Monty drummed his fingers on the table, but the sound was drowned out by the general din of the busy bar that sat at the corner of 5th and 6th Avenue Crest City, Arcadia.

  A hard, loud tune was playing on the radio, from some musician he’d never heard of and it clamored over the wooden lodge decor. Monty was tempted to suggest that someone reduce the volume. It wouldn’t take much to get them to oblige. He didn’t even have to do it himself. A half-drunk crowd of mostly mundanes had loose control over their pathways, and it would take nothing at all for him to whisper a spell into enough loose ears and they in turn would pressure the bartender to turn it down. Or he could simply talk to the bartender for long enough that he would be amenable to his suggestion to reduce the music. Or he could somehow start a riot which would undoubtedly lead to the radio being broken.

  But of course, he would do none of those things. He wasn't evil. He wasn't his father.

  Besides, he was currently occupied with another spell, one that allowed him to telepathically touch the pathway of everyone in that room. It wasn’t mind reading. He wasn’t even close enough to scanning the surface of their thoughts because that was another huge no-no.

  What he was doing was more closely associated with reading auras, translating body language through pathways, detecting the sensations the crowd were unknowingly leaking into the air as waste. Mostly, he focused on detecting if anyone had any murderous intent toward him.

  Currently, no one did.

  He was sure with his cap and the dim lighting no one even knew who he was. And even if they did, he didn't expect anyone here to want him dead. But it was good practice to check.

  The spell was still active when he detected a very distinct familiar psychic register. He felt a pleased aura which meant she’d spotted him and a smile split his lips as she slid into the seat across from him.

  “I feel like death,” she sang pleasantly to the angry beat of the song.

  “You always say that every time I see you." He had to speak loudly to be heard. He also passed her the plate of cheese fries and fried chicken that he’d ordered for her.

  “Yes." She accepted the plate eagerly. "But this time I feel it. I don't think I’ve been this exhausted since I had to deal with that plague.”

  “That bad?” A quick probe of her surface emotions showed that she was indeed tired. Monty kept it at the surface, though he knew Dee wouldn't mind him going deeper. She was one of the few people who'd permitted him to look into her mind whenever he wanted. Of course, he didn't take liberties with that either.

  Like he said, he wasn't his father.

  Monty pulled back his probe, her exhaustion weaving him with guilt. It was his fault for asking her the favor, even though he knew how hard it was on her. Left to him, she wouldn’t use her healing powers much at all, but Dee could never resist a soul in need. That was one of the reasons why she'd affixed early as a [Saintess].

  “Hey, sorry bout that," Monty said. "When I called you, I thought it was just two people who needed healing. I didn't think the whole town was affected.”

  “They weren’t. At least not by the loiter bite. But they had much bigger problems.” She took a fry and stuck it in her mouth chewing enthusiastically but looking far off. “They hadn't had a healer visit them in years and they’ve had at least three unstable dungeons attempt to spawn in the last few months.”

  Monty frowned. “Dungeonology has never been my strongest subject but isn’t that like…an abnormal amount?”

  “It is,” she said. “Even stranger is the fact that they reported a ghoul type monster escaping the dungeon a few weeks ago, but then on the same day they had a pestilence-type creature that attacked their crops.”

  “So they had two different types escaping the same dungeon?” That was unusual for unstable dungeons. Normal dungeons could have multiple types of creatures (although they were usually limited to two and most commonly there was only one creature type present). But unstable dungeons were a trap for creatures that were in their natural habitat.

  When one creature went in, the dungeon would officially close and respawn somewhere else. So typically, only one creature escaped at a time.

  “There were so many sick people there,” Dee added and her eyes darkened, her entire expression losing that light teasing affect that it usually had. “And some of them didn't even know it. They had simply gotten accustomed to living with their illnesses because they hadn't been visited by a healer for so long. They had a mundane Healing House but still. I don’t even know how they managed.”

  “That’s not your fault,” Monty said because he knew that guilt that always ate her up when she faced the human dilemma of not being able to save everyone. “The priests are spreading you thin as is. You can’t be everywhere at once.”

