Author's note: The 'ayes' have it.

Please be advised that this chapter contains the side effects of untreated PTSD in the form of flashbacks.


Aurelie had begun to remember something she hadn't thought of. The day a pair of strangers had begun asking her about her past and how to reach Earth.

She remembered screaming that she never intended to return. She must've been.

It felt like some uncanny nightmare while wide awake. She re-experienced the sounds, the screams, the fire… as if she were reliving it all over again.

They're holding her, then a splash of ice cold water had hit her face. It was freezing! But she stopped screaming.

Everything else felt like blurry haze…

No, she left that life behind on Earth. Right now, all she can do is focus on her son, her nephew and her goal. She owes it to those who did not survive the Shoah.


Luz continues attempting to recreate the portal door on her own, hoping to find some clues from Phillip Wittebane's writings. She kept Sophie's translated journal nearby, having so far learned that Sophie Weinberg: was a young woman from Salzburg, had discovered the Boiling Isles before as a child and had a confusing habit of labelling the Gregorian year and adding a high five thousand number, giving the months different names. Must've been some futuristic code of that era or something. Furthermore, judging from her entries, Sophie had escaped her homeland in Austria to America then fled here. But why?

She'd attempted to look up the previous entries relating to what happened between Sophie discovering the Boiling Isles and visiting a second time, but unfortunately there was a little accident, and some of the pages detailing the girl's leaving Earth were smudged. The only words Luz could make out were: 'they're after me' and 'burning'. It was frustrating.

Right now, she was reading one portion where nearly six months had gone by since Sophie left Earth.

It is the month of Tishrei, I best start looking at the trees for any branches in a week. There's none of the four types here, but I see many that can make sufficient substitutes. I'll stop by the marketplace soon to see if anyone has any spare fabrics I can use too. Maybe they'll let me borrow something to measure if I want to make it 16 cubits wide and three feet tall.

What was she building that needed branches and fabrics? It didn't sound like the portal. Luz then watched a playback of Phillip's page entry projected by her echo mouse.

"After careful analysis during this Deadwardian Era, I believe the current human year is 1660. Or is it '70? The years are flashing by, but it will all be worth it. I've gathered all the portal ingredients, including Titan's Blood. All that's left is to seek out The Collector, and he will tell me what I need to complete my mission. But first, my companions and I must face-"

Luz lay on the couch staring at the ceiling, where the playback was just shown. Beside her, the echo mouse went to sleep.

Neither King nor Eda have heard of the Collector before, but Luz thinks that he might be able to tell her what went wrong with her portal last time since it was so unstable. Eda consoled her by saying that it took Philip years to build a portal door, so she shouldn't beat herself too much about it. Luz wishes that she can go back in time to meet Philip, and this suddenly makes her wonder if time magic exists on the Boiling Isles, so she asks Eda about it. She denies their existence, but takes out a book and goes on to reveal something called a time pool, which are mythical pools that act as windows into the past. However, they never appear in the same place twice.

With Lilith's help, they go outside and search for the pools from day to night. Eventually, on the second day, after doing some calculations, Lilith manages to narrow down a specific location. However, the location is revealed to be a beach where the time pools lay. One of the pools takes them back to the "Deadwardian Era" where they had to go in disguise, keeping on their toes for this was in the alleged savage ages, a time of wild magic was a dark time of chaos and barbarity.

However what they found was just the opposite. The Bonesborough of the past seemed to be a more prosperous place. Witches were peaceful and friendly, their wild magic was used to coexist and help one another, and everyone simply lived their lives.

Luz wondered why Belos wanted to ban wild magic in the first place, to which Lilith replies that the Titan supposedly doesn't like it. Luz starts going around asking the residents if they have seen Philip, showing them a drawing of his silhouette made by her. However, no one around appears to know him, much to her dismay. Yet it didn't take long for the two to find him.

A lean, fair-skinned man with a downward rounded nose and long, shoulder-length ash-brown hair, kept in a ponytail, with several strands, kept loose atop his scalp and an additional three larger strands forming bangs just above his forehead. A matching beard and mustache. He had a small chin and ice blue eyes.

While picking up Philip's scattered journals, Luz noticed that he has already been to Eclipse Lake, and in one of his drawings, there was an unknown person drawn beside him. Philip snatched the journal away from her hands and walks away. Luz quickly convinces him that they can help him find the Collector.

They joined him on a journey inside the Titan's head. What they did not know was that Philip had ulterior motives: he only wanted to use them as 'sacrifices' to get past a large prehistoric creature called a Stonesleeper and made off with a moon-shaped mirror. However he severely underestimated them.

"And so I doggedly limped home, but I had my prize." Phillip wrote down, he then put his diary into his bag and took out the mirror. "How to describe you? Oval? Oblong? A round boy?"

Philip then heard some loud thuds behind him. He turns around and sees the Stonesleeper from inside the cave. It screeches at him, causing him to gasp in shock. Luz and Lilith jumped down from the Stonesleeper's back, alive and well.

