---

Sean nearly tripped over the arrow in the morning on his way to the bathroom. He picked it up and put it in his closet where the sword and feather had been (He'd left them both at Mike and Jill's). He contemplated putting it in his quiver with his practice arrows, but figured his archery instructor might be a bit upset to see a broad head arrow where they were only supposed to use target arrows.

After his usual morning routine he headed off to work. For reasons beyond his understanding, his coworkers were being especially abusive. He was even shoved a couple of times. He was beginning to worry by the time his shift was over and hurried out to his car as quickly as he could. He sighed in relief once he was safely locked in his car and drove to the grocery store to pick up some things for dinner.

After that side trip he returned home and carried the groceries over to Mike and Jill's. When he opened the door he found Mike and Jill sitting on the floor amidst piles of books. "What's going on?" he asked.

Jill didn't look up from the book she was examining when she answered, "We're trying to decide where to go next." Sean felt a shiver of fear at that and nearly dropped the bag of groceries.

"You okay Sean?" Mike asked, who had looked up. "You look kind of pale."

Jill looked up at that and examined Sean's face. "Did something happen after you left last night?" she asked.

Sean sat on the couch with the bag on the floor between his feet. "Yeah, something did." He admitted.

"What?" Mike and Jill asked in almost perfect unison. They grinned at each other momentarily before turning their attention back to Sean.

"I was reading in bed, the same book. A portal opened up next to my bed and one of the characters from the book tried to shoot me with an arrow." Sean replied.

Mike frowned in thought. "Can an arrow even pass through the portal?" he asked curiously.

"The hole in my wall would seem to indicate it can." Sean replied dryly.

"Were you hurt?" Jill asked worriedly, jumping to her feet as she said it and looking Sean over.

"No, I rolled off the bed just in time." Sean replied.

"I really don't think you should read in bed anymore, Sean." Mike said with concern.

"I already figured that out." Sean replied wearily. "I really don't think this is a good idea."

"But that's exactly why we need to do this!" Jill pointed out. Sean sighed in defeat.

"Try to find something safe and peaceful, then, while I make dinner." Sean said as he grabbed the bag and stood up.

Jill smiled thankfully at him, she had completely forgotten about dinner. "What do you think about this one Mike?" she asked holding up a small paperback book.

Mike took the book and read the synopsis on the back. "I don't know, Jill, going to a romance novel world could be pretty embarrassing." Mike said doubtfully.

Jill sighed and put the book in the 'no' pile and picked up another. They'd been at this ever since Mike got home from work. They'd split the books into 'way too dangerous' and 'maybe' piles and were now whittling down the 'maybe' pile.

"How about this one?" Mike asked, holding out a hardbound book.

Jill didn't have to read the synopsis to know this book was unacceptable. "Mike, it's got space ships blasting each other into oblivion right on the cover! Why would you even consider it?" she asked exasperatedly.

Mike shrugged, "I just thought it would be cool to go into space." He replied.

Jill rolled her eyes. "Men!" she muttered, while placing that book firmly on the 'way too dangerous' pile.

They still hadn't decided on a book when Sean called out that dinner was ready. They carefully extricated themselves from the piles of books and made their way to the kitchen.

"Hmm, something smells good!" Mike said as he sat down. "Nice to have a proper cook for once!" he said with a grin and just managed to dodge the slap Jill was aiming at his arm.

"No fighting at the table, children." Sean admonished with a grin.

"Yes, Mommy!" they said in unison. Sean rolled his eyes and set their dinner on the table.

After dinner they all sat down with the books again. Sean took a look at the 'way too dangerous' pile and shuddered. I'm glad we're not going to use any of those! he thought.

"How about this one?" Mike asked, holding out a manga. It was titled Imadoki! by Yuu Watase. "There doesn't seem to be any danger in it."

"Oh, yeah, that's a good one. Yuu Watase is one of my favorites!" Sean agreed.

"That could work." Jill agreed. "It's been a while since I read that, but I don't remember anything dangerous. We'll stick out like a sore thumb in an exclusive Japanese high school, though." Jill pointed out.

"That's a whole lot better than being in a forest that's about to get nuked." Mike countered.

"Well, yeah, that's true. Do you want to give this one a try, Sean?" she asked.

"Not really, you know I don't want to do this. But if we're going to, this is a good choice." Sean replied.

"Shall we get started then?" Mike suggested, handing the book to Sean. Jill nodded encouragingly at Sean.

"If you insist." Sean said with a sigh. He opened the book and started reading. The portal appeared almost instantly.

"Let's go." Jill said, taking a hold of Sean's hand. Reaching back for Mike's, she nudged Sean towards the portal. With another sigh Sean stepped through, followed by his friends.

On the other side of the portal they found themselves on the grounds of a school. The gates were closed, but there were two teenagers there talking by a lone daffodil. "They look a lot different in real life." Sean noted.

"I was wondering if everyone would look like anime characters or something. But they look just like any other Japanese teenagers." Jill agreed.

"That would have been weird." Mike said. "I'm glad they look normal."

"So now what?" Sean asked.

"We have a little experiment we want to try. Mike will go through the portal on his own, and then we'll follow with me still holding your hand. This way we'll find out if physical contact is required for us to use the portal or not." Jill replied.

"I can already tell you it probably isn't. Remember the arrow?" Sean reminded them.

Jill nodded. "I know, but we should make sure, anyway. We need to know as much about how this works as possible."

"Alright, go on Mike." Sean replied wearily. Mike let go of Jill's hand and stepped back through the portal. They could see him on the other side, waving, then he moved aside for them. Jill and Sean stepped through and Sean closed the book and handed it back to Mike. The portal closed almost instantly.

"Well, that's one test out of the way." Mike said. "Obviously we don't have to have physical contact with you to use the portal. We've got some other tests we'd like to try, though."

"Not tonight." Sean said with a shake of his head. "It's getting late and I'm tired. I'm going to talk to Erica and go to bed."

"Did you sleep okay last night?" Jill asked worriedly.

"Would you after someone shot an arrow at you and barely missed?" Sean asked with eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Oh, guess not." Jill replied. "Well, good night Sean." She said and hugged him goodbye. Mike said good night and Sean left.

"Are you sure we should continue with these tests Jill? They're really dangerous." Mike asked.

"They're no more dangerous then letting Sean's ability remain wild. He could end up waking up in space one day if he doesn't get control of it." Jill pointed out.

"Yeah, okay. But let's be careful." Mike said. Jill nodded at that and they cuddled up on the couch to watch TV.

---

 
Sean really was exhausted. He hadn't felt so tired when he got to Mike and Jill's, but he felt totally wiped out now. He kept his chat with Erica short and climbed into bed. His gaze was drawn to the hole in the wall from the arrow and he resolutely turned off the light and turned his back on it. In moments he was asleep.

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 To Be Continued…