The next morning, Eniola walked from the girls’ shared room, down into the hallway and the airy space of the living room. Wendy was in the kitchen, presumably cooking, and Iris and Lucia were both playing Rise and Shadows.

“Good morning!” they both chirped at a half-awake Eniola.

“Good morning,” she mumbled, stretching into a yawn, then flopped down onto the couch. Iris won a victory over Lucia, who was grumbling in defeat.

But Eniola looked around and noticed it was quite empty.“Where are the boys?”

“They went out,” Lucia quickly before side-hugging them both. “It’s a girls’ day today!”

“What do we do?” Eniola said. “We have a couple of hours until the arena opens.”

“I want to explore Los Angeles,” Iris gushed. “We haven’t been anywhere but the dorms and the arena.”

“So let’s do it!” Lucia exclaimed. So, after a hefty breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast, they got on their bikes and began cruising through the city. They eventually pulled up to the iconic Universal Studios, observing the floating globe rotating the park’s name.

They rode the huge rides and ate everything they could, as they tore through the park. When they were finally done, they collapsed outside the park on a bench. Suddenly, the world fizzed in and out of reality again. Eniola jumped.

“What’s wrong?” Iris asked.

“Nothing,” Eniola lied.

Lucia squinted at her. “I don’t believe you. In fact, you kind of have been acting off these past few days. Randomly spacing out and jumping in surprise. Are you okay?”

Eniola sighed nervously, biting down on her lip. “I’ve just been nervous and a bit distracted these past few days. That’s all.”

“It seems like this is a bigger problem,” Iris said. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Eniola swallowed back a gulp. Eniola didn’t want to freak them out about the weird hallucinations she had imagined over the past couple of days, even though it ate her in a gut feeling. She was so confused. She didn’t want them to be confused too.

“I’m fine. Anyways we’re here for five more days,” Eniola said. “What else should we do to make memories?”

“Before you leave,” Iris added glumly. A wave of sadness washed over Eniola and she stared at the ground. Being here in Los Angeles almost made her forget that summer was soon ending, and her family would move to New York. It was like an angry sloth against the brightness of her time in Los Angeles.

“I forgot about that,” Lucia said faintly. “We were having such a good time.”

“It’s not over yet,” Iris hoped. “We still have a month before you have to move.”

“But what happens after that?” Eniola asked. “What happens to Rogue? We just gained a new teammate and now we have to go back to four again.”

“You could just tell your parents you play SCOPE!” Lucia burst out. “You love Rogue. I love having you on Rogue. I see the way you play and the passion you play with. Are you going to let that get taken away from you because you’re afraid of being honest with your parents?”

“Eniola, we have a chance,” Iris added on. “We won yesterday and we have a chance of winning this thing. We need you. I need you.”

“But what am I going to do?” Eniola sighed. “I can’t just betray my parents like that. Who knows what could happen?”

“If your parents kick you out, you could stay with me,” Lucia offered. “We could be roomies like we’ve always wanted! And Macy likes you because you keep me in check. It works out perfectly.”

“Or you could come with me and my moms,” Iris suggested. “They’ll treat you like royalty. They would honestly love another child even though they already have eight of them.”

“My older brother offered me a place to stay in LA,” Eniola admitted. “But thanks for the offers. “But first comes the hard part,” Eniola said. “Coming clean.” She looked around, the sculptured greenery around her in the park. “I’ve been lying to them the entire time, and they’re going to be steaming with anger to know that I’ve been sneaking out and playing SCOPE. They even banned me from gaming!”

Iris looked thoughtful. “What if they see you play?”

“They would freak out,” Eniola replied, frustrated at the lack of progress. Iris laughed, and looked up to the sky, her bright blue hair shiny in the sunlight.

“I still want you to stay,” Iris said.

“Me too,” Lucia said. “Not only for you but for me. These championships could do a lot for me.” Eniola already knew why. Lucia helped out Macy a lot since they lived on their own. But the way Lucia seemed right now, with a glint of hopefulness in her eyes.

“What’s on your mind?” Eniola asked.

A smile crept onto Lucia’s face. “My parents are going to be able to come back to the US next year.”

Eniola’s jaw hung open in surprise, before she hugged Lucia, smiling widely. “That’s amazing! Oh, my gosh! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I just found out last night,” Lucia explained, smiling. Iris was beaming too in a smile brighter than the sun. Euphoria was rushing through both of them. Lucia would have her parents back! “But we can start sponsoring them now. With my cut of the prize money, it will be more than enough to bring both of them back early.”

Eniola hugged again, but it was short. “I’m happy for you! Your parents are going to be back soon.”

“Yeah,” Lucia said, then her bright gaze dropped. “But I’m still upset at them for lying to me and my sister. They stole those identities to come in here. I know it was for us and so that they could be here, but the fact that they kept it hidden from us still doesn’t make me feel good.”

