Victoria's here.

Kat crosses her arms as she looks at Victoria suspiciously. Beside her is her Mentor, a well-dressed man in a gray suit and red and black tie. He has a rounded face, blonde hair, and dark blue eyes.

The Mentor glances at Victoria then returns his gaze to Sunshine. "Victoria just told me about your running commentary."

"You mean my.... camera? Um- yeah."

"Look." The Mentor and Victoria get closer. Kat takes the camera. "That machine-" He looks at the screen, "it's not gonna save you from the Markon."

"I- already figured that out," she says, looking the man up and down.

"Sunshine," Victoria scolds. "You need to listen to your Mentor. He's here to help you."

He narrows his eyes and adjusts his tie, circling around Sunshine and inspecting her.

"Okay," Sunshine says, trying to ignore the weird dude, "I'm sorry, I'm listening, I just..." She sighs.

The Mentor frowns as he returns next to Victoria's side. "We've got a long way to go."

Sunshine raises a brow. "What, you don't—" She looks down at her shoes sarcastically. "Like my outfit?"

"Sunshine," Kat says.

She grunts and rolls her eyes. "I'm sorry, it's all so weird, it's— very formal. I feel judged."

The Mentor sighs. "Well, we can train you soon. Right now, we just need to make sure that you're strong enough. This demon, it's very powerful. And- I mean- if you don't defeat it..." He looks at Victoria. "We could lose Anna."

Demon.

Demon as in....Groundling...? Jesus, she has absolutely no idea what's going on. Seriously, even just that word fills her with immense dread. Sunshine looks at her mother to make sure she's fine before looking back at the Mentor.

"It waits for you as well," he says.

"Wait." Sunshine looks at Victoria. "Is this the same demon from the ritual?"

"No. That- that was a lesser demon," the Mentor explains, shifting his weight. "This one? It doesn't care about family history, your ritual, or bargaining. This one- it- it's patient."

"Great," she mutters.

"Look. Right now, the most important thing is just making sure that you're powerful enough. Otherwise? We'll surely fail against this demon." He touches his chest. "And, if we fail, we could lose you, we could lose Anna."

"Well...so, what should we do?" Her mind is reeling, trying to figure out the best course of action. Sometimes Sunshine really wishes she wasn't a Luiseach.

The Mentor leans closer to Victoria and mutters something, but it almost looks like they're talking without speaking or something. He nods and shifts away. "I think- I'll bring over a couple ghosts."

Victoria nods.

"What?" Kat says.

"Just- just to hone her skills," he explains gently. A sigh as he looks at Victoria. "She's gonna be hard to train. She's young, and she has a lot of distraction. And- honestly- I'm not even sure if she's the one to save Anna." He adjusts his tie again. "But, only time will tell."

Victoria nods tersely, looking at Sunshine as she walks by. "She'll be ready." They both head toward the front door.

"Wait, where are you going?" Kat asks.

Neither respond, exiting without another word.

"That's it?" her mother says, turning toward Sunshine. Kat scoffs. "What do you mean send over a ghost or two?"

Sunshine cocks a brow. "Did you hear what he said about me?"

"Well- yeah, I was here, but.... what?"

"I don't like him already, he's very nervous and..." She moves her hand. "Fidgety, and...weird, I dunno."

Kat sighs. "Very weird."

Very weird indeed.
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They're just sitting in the living room, watching TV, when there's a noise upstairs. Sunshine faves the camera towards she and her mother, frowning.

"Do you think it's Anna?" Kat asks.

"I don't know. Could be anything."

"Try calling her."

Sunshine breathes in. "Anna, is that you?" She stands up.

"Wait," Kat says. "Where are you going?"

"Well- we can't just sit here."

"Maybe this is the training the Mentor was talking about."

"I don't really think that's what he meant."

Kat stands up to and flanks Sunshine. "Well, he said he was gonna send ghosts over!"

"Yeah, and he said he was gonna hone my powers." She looks dubious and turns the camera around, walking toward the kitchen.

"I think maybe this is the honing part."

"I don't think so." She reaches for that feeling in her gut and clamps down on it, thinking about how effortlessly it worked when trying to find Nolan in the warehouse. Now, it seems like a dull flame, trapped and small and unable to even flicker.

It kinda sucks, but maybe less so if she can stop seeing Mr. Weird Mentor.

They make it to the base of the stairs and begin to walk up, Sunshine leading. "Anna?" she calls again, really really hoping that it's Anna and not another demon. Yeah, that's great, let's get Mom possessed again! "Are you there?" Silence. "I don't hear it anymore..."

Now upstairs, Sunshine frowns. "Anna?" She turns to look at the base of the stairs. "I feel like that door's gonna close."

"What?" Kat turns as well. "Why?"

"I don't know. I just do."

The door slams and wind sweeps up into their faces. Kat jerks back, caught off guard, but Sunshine manages to breathe in calmly. Okay, maybe her power still works, at least a little bit.

Kat looks at Sunshine. "How did you know that?"

"I don't know." She feels far away, like she can't even hear her mother's voice. Everything is rushing to her skull and the headache is growing. "Anna? Are you there? Can you open the door?"

