Monsters only existed in nightmares.

No matter how dangerous things got, no matter the terrible fate he met, Ella would always end up lying in his bed in one piece. Reality would set in again. His heart rate would slow, and he would catch his breath. That’s how it always was, so why was he still thinking about what had chased him in his dream?

“Why are you always on that thing?” K sat on the shelf behind his bed. Her legs were crossed, hanging above his face as he lied in his bed.

“What, my phone?” Ella asked, tapping away at its screen. His head ached. He hadn’t slept well that night either, but he was relieved that he hadn’t had any dreams this time. Everything was still vivid, like a series of pictures seared into his brain’s squishy gray surface.

“You’re not still thinking about that are you?” K asked, her cheery tone slowly fading from her voice.

“You mean time freezing or whatever?” he said. “I know it’s a big deal and everything, but after meeting you, I’m not sure much can surprise me anymore.”

“I see.”

When the two of them returned home the previous day, they heard the news of what had happened downtown. Although it was something that happened right here in Portland, he felt separated from it, like it was something confined to news reports and Clock Link posts. There was enough going on in his life as it was, anyway.

“So what are you doing?”

“I’m just talking with a friend,” he said.

“You talk with your friend all the time?” K swayed her feet back and forth, making an attempt at kicking it out of his hand.

“Knock it off,” Ella said, moving to avoid the attack.

“I’m trying,” K said.

“That’s not what I mean,” Ella sighed. “And it’s not like using a phone is weird or something. Everyone does it if you haven’t noticed.”

“I know everyone uses it,” K said with a huff. “I asked why you do, weirdo.”

“I’m the weirdo?” Ella paused a moment. “I just use it to check my Clock Link messages and upload pictures. It’s not like I’m on it all day.”

“What’s a Clock Link?”

“It’s a social media thing,” he said.

“Huh?” She grumbled.

“People make profiles and use them to share pictures, video, messages, and organize their schedules,” he tried to match her tone. “Honestly, most phones come preinstalled with it now. I guarantee everyone in my school uses it, so you’re the weirdo around here.”

“Sounds boring,” she sighed.

“It’s what you make of it,” he scrolled through recent posts. “A lot of people use it for news updates, and there are plenty of interesting people. You just add those people as friends and you see everything they post.”

“And so you have to look at that thing all the time for that?”

“Well, uh, yeah,” Ella narrowed his eyes. “Haven’t you ever used a phone before?”

“I don’t know.”

Ella’s theory that she was an alien seemed to be becoming more and more likely. Seriously, what kind of a teen girl doesn’t use a cell phone? A teen girl that’s an alien, of course. Case closed. Book’em.

“Anyway,” he sat up, taking extra care to avoid hitting her feet with his head. “I’m going somewhere after school, so don’t wait for me. I don’t want to see you standing out in front of the school like yesterday.”

“Where are you going?” K hopped off the shelf and onto the bed, landing directly behind him so that she was pressed up against his back. “You have a hot date with a girl?” She pawed at his shoulders.

“I’m meeting with my friend,” he blushed. He had to admit, however, that a date sounded a lot better than hanging out with a friend. K was cute, but absolutely crazy. A date with her sounded worse than any nightmare he might have.

“Well that’s no fun,” K whined. “I can’t come to school with you and you aren’t even avoiding me because you’re trying to get into some girls pants.”

“I don’t want to hear it,” Ella said. “You’re not coming and that’s final.”

That’s what he told her that morning.

That’s what he had told her, and yet the first thing he saw as he left the school building was her ridiculous smiling face at edge of the campus gate.

Although they were still a ways away, Ella tried to shoot her a death glare. The kind of look that told her not to talk to him.

Next to him was his friend Urara. He had shoulder length hair, soft features, and a very small frame. If Ella was ‘small’, Urara would have to be classified as ‘fun size’. He had intended on leaving school undisturbed. Now, he was just moments from disturbance.

“Whoa, check out that girl,” Urara said, jabbing him in the ribs with an elbow.

There it was.

“I’d totally kill for legs like that. Think she’s waiting for her boyfriend or something?”

“Probably,” Ella said, keeping his vision focused straight forward to avoid eye contact as they reached the gate.

