The stranger had led Holly out the other side of the city walls, where a few buildings continued to sprawl out onto a wide open plain, the hazy silhouettes of hills and mountains just visible to the left while another forest peeped out in the distance. 

"I still don't know your name." Holly realised as they continued walking past stalls and houses.

"Call me Terry." The stranger said, "My name is Terry Whitlock." 

Bluebell was still perched on his shoulder, and he briefly reached up to give her a head scratch. "We're nearly there." he said.

"Thank you, Terry." Holly said, suddenly solemn. "I'm not sure what I'd have done if you hadn't found me."

Terry turned his green eyes onto her, full of sorrow. Holly couldn't make out why. 

"Don't thank me." he said. "You are still stuck here. If there was a way to get you home, I would do it."

The buildings that surrounded them now started to get larger. They still had an essence of the same beautiful architecture of the central city, except they were less cramped. Terry led them up to a building with a sign above that said 'Whitlock's Repair Shop' in a fancy swirl of green and gold. Below the sign was a set of large doors, with a smaller entrance door to the side.

Terry fished out a ring of keys and slotted one into the side door. He held it open and motioned for Holly to step inside. 

"Try not to bump into anything." he said. 

Cautiously, Holly stepped through into darkness. Terry flicked a switch behind her with a loud click that echoed through the room. It was more than a room, it was a workshop. She breathed in the musty smell of oil, fuel and old vehicles. In one corner, she could see some kind of vintage car. What the other thing was that took up the rest of the space, she had no idea. It had about six wheels on either side, a small slit for presumably the driver, a slim and shiny metal body and a gaping wide hole at the front. 

"You're some kind of mechanic?" Holly guessed, looking about her. Various tools hung from the walls, and another set of large doors stood at the back, closed. 

"Yes." Terry said, leading her into a little office that led to a set of winding stairs. "I fix cars and contraptions mostly."

"What exactly is a contraption?"

"well," he said, pausing to let Bluebell down. "Cars are vehicles from your world. Contraptions are vehicles from this world."

"Like that big silver thing with six wheels out there?"

"Yes, exactly like that. You see, people from this world tend to learn from the things they find out of portals. Occasionally you can find an actual car, but for the most part they've put together what they can figure out to develop their own weird and wonderful things. Like a twelve wheeled car." 

He picked up an empty mug from the desk before heading up the stairs. "Completely pointless." he muttered "But they all seem to love that kind of stuff." 

Holly followed, placing her hands against the wall for balance as there was no banister up the winding stone steps.  

The stairs opened out into a small yet spacious living area. A tall window looked out towards a wide street, the open plains just visible above the other buildings, letting in the light of the gently setting sun. At the other end of the room was a small kitchen and a couple of doors. Terry headed for one of the doors, even now not letting up his quick stride. 

"You can wait here while I get the room ready for you." 

Holly stepped slowly further into the lounge. To her, it looked kind of basic, yet cozy and comfortable. She spotted a chair by the window and made her way over to it, Bluebell happily following her. The ferret climbed up to her lap almost before Holly had made contact with the cushion. 

Smiling, Holly stroked the snow white ferret and gazed out of the window. It wasn't a bad view, but it was a stranger to her. Everything here was unfamiliar. The smile faded into melancholy. Oh, how she longed to be back in a tent with Johnny by her side and enjoying a drink with her mates. Yet here she was, a ferret in her lap and a strange man making her up a room in a strange land. This was not how she had expected her afternoon to go. 

What if... What if the magical mirror Raymond had mentioned could get her home? He had said it was supposed to be able to see between worlds. Maybe it could transport between worlds too, like the portals, except go the other way. People here didn't believe in magic because it was normal to them, she reasoned. It was worth a try at least. Perhaps she could join Raymond's team in the race. 

Terry returned to the room and Holly was just about to pitch her idea to him when heavy footsteps came pounding up the stairs. A large man emerged from the top of the staircase, stepping confidently into the lounge. Much taller than either Holly or Terry, he wore a leather jacket with those punky metal spikes on and a knuckle duster was clenched over his left fist. 

"How the hell did you get in here?" Terry burst out, furious. "Get out at once!"

"I'm here on behalf of Bertie." the man said calmly.

"And what does Bertie want, an apology?"

The man smirked. Holly had a bad feeling about this.

"Yes" the man replied, "An apology...and 1000 Imps."

"He doesn't need 1000 Imps. Kindly remind Bertie that we're not gangsters. If he wants to discuss the price of his new teeth, we can do so. Face to face."

