If the great detective Alarie, avid purchaser of iced green tea lattes and smashed avocados, did not see anything wrong with breaking and entering for someone else’s sake, perhaps what Aubrie and Red Gent were getting up to in Soporifick wasn’t the worst form of vigilantism.

In fact, calling it vigilantism might be stretching the definition.

Either way, it was nice to have their heroism unofficially supported by a third party – by a detective, no less! Sure, Alarie wasn’t technically a detective, but he was working at a private detective agency and was curious, smart and nosy, so it was a near thing.

More than a week had passed since Aubrie had met with Alarie to walk around Eden Park. In that time, Aubrie had kept herself busy – staying in contact with Alarie, growing closer with Rella, figuring out the rules of Soporifick alongside Geno and, of course, studying.

It had been productive. She was close enough to Alarie and Rella that she could comfortably call both of them her friends, tallying her total friend count up to three, as opposed to the zero it had been a mere month ago.

She and Geno were now running around in Soporifick as Red Gent and Bubbles, while learning more about how Soporifick worked. They had discovered they could use mirrors, as long as the mirrors were at a workplace. For them, the time of day did not matter anymore, but they needed to be unobserved by the “uninitiated” – people that were unaware of Soporifick’s existence – when entering or exiting. A pain in the butt, to say the least.

At least her studies were progressing well, to her older siblings’ delight.

It was now a rainy Wednesday evening and Aubrie was in Nocoeur High, making her way to the classroom. Geno wouldn’t be there, since he hadn’t failed geography and history last school year. But Rella was going to be there.

She was looking forward to seeing Rella again.

Aubrie stepped into the classroom. As they were in their third week, people now had fixed seats. Not assigned seats. People just tended to sit in the same places.

She sat down at the desk she shared with Rella on Wednesdays and started fishing her workbooks and pencil case out of her bag. It was unusual for her to be here before Rella, but Aubrie didn’t think anything of it.

Yet.

When Rella continued to be absent, Aubrie turned her attention to the others in class, trying to strike up conversation, but… They weren’t interested. They already had their own friends and didn’t care for the straggler in the front row.

Then class began. Rella had still not shown up.

“Does anyone know where Miss Poole is?” Ms Ridgeway asked. Aubrie looked around, but the other students were disinterested, playing with their pencils, checking their nails, looking at their workbooks, checking their homework.

Aubrie put her hand up.

“Do you know, Miss Sanders?” Ms Ridgeway asked.

“No ma’am, but I can call her,” Aubrie answered, showing her phone. Ms Ridgeway frowned, unimpressed, but motioned for Aubrie to call Rella anyway.

Giving her teacher a grateful nod, Aubrie got up and left the classroom, quickly calling Rella.

Rella did not pick up.

Aubrie resorted to text.

[to Rella I Tellya]: Class started. You ok? Want me to take notes?

Aubrie had a sinking feeling. Having spent time getting to know Rella, she knew her friend had several part-time jobs. And it was evening. And she was missing.

But it was still too early in the day for Soporifick activity. Wasn’t it?

She walked back into the classroom.

“And?” Ms Ridgeway demanded.

“I wasn’t able to reach her.”

Ms Ridgeway frowned, then turned to the blackboard. “Well, let’s begin lessons then. Thanks to Miss Poole, we’re already a few minutes behind, so we’ll need to work quickly.”

Aubrie sat down at her empty school desk, taking out a second book, making notes for Rella.

It wasn’t any of her business to be this worried about Rella anyway. But they were friends. And Rella was reliable. Responsible. A speedy replier.

Aubrie couldn’t help but worry.

— 📀 —

After night class, Geno showed up at Nocoeur and together, they went into Soporifick as Red Gent and Bubbles. Geno wasted no time checking for Rella and it was as Aubrie had feared: Rella had somehow ended up trapped in Soporifick.

Geno wasted no time, and the two teleported to Rella’s location.

They found themselves in a clubhouse. Something was playing in the background, whispering uncomfortable secrets, while Rella stood behind the bar, cleaning glasses, whistling along to the whispers as if it were a song. She cut herself off when she noticed them, staring at her from across the room. Rella looked far more calm and collected than she had any right to be.

