I'll be the first to admit it: my mind was a mess as I trudged through the rain. Inside the hood, the sounds of the raindrops’ incessant tapping did nothing to drown out the toxic daggers of judgement I kept stabbing myself with.

This is all my fault. I did this to myself. You have no one to blame except… Bingo, you guessed it: yourself.

“I'm smelling a real self-hating sort of vibe right now,” Silvy purred from around my neck. “Definitely not flattering.”

“Not trying…” I sighed. “I'm not trying to be flattering. Does it look like this is a flattering moment? Does this seem like a flattering sort of situation?”

“Not when you say it like that it doesn't.”

I stomped through puddles with abandon, splashing water everywhere: up on my legs, down into the insides of my boots.

But I didn't care.

I was freezing, but I didn't care that my feet were getting wet. I didn’t care that my legs were getting covered in filthy rainwater mixed with whatever dregs of trash were in the street.

What does it matter?

I'd been given the keys to a brand-new world and promptly had them taken away from me. I’d been conned out of them. I let out a bark of a laugh. I’d have done better betting against myself than betting on myself.

They should make a lottery ticket where if I lose, other people win. I could make other people a fortune.

As I rounded the corner ahead, I realized the route my subconscious had led my feet in.

Off in the distance, maybe a block away, was the theatre. I could have swung up another street so that I didn't have to walk past it, but I figured there was no way I could feel any worse than I already did. I figured that nothing would impact me more than everything already had.

As I started walking down the street toward the theatre, Silvy whispered in my ear. “Ballsy move, but I don't see this working out for you.”

“Shut up, Silvy.”

As I made my way down the street, no one else out walking, I caught sight of the looks on several of the driver’s faces.

I must look ridiculous.

The giant, oversized, parka almost covering my hands completely, the fur hood obscuring my face. My dirty legs sticking out the bottom of my parka and my wet, soggy boots leading me forward. I was a real picture of fashion.

As I gained on the theatre, I made up my mind to not stop, to not even look at it, to act like I didn't care, like it didn't exist.

That's not what happened, though.

As I got there, I saw a new sign. It was plastered directly onto the For-Sale sign.

It was small. It was simple. To the point.

Sold.

I balled my hands up, took a deep breath, and screamed into the sky.

When I looked back at the sign, I noticed something at the center of the part that said sold: there was a little iridescent track.

It looked like a V with a line going down from it.

I let out a laugh. It was a Y.

“That silly slug again,” I muttered.

Hearing my words aloud worried me.

You should probably see someone. You believe that you’ve been in a magick world for the past few days. Now you have the belief that you have horns, and that there’s a familiar dozing around your neck. Additionally, you believe that a slug is spelling out a word to you, slowly, over the course of multiple days, like a slug would.

I let out a giggle.

“What's funny?” Silvy asked.

“Nothing,” I laughed. “Nothing at all. Just this ridiculous—” I bent down to pick up a rock. “—theatre that I can't seem—” I cocked my arm. “—to get out of my life.”

My arm rocketed forward; the rock slung from the tips of my fingers. I’d been aiming for the sign, I'd been aiming to knock it off, to dent it, to crack it maybe. But of course, my overly-athletic-sports-super-ability led to the rock slipping from my fingertips, flying wide, and hitting a window. And when a rock hits a window, what happens?

The window shattered.

I stared at my handiwork. I stared at what I’d done. I’d damaged the one place that I'd coveted it for years. I'd broken a window on the one place that I wanted to own.

Unbelievable.

“Nice shot,” Silvy said. “Are we gonna do another? I mean, there are more windows. You can't just stop with one. Let’s break another. Think about—”

I didn't allow her to finish, turning away from the theatre and running towards my apartment. I wanted the theatre at my back. I couldn’t bear to look at it.

When I finally got to my apartment, sweaty but no warmer, there was a sheet of paper taped to the door. A notice of eviction.

I skimmed over the words, realizing that I now had no hope. I was being evicted.

It tracked. It wasn’t like I’d paid rent.

I'd been caught up in the magick world’s allure. I'd been caught up in playing like I was something I wasn't.

Sighing, I slipped my key into the lock, praying that it would open. Thankfully it did.

