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"Come now," he said. "Let's get out of here. This is known to be the territory of some pretty tough characters, and I'm running out of ammo." He slid his pistol into one of his pockets, and wiped his hands on his shorts. "I live a little close to here. We can rest there, and one of you, or maybe both of you—" His blue eyes slid over to Conradin, and then back to her. "—can enlighten me as to what in the hell is going on." Aysel nodded dumbly.

"Hold on a second," Conradin interrupted. He'd managed to find his voice again, and though he might have been grateful to the kid who'd put three holes into the monster that'd been stalking him, he wasn't stupid. "Before we start following you anywhere, just who <i>are</i> you?!"

"What purpose is there in knowing my name?" he replied, angrily. "A name won't tell you anything. You could very well have asked that <i>beast</i> for <i>his</i> name, and even if he'd given it to you, it wouldn't have stopped him from devouring you. All you would have gained was the knowledge of who your killer was, just before you died." The boy turned to him, looking at him square in the face. "I'm an <i>ally</i>, which is all the identity that should matter." When he was sure he'd chastized Conradin enough for the mistake, he continued. "But since you want to know, my name's Leroy. Leroy Westwood."

"You're Detective Westwood?!"

"Some people like to say so." Leroy said, dryly. "It's not like it's an official title." He turned around and started on his way. "Now <i>come</i>. The reason you were attacked is because we're technically trespassing in those slime monsters' territory. They're not man-eating, but if you two stay here, you'll surely get yourselves beaten to death." That decided, Aysel and Conradin followed him, obediently.



The good detective made his residence a good distance away from the creepy-crawlies they'd been besieged by. As Leroy explained things, they hadn't been anywhere near him until recently, when they'd started expanding their territory. "I may have to move," he admitted, with some disgust.

His house, if one could call it that, was more of an office with a side door attached. Twin file cabinets sat side-by side in the corner next to a dresser and a coat rack, and papers neatly arraged in six different stacks crowded his desk. A single lamp provided light for most of the room, and the decorations were spartan, at best. Two wooden chairs had been haphazardly flung in front of his desk, and he motioned for them to take their seats. Their host insisted upon tiding up a bit, partially out of restlessness, and partially out of shame for the 'mess'.

"I take it one of you, or both of you, came here looking for my assistance, right?" Those dark eyes flicked between their faces, at last settling on Aysel. "I'll help you out, to the best of my ability. Consider it a 'thank-you' for assisting me with your buddy the choir-boy here." Conradin grimaced at the off-hand insult. "There's just one condition." Leroy jumped down from his file cabinet, continuing about his office cleaning. "Aysel, wasn't it? Tell me what date and time it is."

"The date? Err...It's October 7th ...sorry, but I don't have the time. It's got to be just after midnight, though, because that was when I left."

"Well, that's all fine and good," He picked up a stack of papers on his desk and straightened them, setting them down in a much neater pile and stopping to look at her. "but what <i>year</i> is it?"

"...Year?" she echoed. Conradin tilted his head, curious.

Leroy shrugged. "I may be a squatter, but I've been here so long that I've kind of lost track of dates and what-not." He climbed on top of his desk and sat on it, finally stopping to face his new clients. "Last time I heard, I was...thirty-six years old, about? I'll have to look up the exact number later. Does that surprise you?" he said, a mischevous glint in the corner of his smile.

Aysel and Conradin looked at each other and shook their heads. The detective simply laughed. "I guess I'm sort of transparent. Now, come on. Let's have the story, and we'll see what I can do for you."



After narrating their tale, a heavy silence fell over the room. Conradin obvserved Leroy's reaction down to the tiniest detail. If the ageless little boy was as disturbed as Pavel had been, he surely hid it well. Perhaps...he'd overreacted? Aysel looked just as blank as he did, restlessly kicking her feet against the legs of the chair. Did she realize the full extent of what she'd gotten herself into? Even as he thought the question, it was obvious what the answer was—a resounding 'no'. She may not have been stupid, but nothing on Earth could prepare you for something like this. Absolutely nothing.

Aysel interrupted his introspection with a cheery shout. "Question!" she exclaimed, raising her hand. A nod from the detective, and she spoke again. "How exactly did I find you two? I just left my house, turned a couple of corners, and there you were. But apparently Conradin's been walking all day, and he just got here."

"The entrances to this place tend to shift around," Leroy said, solemnly. "The bridge between this world and the outside world is incredibly unstable. Anything can happen."

"This world...?"

Leroy grinned, deviously. "You really are new! In that case, allow me to be the first actual resident to welcome you." He extended his hand and she took it, mildly confused. Conradin just shook his head, exasperated. He didn't have to make it out like this was a <i>good</i> thing, did he?

"This division of Earth is too new and too empty to have an official name. But here, the moon holds dominion, so the sun will never shine. This is a holy land, of eternal night."

Out of all the strange things he'd just said, one phrase stuck out in her mind. "That doesn't make any sense. How can the sun never shine?"

"Don't worry about it." He drew back, setting his elbows on his knees. "Looking at this world from an outsider's perspective...not a lot of things here make sense."



Much later found the high-schoolers walking streets that opened far more widely than Leroy's shady back alley. In fact, there were several others visible on the street, hurrying along their way. Aysel took in everything with wide eyes, until Conradin tugged on her sleeve and pointed into the air. "Look. I don't often leave here until dawn...check this out." Following his pointed finger revealed a faint sunrise in the clearing sky ahead of them, fading into the horizon. "That's how you know where you are, for certain. Since there is no sunrise here, the sky doesn't ever turn that color. So we know that we're heading home, to our world." Surely enough, looking back revealed a sky that was completely gray, however light that sky may have been. "I haven't found any other way to tell whether you're headed in the right direction. Last night we just got lucky." He dropped his hand and rubbed the back of his neck with it. "Really lucky," he added.

"Yeah. I got it." For a moment, her attention was drawn away by a humanoid figure with—were those wings? They were!—soaring into the air they were leaving behind. Then a girl only a little bit shorter than herself ran across the street laughing, and something occurred to her that hadn't before. "This is where...a lot of the missing people in this city have gone, isn't it?"

"They either fled here and stayed, or snooped around and got killed," he replied, giving her a pointed stare. "Are you sure you want to do this? This isn't Oz, and you can't just click your heels together and get out. This is real, and I don't care how surreal it seems."

She walked slightly ahead of him, only to turn back and flash an anxious smile. "To be honest, I'm not entirely sure I can handle being here, physically. But far be it from me to let Leroy down...and I <i>did</i> say I wanted the truth. You think I'm in over my head?"

"Yes."

She nodded, the expression on her face turning just a little smug. It was as if his negative response had only served to encourage her. "This won't be the first time." With that, she continued forward, back home.

Conradin watched her receding figure, and swore an oath to himself on that cynical smile. If nothing else, he would protect her.