After returning to reality from Above the Gray Fog, Fors and Xio left Audrey's lounge one after the other.
Fors wandered around the ballroom, declined invitations to dance from two gentlemen she didn't know, and drank a glass of Aurmir worth nearly 150 Gold Pounds before slipping into the washroom without drawing any attention.
She used her Spirituality to seal off the area, took a card from a hidden pocket sewn into her gown, and unsealed it to retrieve Lemano's Travel Notes.
She turned to the magic book's last page. It was a yellowed sheet bearing the pattern of the Pupil-less Eye.
As gray-white mist rose, Fors reached into the empty air before her.
Her arm suddenly grew heavy. She pulled back sharply, dragging out a figure in a plain white shirt.
The figure had curly brown hair, sharply defined features, and a handsome face. It was Abner Brain.
Abner's eyes shifted. The vacant look quickly left his face, and he became indistinguishable from a real person.
He walked to the washroom sink and put on the Gold-Rimmed Glasses lying there.
Only then did Abner turn back and smile at Fors. "Well done."
Although Lemano's Travel Notes paid most of the Spirituality cost for the Historical Projection, Fors had borne part of it to activate the ability. She looked somewhat drained.
She seemed to realize something. "Is your real body inside the Quiz Maze in those glasses?
"If so, why insist that I use the magic book to summon your projection? Couldn't you have come out and used it yourself?
"Unless... you deliberately wore me out so I wouldn't have the energy to ask you about... that matter?"
Abner waved a hand and laughed. "Nothing of the sort! My real body has been outside the whole time. After all, I