Crap, I really didn’t wanna think about this right now. Dammit. Breathe, Kara, breathe. Hoooo… I’ve been avoiding anything and everything regarding Jordan with very good reason. I’m not emotionally equipped to deal with this. It’s too depressing.

As sappy and pathetic as it sounds, he and I had a connection since we first met. Well, officially since the second time we met. I was born in Ashvale and lived here until I was almost five, and we met back then and were lil’ buddies. Supposedly. But I have no memory of that. Too young, I suppose. The spark happened when we moved back, and yeah. We have lots of chemistry, talking is super easy, and it seemed inevitable that we’d get together.

But it wasn’t meant to be. I know that. It doesn’t make it any easier. I held off at first because we were way too young. I wanted to be a kid, and I thought we’d move again within a year like we always did. We were never going to leave, but how could I know that at the time? We’d never stayed in one place for very long before. It made no sense to get that close to someone if it wasn’t going to last. You know? That was what I thought the problem was. Turns out we’d never even start. Because that wasn’t what the problem was.

The longer I stayed here the more I learned, realized, saw, knew. He’s a Shifter. I couldn’t tell at first because I didn’t know what the weird feeling was that I kept getting every time I went out in public. I thought it was a puberty thing at first. The teachers did say we’d have strange feelings. When I realized I was sensing Mutants… that’s when I realized we were inside an unmarked Bubble. That’s when I realized everything was wrong. Dangerous. Illegal. And that the guy I thought I was in love with was in on it. How could he not be? He’s one of them.

That was more than a year ago.

I understand why he couldn’t tell me. I do. Chayla as well. I get it. We’re all kids who have to do what the adults around us say. The media is full of cases where things involving Mutants go wrong. They have their own laws, and their citizens need to follow them. I know in my heart that their hearts are technically in the right place. As much as they can be. I know those two care about me, but that doesn’t make everything okay.

As for René, I don’t care about him being in on it. We had some fun times but there’s no depth. His Highness holds us commoners at arm’s length while breathing down our necks. Complicated guy. Should take up therapy. But it’s not my problem. I’m a little salty at most.

God, why is he still standing there? I can’t go anywhere like this, I’m trapped. Hm, he just took his phone out but only glanced at it for a second. Checking the time, then? Or he got a message. Either way he’s waiting for someone. Who? And why does it have to be here and now? Why do other people’s plans always have to interfere with mine? I hate this.

My so-called friends know I know the truth, and instead of helping me they’ve joined forces with the conspirators to convince me I’m crazy. The ‘interventions’ made that very clear. Maybe they think they are helping me by doing that. It’s obvious that knowing these things is risky business.

But I know there’s something deeper going on. I was little weirded out at the whole Bubble thing at first, but I didn’t care all that much in the beginning. Okay, so we’re in a non-existent illegal town. Alright whatever. It was annoying that, despite it being super obvious, no one would admit it, but whatever. Okay.

Then, three weeks ago, I started falling asleep and waking up inside a cougar.

Yeah. Nuts, right? We’ll get into that more later.

I was already certain things were fucked up before, but now a freaking cat is taking over my mind and body- or spirit? And I’m not sure about the body, I can’t confirm that yet, but still, whatever’s going to go down is happening and it’s happening now. By withholding information they’re inhibiting my ability to protect myself. Not only that but I simply have every right to know. If us coming here was a mistake, then throw us out. They have no right to keep us unlawfully confined.

What they’re doing is wrong, and whether they like it or not, whether they’re completely willing in this or not, Chayla and Jordan are a part of that. I can forgive, but I’d be stupid to forget it.

And how could I possibly date someone who’s letting me down? Someone who would rather have me think I’m crazy and start taking a bunch of meds I don’t need rather than fill me in? Why even put me on the spot like that in the first place? Like, oh we’re dating so now nothing from before matters, yip de doo. No. It was a dick move. I can’t even be friends with someone like that, much less date them. As unfortunate as it is, as compatible as we were, in the end it’s just impossible. And it’s his fucking fault.

Tsk. Guess it’s true what they say, young love never lasts. I’ll light a candle for us later.

Ah? Movement. Who’s he looking at? Screw off, this is my pillar, go find your own. Why are there so many people here today? Go on, keep it moving. There ya go, good job. Move along. Now I can see so who did he end up-

Uh…wait. That…

Just what the hell am I lookin’ at here? Is there a cosplay convention in town? Nah, even after ghosting her and blocking her on everything Chayla would have still found a way to tell me. So did someone spike my apple juice this morning? Scratch that, I woulda’ been seeing weird shit way before now.

