CHAPTER 2:

            Lara lay still with her eyes closed. What time was it? How long had she been asleep? It was difficult to tell these days since her sleeping schedule had been virtually nonexistent.

            She thought over the events that had transpired immediately before her consciousness had cut out. The pretty redhead, the strange floating man with purple eyes—of course it was a dream.

            “I really do have too active an imagination,” she muttered as she rolled over to her side to push herself up to a sitting position.

It was then that she noticed she was on the floor. She cautiously opened one eye and quickly closed it again. The strange man was still there, sitting on the floor this time, what looked like a smartphone floating in front of his face. The phone’s screen was flashing from input, but he was not touching it. It looked like very advanced tech, even for a smartphone, which was still quite a new invention in 2009. Lara assumed he was rich.

            “Ah, good, you’re awake,” he said, the phone screen turning black.

            “No I’m not,” Lara retorted with furrowed eyebrows.

            The man laughed. “Oh, but I do believe you are awake.”

            Lara felt her body rise off the ground, right itself in midair, do a summersault, and land again in a sitting position on the floor. Her eyes were now so wide open that they took up half her face.

            “That’s better,” he said motheringly.

The phone screen flashed with light again and floated to Lara’s face. The man scooted next to her and pressed his cheek next to hers.

“Say cheese!”

            Lara’s lips turned upward into an awkward sort of sneer as the phone snapped their picture.

            “As I was saying before you, er, took a break...” he addressed her, his fingers hovering over the screen of his phone. “I have been watching you for exactly one year, Lara.”

            Lara finally found her voice and scooted back, “...You're a stalker.”

            “Hahaha, ye-e-es we get that a lot.”

The phone floated in midair between himself and Lara and suddenly vanished. Then the man leaned towards Lara and pulled the phone from behind her ear on an invisible string.

            “I guess technically I have been stalking you...” he apologized to the terrified woman whose back had hit a wall. “But I don’t mean you any harm. I am an Yllime and I am here to study you.”

            There was a pause, during which Lara observed the eccentric man that—for all she knew —was there to rape or kill her. He was slightly tall and lean, with fair olive skin and androgynous facial features. His dark brown, silky hair hung in layered waves around his eyes, which were Lara’s favorite shade of purple. He wore black studded earrings and a chain around his neck. His white shirt lazily hung on his body, the first few buttons undone, and his legs were hugged in black leather. It finally registered to Lara then that the man was also very good-looking. This put her slightly at ease, then she quickly admonished herself for feeling that way.

            “...Ee-li-may?” she finally asked, sounding out the word.

            “Ah, sorry,” he answered. “It’s a word we made up for your sake. It’s what we call our kind when we’re in your world.” He leaned in closer and lowered his voice, “See, we don’t communicate verbally where I come from. After all, we don’t have mouths, or vocal cords...or bodies for that matter... But the point is,” he continued, giving his head a shake and staring directly into Lara’s eyes with a serious and penetrating gaze. “I am from another world and I am here to study you for one year.”

            The two stayed like this for a while, their eyes inches apart. After a few seconds, Lara finally blinked, then smiled and shakily rose to her feet.

            “So I’m insane...” she sighed, resting her shaking hands on her bed. “Thought I could resist it, but it appears my genes have no mercy.”

            “No! Lara! Listen!!...” the self-proclaimed Yllime jumped to his feet.

            “Oh, I’m listening,” she said with another weak laugh. “I have no choice, have I? You’re stuck in my head.”

The Yllime had no rebuttal for this and simply continued to stand still.

Lara held a scrutinizing glare on the strange man as she sidled towards the front door.

            “Where are you going?”

            “I just have to get some fresh air,” Lara answered; though more to herself than to him. “I’ve been cooped up in here for days. That’s probably why I’m hallucinating. I’ve barely slept. I’ve had tea for every meal all week.”

            Lara opened the door and stumbled down the stairs. The Yllime was mysteriously at the foot of the stairs to meet her. She ignored him and stumbled down the sidewalk. Her bare feet stung against the hot ground when she briefly left the awning’s protection.

            “Look, Lara, I know you’re scared and confused, but just let me explain everything to you,” he implored, floating steadily next to her. “Can we do this inside? It’s safer.”

            “I just need some fresh air, some exercise, and some proper food in my system...” Lara assured herself.

            “Maybe eat the food first?” her floating companion coaxed. “It can’t be healthy to go on a walk without any food in your stomach—” his eyes wandered down to her fast, wobbly gait, “—or any shoes on your feet.”

            “Mommy! Mommy! Are we going to Farrell’s now?” asked a little boy a few feet ahead.

            “We have to stop by the bank first, pumpkin,” the middle-aged woman replied as she pulled out her keys and walked straight through the floating man to her car.

            Without turning to the man, Lara spoke under her breath.

“You. Aren’t. Real. Real people don’t fly. Or get walked through.”

            “I’m incorporeal right now!” the man protested, floating to catch up to Lara’s power-walk. By now, they were outside the complex and on a sidewalk in front of Exeter Square.

            Lara’s feet stopped. She shot a glance over her shoulder. “Incorporeal?”

“It means I have no physical form.”

“How very convenient.” Lara turned her head back and walked on.

            “I can give myself a physical form, if it will convince you... Oh, Lara? Please Lara? Lara, Lara, la-la-la-Laaaara!” he sang.

