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The elevator shook as Austri entered it. He was compact and heavy like a boulder. I wanted to wrap my arms around him for a hug, but I never took Austri as the hugging type. The doors shut, and the trio fell silent. They each grabbed for the railing along the walls as we wobbled down to the lobby. The doors opened.

“What kind of sorcerer caused that?” Austri asked.

“No sorcery. Just ropes and pulleys … I think.” I wasn’t entirely sure how the thing worked. All I knew was that it took me up and down, occasionally got stuck between floors and often smelled like aftershave and greasy breakfast sandwiches.

The lobby was unusually active for the time of day, and everyone stopped to watch the odd group travel across the travertine tile floor. “Theater group,” I announced. “Don’t mind us. We’re just off to rehearsal. Big production this summer. Don’t miss it. Uh, Game of Arrows.”

Lyric giggled. “You’re really sticking with this whole theater story. I like it.”

I was in such a state of joy and nerves and some wild emotion that I couldn’t find a name for, I’d nearly forgotten someone very important.

“Paxton. I need to see him,” I said to Madigan. She seemed to be the leader, or at least she’d always been in my mind. I was sure her quiver of arrows and bow looked far too real for a stage prop and that seemed to be making people nervous. I didn’t want to linger in the building, but I also couldn’t leave without saying something to Paxton. He wasn’t in his office. I gave Madigan a pleading look. “I could just step in for a second.”

“You won’t have ta. There’s the boy now. Strange fellow but a good heart,” Austri added.

Paxton’s pace slowed as he got a better look at the “theater troupe” surrounding me. He froze to the spot, so I went to him. “I know,” I said quietly. “It’s crazy but I’m fine, and I’ll tell you all about it later. I promise.”

His gaze was fixed on the trio. “It’s them. It’s Madi and Lyric and Austri.” He looked at me. “Rafi, it’s the trio, only they’re not wooden figures on a shelf.” His reaction dissolved any notion I still had that this was a lengthy, intense glitch. This was real. I was standing in the lobby of my office building—my ex-office building—with the dynamic trio.

A small crowd was forming and phones had been pulled out. Lyric came up behind me. “Nice to meet you, Pax.”

My normally loquacious friend was tongue-tied but only for a second. “Gorgeous. You’re all gorgeous.”

“Get that a lot,” Austri cooed.

“Rafi, we should probably go,” Lyric whispered in my ear.

I lunged forward and hugged Paxton. He could hardly move to hug me back. “Be careful.” He managed to push the words out.

“I will. We’ll talk soon.”

The four of us swept through the lobby to the glass doors. Austri faltered back when the doors slid automatically open. “More bloody sorcery.” People on the sidewalk held up their phones. Austri led the eccentric parade, and Madigan stayed at the rear to protect us. Austri wore animal skins and had fiery red hair, but it was Madigan who garnered the most attention. It was probably her striking appearance—a beautiful woman with snow white hair, draped in buckskin and armed with a quiver of arrows.

“Those are phones, right? I’ve heard you say a million times ‘Where the heck is my phone?’ And then you’d throw clothes and pillows around looking for it, and when you found it, you talked to it or your fingers poked it a dozen times.” Lyric stuck close to my side.

“People are recording us,” I explained. “They’ll have a moving picture of us walking down the street and through the building.”

“No, that won’t happen. Madigan will wipe those last few minutes away. She can do that in the human world. Not many of us have the skill, but she’ll take care of it.”

I glanced back. A few hundred feet behind us people on the sidewalk went about their business, not even looking in our direction. Slowly, like a wave, the same indifference hit the rest of the sidewalk.

“So … Paxton?” I started.

Lyric’s dark lashes fluttered down beneath the long fringe of yellow bangs. “I’m sorry, Rafi. He won’t remember any of what happened.”

“He’ll be worried,” I said.

Lyric shrugged weakly. She had no reply.

“I’ll talk to him tomorrow,” I said. “Will it be all right if I tell him about this adventure?”

Austri had been in the lead, and while he had been extremely entertained by certain things like big lifted trucks, a loud motorcycle and a pretty woman walking a Corgi, he had apparently been listening to our conversation. He glanced back and exchanged a sorrowful look with Lyric.

“What’s up, guys? You can tell me. It’s Rafi, your human friend.”

Madigan caught up. “We should walk faster. Oh, and you’re not human.”

Lyric sighed loudly and tilted her head at Madigan. “Do you have to be so blunt?”