From: [email protected]
Tues, April 14th, 4:16 a.m.
Prof. Daye,
How did you sleep? How were the en-suite facilities? I am sorry if this email wakes you, but I am eager to know more.
~
From: [email protected]
Tues, April 14th, 4:30 a.m.
Good morning, Claude!
You didn’t wake me. I didn’t sleep well. Not because the bed wasn’t comfy. It was. Super comfy. But I couldn’t seem to stop staring out the window at the passing towns of the Kingdom of the Fae. I was a child the last time I was here. I’d forgotten how pretty everything is.
See you soon,
S.
~
From: [email protected]
Tues, April 14th, 5:32 a.m.
Prof. Daye,
There has been a change of plan. Mr Dupont, one of The Night Cap’s long-term residents, is very insistent he collects you from the station, and frankly, I physically cannot say no to him. Do not relay this information, but he mildly terrifies me. Mr Dupont is a nine-foot surtr, and I fully apologise in advance forhis behaviour. I cannot guarantee he will not be naked. Or as legally close to naked as one could get.
In case there is more than one nine-foot, naked surtr at the station, he will also be holding a sign withProfessor Dayewritten on it.
~
From: [email protected]
Tues, April 14th, 5:49 a.m.
Uh, is it too late to change my mind?
Mushrooms4eva!!
Sonny
“You’re Professor Daye?” said the smoking, nine-foot, crimson-skinned, practically naked surtr holding a sign that read:Prof. S. Daye.
“That’s me,” I replied, trying to quash the treacherous notion that even though I was fairly certain Claude hated me, he wouldn’t send me on this ridiculous and scenic journey only to have me offed by a starkers fire daemon the moment I stepped off the train. “Mr Dupont?”
The fire daemon looked me up and down. “Hmm, call me Jasper. I expected a woman. This your case?” He reached down and snatched up my holdall as though it were made of feathers. “What did you pack, feathers?”