A/N: Guess who is back bitches!!! ... ok. totally unprofessional. sorry. *clears throat* please read. comment and suggest. etc. you know the drill.

“I am not a thorn and I am not too interested in your ass, so it probably won’t be me.” Said a flat voice with no inflection.

Aya swiveled around to locate it, catching glimpses of dilapidated houses with brittle cracks in the roofs and faded curtains in dusty windows. The sun was glaring down painfully on her skin and she had to shield her eyes from the light reflected on the cobblestones covering Durrenheim’s townsquare. It was where she had chosen to start, precisely because it had unexplained problems - like that of abandoned neglect - but seeing it first hand was quite disheartening. The pictures she had seen of the game had been a lot more… fantastical. Not quite so… medieval.

As she finished her quick assessment, she came face to face with a scrawny chest covered in rusty iron chainmail. Shielding her eyes more closely she lifted her head up to see a face she hadn’t at all expected to see in a game. It was narrow at the chin, hollow at the cheeks and wide at the cheekbones. The acne that covered the boy’s whole face, gave away his young age where his eyes wouldn’t. His forehead was wide and long and his dark brown hair was held back with the pure power of greasy uncleanliness.

She didn’t understand why someone who looked like that in real life, wouldn’t choose to change their appearance inside the game. She thought, for sure, his gamer-type would choose some herculean avatar to get girls that would never give him the time of day in the real world. She was dead wrong, apparently, because he looked utterly unlikeable. Meeting unpleasant people seemed to be a growing trend for her.

The boy was looking at her expectantly. Thinking he wanted her to say something she said.

“... Sorry?”

“For what? You haven’t done anything yet.” He said completely matter of factly. “All you have done, from my perspective, is pop up in front of me.” Although his mouth moved, the rest of his face remained utterly stoic as he spoke. “Which is, of course, not something you have to be sorry for. It is the game that transports you in the city square. In fact, it is expected of you. I have been waiting here because I know this is where beginners pop up.”

Unsure of what the kid wanted, standing there and citing strangely worded facts. She tried catching her bearings instead of wasting time trying to understand him. The movement of other players around the square continued as usual. The cacophony of sounds was a mixture of players shouting, announcing their quests, pitching for the open positions on their teams, business transactions with the artificially intelligent NPCs and a particularly loud exchange between a couple of guards and a player. Aya felt like she was in the eye of a hurricane and, in this particular situation, she very much wanted to face the winds and get out of there. The boy was just plain creepy. It was time she finally started what she was there to do: Play the game.

“Alright. Well…” Aya began, trying to ditch the kid. “Do you need anything? Because I have to go see that…” She looked around, looking for an excuse. “...merchant over there.” She motioned to a heavy-set woman selling wares out of a cart. 

The woman was glowing in strong blue light, her name floating visibly above her head, [Curiana]. All of the non-player characters had a blue [NPC] label over their head. The remainder of the characters, she assumed, were players like her since they didn’t have any labels at all.

“Yes.” He said with finality. For a moment she was confused, having no idea what he meant. She had already moved on mentally, crossing him off on her to-do list. She only remembered she had asked him if he needed anything when he added, “I need a teammate for a quest.”

“A quest?” She asked wanting to leave. She had nothing to gain from a kid on her mission but at the same time she was curious. Completing quests was part of the game. It could help give her the ranking she needed by the end of the five game weeks. “...Why?”

Even if he was a kid, he wasn’t a beginner. His gear looked nothing like hers. Why would he want to enlist a noob. She couldn’t help being suspicious. People didn’t just hand things out for free.

‘Or maybe that’s just my prison attitude coming to life…’

“Yes.” He said and then paused, making her realize he was answering her questions in chronological order. “Because quests give rewards and I want this particular reward. Especially since it is a unique chain quest.” Although he voiced his replies, Aya could practically see bullet points as he spoke, addressing each aspect of her part in the conversation.

“Yeah, I know that. But why me... specifically? You don’t even know me.”

“How could I know what you know? That is a rhetorical question, no need to answer.” He said it with his usual matter of factness but Aya could see a footnote being added that said something along the lines of 

[You are stupid. That is obvious.] 

“I don’t care if it is you specifically. I just need a body. It could be anyone.” She didn’t like him. “And it is true, I have not met you yet. It is a pleasure.” His laconic tone suggested otherwise. “My name is Donovan.”

