I’m surprised to see that the Methodist Church isn’t completely deserted by the time we arrive there. It seems as though the final few Chatty Cathys are still finding their way out, as there are a couple of middle-aged ladies hovering around the church entrance still.

I lead Zoe past the church and to the picnic tables, where she takes a seat. I go over to the trees and say, in a clear but not too loud voice, “Hey Ted. It’s us.”

He doesn’t appear immediately, so I just make my way back over to where Zoe is sitting. She looks a little apprehensive. While I’ve already explained the basics of the Metaverse and introduced her to Ted, this’ll be her first time really travelling through it with us.

“You don’t think something’s happened to him?” Zoe asks.

“Nah, he’s probably just finishing off a beetle or something.”

Zoe is back to her lip-chewing and twitching, and she only seems to be getting more nervous as we go. I sit down next to her and put an arm around her, which seems to help.

Sure enough, Ted emerges from the greenery about a minute later. I grab him and set him on the table, as usual.

“While we’re waiting for those other two to get here, I’ll fill you in,” I say to him. “Recent events have necessitated that we take actions against this one’s parents before they do anything foolish. The problem is, we weren’t able to find any Palace or anything that’s likely to indicate they have a presence there. I think it’d be smart to stop by the house and look around more closely, however. Do you know anything about how to affect targets without the use of a Palace? I swear Lucy mentioned once that was possible.”

Ted growls a little. “That’s a question you’ll have to ask her, then. I sure as hell haven’t ever done such a thing.”

“I appreciate your honesty, Ted. The other matter of business is, based on our experience with the last Palace, I think it’s best if we get Zoe to awaken her Persona before we make the final move. I believe you said before that it required feeling a powerful emotion; can we intentionally evoke that?”

Zoe gives me an odd grin. “Well, if that’s all it takes, that’ll be easy. Just start asking me questions about my upbringing, and I’ll probably start crying again.”

I’m not sure whether to laugh or not, so I just sort of clear my throat awkwardly.

“It’s more than just that,” Ted explains. “Not only does it require a strong emotion, but it also usually involves a clear and present danger to the one who’s being awakened. In addition, the awakening is an experience which comes from deep in the soul of a person. It should ideally represent some sort of turning point in that person’s life.”

“Damn, nothing can ever be easy, can it?” I curse in response.

There is an awkward pause. Zoe continues to look nervous for a while, and then I hear her take a large breath and asks, “Ashley… you’re sure this isn’t witchcraft, right?” Her eyes briefly flit to Ted, and then back to me.

“I assure you it ain’t, lassie,” Ted responds for me, causing Zoe to jump slightly. “I was sent here by the archangel, St. Michael.”

“Wow, really?” Zoe asks, her eyes glowing. “And what did He send you to do?”

“To find the one that He marked as His embassy,” Ted explains, nodding to me.

“Wow! That makes me feel a lot better about this.” Zoe says, smiling at him. Although I’m personally kind of amazed at how easily she believed him. It’s a rather strange story, all things considered. Like, now that he’s found me, what is he doing? Just following me wherever I go? He never really explained that part.

Before I can ask, however, I hear a car nearby and turn my head to see that Anja and Nova have, at last, arrived. As they exit Anja’s car, they’re loudly talking and laughing about something. The Chatty Cathys end up walking past them while finally leaving, and based on the contemptuous glares being tossed their way, what Anja and Nova are talking about must be either obscene, or involving the use of a lot of swear words. Or both. Probably both.

As they are approaching, I hear Nova say, “And then first the chick is like, ‘Hey, it’s been a whole thirty seconds since we last looked at our lemon tree!’” This must have been hilarious in context because both of them burst into laughter at this. Zoe giggles too, even though I’m certain she doesn’t get it any more than I do.

“Thank you two for finally joining us,” I chide them as they get near us.

“That’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard!” Anja manages to reply through giggles. “Send me the link after this. I won’t believe this until I see it.”

The two take their seats, and I simply stare at them as they get the last of their laughs out of their system.

“Alright… what’s up, Ashley?” Anja asks after a moment.

Without further ado, I whisk us into the red and purple hell.

Zoe held it together pretty well, considering that this is her first time in here for a significant period of time. For now, she’s just hanging back any time we run into an enemy, and today we managed to battle our way over to her house without too much trouble. This had the unfortunate side effect of not allowing any chance for her Persona to awaken, though.

We arrive at her house, and as expected, nothing appears to be out of the ordinary here. That said, we decide that it is worth a quick look around.

