Janice stared in horror, jaw fixed open and wide eyes flooding with tears. Her mother was lying on the floor, lifeless in a pool of blood in the hallway leading into the house. A kitchen knife rested in her limp grip. Janice’s eyes traced up to see her father standing at the front door, pistol in both hands, barrel pointed straight at her with smoke still swirling from it. She reached a shaking hand to her face, feeling the warm splatters of her mother’s blood on her cheek.

“You just shot mum,” she croaked, throat dry.

Her father walked up to the corpse on the floor and kicked the knife from it’s hand. Janice stepped back.

“You just shot mum!” She screamed.

Her father threw the pistol aside and wrapped his arms around his daughter. Janice froze in fear, but he pulled her into a safe and comforting hug like he had always given her for the past twenty years of her life.

“That was not your mother,” he whispered soothingly.

“But – “ his daughter began.

Darren broke the hug and held Janice by the shoulders. “Where is your brother?”

“Joseph?” Janice asked as if she had any other sibling. “He’s at a friend’s birthday party.”

“I need you to bring him home while I clean this mess up.” Her father’s eyes became stern, desperate for her not to look at the corpse on the floor behind him. “I promise I will explain everything to the both of you once you’re home.”

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As she drove, Janice replayed the scene in her head.

She had just come home from driving her eighteen-year-old brother to a party. She was watching the television alone and expected her parents to come home hours later, but the jingle of keys had her sitting upright and alert.

“Mum, is that you?” She called from the living room.

She heard the front door close, but no reply. Waiting silently, Janice heard the shuffle of footsteps fade into the kitchen and went to meet it. Her mother faced the sink with her back to Janice.

“I didn’t think you’d be home so early,” Janice began - her mother was supposed to be at a work function - but her sentence trailed off as she noticed her mother’s usual golden waterfall now resembled a tangled bird’s nest. Examining closer, she realised that her mother was not dressed in the same clothes she wore that morning.

Janice’s mouth went dry. Something was wrong.

Her mother turned to face her.

Something was definitely wrong.

Her skin was cracked like dry earth and her lips were split and bloodied. She pursed her lips together, smudging the fresh blood.

“Where is your father?” She demanded.

Janice hesitated. “I don’t know.”

“I need to know where he is,” her mother insisted.

“I really don’t know.”

“Tell me! I need to know!”

Janice felt her heartbeat quicken and her throat seemed to close up. This woman was not her mother.

Frozen, she stared at the stranger disguised as a loved one. She was speechless, thoughtless, actionless. She scoured her brain for the correct move but her mind was blank.

The stranger realised Janice’s caution and frantically opened the kitchen drawers, finding a knife. She pointed it at her daughter.

“Tell me where Darren is,” the stranger growled.

Panic flooded every cell in Janice’s body and propelled her to run. Although she had been enrolled in a martial arts class for three years now, she would never be prepared for the day her mother would wield a knife at her.

She fled from the kitchen and heard an angered war cry erupt from her mother’s throat, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps perusing her. Janice ran up the stairs, taking two steps at a time. She didn’t look back, afraid that the terrifying image of her mother running at her with a knife would make her knees buckle. A filthy hand caught her by the shoulder. Janice spun in time to see and block a downward strike at her mother’s wrists, the blade just inches from her face. With a growl, the stranger threw Janice down the stairs and snickered as the girl tumbled down the flight. She groaned as she hit the floor, every bone in her body seemingly giving up although her brain was telling her to stand.

“Janice?”

She looked up and saw her father closing the front door behind him, eyes glued on the strange woman prowling down the stairs. The stranger’s hand gripped the blade tighter at the sight of him.

“Cyrus needs you. You have to come with me,” she said. She extended her arm and pointed the knife at Darren while continuing the slow descent.

Darren’s eyes bulged at the name of his uncle.

“What does Cyrus want with me?” He asked.

“I don’t know. I just need to bring you to him! Please, he has my family!” His wife cried, gripping the blade tighter.

She finally reached the foot of the steps. Janice crawled to her father and sat at his feet, scared.

