The earthy sweet scent of fresh cut wood hit me before my eyes opened.

  "Who? Wha?"

  I sat straight up and spent a second patting down my torso trying to remember what happened. My hand landed on the back of my head and found a small bump.

  "Right. You slipped. Hit your head. Obviously." I shook my head. "Now I'm talking to myself."

  "I wasn't going to say a-any-anything."

  The echoed voice came from my right. I flinched and turned.

  The wooden creature from the case was sitting there looking at me. Floating above its head was a black and white text box.

  Name: N/A

  Treesqueak — ground level wixborn

  Bond: Reid Holt

  Skill: Echo Burst

  I looked from the creature to the floating text and back again.

  "Is that a Pokémon text box?"

  A small choir of voices sighed in unison.

  "Yeah, kinda." It stretched, pieces of bark shifting and crunching as it moved. "So uh, you gonna name me?"

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Name it. I just met this thing. I took a breath.

  "I don't know man. Twigg? With two G's?"

  A mental ping and the box updated with the name.

  "Twigg. I don't hate it." It jumped from the floor onto my shoulder and adjusted itself. Cool to the touch, surprisingly light for something that looked like solid wood. "Ok boss. What's the plan?"

  I put a hand to my forehead. "What is that supposed to mean? What are you? I'm so confused."

  Twigg groaned. It sounded like a branch under too much stress.

  "You can see me but you don't know anything?" They rested their cheek in the palm of one tiny hand. "Aw jeez. Where do I even start. What the Wix are? How your bond skill works? How to tie your shoes?"

  The voice had settled into a single tone now. Somewhere between the last few words a Jersey accent had appeared and apparently decided to stay.

  "From the top I guess." I stood and dusted myself off. Twigg barely registered on my shoulder despite looking like solid carved oak. "Also why do you have a Jersey accent?"

  "That's not important." They pinched the bridge of their nose. "Ok. Ok. Ok. This is how it goes." They clear their throat. "First thing. You're a perceiver. Capital P, don't let it go to your head." They held up one bark textured finger. "Means the Veil doesn't work on you the way it works on everybody else. The Veil is what keeps the two sides from bleeding into each other. Keeps regular people from seeing what you see."

  Another finger.

  "Second thing. You bonded with me in your sleep which honestly is embarrassing for both of us but mostly you."

  I opened my mouth.

  "Don't." Twigg cut me off. "We'll get there. Third thing." A third finger.

  "You may notice you got a fancy new thing called a skill" Twigg crosses their arms with a smug look "that is the symbol of our contract, and lets you do cool things. Any other contracts you get will grant you a similar kinda skill" they nod like they were finally done talking.

  I blink, and raise my hand. "What do you mean I bonded with you in my sleep?"

  Twigg's smug expression flickered for just a fraction of a second.

  "So. You talk in your sleep."

  I stared at them.

  "And the terms of a bond contract are decided by the pair entering it." They examined their bark textured hand like it was suddenly very interesting. "And you were technically conscious enough to participate."

  "I was unconscious."

  "You were mumbling."

  "That's not the same thing."

  "Contractually." Twigg finally looked back at me. "It kind of is."

  I opened my mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.

  "What exactly did I agree to?"

  Twigg's Jersey accent somehow got more Jersey.

  "That's a great question and we will absolutely get to that." They patted my shoulder twice. "The important thing is the skill is real, the bond is real, and you got a good deal. Probably. Mostly." A pause. "You should finish your rounds in here."

  I got up and dusted myself off. "That's kind of a dick move." I started cleaning up the mess from my fall, setting the case upright, nudging scattered items back where they belonged.

  "Besides won't you be like... missed? From the display case?"

  A sigh like wind through leaves.

  "Not really. They put me back here a long time ago." A pause that felt almost wistful before Twigg's energy snapped back. "Aaaannd now that I got you here bud we can leave this place in the dust." They slapped the back of my neck like a coach sending someone onto the field.

  I picked up the last trap, checked it, reset it.

  "Uh huh. Yeah. I've finally gone crazy."

  "Nope." Twigg settled back onto my shoulder like they'd always lived there. "Wish it were that simple for ya."