Alejandra could not sleep. It was almost two in the morning, but she refused. Not until she knew Rafael and Quetzal were back. She could not stop pacing.

Grizzizzik had returned to Nick’s home once he knew everyone was on their way home again. Hraktar was asleep on the couch, and Alejandra didn’t understand it. She had gotten into a long and heated conversation with Rafael once they were no longer battling. He assured her plenty of times that Quetzal was fine. But, like many things, she couldn’t believe him. She never believed Rafael about pain or injuries. She was terrified that Quetzal was really dead, and he was protecting her despite the chittering she heard on the phone. She kept staring at the hit points on the new, smaller character sheet in her mind’s eye, and still she was terrified Quetzal was dead. Mostly, she felt angry at Rafael. Angry he would hang up with her at the beginning of the battle, leaving her to roll from a distance, watching a baby’s hit points trickle downward.

The second she heard tires crunching gravel, she sprinted to the door, throwing it open. Derek’s car pulled into the driveway. Alejandra ran up as it turned off. Rafael opened the door and Quetzal dropped to the ground, running toward her, chittering. She dropped to her knees, scooping up the baby and cuddling him. Quetzal yipped with excitement, and Alejandra felt sick to her stomach.

“You can’t do that again. Do you understand?” She brought Quetzal away, seeing the green number above his head. It matched a smaller character sheet. “Fifteen hit points isn’t a lot.”

Quetzal climbed out of her grasp, chittering and hopping around like he experienced the best adventure of his life. Alejandra stood up when Rafael came around the car with his suitcase. She folded her arms, giving Rafael a soft glare.

“He’s fine,” Rafael said again.

“He’s a baby,” Alejandra said.

“Being a baby didn’t stop him from destroying the velociraptors,” Derek said.

She was exhausted, and wasn’t sure about another person being on Rafael’s side. “Derek!”

“All I’m saying is everyone would have died if it wasn’t for Quetzal, and Tyler might have been covered in scratches. It might have even woke up the injury on his neck,” Derek said.

Rafael rubbed his eye. “Go home, Derek. Get some sleep.”

Their friend gave a thumbs up before getting back in his car and pulling out of the driveway. Rafael kept walking into the house, his shoulders slumped.

“Rafael!” Alejandra scooping up Quetzal so he wouldn’t run off again.

Her brother turned, the exhaustion clear on his face. “Do you have anything new to talk about? Or can this wait until tomorrow morning?”

Alejandra was annoyed. She shouldn’t be, because his exhaustion was clear for her to see. It was two in the morning, after all. Alejandra held in a sigh. Held in annoyance, fear, and anger. They had their fight over the phone. Quetzal got hurt, and so did Rafael. Alejandra’s gaze dropped to his torso, trying to see the injuries, to judge for herself if they were bad.

“Alejandra,” Rafael started to say.

“Is it bad?” She didn’t want to say it, but it slipped out. Saying that phrase triggered too many memories of her asking him the same thing. Her way of saying she knew he was hurting, and he didn’t have to pretend around her.

A lump grew in her throat, her breathing becoming irregular. She wouldn’t panic. Not about this. She needed to be stronger.

Rafael took in her facial expression and let go of his suitcase. He knew that phrase, too. He then slipped off his shirt to show multiple hastily done bandages, lifting one to show her nothing more than a deep scratch. He kept his eyes on her. “That’s it. This is all they are. Scratches. I’m fine.”

Tears spilled down her cheeks as she nodded, then she covered her face to hide. She couldn’t stop the tears.

“Hey, Alejandra, I’m fine.” He slipped his shirt back on.

He was fine. This wasn’t like before with Jack. Rafael wasn’t learning how to walk without limping. Not asking for some makeup to hide a bruise. They were scratches. Ones he was hiding.

If he got injured again though… if they got deeper…

She felt her brother’s arms around her as she realized how much of a panic she was in. “I’m sorry,” Alejandra whispered between quiet gasps. “I’m sorry. So sorry.”

“For what?” Rafael asked.

“I can’t. I can’t. You’re getting hurt. People can get hurt. I hate it.”

“Hey, we’ll be alright. Tyler’s protecting us, and we know to keep our distance now.”

Alejandra tried to calm herself. She wanted to be strong. No one else was panicking like this over scratches. Why couldn’t she be stronger?

She forced herself to be calm, faking strength as she eased her breathing. “Sorry,” she said, wiping her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m… scared.”

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Rafael patted her back. “We all are.” He headed back toward his suitcase, and Alejandra swallowed another panic attack. Everyone was scared, but she was the one sobbing. She wasn’t made for things like this.

Rafael closed the door, no doubt crashing into his bed as soon as he could. Alejandra placed a hand on her forehead, her heart hammering. He told her about Evelyn and the grey marks over the phone. Nick had those marks, too. In fact, Rafael and Alejandra were the only ones who didn’t have them.

The only stop they made after the velociraptor fight was at a rest stop once they entered Arizona. Clarissa and Evelyn went into the bathroom to change Evelyn’s shirt and disposed of the blood covered one. She also put on long pants to hide the cut. No doubt Walt would freak out if Evelyn came home injured, and they didn’t need Walt freaking out. It was going to get harder to hide this.

Alejandra glanced over, seeing Quetzal running up Hraktar before nestling on his shoulder. The fighter woke up, smiling. “Hey, you. I’m proud of you.”

“Don’t,” Alejandra said, her voice steady. “Don’t encourage it. Please. He’s a baby.”

