I found an empty row on the right side of the bus and sat in it next to the window. I looked back out the window and saw Gavin standing by the curb, grinning. He was cute. I kept watching him as the bus pulled away before smugly shifting to face forward in my seat. I pulled out my phone and started texting Cassie.

“You’re right. I should have done this earlier.”

There was a brief delay before Cassie replied. “It’s going well? I’m so happy for you!”

“It’s so exciting!” I wrote. I tried to decide what to say and how to explain it. The feeling of connectedness was deeper than I’d thought it’d be. “I think we’re really nailing it,” I texted. “It’s day one, and he’d already said he’d go to my violin recitals.”

“I told you he was a good guy,” Cassie wrote.

I figured part of it was just that Gavin was a good pick, but the prideful part of me also suspected I’d won him over by showing just how willing I was to make this boyfriend/girlfriend thing work. “The backrub probably helped,” I wrote.

“Yeah, that was really bold. Especially in the lunchroom, haha.”

“Look, I didn’t know!”

“It’s okay! The teachers didn’t notice the backrub. That kiss, though… ;)“

Right. The kiss. Over lunch, I could tell there was something eating at him he wasn’t letting on about. Something that was keeping from being as committed to the relationship as I was. I thought maybe it was simple hesitancy, but that wasn’t it.

But when I’d confronted him and he’d kissed me, I could feel his desire and passion. He wanted this relationship as much as I did, but something was in the way. It probably had something to do with his sudden departure. He said he’d talk about it later. I figured we’d probably swap secrets after Jiujitsu on Tuesday. I’d start drip-feeding him info about my “part-time job” to see how he reacted, and he’d tell me what was up on Friday and why he was grounded.

Part of me was hoping it was something I could help with. Maybe Gavin’s father was an alcoholic, and Gavin needed to run home and protect his mother from a drunken rage? And then his father grounded him for interfering? If it was something like that, then Gavin would get to see in person just how capable I was. I smiled, daydreaming about how it would be to drop from the shadows and defend Gavin and his family.

As fun as that fantasy was, it was more likely that Gavin’s family just didn’t approve of him having a relationship, and he was torn between family loyalty and his desire to be in a relationship. I could help him with that as well, by proving I could be a healthy girlfriend for him, but it would involve more family dinners with Gavin’s parents and fewer swords.

But I couldn’t let the excitement of my new relationship distract me. I’d wanted to stay with Gavin as he spent time doing homework in the library after school, but I’d gotten a lead.

And if her information was correct, the occlusion last week brought an Emissary over. And the Emissary had decided, against all reason, that being a high schooler was the best use of her time.

I reluctantly wiped the smile from off my face so I could focus. Amber, that weird girl that spent half her time with Ms. Conner, was bragging in PE that there was an honest-to-goodness catgirl taking assessments in the sped room. It wasn’t the first time Amber had made up wild stories for attention, but given that HQ had detected a brief occlusion from Yuji somewhere within a few miles of Pendleton and hadn’t figured out what had come over yet, it seemed fishy enough for me to investigate. Worst case scenario is that I’d waste an afternoon I could have spent with Gavin.

But in the best case scenario, I’d be able to bag the Emissary and close the Pendleton Occlusion case all by myself, without my Aunt’s oversight.

Maybe then my Aunt would shut up about that gremlin I had let slip away three months ago. I grimaced at the memory. It took the Boston wardens a month and a half to track that thing down and send it back.

I’d had to get on the bus because I’d left all my gear at home, but luckily I had an informant.

I pulled out my phone and started to text Amber. “Is she still there?”

“Ya!” Amber texted back. “Told you she was staying after!”

“I’m so jealous!!” I texted back. “I wish I could be there to see her too! Tell me *all* about what she’s doing!”

