“TEAM FAMILY, BAYBEE!” - Pearl

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Nem-Nem wasn’t very happy with me. The punishment this time was harsh, and I wasn’t sure if I could handle it. If you remember the beginning of my tale, you’d know I was pretty much addicted to the sweets Nem would bake.

I was suffering from withdrawal at this point… the length of time: a whole month without desserts. This was a punishment I had to take or else she’d do much worse, like forbid me from playing Turf War for a week. With my reasoning, I could try to go on without the sweets, but I knew I couldn’t survive without Turf War.

It had only been a week and I’d been chewing on bubblegum to keep me from craving any of the desserts Nem would make each night. I felt like I was caught in this eternal nightmare and I wasn’t sure how long I’d last until I’d begin begging. I could only see myself lasting for two weeks, maybe one more.

Not only that, but I still hadn’t heard from Henry. I was beginning to worry and I was inching towards that urge to go and try to save him, but knowing what Captain Three did to my nose made me cringe every time I thought about the likely outcome.

Liv and I had been hanging out more often lately and this helped me take my mind off both the punishment and Henry’s situation. Liv seemed to have an entirely different side to her that I wasn’t aware of until recently. The more I hung out with her, the more I knew that she had a talent for synthesizer music. She was a huge fan of the Chirpy Chips and even drew inspiration from them for her own music. I’d hang out with her while she practiced music at Hector’s octoling dance club.

Hector had even been coming around more often to ask me questions about what type of clothes humans would wear back then, and while I’d answer them as best as I could, he’d still occasionally suggest a memory scan, which I was still pretty much against.

Liv and Bryson would work together to train me while Ace would watch from the sidelines, cheering me on. With the combination of Liv’s blaster and Bryson’s melee attacks, I was put under a lot of intense pressure. I’d duck and weave, learn to dodge roll when I needed to avoid the blasts of ink, and even take chances by getting up very close and personal to deliver a good hit or two to Bryson.

I was slowly getting better and I had all of them to thank for it.

As I was training one day with Bryson, I couldn’t help but catch a glimpse of Liv and Ace talking in the corner. Liv had this… blush on her face as she giggled, almost triggering something in me. Ezra appeared to try and get me back on track. “Focus on training.”

“Y-Yeah,” I muttered under my breath, going in to hit Bryson again. As the days went by, I began to get… paranoid. I didn’t know why. Whenever I saw Liv around Ace, there was this… instinct. There was this feeling of jealousy and anger, but why would that have bothered me? I was already dating Ace. Liv didn’t like him like that, right?

Why was I so paranoid?

Later that day, while we were backstage at Hector’s club, sitting at a small table, I noticed she was looking at her laptop a bit more intensely than usual. Bars and graphs would scroll across the screen and intrigue me to the point where I asked, “What are you doing?”

As she typed, Liv replied, “Trying to find a way to update the software within the nanobots inside you. It’s hard to get a connection because they’re starting to…”

“Starting to what…?” I asked.

“They’re starting to degrade a little is all,” she said. “They’ve gone way past their intended lifespan and I’m surprised they haven’t broken down completely. I’m doing my best to keep them going because once they stop, nothing is stopping that serum except Scalpel’s treatments, and I doubt those treatments are doing much.”

“That’s scary…” I quietly responded.

“Mhm…” muttered Liv. “Don’t worry. They’re not stopping anytime soon. I’m putting them into periodic rest modes. One group will shut down while another group continues working. This will allow the nanobots to efficiently manage themselves for at least six more months. By then, that serum should be taken care of. And, if not… I may have to inject more nanobots into you. Either way, I’m not giving up on you.”

“You’re a genius, you know that?” I said to her.

She smiled. “Thank you. I do my best.”

“Ace has been worried about me a lot more lately,” I mentioned. “He helped me get a limiter for my specials yesterday.”

“Yeah, about Ace…” she muttered. “Um… Would you be upset with me if I confessed something?”

I shook my head. “If you’re telling me about it now, you trust me, right? That’s good enough for me!”

Liv suddenly had an expression of guilt, the octoling closing her laptop. “I’ve gotta be honest with you. I… respect you, Amelia. I really do. Being human, you still try to follow your dreams regardless of the barrier. But there’s just this thing I can’t keep on pretending doesn’t exist and I felt I wanted to tell you because I trust you as my best friend. Confessing it would help with my guilt and allow me to let certain things go and work on my mental health.”

