The biggest challenge for a vehicle turned out to be that a ton of them were actually listed by local dealerships, and I was looking for a regular person I could just pay cash to without creating any kind of paper trail. We needed something big enough for six people and their bags, in good enough shape to make it across the country, with decent tires and hopefully less than two hundred thousand miles on it. This meant we mostly looked at minivans, but what we ended up with was a twenty-year-old airport shuttle.

For its age it was in good shape; it had sat in a lot somewhere for years, and then someone had fixed up the engine and done some general cleanup in preparation for turning it into some sort of camper. They'd removed the seats at the very back and put a bed in before realizing it was going to be too much work and money, so the luggage shelves never got turned into a kitchen. The guy was selling it for a song and asking no questions, which was perfect, and after driving it around a little I felt sure I could deal with it being quite a bit larger than the vehicles I'd learned on.

Technically, it was probably big enough that I should have a different endorsement on my drivers' license but I also wasn't going to be getting auto insurance so that seemed like a silly thing to worry too much about. If anything went wrong we'd bail and make sure human Calliope established an alibi. We paid him and immediately Katrin started warding the shit out of it, to the best of her ability. She had a lot of stuff to still learn about runes, despite having bought a book on them that she'd read and re-read over the last few months, but anti-scrying wards were one of the main things she'd made a point to learn.

I'd been able to help a little too, since I'd studied them in the original timeline. I no longer had my Dumine developed in the right way - I had trouble reading the intent behind anything complex, and couldn't write runes small enough to be useful - but I still was able to dredge up some memories of tips and tricks for them that I'd learned. As she worked, we talked about the memory I'd recovered the night before.

"I don't think Greg could possibly be Jake Ross," I said, "especially because we already found pictures of him and they don't look like Greg. Even if he had the birthmark removed, the whole face is wrong. Although... I mean, technically anyone could get their face re-arranged. I don't know. It just doesn't feel right. And I need to look up Van Halen, but I think maybe Greg is too old."

I held a particularly long Cheeto out to Katrin, and she bit it without looking while she worked. That was trust - a few days before I had handed her a hot Cheeto, and she'd almost died. It turned out none of the fantasylanders could handle capsaicin at all; there were other types of spicy they could do, but a single hot chip would floor them. "Also, I continued, "there's all the shit with 'the prisoner', and the criteria for it, and... that was a little inconsistent. I meet the criteria, so I can watch the prisoner, but also if I meet the criteria I'm too dangerous and would need to be killed."

Katrin paused as she reached the end of one line of runes etched into the ceiling of the shuttle, and looked at me. "The way you recounted it, it sounded like the masked man was fine with you meeting these criteria and Greg wasn't. Is this a fate thing? Like things you'd need to do to qualify for a specific fate?"

I nodded. "That's what I was thinking, yeah. It would make the most sense. They mentioned something in Virginia, and now we're there - like fate is making sure I'll fit. I don't know what it would be specifically, though. We do know that Jake Ross - if that's who the kid on the missing poster was - had been here too, in the same town. Could be that's all it takes. They made it sound like he'd added that requirement himself though, and I didn't think you could do that to fates. Maybe there's a way, I know the Clockmaker was engineering stuff with fate threads."

I would have to read through The Paradox of Fate again, looking for anything about that. "Oh, and guess what - I think some part of me has remembered that conversation for a long time. In retrospect, I'm pretty sure I've seen the aftermath of that fight in memories of Universal Servicing Systems; just little flickers of the circular hole in the wall, and cubicles scattered around. And it had to have influenced that strange dream I had while using Yesrin's Loom."

Katrin sighed. "I've said it a dozen times, and I'll say it a dozen more. That was a vision, and you should take it seriously."

"Yeah, you've made your opinion known. This conversation was for sure what influenced that, though. Greg said... it was something like, 'throw my body on the pile of all the ones who came before. All the heads in jars, and Adam's tomb in the palace'. Or close to that, anyway. And in the dream, there was that whole pile of headless bodies with the waiter sitting on top trying to give me my birthday milkshake. Remember?"

Katrin nodded. "And that statue had left handprints on all of them, and on you."

"Right, that must have been how I imagined 'Poicelria's Golem'. I should ask Grunkle about that, actually. There was that basement under Poicelria's fort, or temple, or palace or whatever - the one we passed through on the way out, with the murals and shit? I haven't looked at that place much yet, but now that I have Exposition they can probably translate. I can't remember, did you name your little caged spirit anything?"

