Loud voices startled me and I curled against the frame of the portal. I stole a quick glance of what was happening and recognised Will’s dark curls and his brother’s deep voice.

“You were supposed to translate these scrolls, Will!” Jacob shouted at his brother, waving his fist in his face. “Not write all this... This... Nonsense!”

“It’s not nonsense!”

“It doesn’t earn us anything, Will! We need the money from this!”

Will brushed his hair out of his face. “That doesn’t make my work nonsense!” He waved a scroll in his brother’s face but the rest of his arguments were drowned out with loud coughs. He pressed his sleeve against his mouth to cover up his discomfort, but it was hard to miss.

“Are you taking your medication?” Jacob squinted, rummaging Will’s desk.

“Stop, you’re messing everything up!”

“You need to take your pills, Will!”

“I am taking them! Stop it!” he called, trying to tear his brother away from his work station.

“What’s with all the paper and stories? We’ve got real work to do!” Jacob frantically argued, slamming his fist down on the table. The desk shook and the quill twirled out of the inkwell, splattering all over Will’s papers.

“Watch out!” Will screamed as he rushed towards the side. But it was too late. The inkwell tipped and the dark ink stained into the beautiful story he wrote. The pathways shook as they tore themselves away from this universe.

I held onto the frame as not to tumble out and breathed a sigh of relief when Will chased Jacob out of his study.

“I know you’re there,” Will muttered, a solemn look plastered on his face. I stepped out of the portal and revealed myself to him.

“You alright?” I asked carefully, but I could tell he was deeply distraught.

“Just fine,” he replied as he tried to scratch away some of the spilt ink. “What a shame, it was just finished.”

“But it worked,” I said, hoping to console him somehow.

“That’s something,” he sighed, running a hand over his tired face. “I’ll rewrite it tomorrow.”

I placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him and traced the invisible lines and pathways to all his universes. They were truly beautiful.

“How about starting something new?” I proposed, brushing Christian’s story to the side and unrolling a fresh scroll of paper.

“Something new? Like what? Jacob thinks I’m wasting my time,” he pouted, his back tensing under my head. Poor Will, he just wanted his brother to approve of what he did, but Jacob only cared about the scientific side of writing. And even though Will was too creative to give up, he took the rejection hard every time.

“Maybe just something brand new, something you’ve never written before?”

Will banged his fists against his forehead and hitted himself with the scroll. “I’ve got nothing, nothing, nothing.”

I turned his face towards me and caught his gaze. “I know that’s not true. I can tell from just touching you, there are endless more pathways ready to develop from your mind.”

“You think?” he whispered, his brown eyes staring hopefully into my own. I nodded and silenced the flutter in my chest.

“I know so,” I reassured him, catching the smile on my face before it broke through.

“You’re a gem, Gris. I wouldn’t know what to do without you,” Will smiled, running his thumb over my cheek. He leant in and I felt my breath hitch. Was he going to kiss me? Was it really going to happen?

A moment passed and nothing happened.

Slowly, I opened my eyes to study the man in front of me. Why wasn’t he moving?

“You’re a genius, Gris!” he exclaimed, his eyes flashing open. I saw the excitement swirl in his eyes as he ran to his desk. With no time to waste, he dipped his quill into the ink and the tip scratched over the parchment. I stalled a little, uncertain whether to stay or go back to Dweller District. But then again, I rather watched Will at work than wander around the masses of people.

But I didn’t want to disturb his progress, and as he made clear before, he liked being alone. I turned to say my goodbye, but he was already submerged into his world. So I just called upon the grey portal and with a lingering look, I waved goodbye to the concentrated storyteller. But he didn’t even see me anymore, he was already lost in another of his stories. I could only wonder what he was writing now.

I could already see the magic swirling as he slowly built new pathways and laid the pavement for a new world. Right in front of my eyes, the beginnings of a new portal formed. I had seen it many times before, but it never ceased to capture my attention. There was something magically beautiful about watching a new universe come to be.

