“Hilbert, if it’s possible… could you take in Sophia and Murphy if they come along with us?” Arcturus hoped Hilbert accepted.

Hilbert nodded. “I can, but they wouldn't be able to become members of our organization unless our leader allows it.”

“So, the process is a lot more difficult. I’m not sure if they want to be members, but all I want is for them to be safe. They don’t need to join, but all they need is shelter and protection from the government.”

“That I can do, then. I’ll let the leader know to make an exception for them as they’ve been nice to me with how they always bring me good food whenever I give Constance a maintenance. Murphy’s fish dishes are simply delightful. Sophia’s stews are amazing too. If they weren’t stuck in the Outskirts, they could’ve run a restaurant with those cooking skills.”

All Arcturus needed now were two things: a way to get rid of the wall and a way to reach the mayor. For the former, he concocted several ideas, but he needed to find the perfect one; for the latter to happen, the former needed to happen. Despite this, he had one thought plaguing his mind amongst the ideas: getting back to the apartment.

“When should we return to your house? At what time do your members gather here?”

“We operate at night. Come around midnight and I’ll introduce you to our organization.”

Arcturus nodded. As he stood up, he tinkered with his bangle and then it scanned the bags of supplies he bought earlier and then a box materialized out of thin air. He opened the box, put the stuff inside and closed the lid; the box disappeared soon after. Hilbert was fascinated with the advanced technology while Constance looked at the bangle with interest. It reminded him of his sister whenever she wanted something. However, Constance wasn’t Ariel and he could tell what that gaze was. He held his wrist to his chest as he became guarded. “This is mine. I won’t let you have it.”

Constance shook her head. “I don’t want it!” Denial did not suit her face.

“Let’s go, then. We need to head back to the apartment.”

“I’ll take you back!” She stood up and greeted her farewells to Hilbert as they both left his office. As he passed by Sara, who was on her way to the office, he noticed her glaring at him and looked away; he made a mental note to not insult her tunnel maps out loud next time.

When he left the office, he took a look at the sky. The sky was darkening–night drew near. In a few hours, midnight would come. He knew a day would arrive in a flash if he wasn’t careful. He followed Constance back to the apartment.

~

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Arcturus and Constance were in front of the apartment. He had made simulations in his head regarding the words he would say to Sophia and Murphy and how they would react. He just hoped his plan worked. Constance opened the door, which caught him off guard. Before he could tell her to wait, her entire body was in the apartment, but she didn’t take any further steps. Confused, he entered and saw the entire apartment empty.

“What the…?” He saw Souhait’s long lavender hair trailing across the floor.

“Sophia? Murphy?” Constance was worried. Her ears twitched as she headed straight for the bathroom and opened the door.

Arcturus followed her and saw Sophia and Souhait bickering. He saw that the entire bathroom was empty too. Murphy was busy handling the toilet seat as the two bickered.

“Why can’t you bring the toilet with you?” Sophia remarked.

“Sophia, I told you already, the toilet is already connected to a sewage system. The best I can do is take the seat with me.”

“Toilets from other places are gross and unhygienic.”

“I said I will take the seat. Murphy is unscrewing the seat so you would not have to worry about germs and such.”

Sophia started grumbling. “You can’t take the bathtub and now you can’t take the toilet. Some powers you have there…”

Souhait furrowed his eyebrows as he crossed his arms and huffed. “You want to fight, hag?”

“Bring it, sissy boy.” She started cracking her knuckles.

“Please don’t fight…” Murphy mumbled as he finished unscrewing the toilet seat and handed it to Souhait. As he turned around, the sudden sight of Constance and Arcturus got him taken aback. “When did you two get back?”

“Just now.” Constance remarked.

Arcturus took a step forward. “What’s going on here?”

Souhait turned to look at Arcturus. “Oh, Arc! Welcome back!”

“Why is the apartment empty?”

“Sophia and Murphy said that they wanted to come along with us and since they did not want to lose their stuff, I am storing everything in my hair.” He grabbed some locks of his hair, wrapped the toilet seat with it and then it disappeared as soon as he unraveled it.

“Such wondrous hair you got there…” Arcturus was more bewildered because everything he had thought of in his head was now useless. He hadn’t expected Souhait to persuade them to come along and that they complied.

“What brought about this?” Constance asked curiously.

“We want to see our daughter again and if we die because of government rules, then we can’t anymore. It’s as simple as that.” Murphy patted her head after he responded.

“That’s great, then! We were going to persuade to come with us, but Souhait already did it for us unexpectedly. If possible, when midnight comes, could you follow us? We know a good place to take shelter before the government comes with Shifties tomorrow.”

Arcturus then explained everything that had happened during his visit to Hilbert’s office and how they were willing to shelter them. Sophia and Murphy looked rather thrilled that they had a place to go.

“Midnight comes in about six hours…” Sophia muttered. She then looked at Souhait. “What are we going to do about him though? His hair is annoyingly long and it’s going to be a hindrance when we move about.”

“Excuse me, I can change back to Nova, you know!”

They’re surprisingly vitriolic towards each other…

“Well, I think that he needs to change back to Nova and have him be asleep. I feel like Souhait should be kept a secret because people would mistake him to be Nova.”

“I was planning on returning to Nova anyways. I have things I need to do in the Spirit Realm. Also, I do not want to keep breathing in the same space as this hag.” Souhait pointed to Sophia with an unamused expression.

“What do you mean by hag when you’re much older than I am?”

They kept glaring at each other, causing Arcturus to sigh.