“I’m behind you.”

“Where? I’m right here in front of Seco’s Café. I don’t see you.”

I put my phone down and called with a loud voice, “Here, Deen!” I waved my hand to get her attention.

She did a double-take when she finally spotted me. She hurried over, almost jogging. How she managed to do that wearing her favorite pencil skirt and insanely high heels without looking ridiculous, I didn’t know. I would’ve fallen on my butt if I tried the same. “Woah, I almost didn’t recognize you,” she said when she reached my table.

“Why? It’s just the same old me.” I removed a couple of paper bags on the chair beside me so she could sit there. I placed them on the floor, one between us and the other below the table.

“You tied your hair?”

“I rarely do this,” I said fluffing up my messy bun held together by a pencil. “I should charge a viewing fee.”

“I wasn’t aware you knew how to do that. First time I’ve seen you in a different hairstyle than just letting your wavy hair be free in the wild.”

“Does it look good?” I faced sideways so she could get a better view of my handiwork.

“Extremely cute. You look like a different person with your hair up.” Deen squinted her eyes, taking a closer look at my face.

“Uhhh, I guess I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“It is. You shouldn’t hide your cheeks behind the curtain of your hair. They’re really pinchable. You should do this style more often.”

“Too much of a hassle.”

“With your teeth and high cheeks, you look like an actual rabbit.”

“Hey, don’t actually pinch me,” I said, pushing her hands away from my face. “That feels weird. You know I don’t like people touching me.”

Deen looked down, puzzled. “And are those the same clothes you wore when you left for school?”

“No, mom,” I said with a grin.

“Cut it out.” She frowned. “Stop calling me mom. I’m just a few months older than you.”

“I was just feeling so stressed I decided to buy some clothes to cheer myself up. I usually shop online, but I decided to try out, you know, actually shopping at a physical store to understand what’s the big deal.”

“Were you finally enlightened in the ways of shopping at the mall?”

“Not really. I still prefer online. No crowds, no lines, and I can lay on my bed while browsing selections. Although, I’m happy I got to try the clothes before buying them. That, and getting the clothes I bought immediately.”

“I thought you were miss-adult-that-understood-delayed-gratification.”

I tried to mix the whipped cream on the top of my frappe by stirring it back and forth with my straw, but it stubbornly refused my efforts. I just scooped it up using the straw and licked it. I then stuck out my tongue at Deen’s judgmental face.

She rolled her eyes at me. “Are these the clothes you bought?” she asked, peeking in the paper bag near her. “I like the warm pastel colors.”

I intentionally placed that paper bag there so Deen could see I was telling the truth…partially. Beneath my new clothes were the clothes I wore earlier—I made a mental note to find a way to get rid of those. And underneath them were plain shirts and pants, those cheap, brandless stuff at the department store that people used for t-shirt printing, inconspicuous clothes compared to my normal wardrobe. I was sure Deen wasn’t going to rummage beyond my old clothes.

Inside the other paper bag, the one I shoved under the table, were two pairs of cheap sneakers, gotta be careful of my footprints; a generic reversible hoodie; and a couple of anti-dust cloth face masks. All of these in case I needed to sneak around in the future. I got the idea to get these after I escaped the police chasing me. It was fortunate there were many other people buying face masks because of the contaminated fallout scare, so I didn’t look out of place buying them too.

“What’s this?”

“Hmm?” I wondered if I left any suspicious evidence in the paper bag.

Deen held up a crumpled paper. “This.” She smoothened it out on the table. It was the flyer from the guy inviting me to worship the recently awakened High Overseer. Deen made a face after reading it. “Oh god, these groups are emerging out of their holes again, huh?”

“Someone on the sidewalk gave those out,” I said nonchalantly. Fuck, I forgot about that stupid piece of paper. I just threw it in the bag after taking it out from my pocket. I hoped Deen wouldn’t be able to figure out where I was earlier with just this.

“You’re not going to join them, are you?”

“No, of course not. I don’t even know what that’s about.”