“She’s so cute!” Amber said. She was so attention starved that turning her into an unwitting spy was as simple as asking her to be one. “Lilah’s ears twitch, like a real cat’s! I love her tail! It flicks back and forth when she’s annoyed.” Amber was texting rapidly, with only a few seconds between sentences. “Her hair is so long and silky! I’d kill to have hair like that. It’d prolly take forever to wash though, haha. Shit, she’s gone.”

I leaned forward in my seat. “What? Where’d she go?”

“I dunno, she just said ‘See you!’ and left!”

“Well go follow her!” I texted.

Silence.

I tapped my foot in frustration as I waited for the next text. Eventually, it came. “I don’t know. She’s just gone. I went down the hall as far as the sophomore lockers and couldn’t see her down any of the halls.”

“What about the other direction?” I texted.

“That’s Clifton’s hallway,” Amber wrote back.

I rolled my eyes. Sometimes I had to remind myself that not all girls felt safe declining Clifton’s unwanted advances with a swift knee to the groin. “0_0 He has an entire *hallway*?!” I wrote in feigned ignorance. “I didn’t know! I only ever get to the library by crossing through the second floor common area.”

“Ya it’s bad. No way Lilah would go down there.”

As if the Emissary would even know. “But we’re sure she’s still at school?”

“Ya I heard her say she’d be with a friend and take the late bus home.”

That’s an idea. “Home to where?”

“IDK. She’s staying with a friend, but I didn’t catch his name.”

“So you don’t know where she went?”

“No,” Amber said. “I thought she’d be here the whole time until the bus came. I didn’t know!!”

I sent a crying emoticon. “Well thanks for letting me live it through you. I’ll have to meet her later.”

“I’ll introduce her to you. She’s really cool!”

I was antsy for the rest of the bus trip home. Finally, the bus dropped me off at my mailbox, and I sprinted up the long, winding path to my home.

My aunt was out, checking on the integrity of that Qasoss spell circle up in Maine. That was fine. It would let me “take initiative” in her absence. I ran to my room, changed into my fatigues and put the ceramiflex cuirass on over it, then the hardcoat on over that. I pulled on the seven-league boots and then, thinking I might need to do some reconnaissance, put on the eaglesight greathelm as well. I put a recall crystal in my pocket just to be safe, in case things went south.

And as for weaponry… I went to the basement, pulled the rug aside, opened the trapdoor underneath, and descended the ladder to the sub-basement, where the good stuff was.

The stun rifle was an obvious pick; the Emissary needed to be taken in alive. I took a flashbang in case I needed it. My aunt had left the Rowlingwand home, so I took that too. But which core? I eventually decided to take the Wyvern core; wind magic was surprisingly versatile. The Phoenix core could also be used for wind magic, but I didn’t want to waste its charge because it could be used for healing instead. I unscrewed the endcap of the Rowlingwand and pulled out the Phoenix core. I carefully put the old core back on the shelf before slotting the Wyvern core into the wand and instead screwing the endcap back on.

So then the big question:

Should I take the arming sword or the severance sword?

The severance sword was expensive. It took tons of mana to bring it to Earth from Yuji, and three times that amount to locate one through extra-dimensional scrying spells in the first place and remotely tag it. If I lost it, I’d get in a lot of trouble.

But I wouldn’t get in trouble for taking it. My Aunt knew this wasn’t a line of work you messed around in. Wardens didn’t want to get their apprentices killed by denying them equipment they felt like they needed. If I felt like a mission called for a certain tool, I was empowered to take it. I might get in trouble for bad judgement, especially if something happened to it but…

...but we pulled in the severance sword to deal with Emissaries, right? That’s what it was here for.

I took the severance sword down and swung it through the air a few times, testing its balance. It was obviously magical. The balance seemed to change as I swung it, inexplicably moving closer to the tip when I swung and nearer to the hilt as I changed direction with it. The intent was probably to make it easy to maneuver while making sure it hit hard when it struck. Without time to get used to it, I found it distracting, and it left me feeling off-kilter, but for somebody used to it, it would probably make the sword that much more effective. I’d have to ask to train with it later, or maybe with a different sword with a similar enchantment.

