Sylvia hummed along to the gentle tune flowing out of the radio as she carefully weighed the flour in a dainty golden cup. On the table, she laid out her usual ingredients: a rose made out of butter, a singing lemon, and of course, some cheesy sugar.

From the corner of the kitchen. a small shadow slipped into the room. Upon first glance, the figure appeared to be a small cat, But it was translucent and flickered in and out of focus like a bad television signal.

“Hi, Baku!” Sylvia peeked up from her work “What do you have for me?”

Baku leaped up to the kitchen counter. Small flickering yellow orbs were spinning around his tail as if he was pulling them along his body with a string.

“Let’s see here...a memory about Lin's first hike, a jar of sand from her favorite beach, oh and a picture of a cloud shaped like an apple. Very nice, Baku, this might be one of your best excursions yet!”

Sylvia softly scratched Baku’s ears, earning a pleased purr. His fur was the color of heavy whipped cream except for one spot on the top of his forehead where it turned to black, which looked like someone had carelessly tipped a jar of ink right onto the creature’s head. Baku’s eyes were soft and gentle, much like swirled frosting on top of a cupcake.

Sylvia immediately got to work. Opening up the cabinets, she pulled out jars of glowing lights and a huge silver bowl the size of her torso.
“Well,” she said to Baku, “I think with the ingredients you brought back today, we can make something really exciting! Maybe…a dream about flying! How about that?”

Of course, Sylvia didn’t expect Baku to answer, but it’s not really like she has anyone else to talk with in the kitchen. She took the memory of Lin’s first hike and threw it into the bowl, along with one handful of sugar, a spoon of lemon zest, the picture of an apple-shaped cloud, and finally something that would bring the whole cake together: some delight. To Sylvia, delight smelled like apples, plums, and yogurt, her three favorite foods.

Sylvia sprinkled a glowing substance from one of the jars into the gigantic bowl. Immediately, the bowl flew into the air, trembling as the aroma of lemon, dew, and firewood swarmed the room. Her eyes shone with excitement as she stared at the floating bowl. It was almost like she herself was slowly shifting into Lin’s dream, flying through the clouds with a smile so bright it hurt her face, feeling the sunshine brushing against her skin.

“Now it’s time to change it up!” She beamed at Baku.

The diligent baker rushed from one cabinet to the next, gliding like a dancer as she pulled out all kinds of ingredients: phoenix feathers to create a set of wings for Lin and a memory of the young girl visiting Big Ben. As the dream baker tossed each ingredient into the bowl, a ray of blinding light shot out.

Sylvia always put great effort into everything she created, even Baku brought back ingredients that were less than ideal for her vision. Like that memory of the one time when Lin fought with her parents about eating pig’s feet, or one where a mean girl made fun of the shape of her eyes. Those couldn’t possibly be made into a dream! Dreams were supposed to be happy, pleasant confections that helped the dreamer sleep comfortably. Sylvia wouldn’t be a good baker if she let sadness and anger slip into the cake mix.

After the amount of time it takes to make a lemon sing, the bowl stopped shaking. When it landed, all the ingredients were gone. The only thing left was the scents of dew and firewood still lingering in the air. Sylvia grabbed the bowl and peeked inside: the dream was a success! As per usual, of course. She spun her fingers and the cake flew from the bowl and onto one of the counters.

Sylvia called for Baku and began to put the ingredients back into the designated cabinets. Baku hurried down from the stairs and leapt onto the counter with joy.

He unhinged his jaw and it dropped all the way onto the counter. His fangs grew larger and his pupils dilated before he suddenly swallowed the whole cake at once. Buttercream got smeared on his whiskers and coat, but he didn’t seem to mind. Baku hopped down from the counter and curled himself into a corner. Without Baku, Sylvia wouldn’t have any ingredients and a way to deliver the dreams to Lin. Plus, he is pretty good company.

