The Cost

"So we create a portal to Fillory," Eliot asked, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "That sounds slightly impossible."

"We managed to create a portal for the Beast to enter the school accidentally, it's not exactly a stretch," Alice interjected.

"Tell us again what Fogg said about this time travel shit Quentin, because I really feel like I would remember dying twice," Penny snapped.

"Eliza, Jane, whatever we want to call her reset the clock. She is giving us chances not to fuck this up and we keep fucking it up," Quentin kicked the end table and got up to pace the room.

"Do they know we are resetting the clock," Margo asked, "In Fillory I mean?"

"Why, are you worried about repeating an outfit," Eliot replied bitterly.

"You know for someone who spends most of their time using magic to handle their shitty decisions, I'd think you'd be a bit more invested in saving it," Margo shot back.

"There's no way to know," Quentin said. "Since Jane was given her powers in Fillory, I wouldn't be surprised if they knew we were coming and going."

"So not only do we need to kill the Beast with battle magic, but we might need to get past security or mercenaries or whatever the hell they call themselves there," Penny hissed.

"In the books there is a King's Guard that patrols the woods and surrounding kingdom," Quentin exclaimed.

The words had barely left his mouth when Penny used the second volume in the Fillory series, the larger of the two, to smack him on the back of the head. Quentin smoothed his hair and inched his way closer to the coffee table where Alice sat reading.

"If the woods are guarded, what about the shores, could we open a portal near the water," Alice asked.

"The sea surrounding Fillory isn't really mentioned in the books, maybe that is because not much happens there," Quentin said the words but he sure as hell didn't sound convinced.

"Using an element, like water, to create the portal would make it easier to manifest. We would need a body of water on this plane in order to connect," Alice explained.

"There's a pond on the northeast end of the property, it's one of Brakebill's little secrets. First years go there to screw or practice battle magic...or both," Eliot replied with a smirk.

"Good," said Alice. Yet anyone with half a brain could see that the thought of breaking school rules, even in order to defeat Fillory's own personal Voldemort was making her queasy.

That night, Penny, Quentin, Alice, Margo, and Eliot took turns dueling with battle magic near the pond.

"How about a little girl on girl action," Margo said winking at Alice.

Alice nodded and they stood across from one another as Eliot lit a cigarette and Quentin and Penny watched, captivated. Margo initiated the first attack, twisting her fingers like a spider web she shot a brightly lit net of power directly at Alice. With a small flick of her wrist and snap of her fingers she deflected the attack. Margo narrowed her eyes and tried again, this time she barely had time to finish moving before Alice had sent her flying ten feet into a nearby patch of weeds. Alice stood awkwardly as Margo got to her feet stalking back toward her.

"Again," she bellowed.

"Wait, hold up," Penny said jumping between the two women. "I think we should take turns."

Margo sat down in a huff next to Eliot and he wordlessly handed her his flask.

"Eliot, do you want to go next," Penny asked.