I woke up. The sunlight streamed through the window, and smallish clouds hung high in the lavender sky.
"Hmmh…?" I sat up. The clock read 1011.
Argh! How could it have gotten so late? It was a school day! My capstone project wasn't going to write itself.
I quickly slung my backpack over my shoulder and…
And…
"Damn it." I dropped my bag, and Lum tumbled out along with my stuff. "Oh! Sorry, baby dolly. Guess you like it in there, huh?"
I recovered my bag's contents– two textbooks, some notepads, my pencil case, my phone (dead). And Lum. Might as well keep it all with me if she's a fan.
I made my way to the kitchen. Mom was sitting on the couch, reading one of those strange-looking magazines she got every once in a while. Dad was cooking breakfast.
"Hey guys. What day is it?" I asked.
"Friday." Mom turned a page.
"You guys aren't at work yet?" I rubbed my neck. "Ohh, wait. Did you guys have to stay home to watch me? Were you fired because of me?"
"Stop. You're extrapolating," Mom told me. "Though I guess that means you really are feeling better."
Dad stirred some batter. "City of Terell's on lockdown 'cause they're trying to catch some weird criminals flying around town. We can technically go out, but those guys were confirmed armed and dangerous, as well as highly mobile. So it's more for safety than anything else. On the upside, we get a day off."
The androids are back? What was it now?
"If it were really a day off, I'd be up in the mountains," Mom grumbled. "This sucks. I don't wanna sit around all day." She stood up and went to the patio door.
"Heh," Dad chuckled mostly to himself. "Hey, before you run off – berries or bulle?"
"Oh please! I won't be going that far," Mom replied, then headed over to her climbing tree.
"Both it is," Dad shrugged, folding in the fruits. Then he fired up the griddle.
In her cabin fever-induced rush, Mom had dropped her magazine on the floor. Might as well clean up after her, I decided, picking it up.
AWMASC Quarterly. This was the one, all right. And whenever I opened it…
Well, even now nothing had changed. It was always the same whenever I looked. Roughly a hundred pages, all of them completely blank and white. Near the top of the first page was a small line of text: TO UNLOCK THIS MAGAZINE, PLEASE PROVIDE ENERGY.
A book that needs energy… batteries, maybe? It certainly wasn't solar powered. Seriously, I had no idea why she kept getting these things.
Ding, dong.
"Must be the police," Dad said. "Can you get it for me, Kendel?"
I walked to the door, dropping the magazine on the coffee table. Sure enough, I could see two policemen through the peephole, wearing stately YLPD caps and green suits.
When I opened the door, though, FLASH!
What the hell? I blinked a few times. Instead of two policemen, a single young woman now stood at the threshold. Her blonde hair was messy and puffy, as if she had just gotten out of bed. And her face…
As I tried to process what I was looking at, the girl moved past me into the house.
"H-hey! You're not the police," I called. "Who–what–?"
"Of course not, Ken. Mirage is way easier to do when the range of vision is small," she absently replied.
"Ken!? Who the hell is Ken??" I incredulously replied. "And what was with that flash?"
She looked back at me. "Flash Freeze. I know it's been a while, but just relax. It was for the rest of the house, and it dealt no damage."
"What!? Shit!" I quickly ran past her to the kitchen. Both Dad and Mom were frozen in place, right in the middle of their activities. "Agh! What did you DO!!"
"I told you, they'll be fine." The weird girl walked up next to me, and I spun to face her… wait, her face?
Her hair had mostly obscured it the first time, but now I could clearly see her eyes–
No! She didn't have eyes! Instead, a black line ran across the width of her face, crossing just above her nose. It… really creeped me out.
"Ken? Yo, ground control to Ken." The weird girl waved her hand.
"Stop! Stop." I backed away from her. "Stop calling me Ken. Stop intruding in my home. Who even ARE you?? Actually, I don't care. Just un-whatever-you-did and be on your way."
"What…?" The weird girl scratched her head. "We're pals though. Don't tell me you forgot."
Since when!?? Why would I be pals with you? I don't even know you! As those thoughts ran through my head, another more pressing thought surfaced.
"Wait. Wait a moment. Just wait here," I said, pointing at the weird girl. Then I ran upstairs.
Lum was peacefully sitting in my room, stacking the books from my study shelf on top of each other.
"Oh, you aren't frozen," I exhaled. "Good! That's good."
Lum flopped onto the floor. She had gotten a bit bigger since she appeared in my room a couple of days ago, now about 70 cm tall. Honestly, I had no idea Lum could grow. Though I guess it made sense.
"So, Lum," I said, sitting cross-legged in front of her. "There's this weird lady downstairs, and she froze both of my parents."
Lum sat up, now trying to mimic my pose.
"Hey, this is serious," I chided. "I need to know if you know anything about her. Like, apparently she knows me from somewhere, but I've never seen her before. What's up with that?"
