by
When Allie’s twin brother "accidentally" activates an ancient portal buried deep beneath a castle in Faerie, the siblings find themselves staring through the Gate into another world—one they've only read about in scattered, incomplete texts.
According to the few records that remain, world number 17 was the prison-realm of the Banished—exiled long ago for reasons no one remembers. Probably.
Cautious by nature and driven by responsibility, Allie intends only to take a quick look. But what begins as a reconnaissance mission turns into something much more complicated... and far more personal. Because on the other side of the Gate, she finds a world that isn’t abandoned, a people who have made exile into identity—and a woman whose presence upends everything Allie thought she knew about her own heart.
A standalone short story of magic, mystery, ancient tech, and unexpected connection—set in a world where opening the wrong door is always the beginning of something more.
