The world shattered into thousands of pieces around him. Greys and blues were replaced with the normal colors of the world. Once the pieces cleared, he saw Alice standing right in front of him. It didn’t take her long to notice him, and once she did she started speaking.

“Hey John, I hadn’t seen you there,” she said, her voice showing how surprised she was to suddenly see him in front of her as well. She waited a short while for John to respond, but when he didn’t for almost a minute, she began once more. “Are you ok?” she asked, concerned, and when he still didn’t respond she noticed the strange tint that spread across his face, “you seem pale, John. Did you come down with something? Maybe you should go to the nurse?” Alice asked, with a sense of urgency. When he still just stood there, and he only became paler and paler, Alice grabbed his hand and moved towards his nurse’s office. She was worried about him, being this unusually quiet caused her to believe something had happened, and him ignoring her only confirmed her suspicions. More than that, his look was familiar to her, in a way that concerned her even more. 

Even as Alice dragged John towards the nurse’s office, both of them remained entirely silent. John stayed silent for the same reason as before, his mind was frozen as it still tried to process all the information he had now been to, and none of it made sense to him.. The shock of it had hit him so hard that his face could be described as a sheet of white paper, and the look upon it was quite strange.

’What was Ember talking about? A world called the Abyss? One containing magic? And I am a part of it somehow? Ok, I need to figure this out. First things first, she said it was adjacent to our own. What does that mean? It could mean that it’s somehow connected to our world but hidden. Or that it’s in our world somehow, though that seems less likely. Whatever the answer is, I need to figure this out and fast. It’s very likely that I’m either going to be in immediate danger or that I will be pulled into this world with little to no explanation. That is if I understood what she said about either recruiting me or killing me correctly.

’Honestly, even if I had a choice, this Council of Exploration thing does sound interesting, so it’s not like getting recruited is a bad option. After all, if there truly is this Abyss thing, and I don’t really have any reason to disbelieve her. She was invisible and sent me into a different version of reality or something for fuck’s sakes! Yeah, so if I believe her, which I think I do, this Gateway thing sounds super cool. Exploring something like a pocket dimension might be a good opportunity. Though I can’t say I like the sound of someone who can be invisible coming back to kill me... I need some insurance against that, but how can I get it? Maybe one of those chicks I saw yesterday?

’No, I can’t be sure they’re not involved with this Council of Exploration organization. And if they are I’m basically sealing my own fate. That means I can’t risk it. For now, I just have to act normal so if they’re still watching me, they continue to think I’m not going to be doing anything. And try to prepare as best I can, whatever that means. With the time I have before one of those things happens,’ all of his mind’s energy was concentrated at running through that logic, ignoring Alice and the outer world at large. When he finally made a decision, he realized what happened, and immediately regretted how he had retreated into his own head.

’I have to calm Alice down. I don't want to lie to her like this, but I'm not sure I can tell her about it. And it'd be safer for both of us if she didn't know for now.’ He concluded, and soon after began speaking. At the same time John was trying to process the information, Alice’s mind was also rushing. Through different steps, perhaps, but almost just as confused. 

’Huh? Why’s John here? I thought we’d meet at lunch to discuss the date, but maybe he couldn’t get there or something?’ she had thought before attempting to speak to John. Once she did, and he still hadn’t responded, her thoughts became less mundane, ’what’s with the look on his face? It looks familiar somehow. No. That’s impossible. It’s the same exact one. But how? How could that look be on John now?’ she thought, freaking out. What she saw could not be possible, but at the same time she couldn’t deny it either. She spoke to John once more, but he didn’t answer, so she decided to take him to the nurse’s office, ’this must have some rational explanation… I’m sure the nurse will know,’ she tried to calm herself down, but without much success, as her mind was already racing to explain what she already knew. 

’What if this is the same thing as dad? He had the same look on his face though didn’t he, just a few days before he got it. The same look as John has now. No, it’s just a coincidence. It has to be. There’s no reason to believe John has it too. I’m getting ahead of myself anyway, I just need to take him to the nurse. I’m sure it’ll be fine. What happens if it isn’t fine though? Could I stand to lose him again? No. I can’t think about that. It’ll just get me to be more worried than I already am, and it won’t help John or me at all. Let’s try to think about this logically. He’s ignoring me so much I have to assume he’s in shock from something, but what could it be?’

She looked at John again, hoping something about him changed, but the same distant and strange look was still there, ’whatever made him stare like that, maybe?’ she rationalized, ‘that means I have to ask him about it, don’t I? I guess I never really knew why dad had that look on his face in the first place. Guess that’s another reason to ask John. Ok, I’m going to do just that,’ she decided, sure that was the right choice, and before she spoke only one more thought crossed her mind. ’I hope John really is ok, I was looking forward to our date...’

They both had decided to talk to each other at almost the same time, having been entirely silent for most of the short walk. About a hallway away from the nurse’s office, John stopped walking and Alice followed suit.

“Hey Alice, sorry for worrying you, I’m fine,” John started a conversation. Alice, seeing he was still just as pale, quickly spoke as well. 

“Huh? You’re fine? I have never met anyone that looked less fine than you did back there,” she responded, anger and concern in her voice. 

“Yeah.. I’m sorry about that. I just got a bad grade on a test and wasn’t really handling it well. I think we should go back to class now. Shouldn’t we?” John excused in a way that only worried Alice more, but she said nothing of that. 

“Ok, if you say so. I’ll see you after school then? We should be finishing at about the same time today,” she mentioned instead.

“Yeah. Let’s do that,” John said, having noticed Alice had disappeared before he could say anything else.

Alice obviously did not believe John’s excuse, and that attitude had only made her more suspicious of what had happened to John. That made her decide to investigate through the only method she knew, his connection to her father’s mysterious disease.

John had hoped that his response would fix the situation, but he could tell from Alice’s response that it did not. At first, he again wanted to tell her the truth right away, but he still didn’t know what consequences might follow that. So he decided against it. When he could finally tell her without worry, he would talk about them both sharing more too. Something they shared blame for now more than ever. They had both clearly withdrawn over the years, and he knew how harmful that could be.

Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he went to his final class that day. The class was Civics. A class that just like history, was taught by Miss Wentworth. Luckily, this time, the class was mostly uneventful, but one thing did stick out to John. Civics class had the same air to it as History class the previous day.  

’Didn’t Ember cause that?’ he wondered, finding it strange.  If it wasn’t the purple haired scout, that meant it could be only one other person. A person John used Observe on almost immediately. It was Miss Wentworth herself, the only person that was not so obviously mundane and who shared both those classes with John. The second he used it, he got a popup he didn't expect.

Observe can not examine target: The target has blocked Observe functionality

For a second it looked like something about Wentworth’s stance had shifted, but it was so subtle John was sure he had imagined it. Now John knew something was up with her, but since she clearly had some form of magic,  he was more worried about her ability to kill him. Once the class ended, he stormed out of there as quickly as he could.

School was now over, and it was time for a date