edited: 06/07/2017

Remy woke up to the smell of something burning, and it took her a moment to realise that it could not have been her mother making pancakes, for she was no longer at home in her own bed. She had hoped whilst dozing off last night that perhaps the events of the previous day were all a dream—how could she ever believe them to be real?—but was disappointed when she awoke in a stranger's bed surrounded by foreign objects that she could not even begin to identify.

She pulled the deep purple curtains that hung beside the bed—seemingly without a curtain rail—open, her eyes widening at the sight of the vast pink sky. It was paler than it had been yesterday, but still pink, and still without clouds or planes or anything that she had gotten used to seeing every morning for nineteen years. She squeezed her eyes, heavy with sleep, shut in the hopes that her surroundings would disappear as though they were merely some sort of temporary hallucination, but when she opened them again, the sky was still pink and she was still sat in a bed that wasn't hers.

Sighing and wiping her clammy hands against the green duvet cover, she pulled herself out of bed, wincing as she stepped onto her injured leg. She had almost forgotten about it, but looking down now, she saw that the bruising had gotten worse overnight and the violent blackness of it stood out discernibly against her pale skin. She searched for the jeans that she had discarded last night and found them hung sloppily on a golden candelabrum on the bedside table. She hauled them on quickly, glad to find that they had dried from the rain overnight, and slipped her Vans on afterwards. After spending a considerable amount of time looking for the t-shirt that she had worn yesterday, she decided it was nowhere in sight and patted down Maksim's oversized shirt instead before rolling up the surprisingly long sleeves.

A feeling of dread washed over her as she tried to find her way through the corridors, which were still only lit by candlelight despite the fact that it was light outside, and finally found the source of the burning smell. She pushed the wooden door open cautiously and was brought out into the kitchen, which she had only passed through briefly yesterday and so had not noticed how open and light it was compared to the living room. Maksim stood in front of one of many large glass windows with his arms crossed over his chest, though he was leaning lazily against a marble counter-top next to his mother, who was stirring something in a large pot.

They didn't appear to have noticed Remy at first, and she decided to keep it that way as his mother seemed to continue a conversation that she had not heard the first half of.

"She cannot stay here much longer. You know that." Her forehead crinkled in stress, though Remy thought that she didn't seem as hostile as she had last night. That, at least, relieved her a little.

"We just need to keep her here until the portals open again. There's no need to take her to the Council yet," Maksim responded. Remy noticed that he looked tired, his hair tousled and purple circles sinking into the skin under his eyes. Still, he had changed back into his strange clothes, this time wearing a crimson coloured shirt, though he had not buttoned it up properly, and black pants. She thought he would look like a tacky cabaret act if he was not so attractive.

That was when Remy decided to make her presence known; she cleared her throat and stepped further into the kitchen. "Good morning."

Maksim glanced at her attire and raised an eyebrow. "Is that my shirt?"

Remy rolled her eyes in response, pulling at it uncomfortably. She had never felt so out of place anywhere, and she was not sure how to act. She thought that sarcasm was as good a way as any. "I'm sorry I didn't pack a change of clothes with me before you pushed me through the portal. My mistake."

"And you're in as good a mood as ever, I see."

Maksim's mother eyed Remy warily, not seeming to notice that smoke was billowing from the pot on the hob. Remy almost choked on the stench and tried to suppress her coughs as best she could.

"Did you sleep well?" the older woman asked, her eyes frozen on the pot and her mouth pursed into a thin line.

Remy didn't suppose she had asked out of genuine curiosity, so she simply nodded, ignoring Maksim's gaze as she sat down at the marble counter-top and scrutinised her surroundings. The kitchen was much larger than any she had seen before, though there didn't seem to be many cupboards or even a fridge. She supposed things like that weren't needed for people who used magic, and her assumption was proven as green flashes of light began to fly from the red-haired woman's hands and into the large pot.

She frowned as more smoke billowed hastily from it. Apparently magic could not solve all problems. "So, er," she began hesitantly, "any news on when they're opening the portals?"

"No," Maksim answered before his mother could. He did not seem to be fazed by his mother's concoction. "My brother is in hiding. We are trying to find him, but it could be weeks before we do."

