Rosaendra woke with a needle in her arm. The plastic bracer had been cut free as a woman that she had never seen worked with a needle and thread to stitch up her arm.

“Who are you?” Rosaendra jolted awake. The needle slipped and poked her.

“Whoa there, Rosie.” Ashley said, ‘This is my daughter Chloe. I called her here to help.”

The impulsive panic faded and Rosaendra lowered her arm.

Chloe got back to work, as Ashley moved closer.

“So what happened, Rosie? Were you attacked? Why were you wearing this?”

She held up the plastic bracer.

“And why did you have this?”

She held up the knife.

“Though I can’t really get it open.”

Ashley pulled at the knife, unable to open it.

Rosaendra sighed. Would it be better to admit what she was actually doing? Maybe show them a bit of her power. These questions plagued her mind while Chloe worked with her needle. She’d have allies. She’d have a coven. That sounded nice.

“Well, Rosie? What were you doing?”

“Listen...this is going to sound crazy.”

Rosaendra took a deep breath and began telling the story of her last couple of days. The strange dream she had where she was kneeling in front of the throne, and the message she had been given. About Roki and Efra, and the over trillion doors that had opened just hours before, and about the inevitable invasion that waited for them. She then told them about the wish she made, and how she could now understand every language put before her. After that, she told her of her foray into Efra and her fight with the Squidman.

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With every sentence she spoke, the look on both Ashley’s and Chloe’s faces grew more and more concerned. When she was finished, Ashley fished around in her purse.

“I’m calling the ambulance after all.”

“No, don’t!” Rosaendra jolted forward.

“You’re obviously unwell. Maybe you hit your head.” Ashley said.

“No, let me prove it.” Rosaendra protested, “Just...pull up a news site from a random country.”

“What?”

“Just do it.”

Ashley eyed Rosaendra suspiciously, as Chloe held back the weakened woman.

“Okay...here.”

Ashley handed her phone over.

“Mom! You can’t be taking her seriously.”

“I’m not,” Ashley said, “But what if she is telling the truth?”

“Really? Mom, you read too many books.”

While they were discussing, Rosaendra read through the article.

“It’s a story about an earthquake in Tunisia. 1500 dead? Written 3 months ago.”

Rosaendra handed the phone back to Ashley, and Ashley hit the translate button. She took a moment to read through the rough translation.

“She’s right.”

“So she could read Arabic? Who cares. That doesn’t prove anything else, she said.”

“Give me another.”

This time Chloe looks one up and hands it over. A picture of a clay tablet. Shattered

“What does this say?” A smug look splayed across her face.

It was a bit hard to make out the faded words, but eventually.

“In those days, in those ancient days, in those nights, those ancient nights, in those years, those ancient years, I think. It’s kind of broken up. Quite literally, just piecing it together like a puzzle.”

A few minutes pass with Chloe looking through a few things.

“Well, it is perhaps the most well known piece of Sumerian literature. Still don’t believe you.”

Rosaendra rolled her eyes.

“Okay, I’ll prove it to you another way.”

“How?”

“Give me the knife.” Rosaendra

“...what?” Ashley said.

Ashley pulled the knife away.

“You’re scaring me now, girly.”

“Just give me the knife.” Rosaendra said, “I’ll show you that I’m not a liar.”

“I’m not giving you the—”

“Okay, fine.”

Rosaendra then dug her finger into her stitches.

“What are you doing?”

They struggled against one another until Rosaendra was finally able to hook a finger beneath one of the threads and pulled it free. Blood began to pour down her arm.

“Holy hell, call someone n— What the hell...”

But as it began to flow down her arm, Rosaendra willed it off her body. The droplets formed a small, floating blob of blood. She twirled it around her finger and, finally, let it drop back onto her arm.

Neither Ashley nor Chloe could talk for a minute or two before Rosaendra hissed.

“Can you...can you stitch me back up?”