Angela's Point Of View;

I jumped awake at the sound of a slamming a door. I just had one of those horrible nightmares of my parents fighting because of me again. I only have them when I'm stressed and remembering the conversation with Camella's dad was enough to do that. That nightmare really reminded me of the real thing. When I opened my eyes trying to catch my breath only to find out that I was in a moving car in the passenger seat. The seatbelt was around me and Uncle Alaric was driving out of what looked like a gas station.

He must have noticed my sudden jump out of sleep as he asked, "Hey, I wasn't expecting you to be up just yet. You Ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine," I answered as my breathing was evening out.

"Really cause you look like you had a nightmare," he asked with concern.

"I dreamt about my parents," I admitted. This made him go silent for a while.

As I thought about it, I remembered that this Angela doesn't seem to have any parents. So he must have been wondering how in the world could she dream about them. Even if I did I'm supposed to be sad not look terrified. I do miss my mom but I kind of like being away from all the drama at home.

But at the same time, I was beginning to feel unsafe here. How is it possible for a hero to just go missing without a trace? What if I'm next? Somehow I need to track her with this microchip thing Misty told me about. There must be a way.

"Your caretaker, me or even Misty and his family could never replace your parents. But we'll always be here for you. Know that," Uncle said as I was thinking of how to get this task done.

Then he gave me a cheerful smile and I gave a smile back. It was nice to hear that but a feeling of guilt and sadness set in cause I knew I was not really the one who he meant that for. Soon as I find the real girl I'll have to leave cause there will be no more of a need for me.

"Where are we going now?" I asked as I looked out the window to avoid eye contact with him.

"Well, we still have that family reunion to get to. We're staying there overnight since our Grand Aunt is having it at her house until I can make reservations elsewhere. I don't want us to be out in the open like we have been all the time. I know you can handle yourself but I still want you to remain alert ok," He replied.

"Yeah Ok, how much longer till we get there?"

He continued, "Well, we should get there at least by 6. Which is good cause I want us to run some errands first. I have to get you to the optimist for your glasses. Then we're stopping off at the mall to get both you and Misty two new phones and I just got a text from aunt saying that I have to bring the desserts."

"Oh, that's really a lot to do. How'd you know we lost our phones?" I asked looking back at him.

"Well you just confirmed it but I first heard it from Misty when we were waiting for you. He also repeated it in his sleep not too long ago which reminded me." At that Uncle nod-pointed with his head to the back seat which my gaze followed. When I looked behind I saw Misty outstretched on the back seat. He wasn't snoring like before but I really was seeing his lips beginning to move but couldn't tell what he was saying.

"I guess he said that part really loudly," I said turning back to face forward.

"Yep, ok since you're already up we'll leave him in the car and we will get your glasses first." He stated as he was beginning to pull the car over.

"Are you sure it's safe to do that?" I asked because in my world leaving a kid in a car usually ends on the 6 o'clock news.

"You know the life support comes on automatically when it senses a person in it and I turned on the alarm. So he'll be fine," He answered. What is a car doing with life support? Not that it was a bad idea.

But I knew better than to question him on it because again I was made to understand that this world has a lot of high-tech stuff going on. And seeing the types of situations this Angela faces it made sense why the car would need something like that. First I have to survive this eye test thing. I already know my sight is bad and all those doctors do is rub it in by telling you how bad it is. Even worse, he might even want me to make a decision on a frame right away. Now I kind of wish Misty would wake up in time for this. He would at least have pointers on what type to look for.

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*Time skip*

Misty had woken up after I got my glasses and we were all hungry. So before we carried on with any more errands when we got to the nearest mall. It was huge like the hotel I was working at. After parking, we had to pass through a flat area where the floor was wet and little lights formed a mazelike path for some reason. But the minute we step onto it, water started to squirt from where the lights were on the floor making it more like a maze. It really was colorful to see considering that the mall was a place that I'd rarely ever been at. It stopped at the entrance and we took the left part that lead straight to the food court.

We took a seat near a window where we could still see the fountain water part outside. There was a large tablet built into the top of the table. Since I can see now with my glasses I could tell there were food items listed on it. When Misty and Uncle came, they selected by touch what they wanted, and the waitress bought it to the table. I had a vegan pizza for lunch. Even the cheese tasted different from the normal one that I'm used to. It was called vegan cheese on the It wasn't bad cause I liked it but I kind of missed the pepperoni. In fact, nothing meat related was on the menu.

As I ate I thought about how Uncle Alaric was really helpful in choosing a frame with me. It was green on the inside and black on the outer layer of the frame. He even suggested the transition lens. But since a thicker lens was what my eyes needed I felt more like a stereotypical nerd wearing it among them. Uncle took pictures of me wearing them in the optometrist's office even though that was the last thing I wanted him to do.

Even worse he showed them to Misty when we were having lunch as if staring at me with it on now wasn't enough of a humiliation. From the way Misty cared about his appearance, I thought for sure he would have something sarcastic to say. But surprisingly he didn't.

"I don't get why you didn't want pictures of you wearing them. It doesn't look bad but if you didn't like it, why didn't you just ask for contacts?"

"Um 'cause I can't put stuff like that in my eyes," I answered in a surprised tone because of his reaction.

"Then don't diss the glasses, it makes you look cool to me." He replied as he continued eating his slice of pizza.

"Thank you! I've been telling her that all morning," Uncle put in. I am glad that they were trying to make me feel better about it but it was obvious that they were flat-out lying to me.