“We’re your family…” Darren searched for words to calm the woman in front of him.

The stranger looked at Janice and snarled. She grabbed the girl, forcing her upright and away from her father. With the knife’s blade pressing against her skin, Janice didn’t dare scream in fear that even the slightest of movements would slice her.

“This girl isn’t my daughter. I’ll prove it to you by killing her.”

“Dad.” Janice managed through her teeth.

“Don’t!” Darren clenched his fist and cursed under his breath. “Okay, okay. I’ll go to Cyrus. Just, please, let my daughter go.”

The woman didn’t hesitate to throw her hostage to the side and strode towards Darren in victory, not even bothering to watch the girl tumble behind her.

Darren’s hand landed within his jacket’s pocket, feeling the cool metal of his pistol. However, he was not discrete enough.

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“No!” The woman shouted. She let out another war cry and lunged at Darren, knife in the air and ready to strike.

A bang echoed throughout the house and Janice screamed in shock, tasting blood that splattered against her. Darren had fired his pistol with his hand still in his pocket. His wife began bleeding from her stomach. Darren quickly freed his weapon before the woman could have another attempt at slicing him. With the barrel aimed at her heart, he fired.

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After attempting to reach Joseph via phone five times, he finally answered. Loud music blasted in Janice’s ear and she winced.

“Hello? Jan?” Joseph shouted over the noise.

“Joseph, I need you to come home now. I’m parked outside.” She glanced out her driver seat window at the colourful lights flashing from the cracks between the curtains of a house.

“What?! I’ve only been here for an hour!” The thumping music drowned out Joseph’s voice.

“Dad needs us to be home.”

“This is bullshit – “

“Something happened to mum.” Janice interrupted, voice strained with desperation. “We need to be at home.”

There was a pause on the opposite side of the phone and music filled the silence.

“Fine. I’m coming.”

Joseph slammed the door of the passenger seat. He crossed his arms against his chest, slouched in his seat and his bottom lip stuck out in a pout.

“This is actually bullshit. What happened to m – “ He cut his sentence short when he turned to look at his sister, who was splattered with spots of blood across her face. Her expression seemed distant in the streetlight as if she was occupied with thoughts.

“Janice? What happened?” Panic invaded his voice, making it quiver and squeak.

“Dad…” The scene of her father murdering her mother flashed before her eyes. She looked at her brother through light tears. “Dad will explain when we get home.”

Janice pulled into the driveway but refused to leave the car until her neighbour left their front yard. A short and stubby man with round glasses, their neighbour was muttering something to Darren. With a reassuring pat on the back, Darren gently applied pressure and guided the neighbour away, signalling that their conversation was over.

“There’s nothing to worry about.” Janice heard her father say.

Darren signalled for his children to enter the house as soon as their neighbour disappeared into his own home.

Janice stopped in the doorway, expecting to see her mother still dead in her own pool of blood, but the floor was spotless. The event was erased. She could have convinced herself that nothing had occurred here, if not for a hole the size of a bullet chipped into the wood of the staircase banister.

She opened her mouth to ask her father a million questions, all of them swimming around rapidly in her head, but she choked when her mother suddenly walked into the hallway.

Her mother, not covered in blood.

Her mother, alive!

“Mum,” Janice breathed.

She stepped towards her mother, but her knees buckled and she fell into her arms, shaking violently as she began to weep uncontrollably.

“I thought you were gone,” she spluttered. “I saw dad shoot you and I thought you died.”

Joseph’s eyes widened in horror. He looked nervously at his father who returned an expression of guilt.

“I can explain – “ Darren began.

But Joseph interrupted. “I need to sit down.”

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Janice felt her muscles tense and her forehead crease as her father attempted to explain. She just couldn’t believe a word he was spewing. It was absurd. She wanted to scream and slam her fists onto the table, but a tear ran down her cheek.

“I don’t believe you.” She wiped her face as she shook her head.

“I’m sorry Janice, but it’s true.” Darren soothed, reaching out to his daughter who leaned away as if he were a stranger.

She didn’t even look at him.

