Mia was sitting at the backseat with Dale as Nathan drove her home.
Roxanne, whom was at the front seat, saw her through the centre mirror. Mia was looking rather glum.
"Atleast nothing else attacked your friend as you followed her back home", Roxanne said to Mia, trying to lighten up the mood.
"Oh... yeah— nothing happened", Mia replied. Her mind still wasn't there as she was deep in thought.
Roxanne noticed and continued talking, "You know we had to erase her memory of the incident. She could have been put in more danger if she knew about us. Nobody must know."
That phrase 'Nobody must know' rang in the back of Mia's mind as she came back from her thoughts.
"It's not like I feel bad that Amanda doesn't know. It took so much out of me to lie to her face", Mia spoke up, "It's not like she forgot who I was or anything, it's just... I — feel like that teras... came there for me."
"You're that bad of a liar, huh....Oh, and it definitely came there for you", Nathan said blankly like he was stating the obvious.
"Nathan", Roxanne called out in a low tone in such a manner like 'he shouldn't have said it like that'.
"Whaat? If not for Dale, we wouldn't even know they were being attacked", he whispered back but Mia could still hear them.
She looked at Dale a bit surprised but he just looked out the window.
"It did look like it came for you though", Roxanne said aloud to Mia, "But, can you tell me how you and your friends got in that situation."
Mia thought then spoke, "Umm, I was running late and needed to catch the bus, so I left Amanda on the bench she was sitting on so I would be early— I kind of left abruptly though. After awhile as I was about to buy bus tickets, I heard a short-lived scream that sounded like her voice. I went to check out the area in which I heard the scream from. Then something weird happened... I thought I saw her pass in front of me but when I looked up to check, she was gone. Then, I think I saw her entering that alley.... Now that I think about it, I doubt it was her but it really did move like her. Maybe it was some sort of illusion...."
"No", Nathan interrupted in a serious tone, "If it could use illusions, the tendency of it seeing through my trick would have been higher but it didn't.... The only other option is mimicry."
"Mimicry? What's that", Mia asked.
"Atleast that's what I call it.... Hmmm, let me put it in a way you'll understand.... When a teras that has this ability, watch the actions of a body for a particular amount of time, it can project an image of the same action the original body has done, anywhere else. Kind of shows a projection of a mimicked action of the body under observation. Though, it can't make the projection talk or mimic what the original body has already said.... While with illusions, the illusionist can make any body from anywhere appear, speak and do different actions. It mustn't be something he/she has seen", he explained.
"Wait, does that mean that the teras has been observing me and Amanda all this time?", Mia asked with a chill down her spine on realizing that.
"Depends. How clear was the image of your friend and how long did it last?"
"Umm— the image was very blurry, I guess, I couldn't get a good look at it. And, um, I think when I saw it, it was only for like very few seconds."
"Hmm– if I were to guess, it should have watched you for like 30 minutes, at best."
Mia was scared. She just realized that something had been watching her and she hadn't noticed anything. She quickly came upon the assumption that the old life she used to live had gone. But it didn't make sense. Why did she discover about this now and not long ago like the others? Why is she now encountering teras when she had never seen anything like that previously? Many questions ran through her mind but they all had something in common— 'none of them had answers'. Upon much thought, she came to a decision.
"...join..."
"Huh?" Nathan asked as Mia said something abstract.
"...I– want to join you guys", she repeated clearly.
"What?"
"Seriously?!"
Nathan and Roxanne exclaimed almost at the same time, with Roxanne mostly bewildered. She had to turn back to face her. Dale looked back at her on hearing that with mixed emotions on his face.
"I thought you refused?" Roxanne asked calming down.
Mia hesitated while avoiding eye contact, "After what happened today, I've realized that I may not be as safe as I thought I was and it could end up hurting people around me.... Plus, when I saw you guys out there, you had perfect control of your power, your teamwork was impeccable and you had each other's back— even though I didn't really understand what was going on.... I kind of want to be a part of that. I can't just be helpless."
The car was quiet.
"Are you–", Dale spoke up as he clenched his teeth and fist, "Are you sure you want to do this?".... You don't have to. If you ever encounter a teras again, I'm– sure that I'll be there if the others can't catch up."
"Is he saying that we're slowing him down", Nathan whispered to Roxanne.
"Shhhh", Roxanne replied as she wanted to see where this was going.