But nothing other than drugs explains… all this. Oh! Maybe that guy is on drugs. Hah… nope, Jordan wouldn’t be meeting him then. He’s got a real thing about drugs. Won’t even take an aspirin. Unless he was lying about that too.

No, that’s not fair. The moment I start doubting everything is when I will truly lose my mind. I kinda need my mind.

This old fogey looks like a mash up between a Tibetan Monk and Merlin the Wizard of Yore. His white beard is, no joke it is touching the ground. How does he keep it so clean? No, that’s not the point. There is something really really off about this guy. It’s not the beard that’s the problem, it’s… everything else.

Shit, what- Gah. I think I’m going to throw up. Oh my god. I thought René and Jordan were fairly strong Shifters but this guy… oh my god. I shouldn’t have checked. Shit. My heart is going to explode what the hell is happening to me? Ow. Why are my eyes stinging? Is that sweat?

Bending over while somehow managing to remain behind my pillar I rub my sleeve roughly against my eyes. My sleeve comes away wet. I’m sweating bullets. That old man is dangerous. Like out of 10 this guy is a 77. That’s not even the half of it, just what is he wearing? And how is no one else noticing this?

Even if they’re all Shifters and have seen someone dressed like this for whatever reason before, somewhere else, it’s super noticeably out of place here. Humans instinctually notice stuff like that. Even if it’s not new, if it’s out of place they’ll at least spare a glance at it. No one is doing that. Something is wrong.

He’s wearing a loose, maroon-coloured cloak made with dense velvety fabric with lots of strange rune-like symbols sewed all over it in golden thread. There’s a thick golden rope coiled around his waist and a large hood covering his head and resting heavily on his shoulders. His face can’t be seen. Maybe that’s a good thing. Yes, I have a hunch that it’s a very good thing.

Who wears cloaks in this day and age? No one, that’s who.

Everything about this is strange. And if I’ve learned anything, strange means unsafe. Nothing like this has ever happened before. This city has always maintained the masquerade perfectly. Honestly, if I wasn’t a Sensitive, I might not have ever discovered the truth. Get it?

This kind of weirdo, Monk of the Round Table guy is so obviously out of place that it just doesn’t make sense. Why break the ruse now? Did they give it up because I’ve so clearly seen through everything? It’s been a while since that was made clear, though. And then why keep the charade going so desperately until now? Chayla and René were plainly still following the script just an hour ago. Were they not informed?

I take back what I said before, there is no way this isn’t connected to me somehow. Jordan is involved. Even if it’s just connected to the conspiracy in general, that conspiracy involves me. What is happening? Are they going after me? Was Chayla’s and René’s attempt earlier a ‘last chance’ of sorts?

Oh god, am I going to die here? No Shifter’s presence has ever affected me this way. This old monk is at an entirely different level. If he wanted to kill me what could I even do? I’m just a Normal person.

Wait a second. It might not be about me after all. What a fucking roller coaster, I wanna get off. My sweater is soaked.

The train got delayed three times. That’s not abnormal, though three is a little excessive. But I missed the bus I usually take by a lot. I wasn’t planning on taking it today, but there’s no way anyone else knew that. It’s not like I write down my ingenious plans and leave them lying around. Train delays probably can’t be foreseen by them. Even if they know this is my regular route, which I wouldn’t doubt they do, they wouldn’t expect me to be here right now.

This is about something else. Still no doubt conspiracy related. This could be a chance to dig deeper, find more players behind the scenes, I could-

No! What the fuck are you thinking, me! That’s suicide. I can’t.

But it’s such a good opportunity… I’ll never get a chance like this again. Neither of them have shown any indication that they know I’m here. They’re just yapping away about something that’s definitely not about me. Not only that, we’re in public right now. It’s reasonable to assume they will continue on among semi-populated streets for a least a few blocks.

Just a few blocks can’t hurt, right? I’ll follow from a distance and be careful. If they turn around and confront me, I’ll… hm, yes, that’ll work. I’ll put on my best pleasantly surprised face and say, ‘So it was you. I wasn’t sure so I didn’t want to call out.’ I know Jordan, I just happened to be here at the same time as they were. I saw him and wanted to say hi. What’s wrong with that? If they ask why I’m here, I tell the truth. ‘Just heading home from school, but I missed my bus because the train was delayed three times, can you believe it?’ It’s both easily believable and easily verifiable.

