What an adventure

Chapter three: Old friends?

"The what!?"

"The Overworld. Let me go grab Beatrice and Ophelia, they've been awaiting your arrival." Althea grinned and ran out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Nick slowly got out of the bed and walked over to the door, he creaked the door open and when he realized that the coast was clear, he shut it and made a sprint for the window. He tried to open the window but it didn't budge.

"Stupid window, open!" He continued trying to open the window but it didn't even move an inch.

When he heard someone coming back to the room, he panicked and got back into the bed. There was a knock at the door and Althea entered. "Great, you're still here. Here is Beatrice and Ophelia." She opened the door wide and moved out the way. A tall lady with pointy ears stood in the doorway, she looked to be in her thirties, while the girl next to her with selkie-like ears and diamonds painting her cheeks stood next to her looking to be Nick's age. Unlike Althea, the moment the selkie-eared girl saw Nick, her smile turned into a scowl.

"See guys, he's fully conscious."

"Althea, sweetheart, he looks to be in shock, maybe let him rest some more. We'll bring him some tea and some new clothes."

"How about we see what Nick wants!"

They all turned to look at him, Nick froze. "Uh...I just wanna know what's going on..."

The taller lady smiled softly "Well how about I talk with Nick while you two prepare dinner."

The Selkie girl nodded and pulled Ophelia out of the room.

The taller lady walked over to Nick's bed and sat down at the foot of the bed, she looked over to Nick and smiled. "No need to sit so far, I don't bite."

Nick laughed nervously, "Are you sure about that?" He got out of the bed and sat next to her.

"So, what is it that you're confused about?" She asked.

Nick scratched the back of his neck nervously, "Practically everything, everything is so confusing. Who are you guys? What am I doing here?"

"Well...Who we are is a long story, just know that we were a part of your childhood. I'm Beatrice, I looked over you for some time when you were younger. The other person that Althea introduced to you is Ophelia, she and you were good friends. And you already know Althea, another one of your good friends. Though, as it seems, you've lost all of your memories of our world and what happened when you were in it."

Nick nodded slowly and spoke, "What about why I'm here in the first place? Do you know the answer to that?"

Beatrice shook her head, "No, we never knew that it was possible to have you come back. The universe may have brought you here for a reason. And from what I heard, another human had appeared here just a few hours before you."

Nick's head rose quickly, he had a clue as to who that person was. "Do you know what the other human looks like?"

"I only heard that the human had a peculiar scar on the face, nothing else."

Eli.

"Do you know where he might be?"

Beatrice nodded her head, "I may know where he could be but to get to him is the hard part. Do you possibly know this other human?"

Nick nodded his head, "Yeah, if it's who I think it is, yeah."

Beatrice smiled, that's when she got an idea. "How about- what was that?"

There was a sudden crash that came from the kitchen, Beatrice told Nick to stay in the room as she walked out and walked into the kitchen.

Of course, Nick didn't listen.

He got up from the bed and stealthily ran out of the room. He looked around and spotted a room down the hall with its door left open. He walked over to that room and entered it. The lights were off and the window was covered by some shades. He ran over to the window, moved the shades, and tried to open the window. This time, it opened. He quietly celebrated and opened the window all the way. As he began climbing through, he accidentally knocked something off of the bedside table. He looked over to see what had fallen, it was a box.

Nick stopped climbing through the window and picked up the box. He chose not to invade anyone's privacy so he just set it back on the bedside table. What was under the box had caught his eye.

He picked it up off the ground and examined it.

It was of a bunch of kids, there was a lady there as well, she looked like Beatrice but...younger.

Nick sat on the bed, he looked all over the photo, that's when he spotted his younger self in the far right. Though, he doesn't recall this moment. As he was trying to figure out the story behind the photo, the door opened.

He whipped his head over to see Althea standing in the doorway.

"I uh, I...I was looking for the restroom and-"

"Nick, you don't have to lie. That picture, you wanna know who's in the picture?" She asked, she walked over to Nick and sat next to him.

She looked at the image and pointed to the tall guy on the far left, right next to Beatrice.

"That is Argus, doesn't speak and no one other than Iris knows what his eyes look like. Who is Iris? Iris is the girl next to him, Beatrice's daughter. She's got a son too, the guy standing in front of Iris. His name is Finn."

Nick stared at the picture, letting all of the new information process. Once it all made sense to him, he started asking the questions.

"Ok but, where are those three now? And...who's the kid next to you? They look just like you but with tiny horns and shorter hair."

Althea's ears went tightly against her head like a sad dog.

"Uh...well..." she hesitated to speak. She was never able to get her sentence out because Ophelia walked into the room.

"They're all gone, and that kid next to her is her twin, Alvaro. Figured you would remember him since you guys had such a great bond. Alvaro is gone as well, or he might as well be." She continued to look at Nick with a scowl.

Nick set down the picture and walked over to Ophelia, "you got a problem with me or something?"

Ophelia grinned, "no-no, why would I have a problem with you after you left unexpectedly and returned fourteen years later completely unannounced, and then you just go through the crap that isn't yours."

Althea ran over and got in the middle of them, "Stop it, you two. Acting so immature."

Ophelia forced a smile and put her hands up in surrender. "My apologies, I was out of line. Dinners ready.'' She turned around and walked back down the hall.

Nick smiled back, obviously forced, "No no, it was my bad."

Althea looked at them both with an unamused expression, it was too obvious how fake those two were being.