I knew he had said that to try to calm me down, but I also knew that he might as well be in my room since at night, my room would be dowsed in shadow. I would still be a prisoner. But then, I’d be a prisoner either way. I could just choose my cell. Here in the Shadow World? Or at home where things were at least familiar?  I hadn’t been home in so long…

“Fine,” I relented, “I accept your terms,”

Nodding imperiously, he raised his arm and the shadows seemed to come alive, swarming around him. He could twist and manipulate them any way he chose. He wrapped us up in his shadows, and once again, darkness overtook me. But I braced for it, and met it head-on. This time, I didn’t black out.

In the darkness before, there had been nothing. I had been surrounded in a filmy black darkness that left me floating in nonentity, and there was a sense of timelessness. This time, traveling with the Shadow Demon, the shadows swirled around us like living creatures. I saw color; the outside world, I realized. It flashed by us in a colorful blur.

Strangely enough, I didn’t feel motion sick or even dizzy watching it. Whether that was because I had a system that could deal with it, or because I had the Shadow Demon prince standing behind me with his arms wrapped around me-steadying me- I had no idea.

In a matter of moments, the shadows that had flitted around us, evaporated and disappeared. I found myself blinking rapidly against a very bright sun. Everything was so bright after being subject to such darkness just a while ago. When my eyes finally adjusted to the light, I gave a whoop of joy.

There was my house! MY HOUSE! It was standing right in front of me, untouched and unchanged since I had left it. How long ago had it been? But it was there! Jumping up and down in excitement, I whirled to Alan, and clasped him in a rib-crushing hug before hurling myself towards the veranda and bolting inside.

Nothing had changed! My waffles were still sitting there waiting for me to eat them (although I decided to throw them out. I mean I hadn’t been here in days.) I ran up and down the stairs opening and shutting doors and checking on everything. I finally collapsed in a delirious, happy heap on my bed and relaxed into the comforting, familiar mattress.

“I didn’t expect you to be this excited to be back here,” noted Alan gazing steadily at me. I didn’t even jump in surprise on discovering he had simply appeared in the doorway without making a sound.

“To me, it’s home.” I clarified, “To you, it’s just a house.”

“That’s true enough,” Alan glanced around my room not particularly interested in anything.

“I am just so happy to be back,” I sighed, “I haven’t been here in…(I paused)…I don’t even know how long.” Then what I had said actually sunk in and I sat bolt upright looking like I’d been hit by a Semi-truck.

“What is it?” Alan asked glancing at me strangely. I could tell why he’d look at me weirdly. I was so ecstatic one moment and then desperate the next. He must be wondering if I was bipolar or something. Not that I cared what he thought of me, but nobody wants to give wrong impressions of themselves to other people unless they’re hiding something.

“I don’t know how long I’ve been gone!” I cried, “What if my friends have sent out search parties for me? What if school has started and I missed it?! What if I got fired from my job?” I scurried from the room and over to the computer in my office next to the kitchen.

“I don’t see why it’s such a big deal,” Alan told me bluntly, “And another thing, how can you live in a shack like this? There are no servants or scouts, or wards…this place is like, prehistoric.” Did I just think I heard sympathy in his voice for my ‘poor’ living conditions?

“Yes, it is a big deal, and what do you mean how can I stand it here? I couldn’t have afforded it without Kame. I’m an orphan. Ever since I was little, I had no prospects. But I was permitted to receive an education by the government, however I didn’t have anywhere to live and I had to survive on the streets for a time. But then I met Kame, and he bought this house for me.”

I caught myself. He didn’t need to know about my pitiful past. I had never told anyone that. Why was I suddenly telling him that? And the memories of Kame, brought an aching pang to my chest. I turned my focus to the computer and looked at the date. A WHOLE FREAKING MONTH HAD PASSED!

“No way!” I yelped, “I couldn’t have been gone that long, could I?” I rounded on the only other one here-Alan.

“I was only at Jonghyun’s a week, and Jin’s a day or two right? I couldn’t have been floating in the shadows for over a week, could I? And you! Meeting you and deciding to come home couldn’t have taken a month to figure out!”

“Alan put a hand on my shoulder to calm me down and stop me from hyperventilating. I immediately started taking deep breaths, but my eyes were still wild. What would my friends say if I just showed up randomly at school? What should my story be? I needed to come up with a believable lie instead of the crazy truth that would land me in a nut house.

Beside me, Alan perched edgily on the edge of my desk as though afraid of all the germs that could be on it. That made me mad. Here I was in the middle of the biggest crisis of my life, and he didn’t even