It’s close to 5 o’clock already, so I won’t chat long. I won’t even acknowledge the Evil Wizard. If his presence is brought up by them, I smile, introduce myself, and ask him if he plays Dungeons & Dragons. I’ll mention how my friend Chayla loves Cosplay and I’ll ask him where he found his costume. Giving people an easy-out of tricky situations puts them at ease and they lower their guard. And their malevolence.

If they turn into an unpopulated area before any confrontation occurs, I keep walking the main street, I don’t look their way, and I find a random store somewhere down the line and act like that was where I was going the whole time.

Yes, that’ll do. It’s not like I can be murdered in broad daylight. That would be ridiculous. Hahaha ha… am I really doing this?

Stop it, don’t be a coward. I won’t take any extra risks. I’ll follow this plan exactly. If I don’t witness anything of value, so be it. Walk away. Just keep walking. You follow your script, and they’ll follow theirs. Everyone leaves with all their limbs.

Fuck they’re moving. Okay here goes nothing. In addition to everything else I’ll keep my phone out, with a game app open. I’ll look up sporadically, just like your typical teenage kid, making sure I didn’t accidentally step into traffic while feeding my virtual cows and piggies. Yeah, there we go, deep cover. I should be a cop or something.

No wait, the feds are all on the take and all the po are corrupt.

Private detective it is, then.

…

Sigh…

This is so boring. How even? I’m following Merlin in the Modern Day, yet somehow my app game is more entertaining. We’ve been walking for more than five minutes and they haven’t said a single word to each other. Doing nothing but walk forwards like robots. Due to the distance, I wouldn’t be able to make out the words, but I can still tell they aren’t saying any.

That’s weird, right? They’re a group, traveling together somewhere, but not conversing. They were talking just fine earlier. Not to mention Jordan is keeping himself beside him, but a full step back, almost religiously.

Religious. Weird Monk. Huh, could he be some Holy Man for some Shifter Religion? I thought they didn’t have religions. Maybe they’re just not advertised. Or he’s walking like that cause it’s a respect-your-elders thing. But in that case what’s with the old man’s get-up?

Anyone we pass by is as clueless about his strange fashion sense as the people at December Park. There isn’t any parallel universe where that would make sense unless magic is involved. But in that case, why aren’t I affected?

There are only two options: 1, I’m immune somehow, despite the fact that Sapiens are known to be more susceptible to magic, with Sensitives like me having it even worse. Or 2, He is not affecting me, specifically, on purpose. Which would mean he knew about me from the very start, knows I’m here now, and they’re most likely keeping tight lipped deliberately.

Neither of those options are good things.

My act has been flawless so far. Even if they suspect me, so long as I don’t go off script there won’t be anything they can do about it. Well, nothing legal and smart to do in public. I’m just a normal, run of the mill teenager hitting up HMV after school. That’s the only relevant store I can think of in this direction. We’ve turned so many corners but thankfully we aren’t super far from where I live.

The Leighend area is right beside my Southclaire neighbourhood geographically, but the two regions couldn’t be more different. Leighend is older, and the buildings reflect that. They’re made in an older, early 20th century style with refurbishments and additions added over time, making some buildings look a little mismatched. It’s also the last zone in this area and direction that’s built in the valley proper.

The neighbourhood to the west, April Bridge, and my Southclaire neighbourhood have very modern looking buildings, and are built up the sides of the mountains. All the way to the top. My house is actually one of many built on a large plateau jutting out of one of them.

Yeah. Mountains.

I never did explain the strangeness of the town’s geography to you, did I? Surprisingly, the fact that Ashvale and Ashwood exist within an illegal pocket dimension is not the only odd thing about this place. The people who concocted this scheme chose a very awkward spot to place a city this huge. Of course, there’s a small chance this was originally a naturally occurring Bubble, can’t choose the location that way, even though Natural ones are rare nowadays. The wars weren’t very forgiving, and the other dimension hasn’t bounced back completely yet. But nevertheless, erecting a man-made Bubble would surely have been preferable either way?

You’ll understand better if I describe it a little. I won’t go too much into it, if you want to know more you can buy yourself a map. Make sure it’s a local map because we aren’t on any other ones. I’m not going to hold your hand through everything.

