Having to deal with Mikaela's mysteriousness really bothered me. I really hoped all of this would end there, but I never expected the weirdness would continue when I got home. I sighed as I jumped up on my bed.
"What have you been up to?" my brother asked when he walked into the room.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Where do you keep running off to?" asked Justin.
"That's... none of your business." I replied.
"Did you... get a girlfriend?" he asked.
"No, it's nothing like that!" I responded.
"Then what is it?" responded Justin.
"You wouldn't understand."
"So there is a girl..."
"That is not what I said."
I was getting nervous. Why was he suddenly talking about this? Everyone knew I was going somewhere, but I guess I really didn't think that far ahead. I should have known they would pry.
"Is that all you want to ask about?" I asked.
"It's just you're sometimes gone more than a day." said Justin, "And... there's that time you came home late on Halloween."
"Sorry, I just got real busy at school." I replied.
"You stayed at school that long?" responded Justin.
"Something like that." I said, "Are you finished now?"
"I guess." replied Justin, who then left.
I let out a sigh when he was gone. However, I had the feeling that the rest of the night would be a pain. My fears were confirmed when it was time for dinner.
"So, you've been seeing a girl?" my mother said.
"I never said anything like that!" I responded.
"What have you been doing?" she said.
"Well, you know that thing you signed me up for?" I said, "I've been seeing them. ...That's all."
"You should really tell us where you're going." my dad said.
If I told them the truth, they likely wouldn't believe me. I couldn't exactly tell them that I had been traveling to other worlds. To make things worse, I'd be gone for more than a day most of the time. However, as I thought about it, something was strange. None of them mentioned any of the strange stuff that happened on Halloween.
"So," I said, "a couple months ago, did you notice anything weird?"
"Weird?" responded Justin, "What are you talking about?"
"On Halloween," I said, "it was raining."
"Was it?" responded Justin.
"It wasn't normal rain." I added.
"It was coming down pretty hard that day." my mother responded.
"T-that's not what I meant!" I replied.
"What are you talking about?" asked my father.
"Did something... other than water fall from the sky?" I asked.
"You must have been tired." my brother said.
So, they didn't seem to notice any of the weird stuff going on that day. I was so confused.
"Never mind." I said.
"You really should tell us if you're going to be gone for more than a day," my dad said, continuing the conversation from earlier.
"I, uh... got it." I said.
This really was strange. Was my family just that oblivious or did they somehow forget about everything that had happened? The next day at school, I was stuck thinking about the conversation I had the night before with my family. I didn't really pay much attention in class. On the way out of school that afternoon, Jason found me.
"What's up?" he said.
"The sky." I answered.
"Is something bothering you?" he asked.
"What do you mean?" I responded.
"Well, you look like you've been thinking about something." said Jason.
"Um, do you remember anything weird on Halloween?" I asked.
"That's right," he said, "it was raining knives."
"And?" I said.
"That's it." he replied.
"So... what were you doing that night?"
"Staying with my family... making sure we were safe from the knives."
"Oh... so that's why you weren't with me fighting Miles."
"Ah, sorry I couldn't be there. If I'd have known... I would have shown up."
"You don't really seem that surprised."
"Jon told me about your encounter with him."
"I see."
"Why did you want to ask about the knives?"
"Oh, right. It's just... it's kind of hard to forget, isn't it?"
There's no way a normal person could forget about stuff like that.
"Your family didn't remember anything, right?"
"Yeah... how'd you know?"
"Mine doesn't either."
"Why though?"
"Jon told me that Miles wanted to hide he was in this world."
"...But we remember though?"
"He was able to use his powers to make those not involved forget."
"So only we remember?"
"Remember what?" a voice we were both familiar with said out of nowhere.
After turning around, the two of us saw Mikaela.
"W-what is it?" I said.
"What are you talking about?" she asked.
"It's nothing important." said Jason.
"Right. There's no way it would rain knives." she said.
"Huh?" I said.
"How long have you been here?" asked Jason.
"Somewhere around sixteen years." answered Mikaela.
"That's not what I meant." he said, "How long have you been listening to our conversation?"
"Oh, that." she said, "I just got here!"
"Then why did you say something about knives?" asked Jason.
"Who said anything about knives?" asked Mikaela.
"You did." he answered.
"I did?" responded Mikaela, "When did I do that?"
"Never mind." said Jason.
"Whatever." I said, "I just want to go home."
Well, the mystery had somewhat been wrapped up, but that didn't change the awkward atmosphere at home. Despite that, I was looking forward to whatever our next adventure would be. What I didn't know at the time was that our next outings would be connected to my past.