“How is she in trouble? Did you run into someone bad?” I ask the three of them.

“It's... she's... I-i don't know!” Jason pants. “I must have been hallucinating, I don’t really know what happened.”

“We met a strong looking man, and Zoe started asking him questions about where Charlie was,” Kat explains. “Then I think we had some shared hallucination with, like, this place from an old horror movie, with like a red sky and a big mansion?”

“Shit!” I say. They got taken to the Metaverse! “Is Zoe still there?”

Kat is opening her mouth to answer, but she’s interrupted by the sound of a child screaming near us. A young sandy-haired boy runs towards us, away from the main office.

“CHARLIE!” Jason shouts. “You’re okay!”

Jason runs to Charlie and wraps his arms around the boy. “Breathe in deep… you’re okay. You’re okay, buddy.”

“He… he got out,” Collin says weakly, still sniffling. “So where’s Zoe?”

Now that he’s stopped, I notice that Charlie is carrying a cell phone. “Hey, wait a minute. Does Zoe still have her phone?” I ask.

“No,” Collin says, holding out a different one that I recognize as Zoe’s. “She gave it to us…”

“This is bad. This is very bad,” I say. I take one deep breath, and say, “Everyone, listen up. All of you need to get somewhere safe, right now. Take this little boy home, and then go to Jason or Charlotte's apartments.”

“I don't think this boy's home is safe for him right now, based on what we saw,” Kat says. “They were just gonna drag him away, and his ma didn't even seem worried.”

“We'll bring him back to my place then,” Jason suggests.

Collin just shakes his head. “Anja, what the fuck was any of that?”

“I'm sorry, I don't have time to explain right now,” I tell them. “Just get somewhere safe, now. Me and the others are going to help Zoe.”

“You heard her, Collin. Let's get out of here!” Kat says. The three and Charlie quickly half-walk, half-jog to Jason’s apartment. I get out my phone to let the others know what’s going on.

Ted and I are left to lay limply in the back of the truck for a while, before finally, the effects of the shock seem to wear off. Well, partially. I can move my arms and legs again, but when I try to blast apart the walls with my nuclear magic attacks, nothing happens. I try summoning my shotgun, thinking maybe I could blast down the door with it, but again, nothing happens. None of the usual motions I make to cause those seem to work.

Terror is starting to set in as I realize how hopeless the situation we’re in is. I slide back down to the floor, cradling my legs and starting to rock back and forth. I see Ted trying some of the same things I did: making hand motions like he wants to blast the doors down with fire, only to growl in disappointment when it doesn’t work.

“What did they do to us, Ted?” I ask, my voice coming out as a whimper. “It's like our powers are all gone…”

“I dunno what kind of infernal weaponry they got there!” Ted responds, slamming his hand into the wall.

“It’s like they just… turned off our Personas,” I say. I look down at my dress; the royal outfit remains, but it’s clearly not doing me any good now. I feel a strange sense of discontent looking at it now.

“Must've been expecting us,” Ted comments. “‘We found our meddlers,’ he said. So they came prepared for some Persona users.”

I put my face in my hands. “I’m so stupid! I thought we’d have no trouble taking them! But I didn’t know anything. And now we’re stuck here! I’ve ruined everything!”

“You saved the boy. That's somethin’ worth being proud of,'' Ted says earnestly.

I breathe a sigh, and lift my head back up. “Well... I guess that’s true. But I'm scared, Ted. How are the others going to know how to find us? I left behind my only form of contact.”

“We won't wait on them,” he growls. “We'll get through these cowards first chance we get. That's a promise.”

I lean my head back against the wall. “I don’t see how we’re going to do that, Ted. Still… I'm glad that you're here with me.”

“You’re never really alone, y’know,” Ted tells me.