Every day, Sylvia wakes up just as the sun starts to climb down from the sky, bakes a dream with a new and fun concept, and goes to rest when Lin wakes up the next morning. Over the next few days, she baked a cake about Lin meeting her idol, a boy singer with gelled hair spikes and eyeshadow, a cake about a giant tiger named Phu, and a cake about painting a lovely meadow in Brazil. Her life was slow, but she never found it boring.

But a few days later when Baku returned from his trip, there weren't any glowing orbs surrounding him.

“What’s wrong?” Sylvia asked. Baku looked like he had been tossed into the washing machine, his hair was sticking out in all different directions. He threw himself into a metal pot and refused to budge.

The dream baker tried to coax him out of the pot with some leftover dough but Baku only hissed at her before burying himself deeper. Maybe that last cake had given him a stomach ache, she thought. It happened once in a while. With a sigh, she decided to make do with leftovers for Lin’s dream that night. Using crushed amethysts, some chopped up memories about a late summer night, and a jar of preserved fireflies, Sylvia baked a basic dream about Lin having a picnic with her friends. Baku sniffed the cake. He didn’t seem happy, but he was hungry. That was a good sign. He ate the cake and went to sleep in his favorite corner.

The next morning before Baku left for his trip, Sylvia made sure to get up and say goodbye. “Baku, I really need you to try to bring some ingredients back today, okay? The leftovers are all gone. You don’t want to starve, do you?

But when Baku came back that night, he looked as if he had seen a ghost, and he again brought no new ingredients for Sylvia. He again curled up in his favorite metal pot. Sylvia pondered why Baku looked so down--he was usually a happy cat. Had he been nibbling on bad memories again?

“Baku, dear. You have to go out. Without ingredients, I can’t bake. Lin needs to dream!”
But Baku refused to budge. Sylvia was worried, but she had an important job to do. She picked up her cat but as soon as she grabbed the door handle to send him on his way, Baku let out a cry of despair and hooked his claws into the walls in a desperate attempt to escape back into his pot.

“Come on Baku!” Sylvia tugged against his claws, trying to make him let go of the wall. “If you go, I’ll bake you a special peanut butter cookie. I know they’re your favorite!”

Baku meowed in complaint and dug his claws even deeper into the wood. Sylvia didn’t want to pull on his arms too hard, so the two stood at the doorway in a stalemate. Finally defeated, Sylvia relaxed her grip on Baku; he quickly wriggled out from her clutches and ran to safety underneath the couch. He meowed plaintively.

“I’m sorry, alright?” Sylvia crossed her arms over her chest and groaned. “How am I supposed to do my job if there is nothing to bake?”

“Or…” She suddenly had an idea and sat down crossed-legged on the floor. She’d have to go out by herself. It was her only choice even though she had no idea where all of Lin’s memories were stored. She’d never taken one step outside her kitchen in her entire life. Sylvia grew anxious thinking about the possibilities of the outside world. But if a pastry-loving cat could do it, so could she.

She leaned down next to the couch where Baku was hiding. “You rest until you feel better,” she said. “I’ll do your job for now.” Baku poked his head out and stared at Sylvia. She patted him on the head and decided that she had to be strong so that Baku wouldn’t worry.

The next day, Sylvia woke up before the moon. Her kitchen was eerily silent and empty without any music playing or any baking supplies out; it was as if invisible eyes were staring at her. She began to pack her bags with jars for ingredients. Then her foot started to jitter nervously like an over-caffeinated squirrel. Hunting for memories scared her. What if she got lost?

The few steps to the door seemed to take forever. Once there, she stood staring at the metal doorknob that glistened like an invitation and the wooden patterns of the door. She couldn’t move for a moment. She took a deep breath, finally, and mustered the courage to open the door.

Everything was pitch black; the darkness was like tar that threatened to swallow her whole. She took a tentative step and was met with a soft carpet-like sensation underneath her pink sneakers. Sylvia braced herself--she was doing this for Lin!--and dashed forward.

