text: I sat on a chair and watched Tobias gather his thoughts. He lay on one of the beds, sporting the hotel’s white bathrobe with his hands over his stomach. We both were wearing the robes, since we’d handed in our clothes for laundry last night. “That’s it?” he asked after a moment. “That’s the summary,” I said. “You just jumped over a whole year of your life?” Tobias continued. “Jumped over the part where you learned to use magic?” “I didn’t think it was important to the story,” I said. “It wasn’t important to *your* side of the story.” I opened my mouth for a retort, closed it, and finally took a deep breath to calm myself down. I didn’t want to repeat the whole hide and seek again. “You’re right,” I said. “It’s not something I want to share... yet.” Tobias nodded. At first, it had felt great to spill things off my chest. But now afterwards, I half-regretted it. As if I’ve given Tobias a weapon to hold over me. “Can you recite that incantation for me?” Tobias asked. I shook my head. “I don’t even remember the first syllable. It was like I was being possessed. Was that Rosa -- ” “No.” Tobias’ voice shut down my idea. “It has nothing to do with Rosie.” “How can you be so sure?” I asked. “You were wrong about her actions after the Hunters sealed you. I’ve seen her experiments with magic, combining different schools and triggers. Could she somehow put a spell which triggered when a Darmitage touched a Sarsen stone?” “I know Rosie, she wouldn’t open a portal and let demons into this world.” “Didn’t you listen? She was torn and angry after the Hunters sealed you. And I opened it due to one of her memories taking over me.” Heat rose up my face matching my level of frustration. Tobias was too biased, too blind to not accept that his sister might have done something wrong. “Nadia.” The way he said my name made me pause. I thought he would’ve raised his voice to match my tone. But instead, he’d said it with an outbreath, almost as a sigh. “You may have some of Rosie’s memories but I have shared a life with her,” Tobias said. “I know her better.” What a load of crap. But I bit down on my tongue and held my words. “How did you get sealed?” I asked, switching subjects. “You were the strongest out there. It didn’t seem like anyone could’ve matched your strength during your time.” Tobias shook his head. “Strength might win a battle, but it’s the mind which wins a war.” Someone had outsmarted Tobias? The guy who plunged himself into books and scrolls whenever he encountered a problem? A doorknock interrupted our conversation. From the other side, a maid addressed that our clothes were cleaned. I opened the door and received the bundle and headed to the bathroom to change. It felt much better to wear my own clothes than prancing around in a bathrobe. Tobias didn’t touch his pile. “I prefer wearing the robe,” he said. “It’s more comfortable.” “You’ll have to wear something else when we go outside,” I said. “Speaking of outside, what’s your plan?” “The plan was to ask the Calamity to help against the demons, but now...” I shrugged. “I’m not sure. I don’t know.” He drummed his fingers against his thigh. “Don’t you have any questions?” I asked. “About Darmitage, about the current world? Anything?” “Loads,” Tobias said. “More than you can imagine.” “Well, let’s figure those things out first,” I said. “What are you wondering about?” Tobias looked at me with serious eyes. “What’s ‘witness protection’ and ‘mob family’?” “What?” “You mentioned that you thought your parents were under ‘witness protection’ or they were part of a ‘mob family’, what does that mean?” It took me a moment to understand what he referred to and I realized my mistake. I had been churning on and on without taking his background into account. “Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked. “I didn’t want to interrupt,” he said, matter of factly. “Let’s take a walk. We’ve been stuffed inside for too long. We’ll get some clothes for you, eat something and I’ll explain what ‘witness protection’ and ‘mob family’ means.” “And ‘lottery’ and ‘passport’ and -- “ “We’ll take a *long* walk.