Young Writers Society

"He's also my—" Evaline started, but Maahes was already out the door. "W-Wait! Maahes!"

Suddenly panic shot through her again as the thought of a clueless boy running around Sector 1 coursed through her mind. And, no doubt Maahes would open his mouth and namedrop her or Elias... They would get in so much trouble. She would get in so much trouble.

She chased after him, but it was too late. With horror, she watched as he had opened the door and saw her own mother on the other side, looking down at him.



Alina was back from the meeting early. It was exhausting being in the same room with everyone sometimes. It was a never-ending feeling of deja vu because everyone wanted to change something. At the end of the day, everyone was smiling and polite, but she knew it was rehearsed. She wasn't any different, really.

Well, maybe a little. She was known to "tell it as it is" more than normal. Perhaps that was why Ovrell liked her enough to select her own daughter to be the next ruler of his sector -- with his son Oliver, anyways. If only Evaline knew just how big of a deal this was. Alina only found out this week, but she wasn't sure if Evaline should know yet. Maybe next year was more appropriate. That was when she found out about her marriage with Everett.

She finally reached the small home that the sector had prepared for her, and as she reached to grab the doorknob, the door suddenly opened.

Alina blinked, expecting Evaline to be standing in front of her, but instead... there was a boy?

"Oh, hello there," she said, feigning a smile as she looked down at him. He looked to be around Evaline's age. "Lost, are you?"

"Mom!" she heard Evaline said behind him, and she nervously laughed as she approached him.

"Evaline, what did I say about bringing friends over?" Alina said with a sigh. "Not in Sector 1. You know better than that."

Evaline exchanged glances between her and the boy. "I know," she said softly.

"Now, run along, will you?" Alina said, motioning for the boy to leave.

Maahes stared up at Evaline's mom for a moment. He wanted to defend Evaline - it wasn't her fault he was there! - but he also knew that it was a bad idea to let an adult know anything about him. Adults were even more responsible than Evaline was.

He gave a nod and darted out of the house.

Once the door closed behind him and he made it to the street, he skid to a halt. He knew that he needed to get back to Elias, but he wasn't really sure how to get back to him. Evaline had said they were in different sectors. How would people here travel from one sector to another? Was there a train? A teleporter? A little mini ring?

After a few minutes of thinking and looking, Maahes decided to randomly pick a way to go - and immediately started making his way down it.

Evaline watched as Maahes darted away, and her mom closed the door behind her.

"Making friends already, are we?" her mom said as she walked into the kitchen. "Don't get too attached. This isn't your home."

Evaline wordlessly nodded, watching her heat up water on the furnace.

"It could be, though," her mom went on, now watching her carefully. "Do you like it here better?"

"It's alright," Evaline said softly.

Her mom laughed mirthlessly. "Well, we can't be moving even if we wanted to. You have to learn how to control your powers first. Did you do your training I assigned to you?"

"I read the book," Evaline went on. "And I drew the people you wanted me to draw."

"Good, good," she said as she poured hot water in a mug and seeped a tea leaf in it. "Read the next book and continue drawing." She started to leave to go down her room but turned to face Evaline first, face stern. "And if you experience a jump, you let me know immediately."

Evaline just barely nodded. "Yes, mother," she said quietly as she watched her disappear in her room, door closed behind her.

She sighed. She should continue her studies in her room, but she knew that her mother wouldn't notice if she left or not. It was always like this: small check ins here and there, discipline if she didn't do her work in time, and that was it. Her father wasn't much different, but at least he didn't really discipline her.

And she was worried about Maahes. Was he going to be okay? She could do the reading and drawings later...

After bouncing the thought back and forth, Evaline decided to commit. She silently opened the door and slipped out, now outside.

She looked around, but Maahes wasn't anywhere to be found... except for the small footsteps on the sandy dirt that he left behind. She was the only child around these parts, so seeing the other small footsteps trail out of her house must have Maahes.

Determined, she quickly followed the footsteps and followed for a few minutes until she saw him in the distance against a gated wall.

"Maahes!" she loudly whispered, jogging to him.

If he hadn't been concerned with watching the people past the gate he was hiding behind, Maahes would have noticed that someone was calling his name. But he was too focused on his people watching to realize that Evaline had called out to him - he didn't even realize she was there.

Maahes narrowed his eyes.

He knew it was really bad to be a kid all on his own, but he also didn't really know what adults were like here. If he really wanted to be a scholar right now, he had to watch the adults and then change his guise so his clothing matched theirs.