Green and brown leaves spilled across the field, beneath her feet miles of grass expanded into the horizon; all around were trees with bent and twisted trunks. The air smelled like a musty library. The branches that shot up to the sky were braided together to form a twisted blanket, blocking out most of the sunlight except for little bits that slipped through.

Sylvia stared in bewilderment. The little bubble that was her whole world had suddenly expanded to miles of undiscovered land and she couldn’t help but think of how beautiful everything was. Yet, she knew that it wasn’t this beautiful landscape that deterred Baku. It must’ve been something else much more dangerous, a chill ran up her spine.

After some time walking, a bright flash of white light zoomed through the trees. Sylvia followed the light to a hanging branch under a rotting tree, thinking that the light was a memory. Yet what she saw was something terrifying. The creature didn’t have any flesh on its face, just a glowing white skull that looked part-chicken and part dragon. Sharp fangs protruded from its jaw. Black goo, stinking of rotten eggs, dripped down on both sides of the monster’s head. The body of the creature resembled a monkey's and was almost twice the size of Sylvia, but it had a human arm for a tail; the human hand attached to it flailed around wildly.

Sylvia screamed as she studied the horrible creature. She suddenly wished she had brought her rolling pin for self-defense. Although she hadn’t known what to expect when she went out to find what had scared Baku, she hadn’t expected anything like this: the most ferocious creature imaginable.

The creature then roared. It sounded like a human baby’s cries; cold spikes of fear pushed into Sylvia's heart. The monster flared its teeth and examined her with hollow eyes. Sylvia’s hands immediately went to her ears as she tried to back slowly away.

But the creature lurched out of the tree with terrifying speed and leapt at Sylvia. She threw herself to the side just in time and narrowly avoided being ripped to shreds. Before the creature could get up, Sylvia scrambled for cover and ran.

The creature turned and snarled at Sylvia. And then, with its huge jaw hanging open, scurried after her. Sylvia ran frantically as she leapt over fallen trunks of wood and scattered rocks. She dashed into a thicket of neck-high bushes on her left, hoping that the monster would lose track of her. Somehow, in spite of the tangle of thorns and branches, she kept running.

The creature growled unhappily. It used its sharp claws to climb up a nearby tree where it was able to see her running and grabbed onto a branch that hung above the bushes. Using its human arm-like tail, it swung itself between trees and quickly closed the distance between them.

Sylvia looked through her small backpack for anything she could use to slow down the monster, anything at all. Her heart drilled against her ribcage, trying to escape her body. Her little kitchen had always been comforting and safe. How she misses it now!

She pulled two jars out of her backpack. It seemed unlikely she could hurt the creature with them, but they were the only weapons she had.

Sylvia turned her body towards the approaching monster. With one hand, she aimed the first jar at the creature’s head and flung it as hard as she could at the monster. The jar whizzed right past its head and crashed into a tree. And the creature kept coming.

With nothing to lose Sylvia yelled as loud as she could. “GO AWAY!”

To her surprise, the creature stopped in its tracks and even backed off a few steps. Yet it shrieked so horrifically that the sharp noise almost made Sylvia pass out. But she forced herself to relax and control her breath. She had to keep her senses. The creature started creeping forward again. One step. Closer. And closer. As fast Sylvia could, she threw the other jar with all her might.

“AAARGH!!” The monster screamed in pain as the jar cracked against its tail. Its fingers curled into a fist as it spasmed. The tail fell and it hung limply against its side. Sylvia’s eyes widened. She was gonna get out of this mess, after all. But before she could start running again, the creature grabbed onto her. Sylvia could feel the claws tightening on her shoulder and turned to look at the creature. She closed her eyes and braced herself, waiting for the claws to rip her apart, but the monster simply cradled her in its arms. She opened her eyes and all she saw was its empty skull staring back at her. Why hadn’t it killed her yet?

