The Doctor & the Keyring

The next day—after a shower and a very quick breakfast of her uncle’s cold quesadilla in the fridge—Evony headed off.

She arrived at the Silver Peaks Lodge at just after nine in the morning, strolling inside and pausing to observe the magnificent and spacious lobby again before her eyes landed on the rounded stairway. She wasn’t sure where to go, exactly—but she knew the office she was looking for was on the top floor, and it could only be reached by elevator.

Evony marched up the stairs, passing by an older couple and arriving on the second floor, stepping onto a long, lush rug that covered this seemingly endless hallway of white walls and black sconces, the floor and ceiling a light, comfortable blue.

She narrowed her eyes at the only door that looked different from all the wooden ones in this hallway—the metal door of an elevator, just down the hallway.

So, she approached it, hit the button, and waited for it to open before stepping inside and surveying the panel with all the buttons on it. There were four numbered buttons, and above them was a larger button that simply read TOP.

Evony pressed the large one, and the elevator made a ding , the doors sliding shut.

Then—what looked like a transparent blue force field shimmered over the interior of the elevator from top to bottom, appearing for only a split second before vanishing from sight.

Evony inhaled sharply, glancing around and making a strange face at the elevator walls.

“Top floor selected,” the elevator suddenly spoke in a soft, womanly voice. “Soundproofing enabled. Password required.”

Evony’s mouth drifted agape, pausing and clearing her throat.

“Ahm… Flowers in An… Antarctica,” she stammered.

The elevator was quiet for a few seconds.

Then—another ding .

“Password accepted,” the elevator decided. “Top floor.”

At once, she felt it shift around her, carrying her up to the most secure floor in the lodge.

And as it did—up on that floor and inside of its main office, Osric sat back in his chair behind his desk, staring at his laptop from behind his goggles and gently tapping his cheek with two gloved fingers, his face resting on his palm as he quietly read over an online news article.

The news article was titled CONSPIRACY JOURNALIST CLAIMS TO HAVE BEEN TARGETED, and beneath the headline were several longwinded paragraphs about the story of the newspaper writer who had narrowly escaped death in Starrylake, complete with a picture on the right, an image of a mortified Terian Ackerman standing just outside of the bomb sight that was once his apartment complex, his face and glasses spotted with smears of black soot.

Osric read over the entire thing in detail, totally silent, his expression distant. Then, he straightened up in his seat, looking across the room to Oliver, who was currently dusting a mounted elk’s head on the wall opposite him.

“Oliver,” Osric called, gently raising his hand.

Oliver swiveled around to face him. “Sir?”

Osric glanced down at the laptop screen, his brow hardening.

“Alazar’s Army never claimed to have a presence in Starrylake like they did Cevron City and Bourkesville, did they?” he tried to clarify. “I don’t think they did, but I could be wrong.”

Oliver spared a moment to scan every shred of information stored on the cloud, then made a faint beeping noise.

“No, sir,” he confirmed. “Alazar’s Army have never claimed to be present in Starrylake, nor have they ever claimed any responsibility for the attacks there in the same way they did for Cevron City and Bourkesville.”

Osric fell silent again, skimming over the article, his gaze landing on one of the lines near the middle, wherein the article stated that Alazar’s Army had been the ones to bomb these specific places in Starrylake.

“Hm,” he murmured, resting his face to his palm again.

Outside of the office, and down the empty hallway with the many tall windows—the elevator opened, and Evony stepped out, glancing up and down the hall and instantly feeling drawn by all of the windows across from her.

She strolled over to the nearest one, gathering a fantastic view of Silverhollow from above.

“Whoa,” Evony breathed with a laugh. “Yeah… of course he lives up here. King of the castle…”

She then turned, spotting the largest set of double-doors that she’d seen in the facility yet, standing tall at the end of the hallway and sealed firmly shut.

She marched toward them, making an odd face as she drew closer, only just noticing that these doors had no handles or knobs, only a keyhole and a pair of gold-colored knockers.

Osric quietly resumed his reading, until his goggles made a very faint noise above his right ear. He then looked up, glancing over at the doors and gently adjusting one of the knobs on the side of the goggles.

Seconds later, he made a nod and reached behind his chair, grabbing his new cane, which had been propped against the nearby bookshelf. He thumped the end of it to the floor twice, loud and hard, then placed it against the bookshelf again and turned back around to his computer.

The double-doors suddenly began to creak open.

Evony halted in front of them, watching in slight surprise as they parted for her.