With every swish and flick from his pen, more tendrils wrapped themselves around the frame of the new portal. I watched many portals being built, but I’d never watched a story been born. Not like this.

Should I?

No... I shouldn’t. That wasn’t very fair to Will, he didn’t like me standing over him, reading as he writes. He probably didn’t want me lurking in his story as he built it.

But then again... He would never know...

I could take a little sneak peek, just to see what kind of story he’s writing. To check if he wasn’t forgetting something important, like adding air, or setting it to the right language. He usually asked for my help when he got stuck, but if I got in before, I could tell him what he needs to change before he got stuck?

That was really in his best interests...

I couldn’t contain my curiosity and reached out from the portal. I brushed one finger softly over Will’s back, so softly he could write it off as a little breeze.

He shifted in his chair and scratched through his curls. For a moment, I worried he would catch me, but he returned to writing.

I let out a sigh of relief and drew up the fragile pathway to his new world. For a moment, I wondered if multiple side portals would show up, but none appeared. So he was really making a brand new world. Now that was extremely interesting.

I glanced at the handsome man again and contemplated whether this is right or not. Was I breaking his trust here? But then again... I was a Dweller... This was what we did. This was what I did.

Tenderly, I stroked the frame of the portal and before I knew it, I was standing on the brittle pavement. I took in a deep breath and enjoyed the crisp air. It was fresh and still unscented. Will hadn’t defined the place or time yet, and so, many of the elements of a new world were still unwritten.

Blurred images rolled besides me as I walked over the pathway. Nothing was set in stone yet, nothing except for the castle appearing on the other side of the portal. I took in a deep breath and carefully stepped into Will’s new world. The scent of damp leafs hit my nose and I felt a thrill of excitement run through me. He was building the world right now and I got to experience it first hand.

A cold breeze rustled through the trees that appeared on my left side and the next steps I took, were met with a bouncy spring back. Mud. Damn him, why did he keep making such depressing sceneries?

With a shiver running down my spine, I pulled the hood of my cape tighter around me. Why did he like the cold so much?

“There you are, I’ve been looking for you!”

I turned quickly to the direction of the sharp voice, curious to what was happening. I wondered where the woman came from? Who was she calling?

I pressed myself into the bark of a oddly shaped tree and took on my role as observer, like I always do. If Will asked me to return later, I couldn’t be a too obvious or memorable figure. I could never be that in any world. My friendship with Will was already breaking all the Dweller laws and I had already influenced far too much of his life.

But I couldn’t bring myself to disappear. Being around him made me finally glad to be a Dweller. Only I could see the actual beauty of the stories and worlds he wrote, only I got to experience them in a way that nobody else ever could.

“What are you wandering around for?”

The shrill voice was suddenly a lot closer to me. I flinched and curled tighter around the tree stump. The voice didn’t sound friendly and I was sure an unpleasant scenario would unfold in front of my eyes.

“Oi, don’t ignore me!”

A hand clamped around my wrist and I jumped up in surprise. People never touched me. People weren’t supposed to touch me.

“I’m talking to you!”

Rendered speechless, I stared into a stern face and flinched under the harsh eyes of an middle-aged woman. What did she mean? Who was she looking for?

I turned around, wondering if another figure appeared without me noticing?

“Don’t you dare look away from me!”

With a hard snap on my arm, the lady yanked my attention back to her. I turned to the silver eyes and cringed. Why was she staring so angrily at me? Did she mistake me for someone else?

“Why are you wandering around in the forest? Where’s the firewood?” the woman scolded, dragging me along through the forest. I looked around and admired the path weaving under my feet. That was new... Will was definitely still building the world, but where was his main character? Why was this bossy woman dragging me along?

Did I already mess up Will’s story by being in here without him knowing? Without waiting until it was fully built?

“Did you clean the hearth?”

I tried to keep the frown off my face and cowered under the woman’s angry stare. She was clearly mistaken me for someone else, but for who? Where was the unfortunate soul that this woman was actually targeting?

“Grisella! Did you sweep the floor?”

Wait... How did she know my name? What was going on here? What... Oh no... Will, what did you do?

