Hello, this is a different narrator. I'm Edward.

Watching a movie about the galaxy can you feel very, very small.

That's the feeling I had walking out of the theater after Guardians of the Galaxy.

"That was… different," said Carmen. I don't think she's into science fiction. Or superheroes, really. She was with some friends there when I ran into her, and she knitted through the entire movie.

"Yeah. You said you wanted to talk to me after the movie?"

"Yes. Edward, you knew Ivy , didn't you? There's a few things that happened before she went missing and I'm trying to put them together."

Oh, no.

"I didn't really know her all that well, Carmen. You were in all her classes and saw her all the time. You're the one who taught her to knit, right?"

"I'm trying to get all the information." She sat down on the edge of the curb. "Ivy goes missing, then puts in a call to Miranda months saying she's okay, then never shows up or contacts anyone again? And then they found the body?"

"Something like that."

"Why didn't she contact us again? She had a decent window of opportunity to do it in. And there was something else. I met some guy who Miranda told me to tell I was a German tourist – just before all of you started to go missing. It was weird, but she sounded really scared and I thought I'd play along. What happened when you went missing, Edward?"

"I can't tell you that, Carmen."

She pulled out her knitting – it was a blanket, for a baby cousin that had yet to be born – and started working. "I'm not leaving until you tell me, Edward. It's going to rain. Do be considerate."

I glared at her. "Carmen, would you please just be reasonable? I can't tell you. Just wait."

It is a well known fact among those who've ever come into contact with Carmen that, if she switches even briefly into German – the language she was raised speaking – you are in trouble.

"Sei vernünftig?" she repeated. She took several deep breaths. "Ich habe keine Geduld mehr. I have waited and been reasonable, Edward. And I have grown tired of it." The speed of her knitting increased as she grew more agitated. "You know something, Edward. And I am not going to leave this curb until I find out what it is."

"Carmen, please. I'd like to tell you, but it's not that easy."

"How isn't it, exactly?" demanded Carmen. She stuffed the knitting into her bag and stood up, glaring at me.

"Because Ivy told me not to tell anyone!" I yelled in frustration.

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it? What did she tell you before she died? What happened?"

"People keep secrets for a reason, Carmen. It needs to stay secret."

"Ich hasse gehemnisse!" she snapped.

Wow, lots of German tonight. I needed to be careful. "… I can't tell you. I'm sorry."

I walked away.

She sprinted after me, grabbing my elbow. "Edward, don't you dare. I've thought there was something odd about Ivy ever since she and Miranda were attacked at choir camp. Ivy looked insane when she came through the door, and she's acted weird ever since. Vanishing while we were in Peru and London… she always goes missing, and every time she does, she acts stranger and stranger. Acted stranger."

There was a moment of silence.

"Carmen, I hate the secrets too. I hate all of this. But we have to keep them."

She shook her head.

A strange breeze started to stir up.

A moment later, something landed on the pavement behind us.

I spun around to see something that definitely wasn't human running at us.

Carmen yelled something in German.

"Run!" I yelled.

She just stared. "That's…"

I grabbed her arm and pulled her after me as I ran.

We reached the other side of the building. I dropped down behind a car, pulling Carmen with me.

Carmen stayed absolutely silent. Her face had gone very white. "Split up," she breathed in my ear.

She moved away as the alien appeared, moving behind cars and bushes, away from the creature.

I took off in a different direction. Unfortunately, I don't move as fast or as stealthily she does.

The creature noticed me and let out a roar.

How I missed Ivy and her overprotective personality in that moment – she would have been yelling at the creature, trying to distract it.

There was a sudden whirring sound.

My legs started to glow, with the light crawling up me. I had just enough time to yell before there was a bright flash.

I was standing inside some kind of strange room. There was some kind of control console in the middle, surrounded by a walkway.

"Sorry about that," said a male voice.

I turned to see a man who looked like Peter Capaldi. The Doctor.

Just because I wasn't having a crazy enough day already.

Carmen shrieked something that I didn't quite understand. "What's going on?" she demanded slowly, her gaze all over the room. "What was that thing? Where are we? Who is that? And why are you staring at me like you've got something to confess, Edward?" She took a long, slow breath. "No more secrets. Start at the beginning. Don't even think of leaving out a single detail."

You'd think she'd be more worried about her surroundings than about secrets.

I didn't respond for a second. Ivy was going to kill me.

"Jetzt!" she yelled.

"Okay. Fine," I said. It would be hard to hide it from her now anyway. "Look, when I went missing, some guy pulled me off the street. Someone who wanted information I had. They… beat up me. And Sharon. Sharon was there."

"Who's Sharon?"

"That friend of Ivy's with the dark brown hair? Used to wear a lot of green?"

"Oh, right. The one who joined our choir."

"Well, we got away. Ivy… she transports people between universes and dimensions. Like the ones where the Marvel characters are real."

Carmen sat down hard.

"I have a feeling that guy wanted information we had about Guardians of the Galaxy. Or something like that."

"Dies ist verrückt."

"Probably." Whatever that meant.

"This is a joke, right? Some kind of absolutely insane joke."

"I wish."

She sat still and was quiet.

And then there was a burst of light, and in the next moment we were both lying on a smooth ground, in a dark alley, with Ivy staring down at us.

German translations (actual German speakers please forgive my translations, I did my best):

Sei vernünftig – Be reasonable?

Ich habe keine Geduld mehr. – I have no more patience.

Ich hasse gehemnisse! – I hate secrets!

Jetzt! – Now!

Dies ist verrückt – This is crazy.