The sun blinded me for a moment and I stood there rubbing my eyes. When they finally adjusted I looked around to see we were standing in the front yard of James's home. I threw my arms around them. It was real. I was really back.

"Chloe," Matt said gently as he set my old phone in my hand. "I don't know how much time has passed in this world. You need to be prepared for things to be different."

I nodded. I watched James approach the front door and open it. As soon as he stepped inside, chaos erupted. Shouts and screams and people rushed at him hugging him. There were so many people talking.

"Where have you been?" One guy asked.

James gestured over at me and Matt. "I was on a rescue mission. How long were we gone?"

Panic filled me at the answer to that question. "Over a year James."

I'd been gone a year. I grabbed Matt's arm, suddenly feeling like I couldn't breathe.

"It's ok," Matt held onto me. "It's ok. You're ok."

"A year Matt," I said, edges of my vision fuzzy.

"Call them," Matt insisted. "They're still waiting for you I bet."

I hyperventilated as I opened the contact list on the phone and clicked Derek's name. My hand shook as I held it up to my ear. It rang and rang and rang and rang and then silence. He didn't answer. I looked at Matt.

"Call Simon sweetie," he suggested. "I'm going to get ahold of Tess."

Matt made sure I was steady and then pulled his phone out of the backpack and stepped over to the sidewalk for privacy. I clicked Simon's name as I watched James step in with his friends. He glanced back at me and smiled as I held the phone up to my ear.

It rang several times before he answered.

"Hello," he said.

"Hey Simon," he said, my heart raced at the sound of his voice. This didn't feel totally real.

There was a moment of silence.

"Simon?"

"Chloe?" He said in disbelief.

"Yeah, it's me," I smiled.

"Oh my god. Where are you?!" He exclaimed. "I'll be right there!"

"Do you know where James and Brian lived?" I asked. "I'm at their house."

The phone beeped and Simon appeared in front of me through a portal circle.

"Yeah I've been here before," he said smiling at me.

I ran at him and wrapped my arms around him. I couldn't hold back the tears as he hugged me back.

"I can't believe you're here," he said softly.

After a minute I finally let go of him to wipe the tears from my cheeks. Simon wiped them off before I could.

"That's quite the scar," he said. "What happened to you out there?"

I sniffled, "I'd rather not talk about it right now."

He nodded, "I understand. Do you want to see Jeremy and Emma?"

"Where are they?" I asked. I wondered why he didn't ask if I wanted to see Derek.

Simon checked his watch, "They're probably at work still but they'll be home in an hour. We got a house here in town together."

"What about Derek?" I couldn't stop myself from asking.

Simon sighed and looked down at the grass, "No one's heard from him in like five or six months. When we uh… gave up the search last year… he kinda disappeared. He would call me every once in a while but it got further and further apart until he just stopped talking to me."

Simon felt terrible admitting they stopped looking for me so I hugged him again.

"I don't blame you for giving up," I said. "Don't ever think I'm upset about that."

He sighed, "I hated myself for a long time after we called it off. I'm so sorry, there was nothing we could do from this side."

I nodded, "I know it's okay. Please don't hate yourself it wasn't your fault." I paused before saying. "I tried calling him. He didn't answer."

"That's usually the response I get too. We should try him again. He needs to know you're back."

Simon pulled out his phone and clicked on Derek's name. The same thing happened; it rang until it hung up. He didn't even have a voicemail option. He called two more times before giving up.

He looked at me sad, "I'm sorry Chloe. I don't know what else to do."

I wanted to suggest he used magic to track Derek so we could find him and show up but I couldn't. Derek clearly wanted nothing to do with his old life anymore. Which included me. Tears welled up in my eyes at that thought.

Simon opened his mouth and closed it like he didn't know what to say. He just wrapped his arms around me again and held me as I sobbed into his shirt.

"We will get ahold of him one way or another, I promise," He said.

We stayed there like that for some time before Matt gently pulled me off Simon.

