Valerie sat up and looked around, pushing her black hair out of her eyes. Where am I? she panicked, swinging her legs over the side of the bed.

She was in a small bedroom with deep pink walls and polished wood furniture. Her suitcases were the only familiar things in the room, sitting beside the door in a neat line.

She went to a mirrored vanity that sat against the wall and looked at her reflection. Her face was pale and pinched and her brown eyes were even duller than usual. Her curly hair was sticking up in several directions. She tied it back with a hair tie from her wrist and tried to tuck the loose curls behind her ears.

Maybe I'm in a hotel, she guessed, her heart thundering.

She crossed the room to a pair of windows and looked out, squinting in the sunshine. A large yard sprawled below her, dotted with trees and bordered by a simple wooden fence. A worn dirt path wound over the grass, leading out of view. No parking lot. No cars. No people.

Okay, not a hotel.

She walked over to the only door in her room and opened it slowly. Outside was a wide hallway with a staircase at the end. She crept out and looked down, but all she could see was a foyer and a door propped half-open.

"Hello?" she called, slinking down the steps.

The open door at the bottom led into a study with a thick carpet and bookshelves lining the walls. She jumped at the sight of a tall man with brown hair and glasses reading quietly behind a desk.

"Uncle Julian?"

"Valerie," he answered pleasantly, tossing his papers aside. "You're awake. Are you hungry? I've hired a new cook and she's been baking up a storm all day."

"I... I..."

Her uncle paused, concern showing on his face. "You don't remember."

Valerie shook her head. "Where are we?" 

She remembered falling asleep in the back seat of her uncle's car. They'd been going... somewhere. Somewhere far, he'd said. Had it been a surprise? Why couldn't she remember? Was she still asleep? She scrunched her eyes shut and pinched her arm.

"Come with me," her uncle said. His voice was soft.

She was too confused to argue as Julian led her out of the study, through a large living room, and into a comfortable kitchen.

"Cara?" he called, leaning over a marble counter.

"Give me a bloomin' minute!" a muffled voice called.

Valerie raised her eyebrows.

Julian shrugged. "She comes highly recommended," he promised.

He looked young for an uncle, a fact highlighted by his boyish face and the way he fiddled with his watch chain. The first time Valerie saw him, she had immediately decided he looked like a clean-shaven Abraham Lincoln.

An old woman came stomping out of a side pantry, carrying a large sack of potatoes in one hand.

"Cara, this is Valerie, my niece I told you about," Julian said, putting a hand on Valerie's shoulder. "Would you mind fixing her something to eat?"

Cara peered at Valerie with watery eyes. "I'll make a sandwich," she said. She set the potatoes down before going back into the pantry.

Julian coughed. "Our situation... Well, it's a little complicated."

Cara gave him a curious look as she came back out of the pantry.

He coughed again. "Why don't you eat your snack and we'll talk about it in the study?" 

"Here you are," Cara said, setting a sandwich in front of Valerie. "Make sure you eat every mouthful. You're gonna need it."

Valerie picked up the sandwich and bit into it cautiously. Ham, she thought with relief. She ate quickly, feeling more awake as the food hit her stomach.

Her uncle was silent and patient until she finished. Cara came back to clear the plate. Julian motioned for Valerie to follow as he left the kitchen. 

He stopped in the living room before a giant map that stretched over one of the walls. Valerie didn't recognize it as any place she'd ever seen. There was a name in faded script at the bottom left corner. She squinted to read it.

"Tyl— Tylwyth," she said, stumbling over the strange word. "What is this?"

"This is a map of Tylwyth, or most of it, anyway. What do you remember?" Julian asked.

Valerie ground her teeth together as she searched her mind for answers. "I remember... the social worker's office. I remember you taking my bags for me and stopping for snacks at the gas station. I think I fell asleep."

"Nothing else?" Julian asked.

Valerie shook her head.

"We drove to a mountain not far from the city. It was raining pretty violently." Julian took a deep breath. "I'm not sure if there's any easy way to explain this, but the gist of it is... we're not on Earth any longer."

Valerie blinked once. Twice. Three times. "I don't understand."

"We passed through something called a portal to get here," he explained. "It's not at all unusual to lose consciousness if you're new to portal travel. I still feel drowsy sometimes, myself."

Valerie shook her head. "That doesn't make sense," she whispered. "How can we not be on Earth anymore? Are you saying we're on another planet or something?"

"No. We're here," he said, pointing at the map. "We're on Tylwyth. Think of it as two sides of the same coin. Tylwyth is just another side of the plane Earth exists on. It obeys similar rules, like gravity and time, but there are a lot of differences, too."