  “I know,” she said but her next smile was too weak to be convincing. “But, it is strange that the hero association hasn't said anything about both the healer problem and the dungeons. And they haven't sent anyone in to investigate either."

  “Yeah, strange.” Monty frowned in thought. He might have to ask around about that.

  Dee took another fry and eyed him as he sipped his beer. Hunger flashed across her face.

  “On second thought,” she said, “I think I know how they’ve been managing.”

  “How?”

  A slow smile spread her lips. “What's that information worth to ya?” She eyed the beer again as though waiting for him to get her meaning.

  Monty raised an eyebrow. “You know you could just order your own beer.”

  She shook her head. “I’m meeting the priests in an hour and they’ll smell it on my breath. You know how they get.”

  “Ah, I see.” While drinking didn’t affect Dee's powers, The Church of which the Saintess was bound to, frowned upon her participating in any of the vices, namely drinking, smoking, partying, eating too much greasy food, or anything fun. They used the excuse that they wanted to keep her as healthy as possible, for as long as possible, but Monty often thought they were just prudish.

  The punishment for disobeying those orders wasn't that bad. It usually required hours of prayer and reflection. But Dee hated that more than anything–sitting in a dark room with nothing but her thoughts. So she tried to avoid pissing off the priests as much as possible.

  Monty felt bad for his friend frequently because he knew how much she liked beer, but he failed to see how her drinking his beer was a work around.

  And after a few seconds of trying to figure it out, Dee finally rolled her eyes. “Oh come on, do I have to spell it out to you? Just use your mind magic to form a small little harmless connection with my brain pathway, you drink the beer and I get the taste and satisfaction of drinking it myself.”

  “No,” Monty said immediately.

  “Oh come on.”

  “I’m not going to invade your mind.”

  “It’s not an invasion if I ask for it.”

  Discomfort crawled through Monty, so much so that it itched his skin. Even the thought of it turned his stomach. It was one thing for him to scan surface thoughts and use simple soothing spells. It was a whole other thing for him to use mind magic on his best friend.

  “Not happening," he said. That was crossing one of his hard boundaries and he tried not to do that unless he explicitly had to.

  Dee crossed her arms and leaned back into the seat. With a pout and her hoodie up, she didn’t look like the Saintess. She just looked like Dee, the stubborn, sassy girl he'd always known. Perhaps it was because he'd known her for so long that her 'Saintess glow', as they called it , had little effect on him.

  “Well then I guess you’re just not getting the information then.”

  Monty smirked. “You realize you're a terrible liar, and I could guess my way to it, right?”

  “Not if I make myself hard to read.” She shot back which was a fair point.

  They reached a stand-off but eventually, she relented.

  “Fine, I’ll tell you,” she said. “Sparrowfoot was there. In Hovelton.”

  He froze, feeling everything lock up inside him.

  She mistook his lack of response for a lack of understanding. “You know. Aiden Sparrowfoot? The Archmage?”

  “I know who he is.” Monty couldn’t forget even if he wanted to. He still saw the guy in his nightmares sometimes. “He was in Hovelton?”

  “Yeah. Actually, one of the kids who broke into the party was his daughter.”

  “The one who screamed?"

  "Not the taller one. The shorter one. She has the most adorable pinchable cheeks, so cute.”

  “Yeah.” He’d barely seen the other girl who’d run and grabbed her friend and he didn’t think to get a sense of her, so focused on resolving the situation before it got out of hand.

  Dee gave him time to sort through his emotions while eating her fries. From her frequent glances, she knew how much she had discombobulated him.

  He didn’t know how to react to this news.

  Years ago, Monty had been part of the extraction team that was sent to capture Aiden Sparrowfoot after the association discovered his whereabouts. It was an off-Earth expedition that nearly cost him his mind.

  He’d faced a lot of fearsome foes in his time.

  Facing Aiden Sparrowfoot was another thing entirely and attempting pathway manipulation on the former [Hero] had nearly resulted in half of Monty's pathways being ripped to shreds.

