Behind the Avalon Springs police station was an ironic place for someone to be murdered. But Kaya was pretty sure Jordan was about to kill her in the parking lot behind the police station.

The small parking lot was overcast by shadows because of the buildings which surrounded it. An alley led out to Main Street. None of the buildings were tall. A haze of smoke still hung in the air from the police station chaos between Emily and Jordan only a short while earlier.

Jordan held the front of Kaya’s shirt, easily suspending Kaya off the ground. Kaya’s feet dangled several inches above the blacktop.

Jordan's face was red with anger, eyes narrowed. Blood covered Jordan's clothes, but not all the blood was Jordan's. Some of the blood belonged to the woman that Jordan had bravely protected Kaya from. How quickly things had changed. Jordan was no longer interested in protecting Kaya. At that moment, Jordan viewed Kaya as a target to destroy.

Kaya’s mind was flooded with emotions. Her father was murdered that morning. She'd seen his headless body. And before that Kaya had seen the impossible, the Famous Unicorn Creations Kitchen, located in downtown Avalon Springs.

Kaya would've thought all of this was a dream, except Jordan's hand gripping Kaya’s shirt make her throat and chest burn with the pain of fabric pulling tight.

Savannah and Abby were screaming at Jordan to put Kaya down. Jordan ignored them. Kaya couldn't blame Jordan. Kaya suspected this was her own fault. But at the same time Kaya knew she hadn't done anything wrong. She didn't believe she deserved to be punished. Things were very wrong in the world, yet somehow Kaya knew she was responsible.

"So friend," Jordan hissed. "Please explain to me why I don't know when your birthday is. And also, alleged best friend in the whole world, tell me why I feel compelled to protect you when I know almost nothing about you!"

Kaya knew the answer. At least Kaya knew most of the answer. She hadn't realized it earlier but now she knew. The hard truth was that Jordan was not Kaya's best friend. Jordan had never been Kaya's best friend. In fact, Jordan probably couldn't remember anything about Kaya. Even though Kaya knew a lot about Jordan.

Four months earlier, Kaya was being bullied by some teenagers at a local park. Kaya tried to walk away but the teens didn’t let her.

Kaya was an easy target for bullies, partly because she was the daughter of the police chief. That kind of parent often had pluses and minuses for kids attending school. One of the minuses was when a police officer did something bad, sometimes it was reported in the news. It didn't matter where in the country the bad thing happened, sometimes Kaya felt the backlash. Sometimes people would ask Kaya why her dad did such a terrible job... and how did she feel being the daughter of a monster?

Kaya somewhat understood the anger. She didn't like the killing of unarmed people, and she didn't like the killing or targeting of black people. Often times when it happened she felt backlash. Not all the time, but it did happen. Four months earlier was one of those times when Kaya felt the backlash. And it seemed that she might be in physical danger.

But then Jordan had stepped in. Jordan Spencer, star player for the girls’ basketball team, one of the coolest girls in high school, the soon to be junior, stepped between Kaya and the bullies. Jordan, who was already being heavily recruited by college basketball programs.

Jordan told the bullies to leave Kaya alone. The bullies stopped. Kaya thanked Jordan. Jordan said don't worry about it. Then Jordan walked away. And that was the only time that Jordan and Kaya had ever actually spoken to each other.

But overnight that relationship had changed. Kaya woke up, and Kaya was on the basketball team, and her best friend was no longer Abby … but Jordan Spencer. Yes, the coolest girl in school, the Jordan Spencer. Kaya wanted it to be true. Oh so badly she wanted it to be true. But it was a lie.

Maybe if Kaya had done something earlier when she realized that things were so very wrong, maybe her dad would still be alive. But it was hard to speak up when she'd gone from a kid in the bottom half of popularity in the school, to best friends with one of the coolest kids in North Carolina.

Kaya looked from Jordan's angry eyes, to Savannah's scared eyes, to her true best friend Abby. Abby also wasn’t on the basketball team. At least, not until things in Avalon Springs changed overnight.

Kaya decided to tell the hard truth. Even if it meant Jordan might kill her. Kaya would tell the important parts. There were other details that Kaya didn’t need to tell Jordan. For now only the big details mattered.

"I don't know what happened," Kaya said. "But I can tell you that you and I are not best friends. In fact, before today you probably didn't even know my name. But something very strange happened in this town. I don't know what happened. But I can tell you a lot changed since yesterday."

Jordan's anger softened. She lowered Kaya to the ground. Jordan still did not let go of the front of Kaya’s shirt, but at least Jordan was no longer holding Kaya off the ground.

"Okay…” Jordan said, slowly processing. “So you and I are not best friends … what else is different?"

"Well this town is not called Avalon Springs," Kaya said. "I can't remember what it used to be called … but it had a different name yesterday."

Jordan let go of Kaya’s shirt. The anger was completely gone from Jordan’s face. The red of anger faded, and the pale fear or being overwhelmed started to color Jordan's face.

"You ... okay," Jordan said. "What else?"

"Well the Famous Unicorn Creations Kitchen… it does not exist," Kaya said. "At least it did not exist yesterday."

Jordan took a step back.

"But I had my birthday party there…” Jordan said. "And the basketball team got pizza there after we won the state championship last year.”

"Those memories are fake."

"Why is this happening?" Jordan asked. “What else is ... different?”

"Well … before yesterday you were not the Queen of all Vampires … or the Queen of the Mermaids … or the most powerful sorceress in the world. However, you were and still are one of the best basketball players in the state of North Carolina."

“How did you know about the mermaids? Or the vampires? I haven’t told—”

“It’s a long story,” Kaya said, and her face flushed red. “I think what we need to do now ... is get to the Famous Unicorn Creations Kitchen.”

Kaya’s right hand started to shake. Her breathing started to quicken. Her dad was dead. Panic started to set in. If Kaya didn’t pull it together more people might die. You can do this, Kaya told herself. Come on ... you can do this. She blinked away the hints of tears in her eyes.

“What’s that?” Abby asked, and she pointed to the far corner of the small parking lot.

Next to a parked police car something shifted, like a ripple in the blacktop of the parking lot. The ground began to shimmer like sunlight on water. A bubbling circle of purple and silver energy, slightly larger than the police car, slowly formed. The circle of energy widened.

The police car dropped into the swirling energy.

And then something rose out of the bubbling energy.

Abby screamed.

Savannah screamed.

Kaya felt lightheaded, wobbled, tried to will herself to not faint.

Jordan growled, “What the HELL IS THAT!?”