“Why are the gods breaking their own rules?” I ask. I cross my legs as I adjust my position on the fold-out chair Taylor had prepared for me.

  Taylor gives me a look, “You don’t expect me to just tell you that, do you? That’ll cost gold I know you don’t have.”

  I puff out my cheeks.

  I’d hoped that she might just answer my question, but she already gives me allowances, and I don’t mean to push my luck.

  The gods had made a treaty with each other, but Set had decided to break the treaty by letting monsters in before the proper time. That’s literally all the magical ball had told me.

  How does this information benefit me? It gives me the benefit of knowing that I still know nothing about everything.

  “To be honest Taylor, I was expecting more for four gold coins. That didn’t tell me anything.”

  Taylor meets my gaze, and her eyes sharpen as her usual friendliness disappears. “You’re asking for the entirely wrong information. You haven’t asked any questions about your abilities, about the gods, about the system or why the Beta has started in your world in the first place. You’re driving blind, and you don’t even realize it.”

  I let out a small laugh, “Not that I’m trying to excuse myself, but it has only been six days, and I’ve done better than the other Beta Testers I’ve seen.”

  Taylor lets out a sigh, “Listen to yourself, you think you’re more powerful than the other Beta Testers? Two out of two million. You barely escaped with your life both times and yet you still think you’re invincible.” She pauses and takes a deep breath, “Look, I’m only saying this because I like you. You’re actually a good person, and you’d be surprised how rare that is.” She looks into my eyes and holds my gaze, “I know things that you cannot imagine, it is my job to know things. You’re not as far ahead of the pack as you think you are. And if you don’t prepare for what’s coming, then you’ll find your throat slit by a monster. You’d just better hope that the monster isn’t wearing the face of someone you trust-” She stops her tirade, her green skin tinged red with emotion.

  I bite my lip and turn my eyes to the ceiling of Taylor’s shop. My chair tilts back on two legs as I push myself up with my feet.

  A mural of stars is painted on her ceiling, but they’re not the stars I recognize. I lose myself in the painting as I process her words.

  It’s a few minutes later that I let out a breath, and my tension leaves my body. The front legs of my chair hit the ground with a *clunk*, breaking the silence.

  “You’re probably right.” I say, my usual playfulness gone from my voice. “I’m definitely not perfect. There is probably more I can do to prepare myself.” I smile at her, letting my personality shine through. “But I like having fun and doing things my way. After all, if you can’t have fun while living life, then what’s the point of living? I can’t let silly things like possible death and dismemberment stop me from kissing the girl I have a crush on- I can’t wait to do that by the way.” I tilt my head forward and let my hair cover my face as I look at Taylor. “I’m going to win either way, you want to know why?”

  “Why?” Taylor asks.

  I motion her closer, and she leans forward. In a mock whisper I continue, “Because I am invincible.” I stand up, scooting my chair backwards. “Thanks for the information Taylor. I owe you one. Until then, I want to spend some time with my sister. I feel like I’ve been neglecting her.” I walk towards the door, feeling Taylor's dissatisfied stare on my back.

  I stop in the doorframe, and look back at her.

  “By the way, I’ve been wondering; why does Dee like honey so much?”

  Taylor responds without thinking. “It’s a drug to the Fae. It makes them feel good and chills them out.”

  My fairy gets high on honey.

  Now that’s a sentence you don’t hear very often.

  Chuckling to myself, I leave the shop and return to my home.

  My room is how I left it, with the exception of a small fairy reading an equally small book on my pillow.

  Dee turns the page, not even looking up as I enter the room.

  I smile at the otherworldly creature, then pull out my phone. I scroll through my notifications as I make my way down the stairs to the living room.

  “Mom! I think I have super powers!” Elizabeth says, making me look up from my phone.

  I walk into the kitchen to see Mom chopping vegetables and putting them in a large Wok. Elizabeth sits at the table, her homework layed out in front of her.

  “What makes you say that?” Mom asks, trying to hide a smile.

  “You know those girls that have been bullying me lately?” Elizabeth asks, running her hand through her hair, another habit we both share.

  Mom frowns, her knife pausing mid-chop. “Yes. They’re still bothering you? I can talk to the principal again.”

