Page 37 of Office of the Lost

To nothing.

He blinked again, but the nothing stubbornly refused to become something.Next time his boss offered him a drink, he’d have to beg off—politely, of course.

He sat up, his hands slightly sinking into the soft emptiness that held him up.After a little more thought, he realized that it wasn’t nothing, exactly.More like a distinct lack of something.The world around him was a sort of annoying white beigey gray, a nondescript color that seemed to mutterdon’t look at me; I’m not interesting.Even the air had a strange not-there quality to it, though there must have been air, because he was still breathing.

He tried to remember what had happened just before he’d ended up here, but his memories seemed just as amorphous as this strange un-place.He did a sudden sharp intake of breath.

“That’s what this is!”

He was in the Un-Place.The place between worlds.

Crispin shuddered.He’d heard stories about people who had been trapped here, when thezipbetween places didn’t work.It was fortunately rare, or else no one would travel by mirror, but it happened.

Sometimes they were found weeks, months, years later.Sometimes they were never seen again.

There was a groan behind him, and he snapped his head around.

A man lay there.A human male with disheveled hair and with clothing that was nearly as messy.“Leo?”Crispin’s memories snapped back into place.“Leo!”He crawled over to the poor hapless man.

The leash was still around Leo’s neck, the one Crispin had fastened when they were on Earth 2.Just before the explosion.Something had happened in Juzir’s apartment as the archosaur wizard was about to send them home.

Leo blinked.“Crispy?”

For once, Crispin let the annoying nickname stand.“Are you all right?”

He didn’t look all right.His skin was decidedly gray, but not a normal kind of sickly gray.It was more like his body was filled with gray sparks, just under the skin.

“I feel sparky.”Leopold’s whole body shook, as if he were having a seizure.“What’s wrong with me?”

Crispin took his hand, and the hum of electricity ran through him.“I don’t know.”Think, Crispin, think.If his theory was right, Leo wasn’t really human.Or at least hadn’t been born that way.He was a bit of Chaos magic loose in the world.

Maybe it was better that they were stuck here in the Un-Place.Because realistically, how much damage could Leo even do if he lost control in a place like this?Probably nothing.

Or he could break all the mirrors, all the passages between the connected worlds.That would be catastrophic for billions of entities; probably for Leo too.And somehow Crispin had gotten rather attached to the cantankerous, messy human during their long journey across worlds.

He squeezed Leo’s hand.“Tell me what you’re feeling.”

“It’s… like I’m liquid, sloshing around inside my skin.Like something wants out.”His eyes met Leo’s.“Should I let it go?”His brow was slick with sweat.“I’m not normal, am I?”

Crispin snorted.“No, don’t let it go.”He touched Leo’s forehead with his free hand.“You’re running a bit hot.”He wished he had a bit of water to give to his… friend.Yes, that term sounded right.“And you’re one of the most boringly normal people I have ever met.Almost as boring as I am.”

A ghost of a smile played across Leopold’s lips.“Boring?Boring?You’re a goddamned elf, dude.”

Crispin laughed.“A fae.A desk fae.Can’t get much more boring than that.”

Leopold shook his head.“You travel between worlds.In just the time we’ve been together, we’ve been potties?—”

“Piwati.”

“…and seen mirkins?—”

“Feryken.”

“…and giants and even a whole world filled with arkysores.”

“Archosaurs.”If they ever made it out of this bland place, he’d have to work on Leo’s language skills.

“My point is that you are anything but boring!Seriously, Crispy, you make it really hard for a guy to get a word in edgewise.”During his speech, his pallor had been slowly changing.

---