“Certain things?” I questioned.

“Stay aware that I would never do anything to hurt you,” she said, gently gripping my hand. “You helped me become more daring in Turf Wars and learn how to deal with fights without Hector having to defend me.”

I smiled, gripping her hand a little tighter. “I’d do anything for you, too! You’ve done a lot to help me!”

Liv was quiet for a moment before she said, “I just hope what I’m about to say doesn’t hurt you or make you feel threatened. You know I care about you. I’ve hidden it well so far, and the only reason I’m telling you this is that I have nothing but respect for you. You’re just like me, you know that?

“Just like you?” I responded with curiosity.

“We’ve both left our worlds behind. We live in an inkling society despite being different. We hardly have anything of our pasts to cling to.”

I tilted my head in confusion. “Well, then what’s wrong? What did you want to tell me?”

She avoided all eye contact with me, her hand gripping mine very tightly. I could feel the tension and it made my blood freeze when I heard her say it.

“I’ve liked Ace for a while, ever since I first met you all…”

Something broke inside my mind. I pulled away from her hand with a frightened stare. Something strange happened with my brain and I couldn’t properly control it. There was some form of denial taking place and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You’re just joking, r-right? H-Hahah, that’s very funny!”

“I’m not trying to take him from you,” she said, continuing to avoid my gaze. “I’ve… had this crush on him for so long and I just always played it cool. When you both admitted your feelings to each other, I was devastated and I tried so hard to cope with it…”

…

“I… I don’t know what to say to this,” I admitted, feeling nauseous. “There’s a lot of… guilt.”

“D-Don’t feel guilty!” she said, looking back at me. “I had my chances and I didn’t take them! Just… I wanted to admit this to you because I couldn’t keep it a secret any longer. I felt bad about keeping it from you and I wanted our friendship to be completely honest! I didn’t want to hurt you!”

I couldn’t help but feel this guilt strangling me. Was I supposed to feel okay with this? Why was she telling me this? Why did I feel threatened? Why was everything in my brain telling me to…?!

End her now.

End her now.

End her now.

I snapped out of it, standing up and stumbling back, tripping over my chair and landing on my back. Liv stood up and rushed over to me, holding out her hand. “Oh my cod! Are you okay?! I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have said anything!”

I took her hand, gripping it tightly as she pulled me back up. “N-No, no. It’s okay… I’m just so confused. Why? Why would you tell me now of all times?”

She hugged me closely, making me feel even more guilty as she said, “Because I respected the chance you took and I didn’t want you to backtrack on it if I were to have told you right after you confessed to him. You’re like a sister to me and I could never do that to you.”

“A sister…?” I responded with confusion.

She gently pulled away from the hug, her hands on my shoulders. “Listen, Amelia. I don’t want to make this awkward. I just want clarity in our friendship and I want you to be the one to help me move on because I trust you more than anyone else.”

Why was she doing this? Was she really trying to be honest with me? Was she trying to hurt me? Ezra stood behind me, saying, “Puberty is hell. I’m surprised you haven’t torn her apart yet.”

…

I steeled my nerves and flashed Liv a smile, keeping my true feelings hidden. I wasn’t going to let Ezra mess with my mind even more. “S-Sisters forever.~”

“Really?” she replied with hope in her voice, looking relieved. “Oh, thank cod! I was so worried this would hurt our friendship!”

“I could never abandon you for that!” I said to her, hugging her tightly.

Take that, Ezra. You weren’t going to get to me that easily.

Yet… Ezra appeared in my field of vision now, smirking smugly. What was she up to…?

I shook my head and pulled away from the hug. “S-So, how do we go about this?” I asked.

Liv seemed to take a bit of time to collect her thoughts, blinking a few times. “O-Oh! I, um… Well, there’s a concert tonight and I was hoping you could, well, help me set up tonight! I… wanted to meet a few people. I hardly ever converse with anyone outside my friend circle, and so I thought to myself… why not meet a few fellow octoling music artists?”

I quickly nodded. “Of course! Just lemme text Nem!”

I moved back out onto the stage. With how empty the room was, I felt a moment of brief peace before Ezra appeared in front of me. “You need to get away from her.”