Katrin shook her head, but didn't let me change the subject. "You don't want to believe that it was a vision, even though a god spoke to you?"

"If it was a god. That hasn't been established. And anyway, it's pretty neatly explained by me remembering the conversation between Greg and the mystery man. We don't need to also invent random powers where I can see... not even the future, I guess, but just... random visions of stuff."

Katrin smirked. "Okay, explain Matlyn's photograph. You said it was exactly like what you had in your memory palace."

"I shouldn't have told you about that," I said, "but... yes, fine. I looked after she sent it to the group chat, and it was for sure the same photo. And I didn't know Zoey was alive at the time, and had no reason to think we'd be hanging out with the fucking Behemoth, and... it's pretty strange. I don't have a good answer for it. I ended up holding it after poking at that creepy statue of me all curled into a ball; I'll mess with it more once we're off Earth and I don't have to divide my attention so badly to get to my memory palace."

That was another thing I couldn't explain. With my mind and soul tethered by fate threads, there shouldn't have been any reason that I would have trouble maintaining the connection. If it had just been hard to get my mind into my memory palace in the first place I'd understand it, but the way it was getting shunted back to my body as soon as I relaxed was extremely strange.

Katrin finished up the wards, and I started driving again - we'd pulled over in a random parking lot to get the work done. The one downside to our ridiculous ride was that there was no passenger seat in the front, just some steps leading down to the bus-style doors. That meant I couldn't see Katrin as she chatted with me. "Okay," she said, "what about the masked man. Who was he? Is he the same person as the one we saw in Brinkmar?"

"It would make some sense if it was," I said, "but I don't think we can be sure. The helmet is for sure a Coelestis Acquisitions thing though, so either way he's from Earth. Or, if not originally, he's at least been to Earth. Or... okay, it's also possible someone else brought it from Earth, and then he killed that guy and took it off his body. Or won it in a game of thirty-sixes. But... yeah, I kinda think it's the same guy. Maybe I just want it to be, because it would be one less mystery. The real question is who Greg thought it was; at first he was all, 'who are you', and then he was all 'it is you', and I don't know if that means the guy is who he originally thought was in the armor, or if the guy was some other known person. Or if Greg was even right."

"It certainly seems to lend weight to the idea that they're connected to Brinkmar, since the man we saw could open doors there."

"Oh, that's a thing for sure. Greg even said... 'you want to try and take my place one more time, same on Earth as in Brinkmar'. And he called the guy his brother, but I don't know if that was meant as a literal brother or not. I feel like it has to involve the royal family somehow, or... could be a Halenvar thing. It's possible there's been some separate line of royalty that's been hiding out on Earth. The queen was killed, maybe... I don't know, maybe some others went into hiding. That's the thing, though. We can't trust the Jake Ross books, and the official histories are full of holes."

I resolved to just ask Greg myself, while I was stabbing him to death.

We'd wasted a whole day looking for an acceptable vehicle, but Zoey had found a shady motel that supposedly didn't require IDs or even credit cards, so long as you put down a deposit. We got fast food on the way there and then hung up anti-scrying wards that Katrin had written on a long roll of fabric; it wasn't as good as writing on metal, apparently, but it was just there as an extra layer. We basically all agreed that it was unlikely anyone was seriously looking for us at this point - if they'd been able to break past the wards they would have come for us already, so especially now that some time had passed the individual charms should be plenty for most purposes. It was still good to have the car warded, particularly for when we got closer to Arizona, but none of us were going to worry while we were walking from the motel room to the shuttle.

While the motel was dingy, with stained carpets and water-damaged wallpaper, it wasn't actually dirty and I didn't see signs of bedbugs. I'd slept worse places for sure. We were all piled in one room, with Errod volunteering to sleep on the floor and convincing Grunkle to do the same. Katrin and I took one bed, and Zoey and Matlyn took the other. Katrin was enjoying using the various tools she'd found on the Internet and had already planned the trip - we'd be taking the 81 South until it turned into I-40, and that went all the way to Phoenix. It seemed strange that a trip of two thousand miles was basically a straight shot, but I wasn't going to complain.

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We'd talked about alternate routes - Matlyn kind of wanted to see the St. Louis Arch - but while the time difference was negligible, it looked to me like that route went through a whole lot of nothing. Katrin's alarm got us up bright and early, or dark and early since it was winter, and we were on the road before six. We got breakfast at a convenience store, and everyone ate in the shuttle while I used the built in PA system to be obnoxious. "On your left, you'll see another dead deer. Truly majestic. Coming up on the right side... ooh, Katrin, you think you could light that flag on fire from the road?"

