faerie rift chronicles 01 - faerie rift by jae vogel Page A

that had been following me around ever since we arrived.
    "Amethyst really likes you. She's usually the skeptical one."
    "Well, she's got good taste."
    "C'mon, I have something I'd like to show you."
    He led me downstairs into a basement room. The walls were lined with books and maps. I imagined that all of the books had been read at some point, and that notes were scattered throughout the text as they were across the surface of each map. There was a madness to the room, as well as a chronic sense of disorganized utility.
    Coffee cups, all empty and stained on the bottom littered the landscape like tiny monuments to sleepless nights. There were reams of paper yet to be used, stacked up next to notebooks full of information and concepts. I took the experience as overwhelming proof that everything this person did with their time could be reduced to spending their life in research.
    "The animals and plants keep you sane, huh?"
    "You got it. That, and my trips out into the field. I stay here until I have a decent shot at tracking one down, and then I get out and try to find them."
    "Find what?"
    He looked at me and blinked.
    "A portal."
    For a moment the two of us stared into each other's eyes. I feel like in that moment, I saw him for the first time. Not as a target to be acquired, but as an interesting character of his own right.
    "I'm listening."
    "All right, well, I've been dreaming of these doors between worlds for my entire life. Ever since I was a little kid. For the longest time, I couldn't find any proof of their reality, except for in science fiction stories and old folktales."
    "So what makes you think they're real?"
    "Well, stories are models of reality transcribed through human experience."
    "That's one way to look at it. Another is that we don't actually understand the world around us as thoroughly as we'd like to believe. I personally would prefer to move forward through a world that still has some mystery left in it. Unfortunately, with the sort of materialistic nihilism that we face in our world today, that's not always an option."
    "Which is why you're tilting after windmills."
    "Quixote."
    I nodded.
    The Fae are much longer-lived than most humans will ever conceive. We've been dealing with this variety of human almost exclusively since the first portals were made.
    "Well, Sir Knight," I offered, "I'm pretty tired. Do you mind if I take a rest?"
    There was a couch over in the corner of the room, complete with a ratty thin blanket. The place looked incredibly satisfying, and whatever adrenaline had been stirred up within me by the dogs.
    "Sure," he shrugged. "Do the light's bother you? I could do some work while you sleep."
    I shook my head and let my shoulders sink down into the earth. Being human was more work than I had imagined, and I couldn't wait to go back to sleep.
    The couch was everything it had promised and more. The cushions were firm. One might go as far as to say uncomfortable, but I was not one of those people. Years of military training left me with little tolerance for luxury. The couch was sparse, and the blanket was worn completely thin. I felt like an accessory in a dingy hovel. For the next few hours, I could feel myself disappear, and that was all right. I had done my work, and now, I needed to adjust to my new form.
    Amethyst actually came downstairs and laid down beside me, on the floor. The other dog continued to be standoffish, and contented itself to stare at us from a position at Erol's feet. The Mad Mystic himself dimmed half of the lights in the room so that the only area that was illuminated was his own workspace. I reclined in comfort, and let my mind drift into a familiar and safe place, all the while stroking the dog's thick fur.

    * * *
    I should have realized that that wouldn't have been enough. I was able to get to sleep, and I didn't fall into a nightmare landscape - both things for which I should have been grateful. Instead of turning into restorative sleep, I ended up waking