".............." Vincent was silent as he heard the footsteps, the voice, as his vision started to correct itself.

"....ngh... Rowena...?" he asked quietly, before shaking his head slightly.

"No..." he mumbled.

"....A... Alice...?" he then asked.

"Alice, is... was... am I hallucinating...?" he muttered aloud.

"Your mother... check... check on your mother..." he then said.

"...............I did." Vincent said.

"Alice..." he then addressed her, trailing off some.

"I have a question." he said.

"You're talking." he commented. "How?" he asked.

"Your mother and I were sure you were mute." he said further.

"Did something happen? Or have you been actively choosing not to speak to us?" he asked her.

".....Vicki isn't Vicki?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" he asked her, as he got to his feet.

"......." he was then silent, thinking on what was said to him.

"...a shapeshifter...?" he mumbled.

"Are they getting more sophisticated in their mana mimicking?" he wondered, before his eyes widened.

"Oh, Lord, Rowena's alone with it!" he exclaimed, quickly rising to his feet... and swiftly regretting that decision, as he almost fell back over immediately.

Vincent looked at Alice confusedly.

"Right, something is going on here." he said.

"Vicki is acting strangely, Rene was being weird and mysterious, you're saying this about Vicki, you're actually TALKING..." he listed off, before pausing and sighing.

"That last one is probably unconnected..." he mumbled.

"But I'm fine." he told her.

"Just rattled."

Vincent watched her go off, and raised an eyebrow.

"...today has been a very strange day." he said.

He then took a moment, breathed deeply a few times, and then sighed.

'Right.' he thought. 'I should check on Rowena. Or at least, her workshop.' he told himself. 'See what the damage is, anyway...' he reasoned.

He really hoped that Rowena was all right. Usually she was fine after things went bad in her lab, but the warning from earlier made him unsure this time. So he steadied himself, made sure his vision was all right, stopped his brain from rattling, and made his way to where his wife's lab was.

Or used to be, depending on what he would see.

Vincent immediately used his mana to teleport down to the two of them.

"Rowena!" he exclaimed.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it." he cursed.

"This doesn't look good." he mumbled, looking at his injured wife.

"She needs to be taken to OLA. Stat." he said further, before looking at the other one that was there.

"And what, exactly, are you doing?" he inquired.

Vincent narrowed his eyes at his daughter.

"....you've developed an attitude suddenly." he said.

"But very well." he muttered.

With that, he disappeared in a small whirlwind for about 15 seconds, before reappearing with the plants she had requested.

"Here." he told her.

"You somehow seem to know what you're doing."

"..............." Vincent was silent for an extended moment, before he called Rene.

"Prepare to receive my wife." was all he said.

After another couple of moments, he made Rowena disappear in a small whirlwind, and the two of them were alone.

"Now, then..." he said.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Vicki would never speak to me like that, nor would she ever refer to her mother in such a way." he commented.

"So how about telling me who you are?"

Again, Vincent was silent, and inspected the ball of mana.

"....this is unmistakeably Vicki's mana..." he mumbled.

"Wait... the future?" he asked.

"You are a time traveller?" he asked her.

"But how far?" he asked further.

"And how does that even work? Did you switch places with her?"

Vincent shook his head for a moment.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"You put Vicki in direct danger!?" he exclaimed.

"And... Lindsay?" he then asked.

"Firstly, good luck with that." he said. "Lindsay's gone off on another of his self-imposed sabbaticals, where nobody can find him or contact him." he told her.

"Secondly, care to explain as to why my daughter is in such danger?"