The day Albert dreaded finally arrived.

“What should we watch?” He asked, fiddling with the hard drive plugged into his television.

Marc was sitting on the sofa, staring into nothingness. Albert had been warned about his friend’s… condition, as Marc’s roommate put it. As such, he tried his best to ignore it and be as lively and cheerful as possible. For the both of them.

“How about the new Dungeons and Dragons movie? I’ve heard it’s nice.” He said. “I used my considerable resources to get my hands on a Blu-ray before it even came out!”

“…yeah, I guess.” Marc said after a moment of silence.

Albert tried his best not to be taken aback by Marc’s behavior, but it was difficult. Knowing whose fault it was made it even more difficult. What if he had escorted Marc home himself that night? Would it have made any difference?

“That’s awesome! Do you want popcorn?”

Marc shrugged. “Yeah…”

Albert blinked, but went to microwave some instant popcorn all the same. When he came back from the kitchen, carrying two bowls and some drinks, Marc was in the same exact position he had been in a few minutes ago. Watching the TV’s screensaver bounce around, eyes transfixed on something a thousand miles away.

Albert exhaled loudly, putting down the bowls and looking at his friend. It was like Marc wasn’t even aware he was being watched, instead only waiting for an external stimulus to wake him up.

“You are not as okay as you say you are, are you?”

Marc shrugged. “I’m alive. That’s all the matters, right?”

“Not really. Not if you are in this state.” Albert said.

Marc scoffed, but immediately schooled his face as if the sole thought he was being disrespectful to Albert somehow frightened him.

“Sorry. I’m, uh.” He paused, forcing a smile. “I’m shaken, that’s all.”

“Did you go to class?” Albert asked.

“No.” Marc shook his head. “I haven’t stepped foot outside my room until today, actually.”

“Shit. I’m so sorry man.” Albert said. “If I could help you somehow, trust me I would.”

“What? Erase my mind or something?”

Albert perked up.

“Don’t even think about it.” Marc said, receding from him.

What was with his eyes? The way they almost shimmered in the faint light of the room. Tears.

Was he scared?

“I would never.” Albert said, putting his hands forward in a gesture of goodwill. It was only when he saw Marc recoil even further into the sofa that he realized it might not have been a good idea.

They sat for a while, both staring at the screen saver. Somehow neither of the two had the strength to move, Marc for his own reasons and Albert feeling like it would be disrespectful to do so when his friend was clearly not in his right mind. The idea of watching a movie, about magic of all things, sounded so stupid now.

“What did they do to you?” He asked in the end.

Marc waved him off. “Nothing.” He forced yet another smile. “Made me sign a shitload of NDAs, took me places. I had no idea your mother could be so scary, man. I thought she was just an accountant. She’s a monster. A monster. A monster… I’m glad she isn’t here now.”

There was a shake to his voice as he said the last sentences that unsettled Albert to the core.

“Yeah, she is… out.” He said. Revealing to Marc about the portal upstairs was out of the question. “Did you hear from Aubrey? I have not heard from her ever since the whole video thing.”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“The Aubrey situation blew off into nothing, in the end. Not that I’ve seen her ever since… you know…” Marc trailed off.

“I’m glad it did. Could have been bad.” Albert said.

Marc’s face was tight. “Glad. I wish I could say I was.”

“Mm? Why?”

“Nothing.”

“Okay. How about we play some Minecraft? How about that?” Albert said, trying to salvage the unsalvageable.

“Sure.”

***

When Marc finally left the house to return to the college dorms, it was like a great weight had been lifted off Albert’s chest. For a little while, at least. Seeing his friend in such a state hurt more than he could ever express with words, and not knowing exactly why Marc had been reduced to nothing more than a husk of his former self was all the harder to deal with.

He thought about what Marc said earlier, even if just as a joke. Erasing his memories of the event, and go back to having his old clueless friend who knew nothing about magic and believed in conspiracy theories. It could work, if only he had a skill that let him do that.

Marc didn’t like the idea, of course. He had been kidnapped by a mind reader, after all.

Wait a fucking moment. PsyOps.