“I’m all for freedom of religion, even though I don’t agree with what most people believe in. Bill of Rights, and such. As law students, we should know that. But this is a different thing. The Corebrings themselves don’t endorse all of these religious sects worshipping them in one way or another. In fact, they discourage them. You know what they do?”

“Do what? What’re you talking about?”

“If someone becomes a Corebring Initiate, they disappear, maybe a staged death or the like, so people wouldn’t know about them and start a religion for them. The main purpose for all the secrecy is so that no one would harm their families. Preventing people from starting these stupid religions, even looting the old homes of Corebrings for something to worship, is a close second.”

“Ah, you mean that. I heard they also do it for the normal people that work at the Hive,” I said. Like what happened to my dad. Was he still alive inside the Hive doing science stuff? What would he think if he knew his daughter became their enemy? “But those are just rumors.”

“Rumors or not, the Corebring Hive doesn’t officially support these religions.”

“Don’t worry. I was just curious so I accepted the flyer but then forgot about it.”

“It’s just so annoying,” Deen said with exasperation. “I have an aunt who’s into these religions. Or can we consider them cults? She’s going to bother us all again and invite us to worship High Overseer Isolde. She believes High Overseers are demigods.”

“They practically are, I suppose.”

“But it doesn’t mean we should worship them.”

“Uh, so this High Overseer.” I took the flyer from Deen. “This Isolde. I haven’t heard of her before. She can’t be a new one because there’s no new High Overseer from the time they all went asleep like a decade ago.”

“She’s one of the first Corebrings. Fought at the start of the Adumbrae invasion. Also went to sleep just a couple of years after the invasion was under control. I’m not sure why they woke her up now.”

I whistled in amazement. “She must be pretty powerful. When did she wake up?”

“Just this morning. Some of the Adumbrae from Madagascar are already going to mainland Africa, either flying or walking on the ocean floor, breaking through the blockade. What’s worse is that they still haven’t found the Purple Bloom, so it’s nonstop Adumbrae production.”

“I see. I haven’t watched the news since last Sunday. Since it’s all about the…explosion. I got tired of it.”

“I also haven’t checked the news, but this is all over social media…oh, right, you don’t like social media.”

That was Rule #16. I shouldn’t make a face online because I couldn’t tailor that to a specific person. A face was the truth for each person I made them for. That simply wouldn’t work over the internet. Who was I making it for?

Also, there'd be a permanent record of any face I left on the internet which might clash with any future face I would make. Thus, incorporated into each face was a built-in feature that my persona didn’t like using social media. There was more to it, but those were the two main parts of Rule #16.

“At least get the messenger app of Snippet so we can communicate faster,” Deen insisted.

“Here we go again,” I said. I sipped my drink while rolling my eyes.

Indeed, she went on about the benefits of using Snippet instead of just texting. “The message is instantaneous. You can send pics, send videos, you can call, or a video call if needed.”

“Are you paid to advertise them or something?”

“There’s also location sharing so we can easily find you in case of emergency.”

“But I need to download the Snipper app to get the messenger. I don’t want that.”

“You don’t have to use it. Just don't post anything if you don't want to. But it never hurts to check what’s going on. For example, I knew that…” She looked around to see if someone was near enough to eavesdrop. She leaned closer to me and whispered, “...that a mutant from the arena is still alive because people were sharing videos of it on Snippet.”

I gasped. “I thought you said they all died!”

Deen shushed me. “Quiet down. I just assumed it died. Are you done here? You can take your drink to my car so we can safely talk.”

A compact but sleek SUV, the light blue Genvoi was Deen’s newest car. This wasn’t purchased with the insurance proceeds from the car she lost in the Sander’s fire. She mentioned she was still processing it. A day after her car was torched, she just decided to buy a new one. If I had her resources, it would be super-duper easy to hide I was no longer human. I could just live the rest of my life on a remote island in the Caribbean.

“Where’s the vid?”

“Wait,” Deen said, scrolling through her phone. “Here, look. I muted it because it’s just people screaming.”

She showed me footage recorded by someone with a very unsteady hand. The guy was eating inside a restaurant by the window. It appeared he hid below the window and just raised his camera overhead so the video wasn’t centered correctly, but we could make out what was happening.

