“Now, I’m sure you have some questions; as do we,” the Director started as soon as I sat down. Matias and Lisa both sat on the opposite side of me. Like me, they were both very tense. It felt like we had been summoned to the principal's office and were awaiting our detention sentences. Although I guess if we are sticking with the animal motive, it’ll be more like we had entered a lion's den and were waiting to see if we were dinner.

“In the spirit of fairness, however, I would like for you to get all your questions out of the way before I ask mine. How does that sound?” the Director said.

“Yes ma'am -, uh I mean. That sounds good.”

“Good,” she said. “Ask away then.”

It's really embarrassing and maybe it was because of the Director’s intimidating aura but my mind blanked. I felt her eyes boring into me so I blurted out the first thing on my mind. “Wh-who are you,” I squeaked.

I know that was a stupid question; I obviously knew she was the Director, but hey I was nervous - sue me.

The Director though didn’t seem to mind my question. She simply nodded. “How rude of me. I apologize. Introductions are only natural when meeting unfamiliar persons. My name is Alicestyne Jones, and I am the Director of the Order of the Golden Lion, one of the five branches of the Persona Organization. I’m aware you’re already acquainted with Ms. Mizuno of the Azure Dragon and Mr. Luca of the Emerald Bull.”

At the mention of their names Lisa shrunk in her seat, almost as if she was trying to melt and disappear into the chair. Matias’s reaction was much worse; he visibly jolted, his knew bumping into the table and causing the Director's image to wobble.

“Sorry,” he quickly blurted out.

I didn’t sense any hostility coming from the Director but from Lisa and Matias’ reactions, I would have sworn that she was about to either eat them or worse, assign them to a year's worth of after-school detention.

“Douglas, go ahead, introduce yourself,” the Director said, nodding to Pseudo Davos.

“My name is Douglas Tetteh, and I’m one of the commanders of the Order of the Golden Lion. It is nice to meet you,” he said with a hint of an accent I couldn't quite place.

“Good. Now that introductions are out of the way. You may proceed with your line of questions” the Director said.

I tried to calm myself but Lisa and Matias were making it incredibly difficult.

“Ok, next question where am I? I woke up in my room but this is obviously not my house,” I said gesturing to the massive area outside of our conference room.

The Director nodded again. “Douglas thought you might appreciate waking up in a familiar place so we adjusted the room to mimic yours. But you are correct this place is not your home. You are in fact currently in one of our safe houses. You were brought here after your encounter with the greater shade three days ago.”

“So that wasn’t just a bad dream?”

“No, I’m afraid it wasn’t.”

“Fuuuck.” I cursed.

“Language,” Pseudo Davos cautioned, and from the look on his face, it seemed like that it was for my sake.

“Oh sorry,” I said. By this point, my mind had calmed down enough and I was able to get to the root of the matter. “What is going on? What is happening? What is all of this?”

The Director simply nodded again. “As I stated earlier we are from the Order of the Golden Lion, one of the five branches of the Persona Organization. We along with the other branches; the Emerald Bull, the Azure Dragon, the Silver Wolf and the Amethyst Owl protect our world from threats generated from an opposite reality that runs concurrently to our own. This reality although hidden from the naked eye spawns intrusions, Shades, that have a way of adversely affecting our world. These intrusions are the cause of much chaos ranging from everyday mishaps to catastrophic natural disasters. Hence why we of the orders intervene; I don’t speak lightly when I say that we are one of the last bastions of this reality.”

“Ok,” I said, trying to process her words. From the plain, matter-of-fact, way she explained everything I doubt I could have doubted her words even if I wanted to. Besides after everything, it would have been downright silly for me to still try. I played along.

“So you’re a secret magic organization that protects the world from hidden threats from some other world. Makes sense. So this other world, are we talking an alternate reality like the DC multiverse or is it more like Marvel's?”

The Director stared at me with a look that seemed to ask, is this kid serious? She turned to Douglass who was trying hard to stifle his laughter.

“Think of the Hidden World like another layer of reality where everything is pure chaos,” he said. “Like in Stranger Things.”

“Oh like the upside-down?”

“Yeah, sort of.”

“Ah gotcha,” I said. “That’s cool.”

Lisa rolled her eyes and Matias just stared at us blankly.

“Uh-hmm,” the Director cleared her throat. Something told me that she did not like babbling geeky teens comparing the Hidden World to the upside-down. “If that’s how you want to think about it, be my guest.”

“And the masks?” I asked her, trying to get back on track.

“Tools of the trade if you will. Typically the threats we fight against lie in the Hidden World; your upside down if you will. These masks allow us to see them as well as grant us the ability to fight them back.”

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As she said this Pseudo Davos waved a hand over his face and a golden lion mask appeared. Lisa and Matias copied the Commander’s actions, summoning their respective masks. They repeated the gesture and their masks disappeared again.

That was a cool trick. Honestly, this was all kinda cool. I don’t know why I was freaking out earlier.

“So they give you all superpowers, gotcha. I’m guessing that’s why Lisa can walk on water and turn into lightning, why Matias is walking a brick wall with a battle ax and why Pseudo Dav - er... I mean Commander Douglas can turn into the sun.”

“In a manner of speaking that is correct,” the Director affirmed. “Any other questions?”

Oh, I had so many more questions. I wanted to know what my cool superpowers would be; if I would also be given cool weapons like Lisa and Matias. But most importantly I wanted to know what the Persona policy was on code names. Because I was thinking maybe I’d finally grow out of Deshawn the Clown. Maybe I’d go with Agent X, or Twilight or the Oni. Yeah, I liked that one. Cool, intimidating plus it would let me get mileage out of my mask. Deshawn Dale - code name - the Oni.