I was running out of time. I grabbed a few knives for good measure and then headed back up the ladder. I shut the trapdoor, replaced the rug, and ran out the door.

I could do this.

I imagined what my aunt’s face would be like when she came home to find me calmly doing my homework next to a bound, unconscious catgirl.

I pulled out my phone and peered at the screen through the visor slit. I picked a point on the phone’s screen, concentrated hard on it, then took a step forward.

The boots sent me flying through the air. I used the hangtime to catch my breath from the sprint up the driveway and mad dashes around the house. I’d need to take another four or five steps to get to school again, but that was fine. Even going indirectly like this, I’d get to school in a little under seven minutes instead of the half-hour it took for the bus to arrive. I’d come up with this route a few months months earlier. It would take me to school without needing to get too far above the treetops, all while spending as little time as possible over inhabited areas of the forest. I tried to keep my nerves under control. I had to pull off this mission cleanly. I tried to calm myself by using the eaglesight greathelm to zoom in on the landscape below and count deer. As I did, I considered my next steps.

Force was an option. Find the Emissary, then either blast her with the stun rifle or nick her with the sword. Assuming she was in view of a few other people, it was probably the cleanest way to handle it. I could stun her with the rifle from a distance, step in, grab her, and step out again. Assuming I hit, the whole thing would take seconds, and would probably happen too fast for people to catch it on their phones. Even if she was talking with someone at the time, all they’d see was Lilah collapse in a flash of light and a trenchcoat-colored blur sweep her up and disappear into the treeline.

Treacherous diplomacy was also an option. If I could catch her alone, I could just approach her and talk with her. I could tell her I could get her back home, and then, when she let her guard down, shoot her in the back with the stun rifle. But I couldn’t do that if there were others around to overhear. It would take too long, and there would be too many questions.

I might be able to approach the Emissary in plain-clothes, say something to get her to follow me, and then knock her out in a secluded location. Thing was, there would be a risky bit right as I betrayed her when I would be pulling out the stun rifle while unarmored. That made me nervous. I’d rather do this whole thing while in the hardcoat and cuirass, if possible, so that if she decided not to trust me I was combat-ready.

I supposed I’d just have to see what things were like when I got there. A lot of it depended on factors I didn’t know yet.

For instance, this whole thing might have been some stunt Amber pulled for attention.

By the time I was approaching the school, I’d recovered from her exertion and was breathing calmly. I scanned the ground below me as I started my final descent. If the Emissary had left the building, it was possible that I’d see her as I got closer to the ground.

There. In the woods. Walking towards the outdoor classroom.

With Gavin?

I couldn’t change direction midair, but once I landed in the copse of trees I’d targeted with the boots, I stepped again to be a few hundred yards away from the outdoor classroom. I watched Gavin and the Emissary approach. The eaglesight greathelm’s enchantment let me see them clearly even at a great distance. The helm was far superior to binoculars. It zoomed in and out simply based on where my eyes were focused. If I looked at something far away, it would zoom in on it automatically, and if I just let my eyes defocus, it would zoom back out again.

Amber wasn’t exaggerating. The hood of the Emissary’s powder-blue coat was down, and on her head were a pair of cat ears. They pivoted as she walked, taking in the sounds of the forest. She had a tail that swayed behind her.

The problem was that it was an eaglesight helm. I could see the Emissary clearly enough to see that she was talking and laughing. But I couldn’t hear her.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Because Gavin was there, things would be complex. If I stunned the Emissary here and ran off with her, Gavin saw me wearing the hardcoat and boots. Then when I eventually told him about the wardens, he’d know it was me. He might not take kindly to me ‘kidnapping’ Lilah like that. It looked like they were friends.

It’d better be just friends.

Then again, it might make the diplomatic route easier. If I was going to explain what my job was to Gavin eventually, why not now? I’d kinda be throwing him in the deep end, but it might actually help the Emissary trust me enough to come quietly if he vouched for me.

