The time was here. Nikola looked at the assembled brood, all buzzing inside the warehouse.

  “My children.”

  They collectively turned to him, attentive.

  “It is time. Go out, behave as you normally would, and listen for my voice. We shall gather at the Sirens of Spring, and there you may feast.”

  The crowd murmured, many of them nearly delirious from mana thirst. They exited the building, a few at a time to avoid suspicion, until all were gone but Nikola.

  He paced the walkway, his hand on the rail. The expansive, empty room echoed his footsteps as he came down the stairs, heading toward the exit.

  ? ?? ?

  While Nikola was unfolding his plan, in another part of the city, we were continuing to build up our strength.

  “Good work today, everyone! You’re all improving nicely,” Ravena beamed at her students.

  We had just finished another class with her, each of us taking turns sparring her instead of each other.

  The rest of us watched on as our fellow sparred with the instructor, then there would be instruction before another would take a turn.

  For fun, at the end of class today, she had us try to attack her all at once. We failed spectacularly, getting in each other’s way constantly and making it easy for Ravena to go on the offense. She laughed at us, and we laughed at ourselves, knowing we must’ve looked like complete idiots to her.

  “Next class, we’ll begin working as teams of two. Eventually, I want you all to be able to take me on and have a good fight.”

  I tried not to balk; this lady was world renowned for her skill and she wanted us to be able to take her on?

  Were we mortals, it likely would’ve taken us weeks longer for our bodies to strengthen enough to even get to using swords. But with faster healing, we were always refreshed and ready by the next class for whatever grueling workout she’d give us.

  I tried not to gulp my water, sweat running down my temples. “She’s got more confidence than I.” I panted, completely wiped out just like every other class. I did have to admit though, I was getting stronger and better at holding and using a sword.

  I straightened, twisting to pop my back. “See you next class,” I shouted to Ravena as the door was closing behind her.

  I tried to wipe away my sweat with my arm, which was also sweaty. I ended up just smearing it around, feeling very gross and ready for a shower. A towel popped up beside me, and my eyes followed the arm to see Michael at the other end.

  “Thanks.” I grabbed the towel, wiping the sweat off my brow. That already felt better, even if just a little.

  Michael nodded back the way Ravena had left. “You don’t think we can take her on?” He looked sincere in his question, and disbelieving of me.

  “I think it would take much longer than we have time for to get that good. I mean, she’s been doing this for decades and isn’t slowing down. We’re like three, four months into this. How quickly does she expect us to take her on?”

  “I think you misunderstand something,” Antun commented as he came up to us. “I think Ravena is not asking us to win against her, just to be able to hold our own.”

  Michael nodded his agreement.

  Syla was wiping away her own sweat as she joined with her own nod.

  I shrugged, still not completely convinced, but too tired to care. “Is it bedtime now?” I groused.

  Syla gave a breathy laugh of agreement and nodded, pointing. “What she said.”

  Antun offered for us to come over to his place to spend the night, but we declined, just wanting to get home, shower, and sleep. Our ride home was quiet, both of us too worn out to talk.

  We trudged from the elevator to the apartment, trying not to fumble the keys as I unlocked the door.

  “You wanna go first?” I gestured to the bathroom as we walked in.

  Michael, usually a gentleman who goes by ladies first, nodded his thanks, going over to his bag to get clean clothes.

  Defeated in my plan to have the first shower, I went to the kitchen, wondering if my mom had brought Gatorade powder at some point. I couldn’t find any so I just drank my water as it was, figuring I needed to at least hydrate a little.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Maybe we should hunt before we go to sleep… nah, after sleep.

  I knew that more mana would help us to recover the fastest, but I was just so tired and I really, really didn’t want to have to go find mana.

  Too bad there isn’t a shelf-stable mana of some kind, that would be game changing.

  Michael didn’t take long, and soon enough I was in the shower. For the first few minutes I just stood under the stream, the hot water divine. Eventually I forced my limbs to move. I didn't take terribly long – I wanted to sleep more than I wanted to soak – so I soon shut off the water and got out, drying myself off.

  I dressed and grabbed a brush, needing to detangle my hair. I walked out of the bathroom as I brushed my hair, focusing on the ends first.

  “Do you want me to brush your hair?” Michael offered.

  I nodded, not caring about touch at the moment and grateful to let my arms have a break.

  I sat on the floor and he on the couch as he brushed my long hair. It felt so nice, having someone else brush my hair, that I didn’t realize I was falling asleep until I nearly hit the floor.

  My hands caught me, barely, and I looked up.

  Michael’s face wore an expression of amusement, his mouth quirking at the corners as if he were fighting a smile. “Tomorrow’s the weekend, we’ve got the day off. Wanna do something fun for once? It feels like we’re always on the go.”

  My voice was dull as I said, “I wanna do absolutely nothing at all. Just call me Bruno Mars.”

  Michael laughed, “Right now, that sounds like an excellent plan. How about this: we sleep, then we decide.”