            Lara muttered under her breath as she walked. “I’m on a busy road in clothes I’ve worn five days in a row trying to get away from a floating man who won’t shut up...it’ll take more than power-walking to escape him.”

She came to a reluctant stop and turned to face him.

            Seeing she was ready to listen, he continued, “Only you have the power to give me a physical form.”

            Lara smiled faintly, “And how do I do this? Clap my hands?”

            “You say my name,” he replied calmly. “Adumir.”

            Lara made a face. “Adu—"

            “Don’t say it now!” he hissed, holding out a firm hand.

Lara felt her throat close.

“I can’t suddenly appear out of thin air—that’s against the rules!”

            The two were now in front of a vacant lot on which a new house was being built. He slipped behind a porta potty and said, “You can say it now.”

            Lara massaged her neck, frowned, gave her shoulders a cynical shrug, and said, “Adumir.”

            Adumir emerged from behind the bathroom. “Okay, let’s go,” he gestured with his ear back the way they came.

            After walking a few paces in silence, Lara muttered under her breath, “Well, that convinced me.”

            “Oh, come on! Let me prove it,” Adumir grabbed her hand and dragged her forward until they came upon a young woman jogging with her dog.

            “Hi there!” Adumir called out to her.

            The woman blushed. “Hi...”

            “Can I pet your dog?”

            “Sh—j-yeah! Of course!” she stuttered, giving Lara a questioning look.

            Adumir released Lara and bent over and petted the excited golden retriever. Lara, meanwhile, stood still, staring in horror at the hand Adumir had just touched.

            The jogger took a couple deep breaths and said, “Is she your...”

            “Sister,” Adumir finished with a wink. “She’s, um...special,” he added in an undertone as Lara’s disoriented eyes stared up, then sideways, then down.

“That’s so sweet!” the jogger cooed, shooting a smile at Lara.

            “I wanna go home...I wanna go home...” Lara murmured weakly, balling her hands into fists and shaking.

            “Uhhh, yeah! I’ve gotta get her home,” Adumir apologized hastily. He sounded like he was under water again.

            The jogger replied, but her voice was too warbled to distinguish.

            Lara’s knees wobbled. Black stars paraded in front of her half-open eyes. She felt a pair of arms scoop behind her.

Then everything was dark.

            Lara sat calmly in bed, drinking her...something-th...cup of tea. Adumir sat across from her on the foot of the bed, typing into his phone (manually, this time.)

            Lara swallowed her tea, took a deep breath in and out, and finally said, “Okay, I believe you.”

            Adumir looked up sharply.

            “It goes against everything I’ve learned and believed for the past twenty-three years, but seeing as how the alternative to you telling the truth—that I’m insane—is really depressing, I’ve decided to believe you.”

            “So you’re ready for me to explain everything to you?”

            Lara heaved a sigh of dread. “No... But explain anyway.”

            Adumir smiled gently and set his phone down. “Well, first, let me make it absolutely clear that I have no intention to harm you, Lara. My kind have taken an interest in you and wish to study you.”

            A word materialized in Lara’s mind from the jumbled events of the past couple hours. “The...Yllime...right?”

            Adumir beamed widely. “Yes, the Yllime. Good memory. That is my people.”

            “Yeah, I’ve got a pretty good memory...” After a quick moment in thought, she asked, “Where do you come from?”

            “Ahhh, a question we always have difficulty answering,” Adumir chuckled as he rested his chin in his hand. “You see, our world is not tangible. There is no where.”

            Lara blinked. “You mean, there’s no such thing as physics?”

            “Ooh, you’re quick on the uptake! Yeah, that’s basically it. In our world, physicality itself does not exist. That’s why we don’t have physical forms either. Some humans can’t even comprehend that part and we have to lie and say we’re from another planet or that we’re fairies or minor deities or something—I mean, that’s not even technically a lie.”

            “...Huh?”

“Every god, deity, kami, supernatural being in human mythology, religion, and folklore? Yeah, that’s basically us. Our studies used to be grossly unregulated. We would come to the physical realm and perform all sorts of impossible feats humans couldn’t explain without magic, witchcraft, or religion, then write up our findings in tidy dissertations while the humans reeled in terror and wonder.”

            “Wait a minute,” Lara said, holding out her hand. “So you basically get an advanced degree for messing with our minds?”

            “Oh, no, no, no, don’t misunderstand!”

Adumir frantically waved his hand at her. Lara's heart jumped, the mannerism reminding her of Jimmy.

“No,” Adumir reiterated. “We have drastically changed the rules since then. We now take a much more hands-off approach in our studies directly involving humans.”

“Okay...” (Lara still wasn’t entirely convinced.)

“For the past several centuries, we’ve revealed ourselves to only a small handful of humans each year—the ones we do studies on. And these human studies make up less than one percent of our research. We screen our human subject candidates very carefully to ensure the ones we choose will be not only open to our existence, but generally moral of character and willing to cooperate—with some exceptions, of course,” he added with a wink and a finger to his lips. “Some of us have enjoyed studying corrupt politicians and criminals over the centuries—but we never give them our names in those instances. Far too much risk...”

Adumir quickly shook his head and got back on track.

“Anyway, messing with minds as you say is very taboo nowadays. We don’t even like to erase memories if we can avoid it. That was why I had to hide when you gave me my corporeal form for the first time,” he explained.

