Sandra was in tears after my rejection, quietly sobbing. I patted her on the shoulder, but she seemed too focused on her sorrow to give any reaction that she noticed. I’ve never been good at dealing with people who were crying, and the fact that I was the one to have caused it this time only increased the pressure I felt. I was about to speak, when Mary shook her head, telling me not to.

Instead, she grabbed several jars and a device from a cabinet. Really, I should have recognized the device right away. A simple brass dish elevated above a base by several similar brass rods. She placed it on the table, filling the dish on top with several of the oils. Underneath she placed a candle. As the flame of the candle warmed the dish, various aromas filled the air. So, I guess her solution was aromatherapy?

Mary spoke softly, so as to not disturb the crying woman sitting with us. “Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best. It would be wrong to do a flashier spell, one that would take away the pain of being rejected. This mixture should help take the edge off the pain for the time being similar to willow bark for a headache or fever, but just like with drugs that dull physical pain, removing the pain completely can cause more problems in the long run. I’ll teach you the mixture and spell I used later.”

“So, will this help her feel better?” I’m a disaster when it comes to dealing with other people’s emotions, so this was a relief to hear.

“It will make it easier to calm down, but she’s clearly gone through a lot. She was obsessed enough to fall heavily into studying magic, at least I’d assume considering she ended up being able to come here from the mundane world. Those feelings won’t just go away without powerful magic. And they shouldn’t. Going through events in life, positive and negative, can help with someone's growth as an individual and magical practitioner, and just making those emotions disappear without proper cause would be the worst sort of malpractice I could do.” She looked into her coffee as if hoping to find more to say.

“If you’re acting so understanding now, why were you so confrontational earlier? You kept on needling her.”

A sheepish grin met my question. “I’m not perfect...she did come here to try and steal you away after all. I might have acted a bit immaturely but I caught myself in the end, didn’t I?”

“It’s like you were trying to make things work.” I let out an exasperated sigh.

“I just wanted to make it clear you were going to stay here. There’s no logic in giving her false hope.” Now she was avoiding eye contact, knowing she went too far.

“A bit of possessiveness can be cute, but you were just being smug. What if she had gotten angry and snapped?” I really didn’t want to think about having to deal with an actively rampaging occultist.

“I’m sure you could have dealt with that just fine. You’re more than capable with that sort of thing, with how strong you are.” She waved it off.

“Uh, you know I can hear you two?” Sandra finally spoke, wiping her tears away with her sleeve. “I know you’ve decided not to come with me, but do you really need to rub it in like that?”

“Sorry...” I began to apologize, but Mary interrupted me.

“Good, you’ve managed to calm down a bit. Now, I have lots of questions of my own. Like for example, how did you manage to actually make it here? Like, specific rituals and stuff used. I have a rough idea but I’d be fascinated to hear it from you. Purposefully traveling between worlds isn’t easy. And your method seems strong enough to have even dragged along a few others.” She said, gesturing out the window towards the distant sound of what sounded like a fire-team fighting for their life.

“I...just kind of home-brewed it from a few different rituals I found online.” She looked around for a way to avoid being put on the spot, the talkativeness brought on by her previous anger having dissipated. But there was no escaping Mary’s fascination with magic from our world.

“You’ll have to tell me the details! So did you take advantage of...” She excitedly launched into a lecture/discussion with our visibly uncomfortable guest. I looked out the window as I began to brew more coffee. This was going to be a long night even with the worst of it seemingly over.

And so it was. Despite the initial animosity of their meeting, Mary managed to drag Sandra into a drawn-out discussion on magic. I suppose it was fascinating in its own way, but I was still mentally worn-out from this whole, long, roller-coaster of a day and could only half-follow the conversation. They lost me somewhere at the part of wormholes and weird western ranches with ancient curses, but from the sound of it there really must be a lot of freaky shit going on behind the scenes of my home world. I managed to stay somewhat conscious, but just barely, thanks to the magic of coffee.

“So, you plotted out the ley-lines based on missing-persons reports?” Mary still looked wide awake despite talking for the whole night. I know she likes her research, but this was almost impressive.

“So they are ley-lines. I thought so, but I didn’t want to misuse the word if I had been mistaken. Precision of language is important, after all.” Sandra, who had used to be so scientifically-minded back when I knew her, was now neck-deep in the occult and somehow able to follow Mary’s intense line of questioning even after hours of discussion. Hadn’t she initially planned to be a medical doctor of some sort? Now she’s one step away from being Dr. Faust, with all this occultism. Do I have room to speak, considering I’m living in another world studying to be a witch?

