Dara didn’t scream. She turned around calmly and looked up at…

“Jack?” she blinked. He was standing behind her, forcing her to look up at him. His arms were full of books and printed sheets. “School hasn’t started—“

“That’s why I’m getting my work done early,” Jack said. “Or grabbing the books I need.”

“I don’t…” Dara stared at his books. “Library books?”

“Yeah. Oh, wait… you’re new to college. Wanna know a secret?”

“Yes?”

“The library never gets enough books for outside reading. Probably won’t be an issue with you for your first semester, but you should learn this for the future.”

It’s not my first semester! Dara grumped.

“So how do you get the material?”

“Well, see, you can wait until the class starts, and that’s when the professor tells the library to put them all in the reserve stacks. Or… You can do what I did, grab the syllabus early, and copy all the relevant parts.”

“Copy?” Dara blinked. “You have that much money?”

Jack looked confused. “It’s not that much. C’mon, I’ll take you to the copy center.”

They have a center to copy things? Dara looked down at her phone. Maybe they were just taking pictures? She couldn’t imagine just holding a bunch of students on the off chance someone would want to pay for a copy!

But there weren’t any students where they walked, just a set of boxlike objects.

“Okay, call in my student account,” James said. He held his phone up to one of the boxes, which made a satisfied sounding beep. “And I have money.”

“Right. It knows…”

“Sure, you can tie it to your bank account, or if you want, just deposit money into the student account. I know some people don’t like to tie their bank account because they’re worried about getting hacked. That’s never happened to me.”

“Right.” Dara nodded, having no idea what Jack had just said. I know so little about this place. Every time she turned the corner, something new popped up.

Then Jack pulled the cover back, revealing a glass surface, and put the first book down, pressing the spine down.

Dara had a brief, horrified image of one of her professors erupting out of a hole in space and cursing Jack with some forbidden sorcery for what he was doing to the book.

But no professor appeared, and there was a flash of light from under the glass, and next thing Dara knew, a paper shot out of a slot.

With the book’s materials copied. Perfectly. She picked it up and stared at it.

Taking pictures with a phone is one thing, but how did they do this? How could you… Dara shook her head, staring at it. There were some ideas on how you might be able to do this magically, but nobody had ever tried that. You just printed books up, and then wrote the notes down or paid someone to do it for you.

“Oh, thanks!” Jack said, pulling the paper from her fingers. “You don’t look like you’ve done this much before. Your old school didn’t have copy machines?”

“No. Ah, no, we did not have copy machines. We used other methods.” All the days copying notes down in the library, having to use a special scriber because you’re not allowed to use ink near a book and all this time, in this world, people were just… just… Dara was at a loss for words, but her fingers were aching from the memory of all those pages of notes she’d made.

“Yep, so I’ve got about a hundred pages to copy.” Jack shrugged. “Which means no fighting to get the last reserve book. Don’t forget to check with your professors.”

“Right!” Dara said, trying not to snarl at the all the wasted nights back home. “This is very efficient.”

“Eh, work now saves work later.” Jack started on another book, the machine shooting sheet after sheet out of the slot, faster than anyone could have possibly copied it, not to mention the pictures and diagrams that it also copied.

Dara just stared, then shook her head and looked around the library. “So, you’re doing mechanical engineering, right?”

“Yep. Heading for some graduate work after I get my BA, but right now, I’m just working with the normal gang. Robotics, electronics, that sort of thing. Loved it in high school, and took some early college courses.”

“Oh.” That doesn’t sound like building lumber mills and waterwheels. Mechanics back home was pretty much restricted to people who couldn’t afford magic. But here, it makes sense. The cars, the airplanes… If you couldn’t directly influence the universe, you had to find other ways to do it. “That’s interesting. I was thinking of trying for a chemistry degree, but now I’m wondering if maybe I should try for physics.”

“Lot of math,” Jack said, glancing down at her.

Dara had to admit he was handsome, not that it mattered. “I’m good at math.”

“Well, I think you also have to take some chemistry in your first year.”

“Yes.” Dara nodded. “I have my first semester classes ready.” She pulled out her phone and, with some fiddling, called up the paper Millie had written down. “Introduction to the Humanities, Calculus, Ah, Beginning college writing, and History 110A.”