“Nice place you got here,” Anja says to Zoe as we step through the doorway.

It’s true, though it’s a bit harder to tell in the current conditions. The house looks clean, comfortable, and inviting. Normally, everything in the house, from the rugs to the curtains to the paint on the walls, would be matched in color in a way that is just so satisfying. Whatever other faults they have, Zoe’s family are great interior decorators.

Anja and Nova immediately start wandering around looking for anything out of the ordinary, but Zoe pensively looks around her own living room for a moment.

“You okay?” I ask her.

“Yeah… I’m okay. It’s just kind of weird seeing my own house like…” she trails off.

“I know what you mean. How do you think I felt when I first got dragged into this world?”

She blinks in a surprised way. I get the impression that I misjudged what she was getting at.

“Hey! I found something weeeird in here!” Anja’s voice calls from the other room. Zoe and I turn and go the direction of her voice, which leads into the master bedroom.

It’s immediately evident what Anja is talking about. Under the wall across from the bed, there’s a strange purple sludge that seems to be oozing in from under the walls.

“Wow, that’s gross,” I comment. “Ted, you ever see anything like this?”

No response. I look around, and only just then notice that he’s not in the room with us. “Uhh… Where is he?”

“I don’t know,” Anja replies. “I meant what I said earlier. He’s so small, I honestly usually forget he’s even here!”

“What, you like having someone in the group who’s actually shorter than you so you can pick on them?” I tease her.

For this, I get a warning look from her, but before she can defend herself, Nova and Ted stumble into the room after us. When Nova sees the sludge, he just stops in the place and stares at it with wide eyes. It’s almost a little bit comical.

“Ashley wanted to know if you’ve seen anything like this before,” Zoe says to Ted.

“Yep. Reminds me of the summer of ’65 when my sink got backed up. Got cruddy water all over the kitchen.”

Huh. I think that’s the first time I’ve heard him tell a joke. I guess maybe he’s coming out of his shell a little. Oh my god, that was awful. His shell. That’s something that Anja would say on purpose.

“Uh… how old are you, anyway?” Anja asks him. Then, suddenly her voice gets quieter. “Ted, are you… a boomer?”

Before Ted can answer, Nova suddenly puts an arm out, indicating that she should shut it, and then walks up to the sludge puddle, intently staring at it still. Then, he extends a single index finger. “I’ve figured it out,” he says. “This looks exactly like one of those pools in Shadow the Hedgehog.”

I don’t think anything could’ve prepared me for hearing that sentence.

“Wait… what are you saying?” Anja asks him. Then, she snaps her fingers, seemingly having a realization. “Oh… I get it. Ted- can you roll yourself into a ball, by any chance?”

Nova, however, shakes his head. “No, that won’t work. Shadow could only do that because he had Black Arms DNA.”

“Okay, how about both of you shut the fuck up,” I tell them, having enough of the pointless conversation.

Nova glares at me, firing up. “Bitch, I’m trying to make a point here! I’m saying… I bet that this comes from somewhere. And that means that it also leads to somewhere.”

…Okay, I suppose that’s worth considering.

“Let’s go outside and see, then,” I say.

We do so, exiting the house and going around the side. While doing so, I start thinking about how strange this all is. The church becoming some weird organ, which not even Lucy could explain… and now this? Somehow, the two seem connected. We arrive, and sure enough, one of the veins that are scattered through this world goes right into the bottom of the wall where the puddle was.

“Look! I was right!” Nova declares. “Come on, let’s follow it and see where it goes!”

“Wait… that may not be necessary,” I interrupt. “I have… a hypothesis.”

“Let’s hear it!” Anja says.

“I’ve always thought that these weird… things in this world looked like blood vessels, or veins,” I explain. "And when we stopped by the Baptist church, it looked like an organ. And even the first time I went there, it seemed like there were a lot more veins there.”

Anja’s eyes widen. “Oh, I think I get what you’re saying. It’s like these are all… leading to the church. Or at least, some of them are.”

“Yes. And so, if I’m correct, there’s an easier way of finding out where they lead than following this vein halfway across town,” I suggest. “How about we check the houses of some others who are within the church, and see if there is anything in those that is similar?”

“Uh, sure.” Anja agrees. “I’ll let you lead the way…”

“Wait a sec,” Nova interjects. “Wouldn’t one of these be in your house, if that’s the case? Didn’t your parents just get shit canned a couple weeks ago?”