            “Wait—erase memories?”

            “Though there have been some very controversial dissertations before the rules were changed...” he smirked, looking at the ceiling. “The most notable, of course, being Jesus.”

            Lara spat out her tea. “Jesus?? He was an Yllime?”

            “Oh dear, I’m sorry,” Adumir stuttered. “I didn’t mean to shatter your faith.”

            This time, Lara waved her hand frantically. “No, no, I don’t have faith—I mean, I’m an atheist.”

            “Ah, that explains why you never went to church all year,” Adumir said as he popped open his phone and jotted down a note.

            Lara sat on her knees and eagerly leaned towards Adumir. “So...Jesus was an Yllime?”

            Adumir smiled and put down his phone. “Yes, indeed. Yeshua was in the Hope Studies Department—I suppose your equivalent might be Theology—and his proposal was to help a man perform miracles and see how the humans would make sense of it. And believe me, it was met with strong resistance.

            “His study would employ the very components the Council was considering making illegal—the project would take longer than one year, he would perform phenomena inconsistent with Earth physics, and he asked that no one’s memory be erased afterwards! Can you believe his nerve?!”

Adumir shook his fist and smiled. He was clearly jealous.

            “...So Christianity as we know it is all a big psychology project?”

            Adumir turned his fist into a finger-gun. “Bingo. Yeshua was very interested in how humans deal with the unknown—namely, death. He theorized that by creating a ‘savior,’ humans would be inspired to live more fulfilling lives in hopes that they would be rewarded after death.”

            Lara snorted, “Which didn’t exactly work.”

            Adumir nodded. “Just like the other mythologies and religions, humans took Christianity and made it their own. What started as a project to teach humans to honor their neighbors and help the poor mutated into a means of oppressing the masses and conquering civilizations...”

Adumir softened his tone and closed his eyes. “Yeshua hasn’t done a study since. He’s spent the centuries studying world religions and reflecting on his role in them.” Adumir opened his eyes and smiled thoughtfully. “And to be fair, his legacy still has resulted in a lot of good in the world as well. And we’ve found that humankind is generally good, overall. That goes for you, too.”

Lara made a face. “I mean...I don’t do anything illegal, but I wouldn’t exactly call myself good either.”

“Why’s that?”

“I dunno...I’m not friendly. I don’t think I contribute much joy to other people’s lives. I’m not even sure I’d be missed if I...”

Adumir innocently tilted his head questioningly at Lara. “Well, from what I’ve observed over the past three years, I’d say you’re a good person.”

            “Oh...wait, three years?! I thought you said you’ve been watching me for just one year...”

            Adumir held up his hands apologetically. “Yes. Well, technically, it was three years. We’re required to observe a few potential subjects for a few years before settling on one. Helps us get acquainted with humans and their world at large, too, so we can better blend in. Oooh, you’ll never believe all the TV I watched... Anyway, once our subject is approved, we are required to observe the subject and their environment with no contact for an additional year—you know, to do background research, formulate a statement of purpose, etc.”

            “...And you chose me.”

            “Yes.”

            Lara stared doubtfully at the handsome face in front of her. “...Why?”

            “You were the most interesting to me.”

            Lara frowned. “Hate to disappoint you, but I’m not that interesting.”

            “Jimmy seemed to think otherwise,” he argued.

            “You watched all of that?!—Oh, wait, of course you did...”

Lara shook her head and blushed, remembering all the intimate moments with the love of her life and realizing those moments were not as intimate as she thought. Then, she suddenly looked up, her expressive green eyes lingering just short of Adumir’s face.

“I saw your eyes sometimes.”

            Adumir nodded. “When the time to reveal myself came closer, I gradually became more visible to you.”

            “So you were with me...constantly?”

            “Well, not with you constantly. We do respect the privacy of humans, so we avert our eyes when they do things of a more, shall we say, intimate nature...”

Adumir paused to clear his throat.

“I also had to observe your city, your country, your school, the people with whom you associate, hobbies you’re into. Background research, you know. Also, to help me blend in better should I ever need to take corporeal form.”

            Lara looked down. “You didn't by any chance...observe Jimmy?”

            Adumir dropped his clownish grin and smiled gently. “Yes, I did.”

            Lara peeked up from her knees. Adumir had taken out his phone again and was tapping the screen. “Here,” he said, handing her the phone. “Footage I got a few months ago...”

            She peered into the tiny screen and saw Jimmy close the door to a house, toss his backpack on the ground, and spring into a living room where a Chinese man and woman (Lara assumed his parents) were watching TV.

            “You’re home late,” came his father’s greeting from behind a beer.

            “I had rehearsal,” he said, smiling and crouching down to pet the dog that had trotted over to him, tail wagging.

            “Your director makes you rehearse even after a show is up?” his mother asked.

            “It’s for a scene for my acting class,” Jimmy answered hastily.

            Then an adolescent Chinese girl with long hair skipped into the room and announced, “I made cheerleading, Jim!”

            “Woah, good for you, Jo!” He grabbed his sister and whirled her around, much to her squawked protests.

            “You’re in a good mood today,” his father grinned.

            Jimmy put down his sister. “Yeah...” he answered, running his fingers through his fringe and flashing his dimple.

He turned to go upstairs.

            “When is your show tonight?” his mother called after him.