“You said not to come but here I am!” K waved at him.

“I don’t know you.”

“Is she talking to you?” Urara asked.

“No,” Ella said. “Just keep walking.”

K jumped forward, latching onto his arm.

“Oh my god,” Urara said. “Is this your girlfriend?”

“Is that what you tell your friends about me?” K laughed.

“Out of here,” Ella hissed. “Now.”

“I see now,” Urara said, wrapping himself around Ella’s other arm. “You’ve been hiding this from me because you know how self-conscious I am about being single.”

“No, you really have the wrong idea,” he said. “And can the two of you get off of me?”

“And who’s this?” K smiled. She swung her hips back and forth, making the skirt of his school girl uniform flutter back and forth.

“She’s absolutely adorable,” Urara said, squeezing Ella’s arm with all his might. “You’re a good friend!”

“Uh, I’m not sure I follow your logic here,” he sighed. “Anyway, this is my… cousin.”

“That’s right,” K gave a toothy grin.

As much as he hated to admit it, just having her be his cousin made things easy. His parents seemed to think that they were related, so going along with it was probably the best way to avoid her making his life any more complicated.

“She’s just your cousin?” Urara frowned.

Ella wasn’t sure why Urara didn’t like that response, but decided to just drop it. “Anyway, let’s get going,” he said as he started walking. The two of them released him, and followed. Hopefully, everything had happened fast enough that it hadn’t drawn any attention from other students.

“Ella,” Urara whispered. “Now that I think about it, isn’t that your schoolgirl outfit she’s wearing?”

“Yeah, she knows everything,” Ella sighed.

“Interesting,” he gave K a peace sign. “I’m Urara. Cute, huh? It’s pretty similar to my real name, Uramasa.”

“Which should I call you?”

“Unlike Ella, I don’t mind if you call me my nickname in public,” he smiled. “Most non-Japanese don’t even know that it’s not a boy’s name, anyway.”

“I’ll remind you that we’re in public right now,” Ella said.

“I’m K! It’s nice to finally meet one of my cousin’s friends,” she said. “I was starting to worry that he might be an antisocial loser or something.”

“Gee, thanks,” Ella mumbled.

“Are you kidding me? He’s actually pretty popular at school,” Urara laughed. “He may be a pretty boy, but there are plenty of girls that are into that. Well, they aren’t aware of just how pretty a boy he is, of course, but that’s our little secret.”

“Say whaaat!?” K put her hands on her cheeks and gasped. “So he gets love letters and stuff?”

So she didn’t know about cellphones but she knew about love letters? He wanted to raise an objection, but decided to just keep quiet and grill her about it later.

“Of course,” Urara threw his arms up into the air. “Lots of girls have asked him out, actually.”

“That’s right,” Ella said proudly. K had yet to see that side of him, but he was actually pretty good at talking with people. Well, people without cat tails, super powers, and selective knowledge about how things in the modern world worked, anyway.

“He’s way too shy to go out with any of them though,” Urara stuck out his tongue. “I have the cutest best friend ever.”

“Alright, that’s enough of that,” Ella said. “K, we’re headed to Urara’s apartment so why don’t you get home?” Although his voice was friendly, he made sure to shoot a mean look in her direction.

“You mean I can’t come?” K turned on her puppy dog eyes and pouted.

“No way, she’s coming too!” Urara said, grabbing Ella around the waist. “You said she already knows about our hobbies anyway, so what’s the harm?”

“Yay!” K struck a pose.

Ella could feel a vein bulging on his forehead. He had been looking forward to a day without K following him everywhere, but destiny seemed to be conspiring against him again.

“Oh, by the way!” Urara took his phone out of his pocket and started swiping away at the screen. “Did you see Manami’s new post?”

“Manami? Your sister’s friend?” Ella asked. “What’s her screen name again?”

“Darkskyz.”

“Dark…skyz?”

“You know, because it’s always cloudy in Portland,” Urara said.

“I get it, it’s just lame,” Ella said. “Anyway, I don’t think I saw it.”

“Guess who she said came into the café last night!” Urara jumped up and down. “Sadie Quasar! Sadie Quasar’s in the city and she’s just walking around and stuff! We gotta track her down!”

