“Please just let me go,” Natsuki begged, looking at the room they had prepared for her as Harry and Darius stood behind her. The third story bedroom was spartan but furnished, the bed appearing comfortable. A large window provided a view of the street.

    “Can’t,” Harry said. “Sorry.”

    “It took a couple of minutes to figure out how to do this,” Darius said. “But, I’ve cast a spell that will seal all the windows, as well as conceal you and anything you are holding. So, we don’t have to put you up in the basement, and we can give you the run of most of the house. You can touch it if you want – it won’t hurt you.”

    Natsuki sighed and touched the window, feeling resistance as she got close. The fact that they were all going out of their way to make her comfortable somehow made her captivity worse, not better. The barrier gave off a slight hum of energy. By the looks of it, it wasn’t something she could write on, either.

    “We’re not going to lock you in your room, or anything like that,” Harry stated. “Balthazar has the master bedroom across the hall from you. Darius is at the end of the hallway downstairs, and Selena and I are both beside the bathroom. If you need anything at night, just knock on one of our doors. We’ve got a rotation for the shower, so you’ll want to put your name down for that. And, we’ve locked away the knives and anything that can be used as a weapon, so if you need something to eat, just ask one of us and we’ll take care of it. Selena’s probably the best cook among us, except for hamburgers – she can’t cook a hamburger to save her life. Speaking of which, you should go downstairs and ask Selena for something to eat. You may not feel hungry now, but you’ll regret it tomorrow if you don’t.”

    “And what if I don’t eat?” Natsuki asked. “What if I refuse?”

    “You mean go on a hunger strike?” Harry replied. “You’re not going to do that.”

    “And why wouldn’t I?” Natsuki demanded. “It’s not like I have any other way of resisting right now, is it?”

    Harry smiled at her and shook his head. “Because you’re a detective, just like me, sweetheart. You’ve got a puzzle to solve: how to escape. And your brain can’t do that without food.”

    Natsuki’s mind began to race again. Harry was right. Whether she liked it or not, she was in a battle of wits against these people. If there was a way to escape, she needed to find it. But, first she needed more information.

    “The magical barrier is interesting,” Natsuki said. “I’m guessing it needs to be recharged at regular intervals?”

    Darius looked at Harry in shock. Harry grinned at him.

    Natsuki concentrated on keeping her face impassive. “At least once per day, in fact, I’d guess,” she added. “Same with the barrier you put up on the front and back doors.”

    Darius blinked at her. “How did you–”

    “She’s a detective,” Harry said. “Your body language just told her everything she needed to know. And you are easy to read.”

    “I also spent the last four years travelling in the story worlds,” Natsuki added. “I’ve been to plenty of places with magic. I may not be able to do it, but I’ve got a decent idea of how it works.”

    “That makes sense, I guess,” Darius said, relaxing. Natsuki allowed herself an inner smile. Better to leave him at ease and keep him easier to read.

    Escape possibility: find a way to make Darius forget to recharge the barrier. Problem: the barrier being down means that she can leave, but if any of them were still in the house and able to act, she wouldn’t get very far. And if it were Balthazar...

    Her breath caught as she remembered Aquila freezing Cap in place before he could even finish a second step. If Balthazar was around, she wouldn’t even make it through the door.

    “Are you okay?” Harry asked.

    Natsuki sighed. Harry could probably read her body language as well as she could read his, so there was no point in concealing it. “No, I’m not. I’m anything but okay. Please, just let me go. I promise I won’t tell anybody where this house is.”

    “I’m sorry,” Harry said. “You know we can’t do that. All we can do is make you comfortable while you’re here.”

    Darius gave her a kind smile. “It’s getting late, and you haven’t eaten anything yet. Selena will still be up – go have her make you something to eat. Maybe she can cheer you up.”

    Natsuki nodded and headed down the stairs, mulling over what she had learned. If Darius forgot to recharge the barrier, that created an opportunity. But, to take advantage of that, she had to be alone in the house. Outside of Balthazar launching an all-hands operation, that wasn’t going to happen. However, Balthazar was fighting a war, so operations involving everybody in the house would happen – it was just a matter of patience. And, the barrier would give them a false sense of security. So, she needed to keep an eye on Darius and figure out when during the day he recharged the barrier.