"I think 'cool' is a bit of a stretch cause it'll take a lot more than new glasses to do that for me," I said as I tried to take another bite of my pizza. But I couldn't bear anymore more the kind I ordered.

"You have a bracelet that gives you the ability to stop bad guys. If that's not cool then I don't what it. 'And I know what's cool'," Misty answered.

"Said no one," Uncle added with a chuckle and Misty got defensive and started boasting.

"Well, I do! And my 27M followers agree with me. Speaking of which I need to sign back in and update my posts. When are we getting our phones?"

"Hmm I still have to buy some already-made desserts and we have a long way to go. How about we split up and I do that while you both get your phones yourself? You both took your bags from the car right, so use the cards I gave you," Uncle replied.

"When did you give us a card?" I asked as I closed my box of half-eaten pizza.

"Um, when we started this trip just like he always does," Misty answered instead.

"Yep, 'cause I know you both always manage to lose something and then need money to replace it," Uncle continued. That sounded like a cool arrangement but it left a final question that I asked.

"What happens if we lost the card?"

"Surprisingly that has never happened, yet. But just tell me so I can deactivate it. I trust you both to stay within the budget, looking at you Misty" Uncle said after finishing his drink.

"Yeah yeah, I hear you," Misty answered while taking my pizza box along with Uncle and his to the trash bin.

"Mhmm, anyway we meet at the fountain in 1 hour. Later kiddos" Uncle said as he got up to leave with Misty and I still in the food court.

I had no idea what the budget was and I was already shaking with anxiety thinking about having to converse with another salesperson. An eye doctor was enough for the day but now I have to make another decision. Not only that I had to somehow get them to track this microchip in another Angela's hand. I turned to face Misty but I saw he was gone already.

I stood up from the table and run out of the food court to look around the area. I saw him waiting for a brown door to open where people got out and he went in. It went up as I got closer to it. It was then I noticed it was like a hot air balloon when I looked up to see which floor Misty got out on. Again I haven't been to malls very much in my world but I doubt that it has this. It seemed to take the place of an escalator or elevator. It had so many of them lined off here with the ballon parts in varying colors of blue, red, and green. Yet it didn't have any stairs in sight so I had to wait for the next one if I was going to catch up with him on the 3rd floor. How can he just leave me down here by myself?

I managed to get into one of them and stopped on the floor I saw Misty get off on. I threw my head left and right only to see his signature purple hair as he turned a corner. I ran after him and I also called out when I was close enough to turn the corner also.

"Hey Misty, are you trying to ditch me or something?" He stopped and turned to face me with a look of surprise.

"No, I'm just really in a hurry to get a phone back. My shopping can't begin if I can't pinpoint where all the best sales are taking place. It's not like the first time we've been here," When I caught up to him we started walking together and of course, I had to bite my tongue again.

"Oh ok, so that's where we're going now, right,"

"Duh, but how come you're not as excited as I am? You love stuff like this," He questioned.

"I do? Oh um... Yeah just not in the mood," I answered hoping that he would just drop it there. This was getting exhausting. I could feel his gaze on me but he didn't say anything. His silence should be a good thing but I felt more nervous about it than relieved.

"What type of phone are you planning on getting this time?" He asked.

"Doesn't matter, I'm just glad to be getting one. But I don't suppose there is any way to get a phone or have them track a microchip without having to talk to a salesperson," I said looking ahead where I could see us coming near a place with clear transparent doors that looked like it sold all sort of technological gadgets in the display.

"I guess that's similar to the way we order food online and they come to your home and drop it off. But for what you're asking you have to go and find that out or maybe over live chat. But we're already here."

Listening to him explain that just made me think of how when you go into a hardware store to buy paint and they would give you a book of the color to choose from. In any case, you would be under the eyes of someone.

We had just gotten in front of the store when the clear transparent automatic doors opened. There wasn't anything surprising about it as I had expected from this world. It did have a lot of phones in glasses cases with different gadgets and a seat where customers could sit. Misty went in as confident as ever. I was thankful there weren't many people inside so there would be a better chance of me being able to talk to the sales clerk. There were only 2 of them with one being human and the other a moose both seated behind the information counter. The 3 customers were a human man roaming the display cases of phones and 2 women with one ironically laughing as they were both hyenas. They were dressed casually and sitting watching the phones in the other glass cases.

Well if that wasn't unsettling enough Misty called me over to where he was looking at different types of phones on display. He then went into a conversation with the moose sales clerk about the make and model of it. As he was doing that I was thinking of ways to ask how to track a microchip to the other clerk who seemed to be free. I moved closer and it felt like my voice was straining as I tried to speak.

"Excuse me, um ma'am" It wasn't a surprise that the human lady didn't hear me. But I took a deep breath then cleared my throat and tried again. "Ma'am Excuse-"

"Excuse me! Does this iPhone have a one-year extended warranty on it for water damage?" The man cut in front of me and started talking to the lady getting her attention.

Well guess I'll just have to stand up next to him and hopefully, then the clerk would notice me. Then one of the Hyena women laughed scandalously getting everyone's attention in the store. When all eyes were on them they revealed their weapons.

"Alright stick them up! This is a robbery if you haven't noticed Hahahahaha!" Shouted the Hyena woman who had the loudest laugh but you could sense the seriousness of it all in her tone.

"And no one is going anywhere until you all empty your cards and cash in the bag!" Said the other one who didn't have a laugh at all. Well, that's one way I haven't consider to get the attention of sales clerks.