“And then what?” Ella laughed. “What would you even do if you found her?”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Get her autograph, of course.”

“Who’s Sadie Quasar?” K asked, her cheeks puffed up. She didn’t seem to like it when a topic she knew nothing about came up. He supposed that was actually a pretty normal reaction.

“K, are you not from here?” Urara asked.

“No, she just… uh, moved here recently,” Ella said. “From… out of state.”

“So she’s an outsider like you then,” Urara stuck out his tongue.

“What?” Ella sighed. “I’ve lived here long enough to ‘get’ Portland.”

“Three years isn’t long enough in my book.”

“Well your book is dumb.”

“Anyway, Sadie’s a singer, and she's super famous here,” Urara turned back to K. “They call her Portland’s Rose. This is the city of roses, ya know.”

“Portland’s Rose…” K put her hand on her chin. “Sounds nice.”

“I’ll burn you a CD of her music when we get to my place,” Urara winked. “You’ll be an official Portlander when I’m done with you.”

Ella wasn’t sure how much of it was an act, but K giggled and smiled in response. If he had just met her, and hadn’t known about what she was capable of, he would have thought she was just like any other girl at his school.

They made it off the main streets and into a quieter area just outside of downtown.

“Look,” Urara pulled the two of them backward and peeked his head around the corner of the building next to them. “See that woman in the dress? The one that looks like a doll.”

Ella peaked around the corner. The woman was on the opposite side of the street, heading toward them. Her hair was dark like the feathers of a raven. Her skin was so light and delicate that it practically glowed in the sun. The pace she walked at was relaxed, and with her Gothic Victorian dress covering her feet, it was almost like she glided as she moved.

Ella’s mouth hung agape. “Who is that?”

“She lives in the same building as me,” Urara whispered. “Gorgeous, right?”

Urara wasn’t exaggerating; the woman was hauntingly beautiful. He felt an emptiness pulsating in his chest. As strange as it might sound, he wanted her, and he wanted to be her. Those were the kinds of conflicting feelings heterosexual cross dressing men experienced.

And just like that the moment was over. The woman passed them and continued down the road without even glancing in their direction.

Ella’s cheeks felt warm, and he was light headed. What had come over him? It almost felt like he had been hypnotized for a moment.

“Anyway, let’s go,” Urara said, skipping around the corner and going ahead of them.

He tried to follow, but was stopped from behind by K’s hand on his shoulder. “Ella, I have a bad feeling about this.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I mean that you shouldn’t come here anymore.”

He turned around, and was met with K’s heavy eyes. There were no remnants of her usual smile on her face.

“What’s with you?” he asked.

“It’s dangerous.”

“What’s dangerous?” He said, wrinkling his brow. “Nothing is dangerous here. I’ve been to Urara’s apartment a hundred times.”

“I can’t explain it,” she said crossing her arms and lowering her eyes. “You just have to trust me.”

Trust her? The fact that she thought she could say something like that and still keep him in the dark about who she was or why she had showed up in his house made him furious. “I’ve had enough of this.”

“Enough of what?”

“Enough of you,” he said. “I don’t know who you think you are… I don’t you who you think I am either… but I don’t need any ‘protecting’. Can’t you just leave me alone?”

“I can’t,” she said, looking back up at him.

“Well I’m sick of you.”

“What are you guys doing?” Urara came up behind Ella and tapped him on the back. “I looked back and neither of you were there.”

“Sorry, Urara,” Ella said, turning his head. “K just remembered she has to go home to do something.”

He looked back at her with a glare. She stood with her fists clenched at her side. She was biting her lip and tears were welled up in the corners of her eyes. He was so surprised by her reaction, he froze up. Before he could collect himself again, she turned and walked briskly away.

“Is she okay?” Urara asked.

“Oh, uh, yeah. She just remembered that she has something to do,” Ella said. Maybe he had gone too far. Had he actually hurt her feelings? “Anyway, let’s go.”

He and Urara changed clothes, put on make-up, listened to music, look at funny videos on the internet, and played games. He was having so much fun, he didn’t even look at Clock Link. The night had been completely devoid of K, just like he wanted. And yet, he felt guilty. He shouldn’t have blown up on her like that.