“Ch-... I mean, Aya.” She said with growing impatience with his blunt and rude tone. Maybe it was because she’d gotten so used to kids in the real world giving her deferential treatment; Like an adult. Being treated like a kid, by a kid, was just getting on her, already Hathorne frayed, nerves. “So why don’t you go with one of your friends or your... guild members or something?” She said in an appeasing tone, using the kid treatment right back at him.

‘Yes, I am exceptionally mature.’

She didn’t allow her annoyance to cloud her analysis of the kid. His gear was a lot nicer than the vast majority of the other beginner players in the area. Although Durrenheim wasn’t limited to low level areas, with quite a few mid-level and high-level areas in the vicinity, it didn’t make sense for a leveled player to team up with a zero level player he had never met before. She was growing more and more suspicious by the second.

“I have no friends. I was kicked out of my guild yesterday.” He said with the usual lack of inflection.

“...”

At this point she just wanted to end the conversation. His voice was beginning to grate at her like a stick of new chalk on a blackboard. The bored stoicness of his tone was seeped in smug superiority and she didn’t want to go through the battle of pity vs. annoyance all over again.

Plus. She didn’t think she could trust him.

And. She already disliked him.

Also. He was… ugly to look at and…

Well, that’s it.

It might be superficial as hell, but she didn’t need any more reasons than that.

“Well Donovan, I think I won’t be able to help you. I just started this character and at level one, I really doubt I can be of help to someone of level…”

“Forty-six. I know you just started, in fact, I am pretty sure you have never played before. But that is alright, I will help you until you’re strong enough to survive where we are going. As I have already said, I just need someone, doesn’t matter who.”

“...” She was a little surprised he knew she had never played before and wondered what had given it away, but didn’t want to admit it in order to get an answer. She just wanted to leave. Looking up at his bulgy eyes Aya somehow knew that the guy wasn’t going to take a hint. Not the nice way anyway. So she decided to be just as blunt as him. “Okay, listen up Donovan. You’re going to have to find someone else. I don’t like you and I don’t trust you. I don’t see why someone of your level would even bother with someone of mine. There is the chance that you’re just being nice and all, but more than likely you’re trying to take advantage of me and I don’t like that. Plus, this quest of yours…” She couldn’t help adding out of curiosity. “...if it really exists, how long is it?”

“The completion will take circa ten Era hours. But I will probably have to help you train for a day or two before that. Otherwise the mobs in the area will immediately kill you.”

“Okay, so minimum we will be teamed up for something like three days right?”

“That is correct.”

“Come on, tell me truthfully, you think we can get along for that long? I mean, we have nothing in common. Don’t you see I’m a prisoner in real life?” She pointed to the floating hologram of three Xs over her head. “How old are you anyway? Shouldn’t your mom have put a ban on your interaction with prison players or something?”

“I do not know, but it does not matter if we get along. Yes, I know the three Xs mean you are in max sec. I am thirteen. She shouldn’t have and has not.” He looked her up and down. “How old are you?”

Aya looked down at herself. Her flat chest, small frame and twig-like body made her look even younger than the thirteen year old in front of her and he was rubbing it in her face.

“Okay… bye.” She said annoyed and needing to end the conversation. The kid was harder to get rid of than a drunken pervert at a bar. “Find someone else.”

Swiveling her gladiator sandals on the cobbled ground, she immediately made her way to the merchant shining in blue light. The game obviously wanted her to notice Curiana.

‘And not the annoying pest she’d just wasted time on.’

She hurried her pace.

‘And here we go with attempt number two.’

Focusing on the game once more, she thought the light was probably meant as a guide for new players like her to know where to start. There were probably better quests to start with than the one the AI hooked you up with, but she didn’t have a notion of where to get any. With the obvious exception of one she chose not to think about ever again. So she decided Curiana would be as good a place to start as any other. Donovan was obviously not someone she wanted to be around for another second of her life.

When she arrived, Curiana was already talking to another player. Aya recognized that she was also new by the beginner garb she was wearing. It was the same threadbare colourless tunic she had on. The only difference between them was that Aya had the additional items she had gained from the trial. The girl finished talking to the NPC, receiving what sounded like a pretty straight forward quest of killing a dozen minor corrupted beings right outside of the city gates. Aya took the time until the conversation to end, to look around some more, taking regrettable note of the fact that Donovan, the budding psychopath, was still watching her.