            “Eight o’clock; the normal time.” As if reading her mind, he continued, “Don’t worry about supper. I already ate...at a friend’s...”

            “Okay, break a leg.”

            “Thanks!”

            Once in his room, Jimmy quickly closed the door, flipped open his phone, and pressed the number 2 key.

“Hey!” he said after a couple rings. “So epic news... She said yes! Yeah, even I can’t believe it!” After a pause. “Of course I’ll introduce you. If you can leave your precious Tisch for a day to fly out here.”

            Jimmy flopped onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. “Haha... You know, I’m actually kind of scared. She’s a lot different from anyone else I’ve ever dated...”

            The image in Adumir’s phone cut out there. Lara took in a shaky breath.

            “I went to check on something else after that,” Adumir apologized, taking the phone from her.

            Lara blinked hard. “That must have been the day we got together...”

            “So—” Adumir said pointedly, bringing Lara’s mind to the present. “We have some business to take care of. There are a few rules I have to lay out, otherwise I might get in trouble—and you might get hurt.”

            Lara sat up straight again and gave the Yllime her attention. He tapped the screen of his phone a few times, then handed it back to her.

            The screen showed a blank wall.

            “What’s this?” asked Lara.

            “My advisor, Keinrad,” he explained. “You can’t see him because he’s incorporeal. I can, though, and he’s not worth looking at so don’t worry. He recorded this message for you a while ago.”

            “Can’t I just say his name and make him physical—corporeal?” she quickly corrected herself.

            “No, no, you can only do that to the Yllime you’re tethered to.”

            “Tethered?”

            “A term we use to describe the connection between an Yllime and human. When you said my name the first time, we became tethered. Now only you can change my form by saying my name—nobody else can.”

            “How long will be be...tethered?”

            “Til death do us part.”

            Lara made a face.

            “Okay, we’re not married, but it’s literally that. When you die, we’ll no longer be tethered.”

            Lara tried to shake the image out of her mind. As much as she loved painting the macabre, she did not like to be reminded of her own mortality.

            “Anyway, Kerinrad is still tethered to his former subject. She can make him corporeal, but he has no contact with her anymore—that’s usually how it works. Once the year is up, it’s back to the Realm for several decades until it’s time to do another study.”

            Until the former subject dies... Lara finished grimly in her head.

            “Anyway, Keinrad has a message for you. Thaldion used his gift to give his voice sound so you can hear it.”

            Lara opened her mouth and took a breath, making a mental note to ask about Thaldion and gifts later. Her brain was already starting to fry.

            “Greetings, Lara,” the brick wall said in a synthesized-sounding voice. “By now, Adumir has introduced himself to you and has told you of his scholastic plans. Now you must listen to and agree to these rules. We do not take these agreements lightly. Breaching the agreement may result in the erasure of your memory, which is a tricky business we would like to avoid if possible.”

            The blood drained from Lara’s face.

            “First, you must not tell anyone of our existence.”

            Lara nodded. “I expected that.”

            “Second, you are not to phase Adumir in and out of corporeal form without his express permission.”

            Lara had a sudden thought, “How will you tell me you want to change forms?”

            Adumir paused the message. “For now, I’ll just tell you to say my name. We might work out a system later... Actually, would you mind saying my name now?”

            “Adumir?”

            He sighed, floated up into the air, and turned a summersault.

“Thanks!”

He landed on the bed with a weightless flop and resumed the video message with a casual wave of his finger.

            “When Adumir has a physical form, he falls victim to the laws of physics. He is also unable to return to his incorporeal form on his own. Because of this, we strongly discourage you from making him corporeal without his permission.”

            “Don’t listen to him,” Adumir interjected quietly. “I like being corporeal so far.”

            “The third rule is that we want you to keep a journal just as Adumir does. Your responses to the research are very important.”

            “What kind of things should I write?” Lara whispered, even though Keinrad couldn’t hear her.

            “Don’t worry about that; I’ll edit out the boring parts myself,” Adumir whispered back.

            Keinrad continued, “Now the final rule—this isn’t really a rule so much as it’s a request—I need to make it clear that Adumir is not your personal wish-granter. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that we have certain ‘powers.’ While on Earth, these powers are restricted to scholastic experiments and to protecting you if needed. This does not mean, however, that Adumir is your bodyguard. He is meant to observe your natural behavior. If your natural behavior results in injury or your own demise, that is part of the research.”

            Lara flinched.

            After a pause, Keinrad continued, a smile in his synthetic voice. “Simply carry on as if he were not there, except when answering his questions. The Yllime thank you for your cooperation. After the year is over, we will compensate you for your trouble.”

            The screen went blank and Adumir held up a finger. The floating phone went dark and fell onto the mattress.

            “So that’s the gist of it.” He eyed Lara’s nervous face. “But don’t worry, I’m not as strict as Keinrad. I will save you if you fall off a bridge or something.”

            Color flooded back into Lara’s face. “Good to know.”

            There were a few moments of silence.

            “...What are you waiting for?” Lara asked.

            “Nothing. I’m just observing you. Carry on as normal,” he said, swishing his phone in front of his face again and snapping her picture.

            Lara hastily smoothed her tangled hair. “It’s kind of difficult to do that when I know someone’s watching me...”

            Her cheeks burned as her mind revisited her life for the past couple weeks. “And I’m not really doing anything worth watching anyway.”