Sylvia broke out of her trance and realized she still had one of the jars in her right hand. She reached up and slammed it on the creature’s head. It shattered and the monster fell backward, releasing her.

RUN! She screamed to herself while stumbling over roots and rocks. FASTER!

But she’d been running for too long and her knees began to buckle. Sweat and tears flowed together on her face as her despair grew. Just how was she going to get out of this? Then, beneath her feet, the color of the plain grass started to change color like a chameleon. First, it looked like specks of red paint flung onto a green canvas, but as Sylvia ran deeper and deeper into the forest, the red began to swallow everything in sight. Even the trees began to drip with bright red paint; it reminded Sylvia of the color of the red envelopes full of money Lin received at Chinese New Year.

“What is going on?” Sylvia whispered.

Behind her, the monster started to jitter nervously and glanced down to the ground. It grew slower in its pursuit, yet it still snarled at Sylvia with its jagged teeth. Sylvia continued running in spite of the pain burning her legs, speeding through the red leaves and branches.

She burst into an open field with a twisting tree in the center. The tree was about five times the size of her own house; twisting yellow vines nestled on the branches like glowing veins. Sylvia sped past through the grass and ran into the field before turning back at the scream behind her.

“ARRRGHHH!” The monster behind her gave a frustrated yell. It sat down at the border of the red grass field, growling unhappily as it picked at the grass beneath it.

“Ok, there is something here” Sylvia mumbled to herself in confirmation. She wiped the sweat on her palms with her pants and nervously adjusted her shoes. She stepped deeper into the field while glancing back at the monster. One step. Two steps. This place didn’t seem particularly threatening. Waves of wind brushed against her hair. Sunlight pierced through the red leaves, illuminating the field in inviting light. But now Sylvia knew better than to let her guard down.

“Why are you here?” A sharp voice called out.

Sylvia jumped in surprise and frantically looked for the source of the voice.

“Who is that?” she asked tentatively.

A muffled voice seemed to be coming from the center of the tree trunk. Sylvia moved closer.

Even though the voice sounded annoyed, at least it didn’t sound like it wanted to devour her. “Can you help me?” She asked. “I’m being chased by this terrible monster. I don’t know if you have any idea what it is, but it seems to be scared of this tree. Can you please let me hide until it goes away?”

The creature paced back and forth on the edge of the field, still grumbling. She heard a whisper coming from inside the trunk. “What...no we are not...insane..”

Sylvia, confused by this response, scratched her head. Sharp whispers and deep grunts coming from the inside of the tree got louder and more panicked. Sylvia heard a few phrases and squeaks; it sounded like an out-of-tune chorus of mice screaming inside the tree.

“Please! I don’t have anything to defend myself with. I promise I won’t harm you!”

More whispers came drifting out of the trunk: “Harumph... some people have all the nerve… missing Wheel of Fortune.” Finally, there was a heavy sigh. “Fine.”

With a mouse-like squeak, the side of the tree transformed into a door. Tiny golden strung-together bulbs dropped out of the canopy spelling out a blocky Welcome.

“Come in now,” the voice grumbled. “Remember to take off your shoes.”

“Oh yes, thank you so much.” Sylvia took off her shoes and stepped into the door.

The inside of the tree was hollowed out to an open, blue sky. The walls were carved into rows of bookshelves all the way up and around the trunk, so high and so many that she got dizzy trying to count them all. The books--there must have been millions--all seemed to be made out of either rock, paper, or scissors. Each shelf had a label. Sylvia looked to the shelf on the left that said “kindergarten”.
But most shocking of all were the creatures that ran the place. They looked like tiny origami people a child would cut out of paper. And even though they were only as tall as Sylvia’s ankle, they were surprisingly strong. A group of them carried stacks of papers from one shelf to another. Suddenly, one turned itself into an origami bird and flew to the very top of a shelf labeled Family and began looking through the books stacked there. And three other origami people peeked at her behind the legs of a middle-aged gentleman.

