket without a word. It would never even have crossed his mind that this was my fault because I had insisted we went through the alley.
“I don’t have a passport. How are we going to get home?”
“Calm down,” I said. “We’re not in Egypt.”
He pointed to a five-hundred-foot-tall pyramid that could be seen over the tops of the buildings. “That is so far from the point right now it’s not even funny,” Luca said. “I don’t care where we are; I care where we’re not, which is home. Oh, shit. Were we abducted by aliens? Maybe I blocked out the memories because they were too horrendous.”
His panic was calming me. He always exaggerated whatever situation we were in and it was up to me to see that he kept his head. This time was no different.
“What about alien germs?”
“Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it. Calm down.” Even as I said it, a crowd was forming around us.
I didn’t see anyone taller than five-nine. While no one was visibly malnourished, most of them could stand to gain a few pounds. The men wore loose pants and tunics that were either white or sand-colored. The women wore clothes that were a cross between a dress and a wizard-robe, which included a greater assortment of light colors. Men wore their hair short or pulled back while women had theirs down, and hair color ranged from medium brown to blue-black. Many of the women had jewelry in their hair. No one had their faces or hair covered.
Taking into account the pyramid and the desert themed buildings, I didn’t think we were actually in Egypt. That didn’t explain where we were, though.
To the people, we must have looked pretty strange. Luca wore a dark blue dress shirt and blue jeans, while I wore a dark red dress shirt and black jeans with a brown leather jacket. Luca and I both had blue eyes and were on the pale side since we didn’t spend a lot of time outside. Playing Dungeons and Dragons beats skin cancer every time.
One of the voices shouted over the suspicious whispers. “They’re casters! Call for the priests!”
“We should run,” I said.
“Where to?”
“Somewhere that isn’t here.” I grabbed Luca’s arm and darted for the thinnest spot in the mob. Everyone in our way dived aside to avoid a collision. We followed the cobblestone uphill until we spotted three men with black robes rounding the corner. They were about five inches taller than the surrounding people, making them easy to spot. The hoods of their robes covered their heads and masks concealed their faces. The black masks were painted with a white pattern, which reflected the light of the torches and looked like evil skulls.
More intimidating was the staffs they carried, which were each five feet tall. From a distance and in a rush, I didn’t have time to take in the distinct designs of them. What I did notice was the spear-like pointed ends.
“Not this way.” We turned and ran downhill. The road was straight with no side streets until we reached a set of wide stone steps off to the left. We took them and they led down about ten feet to a second road, which was compacted dirt instead of stone. Here, the buildings were quite different; they were less grand and made of something like concrete. There were also more people here, which would have been a good thing if it was anywhere in our country, because we could have blended in. In this country, our clothes alone were a giant neon sign that we were outsiders. In this section of the city, the clothing was plainer and the jewelry was less common.
Directly opposite of us on the road was another set of stone steps. Hoping that we were getting closer to the edge of the city, we took them. They led to a road that wasn’t even compacted dirt; it was barely more than loose sand. The buildings were connected so that they were wide, with straight angles. They looked like cheap apartments, only three stories high, and were made of sandstone. There were windows, but no electric lights that I could see. People were not out wandering the streets and no one went to their windows.
The higher class buildings had windows that people left open. Here, they were all closed. However, the fact that they had glass was encouraging; it meant we probably hadn’t been sent back in time.
Most demanding of my attention, however, was a twenty-foot-high iron gate. The stone wall it was built into was around fifty feet tall. There were guard towers at the top, but it was too dark to make out if they were manned or not. Someone really doesn’t want someone else getting in.
I turned left to head down the street, only to stop cold when I saw what was guarding the path. “Holy sugar!” Luca screeched. “That’s a fucking lion!”
The lion was massive, easily six hundred pounds, with a full, majestic mane. He also wore gold cuffs on his paws and a gold pendant around his neck, as if he was royalty. A growl behind me told me the lion was the least of our troubles.
The one we had to worry about was the giant black dog. It was the largest dog I had ever seen and clad in armor and metal spikes. “Jesus crackers!” Luca shrieked.
“Stay calm. He’s more likely to attack if we show fear. I doubt this is his territory. On two sides of us were monstrous beasts, and on the third was the wall.
“What do we do?” Luca asked. The masked men blocked our escape. “What do we have to fight with?”
“A banana.”
“Dude.”
“No, I’m serious.” I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out my uneaten lunch.
“Are you telling me that you’ve had a banana in your pocket all day and I missed out on the chance to comment on it?”
“Now is not the time. It’s not going to do much good against their weapons.”
“What you’re saying is that size matters.”
“And hardness,” I said. He laughed. “Oh, shut up.” I grabbed his arm and pulled him behind me, then raised my hands to show that I was unarmed. As an afterthought, I dropped the banana. “I don’t know where we are or how we got here, but we mean you no harm.”
“Um… Nathan, when did you learn another---”
“The commoners said you appeared out of thin air,” one of the men accused, interrupting Luca. I couldn’t tell which one had spoken since their masks concealed their faces. His voice was deep and his accent was slight, but it wasn’t one that I recogni
zed. “Which house do you worship?”
I looked at Luca, who shrugged.
“The… blue one…?”
The men looked at each other. Or, at least, their masks turned to face each other for a moment before turning back to me as one. Somehow, I knew I hadn’t given them the right answer.
“Come with us.”
“I’d rather not.”
“You will be tested and judged by the High Council.”
“I’d really rather not.”
“Then we will kill you on the spot.”
“On second thought, the High Council sounds like a more reasonable lot than you. Lead the way.” As they surrounded us, I pushed Luca in front of me so that I could watch him and where we were going at the same time. The men led us back up the steps. “Keep an eye out for a hiding spot,” I whispered to Luca.
He nodded. “I don’t get what’s going on. Are we being arrested? We’re men and we’re dressed, so I don’t think we’ve broken any laws.”
“I don’t think we’re in trouble, I think they just want to find out how we appeared in the middle of the street as much as we do. Stay calm. If we freak out, so will they, and they have the weapons.”
“How were you able to---”
He was cut off as one of the men prodded him in the arm with his weapon. “Silence!” the man barked.
I grabbed the end of his weapon instinctively. Before the man could recover from his shock and jerk it away, I said, “You hit my brother again and I will shove this so far up your ass it’ll be tickling your tonsils. Got it?”
Instead of answering, he thrust it forward in an attempt to strike me. I was expecting that, though, and sidestepped it. The staff struck the masked man who had been beside me.
Calmly, I ducked under the staff and Luca and I continued walking as if there had been no interruption. Soon, the men joined us again and settled around us with a little more distance than before. We were quiet for the rest of the trip.