2 1: Peter Parker Phase I

Evelyn was your typical protagonist. She didn't have friends, didn't get invited anywhere, never been in a relationship in her life, the list goes on.

But Evelyn's read comics before, she's watched anime, and she knew that this was just the beginning of a protagonist's journey. She was in her Peter Parker phase before he became Spiderman, the Clark Kent before he took off his glasses and suit.

After all, it was like a rule that a protagonist had to be a dork before they could become hot and famous. That's what all the anime she watched told her at least. However, when she woke to her alarm blaring the Attack on Titan theme song on the morning of her twenty-third birthday, a little voice in the back of her head told her that her Peter Parker phase was lasting a bit longer than usual.

She groaned, wiping the sleep from her eyes, and stared at the ceiling.

The smell of Italian sausage shook Evelyn out of her thoughts and she was out of her bed in two seconds. She already knew who it was, but prepared herself to act surprised when she walked out of her room and to the kitchen. Her apartment had three rooms, a kitchen, and a full bath; those rooms being her bedroom, a living room, and an office. It was small, considering her family was loaded, but she didn't need much.

In fact, during her third year of undergraduate school, she moved out of her childhood mansion and into a studio apartment that only had one room, a bath, and a kitchen. All she needed was a mattress, food, and a shelf for her manga and she was set until graduation. Once she started graduate school, she figured she should at least have an office.

Despite moving out, however, she couldn't really get away from her parents.

Evelyn tip-toed around the corner and peeked out to see her parents preparing things for their big surprise. Well, they probably were preparing at some point, but at the moment they were just quarreling. They were stage-whispering, probably so they wouldn't wake her up, but the whispering didn't cut back any of the venom in their words.

"This is why I told you to get yellow, you idiot," Harriet Washington, Evelyn's mother, was saying. She was a tall, high-yellow woman with her hair in a high sock bun on her head. She was wearing a dark grey business suit with Evelyn's comically frilly pink apron on over it. Harriet pointed an egg-covered spatula at Evelyn's father as she spoke, eyes narrowed into a scowl, "her favorite color is yellow!"

"I know her favorite color is yellow. You think I don't know her favorite color is yellow, Harriet?" Terrence Washington answered. He was around the same height as his wife, give or take a few centimeters; deep brown skin and skinny. He wore a long sleeve shirt and khaki slacks, but he had purple streamers covering him from head to toe, "The train I got her is yellow. The shoes you got her are yellow. The Nintendo Switch case we got her is yellow. Do you think she lives and breathes yellow, Harriet? She likes purple too, you know. There's nothing wrong with an accent color!"

"The train?" Harriet scrunched up her tiny, pointy nose in disgust, "Terry, what did we agree on?"

"I got her the new anime thingy she wanted too," Terrance rolled his eyes and turned away, "Evvy likes my trains! I give her a little train set every year and she loves it!"

Evelyn didn't mind the model trains, but she wouldn't go so far as to say she loves them. They make great decorations in her office though, so she was always thankful. Her mother, on the other hand, hated her father's model train obsession though; mainly because he used his trains to hide away from her in the basement. Same way her mother buried herself in her company to avoid spending time with her husband.

"We agreed on no trains this year, Terry!" she shook her head and went back to the sausage on the stove, "I swear, the only things you love in this world are those damn trains. What about your family? Your wife? Nope! It's always trains, God."

"Oh I'm sorry is it my wife's birthday?" Terrance went back over to the window and continued where he left off with hanging the purple streamers, "Did I get my wife a train for her birthday? No, because she's always too busy bi-"

"Don't raise your voice, you'll wake up Evelyn!" Harriet said, raising her voice at a volume that would most definitely wake up Evelyn, "And don't get nippy at me, Terry, I know it's not my birthday. You ruined my birthday already with your arguing, I just don't want Evelyn's birthday to be ruined too!" she slapped a piece of sausage and a sunny-side-up egg on a plate so forcefully the yolk popped.

"You're the one who starts every single argument, Harry!" he growled, draping a purple table cloth over her counter-- the closest thing Evelyn had to table in her apartment.