  “Don’t do that. You’ll embarrass me even more.” Elizabeth shrinks into her chair before jumping back up as she remembers what she was talking about, “You don’t have to anyway! Something way cool happened at school today. So Blair started making fun of me, and then- bam!- lightning came from the sky and struck her. It was so cool, and I think it happened because of me!”

  “Oh dear! Is she okay?” Mom looks at elizabeth.

  Elizabeth rolls her eyes and mutters “I hope not.”

  “Elizabeth.”

  “What? She’s a total B-I-T-C-H.” Elizabeth spells out each letter of the word.

  I laugh from where I’m standing.

  “Elena! Don’t encourage her!” Mom points her knife at me, then continues chopping.

  I don’t respond, instead leaning against the counter to enjoy the show.

  “Mom! You’re ignoring the important part! Lighting. Came. From. The. Sky.” Elizabeth looks at her hands in wonder, “I think I have super powers.”

  Dee. What did you do to my little sister’s tormentors? Whatever it was, I owe you some extra honey.

  I grab Elizabeth from behind, eliciting a small squeak. Then I squeeze her in a hug. “Something tells me it was just a coincidence, little sunshine.”

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  Elizabeth wiggles, trying to escape from my clutches, but I refuse to let go.

  “Mom! Elena won’t let go of me.” She tries to be grumpy, but I can hear the small smile in her voice.

  “Squeeze her extra for me.” Mom winks at me.

  “Mom!”

  Dad walks into the room. He looks half-dead from the bags under his eyes, and the stubble on his face tells me he hasn’t had time to shave. “You girls look like you are having-” He yawns mid-sentence, “fun.”

  “Dad!” Elizabeth breaks free from my hug and hides behind him, eliciting a small chuckle from him. “They are ganging up on me.”

  “What? They’re ganging up on my precious little girl? The heathens.” A wan smile appears on his face.

  Mom walks over to him, and gives him a quick kiss on the lips. “How was work?”

  He wraps her in a hug, resting his head on her shoulder. “Not good, and it isn’t over yet. I’m on call.”

  She holds him for a second, then one of the lids starts to boil over. She hurries back to her cooking, leaving dad reaching for her sadly.

  “I thought you had tonight off.” Mom says.

  Dad falls into one of the chairs at the table, “I did, but the number of violent crimes are through the roof. They needed some extra doctors on call, I volunteered.”

  Mom dishes out the food into four plates, “You’re exhausted enough as it is. You needed this time off.” She sets his plate in front of him, a little more forcefully than needed.

  “I’ll be fine, and duty calls.” he responds as we all get our food.

  The table is quiet as we eat. Elizabeth looks between our parents questioningly, while mom sends my dad annoyed glares that he doesn’t notice as he eats mechanically.

  I finish my meal fast, and hurry upstairs to get away from the awkward atmosphere.

  Dee is still reading her book when I get back to my room.

  “What are you reading?” I ask as I sit down at my desk.

  Dee looks up at me with a guilty smile, her face a little flushed. “It’s a romantic story set in the warring seasons period. It’s about the forbidden love between a water fairy and an electric fairy.” She coos, and holds the book close to her chest. “And it is steamy.”

  I giggle. “You’ll have to lend it to me sometime, I’ve been looking for some new reading material.”

  She hides the book behind her and hisses at me playfully, “Mine.”

  “You owe me for the trouble you caused my sister. She doesn’t need that kind of attention.” I say, losing some of my playfulness.

  “What? I only zapped the other girl a little bit.” She flies into the air so that her eyes are even with mine, then lifts her chin.

  “People are starting to realize that the world is changing. Supernatural attention on my sister is a bad thing.” I leave my desk to fall on my bed. “Next time, be smarter about it.” I give her a sly smile as I pull out a small bottle of honey from my inventory.

  She zips over to me and grabs the honey. It disappears into her inventory. “Will do.”

  ***

  I’m shaken awake roughly.

  I open my eyes to the message in front of me, a small timer ticking down next to it. Why do these things always happen when I’m asleep?

  “Hello! It’s time to get up, love. This is not a safe place to sleep.” A young woman with a British accent helps me to my feet.

  I shake my head, getting rid of the last vestiges of sleep.

  “Where am I?” I ask.