I weighed my options. I had the time to. The late bus wouldn’t come for about another twenty minutes. Then, if nothing else, I could see which bus the Emissary would take and follow her to wherever she was staying, and maybe ambush her between the bus stop and her house.

More information was in order. As the two found a bench and sat down, I stepped a few hundred feet closer. I needed more info. I wanted to hear what they were saying.

The seven league boots were great for stealth, because you could travel miles with the sound of a single footfall. Thing was, yesterday the sun had melted the snow slightly, meaning the cold of the night had left a crispy, icy layer of re-frozen snow on top of the wet snow underneath. When I landed, I did so with a soft crunch. I saw the Emissary’s ears swivel towards my position. I crouched and held very still, surprised that she heard it from that distance. The Emissary turned to look, but I’d intentionally approached from the west, so she was looking straight into the sun. The glare off the icy patina of snow would near blind her, and my outline was obscured by the boughs of an evergreen besides. She probably wouldn’t see me.

After a tense moment, she turned back to Gavin, her smile returning. “This is a beautiful spot,” the Emissary said. “It reminds me of the council clearings Emissaries would use to discuss things when we needed to convene on something.”

“Cool,” Gavin said. He looked lost in thought.

The Emissary’s tail flicked. She looked impatient, like she was expecting something. When she didn’t get it, she spoke up again with a sly grin. “So Gavin, I’m gonna commune with nature now. Naked. You know, to give it the best chance possible of working. You’re welcome to watch if you’d like,” she said.

Excuse me?

“Wha… no, Lilah!” Gavin said, scooting slightly away from her. “The rune circle you made!”

“Oh come on! That was mostly to show off to your mom and dad,” The Emissary said, scooting forward a little to follow. “Did you hear the phrasing? ‘So long as I remain in the house’. Those rules don’t apply when we’re outside of your home,” She giggled a little. “I can even kiss you here if I felt like it.”

“Wait, what?” Gavin said.

I stood slightly taller, gripping the dry tree branch above me. This tramp was trying to put the moves on Gavin! My mind raced. She’d been to his house, and met his parents. Were they in a relationship? Couldn’t be. Gavin was shying away from her. Friends, though? And that wasn’t enough for her and she wanted more?

“Emissaries learn to be very careful when they swear stuff by Nature,” she continued. Did you notice I also promised not to ‘show you’ my breasts? I wouldn’t want the oath triggering if you decided to peep on me in the shower, after all.”

“Lilah, you… you’re serious? And you know I’d never-”

Lilah laughed, and Gavin broke eye contact with her and looked off into the woods awkwardly. A moment later, the Emissary stopped laughing and took on a serious expression. “Gavin, is this… is this okay? You know that after the last time we spoke that I’d never expose myself to you without your permission, right? That makes joking about it okay, right? Or is even that too much?”

Gavin didn’t respond immediately. He looked very uncomfortable. Good. He should be. He was mine, and this little catgirl slut could shove off. I stood a little taller and gripped the thin tree branch tighter, waiting for his response. Eventually Gavin took a deep breath “I mean... Part of what it means to tease somebody is that it’s somehow not entirely okay, right?” He spoke slowly, as though picking his words carefully. “It’s not teasing if the other person’s a hundred percent cool with it. So…” I sighed. “Yeah. Go ahead I guess. I mind it, but I don’t mind it as much.”

“That’s because you think I’m way cuter than that girl you went on that date with and you’re really hoping to see me naked again someday.”

Again? My grip on the branch tightened further.

Then suddenly, it snapped off from the force of my grip. To keep from falling over face first, I had to put a foot out, crunching the snow. The combined sounds caused the Emissary to immediately look in my direction. I held still, but her eyes fell on me. Her ears flattened and she bared her teeth.

