From the perspective of the nearby security camera, it should have looked like the car had simply passed into the parking lot after turning the er. But from the perspective of Three and Five, things were very much different. As soon as they rouhe er, a swirling baterialised before them. An insidious sigil bras surface:

  ??

  “Right on cue,” Five mumbled beside her. The car sloroached the door, which swung open its gates to be them inwards. Three’s stomach tighteo a knot as she stared at the empty darkness swirling within.

  Perhaps notig her expression, Five spoke dispassionately from the side, “You’ve had two years to get used to His portals. No point pining now, girl.”

  Three’s only response was a hushed, “Shut up.”

  As the car ehree’s world subsided into pitch-bck emptiness. After several bated seds, small sparks of light began to gather around her vision. After even more time, intricate sentries and patterns of sparks began to form a myriad spiderweb that was inprehensible to the human brain. Disfort and discertion mired Three’s senses – it was as if a third party was carelessly rummaging through her mind. E, e, e.

  It felt like a lifetime until the pain subsided. Feeling the ge in surrounding atmospheric pressure, Three finally opened her tear-riddeo find herself in somewhere unfamiliar yet nostalgic.

  Apartment blocks. People milling about oreets, and cars – lots of cars. Society. Society, Three thought to herself. Her car's sleek design must look woefully out of pce around these parts. She gave Five dires dowreets and roundabouts weaving through the winding traffitil they finally parked by the wn of a familiar two-story ft. Home, Three thought to herself.

  Stepping out of the vehicle, Three wobbled her way to the front door of her small, crooked ft.

  “Should I go with you?” asked Five from behind. Three instinctively shuddered at her words, before responding, “Hard pass, Five. You don’t wanhere when shit hits the fan.”

  Five shrugged. “I’ll wait out here then.” She then paused. “I know it's gonough talk, but He won’t tolerate you mentioning anything about – ”

  “Yeah yeah, I know Five,” Three waved her hand annoyedly, “I’ll be in and out in a hitch, so just stand by for a few minutes, please.” Turning her ba the girl and her car, Three fumbled through her wallet and took out a small key. With bated breath, she ied it into the keyhole. Hello, home.

  The first thing she saw as she entered was her younger brother reed on the cou a 120 degree ahose eyes hooked onto the television s widened a tad bit when they spotted her figure at the doorway.

  “Yo,” greeted Three. Her brother was silent for a while, instead staring at her with a mix of exasperation and disi. After a beat, he asked her half-heartedly, “Where’ve you been these past,” he checked the dar, “these past two-and-a-half days?”

  “Hell,” came Three’s monotone reply. Her brother didn’t look surprised. “Go figure,” he spoke nontly, “Mom’s upstairs, and Dad’s currently at the police station. Malin’s at work.”

  Three nodded, “I’ll go see Mom, then,” as she made her the stairs. As she did so, the wall-hung dar came into view. There was a certain day on it scribbled, circled and torn all over in red marker. It was the day He had summoned her to fight quest.

  “You know,” her brother murmured from below her. Three’s keen ears picked up his words – as well as the spite hidden within. “It ain’t my business wherever the fuck you keep disappearing off too, but the least you do is let them know why.” He must have noticed her gaze on the dar.

  Three’s steps came to an abrupt halt. She brooded over a reply, then brooded over whether she should even give one. After a beat, Three muttered under her breath, “That’s what I’m scared about.”

  She didn’t know if her brother had even heard her, but she liked to think he did.

  Walking down the familiar hallways, Three drowned herself in the sea of nostalgia. She had been here just a few days ago, yet it already felt like a few lifetimes. It was strange, and it made her sad.

  The flickering bulbs, the peeling paint. The mouldy odour mixed in with the fresh st of detergent. The family portrait hung in the middle was what took her the most. The photo was taken two years ago, before her had maed. It was her older sister Malin’s graduation ceremony, and Mom, Dad, Three as well as her brother were all there in the front row of the audience. Malin on stage, giving her speech as the valedictorian. It py memory, and it was ohat made Three proud to be a part of their family.

  You get addicted to a certain kind of sadness. Three couldn’t remember where she had heard that phrase before, but she found herself repeating it more and more often these days – almost like a prayer. Things weren’t supposed to be this way.

  Finally, she reached her parent’s bedroom. It had only been several seds since she talked to her brother, yet she liked to think it took longer. Hands trembling, she hesitantly pried open the wooden door. It squeaked loudly over the faint sobs ing from ihe room. Hello, Mom.

  “Hi, Mom.”

  As she ehe room, she took in its cozy furniture and warm varnish. The room’s lighting did not flicker as it did in the rest of their house, and the decor was well-kempt.

  Her Mom, however, was not.

  The warm hands that had caressed Three as a child were sprawled messily over the bed; the woman herself was sleeping. Her occasional sobs were painfully mixed in amidst her heavy snores. her was her expression peaceful – furrowed broursed lips. Whatever remaining youth that had bee in her face two years ago was wiped . The woman in front of Three seemed fn, unfamiliar. Just how far have we drifted?

  Regret, hesitation. They were nothio Three. Even so, she couldn’t help but nguish in those emotions ead every time she returned from the battlefield.

  “Goodbye, Mom.”

  In the end, Three couldn’t bring herself to wake her mrabbing a nearby pen and paper, she scribbled together a small note inf her that her daughter had returned, and that she would be away for a few more days. She also addressed her Dad ie, who would no doubt return from the police station in a few hours after flooding the station with the umpteenth report about her disappearance. Something the cops are very used to ign, I wonder.

  As Three climbed back dowairs, her brother was still slouched on the couch. Breaking away from the television, he asked her in an angry tone, “How do you do it?”

  Three looked over her shoulder. “What?”

  “You were grounded in your room,” said her brother exasperatedly, “they locked you in, barricaded the windows and threw away the key. How did you still mao disappear?”

  Three pursed her lips into a small smile. It was not the first time her family had fronted her about the issue. After thousands of summons from Him, they were bound to get suspicious of all her disappearances eventually. Her Dad would mutter witchcraft whilst her Mom would overturn the room for any hidden tools. Her older sister Malin would simply stare at her with awe and amazement – she had always been a weird one. And what about her younger brother?

  “Are you really my sister?”

  He didn’t seem to believe she was his real sister anymore. He seemed to think Three was a mohat had taken his sister’s pce. If his words provoked a rea from Three, she didn’t show it; it was a rea she was used to.

  “Bye, Collin.” Three greeted him farewell as she closed the door behind her.

  She didn’t move from that pce for quite some time, until she saw Five walking up to her.

  With an angry expression, Five harrumphed loudly. “They were so hysterical that I could hear them all the way from here. Shouldn’t they get used to it by now?”

  Three wasn’t in the mood to py along. “If they’re hysterical,” she swallowed, “then it's because they still love me.” Somehow.

  Five paused at her words, blinking on surprise. “You know girl, you’re a lot more mature than you usually let on.”

  Three gred at the hated girl with reddened eyes. “Then st to e by stooping to a kid’s level.” She failed to stop a tear as she finished, “If you’re supposed to be older thahen fug act like it.”

  Five chuckled softly before dropping her makeshift anger. “hought the day’d e when I’d be lectured by you of all people,” was her response. She hahree a handkerchief to dab away the tears as they made their way back to the car.

  “He – right, the Visionary, is waiting for us,” said Five as she turhe keys.