Nora walked back to the hotel with Ian. Michelle was a few paces ahead of them. She might have been less than thrilled to see Ian, but she wasn't about to make him stand out in the rain.

To be honest, Nora didn't really blame Michelle. They'd spent years thinking he was dead. No call, no nothing. Then, he'd just showed up. Nora would have felt the exact same way if she hadn't spent all that time listening to him explain exactly what had happened after the accident. She still wasn't sure how she felt about it all— not only had he disappeared, but his lousy story was almost completely unbelievable. If it wasn't for the fact that he'd clearly been half-snake when she'd seen him, she'd have assumed he was insane.

And she really wasn't sure how she felt about the snake part. Just yesterday, she would have said that personality was the most important thing to her. And it was still right up there on her list. But she'd never thought she'd actually have to put human on that list too.

Still, she'd missed Ian an awful lot. She'd never really gotten over him; it was why she'd never bothered dating anyone since his accident. So while she was a little freaked out, she decided to push those feelings down as much as she could for the moment. If Ian really was back, maybe she could ignore the stranger parts of his story. She wasn't willing to lose him all over again just yet.

By the time they got back to the hotel, it was positively pouring. Nora was glad they wouldn't be outside in that.

Michelle strode across the room to one of the plush chairs and hostilely folded herself into it. Ian followed tentatively, perching on the far end of the couch. Nora moved to sit next to Ian, figuring it'd be easier conversationally. She thought she saw Michelle narrow her eyes slightly. Nora turned to Ian, not quite willing to meet Michelle's gaze.

"Remember how we were talking about the birds?" she asked Ian.

Ian nodded.

"Well...I found this book." She held it up for him to see. "And it talked about the six realms of...something."

"Existence?" Ian supplied, barely audibly. Nora scooted closer.

"Yeah." That sounded about right. "What do you know about them?"

Ian shrugged. Then, he glanced quickly at Michelle.

Nora nodded. She guessed she'd have to wait to hear any personal knowledge he had. Though she really doubted Michelle could hear him from that far away.

"What did it say?" he asked instead.

"Something about the End of Man." Nora told him. She didn't really understand what the book had been talking about, but that part had stayed with her. Michelle scoffed quietly, but Ian's eyes went wide.

"Really?" he asked. "Show me."

Nora quickly started flipping through the book, trying to find the pages she'd been reading at the library.

"Wait— seriously?" Michelle asked, sitting up in her chair. Apparently, Ian's obvious concern had made an impression.

Nora nodded absentmindedly as she scanned a few pages. Then, she turned to Ian. "Here." she said, pointing to the paragraph.

Ian read. He bit his lip in thought. "We have to seal the portals."

"Portals?" Nora asked.

"What?" Michelle asked. Nora couldn't tell if Michelle thought they were insane or just hadn't heard. But she moved to kneel on the ground closer to the couch, so Nora guessed it was the latter.

"How would we do that?" Nora asked.

Ian didn't answer. Instead, he reached out to the phone she'd set on the sofa's arm. He raised his eyebrows in an apparent request for permission, and she nodded.

He grabbed the phone and typed something quickly before showing it to her.

When I came the first time, I needed to have something from this realm for the portal to work. Something special.

Nora read it. She could see why he hadn't wanted to say it out loud with Michelle sitting right there.

"Special?" she asked.

"Special what?" Michelle asked.

"Personal." Ian clarified.

"What are you talking about?" Michelle asked, looking from Ian to Nora.

"So portals are made using personal objects from whatever realm you're going to?" Nora asked.

Ian nodded.

"So all we need to do is find random, sentimental objects that people from other realms might be using to create portals back to...wherever they're really from? How on earth would we ever do that?"

Ian shrugged. "Start with finding where the birds are coming from?"

That sounded like a wild goose chase to Nora. But she didn't know what else they could do. They could ignore it, she guessed. But what would happen if the realms really did collide? She didn't think she'd be able to live with herself, knowing a disaster was potentially on her doorstep and she'd done nothing about it. And it wasn't like she could just call the authorities. Who would believe her?

Nora started aimlessly scrolling through her phone, mostly for something to do as she thought. She scanned her missed messages, expecting to see the notification from Michelle, but she was vaguely surprised to see that Emily had texted her twice. She'd almost forgotten Ian mentioning that.

She opened the first text, wondering what Emily wanted. Hopefully it was something easier than potentially saving the world.

Have you talked to Amon? Emily had asked.

Nope. Nora had more important things to deal with at the moment. She hadn't even thought about him since they'd left her apartment last night, let alone talked to him. She scrolled down to Emily's second message.

He said he had to talk to you. A matter of life and death.

Nora rolled her eyes. It wasn't that Emily was usually prone to over-exaggeration or anything, but it still seemed just a little too melodramatic— especially considering how Nora's day was going so far.

What life or death matter? Nora asked. At least it was almost guaranteed to be something she could actually fix.

He said he had something you left at his house. A jacket or something.

That's not life or death, Nora rolled her eyes. Maybe she was wrong about Emily's sense of what constituted a life-threatening situation.

And a ring?

Now that got Nora's attention. Had she taken her grandmother's ring with her to that club? She didn't remember. But there weren't many other rings that Nora would have worn.

With an amethyst?

No clue, Emily wrote.

Fine, I'll text him, Nora replied.

She knew she had other things to worry about, and she hadn't worn that ring in years. But the thought of a stranger potentially having it pulled her stomach into knots. And yes, it actually bothered her more than the thought of the world ending. The end of the world was a huge, faraway concept. Her grandmother's ring was much more manageable.