            “You’re still upset about Jimmy, aren’t you,” Adumir said in an official tone, his fingers busy over the screen of his phone.

When Lara didn’t answer, he looked up, saw her distant gaze, and lowered his phone.

            “I suppose I can tell you a little more about my kind if you want,” he suggested.

            Lara’s dilated pupils reverted to normal. “Oh...”

            “Unless you don't feel like talking?”

            “No, it’s not that... I just realized I’m very hungry.”

Adumir floated upside-down like a bat as Lara ate her grilled cheese in silence. Coal, who had come back inside while Lara was making the sandwich, nibbled on the little pieces she fed him. After a while, Lara suddenly stopped.

“I’m sorry, did you want something to eat?”

            “I don’t need to eat—no physical presence, remember?”

            “Right, but, doesn’t spending time in a physical body make you hungry?”

            Adumir righted himself in the air and beamed widely. “Yes, if an Yllime spends enough time corporeal, they will eventually have to perform bodily functions like eating or sleeping—or pooping! However, if we spend enough time incorporeal, our corporeal form is basically reset. So if I time things just right, I’ll never have to eat or sleep—or poop.”

            Lara opened her mouth to ask why he seemed so obsessed with a certain bodily function, but she thought better of it and took another bite of grilled cheese instead.

“In all seriousness, though—” Adumir paused to do an aerial pirouette before floating to the ground in front of Lara. “I am curious to try eating.”

“Adumir.”

Coal’s ears peeled back as he hissed up at the strange intruder that had just materialized in the room.

“Oh, right!” Lara cried. “Coal hasn’t technically met you yet—I’m sorry, buddy,” she apologized to the cat, offering him a soothing kiss on the top of his head (which did little to console him.)

“What do I do...” the now corporeal Yllime asked awkwardly. “I take it cats are more difficult to befriend than dogs?”

“Look away from him, walk very slowly towards him, then very slowly raise your hand for him to sniff,” she instructed.

Adumir followed Lara’s instructions. Though Coal was still clearly skeptical, Lara coaxed him to sniff her visitor’s hand. And just like his first meeting with Jimmy, Coal’s ears righted themselves before he primly jumped off Lara’s bed and strutted into the bathroom.

Adumir rubbed the back of his neck. “...Does that mean he accepts me now?”

“It means he has deemed you no longer a threat,” Lara explained with a smirk. “He takes a while to accept a new person.”

            “Well, I guess it’s a start...” Adumir smiled and rubbed his hands together. “Anyway, how about that sandwich? It smells so good.”

            Lara handed him the grilled cheese. He ceremoniously took it in both hands and sank his teeth into it. His violet eyes widened as he felt the crunch of the bread, the ooze of the cheese, and tasted the rich butter and salty tang.

            “What do you think?”

            Adumir swallowed slowly and stared off into the distance. “What an incredible sensation...” He then made a face. “But now the inside of my mouth is all wet.”

            Lara smirked again. “It’s because you want more. Go ahead, eat the rest of it.”

            Adumir gratefully ate the final two bites of Lara’s sandwich in solemn silence, licking his fingers afterwards and accepting a glass of water from Lara to quench what she had figured out was his first experience of thirst.

            Adumir then took a good five minutes to write in his journal. Lara went to the bathroom to check on Coal and found him curled up on the bathmat. She lost herself in the softness of his thick, long black fur until a cry of excitement from the main room jolted her out of her reverie.

            “Lara! Lara! I think I just farted!”

            “Um...that’s nice?” she called out from the bathroom, giving tense Coal another soothing pat before standing up and returning to her new partner.

            “At least I think it was a fart—it sounded like a fart. But it felt—”

            “Yes, yes, I don’t need details.”

            Lara made another grilled cheese sandwich out of her last two slices of bread and they sat on Lara’s bed and made short work of it.

“...So you got a body when you decided to study me.”

            “Yes, when I decided to study you.”

            “But how did you end up looking exactly like that? And why are you a man? I mean, if you had no physical form, there would be no such thing as sex, right?” Lara blushed and she added hastily, “When I say sex, I mean gender...though I suppose one couldn't have sex either without a physical form... I mean! How did you get that body?”

            Adumir smiled suavely. “You like my body, don’t you?”

            “T-That’s neither here nor there...” Lara sputtered, her cheeks still red.

            “Oh, but it is here and there. I created my physical form based off of what I felt would be compatible with you.”

            It suddenly dawned on Lara. “You look like Makoto! You’re even wearing his outfit from Tsukimi...”

            “Oh, this little thing?” he cooed, running his hands along his silky white shirt and black leather pants.

            “But you don’t look completely Japanese—and your eyes are purple.”

            “Your favorite shade of purple, to be precise.”

            “And your face...the part that doesn't look Japanese...” Lara suddenly clapped her hands together and pointed. “It’s Apollo! The statue, I mean.”

Adumir nodded proudly, eyes closed, arms folded.

“The way you obsessively sketched the Apollo and Daphne sculpture by Gian Lorenzo Bernini during your General Education classes last semester, I had a feeling...”

“Well, your feeling was right! Oh, I was always so ashamed that I loved that piece since it’s so mainstream, but it really is beautiful...”

            Adumir contentedly nodded. “Yes, I really am beautiful.”