  I gave him a weary thumbs up, my head resting against his knee.

  “Want me to braid your hair so you don’t have to blow dry it?”

  “Has anyone ever told you that you are a saint?”

  He laughed and told me to turn around.

  I did so, curious, but he only told me to look down. I did, and he began to section my hair at the nape of my neck.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Braiding your hair,” he replied simply.

  “Um,” I was thoroughly confused. “Don’t people usually braid with their heads up?”

  “Trust me,” was his only reply. I decided to hell with it and let him braid my hair upside down. When he was done, I looked like I had two long antennae coming off my head.

  “Trust me? What the hell is this?” I giggled, twirling them around like propellers.

  Michael laughed at my antics and replied, “Really, trust me! In the morning when you take them out, your hair will be really evenly wavy, it’ll be really pretty.”

  I must’ve still looked confused because he explained, “High school Ren Faire friends, remember? The girls taught us guys all kinds of stuff about braiding, including this trick. They’d use it to make their hair really pretty for the Faire sometimes.”

  I whipped at him with my braids.

  “You’ll see,” he chuckled as he swiped them away.

  ? ?? ?

  To my astonishment, my hair did turn out quite pretty as Michael had predicted. I parted my hair off center, creating some volume.

  Huh, I quite like that!

  I smiled broadly as I left the bathroom, satisfied with my hair for the first time in a long while.

  “Ooh,” Michael crooned as I came out, “Who looks so pretty? Told you the Renaissance nerds knew what they were doing.”

  I twirled and curtsied, my arms out as if holding out the fabric of a gown, and I laughed with pure joy.

  Michael looked stunned but continued to smile, his eyes softening an imperceptible amount.

  I bounced on my toes. My smile felt permanent, it was so wide. “I feel silly for liking my hair this much, but I really do like it a lot!”

  I practically bounced over to Michael. I motioned for him to bend closer and I kissed him on the cheek.

  He looked dazed and I laughed again, my mood exceptionally high. “Thank you, Michael. It turned out amazing.”

  I skipped over to the kitchen to make some coffee, the only thing that could make this morning better.

  Michael trailed after me to the kitchen, still looking a little dazed.

  “What’s the matter with you?” I grinned. “Too pretty to handle?”

  “Yeah.”

  The single syllable took me off guard, my bouncing calming down. I looked back at him.

  He stood there in shock.

  I tried to tease, “Did your own masterpiece woo you?”

  He walked up to me and looked down, his eyes glowing in the morning light. He brushed a finger over my cheek, at the corner of my smile.

  “Seeing you so full and happy… I’ve never seen someone more beautiful than you right now.”

  His words blew me away. I wasn’t even sure I was still smiling.

  His fingers curled around my ear, tucking my hair back. I closed my eyes, savoring the sensation of his touch. His eyes roamed over my face as if he couldn’t get enough of it, until they landed on my lips.

  I knew what he wanted, I wanted it too. We closed the distance, me wrapping my arms around his shoulders as he bent, his lips finding mine, demanding, and I reciprocated in kind.

  His arms wrapped around me, holding me tightly against him. Then he lifted me by the waist, my legs wrapping around him as he carried me toward my bedroom, his arms snaking under my shirt to brush against my bare back.

  He began to pull away and I bit his bottom lip, keeping him in place. He laughed and resumed the kiss, deep and passionate. Michael’s hand came up, his thumb stroking my jaw as I panted.

  He did nothing else as I caught my breath, although the fire in his eyes suggested he’d have liked to go on.

  I likely blushed, but with all the other sensations going on in my body, it was hard to tell.

  He backed away, sitting up, and put out his hand. I took it and sat up, staring at him. He brushed my hair gently with his hand, calming the wild strands. “Beautiful,” was all he said, all he could say at the moment.

  I gazed back at him, thinking the same thing. He was gorgeous with his golden brown hair all mussed up, his deep evergreen eyes roaming over me, his lips red from kissing. Oh, those lips…

  We lay in each other’s arms for a few more minutes, breath slowly returning. Then Michael sat up and reached for my hand.

  “We better get going. If you want to sightsee like a tourist, we better head out.”

  I slowly came out of my daze, the heady rush calming down.

  Right, sightseeing.

  We had decided to spend the day that way, seeing the sights as if we were tourists. I had never been to the Space Needle, so we decided to start there…

  After going to the very first Starbucks. It was quite popular but we got our drinks in hand and started on our way to the giant, oddly shaped building… monument… thing. Whatever it was, I’d figure it out when I got there.

  We hadn’t gotten very far down the street when Michael steps slowly stopped.

  I turned to him, “What’s is it?”

  He swayed slightly, eyes unfocused.

  “Michael?”

  He turned to me, face pale. “I hear Nikola. He’s calling. You don’t hear that?”

  I tried to focus but I heard nothing.

  He took out his phone, and I could vaguely hear Antun on the other end. “You need to bring the yew things here. I think Nikola is beginning his plan.”

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