On the way to school, I attempted to analyze everything. I let my instincts guide me, the bike swinging swiftly and elegantly through the traffic while my mind wandered elsewhere.

Even at my currently demoted level, the bike didn't carry a weight that could pose a problem for me.

I felt content that I could just be myself without any need for masking. Lynx had been correct; Lores was Dolores almost one-to-one, except for the demonic additions. I didn't have to hide under any masks.

All I had to do was mask the demonic additions. In this regard, I was thanking all the gods that I didn't have a tail! Okay, I did hide the band-aids that Helen had used to patch the wounds left by my snipped-off appendixes, but that was just cosmetic. For this, my limited magic capabilities were good enough, or at least I hoped so.

It was a short trip this time, and not five minutes later, I was entering our district. It was a clean, lovely district with many houses that were built during better times. Nowadays, you cannot afford to buy so much land to build a house, even if you earned good money; everything has become simply too expensive. Eventually, you could either buy the ground or the house, but not both. So, most people bought tiny apartments in those high-rise buildings where you lived like rabbits in a rabbit's cage.

I chased those depressing thoughts away; it was a beautiful day, and I should enjoy it as it is!

Winding through the safe and clean streets, I enjoyed the fresh air coming from the nearby woods.

As I entered the school's parking with a roar of my bike, I heard a familiar horn honking at me. I turned and saw Hew's jeep parked to the side, with a couple of girls talking near the door.

I raised a brow at the scene. To my knowledge, Hew had not yet had a girlfriend, and now there were several girls crowding his car's door? What did happen?

He waved at me, and I got closer after I parked my bike. The girls respectfully made way for me. It was a completely new situation that made me even more apprehensive.

“Hey, Lores!” he yelled at me, opening the car's door and stepping out. “Hew!” I went straight to him and hugged him.

That did surprise him a little, but I needed it. After a brief hesitation, he hugged me back, his hands coming close to the band-aids on my naked back.

Note to self: don't hug people when you don't want their hands on your back, or keep your jacket on!

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

I sighed. “Good to see you. I had an eventful night and needed a hug. Everything is okay now. Sorry for not coming yesterday evening. How's Matt?”

There! I said it in one breath. He took a step back to look into my eyes. “Matt is okay, as much as he can be. He was missing you yesterday. We all missed you. Do you have time for a walk?”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

I shrugged. “I already missed the first hour. We could go for a walk, but I don't want to miss the second...”

“And my autograph?” – one of the girls said, almost with tears in her eyes. He looked at me, and I almost needed help to close my mouth. The girls were there for an autograph?

I nodded, surprised by how fast things had changed. He gave the autographs, and the girls left giggling happily, giving us room.

“You're giving autographs now?” I wondered as he came back to me.

It was his turn to shrug.

“They asked me if I was Hew from the Fata Morgana. When I confirmed, they wanted an autograph from me.” - he showed me his palms in a gesture of innocence, and then his face became serious – “Do you know that two of our songs, Matt's ballad and Tom's blues, have entered the charts? Ah, where do we go?”

I took his arm and guided him away.

“That's great news! Let's go to the park behind the school. There is a small lake there and a couple of benches where we could sit.”

That was indeed great news; it meant we were no longer just a local group. We were now playing in the national league! That thought thrilled and frightened me at the same time; when I thought about it, it almost cut my legs out from under me.

To my luck, he gave me time to recover, as before we entered the park, he went to the small kiosk nearby to buy a couple of fresh pretzels.

It had rained here, too, during the night, and the air was humid; however, the alleys were not moist, and only at the sides were there small water puddles.

Birds were chirping in the branches, and we walked through the mostly empty park alley towards the small lake in silence.

“There's a lot of hullabaloo about the masked singer. We should talk about how we are going to unmask her,” – he explained, breaking the silence, as we found an empty bench facing the lake.

“Did you come here to talk about our future plans as a band?” - I wondered, taking a seat on the bench.

I didn't mean it in a bad way; I only wanted to inquire. He shrugged.

“This was one of the things we wanted to talk about yesterday. Was there any serious issue you had? I mean, did you have a crisis? Are you afraid of going public?”

I closed my eyes for a moment. The sun was shining from the right, and the bench was pleasantly warm.

I chewed on the pretzel and threw a small piece to a duck that had swum closer to us.

“That was not the reason, Hew!” - I tried to defend myself.

He sighed. “You don't want to tell? If you tell me where you are, I would be glad to come and pick you up, you know? Is this something linked to... your special self?” - he tried to inquire.

I looked into his green eyes, then tilted my head and chuckled. I turned to look back at the duck and threw another piece of the pretzel. More ducks came flying.

I wetted my lips. Words did not come easy to me. Was the expression 'I had an eventful night and needed a hug' not clear enough?

“Yesterday, I had to be somewhere else, or I would have run into some serious troubles... You wouldn't even want to chat with me if you knew what I was dealing with, Hew."

He raised a brow and wanted to reply, but we were interrupted by a woman in uniform who came aggressively towards me.

“Miss, as per paragraph 213 of the commune, it is forbidden to feed the animals. This...”

That sudden interruption and the aggressiveness with which she spoke made my blood turn violently inside me. However, instead of unleashing a mind blast, which I considered but refrained from due to Hew's presence, I opted to concentrate my black mana on my voice. A combination of spells whirled in my mind, ranging from mind blast to memory erasure, but I was uncertain about which one to use.

“Thank you for the information, officer. We will heed it. Goodbye!” I said.

She saluted, turned on her talons, and left. We stood in silence. After a while, Hew turned to me.

“You looked pretty scary when you said that,” he whispered. “What was that?”