“There you are!” 

I stopped trying to push Gabriela away. I knew that voice. The lights turned on in the room. It was the black haired boy.

“You brought your maid. Fantastic! We should probably take her along too.” He sounded quite calm. Doing my best to peer around the maid I noticed that the boy was walking towards the door. I caught a glimpse of something shiny in his hand but couldn’t get a good look before Gabriela pushed me back again.

“You might be in the wrong room Night.” Gabriela from what I could see was keeping her face as neutral as possible. Maybe the kid made her nervous too,  he was a bit odd and related to the king. 

Night… was his name really Night? It certainly sounded like a name but who names a kid after a time of day? Night’s eyes shifted over to me for a second and I worried I had said something out loud. However, he didn’t say anything and turned his attention back to Gabriela.

“Oh, no. Anastasia and I made plans to take a little trip earlier. I am here so we can set out.” He calmly held out the shiny thing in his hand and I watched Gabriela’s eyes widen. I guess she knew what the shiny thing was? 

“And where are you and Lady Anastasia going?” It was a bit hard not to notice how hard Gabriela was trying to sound calm. 

“Witch street.” 

“And why-” Gabriela began but Night waved her off impatiently.

“We can discuss the details when we get there”

He raised the necklace and muttered some words. Light’s appeared encircling the four of us, and I barely had time to close my eyes before the light became blinding. When I opened my eyes, we were not in a hallway anymore.

The first thing I saw was something that looked like rotted out wood in the shape of a small shack. Above the door hanging from a rusty chain was a small sign simply reading “Doctor”. Next to the door was a hole in the wood that might have been a window with no glass. The shack was half the size of my room and surrounded by other small run down looking buildings. Next to the doctor was a slightly burnt looking building with a sight reading “General store” and next to that was what vaguely looked like a bunch of black sticks in a pattern that barely resembled a building. That was one building I was sure could not be occupied, it offered about as much protection as being outside. At least that is what I thought until I caught sight of something or someone moving around in the burned out looking building. The street consisted of just plain dirt and maybe a layer of what looked like ashes and maybe I was imagining it but the whole place smelled off in a way I could not identify. I also hoped that the shape next to the general store was a random piece of trash of a sleeping person but it could have been a dead body for all I knew. I wondered if I should say anything when I noticed a small figure peeking from the left side of the doctor building. Even in the poor light, her hair color stood out, pale pink. When we made eye contact, she let out a small squeak and backed up into the shadows.

Finally remembering to look for the people I had teleported with, I found Night and Gabriela having what appeared to be a really fast whispered conference. I also realized with a small jolt of panic that I had no idea where Larissa was and was momentarily worried we had left her behind until I saw her slowly walking to the spot the pink-haired girl had disappeared to.

“Larie, maybe don’t wander off.” I called out in a low voice that of course she did not hear. I cast another look at Gabriela before I hurriedly followed Larissa. I repeated the warning when I got close. She didn’t stop but she spared half a glance at me before walking on. 

“I know that girl.” She whispered.

“The one with the pink hair? Where would you even have met her?”

“My mom has a picture of her hidden under her pillow. It looks like a family picture or something, it has my mother, me, a pink haired girl and a guy. I tried asking my mom about it but-”

“Get back here, it’s not safe!” Gabriela may not have shouted but anything above a whisper seemed to echo oddly in the depressing street. Larissa flinched as if she had been hit. She reluctantly took her eyes away from the shadow the girl had disappeared into and walked back to her mother with me following behind her. I noticed that the girl with the pink hair was peeking again. There was something familiar about her but it was a familiarity I could not identify. It was impersonal like a stranger that I had walked by often or something. I shook my head. Where would I have walked by a witch…

“If you were making plans that involve my daughter, you should have told me.” She may not have been shouting but her voice still echoed much more than I would have liked. Judging by the context, Gabriela was either talking to me or Night. Yeah, she was looking at me.

“It was more of a comment that Night took too seriously than an actual plan.” I muttered half glancing at the pink haired girl. She was still there quite obviously peeking. 

