“Good afternoon Mom!” I said through my second clone. “Any reason you’re calling me on a Saturday at 4:00 PM?”

“Erind sweetie, I’m so glad you’re okay,” Mom told me. “This was too much for me. First the fire and now this.”

“Wait, what do you mean?” I asked her.

“You haven’t seen the news?” Mom asked. “A Titan Adumbrae and some other Adumbrae were spotted fighting near the docks yesterday evening.”

“Well, I went to sleep early last night,” I told her. I actually went to bed at 9:45 AM, but I wasn’t going to tell her at that. “I also don’t really watch the news.”

“You really should sweetie,” Mom said. “But I’m glad you’re getting a good night's sleep and that you were able to call me immediately this time.” Oh right, because I was busy stealing dresses from the mall Everett burned, I wasn’t able to call Mom until I got back to my condo.

“Just trying to get a better routine at school,” I lied. Going to sleep at nearly 10:00 AM in the morning was not ideal. We spent so long traveling through those sewer tunnels. And the ride back was so fucking long. I hated being stuck with other people for three hours. Worst of all, I still felt hungry. It turns out that eating all those people in my Red Hood form did not make my real body feel any full. SpookyErind and my 2nd clone’s body were also hungry. I hoped Deen prepared a big breakfast for us. Or was it brunch? No wait, it’s lunar because it’s after lunchtime and before dinner time.

“Oh, that reminds me, I should tell you about the week I pulled an all-nighter in grad school,” Mom said. Damnit, she was going to go on a story about her past life. Please no. Sadly, as the perfect daughter, there was nothing I could do but listen. Then, SpookyErind pulled both my main body and my 2nd clone into a hug. I turned my main body to glare at her, but she leaned toward my ear.

At least we can hug while she talks, she whispered. I was really tempted to roll my eyes, but then a hint of curiosity leaked into my brain. What would happen if SpookyErind talked on the phone? Since her voice seemed to appear in my mind rather than traveling by sound waves, would it even go through the phone?

SpookyErind simply moved away from my ear and smiled at me.

“One night, I was out with some friends, and one of them encouraged us to drink,” Mom said. “I took one drink, and then one drink became another. The entire night went away. I was supposed to get some work done for my PI, the principal investigator in charge of my research, but I was so sick from the hangover I didn’t get anything done at all. Thankfully, I had a couple of days to complete it, but I basically rushed the project on the final day.”

I had a feeling she wasn’t finished with the story, but I started tuning some of it out. I remember when I first got drunk. Mom would probably be very mad if she ever found out. Some of my cheerleader “friends” encouraged me to go out to party, and I ended up going. One of them managed to steal some drinks from their parent’s wine cabinet. That was not a very good experience - the hangover basically caused me to be sick the entire day. It was as if I was in Dario’s sick field for 24 hours. Thankfully, Mom never thought her perfect daughter would be underage drinking.

“And that’s why you shouldn’t drink during the week,” Mom finished her story. “You don’t drink, do you dear?”

“No Mom,” I said.

“Good,” Mom replied. “Anyways, how’s your condo going?”

“Uh, actually,” I said. “I’m living at my friend Deen’s place for now.”

“Oh, you never talked about your friends,” she said. “I was starting to think you were being too introverted again. Actually, Dean is a boy's name right? I’m so proud you have a boyfriend now. Make sure you’re wearing protection!”

“Oh my god Mom, Deen is a girl!” I said. I could never imagine bonking a boy. Actually, I could never imagine bonking ever. “Her nickname is Deen, but her first name is Amber.”

“Oops, sorry about that,” Mom said. “I just thought my sweet Erind was growing up and getting a boyfriend. Anyways, how is Deen? She doesn’t drink, does she?”

“She doesn’t drink Mom,” I said. Actually, with how much of a bitch she is, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was constantly drunk. Also, I didn’t need a boyfriend. I was a strong independent woman who was also coincidentally leaching off my best friend for free stuff. Hey, at least Deen was useful for something.

“Well, I’m glad you’re hanging out with a friend,” Mom said. “You never did any sleepovers when you were younger. I was starting to be afraid I was the odd one out.”

“We’re actually living in separate rooms,” I corrected Mom.

“That’s good enough for me,” she said. “You’re out there interacting with other people.”

“I mean, I’ve always interacted with people,” I said, which was technically true. “In high school, I hung out with my cheerleader team. In undergrad, I participated in speech and debate competitions and even got a prestigious internship at Wilkens & Kingson.”

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“I just want to keep pushing you, sweetie,” Mom replied. “You can always strive to improve.” I rolled my eyes. I didn’t like being told to improve - that implied there was something wrong with me. But there was nothing wrong with me - I was perfect.

“Thanks for the advice Mom,” I said.

“Anyways, what were we talking about?” she asked.

“You were calling about the Adumbrae attack on the docks,” I reminded her.

“Oh right!” she said. “You need to make sure to keep up with the news. You never know when something like that would happen to you.” I wasn’t sure watching the news was going to help me avoid Adumbrae attacks. I’m pretty sure it would be too late to help me by the time it got on the news. Thankfully, I could take care of myself with my cool superpowers. Still, I did want to watch the news. Hopefully, that news helicopter caught some cool moments of me. I’d have to go online to check. Or I could watch the TV, but it was placed in such a weird way in this room, which made it awkward to watch.

