“So,” Henrietta eventually broke the silence. “I heard something happened last night.”

Danny stiffly smiled. “That’s one way to put it.”

“Smith only gave me a brief overview, do you want to talk about it?”

Danny shrugged and started going over the events of the night in excruciating detail. At some point he started shaking, his chest got tight, and his eyes got teary. Henrietta sat and listened to him talk, not interrupting. When Danny finally got to his sandy wake up he stopped and looked at the woman across from him.

“Oh, Danny.” Her voice carried a deep pity. A pity that Danny couldn’t stomach. Without thinking he got up and left the room. He left the building. He left the city. Without realising he started running. He had run from Henrietta, then Linh and Jack, and finally ran from the city. His muscles cried out as he ran at a speed that overtook the cars moving through the streets.

He ran and ran, his muscles growing sore, but the pain only made him push harder. Danny only snapped out of it when his eyes landed on the ocean. Huh? The beach is a 20-minute drive from the city. Danny ended up on the beach, he took his shoes off and buried his toes in the sand. He couldn’t help but see the faint orange glow emanating from his legs, everyone else at the beach was noticing as well.

Danny sighed and collapsed into the sand. What’s going on with me? Danny couldn’t help but admit that avoiding thinking about things wasn’t working well for him. So Danny sat there and tried to process what had happened in the last few days. His mind spun at the daunting task but he made himself sit with it.

“I’m more magical than everyone around me,” he muttered softly. “It seems partially genetic, but there’s obviously something connected to the zombies going on.” Danny tried to crunch everything that was happening and make sense of it, but he couldn’t. He was only left with more questions. What were the zombies? What was happening to him? He could chalk it up to magic, but that wasn’t a satisfactory answer.

Then there was the business with the triad and the Agostinos. Danny’s entire body churned at the mere thought of it all. He had tried his best to never get caught up in the crime he’d been exposed to. Of course, it had been tempting, Anton had treated him like a son while he was dating Anna. The guys he had worked with had largely been associated with the criminal side of the business and it was weird that he had been the only one that wasn’t.

If he had been anyone else he would have been pressured into joining, but Anton had respected his choice. Danny had always suspected that Anton would eventually push him to join the family business, but that had all fallen apart when he and Anna broke up. Anton had given him a deal that he couldn’t refuse and he had been able to walk away safely, which Danny had been grateful for.

He had never wanted to be associated with a crime family, but by the time he had discovered that Anna was the daughter of one of the heads of Madley’s largest, and only significant, crime family, he was already in too deep. He had also fallen in love with her. Can’t believe I thought it wouldn’t impact things. It had been a difficult relationship, to say the least, but it was over now.

Now Danny was in deeper than ever before. He couldn’t see a way out. The HB triad guys probably weren’t going to let him off and Anton was already taking action to force Danny’s hand. He wasn’t going to be able to claim neutrality if he started being actively protected by the Agostinos.

“What am I supposed to do?” Danny asked aloud, speaking to no one in particular.

“What are your options?” A voice asked. Danny sat up and saw an old man who seemed to have been walking by.

“Uh. I don’t really know.”

The old man stopped walking and turned to look at Danny. “You don’t know?”

“It’s all just too complicated. I don’t think there’s an easy path to take.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Well, I can’t sit on the sand, my knees don’t do that anymore. How about we sit at a bench and you tell me what’s troubling you?”

Danny took the man up on his offer and soon found himself sitting on a bench with him, looking out over the ocean. Danny briefly explained his situation, being more honest than he could be with anyone he actually knew. After explaining he looked over at the man, feeling guilty for unburdening himself.

The old man looked at the ocean with a tranquil face. “Well, that is quite complicated.”

Danny couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah, it is.”

“I thought you might have had an argument with your girlfriend or lost your job. This is a bit more than I had bargained for,” the man said with an honest laugh. “I can’t say I have much experience in similar circumstances.” The old man let out a sigh. “It sounds like you know what you want though.”

“That I don’t want to be involved with organised crime?”

“Yes, that.”

“I don’t see how I can’t be involved with them at this point,” Danny said with a slump of his shoulders. His mind was in overdrive, trying to process everything and generate solutions.

“Why don’t you talk with that woman from the magic school? She might be able to help you out. You said people lived there, perhaps you could as well?”

Danny paused. “That’s actually a solid idea. Though it might mean throwing in with the True Wizard Consortium…”

The old man shrugged. “If that’s the case, it seems like it might be with them or that family you’re acquainted with. I can’t believe you started dating the heiress to a crime family without knowing who she was, that is quite the feat young man.”

“We all make mistakes in the heat of passion.”

“You’re too young to say things like that,” the man laughed.

“I’ll have a chat with Retta, she might be able to help me. Thanks…” Danny realised he had never asked the man for his name.

“Kim. And it was my pleasure, you gave an old man something interesting to think about. I might try my hand at this magic business, who knows, it could be fun.”

The man then got up and went off walking down the beach again. Danny watched him as he was walking, thankful that the man had taken the time to talk to him. It had helped Danny sort out what had happened to him over the last few days. With a clearer head, Danny decided it was time to head back to the city.

He was amazed that he had run so far without realising it, he checked his phone and found out it was around 12 kilometers. I ran 12k in like 20 minutes, that’s insane. Danny could only chalk it up to magic. His mana had to be strengthening his body, he was far too strong and fit, inhumanly so. He thought it might be something to do with his mana pool. Well it has to be. My whole body is my mana pool, there has to be some sort of link.

Danny got on a tram and headed back into the city. He sheepishly returned to the Academy and walked up to the receptionist. “Hey.”

“Hello Mr Skala, Ms Borg has been hoping you’d come back. She’s currently in her office.”

Danny made his way to Retta’s office and knocked on the door.

“Come in, oh, Danny you’re back.” Henrietta exclaimed, putting her phone down.

“Hey. Sorry about bolting.” Danny wasn’t sure what else to say.

“You can certainly run pretty fast. I couldn’t convince the news to not run the story, so you’ll be seeing yourself on the news tonight.”

“Oh, rats.” Danny felt like he was doing a pretty awful job at staying low-key. Not that he had been explicitly trying to, but he left like it was always a good idea. That was pretty out of the window.

“So Danny. What are we going to do moving forward?” Henrietta said as she leaned back in her armchair.

Danny gathered his thoughts and took a deep breath. “I’d like to ask for help, from you.” Danny cringed as he spoke. The act of asking for help was alien and uncomfortable.

The woman took it in her stride. “Of course, what can I do?”

Danny then explained his circumstances with the two major players of the organised crime scene of Madley.

“Well, that’s quite the predicament you’ve found yourself in. I see your dilemma.”

“Yeah, I’m going to get people hurt eventually. I’m worried that my roommates will get caught up in it as well.”

“I see, I see, well, how about you move into one of the rooms we have on campus? We have a couple dozen and only a half actually have occupants.”

Henrietta’s words lifted a weight off Danny’s shoulders. He had never been so glad to have talked to a stranger before.