Then, she slowly ventured into the office, glimpsing around and absorbing the new environment. After surveying the mounted heads on the wood-paneled walls, the map of Concordia, and the fairly small globe on the desk, her attention shifted over to the desk where Osric sat, and she approached him, standing behind the cushioned seat across from him.

Osric continued reading the article for a moment longer, then straightened up in his seat, glancing past the laptop at Evony.

“How’d you know I was here?” Evony asked, jabbing her thumb back at the open double-doors. “I didn’t even knock.”

Osric glimpsed at them, then back at her, smirking and tapping the side of his goggles. “I saw you. Well… to be precise, the goggles sensed the low vibration of footsteps approaching and alerted me… and then I saw you. They can do a lot of things.”

“Huh.” Evony nodded, placing her hands on the back of the armchair and giving him a curious look. “And you just… you just wear those all the time? Even alone in your office?”

“Well…” Osric leaned back and intertwined his fingers, making a sideways nod. “I prefer that they’re on most of the time. It’s sort of a… security… thing. No one can easily sneak up on me… and no one can easily read my expression, either.”

Evony nodded again. “I see…”

“Now… you may have a seat,” Osric said, motioning to the armchair. “And we can talk some things out.”

Evony hesitated, glancing back at the open doors.

“And you don’t need to worry about eavesdroppers,” Osric added. “You, me, and Dr. Walker are the only three people who can travel up here without special permission given by me.”

Evony stepped around the armchair, but she made no move to sit down yet. She instead reached into the pocket of her leather jacket, pulling out the ring of keys and holding it by her side.

“I have to tell you something,” she said. “Yesterday, when I left the house… I actually left to come here a lot earlier than I ended up getting here… but I went and made a pit-stop before I ended up running into Cally. I had another look at that little area out by the shore, where the reptilians were… and… I found something out there.”

Evony then held up the key ring, letting it dangle from her fingertips in plain view.

Osric aimed his dark goggles at the key ring, his brows raising slightly, and he gave them a long, quiet stare, his mouth drifting the slightest bit agape.

“It was right where the smaller one was standing,” Evony informed. “Looked like it fell out of her pocket or something.”

Osric reached out, and she handed the keys off to him. He stared down at them for a moment, still saying nothing, shifting the long, old-looking skeleton keys with his thumb.

“I doubt if that means anything… but I thought you should know,” Evony said, sinking down in the armchair.

“Oh… it certainly… means something,” Osric murmured faintly down at the keys. “It means… that was a… much closer call than I thought it was.”

Evony eyed him questioningly.

“And it also means…” Osric mumbled, slowly raising his head and gazing across his office. “Someone… that I invited in here, during the past few months… is an incredible security breach.”

Evony grew even more confused.

Osric raised his hand and held up the keys. “These are mine .”

Evony’s eyebrows shot up, and she gave him a double-take.

“Wh… really? ” she breathed. “How did that… I mean… how did they end up with your keys?”

“Because someone who visited my office in the past few months stole them from in here,” Osric determined, nodding over at the fireplace behind her. “I always kept them on the fireplace mantle, right over there. Never took them anywhere with me, unless I specifically planned to use them. I imagine everyone expects me to use technology for all of my security precautions… so I thought it might be a good idea to have a couple of precautions that were a bit more old-fashioned in nature. These keys are one of them. They’re the only way to unlock the panel in the elevator so one could theoretically override the system. They’re also the only way a person could open my office doors without me doing it for them. These keys are very important… and it’s not possible for me to have been the one to drop them out there two nights ago, because they went missing from my office four months ago.”

“So… somebody who was in your office stole them and gave them to the reptilians?” Evony uttered.

Osric nodded grimly, placing the keys down on his desk, just beside the two metal wrist mechanisms that contained his compartmentalized firework gauntlets.

“Well… that confirms it completely,” he said, sighing and leaning back in his chair again. “There’s a conspiracy unfolding, and someone in this town planned for Alazar’s Army to have a direct path to me… for whatever reason…”

“Perhaps it’s time to reconfigure the security of the office door, sir,” Oliver suggested, floating over to his desk.

Osric dropped his hand to the arm of his chair, ogling the bot butler as if he had just said something ridiculous.

“Oliver,” he muttered. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to get skeleton keys made in this day and age? I do not want to have to do that again.”

“I meant the knocking , sir,” Oliver replied curtly. “The double-knock on the floor is what opens the doors, apart from the special key… but that noise is an easy noise to mimic, and if an intruder were to learn of it, then they could easily mime that noise themselves in order to gain entry.”

“Oh… fine,” Osric exhaled, flumping back into his chair once more and tossing up a hand. “What do you suggest?”