  With the timely arrival of other [Heroes], he'd managed to make it out of that fight but it had taken months of therapy, physical and mental, before he could go back to work.

  Still, that wasn’t the part that featured most often in his nightmares. More than the agony and pain of having his pathways torn wounded, what haunted him was the rage, and sheer agony on Aiden’s face as he faced down a battalion of mages and knights sent to capture him. His scream had been one of despair, and anger and utter desolation that had less to do with his capture and more to do with losing hope.

  Monty couldn’t forget the other man's sadness either, giving him dual, opposing but equally powerful impressions of Aiden.

  “And the Archmage?” he said finally. “What did you think about him?"

  Dee twirled a fry between her teeth.

  “Why? Are you jealous?” She teased with a smile then cocked her head. “I suppose he was kind of good-looking in a nerdy professor way."

  “Not that, I meant about his aura. I can never get an accurate read on the guy.” He’d tried again after Aiden’s powers were suppressed with the Tilling bands. Suppressing his fear, he’d approached the prison bars and tentatively tested probed Aiden's mind. This time Aiden's pathways didn't put up any opposition. They couldn't. Monty had searched him as Aiden sat staring sightlessly in that cell.

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  At the time, Monty no longer detected animosity or a strong thirst for vengeance from the [Villain] and he relayed that to the association. That information, and Aiden’s many years of impeccable service, were why the [Villain] was released into the world with only the Tilling bands as his punishment.

  But Monty still wasn't sure releasing Aiden was the right decision. The things the Archmage had done...things he was capable off...

  They terrified him.

  Even when Aiden Sparrowfoot was sitting in the cell, alone and powerless, there was something about him that put Monty on edge. The man was effectively mundane, but he still didn’t feel like it. He had a formidable aura despite his lack of mana, and supposed lack of willpower.

  Monty second-guessed himself all the time and frequently wondered if he'd done the right thing by inadvertently convincing the association to free Aiden. He wondered if Aiden really wasn't planning any type of retribution or similarly heinous plots. What if Monty had read him wrong? What if the Archmage simply had an exceptionally guarded aura? After all, the man had more mastery of his pathways than anyone Monty had ever met.

  His plaguing doubt was what caused him to ask Dee the question, about her impression of Aiden.

  Dee’s powers didn't really work in the same way his did. She mostly got feedback emotions when she healed people but occasionally she could sense whether anyone close to her was in physical or emotional distress. Although, how that would help him figure out if Aiden Sparrowfoot was plotting something, he didn't know.

  “He was concerned about the kid with the loiter illness. And the woman too,” Dee said to answer the question. “But mostly he was worried about his daughter.’

  “She was bitten?”

  She shook her head. “No. I think it was just general parental angst. You know, does she hate me? Is she doing okay? That sort of thing."

  “Oh,” Monty took a deep breath. At least Dee didn’t detect evil intent either. But he still wasn’t totally relieved.

  “His daughter is pre-awakened by the way."

  Monty's eyes widened. “How do you know?”

  “He told me. Well, more like he and Emma, the head nurse, humble-bragged about it to anyone who would listen. Never seen a prouder pair.”

  "Oh." Must be nice to have a proud parent. Wonder what that’s like.

  Monty suppressed the childish thought, and chewed his lip in concern. “Does the [Hero] association know?”

  “Probably. Apparently, Luther Firebringer visited Sparrowfoot recently so might have figured it out."

  “So Firebringer already knows,” he said. "And his sister probably knows too."

  "Yup. What do you think Stella's going to do with that information?"

  Monty had no idea. Though he was acquainted with the Firebringers, he wasn't close enough to either of them to make an educated guess.

  While he was thinking, Dee's arm shot out and she snatched his pint glass. In a blink, she downed the entire thing and then closed her eyes in bliss.

  Monty watched her. “Thought you said you were meeting the Priests in an hour.”

  She grimaced as she put down the glass. “Yes, but it was worth it.”

  Everstone Elementary School was a tall building that stood near a busy shopping center. It was walking distance from the subway, and around the corner from where Aiden sometimes worked as a street cleaner.

