What the fuck?

I whirled on my stalker, “Are you following me?”

The crazy woman from the store stopped, looking abashed, “It’s a coincidence, honest.”

“How is this a coincidence?” I yelled, my heart still racing.

“Weeelll—I saw you leaving and I had no idea where to go…sooo…”

“So you followed me?” The innocent act enraged me further.

“Weeelll—you were so understanding in the store, I thought—“

“Understanding? I wasn’t understanding, I was doing my job,” I snapped.

“Oh,” the woman backed off, “So you didn’t believe me that I’m not from here?” Her voice grew small.

The anger seeped away leaving annoyance, “What does it matter if you’re not from here? What does that have to do with me?”

“You just seemed nice, I thought I could pay you to give me a tour—I’m only staying for a short time.”

“A tour?” I stared at her, incredulous, “Where are you from that you think to follow someone you don’t know, offer them money you can’t count to show you around a dangerous city.”

“Now I don’t think you’ll believe me,” she bit her lip like a scolded child.

“I already think you’re crazy so what does it matter?”

“Oh, that’s true,” the woman looked thoughtful, “well, all right, I am Blaise and I am from another world.”

I stared at her. I expected an elaborate story, not something so straightforward. “That’s it? No story of being a magical princess on the run, hiding out in our world because we have no magic so they can’t use magic to track you down.”

Somehow I was being stared at like I was the crazy one. “That’s elaborate,” Blaise said.

It irritated me that we thought to use the same word. “That should have been my line.”

Blaise laughed, “I knew you were a good person but you also have a great sense of humor.”

Her craziness didn’t bother me as much now—how worrisome. “How much are you going to pay me if I give you a tour?”

The woman laughed again, “I have no idea,” suddenly the overexcited energy left her expression, “to be honest this money is useless to me—a souvenir, no, more like proof that I was here.” She passed me a wad of cash.

Her demeanor changed, no longer goofy instead somehow more serious, mature. It made her story somehow believable.

I took the money, my eyes bulged, there was over $900. It would take me more than two weeks to make that. “Are you sure you want to pay me this?” Wait, when did I agree to be a tour guide?

Blaise’s face lit up, “I knew you were a good person.”

I opened my mouth to retort, no let’s just get it over with. “Well if you need proof then why not take pictures?”

“Pictures? Drawings?” Blais furrowed her brow.

“No,” I pulled out my phone, “there is something called a camera and you click here,” I snapped a photo of Blaise and showed her the result.

“By the Flame!” She exclaimed staring at herself. She turned the phone in her hands, “Then I take this device home and show—“

“No, no, no” I took my phone back, “Noooo. We can print the pictures onto paper for you to take home.”

Blaise

Finally I convinced the brunette girl to help me see her world. On the outside I channeled my Mage, keeping a calm and sincere appearance. On the inside I did a happy dance.

The girl listed off things I assumed were names of places for me to see when I realized, “I don’t know your name.”

The girl paused, stared at me, seemed to think about it, “Maricella Darling, but you can call me Mari.” A pause, “Have you been in the subway?”

I shook my head.

“Okay, lets take the subway,” Mari led the way.

“Why are there so many shops here?” I asked as we passed one after another. How much clothing could humans possibly need?

“This is Fifth Avenue. Tourist destination number one.” Mari paused again, “You do know that’s what you are, right? A tourist.”

We came to a staircase going under the street. Signs posted above would tell humans what was happening but I couldn’t read a word.

Mari ran down the stairs, “Come on. I don’t want to miss the train.”

The stairs were well lit and I could see lights on the bottom but anxiety gripped my chest. A phoenix buried underground? I took a step, breath left my lungs, another step, my chest tightened, another and my breathing grew shallow.

“What is wrong with you?” Mari stormed back.

“Phoenixes are not meant to be underground,” I gasped.

“Phoenix? Is that a bird that’s made of fire—wait no, it burns up or is reborn,” Mari seemed to be confusing herself but I was shocked.

“You’ve heard of phoenixes?”

“Yeah, they’re a mythical bird something or other.”

I must have kept staring at her pretty hard because she finally said, “What?”

“No-nothing.” I kept staring at her since it seemed that kept me from looking into the hole in the ground, “Anyway it appears that I’m scared of going underground, is there another way?”

Mari rolled her eyes, “Well then we’re kinda limited to what we can see—wait I have the perfect idea.”

I followed as Mari took off down a street.

We arrived at a place with a giant, silver hand coming out of the wall. “What is this?” I asked.

“It’s called Madame Tussaud’s and they have wax statues of celebrities and important political figures in our world.”

Mari walked up to a window with a lady behind the glass. “How many?” the lady’s voice gurgled through the window.

“Two,” Mari replied.

The two exchanged money for tickets and we were inside.

The place smelled frowsty, like damp clothes sitting in a bucket for a week. Once I got past the smell I could appreciate the representations of this world around me. Each statue sat in its own environment, allowing Mari to explain the various sports and jobs that existed in this world also a little of how the government functioned. The statues wore real clothes and looked so realistic I had to feel the waxy surface to believe they were fake.

“Don’t touch,” Mari smacked my hand.

We took pictures with various “famous people” whose names I would never remember. Afterwards we took pictures of the metal towers Mari called “skyscrapers”. I supposed they were as much scraping the sky as any of the phoenix towers back in my world. We visited a place called Times Square full of what Mari referred to as TV screens that showed realistic moving pictures. I wondered if there was a way to make that in my world.

As the sun lowered the temperature dropped considerably and Mari bought me a jacket. She said there was one more place she would take me.

We came to another high building she called the Empire State Building—though she didn’t seem to know why it was called that. Again she paid money (everything cost money in this world, how greedy) and we were allowed to rise on a machine she referred to as an elevator.

“You’re not afraid of enclosed spaces, are you?” Mari glared at me, blocking the doors.

I laughed, embarrassed at my earlier display at the subway, “No, no, I’m fine.”

The elevator was truly a tiny room with mirrored walls and rather peculiar music—soft like a lullaby.

We were squashed inside with a dozen other people, all awkwardly silent.

“What’s with—?”

Mari shrugged, “That’s elevator music, maybe they think it calms people down.”

Periodically the elevator dinged as we passed floors until we reached the top. Everyone filed out and onto the balcony. Wind blew harshly up here, my skin heated up to fight against it. I mentally unfurled my feathers to stay calm so I wouldn’t burst into flames.

“Are you okay? I know it’s cold up here,” Mari touched my arm and snatched her hand back, “Ouch, you’re really hot!”

“Part of being a phoenix,” I said, “sorry.”

“Ahh,” Mari’s mouth opened wide in fake understanding, “Phoenix, right.”

The view was amazing, almost like flying. To think humans, with no magic achieved this.

“Pretty amazing. I live here and this is my first time coming here.” Mari stood a good two feet away from the railing though.

I looked over the edge wondering how it would feel to dive from here.

The sun set in beautiful hues of orange and red; so sunsets were like this everywhere—it made me feel closer to home.

With the weakening sun the winds picked up. My body responded by heating up.

“Blaise?” Mari was staring at me, “You—you’re glowing.”