"Come on sweetheart, we need to get you cleaned up so you can get some real rest."

I wiped my cheeks and tried to regain my composure. "Okay."

Simon suggested we go back to his home since James's was full of chaos over his return. They walked me down several streets until we approached a small one story house. Simon let us inside to the living room.

"I'll grab you some new clothes," he excused himself into the bedroom off to the right.

Matt gently squeezed my shoulder, "If you need someone to talk to, you know I'm here for you. I know what it's like surviving over there."

My brain only had one question for the moment, "Why was that purple demon calling you Rex?"

Matt sighed, "He's a close friend of mine who spent some time over here on earth with me a long time ago. He studied Latin and has called me Rex ever since."

"That doesn't answer my question."

Simon reappeared with some clothes before Matt had to explain himself and handed them to me. I looked down at them. It was my favorite purple sweatshirt and black sweatpants that Tess had bought me. Simon smiled at me.

"Tess thought you'd want your favorites when you got back." He gestured to a door next to the bedroom. "The bathrooms right over there."

I stepped into the bathroom and shut the door. I jumped at my reflection in the mirror as I turned the shower on, I didn't recognize myself for a second. My hair was a matted disaster. I was covered in dried blood and dirt and my under eyes were black and purple from lack of sleep. The scars are what really caught my attention. I studied the scar that ran along my cheek. The scar along my abdomen from the day I disappeared. My newest scar on my thigh from Matt and James saving me. I had a scar that ran along my collar bone from trying to teach Edgar tricks.

Tears ran down my cheeks at the thought of Edgar. I'd left him behind all alone.

The room filled with steam and I stepped into shower. I stood there for a long time just crying. Crying because I was home. Crying over leaving Edgar. Crying over missing Derek. Crying for a thousand more reasons.

I don't know how much time had passed but my head throbbed from the crying. I got as cleaned up as I could and then got out of the shower. My headache combined with finally feeling a sense of security and safety for the first time in over a year; I think was falling asleep as I towel dried my hair. I dressed and exited the bathroom. James was laying across one couch with Simon and Matt on the other. I walked over to James. He said something about checking up on me as I laid down and fell asleep.

James's POV

Chloe finally came out of the bathroom and walked over to us with her eyes half open.

"Hey, I just wanted to make sure you were alright," I said.

She didn't say anything though as she came up to the couch and then laid down on my chest, her head laid down against my shoulder. Her eyes closed and she was out.

"Should we be concerned?" Simon asked.

Matt shook his head, "She's been stuck in a state of hypervigilance for god knows how long over there. She's bound to be exhausted now that she feels safe. Let her rest."

We stayed like that for some time, chit chatting or watching tv. I noticed Chloe had a tight grip on my shirt, almost like she was afraid of waking up to find she was still in the demon world. She would only let go when I gave her my hand to squeeze instead. After an hour, we heard a car pull up to the house. Simon's roommates were home.

"I'll go warn then," Simon stood. "I don't want them to wake her."

He rushed out the front door as quietly as he could. There was shouting outside as he filled them in and they came rushing in. Emma and Jeremy could barely contain their excitement as they saw Chloe. Simon shushed them repeatedly and shooed them off to the kitchen where they could make a bit more noise.

I realized that there was a girl still standing in the doorway that I didn't recognize. She approached quietly and waved to me as she sat down in Simon's spot. I smiled back. She had long wavy white hair and stunning gray eyes. She wore blue jeans with a worn brown leather jacket over a black sweatshirt and had matching boots.

"Hi," she spoke with a very soft soothing voice. "I'm Astraea."

"James," I whispered back.

Matt ignored our introductions, he was very focused on something on his phone.

"This must be the Chloe I've heard about," she smiled.

I nodded in response even though I wasn't sure what she had heard about Chloe. Simon and his friends came into the living room quietly now. Emma and Jeremy stared at Chloe as they sat down on a couch. I didn't blame them, this was a big shock to come home too.