When the redhead finally cleared out, Aya walked up to the heavy set merchant’s cart, purposefully ignoring her unwanted follower. She sold what looked like, a little of everything from furs, to elixirs and trinkets she had never seen before, all the way to small weapons and jewelry.

“Ah! A new otherworlder. Welcome! Welcome!” She shouted waving her hands towards her invitingly. “I thank you for undertaking the journey! We need the help! Our world thanks you!” She leaned in closer, conspiratorially. “Even if some people…” She looked around, pointedly eyeing the villager NPCs of Durrenheim. “Think too highly of themselves to admit it.”

She jumped back, setting her mass of frizzy hair in motion as she did so, and continued in her exuberant tone. “But that’s neither here nor there! Let’s see, the only reason you can be here is because you need a little help getting started eh? Well. I’ve just sent another one to bring me some seedlings…” She reached her heavily fingered hand into a basket with black, glossy almond shaped seeds in it. “I need them for crafting minor health potions you see.”

Aya was quite sure she didn’t but the woman barrelled on anyway.

“They’re also useful as a minor uncorrupting agent, but I won’t need that many more.”

Curiana looked at the stands around her and scowled in frustration. “It’s a damn shame these dimwits don’t realize what they’re doing. Ugh. But it’s okay. We’re not going to let that ruin our day, are we?” She winked again.

It was weird being treated like a child and Aya wondered if NPCs reacted to childish appearances like hers the same way humans did.

“I’ll have a talk with them on your behalf before I leave, Dearie. Don’t worry.” Curiana reached over to pat her head before continuing. “Just make sure you bring me some pelts, it will go a long way in smoothing things over with Will…” 

She motioned to another merchant a couple of stalls down who had a stand full of furs, pelts and worked leather.

“He’s a bit prickly on the outside, but he’s actually more accepting than the rest of this thickheaded lot. They used to not be like this… It must be the corruption. It’s been getting a lot worse around these parts.” She looked up thoughtfully while brushing a bundle of tangly hair from her eyes.

“The gatekeepers will probably have to be notified soon, that Durrenheim is no longer a safe place to dump any new outworlders. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I know you people are capable of incredible feats after you’ve been here a while. But newlings like you… die so quickly…” The burly woman smiled brightly when she saw another player approaching. This one was dressed in slightly more advanced gear meaning he had probably already been around for a while.

Aya’s suspicions were confirmed when Curiana shouted, “Ellmer! Long time no see!” The woman had been nice to Aya the whole time but after hearing her address this new player, it was quite clear who the merchant preferred. When the player approached and completely disregarded Aya, she turned around to leave when the Curiana shouted after her.

“Take the West gate. The beasts there are tamer and be sure to come back in the next day or two. I don’t know how exactly how much longer I will be in town! May the Gates keep you safe!”

Aya didn’t even need to worry about how to reply. The woman’s attention was already completely devoted to the new arrival. As she made her way to the gate the woman had motioned to, Aya took time to take note of her surroundings. 

Unfortunately, they still included Donovan.

Part of her wanted to spend a couple more minutes in town to investigate and maybe talk to some other NPCs, but her unwanted spectator and the constant press for time made her leave town right then. Aya spun around on her heels and made her way out of the town square. The houses had already looked dilapidated at the square, making these, even more untaken care of, at the outskirts look like they were about to fall to their knees.

Feeling Donovan’s eyes following her every move, Aya couldn’t help but turn around to find the kid following her, not more than five or six steps behind.

“Could you… give me some room? At least... pretend you’re not a freak who follows someone you don’t know?”

“No.”

“...”

‘Wow. How can I be plainer. I almost felt bad for being so rude but… Ugh.’

Sighing, she turned her attention back at the cobbled road ahead of her and made her way out of town. She couldn’t help but turn her head back to look at her new follower a couple of times. He wasn’t giving her any space. It didn’t matter if she went fast, slow or sideways, he was always the same exact distance behind her, looking as unperturbed as if they were sitting in his grandmother’s tea parlour.

Giving up, she kept her eyes forward. Everything the unlikely duo passed on their way out of town looked old, dry, brittle and about to fall apart. The only exceptions were the town guards. There were six of them standing watch at the exit. A small part of Aya’s mind was caught on the fact that they seemed quite overdressed and over-wealthy for a town that looked like it was in ruins, but most of it was too annoyed by her follower to be able to take real note of it.