“I’ll make sure to keep up with the news from now on Mom,” I told her.

“Yeah, I was reading up on the attack, and apparently a few dozen people got killed in the battle,” she said. “I’m praying to the Mother Core tonight to help out their families. I know you aren’t particularly religious Erind, but I think it would be a good idea to start attending some online masses.”

“Law school is eating up a lot of my time Mom,” I said.

“Ah yes, that’s important too, don’t forget to study,” she said.

“Will do,” I told her. I was kinda surprised by how religious my Mom was. I never really thought of praying to the Mother Core, but all of my relatives did. It was kinda weird how they kept praying to it as if it was going to fix any problems. If praying actually worked, there would be no more Adumbrae attacks. But since they still happened, here we are. More and more Adumbrae attacks - and even some Titans appearing in Madagascar. All that praying turned out to be for nothing. Of course, given my friendly face, I could never say any of this to my relatives. That doesn’t make it any less true though.

Realistically you could apply this to other religions as well. Why keep praying if bad things keep happening? Maybe I was just salty from my Aunt Emily forcing me to learn some weird Christian-Mother Core joint teachings.

“Oh, one last thing before I go,” she said. “I’m trying to book a vacation, but there are a lot of meetings going on, so sorry my trip is going to be delayed.”

“It’s fine Mom,” I said. I took a look at SpookyErind. Her features reminded me so much of Mom that I kept having this weird nagging feeling she was actually here with me. She was still smiling at me, which was pretty unnerving. If she wasn’t trying to take over my body, I’d be concerned she was about to stab me with a knife. She glared at me. I simply stuck my tongue out at her.

“Anyways, I should take you to see Dad’s and Eudora’s graves,” she said. “It’s been a while since we’ve mourned them.” I winced. Mourning was not my specialty. I didn’t really have a strong connection to Dad since he died when I was 13. Well, officially “died,” but more likely with the Corebrings now. Then there was Eudora. Mom kept bringing up how much of a genius she was, but little me never understood what was so special. She made some special aug eyes that Mom now uses, but I’m pretty sure that’s really subpar compared to the tech the BID uses.

“Do you still have the souvenir that Eudora gave you?” she asked.

“Yes, I said, taking a peak at the Greaves stationary that she gave me. I wasn’t a big fan of Greaves - especially now since I was an Adumbrae. But I wasn’t going to complain about having more free stuff.

“That’s good,” she said.

“I don’t think I will have time to visit their graves though Mom,” I said. I needed to travel to do that. Dad’s grave was all the way over in the Philippines. Meanwhile, Eudora was buried all the way over in Ireland. “School and all that you know. ”

“Yes, but you can always make a visit during summer or even during spring break,” she said. I sighed internally. I did not want to spend my breaks traveling. I didn’t understand how people liked to travel. It was always so annoying. I never really liked change. That’s why staying in one place was fine for me. The only changes I liked were the ones that benefitted me, which is why I was okay with staying at Deen’s place. It was way better than my Condo. What would make it even more perfect is if Deen left, but sadly life never gives you everything you want.

“All right, anything else Mom?” I asked.

“That’s it sweetie,” she said. “I’ll make sure to visit you, and have a good weekend!”

“Thanks Mom,” I told her. “You have a good weekend as well.” I then had my 2nd clone end the call.

“That took too long,” I said.

At least we were hugging, SpookyErind said as she released me and my 2nd clone.

“That didn’t make it any better,” I said. SpookyErind poked me in the cheek. “Why are you poking me?”

Because you didn’t like our hug, she said. I ignored her and paid attention to my 2nd clone. Before Mom called, I was going to have her transform into a mask. I brought my 2nd clone’s left hand to her face. Next, I concentrated on pulling and turning into a mask. The next moment, my 2nd clone was replaced with her embroidered Corebring mask and floated right next to SpookyErind. She grabbed it and started caressing it.

Gears in my mind turned as I thought of the various possibilities of this power. I could bring my clone as a mask with me and have her stay in places while I returned. There were a lot of sneaky things I could do with her. Then, there was also her transformed state. The needles were intriguing, but I wasn’t sure if they would be super useful in combat. I wasn’t even sure they worked on humans. Hopefully, I’d find a use for them.

SpookyErind grinned at me. I’m so glad you’re thinking of fun ways to use your power. Well, it would be pretty lame if I didn’t use my powers.

Suddenly, both mine and SpookyErind’s stomachs grumbled. Oh, right, we haven’t eaten with these bodies in a while. We should really get to that. Hopefully, Deen woke up. I got up from the bed and walked toward the door.

“Oh, good afternoon Erind,” Deen said, waiting for me on the other side. I flinched and nearly punched her for surprising me.

“Uh, good afternoon,” I said. Was this bitch eavesdropping on me? I hope not, and that this was all a stupid coincidence that she arrived at the door at this time.

“I already made some food for you,” she said. SpookyErind walked up behind me.

“Thank god, I was starving,” I said.

“I am too,” she chuckled. Deen took a look at the mask SpookyErind was holding. “Wait, what is that?”