Faster than ever, Albert whipped up his phone and called his mother. She was at the Lair, but there was cell signal there thanks to the portal connecting the Lair to the house, making the whole area around it receive signal. Besides, her phone was enchanted and could work with HDF cell signal too, in case it was needed.

She picked up after barely two seconds.

“Albert. What’s wrong?” She asked, a weird conversation starter, but Albert had no presence of mind to notice.

“Marc just left. It was awful, mom.”

“Sweetie. I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah.” Albert said, but then his sadness was replaced by determination. “How did PsyOps gain his powers?”

“Nobody knows.” Mother said. “Why?”

“I have a… possibly very stupid idea. But I would need to understand how psionic magic works in order to do it.”

He heard a sound coming from the other end of the line. Barely a moment later his mother came out of the portal and was standing next to him.

“It’s a very risky idea.” She said sternly.

“I didn’t even—”

“You want to erase his mind.”

“Was it that obvious?”

Mother nodded. “Quite.”

“Listen, I know—”

“I said risky. I didn’t say to not do it. I might not be able to tell you how PsyOps developed his psionic magic, but perhaps you could pry that information from his mind yourself.”

Albert hummed. Then paused as the realization hit him. “What?”

“Before you ask. He’s not alive.” She said. “But he isn’t dead either. We kept his brain in suspended animation in one of the labs back at the Quadrangle. Remember Laboratory 33B? The one I didn’t let you go inside when we scouted the place to add it to your map?”

“Yes. I do remember it.” Albert said, with growing suspicion.

“It’s in there.”

“You knew I would ask you to do it?” He asked.

There was a dangerous glint in his mother’s smile, only for a moment. Something like pride mixed with sadistic approval.

“Let’s just say that I thought it might be a good idea to leave that particular avenue open, in case we needed it. It wasn’t to brainwash your friends, of course, although I suspected it might come to that in the end. There are things from which certain people never recover.”

Albert took a deep breath. No matter how much he wanted to think his mother a monster, truth was he had come to the same conclusion on his own, which meant that he was at least as much a monster as she was. The only difference was that she had the means to, and thus had already begun to act.

“Nobody knows the brain’s there.” Samantha added. “You can just—”

“I’ll need to think about it.”

“Of course. Your grandfather is going to Elvenhome, by the way. You could walk with him, clear your head. He might give you some advice. And even if not… Nature and fresh air do wonders to calm your nerves. Believe me, I made use of them just a few hours ago.”

***

“Yeah, sure. I’ll give the Lair some of my mana crystals and ask it to build you a small house next to the main structure. Do you want it towards the mountain or the forest?” Albert asked.

“Up the mountain. But not too much, lad. These bones ache.”

Albert cocked his head. “Do they? ‘Cause you seem to have no problem walking five hours to the elves.”

“Because, lad.” Lloyd said. “They elves! You got it? I could only dream of seeing them back in my day.”

“Fine. Okay.”

“What’s with the tone? You haven’t been yourself today. There’s something on your mind. Spit it out.”

Albert sighed. “Am I that easy to read?”

“Your mother guessed too, didn’t she? No, you ain’t easy to read. I mean, you are, but it’s not the problem. The problem is that we are family, and you don’t keep secrets from family. Come on, spit it out. What’s on your silly ass mind?”

Albert did spit it out.

“Not very silly.” Lloyd said, looking at his feet. He walked in silence for a few minutes, brooding over the matter and occasionally humming to himself. “What did your mother say?”

“She says that I should at least learn the skill from the brain, see if it’s possible. Should be if I use Analysis Mode right.”

“Smart. And then?”

“And then that I should do it.”

“Did she say why?”

“At least, she said, I can pretend to go back to how it was before. With Marc. Although I don’t think I could handle it.”

Lloyd laughed. “Always the pragmatic one, she is. But why don’t you look at it from another angle? Not just at what you stand to gain from doing it, but also at how much Marc is suffering. You would spare him that. Don’t you want it?”

“It wouldn’t be the same between us, though.”

“Is it now?”

“No.”

“There you have it. Come on.” Lloyd said, turning around and walking back to the Lair.

“Where are you going?”

“To the Quadrangle. We go there together. I have something I need to do, and you have a brain to scan.”