Ravela got back to her room and sat down on her bed. ‘So what if that teenager saw her? That meant nothing. Nothing! No, no, she was never there in the first place. The girl was just mistaking her.’

Ravela began pacing the room nervously. She would feign ignorance if confronted. She spent yesterday in her room with a nosebleed. Feigning ignorance would be her plan.

A knock on the door got Ravela’s attention. She opened her door and found Ma Stone waiting outside.

“Ma Stone, it is unusual for you to come to me. What can I do for you?”

Ma Stone smiled her warm smile and replied.

“Well, I just wanted to give you a warning before dinner. It is a bit unusual, but I have friends of my granddaughter and their parents over this evening. I hope this won’t be a problem for you. If it is, I could arrange a separate room for you to have your dinner.”

Ravela nervously laughed.

“No, not at all. I welcome company. I hope your guest won’t mind my presence, though.”

Ma Stone made a throwaway gesture and winked. “My guests never mind company.” With that, Ma Stone walked back down the stairs.

Ravela went to the bathroom again. She would put on fresh clothes for this dinner. Ma Stone’s granddaughter was on Ravela’s mind. At least there was zero chance of that being Safora.

‘Wait, her granddaughter was Laena. … Laena was friends with Safora. Oh no, what were the odds!? Congratulations, Ravela, you did this to yourself.’

Shortly after this realization, Ravela sat in the bathtub and contemplated her failings as an interdimensional invader.

----------------------------------------

Laena was preparing the table. It had been some time since Ma Stone had cooked for this many guests, and Laena had lent her a hand once she was back from her town-sponsored ‘feel good’ trip.

If nothing else, Laena would know all the recipes and how to cook them long before she graduated high school.

The doorbell rang, and Ma Stone came out of the kitchen.

“Laena, be an angel and let them in, please. I have to change clothes. I can’t sit at the dinner table like this.”

Laena went to the front door while Ma Stone went up to her room to change.

She opened the door and invited her friends and their parents inside.

_________________________________________________________

Ravela walked down the stairs as she heard the chatter at the front door.

Once she reached the last stair, Ma Stone came out of a side room.

“Ah, good, Ramiel. Perfect timing, our guests have just arrived. Let me introduce you.”

Ravela smiled and motioned for Ma Stone to lead the way. “Please, and thank you.”

Ma Stone walked with the purpose of a host eager to receive her guests.

“Welcome. I see everybody made it here. Wonderful. I believe some introductions are in order, he’s a guest currently in our home. Mr. Roice, these are the Mulages and the Pontis’. In order, we have Leroy Mulage, Mira Mulage, and their daughter Melle Mulage. And over here we have Quintus Pontis, Helena Pontis, and Safora Pontis. This is my granddaughter but I already told you about Laena.”

Ravela smiled at the gathered guest. “Please, do call me Ramiel. It is much more comfortable for me.”

Ravela noticed that Mira Mulage didn’t like her name. Leroy Mulage noticed that his wife had a bit of a sour expression and decided he’d be the first to break the ice. He walked up and reached out his hand.

Ramiel shook it without hesitation.

“So Ramiel, huh? That is rather unusual. How did you get that name?”

Ravela wiggled her head a bit. “Well, you know, Mr. Mulage, I lost my memories and spent the last four months relearning to speak. When the judge asked me for a name I barely knew how to say ‘hello.’ I read the name Ramiel in some book in the library and liked it without knowing any context or connotations for it.”

“That must have been hard for you. Four months and you already speak so well?” Quintus Pontis jumped in to step forward and shook her hand.

“Oh, I had a lot of help from Keeper Namon, after Sheriff Thorn helped me out,” Ravela replied. She would never be able to give Namon enough praise for his relentless effort.

“Is that so? Well, call me Quintus, please.”

“And me Leroy, please. No need to be formal, right?” Leroy said, turning back to his wife and kid. Both agreed.

“I am Helena, not Mrs. Pontis, and this wonderful young lady is my daughter Safora Kimolia Pontis.”

Ravela, for the first time during the whole interaction, looked at Safora.

“Hm, Laena and Safora. I could’ve sworn…oh right, I was in Betty’s Diner today that’s where I heard your names before. For a second, I thought I was remembering something different. When you lose your memory, you never know how you remember names you supposedly just learned about, till you can place them.”

Safora looked at her in a way Ravela didn’t like at all. Ravela turned to Ma Stone. Ma Stone promptly used the chance to guide them all toward the dining room.

