Jinn Tiole looked around the rustic dining room. Bookshelves lined the walls, intermixed with glass cabinets filled with vials of colored liquid, powders, dead insects, and crushed leaves. Near the hearth, a massive lion skin stretched out across the floor.

She rubbed her eyes. "How did we get here?"

"The last I remember, we were on a bus," Kristin Jacques said.

Right. They had all been going to a convention together, to speak about the now famous collection of stories which had launched their careers. Jinn frowned and scratched her forehead. What was the title of that anthology again?

"I think I remember seeing a butterfly," said a woman wearing a blue silk dress, a red silk head covering, and a necklace of golden coins. Jinn stared at the stranger. Was she one of the other authors? She didn't appear nearly old enough.

"I love the peacock feather on your head covering," Nancy said, admiring the strange woman's outfit. "It's the same blue as the--" She frowned. "The same blue as the--"

"The butterfly!" Jinn said in sudden realization. Why was it so difficult to remember the events that led to them all being here? The bus driver had driven off the road, chasing a butterfly. Had they crashed? No, if that were the case, they'd all be in a hospital and not wherever this was.

"This means something," Jinn said. "I know a story about a butterfly."

"Tell it to us," Steven suggested. "Maybe it holds a clue about why we're here."

Jinn paused, collecting her thoughts. "It began like this..."

A/N: Can't wait for chapters to appear on Wattpad? You can find the complete anthology on Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074FWCQ2L