But I didn’t hear him moving. All I could hear was my heart pounding and my ragged breathing. I didn’t jog but ran full-out until I finally had to stop. These flower fields seemed to go on forever and no matter how far I ran, the landscape never changed. That was until I started clutching my side. I wasn’t sure how far I ran, but I knew I couldn’t sprint forever. In my doubts, I saw a lake in the distance. The water looked dark and murky, but that might mean moss or algae. If so, I might be able to escape using shadow walk. It gave me hope of escape and I forced myself to keep going.

The man’s bland voice came from right behind me, “There’s no escape.” But it was that simple sentence, said with such indifference, with him being so close that made my skin crawl.

“Fuck!” I gave a startled shout and dove to the side. It put me closer to the water and I watched as it began to ripple as a behemoth slowly broke through the surface. It was a much bigger version of the squid monsters I just “fought”, and I hastily began casting ‘Puppeteer’ Maybe I could slow it down or at least keep those massive tentacles away from me long enough to get away.

The man behind me didn’t help or move but waited as the thing stood up. That’s right, it was a giant with the head of squid. Images I had seen of Cthulhu came to mind, but this thing looked a little different. Like the acid that dripped from its skin and pitted the earth around the lake, the suckers that had little circular mouths with a sharp looking needle at the center, and the thousands of rope like appendages that sprouted out of its back. Anyway, it looked freaking scary.

But it was in no hurry and my spell went off. Dozens of thin, dark threads embedded into its sleek skin. They felt brittle against its massive strength, and I didn’t think it’d hold it for long. I ordered it the stay still and finally looked back, only to see the man sitting there calmly. The fields I just ran through were gone. Instead, I found myself standing inside an office with the guy, who had been chasing me, sitting behind a desk.

 “I must still be dreaming,” I muttered and thought of which spell to cast next.

“Yes, kind of.” He nodded at my words. “This is a mental construct. Please pardon my approach, but I needed to ascertain if you had been contaminated and talk with you. Don’t worry, time isn’t passing the same way in here, so you won’t miss your bus.”

Was there something wrong with this guy’s head? Who the hell would be worried about that once they learned their mind was hijacked? At least, that wasn’t what I was worried about, damn it! I growled out, “What?” I was pissed.

His lips twisted up just a little at my words, "You survived alone for hours when six honor students went missing. Then you “escaped” unhurt when we had reports of you being taken. There could be two reasons for all of that. The first is that you had the skill to defend yourself and flee. The second was they let you go. I needed to see if you had any issues. Lurkers can remain inside people for months and while the hospital tested you yesterday, your reaction wasn’t ordinary. Causing stress to their hosts triggers the eggs to hatch. Since you didn’t turn into a monster, I can cross you off my list.”

“So, you let me go home, without knowing if I was dangerous to those around me? Are you fucking crazy? That’s my family you endangered!”

He didn’t react to my temper, but simply said, “You left before I got the report.” He didn’t let me say anything else because the world faded away, and I found myself standing where I had been. That man wasn’t anywhere I could see but he had to be able to see me, so he was close by. But while I couldn’t find him, I saw the bus I had been waiting for in the distance. I fumed as it approached, but he was right. I wanted to get home and left as quickly as I could. After thinking about it, I finally calmed down, got on the bus, and went home.

***

Two men stood on the second floor looking down at the mall's parking lot. The oldest man leaned on his cane and finally asked, “Think she bought it?"

The man beside him was a quarter of his age and was looking down at the girl whose face had distorted in anger. Hearing the old man's question, gave an evil smile and answered, "Absolutely."

"Good, good! So, what data did you retrieve?"

"A lot, I'll type up a report and submit it tonight."

“Proceed to the next step, add more stimulation and do the DNA test on the mom.”

***

I got home with my packages. My mom was still at work, so after putting my purchases in my room I went to see what we had in the refrigerator. Since I had time, I was planning on surprising her by making dinner. It was something I hadn’t done in a while. Because I hadn’t taken anything out, I put a package of frozen chicken breast into a baking pan I had filled with warm water. I wanted to make Chicken Marsala but lacked wine. Because of that I checked the refrigerator and cabinets to see what we had. It's just that our kitchen held a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits but almost no junk food or alcohol. I figured the missing items would've interfered with my mom's magic and went onto the internet to find a recipe that I could make and finally settled on Orange Chicken and Broccoli.

Happy with my selection, I set an alarm so I wouldn’t forget, and went to read. I still had almost two hours before my mom would be home. I had lost three days of study time, four if I counted today and I didn’t want to fall behind. But no matter how much I needed to read, I still went to cook two hours later.

I clicked play on my phone and as the music blared out of my new phone, I diced up the chicken. I tossed the chicken into the pan and set it on medium heat, washed my hands and then grabbed an orange. With a smile, I cast Herculean Strength and began squeezing oranges. Some things in this world were just fun; this was one of them. It was also oddly satisfying. Once I had three-fourths of a cup of juice, I stopped and got the rest of the ingredients ready for the sauce and stirred the chicken, so it cooked evenly. Twenty minutes later as the sweet smell of the sauce filled the kitchen, my music paused as a message came in. I turned the heat down and looked to see who was messaging me. It still had the same number and I had sent an email telling my friends that I planned on getting one today, so it could be anybody.

My shoulders slumped as I read the message, but still typed out, [I understand. I made dinner and will put it in the refrigerator for you. Don't work too hard.] and then looked at all the food I made. I had expected Roy to show up with my mom because they seemed inseparable. Now with her working overtime again, I didn't know what to do with it all. Thinking about it, I sent a text to Victoria and invited her to dinner and to help catch me up on what I missed. A little sad my plan fell through; I turned off the heat and moved the pot and pan to the unused burners. It’d be another hour before cheerleading practice ended and Victoria could reply.

It was after seven before Victoria showed up and kissed away my gloomy mood. Although that’s all we did; not that we didn’t want to. We both wanted to continue, but I really was behind on schoolwork. So, after eating and a little heavy petting, we settled in my room to study. She had brought her notes and filled me in on what each substitute had done in the last few days. We only got to study together for another hour before her dad called her to go home. I walked her to the door and was saying, “Thanks again, you’re a life sav…” I stopped mid-sentence because when I opened the door, her dad was standing there. He peered past us, checking to see who was inside before walking away like nothing happened.

“Sorry, he’s just overprotective.” She was blushing as she spoke, making her acne stand out beneath her makeup.

“I know, don’t worry about it. It’s not like we have men inside.” I grinned a little at my private joke. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Thanks for helping me.”

She giggled and looked happy, “Anytime, besides you fed me. I didn’t even know you could cook.”

“Just from recipes, it’s simply following directions. I don’t think I could cook anything without them.” It was a half-truth. It wasn’t that I couldn’t cook some dishes, but those were ones I had memorized from my prior life. I had made them too often and couldn’t forget the steps. So, while my dishes might taste good, they were all based off other people’s skills, the true chefs.

“Well, it’s the first meal you cooked for me, and it was delicious.” It looked like she wanted to say more, but her dad was standing at the stairway entrance waiting for her. She finished with, “I’ll see you at school” before hurrying to her dad. I closed the door as they started up the stairs and went to clean up.