Eniola sat back in silence. “I’m sure it’s going to be okay, Lucia. It will.”

They locked eyes for a moment. “Okay,” Lucia croaked.

“Does Theo know?” Iris asked.

“I haven’t told him yet,” Lucia revealed. “But I probably should give him time to prepare to meet my parents, especially my dad.”

“Hopefully, he isn’t too spooked,” Eniola said, slightly laughing.

“Yeah,” Iris said. “And I just realized soon I’m going to be the only one in Rogue when Eniola stays.”

“Single?” Eniola exclaimed. “Iris, I’m single too. Who’s the other couple?”

Iris exchanged a knowing glance with Lucia and then looked back at her. “You and Jay, obviously. You guys are oozing romance.”

“Please never say oozing again,” Eniola then grimaced. “And no, I don’t like Jay!”

“Yes you do,” Lucia insisted. “You guys are so obvious. Flirting in the middle of games!”

Eniola was shaking with denial. “Just because I talk to him, doesn’t make it flirting.” Eniola raised her hands in the air. “And I barely know him. He just joined!”

“Fine, if you insist,” Iris said. “What did you guys talk about when I left?”

Eniola wanted to tell them, but she didn’t just want to go telling everyone about his mom so casually. “He was asking for extra SCOPE pointers and tips. That’s all.”

Iris shrugged. “If you say so.”

“Hey, shorty,” Lucia joked in a deep voice, sending her and Iris into giggles. Eniola huffed.

They all sat down back again, before breaking into giggles. Eniola spoke up, “I’m going to miss this.”

“I just hope there won’t be anything to miss,” Lucia spoke up again. “I just want us to stay together for as long as we can.”

“Me too,” Iris replied. Eniola refocused onto the sky and sighed again, but this time in euphoria.

🎮

When they arrived back at the dorm, Theo and Jay were already bingeing some anime series Eniola couldn’t be bothered to learn about. Eniola was about to leave for her room to put some of her stuff away when Jay called out to her.

“Yeah?” she asked, as he jogged to her.

“While we were out today, I found something,” Jay began, pulling something out of his pocket. Eniola gasped as she took it out into her hand. It was a miniature version of Orla, the Rise of Shadows avatar Eniola always played.

“Where did you find this?” she asked.

“We hit this gamer shop downtown and got some cool stuff,” Jay said. “This was in the free bin, and I thought about you because I know because you like to play Orla a lot.” He scratched his head, and she swore she saw his cheeks go a little pink.

“Thanks,” Eniola said, smiling. “I guess you also want something back.”

“You don’t need to,” he chuckled before going serious again. “It’s also kind of an apology gift for what happened. I’m trying to be a team player, but it’s hard adjusting. I just hope that you don’t resent me for it. I know this can’t compensate, but it’s worth a shot.”

Eniola stepped forward hesitantly, before biting down on her lip before she wrapped her arms around him in a hug. He jolted in surprise, before moving his hands around her too. “I like it. And apology accepted.”

“Thanks,” Jay replied, as they hugged a little more before pulling away, flustered at the physical touch. She liked the way she easily slipped out of his arms and the inhale of his scent. Goosebumps rose over her arms, but not in a bad way, and instead, she wanted to stay here and not run away and rub her skin off.

Eniola then felt her phone vibrate and took it out and took it out of her pocket. It was a text to a virtual parlour from someone labelled unknown.

Take it. I need to talk to you.

Who was this person? Eniola raised an eyebrow at the anonymous person before she blocked the number. Not a second later it vibrated again and the same link came up in a message.

TAKE IT! It’s urgent. Don’t you dare try to block me again.

Eniola gulped, feeling the capital letters yell in her head as she further stared it down with weary eyes. Who was this person who wanted her to go there? Eniola rarely went into virtual parlours because their reputation was quite sketchy and shady if you didn’t know the people there. And the tone of this made her go rigid.

“What’s that?” Jay asked, peering over her shoulder. She quickly pressed the phone into her chest.

“It’s from my parents,” Eniola lied. “I’ll be right back.” She then disappeared back into her shared bedroom with the girls and found her SCOPelenses sitting on her bed.

Eniola opened the link and then her SCOPElenses pinged meaning they had paired. Eniola reached for the same program she had on when they went to see an ALTSCOPE game so that it scrambled her profile. They might already know who she was, but it was for extra protection because again virtual parlours.

Eniola sighed finally, before putting on the SCOPElenses and clicking on the link.

The room landscape whirled into a dark vastness of black, and Eniola felt a chill run over her skin. It was like two days ago again. She expected to find some people doing improper things, but the whole ominousness didn’t calm her at all. Then the landscape began whirling again, rising over her like she was in the eye of a tornado. She looked around in fearful marvel.