Hraktar scratched Quetzal under the chin. The drake half closed his eyes, his leg twitching. “I understand your concern. But some creatures need to learn how to defend themselves. And soon.”

Alejandra winced, then looked away. Hraktar’s backstory came to her mind, and she ventured another glance at her fighter and the baby drake. Quetzal cuddled on the huge half-orc’s shoulder, yawning. Hraktar settled into his spot on the couch. They were soon both asleep.

Alejandra passed Rafael’s room, hearing him already asleep too. She sat on her bed, covering her face as she tried to convince her anxiety riddled brain that Quetzal and her brother were fine.

She didn’t get to sleep for another two hours.

***

It had to be one of the most insane fall breaks Derek ever had. It was almost weird to be back at school on Monday. There was a lot during the road trip that worried Derek. Higher-level creatures could kill Milo, but they discovered that now they, too, were in danger. Derek and Milo counted all the grey marks on his body and did some tests the rest of the weekend. Milo took some samples that he wanted to check in the lab, and he slipped in there, prepared for a solid day of work.

Derek passed Evelyn, trying to explain to some of her friends that she went on a hike over the break and a branch got her leg pretty good. Derek was folding his arms, prepared to say that nothing happened to him over the fall break.

The day was surprisingly boring, interspersed with some dice rolls. None of them were successful. Including the seventeen. He got the feeling he’d have to roll a nat twenty for anything to be successful. Even then, he wasn’t sure.

Derek put every thought on hold as he got into his Wadsworth costume after school. They were running the entire play, which he tried not to believe would be a disaster. He’d gone through his lines during fall break, except while they had the road trip. And then afterwards his mind was pretty shot, concerned about his friends and their grey marks.

Maybe it would be better to get it all out now. Find a goblin and have them punch everyone while the marks would appear as deep scratches. But that wouldn’t help. The more they interacted, the deeper they got. Their best bet was to never get hurt, as impossible as that sounded.

Derek was impressed with himself as they proceeded through the play. Despite none of them practicing together the past week, they did well. This alone helped him discover they were more ready to open than he thought.

The real test was the huge monologue Wadsworth did at the end, no matter the ending. Despite the crazy weekend, he was sailing through it, getting progressively more pleased with himself.

In this ending, Emma’s character was the murderer. She watched him with a slight smirk on her face. It was possibly in character for her as Scarlet, but Derek did his best to keep his focus.

The ending was in sight. Not much longer now, and he could go home and eat. Emma walked up to him, doing her pouty lip routine. “Wadsworth, you’re not angry at me for wanting to shoot you?”

Derek held up the prop gun. “Frankly, Scarlett, I don’t give a—”

Her pupils glowed red. Everything inside Derek froze. His mind scrambled, his eyes widening. Emma smirked, but… but it wasn’t Emma. Just like Mr. Stower wasn’t himself with green eyes. But red. Red pupils. Green was associated with Akshi. Red was…

There was a movement past the curtains. Derek’s mind scrambled as his gaze fell on the person. The woman in the shadows. His heart dropped to his stomach.

“Shit,” Derek said.

Eric snorted, and it helped him to come around to what was happening. Derek was gripping the prop gun in his hand as he realized what he said. Or rather, what everyone else assumed he said. After being nearly perfect in his entire monologue, he flubbed a line. Or a quote from a popular line.

The woman slipped deeper into darkness, and Derek’s eyes fell on Emma again. The red in her pupils slipped away, her smirk not turning nearly as dangerous, yet still a smirk.

Derek stumbled through the rest of the monologue, which thankfully wasn’t long. Once the play was done, Derek moved right into the curtains, into the darkness, where he saw that woman. He needed to make sure it wasn’t who he thought it was. Because if it was her. If it was Pippa…

This was stupid. They already established that they could get hurt now. But that was never Pippa’s style. If it was her. Derek searched, trying to find her. Wanting to not find her. The place was empty.

There was a shuffling behind him, and Derek spun around before giving a loud gasp that might have been considered a scream. Emma stood there, alone, still in her scarlet party dress costume.

“Hello, Derek,” she said.

“Emma.”

“Good job today. I’m impressed that even after a long break, you remembered so much.” Emma’s eyes glowed red again, and a woman appeared right behind her. Despite searching the entire place, she appeared. Derek roped every acting skill he possessed to keep a straight face.

The woman’s raven black hair had a hint of red in the stage lights. It was almost as signature to her look as was her brown-red eyes. For now, her eyes were more brown than red, but if she got angry enough, her eyes turned completely red. When they first met her, she had a more modest dress, but everyone knew about her allegiance now. Her black leather dress showing off cleavage was so ridiculously femme fetal that it would have been comical if this was Tyler explaining her return over the table. If it wasn’t real life. If Pippa wasn’t standing right behind Emma, controlling her.

“I… need to get dressed. Mr. Jensen will start notes soon, and we better be there.” Derek’s voice was steady.

Emma smiled, almost seductively. “Of course.”

Derek grinned back as he stumbled away, heading for the men’s dressing room. It was the size of a large walk-in closet. Derek got changed fast, as all the other guys had already changed. His mind was scrambled. It wasn’t enough that they could now get hurt. No. Now Pippa was here.

Pippa was definitely fae. Milo had his own thoughts about what other mythical abilities she had. Which they had to figure out. He’d have to call Tyler. He’d have called Tyler anyway, because Milo’s toxic ex-girlfriend was now charming Derek’s toxic ex-girlfriend, and absolutely nothing good could come of this.