Janet and I arrived outside a small café north of Ravenvale High. The exterior captivated us with its polished paint job of red and yellow coloration. When we opened the door, we were met with the same blend of colors that decorated the cushioned seats and steel tables.

“A lil’ bright, but it feels cozy in here,” Janet said, looking around the place. “Are your shadow senses tingling yet?”

“Not nearly enough. There are people in here with some negativity, but not enough to summon a Shadow or attract any Shade Crawlers.”

After inspecting the café from front to back and sensing no signs of a Dreamer, our investigation came to a standstill.

“There’s no one here we need to worry about,” I assured her. “Alvin must’ve given me the wrong information. A test, maybe?”

“Who knows. That’s that, then. Let’s go.”

As we were about to leave, a red-haired waitress approached us with a broad smile. Her body swayed side to side in an upbeat manner.

“Excuse me. Hi, are you Aliyah Dawn?”

“Uh, yeah.”

She heaved a sigh of relief, holding her chest. “Good. I didn’t want to hand this to the wrong person.” She presented an envelope. “A cute guy wanted me to give you this. He described you to a T and was so nice. I assumed he was trustworthy. Here you go.” She handed me the envelope.

“Um, thanks?”

Janet snickered as the waitress skipped away, her pigtails jiggling with every hop. “Okay, someone needs to tell her to lay off the sugar. Like, immediately. She reminds me of my first girlfriend, and that is not a good thing. She’s got nice shoulders, though.”

“Really? Nice shoulders?”

“What? Just saying.”

This girl was something else, I tell you.

“Anyway,” she moved in close and peered down at the envelope in my hand, “let’s see what your secret admirer left for you.”

I opened it and removed the letter from inside, whispering words loud enough for her to hear.

“I am the one you’re searching for. We’ll meet, but not here. Come to the address below and we’ll talk in private. Do not alert Obsidian.”

Janet sucked her teeth at the invitation. “So much for Prince Charming. What a cheap love letter.”

I read the letter one more time in my head and pondered the invite. Had I any choice in the matter, I would’ve thrown the paper in the trash and gone home, but the thought of my family and friends getting hurt caused me to reject that notion.

“C’mon. It’s time for a road trip.”

☾☼☽

Janet drove through the suburban neighborhood of Floral Park in Long Island until she parked the car outside of an ivory brick house.

“We’re here if the address is right. Definitely not what I was expecting.”

“Me either,” I replied, looking out of the car window at the flower garden surrounding the home. “We should be careful. I have no idea what we’re getting into anymore.”

“Going off your recent history, I’d say we’re about to get into something dangerous. Good thing I’m here to protect you this time.”

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s go.”

We got out of her car and walked the stone path leading to the front door. The nervousness in my gut increased after pushing the doorbell.

“Fifty bucks says it’s some guy who clicks on your photos with his hand in his pants,” Janet said with a grin. It’s crazy how she was chill enough to make jokes at a time like this. “Deal?”

Unable to hold back a smile, I replied, “Whatever. Deal.”

I raised my hand to ring the bell once more, but the door swung open before my finger could touch it. Standing in front of us was a brown-skinned guy around our age, who appeared flabbergasted as he gripped his afro.

“Bruh, holy crap,” he said. “I can’t believe it actually worked. Aliyah Dawn is legit standing in front of me.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Janet nudged me and whispered, “I want my money.”

I waved her off and addressed the dude. “Who are you? And why did you want me to come here?”

“My name’s Raymond, but you can call me Ray for short. I know a lot about you, and I gotta say, you’re one of the coolest people on the planet. Seriously.”

“You’re sounding more and more like a weird stalker,” Janet voiced my thoughts.

“Nah, it’s nothing like that. I’ll explain if you come in.”

Ray stepped aside and gestured his arm toward the inside of the house. Janet and I walked in and followed the apricot rug that trailed to the large living room. The carpet corresponded with the tangerine walls and orange furniture decorating the interior.

“Have a seat.”

“No thanks,” Janet snapped at him before whispering in my ear. “What’s up? Does this guy have a Shadow or what?”

“No, he doesn’t. This is so weird.”

“You know what? It’s cool,” he said, taking a seat in the recliner near the fireplace. He slouched forward with his hands folded in front of him. “I’ll get right down to it. I set this whole thing up ‘cause I need your help, Aliyah.”

“What do you mean you need my help? I want answers.”

“And I got those. But first, I need you to promise you’re not gonna rat me out to Obsidian. See, my mom works for them, and—”

“What do you know about Obsidian?” Janet jumped in. I could feel the heat radiating off her skin.

“Whoa, chill out. I’m not working for them or anything. I just know a lot about them ‘cause I hacked into my mom’s computer. That’s all.”