  “It’s over there." Aiden pointed at it with his free hand as they turned the corner. His other hand was firmly wrapped around Lexie’s as though he was frightened she would run off on her own.

  “When we cross the street, you should head straight up and the gate should be big and obvious on your left,” he said. “Make sure you pay attention to your surroundings. Arcadia is pretty safe but you never know.”

  “Wait, you’re not walking me in?” She turned her face up to him. Not that she needed him too, but she was surprised. He’d insisted on taking the train with her today and with how he’d hovered, she just thought he wouldn’t retreat till he was sure she was in school.

  But Aiden seemed shocked by her question. “You...want me to?”

  Lexie shrugged. “I mean, sure.”

  “Really? I only walked you to school a few times in the past, but you always told me not to get close."

  “Why not?” Lexie asked again.

  Aiden gave her a small smile. “You never mentioned it but I’m pretty sure I have a good guess."

  And then when Lexie still didn’t get it, he tugged his collar a little lower so that the metallic bands on his neck showed.

  “Oh.” Lexie thought. That made sense. So that was why he’d dressed like that today. It was a pretty warm day, but he’d worn a long-sleeved loose top with a high-collar hoodie that covered all his bands. Not entirely though. The bands were thick enough to push underneath the fabric and anyone who got close would see them. Nevertheless, they were covered up.

  Lexie could understand Lexie Sparrowfoot being embarrassed by her [Villain] father and instructing him to not go near her school, where her friends could see them together. It was the exact type of thing a young, preteen girl would be stressed out over. And she could also imagine how much that would pierce Aiden's heart.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. She felt bad, even though it hadn’t truly been her doing. Aiden cared about his daughter so much and it probably hurt him that his daughter didn't want him to walk her to school because she didn’t want to be seen with him. “That was mean of me.”

  But Aiden looked completely taken aback by her apology. “Don’t be sorry, honey bee." He copped a squat so he could stare into her eyes, his hazel gaze exuding warmth. “Lexie, you weren’t wrong for what you did. I’m the one who did the wrong thing, and I hate that you have to pay the price for it every time people know who you are.” A struggle appeared on his face. “If I could go back...”

  As he trailed off, Lexie waited for him to finish the sentence wondering what he would say. If he could go back, then what? Would he have not searched for answers? Would he have given up on discovering the truth behind his wife's demise?

  He clearly still loved her, to the point where, he left everything behind, including Lexie, just to chase the ghost of her. And knowing that, Lexie couldn't judge Lexie Sparrowfoot too harshly.

  She likely had a different view of Aiden, and likely felt abandoned by him. Meanwhile Lexie Evan's view of parenting was colored by her experience with her not entirely healthy parents. To her, Aiden was golden in comparison.

  As guilty as it made her to think such a thing.

  “You can walk me in,” Lexie finally said in the ensuing silence. “I mean if you want to…”

  The slow smile Aiden beamed at her more than made up for the awkwardness of the request. “I would love to.”

  And then he straightened, recaptured her hand in his, and boldly walked her toward the building.

  The gate was made of sleek steel vertical bars with horizontal slants, and she could see the school field beyond that. It was vast, with a playground, a sandpit, and a few athletic accouterments. It all looked very normal.

  Aiden brought her up to the smaller gate, where a bleary-eyed security guard blinked at them.

  "Hey Mitch," Aiden greeted.

  The man merely nodded and yawned, rising from his seat.

  "I can't go past this point," Aiden told her as he let go of her hand. "So Mitch is going to take you into the reception to get you situated. I already told them everything about your memory loss, so they're going to take special care of you."

  Lexie nodded, but she was reluctant to leave Aiden. She felt like a kid on the first day of a new school all over again and she was anxious and frankly wanted to go home.

  But she didn't want to worry him, so she swallowed those feelings.

  “Good luck,” he said as Mitch took her hand and she followed him in. She turned back to stare at Aiden who was still at the gate. He smiled and waved at her. She waved back, feeling a pining in her chest.

