Prologue: Simplifying the Problem

In a small city somewhere, nowhere important but to its residents, Charlotte Cole sat on the bus to work having just fed her cat and nearly missed the right bus. For once, the bus was right on time instead of its usual five minutes late, and for once, Pepper Jack was fussy about her wet food. Well, it didn't really matter anyway. She'd made it onto the bus and her cat was fed and after a monotonous day of work she would return to her cat. 

And a monotonous day at work it was. 

Charlotte was good at answering phones, but it was nothing interesting and when half of the calls she took were about health insurance and not having enough money, each day became quite depressing quite fast. It was easier for Charlotte, at the recommendation of one of the older receptionists, to treat the calls like a job outwardly and remember those calls were from real people inwardly.

Lunch rolled around and Charlotte poked around in her drawers, finding only boxed pastas and microwave rice. Boring. She glanced out the window and immediately sighed; the taco place across the street had caught her eye without her even trying.

Twenty dollars of tacos later, Charlotte was once again back at work, filing papers and running errands around the office. Any chance she could get to be away from her desk she could, grabbing coffee for this person or a print job for that person. The more time she spent walking, the less time she spent at her desk trudging between paperwork and the phone.

The bus ride home, fortunately, was as surprisingly on time as her morning ride to work, and Charlotte found herself pleasantly occupied by watching the scenery go by in the window. Pepper Jack would surely be lonely after a full day alone, and she had some carbon copy procedural drama ready to watch with her dinner. Charlotte hummed softly to herself. Perhaps Thursdays weren't so bad after all.

As soon as she was home, Charlotte made a beeline for her bedroom and changed into a comfortable shirt and shorts. The door squeaked on its hinges and Pepper Jack padded into the room with a bright meow, curling around Charlotte's legs and swiping her tail back and forth.

"Hello, little baby."

Pepper Jack, however, was not a fan of personal space, and continued to weave around Charlotte's feet as she walked. Charlotte did her best, but near the top of the stairs, Pepper Jack paused to groom and Charlotte lost her footing. Before she could react properly, her foot slipped and she went tumbling down the stairs.

Funny, though. The stairs weren't that long of a fall. And usually not that dark. 

After what felt like multiple minutes, Charlotte landed on a wooden floor, neck aching and new scraped all over her arms and legs. She blinked dizzily and felt Pepper Jack licking her cheek, but when she opened her eyes, she was sitting in an unfamiliar room, surrounded by tables full of strange plants and jars of fluid she'd never seen before.

Most unsettling, however, was the crowd of armored warriors in her doorway, blades pointed in her direction. Charlotte scooted backward and clutched Pepper Jack to her chest.

"Charlotte Connor, necromancer of the Whalebone Seas. Do you answer to your crimes?"