Aya had thought that the town itself had been dry and devoid of life but, when faced with the world outside of its walls, the town looked like a regular oasis. There was a harsh wind blowing the sandy dirt up into her eyes, making it very hard to see. All she could see were trees that were in desperate need of water. The leaves were turned in, as she had seen ferns do when they needed water. Her sister had never been very good at remembering to water them, so she knew exactly what those looked like.

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Approaching the tree-line, she made a quick decision in which direction to head. Under other circumstances, she would have taken time to evaluate her surroundings to make an informed decision of where to go. Unfortunately she wasn’t going to be able to do that today, at least not until she got rid of her unwanted sidekick. Aya almost tripped over the brittle bush with her first steps into the undergrowth. Her height was the only thing that prevented her from falling quite ungracefully to the ground. But since she was already so close to  ground, she just had to reach her hand down to quickly correct her gait. There was no reason to make a spectacle of herself in front of the creep following her.

Winding through the brushes, she was thinking more about getting away from the creepy kid than anything ahead of her. So much so that she didn’t notice when she walked right up to a group of small furry creatures that made purring and growling noises completely unexpected of their size. The moment they spotted Aya these noises intensified tenfold and the creatures spread out quickly, evenly and systematically around her. Instinctively, Aya looked around for her trusty creep, thinking he might prove useful now that she was outnumbered by over ten to one.

‘Of course… that shouldn’t even surprise me… Why would he be around when I might actually have use for him.’

The creatures were kind of cute to look at, like little fur balls. Aya wouldn’t even have been worried about them had it not been for the notification she gained, alerting her to the fact she had been targeted by a group of Thorndillies. ‘Thorn’ did not sound cute and squishy and unthreatening. Not at all. When it dawned on her what it meant to be outnumbered like that, it was already too late to carve an escape. She was completely surrounded.

Turning around slowly, she tried to catch her bearings on the situation. The growling was growing louder and the creatures were starting to tremble in seeming rage. Their colour was changing from a muted brown to a vibrant red. Aya noticed that, the one with the quickest change, was slightly smaller than the rest with slightly larger fangs. It was an almost undetectable difference, especially with their now rapidly moving bodies.

The very cushy, unthreatening figures were no longer all sweetness and cotton balls. They seemed to have grown in size, though that might have been an optical illusion caused by their incessant vibration. They also suddenly sported little spiked balls that were attached to them through some kind of tail. Instead of vibrating sporadically and all over the place like their bodies, the tails joined in with their growling to make some kind of war chant, thumping quite heavily against the arid ground.  

She looked around, trying to find an escape route she had been too stunned to look for at first. She noticed that, while each creature was labeled as [Thorndilly], not all of them boasted the same level. Most were levels 3 or 4 but there were two that were level 1. Unfortunately, there was also one that she couldn't even read the level on. Supposedly because the level gap between them was too high. It was the smallest of the group, the one she had taken note of earlier. Probably the leader of the pack. Unfortunately he was located right in between the two level ones. Any hope of using the weakest link of the chain to escape flying out the window.

Aya was still stumped as to what she should do. Thankfully, while quite loud, everything had been going pretty smoothly until then. None of the creatures had attacked or even motioned toward her. That all changed in an instant though, everything happening at once. Instead of jumping at her, they threw out their tails, like guided missiles, catching her by surprise, finding her flesh in an instant.

Sharp bursts of pain slammed into her as each tail found its target. The first one hit her on the arm. It felt like being pricked by a thick needle. Each consecutive lash adding to the pain until, eventually, she saw the leader’s tail coming straight at her, shimmering slightly in red light as it morphed from its spiked ball shape into a sharp looking arrowhead, cutting her across the lower left ribs. Suddenly, fear seemed a pretty rational choice of emotions for the situation she had found herself in. The game was throwing her curveball after curveball. The moment she started seeing it as a game again, recovering from the last life-threatening shock, she would find herself in another one. Instead of fake lions, she was now encountering fuzzy cute creatures that hurt more than all get-out.

After their first flurry of attacks, they regrouped around her in their original position. Her health had taken quite a large hit. She noticed a health bar in the top right of her field of vision. It was flashing orange as her health slowly recovered. She only had a little over a third of her health left. She wasn’t going to survive another attack like that.