    As she stepped onto the first floor and caught sight of the kitchen, another possibility came to mind: sabotage.

    Natsuki forced herself not to grin. This idea had more promise – the only way that the house avoided detection from the other side was if everybody’s EM signatures were being concealed, and that required a dampener. Balthazar might have given small portable ones to each of his people, but that wouldn’t conceal Natsuki’s signature, especially if everybody had left on a mission. And that meant that there had to be a large dampener somewhere. If she could find it and turn it off, then the other side would be able to see all of them.

    Selena gave her a warm smile as Natsuki stepped into the kitchen. “How are you holding up?”

    Natsuki took a deep breath. Best to conceal her happiness that she had a working plan. “I guess I’m adjusting.”

    “Good,” Selena said, pulling out a cutting board. “I was just about to make myself a snack. What’s your favourite comfort food?”

    “Teriyaki rice balls,” Natsuki replied.

    “That I can make,” Selena declared, pulling some rice from the fridge. Natsuki sat down on one of the stools by the island table in the middle of the room.

    “We know you’re not happy here,” Selena said, starting to work on the rice balls. “And we don’t expect you to be. We also know that you’re going to try to escape, and we’re not going to hold that against you. It’s what we would do if we were you.”

    “You’re doing a pretty good job of keeping me here,” Natsuki stated. “A magic barrier to not only keep me from leaving but hide that I’m here at all, everything I could use to escape locked away...”

    “...and the dampener covering this house being relocated outside,” Selena added. Natsuki’s heart fell. “Sabotaging it is one of the things I would try if I were you. So, I moved it right after dinner.”

    Natsuki took a deep breath and tried not to cry.

    “I’m sorry we’re doing this to you,” Selena said. “If it’s any consolation, the enemies in my world don’t take prisoners at all. They just kill you. So, you’ve got it better than I would have if it was my story.”

    “But it’s not your story,” Natsuki retorted. “It’s not a story at all. And all I want to do is get back to my friends.”

    “I know,” Selena said, and then sighed. “If I were you, I’d also think about trying to overpower us in our sleep. I’ve got a demonstration prepared to show you why it wouldn’t work, if you want to see it.”

    “What’s the point?” Natsuki said. “You wouldn’t be offering to demonstrate it unless it was true.”

    “Well, my super-soldier powers make me fast enough to knock high velocity rounds out of the air,” Selena stated. “I do like to show off sometimes.”

    Natsuki looked up. “So, what, you were going to ask me to snatch something from the table before you could?”

    Selena nodded. “It’s a neat trick, anyway.”

    “And I guess the others are equally impressive,” Natsuki said.

    “Well, Harry is just paranoid and keeps his door locked at all times,” Selena said. “I’m not sure it’s even possible to hit Balthazar with his powers. And Darius puts up a magical barrier at night.” She smiled. “It’s a real pain to trip over it on your way to the bathroom.”

    Natsuki blinked. “You’re a couple, aren’t you? You and Darius.”

    Selena leaned back against the counter. “Damn, you really are good. How did you figure that out?”

    “Your room is closer to the bathroom than his,” Natsuki replied. “The only way you would encounter his barrier at all is if you were coming from his room instead of yours.”

    Selena nodded. “Well, you’re right. These days you’re more likely to find me in his room than my own. When the end comes, I’m going to spend it with him.” She sighed. “That said, if you could figure out a way for us to do something about the suffering in the story worlds without destroying them all, and this one along with them, we’d all take it as a big personal favour. Now that I’ve found somebody I want to spend my life with, I’d rather like to have a future with him.”

    Natsuki shook her head. “How could you possibly agree to help with this? You’re the hero of your world! How could you ever decide to destroy it?”

    Selena put a plate of rice balls in front of Natsuki and sat down across from her. “The truth is that none of us were on board with it when Balthazar told us what he was planning to do. He asked each one of us for an opportunity to make his case, and he told us what he told you – that if we could figure out something better, he would do it...and if we decided not to join him once we knew, he’d allow us to return to our story worlds unharmed. I’ve been trying to figure something out for over a month now. But, he did prove his case to each of us, and that’s why we’re here. You should eat up.”

    Natsuki took a bite out of rice ball, chewed and swallowed. “How did he convince you?”

