Nick barely sat down for lunch when Derek popped out of nowhere and sat down next to him. Nick jumped. “Dude, what’s wrong with you?”

“I’m assuming you heard?” Derek asked.

“I did.” Nick picked up his teriyaki rice bowl. “Tyler called Evelyn last night and told her everything.”

“Have you seen Emma or Pippa anywhere?” Derek’s eyes darted around the lunchroom.

“Emma’s right there, but no red eyes. I have yet to see Pippa,” Nick said. Not that he wanted to. Thankfully, Grizzizzik never caught Pippa’s attention. “Also, Evelyn heard about Tyler’s plans for Prince Sylvar. She tried telling Princess Clarissa about him, but she couldn’t hear Evelyn. Some enchantment must keep the characters from knowing spoilers.”

“M’kay. Milo’s got everyone at my house watching the Mission Impossible movies, so that’s… good. My guy shouldn’t be alone right now.” Derek had his hands in his hair, staring at nothing.

“Derek?” Nick prompted.

He tore his gaze to look at Nick, none of the certainty and excitement he once had. “We can’t have the two worlds mingling. Mr. Stower is an obvious example of that. We’ve got to figure out how to break the charm on Emma.”

“By doing what, exactly?” Nick asked.

Derek stared at him, a growing concern making his face fall into itself. He groaned, standing up. “I don’t know!”

Derek walked out of the cafeteria, and Nick watched him leave, taking a bite of his teriyaki bowl. This couldn’t be good.

***

Derek heard his own breathing the moment he entered school on Wednesday. Milo wasn’t with him, which made him realize how familiar his mana fusor was to him the past month. This was dangerous. He hadn’t seen Pippa since Monday’s play practice, but Emma was everywhere. It was like how they were before, when he was avoiding her the entire week they became official. He tried to avoid her now, too. Despite never seeing Pippa since play practice, he was still alert, ready for anything.

So, when he opened the double doors and noticed Pippa and Akshi on either side, Derek tried to shake out his nerves. He ignored the two of them as they followed him. He of course had a bad feeling Akshi and Pippa were working together, and this confirmed it. Akshi always recruited the worst kind of people.

Derek pretended not to see them as he went to his locker, returning the textbooks he took home for homework before keeping hold of his AP Biology textbook. It was thick enough for a weapon if needed, though he figured this was a more psychological attack than anything. The door slammed shut, and he walked through Akshi to pretend he didn’t see him.

He walked through the halls, waving to some of his friends, scrambling to think of a plan. He couldn’t do this for long. It was Wednesday, and Milo had gone catatonic at the thought of running into Pippa. It deterred any progress Derek hoped to make. Milo needed to figure out if they could cure the gray marks. It had been days since Derek did any rolling for a lab experiment. The characters finally watched the Lord of the Rings movies. Ezekiel loved it, though he had questions why some parts of the book were missing. Derek told him to get used to that feeling when watching anything based on a book.

Milo needed movies for the distraction and also the excuse to stuff his face with all the junk food he could find. As far as Derek could tell, Milo hadn’t used his kitchen once for experiments.

The two evil beings from the Shrouded Domain followed him, and he tried to keep his face steady. He walked to a larger open area of the school where a ton of kids hung out, then did his best to weave through them before going back the same way, hoping he lost them.

He walked back through the halls, going at an even pace, keeping up with the stream of students. He checked his phone, figuring there was a good five minutes before the first bell rang. Distracted, he slipped his phone back in his pocket before smacking into another person.

“Ah, sorry about that, Derek,” Mr. Anderson said, pocketing his phone. “Don’t text and walk, apparently.”

Derek glanced up at him, eyes wide. “Hey.”

Mr. Anderson frowned, his eyes bouncing over Derek’s face. “You alright?”

“Fine.” It sounded more like breath escaping his mouth.

Mr. Anderson glanced around. With a slight quirking of his eyebrow, he must have seen them. “So that’s what Señora Florez meant.”

“Um, what?”

Mr. Anderson said nothing. He simply gestured toward his classroom, and Derek followed. Mr. Anderson closed the door, pulling out his phone again. “It’s Señora Florez’s turn to talk to Mr. Stower, but he’s asleep at his desk and she can’t wake him up. I’ll tell her why,” he said, texting as fast as he could.

There was a pull at the door that Derek instinctively braced against. “Mr. Anderson?” He didn’t know if he could keep leaning against the door.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

With a huge push, Derek found he couldn’t hold them back. He stumbled a bit as Mr. Anderson sent his text. Derek forced himself into acting mode and pulled out his textbook.

“So, the test next week?” Derek walked to the table like this was all planned.

“Right. I’ll show you what chapters it covers,” Mr. Anderson said, following him.

“What an absolutely delicious man,” Pippa said, approaching Mr. Anderson.

Derek glanced at his teacher, whose eyes hardened ever so slightly. “Chapters eight and nine would be good to review.”

“Desperate, too,” Akshi said.

Goosebumps appeared on Derek’s arm. He hadn’t heard Akshi talk much since he came here, and his voice sounded like he was coiled for an attack.

“Ten and eleven would be great.” Mr. Anderson tried and failed to keep up the act. As far as Derek knew, they hadn’t reached chapter eleven.

“What’s this one’s back story?” Pippa approached Mr. Anderson. “Let me guess, divorced?”

“His wife is the one that divorced him,” Akshi said.

Derek winced as every muscle in Mr. Anderson’s body tightened. Pippa laughed. “Oh, those are the beautifully desperate sort.”

Akshi slithered to the table, gesturing at Mr. Anderson’s face. “And he can hear us. Both of them can. They’re keeping up this charade like that will protect them somehow.”

