The man flashed his ridiculously white teeth against tanned skin. "You can call me Cassius, since it seems to fit round here."

  I stared at his extended hand. Hidden behind the drapes of our tunics, Saturnia and I pinched each other's arms as we screamed with excitement in our heads. If we were by ourselves, we'd be shaking each other till our necks hurt. I couldn't believe we were actually meeting someone from a new realm. Or maybe another time. Or both.

  His smile dropped slightly and he began to lower his arm. Realizing my mistake, I caught it and grasped it firmly before releasing and Saturnia did the same. Calloused palms had chafed my hand.

  "I'm sorry. I was just—nevermind." I bit my lip, trying to hold back a grin. "So, is your name Cyrus or Cassius?"

  "It's Cyrus, but—"

  "Then I'll call you Cyrus."

  He chuckled, tucking his hands into strange holes in his pants. "Fair enough. I won't argue with that."

  "Our turn! I'm Saturnia Ameneis. And this is Maximilia Vita."

  "Saturnia and Maximilia. A real pleasure, ladies."

  An awkward silence arose as we tried to figure out what to say next. What do you even say to someone who came from another world? Question after question burned my tongue, but I didn't know what to ask first or if I should even ask at all.

  "Ah." He rocked back on his heels and nodded to the food. "Want some? I was fixin' to have your kind of breakfast. Gotta say, though. It's real strange having wine first thing, even if it's watered down."

  "Wait," I exclaimed, shocked. "It is? What do you eat, then?"

  Cyrus shifted, crossing one foot over the other. "Well, usually eggs, bacon, and coffee for me, but my friends usually do pancakes with juice or milk. I know some people from other countries do rice. Most people save alcohol for brunch, but it ain't with wine."

  Beside me, Saturnia rubbed her forehead. "I only know what some of those words mean. Rice? Brunch? Coffee?"

  "Shit," he said apologetically, scratching the back of his neck. Involuntarily, my eyes dipped for a moment to see the flat of his stomach. It wasn't as tanned as the rest of him. "They gave us a script to follow for this stuff. But conversation and making friends ain't always easy when even breakfast is different."

  I crossed my arms, curious. "Who's they?"

  "There's leaders of the school. Professors. Your leaders. Right now they're all huddled together trying to figure out what's what. For now, they figured books to learn from are the best bet for all y'all."

  Saturnia picked up one of them, frowning. The surface looked glossy. "So it's right to call you Schola?"

  He worked his jaw, deliberating before clicking his tongue against his teeth. "That's gonna be a yes and no. We're a school, true, but lots of us came from all over to attend. I'm—well, was—from down a ways a bit myself. The world we come from is your future, I guess."

  I squinted, trying to absorb what he was saying. "Our future?"

  He cleared his throat, reaching for his wine to take a sip with a slight grimace. "From what we can tell, y'all are ancient Romans. Thousands of years have passed since then and...uh...it's not around anymore. Sorry. Same with that other place here, Solis. Or Aztecs to us."

  “Alright, wait. First, we're Aeternians not Romans. But second…what?” I gaped at him. "Thousands of years?"

  "I can hardly believe this myself, y'know. But I swear to God I'm telling the truth. Although nothing seems to have changed much." He shrugged, glancing around. "Maybe time works differently. I'll be honest though, this is only my second day out here. They just called in the student tour guides to help."

  "Tour guides?" Saturnia was desperately trying to follow along, just like I was.

  "Just a fancy way of saying we show prospective students around the school and convince them to apply." Cyrus leaned in conspiratorially. "But y'know, what I don't get?”

  The scent of something sharp but warm tugged at my senses. “What?”

  “How we can understand each other. We call your language Latin and almost nobody speaks it anymore. Not sure if it's really magic or what, but I've got no other word for all this besides that."

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  I snorted. "You get pulled here from the future, apparently, and that's what confuses you? Language? If the gods created this place, they can probably do that easily."

  He laughed at that, and it was a slow, deep, and hearty sound that made my skin tingle. "Maybe so. I never claimed to be the brightest. Hell, sometimes I swear I can't even chew and ride at the same time. But that's the real kicker. Something bout this place is smart. Half of our electronics work without power and the rest don't."

  "Elec...tronics?"

  "We've got stuff powered by, heck, I guess you'd call it very tiny and powerful fires.”

  I studied Cyrus. "And how—" I paused, trying to figure out how to ask this. "How are you feeling about coming here?"

  Something flickered across his face and I kicked myself internally. Saturnia kicked me externally.

