Mica woke up to the sound of knocking on his door. At first, he assumed it was still nighttime, but he quickly realized the darkness was only because he'd fallen asleep with his notebook covering his face.

"Mica! Hugo's here. He's come to get you," his mother called through the door in a perfectly normal tone. Apparently, she'd already gotten over the scolding he'd received the night before.

"Coming, coming," he replied, still half-asleep.

With little enthusiasm for starting the day, he rested his head back on the pillow. It wasn't unusual for Hugo to come over on a weekend now and then, so he didn't think much of it. He was almost asleep again when another couple of knocks disturbed the quiet.

"Hey, Mica," Hugo called this time. "Cat's waiting for us at Ta... At the library. To... Study..."

That got a much stronger reaction. Mica shot upright, sending his notebook tumbling to the floor.

He caught sight of it just before heading toward the door and regretted not having had the morning free to copy out the ideas he'd written down the night before. He was already close to finishing

Legends

. And although this would be the fifth time he'd

finished

his novel, he had a feeling this one would be definitive. He couldn't wait to share it with Rose.

Mica went outside, said hello, and while Hugo ate the breakfast his mother offered him, he showered and got dressed.

"I think this is the first time I've heard you come looking for Mica so you can study," Mica heard his father joke from the kitchen. "I never thought the day would come when Catherine convinced you to spend a weekend studying instead of playing."

"Yes, Mr. Lorenzo. It's just that arithmetic class is really complicated," Hugo replied, speaking through a mouthful of food. "Triangles, rectangles, circles. You know, all that boring, complicated stuff."

"That's not... Never mind. When you finish your exams, plan with Mica so we can try out this new board game I've been waiting for and..."

"Lorenzo! Hugo is talking about important things, and here you come again with your little games. Honestly, the bad influence you are on Mica..."

"Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad," Mica called as he came in to greet them, taking the beginning of his parents' argument as his cue to leave.

"Hugo, I'm ready. Let's go."

Hugo hurriedly got up from the table, stuffing the last few bites of his breakfast into his mouth.

"Thanks for the food," he said goodbye, still chewing, and hurried toward the door with Mica.

Before Mica could leave, however, his mother grabbed him by the arm and pulled him aside.

"You're going to study, and you're coming home as soon as you're done," she whispered sternly. "If you decide later that you want to do something else, you can come back here and Hugo can spend the night. I don't want either of you out on the street after dark, understood?"

"Yes, Mom," Mica replied, finally giving up hope that his mother had forgotten about the scolding from the night before.

-----------------------------------------------------------

"Jacob is missing?" Mica exclaimed, more in response to his friend's statement than as a question.

"Yeah, like I said. Sarah practically admitted last night that all of this is real, that it's not just a game. I don't understand it. You already know that, for some reason, I don't remember things in as much detail as you guys, but the fact that Sarah herself admitted it..."

"So are we going to rescue him?"

"Cat didn't give me any details. She just told me Sarah had asked her to get us together at Tavern. So I guess we're going back to pla... I mean, going back to that world."

"Damn, I wish I had Rose's number so I could let her know."

"And do you think Cat and Sarah would want that?"

"I don't know what they want, but we can't ignore the fact that Rose was a huge help last session."

"I can't argue with that."

They walked in silence for nearly a full minute. When Mica was beginning to find his friend's solemn attitude strange, Hugo returned to his usual self and addressed the elephant in the room.

"We haven't had a chance to talk about this, but, my dude, where did you find a girl like that?"

"I'm not sure I can say I found her anywhere," Mica replied, feeling a little embarrassed. "It's more like she approaches me than..."

"That beauty? You? I knew there was something weird about her. She's probably behind the disappearances and wants to chop us all into little pieces."

"What? Are you jealous?"

"I would be if it were true. But Mica, you've never had a girlfriend. You've never even dared talk to any of the girls in our class. Are you seriously telling me that, all of a sudden, a dream redhead started stalking you?"

"Believe whatever you want. That's how it is. Besides, you judge me like you've ever had a girlfriend yourself.

Don Rejections

would be a better name for you".

"That's true, but at least I've tried, my dude," he laughed. "Hey, speaking of which, does this mean Cat is available?"

"Available? What do you mean?"

"Well, if you've already found a girlfriend, then you wouldn't mind if I..."

"Shut up. Of course I mind," Mica exclaimed, stopping in his tracks to stare at him seriously. When he realized how he'd sounded, he became even more embarrassed. "I mean... If you tried something with Cat, you'd ruin the friendship. Don't you think?"

"That would be if she said no. But what if she said yes?"

"Don't come up with crazy fantasies like that, Hugo. Do you really think the unattainable Cat would be interested in you? Besides, since when are you interested in Cat?"

"Since the moment I realized how much it bothers you that I am." Hugo burst out laughing. Mica looked away, trying to hide the mixture of emotions on his face. "I'm kidding, my dude. Don't get like that. Although I hope it was enough to finally make you realize that you're interested in Cat."

"I never said that..."

"Anyway, my dude. Let me give you some advice. If you really like Cat, you shouldn't be with someone else at the same time. Especially not someone like Rose."

"Hugo, seriously, I think you're talking nonsense. There's no way Cat could feel anything for me. And even if I did feel something for her, it wouldn't change anything. She doesn't pay any attention to me, and Rose does, so..."

"My dude, are you seriously going to tell me you haven't noticed how upset Cat got when—"

"Upset about what?"

Cat's voice made both boys jump. She had caught up with them at the corner. They both looked nervous, suddenly worried about how much she'd heard.

"...About how we were running late," Hugo improvised.

Cat glanced at her wristwatch and shook her head.

"No. The three of us are right on time. Sarah told me to meet her in the alley behind Tavern in fifteen minutes. We're close."

Hugo and Mica both let out a relieved breath when they realized Cat didn't seem to have heard anything.

Without saying another word, and without turning around to make sure they were following, Cat continued walking.

-----------------------------------------------------------

"He's been standing there since I arrived," Tomás explained from the street opposite Tavern, pointing with his eyes toward Mr. No, who was standing guard over the alley. "I walked over to tell him Sarah asked us to meet here, and he just said no. He didn't even move."

"Classic Mr. No," Hugo said.

"Do you know if Sarah is inside?" Cat asked, pulling out her phone. "We should let her know he won't let us in. Surely she can..."

At the first ring, Cat hung up when she caught sight of Sarah appearing around the opposite corner. Sarah's expression when she saw Mr. No blocking the alley was the same one the other boys had worn when they first arrived. Then it immediately turned to anger.

"Rafael, let us through right now," the girl demanded as she stepped in front of the towering man with the mustache.

"No," he replied.

The boys were stunned to hear him refuse Sarah.

"What do you mean, no? My mother explicitly said I could invite anyone I wanted as long as it wasn't nighttime."

The man remained unmoved.

"Rafael! Is it nighttime?"

Mr. No took several seconds to answer, as though searching for the obvious response.

"No."

"Then? Let us through. We have important things to discuss and..."

"No."

"Rafael! I order you to move!"

The others held their breath. What had initially looked like a princess ordering a subject to obey had, in an instant, become what it really was: a girl demanding that an adult let her have her way.

The illusion of reality didn't last long, however. Sarah, irritated, extended her right hand.

"If you won't move... then I'll have to make you."

She snapped her fingers.