It was dark. As he walked away from the apartment building with the Sadie Quasar CD Urara burned, he made up his mind to apologize to K. Although she got on his nerves, it wasn’t like he hated her or anything. He would say sorry when he got home.

As he turned a corner on the empty street, he heard something. Something groaned. Something that sounded just inhuman enough to send every hair on his body on end. Its voice was filled with pain, like the sound someone made after being punched in the stomach.

It was behind him.

He wanted to take off running, but his legs wouldn’t respond. Whenever he watched horror films, he was the person commenting how stupid it was when the characters just sat there as the monster came for them, but now he understood. He was paralyzed with fear.

He needed to run. He needed to move.

Something grabbed his shoulder and adrenaline exploded through his veins. He flailed wildly, trying to get free of its grasp, but it clung onto his body.

In his struggling, he suddenly noticed that something was standing in front of him. Another one. The figure in front of him wore a long black cloak that completely covered its face. It was raising its hands. Please. He didn’t want to die.

“Ella!”

As if his prayers were answered, he spotted K further down the street running toward him. She must have stayed around instead of going home, and he was never happier to see her disobeying what he asked of her.

But it was too late. The cloaked figure in front of him sent a fist flying toward his face. All he could do was wait for the impact.

The fist flew past his cheek, slamming into whatever it was that was holding him with such force that he felt its power reverberate through his body. It let out a high pitched shriek. He felt its grip leave his back as the punch sent it flying backward.

“What?” he stood dumbfounded.

K finally made it to where they were, and she looked just as confused as he was.

No. Now wasn’t the time to be spacing out. Ella spun himself around, ready for another attack.

The street was empty. Whatever had grabbed him was gone.

He turned back around to see K with her hand outstretched toward the cloaked person. Her tail was out of her skirt, and bushed up.

“Who are you?” She demanded.

The cloaked figure put its hands up without turning toward her. “I don’t wish to fight you,” the voice was calm and feminine. “I merely found your friend in danger and acted.”

K didn’t budge. “Ella, walk over to me,” she said. “You. Don’t move a muscle or I’ll break you in half. Seriously, I’ll do it.”

The cloaked woman complied, although he was unsure if K was exerting some kind of power over her. Keeping his eye on her, he made his way over next to K.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Ella said, panting. “But they saved me, didn’t you see?”

“Dummy, she might have scared that thing off to get you herself,” K stuck out her tongue.

“I assure you that I have no ill intentions,” the cloaked woman said. “May I turn around?”

“Okay,” Ella said, still panting.

“No,” K bumped him with her hip. “She might have some kind of power she can only use when facing toward us.”

K was right. Who knew what she was capable of? For all he knew, she could be some kind of tentacle monster under that cloak.

“I’m a member of the KPW,” she stayed turned away with her hands up. “I only wish to help the people of the city.”

The KPW? Was this woman trying to tell him that the KPW was real or something?

“What attacked me?” Ella asked, trying to make it sound like he was calling the shots.

“I do not know,” she said. “I simply saw it running along the building tops and followed.”

“What’s your name?”

“Quinn.”

She didn’t even hesitate to answer. Since she was claiming to be with the KPW, he was expecting her to at least have some kind of super hero name. The Cloaked Crusader? No, just Quinn.

“Honestly, I have no idea what’s going on,” Ella said. “But you saved me, and I’m grateful. You’ll have to excuse my… cousin.”

Cousin. He could see K smile out of the corner of his eye.

“It’s quite alright,” Quinn said, lowering her arms. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I should get going,” she started to walk away.

“You’re not going anywhere!” K yelled, throwing her arm into the air. Ella knew right away what she was doing. K had done it to him before. She was going to lift her into the air.

But Quinn stayed firm on the ground.

“Huh?” Ella looked over to K. She was clenching her teeth and wincing.

“You’d better ask your cousin to stop before she hurts herself,” Quinn said. “I weigh around 10 tons right now.”

“Stop,” Ella yelled. She lowered her hand, and he managed to catch her as she toppled forward.

Quinn was already out of sight, leaving the two of them on the dark road. Whatever was going on, K was right.

He needed protecting.