Ravela let everyone pass her. As Safora walked by, she did so with a strange expression. ‘Well, that isn’t good.’

Dinner looked like a feast. The first course was soup.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Ravela tried not to eat like a starving wolf for once, trying to adhere to how the adults ate.

“So Ramiel, you said you’ve been here for four months now, right?” Mira inquired.

Ravela responded with a small nod and said, “Indeed.”

“If you only studied in the library this whole time, you must not have seen a lot of what the lake and mountains have to offer.”

Ravela smiled. “Well, I think you’re right. I should go out and see more of the mountains.”

Ma Stone chimed in. “Oh, don’t be so modest. You’ve been running around Lake Kaluinga almost every day before breakfast. I don’t even know when he gets up in the morning, but by breakfast, he is back.”

Ravela, sitting opposite Ma Stone, forced a smile on her face. “That is true, I run every morning, but I have not seen the mountains or much of the forest so far.”

She could see Safora eye him from the side. “So, did you run yesterday too?”

Ravela looked over at Safora. “Yesterday, I was in my room the entire time. I heard from Ma Stone that there had been an accident but so far I didn’t learn much about it.”

Ma Stone got up. “I think it is time for the next course.”

Ravela smiled. She couldn’t wait for the next dish. Glancing over to Safora, she took note of the scrutiny in the gaze of the young woman.

‘Can’t you leave it be?’ Ravela thought to herself.

Laena helped her grandmother collect the bowls now devoid of the delicious soup.

Ravela enjoyed the food of this world. She was excited about the next dish.

Ma Stone brought in a big salad bowl, and Laena behind her carried a platter of chicken breasts. The spices on the chicken Ravela smelled throughout the entire room. Hot food. Ravela liked hot food. Loved hot food.

The chicken breasts looked appealing. Ravela felt herself getting tunnel vision. But no dish should be eaten without its side dish. She looked on as each guest at the table passed around the salad bowl.

“Thank you,” Ravela said as it was her turn to put salad on her plate.

She took just as much salad as Leroy had before her and passed the bowl on to Quintus.

The salad dressing had a milky white color and few herbs in it. This dinner was far better than what she usually had, and Ravela enjoyed it not just a little bit.

Once everybody had their salad on the plate Laena came around with the chicken platter. The chicken was placed on the plate together with the leaf under it. There were some crushed nuts and berries on the leaf, and the spices on the chicken breast looked to be quite the variety.

Ravela liked the composition, and she had high hope after the earthy yet rich soup.

She looked at the other guest, who seemed to like what was on their plates too.

Mira Mulage spoke up. “So since this is the actual meal, shall we pray? Don’t feel forced to join in or anything.”

Ravela looked at the Mulages, Ma Stone, and Laena praying, then looked over at the Pontis family, who sat just like him. Ravela concluded that the Golden Path was not everybody's religion, or at least not practiced the same way in every home. Suddenly, Ravela felt more awkward sharing a table like this.

Eventually, they finished praying, and everybody began to eat. Ravela started by tasting the salad and chicken separately.

The chicken was very spicy but had a fruity earthen note to it. The salad dressing tastes creamy and fresh. It soothed and counterbalanced the hot chicken.

Ravela had a big grin on her face while thinking about the dish and its various small nuances. She glanced over the other guest’s plates and took notice that they left the leaf under the chicken untouched.

Ravela enjoyed the other two courses enormously as well. She could enjoy the food as the families discussed the accident, the holiday plans, and a dozen other things she couldn’t contribute to in this conversation.

From time to time they would ask her something out of courtesy or inform her about something to not leave her out of the loop completely.

Quintus owned the local cinema, she learned. A technology he proudly informed her on. Movies are a booming business. And his wife had to kick him under the table to stop him from explaining his cinema in copious detail.

Not that Ravela minded the lecture, but it was a tangent. One that could wait till she visited the cinema.

Ravela excused herself after the desert.

“I think I should retreat to my room. I bet you have to catch up on things that don’t need me to be here. Thank you all for the wonderful company, and of course, thank you, Ma Stone, for having me at her table.”

When Ravela finally reached her room she felt somewhat gloomy. Sure she had a wonderful dinner, but the deception she had to keep up became more difficult after the accident.

Ravela opened her window to the cool evening air flooding her room making it easier for her to sleep. She lay down on the blanket and closed her eyes.

----------------------------------------

Safora kept glancing at Ramiel. ‘There is no doubt.’

When Ma Stone told them about him running around the lake every morning, she was certain.

‘You were there! I saw you.’ When the bus had landed on the path rounding the lake, Safora had to pick herself up from the floor.