“Your own security system, sir,” Oliver said. “You designed one that is quite state-of-the-art, and it’s the best one on the market. It works exceptionally well.”

Osric rolled his head back, swallowing a groan.

“Oliveeer,” he breathed. “That’s what people will expect me to do. It must be something un expected. Un- Osric .”

“Well… then I daresay we’re at an impasse, sir,” Oliver concluded. “Because everyone in the world expects you to do all things unexpected.”

“Oh… that is so helpful,” Osric mumbled, massaging his forehead beneath the brim of his hat. “Thank you for your input. I would be truly lost without it…”

“You don’t need security on the office door,” Evony remarked.

Osric and Oliver both stared at her.

“Well… you don’t,” Evony shrugged. “You have other security measures between the front doors and here… and besides, the best defense is a good offense. So… if the defenses downstairs don’t work, then the offenses upstairs will.”

“Offenses of what kind…?” Osric asked curiously.

“This,” Evony replied, pulling out the proton pistol and raising it, aiming the barrel to the ceiling. “Not to mention whatever a bot butler can do. You have more of them here, right?”

Osric paused, then nodded. “I do…”

“Well… then make sure they’re combat-ready somehow, and just park them here,” Evony stated, jabbing a finger at the floor. “Keep some of them up here just in case they’re ever needed.”

Osric slowly faced forward, suddenly staring off into space, seeming transfixed by nothing in particular. He gazed aimlessly across the room for a long, thoughtful moment as his mind worked up a storm—and then, he rocketed out of his chair and pulled one of his desk drawers open, rifling through it at once.

“That… is… it ,” he breathed, pulling out what looked like a gigantic hard drive and setting it on the desk.

Then, he hurried over to a tall filing cabinet in the corner of the room, yanking it open and retrieving a small black tool kit.

“That… is… the answer ,” Osric beamed, wheeling around and flourishing a finger at Evony, looking and sounding suddenly inspired. “The MKIII Operating System. That is the answer!”

Evony raised her brows and nodded, though she wasn’t quite sure what he was talking about at all.

“Sir,” Oliver interjected again. “You haven’t even announced that project to the public yet. It’s not ready.”

“Well… thank God for that, because this is something that nobody knows about,” Osric responded, hurrying back to his seat with his tool kit and pulling open another desk drawer. “I am absolutely certain I can finish the OS before the convention. It’s something that nobody working against me will know a thing about… a secret ace I can play. All of the weapons are built into you and all of your brothers, Oliver. All they need is the OS that will let them actually use them.”

“Whoa. Okay. What?” Evony stammered, scooting to the edge of her chair. “They really have actual weapons …?”

“Oh yes. They always have,” Osric nodded, placing everything he needed on his desk before plopping back into his chair again, grinning at her. “Well, not all of them, but enough of them. Bot butlers were never just meant to be servants. I always wanted them to be a security measure… but my old manager advised against me mass-producing the combat-ready ones. But, well, I still had a lot of the weapon-equipped bot butlers made anyway… aaand, guess what? They’re all here . The bot butlers who are stored in the Silver Peaks Lodge are like sleeper-cells, waiting to be woken up by the MKIII Operating System.”

Evony stared at him in surprise, slowly sinking back against the armchair. “Well… wow… then there you go. You already had everything set up to solve this problem.”

“Just needed someone to remind me,” Osric smirked at her. “My mind is so over-cluttered… you’ve no idea…”

He began tinkering with the massive hard drive on his desk.

“Oh dear,” Oliver said softly. “You’ve sent him into another one of his inventive tirades, Madame.”

“Oh… be quiet,” Osric muttered down at his cluttered desk while he worked. “Your combat mode is sorely lacking right now, Oliver. I’m about to make it so much better…”

He then reached into another desk drawer and pulled out a cord, connecting the hard drive with his laptop.

“Um…” Evony mumbled, gnawing her bottom lip for a second. “Well… I’m glad you have a solution to work on, but… what should I be doing right now? Work-wise?”

“Ahhh… well…” Osric muttered distractedly, tapping the mousepad of his computer. “We can either have a deeper conversation about all the conspiracies in Silverhollow, or… you can just… guard the door, I suppose.”

Evony made a strange face, glancing over at the open doors, then back. “Guard it from what…?”

“Probably nothing,” Osric smiled at her, then quickly faced the laptop again. “This won’t be a particularly laborious job, Evony… and you’ve already done what I hired you for exceptionally well from the get-go today. I need assistance with thinking and planning much more than I do with labor.”

“You’ve certainly got that right,” a new voice spoke from nearby them.