"Please," her mother scoffed, "You're the reason why she moved into this cardboard box of an apartment. To get away from your nagging and your trains."

As fun as this conversation sounded-- not --- her father countered with, "Oh yeah, like your shrieking is such a blessing to live with too," which was followed by a, "Oh yeah? Why don't you move out too? No one's stopping you," which then earned an, "oh yeah? Well, it's not like you're ever home during the day anyway, we're practically separated already!" Harriet pulled out the waterworks with a, "Terrance, do not ruin Evvy's birthday your divisive behavior again!" and Evelyn thought that was enough eavesdropping. She might as well get dressed and then pretend to be surprised, that way she wouldn't be half-asleep and forced to listen to her parents' fighting.

She drowsily stumbled to her room as quietly as she could, and rubbed her temples. This was the reason she wanted to escape them. They had bickered this way all her life, yet never once considered divorce. Even worse, they were the most smothering parents a child could have, so they always visited her. And every visit resulted in a fight, it was torture.

Evelyn checked the time-- 7:04 am -- and then got her act together. She had a seminar at 9:00 am and the car ride was at least 15 minutes. She needed to get dressed, do the surprise birthday celebration bit, and get out before her parents made her late.

Before putting her phone down she noticed a notification that wasn't about a manga update. It was a text message that said "Happy Birthday Evelyn!" and it was from an unsaved number that she didn't recognize. Evelyn didn't have any friends so she assumed it was just a random family member but it stayed in the back of her mind as she brushed her teeth.

Evelyn put her long, brown locs up in a high ponytail. Even though she wasn't planning anything special, she decided to wear her favorite yellow sundress and wrap-around wedges. It was early October and storming, but it was also Florida so she really only needed an umbrella and a jean jacket.

Grabbing her bookbag, phone, and looking at that message once more, she decided to brave the elements and greet her parents for breakfast.

The breakfast started fine, her parents got her everything she wanted and more. The meal was delicious and the decorations were thoughtful, but Evelyn knew it wouldn't last. The moment that Terrance whipped out the full yellow, model train set he had gotten her (not the single model train he had promised), they were off and so was Evelyn, claiming that she wanted to be early because someone in her class was giving a presentation (which wasn't a lie).

They kissed her goodbye and promised to take her out to dinner when she got back. At first, Evelyn thought that was sweet. But then she realized that just means that even they knew, at her big age, that she didn't have any friends or plans to celebrate the rest of her birthday, and this thought bummed her out more (which sparked another argument that she had scurried away from too quickly to see the end of).

The rest of Evelyn's morning had gone better than her breakfast surprise and her spirits seemed to be high again. While no one knew it was her birthday, she had gotten several compliments on her dress and a man helped her down the stairs on her way out of a building upon seeing that she was wearing heels. The day was lonely but normal and for that Evelyn was content.

But then her 11:30 am lecture came around and it stopped being normal.

When Evelyn sat down and got ready for another hour and a half of trying not to fall asleep, someone sat down next to her. In fact, after that, three more someones filed in around her as well.

The first person and the person to her left was a face she recognized, Julia Anderson. The background characters that surrounded Evelyn were vague faces in her memory, but she did recognize Julia's boyfriend and the two other girls that followed Julia around sometimes.

Julia and Evelyn shared another class together and she remembered who she was only because the girl had the biggest, brownest, doe-eyes Evelyn had ever seen in her life. She was an average-looking white girl, slim but not skinny, tall but not lanky, curvy but not busty. When she smiled at Evelyn her wide nose crinkled into a smile without a top lip.

"Evelyn! it's your birthday right?" Evelyn's eyes widened at Julia's words, "I really hope so, or else that text I sent you must have been really confusing," she gigged.

Evelyn sputtered at this information, "Y-you what? How did you get my number?" accidentally came out of her mouth before a 'thank you.'

Julia leaned back, stuffing her hands in the center pocket of her big pink sweatshirt. "I was in a group project with you a while back, but then switched groups," she explained, "I still had your number saved from the group chat we were in. I guess you never saved my number."

"Oh sorry," Evelyn looked at her hands. There were four sets of eyes on her and the closest was boring into her skull, "And thank you, by the way. I didn't think anyone knew it was my birthday."