The eviction notice said that I had twenty-four hours to vacate the premise and based on the time written next to the Served blank, that left me sixteen hours to myself.

All I wanted was my bed and a shower. I didn't care which order they came in either.

My mouth fell open when I got a good look inside. My apartment was completely empty.

Well, that's not true. My bed was gone. My clothes dresser was gone. Most of the stuff that I used daily was gone. There were still knick-knacks scattered around, though.

I chewed on my lip as I tried to figure out what had happened here.

“Is this where you live?” Silvy asked. “What a dump.”

“There's usually more in it,” I tried to explain.

“What, more crappy furniture?” Silvy giggled. “That makes it better?”

“No, just…”

“Just because you add higher quality mud to a pig doesn't mean the pig isn't muddy.”

I didn’t care about that. I just wanted my bed.

Had Tim done this? Had he taken my furniture as a way to make me pay? Was that a thing?

That’s when it hit me, and I felt absolutely ridiculous.

It’s still sitting in your dorm room at Bristlebloom. You transported it there using that seal and never transported back, thus no bed. Thus, no clothes.

I shook my head and laughed. I couldn’t do anything other than laugh at the situation. I'd been kicked out of Bristlebloom and now my furniture was being held ransom in the magick world.

That sounds so ridiculous.

I took a deep breath, kicked my waterlogged boots off, peeled off my soggy socks, and walked over to the place where my bedroom had once been. It was the only carpeted surface in the apartment.

I considered slipping out of the parka but decided not to. If I was shivering in 85°F rain, my cooler apartment was definitely way too cold for me to take it off. I bundled up tighter and lay down on the carpet there, trying to wrap the parka around my body like a sleeping bag.

I lay down on my back, staring up at the ceiling. It wasn't the most comfortable, but it also wasn't terrible. Silvy slithered out from around my neck and floated up above my face.

“So,” she said. “What now? No job, no money, no prospects? I say we go screw some shit up. I say we go destroy something.”

I rolled my eyes at her.

“Roll your eyes all you want, but I'm being serious. There are people who would pay you good money to destroy things.”

“People,” I said with a chuckle. “What people?”

“You know, magick people. They have uses for sticks.”

“Right. Magick people. Because I've fared so well with magick people.”

“Just because you make bad deals and worse decisions, doesn't mean that magick people are bad. It just means you're bad. The worst.”

“Thanks.” I watched as she floated up towards the ceiling. She glanced up at it and a spinning hole of blackness opened above her. I stared at this, unsure of what was happening, unsure she was doing it or if I was about to be attacked by something from the Shadow Vaile.

She drifted into it and soon all I could see were her glowing eyes in the darkness of that hole. A second hole opened beside it and her eyes disappeared from the first hole and reappeared in the other. She floated back through, both holes disappeared behind her, and she shook herself as though she'd just gotten doused in water.

“What was that?” I asked.

“Just freshening up,” she answered.

“Freshening up? All you did was go into that hole, then come out.”

“Hah. Nice.”

“Shut up. Stay focused.”

“I don't know what I need to stay focused on.”

“Tell me what you just did. What was that hole?”

“For one, it's not a hole, it’s a portal. A familiar portal. I can open them into the Shadow Vaile and other places. I needed a little R&R after dealing with you. You’re exhausting.”

I frowned. “Wait, how long were you there?”

Silvy shrugged. “A year. Maybe two.”

“But I saw you move in the portal. How could you have been gone for a year or two if I could see you moving?”

As Silvy floated down towards me, she split into two versions of herself. I was now faced with two floating four-inch cats with glowing eyes and striped tails. I closed my eyes. I didn't think I could handle two Silvy's.

“I just showed you what you wanted to see,” she purred. I wasn't exactly sure what she meant by that, but that was fine.

“Can casters use those?” My eyes were getting heavy and didn’t want to stay open. I just wanted to be asleep. I wanted this weird nightmare to end for a little bit. I wanted to check out.

“No,” Silvy laughed. “There's no chance. They'd lose their minds in the Shadow Vaile.”

“That's nice.” With my eyes closed, it felt like I was doing back flips on the floor. “I've already lost my mind.”

My fingers started to tingle, and I drifted off into sleep. When I woke up the next morning, I had a good idea of what I wanted to do next.