“But it’s not out yet?!” I sounded just as horrified as I felt. Was it good, or bad? Would Remi lie to my face? I kinda hoped he would if it was bad…
“They love it! People got their hands on it early because of the different time zones.”
I had completely forgotten about that…Gods… “Does that mean we already have reviews on it?!”
“Only two,” Remi was quick to answer, holding his slate out and there the two reviews were, both good ones, thankfully!
I’d loved coding and creating apps back in my old world, so Remi had asked why I’d stopped. It hadn’t even occurred to me that I could do that here, but Remi had assured me this world could use all our experience from our world, and with magic to guide me, it had gone rather smoothly. This app was for the portals, since we had so many now that stood openpermanently, an app with each location marked and where it led, plus a few key facts about each location, and thenbam, an app was formed.
“All my students are eager for it,” Juno said, clapping my shoulder. “It makes their job so much easier while they explore and hopefully find their mate.”
Even though the rulers had said that another case like the one my father had created was unlikely to have happened, some had made portals before him, meaning other mates on completely different worlds were a true possibility and many older people from this world had joined the teams in the hope of finding their mates, Yaz included. Many of them had thought they’d been punished by fate for still being alone, but with this new information, they suddenly felt eager to leave this world behind in the hope of finding their forever person.
“I added a feature that lets users add information to the app, helping it expand with information and facts quicker,” I informed the room. “The teams that travel and explore can add whatever info they find directly into the app, making it ready in seconds for others to see and learn from.”
“That’s amazing,” Nolen said, forever my hypeman.
My slate—which was now in its laptop shape—dinged, alerting the room that it was now midnight. My app was available everywhere in our world now.
Juno cheered and opened a bottle of something bubbly, Nolen and Aiden hugged me from both sides.
And I was left so damn exhausted. I’d done it. I’d created something useful for this new world I was living in, helping the people in the small way that I could.
When Nolen, Aiden, and I, had sat down and actually discussed our future, it became clear that Aiden would prefer to stay at home and keep it running, I, however, couldn’t just do nothing with my time, and so, when Remi had brought up coding, I’d started doing that again.
Nolen was employed by the rulers once again, but this time as a chef. He worked from home most of the time and made lunch and breakfast for their employees. Someone, often Oliver, drove by and picked up the food and then delivered it to the castle. Grovar had retired from being a ruler, but not fully, and could still be found working alongside the other rulers from time to time, which was why Oliver had chosen to help out with the food.
We knew Nolen hoped to someday create more elaborate dishes for work, something that inspired him and made him happy, but for now he felt fulfilled working for the rulers, and he would continue doing that until it bored him.
“So,” Juno began, handing me a glass of the light pink bubbly drink. “What’s the next app gonna be?”
Aiden
Two months later.
It was finally time!
After having to wait for way longer than planned to visit my dads, all because of the slight chance me and Derek weren’t ready to travel yet, it had taken us a year before Mindy had allowed us to go.
At first, they were comfortable with us leaving right after we’d woken up from our long sleep, but while Derek and I had healed completely, our bodies still had to play catch up, and so, one night, I’d fainted after doing an intense deep clean of the house. My body simply wasn’t ready for that kind of exercise, and so we were forced to stay in this world for a year until we could visit my dads.
Better safe than sorry, I guess.
“Nervous?” Derek asked, eyeing the portal with the same level of excitement and trepidation as me.
“A little,” I admitted.
We’d briefly said our goodbyes to the rulers before entering the room, and now that we were left alone, it felt sort of scary, walking through some magical portal thing. The only time I’d travelled through it, I was unconscious. Now, I was very much awake and aware.
“We’re doing it together,” Nolen assured me, his hand tightening in mine, showing me I wasn’t alone.
“I know,” I said, swallowing my nerves and stepping forward.
“Together,” Nolen said, holding on to both Derek and me as we let the portal engulf us.
Somehow my eyes had closed while in the portal, and now I could feel the sun warming my skin. The birds were chirping away in happy tunes and the scent of pine reached me.
A blanket of calmness came over me. This was the world I’d grown up in. A world I knew and had missed.
