Kaleb reached up and fed Milly a pellet from his pocket. She acted like she hated the things at first, preferring her leafy greens to the processed pellets. But Doctor Copernicus had assured him that they were a decent snack for the little creature. She was still plastered to his shoulder but was now awake and eagerly looking around. After saying goodbye to her small colony of Fulgravits, Milly seemed ready to take on the world… from the comfort of Kaleb's arm.

"You're already spoiling her." Jar-lock chastised as they walked through the halls.

But Kaleb ignored the big mage. Vivienne and Jar-lock had eventually made their way back to him with their own pets. They were both alien versions of pretty common animals, though. Which Kaleb found was a little disappointing. Vivienne had a green resonance with a foot-high owl-thing. It had green and brown feathers with a bright yellow beak that it used to screech endlessly. Jar-lock's was a red resonance with a dog-fox thing. It was the size of a German Shepard with blue-black fur that seemed to shine under the overhead lights. The animal kept glaring at Kaleb as if it was jealous of the way he was treating his new pet.

"Leave him alone, Jar." Vivienne muttered. "He can raise his pet the way he wants."

"Treats should be used as rewards for good behavior." Jar-lock responded almost automatically.

Kaleb scoffed. "And what happens when they behave well and don't get a treat? Incentivizing good behavior always sounds good on paper. But really, what you're doing is showing them that if they act a certain way, they'll get stuff. Then the second they don't, they'll hitch a fit."

"We are talking about pets here, aren't we?"

Kaleb just smiled to himself as he gave Milly another treat. They were on their way out of the building now. He had found what he needed to know, now he needed to find out how to get it. But first, they needed to pick up Daivor. Thankfully, the hallway outside the fourth floor was nowhere near as bad. Once they pushed their way down the stairs, they made good time down to the first floor and toward the exit. They drew a few looks due to their eclectic pets, but most people seemed understanding.

Once they hit the open air of the campus fields, Jar's Fox-dog barked happily and bounded toward the nearest field. Jar-Lock sighed before shouting out in a commanding voice.

"Darren! Heel! Stop running around."

The excitable dog whined and put its head down as it sullenly made its way back to Jar-lock. Vivienne tutted as her owl cleaned its feathers idly. Milly chittered in Kaleb's ear and looked at the sad dog, then back at Kaleb. Clearly scared it was going to be yelled at too. Kaleb smirked before giving Milly another treat and scratching her head.

"Discipline is important." Jar-Lock said as he patted Darren's head.

"Whatever you gotta tell yourself, babe." Vivienne said. Turning to Kaleb, she added. "Do you know where Daivor is supposed to be?"

Kaleb shrugged. "The spa? Wherever the hell that is."

"Well, he's a Fae creature. So maybe he's in that building."

"Sounds reasonable. Where's that?"

Vivienne pointed off to the west, where a brown brick building sat. It was just as big as the building they just left. Except the magic building was much warmer in tone compared to the alien research building. The brown bricks seemed to soak in the sun while the white shutters on the windows made Kaleb think of an old-style brick mansion. It was clearly built with the intent of being inviting and simple.

As they turned onto the sidewalk just in front of the building, flowers sprung from the ground and bloomed rapidly. Multi-colored orbs of light seemed to giggle as they flew all around them. Milly tried to swat at one, but her paw went right through it as the orb bobbed up and down. The building itself seemed to sigh as they walked beside it, and Kaleb felt himself shiver.

"This crap is creepy." He said, eyeing a waggling rose that just sprung to life at his feet.

Vivienne scoffed. "We just spent a few hours in a building that was on the verge of exploding. With a bunch of scientists more concerned about producing results than what those results will entail. And a building with a Charm Spell creeps you out?"

Kaleb scanned the building with his magic vision and winced. The entire brickwork of the building had a spell shot through it like a steel rod. He couldn't read the spell in the air. But taking Vivienne's word for it, the spell was clearly supposed to make the building seem charming and quaint. It was working, too. Which just made Kaleb more unsettled. It was the building equivalent of a car salesman smiling at you.

"Yes." Kaleb nodded as he sped up his steps. "Yes, this building creeps me the fuck out."

He waved away a few more giggling orbs of magic as he hurried over to the nearest door. Vivienne and Jar-lock were right behind him as he scanned his pass at the door and let himself in. Immediately, he was in a hallway that seemed to twist his vision as he looked at it. Mages were walking on the walls as magical creatures flitted in and out of the ceiling and floor. He momentarily lost himself in the scene before Vivienne smacked him on the shoulder and pointed south down the hall.

Kaleb put a hand over his eyes, trying not to look at the madhouse of mages. From the clamor, Kaleb knew the mages were students rushing off to their labs. But the way the hallway was designed seemed to defy sense. Students would open a door and it would lead to one place, then another student would open the same door and it went somewhere else. Sometimes a student would step into a locker and simply vanish, while mages randomly popped into existence. Kaleb kept his head down and tried not to make sense of things. Even as their hallway twisted upward and they began walking on what used to be the ceiling. He spared a glance at Jar and Viv, but the two were in quiet conversation while their new pets glared at each other.

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Nervous chittering brought Kaleb around to Milly and he was delighted to see his pet rodent was just as confused as him. He reached up to calm the thing, when Milly phased into his arm. Kaleb braced himself for a surge of power, but nothing came. It seemed Milly used his arm as an escape hatch to get away from the madness.

"Lucky." Kaleb complained in his mind and he swore he could hear Milly laughing at him.

It was another few minutes of walking before their group reached the front foyer of the building. Although you wouldn't know it just by looking. The large square room was just as maddening as the hallways. Kaleb squinted his eyes as he watched multiple people and aliens swim through the foyer on their way to their various workshops and labs.

