New dream, new meeting.

After her first two encounters with Lorcan, she was already able to recognize the peculiarities of her dream world.

More than a particular detail, it was a feeling that gave away where she was, added to the fact that her last memory was going to bed after another brutal training session with Cadoc.

Of all the false scenarios that night was undoubtedly her favorite. The house Agatha had grown up in was waiting for her, specially decorated for the occasion.

Even if she could visit her parents' house at that time it would look different from the one in her dream. The living room of that house had the yellow wallpaper that she had drawn when she learned to hold a marker, instead of the floral one her mother put up last year. And one of the wooden chairs was replaced by her first chair whose pink color was as vibrant as twenty years ago.

The old tube television was showing the animated series that she loved to watch so much after returning from kindergarten. But it wasn't just any chapter, it was the Christmas special.

What day was it?

After spending so much time locked up in the demon mansion it was hard to tell.

The possibility that it was already Christmas was not so far-fetched. If that was the case then for the first time in her life she would be spending the holidays away from her parents.

Agatha walked over to the photo that was in the center of the table. Ever since the three of them took their first photo together, her father made sure to always leave one on the table so they could remember their good times every day.

That one kept a memory of Agatha's first day of elementary school. She couldn't remember much about that morning, but from what she was told, she had been talking non-stop about all the things she wanted to do and had even prepared drawings for what would be her new friends.

She missed them too much, she just hoped that Lorcan could keep his promise.

At least the scenario of her dream gave her hope.

The young woman hugged the photo and sat on the floor, by the fireplace. There she waited, watching the flames, until the sound of the front door opening filled the room.

"Look, it's our house."

Agatha jumped to her feet. That was her mother's voice, the one she had longed to hear for so long.

"It has the old decoration," William commented. "This is her dream? She should be around, right?"

The young woman ran in the direction of the voices, leaving the photo forgotten.

"Remember, you won't be able to see or hear her, but you'll know when she's here," Lorcan said.

The ability to hold back her tears left Agatha the instant she saw her parents. They looked like the last time they said goodbye to her in the same room they were at that moment, actually, they seemed much more tired.

She couldn't take it anymore.

Agatha lunged at the two of them, crushing them together in a big hug. She rested her head between her parents' shoulders as she wrapped one of her arms around each one.

"Here you are." William returned the hug with a big smile present on his face.

Next to him, Cara wouldn't stop crying. She wrapped one of her arms against her daughter's back as she tried to talk.

"My baby," she said after a while. "How're you? Did they do something to you? Are they feeding you well? Are you hurt?"

"She can't talk to you, sweetheart, well, she can but you won't be able to hear her. Don't drive her crazy with your questions," Mr. Loewen interrupted his wife. "You're going to make her nervous."

"I'm worried, can't I want to know how my daughter is? We can't all keep calm as well as you. Don't you want to know how she is?"

"Of course I do, but at least let her breathe."

Agatha tightened the hug, she wanted to let them know that she could hear them. "I'm fine, don't worry so much," she whispered.

She wished she could pass on her words and lessen the worries plaguing her family.

She did have a way to do it.

Agatha had been thinking about it ever since Lorcan mentioned that he could bring her parents.
She spent days and nights trying to perfectly remember the code that she and her father had invented when she was little. But sometimes when she crossed over into the dream world she forgot bits of reality.

"Please dad, remember how it worked," she begged.

The young woman placed her hand on the man's shoulder and began tapping her message. She looked at his face for any sign of recognition. Over and over she repeated the same message until William smiled.

"Do you want to know how we are?" he asked.

Agatha answered yes.

"She wants to know how we are doing," William told his wife.

"How do you know that?" She questioned him.

"Remember the Loewen code? Apparently our little girl hasn't lost her touch yet. It took me a while to figure out what the tapping was on my shoulder. Sorry about that, honey, your father is getting old."

"I never thought that passing on your Morse code obsession to your daughter and creating one of your own would come in handy in the future."

"I told you that we are geniuses, it never hurts to think about survival. Am I not right, honey?"

"Does that mean we can ask her questions and she's going to answer? Can we ask her what she knows about where she is?" Lorcan interrupted the family reunion for the first time. He had kept out of it until then, but the opportunity to gather information on Agatha's whereabouts prompted him to meddle.

"As long as it's not a very long message William can decipher it. But first I have to answer her question," Cara gave her daughter's back a gentle squeeze. "The truth is that we miss you, I spend most of the day thinking about you and your father, although he likes to pretend that he is a tough guy, he hides in the basement to see your childhood photos."

"Hey, don't make me look bad."

"It's not a bad thing to worry about your daughter. Other than that we're fine, we're in good health, we're doing well at work and luckily we haven't come across any demons so far. So don't worry about us. The important thing here is, how are you? And don't lie to me."

A few long minutes passed before Agatha responded. Telling the truth was not an option, if she were to mention how the demons had been treating her, both her parents and Lorcan would go crazy, and she wanted to avoid causing them more pain than they already felt.

Was she going back to her old ways? Asking for help was no longer seen as an option for her, once again she felt that she had to carry all the weight and solve her problems by herself. They already had enough worries as she'd hate to add more complications.

"Most of the demons stay away from me. I spent most of the day cooped up alone. I'm tired, I miss you all, and I want to go home, but I'm not as bad as I could be," William passed on the message.

"What do they want from you? There has to be a reason they're holding you prisoner," Lorcan asked, moving closer to Mr. Loewen.

"I think it has something to do with my power, they force me to train."

"What's the point of knowing what they want from her? Can we focus on her well-being? This isn't another of your daily cases with the Protectors." Cara raised her voice a little as she addressed Lorcan.

"I'm also worried about Agatha, Mrs. Loewen, but now I think the most important thing is to find a way to rescue her. We don't know how much longer the dream will last, we have to gather as much information as we can as soon as possible. Agatha, did you see anything that can help us locate you or do you know any other detail that you consider important?"

"I know how to make Zagar come to you."

"Zagar?" Asked Lorcan.

"That's Ellis's real name. He pays attention to all the details, it's hard to find a weak point, but he gets angry easily. I'm sure if you kidnap a demon and leave a message to let him know it's you, he's going to go find you. The more angry and threatened he feels, the more likely he is to act outside of his plan. I know it's dangerous for you, but that's all I could think of."

"No, it's perfect." Lorcan's eyes brightened again, for the first time since they began meeting in their dreams, Agatha was able to see the determined young man who was always ready for action. "Get ready to escape. I'm going to kidnap as many demons as it takes until that motherfucker comes out of hiding."