She walked closer to him. “Never tell me to chill. Start explaining yourself before this turns into a heated interrogation, and I mean that literally.”

“Alright, alright, damn. My mother works for an organization called Obsidian, and they have files on people called Dreamers. You’re familiar with all that, right?”

“Yeah,” I confirmed. “Go on.”

“Okay, so after hacking into the folders on my mom’s computer, I found a file that’s only shared between top members of Obsidian. It’s a list of potential Dreamers that the organization is searching for. They use people like you to find these Dreamers.”

“People like me?” I questioned. “What are you talking about?”

“Uh, yeah. I figured Obsidian fills in their employees.”

“I don’t work for Obsidian,” I informed him. “I’m being forced against my will to assist a man named Alvin. He wanted me to investigate someone who could’ve been a Dreamer. That’s why I was in the café, which I’m sure you know since you left the letter.”

He grinned. “Yeah, that plan was genius, wasn’t it?”

Not sharing his sense of amusement, both Janet and I glowered at him. His short-lived exhilaration dwindled as he slumped back in his chair and narrowed his lips.

“Anyway, after going through my mom’s data for weeks, I decided to tackle a bigger challenge and hack into one of Obsidian’s main servers using a library computer. The building where the server is located is just outside the city, and the files on it contained boatloads of information about you and other Dreamers who can do what you do.”

“As in they can see Shadows?”

“Yup.” His answer shocked me. “Obsidian use Dreamers like you to track down other Dreamers who use their power for evil. You’re only one out of two still around, though, but that’s why I’m a huge fan of yours without even seeing your powers in action.”

The information left me speechless. Janet had to reply on my behalf. “So you’re saying Obsidian threatened people like Aliyah to do their dirty work?”

“I’m not sure about the threatening part, but I know those like Aliyah all cooperated with Obsidian at some point, and they had some sick powers.”

Intrigued by his knowledge, I sat down on the couch and locked eyes with him. “What happened to the others like me?”

“Well, besides some other girl, they were all killed by bad Dreamers with nasty abilities. I’m talkin’ time manipulation and reality warping. Obsidian’s records show the evil Dreamers all had a mark or something, too. I’m not sure, but regardless, you’re the only one who can help me. I wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble to get you here if I could’ve handled the problem on my own.”

“How do we know this isn’t some game you’re playing?” Janet sneered. “I understand your mother works for Obsidian, but you know a little too much about Aliyah. And if Obsidian is so worried about news of the virus getting out to the public, how come you can just hack into their protected data so easily? You’d think they’d have better security.”

“Because,” he puffed out his chest and retorted, “I’m a Dreamer, too.”

It was comical, and even Janet cackled in a sarcastic manner before saying, “Really? Can I take a wild guess and assume you wanna be the smartest person in the world? How original.”

“Yeah, well, it’s deeper than that. I’ve got three brothers who went to Ivy League universities and graduated at the top of their class. Meanwhile, I struggled just to get out of high school and ended up dropping out of college freshman year. Everyone looks at me as the dumb one in the family tree, so you’re damn right I wanna be smarter so I’m not labeled the ‘failure’ anymore.”

“But don’t you think using the virus as a way to outsmart everyone would be considered cheating?” I questioned him. “You’d lose that sense of achievement from learning the subject on your own.”

He shrugged. “I’d rather lose the feeling of accomplishment than being talked down to at family reunions. Besides, how was I to know some disease would turn me into a genius? I’m not even super smart, yet, but I can tell I’m growing more knowledgeable by the day.”

“I doubt that,” Janet mocked him. “Only an idiot would stage a plan to invite a complete stranger into his home. And you even admitted that your own mother works for Obsidian, so why should we trust you? This could all be a trap.”

Muffled profanity escaped his mouth before he spoke louder. “I’m sorry, I know she’s with you, Aliyah, but who is this girl? She’s been rude this entire time.”

Janet tapped her foot with a smug expression. Her tolerance for him wasn’t going to last long.

“Her name’s Janet,” I answered before she decided to fry him. “Janet Jones.”

He rubbed his goatee and appeared in deep thought. “Jones … I’ve seen that name multiple times in Obsidian’s files.”

Janet fired off a heated glare. “Show me.”

“I-I shouldn’t do that in my house. I can get away with hacking into Obsidian’s server in a public place, but doing that with the computers in my home isn’t safe. I could get busted if they track my IP address.”

“I don’t care. Learning about Obsidian is important to me. So if you don’t pull up those files within the next few seconds, I’m going to make your head explode like fireworks on the Fourth of July.”

He groaned and stood up. “Fine. In my room.”

Just what were we going to discover?