“So… This wardrobe is your secret hideout?” I asked.

“Yes! Now please wear this blindfold! It’s a secret base, after all!”

Shifra really liked roleplaying, didn’t she? Also, didn’t it defeat the point to blindfold me now after she’d shown me where the secret entrance was?

“Alright then.” I grabbed the blindfold and put it over my eyes as asked.

I then felt the two girls grabbing both my hands and heard the wardrobe opening. They tugged me forward and I followed.

Then I tripped and fell with a squeak.

And then I felt everything spin around as I continued to fall. Somehow.

After a moment of eternity, I finally landed into something very soft. I immediately scrambled to get up and removed the blindfold before looking around.

Apparently, I landed into a mountain of pillows… all stashed inside the wardrobe I’d just entered?

“Here it is! Our secret base!” Shifra cheered from behind me.

“Sorry about that. I hope you didn’t hurt yourself,” Maddy added.

“Uh, I’m fine. What the heck was that?” I peeked upward from where I supposedly fell, but I only saw the wooden ceiling of the wardrobe. Weird.

“That was Maddy’s super secret teleporter inside the wardrobe!”

Wha… A teleporter? How in the --

“Come on, auntie! This way!” Shifra grabbed my hand and dragged me off, ignoring my confusion.

We walked through the empty unlit room to the door and entered yet another empty unlit room. Then again, found a door to the left, went through there… Then went down the stairs… Then another door…

Before we were even halfway to our destination, my sense of direction had already given up on remembering how to get back from this horror game-esque maze of rooms.

I was making fun of it before, but this definitely qualified as a secret base in my book. 

At last, the final door opened, and I was greeted by a long table with a few candles lit on top of it. The three other sisters were seated at the sides and at the end of the table was an office chair facing away from us.

As we walked in and closed the door behind us, the chair spun around, revealing a girl I hadn’t seen before.

“Welcome,” she said with a grin.

She wore a black hoodie with fox ears, and for some reason looking at her face filled me with nostalgia. It reminded me of way back when Kelly and Miranda dressed me up for the punishment game. It reminded me of my own face.

“Uh, hello? Are you the… New sister?” I asked awkwardly.

“Yep, that’s me, C̴̫͗h̴̯̑ȧ̴̮- … Charlotte.”

…

Odd.

“Take a seat! We have much to discuss!”

Shifra and Maddy walked around me and sat down next to their sisters. I shrugged to myself and got myself seated as well.

“So, Aster! I heard your family was giving you trouble! This will not stand!” Charlotte smashed her fist down at the table. “We, of the fellowship of Mama, will do our best to defeat your evil family!”

“Eh, it’s not that big of a deal.” I waved my hand. “I dealt with them before, I can do it again! But thanks for the offer.”

“Hmm…” She frowned. “This will not do! We cannot leave our benefactor when she needs help! I, as the leader, swear to fight off the evil family even if it costs my life!”

Well dang. The roleplaying was getting pretty intense.

“Hey!” Shifra quipped up. “Why are you the leader?! You are the youngest one of us!”

“Because Maddy doesn’t feel like being the leader. And if you were the leader, our entire secret base would collapse!”

“No, it wouldn’t! I would be the greatest leader ever!”

“No, you wouldn’t!”

“Yes, I would!”

Aaand there was the childish bickering I’d been expecting. Honestly, I’d started to feel like this was all real rather than just kids playing around. Hah, such a silly thought. 

I still needed to ask how they’d done the whole teleporter thing though. And also where the heck was this place even?

“Alright, fine! I’ll let you be the leader for our next mission! If you mess it up, then the leadership goes to me!” Shifra announced.

“Deal!” Charlotte grinned.

“Did you really just suggest that…?” Maddy whispered whilst shaking her head.

“Anyway! Let’s focus on our mission! Saving Aster from the evil clutches of her old family!”

Ah, right. They were still going on about that.

“Eh, like I said. It’s fine…”

“No worries! You don’t need to move a finger! Our secret reconnaissance crew --” She eyed Maddy for some reason ”-- will figure out their location, and then our strike team --” She glanced at Carla “-- will take them out!”

Well, I could at least appreciate how elaborate this game of secret organization was.

“Uhm, alright. Just don’t overdo it, okay?” Wouldn’t want them to hurt themselves with their intense roleplaying, after all.

“Of course,” the ‘leader’ nodded with a grin. “I’ll start drafting plans as soon as we get enough information. Now then, moving on to the next subject… Aster! The reason why we’d shown you our secret base is that we believe you have potential! How would you like to become one of us?”

“What? I thought this was a sister-only kinda thing?”

“We can make an exception!”

“Uh, okay? What exactly would it mean to join you?”

“You can attend our meetings and help us with planning our missions!”

Ah, so basically the same request as Maddy. Hang out with us from time to time.

“Sure! If that’s all, I don’t see why not.”

“Perfect!” Charlotte grinned again.

Then, suddenly the door opened and the lights turned on. Everyone in the room simultaneously groaned from being blinded.

“Girls? Oh, hey Aster. I was wondering where you went,” Alex’s voice came from behind me. “Girls, I’m done with work and I’m gonna get started on dinner. Do you want spaghetti or risotto today?”

Excited yells of ‘Risotto’ and ‘Spaghetti’ filled the room.

“Hmm, alright, Spaghetti it is then. Uh, Aster, do you want to join us for dinner…?” Alex awkwardly asked.

“Sure! Let me just call my girlfriend and tell her.”

“Alright…” Alex smiled. “Thanks, by the way.”

“No problem! Thank you for the dinner!” I beamed at her back.

What a lovely family.