The way she saw it, she had two options: Give up or go out with a bang that might somehow get her out of the situation. One of the lower levels chose that introspective moments of her to lash its tail out again, hitting her right in the neck. She knew exactly which choice she was going with.

Without waiting a beat, Aya leaned down and grabbed a rock she had been eyeing. Using the momentum, she kept going until she reached the Thorndilly that had just attacked her. Swinging her arm she let the rock in her hand come crashing down onto the things furry head. Luckily it was a little less than half her size, and within easy reach.

It’s health immediately dropped by about a quarter. Inspired, Aya quickly repeated the motion with both hands. Bringing the rock down over and over, slowly chipping away at its health. She had one more hit to go to completely destroy the creature. Although she knew there were still a dozen more of the creatures to take care of, she couldn’t help a feral grin from spreading across her face as she brought the rock down one last time.

Only… it didn’t matter. The thing was already dead. For a split second she thought she had somehow managed to kill it, until she noticed Donovan standing a couple feet away, bloody sword in hand. Looking at the dead creature at her feet, her suspicions were quickly confirmed but she didn’t have time to dwell on it as the little creatures encircled her once more and she felt sharp flashes of pain landing on her all over again.

She tried to dodge some of the attacks, tried to see which ones would land first by watching the Thorndillies’ attack vibrations, but she knew it was pointless. Her health was almost gone and what bothered her the most was that she wouldn’t be able to confront the kid before she died.

He had ruined her only chance of getting out of there alive.

‘When I get my hands on his grubby little neck, I’m gonn…’

Yellow light suddenly enveloped her in comfortable warmth that was completely different from the blistering heat of seconds before. When she felt the stinging pain of some of her wounds diminish and then vanish completely, she noticed that her health bar was quickly being replenished. Confused, Aya quickly looked around for an explanation until her eyes landed on Donovan, who was moving his hands rapidly before him, as if forming some kind of sigil. Her budding suspicion was quickly confirmed when a glowing yellow symbol manifested itself in front him and then beamed itself in her direction, adding to the yellow glow that was already replenishing her health.

Although she was confused about his interference, she didn’t have time to dwell on it as the Thorndillies prepared for another attack. She was still clutching at the rock, so she immediately went after the other level one creature. Five quick smashes later she was about to finish it off, when Donovan once again took the kill. Unfortunately she didn’t have time to direct a glare in his direction. She was under attack again.

The next couple of rounds continued much in the same manner. She would go after the weakest Thorndilly she saw until almost killing it, before Donovan would take the kill. Sometimes she managed to dodge the incoming attacks, she was starting to detect a pattern. After each attack they had a cooldown time, unfortunately the cooldown time seemed to be less if the level was higher. Fortunately the group waited for the least of its members to coordinate an attack. 

Regrettably, she had targeted all level ones and twos before she realized it.

After going after all level threes but one, she had seven opponents left. It was good finally being able to count them after what felt like forever. Donovan was still killing her targets at the last moment, but there was nothing she could do about it whilst being attacked from every side. Every now and then she tried to escape from them by running through right after a kill, but they were much faster than her. Before she knew it she would be surrounded again, with Donovan standing a couple feet back unperturbed by any of the creatures.

‘Dumb creatures won’t even go after their real murderer.’

She was being a sore loser and she knew it, but she was tired of facing creature upon creature with nothing to show for it. The experience points in the game went to whoever got the kill and the kid never let it be her. At least he had the decency to heal her, never letting her health bar go completely empty, though she did wonder if he was going to let her die a couple times when he didn’t immediately heal her with her bar in the red.

When she started going after the level fours she encountered a problem. They didn’t just lie there and take the hits after being dazed by the first one. Her blows weren’t quite strong enough. This meant she was never able to completely finish the Thorndilly off before a new flurry of attacks. She had to start over about six times before she realized her approach was never going to work. There had to be something else she could do.

The way she understood it, she gained quite a boost in stats with each level. Meaning she probably wouldn’t of had a problem with the damn thing if Donovan hadn’t stolen her experience points. Aya was annoyed, but she forced herself to calm down and assess the situation. Why was she letting the kid get to her so much? She usually wasn’t that volatile. Something else was getting to her.

