Cal was due back any day now, and Ethel found herself surprisingly glad for that as the school was completed. It was now just a matter of moving the kids and teachers in and starting to pick their places. So far, everything had gone well; the vast majority of the kids had manifested their mana spirits, and Andrew was reasonably sure the few that hadn’t were close enough that this would all work anyway.


    She was currently doing a walkthrough of the school with Serilina and her cat. She had found the Gryalth woman surprisingly pleasant to work with; it was too bad she wasn’t interested in being a teacher. She had been instrumental in helping reach several of the struggling students. And then there was the cat of hers. Ethel didn’t understand exactly what was going on there, but she was sure that cat wasn’t remotely normal.


    “I hope the kids are happy here. They deserve it. I know how hard a weird childhood can be,” Serilina said as they were walking through the cafeteria. Her cat loudly purred as she confessed her childhood. The noise of all her teachers and students loudly talking and enjoying themselves at the first big meal made her smile. She was sure she had built something here. Now, it just needed to last.


    “We will do everything we possibly can to make sure they are, and once this loop is over, hopefully they will be ready to face the horrors they’ve seen,” Ethel said.


    “Well, I mean, given enough time, it’s easy enough to smile again,” Serilina replied. Despite her words, Ethel caught the sadness in the woman''s eyes. How much of this was an act for everyone else? She was sure Bug had noticed but had anyone else in the Under Library expedition.


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    “Ethel, we need your assistance outside for a moment. There’s apparently someone here to see you,” Alfred said as he entered the cafeteria.


    “It’s alright, go, I can handle getting the first big event launched, besides Sarah is here somewhere too,” Serilina said, looking out at all the chatting faces around the cafeteria, waiting for the moment they got to go pick their rooms.


    “Alright, alright, this better be important,” Ethel said. Her annoyance was flaring.


    “Bug said it was,” Alfred replied, which was enough to make her believe something actually was up. Ethel followed her dog into the grove toward a strangely hooded figure that she didn’t remotely recognize. Who the hell was that?


    “Bug, who is that, and what’s going on?” Ethel said.


    “It’s apparently Dennis, one of the kids, and the smell is right, so I think it’s really him,” Bug replied.


    “I am, and I’m sorry, but I have to complete this cycle, just know that everything you worked on here will be worth it, but you cannot be inside when this happens,” the figure said.


    “When what happens?” Ethel said angrily. What was about to happen? Was this really Dennis? In the distance, there was a loud cracking sound and then an even louder alarm. The Dennis figure was gone, and something had happened back at the school.


    The dogs and Ethel immediately took off in a run toward the building only to find it and the ground it had stood on gone, back to the formless space outside the terraformed parts of her realm and all the people gone with it. Ethel’s stomach dropped. Who had done this? What had they even done?


    “They will return safely,” the figure claiming to be Dennis said, appearing, hovering in the former spot of the school before vanishing.