Wakey, wakey, Erind… a voice singing in annoyingly high spirits bounced around in my head.

“De—Deen?” I said as I struggled to wake up. “Is that you?” My eyelids…my whole body felt heavy; it was oddly difficult to move as if I was underwater. I opened my eyes to see who was lying on my lap. A sleeping Deen. I looked up to the person who woke me and snorted in annoyance. “Oh, it’s you.”

SpookyErind, with her hands on her hips, gazed down at me, her fiery ruby-like eyes shining through the slits of the mask she wore. I knew it was a face, but she took it off so it was a mask as between the two of us. We should be the same height but she had such an imposing presence that it felt like she was atop a mountain and I was stuck in the depths of a crevasse. I should get high-heeled boots like she has, I thought with amusement.

Like in our previous encounters, she wore tight-fitting black suit and pants adorned with golden lines forming peculiar patterns, over a white dress shirt and a black tie. A pure white fur coat latched on her shoulders giving her an air of luxury and elegance. The foreboding golden clawed gauntlet was on her right hand like the first time we met.

Aren’t you glad to see me? You? Meyoumeyoumeyou.

“Ermm…not really.”

That’s so sad. Her half-white, half-black mask laced with gold crumbled and dissolved into shimmering lights, like curtains pulled back to reveal her beautiful face; our beautiful face, ahem. If she didn’t move, one could mistake her for an expertly sculpted marble statue given her unearthly complexion. She brushed away her wild, wispy, white hair and grinned at me. I’m always happy to meet you.

“Am I—”

You’re not dead. That’s always your question when we meet.

“Just making sure. I did check if I was alive before I fell asleep.”

A very good habit.

“Hold on…why are you here?” It was already morning. The sunlight let itself in Deen’s living room through the glass doors leading to the pool outside. Everything seemed normal, yet it didn’t. It was hard to explain, like everything was an approximation of what they were. It was too quiet, everything too still. “Is this the real world?” Obviously, not. Id—

Obviously, not. Idiot.

“I was just about to think that! Did you read my mind? Heh, we’re inside my mind anyway.”

We’re the same, that’s why we thought of the same thing. Meyoumeyoumeyou. She shrugged off her fur coat and twirled. The coat swirled around her and formed into a white apron that tied itself neatly behind her back. Leave your friend there. I’ll cook you breakfast. Come, come.

What choice did I have? She controlled this place. I carefully moved Deen’s head off my lap even though this probably wasn’t the real Deen. When I stood up, I found SpookyErind behind the kitchen counter with a pan in her hand. I turned around and Deen and the sofa weren’t there anymore. “Huh? I guess we’re in the kitchen now.”

Take a seat. What do you want to eat?

“I was going to say just cereal but since you already have a pan in hand how about bacon and eggs? The cliché breakfast in movies. I do feel like having a hearty breakfast. Been really busy last night.”

Bacon and eggs coming right up.

“Do you know where to get—?” She magically had an egg between the claws of her gauntlet which she expertly broke even with that cumbersome armor piece. “Never mind. Eggs from another dimension…yey,” I said half-heartedly as she added a couple more of them to the pan.

How’s everything going so far? She laid thick strips of bacon she plucked out of thin air on a different frying pan.

“Very tiring.” I watched her cook. The oil was sizzling, but the sound was muffled. Even the smell was somehow muffled, if that made any sense. All of my senses were covered by an inexplicable heavy fog. Maybe because I was still asleep in the real world. “But everything was settled in the end.”

After Bianca and her two bodyguards left, I took a much-needed hot shower and changed into clean clothes. I then made a peanut butter jelly sandwich and checked on Deen while I ate it. Bianca did offer to wake her up but I declined; she was going to naturally wake up in a few hours if left alone. I mulled between carrying her to her room or just leaving her on the couch. I ended up cradling her head on my lap like Bianca did because I’m the bestest friend in the whole wide world ever.

Also, she’d immediately see the caring, true friend that I was when she woke up.

The help Deen extended to me, even if she didn’t it know it was me, couldn’t be understated.

Without her, there was no way I could've regained my sanity when I was rampaging in my giant werewolf form. I would’ve been super dead, reduced to ashes in the crater of the Greaves reactor explosion.

I wasn’t sure what she did to me. Did she connect me to her precog pet to shock the ferocity out of my mind? She was incredibly lucky her plan worked out—oh, right, her future-seeing pet would’ve ensured her success. Just like with Vanessa, I appreciated Deen’s actions, which was why I decided to act extra nice for a while.

