-Zoey’s POV-

It was 7PM when the sound of the doorbell ringing filled our home. Having gotten back only an hour earlier, my enthusiasm for door answering was in complete opposition to Mao’s, who had been scratching at my bedroom door in response to the nuisance. I was relaxed and had already slipped into something more comfortable. It was far past the time when I felt the need to go through the trouble of putting something on just to play at greeting a stranger.

“Zoey! Get the damn door already! I’ll be down in a minute!”

But unfortunately for me, Carla Brahm had other plans for my evening. With a sigh of resignation, I slipped a bra on underneath my shirt then some shorts before opened the door, allowing Mao to scamper out into the open. I headed down to the living room and found him already clawing at our entrance.

Did Carla have plans with someone? Why was she so preoccupied in her room at this hour? Usually she’d be sitting on the couch watching the news or some cheesy TV dramas with a scowl on her face. Don’t tell me she went and got herself a social life when I wasn’t looking? I thought it was awfully late of her to finally decide to put herself back on the market, but it didn’t discourage me from turning the knob and answered the door, arching forward and keeping my hand around Mao’s collar to prevent him from leaping out. However, nothing could have prepared me for the face I saw once I turned my head up to the slit.

“Hello again, Fraulein.”

I could only offer a wide-eyed blink in response as I looked up to meet his gaze. The sight of that man, his 4 o’clock shadow, his greasy, shoulder-length hair, that slimy, crooked grin of his, in no conceivable universe could have possibly meant anything good. His features were like the flashy warning signs of a dangerous predator, and they had quickly overwhelmed my sense of safety the second our eyes met. My thoughts were muddled by the realization.

How did he find me?

I know I wasn’t followed, I made sure of it.

Is this also some part of Dream Paralysis’s power? Was he able to track me somehow?

“I’m going to call the police,” I said, still holding the scampering Mao back.

“Oh dear. Do you really something like iron bars can stop people like us?”

Like us.

He said people like us. So, not only was he confessing to being another owner of the power, but he really does think that I have it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, is that so? That’s disappointing. And here I thought I’d offer up a truce.”

I picked Mao up and cradled him in my arms so that I was no longer hunched over. A truce? Would he leave me alone if I followed this truce of his? I didn’t know what he was after in the first place, so perhaps hearing him out wouldn’t be a bad thing. But to show any interest in said truce would be the same as admitting that I knew why he was interested in me.

“What kind of truce? Do I have to pay you money for you to leave me alone?”

He laughed. “No, nothing like that. Why don’t you step outside for a minute so that we can talk about it more openly?”

I took a glance at the television to my right then turned back towards him.

“I’ll pass.”

“Shame. Guess we’ll have to risk your parents overhearing us.” I shrugged at his comment, and he continued. “We’ve both seen each other’s faces, so we’re at a stalemate here. If things continue on this track, then neither of us is going to be able to sleep due to the very real possibility of being linked by the other.”

He seemed to have a much better grasp of its intricacies than I did. Was the technical term for a hack “linking”? Like a spirit link? Also, judging by what he’d said, it appeared that seeing someone’s face once was enough of a prerequisite for using the power on them.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“What are you proposing then? What kind of ceasefire could you possibly have come up with against something like that?”

“Ah, so you do know what I’m talking about.” There was no use in playing dumb. I just needed to get this over with. He’d keep hovering over me like a fly even if I denied it. “The proposal is simple: Let me take the power from you.”

I stood there in awe.

“You can take it from me?”

“Well, it’s not quite difficult. Once our spirits are linked, you can relinquish it to me through the connection. I don’t know how you found the spirit, but you probably have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into, correct? You should just leave things like these to the adults. Hosting such a powerful spirit in your body like that isn’t wise for a young girl like yourself.”

“What, are you an expert on spirits?” I asked.

“I’d be honored to tell you all about it once you relinquish the spirit to me.”