    “He took me to a bookstore and showed me the manga section,” Selena replied.

    “What, he just showed you your manga series?”

    Selena shook her head. “He showed me everybody else’s manga series. It turns out my story is part of a very popular subgenre. There’s a legion of people like me in stories like mine, all sacrificing and suffering. Even if my story ends, theirs will continue, or people will start writing new ones. What we’ve got is the only way to stop them. Better a quick, painless end for everybody than, well, this.”

    Natsuki finished her first rice ball, her appetite starting to return. “But, you want a future with Darius here in this world, right? So, surely the good here outweighs the bad!”

    Selena sighed. “I envy you that illusion. This place, Japan, is pretty safe and comfortable. But, you don’t need to spend much time reading the news to realize that compared to many countries in this world, it’s a haven. And even here, there are some serious problems. It’s not an accident that one of the most popular sub-genres here is about people being transported to a different world.” She frowned and looked at her hands. “Actually, I didn’t realize how easy I had it until I learned more about this place. The wars and conflicts here are often worse than the ones in our stories. All I had to deal with was killer robots! These creator gods are kind to us, if you can believe that.” She gave Natsuki a helpless look. “But...if they’re creating our stories and our worlds for an escape from the troubles of this one, why would they just transplant so much of their suffering too? It doesn’t make any sense!”

    “I’m sorry,” Natsuki said. “I don’t know.”

    Selena took a deep breath. “Anyway, I’m not going back there. I’d rather spend the end here with Darius.” She gave Natsuki a small, bitter smile. “And even I wanted to, the information stream would have replaced me by now anyway. So, a version of me gets to suffer there regardless, right to the end. I wonder...is it better to be her, suffering without knowing the truth, or me, safe but knowing everything?”

    “Better to know the truth than not to,” Natsuki said.

    Selena nodded. “You’re probably right.”

    “Sorry to interrupt you,” Harry said, popping his head through the doorway. “Ken is wondering what kind of books you like to read, Natsuki.”

    “I guess I prefer mysteries,” Natsuki answered.

    Harry nodded. “Have you ever read any Sherlock Holmes?”

    Natsuki shook her head. “I’ve never heard of that.”

    Harry gave her a knowing smile. “You’ll love it. How’s your English?”

    “Fluent,” Natsuki replied. “I can both speak and read it.”

    “Better than I’m doing,” Harry chuckled. “I’ll tell Ken to find an original English edition for you instead of a translation. Is there anything else you want us to pick up for you?”

    Natsuki shook her head.

    “Gotcha,” Harry said. “I’m going to tell Ken, and then turn in. You ladies enjoy yourselves!”

    “He didn’t call us ‘dames’ or ‘broads’,” Natsuki observed once he had gone upstairs.

    “He only does that around Ken,” Selena said. “I’m half-convinced that Ken secretly enjoys it. He definitely encourages it.”

    Natsuki ate her last rice ball in silence.

    Selena took a deep breath. “Right, here’s the deal. None of us have any experience holding prisoners, and we’re all the heroes of our worlds–”

    “I’m not!” Darius called as he passed by the doorway.

    “You keep telling yourself that!” Selena called back. “In any one of our stories, you’d be the hero!” She turned back to Natsuki. “When we found out about Ken’s family, Darius wanted to lead the charge to rescue them. Balthazar nearly had to restrain him. Anyway, as I was saying, we’re all the heroes of our worlds. We don’t mistreat people, or lock them in a room and leave them to rot. So, we’re going to make you as comfortable as possible, and make your stay with us as bearable as we can. The stuff we need to keep secret or away from you we’ll just lock away. And if you happen to see, hear, or get your hands on something you shouldn’t, or you manage to escape, that’s on us. None of us will ever blame or punish you for trying.”

    “I suppose that’s not nothing,” Natsuki muttered.

    “It’s the best we can do,” Selena said.

    Natsuki spent the next half hour making half-hearted conversation with Selena, until she turned in as well. Natsuki spent a couple of minutes wandering around the now-empty halls and rooms, looking for something she could use, but her captors had been thorough. Finally, she went to her room, closed the door, and lay on the bed.

    She managed to hold off the tears for a few minutes, but then they started and wouldn’t stop. After a while, she fell into a dreamless and restless sleep.