I ripped my wrist of out the woman’s grip and stumbled back into the forest. This was not good. No, Will, no…

“I’m sorry, I just... I—”

The woman glared at me even meaner than before and her grey eyes bore holes in my skull.

How was I getting out of this?

“F—Firewood. I forgot the firewood,” I lied, darting back into the wood. The sky rumbled and a flash of lightning illuminated the dark forest. Droplets of water hit my face and I looked over my shoulder, hoping that the crazy woman wasn’t following me. Shielded by the branches from the overhanging trees, I crouched behind a tree trunk. Desperately, I called on the magic to reveal the portal that could take me back to Will. The familiar buzzing runs down my spine and...

Nothing happened.

Wait, that wasn’t right. Why was the portal not showing? It should be taking me back to Will.

I pictured his dark curls and his kind eyes, the way he usually said my name, and the magic ran along my spine once again. But no portal. Nothing happened. What was going on? Why wasn’t the pathway revealing itself? Why wasn’t it taking me back to Will?

“Grisella!”

My head snapped up as another voice called my name and I turned to find another woman glaring at me. She had the same mean eyes as the older woman and I could only assume they were related. What was happening? Why were they all using my name? How did they know my name? They shouldn’t be noticing me. They were supposed to all be going there own way, do whatever Will was writing. They shouldn’t be interacting with me, I wasn’t part of the story, so why did they—

Oh no... He didn’t...

“Stupid Will,” I muttered under my breath, making the woman in front of me snap her fingers in front of my face.

“Grisella, I’m talking to you!” she sneered, pushing a basket into my arms. With a big eye roll and a loud scoff, she clapped her hands in front of my face. “Where is your mind today?”

She clamped her spider-like hand around my wrist and dragged me through the woods. I stumbled through the wet leaves and my foot catched in a root. The cold mud splashed up in my face and I tasted the crunchy sand between my teeth. The basket tumbled on the ground and blocks of wood hit the woman’s ankles.

“Grisella, what is wrong with you?” she shrieked, kicking the stumps back to me. I shielded but too late, the splinters hit my face regardless. What was with these women?

“Mother, Grisella dropped all the firewood,” the blonde tattled, pointing at me grovelling in the dirt. A thick layer of mud coated my hood and I could feel the coldness seeping into the fabric. That would be a pain to clean.

“You clutz! Look at you, get cleaned up!” the older woman, the mother, sneered. I crawled up out of the dirt and brushed the clumps of mud away. That was gross.

The two women turned on their heels, their capes practically hitting me in the face. “And don’t forget that firewood!” the mother called over her shoulder, leaving me alone in the dark forest. A gush of wind wafted through the trees and stray droplets hit my face. I stared at the backs of the two women and wondered what was going on. Did Will write me into this story? Me specifically? Why would he do that? Did he know I was going to come in to snoop? Or did I mess up his universe by getting in before he was ready to have me?

I curled up in a little ball, trying to stop the quivering. Trying to warm myself up I recalled Will’s face, hoping the magic would react like it usually did. Tendrils tickled the back of my spine and a flicker of hope dashed through my chest.

Please, magic, I needed to get back to him.

Another wisp of magic curled around me and the portal flickered in front of me. The colourful strands of light wrapped around Will’s portal briefly illuminated the trees, and for a moment, the forest didn’t seem so threatening. I stretched out my hand, hoping to solidify the pathways so they could take me away from this awful place. The portal yielded underneath my touch but with a soft sigh, it vanished and the forest grew dark again.

So that was it then. No way back...

A hard ball hit my stomach and with dread, I stared at the two women and the mansion they were walking towards. So not a castle anymore, just a mansion. Although it was huge. Lightning struck and the loud rumble of thunder cracked through the sky. Another gust of wind urged me to follow the figures and between the threatening forest and them, it seemed like an easy choice. Hurried, I grabbed the basket and darted out of the clutches of the creepy trees. In this light, their branches almost looked like hands with long fingers and I didn’t feel like staying here. I’d take the mean women and a dry house over this.