Ashvale, the city that doesn’t exist, is north of Jasper. I say it doesn’t exist because as far as anyone outside of town knows, it doesn’t. Go ahead. Type Ashvale into Google Maps right now. It’ll come up empty. Search for the city info on Google, Yelp, whatever, same thing. It’ll tell you that there is no city named Ashvale in Canada. We’re in Canada. It should be there.

But it’s not.

When Google says something’s up, something’s up.

Anyway, take the Yellowhead north of Jasper, eventual left onto Snaring Road, which will turn into Celestine Lake Road, you’ll reach Rock Lake - Solomon Creek Wildland Park, then head left and bob’s your uncle. Not mine, I haven’t seen that guy is years.

Seems pretty simple and normal, right? Other than this area showing up as being nothing but woodland on any digital or outside map, that is.

To be fair, there’s nothing much wrong on the eastern front, it’s nice and wide open, but the North, South, and most of the West are all blocked by a shit ton of mountains, because guess what? We’re in a massive valley that digs into the Canadian Rockies. Because who wouldn’t want to live almost completely encased by massive mountains on all sides with one dirt road out, dear Celestine, which has a nasty habit of being completely closed off and unusable between the months of November through May?

Sounds delightful, eh?

Sure. But good luck going to visit your Gran Gran to celebrate Yule or the Feast of Ostern. And hopefully you’re not in a long-distance relationship either, or your Saint Valentine’s Day is going to be pretty lonely.

So yeah, I guess I should take some comfort in the fact that for half the year everyone else is just as trapped as I am. But I don’t. I’m still mad about it.

Because the set up is ridiculous. Whoever planned this city out is a dumbass.

That’s enough geography class for now. I can’t get too stuck inside my head. If I make a mistake here that would be super bad. Like, ‘congrats you’re dead now’ bad.

Stop. Take a breath. You’re in control. Now breathe out. Hah…

I don’t think I have the right nerve strength for a private detective gig. It’s nice to dream though.

Oh? They said something to each other, and now their pace has picked up. Not excessively, but enough that I can notice, and most others wouldn’t. Most people do this unconsciously when they get near to their target location.

Let’s see where you’re going. Uh, why are they turning in there? I’m pretty sure that’s a dead-end. That’s weird. Okay let’s stop a minute and think. This could be a trap, right? I’ve walked this street before. That’s not even an alley, it’s just a small dip in between two connected buildings where they keep their massive trash bins. They wouldn’t be interested in that so why go in there?

Oooh, is there a secret door, maybe? Is that very likely, though? It’s much more likely to be an ambush, isn’t it? No, I don’t think Jordan would do that. But the way he seems to respect the old dude… I should just keep walking past.

Rather than an attack, this could be test. They noticed me so they’re checking my intentions. Yup, better keep walking then, before they get suspicious. Don’t even look in there. Stare at your phone and just keep walking.

Okay, I can do this, aaaand, start!

I tried so hard. I really did. I know I said not to look, and I didn’t really but I still peeked out of the corner of my eyes. I didn’t stop walking though, but it doesn’t seem to matter. They weren’t there. I know they walked in there. I know they didn’t walk back out. There aren’t any doors in that little space, just trash bins. And no people.

Where… did they go?

They disappeared. Vanished. Huh. He really was a wizard.

Uh oh. This is another one of those seen-too-much things, isn’t it? There is no way they’d want rando peeps knowing that they can vanish.

Okay. Then I saw nothing. Nada. Zero.

Caw! Caw! C-caw!

Holy Mother of Mercy FUCK.

Fucking raven bastards. And their stupid beady eyes. What the fuck.

I just about jumped out of my skin. Martyr’s Cross. That scared the shit out of me. Why are there so many ravens? And why are they all looking at me? Fuck off!

Maybe I will get murdered. Ah no, crows have murders, ravens have… what was it, this is gonna bug me… oh right. Ravens have conspiracies. How fitting. There’s some sort of meaning here I’m missing but there’s no way I’m sticking around long enough to figure it out. My trouble sensor’s ringing like a billion cow bells. I shouldn’t have seen what I saw. It’s gonna cause me problems down the line.

Nothing I can do about it now. Except get the fuck out of here. It’s 10 after 5. Cool. Let’s catch the bus 15 up ahead, go home, and never think about this ever again. If I don’t think about it, it didn’t happen.

Yeah, that’s a solid plan. I like that plan.

We’ll go with that.

But… just where did they disappear to?