“I still think we should tell them.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Why?”

“It would just worry them, and we’d risk them making a mess of things. Besides, they can’t even see the rift anyway.”

“So what do we do?”

“The same thing we’ve always done. We’re guardians. We guard. We kill anything that comes through, renew the wards every now and then. It’s a small rift, it’ll seal itself up eventually. Speaking of which, it’s your turn on the wards; go, I’ll stand watch.”

A sigh. “Alright.”

He pads away, and I smile. He’s a good kid. He’ll make a fine Head Warden one day.

Then, more footsteps, behind me. Much heavier. A shadow looms over me.

“Here you are, kitty! What are you doing? Are you staring at that weird stain on the drywall again?”

“Meow.”