Evony and Osric both looked around—seeing an older gentleman with short silver hair standing just a few feet away from them now, holding a large black medical kit by his side and wearing a long white overcoat atop a sleek black outfit, his eyes pensive, and his expression rather stern.

This man—Doctor Levi Walker—stared fixedly at Osric, raising his large medical bag and placing it on the edge of the desk, preparing to open it.

“Since you so adamantly refused to let me even look at the bloody thing yesterday… I do need to tend to it today,” Levi said, nodding once at the inventor. “I doubt if you’ve even so much as glanced at it, much less cleaned it.”

Osric tilted his head at him, gesturing over to his assistant.

“This is Evony, by the way,” he introduced.

Levi barely spared Evony a perched brow before returning his fixated glare to Osric.

“Open,” the doctor instructed, tapping his own neck.

Osric reached up to the high collar of his undershirt, sighing and beginning to unfasten its shiny gold buttons with one hand, using the other to click around on his laptop.

“Not feeling particularly social today?” he muttered, glimpsing up at his doctor as he slowly unveiled his bare collar.

Levi made a scoffing sort of noise that might have been a laugh. “That’s quite funny, coming from you.”

“It’s just rude is all,” Osric mumbled, still focused on his laptop. “If someone introduces you to someone, the polite thing to do is to reciprocate… but I suppose you’re just moody about me bringing another person into our little inner circle, here.”

“Oh… no… not at all.” Levi leaned forward, pulling back the dark undershirt and revealing the small, gauze-covered puncture wounds along the right side of Osric’s collar area. “I can trust your judgment of character well enough when it comes to new people. What I can’t trust is your sense of self-preservation… or your complete lack thereof, I should say…”

Osric’s mouth flattened, looking to Evony, who hooked a finger over her mouth and faced away, hiding a smile.

Levi slowly peeled the gauze pads from each puncture wound, revealing the small, reddened holes in his skin.

Osric winced slightly, inhaling through his teeth and motioning to the bot butler. “Oliver… bring me my tonic, please.”

“Right away, sir.” Oliver saluted, then floated off and vanished into the far corner room.

“Such dramatics over three little poked holes,” Levi mumbled as he examined the wounds intently.

“Oh… oh, I’m sorry, am I dramatic for wanting to have a mild pain reliever when I’m in pain ?” Osric quipped snarkily at him. “Oh, how dare I…”

Levi glanced over at Evony, perking an eyebrow again.

“He thinks himself a chemist as well as an inventor,” the doctor informed, the corner of his mouth curling, almost into a smile.

“Yeah…?” Evony uttered.

“Mhm. I personally suspect his special little tonic is nothing more than opioids broken down and sprinkled into a particularly ancient bottle of NyQuil,” Levi remarked, pulling a throwaway wet nap from his bag and gently cleaning each wound. “But, he’s a genius , so of course, I am barred from arguing with him.”

“That’s not the… that’s not what my… be quiet! ” Osric stammered, making Evony swallow another laugh. “My tonic is herbal , thank you very much. Every single ingredient is perfectly natural and organic.”

“Yes, well… so are opioid poppies,” Levi murmured tonelessly. “But that doesn’t make them particularly ideal to use all the bloody time.”

Osric stared up at him expressionlessly for a moment.

“Who told you I put poppies in my tonic?” he uttered, suddenly speaking much more softly than before.

Levi’s eyes flickered over to his face. “You did. Just now.”

Then, the doctor turned and motioned over to the fireplace mantle. Two different flower pots stood on either side of it, both with several small purple and red flowers growing out of them.

“And… they’re also in plain sight,” Levi added, turning back and giving Osric a curt sort of look. “Do you think that I don’t recognize herbal medications as well as pharmaceutical ones?”

“Ohhh… wooow… weeell done,” Osric replied sarcastically, raising his hands and thumping his gloved fingers together in tiny, silent claps. “Good job, Dr. FeelGood. You are so smart.”

“Naturally.” Levi finished cleaning the wounds, then began adding a touch of antibacterial cream to each one.

Oliver hovered back into the room, holding a small, transparent bottle that was two-thirds of the way full of emerald liquid. He handed it to Osric, who took it, opened it, and poured a very small amount into the lid before drinking it.

“Oh… there we go,” Osric sighed and nodded, screwing the lid back on and handing the bottle back to Oliver. “Thank you.”

“Of course, sir.” The bot whizzed off once more to return the bottle to wherever he’d gotten it from.

Levi gave the inventor another brief look as he began applying clean gauze pads to the wounds.

“And how often do you sip on that little tonic?” he asked.

Osric, now leaning fully back in his chair, merely rolled his head to the side, staring at the doctor for a long, quiet moment with a deadpan visage.