Others might say this was just the manipulative nature of my kind—being nice to useful people.

I disagree.

I was genuinely thankful and appreciative of everyone who saved my life, Deen and Vanessa. And, to some extent, Ramello too; I didn’t need saving in his case, but he did try to protect me with no regard to his own safety so it sort of counted. I was proud I was able to cultivate this trait of normal people. Like taking your car to regular maintenance or cleaning your house or buying a good antivirus software for your laptop.

I’m just taking care of my stuff.

Move along, people. Just being normal, nothing to see here.

“You know what?" I said. "I’m still alive after all of that…it’s not too bad.”

That’s nice to hear, Erind dear. SpookyErind flipped the bacon. She could just snap her fingers and conjure breakfast in a flash if she wanted, yet she chose to go through all these theatrics.

We were really the same. Bianca was like me too, with all of those nonsense interactions before getting to her point. My actions usually had so much padding to hide my true intentions that I was surprised my boobs didn’t appear bigger.

“You sound like my mother,” I said. “We look the same anyway, so you could be. And you’re older than me.”

Older? If you mean that I existed long before you did, then yeah. Before your world even. And I’ll exist long after you’re gone. But actual age…dunno about that. Don’t get me started with how time works.

“Oh.”

Since you said I sounded like your mother, how about you tell me about your new friend?

“Vanessa? She’s great, too bad she—”

Not her. Bianca. I saw you had fun talking with her. She transferred the bacon and eggs to a plate and carried it to me.

“Bianca? My friend? I wouldn’t go as far as saying that. It’s impossible to be friends with someone like her…like me. But I did enjoy chatting with her. It’s a different kind of experience interacting with someone like me.” I suddenly had a knife and fork in hand, unaware of how they got there. I sliced a small piece of bacon and ate it. It was very good, but there was something missing in the taste. “You’re not going to eat?”

You don’t even know what I eat. SpookyErind sat in front of me, propped her chin on the palm of her gauntlet, her elbow on the table. A huge smile was on her face. Tell me all about it. You don’t have anyone to share it with, might as well share it with me.

Was she telling me to entertain her? Sure. Not only did I want to keep her happy so she wouldn’t do anything bad to me, but she was right, I wanted to brag about my mental and verbal sparring with Bianca. Normally, I couldn’t tell anyone how I manipulated people, duh, but it was different when it came to SpookyErind. She was already in my head. “I guess I’ll start with the face I used. It was really easy to modify it for Bianca. I just went along with what she assumed: that my main goal was to protect Deen. I barely had to do anything since she did all the work.”

Is that so?

“It actually worked to my advantage that it was her assumption. I was able to maintain the upper hand. I bet she was thinking I didn’t want to use my power because Deen might get hurt if a fight ensued, which wasn’t true at all. Our conversation would’ve gone a different route if she knew she could just order Xazary to kill me before I could transform. I did all I could to sell her that story. Fifty percent discount on that item. Buy one take one. Just full-on mega sale. I even acted tough as if I didn’t care about Deen… I mean I would try to save her if possible because I’m the bestest friend ever, but not to my own detriment. So, I wasn’t really acting…I guess? Hmmm…I’m confused!” I giggled at the convoluted mess of my mind.

SpookyErind snickered along with me, her laughter inside my head was infectious. It was so funny that you didn’t look into her eyes.

“Oh that! Yeah. Even if I had a face on, my eyes are sort of empty if you pay really close attention to them. Most people don’t. I was afraid Bianca would realize we were the same if I tried to maintain eye contact. I wonder what she thought about that.”

Good job fooling her. I made that breakfast to congratulate you. Eat some more.

I finished a slice of bacon and started on the eggs to appease her. “It was easy because I know what she is. My actions confirmed her theory so her ego would prevent her from even considering I was trying to fool her. She was focused on thinking she had me. Kind of like a confirmation bias thing, but not really. I even threw her some crumbs to lead her on, feed into her belief she was unravelling me.

“Like how I reacted when she talked about my father. I did that so she wouldn’t think of threatening Mom but would instead try to get to me through my memories of Dad. Her tactics are really good against a normal person. Too bad she faced me. I did learn a lot though.”

Like what?

“Like one of the main weaknesses of my kind…or our kind since we’re the same.”

Meyoumeyoumeyou.