            “But if you mean to be compatible with me...” Lara began slowly, “Then why are you a man?”

“I’m not technically a man—the Yllime don’t have gender. Though most of us do seem to feel more at home in one or the other when we take corporeal form...”

Adumir critically eyed his hands and arms.

“I dunno, though, I really feel like I could go either way.”

            Lara’s eyes were distant, her thoughts still inward.

“My father left my mother when I was a baby... I was sort of friends with a couple boys when I was a kid, but when I started Jr. High and everyone started...changing...I dunno, it was just weird interacting with them. Then I learned after the fact that there were rumors I was gay, so the boys kept their distance...the girls too... Anyway, I never connected with any boy or man since...until Jimmy...sort of...”

            Adumir sat quietly, waiting for her to elaborate.

            “He has a new girlfriend now,” Lara muttered, remembering the other big event that had happened that day. “I should have known he wasn’t serious about me.”

            Adumir put a gentle hand on Lara’s shoulder. “I don't think he wasn’t serious.”

            Lara ducked away from Adumir’s hand.

“And how would you know?”

            Adumir spoke from behind Lara’s downturned head.

“Look... I’m fairly new at studying humans in their own environment...but one thing I have learned over the past few years is that they sometimes make irrational decisions, especially when they’re under emotional stress.”

            “She’s really pretty, too...he’s probably forgotten I even exist by now,” Lara grumbled, flopping onto her side with a sigh.

            “Ohhhhh and now the melodrama begins!” Adumir groaned.

Then he noticed her shoulders were shaking. He softly placed his hand on her back.

“Look...I want to help you, Lara. I chose you because you’re an incredible artist, but you’re timid. I know there’s another person inside of you wanting to escape. I want you to bring her out.”

            “So it’s...for your...research...” Lara said coldly, between hiccups.

            “Yes, partly... But it’s for your sake as well.”

            Lara slowly rolled over and looked up at him.

            “Crying and wallowing in self-pity won’t make anything better. Now, don’t get me wrong, after that patheticbreakup speech Jimmy gave you, you deserve a good cry.”

            “Oh god, you saw that too...”

            “Yeah, and I wish I hadn’t. So cliché. I’ve heard those lines verbatim on way too many teen dramas. After all that supposed experience he’s had with girls, I’m surprised he sucks so hard at breaking up with them.”

            “It was cliché...?” Lara frowned. Then she sighed and added, “Well, how would I know anyway? I don’t really watch TV, and that’s the first time I’ve ever been dumped.”

            “Well, speaking of cliches, I’ve got one of my own...” Adumir waited until Lara looked at him. Then he smirked and said, “You can do better.”

            In spite of herself, Lara’s tense lips softened. Then, with a strained look on her face as if she were trying to lift something heavy, she muttered, “Thanks.”

            “Happy birthday,” he whispered back.

            Lara jumped to sitting.

            Adumir chuckled. “Don’t tell me you forgot your own birthday.”

            Lara slowly shook her head. “No...I just...haven’t really felt a need to celebrate it ever since...”

            Adumir let Lara’s sentence go unfinished.

He brightened his voice and said, “Well, you’re celebrating it this year! And it just so happens I got you a present... Say my name?”

            Lara tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Adumir.”

He waved his hand. A complicated-looking smartphone materialized in front of Lara’s face.

“Wow, it’s like an iPhone...” Lara marveled. “A yPhone?” she suggested.

Adumir chuckled. “Nice name! We’ll keep that. Anyway, this will help you summon me whenever you need me... Oh, and it has all the other normal Earth functions on it as well. But anyway, if I’m ever away and you need me, just say my name into that yPhone and press the bottom-left button, and I’ll teleport to you—that’s another handy function of tethering. Then again...” he paused, a thoughtful hand on his cheek. “I phase into whatever form I wasn’t previously in when you summon me that way, so be mindful.”

            Lara tilted her head sideways, "But I thought you were always going to be with me. Why would I need to summon you?"

            “Just in case,” Adumir said, floating the phone into her hand.

            Lara stared at the phone in silence, able to see the faint reflection of her face in its screen. “Hey, Adumir...”

            He jolted slightly as he took solid form. “Yes?”

            “Let’s go buy some groceries.”

***

Keinrad opened his eyes, squinting in the near pitch-darkness. Last he remembered, he was recording a message to send to a human subject on behalf of the Council of Yllime.

The Council had sent him to an empty warehouse in a coastal city in the physical realm to complete this task. Keinrad remembered floating freely out of the warehouse in incorporeal form, invisible and undetected by humans as he made some notes in his phone. Last thing he remembered, he was about to teleport back to the transport point to return to the Yllime Realm...

And now, he was chained to a wall.

            He tried to keep his mind calm.

How are these chains holding me? Are they made of dark matter? How...

            Before he could figure that out, a door opened and a trio of silhouetted figures approached Keinrad. As they drew nearer, he could pick them out: A stocky young man smoking a cigarette, a sleek woman in a leather jacket, and an impossibly tall man in a trench coat. He did not recognize them. If they were from the Yllime Realm, they had taken new corporeal forms.

            “Fuck, I’m starving,” came a man’s muffled voice—the smoker.

            “Maybe if you hadn’t blown our last bit of cash on those death sticks,” the woman chided back.

            “I got you gum, too, didn’t I?”