Snake mutant buddy crawled out of a manhole. Or it was trying to. It made the hole bigger by digging and smashing through the pavement with its many hands. People were running away. A couple of police officers shot at the mutant while it was stuck. It freed itself and caught someone, then the video ended.

“There are many videos like this posted on Snippet,” Deen said. “Social media is usually faster than the news. Another reason to download Snippet. Here’s another video.” This time, it was when the mutant was outside Serenade Bazaar. When it flipped the police car, the guy recording decided to bolt.

“Is it still roaming around?”

“No. The news said it was already killed inside Serenade Bazaar.”

“How?” I asked innocently.

“There’s still no official statement about the entire thing.”

“Isn’t this good for us? The BID is here. They may be the ones to finally put an end to the 2Ms criminal operations.”

Deen’s brows furrowed. “I’m not so sure. I don’t think the BID will be able to catch the 2Ms. They've been operating for a long time, and they have clients and connections in high places. They’re not going to stop now. Also, remember our ultimate enemy is the Adumbrae hiding in the BID itself? The worrying matter is that this will surely call the attention of the Corebrings.”

“You’re right. This is probably the biggest Adumbrae related incident in our country for the past… like year? Year and a half? I can’t recall when that touristy mountain village in Colorado disappeared because of an Adumbrae.”

“As of now, the Hive is focused on the Madagascar infection…”

“But they may still send people over to check what’s up,” I said, finishing her thought. They may be already here, I added in my mind, remembering the mysterious spear that burst out of the snake mutant.

“Exactly. This is the one thing we wanted to avoid.” She sighed deeply, her eyes tightly shut. “If only we could contact the others so we know what to do.”

“It’s best we don’t. We already agreed we keep a low profile. We really shouldn’t draw suspicion to ourselves with the BID in town.”

“Right…”

“I was thinking, and I hope you don’t get angry with this,” I said hesitantly. Deen shot me a questioning glance. “I was thinking,” I continued, this time with more confidence, “it might be best I go back to my condo.”

“What?!” she almost screamed.

“Don’t go ballistic on me now,” I said.

“We’re sticking together because it’s dangerous to be alone. Now you want to go back to living on your own? What if you’re attacked? What if you’re kidnapped again? What if—”

“Deen!” I frowned at her. “Let me explain first.”

She puffed herself up, ready to argue some more, but I held firm and stared her down. After a few seconds of an intense staring match, she deflated. “Sorry…I was just…”

“I know you want to keep me safe,” I said gently. “And I’m grateful for that. Just hear me out here. Isn’t it highly suspicious I’m living together with you? Your sister doesn’t care one bit, but what about others?”

“Huh? You’re worried about what people would think? This is 2020, no one cares about—”

“What are you talking about?” Then I realized what was going on inside her head. “Oh my gosh!” I said in between fits of laughter. “I’m not saying people might think we’re a couple and I’m living with you.” The fuck, I almost said out loud. “Okay, enough of that. I’m saying that if someone is looking into us, they’d think it’s weird we’re living together just out of the blue.”

“Why would anyone investigate us?”

“We're witnesses to Kelsey’s apparent suicide. It may seem like an isolated case, but there's a chance it'll crop up in BID's investigations. This whole thing is huge, they’ll turn over every rock to find anything. Remember that Myra said Kelsey has a terminal disease that was suddenly cured or something? There'll be records of it somewhere. Who knows if that will show up in their investigations? And then they’ll find out the possible Adumbrae disappeared without a trace, and the two witnesses were suddenly living together like they’re hiding something.”

“That’s unlikely—”

“How about Bianca? There’s not going to be much in the way of records of who was in the club that night because everything was destroyed, but it’s public knowledge Bianca was there. She even had a shooting for her show just before the raid happened. She's a person of interest to the BID. They’ll trace everything, where she’s been, the people she came in contact with. And that includes us.”

“I’m sure she can take care of herself. One test and they’ll find out she’s just a human—”

“Wouldn’t it be suspicious that the two people present when a possible Adumbrae disappeared also met with Bianca who was there at the club on the night of the raid?”