When it stopped, Eniola found herself in the middle of a narrow hallway of a house, with grey walls and white floors, that looked friendly and homely, and not ominous like the pool of black. It felt like Eniola had been here before like a memory was trying to chase her. She peered at the walls again and found that they weren’t bare. They were filled with photos and when Eniola peered closer, she gasped. These weren’t just any photos.

Eniola recognized her family in all of these as she slowly walked down, staring in fascinated horror. She recognized her parents’ wedding photos, and the one they had when they first came to the states. Eniola and Kol were in them too, the photos documenting them through various ages with childish smiles on them.

There was also another person, and Eniola gasped again. Olu was there, in lots of these photos, by himself, with Eniola and Kol, and the whole family.

She looked back to herself, and the goosebumps she felt rose against her real body. She swallowed dryly and kept back, her heart hammering. How did some stranger conjure up a virtual parlour of her house? Her eyes roamed down the hallway and she recognized the entrance into her family’s main room. She quickly spun around on her heel, looking around the place, blinking repeatedly to make sure this wasn’t a twisted dream.

Eniola rapidly pressed her hand over the signout button on the virtual view, but a bright red error message kept flashing over her vision, as her breathing became heavy and heaving in her body and she looked around, but could only see a blurry view. What was going on?

“Where will this girl take you?” she heard a familiar yell coming from the end of the hallway. What came after that was blurry audio. That wasn’t the only thing she heard, as muffled footsteps loomed behind her. She swiftly turned back, before she recoiled in horror. Another Eniola was in front of her, but this time she was in braids and was much shorter and younger. Another person was behind her, and it was Kol, but he was shorter than her and much younger. They were both hunched over and slowly walked.

Memories, all at once came chasing after Eniola as they moved closer and her jaw proceeded to continue to drop. They move even closer before they walk through Eniola suddenly like she’s a phantom. Eniola swiftly turned back again, before seeing them crouch through the door opening and hovered.

Then it hit her.

This was a memory. This was the day Olu got disowned.

Eniola reached for her head, her real hair, and bunched it through her hands and squeezed them, shaking her head and keeping her eyes trained onto the floor. This wasn’t just a projection of her house. This was a memory.

“This isn’t happening,” Eniola whispered, voice quavering. “This isn’t happening!”

“I love her, mom!” Olu responded. “You can’t just reject her because of one trivial thing!”

“It is not trivial!” her mom yelled back. “She cannot have children.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Olu said, quieter. “I love May. And I’m sure you would too if you actually gave her a chance.”

“Do you love May or this family?” her dad asked. “We are making a decision that’s the best for you, but you don’t want to listen.”

She heard Olu sigh. “That isn’t fair, dad. I love both of you. You can’t just make me choose when you haven’t even been hearing me out.”

“Do you love May or this family?” her dad repeated.

Olu inhaled sharply. “If you aren’t willing to accept her, then I love May.”

“Get out!” her dad yelled. “You are no longer part of this family!” It sounded close.

Eniola looked forward to them. In the next swift moments, Olu was running upstairs before he emerged with a huge backpack and faint tears in his eyes.

“Olu,” Kol called, walking towards him. “Where are you going?”

“Don’t worry about me,” he said, quickly bending down to them. “I’ll be fine. Okay. Love you guys.”

“Love you too,” the Eniola in the mind simulation said faintly, as his dad followed behind him before the door slid open and he walked out and wouldn’t come in for another three years. She stood there, limply like she did in the simulation watching the door as it might open again.

Then the landscape swirled, and then it stopped and Eniola found herself standing in the kitchen right where Olu stood, breath hitched. Now her dad’s finger was pointing at her accusatory. His mouth was moving harshly and Eniola couldn’t hear him, because her ears blurred him again until it was white noise.

All she could feel was the rejection, moving from him too. She tried to move, but she felt glued in place. Panic rose through her body as it was like digital ice seemed to freeze her body into one place before a scream tore through her. Finally, the simulation receded into pixels that trailed off, leaving Eniola in a dark void again.

“Who are you?” she screamed, but no one responded. Figures. A thin white line appeared with a resounding cracking noise. The cracking came again and again, and the jagged lines spread over the landscape until it looked like a spiderweb of broken glass. Then the entire simulation shattered like glass, the sound resounding and echoing, before Eniola was in her room again, the simulation overlaying it.

She snapped her SCOPElenses off before tossing them to her side, feeling her laboured breathing and her heart pounding so hard she thought her ribs would break. Her gaze finally stopped being blurry and the resounding white noise floated away from her ears. She flopped down onto the bed, as nervous sweat dampened her body.

Only one person could be behind this.

Paradox.