“You know,” he said softly. “I would so greatly appreciate it if you didn’t imply that I have a drug problem in front of my new friend, Levi. That would be so very wonderful.”

“It was only a question, Osric. I didn’t assume that you have a problem. I just want to ensure that you don’t develop one,” Levi clarified pointedly. “And if this young lady is going to be around for our private endeavors, then she will be hearing it quite often, so best she get used to it all now.”

“All right… well… no, I don’t tend to use it often,” Osric mumbled, rubbing his forehead. “Only when something happens that actually hurts. Like this.”

“Well, good.” Levi finished dressing the wound, then flipped the collar of the undershirt back over his skin. “All finished.”

Osric straightened up slightly and buttoned his undershirt back up to his neck.

Levi zipped up his medical bag and strapped it around his shoulder, then glimpsed at Evony.

“And,” the doctor added, nodding once over at her. “I wonder if you’d mind me stealing her for a moment. I want to show her where my office is, just in case she ever needs to visit it.”

“Oh… right… go ahead,” Osric mumbled, sounding a bit more tired now, waving loosely over at the open doors. “Oh, and… show her that suite, too. She might end up using it during the convention, depending on how everything goes…”

“Very well, then.” Levi turned to Evony and gestured over to the doorway. “D’you mind?”

“Oh, no… not at all,” Evony agreed, standing and joining him. “I’ll be back in a few.”

“Mmmmhm,” Osric yawned, waving her off and sinking deeper into his chair.

Levi walked across the office and out to the hallway with Evony close behind him. The two of them marched in silence down this echoing castle-like hall, and she glanced over at the many tall windows in passing again, smirking at the view.

About halfway down the hallway, just before the elevator, was another set of double-doors, smaller than the ones that belonged to the office. Levi stopped and pointed at them.

“That’s the one empty suite up here,” he informed. “Osric has his own living quarters in his office, and I have my own in the doctor’s office… but that one is… presently unoccupied.”

“Okay,” Evony replied. “What does he use it for?”

“Oh… the occasional personal guest of his,” Levi answered. “He’d let his old manager stay in there when he used to visit… but… Osric hasn’t let anyone sleep in there for quite some time now. It’s just been sitting there empty.”

“Huh,” Evony uttered.

Levi resumed his pace down the hall, and she followed, both of them approaching the other door at the end of the hallway, perfectly opposite the one that belonged to Osric. This one was a single door, though a large one, standing ajar, and the doctor pushed it open and stepped inside.

“Oh… ehm… one more thing,” Levi added, turning to her in the doorway and pointing over her shoulder, motioning back to the elevator. “The lift can also take you up to the rooftop if you know how to ask it to.”

“Oh… really?” Evony said.

“Yes… he’s got a nice little walking area up there, as well as a watchtower with a balcony,” Levi explained. “He often likes to ‘escape’ from things, and disappear onto the rooftop for an hour or two at a time… so… I thought you ought to know. If you ever need to reach the rooftop, simply ask the lift to take you ‘away from it all.’ Then you’ll be up there in no time.”

Evony made a slow, understanding nod, watching as Levi stepped deeper into his doctor’s office. She didn’t follow him inside right away, merely eyeing him, and feeling particularly vexed by a persistent thought on her mind now.

“Can I ask…” she muttered, stepping into the doorway and placing a hand on it. “Why’re you telling me all that?”

Levi stopped at the edge of his desk, which was positioned sideways by the wall, aimed at a hospital bed across the small clinic room. He faced her again and raised his brows at her.

“You’re just… you’re being really… forthcoming with all that information,” Evony noticed. “Does he know you’re telling me all that? And is he… okay with it?”

Levi stared at her for a moment longer, then flashed a faint half-smile, making a few mild nods.

“If you’re on the top floor, then you’re privy to know,” he disclosed. “Let me ask… did he send the lift down for you this morning? Or did you take the lift up here on your own?”

“I took it on my own,” Evony shrugged.

Levi smiled again, pocketing his hands and nodding.

“Well… then you have some very rare privileges, young lady. Rarer than you likely realize,” the doctor stated. “Once in a blue moon, an important guest will arrive and have a meeting with Osric inside his office, but that doesn’t happen particularly often, and when it does, he sends the lift down to collect them. None of them are able to travel up here on their own… not even the Silver Peaks groundskeeper. Not even Mayor Byers. Not even the president of the entire American Colony. That privilege belongs only to he… you… and I.”

Evony bit her lip, taking a breath and saying nothing.

