I watch Drew as he packs up the tents, feeling a strange sort of reluctance at the thought of leaving this place. The feeling is reminiscent of coming home from a long but enjoyable holiday. Once he is done, I breathe deeply, trying to expel the feeling. It works, to an extent.

Our training yesterday wasn’t anything special. I got trashed by the entire team once again. I had decided against using lode during the training, telling myself that I am saving it as some sort of trump card. But, the truth is, after giving it a bit of thought, I got somewhat embarrassed at the thought of using it. I mean, telekinesis can achieve the same effect as lode, so why create a separate noer for it? It has its uses, I know, but I still can’t shake the feeling that it's pointless using it in a fight when I can use telekinesis.

“Okay,” Drew says, interrupting my thoughts. “Let’s go!”

He raises his hand, quickly tracing a noer in the air. Once he is done, the air around the noer begins to shiver and bend, and then, the view of the cliff changes, merging with what looks like a very familiar room.

“Okay Ian, go first.”

I nod, as I realize the room I am looking at. My bedroom. I walk forward until I get to the impromptu portal. I hesitate for a brief moment, before taking the final step into the portal. The world blurs around me and for a moment all goes dark. The next moment my feet hits the familiar wooden floor of my bedroom. I stand, looking around for a bit as I feel a bit of nostalgia. After two weeks, I am finally back in my wonderful, wonderful room. I walk to where I left my phone to charge and turn it on. I stare at my phone’s screen almost unbelieving. I had been gone for only six hours and some minutes.

After some seconds, I drop the phone and begin to unpack. A quarter of an hour later I am done. After making sure everything is back to the way it was before I left, I walk out of the room. As I head to the sitting room, I can’t help looking around with a bit of wonder. It seems as if I have been gone from home for years instead of just two weeks. Everything looks strangely new and yet the same.

In the living room, I spot Emily sitting on a couch staring blankly at her phone’s blank screen.

“What’s wrong?”

She flinches, turning rapidly to look at me, shock written all over her. For some seconds she stares at me, her mouth opening and closing like a fish. “What?” I ask suddenly feeling self-conscious. “Did anything happen?”

She stares at me for a second more before what I say registers in her brain. She shakes her head. “W-what have you been doing?”

“Sleeping.” I lie. If I had left the house she would have known so I couldn’t use that as a lie. The best lie I could think of therefore had to involve me doing something at home. Therefore, I naturally chose to sleep.

She gives me a strange look for a moment before shaking her head. “You sure can sleep a lot.”

“Is anything wrong?” I ask again as her expression calms.

She shakes her head.

“Are you sure?” I ask again.

“Ian, I’m fine,” she says again. I am not sure if I believe her but I decide to stop asking in the end.

“Well, I’m going back to my room,” I say and turn around.

“To do what? Sleep?”

“Yup,” I say, not joking. After the amount of training I had done the last two weeks, the thought of just spending the rest of the day sleeping sounds really good to me. I feel Emily’s gaze remain on me as I walk back to my room. In my room, I waste no time flopping on my bed, my eyes sliding shut. The thought of the massive laundry I would have to do after this pops up, but I push it away, preferring to think about that problem later.

* * * * * *

Emily

I stare at the phone in my hand as feelings of confusion, relief, and anger roil within me. I had been thinking of calling my mom, and maybe the police when he had walked into the living room, looking like he hadn’t been missing for the last six or so hours.

Sleeping. He said he was sleeping. What does he think I am? Daft? Only an idiot would believe such an obvious lie. For a moment I consider calling my mom anyway, and telling her everything that happened today. But, in the end, I decide not to do so. It's not like she would even believe me. I can just imagine how it would sound to her:

Hey mom, I have something to tell you. Earlier today I went to Ian’s room and found his clothes missing. I tried calling him but I found his phone in his room. He stayed missing for around seven hours before suddenly walking into the living room and telling me he had been sleeping.

Who would believe such a bonkers story? Still, there’s a feeling of unease within me. What if something like this happens again, but this time he doesn’t come back? I need to find out what is going on with him. For some time now his behavior has been just a bit off. It first started with him binge-reading practically everything we would learn in high school. After that, he suddenly got a job, without even mentioning that he was looking for or even needed one. After that, he began spending awkward amounts of time in his room, almost as if he was avoiding us. There is also the day I walked into his room to check if he was home and he just freaked out. But it was what followed after that that really stands out. Silence. Ever since that day his room has always been deathly silent. Sometimes I even wonder if he is even living there. And then today…

I take a deep breath and make up my mind. No matter what happens, I must find out whatever is going on with him. Else, if something bad happens to him one day, I will never forgive myself. As I make that decision, a weight seems to lift from my heart, making me breathe easier. I then begin to think: where do I start? How do I figure out what exactly is going on? What do I do?