Welcome to Strangely

"I know, you're right. We don't want any more demons finding us."

"It was just a quick premonition, wasn't it? So, we should be okay."

"Yeah, very quick, it was more like a flash of images. Besides, if this is happening to me, I'm sure you won't be able to control your powers either. Nor will the others."

At just that moment, Jason comes walking from a room to the side of where they are standing. He sweeps his hand through his straight white hair. "Jenny, can we talk?"

"Yeah, sure," Jenny says as she turns to face him.

He glances at Abby. "Alone. If that's okay?"

Abby excuses herself, not wanting to feel unwelcome, "I was on my way to meet up with Chris, anyway. Bye, Jenny."

"Okay, see you at home, Abby."

Jason is tall, brooding and pale, making him typically Changeless in appearance and nature. Jenny spends a second too long taking in his beautiful features and imagining what it would feel like to run her fingers through his hair. She looks away swiftly as butterflies start to dance in her stomach.

He starts walking further down the passageway, deeper into the building, and Jenny falls into step next to him.

"What do you want to talk about?" She asks.

"I need a new assistant; would you like to help me?"

"Doesn't Emily help you at Meet and Greet?"

"I don't need an assistant there; I need someone to help me here at The Chambers and that's why I asked for you to be re-assigned."

"I don't know, I've a lot on my mind these days and..."

"I tend to be persistent," he says. "I usually get what I want."

"I don't doubt it," Jenny says, trying not to sound sarcastic.

They reach a pale blue door, which looks out of place in the otherwise brilliantly white corridor. He opens the door and steps aside so Jenny can enter the room ahead of him. "Welcome to my stuffy old office."

Jenny looks around the room interested. The room is large, with bookshelves lining the walls all the way up to the high ceiling. Every single space on the shelves is occupied by a book covered in what looks like leather. Tall ladders and short ladders are scattered throughout the large room, and it looks a little like a board game of Snakes and Ladders. In the centre of the room, there is a large wooden table, with a wooden chair pushed under the table on each of its sides. A large chandelier, with glass droplets, hangs straight down from the high ceiling and casts a bright beacon of light on the table only, leaving the rest of the room in dusky shadows.

The atmosphere feels hushed and eerie, so when Jason asks, "Do you want to talk about it?" Jenny jumps in her skin.

She asks, "Talk about what?"

"I overheard some of your conversation with Abby," he explains.

"You did?"

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I was looking for you."

"It's okay. It's nothing, really."

He smiles widely, putting her at ease. "Come. This will take your mind off those dark thoughts."

Jason leads Jenny to the far corner of the room, past the wooden table and chairs in the centre of the room. When they reach the point where two shelves meet, between the rows and rows of books, Jenny can see a little door hidden away in the corner. The colours of the door blend perfectly with the brown hues of the leather-bound books. The door looks like a miniature castle gate, complete with fancy ironwork.

Jason crouches in front of the small door and pulls an iron key from his pocket. When he pushes the key into the keyhole and turns the lock, he glances at her with an excited look in his eyes. "I think you will enjoy this."

"This is all very mysterious," Jenny muses.

She wants to ask him how many girls he has brought here before her, but it did not seem appropriate. He offered her a task, not a relationship.

They hunch over at the waist and bend their knees to get in through the door, and once they are on the other side, Jenny cannot believe her eyes.

They are standing on clouds, way beyond the boundaries of Strangely.

Jenny resists the temptation to grab onto Jason's arm, just in case she falls through this delicate puff of condensation, which should not be able to hold their weight. Baffled, she gingerly puts one foot in front of the other.

Walking across the clouds, she is amazed to discover their feet do not brush through the fog as if it is indeed plump gatherings of mist. They walk up and down tiny ups and downs in the formation of the clouds, further and further away from the little door.

"There it is," Jason says. "It's never in the same place, twice."