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"I don't think it will work."

"Well you know nothing of magic, do you?"

I crossed my arms and watched an excited Nekozawa rush around the room, collecting herbs and liquids and potions and combining them all into this one enormous pot at the center of the room. The single candle that he carried with him back and forth threatened to blow out, the wind causing it to flicker unsteadily. The dark tiles and walls were barely illuminated by the dim light, and I didn't dare move for fear of tripping over something and faceplanting. Nekozawa must be able to see in the dark... I mean, I guess his eyes must be awesome because he doesn't ever really go into the sunlight.

"Are you alright?"

I jumped out of my daze to find the subject of my thoughts quite close to my face, staring at me curiously. At this close range I could actually see his eyes. They were like the colour of the deeper part of the ocean, where the blue begins to turn black. They were so clear, so perfect, no distortions whatsoever. I guess that's from the absence of light all these years.

"Ow!" I rubbed my forehead and stepped back from him. He'd just poked me. Really hard! "What was that for??" I asked, unsure of what I did for him to poke me.

He straightened from leaning over me and held his finger guiltily. "I didn't mean to hurt you," he said. Those eyes were gone behind the black fringe of hair. "You just kept leaving me, and I thought maybe something was wrong."

Well it hurt a lot... "It's ok," I said instead of voicing my thoughts. "Let's just focus on making this traveling thing work."

And then his excited, sly smile returned to his face as he grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the cauldron. "Allow me to explain how this will work," he whispered into my ear through my hood. I stared down into the boiling mess inside the pot, unable to see the contents very well because the candle wasn't near. "This potion with my incantations will create a portal through space only- not time, as yours did-" I blushed at remembering my accidental time displacement, "to another destination. To set a destination, the members must think hard about where it is they want to go. See, a space displacement is available to anyone who wishes to participate, and anyone who participates can choose their own destination. Even if many people share the same space displacement portal, they don't all have to have the same set destination.

"Now here's the tricky part." The smirk widened on his face to a full out evil grin, delighting in whatever he was thinking. Sometimes that scares me. And other times I just wonder where the heck he picked it up. "Each space displacement requires energy. The larger the group that is using the portal, the more energy is required. The energy levels for the time displacement differ very much from the space displacement. When you used time displacement, you did not focus the wont for energy on a source. When the spell doesn't have a set energy source, it immediately takes it from the one using the spell. That is why after you had finished you felt very weak and could not even speak." He turned back to the cauldron, and I did the same. I guess this is making sense. It's a lot to absorb thought... "So if we do not focus our wont of energy on a source using space displacement, we will be ripped apart in the process of being transported and may not even make it to our destination."

"...And we're taking this risk why?"

He chuckled at my shocked face. But this isn't funny! We could implode in the middle of a spell! "I believe I said 'if'. 'If' we do not focus. But we will. In fact, we will make sure to extract the needed energy from the school. It has plenty to spare, and they may not even notice that there has been an energy depletion. For the journey back, I have an 18 volt battery. Also, does your shock and worry mean you believe it will work?" He smiled slyly at me as he pulled my cloak playfully.

I blushed and looked away pridefully. "Most certainly not," I mumbled. "Just get this over with so that I can play with Feliks."

At the sound of his name, the little black kitten approached the circle of light just enough so that I could see his glimmering black coat. Bright green eyes glanced up at me, and then disappeared. He was so. Adorable.

I felt the freezing cold of the pale man's fingers slithering into mine. "As I said, it is possible for two people using the same portal to end up in two completely different places," he said in answer to my uncertain look. "We must make sure that doesn't happen."

I shrugged the feeling away. Whatever. It won't work anyway. "Ok, take a stab at it," I sighed, closing my eyes. I heard him mutter a few words and flick the cauldron a couple times with his fingernails. A slight breeze wafted it's way through my hair, and I was scared for a minute that it really would work. But then it slowed until finally stopping, and nothing else happened. He released my hand. I smirked and opened my eyes. "I told you-"

The room was really bright.

There were palm trees and birds and plants and animals and sand and an ocean and the sun in the room.

...It wasn't even the room anymore.

We'd displaced ourselves onto an island! It really worked! Where the heck are we? All these things were racing through my head at the speed of light as I turned in circles on the sand, taking in the noise of the animals, the heat of the sun burning down on me, the grainy sand working its way into my shoes... I had only seconds ago been in a dark room in a school nowhere near the ocean. And now I'm right next to it.

I realized I was smiling with joy, and turned to look for Nekozawa. "You were right!" I shouted so he could hear me from wherever he was. "I didn't believe you, but you were so right! It's amazing!"

"Yes, well, it's a little bright for my liking," I heard from somewhere in the foliage. I followed the sound through a bush and under a tree, away from the ocean, to see the student hiding under his cloak, with enormous dark black shades covering the majority of his face. They were so large they barely stayed on his nose. I forced down giggles and decided to sit next to him in the cool sand, hidden from the sun. "I didn't have a plan for where we would be going," he said, adjusting the shades and shifting to remove part of his cloak from the sunlight, "which is fine. But maybe I should have at least made sure we didn't land somewhere so hot..."

I immediately felt bad for enjoying the surroundings. "We could go back now, if you want," I said, moving closer and putting part of my cloak over his exposed feet. "You proved your point to me, and I'm wrong, so all's good, right?"

He smirked at me shyly. Wait. That look. Something's wrong. "What is it?" I asked, tensing up. "What happened?"

He fiddled with the sleeves of his cloak, staring down at the sand but still wearing that smirk. "We would be able to go back," he said in his deep voice, a giggle lacing all throughout it. "If you had reminded me to take the battery with us. But you didn't, so we have no way to return."

I froze. We're stuck here? On this island? The beauty suddenly made the whole situation ironic, a cage that I had thought to be freedom. Wait. My fault??? "How is that my fault that you forgot to take the stinking battery?!" I exclaimed angrily, standing up to look around some more. "What are we supposed to do now? How will we get back? No one knows we're here! We don't have food or water or shelter anything! Nekozawa what the heck are we going to do???"

He giggled up at me, the smile still there and playful blue eyes poking out from behind his black shades. "We explore," he chuckled at me.

I'm stuck on an island without any food or water or anything. With an idiot.