Mica liked sleeping in on weekends. He usually got up sometime between ten and eleven in the morning, mostly because the night before he tended to stay awake well past midnight playing games or writing.
However, for the second time that same weekend, he was woken up early. This time, it was an unexpected visitor first thing in the morning, ringing the house's doorbell insistently.
Mica heard his mother grumbling in the hallway and repeatedly calling his father's name. For his part, he had no intention of getting up, but after barely a minute and a half, she called for him.
"Micheleangelo!" she said the first time, sounding worried. She repeated it twice more as she hurried down the hallway, then knocked on his door and whispered: "Micheleangelo, get up. Someone's looking for you."
"Mom, tell Hugo to come back after noon."
"No, honey. It's the police."
"Officer Juan Carlos Corvo," one of the two policemen said into a recorder as he sat down at the dining table. "I am currently with the accused minor, Micheleangelo Ferraro, and his mother and legal guardian, Martina de Ferraro."
"Accused? Of what?" his mother asked. Mica wanted to know the same thing.
"That's exactly what I was getting to, ma'am," the officer continued. He looked tired, with dark circles beneath his eyes that stood out sharply against his pale skin. He had to be around forty. "We have received accusations from Mrs. Evangelina Jiménez stating that her daughter, Sarah Gutierrez, was found gagged and bound in the basement of her commercial establishment, Tavern. A place frequently visited by the young man Micheleangelo Ferraro along with his friends Hugo Rodríguez, Catherine Moran, Jacob Jeffer, and Tomás Grullón. All five were seen by Mrs. Evangelina outside her establishment shortly before she found her daughter in the condition mentioned. Do you have anything to declare, young Micheleangelo?"
Mica was speechless. Part of him was glad Sarah was all right. The previous afternoon, they had spent their time at Cat's house trying unsuccessfully to access what she called the Dimension again to look for Sarah, believing she had become trapped there like Jacob had.
On the other hand, he couldn't understand how Sarah had ended up in that situation. Almost kidnapped in Tavern's very own basement. Who could have been capable of doing that? They had all been together, and he hadn't seen any of them doing anything of the sort. It was terrifying to think that someone else might be involved in those... matters.
"Well?" Officer Corvo asked again.
"It's true that..."
"Shouldn't my son have the right to a lawyer?" his mother interrupted.
The officer looked at her, raising an eyebrow.
"Indeed, ma'am. He does have that right. But to be honest, I see this more as a prank between teenagers, and I'm only conducting the respective interviews because protocol requires it after Mrs. Evangelina insisted on pressing charges, so..."
"If she pressed charges, then this
prank
could mean legal trouble, correct?"
"That's right, ma'am. Depending on the results of the investigation and the judge's ruling. But we're talking about minor things here. A reprimand, community service at most. In the worst-case scenario, the restraining order Mrs. Evangelina is requesting could be approved."
"I still think he should have a lawyer."
Corvo sighed and began to stand. Mica wanted to say something, but what would be best for him? He could say yes, that they all gathered at Tavern to play, but that they hadn't actually gone inside the previous morning. What problems would that cause? A more thorough police investigation. They wouldn't be able to see Sarah while it was ongoing. What if he admitted guilt and claimed the whole thing had just been a prank, or part of the game? He didn't know what condition Sarah was in, nor what she had told the police. He didn't know what his friends had said—or would say—either. With so many thoughts running through his head, he let his mother handle it. After all, she would know best.
"Officer, I thought you were coming because of my husband. Do you know anything? Are you investigating?" his mother asked as she accompanied the policemen to the door.
"What happened to your husband?"
"I reported him missing a few hours ago. He didn't come home last night, and I'm very worried. You know, with all these disappearances..."
"A case is only considered a disappearance after seventy-two hours, ma'am. So we can't investigate anything yet. Besides, we're up to our necks in cases involving that, and we don't have time to..."
"Oh! But you
do
have time to harass some teenagers because an overly dramatic mother with a nervous disposition made a fuss, don't you?"
"Ma'am, I hope you have a pleasant rest of your day," the officer said politely, without changing his exhausted tone. "You will receive a summons requiring you and your son to appear at the station with your lawyer."
"Goodbye," his mother concluded, shutting the door in their faces. "Abusers!" she added before turning toward Mica, who was still sitting at the table, pale. "Son, it's very difficult for me to imagine you and Hugo doing what that girl's mother says you did. Much less sweet Catherine. But tell me, is it true?"
"No, Mom," Mica said. "I mean, it's true that we met up to play with her and..."
"While you were telling me you were playing at Hugo's house or studying with Catherine at the library, you were actually going to see a girl at a bar? Is that why you were coming home so late?"
Mica found himself at a crossroads. With everything involving the police, he hadn't thought about the excuses he had given his mother over the previous few days.
"It was in the bar's basement, and we weren't doing anything weird. We were just playing."
"And you tied the girl up?"
"No, Mom, of course not. We didn't know anything about that."
"Well... Obviously I believe you, son. But now we have to find a lawyer. And Lorenzo..."
"Mom," Mica began, his thoughts returning to his mother's conversation with the police officer. "What happened to Dad?"
"Nothing, honey. Surely nothing. It's just my nerves. Last night, he got together with his friends—you know, Tito, Ramón, and the others. They're probably still playing their campaign and haven't even realized it's morning already. It wouldn't be the first time he's done something like that. Just the first time in a very long time. But it's nothing. It's just my nerves, and all these disappearances."
