When we walked inside, I could see the vapor again, but this time it was blue.
The bar was quiet, save for a low-volume baroque track playing over the speakers. It was filled with a weird mix of colonial furniture and pieces one would find at a modern dive. In the center of the room was a plastic rock about the size of a table with a wooden hilt sticking out of it. One side of the rock was stained with vomit. There were blue banners draped on all corners of the ceiling. There was one old guy sitting at a table on the other side of the room. He was bald, had a long gray beard, and was sipping on a pint of stout while reading a newspaper. Behind the bar, a large muscular man with long blond hair was standing and cleaning glasses. He had a tight black t-shirt with that same logo as the sticker on my laptop and was quite tall, at least a head taller than Harry. As we approached the bar, he turned around and noticed us. While keeping the same expression on his face, he put down the glass he was cleaning.
"Well, if it isn't Merlin," he said with a strange accent. "Can't believe you skipped the New Year's party, man. Wild stuff, man. Wild stuff."
Harry and I sat down on the bar stools. They were rickety and the cushions were torn. "Haven't seen you around here before," Harry chimed in. "Pretty sure Chuck would've told me about some big Nordic fella working here by now."
"Name's Jarno. People around here call me Yeti, though. Still can't quite figure out why," he raised his brow and smirked.
"I can think of a few reasons," I said.
"You can think of anything. Perks of being a mad genius, probably," Yeti retorted. "So, how'd your journey to the Himalayas go last night? Did you finally get past stage one?"
"More like stage negative one," Harry quipped. "Buddy doesn't remember a damn thing. Probably has no idea who you are, right Chuck?"
"Yeah, sorry Yeti," I said. "Never seen you before in my life. I'm sure you're a nice guy, though."
Yeti laughed. He grabbed two pint glasses and started pouring beer, that same stout the old guy was drinking. "You're so full of shit, buddy. Drop the act, I'm not falling for it."
"No, he's serious," Harry pointed at me. "Woke up earlier today, doesn't know shit about anything. Seriously, ask him anything. He won't know."
Yeti raised his brow and put our beers on the bar top. "Okay, Merlin. I'll bite. Where am I from?"
I shuffled in my seat a bit and looked down. Clearly I told more than just Harry and Stu about this whole moon dust escapade I went on, but I couldn't say for sure what they knew. I didn't think this guy had any sort of intentions against me, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to disclose. I didn't want to go around telling everyone that they were some kind of illusion because that would just make me look like a lunatic, but I still had no idea who I should be trusting besides Harry and Stu. "Uh, Winston?" I said.
Yeti squinted and stared at me. "You're not being serious, are you?"
"What did I tell you?" Harry butted in. "That moon dust wiped him clean. He barely has any idea he's in Winston, let alone whatever forest island you're from."
Yeti gave Harry a mean look, then turned back to me. "So, looks like it really did work. Holy shit, I thought the amnesia part was just a myth."
"What did I say about the moon dust trip?" I asked.
Yeti put his fingers on his temple. "It was—it was kind of a lot, even for you. Said you needed to 'get past stage one' and something about 'FTC bugs.' Then you started saying a bunch of computer words none of us knew. I mean, you do that normally, but that time we were honestly a little worried. You were dead set that FTC was still here, even though it's been years since they left. I have no idea what you were planning."
I cupped the pint glass in my hand and took a sip of beer. It tasted gross.
"Do you know anyone named Summer?"
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