"What?" Kat mutters, more to herself than anyone.

The door handle clicks and it swings open, gentler than before. Sunshine makes her way back down the stairs, trying to smile. "Anna."

"Get out of my house," something snarls in her ear, and the door slams shut right in her face. The lights flicker out and Sunshine is knocked off of her feet. A wail rips from her throat and she hears Kat scream as she hits the ground.

"Where are the lights?!" Kat exclaims, rushing forward to open the door. Sunshine scrambles to her feet and follows, heart pumping out of her chest as they return to the living room. "What was that?! Why did she turn off the lights?"

"I don't know," Sunshine says. She stares at her mother and feels... dissociated. Like she's not even on the same plane as Kat. She didn't hear what I did. That was a man's voice.

"I don't think that was Anna," Kat whispers.

"Whatever it is, it's angry.... much angrier."
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Sunshine is standing outside because she wants to talk to the camera without her mother hearing. She received a pretty weird phone call from a guy. He left a message but Sunshine didn't answer. She doesn't answer numbers she doesn't know. Safety, y'know?

Anyway. She listened to the message and he claimed to know her father and said he really wanted to see her and he was ill and— well, Sunshine can't even remember all of it, but it was a long message.

It was weird. Kinda creepy. She eventually called back and no one answered. They didn't even have a voicemail.

She's really not sure what to think.
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Sunshine hears a noise at the door. She narrows her eyes when something seems to slide up against it. "M- om?" she asks, trying to control her fear and push it out of her voice. She's fine! She isn't a little girl! She's a Luiseach, she has Victoria and the Mentor and Kat and Nolan and Uncle Tommy on her side.

She's fine.

"Mom," Sunshine says, putting more force into her voice. "What are you doing?"

The sliding noise begins again.

Sunshine doesn't think it's her mom.

The door jerks forward like someone is trying to open it. She curls her legs up and stares. "Anna? Anna, what's wrong?"

"Get out of my house." The lamp beside Sunshine throws itself from her dresser and falls to the ground. She jumps to her feet and backs away, listening for another voice. Nothing.

She opens the door and peers outside.

Nothing there, either.

She really doesn't know what's going on.
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Uh, so, it's super early and Nolan just decided to drop by. He's acting weird — weirder than usual, which is saying a lot — and has something to tell her.

He's probably just being dumb.

"Go ahead," she says, watching him pace back in forth in the usual black leather jacket.

"Sunshine," Nolan says, continuing to tread in the living room, "I hang out with you a lot, right, on your adventures and stuff?"

"Yeah..."

"That's fine. I'm happy to do it, right? You're my friend. Okay?"

"Okay..."

"But when I sleep? That's my time." He leans forward and stares at her. Sunshine raises her brows. "Okay? When I'm unconscious, I can't—" He waves his hands around his head, "be worrying about all of this stuff, I need, y'know, to regain my energy. Rebuild— cells, that sort of thing."

She watches him, unamused.

He sits down across from her and places his palms together on the table. "I can't be dreaming about all of this." Nolan looks around the living room. "Okay? I need a break once in a while, even if that's in the middle of the night."

"You're— dreaming about what?"

Nolan leans back in the chair and looks at her for a minute, contemplating his words. "About—" He raises his arm and it drops back on his leg. "You. And— your dad. And—" He looks forward, probably imagining it in his head, "a weird— pooch lookin' thing on the— leash, with horns."

"What?" she asks, shaking her head in confusion. "You have dreams about me? That- that's a little creepy. You shouldn't.

He looks at her, saying nothing for a moment. "Yeah, well, y'know, uh. Pfft. Sorry about that." Nolan leans up again. "Sorry if that offends you. But— I don't enjoy them either, okay?"

"Okay. 'Kay."

"Look, what went down was—" Nolan clears his throat and stares forward, squinting, "there was your dad." He pushes his hand into a ball, like he's holding a leash. "There was a— little dog."

"Okay, a dog."

"With, like, wings and— weird stuff, it was on a leash, and— he kept saying, y'know—" Nolan taps the table with a finger. "'We're coming for you.' Just, over and over again." He frowns, not looking at her. "I don't like it. It makes me uncomfortable."

"Okay, I got that," Sunshine says, glancing back at his narrowed gaze. "Is that it? That was all?"

He shrugs. "Yeah, I mean I'm- there- there were other things that don't, y'know, apply, there were clowns, and—" Nolan scratches his forehead. "I was flying at one point, and— the Grand Canyon—"

"Okay," she tries to interrupt, because she doesn't really care about this part.

"A lot of it actually wasn't so bad, it was just, y'know." He glares at her. "Overpowering. The abrasiveness with which that dream overshadowed all the others."

"Okay, I get it." She sighs. So Nolan had a dream about her dad and they're— coming?

She really just doesn't know anymore.

idk exactly what's gonna happen after this part bc there's some things i wanna change and cut out soooo stay tuned for that

-this note here was sumn else but i changed it bc i have new plans that are not a part of the original videos but that's ok bc i knew i was gonna add something new in at least when i started. so get ready (;