I was about to nerd out more but then disturbing thoughts hit me. If this was all real, like not a dream, that would mean that Heather was a shadow monster who tried to kill me. Was that thing even really Heather? If not, where was the real Heather? How was Quincy mixed up in all of this? Why did he send me the mask? Where was he now? And was he ok?

Suddenly, all of this became much less cool.

As all of those thoughts ran through my head the most pressing thought formed into my next questions. “Is my mom safe? Since that thing didn’t get me, will it go after her? You said everything happened three days ago right? So she hasn’t seen or heard from me in 5 days. She must be worried sick.”

The Director smiled. “Yes, your mother is safe. We have assigned your mother a watch detail so she should be protected from the shades should they try to use her to get to you. But as we speak both you and your friend Heather are considered missing.”

That was slightly comforting. At least mom will be safe.

“Is Heather here?” I asked hopefully.

“No, she is not,” the Director said. “According to Douglass, she disappeared shortly after he arrived on the scene. Is that correct Douglass?”

The Pseudo Davos noded. “That’s correct. She hasn’t been spotted since but we believe that she’s still in the country; all our agents in the US are currently on the lookout for her. We’ll find her soon.”

“Ok, that’s good. I definitely have more questions but I think I still need time to process everything. So I guess it’s your turn.” I said turning to the Director.

The Director nodded. “I have one question; although it's more of a request. Would you please tell me about your dreams?”

“My dreams?”

“Yes, in the three days you slept we tried everything, shy of sawing off your face, to pry the mask away from you but each effort failed. I received reports that during those attempts you kept murmuring about some interesting things in your sleep. Could you share them with me?”

I felt apprehensive. My dreams were my private space; where I could be as weird as I want to without any repercussions. So why would I share that with a scary lady I just met?

“Uh I don’t know if I remember,” I lied.

“Mr. Luca,” the Director said, causing Matias to jump again.

“Yes, Director Jones.”

“Can you please play the recording you showed us earlier?”

“Yes Director,” Matias said as he pulled out his cellphone. He scrolled through and after finding what he was looking for, he hit play and placed the phone on the table for us all to hear.

A nasally voice from the phone said “Dude. What the hell? I know you’re busy with your cave exploring or whatever, but Mom’s been worried sick about you. She hasn’t heard anything from you in 2 months, so the least you could do is call or text her and let her know that you’re in town and more importantly that you're ok.”

It was my voice. Luca somehow had a recording of my phone call with Quincy. More importantly, is that really how I sounded?

“It was you?” I asked. “That phone call was with you?”

“Yeah,” Matias said.

“Mr. Dale. I have been more than candid with you. I have answered all of your questions without reservation and I would appreciate it if you returned the gesture. It’s only fair and I don’t take kindly to cheaters or liars” the Director said.

This time I 100% sensed hostility. The Lioness was beginning to get irritated and every part of my being told me that was something I did not want. I decided it was in my best interest to tell her everything. So I did. From receiving the mask and the note from Quincy to my first dream where Quincy and Davos were exploring the cave; everything Heather had said as she attacked me and finally my last dream with the five animals, the Tree and the Storm. I’m sure I probably added a lot more detail than was necessary which only lengthened the story but throughout the Director remained silent, patiently listening.

“It is as I feared,” she said when I finished.

“Yeah,” Pseudo Davos agreed.

“Mr. Dale, as you have no doubt pieced together, the Persona Organization is a global initiative. It is made up of varying different cultures, each very unique but also similar in many ways. Do you know one thing we all have in common?”

“No,” I admitted. I wanted to say 'you all really like masks'? But something told me that joke wouldn’t have been very well received.

“A story,” the Director informed. “One of a traveler who journeyed from place to place carrying around five great masks. This man taught the fledgling human civilizations how to survive as well as combat the creatures of the Hidden World. Before leaving, in each one of those great civilizations, he left one of those great masks. Eventually, as the world grew more connected those from the different societies he had taught banded together and formed the Persona Organization. We the Directors of the Orders each carry one of the great masks he left behind.”

She waved her hand over her face and her mask appeared. Her mask was clearly different from Matias, Lisa’s and Pseudo Davos. Simply put hers radiated with power, its golden glow so growing so bright that I had to look away. She waved her hand again and the mask disappeared.

“A year ago, your brother convinced us to commission an expedition to find and unearth a sixth great mask, one he believed was used to create the other five. We don’t know how he came to possess this knowledge but given his accomplishments and his record with us we trusted in him. He spent this past year tracking down the sixth mask and finally found it buried in a cave in Ghana. Douglas was in fact with your brother at the cave. In his debrief, he gave a similar account of the cave from your dream down to the same details you shared with us. Unfortunately, while the mask was being unearthed by your brother Douglas was attacked from behind and rendered unconscious. When he came to both Quincy and the mask were gone.”

Douglass’ face fell and he shifted uncomfortably.

“As of this moment, we have two working theories. One - Your brother has been kidnapped by an unknown party and he is currently being held prisoner. This while plausible is highly unlikely. The reach of Persona’s monitoring capabilities is far too extensive for a third party to escape our notice. So that leads me to believe that the second theory is what has most likely occurred. Your brother was the one who attacked Douglas before escaping with the mask.

Douglass’ shifted again. Lisa and Matias no longer looked terrified. Instead, now they simply looked sad.

The Director too appeared a little solemn. With a heavy sigh, she continued. “If that is indeed what occurred then the Persona Organization would have no choice but to label Quincy Dale as the primary threat to our world. Then he will be hunted and eliminated.”