“He’s placed a great deal of faith in you,” Levi told her. “And let me tell you… trust is not something that he hands out very easily. You must have made quite the impression on him.”

Evony’s mouth drifted open, glancing down in thought and replaying the night they met through her mind.

“I don…” she uttered, making a slight shake of the head. “I don’t know… I didn’t really think about it. I just… reacted… to something. It just looked weird.”

Levi made a nod, narrowing his eyes at her curiously for a second. Then, he turned and stepped deeper into his office, waving for her to do the same.

Evony, now suspecting that he wanted to speak further on this, walked fully into the small doctor’s office and eased the door mostly shut behind her.

Levi leaned on the wooden wall adjacent to her, folded his arms, let out a sigh, and spoke on.

“He didn’t want to talk about it yesterday,” the doctor said. “He doesn’t quite like admitting when he makes mistakes… and his little escape to the shoreline was certainly one of them. Would you mind telling me what actually happened?”

Evony nodded and inhaled a deep breath, and she explained everything that happened the night she met Osric. When she was finished, Levi’s eyes had wandered down to the floor, staring at it quietly, his expression distant and unreadable.

After a long, quiet moment, he made another nod and sigh.

“Well… I certainly see now,” Levi mumbled, his eyes venturing up to her. “I think… you very well may have saved his life out there.”

Evony swallowed, saying nothing.

“I will let you in on a little secret,” Levi added, lowering his voice. “There was only one other person in his life who simply decided to step in and help him without expecting anything in return. Can you take a guess as to who?”

Evony stared at him. “You…?”

Levi nodded. “Yes… and that was a fairly long time ago. It made quite an impression then… just as… it seems to have done now. Your first impression on him was an action that was… very revealing of your character.”

Evony squinted at him. “You’re talking kind of… the same way he did. Are you his doctor, or his father?”

Levi chuckled. “I suppose both. It’s a curse, I’m afraid.”

Evony smirked, sliding her hands into her pockets. “Well… it’s good he has you around, then.”

Levi went quiet, giving her a thoughtful sort of look.

“He… has quite a lot of people around,” the doctor remarked. “He has thousands of adoring fans… handfuls of business rivals, whom he treats as friends… and… plenty of employees here in the facility, whom he greatly enjoys speaking to and sharing a laugh with. But… he’s deceptively antisocial, even a bit paranoid, and he does have a right to be, considering.”

Evony nodded silently.

“He has a great deal of people in this world who… like him… and respect him,” Levi explained. “But none are… close to him. He’s actually quite cautious about letting anyone too close… and he has plenty of reasons to be. I just want you to fully understand… how unique of a situation you’re in now.”

Evony nodded again.

“I won’t suspect or accuse you of betraying him or working against him, as it is now. I really do trust his judgment of character… probably even more than my own,” Levi told her genuinely. “If he is letting you in… then you must be something rather special, young lady. I just need you to understand… and keep in mind that… he is… something special, too.”

Evony made one more nod, then glimpsed down, sighing heavily and feeling almost pressured now, as if she was being entrusted with something precious, something that she could not afford to mess up in any way. And, honestly, the longer she thought about it, the more it seemed to ring true; so far, she hadn’t thought a single thing of miraculously meeting the famous Osric Azarias, helping to rescue him from an assassination attempt, and quickly befriending him faster and more naturally than she’d ever befriended anyone in her life. Truthfully, it was rather unusual for her to make friends at all—but this friend in particular, now that she really thought about it, was quite remarkable of one to have made.

Since she met Osric, she hadn’t really thought of him as that famous guy who always appeared on TV surrounded by crowds and cameras, and she hadn’t really connected him with the existence of so many day-to-day things in Concordia’s society, from mundane things like zappers and everlasting earphones to greater and more expensive inventions like blasters and bot butlers. He was just a kind, fun, and whimsical person who she simply knew and enjoyed the company of, and who she was grateful to have gotten a job from—but, in retrospect, it really was quite amazing that she was suddenly paling around with the greatest inventor of the late 21st century.

“I believe that… even though he will always outright deny it, front, back, and center… he is fully aware of the fact that he needs someone around to help look after him,” Levi said with sincerity. “He is a brilliant man… but he can be a bit thoughtless about his own wellbeing, and that’s just the way he’s always been. Now, admittedly, he has gotten much better about minding himself than he used to be, but… well… it’s a bit difficult to train engrained behaviors out of a fully-grown man. Most times, he does fairly well on his own… but, every now and again, he will do something that might affect him in a negative way, and not even register it as an issue. I’ve always been the one looming over his shoulder, nudging him away from those little mistakes… but… I’m not going to be around forever… and with the way things are now…”

Levi paused and let out a deep cloud of breath, glancing to the side and folding his arms again.