After a pregnant pause, Rella said, “The Red Gent’s real?”

“Rella!”

Geno vaulted over the bar and pulled Rella into a hug. She froze and he quickly broke it, hands still on her shoulders. “Do you have any idea how worried we were?” he demanded.

“… Geno?” she asked. She looked over to Aubrie. “Aubrie?”

Aubrie removed her mask, walking over to Rella’s side. “You didn’t show up to night classes, we were worried.”

She stared at them, face slack, then started giggling. The giggling morphed into cackling. Uncontrolled laughing.

Ah. Rella had only appeared fine.

“Rella, snap out of it!” Geno demanded.

“Why?!” she snapped back. “This is all a really stupid prank and I hate it! I want to go home! This wasn’t funny, Eugene!”

Geno flinched at his given name.

“Rella, you need to calm down,” Aubrie spoke up.

She laughed. “Why!? Why should I? I get a creepy phone call, get chased around the clubhouse by some freak of nature, why should I be calm, Aubrie!” she demanded.

Aubrie held up her hands.

“Rella, it’s ok, you’re safe now,” she reassured, instead of responding. Rella looked at her incredulously. Then she backed away, shaking her head.

“This place is trying to kill me,” she insisted. Aubrie reached out.

“You’re safe, Rella,” Aubrie repeated firmly.

Rella stared at her. She looked at the stretched out hand. She reached for it and Aubrie pulled her into a hug. Rella crumbled, clinging onto Aubrie like she was a lifeline. Rella’s legs gave out, and Aubrie found herself dragged down to the floor, as Rella hyperventilated into her shoulder.

“Breathe Rella. You’re safe. We’re safe,” Aubrie calmly promised, patting and rubbing her back.

Geno awkwardly stepped into Aubrie’s line of sight, looking very uncertain of himself. Aubrie nodded towards the large room and Geno got the message – keep an eye out for andahts.

The next few minutes were spent calming Rella down. Geno kept lookout, while Rella and Aubrie continued to sit on the floor, Rella trying to breathe, and Aubrie doing her best to soothe her.

Rella’s breathing evened out.

“I’m embarrassed,” Rella muttered into Aubrie’s shoulder.

“You ok now?” Aubrie asked, ignoring the statement.

Rella gripped her tightly, then finally broke the hug, covering her face. Her cheeks were flushed pink. “I’m so, so sorry you had to see me like that…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Aubrie reassured. “I have four younger siblings, this is nothing.”

“But I’m not some lost kid. I’m older than you,” Rella argued, but Aubrie just shrugged.

“Drink this,” she instead said, holding out a to-go coffee. Rella reacted as if commanded, taking it and drinking it all in one go.

After emptying the cup, she looked more settled, the effects of Soporifick wearing off.

“Feeling better?” Geno asked, leaning over the counter.

Rella looked up at him, surprised, as if she’d forgotten he was there too. She hesitantly nodded.

“Yeah, I… Where am I? How did you get here? What was in that drink?” She paused and her eyes narrowed. “Why are you dressed like that?”

“That’s a lot of questions,” Geno replied, not knowing which question to tackle first.

“We can talk after we’ve left this place,” Aubrie suggested. She got to her feet and offered a hand to Rella. “Sound good?”

Rella looked at the hand, then accepted it, getting back on her feet.

“Sounds great,” Rella agreed.

Aubrie turned to Geno, then noticed the state of the clubhouse. It had been wrecked, as if a storm had gone through the room. And then there were those whispers, which wasn’t helping anyone’s sanity.

“This is weird,” she commented nonchalantly. “Never seen a chaotic workspace before.”

“Oh, no. That was me,” Rella said. Both Geno and Aubrie looked at her, surprised. Rella was playing with a strand of her hair. “Um. I did mention that Miss Me, who’s supposed to be something someone made up, was chasing me? Right?”

“The telephone stalker, Miss Me,” Geno repeated. “Explains you getting a weird phonecall.”

“Yeah. Well. I freaked out, and…” She motioned around the room. “Am I going insane?” she asked, her voice cracking while she grinned widely.