He thought for a moment, then changed his guise so he looked like an adult - and made his hair black, too, so it didn't look like he was just a bigger version of his old guise. Odris hadn't ever seen him use a guise like this one, so he wouldn't figure out it was him if he found him!

He frowned and glanced down.

But what was he supposed to do about his guise's clothes? They were Alteran ones right now, but this wasn't Altera. He needed to fit in more.

He puffed out his cheeks and blew out the air in one big raspberry. This was really frustrating. And his essence was starting to feel uncomfortable, too, even though he had only just changed his guise. Maybe he had gone too long without changing it?

...There wasn't anyone coming towards him right now, so he could definitely get away with letting some of his true form show! Odris said it was really dangerous too, but Odris wasn't here and there was no one to tattle.

He grinned.

A second later, a set of six tentacles appeared on his guise's back. A few waved in front of his face without much thought. He gave one of them a little poke, happy that he could see some of how he really looked right now.

Evaline slowed her jog over to Maahes, rubbing her eyes as she got closer. Wait, that was Maahes, right? Then why did he...? Was her eyes playing tricks on her?

One second, she was looking at him. And then suddenly it was like he shifted into a whole other person... Maybe he did have an illusion of shapeshifting power after all. Although, she still wasn't convinced the latter was possible. There was a lot she didn't know yet, though.

Evaline was about to reach him when all of a sudden six tentacles appeared out of back, and she couldn't help it. She widened her eyes and opened her mouth to let out a shocked, high-pitched scream.

Someone was screaming right next to him.

Maahes instinctively slammed his hands over his ears, eyes wide at the noise. Spinning away from the gate, he saw that Evaline was standing right behind him. She looked really scared. Maahes knew it was all his fault. Odris had always said not to show his true form around other people - he said that it might make people want to hurt him. Maahes had always guessed that it was because his form looked so scary. Even Odris had been scared of him when he first saw it.

Panicking, he wrapped one of the tentacles around Evaline to keep her still so she didn't run away and tell someone. And then, when he realized that she was still screaming and that someone might hear her, he covered her mouth with a second tentacle; his guise's hands were still being used to cover his ears.

It wasn't like Evaline screamed very loudly. It was a yelp at first, but when a tentacle wrapped around her body and prevented her from moving, her eyes widened even more, and unadulterated panic coursed through her veins. She only screamed loudly for about a second before a second tentacle covered her mouth.

She just about felt her heart beat out of her chest from the sheer terror.

She had gotten it all wrong; Maahes was a kidnapper or aggressor, not a friend... Why did she think he'd be a friend? She barely even knew him!

Oh no. What was she going to do? What was he doing to do? Or... it? Whatever this was.

Terror in her eyes, she felt herself beginning to slip and slip away as she continued to fiercely struggle against the tentacles and let out muffled screams...

"Please don't scream!" he begged, his voice quiet but frantic. She was still screaming, but it wasn't as loud now. It didn't really hurt his ears. He put his hands back down next to him and gave her one of the most desperate looks he had ever given. Even Odris didn't usually receive looks like that from him.

"Someone's going to see me," he said. "And then they're going to tell Odris and then I'm going to have to go back with him. And I don't want to go back. I don't want to keep working. So please don't scream!"

Slipping, slipping, slipping.

Evaline was terrified. She had no idea who or what Maahes was, and she kept trying to get out of the tentacle grip while also screaming through it, but it was no use. He only told her to stop screaming, and it didn't make her feel any better.

She tightly closed her eyes and channeled the terror in her chest, knowing that if she used this, could go back.

Go back and try again.

Her mom always said she needed practice, and this was her chance to do it. It was okay.

Without fighting it, Evaline tightly closed her eyes and let the bright light envelop her as she felt her internal clock ticking backwards, backwards, backwards—just a few minutes ago when she was still in her house, watching her mother leave.

For a few moments, Evaline stood still, her heart racing. She should just stay in the house and ignore Maahes. But Maahes was some kind of monster, and it seemed that only she knew about it. She had to do or say something.

But first, she wanted answers from him. Why Elias? Why was he involved?

It would be stupid for her to race after him, but... she could always try again.

"Evaline," her mother said as she opened her door, likely feeling the deja vu that other time travelers felt when others jumped back. "Did you—"

"I'll be back!" she said quickly, leaving the house. Knowing her mother, she wouldn't chase after her.