Katrin opened her mouth to ask me questions, and then clearly decided against it. "I... doubt it, not without making a big scene. It's big, but it's high up."

"Bah. Never mind, then." I had pretty firmly established my brand as 'pro-arson, anti-kidnapping and slavery' but I had to admit that it wouldn't be productive to try and burn Confederate flags we passed. That had been a really, really big one though. Super tempting. Instead, we continued on and I got to listen to my passengers be absolutely baffled by all the open space.

I wasn't sure what I had expected when I pictured them seeing Earth. Katrin and Errod had already gotten some peeks while in my memory palace of course, and Zoey had presumably shown Matlyn some things on her phone, but that wasn't the same as being here. Of all the things we saw, though, it was the lack of clear boundaries between cities and wilderness that got them. They adapted to the technology much faster than I would have thought, and even to the omnipresence of cars. But seeing houses just scattered over the hills, with sprawling towns and farms everywhere?

It blew their minds.

"I know there's no monsters to worry about," Errod said, "but... it still just feels wrong. Where do you forage? Where do you hunt?"

I picked up the handset for the PA, since there was no way I wasn't going to keep using that any time I needed to talk to anyone. "We don't do a lot of foraging, because basically all the land belongs to someone. Hunting is a thing, and there's plenty of wilderness out there to do it in, but most people don't do that either."

"No wonder," Matlyn said, "your stores are amazing! Everything being wrapped in plastic is strange, though. I don't know why most of the food has so many layers. I do like the canned food, though. That makes sense."

"A merchant came through with canned food once," Katrin said, "he said it was from Tahikk."

Matlyn nodded. "Yes, Markonti has tried something similar as well - but in both cases as far as I know they were both more like rations for emergencies. I think we should put more effort into preserving vegetables in a way that keeps them fresh for long term storage."

That seemed like a fairly harmless idea to move into Fantasyland. I was still thinking about what the Primarch of Erathik had said, and wondering which ideas or technologies might be dangerous to bring back. It seemed like, for the most part, magic could already be plenty dangerous on its own. With the general population being so opposed to automation, a lot of things would be rejected anyway. They wanted trained artisans, making things properly. They didn't want mass-produced stuff.

And their artisans were already amazing, and aided by magic. What more would our technology really add? I personally felt like radio could be a good addition to the world; it was relatively simple, not dangerous, and super useful. Katrin agreed, and had already saved a bunch of information about how it worked to her phone. Computers could be a mixed bag, but I didn't think that fantasyland would really want them anyway. They could have done something like that already, with runic chains and specialized spirits.

After about six hours on the road, when I-81 finally turned into I-40, we celebrated by getting off the road and stretching our legs. I'd originally wanted to get us to Knoxville before stopping for gas again, but everyone needed the break. By the time we decided we were for sure pulling over we'd missed the first few chances, and then Grunkle gave me shit for that so I deliberately skipped past the next too.

This led us to a surreal sight that I wasn't really ready for. A grinning cartoon beaver looked down on the longest stretch of gas pumps I'd ever seen - so long that it felt fake, like some sort of surrealist commentary on automobile dependence or something. Zoey was similarly struck by it, but the others clearly just assumed it was normal to have a thousand-foot stretch of covered gas pumps sitting there empty and waiting.

We went inside, Grunkle continued his habit of buying souvenirs, and by the time we'd finished exploring the enormous space I wasn't sure if I was in a gas station or a department store or what. "I think... this is the best I could have possibly asked for to sort of sum up America," I said, "for good or bad. Is it strange that I really like this place, and it also makes me feel... bad?"

Zoey nodded. "Yeah. Especially after spending years away from Earth, this feels like aliens went out of their way to make an American-themed place. Still... Errod seems really interested by that wall of different kinds of jerky, and the pajama pants look comfortable."

We eventually escaped, with more loot than we should have bought, and I got us back on the road. Unfortunately, we'd ended up going the wrong way and I didn't realize at first; I should have, because logically I knew we were supposed to almost immediately get back on the 40, but instead we were joking and arguing and throwing jerky and I ended up going the wrong direction on the wrong highway.

I did finally figure out what I'd done, but by then Matlyn had seen a sign that spelled doom for Katrin's carefully planned road trip schedule. "What's... Dollywood?" she asked.

"Oh my god," I said, "I just realized we need to go to an amusement park. There aren't any real ones in Arizona, just like... Castles and Coasters. And that place feels like it's barely a step above one of those rickety state fair things. Zoey, look up Dollywood and see if they have actual roller coasters and shit."

