"The first thing we need to do is to get you a place to stay while Stephen works on getting you home and training you," Christine said.

"I can't stay here?" Claire looked around the big house, full of artifacts. There was a buzzing in her ears, a feeling that things were just calling to her.

"You'll be spending some time here, some time at Kamar-Taj, but on the whole, things here can be dangerous and I sometimes have duties that it would be unwise for you to be here for."

Claire opened her mouth—

"And," Christine said. "People might wonder why a middle-aged, single man suddenly had an attractive teen living in his building with no good excuse."

Claire's face turned red. "So where will I be staying?"

"With me. I have a spare bedroom."

"And, it makes it easier to put you into the school system—"

"School system? I have to get back now!"

"And you will, but it will take time, and we don't want to deal with truant officers," Christine told her.

"I—okay," Claire said. How long will I be here?

"There's some good news about that," Strange told her, almost as if he was reading your mind. "Your world and our world's timelines are different. We may be able to use that when we send you back."

"That's… Like less time passes there than here?" Claire asked.

"Smart kid," Strange said. "Christine bought some clothes for you—check and make certain that they're all you'll need for now."

Claire nodded, and hurried for the bedroom. For a moment she paused. Had his cloak… waved at her?

"Can you send her back?" Christine asked.

Strange sat down, and put his head in his hands for a moment. "Possibly. But it will take a while. She almost died coming through. I'll need to find a way to shield her and…"

"What?"

"Train her. She's not like me. She isn't going to have to have someone pound magic into her head. She's already open to it—too open. She needs training."

"And the school?" Christine had been surprised that Stephen had brought that up.

"Possible isn't certain, Christine. If I can't find a way for her to go back, well, I'd prefer that she have some social life to fall back on. Just training her in the mystic arts, and then telling her she can't go back…" He shook his head. "I'd really prefer to not create my own Kaecilius."

Kamar-Taj

"She is skilled." Wong gestured at Claire, practicing with the other apprentices. "There is what, a week left until she starts school and she has been here nearly every waking moment."

"She's good. She didn't have my block—of not believing in magic."

"Yes, so fortunate we do not have to strand her at the top of Mt. Everest."

Strange gave Wong a sidelong look."Very dedicated. She's been asking to see the more advanced books, but…"

"You fear the risk?"

"I fear that she may try to get home before she's ready," Strange said.

"Exact a promise from her." Wong gestured. "I believe she would keep it."

"Yes, but would that be fair…" Strange looked down at his hands. Shaking his head, he sighed. "I'll talk with her."

Claire was studying in the library, books piled high around her. She'd done her best to learn the language, but other students had also provided notations in various notebooks and circulating tomes, helping her interpret the information.

"I wonder if the mirror realm is close to the shadow realm." Claire had studied that, even entered it, albeit with another, more experienced mage in attendance, but it really didn't seem similar. The closest thing to her shadow dimension was something called the dark dimension—but the information looked like it had been censored, and what there was had warning after warning attached to it.

"Working late, I see," Stephen said as he came into the library. Claire started, looking around.

"Hi, Dr. Strange," she said. "If I have to go back to school, I'm going to run out of time to do as much work as I need to…"

"You can study most of this in New York. The higher arts would need Wong or another master supervising you in any case, and if you really need to get here…" Strange gestured at the sling ring Claire had secured on a necklace.

"I could just stay…"

"No." Strange sat down by her. "A big danger for our type is becoming too separated from the everyday world. We wield godlike powers. Make life and death decisions and if we isolate ourselves… Well, it didn't work out well for me."

"As a wizard?"

Strange laughed. "As a neurosurgeon. Playing God comes in a lot of flavors."

"I… Yeah. Jim, Toby and I, sometimes it felt like we weren't even in the same world."

"Tell them."

"Who?"

"Your parents, when you get back. Tell them. They don't deserve to be left out of this, and you three don't deserve to be left shouldering the burden alone. I wish I could give you more advice, but our trolls… Well, they don't appear to be the same. Promise me that."

"Okay." Claire paused. "And this will make me happy in history class?"

Strange smiled at Clair. "If you're anything like me, nothing will make you happy in history class. I slept through it. Then I went to the library and learned more in one day than I'd learned in four years of high school."

New York

"You got it?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it!" Mike grinning, untidy hair going every which way. Behind him, his girlfriend, Christa, leaned against the wall, bored.

In front of him, Tim was almost bouncing, he was so excited. "So give it here!"

Mike pulled the bulky book from his backpack, handing Tim the volume. Tim opened it, ancient pages crackling, diagrams and symbols seeming to flicker in the light.

"This is it guys!" he told the small group behind him. "We're gonna rule the streets with this!"

"A stage magicans book," Christa said. "Wow them with rabbits?"

"He wasn't no stage magician, he was the real deal!" Tim said. "Dad had stories, about when that guy tried to go after his kid and he sent… something after him. Nobody's ever seen the guy since. There was other stuff, too and Dad said it all came from this book!"

"So why didn't your dad steal it, before he got caught by the cops?" Christa said.

"Dad was yellow. He said he'd seen things, that one day he was casing the joint and heard Old Man Peterson talking and something talking back even though he was alone. Spooked him. But I'm not scared, and this is going to be our time!" He raised the book once again, the rest of the teens cheering…

And around the book, the air shuddered for a moment, as if it was in pain…