“I know,” I say. Feeling the need to calm myself, I start petting his head. He must feel sorry for me, because he lets me with no protest. Or maybe he just secretly loves it…

I wonder what she’s doing in my room. I don’t hear anything. Does she have a ghost sensor? Or wait, no, a mind reading machine. She’s going to use it on my mom through the walls. Oooh, I shouldn’t look, but I’m so curious. I won’t look, though.

Okay, never mind, I can’t resist. I’ll just take a quick peak…

“Holy shit!” I say.

“What’s wrong?” Ruth asks.

“She’s just… gone! It’s empty!”

“Yeah that's supposed to happen,” Nova says nonchalantly. “Don't worry about it.”

“Whoah,” I say. I wonder where she went? Maybe she’s astral projecting herself or something. But wait, no, then her body would still be there. She can teleport?

“You’ll get used to it,” Kevin says. “I think… this is only my second time doing this, so I’m actually not the best person to ask.”

“Well, I'm glad you chose to come along today.” Ruth says to him. “You weren't sure whether to continue this or not, right?”

“Yeah,” Kevin admits. “But the more I think about it, I don't think I could live with myself if someone was in trouble and I didn't help out.”

“Thank you so much,” I say to Kevin, feeling warm at his words. “It really touches my heart that you came here just to help me…”

“I mean, uh, I didn’t know you yet,” he says awkwardly. “But yeah. I’m happy to help you out!” He smiles at me encouragingly, and I feel like I’m about to melt, right here and now, into pudding on the floor. “Uh… are you okay?” he asks after a moment.

“I’m… great,” I say. I quickly turn away and pretend to, uh, find the, thing, on the wall. Yeah.

His voice starts speaking again. “So, while we're waiting on Ashley, I'm curious. You're transgender, right?”

Oh. My good mood from a moment ago immediately collapses into anxiety. “Well… you see… yes,” I answer reluctantly.

“I’m not saying it as a bad thing,” he says quickly. “But I’ve never met anyone like you before. I’ve only ever heard vague stories.”

“You know what the term means, right?” Ruth’s voice asks.

“I know the basics,” he says. “It's basically when you're born as a man or woman but you'd rather be the other, right? So you get surgery and stuff to make it look like you're that.”

“I mean, basically?” Nova interjects. “Doesn't have to be surgery, you can just use these hormone things, and you wear clothes like the gender you want, and before long nobody can even tell you were ever anything else.”

“Yeah, it’s called ‘passing’,” I say, turning back towards the others, starting to feel excited. “Most new people I've met in the past couple months just talk to me like I’m a girl. It’s the best feeling!”

“So, do you not want people to know you're transgender?” Kevin asks, scratching his chin.

“I don't mind people knowing, unless they're gonna be hateful about it,” I explain. “It's more that I want people to see me as a girl. Like, not just a weird guy crossdressing.”

“So it’s like… hmm. Well, I can’t say I understand how that feels,” Kevin says thoughtfully. “But I'll respect it.”

“Most people won't know how it feels,” Ruth says. “Only about 1 in 200 people are trans.” [Although tbh in this story it’s more like 1 in 20.]

“Yeah isn't it kinda like, you just hate being the gender you started as and your body looks wrong, so you have to change it?” Nova says.

“That’s part of it,” I say. “There’s also a part of it which is social, too. Like, I don't want people to assume I like boy things. I don't wanna go lift weights and then drink beer while watching sports, I want to be running around the house in an apron cooking and cleaning!”

“That’s… a very simplistic way of putting it,” Ruth says. “The social and personality traits, interests, and manners of expression we assign to gender are varied. You can identify with some of them, all of them, none of them… What is considered ‘masculine’ versus ‘feminine’ is almost entirely arbitrary and depends on the culture you’re from. For example, nothing wrong with wanting to be a housewife, but… I’m a girl, and I can’t really relate to that.”