He was being persistent. It was obvious enough that he needed me to acquiesce. It’s because I saw his face, right? If I hacked him and stole his spirit somehow, then he’d be in big trouble. The issue is, even if I was Castro’s host, I have no idea what he’ll do to me or Tristan if we handed it over. He’s clearly been looking for it for a long time, and he seems determined to keep its existence a secret.

“Are there any more spirits like these?” I asked.

“Not that I’m aware of. Spirits do exist, but these twin spirits are unique as far as how they interact with the living. Again, I’d be happy to tell you all about it if you would just hand it over to me.”

I’m being conned. That’s what I felt at that moment. There wasn’t a chance in hell that things would go as smoothly as he was explaining them. How much more powerful would he become if he absorbed both spirits? I would have no way of guaranteeing my own safety once he had them both. And are there really only two spirits in the first place? How do I know that he’s telling the truth?

“Can you give me a week? Like, ’til the 13th?”

“You want a week?” he asked.

“Yeah. I’d like to have fun with it for just one week. How could I not want that? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

“You…” He pinched the bridge of his nose then regained his composure. “Please don’t get caught. You haven’t told anyone about the power, have you?”

“Nope. It’s no fun if they know what I’m doing.”

“Hm.” The man pondered. “What if I agreed then linked you while you slept anyway?”

“Or, what if I hacked you while you slept?”

“Hacked? You have a funny way of looking at it.” He pondered for a moment once more. “Then I suppose that neither of us will be getting very much sleep until the Monday of the 13th.”

“I suppose not.”

He was willing to embrace the ambiguity of it all. He wasn’t the least bit worried that I could steal the spirit from underneath him. And why should he be? He understood the power far better than I did. He could simply leverage his knowledge to steal it from right under me somehow.

However, he did make one potentially fatal mistake. And it’s that the spirit doesn’t actually reside within my body. Even if he hacks me, the only thing he’ll find is that he’s taken control of a high school girl’s body. But I can’t let him do even that much. Because once he figures it out, he might use his power to find out about who the true owner is.

“How did you figure out that it was me?” I asked.

“That you were the host?”

I nodded.

“Oh, well that…” his voice faded away as he heard the footsteps rushing down the staircase behind me.

“Oh, Dr. Oliver! You’re early!”

“Good evening, Carla darling. I must say, you have a lovely home.”

“Oh, you.”

The fact that he had known that I was of German ancestry should have tipped me off as to how he knew about me. Carla Brahm walked past me in what was the most extravagant outfit I’d seen her wear in ages. A silver-collared black gown that hung all the way down to her 3-inch heels, and a right-sided slit that rode up to her lower thigh. My gaze moved back up and I found the two of them sharing a passionate hug. The scent of an exotic perfume that she’d never worn before flashed at my senses. Did she pick it out especially for him?

“Mom, when did you meet this man?” I asked.

“Oh, I had a little mix-up at the gas station the other day and Dr. Oliver helped me out.”

Yes, it all made sense. It was the gas station incident. How on earth did it end up back to her? Did someone recognize her? Was it the thief? The cashier? If there were cameras, then they’d definitely be able to prove to her that she had “sleep-walked”. But still, how did this man, who also possess Dream Paralysis, find her so quickly just off that one incident?

The existence of others with this power was beyond my calculations. Just how many more people are there who possess something like this? Was it really just Tristan and this man? And if not, then why is it such a well-kept secret? Either way, one thing was for certain. I needed to pray to Laura’s God that Carla hadn’t told him about Tristan. I can’t have the two of them meeting. Not until I know enough to come up with some sort of plan. I needed a picture of him first, and then some kind of confirmation that his spirit could be stolen. If he finds Tristan before I can do that much, then it’s game over.

“Shall we, Carla darling?” he asked her.

“Oh, I’ll be out in a minute. I need to talk to my daughter for a little.”

“Sure, I’ll be waiting.”

He left the two of us and walked back out to his car, which was parked out on the street. The two of us stared out at him until he entered his vehicle. My mother Carla, with a smile of plastic, closed the door gently when she was finally certain that he was gone.

“Mom, I don’t think that guy is good new-”

“Now you shut up and listen, you little freak.”