They both stepped through the portal, Rowan just a few seconds before Shane, and it closed behind them. Rowan suddenly dropped the Tuner from her hands as if it had burned her. Shane looked worriedly at her as she looked at the Tuner. 

It had fallen on the ground and a tiny wisp of smoke came out from the casing. Rowan bent down and Shane could tell from the way that she picked it up that the small device must be really hot to the touch. She quickly unzipped her backpack and put it in there. 

After closing her backpack, she immediately started to look around to see where they had ended up. It looked like they were standing in an alley, with light cobblestones under their feet and colorfully painted walls on both sides. 

In the distance they could hear the sound of upbeat music playing. It made them both feel uncomfortable because it sounded like some kind of event, which meant it would be busy and they both had no idea where they had ended up. It could be anywhere. 

“Be careful,” Rowan whispered. “Just stay behind me, okay?” 

Shane just did as he was told when she slowly and carefully walked to the end of the alley. He followed her as he tried to walk as quietly as possible. That proved to be easier said than done with the heavy boots he was wearing. 

The alley was pretty long and the music got louder as they progressed towards one end. Rowan finally peeked around the corner and beckoned Shane to come and take a look. He carefully moved to her side as she gave him the opportunity to see what was going on.

What he saw almost took his breath away. It was a huge square with the same light paving stones and surrounded by small shops and houses in a beautiful architectural style. The square was flooded with fairy lights and thus lit up completely, even though it was still somewhere in the middle of the day. In the center of the square was a large stage where an orchestra dressed in neat red suits was playing with shiny brass-looking instruments. 

A lot of people were surrounding the stage. From here he could see that they all seemed beautifully and colorfully dressed, their hair neatly done. He couldn't see all the details from this distance, but it just looked like a modern fairytale. 

Rowan pulled Shane hastily back as people passed by, going so fast that he nearly lost his balance. He could see from Rowan's face that she too seemed to be impressed with the spectacle on the square, yet her expression was also grim. 

“I guess we're in a wealthy dimension or at least one with a wealthy district. It might even be the first dimension,” she told him. “We have to find a quiet place to see how the Tuner is doing and possibly wait until we can get it working again. Otherwise, we have to get parts from somewhere.” 

“It’s not broken, right?” Shane asked anxiously.

“Let's hope not, but we’ll see.” 

She was not the type to sugarcoat anything, she'd rather tried to suppress her own emotions instead of focusing on someone else's. She beckoned Shane again and began to walk out of the alley. She kept close to the wall, being as unobtrusive and invisible as possible. 

It was harder for Shane, he was used to having to announce his arrival. Rowan was used to sneaking around, but he definitely wasn't. Yet they arrived at the edge of the square without any issues, finding a street leading away from it.

Walking away from the square, the music became less loud, and the sound of people chatting and cheering was fading as well. They all seemed fixated on what was happening on stage and no one seemed to notice them walking away from the square. 

The only thing they had to do was get through this street and find someplace to hide out for a while. There was a paved road with parking spots along one side, and a sidewalk on the other side. That side also had stores and houses, but it wasn't nearly as busy as the square. 

“Please identify yourself.” 

Both Rowan and Shane didn't expect someone to talk to them, they both jumped a little at the voice and turned around. There were three men in blue uniforms. It resembled the uniform Shane was wearing, so he could guess what they were and why they were asking. He wondered if this would be the interdimensional police Rowan talked about earlier or just cops from around here. 

“Oh yeah, let me just get it…” Rowan said, patting her pockets. “Run!” she hissed at Shane

He turned around as fast as he could and started to run. Rowan did the same and ran after him. He had no idea where to go and ran across the road to the nearest alley he saw. Only when he was almost running in, he saw that it had a dead end. 

Behind him, he heard them shouting for them to stop. They kept running, and Shane only looked back to see if Rowan was still following him. He managed to dive into the next alley he saw, one that was wider and seemed like it had no dead end. The alley connected to another alley and they ended up in a maze of alleys with tall, luxurious townhouses surrounding them. 

Shane had no idea what he was doing and just ran blindly through the narrow streets and alleys. The cops were still following them and he started to feel out of breath and his legs were feeling heavy. 

“This way!” Shane said. 

Ahead of them was what seemed to be a shed with a low roof. He grabbed the opportunity to jump up and grabbed the edge. That way he could pull himself up onto the roof. Immediately after that he laid down flat on his stomach and reached his hand out to Rowan, who grabbed it tightly. He managed to pull her up too. She grabbed the edge of the small roof with her other hand to pull herself further up.

When they were both on top of the small shed, they found their way over a brick wall to the roof of a nearby house. Both Shane and Rowan managed to climb up there so they could run over the roofs of the houses.

It seemed like the cops didn't see them climbing up or just didn't want to follow them there, because they soon lost them. Panting, they sat on the edge of a roof where they were sheltered and no one could see them.