Stepping back, I shook my head. “Stop that… She’s not trying to take Ace.”

“You felt it, didn’t you?” she asked. “That urge… that raging urge to hurt her.”

I ignored Ezra, starting my text to Nem. I could only hope she’d let me stay up late tonight to help Liv set up. I didn’t think it would be a problem. It was only when I’d gone out late without letting her know, that’s when it was a problem. As long as I’d let her know… hopefully she’d approve.

“Don’t distract yourself from me,” said Ezra. “I’m trying to help you.”

“Flip off,” I said with attitude, finishing my text and sending it to her.

“Amelia, you can’t ignore the emotions! I tried to help you and if you had only let me, you could’ve only had to go through one set of puberty instead of three at once.”

“I… I can handle it!” I said to her, starting to clench my phone tightly. “Leave me alone!”

“You’re not thinking clearly,” she said.

“And you’re a monster!” I responded with anger.

“I’m you,” she replied. “I’m the doubt in your mind. I’m the one trying to keep you safe. You ignore, ignore, ignore most of my warnings despite my intentions to protect you. You’re a human, Amelia. You weren’t meant for Ace anyway. I’d have to agree that Liv is a much better fit. Someone smart like her? Ace could’ve ended up with her if you hadn’t come out of that pod. You’re a foreigner who not only crosses the borders of civilizations, but the borders of time as well, disrupting the balance. Who’s the monster here?”

This… wasn’t right. “Y-You’re just trying to make things worse!"

My phone suddenly vibrated, making me jump in surprise. Ezra had vanished and I was all alone on stage once again, an uncomfortable silence making me feel unsettled. Looking down, I saw the confirmation from Nem, and relief hit me. I let out a big sigh, a fake smile on my face as I tried to convince myself everything was fine.

Heading back to Liv, I said to her, “Tonight is confirmed!”

Liv pumped her fist into the air. “Yes! You’ll be playing an important role! I just need you to press a series of buttons that I’ll label with numbers for you. You’ll press them in order when you receive my signals, got it?”

I nodded, trying my best to keep optimistic. Everything was fine. I was fine. I was definitely fine. Nothing wrong here, no sirree.

…

As nightfall came and the octolings filled the building, I could see quite a few performers in the back I could recognize, one of them being Diss-Pair. When I’d first seen them on stage here in Hector’s club, I was absolutely excited, but with the current tension between Liv and I, it was harder to be happy.

Warabi, the DJ of the two performers, seemed to notice Liv. “Hey, you’re one of the octos who run this building, right? Mad respect for creating such a fresh club scene.”

Liv blushed, hands covering her mouth. She seemed to want to squeal, but didn’t, closing her eyes and removing her hands from her mouth to say, “Th-Thanks. I’m a big fan of your work.”

Warabi smirked and turned to his musical partner, Ikkan. “Hey, looks like we got some serious comp. She’s got a nice setup, right?”

Ikkan blinked, turning to look at Liv’s DJ table. “Uh, yeah, sure,” he said, not seeming very interested. “Sorry, I’m just distracted. Trying to tune my guitar.”

Looking down at the sheet of instructions in one hand and a remote in the other with number labels on each button, I tried to memorize what each signal was supposed to be. Liv was supposed to give hand gestures that I would have to interpret with the sheet of paper as a reference. As I tried to memorize everything, someone bumped into me from behind.

“H-Hey!” I shouted, turning around. “Watch where you’re–”

O-Oh…

I hadn’t expected this at all. Dex stood there in a black leather jacket and black jeans, golden eyes glowing as he smirked. “Hey! I didn’t expect to see you here! I thought you were done for!”

Something seemed… different about him. He looked so much more confident than when he was back in that saferoom. An aura of professionalism surrounded him as he rolled his own DJ table backstage. As he leaned against it, he flashed me a grin and… I wasn’t sure what was going on. There was this strange feeling. My heart felt like it had bashed against my chest for a brief moment as if trying to get out.

Surprised, I replied, “U-Uh, Hey there! Um, I don’t think I’ve ever actually told you my name, huh? I’m Amelia!”

“Pretty name,” he said, smiling. “Hey, Amelia. I wanted to thank you for what you said to me back at the base. I know I was a creep and I’m sorry about how I acted. Now I’m chasing my dream of being a professional DJ!”