  She already missed him and felt his absence.

  She shook the feeling off and faced forward. She could do this. And she wasn't going to cry on her first day back at school. That would be lame.

  As they headed to the reception building, she spotted a boy doing a handstand while two other boys were counting down loudly.

  "Nineteen, eighteen, seventeen…”

  “I’m going to hurl," the handstand boy groaned and looked like he was on the verge of it.

  “Give up," the chubby one smiled evilly. "Give up and kneel before your king peasant!”

  "Fourteen," the bespectacled guy continued counting, ignoring his friends.

  Boys, Lexie thought with a head shake and she walked into the cool reception building. A curly-haired woman was by a water dispenser (mana powered of course) and she grinned when she saw Lexie walk in.

  "Hey Lexie," she called out. "How's it going?"

  "Good," Lexie answered as the security guard let go of her hand and started making his way back out without another word.

  The receptionist didn't seem to mind, walking to Lexie with a styrofoam cup of, not water, but coffee. It was a coffee dispenser?

  "Your father already told me about your memory loss, you poor thing. You don't remember me do you?"

  Lexie shook her head.

  "I'm Maisey. The school receptionist. But it's okay, we can catch up later. Class is about to start. Follow me."

  She led Lexie back in the direction she just came from, across the courtyard and the playground. The boys weren’t there anymore and Lexie distantly wondered if the other guy had managed to hold his vomit till the final count. There was no visible throw-up on the floor, but maybe he’d given up before he could.

  The hallways were relatively empty but they looked like every other middle school hallway she’d ever seen, with lockers and bulletin boards and water fountains. Except for the random holograms here and there, and a self-cleaning vacuum that streaked up and down the hallway avoiding bodies as it went, Lexie would have thought she was back home.

  They turned two more corners before Maisey approached the classroom. Lexie could already hear the faint rumble coming from inside, which meant that everyone was already there.

  The knot in her stomach tightened.

  Maisie's body blocked Lexie's vision as she knocked on the wooden door and then slid it open. Lexie stepped to the side, in time to see the petite woman with shoulder length black hair blink at them from the front of the class

  Behind her was a holographic chalkboard, on which she was currently drawing something with her fingers.

  "Yes, Maisey?" she answered.

  “I have Lexie Sparrowfoot for you,”

  “Oh Lexie. Of course,” she beckoned Lexie forward with a warm smile and as Lexie tentatively entered, she did a brief scan of the classroom. She immediately recognized the boys who had been in the courtyard earlier, laughing amongst themselves at the back right of the room. The one who was doing the handstands still looked green but grinned triumphantly meaning he’d managed to make it all the way through. Her eyes went across the room and they instantly fell on a beautiful blonde girl sitting to the far left, who was also laughing with an equally pretty dark-haired girl.

  As Lexie went to the middle of the room and faced the rest of the class, the noise around them quieted. It was silent even before the teacher laid a hand on her shoulder and said, “Class, Lexie has returned to join us again. She’s been gone because she had a minor accident and has lost most of her memories so you’ll have to be patient with her alright? And try to help her out where you can, so she can recover her memories faster.”

  A boy stuck his hand in the air and before the teacher could call him, he asked, “How’d ya lose your memories?”

  “Now, Bennie, I don’t think that’s an appropriate question for you to-”

  “I fell down a ditch,” Lexie answered. She figured that they would just keep asking or make up stories if she didn't clear it up now and she wanted to get it over with. “And hit my head. I was out for a few days and then when I woke up, I couldn’t remember anything.”

  Bennie didn’t seem pleased with that response. He frowned. “That’s it?”

  “It was a deep ditch,” Lexie said defensively.

  “My grandmother fell down a deep ditch once,” one very short bespectacled boy said. “She hit her head on a rock and it split right open. Her brains came pouring out and everything.”

  “Gross,” a girl sitting in front of him said and he nodded.

  “It was." He looked down at his laced hands. “It's my fault. I should have told her to watch out for the lizard people. They had it out for her.”

  Everyone in the class was silent for a second as they all processed his trauma dump.