By the time Mica arrived at the milkshake place, Cat was already there with Jacob. He had a can of soda in front of him, while Cat had a milkshake twice as large as usual. They were both sitting on the same side of the table.
"And what's he doing here?" Mica asked as he approached the chair, unable to hide his annoyance.
"Are you seriously asking that? He's part of the Adventurers' Group too," Cat replied, matching his tone.
"Yeah, but... In that case, where's Tomás?"
"I don't know. I don't have his number."
"Jacob, he's your friend, isn't he? Why isn't he here with you?"
"Sorry, I didn't think it was neces—"
"How not? He's part of the Adventurers' Group too," Mica interrupted, shooting him such a hateful glare that Jacob rose from his chair.
"Okay, okay, I get it." He started while he got up from the chair. "I wasn't trying to inter—"
"Sit down," Mica and Cat ordered at the same time.
"Okaaay," the boy said as the two friends exchanged sour looks.
"Ugh, I'm here, I'm here," Hugo said breathlessly, stopping his run beside Mica. "Cat... when... you called... the... they arrived..."
"Hugo, sit down and breathe."
Hugo obeyed his friend, and as he sat, automatically extended an arm to grab the can of soda Jacob had in front of him. A second before taking a drink, he realized the beverage didn't belong to someone he was that familiar with and gave its owner a look asking for permission. Jacob shrugged and nodded.
"Thanks, my dude," Hugo replied, just before drinking what remained of the soda in a single gulp and letting out a long burp.
"Disgusting as always..."
"Haha, I like him," Jacob declared, earning another dirty look from Mica.
"Just when you called me, the police showed up," Hugo began, explaining that they had given him exactly the same speech Mica and, apparently, Cat had received from the same tired-looking, forty-something officer.
Jacob then commented that they hadn't come to his house yet, but the others thought it made sense if it was the same person handling all of them.
"And what did you tell them?" Mica asked.
"Well... What else was I supposed to tell them?"
"That you needed a lawyer before discussing the accusation?" Cat said.
"Oh... But... wouldn't that make us look more guilty?"
"
More
guilty?"
"I mean..."
"Hugo, what did you tell them?"
"I-I think I need a lawyer to—"
"Hugo!"
"Everything! What else was I supposed to say? That it hadn't been us, that we knew her and did go to Tavern, but only to play. Or at least, that's what we
thought
we were doing, but that yesterday we'd confirmed we were actually transporting ourselves to another world, where James Howard had also disappeared, and probably Mr. No too, and that I was very relieved to know that at least Sarah was okay."
The other three stared at him with their mouths open in complete horror.
"You have to be joking," Cat said.
"Do you think I'd joke about this?"
"Buddy, I barely know you, and I already know you joke about everything," Jacob added. "There's no way you told the police that."
"Oh yeah? Do you have a lot of experience talking to the police? I suppose—"
"Hugo, stop," Cat interrupted him. "Did you seriously tell the police we transport ourselves to a Dimension where people disappear?"
"Uh... Yeah. Although the word
dimension
didn't exactly come to mind."
"We're doomed."
"And what did they say?" Mica asked.
"Well... He didn't say much after that. He just wrote it down in his notebook and said goodbye."
"Well, at least we know they think you're crazy," Jacob said, sounding more relaxed.
"What are we going to do now? What can
we
say?" Cat asked. "You don't expect me to say that nonsense in front of a lawyer... Yes, Rini, yes, I know it's real, but..."
"We have to convince Sarah to drop the charges," Mica said.
Cat sighed.
"Although, as Rini keeps telling me, this is the least important thing right now. Yes, we need to deal with the police. We won't be able to do anything if they lock us up."
"Oh, please. They're not going to lock us up," Jacob said. "I have... Some friends have done worse, and they didn't get locked up. A reprimand, and we're back out on the street. At most, they'll make us sign some paper and clean some park. Especially if we all go with Hugo's
insane
version. They'll think we're making things up and won't take us seriously."
"First, that paper they make you sign could prevent us from getting a place at a university. Second—"
"And what does university matter right now?" Mica interrupted. "The number-one concern right now isn't school, and it isn't the police either. Someone who knows about our
powers
..." He put the word in quotation marks with his fingers, but immediately regretted it when he saw Cat's expression. "...managed to pull Sarah out of her Dimension and kidnap her in the basement without her being able to do anything about it. And we're talking about Sarah."
"I support what Mica's saying," Hugo chimed in, now with an even more serious tone than when he had been recounting his episode with the police. "Sarah was in danger, and we know that at least one person has disappeared and died because of this whole parallel worlds or dimensions thing. This isn't a game anymore. And since we have Cat to intervene... It's our duty to do something."
"Wow. Inspiring, my dude," Jacob told him.
"Thanks, my dude," Hugo replied under his breath.
"Okay, okay. First, we talk to Sarah and figure out what we're going to do. But if she skipped school last time for no particular reason, what guarantees we'll see her tomorrow now that her mother is paranoid? ... And with good reason, of course."
"Well, a certain model student had a brilliant idea the last time we found ourselves in this situation," Jacob began in a sugary tone that made Mica's stomach churn and caused Cat to blush. "We sneak into the school's records and look up Sarah's information so we can go to her house."
"I second the plan," Cat said, though she was unable to return Jacob's gaze. "And I have a very good idea of how we're going to do it."
"That's why I li— I like your ideas," Jacob said approvingly, earning another murderous glare from Mica.