Oh, right… Dex had wanted to become a DJ! I had almost forgotten with all the strange events going on. I smiled back at him and said, “Hey, anything to help out a fellow octoli–...”

Woah.

What was wrong with me? I shook my head and just said, “Anything to help out a friend!”

Something felt seriously wrong. Why was I having all these ups and downs? Was I broken? Was all of this seriously puberty? Maybe it was Ezra messing with me? Yeah, that had to be it. None of this would’ve happened if it wasn’t for her! I’m not broken. I’m… just stressed!

As Liv went out onto the stage, I watched closely from the side curtains, my sheet of paper out in front of me in my left hand and the remote in my right. As Liv pressed a button on her DJ table, I heard a steady beat that seemed to be fast-paced. She was already going this quickly?

The octolings in the crowd danced as usual, matching their movements to the beat, and as Liv raised her hand and pointed to the sky, I noticed the first signal, pressing the first button. Fog rolled onto the stage and sparks began to fly out from behind her, each spark a different color, creating a rainbow of lights.

I was astounded as she let her own special remix of Calamari Inkantation start playing, and the octolings seemed really into it. She had added her own background notes that sounded robotic and glitchy, making unique combinations with the original song. This was… incredible, lifting my spirits for that moment.

I’d forgotten about the tension between us and even began to dance a little to the music. While I wasn’t a good dancer, it didn’t matter. I was behind the curtain without anyone to see me and I was loving the beat. There was this feeling of inspiration in me that I couldn’t explain. It wasn’t like the other times I’d heard the song. This time, it was different, and I just couldn’t place why.

As Liv tapped on the DJ table three times, I recognized the next gesture, pressing the second button as it went into the second round. This time around, I was surprised to suddenly see the Squid Sisters on stage! Wait… as I looked more, I noticed that they were shimmering, making me realize that these weren’t the real deal. They were holograms!

Liv’s intelligence astounded me. Was she seriously able to make illusions like that?!

“She’s doing pretty good,” said a voice behind me. “You got some nice moves, too!”

My eyes widened, turning around and backing up against the curtain as I saw Dex. “I wasn’t dancing!” I blurted out.

“Uh-huh,” he said, tapping his foot and slightly nodding his head to the beat of the song. “Ain’t no way anyone can resist that beat. You don’t have to be shy, you know. We've all gotta let go sometimes!”

“You sound so different from when we first met,” I admitted. “Why are you so confident now?”

“That very song!” he said with a grin, pointing to Liv. “I can’t just explain a feeling like this! It’s inspiring, it’s beautiful, and it fills up my very soul with energy!”

Now that he’d mentioned it, I could feel the same thing. Something about this song had affected me much more now than it had before, but why? Was it because I was slowly changing into an octoling? That couldn’t be it, could it…?

Liv pumped her fist into the air near the end and I recognized the final signal, pressing the third button. A shower of sparks came flying down from above. From where I couldn’t tell. It was much too dark up there to really see what machinery could’ve been causing it. All I knew, though, was that the sparks seemed different than the first set, leaving long trails of different colors as they rained down onto the stage.

As the song finally ended, every octoling in the crowd cheered, and when she rolled her DJ table off the stage and towards me, she grinned. “Thanks for helping me!” she said to me, hugging me tightly.

“Hey, you’re pretty impressive,” said Dex, flashing a grin toward her. “I’m going up next!”

Liv’s eyes widened and her cheeks were visibly red. “Th-Thanks!” she replied. “Good luck out there!”

As Dex rolled his DJ table out onto the stage, Liv gripped my shoulder. “Hey, Amelia?”

Turning to her, I tilted my head. “Yeah, Liv?”

“Who is that?” she asked, her eyes locked on Dex.

“That’s, uh, Dex,” I answered. “He just started DJing. Why?”

“He’s very charismatic,” she remarked, staring out at him.

Wait, was she into…

Looking at Liv’s face, I could only conclude that she seemed to be interested in him. There was simply no mistaking it. “Are you… thinking about it?” I asked, looking out at the stage.

“Maybe,” she replied.

Maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad after all. I didn’t have to feel guilty anymore, right? There wasn’t any need, but… why did I still feel bad? “Hey, um… Liv?”

“Yeah?” she said, still staring out.

