Page 107 of Seasonal Fears

The room must be very well soundproofed, because it swallows his voice without any of the echo he’d expect, the faint magnification from bouncing off the walls. That begs the question of how he heard the doorbell, but he can’t dwell on that right now.

“Mel? Are you here?”

The door across from the bed opens to reveal the guest bathroom he vaguely remembers Clifford mentioning the night before, and there’s Mel, wrapped in a towel, drying her hair with another. She’s clean and bright-eyed and looks as healthy as he’s ever seen her … which is healthier than she’s been in a long time.

Seeing her like this drives home how bad she’d gotten in a way that nothing else ever will. Harry slides out of the bed and walks toward her.

“Shower’s open,” says Mel, as he wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her close. She puts a hand over his mouth before he can kiss her, smiling serenely as she holds him at arm’s length. “Not until you brush your teeth,” she says amiably. “I’ve been up for an hour, and we were out for at least twelve before that. Everything’s in the bathroom.”

“Everything?”

“Pretty sure Clifford raided our car. He apologized when I went upstairs looking for coffee. Do not drink the coffee if he’s the one offering to make it for you, by the way; he thinks it’s some sort of religious ritual thing that needs to be performed just so or you’ll offend the beans. Carolyn’s coffee is way more normal.”

Harry looks at her blankly. “Really?”

“No.” She laughs. “He just does this weird routine with a French press and vacuum-filtered water and it takes forever. Go brush your teeth. I’ll get dressed, and we can go upstairs.”

Harry doesn’t want to go upstairs. This is the first time they’ve been alone and not in fear for their lives in almost a month, and he wants to do some of the things her father doesn’t approve of, that they couldn’t exactly do in front of company. But they’re in someone else’s house, and he doesn’t want to upset their hosts, so he smiles and nods and lets her go, heading into the bathroom.

By the time he emerges, Mel is tragically dressed, in jeans and a rust-colored sweatshirt, her wet hair braided down her back. “I borrowed this from Carolyn,” she says, plucking at one sleeve. “It’s dyed with actual dirt. Like, from the red mud we saw outside. Isn’t Alabama wild?”

“Sure is,” Harry agrees. He took the time to wet his hands and run his fingers through his hair. His clothes, while wrinkled, are surprisingly clean for having been slept in; it’ll do. “You said coffee?”

“And muffins. Come on.” Mel leads him out of the room and up the stairs, which deliver them to the kitchen.

There is, in fact, a platter of fresh-baked apple muffins on the counter, next to a pot of coffee. Harry pauses to pour himself a mug before following Mel out of the kitchen to the living room, where a conversation is going on.

Then he stops, blinking. Not only their hosts and their attendants are present; the five people from Berkeley are there as well, standing and chatting, muffins and cups of coffee in hand. Roger is the first to notice their appearance. He turns, smiling, every inch the genial high school English teacher excited to hear how his favorite students did in their debate tournament.

“Hope you don’t mind us swinging by before we head home,” he says, tone as easy as his smile. “We just wanted to check in, see if you needed anything, before we hit the road.”

“It’ll take us at least two hours to get back to Berkeley,” says Dodger, viciously bright. “I’d like to be home before the sun goes down.”

Harry blinks again. It took them days to drive from California to Alabama, and yeah, they weren’t hurrying, but they weren’t trying to walk all that distance, either. There’s literally no possible way two hours puts these people and their weird van back in their driveway. Then again, Harry considers, this is a woman who had actual, literal summer in her front yard because her brother wanted flowers.

Roger gives Dodger a sharp look. “Some people respect linear distance,” he says.

“Some people need to learn that miles are just numbers on a map, and all numbers can be negotiated with,” she says, and takes a bite out of her muffin.

“See, she doesn’t understand that for normal people, driving across the country in an afternoon is impossible, and she sounds like she has a head injury when she says things like that,” says Erin, stepping around them to walk over and offer Mel her hand. “Congratulations.”

“Oh, um, thanks,” says Mel, and takes the offered hand, shaking. “I saw you at the coronation. I didn’t expect you there.”

“We didn’t expect your coronation to involve the Impossible City,” says Dodger. “That’s why we thought you’d have to come back and tell us.”

“We always know when someone enters the Impossible City,” says Roger. “We’re sort of a part of it, linked to it. We were supposed to make it manifest by existing, and maybe we did in some way. I don’t know. I asked the European Summer Queen if she’d seen the Impossible City before her own coronation, and she asked me if I’d seen all the wonders of the Kalos region. I’m pretty sure she was making fun of me.” He sounds affronted and impressed at the same time, like it’s hard for him to believe anyone would make fun of him, at least to his face.

Behind his back, Kim and Tim roll their eyes in eerie unison. “It’s the setting of the most recent Pokémon game worth playing,” says Kim.

“Huh,” says Roger. “Learn something new every day.” He takes a swig of coffee. “And before we get on the road, I want to learn what you did to this coffee, because it is excellent.”

Clifford preens. “You put some salt in with the grounds,” he says. “It brings out the nuance of the beans. And of course, the beans matter more than anything.”

“Of course,” agrees Roger.

“Congratulations to you, too,” says Erin, turning to offer her hand to Harry. “I’m pleased that you both made it. I don’t think either of you would have enjoyed ruling alone.”

“What does that mean, ‘ruling’?” asks Harry. “I know we’re, like, royalty and all now, but do we have jobs? Is there something we’re expected to do?”