Thirty-Two

We all know how Thirty-One went, and we all know we do not even talk about Thirty. Now, Jane is forced to watch once again as we move on to attempt Thirty-Two.

Quentin entered the art gallery, bouncing on the balls of his feet, barely able to contain his enthusiasm. Behind him came Penny, Alice, Eliot and Janet, looking wary.

"We should have waited for Julia," Quentin stated, trying to sound guilty about leaving the girl out. "Too bad Fogg caught her before she could come along." He didn't sound very sorry. This was one instance where he could witness the magic of Fillory without feeling overshadowed or worse: childish.

"This is just the type of loser shit I would accuse you of doing, Quentin," Penny said with a smirk, looking around at the artwork. "You and the artist can be ultra dorks together."

Quentin rolled his eyes, something that was akin to breathing when it came to Penny. Stepping forward towards one of the paintings, he began to babble excitedly. "This scene is from when Jane meets one of the Seven Questing Creatures. Someone else must have read The Magicians!"

"Nobody cares, Quentin. Lets just get this over with," Janet drawled.

The group had heard about the new Fillory and Further gallery show, where an up and coming artist had painted scenes exclusively from the five book series. It baffled Quentin that the painter would know about the sixth story.

"Keep an eye on your boyfriend, Alice. He might start making out with the artist, or worse, the paintings," Eliot put in. Quentin gave him a withering look. He expected the ridicule from the others, but not Eliot.

The five young magicians began to walk through the gallery, Quentin getting more and more excited with each painting they passed. They had arrived early, and the gallery was empty save for the five of them.

"Maybe we should examine all the paintings," Alice suggested. "Maybe Quentin is on to something, and there's something here that can help us defeat the beast."

Quentin cast the girl a grateful look and squared his shoulders, beginning to examine the canvases. The rest of the group spread out to do the same, and there fell a hushed silence as they began their observations. The paintings were good. Very good.

"Over here," Alice called from somewhere close by, and the others gathered around her. They were looking at a painting of a castle, with four regal beings posed in front of it. Two males and two females looked gravely back at them.

"That's...that's Castle Whitespire! That's where the Kings and Queens of Fillory live." Quentin was in awe. "Those are the Chatwin kids!"

"Here we go. Now he's really geeking out," Penny sighed.

"Yes, but look closer," Alice instructed. Each of the five looked closer at the painting, and soon gave a collective gasp.

The faces in the paintings changed and shifted, until each queen and king was a likeness of one of them - save for Penny. Alice and Janet took the places of the two female Chatwin characters, and Eliot and Quentin the males. A very, very thin outline of a figure exactly matching Penny's filled in next to Quentin - like he was there, but not really.

"Are...are you flipping us off?" Quentin asked Penny, looking closer at the outline.

"Hey, look at that, we both are," When Q looked up, Penny was mirroring his painted self, his middle finger sticking straight up in Quentin's face. Quentin shoved Penny's had away in annoyance before turning his attention back to the painting.

"So-so maybe this means we need to go to Fillory. Maybe-maybe we need to become the kings and queens..." Quentin's mind was racing as he spoke, trying to figure out how and when they could get to Fillory.