"Weeks?" Her eyes widened, her stomach turning to water as though she had just flown down the largest drop on a roller coaster. "No. I can't stay here for weeks. I need to go home—today."

Maksim rolled his eyes, but Remy barely noticed; she found herself growing used to it now. It seemed to be one of the only things that Maksim was ever capable of doing. "Well, I am afraid that is simply not going to happen, and we have no choice in the matter."

"You have a choice," Maksim's mother interjected, abandoning her pot of smoke with a sigh. "You are just too stupid to make it."

"I will not take her to the Council." Something flashed in Maksim's eyes, something that made Remy want to look away in fear of seeing it again—it was anger, so intense that she could almost imagine a blazing fire igniting in his pupils. Then, it was gone, the only hint that it had been there at all being his tensed jaw and furrowed brows. "Just let me handle it."

Maksim's mother scoffed as she crossed her arms over her chest, her expression cruel. "Fine. You handle it, Maksim. In fact, you can handle it all day while I go to work and find your brother. I will not help you anymore. This is your problem, and it is your job to solve it." She shot an icy scowl in Remy's direction, one that hovered first at her head and slowly travelled down to her feet. "And all because of a silly little mortal girl."

Despite the blush in her cheeks, Remy returned a glare of her own, but not before she gulped in intimidation. "Yeah, well, believe me, I'd love to get out of your hair. This isn't my idea of a holiday."

The woman ignored her, instead glancing at Maksim with a look that wasn't much kinder than the one she had given to Remy. "Do not let her out of your sight. Do not take her outside. Do not let anybody inside the house. If you insist on hiding her from the Council, it is your job to do so. Do not cause any more trouble than you have already. Is that clear?"

Maksim nodded, though he would not look his mother in the eye. "Crystal."

"Good."

With that, the woman left, quicker than Remy was expecting, too; it was almost as though she had disappeared into thin air, though she was sure she could still hear her heels clicking against the crystal tiling.

"She's a lovely woman, your mother," Remy stated sarcastically, glad when she heard the door slam shut.

"Circumstance has made her bitter," Maksim responded, and Remy was surprised at the softness in his voice. She had been expecting an impolite retort, and when it did not come, she almost felt guilty for the way she had spoken. "She was not always so..."

"Harsh?" Remy finished for him as she traced over the patterns imprinted in the marble counter with her finger.

"Yes." Maksim lent against the counter top on the opposite side of Remy, his palms only a few centimetres from hers.

"I didn't think you'd be back this morning. Aren't you supposed to be helping to find your brother?"

"There was nothing that I could do there. My brother will not be found until he wishes to be, and the sooner my mother realises that, the better." His tone was balanced, but there was something to it that made it seem strained, as though he was trying too hard to keep it so.

"What's the deal with your brother anyway? Why has he got people dressed in black running around after him?" She picked at her already chipped nail polish to avoid his gaze. She didn't think she had really looked at him since yesterday, not for longer than a few seconds. She wasn't quite sure why her stomach clenched every time she even thought about doing so, besides the fact that he was a strange man she barely knew who had pushed her into a completely different world.

"My brother has always wanted power more than anything else, even as a child. He could not get enough of it here, using light magic, so he thought the only way to get it would be to use dark magic and lead anybody else who was stupid enough to do it, too. He has his own little clan now," Maksim sounded bitter, though not with jealousy, "and as long as that is the case, any attempt to bring him back will be a lost cause."

Remy couldn't truly understand what Maksim was saying; it sounded more like a melodramatic Disney movie than something that should be taken seriously. Then again, she had seen the men dressed in black, had seen their bottomless eyes and forbidding faces, each one alike simply because they wore the same expressions and the same clothes, because they had the same eyes.

She was broken out of her reverie by a strange sound, and it took her a moment to realise that it was a cat—the black cat from the alley, no less. She frowned as it nudged her softly, seemingly coming from nowhere, and stroked it's fur. "So you were serious about the cat."

"I would not joke about something so awful," he responded sourly, disgust evident in his expression.

"But it's cute," Remy smiled perhaps for the first time since she had arrived in Astracia as it mewed in response, its green eyes examining her in interest. There was something strangely human about them, she thought, their pupils round rather than in slits. "It likes me. Don't you, little cat?"

