When morning came, Daniel sat on the couch, bleary eyed, clutching a pouch of energy gel in his hand as he stared into space. He hadn’t quite recovered from last night’s shock, but he was doing his best not to think about it. That technique had served him well so far.

  Right on cue, the automatic feeder whirred to life and deposited the morning’s food into the food bowl. The creature appeared out of nowhere and scuttled enthusiastically towards its breakfast. Daniel watched blankly as the creature shoveled brown pellets into its mouth, pausing only to suck water from the water bowl with its proboscis. As he looked on, he suddenly realized he had forgotten something. Something very important.

  The creature’s food was running out! And he had other groceries to buy.

  Daniel looked to the close to empty automatic feeder and got to his feet, stretching his body tiredly. He checked his phone for the shopping list and the time. It was around 9:15 am, and he didn’t have a lot to buy. But it would be better than being alone with his thoughts.

  Suddenly, his doorbell rang. Daniel looked over and frowned. He wasn’t expecting any company today. He wondered who could be at the door, but the visitor seemed rather impatient – he had only paused to think, but they rang the doorbell again in that brief time. Sighing, he decided to amble over and open the door.

  The first thing he saw was a head of glossy brown hair, done up in a tidy ponytail, and a hand raised to his doorbell. Looking further down he saw a set of hazel eyes lit up with surprise, and a face mask covering the bottom half of the visitor’s face. Judging by their height and build, it looked to be a girl of around 14. She had a pair of sunglasses tucked into the pocket of her white hoodie.

  The girl’s eyes took on a serious look as she pulled her mask down to speak.

  “I need to talk to you. Can I come in?” She asked abruptly.

  “Uh, no?”

  The girl looked at him in disbelief, as if she hadn’t anticipated rejection.

  “Sorry, let me try again.” She said, taking a moment to compose herself. “My name is Penelope Pepper.”

  Daniel waited for her to continue, but she seemed to be waiting for him to say something.

  “Alright, what can I do for you, Penelope?”

  The girl looked bewildered and paused to think.

  “I need your help, to save someone’s life.”

  “Sorry, I’m feeling pretty under the weather today, so I can’t donate blood.”

  “You- Oh my god!” The girl said, clutching her head.

  He was starting to feel bad, but he had to be careful. Scams came in all forms these days. Grimacing, the teenage girl reached into her hoodie and fished out a familiar looking ring.

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  “Look, you should recognize this, right?” She said, holding it up to show him. “I need you to-”

  Daniel slammed the door shut. The girl started banging on the door and yelling as he dialed Michael’s phone number.

  “Sorry Michael, but someone’s outside my apartment... I think it’s one of yours.”

  10 minutes later, Daniel and the girl sat opposite each other around his coffee table. Penelope was on the couch, glaring at him without her mask, and Daniel was on a chair he had pulled from the kitchen. Michael and Petra were also on the couch, staring at the grumpy girl with starstruck eyes.

  “...Michael?” Daniel said, trying to get his attention.

  “Sorry, Mr. Daniel.” He said apologetically. “It’s just... it’s Penelope Pepper!”

  “Uh... yeah, that’s who she said she was.”

  “Come on Daniel, don’t you watch TV? She’s huge! She makes her own songs and she's on every show!” Petra cut in, wings shaking in excitement.

  Daniel shot her a look.

  “Ahem, sorry.” She coughed.

  At least the fairy had some measure of guilt about the whole thing. As the young pixie floated sheepishly in the air, Daniel internally sighed in relief. It was good that her wings had grown back properly. Clearing his throat, he turned to the teenage girl.

  “So, miss Pepper, what exactly do you want from me?”

  That’s what he was most curious about. He was the farthest person from showbiz he could think of, and he’d done his best to steer clear of the whole Princess War thing. The young girl hesitated for a moment before speaking.

  “This might sound strange, but... Have you had any weird dreams lately?”

  The girl met his eyes and flinched. Michael and Petra did the same not far from her.

  “Mr. Daniel, your face...” Petra whispered.

  He reflexively returned to a neutral expression as he grabbed his jaw. Looking at their reactions, he wondered how bad it must’ve been just now. Daniel frowned. He supposed he was more affected by that than he’d wanted to be.

  “Sorry,” the girl said softly. “You see... I’m an alien. You must have seen at least a few of them by now.”

  She threw a pointed look at Petra the fairy, and then held up her arm. Before their eyes, her hand seemed to slowly deform into a glass-like substance that shone in the sunlight, refracting it in a rainbow of colours.

  “My race is gifted with the ability to manipulate dreams and look inside them. Our... The people we put under our spell usually don’t know they’re in a dream. I’ve been searching for someone who can tell something is wrong. Someone who can break the illusion.”

  “But...” There was a lot to unpack there, but he focused on the important bits. “Ok, why would you do that?”

  “I need you... to free my partner from their dream.”

  Daniel tilted his head in confusion, and the girl lowered her head apologetically.

  “I’m sorry, I can’t explain it any better right now. But you’re the only person I’ve found, the one to break the dream the fastest by far.”

  “Of course we’ll help!” Michael said, jumping up from the couch. “Isn’t that right, Mr. Daniel?”

  Daniel frowned. He didn’t exactly have a good impression of the girl due to the whole dream manipulating business. Noticing this, the girl quietly exhaled, reaching into her pocket and putting her ring on the coffee table with a light tap.

  “Please. Help me, and I’ll give you this.” She said, pushing it towards him. “My right to be on this planet... will be in your hands.”

  “Wait, wait, wait,” Petra said, eyes whirling from the ring to the girl. “You can’t just- Oh wow, this is so exciting!”

  As the fairy hovered closer towards it, it began glowing in proximity to her own ring. Daniel looked up from the glowing ring to the brown-haired girl’s eyes. There was a resoluteness to her gaze, but an underlying fear as well. She was desperate, and afraid he would say no.

  Daniel sighed.

  “...I never said I wasn’t going to help.” He got up from his chair and walked towards his bedroom. “Wait here a second.”

  “Where are you going?” Michael asked.

  “To change my clothes.”

  This wasn't something he could handle while wearing his lounging outfit.