"Hew." Lum pointed at the door.
"Ohh!" Baby dolly's first word! Yes! Wait, where'd she get 'hew' from?
"There you are, Ken. Um, Kendel." The weird girl was still here, damnit!!
"What are you even doing here?" I stood up to glare at her, and Lum clung to my arm. "Who are you?"
"So you had the variant," she said. "Maybe that's what's causing your problems."
"Quit ignoring my questions! Tell me who you are," I insisted.
"Juuust a moment…" She crossed her arms, and an orange glow started running along her eye-line-thing.
"Wh… are you scanning me?" I warily asked.
"How weird." Her glow shut off. "You've been absorbing that variant's energy, and at the same time it's absorbing yours. Or maybe it started absorbing yours first? I've never seen this kind of symbiosis before."
"Um. Please just go away," I told her.
"Come on, don't be like that," the weird girl protested. "Listen, I'm working with a guy right now who also knows about the variant. Let's meet up with him! He's chill; he'll know what to do, promise."
"No way! We're staying right here," I declared. "Just leave us alone!"
"I can't guarantee your safety if I do that," the weird girl replied. "You're aware of the four androids active in the area?"
"You know about them too! What about the Witch?"
"There'd better NOT be a Witch here," she replied, now tense. "You know better than to joke like that! Or, maybe you don't? Anyway, don't joke like that."
"I wasn't… er, never mind."
"Those androids have been on the prowl for a while, and I'm pretty sure that variant is their target. I'm not sure what they want with it, but I doubt it's for anything benevolent."
"Well, why do you want her?" I challenged.
"I don't," she replied. "I'm just worried you absorbing too much of its power will cause irreparable damage, if it hasn't already."
"What damage? You still aren't making sense," I said. "And anyway, if I really have been absorbing Lum's energy, explain this!"
I whipped out Mom's copy of AWMASC Quarterly. "It says I have to give it energy to unlock it, but it has never shown anything to me whatsoever, even after I found Lum."
The weird girl looked at me for a second. "Open it," she said.
I rolled my eyes. Clearly, she was a 'believe it when I see it' kind of person…
The gears in my head ground to a halt as I flipped through page after page of articles, reports, pictures, and inter-world news.
In a daze, I shut the magazine. Then I opened it again. Maybe it was a fluke…?
Instead of blank white sheets, I found myself staring at a full-page ad detailing the Lightspeed Corps' latest recruitment drive. Be a part of something bigger!The galaxy's biggest merc group needs YOU!
"How did this happen?" I stared at the magazine. "Wait. Actually, how did this thing get here to begin with? Did you bring it?"
"No. You did," she replied.
"Huh? I swear I left it on the coffee table, though. And I wasn't holding anything this whole time. Quit playing games with me."
The weird girl shrugged. "If you don't wanna admit it, that's a you problem."
"Ughhh… this is so weird! Damn it! Fine, I'll go with you," I relented. "But can you unfreeze my parents at least?"
"They should already be free. My Flash Freeze doesn't last that long," she replied.
"Mmmm… I still don't trust you," I muttered as I picked up my backpack. Lum dove from my arm straight into her favorite spot between my textbooks. Just how did she fit in there?
"Whoa! Kendel, don't come in; big problem on the floor," Dad called as I came downstairs.
"Marco!" Mom tromped inside. "Something strange just happened."
"What do you mean? Well actually, I did feel odd for a second," Dad replied. "And I dropped breakfast. Sorry."
"It's almost like time suddenly lapsed," Mom muttered, sitting at the table. "Or our perception was altered somehow. Stasis maybe? What could have caused it?"
"Too perceptive," I heard the weird girl grumble.
Then I looked over at her and saw a college student instead. "Huh??"
"Remember me, Kendel's parents? Stelle and Marco, right?" The weird girl waved.
"Hmm?" Dad gave her a once-over. "Ohh, Kelly! It's been ages! I thought you were in Triskaidekovia to stay."
Kelly??
"I was in the area," she casually replied.
"Even with those criminals around?" Mom asked.
"I didn't see them coming in. Maybe they're gone for now," the weird girl shrugged.
"Kelly," I muttered, feeling extremely gaslit.
"Anyway, it's fine if Kendel and I head out for a bit, right? We won't be long."
"Hmm… it's true Dr. Zivre cleared her yesterday," Mom nodded. "Yeah, it should be fine."
"Just bring her back in one piece, yeah?" Dad laughed.
"She's in good hands," the weird girl nodded.
The moment we exited the house, she was herself again.
"How did you do that? Who ARE you!??" I demanded.
"You really don't remember, huh," she said, sounding forlorn. "Kelly. It's short for Qelimara. We met in primary school."
Primary school? My memory wasn't that good. "I'll just… call you Qelimara then."
"Sure," she sighed. "Baby steps, I suppose."