My heart pounds in my chest as the house comes into sight and immediately, my heart pounds faster. Not because Levon is safe but because I know exactly what that twerp did. He stands on the porch with Tessa and Talis. Levon has a giant grin painted on his face and Tessa has a sparkle with her. The kind that someone has when they've pulled a good joke and it worked. And Talis, he stands next to them. No nonsense. Not enjoying himself.

Why do I know how Talis feels? It doesn't matter. And why can I hear his voice in my mind greet me, For them, not I? I can't find the room to care because Levon tosses his head back in laughter.

I park the car and slam the door.

"Levon, you are such an asshole. I can't believe”-

He laughs louder and waves his hand through the air. I get to the porch and stand toe-to-toe with him. "Levon, you-”

He laughs harder.

I push him with everything I have, but he barely moves. His body is as heavy as his car. He takes a few steps back and sits on the porch swing. It moves back and forth along with his laughter. Tessa sits uncomfortably close to him. Levon puts his arm around her and she leans her head on his chest.

Levon finally says, "Kathy at the restaurant called and said you refused to leave so I figured I could get you home quick this way. What a good friggin' joke. Talis is brilliant. All him, I can’t even believe it." He pinches the bridge of his nose, stifling his stupid snickering. He lets out a long and loud sigh before he says, "Sis, The Host is safe but Talis wasn't lying to you. You can't leave The Host safely because Talis can't come with you. And you're not friggin' hallucinating."

"How do I know that."

He punches me in the arm. "I mean, that hurts right?"

Talis grunts. He leans against the railing, arms crosses, and clearly annoyed or frustrated or something. You know what? I guess it isn’t clear.

Levon says under his breath, "Relax man. Just some sibling thing."

I rub my arm. He has a point. This is an elaborate hallucination with lots of smells and touches and fears which extended a mile away from here.

"Why don't you just pretend for the next few days that all this is real?" Levon says. "Give it a try and see how you feel in a few days. If mom would've just told you some stuff like she did me, this wouldn't be so overwhelming." He kisses Tessa's forehead then rests his cheek on her head. His tone changes. "Did anything abnormal happen while you were gone?" He takes a whiff of air in, completely dramatic. Then he leans in close to me and takes another sniff. “Ah, I see you were layered in the smoke spell to keep your scent hidden from the Hiyulahs. I just keep old French Fries under my car seats. It works too.”

“For them, not I,” Tessa says quickly to me. Then she winks. “The smoke spell works but when a certain Leaver sitting right next to me can’t remember simply rhymes, rotting food is fine too.”

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

Levon presses his finger to her lips. “Shush your beautiful mouth. Talis, Tessa told Siegrist that Lyla’s Protector might already be here but no names were said so he can’t call you to him or anything like that…”

Levon’s voice fades because the Siren. She sings for me. The grass blades glint with sunlight and the forest, it's dark but welcoming, at least at the edge. The step off the porch creaks under my foot. A hand around my arm yanks me backwards.

"Damnit Tula Lyla." Levon sits back down. "The Siren, she's one of these Hiyulahs. These monsters from the Otherworld. She knows you're here and so does that thing from the airport and so do-”

"I saw her," I say.

Talis adjusts his shoulders and says, "Tell me more."

"Uhm," I say. "It was Jessica from the airport. She was at the terminal when I left with mom. She actually sat right beside me in the waiting area and then we sat next to each other on the plane and then here. She was at the parking lot outside that one bar place I was at."

"Yeah," Levon drags the word out. "That girl is definitely a monster there Lyla. Top-tier I think since she tracked you and mom to the airport so fast and conjured her own ticket on the spot and she made sure her seat was next to yours. So that’s like, some crazy magic skills. And she tracked you’re here so fast and was ready to kill you at the restaurant. I mean, unless there’s someone giving her information, the girl must be high-level magic. Don't you think, Tessa?"

"Mhm, yeah," Tessa says. She curls a strand of hair around her finger. "Yeah, I'm not sure the name but it sounds like she might be one of those-”

"Do you know of the devil, Lyla?" Talis says.

"I've heard a bit, sure."

"The devil is not real but evil is. She is the equivalent of what humans believe to be the devil. If she is here," he says, "we must begin our task soon."

"What's that?"

Mom gave me a lot of rules but no tasks. To be fair, all this is new but you'd think mom would tell me I have at least a task to accomplish. What is it? Get a job? Obviously not but I can dream.

Levon’s tone takes on that of a responsible adult, a tone I can safely say, I’ve never heard him use. Didn’t even know he had it in him to sound so responsible. "The Otherworld and the Lifeworld are stitched together like a quilt and the Underworld, like the Underworld from Hercules or the Hell from the Bible or whatever you want to call it," Levon says, "it's seeping into our worlds. The good places. The Otherworld. The Lifeworld. Normally, the Underworld stays tucked underneath the blanket our worlds are, totally separate and people like you and me and our Protectors, we walk the seam between the Otherworld and the Lifeworld, keeping evil in check and keeping each world totally separate. Keeping the powers and magic that each one inherently has far from one another so no one gains too great of knowledge." He pulls Tessa in with his arm and hugs her tight. He smiles at her. Ah, is this why his one-year gap turned into three. "If the two worlds intermingle, evil will find a great foothold and take over the entire galaxy."

I take the longest breath in as I possibly can just to highlight how ridiculous this all is but especially the last part. "I can get behind Otherworlds and Lifeworlds and seams and monsters." I gesture wildly around me. "But the galaxy? Seriously?"

"Does Outer Space make you feel better?" He smirks. "Does other habitable planets make it better or like alien lifeforms or other realms or-”

"Shut it," I say. "I get it, I get it."

Levon continues. "Leavers and Protectors always guard the seam but right now, we all are focused on how to sew it together before the next Blue Moon which is in about two weeks."

"Blue moon, blue moon," I say. "Yes, the rare lunar cycle. The every two-and-a-half-year blue moon. That blue moon?" I press my hands to my hips.

Levon rolls his eyes. "I see mom never got you to stop studying for this stupid college shit."

"Thanks so much," I say.

Tessa twirls her hair and swings her foot, a smile on her face. Levon whispers in her ear. Talis watches them with sobriety.

"So now what?" I say. "Where do we go?"

Levon jumps from the swing. "To the forest, ya idiot."

Creo quia absurdum est

I believe because it is absurd