“Not at all,” Aubrie quickly reassured with a soft smile. She held up her hand and a bubble appeared above it. “There’s a reason I’ve been calling myself Bubbles in this world.”

“Bubbles? Really?” Rella asked.

“We can workshop it. It’s not like it’s caught on yet,” Aubrie hurriedly spoke, the bubble popping out of existence.

“How did you wreck this place?” Geno asked, leaning on the counter.

“Well, I kind of…” Rella trailed off, closing her eyes and clenching her hands into fists. Something similar to lightning hit the floor, making both Aubrie and Geno yelp in surprise. “Did something happen?!” Rella asked, her body untensing and eyes opening wide.

“Yeah, uh… Try keeping your eyes open this time,” Aubrie replied with a nervous smile. She gently took Rella’s hand and opened it, so that the palm was facing upward. Aubrie held her hand next to it and a small bubble appeared above her open palm. “Try something small, like this.”

Rella looked at the bubble, then her own palm again. After a few seconds, a small ball of electricity appeared, lighting up the room. Or rather, something like electricity. It was moving too slowly to be true electricity. Far too slowly and too predictably, appearing more like a ball of light.

“Holy crap, another one,” Geno choked.

“Another what?” Rella asked, closing her hand.

“As said, we’ll explain later,” Aubrie promised. She then pinched the bridge of her nose. “Ok. I get what happened to this place, but what are those whispers…?”

“Yeah. It’s driving me insane too,” Geno agreed. “Why does she keep going on about how she goes to the pool after hours?”

“Ah. That’s also me,” Rella told them. She moved over to a corner, where a vinyl was playing music. Or playing something. The whispers. Rella lifted up the needle, and the clubhouse became eerily quiet.

“Why is there a vinyl player here?” Aubrie asked, wincing at how loud her voice was.

“Don’t you know where you are?” Rella asked.

“Obviously no. Just answer the question, or we’ll be here all night,” Geno told her. Rella frowned at him but conceded that he had a point.

“This is the Dulcet, or… some version of it,” Rella answered. “The Dulcet is an exclusive clubhouse for people that can afford to lounge around all day. They’re as snobby as they sound. They like to listen to music old-style. Say the quality’s better.”

“Pff, they probably just didn’t want to hire live musicians,” Geno claimed. “Doesn’t explain why that’s playing.”

“Well, you see- you know,” stuttered Rella, “after freaking out, I thought, hey. Let’s listen to some music. I know. Not super smart but it made sense at the time! But. Anyway. I’m going off to do that, only, every single vinyl has been replaced by. Well. These.” She showed them the vinyl. It was red. “Red vinyls. Loads of ‘em. All by people that work or use the Dulcet. And the records are pretty weird. This one is by Stella, one of my workmates.”

Aubrie came closer and read the label. Skinny-Dipping in the Dark. It sounded like the name of a pop song.

“Geno? Is this a thing?” Aubrie asked over her shoulder.

“I… It’s the first time I’ve heard of red vinyls,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ve never explored workspaces before so… Holy crap, you think there are red vinyls at school?”

Aubrie fidgeted, indecisive. She wanted to look into the vinyls. But they also had Rella to look after.

She looked at Rella.

“What do you want to do?” she asked. “We can leave this place and talk somewhere private. We know a really good place nearby called the Luftmensh. Or we can go looking for red vinyls while we answer your questions. So? Which do you prefer?”

Rella contemplated seriously. “You can make bubbles?” she asked.

“They look like bubbles, but they’re more like forcefields,” Aubrie corrected.

“And I can teleport. So if we come across Miss Me, we can just zap out of there,” Geno promised. It was reassuring.

Rella ran a hand through her hair, then let out a deep sigh.

“Let’s go hunting some red vinyls,” she said, determined. “It’s not like I’ve got somewhere to be, right?” she then added, with a smile.

“Right! You missed night classes,” Aubrie said. “I took notes for you.”

Rella smiled appreciatively. “Not something I was worried about… and never will be. Thanks.”

“Well ladies,” Geno interrupted, wrapping an arm around both of them. “Let’s get exploring then.”

The trio grinned, and in a swirl of colours, they left the Dulcet in search of more mysterious red vinyls.