Meeting my long-lost father? Not on the list.

I froze. The voice behind me was deep, steady, and way too calm for someone appearing in a nightmare dimension. 

"You shouldn't be here." 

Oh, great. As if I wanted to be here.

Slowly, I turned around....and immediately wished I hadn't.

The guy standing there was.... intimidating. And I don't mean, like, "disappointed math teacher" intimidating. I mean "could-probably-command-armies-with-a-glare" intimidating.

He was tall, dressed in a long black coat that somehow blended into the shadows around us. His hair was dark, streaked with silver, like storm clouds before they go nuclear. His face? Sharp. Like, "carved-from-marble, could-star-in-a-movie-about-brooding-warriors" sharp. But his eyes.... those locked onto me with a mix of curiosity and something else I couldn't name.

"Uh." My brain stalled. "Hi?"

Brilliant. Really nailed that first impression.

He studied me for a moment, then sighed, like I was already disappointing him. "I told her this would happen," he muttered.

Her. My mom.

I straightened. "You know my mom?"

His jaw tightened. "Of course, I know her." He took a step closer. "You have her stubbornness. And her recklessness."

"Wow, thanks." I crossed my arms. "Nice to meet you too. Who are you, exactly?"

He titled his head. "You don't know?"

I gestured wildly at the endless void around us. "Dude, I don't even know where I am."

For a second, he just stared at me, like her was debating whether I was worth explaining things to. Then, finally, he said, "I am your father."

I blinked. "Okay, Darth Vader."

His eyes flashed ...not angrily, just....amused? "You are standing in the space between worlds. You are here because your mother is missing, your pendant is gone, and you are more than you understand."

Oh, fantastic. Cryptical parental figure nonsense.

I sighed. "Alright, Mystery Man. Let's cut to the chase. If you're my dad, why haven't you been around?"

His face darkened. "Because I am not meant to be in your world. And your mother.... she tried to keep you safe."

I frowned. "Safe from what?" 

Before he could answer, the whispering returned. But this time, it wasn't distant.

It was coming closer.

And my father? Yeah. For the first time since I saw him, he actually looked concerned.

"They found us," he said. "We have to move. Now"