"To be fair, Facebook sent me a notification at, like, midnight and I actually happened to check it this morning," she laughed, "But the sentiment is still there. We wanted to use this as an opportunity to get to know you since you don't seem close to anyone else here."

Julia gestured towards the boy who sat in the row in front of them but was leaning over the chair to face them. "Oh! This is my boyfriend, Nick!"

Nick was a scruffy white boy with pale skin and hair everywhere. The mousy brown hair on his head went down to his shoulders and made his green eyes pop even more.

"These two are my besties, Sarah and Jane. We literally went to high school together and we only re-met because-" Julia bursted into a fit of giggles while gesturing to the girl on Evelyn's right and the girl sitting on the right of Nick, "-because... well... It's a long story," the two girls joined in the laughter and Nick smiled too.

Evelyn couldn't tell which one was Sarah and which one was Jane but they were copy-paste the same blonde girl with brown eyes and a round face, so she figured maybe it didn't matter.

"We were wondering if you wanted to get lunch with us after this class is over. That's what Jewels is trying to get to, if she can ever stay focused on one topic for a second." Nick smirked.

"Right!" Julia clapped her fingers excitedly to focus herself, "Right! Right! We wanted to hang out. There's a really cool poke place down the street-- it's the real deal --and we wanted to treat you to a little birthday lunch-brunch."

"Me? Really?" Evelyn raised an eyebrow, looking from eye to eye to eye to eye, trying to figure out whether this was a joke or not, right as the professor walked in, five minutes before the class would've been legally allowed to leave, "Why?"

"Because it's your birthday and we wanna be your friend!" Julia answered and before Evelyn could ask 'why' again, Julia added, "We'll ask you again after class. Just think about it. Kay?"

And Julia and her squad actually stayed sitting around Evelyn throughout the entire lecture. Nick fell asleep, but covered his face with his hoodie and hunched over so the professor wouldn't notice. Jane and Sarah were messaging each other under their desks and Julia seemed to be very interested in the presentation at first, but Evelyn quickly realized that she was clearly just staring at the wall and daydreaming. None of them really said anything to her or each other, none of them interacted, but it felt different.

It wasn't really different, no one spoke to Evelyn as always. But their presence, the feeling that made little pools of dopamine fill her brain at the thought of just sitting and looking like she belonged to a group was something she couldn't ever remember feeling. And she didn't want it to end.

So when the lecture finally ended seven minutes later than it was supposed to and Julia popped the question again, Evelyn happily accepted their offer. Julia's face lit up with a wide grin, "You're going to love this place! The food here is to die for!"

Evelyn did love it. She was still suspicious of them, but, wow, it felt great to just be around other people for once. It was nice to listen to their bickering that was playful, unlike her parents', and chime in sometimes when someone said something she agreed with. She laughed at their jokes and they treated her like she was one of them.

When they were finished, as promised, Julia paid for her entire meal and they strolled around the nearby park to walk off their full stomachs since none of them had classes. While they were in the restaurant, the clouds had gotten grey and stormy looking. But they had all grown up in some part of Florida so they were used to storms and weren't in a hurry to get back.

"You had fun, right?" Julia beamed, walking side by side with Evelyn. Nick was balancing on the edges of the sidewalks and the other two were a little ways behind the group, whispering and giggling about something on Jane/Sarah's phone (Evelyn still didn't know who was who).

Evelyn actually smiled back and nodded as a bridge came up in their line of sight.

"Let's walk by the bridge," Nick said. So they all followed his lead as Julia and Evelyn's conversation continued.

"I knew you would fit in with us," Julia locked arms with Evelyn, "I can sense that we're like-minded, that's why I wanted you to register and join our group."

Once they reached the bridge, they leaned against the railings of it. The rail was more of a ledge for young children, as it only went up to about their waist. Nick leaned over it, watching the white foam that appeared anytime the water lapped at the edge of the river, and whipped out his phone to take a picture. Sarah and Jane pretended to push each other in. The deep Heedskill River below the bridge, however, was raging on with the wind, jostling wildly under them.

