The awkwardness was broken as Madame Zara leaned in, her gaze settling on Emily with quiet intensity. “Hmm - have you gained the ability to let the other speak through you,” she mused, her voice calm yet filled with certainty. “To share the body? It appears as though you’ve come far together. But… hmm.”

Emily stiffened slightly. “How did you know that?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

Madame Zara didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she observed Emily closely, as though looking past her, past the tangible, past something even Emily herself didn’t fully understand.

Daniel stirred uneasily in her mind.

"What is she doing? I feel freaking naked here."

Emily swallowed. She felt it too—a strange sense of exposure, as if something hidden and buried was being drawn to the surface.

“I believe there’s something more the two of you need to see,” Madame Zara finally said pulling back. “Something hidden, even from yourselves.”

Emily frowned. “What do you mean? Everything’s fine now. Danny and I, we’ve bonded. We’ve figured things out. Right?”

Madame Zara’s gaze didn’t waver. “Yes, it’s a beautiful connection,” she acknowledged. Then, after a pause, her expression shifted ever so slightly. “But…but there is something off, child.”

Emily felt Sarah and Thomas immediately tense beside her.

“Off?” Sarah asked, her concern immediate, her voice a little sharper than intended. Thomas’s brow furrowed. “Are they sick or something?”

Madame Zara shook her head. “No. Not sick. But misaligned, perhaps, just a little..off”

Emily exchanged a glance with her parents. “What does that even mean?”

Madame Zara’s expression softened, but there was still weight behind her words. “Emily, Daniel—I’ll need to enter your dreamscape. I need to see for myself, I can’t explain it from here.”

Daniel switched in without hesitation. “Uhh… hey, nice to meet you again. Daniel here,” he said, the shift in his voice almost imperceptible to anyone but Emily.

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Madame Zara smiled slightly. “I know.” She glanced between them knowingly. “I can see when you shift. Your energies change.”

Daniel hesitated. “Right, uh… well, look. We kind of accidentally pulled Mom into the dreamscape once, but neither Emily nor I know how to do it again.” He scratched the back of his neck. “You’re welcome to come in, but we don’t know how to make that happen.”

Madame Zara let out a soft, knowing laugh. “Oh, don’t you worry about that, Daniel,” she said. “I have my ways.”

She took a breath and continued. “The dreamscape you and your sister share isn’t sealed off from those who know how to access other planes of consciousness” she continued sagely. “In fact, there are others who could find their way there, if they knew how.”

Emily’s breath caught. She felt Daniel similarly stunned within.

“Though,” Madame Zara added gently, “only those whom you trust—or whom you feel you could potentially trust—would ever be permitted to stay. After all, the dreamscape is alive, a reflection of your bond, and your bond with others.”

She tilted her head, resting it on two fingers as if explaining the obvious “But it also holds secrets you have yet to uncover.”

Emily, Sarah, and Thomas exchanged glances - uneasy and awestruck.

Thomas folded his arms. “And you can help them uncover it?”

“Yes, but again - I cannot explain it all from here,” Madame Zara said. “We need to go deeper.” She looked at Emily and Daniel expectantly. “Will you let me enter?”

The enormity of the question settled over them. Emily could feel Daniel hesitate. For a long moment, neither of them spoke.

“Yes,” Emily finally said, reaching out and squeezing the mystic’s hand.

Daniel followed switching in. “Please. If you know how—you’re welcome.”

Madame Zara nodded once, then moved forward, kneeling before Emily. She took Emily’s hands gently, her fingers cool against her skin. “Physical contact is essential” she hummed seemingly to herself “It establishes the connection”

The air inside the tent shifted. It was subtle at first—a flicker of something beneath the surface, like the moment before a storm, like a powerful engine about to spin up.

“And then there is the mental and emotional connection” she sighed, closing her eyes, focusing “aligning with the two of you, being open - willing to embrace more than who we are.”

Emily felt the room become dense, charged, as though something was pressing inward although she wasn’t sure if she was merely imagining it. A hum seemed to fill the air - soft at first, then growing, a low vibration, something unseen yet present.

Her fingertips tingled, a weightless, floating sensation seemed to momentarily take hold and the very air itself felt as though it were crackling.

Then— just like that, everything shifted. There was a pull, the world itself seemed to warp - and the dreamscape opened before them.