Cat was still sobbing when they reached her front door.
They had accompanied Jacob and Rose to the hospital, leaving them in the emergency room to be treated, but they hadn't stayed there. They couldn't risk the police finding all of them in the same place. Jacob would take care of giving the authorities an explanation for his condition. According to him, he had experience with that.
“Get some rest, Cat,” Mica said goodbye. He wanted to add some words of encouragement so he wouldn't leave her in such a bad state, but he couldn't think of anything.
“You'll see. Tomorrow we'll manage to solve everything out,” Hugo said, attempting the same thing as Mica, but with more success.
Cat merely nodded and disappeared behind the door without saying another word.
“Did you think you could calm her down with that?” Mica asked as they set off again.
“No, but we have to try to stay positive, don't you think, my dude?”
“It's pretty damn hard to be positive in this situation.”
“Yeah, but I think we'll make it. Look at what happened today as proof. We weren't our Adventurers' Group characters, and we still managed to get out of that nightmare world unscathed,” Hugo said, but suddenly interrupted himself. “Well... Almost all of us... But come on, Jacob is one tough bastard. And Rose looked pretty good when we left her at the hospital.”
“Everything would've been better if we'd been able to recover our powers, even if only at the end, in my Dimension. That way Rose could've healed Jacob, and we would've avoided putting them at risk of the police...”
“Speaking of that, my dude,” Hugo interrupted him. “I'm not entirely sure what the English teacher might have said. But you know she and Mrs. Mildred saw me. We don't know why the police were at the school at the end of the day, but if they questioned her, I doubt Mrs. Mildred would've overlooked the fact that she saw me appear and disappear right in front of her. So, if they're looking for someone, it's definitely me. I...”
“I think it's better if you stay at my house. At least tonight.”
“I think it's better if I move to another continent right now. But yeah, that's exactly what I was going to say. I don't think it's a good idea to go near my house tonight.”
When they arrived at his house, Mica found his mother crying in the living room.
“What happened, Mom?” Mica asked as Hugo, feeling awkward, went straight to his room. “Is it because...?”
“Oh, sweetie, thank God you made it home and you're okay.” She stood up to hug him and continued crying, alternating between holding his face and hug him.
Meanwhile, Alexandro, the old golden retriever, approached to sniff his pants while wagging his tail, excited to see him. He raised his ears and shifted his attention between Mica and his mother, as if trying to understand what was happening.
“Nothing yet about Dad?” Mica asked.
“N-N... No, nothing,” she replied, struggling to form the words.
“It's been as many hours as the police require, right? Maybe...”
“No, it's only been forty-eight hours. Those idiots are waiting for the seventy-two hours to pass before they even start considering the case. Oh God... Lorenzo... What did you do?” his mother managed to say before beginning to cry intensely again. “Y-Your brother... he's at the police station right now. He told me he wasn't going to leave until... until...”
“Seriously? I should go keep him company. I should've...”
“No, son, no. Stay here. And tell Hugo to stay the night too. I'll call Vannesa to let her know her son is safe here. Don't even think about going back out until tomorrow. I'll go take your brother dinner and take this poor dog out, since he's been waiting for you for hours.”
Mica gave Alexander an apologetic look, to which the dog reacted excitedly, perhaps understanding that it was finally time for his walk.
“Nothing about your father?” Hugo asked when Mica entered his room. He was waiting for him, sitting in the desk chair and flipping through his notebook. “Do you know if your mother already asked your Uncle Eddy? Maybe one of his crazy ideas occurred to him and they're both far away in some other state attending a convention or something. And I'm sure your father lost his phone.”
“I imagine he was the first person she asked,” Mica replied, regaining his spirits and drawing a smile as he remembered that exactly what Hugo was suggesting had happened once before. His mother had been furious when they returned, while he and his brother had been thrilled by the number of collectibles their father had brought back. Of course, that time, not even twenty-four hours had passed. “Hey, you found my notebook.”
“Had you lost it? It was right here, on the table.”
“I'm not sure. I hadn't seen it all weekend. Not that I'd looked very hard for it. With everything that's happened over the past few days, I haven't felt like writing. But it's true that I didn't find it where I thought I'd left it. I guess my mom picked it up if she came in to clean.”
“My dude,” Hugo began, looking around the room. “I don't think your mom has come in here to clean for, like, two or three years. At least.”
“Shut up and put the notebook back where it was. I don't want you reading the ending of
Legends
with my notes. Wait until I actually have it finished.”
“Ending number twenty-seven of
Legends
, you mean.”
“The definitive one. This really is the last one, Hugo,” Mica insisted as he threw himself onto his bed. It was only when his body hit the mattress that he realized how tired he was.
“So... Now you have a Dimension too?” Hugo asked, turning the chair toward him, still holding the notebook.
“Apparently...”
“And do you also talk to a voice in your head like Cat?”
“Yeah. Although... Tolmoch, are you still there?”
“Unfortunately,” the deep, blunt voice replied.
“He says yes.”
“And he doesn't know what's happening?”
“Cat tried asking Rini, but she only said she knew what Cat knew. And something else about a battle that I didn't completely understand.”
“War. It's not a battle, it's a war,” Tolmoch corrected him in his head. “And you should be behaving accordingly.”
“War?”
“What does he say, Mica?”
“What kind of war, Tolmoch?”
“The War of the Angelinos. Obviously.”
“That doesn't help me. Can't you tell me more?”
“I just awakened as an Angelino. I only know two things. That we're at war and that my Master is useless.”
Mica scoffed at the insult.
“Micaaa, remember that I can't hear your imaginary friend,” Hugo complained.
“And thank God for that. He's a grouch. He calls me useless, but he doesn't even know any more than we do.”