"Wait, you mean like an actual group?" Evelyn raised an eyebrow, flicking a stray loc out of her face, "You weren't just talking about your friend group?

Julia snorted, "No, no, I have a little organization-slash-club I run on here. It's called Diverse Health. It's partially for my thesis, but it's also something I've been meaning to start since I was an undergrad over at FAU," she explained, "It's a club that promotes positive mental health practices for university students as well as diverse friend groups. Having a melting pot of a friend group with different cultures, races, and experiences can not only strengthen your cultural awareness but be good sources of new mental health practices as well."

"That sounds... wholesome, I guess," Evelyn said, rubbing her hands together and looking up at the sky. Though it was fairly windy, she wasn't actually cold. She just needed something to do with her hands.

At this point, they could see flickers of lightning in the distance and hear a bit of thunder, but they still weren't really bothered by it. There were only a few drops drizzling and they were seasoned Floridians, they're the type of people who don't run to the car until they're soaking.

"So how many people are in this group, exactly?" Evelyn asked. While the group sounded like a cute idea, she wasn't sure how effective it was seeing as the only friend group she had ever seen Julia with since August was those two white girls and her white boyfriend. She supposed they could be different cultures, but they didn't exactly scream 'diverse' at first glance.

"Well," Julia sighed, "It's just us and this one dude. He's Native American though and he's really nice! You would get along! I can't quite remember his name at the moment," she turned away, laughing nervously.

"So your diverse club is four white people and Native American person?" Evelyn's face scrunched up. She didn't mean to sound so critical.

"Well," Julia said again, her hands danced as she spoke, "But we're pretty diverse! My great grandfather was Irish and Nick's grandad is literally from Germany. Also!! Also- well, okay, Sarah and Jane don't really know where their family is from 'cause they don't care about that stuff. But-"

"I got it, I understand," Evelyn didn't want to sound mean, especially as the rain was picking up and Julia was her ride back to campus, "You gotta start somewhere right? I mean the whole premise is mental health, so you accomplished one thing at least. I'm sure by the spring you'll have plenty of people and a very diverse club."

Julia lit up, "Thank you! See, you understand my vision!" she sighed again, this time it seemed to be of relief, "That's also why we need you. Not only do you understand what I'm going for, we need more cultures in the group."

Evelyn shrugged, staring at the puddle of rain that was forming by her feet. They should probably leave now. "I don't know," she confessed, "the idea is nice, and I like hanging out with you guys. But I think I should just focus on schoolwork right now. I'm a bit behind."

"But you can see for yourself that we're lacking members," Julia pressed, gently tugging on Evelyn's arm that Evelyn just now remembered was still linked with hers. Just by the slight tug, she could feel her wedges slipping under her from the rain. They should probably leave soon.

"We should continue this inside the c-"

"I think having a black would really give our group a bit more credibility," Julia insisted and Evelyn swallowed anything that she was about to say after that.

"A-a black?" She raised an eyebrow again, this time not in a confused way. Lightning behind nearby clouds crackled in the corner of her eye but she ignored it.

"Yeah, I mean, if we have the whole American trio then we'll probably look more credible," She nodded, "If we all come together, white, black, and Ind-"

"I'mma stop you right there," Evelyn said, "I think I've heard enough and it's about to storm. My car is still parked on campus. I'm gonna go before you try to collect another minority along the way," she wanted to keep that last part in her head, but it came out of her mouth anyway. Evelyn began walking towards the car but was pulled back by Julia, nearly slipping on the ground and falling over.

Julia gripped Evelyn's arm like her life depended on it, her big eyes desperate and regretful, "Collecting? Wait, no, did I say something offensive? I don't think of you any differently, I don't even see color. I just wanna create a place with like-minded students with a love for mental health of different backgrounds, ethnici-"

Evelyn tried to pull away, off in the other direction again, "You can save your big words, I know what your group is about. You just need to work on your recruitment strategy. I can tell you about it in the-"

"Evelyn, wait, just listen! I wanna make this right!" Julia pulled her again and this time Evelyn pulled back; but when she tried to yank herself out of Julia's grip, her foot slipped on the stone beneath her. One second, she saw Julia's terrified face. The next, she found herself and Julia flipping over the railing and plummeting into the Heedskill river.

