In the hallway's light, Evelyn covered her face and cried. She was terrified enough to sob, and yet she tried to control it somewhat. She sensed him staring her down. Waiting for any sign of recognition. Evelyn wouldn’t give him one. Akshi still had no idea. He was going on a hunch.

Please, let him be going on a hunch.

“Hey, are you alright?”

It was not Akshi’s voice. Evelyn forced herself to drop her hands and turned, seeing Mr. Anderson there. He took in the tears racing down her cheeks and deflated.

“Ah, shit. I mean, sorry. Shoot.” He rubbed his head, looking like he’d prefer to be anywhere but here. “The teen years are a huge deal, yes, but life goes by so fast. This will be a moment and… and you’ll laugh about this breakup in the years to come.”

Evelyn stared at him. She didn’t know what else to do. Akshi was leaning over ever closer, and Mr. Anderson looked like he, too, was trying to ignore the obvious snake man in the room.

“Right,” was all Evelyn managed to say.

She had Mr. Anderson last year for science, but didn’t expect him to remember her. He didn’t seem like the type to remember people.

“It’s up to you. You can keep dancing, or you can call someone to pick you up, but you shouldn’t stay out here. Just…” he motioned with his hands. “Pretend I said something inspirational to get you back in there.” Evelyn realized Mr. Anderson was far more concerned about Akshi hanging around her than he was about trying to comfort her during what he supposed was a breakup.

Akshi pursed his lips together and blew a stream of air that hit her face. It was odd, feeling the air, and yet not a strand of her hair quivered. Evelyn used all the mental capacity she had to not react. Once Akshi frowned, she allowed herself a moment of weakness. This was just a hunch. If she played her cards right, Akshi wouldn’t believe she actually saw him.

She covered her face again and let out a shuddering sob.

“Oh, god. I mean… sorry. Golly gee, let’s get you back in there, Evelyn. You can call your parents and get out of here.”

It was a strange feeling to realize Mr. Anderson knew her name. He always seemed like he didn’t care to remember anyone. She moved forward because she wanted to get out of Akshi’s gaze. She did want to call someone. Nick. Her brother. She couldn’t stay here, mostly because of Akshi. The fact that she slapped Connor was the real-life excuse she needed. Nick would understand her situation, though, and take her back home.

Mr. Anderson led her back into the gym as she got her handbag, searching for her phone. Akshi was still there, watching her every move. When Akshi’s back was to Mr. Anderson, he stared right at the snake man, and a lot of the misery he felt stemmed from seeing Akshi.

Evelyn’s hands shook as she got her phone, dialing Nick. She was pretty sure her parents were on a date right now, but she didn’t know. Either way, Nick was the only person who would understand her situation.

Akshi was there, breathing down her neck. “Can you see me, girl?” he hissed into her ear.

Evelyn placed the phone against that ear, looking again at Mr. Anderson, who was still looking at Akshi. Her old teacher tore his gaze from the evil enchanter and scanned the room before lifting a hand. “Mr. Stower. Hello! Can I have a word with you?”

Akshi sneered, his yellow eyes narrowing as Evelyn focused completely on listening to the ringtone as Akshi slithered away to catch up to Mr. Stower.

“Evelyn?” Nick asked.

She let out a breath. “Nick?”

“Um, sorry. I can’t hear you. At all.”

“Right.” Evelyn had gotten used to how loud the gym was. She started walking out of the gym, away from Akshi, promising to thank Mr. Anderson somehow for the distraction. “I… need you to pick me up. I can’t stay here.”

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

There was a moment’s pause, then she heard some things moving around on the other side of the phone. “Who do I need to kill?” he asked.

Despite everything, Evelyn felt herself smile. “No, no, it’s nothing like that. It’s…” She realized she actually had an answer to who she wanted her brother to kill. “Akshi. Though… we can’t kill him yet.”

“Ah,” Nick said. “Yeah, I’ll be there in ten minutes. See you soon.”

“Thanks, Nick.”

She hung up, having no desire to wait in the gym. She didn’t want to run into Akshi or Connor. It was a warm enough evening in her blue knee length dress. She scrolled through her phone, seeing all the texts from her cheerleader friends checking to see if she was alright. She composed a generic text that she didn’t want to talk about it, that she was getting a ride home, and she would see them all Monday.