“I thought it was an interesting idea?” Night shrugged.

“It is illegal.” Gabriela had at least lowered her voice.

“The king is my uncle. No one is going to tell me anything.”

“That might be the case for you-” Gabriela began calmly but stopped when a much larger shadow stepped out of the doctor building. It was a man with a slightly darker shade of pink hair but he very much looked like the girl still half hidden by the building. 

“Please come in if you are going to continue your conversation. There is a curfew and the guards don’t like it when there is too much noise.” He motioned to the run down building he came out of. After a moment of hesitation, Gabriela started walking with Larissa and I following while Night strutted ahead of us looking pleased with himself. 

“Now,” the man continued after closing his sad excuse of a door. I seriously doubted being in a place with as many holes as this one would help muffle voices at all but figured I should not point it out. “I believe it was you who sent me the message.” He was looking at Night. “You did not tell me you would come with other people.”

“I’m here alone.” Night took out a small bag. I caught the sound of something like coins before Night threw the bag at the feet of the man. Muttering darkly, the man knelt down to pick up the bag. 

“Alone, it is.” He tossed the bag further into the house. 

“Are my papers ready?” Night asked.

I looked around. This looked like some kind of lobby. There was a counter in front of a door and several ancient looking chairs, some of which were lying on the floor. I also noticed that like the ground outside, the floor here was also made of dirt. With a deep sigh, I watched the man walk to the counter and reach for something I could not see. 

“As far as anyone is concerned,” he looked from me to Larissa, “Which one of you needs the paper?”

Assuming it meant fake noble papers, I pointed to Larissa. He nodded distractedly. 

“As far as anyone is concerned, this kid is a member of the Brown family. The family is massive, no one will think anything of another member of that house just turning up.” He chuckled to himself, almost handing the paper to Larissa but then turning to Gabriela. “I hope no one catches you.”

He gave her a small smile which she returned tentatively. If I didn’t know better, I would have said that they were communicating without words as he handed the paper to her. What really worried me was Gabriela saying something about how she wasn’t part of the plan but really, she almost seemed distracted looking into the man’s eyes. She probably didn’t even look at the paper. 

The man abruptly turned back to Night. 

“You brought more gold than what was in that little bag, right? Papers like these are not easy to come by.”

With a smirk, Night reached into the pocket of his robes and tossed a slightly bigger bag filled with gold. He tossed it on the ground and reached back into his pocket. He dropped five more bags. 

“Do you mind if we teleport from here? I would rather not be seen walking out of your store.” He pulled out the small chain again. It looked like a thin chain with a small jewel on the end. 

“After making such a racket outside, I would not want to walk outside ei-” The man began with a chuckle before he fell silent. Heavy footsteps sounded outside and indistinct voices slowly got closer. Almost immediately, Night dragged me behind the counter. The man seemed to have  done the same with Gabriela and Larissa because we all found ourselves hiding hopefully out of sight from the door and the gaps in the walls.

The door crashed against the wall and the whole building shook. I could not see who it was but I heard heavy footsteps, maybe from people wearing boots. I didn’t understand much about the new world yet but I was beginning to think this was not a good place for me to be caught in. It would definitely lead to more than just being expelled from school. I watched Larissa hiding her face in her mother’s hair. Why did we even bring her? Just because we needed the papers for her didn’t mean we had to bring her. She would probably have been better off back in the house. I was trying to help her, not cause her further distress. 

“We caught this thing outside.” It was a deep voice, probably male. It was followed by a thud and the squeak of what was probably the girl I had seen outside. She landed half behind the counter. We made eye contact before the man picked her up and stood in front of her. 

“How kind of you to bring her back.” He said acidly.

“Don’t play around. You know about the curfew. You and your filthy family cannot be outside for any reason. If your shack burns down, you better hope you burn in it before you set foot outside.” There was an odd sound and something hit the floor. The man judging by the grunt. I also heard Night clear his throat and the sound of someone jumping backwards. The man with the deep voice judging by the heavy sound. 

“I paid this girl to stand outside while I conducted some business here.” Night said in a slow clear voice. “My uncle is the king, if I give her permission to be outside, she will be outside.” 

