Ledi: I turned on notifications for you so I wouldn’t miss any updates from your adventure.

Portia: Awww, you lurve me. I’m fine. I’m still at the train station. My boss never showed so I’m waiting on a SuperLift.

Ledi: Well, that’s one way to make a first impression. Do you have the pepper spray I bought you? It’s not technically pepper spray, since it’s illegal there, but it’s apparently the same formula as bear spray so you should be safe from criminals and Ursidae.

Portia: <photo of pepper spray clutched in hand> Come at me, bears.

Ledi:

Portia: I’m tired and annoyed.

Ledi: I’m annoyed on your behalf.

Portia:

Nya: I’m up, too. Sorry your boss is a jerk. Could this be a test? Like a mission in an RPG? Maybe you get bonus apprentice points for navigating your way to the armory.

Portia: I sure as shit hope this isn’t a test. My boss already failed. What are you both doing up so late?

Ledi: Same thing I do every night: studying viruses and trying to stop them from taking over the world.

Nya: Playing a dating sim to make up for the real date I had earlier. Rognath the Vampire Lord is much better at courtship than Luke, who started the night by calling me Sexual Chocolate and went downhill from there.

Portia: Oof. Ew, Luke. Yay, Rognath? Good old, dependable Rognath.

Nya: Rognath is a gentleman and all, but .

Ledi: You’ve already become a cynical New Yorker, cous! One day, your Rognath will come.

Nya: I guess. If a prince can track you down and trick you into falling for him, I can find my brooding, misunderstood vampire lover.

Portia chuckled. Nya was relatively new to their friend group, but Ledi had been Portia’s friend since they’d met in an undergrad club for people into both science and the arts. Ledi had stuck with Portia through thick and thin—a hell of a lot of thin over the last couple of years. Almost losing her best friend was what had sparked Project: New Portia.

The project had three main pillars: getting organized, being a better friend and family member, and not using booze and men as an escape from reality. Instead, she was using an apprenticeship in a foreign country to escape, which was clearly much healthier.

“Three months in Scotland? Making swords? This sounds like a great opportunity! Can you tell me a bit more about what you hope to get out of it? Moving to another country is exciting, but also a huge change. You’ve talked about the urge to run away before . . .”

Change was exactly what Portia wanted, and even her therapist Dr. Lewis’s annoying but necessary questions hadn’t deterred her. If anything, they’d made her even more resolved to go.

She’d had this romantic idea of summer in Scotland, running through the moors with the Highland winds whispering her life’s purpose in her ears. Instead, she was alone at the station, forgotten. This was more like stepping into a smelly bog and realizing there was no easy way to extricate herself.

A horn honked, and when she glanced up, a small blue car that managed to be boxy and egg-shaped at the same time had pulled up. A man with spiked brown hair stuck his head out the window.

“Portia?”

The license plate matched what was shown on the app, though the Vauxhall was slightly more dented than the one in the image on her phone.

“Hi. Kevyn?” She watched his eyes light up.

“An American!” His tone was one of slightly disgusted squee, like when a New Yorker spotted a rat carrying a slice of pizza to its subterranean lair, or a pigeon taking a bath in an oily puddle.

He hopped out and began loading her luggage into the trunk; it was a tight fit considering the car’s toylike size.

Portia: My car is here. You two make sure to get some rest. I’m going to try calling the armory again.

Nya: Okay! Be safe! I hope the rest of your day goes better!

Ledi: Let me know when you get there. If you don’t, Thabiso will call the Thesoloian embassy there and have them send out SWAT. Is there SWAT in Scotland? SCWAT? You know what I mean.

Ledi was still somewhat new to this royalty business, but would clearly use what pull she had to protect Portia if necessary. That knowledge eased the tension in Portia’s neck a bit. Someone had her back, even if only through an invisible link between their mutual phones.

Kevyn moved around to open one of the car’s two doors and pulled the passenger seat forward so she could slide into the backseat. She didn’t like the idea of being trapped in the back of a random car, but it couldn’t be worse than loitering around the station.

“In you go, my lady,” he said jovially and Portia forced a smile as she climbed in.

“First time here?” he asked. “Work or pleasure?”

How is he so chipper? she thought crankily, then remembered it was his job to engage with the strangers getting into his car. Maybe he’d also had a shitty night, but he wasn’t going to take it out on her, was he? It wasn’t his fault she was in a bad mood. Besides, if she knew anything it was how to feign polite conversation. Faux niceties had been ingrained in her through years of deportment lessons and dealing with her parents’ rich family friends.

“Thank you. Yes, it’s my first time,” she said. She’d traveled extensively, but somehow never made it to Scotland. “I’m here for work.”

“Welcome to Edinburgh,” Kevyn said, hopping into the front seat. “You’re gonna love summer here. As long as you enjoy rain, that is. And darkness. And drink.”