“I don’t want it to be true.” Janice shot up from her seat on the couch, blood now rushing to her face. She didn’t want to be sad, she wanted to be angry. “Magic isn’t real.” Her fingers curled and she felt her nails dig into her palms. “Parallel universes aren’t real.” Her throat was sore from the strain in her voice. “Tell me the truth.”

When her father remained silent, she turned to her mother whose eyes were apologetic and full of shame.

“Do you believe this?”

Her mother said nothing and Janice came to a realisation.

“You knew?” Janice inhaled shakily, betrayed.

Her mother nodded slowly, eyes closed and lips pressed as if regretful.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Before her mother could speak, Janice turned to Joseph whose eyes widened in fear.

“I didn’t know! This is my first time hearing it,” he blurted truthfully as he raised both hands in defence.

“And you believe it?” The older sister spat.

The boy shrugged. “I think it’s cool.”

Frustrated, Janice stormed out of the living room. With no protest from her family, she retreated into her bedroom where she buried herself beneath her blankets.

Wake up, she commanded herself.

Surely this was a dream.

Wake. Up.

She sat up in bed and wrapped her blanket around her shoulders, defeated. It wasn’t a dream, but it also didn’t feel real.

“Magic and parallel universes,” she mumbled.

She just couldn’t believe that an alternate version of her mother was sent to this universe to take her father. It was like something out of a story.

“How stupid.”

Her father burst in, shocking Janice who jolted back. He spoke before she could.

“Just listen.” He said quickly while handing her a thick book as long as her forearms.

She struggled to cradle the book in her arms as Darren flicked through the pages.

“There’s no time to lose. I need your help.” He flipped the book with so much force Janice was afraid he’d rip the pages.

“What’s going on?” She asked.

Darren stopped. His finger tapped furiously against the page revealing a magnificent illustration of a powerful demon. It had the basic figure of man, however its legs and arms bulged with dense muscles. Wings made of flesh spanning longer than its arm length loomed over it like an ominous shadow. Its sharp claws were dripping with the blood of its enemies, mirroring the demon’s bloodshot eyes that were hungry for murder.

Janice forcefully swallowed the lump in her throat.

“What is this?” Her voice quivered.

With his free hand, Darren clutched his daughter’s shoulder. The other was still pointing to the demon.

“I need you to summon this to protect our family. Your uncle Mark has been attacked and I need to bring your aunt Kiera here where it’s safer.”

Words struggled to find their voice although a million questions were spinning in Janice’s mind. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she shook her head. She didn’t want this to be real.

Wake up.

“I need to go, Janice.” Darren stood for the door but was jerked back by his daughter who spluttered tears.

Please.

“I don’t know how.”

Wake up.

“I know you can do it,” her father soothed.

He directed her attention to the writing in the margins, English translations and dictations related to the mess of foreign signs and symbols across the page that made Janice’s pulse quicken in panic.

“Just read what I’ve written and cast the spell. You have my blood in you, Janice. You have magic within you just like I do.”

He unbuckled the vintage watch that was always fastened securely onto his left wrist and handed it to her. It was his own father’s watch and he had possessed it long before Janice was born.

“If anything happens to me, I want you to have this,” he said, placing the watch in her palm and clasping his hand over hers. “Keep it with you wherever you go.”

His daughter’s eyes looked at him with doubt and sadness.

Darren pulled Janice into a hug. “I know you can do it.”

Janice gritted her teeth to stop herself from crying out. This wasn’t the time for her to be weak. If everything her father said was true, then she needed to be strong.

When the pair separated, her mother and brother stood in the doorway.

“Joseph,” Darren said as he placed a firm and comforting hand on his son’s shoulder. “I need you to be brave for your mum and your sister.”

The boy nodded, holding back tears.

Darren turned to his wife.

“Erica,” he began.

“Please stay,” she begged.

The husband and wife embraced and Darren whispered something in Erica’s ear, making her pull away with glistening eyes.

“Don’t tell me you love me like I’m never going to see you again,” she sobbed, latching onto her husband again.

“I’m sorry.” Was all Darren managed to respond with before peeling Erica off him and ducking out the house, leaving his family in tears.