Of course I do. I just happened to end up here by chance. Sandra willingly jumped headlong into the occult in a world hostile to the very idea of it. Completely different. And I don’t have any choice but to stay here anyways. As Sandra confirmed, the investigation into my disappearance made me a wanted criminal, and there’s no way I can imagine those charges being dropped just because of some fanciful “Help, I Fell into another World and was taken in by a Witch” sort of story. Besides, I like it here.

“Oh, did you say the spell would end at dawn? We might need to wrap up our discussion.” Mary glanced out the window, disappointment on her face. What do you know, a night-long magic discussion is enough to heal all wounds.

“Yes, I designed it to be temporary. I didn’t want to risk getting stranded.” Sandra explained.

“You mentioned, but I was really enjoying our conversation...” Mary trailed off.

“Me too! I learned so much. I didn’t think you could use hemlock in that manner. I might need to grab some next time I get a chance.” Sandra seemed more awake than she did when she arrived as we headed towards the front door.

“Be sure to write with any questions you have going forward. I look forward to hearing from you. It’s always interesting hearing about magic in the mundane world.” Mary seemed excited about gaining a new pen-pal.

“I will.” Sandra promised. Then she turned to me. “Rose… I’m sorry for causing trouble like this. I’ve had some time to think things over, and I might have been a bit too obsessed with you.”

“Are you okay?” I asked. This seemed like a one-eighty in her behavior from earlier.

“To be honest, I’m still a bit emotionally messed up right now. But, I can understand why you want to stay here.” She bit her lip, conflicted. “It’ll take me a while to get my feelings sorted out, but maybe, once I get over it, would it be okay if we were still friends?”

“Of course.” What else could I say?

“Thanks.” She stood there, hesitating, before giving me a quick, but awkward hug. “At least let me do this much.” Just as quickly the hug was over, and she headed out the door, waving as she walked away. Then, as fast as a blink, she disappeared as the sun finally cleared the horizon.

Sandra let out a deep breath, back in the ruins she had staged her ritual at. It was dawn here as well. She quickly tidied up the remains of her spell, tossing them in a backpack, before beginning the trek back to her car.

As she had stated, she was a mess. She was still in love with Rose, that much was certain. But after seeing her, and knowing how happy she was there currently, she realized she couldn’t get in the way of that. She had thought Rose was bright previously, but seeing her interact with Mary, it became clear that the previous Rose had been missing something she vitally needed. While Sandra still wished on some level she could be that person, she knew she wasn’t the fit that Mary was.

These thoughts distracted her as she worked her way towards her car, almost in a fugue as she thought over the night. She couldn’t deny she was jealous of the two of them. And despite this jealousy, or maybe even fueling it, she found herself liking Mary. Sure she could be prickly, but someone who was that interested in research couldn’t be that bad of a person. Maybe she should figure out how to write, like she promised. Not that it’d be easy, considering the barrier between worlds.

The parking lot was still mostly empty in the early morning light, just her car and a van. She was already thinking of how to send a letter across worlds as she faced the driver's side door of her sedan. She fumbled for her keys, awareness dulled by the complex thoughts of inter-dimensional magic. So dulled, she failed to notice the presence approaching her behind. Her arms were pinned to her sides and a black sack covered her head as she was dragged off to places unknown.

Mary and I watched as she disappeared. It felt like the events of the past day had been a dream. There was no sign of our uninvited guest, the sign was shining brightly on the chilly morning, and the staccato of gunfire was likewise gone, but as we headed back to the kitchen the third coffee cup was there, a reminder of what had transpired.

Not sure what else to do, I brought the cup to the sink as I began to brew another pot of coffee. Considering how much coffee we had gone through the previous night, I was shocked that I didn’t feel jittery in the slightest. The smell of the freshly brewed drink, combined with the light of the dawn, had a relaxing effect that seemed to counteract the caffeine.

I brought the coffee, and our cups, to the library where Mary was waiting for me on the couch. We didn’t talk about the events of last night. We didn’t talk about the business opportunity I had been given, We didn’t even talk about magic. We just sat there, sipping our drinks. And within half an hour we both had fallen asleep, with the coffee in the pot growing cold.