“...I really appreciate you for being my friend,” I said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Liv leaned into me, hugging me tight with a grin on her face. This girl was too pure. It seemed to only make my guilt worse, no matter how I tried to reason that she had a chance at being happier with Dex. I returned the hug, trying to keep my mind off of it.

Later that night, as I returned home, I saw a note on the kitchen table.

Saved some shrimp for you on the table. Sauce is on the top shelf in the fridge. - Nem-Nem

Noticing the plate covered in foil, I smiled. Sure enough, there was some shrimp underneath, and it seemed to still be warm. As I sat down to enjoy the meal, I couldn’t help but recall today’s events. It was… a rollercoaster of emotions, to be sure.

Liv’s thought process was something I couldn’t grasp. It almost felt like she was messing with me, yet she seemed genuine when she spoke to me about it. Was she messing with my head? Was I supposed to feel guilty?

“Why shouldn’t you feel guilty?” asked Ezra, sitting across from me. “Can’t you tell when another girl is jealous? She obviously wants to take Ace from you.”

“She showed an interest in Dex,” I replied, looking down at the shrimp on my plate. My appetite just wasn’t there anymore as I listened to Ezra.

“Tick, tock, Amelia,” said Ezra. “It’s only a matter of time until she tries something. You’ll need to watch yourself when it happens because I can only hold you back for so long before you go feral.”

“Are you trying to help me or are you trying to antagonize me?” I snapped, our eyes meeting. I didn’t want to deal with her deception anymore. As I kept staring at her longer and longer, I started to notice her hair was just like mine.

Ezra began to mock me, a twisted grin on her face. “Hello, everyone! I'm Amelia! I’m going to play the white knight and act like I’m so important! The world revolves around me and only my problems matter! I'm going to meddle in the affairs of others without thinking about their feelings and I'll even defy my own second thoughts to get what I want!”

“I-I don’t act like that!” I shouted, slamming my hands down on the table as Ezra did the same, the apparition copying me. “I don’t… act like that,” I quietly muttered, thinking back to past events. I was there for Bryson, right?

“You meddled in his family business,” Ezra answered.

“Y-You made me!” I screamed.

Surprising me, Ezra appeared on the table, crouched, hands clawing the edge, her face inches from mine. My heart leapt as I saw her predatory eyes, her pupils in an odd eight-shape. “You keep forgetting one thing, Amelia. I’m you. I tell you this over and over. I’m the doubt, the fears, the one you’re forced to depend on. You need to think about everything you do, Amelia. If you don’t, you will end up hurting everyone’s feelings. You’ve already hurt Liv and Bryson…”

I got out of my chair, backing up. “N-No…”

“Are you gonna hurt Ace next?” she asked me.

“B-Back off!” I screamed, gurgling erupting from my throat as I tried and failed to keep my cool.

Hands gripped my shoulders and Ezra faded into nothingness. Looking behind me, I saw Nem with worry on her face. “Amelia,” she said, “why are you screaming in the middle of the night?"

My chest tightened up with pain, my mind trying to make sense of today. I had finally come to the realization that there was no way I could do this on my own and so I hugged Nem tightly, letting out all the tears I could. At first, she seemed confused but after a few moments had passed, she wrapped her arms around me. There was finally some semblance of peace as I eventually calmed down.

“I don’t like these feelings,” I said. “It hurts really bad, Nem-Nem…”

Nem ran her fingers through my hair, shushing me. “I’m here. Tell me everything.”

Explaining it to her took me a while, at least an hour. I told her all about Ezra, all about the feelings I’d been having, about Liv, about Bryson and Ace. I’d even told her about my brother’s kidnapping and the Squid Sisters. It was relieving just to tell her about it all.

As we sat down on the couch in the living room, she sighed, pulling me close to her and hugging me tightly. “That’s a lot of information,” she said. “I don’t understand why you didn’t tell me earlier. Didn’t you trust me?”

“I didn’t want you to stress even more…” I muttered. “I knew that playing Turf War already worried you enough.”

“Amelia, I’m a little hurt,” said Nem. “You should’ve told me everything and I would’ve given you all my advice. You didn’t have to go it alone, you know. Puberty is always going to be a rollercoaster. Sometimes we just need help. I know I needed it. Mom did everything she could for me, even when I’d spited her. I wish I could’ve told her I was sorry.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

Hugging me a little tighter, she said, “I know you are. Never keep anything from me ever again, okay? I’m here to help you.”