"Like what?" Valerie asked.

She couldn't believe the questions spilling from her mouth. This was ridiculous. She'd been told her grandmother had struggled with mental health problems. Maybe her long-lost and only recently introduced uncle did, too.

"Well, the biggest one is the people," he answered. "Many of them are not what you're used to."

He grabbed a book off a side table and handed it to her. It was titled Species of Tylwyth: Volume One. "Go ahead," he invited her.

Valerie cracked the book open and started thumbing through it.

"Dryad," she murmured. "Dwarf, fairy, griffin, pixie." She looked up at him. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"No!" he said quickly. "There are many humans living in Tylwyth, too. We're just somewhat of a minority."

"I don't believe you," she said, snapping the book closed. "This isn't real. None of this is real. Please take me back."

"It is real, Valerie," Julian said gently. "I know it's a lot to take in, but I'm telling the truth."

Valerie sank into a plush armchair and held her head in her hands. "No," she said, "you're not."

"I can prove it to you."

She looked up to find her uncle holding out his hand.

"Come with me."

Valerie looked out from the window of the coach. The countryside all looked completely normal, with rolling hills and dirt roads dotted with houses and fences.

"What happened to the car?" she asked, nodding down at their new mode of transportation.

"We don't have technology like that here," Julian answered. "Tylwyth has advanced in other ways."

Sure, Valerie thought. "Where are we going?"

"To town," he answered. "The market should still be open."

They rolled across a stone bridge. Valerie could indeed see a town in the distance.

"How is this supposed to convince me?" she asked, looking back at her uncle.

"Just wait," he said, smiling at her.

Valerie could do nothing else as the coach rolled on. Soon, she could hear the sounds of a crowd.

Julian knocked on the ceiling of the coach. "Stop here, please," he called.

The coach stopped and Julian climbed out onto the street. "Come along," he said, offering Valerie his hand.

Valerie ignored his help and stepped carefully on her own from the coach.

At first, everything seemed normal. Maybe a little old-fashioned, with the medieval buildings and dirt roads. But as the details blended together around her, it suddenly felt like she'd stepped three hundred years into the past. The townspeople's simple clothes made her feel out of place in her sweatshirt and jeans.

She turned, looking at the busy street and the many vendors lined up with their things to sell. When she saw a nearby flower stall, she gasped. Tiny, glowing figures darted around the colorful blooms. They were far away, but she could definitely make out human-like features on their small faces.

"Are those... fairies?" she breathed.

"Pixies," Julian corrected. "Fairies are actually similar in size and appearance to humans."

A group of people stopped near the flower stall, possibly a family. They shared many similar features, down to their very pointy ears.

"Elves," Julian whispered to her.

She watched as they walked on through the market, gathering around a woman selling roasted nuts.

A rush of air above her made Valerie yelp. She looked up to find two winged horses racing by, weaving around each other as they played above the crowd.

He's right, Valerie thought. Reality was sinking in. It can't be real, but somehow... somehow it is.

She turned and started walking away, trying to process this information. Her mind raced and her heart pounded. The colors of the market blurred and her vision began to go black at the edges.

I must still be asleep in the car, she thought. That's all this is. Just a dream.

She came to a stop between two buildings and leaned against the wall, breathing heavily. It felt so real, though, down to the clouds of dust swirling around her feet.

Okay, Valerie. Think. Start from the beginning.

Her mind took her back to the day she came home from school to find police cars and an ambulance outside her house. Paramedics were loading a gurney into the ambulance while the sheriff stood on the porch, waiting for her.

She remembered someone explaining how her dad had a heart attack while painting the outside of the house, and how he was gone by the time their neighbor found him. The only parent she'd ever known. Her only family. She remembered the social worker, the foster home, the overwhelming grief...

Don't go there, she told herself, shoving the memory away. Focus, Valerie.

The social worker had come back with her uncle Julian, a man she had never seen before. He'd offered her a home. After staying in the crowded and dirty foster home for a week, Valerie hadn't hesitated to accept. Not that the decision was really hers, as a minor.

But then what happened? she wondered desperately, trying to remember. How can any of this be happening?

She took a deep breath, then another.  I just need to stay calm.

She walked slowly back up the street to where Julian paced anxiously by the coach.

"There you are," he said with relief. "I know you need time alone, but this is a new place and—"

"It's okay, Julian," she said. "I'm... okay. I'm okay."

Julian raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure?" he asked. "This is a lot for anyone to take in, you know. It's okay to not be okay."

Valerie nodded. She looked around the marketplace again. "I will be okay. Can we... can we head back?"

Julian nodded and opened the coach door. "Yes. But there are still some things I need to tell you."