Stuff that won’t require you to know too much about the world. That had been what Millie had told Dara. According to her, Dara needed to stay far away from anything contemporary until she could…

“Fake it until you make it,” Dara murmured.

“What?”

“Oh, something that Millie said!” Dara blushed. “She, um, said that if you don’t know the answer, just throw stuff and maybe something will stick.”

“Good idea, but it’s better to know the answer.”

“Yeah.” Dara hated it when someone called on her and class, and she didn’t know the answer.

Which was why she made certain to always know the answer.

“And… done!” Jack said. “Now, I don’t have to participate in the annual Death Book Battle right before finals.”

“Death Book Battle?”

“You haven’t lived until you’ve seen someone beat their classmate to death for a book.”

“Right.” Dara stared at Jack as he put all the papers into a folder and then stuck the folder into his backpack. “You’re kidding, right?”

“So, wanna get something to eat?”

“Sure, but, Jack, you’re kidding, aren’t you? You didn’t answer me!”

Jack just laughed and headed for the elevators.

For a moment, Dara considered just taking the stairs. But… Don’t be stupid. If the elevators killed a lot of people, they wouldn’t use them. Right. I can just go down the elevator with Jack, and there’s no need to act like I’m some terrified child. She took a deep breath and walked into the elevator after Jack.

“Going down?”

“Yes,” Dara said. She bit her lip as Jack reached out to touch the button.

“Hold please!” A woman darted in, followed by several children. “Nancy! William! Behave! Sorry,” she said to Jack and Dara, “But the babysitter was sick and I had to get some information.”

“It’s fine,” Jack said. “First floor?”

“Yes.”

“Mommy, look, I can make the room bounce!” The girl started jumping up and down, and yes, the elevator started shuddering as it descended.

Dara closed her eyes to keep from whimpering. Must not scream. Must not scream.

By the time they got to the ground floor, Dara’s hands were white where she was clutching the hand rail. The doors opened, and Dara restrained herself from running out screaming.

“Sorry,” the woman said. “Nancy, that is not how you behave in a library or in an elevator!”

“Sorry, Mom!”

“Going to school with kids.” Jack shook his head. “I don’t think I could do that, so ready for—are you okay?”

“Yes,” Dara said, not caring that her voice was a little higher than normal, because she’d just been in a bouncing box that could have sent them all plunging to their deaths, “I’m fine!” She pulled her hands free. “So, let’s um, eat!”

“Right, campus cafeteria coming right up!” Jack laughed. “Good thing you missed Covid. Half the school was shut down.”

“Oh, what was that?” Dara asked.

A few moments later, some of the other people on the quad stared at Dara as her shriek rose to the sky. “You had a plague?”

The dining room was mostly empty, with a few early students and some professors eating in their booths. Jack gestured for Dara to follow him. “We don’t get the big student centers like UCLA does,” he told her. “But it’s good enough.”

“I see.” Dara ordered a pizza, since it was nice to eat something that looked like it might come from home. And it’s not as sweet as everything else on the menu. Jack got some chicken in sauce and they headed for one of the tables.

“So if you’re planning on physics, we probably won’t be in many of the same classes. But we do have some clubs that take everyone.”

“Clubs?” Dara asked. “Back home, I didn’t have much time for any other activities.”

“C’mon, this is school. You’ll get out and go to work soon enough,” Jack said. “Clubs are fun. I mean, we’ve got a robotics club, a rocketry club, and a UAV club, and that’s just in mechanical engineering. If you don’t like that, there are all kinds of campus clubs, like gaming or anime.”

“I…” Dara paused. “I’ll think about it.” I mean, Millie will probably want me to join something, but honestly, there’s just too much to do. What if I run into something dangerous that I have to leave right away? She really didn’t need more people wondering where she’d vanished to, after all.

“I’ll think about it,” Dara repeated. “But I don’t want to get too involved in something before I know how much classwork I’ll have to do.”

“Fair,” Jack said. “Might wanna think about the anime club or the other casual clubs. They don’t get as involved in big projects.”

“Anime?”

“You’ve never heard of it?” Jack shook his head. “Wow. Yeah, like cartoons.”

Dara blinked. “Cartoons. Yes, I’ve, um, seen cartoons.”

“Who hasn’t?”