  “The lizard people?” someone muttered.

  “How deep was the ditch?’ Bennie asked Lexie as though the other boy had never spoken but thankfully, the teacher saved her from having to answer.

  “Okay guys, enough questions about that. Just make sure you help her feel welcome alright?”

  “Yes, Mrs. Thiery,” they chorused.

  “Now, Lexie, I'm Mrs. Thiery, your mathematics teacher, alright? You can sit wherever you like while I chat with Maisey outside for a second."

  Lexie nodded as Mrs. Thiery and Maisey stepped out. But Lexie hesitated at the front of the class. Mrs. Thiery's parting words posed a small but significant problem. There were only two free seats in the classroom. One was in the middle back row, by someone who she now recognized was Xena and who suddenly gave her a quick glare so that she dare not even think about it.

  The other empty seat was by the window and while she liked the view, it was beside the boy who’d told the story of his grandmother’s brains spilling out.

  Well, here goes nothing.

  She made her decision quickly, approaching the window seat. But before she could sit, the boy peered at her and a small smile curved his lip. “Are you sure you want to sit there?’

  Lexie was instantly alarmed. “Why? Did something happen?”

  “Something might happen,” he said.

  Lexie didn’t know if he was joking or not but she knew that when middle school boys said weird cryptic stuff like that, it usually spelt trouble. He was probably planning some kind of stupid prank. But she couldn’t sit by Xena either so what was she supposed to do?

  “Don't mind my brother,” the pretty blonde girl from across the classroom suddenly said. ”He just likes to make people uncomfortable. You can come sit by me.” The seat beside her was already occupied by the black-haired girl but without looking, the blonde snapped her finger and said, “Move.”

  Black-hair gaped and then glared at Lexie, as though it was her fault, before getting up and moving to sit by Xena. Xena stiffened slightly but she said nothing.

  Okay that was weird. The blonde girl had just rudely dismissed the other girl from her desk, and now she was tapping on it, smiling at Lexie all friendly. "Come on. You can sit here."

  Lexie wasn't sure she wanted that seat anymore but it was either that or potentially end up as the victim of a middle school prank. So she decided to take her chances with young Regina George.

  Lexie gave the boy an apologetic smile and thought she detected a hint of sadness in his expression as she walked away, which definitely didn’t make her feel better about her decision.

  “Alright,” Mrs. Thiery said walking back into the class as Lexie took her seat. “Now let’s get back to our recap for the week. Quadratic equations.

  Great. Her first lesson of the day was maths.

  Lexie didn't need to pay too much attention to follow the lesson closely. Much of it was like what she'd learned on Earth in seventh grade (Earth 9 had a faster curriculum) including familiar concepts of rational numbers and algebra. She was missing a few foreign details here and there, but anything she didn't understand she just noted it down for later.

  After the first hour long lesson, they got a brief break and Mrs Thiery left the room again. The blonde turned to smile at Lexie.

  “My name is Veronica by the way.”

  “Nice to meet you. I’m Lexie.”

  “I know. I’m not the one who lost my memory.”

  She said it in a joking way so Lexie smiled. “Yeah. Sorry. I don’t know if we were friends before that…”

  “We weren’t,” she said. “I don’t think you had friends. You were kind of quiet and weird.”

  "Oh.” Was that rude, blatantly honest or both? Either way, Lexie was used to it. Mickie had been the same way when they met, and made similar offhanded comments that were a breath away from rude.

  In fact, Veronica reminded her of Mickie in a lot of ways, especially looks wise. There were also other parallels, given that she also met Mickie in middle school, when Mickie demanded she sit by her and forced the weird quiet girl to be her friend.

  Lexie wondered if that was what was happening here.

  “We definitely weren't friends then,” Veronica continued. And then she winked. “But we’re both pre-awakened so I figured we can be friends now.”

  “Wait, Lexie you’re pre-awakened too?” Bennie spun around in his seat and his eyes suddenly widened in awe. His voice had carried throughout the entire class.

  Suddenly, all eyes were on Lexie.