Alice also felt something else.
"Lyric, are there ... facilities?" Alice asked. She'd often wondered about that in books she'd read about people who went off to other worlds. Somehow the main characters never had to go. Apparently this wasn't one of those worlds where she would be spared needing a bathroom. Lyric smiled and indicated the green curtain.
"The necessary is through there," she said. "First door on the right." She helped Alice to her feet.
"Thank you," Alice said, then followed Lyric's directions, moving the heavy green drapery aside. There was, indeed, a wooden door on the right with a sign that said "WC". She opened it and was pleasantly surprised. It, too, was spotlessly clean -- cleaner than any public restroom she'd ever been in. The facilities looked a little old-fashioned, but at least weren't a privy or a garderobe like she'd been dreading.
She finished and went over to the sink. There was a wooden object on the wall that said "Towels". It did, indeed, dispense a white cloth hand towel -- what she knew as a "flour sack towel" -- from a slot in the bottom. Alice dried her hands and put the damp towel into a bin labeled "laundry". Then she left the bathroom.
She noticed there was a door across the hall when someone came out of it. It was a young man, a few years older than she was. Her friends at school had boyfriends or talked about boys they liked. Alice had never really understood any of that. She just couldn't seem to see boys or other girls the way her friends seemed to. She knew there was at least one boy interested in her, but she just couldn't share that interest. She understood the aesthetics of "cute boy/girl", but to her it felt no different from "cute puppy/kitten". Now, suddenly confronted with the man across the hall from her, she completely understood.
"Hi," he said. His voice seemed to resonate inside of her. It was soft and clear with a timbre like a well-played cello. He had long, light brown hair that he'd pulled back into a ponytail at the base of his skull. His eyes were gray, but very warm. He was tall and well muscled. Alice swallowed hard, and managed, "Hi." Her face felt as though it had burst into flames and she wasn't sure she could breathe. She liked the way he was looking at her.
"After you," he said, motioning through the curtain. "Isn't the pub closed?"
"Yes, I think so. I don't really know. There wasn't anyone else there ...." Alice knew she was babbling but couldn't seem to stop the flood of words tripping out of her mouth as she moved through the curtain.
Lyric was sweeping the floor in the pub. An older woman was working what looked like a ledger at the bar.
"If it isn't Mr. Social himself," Lyric remarked, looking at the young man. "Typical you wait until after we're closed to show up." She touched a pedal with her foot and a small trapdoor opened up at the end of the bar. She swept the dust from the floor into it and released the pedal. The trapdoor latched closed again.
"I've been working on a project," he replied.
"Have you met?" Lyric asked, looking at Alice. "Alice, this is my brother Ashe. That's my mother behind the bar. Ashe, Mom, this is Alice ...."
"Cary," Alice supplied. All three looked at her, intrigued.
"Any relation to the Carys that live here in town?" their mother wanted to know. "They're Blue Clan."
"I don't understand," Alice said, going back to the table and her drink of water.
"She comes from over there," Lyric explained. "She just came through a few minutes ago." She extended her hand for Alice to see that she was wearing a beautiful red ring. It looked like someone had made a whole ring out of one ruby. It was thin and delicate looking. The edges weren't straight -- they looked like they were made to fit with something, like a puzzle ring. It occurred to Alice that she had seen a ring like that but it was a different color.
"This is my Clan ring," Lyric told her. "We're Red Clan."
"It's gorgeous," Alice said.
Their mother finished what she was doing and joined them at the table. She brought a glass of water for Ashe, who thanked her gratefully and drank deeply.
"Ashe is a blacksmith," Lyric said. "It can be thirsty work."
"Good thing I have a mom and a sister who have a pub," Ashe said.
"Alice, I'm Petunia," their mother said. "I'd heard someone was coming over tonight, and I have a room ready for you." She looked at her son. "Ashe, are you staying in town tonight?"
"I think I'd better," he said, then drank some more water. "It's a little too late to head out."
"What are you working on?" Lyric wanted to know.
"The weather vane at the uni needed some work. Dad's busy and he asked me to do it. Our shop is across the road." He looked at Alice and indicated the door Alice had stumbled through earlier.
"But you came in ...." She looked over at the curtained archway, which was directly opposite the pub door.
"One thing you will learn about Heartford," he said, "and about over here in general, is that there are always tunnels." He drank some more water. Alice thought she noticed him eyeing her left hand and thought he looked disappointed, but didn't know what that meant.
A clock on the fireplace mantle struck one. Alice looked at it, surprised.
"It's one in the morning?"
"Yes," Lyric said. "Taverns close late at night."
"I know that. It's just ... where I left it was only 6:00 p.m."
"I'm sure you'll find you're tired," Petunia told her. "The Portals tend to take a lot out of you." Alice smiled. Petunia sounded a lot like her own mother. She really liked this family.
"Lyric, when she's finished with her water, take her up to Room 12."
"You look about my size," Lyric said. "I think we can find you something to wear."
At that moment, to Alice's intense surprise, her cell phone rang. To her further surprise, Lyric and her family did not seem surprised by this. In fact, Petunia smiled.
"Sounds like someone is checking on you, dear. Go ahead and answer it."
Alice pulled her cell phone from her purse and looked at the screen. The call from from her father's cell phone. She accepted the call.
"Hello?"
"Hello, sweetpea. You got there all right, I presume?"
"Dad, what's going on?"
"I told you vacation was going to be a surprise."
"I'm surprised, all right. Are you and Mom coming?"
"We'll meet you there. I know it's late and this cell connection isn't going to last very long, so please hold your questions. Are you at the Blushing Angel?"
"Yes"
"Good. Tomorrow, ask Petunia to help you find the apothecary shop. Good night, sweetpea. See you soon." The phone crackled and dropped the call.