“Okay,” I responded.

Nem sat up a little, pushing me away gently and keeping her hands on my shoulders. “Now, I want to ask more about this Ezra person. What is she like?”

I tried my best to explain, remembering everything I could. “She keeps… trying to help me, but she ends up making things work. She keeps talking about how she’s the doubt in my mind and how she wants to make sure I’m safe.”

Nem looked skeptical. “She sounds like a very twisted and aggressive conscience. And you said earlier it was getting worse?”

I nodded, looking up at Nem. “Like… I’ve been getting more violent bursts of Turf Madness. And earlier, when Liv told me about how she felt about Ace, I… I felt this urge to hurt her and I didn’t want to!”

“That sounds a lot like inkling puberty,” said Nem. “They can be much more aggressive than octolings when they feel threatened. Nemmi went through the same thing and I had to help her because she wasn’t able to fully control it. Your case, though… worries me. You said it was three bouts of puberty?”

I slowly nodded, looking down to avoid eye contact. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was getting out of control. Ezra was causing too many doubts in my mind. “Mhm…”

“I may need to get help…” she said with reluctance. “Most doctors wouldn’t know how to treat a human and there’s only one person I know who’d be able to do something, but…”

I had a feeling I knew who she was talking about. “Scalpel…”

Nem gave me a serious look. “Amelia, I won’t lie to you. I’m going to hurt him. The deal you made with him is ridiculous and I think if I play my cards right, I can get you out of it while also getting him to agree to help us with Ana. I think I might be able to keep custody of Safaia as well.”

I had a hard time grasping what she’d told me. “How are you going to do that?!” I asked in disbelief.

Nem had the look of a mother who was about to kill. “He’s gone too far. I’ve held everything back so far. I tried to be civil. With David’s help, I think it’s time to put Bram in his place.”

It was at this moment I feared Nem’s wrath more than anything.

It was the very next morning when Nem drove me to the Enperry building. David was supposed to be inside to help us and Nem scared me more and more with that serious expression on her face. As she guided me inside with my hand held tight, I kept imagining what Nem was going to do. Was there going to be a fight? Was I about to witness a literal murder?

When we finally reached Bram’s office on the top floor, David was waiting for us, looking at Nem with a guilty expression. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I should’ve done something sooner.”

“You need to squid up!” Nem snapped. “You’ve defended him for too long!”

David shivered, then nodded, looking regretful as he opened the door. Scalpel, sitting in his chair, looked up at us as we entered, his angry glare aimed at Nem. “What’s the meaning of this?”

Nem’s upper lip twitched as she returned the glare with double the anger. “You’ve messed up… big time.”

“Excuse me?” Scalpel questioned. “You are the one who messed up. Who do you think you are, marching into my office?”

Nem slammed her hands onto the desk, causing Scalpel’s cup of coffee to spill onto the floor. “You were going to butcher my daughter.”

Bram’s eyes looked panicked, but they continued to stare daggers. With the calmest voice he could muster, he replied, “Where could you have heard such stories, Nem? From the human in the room? The human I could expose to all of Inkopolis? The Inkadian government would take her away and demand an explanation. You are not in control here, Nem Nemone. I am.”

I clenched my fists as my blood ran cold. This guy was really willing to play his best card so soon? How was Nem going to handle this? She literally had nothing!

David looked at Scalpel with a look of remorse. “Bram, I’ve… protected you for too long. If you continue harassing Nem and Amelia, I will be forced to release the tapes.”

Tapes?

“Tapes…?” Scalpel repeated in utter doubtfulness. The two brothers were at a crossroads now. “You wouldn’t… I’m the only family you have left! Do you realize what this would do to me?! I thought you erased them! Y-You always erase them!”

I was too curious at this point. “What did he do?”

“I kept tapes from three months back that he’d asked me to get rid of,” David explained. “Tapes from the security cameras in Bram’s research lab. I won’t divulge the details to you. I will only say it wasn’t pretty. It was so disturbing that I felt I couldn’t just delete them. I debated for a long while about what to do with them until Nem finally called me up for help. If I had known he was planning to dissect you, I would’ve come forward sooner.”

