Eliot nodded as he raised a hand to light his own cigarette. No lighter in his hand — in fact, there was nothing in his hand. He just lifted it, inhaled, and the cigarette seemed to light itself.

A little taste of magic to see how James would take it. And then, as he lowered the cigarette to let out that first drag, the kicker, delivered with deadpan matter-of-fact-ness:

"You've been pulled through the barriers of space and time. It's how a lot of people wind up here. I know because it happened to me only a few weeks ago."