He looked to be around forty years old and had a grim, cold face that stood out from the warm and busy atmosphere of the room. His shirt was ironed perfectly and fitted around him seamlessly. His hair was greased back and he wore stiff dress pants and perfectly shined polka dot shoes that changed from black and white every time Sylvia blinked. Yet this well-kept together exterior only made the eyebags beneath his eyes and the single strand of hair dangling on his forehead that much more noticeable.

“Hello.” The man spoke with slight disdain, glaring at her from head to toe. Sylvia shifted uncomfortably.

“You are Sylvia, the dream baker.” The man said, tugging a strand of loose hair behind his ear only for it to bounce back immediately. “Why aren’t you at your station? We cannot afford errors to the system and if you're not properly situated in Unconsciousness Sector 3, the human host will quickly become insomniac”

“I’m sorry,” Sylvia smiled sheepishly, feeling restless after hearing what could happen to Lin. “But my cat stopped bringing back dream ingredients. So I needed to come out and find some myself.”
The old man furrowed his brow. “Ah. Of course. I bet Chaos was keeping Baku from doing his job.” At the sight of her confused stare, he added, “Chaos is the name we have chosen for the creature that was trying to catch you.”

Well, that was certainly not good news. Sylvia was reminded that she would have to cross the forest yet again to get back to her home. What would she do if she encountered Chaos again?

“No dreams. This is very bad,” the old man said. “We must solve this. Yes, we must.” He scratched his nose. Just as Sylvia was about to speak, he asked, “Is there anything else you know about what’s happening? Something that might have provoked Chaos?”

“Well…” Sylvia thought about it, but couldn’t think of anything. “No. Except for that creature, everything has been perfectly fine.” She felt her face get red with embarrassment. She wished she could offer more. “Do you know how I can get away from him?”

“Get away from him?” The man looked puzzled; the origami people hiding behind his leg poked their heads out “Why do you want to do that?”

“Because he’s trying to kill me?” Sylvia asked in disbelief.

“Chaos isn’t violent.” The man clapped twice and one of the origami people folded themselves into a bird, picked up a red folder from a box in its beak, and dropped it onto Sylvia’s hands. She fumbled with the folder before opening it. The papers inside contained an illustration of Chaos along with stacks of printed paper.
“Look.” The man waddled over and pointed to some writing that had been circled with a red pen. “Our records here specifically state that Chaos is harmless. Although Chaos creatures may appear intimidating, it is only because they are born out of suppressed desires.”

Sylvia sighed. "Well, I'm surprised to hear that. I almost died out there!" She paused to think for a moment. None of this made any sense. "Besides," she said, "I would know if Lin had any suppressed memories."

"Actually," the man said. "You wouldn’t. This is where all of Lin's thoughts, memories, and emotions are stored." He pointed to the shelves, looking very pleased with himself. “In fact, this is where your little buddy, Baku, gets the ingredients for your dream cakes. He has made himself quite comfortable with our employees here.”

At the sound of Baku’s name, all the origami people and birds dropped what they were doing and squeaked in excitement. They unfolded themselves into pieces of paper as a gentle breeze swooped down and lifted them into the air. They swirled and fluttered until they formed a giant replica of Baku.

Sylvia watched the transformation of the origami people with awe and didn’t even realize her jaw was open until one of the origami people landed on top of her head. Slowly, she looked around and approached a shelf on her left labeled 8 year old. It was stacked with books made out of paper, rock, and scissors that ranged from colors of pink, turquoise, gray, and yellow. The shelf itself was quite worn, littered with crayon doodles and scratch marks.
She pulled out a yellow paper book and opened it to a random page. Instantly, three yellow orbs flew out of the paper and hovered next to her, displaying memories of Lin’s first bike ride, her favorite childhood dessert, and a picture of Lin making a friendship bracelet.

“Well…” Sylvia closed the book and put it back to its place. “then if she does have these suppressed desires, can’t you just look at your records, find out what it is, and then kinda unsuppress it?”