Without wasting another second, Evaline beelined towards where Maahes was last time. But this time, she wasn't going to be gentle or nice.

"Hey! You!" she sternly barked at him from a distance to get his attention. It looked like she caught him before he could change his appearance, so he was still a kid. Even though that was probably a fake appearance, too.

"I'm not afraid of you! I know what you are!" she continued to yell, eyes glaring daggers at him as she approached.

Maahes froze.

How had she found him so quickly? Something felt really, really off, like the first time he stepped into water just days after Odris first summoned him. The world just felt different. Which didn't make sense - nothing had changed besides Evaline showing up.

He turned away from the gate to stare at her with wide eyes.

"You know I'm a spirit?" he managed to get out. "Elias didn't know that I was a spirit. He didn't even know what a spirit was until I showed him."

He froze again, a horrifying thought suddenly crossing his mind.

A gasp slipped out of his lips.

"Odris knows everyone who's summoned spirits," he realized. "So he has to know you, and you have to know him!"

"Wha—?" Evaline murmured in confusion, drawing her brows together in deep concentration.

She tightly closed her eyes and shook her head and then marched over to Maahes, not understanding anything he said. He was probably just trying to confuse her. What was this about Elias now? What did he have to do with all this?

"S-Shut up!" she yelped at him, pointing an accusatory finger at his face when she was only a few feet away. She stood up straight and puffed out her chest.

"You! You tried to kidnap me!" she said in a shrill voice, finger still directed out at him. "Why? What do you want? And why is Elias involved?!"

The horror started to slip away. Maahes was still really confused, but he didn't feel as scared as he did just seconds ago. Maybe Evaline didn't know Odris. And if she didn't know Odris, then Maahes didn't have to worry about her telling him where he was right now!

But then he frowned.

"I didn't try kidnapping you," he protested, crossing his arms and giving her a look. "I just accidentally appeared in your house. And I didn't want to! I was talking to Elias, and he had finally figured out that I wasn't you even though it was his idea for me to change my guise to look like you."

Something still felt really off, but Maahes pushed the feeling aside. There was the other questions that Evaline had asked. And even though Maahes knew he should be keeping why he was here a secret, he found himself answering her second question anyways.

"I just wanted to run away," he said. "I didn't want to do any more work. I just want to have fun and play! So I had to run away. But the thing that brought me here wasn't supposed to bring me anywhere, and I don't even know where he is. And Elias got involved because he's the first person I met here."

Evaline kept her stern gaze on Maahes, finger still up in the air pointing at him as if that was the one thing that kept her safe from being attacked by tentacles again.

He wasn't making any sense. None of this made any sense. She was expecting some kind of explanation to why he appeared in her house and how he was able to change guises, but his explanation didn't help at all.

Except... that Elias was the one who was trying to prank her... by having him look like her? This was all too confusing.

But when he said he just wanted to run away, have fun, and play, Evaline couldn't help but empathize. She understood. And most of all, she understood how Elias could have been involved.

Because he helped her to run away, have fun, and play, too.

It just... none of this really made any sense. But Maahes didn't seem aggressive... Not yet, anyways.

Her face softened, but then she sniffed and lifted her hand up towards him again when she found herself loosening up, the wariness visibly returning again.

"Tentacles!" she spat out. "Why... why do you have tentacles?"

The off feeling returned.

Maahes frantically glanced around himself to see if his guise wasn't fully extending on the planes, but he was sure that it was! The only place that it didn't go to was the seventh, and that was because he couldn't change it there.

"You said you knew what I was," Maahes said, frowning and crossing his arms. This was like with Elias again, only this time Maahes really was sure he didn't know why she was responding like she was. "I have tentacles because I'm a spirit! But if you know I'm a spirit, you should know that."

He furrowed his brow and tried to figure out why he felt so off about this whole conversation, but he wasn't able to come up with anything.

"You're just as confusing as Elias was," he informed her.

Evaline blinked as she lowered her hand for a moment in confusion, but then she frowned and stubbornly lifted her hand to fiercely point at Maahes again.

"Am... am not!" she stuttered, gritting her teeth to try to look intimidating, but not sure how that was working for her. "Spirit... you're a spirit," she said, like it was obvious. "I -- I knew that."

She did not know that. She didn't even know what a spirit was.

Ghosts? Was he saying he was a ghost? Nothing made sense.

"Why are you here?" she spat out again, hoping to get an answer that would make the most sense for her. If she figured out his intentions, she could think of a plan of what to do next.