My fingers were still shaky when I dialed. The phone only rang a couple of times before Moriah picked up again. “Hello?”

                “Um… hi…” I said with a bit of a stutter. “I-It’s me again.”

                “Mr. Roland!” she said excitedly. “I wasn’t expecting a response so soon!”

                “Um… y-yeah,” I said, heart pounding. “I… I think we should meet up after all.”

                “I see! That’s great to hear, I assure you we’ll be more than welcoming. I’m sure this must’ve been a terrifying decision, so I’m grateful you’re willing to hear us out,” she replied comfortingly. Motherly, I corrected in my head.

                “Y-Yeah…” I said, unconvincingly.

                “Well, when is the best time for you? We’re here for the week, but tomorrow might be best just to get it out of the way.”

                “A-Actually,” I said, seeing Lizzie’s eyes light up, “maybe we could do Monday after my classes are done? Tomorrow I’m busy with… other stuff…”

                “Certainly!” she said, almost instantaneously, without batting an eye. “Perhaps we can make it dinner then? We’ll be happy to have you over and answer any questions you may have over some pizza.”

                “Umm…” I hesitated. She reacted to that very smoothly, as though she’d anticipated we’d ask. I stared at Lizzie, alarmed. She pursed her lips, but shrugged, just as uncertain as I was. I had to remind myself that she probably planned on having us for a meal regardless of when we met, so chances were this wasn’t a big deal. Still, it felt like she still had us where she wanted us, and I needed to find one more way to stay in control. That’s when I pulled out my last trump card. “Could I bring my girlfriend with me?”

                “Ah…” Moriah said slowly, finally showing discomfort. It was our last plan of attack we’d decided upon beforehand. Lizzie and I were a team, and having both of us go could mean the difference between freedom and whatever worst-case scenario awaited us. “I assume that by inviting her that she… well…” Moriah clarified.

                “Yeah,” I confirmed for her. “She knows about… well about me, anyways.”

                “Fantastic,” Moriah said, nervousness completely gone. “Then I’d love to meet her!”

                Our jaws dropped simultaneously. “R-Really? It’s ok for her to… meet Hazel and stuff?”

                “Certainly, the more the merrier!” she said, almost sounding more excited now that there were two of us showing up. “If you can trust her, then I will as well!”

                “T-To clarify,” I explained, trying to maintain control, “she’s not like me, or like Hazel.”

                “I’d be surprised if she was,” Moriah said with a snicker. “Does she have a preference for pizza?”

                I still couldn’t believe how enthusiastic she was. We’d tried one last thing to catch her off-guard and though she hesitated at first, she’d flipped and was suddenly even more excited than when we started. Maybe she was as outgoing as she claimed to be after all.

                Frankly, her host-like attitude reminded me of Ramona. The mother comparisons were almost too easy now.

                “P-Pepperoni is fine for both of us,” I said.

                “You’re like my son,” Moriah teased. “He won’t eat anything else but pepperoni on his pizza. Rest assured we’ll have you covered in that sense.”

                Lizzie and I exchanged another look.

                “Anyways, I’ll text the address then. Is this the number to do that with?” she asked.

                “No, actually, um…” I said embarrassingly. “This is a burner phone.”

                I left it off there awkwardly, uncertain how she was going to react. Moriah laughed. “Look at you, already being cautious. You’ll fit in just fine Mr. Roland.”

                I awkwardly chuckled. “Um… you can just call me Beck.”

                I gave her my cell number, and an address was swiftly texted to me. Lizzie wasted no time pulling it up on her Google Maps. I looked over her shoulder to see it was in a surprisingly rural area about forty-five minutes from Northwestern. “This is where your hotel is?” I asked, confused.

                “It’s a bed and breakfast that we’re renting out for the week,” Moriah explained over the phone. “We needed a private place for… well, obvious reasons. The owners won’t be there whatsoever.”

                “Wow…” I said, a small chill running up my spine. Complete privacy. It was equally the perfect place to talk openly without fear of being discovered by someone powerful, and also the perfect place to get kidnapped without witnesses. My doubts came soaring back and I started to freeze up. I nearly cancelled the whole thing right there before reminding myself why I was bothering to take the initiative to meet with her. I had to stay on her good side. “Alright, well, then I guess I’ll see you guys at five in two days.”

                “Incredibly excited to see you, Beck,” Moriah enthusiastically said. “Really, I thank you for taking the chance to trust us. It means a lot. Have a good day.”

                I ended the call, shivering. Lizzie quickly swooped me into her arms, and I quickly squeezed her as tightly as I could. I had no idea if I’d just made the biggest mistake of my life. This was the exact kind of thing I feared could happen ever since acquiring my powers. If things took a turn for the worse, I’d be stuck without my own freedom, forced to do lab experiments for the rest of my life, no chance to say hi to my family or friends ever again.

                “It’s ok…” Lizzie said sweetly and comfortingly, “I’m here. You’re gonna be ok.”

                I practically melted in her arms. “This is what my mother was afraid of,” I said through choppy breaths. “She just knew I’d put myself in danger, and here I am, falling right into a trap.”

                “We don’t know if it’s a trap yet,” Lizzie said as calmly as she could.

                “I could’ve said no. I could’ve ignored her and just gone about my life. Now I might not graduate… or marry you or see Eliza or James again or… or make up with Mom…”

                Lizzie rubbed my back as tears finally fell from my eyes. I’d found the thing I’d regret most. If I had fallen into a trap, my biggest regret would be making a promise I’d never keep because of my own stupidity. I thought about what Ramona had said just a few days ago, about how Mom might’ve been left in a state of confusion, potentially life-scarring fear that I’d just left her forever, and that it was her fault. And I might’ve just brought that horrifying reality to life.

                “You’ve got some time before we meet,” Lizzie reminded me. “You could cancel if you want.”

                I took a deep breath, uncertain. My mind was too fuzzy to make any more decisions. “I… I think I just want to sleep for a bit, take my mind off things for a bit.”

                And for the rest of the day, we did nothing but embrace.