“You’ve always protected me,” Scalpel said, looking rattled. His hands grasped at the edge of his desk "What’s so special about this… this… creature that you’re willing to protect her over your own family?!”

David’s eyes looked at Nem and me and he simply answered, “She is family, Bram.”

“Th-This is ridiculous…” Scalpel said with a seething tone.

Nem leaned forward onto the desk, eyes glaring into Scalpel’s. “You are going to help me, you're going to help Amelia, and I am going to keep Safaia in my custody. You will drop this stupid case against me. Do you understand?”

With how Scalpel looked, I was wondering if he was going to break or if he was going to retaliate. With how cold he usually was, I was worried he’d choose the latter option. To my relief, he asked with a defeated, angry tone, “I yield. For now..."

It was surprising, really. I had no idea Nem would resort to blackmail of all things. Then again, Scalpel was doing some really freaky stuff that definitely didn’t sit right with most people. I was surprised he’d gotten away with stuff like this in the first place.

But what was on those tapes? What was on them that Scalpel wanted to destroy so badly?

Later that day, Nem took me back home and collapsed onto the couch. “Oy, I’m done with today. Don’t feel like cleaning. Don’t feel like cooking.”

“Is it a fend-for-yourself night?” I asked. These were rare occasions, usually only when there were leftovers. I never did eat that shrimp from last night.

“Nope,” Nem replied, dialing a number on her phone. “I feel like pizza for lunch and dinner. Dealing with that jerk has left me feeling like I deserve to be lazy today.”

Scalpel had said he’d have some kind of medication for me tomorrow, but how was he able to figure out what to give me without risking some bad side effects? I could only take very few kinds of medication, so for Scalpel to just suddenly know what to prescribe, it irked me.

I sat down next to her, rubbing at my arm. “N-Nem?”

“Mhm?” she responded, holding the phone up to her head.

“Do you think my brother will be returned safely…?” I asked.

“I’m tempted to go out there myself,” she said, “but I have no idea if I could handle this agent you told me about. If she was really able to take down an entire base of Octarians, it’s only natural that she’d be above most Turf War participants. I might even go first thing in the morning if you can remember where they were hiding out."

“Callie kept telling me she’d bring him back,” I mentioned. “I’m not sure if she’s telling me the truth.”

“I don’t like her,” Nem suddenly said. “If you see her again, text me immediately, okay?”

Was Nem really willing to get into a fight with a popstar? “That sounds a little risky… They have tons of fans all over Inkopolis.”

“Yeah, it could be…” she quietly said, looking a little annoyed as the phone continued to ring up the pizza place. “C’mon, please pick up. ”

“I’m going to go check on Safaia,” I said as I stood up. “She’s been in our room all day, I think.”

Ever since Safaia had been living with us, we had to get a bunk bed. With David’s help, Nem was able to assemble it with relative ease. I’d typically sleep on the bottom while Safaia slept on the top bunk.

Upon opening the door, I was met with an alarming sight. Safaia was staring at her phone, her eyes glazed. She didn’t even seem to notice I was there. “Safaia?” I spoke up.

“Yeah…?” she answered, making me sigh with relief. I almost thought she’d broke.

“We’re having pizza,” I informed her. “Um… what are you doing?"

“Research…” she replied. “Close to finding her… I’ve found some leads. Want to confront her. Kill her.”

“W-Woah!” I stammered. “H-Hey, let’s… calm down a little,” I said to her, sitting down beside her. “We don’t have to kill her. She’s… a criminal, right? And criminals belong in jail, right?”

“She’ll do it again…” Safaia whispered. “Calls me a freak. She’s the freak. She’s the freak.”

I couldn’t accept what Safaia wanted to do. Yeah, I knew that urge to kill, but it wasn’t right. I needed to steer her away from these thoughts somehow. “M-Maybe we can… just calm down,” I suggested. “You’ve been stressed, right? You’ve been really focused on tracking her down, and so… maybe I could try to find her for you?”

She slightly lifted her head, eyes looking into mine. “You’d… do that?”

“Just… I think you’re letting this eat away at you,” I said with apprehension. “I want to catch her, too, but we can’t take this into our own hands. The authorities need to arrest her. She will be punished. I promise.”

Safaia looked calm, looking ahead at the wall. “I’ve been… so angry lately. Can’t control it. It tells me to hurt people. Not my first time. Not my last time. Upset… with the living. They look at us like monsters when the real monsters are out there in the crowd.”

