Torture was a mild term for what Celia did to me. I experienced the full brunt of her magic, so much more advanced than my own. Stuck inside the cocoon of gray tendrils, I experienced pain on a level that surpassed the Pain Rating Scale used at hospitals. It wasn't just the pain that was so terrible, Celia took my own memories and amplified them so that I relived them on a very realistic basis.

The first memory Celia pulled wasn't even mine. It was a phone conversation concerning Dad and his colleague, Bob. 

"I'm telling you, Bob," Dad was saying. "The specs show it to be there."

"I'm aware of that but when we sent the team in to investigate the anomaly, there was no evidence of it anywhere."

"Impossible. The readings can't be wrong."

"Nevertheless, when the team scoured the area in question nothing out of the ordinary appeared. Just rocks, trees, dirt, the usual stuff."

"The equipment says differently. There were spikes that proved the anomaly." Dad sounded urgent, almost desperate.

"If it was there, it's not there now."

"Where else could it be?" He ran his hands through his hair mussing every strand out of place. I'd never seen my calm, laid back Dad so nervous before.

"I can do a wider search of the surrounding area, but you're not going to like what I find. I really doubt we'll find the anomaly in question anywhere in the vicinity."

"Increase the scanning radius to one hundred square kilometers in all directions. Please Bob, do this for me."

"Will do. I get it I really do. You're wife is missing and you're certain it has something to do with this anomaly."

"I'd bet every last dime on this hunch."

"I see there's no talking you out of it. It would help if you could do the search yourself."

"I can't. I have a child at home. I can't risk her being taken too."

"All right. I'll get a report to you as soon as possible."

"Thanks, Bob. I owe you one."

"You owe me several for all the supernatural, paranormal missions we've gone on. You've run up quite a tab."

"I have one hundred thousand dollars in the bank. You can have it."

"I'll widen the search radius to over five hundred kilometers."

"You're the best." Dad hung up and got onto the highway. I saw the signs for San Diego up ahead. He was heading home to me. When Dad pulled into the driveway, I recognized the house from my childhood. We had moved when I was eleven to Silicon Valley where Dad worked with computers at a start up. 

The toys in the driveway belonged to a child old enough to ride a two wheeled bike. I spotted my old Ms. Susie, lying forlorn and forgotten in the grass. A ball, a hula hoop and a scooter added to the clutter. Dad just chuckled. He never minded the mess because I always got around to cleaning it up. Eventually. As I grew older, I became more mindful of my toys especially after I lost Ms. Susie.

I waited until he went into the house then opened the door. The handle was real, the door responded to my touch. When did this all turn into a dream? I picked up the doll and cradled her, remembering all the adventures she and I went on. Mostly to Alluvia but we traveled to other places in my imagination.

I gasped out loud. I remember now. Mom had come to take me to Alluvia. I had been so excited I'd left Ms. Susie behind. When I got home, I'd forgotten all about her, thanks to Mordok. I'd forgotten everything about Mom, Alluvia and the fact that I was her daughter. I barely remembered my Dad.

"Macy!" Dad shouted. "No!"

I didn't think. I ran into the house, up the stairs and to my bedroom at the back of the house. There I was, eight years old with a gash on my forehead, split wide from the magic Mordok had wielded. Mom was standing there by the bed in the act of leaving when Dad had burst in. 

"Lyra, I do not understand," Dad said hoarsely. "What are you doing here?" He gathered little me up in his arms. "What did you do?"

"I'm so sorry Anton. Truly." Mom looked terrified, an odd expression for me to see. "I didn't mean for this to happen."

"Where were you?" Dad demanded. "When I couldn't find you I went out of my mind."

"I know. I am sorry. I never intended to come back."

"What?" Dad's face went ashen. "Don't you love me and Macy?"

"I do. Very much."

"You have a funny way of showing it. Abandoning me and our daughter like this."

"It was to keep the both of you safe," Mom said with a catch in her voice. "That is all I wanted."

"Safe from what? My God, who did this to Macy? Tell me the truth."

"I- took Macy home with me."

"No. You promised you wouldn't take her there."

"I know. But she was so happy to see me that I did not have the heart to refuse."

"You call this keeping her safe?" Dad pointed at the gash on my forehead. He hauled me into the bathroom. Both Mom and I followed him, watching as he administered first aid to the wound. I remembered none of this. I was out of it when they'd had this argument. All I recall is when I woke up, Mom was gone. For good, Dad told me. Actually, he said she died when I was a baby. He implanted false memories in my mind so I wouldn't question him. But then the dreams came. Reality hit like a bucket of cold water. Dad knew about Alluvia. He knew everything! I'd been lied to by both my parents. "Who did this to her?"

"Mordok. She got in the way. She should not have followed me but she did. Mordok intended on killing me and Macy jumped in between us."

Okay. So that part was true. 

