I was attempting to rest, sprawled on my back in Hew's spacious bed in his cabin in the woods, trying to process the events of the last day.

What had astounded me was the trio's lack of ability to grasp the gravity of the situation. They behaved as if those budding little horns on my head were just some amusing decoration! How could that be?

Various dreadful thoughts clashed in my mind, and I struggled to make sense of them. What does being a demon mean in the real world? Were all those stories about souls and demons real? I was practically void of religious knowledge; I've always had a rebellious spirit and never tried to absorb anything that my mother attempted to indoctrinate me with regarding religion. Was this because I was 'marked by the devil' as my mother said? Or was I simply embodying a game character, as Hew suggested?

The boys had acted so unfazed; it seemed as if nothing could bring them down. Why were they so trusting?

In addition to these thoughts that offered me no peace, all sorts of strange sounds emanated from the woods, intensifying my unrest. How could anyone sleep in these conditions? I desperately tried to keep my eyes shut and fall asleep.

Just as I was finally close to achieving that, some beast started sniffing loudly close to the window. Initially, I tried to ignore it, turning on the other side, but after enduring enough of this restless dance, rolling over a hundred times, I went to check what on earth it could be. A bear? A boar? Was that a boar sniffing at the cottage? But there was nothing there. A boar is big; it cannot just hide like this in plain view. Was this some magical creature? Were there any magical creatures now on this earth? If I exist, why would no magical creature exist?

I heard the noise again and was finally able to pinpoint the source. Straining my eyes, I saw a little bundle of leaves moving... Drats, the offender was just a little hedgehog! I went back to my bed, disappointed and completely awake. Surprisingly loud noise for such a small beast! I didn't know hedgehogs could make such sounds.

How can anybody even sleep in this cabin? Why did I not hear the noise when I was here with the boys? The problem was not the intensity or loudness of the environmental noise but its unusual patterns. It was low enough that you could hear the hum from the distant city and the highway, but at the same time, there were a lot of strange, low-level noises coming from everywhere. Even critters running inside the room were noisy enough to grab my attention. What did those damn critters have to do inside there?

I sighed and tried again to turn on the other side. Eventually, I stood up, went to the toilet, drank some water, and came back to bed. I finally succumbed to tiredness in the early morning hours and was still deep in my sleep when the boys arrived at ten o'clock in the morning.

"The door is not locked!?" - Hew said, surprised, pressing the handle - "She must be outside in the woods!"

As they entered the cabin, Tom remarked suddenly, "She's here in the bed, completely under the blanket!" - he whispered.

"Are you sure it's her?" - Mike wondered.

Hew shrugged. "Who else could it be?"

"How can one breathe under a blanket? She does not move! Did something happen to her?" - Mike asked, then added - "I wonder, do demons need air?"

"She's not really a demon!" - Tom said.

"But she said so!" - Mike countered.

"Lores, Lores? Did something happen?" Hew placed a hand on what he supposed was my shoulder and shook me.

"What, what? Lola?" - I jumped in bed into a sitting position and tried to look around while pulling on the blanket to cover me. Somehow, it refused to move - "Where am I?"

Hew took a step back. “Morning, Lores! Ahhh... Are you OK if we make ourselves a coffee? We want to have brunch. It is such a wonderful day!”

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

I rubbed my eyes and opened one to look at the invaders. Something was hanging over my face, partially covering my view.

“Mmmorning!” - I said, feeling my cheeks burning red hot while I was pulling at that thing. It, too, stubbornly resisted my pull. Why that? I did not feel it hanging in my hair but something else. I raised my hand up and found out that I had horns. Yep, my horns were now fully grown, about ten centimeters long, pointing defiantly straight up in the air, and my undershirt was hanging on my left horn.

The sun rays, like light arrows targeting my eyes through the window, made it difficult to see, especially in the half shadow inside the cabin, but slowly, I realized it was the three boys I was facing. The idea of having breakfast was enough to motivate me to wake up. I nodded, and the undershirt waved in front of my eyes.

“Yeah, OK, I'll be joining you in a minute, just give me the time to wake up!” - I said whilst yawning, stretching my limbs, then I tried to remove the undershirt from the horn.

I heard them laughing. What was so funny?

We had a hearty breakfast, and their joyousness was contagious. I did not hide my demonic appendices anymore, and Mike even asked if he was allowed to touch my sharp horns. At first, I allowed it, even if it was not a comfortable feeling; it was like somebody touching your very sensitive, long ears, nose, or fingers. However, in the end, they all took turns touching them until I said enough and poked Hew's side, who was taking too much time studying them.

My claws were now pretty sharp and about two centimeters long, so I had to take care not to puncture him.

After breakfast, we started working on the last song that Tom was writing. It was another blues, but somehow, I messed up a lot of the notes. Not even when we tried Hew's song, the one with the catchy refrain that I sang last time acceptably, was I able to sing now well enough. Something was going wrong.

“Concentrate on the song!” - Hew said.

“It is like your mind is not here!” – Mike added.

I wanted instinctively to protest, but he was right; my mind had wandered again and again to yesterday's events.

There was a moment when I wanted to give up, but then I thought to myself: was I not White Flower? What was she doing differently to always be able to sing perfectly, besides infusing magic into her voice? Infusing magic in my voice didn't make the notes right!

Well, feeling it, that was the difference! She was feeling the notes, feeling the song, singing with feeling. She even understood the message the song was trying to convey and translated that into feelings. As simple, or as difficult as that.

Can I do that?

You cannot do that when you concentrate on other things!

So, I tried again, this time concentrating on feeling the song, to give it that feeling note that I was missing before. I had not been aware of it, but White Flower knew very well what she did, and the last time I accidentally did it, I did it instinctively as the refrain was so catchy!

With the new approach, we sang the blues through, and at the end, the silence that followed showed me that I did it right. Tom concluded with a nod.

“Now, that was exactly how I imagined it. You are fully back, Lores!”

His eyes were shining when he said that, and he came to hug me.

After this, we chatted for a while and drank another coffee while Hew replayed the recording. It was done only for our use there, as there was some background noise, plus Matt had been missing from our team, but it sounded already very good.

As we chatted there, listening to our songs, I asked for their opinion on what job I should look for. At first, they asked me why I needed a part-time job. Was it not better to sing? Did that not bring in as much money as a part-time job? When I explained that I was looking for a full-time job as I was going to drop out of school, Tom countered that I should in no way give up on school. Eventually, I could look for a part-time job, but our songs should be good enough to sustain us.

Well, that surprised me. How could I continue with school when the principal would certainly want me out?

No, Mike countered. She may want that, but she cannot do it simply based on an internet rumour. He had talked with his mother about it; she was a lawyer, and she had told him that they could not throw me out like that. They would need confirmation that I was practicing prostitution, and even if I would do that, that was debatable. The police would not confirm such inquiries unless there was a case against me, specifically on these grounds.

I should simply not confirm that the license from the photo is valid. As long as I do not confirm it and as long as I do not engage in any act or anything that would look like I am involved in prostitution inside the school's compound, they have no way to proceed against me based on that internet picture. I would always have a decent line of defence. The school could be forced to fulfil the contract for which I paid the tuition. Even worse, if they acted without proof, they could be forced to cover all my incurring losses caused by sacking me like that, including missing potential wages, and they would certainly not want to risk that.

OK, now that promised an interesting Monday at school.