Having been caught, training and adrenaline took over. Instinct decided that “fight” was better than “flight”, and before I’d fully realized I’d made the decision, I’d drawn my sword and stepped towards the ground on the far side of the bench, sending me sailing through the air towards them.

I couldn’t stop the boots once I’d taken a step. As I drifted through the air, I cursed the very reflexes that had saved my life so many times. I’d get the Emissary, sure…

...but Gavin would see me do it.

The Emissary pushed Gavin face first into the snow to get him out of the way, then rolled to the side. I swung at her as I passed, but she was out of reach. I spun in the air and landed facing her. She ran towards me, faster than I’d have expected, and I swung at her as she approached. She stopped just short of the blade’s arc, her eyes went wide, and she backed off, her gaze following the blade.

She recognized the severance sword. A pity. That meant she’d be more defensive than she’d otherwise be. She crouched slightly, readying herself to evade if I attacked.

The analytical side of my mind evaluated the combat as the emotional side of me was breaking down. I was the aggressor, so even though she was readying herself to respond to my assault, I’d have to make the next move anyway. What was Gavin thinking right now? Was he afraid? I had a reach advantage on the Emissary, so I didn’t need to overcommit to my attacks. I’d never be able to tell Gavin about the wardens now, or he’d feel betrayed that I had attacked one of his friends. The Emissary’s eyes held neither fear nor pride. She’d been in life-or-death fights before, and would be a dangerous foe, even unarmed. How would I react when Gavin told me about this fight later? How would I react if he didn’t?

In frustration, I stepped towards the Emissary, swinging my sword. She rolled away, ending up on her knees, and sprung towards me. Twisting in the air, I drove her off with a sword swing. She slowly started circling me, and I turned to match, holding my sword in front of me.

From Gavin’s point of view, I must look like an assassin. Should I call out to him? Explain? No. I’d blown away the diplomatic option. I’d attacked, like a trigger-happy maniac, and now I was locked in combat with an Emissary and I needed to finish the job.

I stepped towards the Emissary again, swinging my sword downward to catch her if she tried to roll away. Instead, she pulled back until the sword passed and then darted in during the follow-through, swiping at my side. Her claws couldn’t penetrate the hardcoat, much less the ceramiflex cuirass. I took a short step back to try and swing at her, but she stayed in my reach, clawing ineffectively at the mail coif. I stepped back again, and she reached through the open part of my trenchcoat and grabbed my cuirass with both hands, pulling at it as though she could rip the synthweave with her bare hands.

I didn’t want to hurt her, but I couldn’t let her feel safe inside my sword’s reach, either. I dropped the sword, grabbed her with one hand, and punched her with the other. The gauntlet’s weight dropped her, but only for a moment. She rolled to her feet and leapt at me again. This time, if she got within my reach, she’d be more careful to ward against strikes, and I didn’t want this to devolve into a grapple, because then I couldn’t use my sword or my gun. Those which were my only two real victory conditions, unless I wanted to try my chances putting a clawed beast in a chokehold. I chose to step a couple dozen feet away instead, putting more distance between us. The Emissary chose not to follow, instead pausing to wipe her bleeding nose.

If she wasn’t going to close the distance, that was good for me. I stuck my sword in the snow, swung the stun rifle into position in front of me, and started powering it up. I’d have done it before, but the whine it made as it was charging was obvious enough that I didn’t want it giving away my position when I was eavesdropping on them.

The Emissary grinned and charged. I’d fired the rifle enough to know its timing; It’d finish charging and be ready to fire just before the Emissary reached me. I shouldered it and aimed.

“Lilah! Watch out, that’s a gun!”

The Emissary's eyes went wide, and she threw herself to the side just as I squeezed the trigger.

Dammit, Gavin!

I fired a couple more shots as the Emissary ran for a nearby tree, but in my haste to hit her before she reached cover, I didn’t line up the sights properly and missed both times. I cursed myself for trying too hard to shoot fast. One shot that hit would have been worth two that didn’t. I calmed myself down. No reflex. No instinct. Those had gotten me into enough trouble today. I was going to think this one through. What tools did I have?