When they hit the water, their arms detangled from each other as the current ripped them away from each other. The current drove Evelyn under the water harshly, water filling her lungs. She couldn't see Julia anymore, only heard her screaming, and fought desperately with the water to reach the surface.

Just as she broke through, she was able to take a deep breath and, on instinct, reached a hand out in desperation. Her desperate reach was met with a massive lightning bolt so bright it lit the dusky sky for a split second and struck the water in front of her, the sight sending uncontrollable terror into Evelyn's heart as well as an indescribable static through her entire body.

For some reason, instead of being electrocuted and killed on the spot, she was flung backward into the water with tremendous force. She felt something--most likely a rock-- hit her between the shoulder blades and coiled back in agony.

She fought her way to the surface again and took a deep breath, grabbing onto the dirt perimeter of the river, digging her nails and knees in to pull her up. Breathlessly, she maneuvered herself on the dirt and out of the River.

Evelyn laid on her back breathing heavily, arms and legs feeling like jelly, but finally on land again.

She looked at the sky and wondered why it was sunny and not the stormy grey it was just a few seconds ago. The thought quickly escaped her as she focused on breathing, the world around her blurring in and out of focus. Her throat suddenly felt tight and she felt her eyes heat up.

"I... I just almost died," she told herself breathlessly, "but it doesn't matter."

"It doesn't matter that my outfit is ruined. It doesn't matter that my birthday is ruined. It doesn't matter if I can't have real friends," she sniffled, "It doesn't matter that nobody on Earth actually cares about my birthday. It doesn't matter that my parents fight. It doesn't matter that I'm never happy," her voice shook as tears streamed out slowly.

"Because," she sobbed quietly, closing her eyes, "Because every hero has a depressing backstory. I won't be sad forever. I'll be happy one day. I'm gonna get my Spiderman phase."

She squeezed her eyelids tight, forcing the tears to stop, "I won't be sad forever. I'm gonna be happy one day. I promise," and then finally gave in to the blackness engulfing her vision.

***

When Evelyn woke, she quickly realized four things. One, she was definitely not in the park anymore or anywhere near the river. A quick survey of the area told her that she was laying on her back in a clearing of some sort of forest. Two, it was no longer morning. In fact, it seemed to be the dead of night.

Three, whoever had brought her to this forest was apparently camping out here because there were two normal-sized tents to her left, a pink one and a purple one. When she strained her eyes despite her growing headache, she noticed a third tent between the two; a tiny yellow tent the size of a dollhouse. Whoever had camped out here also forgot to put out their fire that was crackling dangerously close to Evelyn's right face, but she was thankful because otherwise she probably wouldn't be able to see where she was at all.

And most importantly, four: whoever had brought her here must've thought she was a threat because she wasn't still lying on her back by choice. Thick black rope bound her feet together and wrists in front of her. The rope connected to something (probably held by someone) from inside the pink tent.

Evelyn could still feel the grime and dirt on her legs, so she knew falling into the river and digging through the dirt to get out wasn't a dream. She just wondered where on Earth she was now.

Maybe this was the dream. Maybe she was still lying next to Heedskill River and dreaming she had gotten kidnapped by some random river bandits. Evelyn closed her eyes, hoping it would be true. But a loud voice scared her out of her thoughts.

"Don't pretend you're sleeping. I saw you open your eyes," said the voice.

The sound made Evelyn violently flinch and she sat up abruptly, ignoring her headache. Looking around she still saw no one but the fire and the tents. But it sounded so close, almost like the person was right next to her.

"What's the matter, princess, off your game today?" the voice quipped. It was deep and masculine. It sounded like it was right under her nose but she couldn't see anyone near her, "The bureau already knows you're here, so don't try any funny business."

"Who are you?" Evelyn continued to look around like a mad man, her gaze shifted from tree to tree trying to figure out who was speaking to her, "W-where are you?"

"Down here, princess," said the voice, this time the sarcasm was clear in the word 'princess.' Evelyn glanced down and shrieked. A tiny man, probably the size of her hand sat cross-legged on her left knee.