"If Dr. Seuss and MC Escher had a baby, it would be this damn building." Kaleb quipped as he watched a mage step off a staircase and leap toward a stone column.

The column opened as the mage hit it and disappeared into the darkness beyond. Elsewhere, a streak of light bounce off an upside down staircase and shot to the floor before coalescing into the shape of a group of mages. Each of them didn't pay their mode of transport any mind as they hurried out of the foyer.

"It's not that bad," Vivienne claimed, waving a hand at him.

Kaleb bit his tongue and said nothing. They'd have to agree to disagree. "Where the hell is the front desk?"

"Across the checker-board floor and in the field of mushrooms. In fact, the front desk appears to be a giant mushroom." Jar-lock answered.

Kaleb sighed. "Cause that's a completely normal sentence."

Not waiting for a reply, Kaleb marched across the checker-board floor, only to feel a wave of magic hit him. Suddenly Kaleb was back at the start of the checkerboard floor again. He growled as the magic floor seemed to shimmer before him. He inspected the area around the floor for a clue, when Jar-lock's voice rang in his ear.

"It's a Fibonacci Floor."

Turning to look at the big mage, Kaleb grimaced. "How is that supposed to work?"

"Y'know, the Fibonacci sequence. Each number results from adding the two previous numbers together. So 0,1,1,2,3,5,8, and so on."

"Yes, Jar. I'm familiar. I just meant how am I supposed to step on square 13 from square 8? Or 34 from 21? No one can jump that far."

"I wouldn't say that. But I think intent has a lot to do with it. Much like all magic." Vivienne said as she surveyed the board.

Kaleb sighed and stepped on the first square. The second number was also one, so Kaleb waited a beat before stepping on squares two, three, and then five. When it came time for him to hop to eight, however, Kaleb felt his foot almost get magnetically pulled toward the correct square. His vision tunneled for a few seconds and when he blinked, he was standing on the correct square. Next to him, Jar-lock and Vivienne were smirking like idiots.

"Fucking magic…" Kaleb muttered as he jumped toward the next square.

Each time, as the squares got further and further apart, Kaleb found himself being inexorably pulled toward the correct space. It was slow, tedious math, but soon enough he found himself on the far side of the checkered floor. Now he was standing in a mushroom field that smelled… pungent. Kaleb quickly covered his face with his hand and marched over to the toadstool front desk. An orange alien in a red coat with white circles on it grinned up at him as he approached.

"Welcome, sir. What can I help you with today?"

Kaleb sniffed the air a few times before speaking. He wasn't sure if the many mushrooms surrounding the man's 'desk' were going to mess with him. But it was better safe than sorry. He gave it a full minute before he answered the alien at the front desk.

"I'm looking for the spa. I have a familiar there going through the full package."

The man in the bright shirt grinned knowingly. "Ah, yes! Master Daivor. He finished his treatment a short while ago and is taking a siesta on the second floor. But he left a note that you and your party should join him as soon as you can."

Kaleb nodded gratefully, but then turned and looked at the madhouse that was the first floor. "Is there a quick way to get to him? I'd rather not get tossed into a hell dimension cause I don't know the fiftieth number of Pi."

"Oh, sir. None of our portals lead to any hell dimensions… we couldn't get the contracts agreed upon. But I believe I can accommodate you."

With that, the colorful receptionist waved a hand and Kaleb felt a tug on his abdomen. It was like he was suddenly flung backward. His feet left and then crashed back into the floor in the same second and the noise was suddenly gone. Now Kaleb was standing at the edge of a gigantic beach that stretched as far as his eyes could see.

"Oh, hell yeah!" Jar-lock whispered. "This is what I'm talking about."

The big mage and his new dog walked toward the sea, happily soaking in the sun. Vivienne had a far off look on her face, as if she was trying to see through something. For his part, Kaleb looked around and decided that they were in some kind of illusion. His magic vision couldn't penetrate the spell, but he could feel the ambient magic in the air. It was oddly relaxing.

Milly popped back into existence on his shoulder and sniffed the sea air experimentally. She chittered happily as Kaleb looked around for his long lost Familiar. The gnome was a short distance away, laying back on a lounge chair and sipping at a colorful drink. He didn't appear to notice their arrival until Kaleb started walking toward him. At the sound of his approach, the gnome cracked a closed eye open and sighed dramatically.

"I suppose it's back to the coal mines, isn't it?"

Kaleb scoffed. "Oh please, like you wouldn't go stir crazy if I left you here."

"I don't know. There are a couple of runes that need touching up, and I bet I could build them all manner of things to keep myself busy."

"And they'd, what? Pay you in spa treatments?"

"I wouldn't say no to that."

"Come on, Daivor. I found what we were looking for. Now we just need a way to get it."

The gnome cracked his other eye open. "All alien substances?"

"Every one. I got the base, an accelerant, and some shavings. Not sure what the shavings are for, though."

"But nothing on the catalyst?"

"Was that biological?"

"I don't think so." Daivor tapped a finger against his forehead until a light breeze blew a warm sea breeze at them.

The gnome sighed at the scent before getting to his feet. With the snap of his fingers, his outfit changed from gnomish beachwear to his standard red hat and green tunic.

"It's all for nothing if we can't find that catalyst." Daivor said, taking out his pipe and holding it in his teeth. Kaleb noted the gnome didn't light it.

"We'll find it. But I think we've gotten the most out of this visit. If need be, we can substitute our own catalyst, anyway."

Daivor snorted. "Pfft! Remind me to not be in the lab when you try that."

"Noted."

"So there's just one question I've got then."

"Is it about the rodent on my shoulder?"

Daivor nodded with a grim expression on his face as he pointed his pipe at the blue marmot. "Who the hell is she?"

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