Wind magic. I pulled out the Wyvern cored Rowlingwand and went through the set of hand motions to activate it. Two swishes to indicate range, a flick to indicate the direction, and a thrust to indicate the magnitude and complete the sequence. With a low howl, a strong wind blew the Emissary out from behind the tree. I barely had enough time to raise the rifle and fire before she dove back into cover.

This was awkward. I needed one hand free to use the wand, but the gun was designed to be used in two hands and was unwieldy with only one. I tried again, blowing the Emissary out from behind the tree in the other direction. This time I tried to fire one-handed, and it worked about as well as could be expected.

I had her pinned. There was no need to rush things. I just needed to find a way to aim reliably one-handed. As I considered my next tactic, I blew her out from behind the tree again and fired, not really expecting to hit, instead just wanting to keep her stressed and off-balance.

It only took a moment to come up with a solution. I could prop the barrel of the gun up on something, like an impromptu bipod. Maybe I could kneel behind one of the rock benches. It wouldn’t be as accurate as using both hands, but it would be better than trying to lift it one-handed. I started to look around for something to prop the end of the gun up on.

Where was my sword?

I stopped firing and tensed. Where the hell did it go? Did she have some ally I had missed? I looked around.

Oh. Right.

Gavin.

He’d taken the sword and was brandishing it at me. He was afraid. I could tell. My heart sank. I was a monster to him. I wanted to call out to him, to tell him that it was okay, and that he was fighting on the wrong side. But I didn’t. I was afraid to. Right now, he could still be my boyfriend, as long as I didn’t tell him about the wardens. Would that be worth it? It might be. I didn’t want to burn that bridge now. Gavin swung the sword at the stun rifle, and it nicked it right below one of the indicator lights.

I swung the rifle back behind me and walked towards Gavin slowly, trying to be non-threatening. I tried to figure out some way to nonverbally convince him to hand me back the sword, preferably without scaring him. No ideas came.

Luckily, they didn’t have to. Gavin swung at my neck, but I could tell immediately that the sword’s angle didn’t line up with his swing, so the sword wouldn't bite, and I let it strike the coif. I grabbed the blade, and his eyes widened. I hoped that he’d let go, but he didn’t, so I tugged on it so he’d get the hint. He wasn’t expecting it and fell over into the snow. So brave, and yet so helpless.

I felt the gun being lifted from my back, and grabbed for the strap. It slipped through my fingers. The Emissary had cut the strap holstering the rifle. I turned to grab it, but it was too late. The Emissary threw it in a snowbank. I wouldn’t be able to get to it without digging for it, and I couldn’t do that without nullifying the Emissary's power first. Gavin had no idea that now I had to swing a sword at his friend instead of stunning her directly. I flipped the sword so I was holding the handle instead of the blade and leapt towards the Emissary, swinging.

“Gavin?” she said, dodging a sword swing. Blood dripped freely from her nose. “I need some help here.”

“What do I do?” Gavin said from behind me.

“I’m not saying I need your help,” the Emissary said, futilely trying again to penetrate my coat with her claws.

“Dad dropped us off at the side entrance,” Gavin said. “You’ve never seen the front of the school, have you?”

The front? What’s in the front that could help her? The parking lot? The flagpole? The Moose statue?

Crap, Emissaries had narrative-based object-animation spells, didn’t they?

If she reached the statue of Morris, she’d have an ally a hell of a lot more competent than Gavin. But it would also draw her towards me. If I could get between her and the statue, I could stand a good shot at nicking her with the blade as she passed by. I lept towards the front of the school, trying to keep low to the ground so I wouldn’t be spotted.

But the Emissary was fast. My form of travel didn’t burn as much energy, but I couldn’t sprint. I was locked into the speed the boots gave me. The Emissary ran like her life depended on it, and easily passed me. I hoped for a moment that she might not recognize the significance of the Morris statue, but she made a beeline for it.