  “An American girl?” A man with a french accent says from a few feet away.

  I look around at the group of people surrounding me. There are three more people who haven’t spoken yet, plus the Frenchman and the young woman who woke me up.

  The young woman holding me up has raven hair, and brown eyes so dark they are almost black. I catch a brief glance of scars on her arm before she lets me go and covers it with her sleeve.

  “My name is Isabelle, what is yours?” She asks in a calm voice.

  “Elena.” I answer, studying the room we’re in. A stone floor and marble walls box us in, the only exit being a door made of steel.

  “Anton Pierre.” The Frenchman introduces himself. He’s the oldest in our group, with all gray hair, and a few wrinkles lining his face.

  I look at the last three people in the room.

  A tall Asian man in a business suit ignores my stare.

  The second person I look at smiles in greeting. His brown hair is tied back in a bun and a single earring hangs from one ear, “My name is Nicolas Guerrero.” He says in a Spanish accent, rolling all of his ‘r’s beautifully.

  The last person introduces himself with a simple “Hans.” Hans is muscular, but not overly so. He has blonde hair and blue eyes, and looks at me with a mildly irritated expression.

  “Everyone here is a Beta Tester.” Isabelle says, “And we just figured out that no matter what language you are speaking, we all hear it as our own. You and I are the only ones actually speaking English.”

  “The devil tests our faith again and again, why do you act as if everything is normal?” The Asian man asks.

  “How else should I act?” Isabelle asks, sending a glare the man’s way.

  The Asian man doesn’t meet her gaze. “Do not let the acts of these false gods cloud your eyes. That is all I will say.”

  “Helpful, aren’t you?”

  They break out into an argument, which I ignore, instead turning my thoughts to the blue screen in front of me. I’m as prepared as I can be, but what did it mean by infestation? My mind goes to zombies. If that’s the case, then I hope they're the slow-easily-killed kind. But it could mean something else, like a disease or mushroom-zombies.

  I pull out Sheyla’s book and look for a filter-spell.

  Detoxifying Mask: Auric Enchantment. Blocks all harmful bacteria, poisons and viruses up to level 10 from entering your system. Must remove to eat. Enchantment is broken if cloth is soaked in water.

  Requires: Cloth large enough to cover your mouth.

  Cost: 100 psi.

  I look through my inventory and pull out the extra clothes I’d stashed away for a rainy day.

  A hello-kitty shirt appears in my hand, and I twist it into a makeshift cloth that covers my nose and mouth.

  A meditative state comes to me quickly, and I twist my psi into the shapes needed to cast the enchantment.

  The auric enchantment settles over the shirt without too much trouble, and I let out a small breath.

  “What is that?” Hans, who I now recognize as speaking a germanic language of some kind, asks.

  I look up to see all of the other Beta Testers looking at me. “Protection,” I answer, my voice muffled by the cloth.

  “Against what?” Hans asks in an impatient tone.

  “Stupidity.” I answer, smiling behind my ‘mask’.

  Hans looks at me with annoyance while Isabelle laughs.

  “Use Identify on it.” Isabelle says.

  I glance at the timer in the corner of my vision, it says that we have roughly eight minutes left.

  Anton, the Frenchman, hands me a scarf, “Can you enchant this for me?”

  I nod, and meditate to bring my psi back up to a good spot. Once it’s there, I begin to work on his scarf.

  I finish and hand it back to him.

  “Thank you.” He says, wrapping the scarf around his face.

  “We’re out of time, or I would ask you to do the same for me.” Nicolas says, pulling a staff out of his inventory as the timer goes into its last few minutes.

  I pull out my gloves and put them on.

  The asian man, who’s name I still don’t know, pulls out a large case nearly as tall as him.

  Anton pulls out a revolver, his movements nonchalant.

  Hans pulls out a large broadsword, lifting it easily as his body glows with energy.

  Finally, Isabelle pulls out a familiar looking sword. Exactly like the one I saw in the video that Blake had shown me yesterday.

  I look at the clock as it shows the final seconds.

  5…

  4…

  3…

  2…

  1…

  The only door in our room swings open, a bright light on the other side preventing us from seeing where it leads.

  The others hesitate, staring at the entryway.

  I shrug, and walk through the door.