One moment, Matthew had been walking home from school, holding a cup of green tea in one hand, and his laptop bag settled securely over his shoulder. He could go home and work into getting this database good and done...

He turned the corner, but then never came out the other side. Instead, his world was suddenly thrown upside down, his stomach was doing laps in his body, and he found himself standing into a dark room of crystalline walls, no longer Matthew Desmond, but Alunite.

It was probably a good thing that his tea had vanished in transit - he was sure it might have come right back up at this point.