Luz stomped over. "Tell me how that thing's gonna help you build a portal to the Human Realm."

Philip was stunned for moment, then as the words registered, his eyes fell on the mirror. "Oh, no." He shook his head and puts the mirror into his bag then clarified. "I need this for something else."

"No?" Luz said furiously. "What do you mean, no?!"

Philip's eyes became hooded with cold calculation. "I mean, if it's information you want, perhaps we can make an exchange. I'll probably require another sacrifice sooner or later." He walks towards the duo. "If you or your aunt want to-"

However, an irritated Lilith walks towards Philip and punches him square in the face, breaking his nose.

"Ugh! Ah!" Phillip held his nose, glaring up at her. "You hateable sorceress!"

"Stay mad." Lilith responded sternly. "Come, Luzura. We're finished here."

Luz sneers while making hand gestures at Philip. "Cool aunt." She climbed up to the Stonesleeper's back with Lilith. They ride off together, and the Stonesleeper accidentally kicks Philip in the head while walking off.

Since they still have some time before the tide comes in, the two returned to the beach. This time, they were going to look for Sophie Weinberg.

Eighty years ago Bonesborough looked a lot like it does in present day, except penstagram hadn't been invented just yet.

Fortunately, they found Sophie in a more entertaining way. A delighted crowd pitched snails into an open hat as they watched a girl singing and dancing with the assistance of bards. A girl with very human ears!

"I found her!" Luz beckoned Lilith over.

The other teenage human was wearing a Persian green period dress with a white peter pan collar – possibly from the 50's if she had to guess. She had a heart shaped face, long coppery curls, honey skin tone and sea green eyes...

Sheyish'mor otcha ha'el
veyag'shim mish'altecha
sheta'aseh bishvil acher
ve'hu lema'ancha
shetig'a bechol kochav
utetapes al kol shalav
shetisha'er tza'ir lanetzach

Sure, the song was catchy but neither Luz nor Lilith recognized the lyrics, let alone the language.

Gam im hachoshech ba hu od ya'ir
Hu yelamed otach lir'ot derech halev et hapratim
Tir'i pit'om olam yoter bahir
Tikchi hakol kmo matana gdolah
Uchmo shi'or prati

Al tid'agi hakol od ya'avor
Hanifi et habad ha'adamdam bega'avah
Chaki shniya kmo Toreador
Chabki et hachayim beta'ava veha'avah!

The songs finished with a flourish. The girl – who they now knew was Sophie—took a bow as did the bards. The crowd applauded tossing snails into the hat which the girl held out. Then she walked back to the bards, paying each a portion of snails. This looked like a collaboration between the musicians and the young girl.

Luz knew this was their chance to talk to another human visitor to build a portal to the human world. Hopefully, she's much nicer than Phillip.

"Sophie Weinberg?"

Yet unlike Phillip, who was initially aloof and dismissive, Sophie was… skittish. The curly haired girl visibly tensed up, her eyes darted to Luz and Lilith – unable to see their ears to confirm if they were witches, she began edging away.

In an attempt to make her stay, Luz makes up a story on the spot and offers to help her gather some branches for her task. Sophie listened politely, but didn't seem too impressed.

"My lack of a bile sac is nobody's business but my own." Sophie sulked. "I'm abysmally horrible at performing anything remotely related to magic here, now are you satisfied?"

Luz was confused. "What about glyphs?" she help up a piece of paper with the light glyph.

Sophie rolled her eyes and taps the glyph… only for it to result in a tiny explosion that leaves the trio's hair in different colors. Lilith's hair became red again and extra poofy. Luz's hair turned to a Munsell blue and stood on end, while Sophie's became blonde and windblown.

"Urgh! You see what I mean?!" Sophie said in aggravation, shaking her head and smoothing her hair out.

"That's never happened before." Luz coughed, waving away the smoke.

"Clearly not. " Lilith agreed, pulling at a lock of her hair.

It took them minutes and a lot of water to get their hair back to the colors they had. After a couple more failed tries with the glyphs – both time travelers had to concede the same thing: Sophie was obviously not good at magic.

"Actually, I'm glad you are here. I've been trying to find your castle, but it doesn't seem to be on any of my maps. Care to show me?" Sophie had said rather curtly.

Luz and Lilith exchanged nervous glances, clearly they did not anticipate that she'd catch on either.

"But why do you keep calling the demons here…?" Luz tried to change the subject.

"Ugh, that's rude!" Sophie suddenly spat.

"What is?"

"I refuse to call any of the non-humanoids such a derogatory slur! It's so speciesist!"

"Slur?" Lilith looked at the other adolescent as though she'd turned different colors.

Luz was equally baffled. "But the Boiling Isles is in the dem-"

"No." Sophie scowled, covering her ears and her voice suddenly rising with anger. "You don't know anything, I've seen true demons and I've seen what they can do!"