She mounted the moose moments before I arrived, wrapped her arms around its neck, and squeezed her eyes shut. I swung my sword at her-

-and the moose parried it by lifting his huge, antlered head. My sword clattered out of the way. Morris began moving forward, and I dove out of his path. That statue was life sized and made of bronze. It would have an unstoppable amount of momentum, throw me around like a twig, and be nearly invulnerable.

This was not good.

Morris wheeled around and started pawing at the concrete, as though about to charge.

“Morris says this is a gun-free school zone, and so you’re in a lot of trouble,” The Emissary said, wiping more blood from her nose. “He’s here to protect his student body.”

Morris charged, and I was only barely able to get out of the way. I flailed with my sword as it passed, but as expected, it did little more than leave a long, thin scratch across his side. Morris turned back around, readying another charge.

This had suddenly gone significantly past my ability to handle.

But Morris couldn’t be her guardian forever. I’d just have to bag her later.

I jumped away, off to grab the gun. I looked over my shoulder, but Morris wasn’t following.

I reached the snowbank, dug around in it until I found the rifle. I smelled a faint acrid stench, and turned the gun over to check the power cell. Sure enough, it was completely depleted. So far as I could tell, the cell had gotten kocked slightly loose when it was thrown, and some snow got in and shorted it out. Luckily they were pretty easy to recharge.

I hopped up onto the roof of the school to watch the Emissary. She rode Morris back to the pedestal he resided on, hopped down, and spent some time talking with Gavin. I wished I could hear what she was saying. I’d have to find some way to keep her from getting into Gavin’s head. If she set her sights on him, I needed to find a way to stake my claim until I could find a way to take the Emissary out of the picture. Gavin seemed like a chivalrous guy, but even the greatest guy would find his limit eventually if there was a girl like that slowly eroding his resistance with constant sexual pressure and teasing.

Lilah ran back to the woods and grabbed their bags. I wished the stun rifle's cell hadn't shorted out; this would have bene the perfect time to peg her from the roof. I watched as she handed Gavin his pack, and then they went to catch the bus.

I moved to the other side of the school roof to watch which bus they got on, and with alarm, I noticed they’d both climbed on Gavin’s bus. Did they live near each other?

And then I remembered Amber’s words. “She’s staying with a friend, but I didn’t catch his name.” His name. And the Emissary had met Gavin’s parents, and put herself under oath not to kiss him while in the house.

She was staying with Gavin.

...and something had happened that got Gavin into so much trouble he’d been grounded for weeks. Something with the Emissary?

Something sexual? And that’s why she’d had to make the oath?

My heart felt like it’d been ripped from my chest. I’d had a boyfriend for less than a day, and then found out he’d been living with a sex-crazed catgirl since before we’d even gone on our first date.

Part of me felt like I should go after them. Maybe look up where Gavin lived and wait for them at his house. Ambush her when they arrived. Hit her with the severance sword harder than necessary. More times than necessary.

That part was mistaken, of course. If I went into this angry, I could make mistakes. I needed to stay calm. I needed to wait until I was out of the heat of the moment and could think clearly again. The Emissary could wait.

I’d just go home and cry, instead.

I stepped towards the first waypoint on the way home, and flew through the air. As the ground receded beneath me, I sheathed my sword, re-tied the leather strap to keep the gun on my back, and pulled out my phone. I opened my messenger and started to text Cassie.

“Cass? I think Gavin’s cheating on me.”

“What?” She texted back. “Oh no! That’s horrible! What makes you think that?”

I couldn’t say, of course. “Just a hunch. There’s something he’s not being honest about,” I replied. “Just promise you’ll keep your ear to the ground, okay?”

“Of course! If there’s something, Michael will know. I’ll ask him. Love!”

I sighed and put my phone away, then started scanning the forest below for deer.