Holly held her breath. She had seen enough TV to know that kind of talk didn't work well with men who looked like they were eight feet tall and made of solid muscle. She figured Terry hadn't watched many films. Did they even have TV here? Netflix? Youtube? Oh no, if her plan didn't work, would she have to spend the rest of her life without any kind of screen interaction? That was terrifying to think about. The man's rough voice snapped her thoughts back to the conversation. 

"This is not a negotiation Mr Whitlock." he said, strolling up to Terry and grasping his collar. He lifted the little engineer off the ground as if he were an empty sack. 

Terry's face visibly turned pale. His eyes were wide, staring at the beast holding him. 

"Bertie is giving you one month to pay him his 1000 Imps, or else..." 

Terry clearly knew what the 'or else...' meant, and gulped. "But-but I don't have 1000 Imps."

"That's why you've got a month." The man grinned back. 

All Terry could do was nod. The man dropped him and walked leisurely towards the stairs. 

"See you in a month Mr Whitlock." he laughed, descending into the darkness below. 

Bluebell leapt off Holly's lap and pounded over to Terry, who stood hunched over with his arms braced against his legs. 

"Blimey" he gasped as Holly let go of her breath and sucked in some fresh air. It could have been worse, she thought. It was bad, but it could have been worse. 

"It seems Bertie is starting to get some big ideas." Terry said, straightening up and lifting Bluebell to his chest. The colour slowly started returning to his face. "Where on earth does he think I'm going to find 1000 Imps."

An idea suddenly sparked in Holly's head, sending shivers of excitement down her spine. She could fix both of their problems. 

Standing up from the chair, she said "I know where you could get 1000 Imps from. 100,000 even, and a way for me to get home again."

Terry looked at her suspiciously, "What are you talking about?"

"The race that Raymond is entering. To find a magical mirror. If it really is magic, it could send me home and you would get the prize money."

Both he and the ferret seemed to stare at her in disbelief. "That's not possible." he said, finally. "Firstly, the Madman's Mirror isn't magic. There is no evidence that it even exists. As for the money, Richie and Raymond have entered. Those are two very ambitious people. We would have no chance against them."

"You told me yourself that I fell out of a portal. A magic portal. And you're a mechanic. I imagine you could make anything go as fast as you wanted it to." 

He stood in thought for a moment, absent-mindedly stroking Bluebell in his arms.

 "You said that if there was any way you could get me home, you would do it." she said. "Please."

 "I do have something." he murmured quietly. "Whether it will be faster than the Cobra, I don't know."

There were butterflies of excitement already fluttering around inside Holly. She beamed "That's great!" 

"I can't make any promises." he said, "The mirror may not be magic, it may not even exist. And we way not win the race."

"Nothing is set in stone." Holly said, "It's worth a try.

Slowly, he nodded. "Alright." he said. "Follow me."

Draping Bluebell over his shoulder, he led Holly back down the stairs, through the office, through the workshop and up to the large doors at the back. The doors rumbled as they slid to the side on rollers. He flicked on a light switch. What Holly saw in the center of the room made her mouth gape open. 

"Oh my goodness" she said, "that's an aeroplane!" 

"Yes" he said quietly. Holly thought he looked a little embarrassed, maybe shy about the machine in front of them.

"It's a lot older than Richie's Cobra, but it would mean we could take a more direct route to The Isle."

"Is it safe?" 

"Of course!" he said indignantly, any embarrassment suddenly vanished. "She hasn't been flown in quite a while but I've kept her in good condition. I'd never let her rot away." He had walked up to the aeroplane and gently started running his hand along the fuselage. 

"It's a biplane." Holly said, a little stupefied. When Terry said he had something, she was expecting something like the twelve wheeled car. Not a plane made of wood and canvas. 

"It's a de Havilland Gipsy Moth." 

"I don't know what that means."

"It means, we can get to The Isle. Whether that will be before or after Richie and Raymond, I couldn't say."

"Okay" Holly said, slowly walking around the Gipsy Moth, hand on her chin like she was judging a best in show competition. She couldn't deny that it was pretty to look at. The fuselage was a dark green, two open cockpits placed tandem behind the engine, while the wings and tail were silver coloured.   "Okay" she said again, "This could work. How far is it to this isle?"

"I don't know, I've never been. We will have to cross a few countries though."

"Okay." Holly said decisively, placing her hands on her hips. If this was her chance to get back home, albeit in an old looking plane with a man she barely knew, then so be it. She was taking it. "Tomorrow morning, we'll enter the race."