“Right! Who hasn’t!” Dara said. I need to watch some of these cartoons, in case he asks me again.

But before she could say anything else. Jack glanced behind her. “Wow, they got some more footage.”

“Of what?”

“Our superhero. Must have been released by the police.”

Dara tuned around to stare at the big screen. It was her fight with the spirit. The camera was jostling a little big, with no sound, but it showed her as she dove under the spirit, and then the great hand, formed of asphalt and rock, rose up, gripping it, even as she jumped forward, driving her staff into its heart and killing it. Moments later, the fog billowed up from where she was, covering the ruined square in a thick, gray shroud.

“Looks different from above,” Jack said. “I do not envy that girl, though.”

“Oh, I mean, she tried to help.”

“Yeah, but wearing a costume? Hiding from the police. If this was a novel, that’s a superhero origin story.”

“What’s, um, wrong with that?” Dara asked.

“Well, Dad used to be the comic book geek, but where you get superheroes, you get a nemesis. You know, someone who wants their power, or who hates them because they stopped them from stealing something…”

“Right…” Dara said, sinking down into the cushioned seat.

“Or a government conspiracy. That’s always popular. Someone trying to grab the hero to dissect them—”

Dara swallowed, feeling an uncomfortable lump in her throat. “But that’s just fantasy, right?”

“Dunno. We’ve never had a woman throwing fire and making hands out of rock and stone. So maybe all the other stuff is gonna happen as well.” Jack paused. “Something wrong? You look a little nervous.” He shook his head. “Oh, God, sorry. We’ll probably never run into whoever did that again. We’re perfectly safe here.”

Dara’s laugh was weak. “Right, perfectly safe. Well, except for the cars.”

“Yeah, California traffic can be a mess. So, you’re staying off campus, right?”

Dara nodded, grateful that Jack had changed the subject. “Yes, I’ll be staying with Millie.”

“Good, you don’t have to worry about roomies from hell…” As he started talking about the housing situation, Dara leaned back, trying to calm down.

Like he said, it’s just fantasy. I don’t even have an enemy, let alone a nemesis…

On the other hand, the thief had seemed pretty upset when she broke his circle…

When Dara got back home, Millie was waiting for her at the door. “You took a little longer than I expected.” She glanced at Dara. “Anything happen?”

“No!” Dara said. “Nothing at all. I turned the material in, and I walked around the campus, and I also met Jack—“

“You met Jack?” Millie grinned. “And what did you do when you met Jack?”

“We had lunch, and he showed me the copy room. You didn’t tell me you had marvels like those copy machines!”

“Eh, we’ve had ‘em for decades. They’re not that big of a deal.”

“Not that big of a deal—“

“But that’s not important!” Millie had a predatory expression on her face. “Tell me, Dara, was it love at first glance? Did you blush when he touched your hand?”

“Millie!”

“Hey, I’m old, boring and I need to have fun whenever I can. I mean, I didn’t set this date up.”

“It wasn’t a date!”

“Really. Did you exchange phone numbers and emails?”

“I—I might need help at school,” Dara said.

“Uh-huh.” Millie smirked. “Dara, there’s no need to conceal it. Young love happens to everyone.”

Dara didn’t say a thing, just walked over to the couch, sat down, and put a pillow over her face.

“But don’t smother yourself. That doesn’t happen to everyone.”

Dara just moaned, then pulled the pillow away. “Millie?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think I’m going to get a… nemesis?”

“Where the hell did that come from?”

“Jack was talking about comics, and he mentioned that when people do… what I did, sometimes they get a nemesis.”

“Nah, that’s just comics. Trust me, unless there’s another wizard, here you got nothing to worry about.”

“Good.”

“Now, on the other hand, I could be wrong, and you could find that Dr. Roboto desires your power for himself…”

“No.”

“And has equipped himself with a suit of flying armor—“

“Please stop.”

“—And will soon fight you in a desperate battle of magic and technology at the top of the highest skyscraper—”

“I am not climbing to the top of one of those buildings.”

“—and after a desperate battle, you throw your enemy to the ground, only to discover, when you tear his mask off, that he is, in truth, Jack, the love of your life and fellow college student!”

Dara stared at Millie. “Millie?”

“Yeah?”

“Catch.” Dara threw the pillow at her.