Luz put up her hands defensively, "Whoa, whoa! Slow down! You're not making any sense! We just wanna find out how to make a portal to the Human realm…"

Lilith put a hand on her shoulder and was shaking her head at Luz in concern. "She's frightened."

"What makes you say that?" Luz asked carefully.

However, Lilith didn't have to say anything, the other teenager's reaction to Luz mentioning the Human realm was enough visual verification. The other girl's eyes contracted and she began wailing in another language. "Das Haus... Es steht... in... Feuer!"

The girl was flailing around, starting to tug at her hair and raking herself with her own fingernails.

"No, don't do that!" Luz cried, tugging at the other girl's hands.

"Calm down, take deep breaths!" Lilith attempted to calm the other girl without laying hands on her. "You're experiencing a flashback!"

"Alles brennt! Sie wollen uns alle tot sehen!" Sophie cried, her voice shrill.

During a flashback, people often feel a sense of disassociation, as if they're detached from their own body. Anything one can do to "ground" them will help.

"This isn't working!" Luz feared. Thinking fast, she took out two glyphs: making an ice ball and melted it with a small flame, the resulting cold water falling on Sophie's face.

It's obvious something had scared her horribly enough to make her come here to hide. Something big…

"I know you feel bad! Believe me, I get it! Sometimes it feels like you're never gonna be happy again." Luz tried to reassure the other teenager, "Whatever it is, there was nothing else you could've done! You have to be honest about how bad it feels so you can move on."

"I meant it. I'm not going back to Earth. I can't go back. Ever." she'd sniffled, teary-eyed. "The portal is gone I buried it where none of those horrible biester will ever follow." She'd grumbled under her breath. "Ungerechte Gesetze, die von schrecklichen selbstsüchtigen Menschen erlassen wurden!"

The word normal she now identified as oppression, misery, and death. Obviously they weren't going to get any answers relating to the portal out of Sophie, especially not if the thought of returning to Earth upsets her like this.

So they spent the rest of the day just asking her how she lived through the Isles' terrain and changing plagues. Sophie was still rather guarded, but humored them enough to share her experiences and how she snuck into the ground in different locations. She even showed Lilith some of the finer architecture in town, much to the latter's delight.

'But what are you so afraid of?' Luz wondered with concern.


Meanwhile, Eda tries to avoid meeting her father, Dell, whom she hasn't seen since she half-blinded him in her owl beast form. Eventually, they sit down to talk and Dell tells Eda to try to forgive herself.

Right then, behind her, Luz and Lilith arrive back while riding on Lilith's Raven Staff.

"We got lucky today, Luz. Next time those Time Pools show up, they could be on the other side of the world." said Lilith.

Eda turned and walked towards them, "Hey nerds! How was your nerd quest? You find that dead nerd?"

"Layin' it on a little thick there, Eda. But, yeah, we found Philip." responded Luz.

Eda was surprised. "Whoa, seriously?"

Luz said grumpily. "Yeah. He stunk."

"I punched him in the face." added Lilith.

"Groovy, Auntie."

The two grinned while making finger guns at each other, much to Eda's annoyance.

"Uh, you gu- you guys need to stop that." Eda remarked, "And what about the teenage explorer? The one from Saltz – whatchamacallit?"

"Yeah. We found Sophie too." Luz nodded, then sighed sadly. "She had baggage. Loads of it."

"Obviously something quite serious enough that frightened her right into the Isles." Lilith speculates. "There's just so many possibilities on what it might be."

"Whatever it was, she doesn't even want to return home." said Luz, sympathy lacing her voice. "It must've been so bad that she started to freak at the idea of having to return to Earth. But we don't know what, she kept screaming something in another language."

"To make a human run to here of all places to hide… How bad could it be?" Eda shrugged.

None of them knew.


Sophie arrived at the tree she'd made her home in for the past six months since she'd returned to the Isles. She was dragging a couple of fallen tree branches.

The only exception at the moment was that she had constructed a small hut made from cotton-like fabric, which had branches placed on the top. She'd just needed a few more for the sides. It was a tradition for the Sukkot.

"It's not palms, but they'll have to do." She said softly as she placed the branches as the finishing touch. "I may be living here, but I don't intend to forget. I promised I wouldn't forget."

Then she stood up and began reciting. "Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha'olam…"

Sophie had lived through very difficult times and didn't know what tomorrow would bring. She survived a dark period with scars not visible to common sight, living free and far from her persecutors was a privilege that so many were not afforded. She was far from home, but at least this world had served as an unusual sanctuary.

To be continued…


Author's note: Yes. I saw the first Season 3 special, but you're all STILL going to have to wait and see what I got planned for it.

The song Sophie was singing was a mishmash of Rikud chadash and another one I forgot.

Welp, here you have it, another event in Elsewhere and Else-when. Sophie/Aurelie has PTSD from both Kristallnacht and the evening she returned to the Boiling Isles. Now I better do some more reading and research if I wanna eventually have the Hollow Mind chapter(s) out in time for Halloween, hopefully.