It was barely nine. She felt annoyed at that. It was too early to leave a dance. She was annoyed at Akshi and at Connor. She tried not to be annoyed at herself. Was it really so strange to be a cheerleader and not date anyone? She remembered Connor’s insistence that something must be wrong with her. She folded her arms, glaring. There was nothing wrong with her. She simply didn’t want to date. It had nothing to do with what happened to her. She was fine. Rafael did not break her. It couldn’t possibly be weird that she wasn’t dating anyone.

Evelyn rubbed her forehead, feeling the hate she bottled up toward Rafael. It was threatening to burst. Seeing him at the dance, smiling, relaxed. Deep down, Evelyn had to admit that she didn’t think Rafael deserved to be happy. Not like that. Not with someone like Hazel. Hazel, her friend. No one deserved Hazel. Least of all Rafael.

Nick pulled up to the entryway of the school gym, and she placed the phone back in her purse and jogged toward the car, forcing her mind to forget. She slipped inside and buckled herself before making sure her hair wasn’t pulling against the seat. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” Nick turned the blinker on and glanced behind his shoulder before easing back onto the road.

Evelyn kept her gaze on the school, making sure Akshi wouldn’t come flying out the door to follow them. The moment she thought about it, she was terrified of it happening.

She placed her elbow against the car door, rubbing her forehead before giving a shuddering breath.

“What happened?” Nick asked.

“For about half an instant, I made eye contact with Akshi,” Evelyn said. Nick didn’t say anything, then swore under his breath. “I think I fooled him, but it was still terrifying.”

“How’d you fool him?”

She rubbed her arm. “Well, I mean, at the time, Connor was trying to ask me out, so I made it seem like we were about to have a fight.”

There was another pause. “Connor Franke?”

“Yeah.” Evelyn was surprised to see Nick’s fingers tightening over the steering wheel. She couldn’t help it and rolled her eyes. “Oh god, Nick. I just finished explaining to him how you don’t hurt people who ask me out.”

Nick was still strangling the steering wheel. “Yeah. Of course not.”

Evelyn gave him a look. “I’m serious, Nick. It’s fine. I’m not interested in Connor, and now he knows I’m not interested either. Please don’t get involved.”

They started down the road, when Nick slowly inclined his head, then a slight smile crossed his face. Evelyn didn’t know why that look terrified her so much. “Nick? I’m serious. Don’t.”

“No, not Connor. But… orcs.”

Evelyn’s frown deepened. “Orcs?”

Nick’s smile widened. “Yeah. It’s not even nine-fifteen. Alejandra already suggested it. Kill the orcs without Hraktar. We can blow off some steam by obliterating two dozen orcs.”

“But Tyler said we should wait until next week.”

“Think about it. We know exactly where Akshi is right now. He’s distracted, and will be there until eleven, eleven thirty. That gives us two hours to locate and kill two dozen orcs without needing to worry about stumbling on Akshi.”

Evelyn stared at her brother. Saw how big his smile was. Hated that she was warming up to the idea. Fast.

“Nick… what about mom and dad?” Evelyn asked.

“They’re on a date. If anyone asks, you had a rough time and, being the protective older brother I am, I took you to get ice cream.”

His mind was already made up. She shouldn’t go along with this. She didn’t know what would happen if someone saw them battling orcs and not at some ice cream parlor.

If she was being completely honest with herself, she actually wanted to destroy those orcs. This wasn’t about Connor. This was about Akshi. There was a chance Akshi might put two and two together and figure out this was a message of her own, but she didn’t want to hide. She wanted to unsettle him as much as he unsettled her.

Except she had a thought. “We can’t do it by ourselves. We don’t have to call Alejandra, but Milo needs to level up as much as Grizzizzik and Princess Clarissa.”

Nick was still smiling as he pulled over. “Let me see your phone.”

Evelyn pulled out the phone from her purse and unlocked it, handing it over to him. Nick found Derek’s name and pressed the call button. Evelyn watched, raising an eyebrow. The car was silent, so when Derek answered, she could hear the loud thumping of the music.

“Evelyn? What’s up?”

“It’s Nick. Evelyn’s with me. I have one tiny question for you,” Nick said.

“Alright?” Derek said, sounding hesitant.

“Do you want to hunt some orc tonight?”

There was a moment’s pause, only a moment. Evelyn could almost hear Derek smirking. “Hell yes I do.”