He didn't even have time to assimilate the situation. With one stroke, he withdrew the hand of the man that rested on his shoulder. This one, for his part, didn't seem to like his attitude. Theo began to retreat slowly.

“I don't think that's a good idea,” said the man roughly. He raised his hand and made an inverted U-shaped movement without even taking his defiant gaze away from him while he whispered some indecipherable words. 

Theo did not hesitate to run to his manager's office. However, he could not even take two steps when he felt himself being brutally pushed against the wall. As strange as it seemed, Theo recognized that feeling. It was the same one he had experienced the night before when someone had broken into his apartment. He didn't know how to react. "I knew I hadn't imagined it," Theo thought as he watched with a mixture of feelings as the man slowly approached him. Covering his mouth, he walked towards him with a limp that Theo had not perceived before. Pointlessly, he tried to escape from that magnetic grip that held him against the wall, but the only thing he could do was exhaust himself even more than he already was.

Standing in front of him, the man lifted his head and removed his hand, now red with blood, from his mouth. Theo held his breath when he saw his face. Or rather, his eyes. The iris had changed to a dark reddish and fluorescent color. He had to avoid his gaze.

“I think you've got the wrong person,” Theo said in a trembling, barely audible voice, “I don't even know you.”

The man coughed again, and Theo could feel the force immobilizing him against the wall weakening.

“I'm pretty sure it's you,” the man replied with an extremely malicious smile as he raised his arm towards him with an open hand, “we could have done it differently, but you left me no choice.”

His necklace began to float, being drawn to the man as the light emerged from him once again. The brightness of the man's eyes also increased in intensity. “No,” Theo said to himself, “It is all I have left of my mother.” He had to do something. Once he ripped it out of his neck, it was obvious he couldn't take it back. Of course, that would be the case if the man let him live, which possibility was scarce, not to say non-existent. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a closing door.

“Fuck,” mumbled Theo. He'd completely forgotten about the manager. Looking sidelong at the man, he realized that he was not the only one who had noticed it. In alert mode, the intimidating individual turned his gaze toward the hallway leading to the dressing rooms. "Now," thought Theo and, taking advantage of the moment of distraction, grasped tightly the necklace that was about to be torn from his neck. Little could he prevent what happened next. 

As soon as he picked up the pendant in the air, an explosion of energy from the pendant itself was detonated, thereby expelling everything around him, including the man. A blinding light began to overflow from the crystal and yet, Theo refused to let go. The energy that flowed, on the other hand, seemed to repel him. But, it was not in his options to let it go. He needed to stop whatever was going on. What he didn't know was how. He'd better find out soon enough. Theo, as an almost desperate measure in the face of that unusual situation, squeezed tightly into his hands the necklace trying to stop the flare of light, and the glow that had grown disproportionately, faded away, being absorbed by the necklace. Almost immediately, the light bulbs that illuminated that part of the Café exploded in unison. The place was darkened, and he could hardly distinguish the figure of the man. What he could see was the pair of bright red eyes fixed on him, barely blinking.

“Theo?!” he heard the worried voice of the manager and then the accelerated steps to where he was. He felt a sting in his stomach when he realized that the man could attack him as soon as he entered the room. The truth is that, at that time, what the stranger could do was unpredictable. 

“Wait!” the footsteps didn't seem to stop, “Don't come!”

At the end of the corridor, he saw the silhouette of the manager walking hastily towards him, despite his warnings. All the tension he had accumulated up to that point was about to blow up. Kneeling on the floor, he watched in distress as Mr. Kim approached and turned on the flashlight on his cell phone to focus it on him. The light blinded him for a few seconds before the manager moved it away from him to illuminate his surroundings. As soon as he did that, Theo turned his head sharply to where the man was. At least where he used to be, because the only thing he found was the rest of the glass from the bulbs that had recently exploded. There was no sign of the stranger.

The flashlight also examined the chairs and tables that had been moved from their place because of the burst of energy.

“Are you all right?” The light landed on him again. Theo didn't know how he was going to explain what just happened. Even he, who had lived it, could not understand it.

“I'm fine, it's just that the light bulbs exploded,” Theo said, standing up extremely slowly. He was trying to absorb what had happened. “I was arranging the tables so that I could close the shop,” he said as an answer to the skeptical look of the manager as he put on one of his best smiles trying to disguise how altered he really was.

“Okay,” said Mr. Kim, dodging the broken glass on the floor until he reached the door of the Café to lock it. “Finish cleaning and go home. We'll talk about this tomorrow,” the severity of his tone of voice reminded him of why he had been in a state of anxiety all afternoon. He quickly put the necklace in his pocket and rushed to tidy up the room. He could still feel the trace of the heat the necklace had emitted when he grabbed it.