She confirmed that they did, and while Katrin made a few token protests I could tell she was curious. It was very possible that something would go wrong in Arizona, that someone would get killed or we'd have to go on the run or something. At that point, any hope of sightseeing was out the window. This was a golden opportunity.

When we arrived, there was a two-for one deal so we got passes for two days even though I promised Katrin we'd be back on the road that night. We were not. We spent all day eating food, going on rides, and even watching some shows - though I didn't have any interest in that part. I just wanted to do the rides over and over. I was worried about Katrin, what with her fear of heights, but while she gripped the safety bar so tight I thought she was going to break something she still went on every single ride at least once - even the one that lifts you way into the air and then drops you.

Grunkle was too big to fit in some of the rides, but by the end of the day he'd shrunken some and it was no longer a problem. I hadn't been aware he could even do that - I'd assumed there was a big difference between getting bigger and getting smaller. There was no question about it though, he'd dropped a few inches in height and narrowed his shoulders somewhat.

By the end of the night we were exhausted, and then the real argument began. Surely it was better and safer for us to get a motel for the night, since I was the only driver. And if we were sleeping here anyway, and we had tickets for the next day, what harm would it do to pop in right when the park opened and go on a few more rides? We'd be out by lunchtime. For sure. No possibility that we'd get sucked in and stay longer than that.

Katrin pulled me aside. "I'm not falling for your obvious trick," she said, "but I'm... going to let you get away with it regardless. I know this will add more time onto the trip, and I know we're not really going to leave by lunchtime tomorrow. Just... for the record. But, well... Matlyn is finally making real progress with Errod. She's gotten him to go on some of the scarier rides with her, and then she sits next to him and squeezes his hand."

"And you approve?"

Katrin shrugged. "He could do worse. She's cheerful, and nice, and talented. She'll be rich, after this. She doesn't care about the glove, she's taken all the strangeness with you in stride, they both speak English which could come in handy. It's a good match. Also... not to make things weird, but I think my brother really needs to get laid."

"Katrin! Holy shit, I did not expect that to come out of your mouth."

She sighed. "Well, a fact is a fact. He's very hard on himself, and he thinks a lot about the bad things going on. He's worried about Tindelus, and he's worried about the Grand Alignment, and he's worried about fate messing with things. I think he could use some... fun. And Matlyn is fun. Getting to spend some time with Lute, even knowing he wouldn't be coming with us and he might... I don't know, he might move on while we're off saving the world... it's been good for me."

"Yeah," I said, "I get it. I've never really been big on relationships. I faked my way through a few, but they were short and... bad. I don't dislike sex but I don't need it, like some people seem to, and it's hard to find people who won't care that some days I just... don't really give a shit about them."

Katrin punched me in the arm. "You do, though. It's just... less emotional, more logical sometimes."

"Right. And that's fine with you guys, you can be okay with knowing that even if I don't love you at the moment I'll still do whatever you need and kill anyone that fucks with you. But I think in a relationship... like, a romantic one where the other person maybe actually loves me? How do you say to someone that you, most of the time, aren't able to love them the same way?"

I had a sudden fleeting memory, almost like a half-remembered dream, of laughing with someone as we wrestled on the ground. A woman, with silver hair? "Whoa. Just had a really strong flash of something. Kinda like before, when I was recovering old memories, but this was of someone I've never met."

She squinted at me in thought. "Maybe it's like the photograph? It could be you're seeing something that will happen in the future."

"Well, if you see any... almost androgynous girls with silver hair, let me know. It seemed like we'd really clicked. Maybe that's what I need, to just stop trying with dudes. The last two were really awkward and shitty."

Katrin smirked. "I thought you were going to end up fooling around with Connie or human Calliope. I caught you looking a few times, you narcissist."

"Fuck, I can't even deny it. I kept telling them they were pretty whenever I was high. That's it, that's the one time I'll admit to how fucked up I am. We're never discussing this again. Understood?"

She nodded, and we kept walking for a minute. "Let's get to the motel Zoey found," she said, "and then... we can do another day in Dollywood, but you have to promise that when we get back on the road we'll have a serious talk about what the actual plan is in Arizona. Are we trying to contact Bill? Are we immediately attacking the self-storage place? Do we try and make contact with the other Zoey? I don't want to just wing it. It's one thing to spontaneously go to an amusement park - it's another to spontaneously launch an attack on a prepared target we know little about."

She was a buzzkill, but she was right. Okay. One more day of Dollywood, then some serious planning.

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