“We’re so wired to seek recognition, rewards, confirmation of our awesomeness that we often forget about risks. In those true crime documentaries Mom love so much, people say our kind wants to get caught. That’s not true. Who the fuck wants to get caught? But they do want to be recognized. It’s just because of sloppiness in seeking recognition that they’re finally arrested by authorities.

“Normal people are like that too…everyone wants recognition from others, but our kind even more so - recognition, not appreciation or admiration. I’m guilty of that sometimes, but it’s very enlightening to see it in action with Bianca. I wasn’t exactly interested how she knew about me; I’m sure I made a lot of mistakes in hiding my identity, this being my first time as a monster and all. But I knew she didn’t want to reveal how much information she had on me so I made it a game to extract as much as I could from her.

“I even made blatantly wrong guesses so she’d correct me. If she didn’t think she had the upper hand, I couldn’t have reeled her in that easily. Wait a minute…you’re doing it to me too.”

Doing what? She smiled innocently then took a sip from a glass of orange juice. I didn’t notice I also had a glass by my side. Magic orange juice. I’m not doing anything.

“You’re making me monologue too!” Both of us laughed, SpookyErind’s laughter in sync with mine in my own head.

Supplemental lessons. Orange juice cheers! She raised her glass. I clinked mine with hers. Are you going to help her with her plan?

“I’ll tag along for sure, but I don’t trust her. Lifestyle coach? Who does she think she’s fooling? Our kind don’t want anyone telling us what to do. She wants to keep me around, that I’m sure of. But why? I think she’s just telling me half-truths. That’s a habit of mine too.”

You don’t trust her yet you’ll help her?

After finishing the egg whites, I plopped the whole egg yolk in my mouth. I chewed it slowly before answering, formulating how to best get my thoughts across without angering SpookyErind. “I heard something interesting from Bianca,” I said. “She said there’s a group of people who can prevent an Adumbrae taking over their minds through sheer willpower alone while retaining their supernatural abilities.” SpookyErind tilted her head to the side. “I’m not saying I want to shoo you away. I didn’t mean that.”

But that’s what it sounds like. She pouted. You don’t want me around anymore?

“Don’t be sad! I'm thinking of making this into a game. It's going to be fun, I promise.”

A game?

“Yeah, I’ll try to gain control of my body through whatever means I can find. That’s why I’m teaming up with Bianca. I’m exploring all avenues."

You're not going to try with just willpower?

She didn't say her usual line that she wasn't going to try to control my body because we were the same. She was seriously considering this. "Honestly, I'm not sure I could do that. I don't even know if I can do what Bianca thinks I could. It's not going to be entertaining with just me -"

I think that already sounds fun.

"But!" I hastily added. "But you're going to have more fun watching me interact with different groups. The group Bianca was talking about, if we can find them. There's Dario's group, the mysterious Professor backing them up, the Adumbrae in Division Proxy, BID agents...It's going to be better than any reality TV show my world has to offer.”

Okaaay. That’s on your part. How would that be a game to me?

“Tell me what you want to add so that it’s fair.” This was a very dangerous gamble. Normally, I should've stacked the rules in my favor; it was insane to give the other party the chance to add rules. But I couldn’t do that with SpookyErind because… she could read my mind. I couldn’t trick her with this.

Instead, I was indirectly telling her I was going to entertain her in return for giving me a chance to take control of my body, which was why I let her add in rules. Perhaps the only 'trick', if it could even be considered one, that I used was to suggest I try every method I could find in the hopes that she'd suggest I try it with only my willpower. I calmly sipped my drink, or as calmly as one could while trying to bargain with an interdimensional being who was trying to take over my body.

I don’t have anything to add.

I almost choked on my orange juice in surprise.

You just have fun with your game. I’ll cheer you on.

“Really?”

But… She stood up and went behind my seat. I don’t want my precious Erind to die. You’re doing well so far compared to the last one.

The last one? I wasn’t surprised if she possessed someone else before me. Did that person get killed by a Corebring? Or did SpookyErind do something bad to her? I didn’t speak and just went on eating.

You’ll face many powerful enemies in your game. You know that, right?

I nodded.

I don’t think the first face you borrowed will be enough. It's too restrictive, too limited. She placed her hands on my shoulders. You need more power. Different kinds of power.

I looked back at her. “What power?”

Her gauntlet glowed as golden liquid rose out of the white gem in the middle of her palm. I’m offering you this. The golden liquid slowly formed the shape of a mask. It was the face of a mannequin, silver chrome in color, with a weird symbol on its forehead. You’re going to need more faces in the future. How about this one next?

