Alice sat down, and I noticed the table of teens staring. Volto came over, looking concerned, and quietly placed a plate in front of her.

"Thank you, Volto," she said.

"No problem, lass," he replied as he scrunched his face and backed away.

"Alice?" I asked. "Why is half your head blue?"

She shrugged. "Adeline tried to surprise me with a pie. I thought it was an attack and attacked. The color is persistent despite three washes."

My eyes narrowed. The right side of her head up to her ear was a dull purplish blue. Her normally light-blonde hair looked like a bad dye job that was starting to fade, and the right side had much shorter strands than the left.

"Did you cut some of it off?"

"No. I tried to freeze it off when I thought it was an attack," she answered as she bit into the steak on her plate.

She paused and cocked her head.

I chuckled at the weirdness and took a bite of my own. "I got a present as well. From a certain someone, we can't talk about. He gave me a whole sack of this special meat."

"It has mana in it."

"Apparently. Taste decent. Much better when somebody like Volto can cook it."

My words were met with several minutes of silence as we ate. Freki finished his meal, grabbed his plate, and carried it over to the sink. Volto tossed him a large slice of what looked like ham that was snapped out of the air.

I didn't think Freki really ate physical food, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. Just for fun, I sent a wave of mana through the connection, and he happily nudged my hand.

Alice stared at Freki with a smile. "The horns suit him."

"Wulf!"

"I'd say so, though if he gets any bigger, he won't fit in my bed."

Freki released a sad wulf this time, and I patted his head.

"So what do you plan to do now?" she asked.

I stood up, grabbed our plates, tossed them into the sink, and waved goodbye to Volto, who nodded in our direction.

As we walked down the hallway, I shrugged. "If Astra is available, I'd like to say hello and show her Freki. That and show off the incantations she put on the scroll."

To my right, Alice extended her hand and summoned the barrier. She did so without verbal casting, and the grey panels came to life. As the panels hovered in the air, I finally noticed an oddity I missed during the fight.

"They're cold? Is that normal?"

"I don't think so. It's like your orb. My mana corrupted the original incantation, but it worked."

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I stopped walking and closed my eyes, remembering the flight. The pain felt distant, but the scene of Alice kneeling desperately trying to block the monster's attack stuck around like a movie that kept running.

"What made it click?"

The barrier vanished, and she lowered her arm. "I wanted to protect you, us. My ice had always been there, the first skill I earned. It slowed and created crystals to impede my foes. When I rushed the incantation and channeled my mana, I thought about wanting to protect with my ability. And it worked."

"I'm glad it did," I smiled. "I never showed you mine, did I?"

"This has to do with the change to your hair?"

"Mmm. Somewhat. Let's find Astra first, and I'll explain it."

Even though it felt like a lifetime ago since I walked through the tunnels, I knew the way to Astra's. The path to the Archive was instinctual.

Like before, the Warren felt empty. The rooms we passed were absent of life. Even though I knew people were inside the Warren, we passed nobody and stopped before the iron door.

Alice walked up and placed her hand on the metal. It swung open, and a soft melody echoed from inside.

I shut the door behind us and breathed in the scent of paper. It was calming. Familiar, in a way that brought back a happy memory of discovering magic for the first time.

Again, it felt like a lifetime ago.

It's only been a couple of months—it really hasn't been that long—yet a lot of things have changed.

Alice led the way to the back, past the rows of tomes and scrolls. The room's lights were a gentle pink that barely lit up the room. We turned past a large shelf that wasn't there the last time I was here and entered the small alcove with the tables.

I opened my mouth to call out for Astra but stopped when I saw her form. She was resting on a table, her cheek pressed against a stack of books propping up her head.

Today, she wore a light grey dress wrapped in silver chains that hung loosely against her body.

"Look's peaceful," I whispered.

Alice smiled and walked toward the back. She reached into a shelf carved into the back wall and pulled out a bundle of cloth. As she let it drop, the blanket unfolded, and she silently approached to wrap it around Astra's shoulders.

"Let's go," Alice whispered back.

"Wait. Don't go," came a voice from behind Alice.

She turned. "Sorry. Didn't mean to wake you,"

Astra slowly stretched and pulled the blanket tighter across her chest. Even as she yawned, her eyes radiated joy.

"You're back. Both of you," she said.

"We are."

I waved. "Still alive."

Her smile dropped. "You are. I'm glad."

"You don't look it."

She shook her head. "I am. But it's been a long night. And there was some… concerning stuff being discussed."

Her words after the pause were filled with an undertone of vitriol,

"Does it have anything to do with Grim?"

Her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth before shutting it. Instead, she sniffed the air and scrunched her nose.

"Ah, his scent lingers on you. I take it you had another encounter?"

"Yeah, last night. He wanted to know what happened and left after swallowing my mana."

"Your mana?" she asked slowly. "What do you mean."

In response, I conjured an orb and let the flames shrink to a marble. "I threw it at him, and he swallowed it. Then left."

"I see," she sighed. Well, as long as he hasn't hurt you, then that's fine. I barely understand his logic at the best of times. It's best we don't dwell on it for now. Instead, tell me everything! Devon barely mumbled a half-assed story that left out a lot of details."

She clapped her hands, and the room brightened. The pink filled the room with enough light to read comfortably.

Instead of sitting in the offered chair, she pulled out, I stepped back and slowly took off my cloak and then my hoodie.

"Cain?"

As I uncrossed my arms, I revealed the almost swirling tattoo in the center of my torso. The rune was just as shadowy as usual, but a new line of glowing orange runes joined the inner circle. It reminded me of the embers of a fire as the shadows tried to bury them.

Astra leaned forward, her eyes wide as she examined me from head to toe.

"Before I regale you with our great deeds, there's somebody you should meet."

I pointed to the rune and tapped the skin. The area around it was cool to the touch.

"Got this as a reward after fighting the Erlking. And the system changed my skill."

"You're summon?!" Astra gasped.

"It changed again two days ago. After the last hunt."

"There's only a couple instances of a Grimm's summoning skill changing. And that was someone's summon becoming a familiar."

I grinned. "Freki, come."