Now Evelyn knew for a fact that she was dreaming. She had to be.

"Why are you so jumpy?" he raised an eyebrow, "You're acting weird today."

The man was muscular with lanky legs. He had curly brown hair and a thick curly beard to match. He wore a simple black compression shirt and sweatpants, with socks tucked into some slides. But just in case he didn't seem intimidating enough, he held a dark purple rifle, the size of his entire torso.

"Who are you?" Evelyn tried to keep her tone as polite as possible, "And am I supposed to know you?" 'Also why are you like five inches tall?' is what she really wanted to ask but decided to keep it classy.

"I'm not giving my name to the enemy. Just know that I'm with the bureau and that the higher-ups are on their way to retrieve you," the man answered gruffly, "I don't expect you to know me personally, no."

"Okay then," Evelyn nodded. Now she just had a thousand more questions than the million she already had, "That's nice. Um, what exactly is the bureau?"

The little man looked at her as if she were insane. He stood up now, clearly irritated. "The bureau! BoVR!" he shook his head, "what, did you hit your head or something? Are you trying to trick me? Funny business won't work on me, princess."

"Right, um. I think you might have mixed up with someone else, possibly a criminal," Evelyn said delicately, "I don't know a boh-ver is or what bureau you're talking about," she tried to explain.

He looked at her for a second, doubt clear on his face.

Maybe it was the sincerity in her eyes or the violent trembling that he could definitely feel since he was sitting on her, but something in his gaze shifted and she could tell he might possibly believe her.

The little man made a frustrated face and hopped off her knee. He landed with a gruff that told her it was much higher of a jump than he planned. Even so, he landed on the grass pretty expertly and, right as Evelyn was getting used to him being tiny, he terrified her once again.

He suddenly began to grow before her eyes. She blinked once and when her eyes opened again the tiny man was now the size of a toddler. He grabbed the rope that was connected to something inside the tent. He gave four good tugs of it soundlessly, muttering something under his breath about how "somethin' ain't right here" but otherwise remained still.

It was then that Evelyn's possibly minor concussed brain realized that the four tugs were a signal and he was probably waiting for something to come out of the pink tent. The very thought filled her with a new kind of dread and she suddenly had to stop herself from pissing herself.

But then a milky white hand reached out and pulled back the flap of the tent. Out strut a tall woman with a stony expression. She stood there, arms crossed, leaning over to one hip. The end of the rope firmly gripped in her left hand.

The woman's skin glowed pale and she had black expressionless eyes. She wore a long-sleeve white shirt that tied at the naval with black sweatpants on her long legs and dirty white socks on her feet. Her platinum blonde hair ran wild in front of her face and down her shoulders and back as the wind blew around them.

For some reason, the sight of the woman that just came through this tent scared Evelyn half to death. She shrank back, eyes widened and palms sweaty. The woman, however, began walking towards them slowly, her strides big but her pace agonizingly slow. She didn't break eye contact with Evelyn once through the long strip of hair on her face.

When she reached Evelyn, she crouched down, leaning on her knees, shifting her gaze from Evelyn and then back down to the small man who Evelyn hadn't noticed had gone back to being tiny.

"Zara, something ain't right here," the tiny man shook his head, pointing at Evelyn like a child telling their teacher on a classmate, "She's acting loopy. It might be a trick but, I don't know, I'm skeptical. Something seems off."

The woman, Zara, turned back to Evelyn and, still running on adrenaline and anxiety, she flinched horribly.

Zara looked into her eyes, her expression turning into one filled with concern-- not for Evelyn, mind you, just general concern. "Do you know who I am?" she asked slowly. Her voice was smooth and breathy as if she were singing.

Evelyn violently shook her head, "No! I mean, that little person called you Zara, so I assume your name is Zara," she explained, not wanting to lie to the scary woman while she was bound, "I'm sorry, is 'little person' rude? I didn't mean that. I just didn't know the little person's name. I'm sorry. I'll stop talking. But no, I don't know you, like, personally or anything though."

