Page 73 of Office of the Lost

“What are you doing?”Aspin demanded.“Mother, you can’t let mpprhhllggg.”The rest was lost as Crispin tied the roll closed with a neat bit of ribbon from out of his backpack.He tucked Aspin safely away inside.

His mother hid a smile.“So what do we do now?”

He stared at her.“You’re asking me?”She’d never asked for his advice, not once in his entire life.The world really had turned itself inside out.

The Mother of Fae gestured at the still-flattening city of Odds.“This is your mess as much as it is mine.Perhaps itistime for the two of you, after all.”

He blinked.Things were shifting, and not just outside of him, in the world.He wasn’t sure he was ready for the weight of responsibility that a relationship required.And not just any relationship.With his soulmate.How could this be happening?He was just a quiet desk fae.

You are Order, personified.What the little voice inside of him proclaimed still seemed strange to him, but maybe not so surprising.All of his life he’d been good at organization, and at OotL he’d had the best perfecality score for years.He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders.I can do this.Besides, Leo needs me.

“We need to go to the Office.Between the two of us, we can get this sorted out.”

His mother nodded.“I’d take us there, but I find myself… diminished.”She snapped her fingers, but nothing happened.

Maybe it was the lack of Chaos in the air?He almost felt sorry for her.Almost.“Not a problem.I can get us there.”He pulled out his travel device.“Thea, take us back to the Office of the Lost.”He waited for a portal to open up.

Her lights flashed, then went out.“I’m sorry, Crispin.There seems to be some sort of block.”It was good to have her back to her normal, competent, non-singing self.

“Flying faeries of Flathium Four!”Bidulla.She’d managed to revoke his access somehow.She must have known he’d be coming.

“There has to be another way.”His mother seemed… shorter now, more… mortal?She also looked tired.

Another way.Who else had access, that he could get to quickly?Juzir.Someone Bidulla trusted, who had just been to OotL.“Juzir can get us in.”

An arched eyebrow greeted his suggestion, a gesture that at one time would have sent him scrambling back to his room in fear.“Didn’t he betray you?”

Crispin snorted.“Yes.Him and Qyl.It may take some work to get him to agree.Fortunately I know just the creature for the job.”He’d never thought he would willingly return to the giants’ world—what with them having a sweet tooth for fae and all—but a friend was a friend.Crispin straightened up, pulled his shirt taut, and addressed his friend-cum-travel device.“Thea, take us to Vlotho.”

The air shimmered, and a small travel portal appeared in the air before them.It looked a little weird around the edges—black and white where it usually sparkled with color—but the purple forests of Vlotho beckoned them from the other side.

“After you.”He held out his arm, and his mother, after looking at the portal as if it might bite her, stepped carefully over the threshold of the shimmering image.Crispin followed, feeling a strange surge of energy as he passed through the flat surface.

It snapped shut behind him, and three things happened at once.

He noticed Minkis was gone.

His backpack exploded, depositing a full-size, very angry, and entirely three-dimensional Aspin on the ground next to him, a red ribbon tied around his temples like a headband.“Crispin, I should?—”

A booming voice shook the purple trees, sending a flock of nesting white somethings skyward in a mad flapping frenzy.

“WHO DARES INVADE MY… oh, is that you, Crispin?”The owner of the voice squatted, squinting at them through a giant eye.

Crispin waved.“Hello, Fromlith.So good to see you again.Hope you don’t mind that I brought some company.”

A grin, as hideous as it was welcoming, showed a row of teeth, each one nearly half Crispin’s size.Next to him, Aspin had become as still as a statue.

It was good to know the effects of the Great Flattening could be reversed.The draining of Chaos from the Connected Worlds must not have reached Vlotho yet.

“You are always welcome, Master Moss’caladin.And who are your friends?”His breath could have knocked out a were-ox, and not just due to the gale force of it.

“These are my brother, Aspin…”

Aspin managed a bow and almost fell over.

“…and my mother, the illustrious Cerillia Ailedrin Moss’caladin, Queen of the Fae.”

Fromlith blushed.“I am honored to welcome Her Majesty to my humble abode.”One giant palm indicated his cottage, which was almost large enough to hold all of the Prickles Hotel and still have room for a giant teapot.He stood and assayed what he must have thought was a gentlemanly bow, scaring the flock of maybe-birds once again.“To what do I owe this honor?”

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