“I would if my Master cared about that. I would expect you to take me to the girl's Angelino, Sarah's. He knows everything that's going on.”
“Why him and not you or Rini?”
“Because he is older than time. We, that Rini and I, were created through his influence.”
“Is Sarah creating soldiers?”
Silence.
“What do you mean, soldiers, my dude?”
“I know we need to go to Sarah. Now more than ever. But, Tolmoch, someone attacked her... Is... Is that someone also involved in the War?”
“Don't you think that's an obvious question?”
“Is he also a soldier created by Sarah? By her Angelino?”
“If that were the case, you shouldn't even worry. You are weak. It dishonors me to have to serve such a weak Master. But it dishonors me even more to have been incarnated as an Angelino by someone as naive and cowardly as that Sarah girl.”
“Are we talking about the same Sarah? The Sarah who can control the Dimension at will? The Sarah who can destroy any enemy with a single blow?”
“Pffff. Any Master can do that in their Dimension.”
“...You're telling me that...”
“That that's nothing, boy. That you all are doomed.”
Mica went pale at those words. Hugo, seeing him, became frightened as well and demanded that he tell him what they had just discussed. Mica did, and Hugo was shocked, though not as much as Mica himself.
“Don't let yourself be intimidated, Mica. I already told you that today we proved we're capable. Ask him if what happened to us today was caused by the same person who attacked Sarah.”
“Tolmoch, Hugo asks if...”
“I'm not participating in this children's game. I can hear him. Find me a body so I can materialize my presence.”
“A body? But... do you want to possess someone?”
“No, idiot. I need a vessel. Something physical to reside in. That way I can preserve myself and continue to exist. Otherwise, you'll lose me when you empty your mind... Although, now that I think about it, perhaps that would be a better fate for me.”
“A vessel? An object? Any object?”
“What are you talking about, my dude?”
“Tolmoch needs an object to store himself in so he can live. Something important. Something...”
“Will the notebook work?” Hugo asked, holding it up.
“Maybe, but... What kind of object, Tolmoch?”
“Something that can stay with you. Something that won't be obvious to the other Masters. Something they can't easily destroy. But at the same time, it has to be important to you.”
Mica relayed the specifications to Hugo, and the two of them began searching the room.
“What about this
Final Fantasy
CD? It's important to you. And I don't think anyone would imagine you're keeping a cosmic entity in there, or whatever the hell an Angelino is.”
“Don't you think it'd be obvious if I started carrying a CD everywhere?”
“You could keep it in a fanny pack... But, okay. What about this sword?” he asked, brandishing the sword his Uncle Eddy had given him so many years ago, which had ended up buried beneath piles of dirty clothes.
“Same logic as the CD, Hugo. Or even worse...”
“Although it would look cool, don't you think?” he said while posing with the sword and pretending to attack.
“I'm sure the police wouldn't think the same way if they saw me carrying that around.”
“What about...?”
Hugo continued recommending things, but as if by magic, Mica's thoughts turned to the perfect object.
Without listening to any more of his friend's nonsense, he ran to his closet. He opened several drawers and hurriedly pulled out the clothes inside. In the third drawer, beneath his underwear, he found the elegant box containing the object he was looking for.
“What is that? It looks really luxurious.”
Mica lifted the box to admire it and opened it. Inside lay an elegant fountain pen with golden ornamentation and a silver-colored nib.
“Wow, that must be worth a pretty penny, my dude. What do you do with something like that?”
“My father gave it to me when I turned ten. That year, I participated in a children's writing competition. As you know, I didn't win anything, but I remember telling my dad that same day that I wanted to become a writer. After that, I started writing nonstop. My dad, believing in what I'd said, bought me this. I remember when he gave it to me, he said, ‘With this, you'll sign your first autograph when you become the most famous writer of them all.’”
“With that story, I'd say it's definitely the best object for...”
“It'll do,” Tolmoch said, and immediately afterward, the pen began to float and tremble in the air.
There were no sounds or lights, but Mica felt an enormous amount of energy leave his head and enter the pen. When the event was over, he felt lighter, and the pen returned to its place as if nothing had happened.
“What just happened? Is Tolmoch already...?”
“You have no idea how happy I am to be able to insult you now, you idiotic redhead,” Tolmoch's voice said, now outside Mica's head.
“He really is a grouch,” Hugo said.
“As for your previous question. I don't know,” Tolmoch continued. “With the current level of my useless Master, it's difficult to know whether the one who trapped you in that Dimension is the same Master who attacked Sarah or not.”
“There are more Masters besides you three?” Hugo asked. “Well, four, counting the attacker.”
“There are at least three more in the vicinity. And you should be grateful that whoever is after you likes to play with his food. A true Master would've obliterated you without you even realizing it a long time ago.”
With that statement, both boys' spirits sank, and the conversation ended. Mica and Hugo tried to distract themselves after eating something, but it was impossible. They also couldn't even try to plan what they would do the next day. They knew so little and felt threatened from so many things...
Despite doing nothing in particular beyond worrying themselves sick, they went to bed very late. Mica in his bed and Hugo on the floor, on a makeshift mattress made from sheets and pillows.
Mica's mind was a whirlwind of negativity and worst-case scenarios. He thought about Cat, Sarah, and his father. About how his life would most likely never be the same again. About the dangers ahead of him. About how he wished he had known what he was getting into before Sarah decided for them.
“My dude, are you still awake?”
Mica answered with a murmur.
“Don't worry... I don't know how. But I know we'll get through this. I promise.”
Mica didn't say a word. He didn't feel optimistic enough to respond. To his sorrow, he didn't know that this would be one of his last opportunities to exchange words of encouragement with his best friend.