“Well… it certainly can’t hurt to have another me around,” the doctor determined. “I know that he hired you as a personal assistant, but you’ll be doing very little coffee-fetching and file-organizing on his behalf. He says he needs someone around to help him think, and plan … and that very well may be true… but what he really means by that is… he needs someone around to help keep him just a touch more grounded. You might even think of it as babysitting… just… don’t ever use that particular wording when you’re speaking directly to him.”

Evony breathed out a laugh.

Levi flashed a smirk and let out a chuckle, his eyes resting intently on her for a long, quiet moment, surveying the left half of her face.

Evony gulped and instinctively looked down, combing her hairs to the side with her fingers.

Levi continued to stare, releasing another sigh.

“I suppose he sees himself in you,” he murmured faintly.

Evony met his eyes again, giving him a questioning look.

Levi merely shrugged, turning and motioning to the back corner of his office, where a single closed door resided.

“Well… that is the door into my living area, if you ever need anything from me, and if I don’t happen to be in here behind my desk,” he informed her, turning back around and gesturing over to the hospital bed and the small TV across the office. “And… this is where you and him will get treated for whatever illnesses or injuries you may obtain in the future, Lord forbid.”

“Okay. Gotcha,” Evony replied. “Thanks for the little tour.”

“Not at all. Thank you, for…” Levi offered her his hand, glancing out the doorway behind her for a second, then huffing out a breath and shaking his head. “Thank you for being here.”

Evony returned his handshake firmly.

“I’ll do my best. I really will,” she promised.

“I have no doubt,” Levi replied with a smile. “Well… he’ll be expecting you back. Off you go.”

Evony nodded and turned around to leave—but she stopped in the doorway when another thought occurred to her, wheeling back around and wagging a finger at him.

“Real quick… I have one more question,” she said. “Do you happen to remember any of the people who visited him up here in the past four months?”

Levi made a pondering face, crooking his jaw and looking down in thought for a second.

“A handful of them come to mind,” he uttered, his eyes flickering back up to hers. “Why do you ask?”

“I jus… I’m just trying to figure something out for him,” Evony answered. “Could you possibly write them down for me? Just… whichever ones you remember?”

Levi made a nod, flashing another smirk. “I’ll jot down a list for you and have it ready before you leave for the day.”

Evony smiled. “Thank you.”

“Not at all.”

She nodded, then turned and walked out of the room, heading back down the hallway.

And as she did, passing by the elevator and the door to the empty suite, something made her slow to a stop about halfway down the hall, her phone making a muffled ping and vibrating against her leg from in her pocket.

Evony stopped and pulled it out, swiping the screen and seeing a new text from Cally. The message read;

Hey! My lunch break is at one. If you’re around, and able… wanna come have lunch with me then?

She gazed down at the phone for a moment, mulling over this, and feeling oddly warmed by it.

Evony typed a reply and sent it, reading;

Sure, I just might need some directions… still haven’t really explored this place yet. Lol

Then, in the peaceful silence of this castle-like hallway, as she slowly lowered the phone—for no obvious reason—an odd, tickled sensation began to tingle in the pit of her stomach, a feeling so fluttery and new, she couldn’t identify it if she tried.

Evony merely stood there, still, no people nearby her, and nothing happening.

And yet, feelings seemed to emerge from nowhere—as if some grand revelation had just struck her, or as if something of monumental importance had just transpired before her, but absolutely nothing was unfolding, and no thoughts or realizations had come to her at all.

Only feelings had.

She couldn’t have known how long she stood rooted to the spot in the middle of the hallway, the midday sun beaming inside from its every tall, elegant window, simply staring down at her phone, at the message from Cally, her most recent memories beginning to run through her mind.

The great, wonderful rush of soaring through the air atop the blasters, laughing and giggling at the Grinch voice Thomas kept doing, feeling so incredibly alive—feeling strangely touched that Cally seemed so excited to see her out there on the shore—giggling at the dumb jokes that Javari and Thomas had traded at their booth in the diner—feeling both shocked and taken by Osric’s impulsive faith in her, and feeling amused at his common banter with Oliver and Levi—it all ran through her.

She’d barely been here for two days—and yet, all the sudden, so many people around her were sweeping her into situations, grinning and laughing with her, spending time with her, planning with her, and even praising her, smiling at her as if they were truly happy to see her, as if they were honestly just delighted to have a new friend around them.