“Maybe I’m a girl,” Nova says, picking at his cheek in a way which makes the skin around his eyes get stretched out (it looks really funny.) “I was never interested in sports. Then again, that’s just because I’m a gamer. I guess that’s mostly a guy thing. Okay, never mind. Unless…”

Nova’s rambling is interrupted by the door to my room flying open and nearly slamming straight into my ass. I jump aside with a yelp, and see that Ashley is back, and she’s visibly pissed as fuck.

“Whoah, someone's more pissy than usual.” Nova says.

“Did you find anything out?” Kevin asks, somewhat cautiously.

“Oh yeah I did,” Ashley says in sort of a low growl. “Get Zoe, Anja and Ted in here. I know what we're going to do.”

“Anja went to go look for Zoe, they should be back soon,” Nova explains.

“Why'd she have to go looking for them?” Ashley asks aggressively.

“Uh… I... don't know?” Nova responds, looking disoriented.

“Has Zoe said anything in the group chat?” Ashley says.

“...No?” Nova says.

Without another word, Ashley storms out of the apartment.

There’s a moment of awkward silence, before Nova puts both hands on his cheeks and starts rubbing them up and down. “What the fuck? What are we doing? I’m so confused.”

“Ashley clearly has some plan,” Ruth says. “We’ll just have to wait for everyone to be gathered, I guess.”

“In the meantime… question,” I say. “Okay, I remember that Zoe is Collin’s sister, but who exactly is Ted?”

Before I can start drafting a message to the others, I notice Ashley walking towards me. Prepare for impact…

“There you are,” she says immediately. “Where's Zoe?”

“Well, about that. You need to promise you're going to hold it together, because we have a situation.”

She glares at me threateningly. “Where is she. Tell me now.”

I sigh. “They ran into a shady character, and Zoe got stuck on the other side. We're gonna have to go get her out.”

Ashley clenches her fists. “God fucking damn it. What the fuck are you doing standing around, then?”

“Oh, nothing important,” I say sarcastically. “Just ensuring the safety of the small child who was about to be captured and sold into human trafficking!”

“Well then, let's get in there, then. Right now.”

“Yeah, no shit,” I say. “We’ll enter by the main office. That’s where she originally went under.”

Entering the Metaverse, we discover what the palace looks like from the inside. Up close, the mansion is surrounded by a dark red sky that is constantly storming. Gotta say, I kinda dig it. Of all the palaces we’ve gone to, this is easily the coolest one aesthetically.

We quickly look around the courtyard, and see a figure. Unfortunately, it’s not Zoe. It’s a man in a dark cloak, who is limping back towards the mansion from the gate at the end. Ashley and I quickly run to him, weapons raised.

He raises his hands in surrender, chuckling. “Looking for your friend?” he asks.

“Tell us where she is, now!” Ashley commands.

“You’re here too late. They took her away,” he explains, making my blood run cold. “Her and that fire breathing rat thing.”

“Where did they go?” Ashley asks. But then, she drops her sword, seeming to realize something. “Actually, never mind. I already know the answer.”

“What? You do?” I ask, amazed.

“Yes. A little place in Austin called Play Hard Gentleman’s Club,” Ashley says confidently.

“You know too much already,” the cloaked man says, starting to raise his weapon. I knock him back onto his butt with a gust of wind, and he hits the ground with a grunt and stays down.

“Pathetic,” Ashley says. “Anyways. I’m sure we can find the address on Google Maps. Let’s go burn it to the ground.”

“Yes, I agree,” I say. “But first. Take a minute to get a grip on yourself, okay? We need to think clearly about this.”

“I'll get a grip on myself when we get her back,” Ashley growls.

“No. You need to do it now. Not later,” I insist. I put my hands on her shoulders. “You can't shut off. If we're going to do this you need to be here.”

“I don’t want to hear this, Anja,” she says, knocking my hands off of her.