Maksim watched the whole ordeal as though it was quite possibly the most disgusting thing he had ever seen. "Cute is not the word I would use. In fact, there are much more appropriate words: irritating, dreadful, vile."

"Is there anything you do like? Besides sarcasm and weird clothes, of course."

"No. And I think you will find that it is your clothes that are weird, as you put it." He glanced down at her jeans, and then her shoes, with disdain. "Besides, they are ruined. You must have ripped them when you fell from the portal."

"They're supposed to be ripped, actually."

"You mortals and your strange desire to look tattered." Maksim sighed, and Remy finally gained the courage to look at him. He looked just the same close up as he had from the doorway; tired, pale, but completely beautiful. The pink of the day beamed through the crystallised walls and glinted against his cheekbones as though he was blushing. His eyes were still the same cold blue, only their silver flecks looked almost golden when he looked towards the light.

In another world—quite literally—and another time, she knew that Maksim would have been the sort of boy she would have fallen for, though of course, the feeling would never be reciprocated. She knew that she was too average looking to ever interest somebody as attractive as him. She wondered how they must look together now, inches apart from each other in the large kitchen: the mortal girl and the warlock boy.

We shouldn't even be allowed in the same room, she thought as she tickled the cat's chin again to distract herself. If he was a flower, she would be a weed. She did not belong in his world.

"You can take that cat home with you when you leave." Maksim padded to the sink beside him and filled a glass with water. Remy was expecting some kind of golden liquid to come out, but instead, it looked the same as water always had, only it was clearer somehow. It reminded her of how thirsty she was, and was grateful when he placed it in front of her. "I have grown tired of it already."

The cat's eyes narrowed, just as Maksim's did the same. Remy couldn't help but smirk behind her glass.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked abruptly when she had finished.

"Go where?"

"Out. If you think I am staying here with you all day, you are sorely mistaken." He left her at the counter-top as though he expected her to follow him and marched through what Remy remembered to be the living room, hauling his emerald coat on just as he had yesterday.

She pulled herself down from the stool, which was rather difficult with her short legs, and watched him warily. "But your mother said—"

"My mother says many things. I often choose not to listen," he interrupted before she could finish. "She will not be home for hours, and I feel I will go mad if I have to spend more than a few seconds trapped in this house with you."

"As opposed to taking me out there, where people would lock us up if they saw me?" She pointed at the door, which seemed to glimmer against the sunlight as though teasing her. Still, she couldn't help but feel tempted to leave; there was a world out there that she had not seen and she no longer felt nauseous at the thought of it, though anxiety still nagged mercilessly in the pit of her stomach.

"Do not be so dramatic. I know a place where nobody else goes, not ever. It's only a short walk, and I'm sure you could disguise yourself in one of my coats."

"Said every serial killer, ever."

"If I wanted to hurt you, Remy, I would have already done so." Maksim eyed her wearily, holding out a deep purple-coloured coat for Remy to take. The hue of it reminded her of the way that Astracia's sky had looked last night, and if it wasn't so unusual, she might have liked it.

"Fine," she surrendered without much of a fight. "But if your mother finds out, you can say it's all your fault. I wouldn't like to get on the wrong side of her again."

"Believe me, you'll get used to it. I am not sure she has a right side."

She shrugged the coat on and pulled up the hood, peering up at Maksim from its shadows. "Do I look like a warlock now?"

"No, particularly since you are female and unbelievably short. I suppose it is an improvement, though. If anybody asks, I will tell them that you are my younger cousin from Panshaw."

Remy didn't suppose that Maksim noticed her rolling her eyes under the hood, as instead he opened the door, letting in humidity and heat that strangled Remy as soon as she stepped out. Still, excitement replaced her fear as her feet met the cobbles of the ground and the bright orange sun pulsed above her.

For the first time since she had met Maksim, she accepted that perhaps magic was real; realer than Remy, and realer than her own world. She knew that she could no longer ignore it.

AN: THANK YOU FOR 500 READS! I feel like each time I write this book, I love it more, and I feel like my writing is improving when I read over my own work. I really hope someone out there is enjoying it as much as I enjoy writing it. Let me know!