It looked like we were both going through tough times…

Pulling her into a hug, I said to her, “I’m sorry. When we’d first met, I was worried. I’d heard so many rumors about the revived. I was a little scared.”

“Sometimes, I can’t control myself,” she said, her speech sounding more complete. “I want to find the one who killed me and I admit I used to be biased against inklings. I used to hate inklings because I was a hybrid. I couldn’t change the way they could.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that…” I said to her, hugging her tighter.

Safaia moved away from the hug, standing up and walking over to the door, her hand on the knob. Glimpsing back at me, she said, “When I was brought back, I met others who were like me, undead, different from the living. I learned that these inklings and I had something in common. We all wanted to be treated fairly, but… there were protests outside the Enperry building every day for the first two weeks. I’d sneak outside, but there’d still be some inklings who’d throw trash at me.”

I felt really bad for her, hearing all this. I replied, “I know someone who said she can help with your instincts. She can make the urges stop."

Safaia turned her head to look at me. “What if I still feel the same way after? What if I still want to kill my murderer?”

“Then… I guess I can’t stop you,” I said with a sigh. “But I’ll do everything I can to help you get rid of the anger. I’m desperately trying to work on mine and I had to tell Nem-Nem everything that’s happened so far. I kept keeping these things from her and I shouldn’t have.”

“Mom knows a lot,” she said, opening the door. “Mom cares a lot. Tries to help. Pushes her limits.”

I nodded in agreement as I followed Safaia. Never again would I lie to Nem about anything ever again. I knew that if I wanted to make it through puberty, I needed Nem's help.

“Okay, girls,” said Nem as we walked into the living room. “We’ve got pizza on the way here. Usual toppings, some breadsticks too. I swear, they’re either super busy or they just refuse to pick up calls.”

“Hey, Nem? How much of what you know have you actually taught me?” I asked.

Nem chuckled as she flipped through the channels on the TV. “Well, I can tell you that some maneuvers I know are just too advanced for you right now. They require a lot of twisting and jumping. You could even say they’re very similar to what techniques a squinja would use way back in the day. Why?”

“I need to learn all of that,” I said. “If I’m going to fight Ana, I need your help. Bryson’s training is helpful, but I need every bit of training I can get.”

Nem looked hesitant, biting down on her lower lip as she seemed to think it over. “Amelia, you know how I feel about that girl. I don’t even want you fighting her.”

“Nem, please,” I begged. “I can’t let her hurt any other humans. This is something I need to do and I won’t be able to sleep knowing I couldn’t.”

“This is your life we’re talking about,” Nem replied. “I’ve already lost Nemmi. I’m lucky to have Safaia back in my life. I can’t stand to lose you!”

“Please, Nem,” I said, looking her in the face with an expression of resolution. “You know what this means to me! She’s trying to destroy everything that’s left of humanity and I can’t fight her with the training I have now! I trust you to teach me everything you know!”

Nem’s face kept stoic as our gazes were exchanged. It didn’t look like I was going to win this argument, but then…

Safaia stepped forward. “Please?”

Nem had a look of shock on her face. “S-Safaia?”

“I’ll protect her,” said Safaia. “Will help her. Please, teach her?”

Nem closed her eyes, looking tentative. It was then that she stood up and walked over to the both of us. “You girls aren’t going to stop, are you?”

“This really matters to me,” I said, looking up at her with determination.

“Do you know what kind of training I’m going to put you through?” she asked me coldly, her kindness suddenly giving way to a much more sinister emotion that I could not even fully describe. Her pupils, usually a milky white color, were now a rainbow of colors across the entire spectrum. “Forget the baby games Bryson plays, Amelia. What I have to offer is specifically for those who can’t keep up with inklings. I don’t want you to back down from this should you feel it’s too much.”

The way her eyes peered deep into my soul unsettled me. It intimidated me and made my heart jump out of fear. “I…”

Nem continued speaking. “These are advanced techniques passed down to me by Grandpa Nema. I was going to teach you these techniques when you were older, but if you seriously think you can take on these lessons, you’d better tell me now without hesitation.”

I didn’t even think. I simply replied, “I can do it.”

Something in the back of my mind told me I’d made a mistake.