Chapter 1:
Quentin had just had a fight with Julia when he found himself...somewhere else. How he'd gotten there was another question, all he knew was that he wasn't that drunk when he left the party.
What was ever more shocking, was when he saw a rather stylish gentleman reclined in a rather uncomfortable position, smoking a cigarette, as he glanced in Quentin's very direction.
Upon spying him, the debonair devil jumped down. "I'm Eliot...and you're-"
"Quentin...Coldwater!" The words jumped out of his mouth, like a frog escaping the grips of an unruly toddler.
"I was going to say late." It was all Eliot could think of...after that...display.
There was just a general sense of dread that followed Coldwater, and it didn't go unnoticed by Elliot.
"You do realise, you've got a test." Eliot flipped his jacket over his shoulder. "Come with me."
Quentin just watched him slacked jawed, before running after him.
"Wait, what test?"
Eliot stopped for just moment. "You'll find out soon. It'll be fun, well, for me."
"Hold on, just a moment, I'm; where even is this place?"
Eliot turned this time. "Why Quentin, it's magic of course." This time a gentle smile tugged at his lips. "Now come on, we must go, you really are late."
….
Julia kept fighting with Quentin recently, and she was sick of it. He was off his meds, doing nothing but reading Fillory for months.
He'd dropped out of university, only to sleep on her couch on and off, when not cooped up in his room.
It was going after him, after another yelling match, when the elevator stopped. Opening up in a place that was definitely not her building.
Signs pointed her in the direction of...an exam?
Well, that was interesting.
….
Quentin had followed Eliot, until he didn't. Somewhere from entering the building, and going down the hall, he'd lost the dapper young man, and found himself, well, here.
In a room filled with heaps of other equally confused people. Turning, he saw Julia.
Thank God, someone he knew.
She smiled immediately, before frowning, remembering she was supposed to be mad.
"Jules. Look. I'm sorry." The words spilled easily from his lip.
"Q," She sighed, lips pulled tight, "what were you thinking? I was...am worried."
Quentin fingers fidgeted, tangling in his hair, "I...fuck. It's not about you, I just, had to clear my head. If I have to answer one more question about when I'm graduating…
"Besides, Jules, I mean look at this place...I think magic might really be...well, real. I mean think about it, how else did we get here?"
Upon seeing him, she had forgotten that they were somewhere else.
She reached for his hand, squeezing, it just wasn't in her to stay angry. "I get it, Q. Just don't bail like that."
"I won't, promise." He meant it.
"Where are we anyway?" She said, realising, they're not in New York anymore...maybe?
….
Eliot found Margo sitting in front of a mirror applying lipstick.
She glanced at him, before letting a breath huff past her teeth. "I hate this time of year, rounding up all the drivel, when most of them will fail anyway."
Eliot rolled his eyes, before placing his hands on her shoulders. Looking at himself in said mirror, before fixing his hair.
"I don't know, there was this one cute guy Bambi. He was a little nerdy, but he got so...excited. You should've seen him when I said magic was real. It was adorable."
Margo glanced right up at Eliot just a little sharply. "L, you don't even know if his staying."
"I know, but he just seemed so…delicious." Eliot pulled her closer to him. "You know I have a type, handsome, with just a hint of moodiness."
Margo reached up to put her arms around his neck. "I know, but just don't get attached, not yet."
"You're right." Eliot paused. "But really, you should've seen him Bambi, he is just the perfect distraction."
….
When everyone shuffled in the room, there were hundreds of separate tables, with a sheet of paper neatly put to one side, a pencil in the other. Every desk perfectly laid out.
Quentin sat in the one right next Julia.
For a second he though he was losing his mind. The paper shifted, from one problem to the next. Before long he was scribbling his answers down, half of which he made up, but how was he to know when Vampires were discovered? Or if Werewolves really hated silver?
He just went with it.
It was three hours of this insanity, and strange obscure maths questions, when it was over. Everyone put their pencil down.
He glanced at Julia, as they lot of them were shuffled to another room.
Soon they were separated, and he found himself in front of a committee?
And there was Dean Fogg, an unpleasant man that liked to yell. In his temper, Quentin fainted, after performing magic? But surely that wasn't possible!
All he knew was, one moment he was performing card tricks, next they flew from his hand, swarming around the Dean.
Fogg just grinned, shouting. "Well done!"
But that was crazy, wasn't it?
….
Julia found herself in the same room minutes later, and the Dean was more pleasant, less obnoxious.
It's then Julia frowned...he seemed familiar, in fact hadn't she done this before?
Before she knew it, the words just slipped past her lips. "You're not going to make me leave again, are you Fogg?"
He paused, "What?"
"You heard me, I remember, everything, and I won't go back. Fuck, what's Jane done this time?"
….
When Quentin woke up, he found Julia there, smiling.
"Q, are you okay?"
His head was pounding. "I'm fine, fuck Jules, I think I'm losing my mind. I...am I in a hospital?"
"No Q, you're in the hospital wing of Brakebills. Magic is real, I promise, let me show you something." Her fingers flicked back and forth, and out flew Fillory And Further from Quentin's bag. "It's real, Fillory is real, and this time, we're not going to fuck up, I promise."
Quentin just stared at her. "Jules, I think I'm just going to stay in bed a little longer."
A/N: Please read and review!