Evelyn could've sworn she saw the corners of Zara's mouth flick up for a fraction of a second, but if it did she covered it up pretty quickly. With a sigh, she plopped down, cross-legged next to Evelyn as if they were at a sleepover.

"What's your name?" Zara asked, "Full name. Date of Birth. Age. And where you're from."

"M-my name is Evelyn Washington. I'm twenty-two-- well, twenty-three today. Um, my birthday is October thirteenth-- oh that's today, duh -- and I'm from Boca Raton," Evelyn said, looking nervously from the tiny man to Zara expectantly, "Did I pass? Is that okay? I don't know what a boh-ver is, by the way, sorry."

Zara snorted and finally gave an actual smile. The tiny man, on the other hand, looked flabbergasted.

"The same last name, age, and birthday as the princess," he gasped, looking to Zara knowingly, "This can't be a coincidence... but she's nothing like the princess."

"She's not Eve," Zara shook her head and turned back to Evelyn, drumming her own knees idly, "Happy Birthday, by the way."

"Thank you," she nodded, "Um... may I please know who you people are and where I am right now? I think I'm not the person you wanted to capture."

"No, my dear, you are not," she sighed, leaning back on her palms with a grin, "We're still not completely sure if you're exactly who you say you are either though."

"Yeah, we still don't trust you. You could be a spy or... or a clone or something!" The tiny man shouted, pointing another childish finger at her.

Evelyn pouted, "That's not fair!" she played the immature card too, "It's my birthday and everything's going wrong and now I'm kidnapped and I missed my last class and I still don't have friends and my parents are probably worried a-and you won't even tell me who you people are!" she whined, tears threatening to fall.

Zara seemed to notice and leaned forward again, holding her hands up cautiously, "Alright alright, let's not get hysterical," she cleared her throat, "My name is Zara Engels. I'm an agent of BoVR, that bureau you guys were talking about. We were targeting someone that looks like you."

"Someone who looks exactly like you with the same exact birthday and last name!" the tiny man added.

"The little guy is Raul," Zara gestured to him, "He's usually not this feisty, but your grand entrance cut into his beauty sleep and now he's grumpy. He's an agent like me, we're on the same team along with my sister and another friend."

"Okay, but now you've realized that I'm not the person you're looking for, you'll let me go and not give me any more private information, right?" Evelyn smiled nervously, "I'll be on my merry way, without any more knowledge because this is top secret stuff, right?"

"Not quite," Zara crossed her arms, "You're suspiciously similar to our target. There's no way we can let you go without further investigation."

"Can you at least tell me where I am?" Evelyn huffed, "I'm not in Boca anymore, am I? At least untie me! It's my birthday!"

Zara stared at her for a quarter of a second without any sympathy in her eyes and then shrugged, fiddling with the black rope around Evelyn's legs. "Where is Boca?" she asked casually.

Evelyn's fears suddenly increased, "Boca Raton, Florida?" She leaned forward with wide eyes, causing Zara to smile, "Am I even in Florida anymore?"

She looked to Raul for backup even though minutes ago, he was pointing accusatory fingers at her. But he was in his own world, bouncing on a few blades of grass as if they were a seesaw, his gun discarded next to him.

"Where's Floor-da?" Zara asked as if were a normal question.

Evelyn sputtered. Zara was literally speaking to her with an American English accent. Most English speakers at least knew the homeland of Disney World.

"Am I not even in America? Am I not on Earth?" She shook her head. Her exclamation was sarcasm, but there was a voice in the back of her head that told her her fears might be true.

Zara confirmed her suspicions by snorting a second time, "Are you just making up words now?" she smiled, finally removing the rope from Evelyn's ankles and flicking a blonde strand out of her face, "What kingdom are you from?"

"This isn't Earth?" Evelyn froze as Zara went to untie the rope around her wrists.

"Give me your hands-"

"This isn't Earth?" Evelyn flinched away from Zara's advances, causing the other girl to raise an eyebrow and visibly tense, but she still had a wild smile on her face. "You're telling me I'm not on planet Earth right now?"

Zara's smile dropped and she seemed to grasp the situation, "You're... you're not from Dremel, are you?"