"You should have seen her Anton. She was so brave. She refused to allow Mordok hurt me even though her magic had not awakened yet. Why do you think I took her to Alluvia? So she could awaken her magic and become strong in it."

"What you did amounts to kidnapping Lyra. If Macy dies, I'll never forgive you."

"That is okay. I will never forgive myself for taking her there in the first place."

"Little good that does now. I need to take her to the hospital." He held me in his arms again. "And Lyra. Do not come back. Ever. I'll tell Macy you died when she was a baby. It would be better for her."

"I understand Anton." Mom deposited a kiss on my cheek. "Goodbye sweet child." A whoosh of the Portal and Mom was gone.

Dad lost it. He sobbed so hard, his tears ran like rivulets of water onto my tiny face. His heart was broken, having lost his wife twice in a matter of weeks. I cried too seeing him in such pain. I longed to hug him but as I stepped closer, I was pulled back into the present with Celia standing over me in Magician's robes.

"Blah, blah, blah," she said. "So touching. So droll. Let's see if we can't find something more interesting to look at shall we?"

"Maybe you had a lousy childhood with an absent father," I said. "But I didn't. Mine kept me close to him."

"At what cost? He lied to you about your mother. He took you away from everything you've ever known. Moved you miles away from the only home you've ever known. I hardly call him a father of the year."

"Better than yours," I spat out. "At least mine is not a murderer."

"He never killed anyone in his life!"

"Oh really? What happened to Bob? To the crew that worked for my Dad investigating the anomaly? I don't recall all the details but I remember the newspaper clippings I found after my Dad died. They were never found again. Why do I think your dad had something to do with it?"

"Bull. What would he want with a bunch of puny humans?"

"I'm sure I don't know. To kill them perhaps? Offer them as sacrifices?"

"What a riot of an imagination you have Macy. You know nothing of my father and his intentions."

"I know. But neither do you."

Celia snarled, the rage getting the better of her. "Time for another memory. Let's hope this one is more exciting. And useful. Has to be useful. I'm running out of time." With a flick of her finger I was sent to another time in my life when things didn't go so well for me.

I sat on my bed in my room at Cal Tech catching up on some homework. Cynthia and I lived in Graduate housing on the campus which afforded us all the luxuries of home. We rented a fully furnished apartment complete with a full size kitchen and a bath and a half. We frequented the Red Door Cafe as our favorite place to eat. 

My phone buzzed on my bed and I answered it. "Hello?"

"Macy, it's Uncle Mike."

"Hey, Uncle Mike. What's up?"

"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but your Dad died in a car accident an hour ago."

All the blood drained from my head. Dizzy, the phone slipped from my hand, bounced off the bed and landed with a sharp crack on the wooden floor. I could hear Uncle Mike calling my name. After the tenth, "Macy," I picked up the phone. "Please tell me you're joking," I whispered.

"I'm so sorry, Macy. I wish I were joking. I'm still in shock myself."

I couldn't breathe, my lungs constricted, emptied of air. "You said it was a car accident?"

"Yes. A twenty car pile up on the Los Angeles Freeway. He just happened to get pinned between a semi and an SUV. Listen Macy, don't worry about a thing. Your Aunt Cherise and I will take care of everything. I will let you know when we're having the funeral."

"I want to see him."

"Oh, Macy. You don't want to do that. I saw him. It was horrible. He was unrecognizable. You don't want that to be your last image of him. It will haunt you for the rest of your life."

"Okay," I whispered. I felt ghostly. Neither here nor there. Like I'd slipped in between this world and the next. "Thank you for calling. Goodbye." 

"Macy-"

I hung up, not letting him tell me anything else. I didn't want to hear it. An hour ago, I was looking forward to seeing him next weekend and now, he's dead. I'll never see him again.

I relived this memory from the inside out experiencing all the grief and the pain I felt that day like it just happened. I got lost in the grief, drowning in it forgetting who I am now. The sorrow pulled me right in until it consumed me. I sobbed, wailed and screamed so loud that Cynthia heard me from downstairs. Her footsteps came clomping up. She said nothing but grabbed me close and rocked me for as long as it took to get all the tears out.

"Daddy," I whimpered. "Daddy, come back." I felt like three people. The eight year old girl, the twenty something college student and me, the Theoretical Physicist slash Magician. I couldn't separate the three of us. All of the me's meshed together until I didn't know the past from the present.

I came out of the vision in a daze. The transition was so abrupt that my mind went blank and I didn't know anything.

"How boring," Celia said jolting me out of it with her brash tone. "So sad, too bad. I'm glad."

"Stay out of my head!" I yelled, anger rising. My fingers crackled. I clenched my fists letting the power build up in them. Then I touched the tendrils. They ran screaming for cover but didn't get very far when Celia twisted her wrist and sealed me in again. This was not over.