  "Ow! Oh gods, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..." I trailed off and cringed, covering my eyes. “I'm sorry.”

  He rolled his shoulders back, straightening. "Now listen here. I'm damn sure neither of you had nothing to do with this, so don't feel sorry. But I won't lie. It's been a fucking mess." Cyrus fell quiet for a moment. There was a strain in his eyes. "A lot of us are never gonna see our folks again."

  My heart lurched. I scrambled to say something comforting or even just change the subject when he continued.

  "But it can't rain all the time. Gotta take joy wherever you can. In fact, I meant it about hoping I'd see the two of you again."

  His words had a way of sliding into that lopsided grin.

  "If it makes you feel any better, it's our first time here too." I waved my hand vaguely in the general direction of home. “We're from Romachia, one of the other provinces of Aeterna.

  "I might've heard about it—like to stick with the old ways, ain't that right?” Cyrus rapped his knuckles against the table. “Either way, I should thank my lucky stars that you ventured out here today. Maybe it was fate.” A wink followed that last thought.

  I smirked back. It would be fate indeed if the stars had made it happen like he said, since that was where the gods had chosen to live.

  “But I'll bite. What lured you ladies out here?"

  “Our friend is a gladiator.” I glanced at the sky. It was still early morning, but it was time to go. "We're here to watch him fight in the games today."

  He whistled, sounding impressed. "Dangerous, for sure." Then a tone that sounded vaguely like regret colored his voice. “I take it y'all don't plan on coming back again after this, then?”

  "Well, we were also curious about the people from Schola. We heard you were just allowed in the Forum," Saturnia added. "And…”

  His brow raised at her pause. “Well, don't keep me in suspense.”

  “And we just decided to come back again. There's so much to see that we don't have time for today,” she answered, nudging me.

  I looked at her in confusion.

  She jerked her head towards him. “Your shop?”

  "Oh. Oh! Right, whenever they let you explore Romachia, stop by my smoothie shop across from the amphitheater. It's called Invictus Shakes." My cheeks felt flushed. "Alright, we have to go now, but welcome to Aeterna, Cyrus."

  He nodded. "Maximilia. Saturnia. Been finer than a frog's hair chatting with y'all and good luck to your friend in there. Tell you what—why don't you come back and tell me how he did next time?"

  “Sure,” I said with a grin as we turned away. But then I paused in confusion. "Hold on. Frogs don't have hair. They're completely smooth."

  "Well, then that sounds like some mighty fine hair to me, wouldn't you say?”

  I tilted my head in confusion before shaking it with a laugh. As we walked away, I could feel his gaze linger on me and I dared to glance back. Our eyes met again for a moment—a flash of green—before I forced myself to turn away.

  We stopped for a quick bite to eat on our way to the Colosseum and my mind went over the encounter. There was just so much we didn't understand from that short conversation alone. And honestly, I liked the way he said my name.

  "Max. Max!"

  I blinked, startled. "What?"

  "I said that was definitely interesting and I wish we had more time to talk to him. Like what's a pancake? It sounds nice." She giggled. "I also saw the way he kept looking at you. And look. Now you're blushing again!" Her giggle became a cackle.

  My face burned and I began to deflect when I stopped, changing my mind. "You know what? Yes. Can you blame me though, Sat?"

  "He is pretty hot,” she said pointedly. “And polite. If we really do come back, are you going to try to find him?"

  I thought about how he appeared at the fountain. The way his eyes caught on us and the slightly dazed look in his eyes. The people from Schola were strangers here, but did that matter? Sooner or later, they wouldn't be anymore.

  "Why not? Like you said. If only we had more time to talk to him. They know a lot more about Solis and where we came from than we know about them."

  “Oh, I'm sure that's the only thing you're curious about,” Saturnia shot back.

  By now, we'd reached the Colosseum again. People were streaming in from all directions into the entrances. Deep purple banners—a restricted color in Aeterna—fluttered from the arches. It was both intimidating and stunning. A hand waving by the main entrance caught my eye and I squinted to see everyone gathered, waiting for us. We ran over.

  "Hope you weren't waiting too long for us," I rushed to say. "We got distracted by the Forum.”

  "You mean distracted by some—mphf!"

  I slapped a hand over her mouth. "Alright, come on. Let's head inside."

  I wasn't ready for their teasing, my nerves getting the better of me. Because I was about to see the sands that were stained darker than those banners could ever be. A place that swallowed countless lives, my father nearly being one of them.

  We stepped into the shadow of the arena.

  —advance chapter counts have increased.)