            “Look, let’s just finish the job. I’m determined to sleep in a bed and on a full stomach tonight.”

            “Think he’ll talk?”

            “If he won’t, we’ll have to make him,” the woman answered.

            “So Tyne...” the smoker began, a smirk in his voice. “What d’ya think our client’s story is? Pretty sketchy just leaving us a note and a case of cash.”

            “A lot of our clients never show us their faces,” Tyne argued. “And fine by me. I know they’re all ugly, greasy mobsters anyway.”

            “Tink, don’t let ‘er go,” the smoker spoke. “Our client said we might need her if fairy-boy doesn’t cooperate. Oh, looks like he’s awake now.”

            Keinrad’s heart skipped a beat. That settled it.

I’m definitely corporeal. And these people might know my true identity... But how am I corporeal? That’s impossible—

            Keinrad’s eyes shot open.

Victoria...

            Tyne shot him a slightly sympathetic nod.

“Don’t worry. If you cooperate, we won’t hurt you.”

            Now that he wasn’t feigning unconsciousness and his captors were closer, he could get a better look at them. The woman was underweight and looked exhausted. She had strong BO and there was a twig in her tangled brown hair.

            The smoker flicked his cigarette butt aside and walked forward to join his partner. He didn’t look much better off than her. His young face was covered by a thick, patchy scruff of a beard and was peppered with pimples. He also looked like he could use a hot meal and a shower. He pulled a piece of blue notepaper out of his torn coat pocket and handed it to Tyne.

            “We have a few questions to ask you on behalf of our client, Rumpelstiltskin,” she said.

            The young man snickered.

Tyne shot him a dirty look, “Donny.”

            “Sorry, sorry, still can’t get used to that alias.”

            Tyne cleared her throat. “You were at HQ, correct?”

            Keinrad considered the question. He had been at HQ and there was nothing wrong with that. He’d had official orders for it. His concern was not in the question itself, but in why a human was asking him...or if the human even knew what his particular HQ was.

            “Well, judging by his shifty eyes, I’d say our fairy-boy at least knows what HQ is,” Tyne told her partner.

            “Stop stalling, Oberon,” Donny warned, pointing a finger.

            Reasoning that he might be able to get some answers from his captors if he cooperated, Keinrad decided to answer.

“Yes. I was at HQ.”

            “Thank you,” Tyne said. “Next question—”

            “Who are you people,” Keinrad demanded.

            Tyne cleared her throat, looked down at the note, and read on. “Who is your pupil?”

            Keinrad stopped breathing for a couple seconds, then answered, “I don’t know.”

            “Don’t lie to us...” Donny warned, starting to sound on edge.

            “I really don’t know. Our mentorship is done through electronic correspondence,” Keinrad scoffed, his heartbeat quickening with every second. Then, in a sudden burst of bravery, he looked the young man in the eye and growled, “And I wouldn’t tell you even if I did know.”

            Donny raised a threatening fist. Tyne winced.

“Look...” Donny croaked, his fist shaking slightly. “My partner and I haven’t had a place to sleep for weeks and we owe some bad people a lot of money. Now I don’t want to have to hurt you, but we’re getting a lot of money if we finish this job, and I have to take care of my own, you get it?”

Keinrad stared blankly at the desperate boy. As terrified as Keinrad was in that moment, he could also see the fear in his captor’s eyes. But he knew that revealing too much would put his people in danger. So he stayed silent.

            The fist struck him sharply. Keinrad had learned of the pain physical beings must endure. He had observed occasions of it on his own human subject years ago and had even read dissertations of it from fellow Yllime. But having rarely permitted his human subject to give him corporeal form, Keinrad himself had never experienced the sensation. What he felt now was indescribable.

            “That’s enough!” Tyne shouted, her voice abnormally high-pitched as she shoved Donny away from the whimpering old man.

“Now...” She continued, taking a deep breath, “let’s try this again. I don’t want you to be punched any more than you do. What is your pupil’s name?”

            “A-A-Adumir...” Keinrad stuttered, all bravery gone. “His name is Adumir.”

            “Now, see?” Donny muttered with a squeaky laugh. “That wasn’t so hard!”

“Get a pad and pen, Tink,” Tyne instructed the tall man. “Spell that for me?”

            “A-d-u-m-i-r,” Keinrad said, catching his breath.

            The man called “Tink” copied the letters into his notebook.

            “Okay. Good. Now, final question...what is the name of his human subject?”

            This time, Keinrad’s heart stopped.

“...I don't know.”

            “You're lying!” Donny screamed, running at him, fists brandished.

            Keinrad gritted his teeth—and the blows fell down on him. His body wetted with blood and urine and his muscles tingled. His eyes watered. All he could hear was muffled, choked-up cursing from the young man, and his partner screaming for him to stop. His mind emptied.

            His mouth opened, “I’ll tell you! Please! Stop!”

            Donny lowered his fists, his chest heaving. “Tink?”

            The giant readied his pen.

            Tyne took in a deep breath and smoothed her hair.

            “The subject’s—”

            “No! Don’t you dare tell them!” yelled a hoarse voice from Tink’s direction.

            All eyes darted to Tink, who had abandoned his notebook and was restraining an elderly woman in a blue dress.

            Keinrad’s eyes softened...then shot open. “Victoria!”

            “You were supposed to keep our trump card hidden!” Tyne admonished the tall thug.