As he finished securing the door of his apartment, he went to each room and turned on all the lights, not before verifying that there were no infiltrators in his home. He closed the window shutters and, a bit calmer, collapsed on the couch. The brightness of the place gave him unjustifiable security. But surely not enough. After everything that had just happened, he wasn't sure of anything anymore. His whole belief system and his conception of reality and the world as he knew it fell apart as he analyzed it further. No matter how much he reasoned it, he didn't quite understand. Should he call the police? He doubted they could do something about it, if they didn't put him in a madhouse first. Should he tell anyone? Mr. Kim not only would fire him, but also wouldn't believe him. Theo was sure he'd think they were nothing but excuses for the mediocre performance at work. However, he didn't have anyone else to tell. He hadn't made any friends in college yet and, to make matters worse, he was in a new city. Even Ethan wasn't there for him.

He slid onto the sofa until he was absolutely lying down with his head facing up. He took the pendant out of his pocket and admired it against the light. In his eyes, it was a simple necklace. But deep down and after going through that situation, he knew it wasn't like that. It was evident that the man he had met that night was willing to do anything to get it. What was it really? Magic? He didn't believe what he was thinking anymore. Even so, he couldn't think of another option. Maybe it was just a chemical reaction. Though that made even less sense.

There was a knock on the door. He quickly stood up and put the necklace back in his pocket. Tense in his place, he did not move an inch and silently waited for that person to leave. He was barely breathing to avoid making any sound. And when he thought they were gone, they knocked on the door again insistently and louder than the previous time. What if it was the guy from the Café? What if he had followed him home? What would he do if he knocked the door down? Saying he was scared was a small thing. The rumbling palpitations of his heart ran from his chest to his throat, and his legs trembled so much that he did not know how he was still standing. He took the first wide book he saw between the boxes and held it as a bat as he approached the door. He knew it wasn't enough to defend himself, but at least it would give him time to run away. He tried to look at the peephole, waiting for a third knock that never came. 

He could only hear the "click" of the latch giving way and watch as the door opened little by little. He didn't hesitate a second. As soon as he spotted the figure entering his apartment, he aimed his book at their head in order to knock them out. The man grabbed the volume skillfully before it even touched him and closed the door in the process. Theo released the book in order to escape the stranger's grip. He leaped back in search of another object that could be useful to him as a weapon as he glanced at the man in front of him. He wasn't the same as the one in the Café. That, he was sure of. He found nothing around him to use, so he had no choice but to stare at him in expectation of his next move. He looked younger, and he was actually much taller than him. That was the only thing that gave him an intimidating look, because as for his face, he didn't seem to emit murderous vibes. Or so he’d hoped. In fact, from the grimace on his face, he seemed entertained by his reaction.

“What were you going to do?" said the young man, holding back a smile and tidying his jacket. “Hit me with the weight of knowledge?”

“Who are you?” Theo tried to sound as fierce as he could, despite the situation he was in. “You're with that man, aren't you? The one with the long coat.”

The expression on his face first became one of confusion and then one of complete seriousness. His aura changed completely.

“Has he been around here?” said the young man with a severe tone in his voice. “Again?”

“Why should I answer you?” Theo stuttered. “And what do you mean by aga—”. He couldn't finish the question. The boy had approached him to grab his forearm.

“I asked you a question,” Theo could feel the boy's breath, by how close he was.

“He intercepted me at work,” Theo said, giving in to the intense look the young man was giving him. “That was the only time.”

“Then you must still have it, don't you?” he said as he let go of his arm without taking his eyes off him. “I mean the necklace.”

“So what if I do?” Theo said in an attempt to recompose his posture. “What are you gonna do about it, kill me?”

He didn't even know where those challenging words came from, clearly, he wasn't thinking. The young man squinted at him and took a step forward. All the bravery he had gathered seconds ago just vanished. A distant but thunderous blow stopped that scene. Alarmed, he moved away from Theo and started turning off all the lights Theo had recently turned on.

“They're here,” he said, grabbing Theo by the wrist and dragging him to the bathroom. “We have to go, now.”

“Wait, what's going on?" said Theo bewildered. The commotion was more audible. The young man opened the faucet of the bathtub and while it was filling he began to recite something in another language.

“The fuck are you doing?” Theo wasn't planning to go on with that madness. He stretched out his arm to grab the doorknob so he could get out of there but was prevented to do so by another hand.

“Are you trying to get yourself killed?!” the young man whispered furiously. “Stay still and be quiet.”

Suddenly, they heard a whack in the door of his apartment. Several voices followed.

“Search for him! He's got to be here!” heard Theo amid all the bustle. He turned his head anxiously toward the boy and he looked back at him with a frown. His gaze oscillated between him and the bathtub, which continued to fill.

“This will have to be enough. Hold on tight," said the boy, taking him by the waist to jump into the half-full bathtub. The last thing Theo could remember was how the young man's eyes turned red before diving into the icy water. The same color he’d seen in the man's eyes that night at the cafe. That memory prevailed in his mind as he plunged deeper and deeper into those bottomless waters.