She first locked eyes with Laena, realizing she was okay. She looked at the bus driver, and there she saw him, Ramiel, bleeding from his nose and eyes.

‘Why are you lying?’ Safora tried not to glare daggers at him.

After dinner, her parents and the Mulages left together. Safora was allowed to sleep over by Ma Stone and her parents.

‘The things that become possible when you get into a terrible accident.’

Safora wanted to let Laena in on her secret. She wanted to investigate. She needed her friend to be on her side.

Once they were in Laena’s room, her best friend steamrolled her with questions.

“What was that? You’ve been staring at that guy all dinner. Why are you glaring at Ma’s guest like that? You were barely in the conversation, Safora. Your mother noticed too. And Mr. Roice did too. What was that?”

Safora didn’t expect to be pushed like that immediately upon closing the door.

“Okay, listen…”

----------------------------------------

“I tell you he was there.”

“But you said what I saw was silly.”

“I know what I said. That was because I thought I was crazy. What I saw looked like a zombie, Laena. But it was Ramiel, no doubt about it.”

“So what, he was down there and got injured or something? What are you getting at?”

“No, he wasn’t just down there…I think he did something. Have you looked at that slope? I think he stopped the bus from flipping.”

“Safora, you sound crazy. Okay, even if he was there. How would he have stopped the bus?”

“I don’t know! Maybe he’s a Super. Maybe he’s a criminal trying to hide here.”

“And what, you want to find out? What if he’s a criminal?”

“Well, he claims he lost his memory, right? But somehow, he had the money to rent a room here for one year. Maybe he did save us, maybe he didn’t, but I am certain he was there that day.”

“And now what?”

“Well, if I had a friend that was willing to help me.”

“Safora, don’t even go there. Ma Stone would kill us if we messed with her guest.”

“Nobody is talking about messing with them.”

“Didn’t know your middle name was nobody.”

Ravela’s eyes shot back open. ‘Oh, come on! What is that girl doing?!’

Ravela got up from her bed. She took a shopping bag out of her closet.

She dumped all the money inside the bag and put it atop the closet. She felt cranky. She thought she’d get a good night’s sleep. Instead, she got robbed by this conversation.

Ravela took out her suitcase. There was no way to hide this. The backpack with the guns and all the other items in it Ravela placed on top of the closet too.

She looked inside her suitcase. The armor suit was something impossible to hide. ‘And how bad that would make Ramiel Roice look.’

The suitcase had a combination lock, but Ravela didn’t have the combination to open it. She slapped her forehead when she realized the obvious fix.

Pulling out the armor, she closed and locked the suitcase. ‘Alright, let’s see if I can do this.’

Ravela telekinetically reached into the locking mechanism. She felt the nooks in the combination wheels with closed eyes. She had never used her telekinesis like a sixth sense. It felt so natural the moment she did.

The combination wheels turned as she desired and…

*Click*

The suitcase was open, and Ravela looked at the combination. ‘Zero-Zero-Seven’ Ravela made sure she’d not forget that combination.

That changed things. Ravela got the backpack and the money from the closet and carefully maneuvered everything into the suitcase. It was a tight fit. That way, there would be no rattling around inside. Ravela closed the suitcase, spun the combination wheels till she was satisfied, and returned it to its place under the bed.

Then she remembered the problem she couldn’t fit into the suitcase. The cardboard tube contained her looted sword.

Ravela thought of ways to hide the sword without the cardboard tube, but the empty container on its own would look suspicious.

She slowly turned around in her room. ‘There had to be a spot. On top of the closet, it would stick over the sides. Behind the closet wouldn’t work either. The tube is easily spotted if someone looks under the stilt-legged closet. What do? Where hide? Hmmm.’

Ravela pursed her lips at the uncooperative furniture. She walked into the bathroom and looked at it carefully.

The answer came to her in the form of a small grid opposite the tiny milk glass window, a ventilation shaft, tiny and insignificant.

The screws spun out with Ravela willing it. She pulled off the grid and inspected the shaft that led outside. Nothing was in the way of her view. The tube fits neatly inside, and the grid and screws are returned to their rightful place afterward.

Ravela was satisfied with the measures she had taken and lay back on her bed. But after closing her eyes, no dreams of a delicious dinner came to her. Instead, she had weird dreams.

A weird cartoon sequence where she sneaked through the town in her real form hiding in plain sight hunting unruly teenagers on the run with her precious new identity and face.

Absurd, but highly entertaining.