I heard several unintelligible mutters before the deep voiced man spoke again.

“Dealings with witches are against the law, not even the king could hope to save you from being imprisoned for life for this.” The deep voiced man said gleefully.

“Oh, I can accuse you of dealing with witches before you could ever raise any suspicions about me. I have proof after all. Also, I disagree. In the eyes of the public, it might seem bad or wrong but there is no way that I would ever be tried for anything. I am royalty. You, however, I could say that I don’t like your face and watch as you lose your job and everything you hold dear and I do mean everything, wife, children, pets, and houseplants if I have to.” I could not see Night’s face but something about his tone felt off. It must be how cheerful he sounded. I heard the sound of heavy boots backing away.

“I’ll pretend I never saw you this time.” The man with the deep voice may have been trying to sound intimidating but even I could hear his voice shake. A few moments later, I heard the heavy footsteps, a door being slammed shut, and then silence.

I made to stand up but Gabriela pulled me back down. 

“You have to actually leave.” Night called out. There was no response but I heard the sound of their footsteps getting further and further away. I stood up. Turning to find Larissa, I found her close to the pink haired girl. They looked similar, maybe it was the pale skin or the mauve eyes, one could almost assume they were siblings or something. 

“Are you okay?” I heard her ask in a low voice. The girl gave a shaky laugh. 

“I’m used to it.” she muttered back. It was really starting to seem like the only two with a halfway decent life were Night and I. When we made eye contact, the girl looked away immediately. It was almost as if she didn’t want to look at me. 

Night reached into his pockets and pulled out more small bags of coins.

“Hopefully this is enough to bribe them to leave you alone for a while.” He said without looking at the man. “I would hate to get you in trouble.”

“They’ve had it out for me since I told one of them that their rash was not serious enough to require a magic tonic and he should just wash his underwear.” The man chuckled. “You should probably leave before they decide to come back.”

Night took out the chain again. He walked to the center of the room and stared at Gabriela and I expectantly. I grabbed Larissa’s hand and walked her over. We stood in a circle close to the chain. I got one last look at the girl with the pink hair standing behind her dad before the chain began to glow and I saw nothing for a second followed by a complete change of scenery. The familiar portraits seemed less fancy and more garish. Seeing the fancy carpet and painted walls was almost jarring. 

“I got sword training tomorrow so I have to get some rest.” Night announced before making a half wave at us and walking away. I barely had time to process his leaving before I found myself getting dragged into my room by Gabriela. She closed the door brandishing the papers as if she were holding a dead rat. 

“Even with this, how do you plan to take Larissa with you?” she snapped.

“I am making a few assumptions but I assumed I could have a maid with me, like a personal maid or whatever. So if I say I want to take her as a maid, that should not be a problem.” I said trying to sound like I wasn’t coming up with my plan on the spot. 

“She is not ready to be anyone’s personal maid.”

“If only there was someone that could train her that I could also take with me.” I said slowly looking at Gabriela. Her face was once again, far too neutral. She seemed to be seeing something past me, something only she could see even. 

“You could maybe get away with that.” She said distractedly. “I will talk to your father tomorrow morning.” 

She pulled Larissa away from me. She then stood by the wardrobe expectantly. I assumed it was time for sleep. Sure enough, she helped me change into my night dress which I realized was no longer pink but sky blue.

“I am not without contacts. If you make any more plans that involve my family, you have to tell me. I can help with the planning. You don’t want to rely too much on people like Night. I have heard some odd rumors about him.”

So, was her only problem with what happened today the fact that I didn’t tell her? Moreover, she was not glaring at me. She seemed a bit weary but the animosity that I was so used to was completely absent. 

“Okay, I’ll be sure to tell you the next time I make half baked plans involving your family.” I said expecting her half smile to turn into a glare. She actually chuckled. Who was that person and what did she do with my maid?

I climbed into my bed and watched Gabriela dust off Larissa’s too big maid dress. I wanted to ask what sort of rumors she could have heard about what was essentially a kid but I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew it was morning.