            “Don’t tell ‘em anything!” Victoria protested, struggling in Tink’s big hands. “They don’t know nothin’ about your world, but their boss does!”

            “Shut up, old bag!” Donny yelled, running to Victoria.

            “Don’t hurt her!” Keinrad and Tyne barked simultaneously.

            “I’m awful sorry for what I did...” the old lady told Keinrad quietly, tears welling in her wrinkled, blue eyes. “They tricked me into sayin’ your name. They said you were in trouble...”

            Donny’s hand slowly inched towards Tyne’s handbag. She looked at him sharply, shaking her head.

            “After I got smart to what they were doin’, I tried to save you, but they said they’d kill me if I did...”

            “And we weren’t bluffing,” Donny said, grabbing a gun from Tyne’s purse and pointing it at Victoria's head. “Speak again and I shoot.”

            Keinrad gasped. He had seen a gun used once before and the results had not been good.

            Victoria’s eyes darted sideways to see Donny sneering at her, shaking. She then closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and looked solidly at the Yllime across from her.

            “Keinrad, goodb—”

            No sooner did his name escape Victoria’s mouth than she was shot in the head.

            “Shit, Donny!” Tyne shrieked, cupping a hand to her mouth and staggering. “...Tink, get the body out of here!”

            “M-My finger...my finger slipped...”

Donny’s shaking hand dropped the gun. He crouched over, as if to pick it up, then he vomited on the concrete floor. Tyne braced herself against the wall, madly chewing her gum, as Tink casually dragged Victoria’s limp body out to the docks.

            His hand still shaking, Donny retrieved Tyne’s gun from the ground and reached over to hand it back to her.

“She was gonna die soon anyway... Cancer, terminal,” he mumbled. “N-Now, let’s all calm down and finish...” He stopped mid-sentence. “Where’d he go?”

            Tyne’s eyes flashed to where the old man had been chained. There was no trace of him and the circles of iron that had bound his feet and wrists were still intact.

            The big wad of gum slid right out of Tyne’s mouth.

            Donny staggered over to the wall, running his hands along it as if to search for a secret lever.

            Tyne just stood there, staring at the pool of Victoria’s blood on the ground.

 “You killed her, for Christ’s sake!” she finally croaked.

“My finger slipped!” Donny insisted, finally giving up on his secret lever theory and walking back to Tyne’s side. “Besides, I didn’t wanna lose that money.”

“There are some lines we don’t cross...” Tyne muttered, clutching her stomach and staggering.

Donny’s strained smile fell off his face. “And you’ve never killed before?”

Tyne’s enraged, wet eyes shot up at Donny. She slapped him hard.

“Sorry,” she said as an afterthought.

Donny rubbed his cheek. “No... I deserved that.”

            Tyne clenched her shaking fingers to her thighs, trying to quiet them. Donny shuffled to her side and put an arm around her. They stayed like this for a couple minutes until they were both breathing semi-normally again.

“I guess the past few weeks have hit us both pretty hard,” Tyne murmured.

“Look on the bright side, we accomplished most of the job, right? He was at HQ—whatever that is—his pupil’s name is Ah…Ah-something? Well, we have it written down,” he stuttered, nodding at Tink as he reentered the room, drying his hands on a towel and sealing it into a large bag.

            “But he said the most important piece of information was the name of his subject, whatever that means,” Tyne said, pushing herself out of Donny’s embrace. “And we didn’t get that, did we.”

            “Ah well, can’t say we didn’t try,” Donny said. “Our job can get ugly sometimes, but at least we got paid—which means Mr. Red won’t blow my brains out and we’ll have a place to live and food to eat for the next ten months.”

            Tyne’s hard face softened. “You’re right. Let’s get some of this cash out of the stuffy old suitcase and find a hotel. I’m dying for a shower...and a burger.”

            Donny eagerly unlatched the suitcase, opened it, and yelped out a few choice words.

            “What is it?” Tyne asked, running next to him.

            Donny pointed at the open suitcase. It appeared to be only two-thirds full of cash—in place of the third of missing cash, there was another piece of blue notepaper.

            Tyne snatched it up and read, “Thank you for completing two-thirds of the job. Here is two-thirds of the payment. I will contact you shortly with further orders. Thank you. –R.”

            Tyne whisked out her gun and held it in front of her. Donny pressed his back against hers, fists ready.

            “He’s got the place bugged!” Donny hissed.

            “But I checked!” Tyne hissed back. “And you know nothing like that ever gets past me...”

            Donny swallowed hard. “Do you think...they really were fairies?”

            “You know I don’t believe in magic, witchcraft, or religion,” she answered, no longer whispering, returning her gun to her purse. “Right, Tinkerbell?” she called out to the tall thug.

Tink smiled and nodded to her. Tyne shoved two sticks of gum into her mouth and chewed vigorously.

            “But you saw it,” Donny argued. “First the cryptic instructions, then the disappearing old guy, and now, cash disappears and new instructions reappear in a closed suitcase. Either we’re both crazy, or Rumpelstiltskin—and Oberon—are fairies or something...”

            “Well, if Rumpelstiltskin really is a fairy, I’d sure like to meet him.”

            Donny grinned. “If we’re lucky, we just might.”

            Tyne smiled back, grabbed a handful of cash, and inhaled its scent dreamily.