“Are you going to give that to me?”

I would if I wanted to, but I can't. You need to help me out first. It’s not easy to send this over to your world. I need power from your end. I need you to consume.

She didn’t need to tell me what I needed to consume because I already knew. I was right. She was the reason I had the unexplained urge to consume Adumbrae. “You’re going to turn me into a Cocoon or something? Like the one I saw in the underground arena?”

That one? No, ewww! Fucking gross. I just want to help you.

“You’re telling me I need to consume Adumbrae to get that face?”

Your words, not mine. And you already started doing it.

She meant the second crystal growing on my palm. “And I’m going to get more power the more I consume?”

I just want to help you in your game. She closed her hand and the face vanished. She pumped her hands in the air and cheered. Go Erind! Woooo!

I started laughing as I realized why she didn't bother to add rules to my game. She was sure I was going to need her help in the future in achieving my goal of having complete control of my body while keeping the powers she bestowed upon me. I might be playing solitaire, but she was keeping some of the cards of the deck and was asking for other cards in exchange for them.

Essentially, there was no way I could win. I liked those odds. “Thank you very much for your help,” I said. “I look forward to getting that face in the future.”

Good girl, she said, planting a kiss on my cheeks, even worse than the kiss of Judas. I enjoyed this chat with you. Do entertain me. See you next time.

“You can count on it. Good—”

“—bye…”

She was gone.

And I was back in the living room with Deen sleeping on my lap.

Beep. Beep. Beep. I reached for my phone on the coffee table while making sure not to wake up Deen. ‘February 2, 2020, 6:50 a.m., Sunrise, La Esperanza City, California’, came my daily alert.

Sunlight was only starting to push back the darkness outside. Waking birds chirped. Wind rustled the leaves of the trees surrounding Deen’s pool. The smell of peanut butter from a small dried splotch stuck on the side of my mouth. I licked it—I’m gross, I know—confirming from the taste it was indeed peanut butter.

This was the real world.

Real sofa, real pillows, the TV, the potted plants. That driftwood side cabinet looked real, as well as the bronze lamp on top of it, and the eyeball beside it too. The books seemed real, the curtains—eyeball!

I jumped to my feet and picked up the coffee table beside the sofa, raising it above my head as a weapon.

“Wha-what’s going on?” Deen groggily said, waking because I suddenly moved away.

“Deen, it’s nothing.” I placed the table back where it belonged before she could fully wake up. “There’s just…uh…” The eyeball wasn’t there anymore. Was I imagining things? It looked like one of Vanessa’s eyeball familiars. I walked over to the side cabinet and moved the lamp to check where it could’ve gone.

“Erind! You’re alive!” She jumped on me while I was rummaging through the cabinet’s drawers.

She felt almost weightless, which confused me until I remembered that I had super strength. I dropped to the floor maybe a second too late, but I hoped she didn’t notice it. “Yeah! I’m alive,” I said. We both laughed as we rolled across the floor. “Didn’t Bianca tell you I was safe?”

Deen hugged me tightly. “She did. But I wasn’t sure whether to believe it or not.” She pulled me up. “Sorry for jumping on you.” She exhaled, shaking her hands like they were cold. “Phew! I’m just so happy you’re safe. I hope the others are safe too.”

“There was still no signal when I checked my phone a moment ago.” I wasn’t sure if they were able to get far away before the BID agents self-destructed. They're experienced enough not to get caught by the police. “I’m sure they can take care of themselves.”

Deen dabbed her eyes with her shirt.

“Are you okay?”

“It’s just so overwhelming, you know? Everything we went through.”

“I’m sure what you went through was way worse than mine. I was just hiding with Bianca’s crew.” I awkwardly stood while Deen sobbed. Should I hug her? Don’t want to. We hugged enough already. “If it’ll make you feel better, how about you tell me what happened?”

“I’ll make breakfast while we chat.” She hopped happily to the kitchen. Weird mood swing.

“Uh, I’m not hung—” My stomach rumbled. Didn’t I eat? That bitch SpookyErind fed me fake food! Before following Deen, I checked the cabinet one last time. I probably just missed Vanessa; I wasn’t going to see her again, so it was natural to miss her. Good thing I kept her diamond bracelet as remembrance.

“Erind!” Deen yelled from the kitchen. “What do you want to eat?”

“Bacon and eggs,” I called back. I needed a big breakfast to start the first day of the game between me and SpookyErind.

This is going to be fun!