"When a memory is suppressed," the old man said, "not even we can help Baku find it. How to face Chaos is something that you’ll have to figure out yourself.”

“Me? I’m just in charge of baking cakes. I’m not some warrior that can slay the monster!”

The man groaned and rubbed his eyes. “For the last time, Chaos will not harm you. If it is chasing you, there’s a good reason! You are the only station in the emotional subconscious branch that can directly interfere with Lin. Now go do your job.” He turned and started to leave.

“What, wait hold on!” While Sylvia was trying to make sense of the conversation, the origami people unfolded themselves from the Giant Baku formation and transformed into a giant crane.

The man stood by, idly pushing down an unruly strand of his hair. “A word of warning. Don’t run away from Chaos. He really doesn’t like that.” He clapped twice. The tree branches, in response, pulled apart to reveal a round hole just big enough for the crane to fly through. The giant paper bird gently picked Sylvia up with its beak and flew through the hole. Red leaves fluttered past them and as they flew higher and higher, the tree grew smaller and smaller in the distance until all that was left was a tiny red dot.

Sylvia scared for a moment she would fall, clutched onto the crane’s mouth as she tried not to stare at the carpet of endless white clouds beneath her feet. After a few sweeps of the crane’s giant paper wings, it began to make a slow descent.

The crane dropped Sylvia on a patch of soft grass right in front of her kitchen. It tucked its wings and landed next to her as it nuzzled her with its beak. She giggled and gently patted the crane’s head, whispering thanks. Then the crane spreads its wings and leapt into the air as Sylvia looked with amazement at how it flew so effortlessly into the sky.

Sylvia scrambled to her feet and rushed inside. With a loud bang, she slammed the door shut behind her and called out for Baku.

“Baku! Baku, come here!”

“Meow?” The white fluffy cat scurried from a corner and jumped into Sylvia’s arms.

“Oh, you will not believe the day I’ve had today. All that work and I didn’t get a single new ingredient!” Sylvia rubbed her face against Baku’s soft fur, feeling relieved at a familiar presence after a day of so much excitement and conflict.

Baku purred like a motor engine and licked Sylvia’s hands to comfort her. Sylvia plopped herself down on her sofa and thought about what to do next. The librarian said that Lin would slowly become an insomniac if Sylvia didn’t take action, so she needed to do something fast.

But what? Sylvia clicked her tongue. She was just a baker and didn’t know how to deal with Lin’s suppressed desires, whatever those were.

“Oh wait!” Sylvia yelped, causing Baku to jump away. “I am just a Baker! But the librarian said that the Chaos came to me for a reason, so it must be related to something that only I could do - baking dreams!”

She sat up and scanned through all the dreams she’d ever baked. There was one where Lin was transformed into a fantasy world where she defeated a dragon and one about Lin having a magical tea party with some talking birds. She was sure all her dreams were perfect. But Baku meowed very loudly and suddenly she remembered there was one dream in particular that didn’t go well. And it was a dream from just before all this trouble.

She’d accidentally included a bad memory from a family dinner party. Lin’s mom had brought up a plate of steaming cooked pig’s feet, mentioning as she always did that it was good for the skin. Lin didn’t think twice. She’d eaten pig’s feet, duck blood, and cow tongues since she was a child. But her friend, Alice, who was visiting to work on their history project, coiled away in disgust. She whispered to Lin, “That food is so unsanitary. Your family is gross.” Lin immediately agreed with her and refused to eat the dish that night, much to her mother’s chagrin.

It was a memory that caused a lot of confusion and disgust in Lin’s heart, and although Sylvia hadn’t included all of the memory in her recipe, the baking bowl that night had puked out a gross lump of dripping, slime-like substance. Then the very next day, Baku came home without any ingredients.

“That can’t be a coincidence.” Sylvia decided to recreate that cake. It was the only way she could think to figure out what had caused Chaos to appear. In fact, she would make the worst cake she’d ever made in her life.