“Ashley, when push comes to shove, you always lose control of yourself,” I tell her. “You’re not pulling a Leroy and messing us up. We n-”

“No. Shut the fuck up, Anja!” she snaps at me. Her eyes seem to burn with fury; her body language is threatening. Her hands are balled into fists again, as if ready to knock me out of the way. “I don’t care about anything right now. Not even my own safety. I will do anything it takes to get her back, and that’s that.”

“That’s the problem!” I scold her. “You can’t lose your head. We have to work together. Do you think that I don’t care about her?”

“Zoe is everything to me,” Ashley states plainly. “If I lose her, my life won't be worth living anyway.”

And that’s when I lose it too. In a moment, my frustration at her turns into horrible, overwhelming hurt. I ask, “So I don't mean anything to you, then?”

“What?” She snarls at me. “What are you…”

“So what? If we fail, then you're just going to kill yourself? Is that it?” I shout at her. “And then what? I’ll tell you what. I'll have lost two friends in one day. Thanks a lot, you selfish bitch!” I run out of steam and dissolve into crying, breaking down completely.

Ashley seems dumbstruck for a long moment. After a while, she starts stammering, “Wait... Anja... Come on, that's…”

But then, she trails off. Her face suddenly goes blank, and she’s fixated on something behind me. Still sniffling, I turn around to see…

There’s another figure. It’s a dark-skinned woman wearing a Hawaiian t-shirt. She is walking up to us in a leisurely strut, as if…

As if she owns the place.

She stops a few yards in front of Ashley and I. She looks around with a serene smile, as if admiring the scenery. “Ah, such a lovely day at the manor today,” she comments. “Oh, and here comes my dearest pet.”

I duck involuntarily as something black flies straight over our heads. Ms. Patel sticks her arm out, and a large, black raven lands on her wrist. It perches, sits, and does nothing more. It makes no sound, and only stares at us with its fiery eyes.

“Who the fuck are you?” Ashley asks bluntly.

The lady ignores her, and looks over at the caped man laying on the ground, rolling her eyes. “Couldn’t even handle a few children, Victor? I have to do just about everything around here, I swear.”

“Lady Patel,” the man cries out pleadingly. “Please, I…”

“Oh, just zip it already,” she chasistes him. Then, she turns back to Ashley and I with a smile. “Well, aren't you two cute? Looking for your blonde friend?”

“You’re the landlady here,” I say, the shock of her appearance grounding me again. “And the owner of this palace.”

“Mmhmm!” she says.

Ashley takes a deep breath, and then says dryly, “We’re getting her back. Stay out of our way.”

“I’m not getting in your way,” she says defensively. “In fact, I think I can help you out.”

“What?” Ashley says incredulously.

“I can get her back for you. No need to expose yourselves. No need to fight,” she says. “I have a considerable amount of sway over how things go, you see.”

“My lady,” the man named Victor grunts. “You can’t-”

“I said ZIP IT!” screeches Ms. Patel, before turning back to us, smiling again as if nothing interrupted.

“Yeah, right,” I say, feeling skeptical. “And let me guess, there’s a huge catch. No thank you.”

“I think you’ll find my terms quite reasonable, actually,” she says, seemingly sincere. “But this is no place to discuss such things. How about the three of us ladies step into my office?”

“Yeah, I’m sure it’s not a huge trap,” Ashley says sarcastically. “Just get out of our way.”

“Oh, honey, that’s the thing,” Ms. Patel says with fake sympathy. “If you’re worried about traps… you’re already in one. You think you’re going to be able to take the place by storm, just like that? You think an organization such as this won’t have the highest security around? And I do mean security set up in both worlds.”

Ashley and I glance at each other. Security in both worlds?

Ms. Patel smiles widely, seeming very satisfied. “There is a lot you don’t know about what’s going on. You two can talk it over if you wish. I’ll be waiting in my office.”

She lifts her arms, and the raven takes off from her wrist and flies back towards the mansion. She struts over to the man named Victor, pulls out her phone, and both of them vanish, leaving only Ashley and I.