".....I see." Hal responded.

"Actually, I don't." he then said.

"I am very confused about all this right now." he told her.

"I would very much appreciate an explanation, but something tells me we don't have time for that." he went on.

"So I will do as you suggest." he continued.

"Is there a way to fix whatever is happening?" he then asked.

Hal was silent for a moment, before sighing.

"Right." he said.

"Well... do what you feel you must, then." he told her.

"I will make sure to try and avoid contact with people." he said further.

"...is there anything I can do to help you?" he asked.

"If not, then get moving and try and do something about this."

"......" Hal was silent for a moment after she left.

"Oh dear." he said, before sighing and sending her a text.

I will make it so that you and anyone with you can jump right to the lab. it read.

Meanwhile, inside the house, Cain paused for a moment.

"That was Erica, I think." he said.

"She's... outside...?"

"Yeah, sure." Cain responded.

"I'll go do that now." he told his mother.

He then stepped away from her, and proceeded to step outside, where Erica was.

"Erica?" he addressed her.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"You could have just teleported inside, you know."

".....hey..." Cain greeted her in response.

"Yeah, sure." he then said.

"But are you OKAY?" he asked.

"See... you did not look good. And you teleported out here, when you're capable of teleporting inside." he went on.

"What's going on?" he asked her.

"And why do you look so... strained and tired?"

"...that is concerning." Cain responded.

"And confusing." he added.

He then paused for a moment, and thought about it.

"Maybe something will come up in our work." he suggested.

"For now, we need to get TO work." he continued.

"Come on." he told her.

"Mom's already ready." he said, heading towards the house.

Cain watched as Erica did as she was directed, and looked to his mother.

"All right." he said.

"Let's get this started." he told her.

And sure enough, they did. It took about 25-30 minutes, but through their mixings and dealings, they had finished.

"All right." Cain said.

"We're ready!" he continued.

"Or, rather, that should be it." he went on.

"And... activating!" he declared.

With that, the quartz started to glow, and the next thing they knew, a translucent 'tether' of mana shot out of Erica's chest. One that looked black at first, but if one looked closer it would be an extremely dark navy.

"...what...?" Cain muttered.

"That... wait, what?" he asked further, obviously confused now.

Cain just sighed.

"To put it another way, it's... kind of like a paradox." he told her.

"As you can see, it's clearly leading towards someone else." he said.

"However... it's also leading towards... YOU." he went on.

"It's as though this tether things you're in two different places at once." he continued.

"But.. that would mean that there's someone out there with your EXACT mana." he reasoned.

"....which makes NO sense." he mumbled, thinking about it.

"Did we mess up anywhere?" he wondered further.

Cain was just silent, before sighing.

"I see." he said.

"...this is confusing." he mumbled.

"How would a duplicate happen?" he wondered.

He shook his head a little, and looking at Erica.

"Well, if you're going to follow it, follow it." he told her.

"I need to clean these things up."

"....uh, hello again." Jake said, darting his tongue out slightly.

"Yeah, sure, in you go." he told her, buzzing her in.

"Again, you know the drill." he said.

"...then again, your body pretty much says that FOR you." he muttered.

"It's outright dangerous in there." he commented.

"Then again, from what I've heard, seems the outside world's no better."