She grabbed all the bad memories that she’d refused to use in her recipes over the years: one about a girl who called Lin’s lunch from home “stinky” and another about a girl on the playground making fun of the shape of Lin’s eyes. And then, with a swish, Sylvia poured in the pig’s feet memory. At first, nothing happened and Sylvia sulked, wondering if she would ever be able to bake dreams ever again. But then, the bowl, under its own power, flew up into the air and shook with an intensity that Sylvia had never seen before.

It felt like all the air in the kitchen was being sucked into the bowl. Then it stopped shaking and exploded with a loud BAM!. When the bowl floated down, a container made from bamboo laid peacefully inside, radiating an enticing aroma.

Sylvia reached out and lifted the lid on the top. And there it was, a pair of pig’s feet. Just as fresh as Sylvia had remembered seeing in Lin’s memories. A honey-like sauce drizzled over them, making them shine like gems under the light.

She suddenly heard a loud thump from outside the door. With a jolt, she sprang towards the narrow window and peered outside. A gray shadow swung between the trees, screaming and scratching at everything in sight as it approached the kitchen.

Chaos quickly dashed to the house and smashed its skull against the window. It let out a horrible scream as its body suddenly inflated to thrice its size. The fangs on its skull grew sharper and longer and it raised its arm-like tail far above its head and then, with a whoosh, smashed through the window! Shards of glass flew everywhere.

Sylvia covered her head instinctively. When she looked up again, she found that the creature held Baku in its now giant hand.

Gray clouds rolled in from the distance and blocked the few rays of sunlight leaking from the knitted branches. Sylvia looked on from the broken window and saw that the trees around the field in front of her house were now twisting and pulsing with black mucus-like slime. In the center of the field, Chaos stood; it had grown so tall that it looked like it could touch the sky. Its tail was still waving around and held poor Baku. Sylvia’s heart lurched at the sight; she needed to act fast.

She grabbed the pig's feet and walked outside. “Here Chaos!” Sylvia slowly crouched down and placed the bamboo container on the ground. “Eat this and you’ll feel better!”.

Chaos sniffed the air, its eyes lit up with recognition. Slowly, it turned its hideous skull and dripping liquid body around and dropped Baku onto the ground, trodding toward Sylvia. It stopped right before the container and bent down to examine it. When it opened the lid with its large claws, it let out a thunderous scream that shook the ground.

Chaos tilted its head with curiosity as it rapidly began to shrink. After only a minute it had shrunk to half Sylvia’s size. Whatever she was doing, it was working! Chaos leaned closer to the food, its eyes shining with hunger. Finally, it grabbed the pig’s feet with its fangs and gobbled one of them down in a few bites. Licking its teeth and lying down, Chaos purred in satisfaction before starting to delicately eat the other one.

As it ate, its human-hand tail transformed into a fluffy black tail. Its white skull transformed into something that resembled a cat’s and its body solidified into licorice-like fur. After Chaos finally finished eating its pig’s feet and finished his transformation, Sylvia allowed herself to collapse onto the grass in exhaustion and called for Baku.

Striding over, Baku greeted his new friend with a meow and fitted himself into Sylvia’s arms. Chaos placed his paw on top of Sylvia’s and chirped in an apologetic manner.

“It’s ok bud.” Sylvia scratched his chin. “That was a tough adventure, but I’m glad I was able to help Lin. Man that friend of hers, Alice, is so mean! Lin should get a new friend!”

After the stand-off with Chaos, the origami people and the librarian came to visit Sylvia on a sunny afternoon. They gave her a polished diary along with a beautiful orange fountain pen to keep her busy mind calm.

When Sylvia went into the kitchen to get more lemonade for her guests, she looked down and saw something precious: Baku and Chaos were curled around each other. They were so tightly wound that they looked like one creature, half black, half white; they now resembled a Chinese symbol that she’d seen many times in Lin’s memories. The yin/yang.