Evelyn shook her head slowly, "I don't even know what that is,"

Zara looked to Raul and then Evelyn and then back at Raul again. She scooped the tiny man up in her palm and then whispered to him as if Evelyn weren't sitting right next to her, waiting for her wrists to be untied.

"Raul! She's not even from Dremel!" She hissed in a whisper, "She's an alien or something!"

"I heard her," Raul nodded.

"And I can still hear you, you know," Evelyn whispered with a scowl.

They ignored her and Raul continued, "But I don't know. Could be a trick or something." He crossed his arms in a way that said he was skeptical but not as suspicious of her as before, moreso confused. This body language relieved Evelyn slightly.

"Look," Evelyn got their attention, "I fell into the Heedskill River in Boca and then got struck by lightning. I thought I would be dead 'cause, you know, lightning and all, but somehow I ended up here."

"Sounds like some freaky magic is at work," Zara frowned looking at the ground in thought, "And you're from a planet called Earth, you said?"

"Yes," Evelyn nodded, "My name is Evelyn Washington. Born October thirteenth in Boca Raton, Florida. In the United States of America, which is on planet Earth!"

"Evelyn," when Zara looked at Evelyn with a thoughtful frown. It scared her a bit and she flinched at the sudden eye contact. If Zara noticed Evelyn's fear increase, she didn't show it. "Have you ever seen anyone who looks like me on your planet? Or Raul?"

Evelyn shook her head, "I would definitely remember meeting someone as pretty as you, and men on my planet can't shrink and grow. We're all at least a foot tall, I think."

Zara's eyebrows raised, "As pretty as m-"

"You don't have elves on your planet?" Raul gasped, "You mean, I'm the first elf you've ever seen, like, ever?"

"We don't have any magical people on my planet," Evelyn nodded, "Elves or giants or whatever the hell else you people have on this planet. Earth just has people."

"But Earth has you," Zara crossed her arms, "A near carbon copy of our princess. Almost as if you came from an alternate dimension. I mean if there were another me running around on your planet, it's possible we just haven't met."

"An alternate dimension," Evelyn gasped and grabbed Zara's muscley arm, "Wait! Is this my Spiderman Phase?"

"Okay, you've lost me," Zara said, smiling once again at Evelyn's sudden attitude change, "I understood about a third of that sentence."

"On my planet, all the superheroes start out as ugly and unpopular, but then they become super hot and save the world. I just got transported to a different freaking planet! This has to be the moment when I stop being ugly and unpopular, right?" She looked at Zara expectantly, "Right?"

Zara just raised an eyebrow, "Ugly?"

Raul's eyes bugged out of his sockets, "You have superheroes on your planet, but not elves?"

Evelyn tried to process everything, "I'm on another planet. Another planet in an alternate dimension, so-"

"Maybe," Zara chimed in.

"So I may be on another planet in another dimension," Evelyn looked at her hands, her stomach full of butterflies, "This has to be my protagonist moment. There must be a reason I'm here. What is it? An evil dictator? An evil king or something?" Evelyn's statement was sarcasm but Zara looked to Raul knowingly.

"I guess it's pretty cliche, huh?" she turned back to Evelyn, "Well, if you really are the parallel version of our princess, then you must be just as powerful as her. That could be useful if you really are on our side."

"Powerful?" Evelyn looked to Raul and it suddenly clicked in her brain, "Wait there aren't just magical people here, you guys can actually use magic? I can use magic too?"

"I dunno," Zara laughed, "Is magic not allowed in Boca?"

"There's no such thing as magic in Boca or America or any part of Earth," Evelyn shook her head, "There are only normal people."

"Then how the heck do you have superheroes?" Raul scratched his head, "this Earth place sounds dumb."

"There aren't any actual superheroes, just in books and TV shows. There are no elves or giants or witches or wizards or magic," Evelyn explained with a nervous smile, "not on Earth and especially not in Boca. If you told someone you could use magic where I'm from, they'd laugh at you."

"Well, Evelyn Washington," Zara grabbed the rope on her wrists and pulled her closer, notably gentler this time, "You're not in Boca anymore."