“I don’t know, Erind. That seems to be a stretch.”

Deen was right. It was a stretch. Maybe someone with extremely big brains in the BID could dig this up and figure out all the clues, but they already had a lot of work hunting the 2Ms that they wouldn’t have any manpower to spare chasing obscure leads. The safest choice for me was to stay with Deen.

But I wanted to go back to living alone. If I was on my own, I could try hunting in the tunnels below the city, find mutants or Adumbrae still in hiding.

And eat them.

Wait just a second, you idiot, I chastised myself. I was getting too cocky. This was the pitfall of criminals—they get caught when they enjoy committing crimes too much and slip up. I wasn’t saying I was going to be a criminal. Okay, I'm already a criminal. Normal people suffered from hubris too, but I had an easier time getting blinded by it.

I should watch myself.

But it was just so much fun transforming and fighting with a powerful body…

Which was why I should go back to my condo so I could practice fighting and controlling my powers. I could also research the various powers of Adumbrae and Corebring. I only knew about the legal side of things because never in a million years did I expect I would end up fighting Adumbrae in a physical sense, and maybe even Corebrings.

And if I really wanted to destroy things and feel the rush of power, I could go to one of the abandoned buildings surrounding our hideout. No one cared about those. I already bought clothes for sneaky jaunts.

If only Deen would agree that I should go back to living on my own.

Time to pull out the big guns. “I’m just worried…” I said, trailing my words. “I was just thinking of all the possible ways to lessen the chance of us getting investigated.”

“I understand—"

“You don’t have any supply of the blue vial, right? That was what I’m worried about. You said it yourself. In Bianca’s case, one test, and they’ll find out she’s human. That’s a pass on execution without trial. She could then just weave a fake story she didn’t know anything about the illegal activities at the club, maybe pay off some people, have an army of lawyers to protect her.

"But how about in your case? We don’t have anything to use if you get tested by the BID. It’s not like you can refuse them. And I can’t do anything to help you. The only thing I could do is to distance myself to make the both of us less suspicious.”

Deen didn’t reply. She stared unblinking at the dashboard, deep in thought. The reason I gave was still bullshit. That wasn’t the point. “I think,” she said, “I think…you may be right. Not the part about us getting investigated. I maintain there’s a low possibility of that happening. The part you’ll be with me, someone who’s not a human. By being together, I’m putting you in danger.”

“That’s not what I’m saying!” It was exactly what I intended her to think.

“I know you didn’t mean it. But I realized it’s more dangerous for you to be with me at this time. If someone discovers I’m not a human, you’ll be implicated too because you’re living with me. Anyone would conclude that you knew all along about my secret.”

“But you said there’s a low chance of the investigation reaching us.”

“Yes, but there’s still a chance. I can see someone following the breadcrumbs you mentioned earlier, follow them straight to us. At least, if we’re separate, you could deny knowing I’m not human. You won’t get charged with aiding or abetting an Adumbrae. And no doubt the BID will assume I'm Adumbrae. Finding out I'm a fake Corebring might actually be worse.”

“I’m not going to leave you on your own if the BID comes for you,” I said. The good ol’ switcheroo. We now exchanged positions in the argument. I loved doing this. It used to be my most favorite thing to do. But now, my most favorite activity was transforming and using my powers.

She wasn’t listening to me anymore. “The 2Ms…I don’t think they’ll try to kidnap you again after what happened. They didn’t do anything after we rescued you from the docks. Why would they do anything now with the city on high alert and the BID crawling everywhere?” She nodded. “It’s best if you return to your condo.”

“Deen, I really didn’t mean I wanted us to separate so I would be safe in case—”

“Erind, I know that. I know you’re not a selfish person. I know you’re a true friend.” She smiled at me. “I also know that given the current circumstances, it's better if we don't stick together.”

“Deen,” I stammered, feigning I was on the verge of tears.

“Don’t get all emotional now,” she stared, poking my side. “Lighten up. Just promise me one thing.”

“What is that?”

She grinned mischievously. “Promise me you’ll download Snippet.”

I scrunched my nose. “I promise.”