Instead of mindlessly attacking an opponent in the next onslaught. She simply breathed, cleared her mind and watched. Part of her brain processed the attacks, watching their movements closely and dodging more of them than she ever had. There was a pattern, the moment before an attack they would stop vibrating for an instant. She took that opportunity to jump aside, so by the time the attacks reached her, she wasn’t there anymore… for a couple of them. After clearing her mind, everything seemed to slow down a little and she was able to see with the clarity she was used to. One that allowed her to analyze and evaluate.

It wasn’t the kid. He was just the straw that tipped the scale over. It was everything. The last couple of days, her lawyer, prison, Doris, the headache, Yaz, the gatekeeper, the pressure of needing to succeed and lastly, the kid. She had been dead wrong in thinking that she would be able to separate the two worlds. She might have a different body in this one, but she was still the same person. Time slowed down a little more for her as she entered her calm space. In the next wave of attacks, she only got hit three times as she dodged left and right. This she knew how to do. Analyze and process the information. And then compartmentalize.

First things first.

It was time she figured out how to kill these things more efficiently. Bashing a rock against their heads obviously wasn’t doing enough damage. There had to be a better way. As her mind tried to process all she had learned so far, her body kept dodging the attacks. She still kept being hit by about half of them, they had begun anticipating her movements.

What she really needed was a better weapon, but that wasn’t an option. All she could see at her disposal were the blunt sticks and stones scattered on the ground around her. That meant she could only find a better way of using the stone. Throwing it didn’t seem like a good idea, she had never been a good shot, but she tried anyway. Over the next couple of attacks, she tried throwing the rock at her target at various points in their cool down period. She missed some, grazed others and hit some but they were all pretty much ineffective.

She gave up on the method of delivery and instead focused on the area targeted. So far she had been targeting the head, figuring they had the same weak spot as humans but maybe it was time she tried to find their figurative balls.

It wasn’t the top of their head, the side of their head or any part of their head.

It wasn’t the neck.

The arm.

The leg.

She was running out of options until she realized the obvious.

The tail.

They had been swinging that thing around the whole time, it would make it the hardest place to target, she hadn’t considered it before because they used it for attack.

‘But maybe…’

In the next attack, she gave her theory a chance.

Instead of dodging the attacks like she had been, she stood still and instead try to catch one of the tails midair as it came for her. Unfortunately she timed it too early and got her tail whiplashed by the level four she had targeted.

On her second attempt she was able to grab the tail. She had timed everything perfectly, waiting for the momentary pause in vibration and timing her own attack only an instant thereafter. But she was unprepared for the spiked surface of the tail and reflexively let go when they ripped and tore at her skin. The damage inflicted by the speed was too much, she would need to find a way to slow it down.

Meanwhile, she was still getting battered and bruised by its comrades. Apparently they didn’t care about her attempt to subdue them. However, the constant wounding and healing was becoming almost bearable as her senses were dulled by the constant pain on her body.

Finally, on her third attempt she managed to grab it and keep hold of it. She placed her arm, the one protected by the bracer, right in the tail’s path. The moment it impacted with the bracer, she had her opportunity when the spikes wouldn’t be quite so lethal without their speed. When she grabbed it she was ready for the pain and at a standstill she didn’t have to worry about the spiked tail tearing through her flesh. She quickly pulled it to under the heel of her right gladiator sandal, holding it in place long enough to smash at it with the rock. In two blows, the thorned tail shattered like glass. Being defenseless, the creature immediately skittered away, leaving Aya with one less opponent and a way to get out of the mess.

In less than five minutes she had disposed of all but the highest leveled creature. But as soon as she dispatched its remaining level four comrade, it growled at her menacingly, lanced its tail at her once more. The attack was different than any of the previous ones had been. Instead of a sharp point, the creature morphed its tail into a ball that hit her square in the stomach. She immediately fell to the ground as her legs buckled below her. She couldn’t move as it skittered away, leaving her bruised, battered, exhausted and alone with Donovan.

Who apparently was done casting healing spells.

‘Little shit…’

She was thinking to herself as he casually walked over to her. Aya was on her knees, where she stayed, unable to move, until Donovan approached her and reached a hand down to help her.

Surprised and finally able to move again, she took the hand. Maybe she had misjudged him because of her anger. Maybe it had all been misplaced on him. He was probably a nice kid, at the wrong place, at the wrong time. Starting to feel bad for how she had acted so poorly and rudely, she opened her mouth to apologize when he said in the most condescending tone she had heard from him yet.

“You really suck. I don’t know where to start. You might be what they call a ‘hopeless case’.”