"Do you really– really want to do this?" Dale asked once again as if he really wanted her to refuse.
Mia felt pressured, as if she was put in a spot. She couldn't help but wonder why he was so against her joining them.
"Like I said", she began, "I don't want to be helpless, a burden to all of you.... I think this is the right choice, if not for me, then for the people around me."
"Hmph. Nice answer", Roxanne said with her hand on her cheek.
After hearing that, Dale looked away from Mia with his face towards the window. After much mixed emotions, his facial expression became blank.
Nathan, with a serious face saw Dale through the centre mirror.
"Welcome to the team, I guess", Roxanne continued.
"I mean it was pretty obvious that she was going to join eventually", Nathan commented.
"What? Seriously?"
At that time, they had already arrived at Mia's house.
Mia was about to get off the car.
"Before you go–", Roxanne started with a serious tone, "–you know we still have to meet up soon to figure out what's going on with you. The sooner the better."
"That's if I'm not grounded yet", Mia replied with a fake smile.
"Oh.... Sorry about that."
"It's okay."
Dale then looked at the house. "Somebody is coming."
"That must be my mum", Mia replied almost freaking out.
"Does she know about your power?" Nathan asked Mia.
"Noo. I don't think so."
"Strange. Better to keep it that way for now."
Almost immediately, the door opened and Mrs. Sarah came out.
On seeing Mia, she became enraged, hardly noticing anyone else around.
"Where have you been. It's 6:08?!" she exclaimed.
Mia felt bad. "Oh... um— well I..."
Nathan sighed then whispered, "Since you're a terrible liar, I'll take it from here."
"Good evening, miss", Nathan said on getting out of the car.
Roxanne and Dale greeted also in the same manner.
"Oh, hello", Mrs. Sarah replied, "How formal", she thought.
"Did you drop Mia here?" she asked.
"Yes. We're her friends from school. We're both seniors while he's her classmate", Nathan referred to Roxanne and Dale.
"Oh, friends. Mia you didn't tell me about them, only Amanda", her mum asked curiously.
"You usually come back late so I never really got the chance", Mia responded trying to join in.
"Could you tell me your names?" Mrs. Sarah asked.
"I'm Nathan Dolion."
"Roxanne Deianira."
"My name is Dale Hayashi."
"Such unique surnames", Mrs. Sarah thought.
"Anyway", Nathan began, "Sorry that Mia came back late. We met each other in the Amusement Park today later on. She said that she had to go home soon so before that, we pressured her and her friend to get on a ride with us. Unfortunately, something happened with the ride and we were stuck there. The operator said he'll get us out of there in a few minutes, but as usual that wasn't the case. We waited for so long, almost an hour."
"How dreadful", Mrs. Sarah looked worried.
"It wasn't that bad, don't worry about it", Nathan said putting his hand on the back of his head with a smile, "By the time we knew it, it was almost 6, so we offered to take her back home. She looked really frustrated because of it and it was mostly our fault so we stayed to apologize."
"Oh no. Who would have known that the ride would break down. I'm not angry, I understand."
"Oh, thank goodness. We didn't want Mia to get in trouble", Nathan added.
"I can see how good friends you all are, seeing you dropped her off and stayed to apologize. Would you like to come in and have a bite to eat."
"No thank you", Roxanne replied, "We really need to get going. Its getting late."
"I'd love to take you up on that offer next time", Nathan added.
"I'll be looking forward to it", Mrs. Sarah laughed.
Mrs. Sarah and Mia wished them off as they left. They entered into the house and what was on Mia's mind was, 'how did he lie so casually?'
"Mia", her mum called out.
"Y-yes."
"What lovely friends you have, with good manners, especially that boy. You should have introduced us earlier."
"You think?"
"For a second there, I was really worried when you didn't come back."
Mia thought for a little while. "Why exactly were you worried?" she asked suspiciously.
"What kind of question is that? Any mother would be worried if their child didn't return on time. You could've been kidnapped. You weren't answering your phone either."
"My phone?" she asked as she looked at her phone only to see 12 missed calls. "Oh my gosh mum, I'm so sorry. I put my phone on silent before I entered the rides."
"Its okay. Its past now. Meanwhile, come help me prepare dinner. You didn't expect me to do all the work, did you?"
"No, of course not", Mia laughed as they both entered the kitchen.
"Hmm", her mum thought, "Is that Nathan boy— old enough to drive a car?".....