“I don’t think so,” I say. “Knowing how my parents are.”

“What do you mean by that?” Anja asks curiously.

“It’s a bit difficult to explain, but I’ll try,” I say. “My parents… aren’t the type to put too much trust in institutions. They’re always complaining about this organization or that one being run incompetently. It doesn’t matter if it’s a corporation, or the government, or the political parties… or, indeed, churches. I’m betting that they already had some complaints about our church before ripping off the bandage, but were just choosing to take the good with the bad until the bad got to be too much to ignore.”

“Hmph. That explains a lot about you, honestly,” Anja says darkly. “We are all a reflection of our parents, after all.”

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

“Anyways… I’ll let you lead the way to the nearest Baptist churchgoer’s house, then,” Anja suggests, trying to steer the conversation back on topic, even though she’s the one who got it off topic to begin with.

I look at Zoe. “I’m going to need your help for this one. You know I’ve never been much of a socialite.”

Zoe stares at me for a second, seemingly not expecting to be addressed. But then, she says, “Um… yeah, I can help with that. Let’s check Diana’s house, it’s only a couple of blocks away.”

“Diana, huh?” Anja comments. “Isn’t she the one who called me a slut?”

“I wasn’t there, but probably,” I reply. “She usually doesn’t get that vulgar, you should feel flattered.”

“The data points we gathered support my hypothesis,” I tell Zoe. We’re walking back towards our own street, Anja and Nova having already gone home. “Diana’s house had one. So did Terra’s. Anja’s didn’t. Neither did Yonca’s. Of course hers wouldn’t have one, she’s Muslim. Mine didn’t have one.”

“So, if all of those are leading to our church, what does that mean?” Zoe asks.

“I’m not completely sure, but I think we’re onto something big. I’m going to run this all past Lucy tonight and see what she thinks. Until then, we…”

I am interrupted mid-sentence by my phone ringing. It’s Mom.

“Hey Mom. What’s up?” I ask.

“Hey Ashley. Where are you and Zoe right now?”

“We were just walking around the neighborhood. Why?”

“Can you get back here as soon as you can? The Sheriff is here, and he wants to talk to her.”

“We’re literally about to get back home, Mom. Two minutes. See you soon.” I hang up. “C’mon Zoe. We’re needed.”

“Did she say that… the Sheriff is there?” She asks, looking frightened.

“Yeah, but don’t worry. He just wants to talk.” This doesn’t really do anything to calm her, though.

Anyways, we get back to my house a minute later. Sure enough, when we walk back in the front door, I can see a gruff, middleweight, middle-aged man in a police uniform in the living room.

“Let me guess. The blonde one’s Zoe?” He says, his baritone voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Um… sir?” Zoe says in a squeaky voice. “You’re not here to take me away… are you?”

“Well, that depends. Come into the other room with me. I need you to answer a few questions."

He sidles past us and into the door frame leading to Zoe’s room. I give Zoe a quick hug before she follows after him, pale as a ghost and biting her lip so hard that I’m a little worried she’s going to make it bloody.

I look over at my parents, sitting in their usual chairs. Dad is looking at the newspaper as if it had insulted him, and Mom is leaning far back in her chair with her head down and her eyes closed. They don’t seem worried, but they definitely look annoyed.

“So, still too cowardly to come get her themselves?” I ask them, taking a seat on the couch.

“For the time being, yes,” Dad answers. “If you want to know my two cents, I say that wasting the time of police officers is not a very patriotic thing to do. As if those folks weren’t hypocritical enough.”

I nod in agreement. There’s nothing to do for a while except sit there and twiddle my thumbs.

After a thankfully short few minutes, the door to Zoe’s room opens again, and Zoe quickly walks into the living room, appearing clearly rattled, and proceeding to sit on the couch right next to me, so close that our sides are touching.

“All right, good news folks!” The Sheriff says in a false cheery voice, swaggering into the room himself. “It looks like there’s no funny business going on here. You’re off the hook. And you-” He makes direct eye contact with Zoe- “Kindly tell your folks that the police force has better ways to spend their damn time than cleaning up their problems for them.”

Zoe nods curtly, even though I know for a fact that she has no intention of telling them any such thing.

“Thank you, Officer,” Mom says, sitting back up in her chair. “Do you need anything else from us today?”

“Nope. I hope I don’t see you again,” he says bluntly. And with that, he exits out through the front door, stopping to smoke a cigarette on his way out.