Evony remained still, the feelings inside seeming to amplify, and she silently racked her brain as to why. She’d seen truly horrific things that most other people couldn’t imagine; she’d witnessed horrors that could land a person in an insane asylum, and she remembered watching them unfold with absolutely no emotion on her face, and even less inside her.

In fact—she’d been that way for many, many years now.

She’d walked through every day as if she was wandering through nothing more than a long, gray, and empty sort of dream. She’d strolled past the beautiful beaches of Starrylake hundreds of times without sparing that fantastic view even a glance, unable to see, or absorb, or cherish any of the beauty of it, any of the shimmering colors bouncing off the waters or shining from the Oceanside sunsets. All this time, and for all these years, simple parts of life—like nature, or people, or conversation—didn’t make her feel a thing, and meant nothing to her at all. Life had no feeling, no color, no greater meaning or grandeur. Life was just the long, arduous thing that one was forced to muddle through each day, marching through the gray, and always hoping to perhaps feel something tomorrow.

Beautiful views had no beauty, and the world no longer had color. That color vanished when the countryside home did—and now, very suddenly, she found herself thinking of it, dwelling on it, practically feeling it all again.

That home on the countryside—that place, where her life had just begun, where Mom and Dad were inside, preparing for dinner at the end of the day, while little Evony remained out back in the yard, playing on her jungle gym and gazing out at the woodlands down the hillside, just past where her giant tire swing hung, where the sun always shone most beautifully just before twilight, casting beaming rays through the branches, every leaf, every branch, and every cloud of swirled reds and oranges looking brighter and more vibrant with life than ever—that was the place, the very core of her, the heart and soul of where she once felt everything to the absolute fullest, and that was the first, the last, and the only place she ever had.

And yet—out of nowhere—it all came roaring back right here, right now, ambushing her so many years later, crackling, breaking, almost shattering the long, powerful state of detached dissociation that had been guiding her through life all this time.

And it came with something so incredibly simple—a new place, a few new faces, a handful of experiences, and only just barely starting anew in this town.

Evony blinked, sniffling and feeling a single, lonesome tear rolling down her cheek.

“What…?” she breathed quietly, blinking again and dabbing her face, choking out a faint little noise.

She then stared down at her fingertip, glistening with the gentle shine of a tear, and she ogled it as if she had never seen anything quite like it before.

She couldn’t remember the last time she cried. It had been so many years since she’d shed a tear, she never even considered it could happen again—and yet, here it was.

Evony looked down at it for a moment longer, her eyes shifting back to her other hand, staring at the phone, at Cally’s message.

Then, she slowly raised her head, gazing down the hall at the open doors of Osric’s office, where she knew he awaited her.

She’d only just met them all; this life that she’d started here was at its very beginning, and yet, everything about it seemed to have pulled feelings out of her in a way that nothing else in her adult life ever had.

Utterly vexed and lost, she turned her head, gazing out the nearest window beside her—and she stared into the endlessness of the wonderful, glorious view of it all, of the small town of Silverhollow down below the castle of Silver Peaks, the tiny dots walking around town and moving from shop to shop, and the great, towering, and craning structure of Mt. Crumpet off in the far distance, perfectly in her view, the sun shining brilliantly from beyond it, rays peeking out from behind the giant mountain in a way that didn’t look real, the snowy mountain practically sparkling as the sun bounced off of the trillions of icy crystals across its enormous landscape, the sky fused with colors, bright and lush colors, rife with life and divinity.

Evony stared forever, lost to it—feeling every color, every spec of the scenery sinking into her in a way that was indescribable.

Everything looked so very bright and alive, and she felt it.

She hadn’t seen the world—truly seen it—since the countryside home and the backyard, the sunset beyond the woodlands, and the brilliant glow of it past her tire swing.

But here was Silverhollow and Mt. Crumpet, colorful and flourished with life in just the same amazing way.

“What the f…” she mumbled, wiping her eye again and sputtering out a laugh, still gazing into the scenery.

So many emotions were coursing through her, she suddenly gave up on trying to understand any of them—because now, as she stared over the town and the mountain overlooking it, the reality of it all became clear.

The day that the countryside home died—that was the very same day that, as she always felt and believed, her soul had died as well.

But now—she suddenly, for whatever reason, knew better.

Something about this place, and these people, was beginning to awaken her soul from a long, deep sleep.

Swallowing and sparing the scenery one more look, she finally tore her gaze from it, resuming her pace down the hall, and wearing a content, peaceful smile as she did.

She hadn’t expected this at all. She thought this would just be another forced move after yet another bombing—but it seemed that this new start was a true one, and it seemed that her life really was, at long last, starting over.

Perhaps there was just something wonderfully warm about the snowy town of Silverhollow.