Derek cleared his throat. “Any essay questions?”

“Yes. The AP test will have them, so you’ll need to practice.” Mr. Anderson flipped random pages of Derek’s textbook. It was a common phrase Mr. Anderson said, but it felt mechanical now.

“I’ve heard the other teenagers talk about him. Pushes people away. Aloof. Mysterious,” Pippa said.

“He’s a private person, but it wasn’t hard to track down his life story,” Akshi said.

Mr. Anderson moved his head until something popped in his neck. Derek scrambled to think of something. Akshi leaned over, closer to Mr. Anderson, his snake eyes brightening. “His wife couldn’t handle how unmotivated he was in life. Worked his job, day in, day out. She needed more excitement, more adventure. She needed, in a word, not Richard Anderson.”

Mr. Anderson glared at the textbook. Derek forgot everything he was going to say. His teacher had always been a private individual. Derek got the feeling that him overhearing this was far more distressing to his teacher than anything Akshi could threaten.

“Yes, Richard. Your wife really lies about you to your son and daughter. It’s what my reports say. Turns them against you. It doesn’t take much for her to think of things to tell them. Just—” Akshi stopped, because Mr. Anderson moved his glare from the textbook right to Akshi’s eyes. A smirk crossed the crime lord’s face. “I knew it. I knew you could see me.”

Mr. Anderson kept his glare. “Leave my classroom.”

Akshi laughed. “And what if we don’t? What can you honestly say to anyone to get us to leave? No one else can see us.”

Mr. Anderson gripped the edge of the table. Derek felt Milo’s character sheet coming into focus, but he forced it away. There was no way he’d teleport Milo here. He’d get killed. Or paralyzed with fear, then killed.

“It’s for your own safety.” It was just unhinged enough that Derek almost believed Mr. Anderson. Akshi and Pippa clearly didn’t. Pippa laughed as Akshi gave him a humorous look.

“Do you even know who I am?” Akshi asked.

“I know enough that when someone says that phrase, they’re insecure about something,” Mr. Anderson said.

Derek’s eyebrows rose, not sure Mr. Anderson realized Akshi was—

“I am the crime lord of Osvoroth,” Akshi said, as though annoyed Mr. Anderson didn’t bother to look that up. “Everyone knows this. I do not hide my face, because I own that city.”

“Make sure to file your taxes correctly,” Mr. Anderson said in a dry tone. Akshi frowned, confused. “You’re a far cry from Osvoroth. You’re here at Elmwood High. It is a completely different animal all together. You may have figured out how to build a crime empire, but you don’t know how to interact with teenagers.”

“I don’t have to interact with them. I secretly invite chaos and then make sure I openly give them the answer,” Akshi said. “In groups of youth like this, it’s easy. After all, your wife does an excellent job of doing that with your own children. It’s probably why you’ve never seen either of them since the divorce.”

Mr. Anderson’s glare never wavered, and Derek didn’t dare do anything else but stare at his teacher. “You still can’t touch this world. And before you ever can, I will shove you into a portal to return to yours,” Mr. Anderson said.

Akshi folded his arms, chuckling. “Earth isn’t equipped with enough mana for such a thing. Not to my knowledge, anyway.”

Mr. Anderson snorted. “Necessity is the mother of invention. You don’t know how far I’ll go to cut assholes out of my life.”

Akshi about said something, but stopped, his head turning slightly. Derek wasn’t sure what was happening, but something distracted the crime lord. Akshi looked again at Mr. Anderson. “This isn’t over.” The snake slithered away toward the door. Pippa stayed, placing a sharp fingernail under Mr. Anderson’s chin.

“What’s your type? Blonde? Vivacious?” Pippa asked.

Mr. Anderson straightened, moving his head away from her fingernail. “Not you.”

Pippa’s eyes narrowed, then she turned around, following Akshi out of the room. Only then did Derek realize his jaw had fallen open. How long it had been that way, he wasn’t sure. Mr. Anderson shut Derek’s textbook and handed it back.

“Mr. Anderson?” Derek finally got his jaw to work again. His teacher said nothing as he moved around the table to get ready for class. Derek did little else but stare. “You're badass.”

Mr. Anderson finally glanced at Derek, almost bored. “Badass?”

“Yep.”

Mr. Anderson grunted as the bell rang. He grabbed a few of his notes, shuffling them. “Then I clearly conjure enough respect in you so I don’t have to threaten anything to make sure you keep what Akshi said about my family to yourself?”

Derek’s eyes widen a little. “Of… course. Of course I won’t say…” Derek cleared his throat. “I won’t say anything.”

“Good.” Students started trickling in. He gave Derek a look. “Because I hate being around people I don’t like. A very close second is being around people who pity me.”

“I…” Derek froze as Mr. Anderson gave Derek a stare, not smiling, before looking back at his notes. “I don’t know if anyone warned you but Pippa, the lady? She’s part succubus.”

Mr. Anderson’s gaze shot up from his notes. The bored expression turned to disbelief. “Of course she is.”

Derek gave him two thumbs up because he didn’t know what else to do since students started trickling in. He backed away, keeping his thumbs up. “Thanks, Mr. A. I… totally don’t pity you at all.” Which came out so bad. Why did he even say that?

Mr. Anderson grunted again as Derek returned to his desk. He sighed, placing his hands in his hair as he stared at his desk. He had no idea how Akshi figured out about Mr. Anderson. Clearly, he had his ways. Mr. Anderson didn’t deny any of it. Derek glanced up to observe his teacher. Mr. Anderson shuffled his notes before standing up, beginning to write something on the board. His science teacher was bound and determined to stay his quiet, anti-social self, but he already proved he could go up against Akshi.

Unconventional, but still badass.