My whole mood shifted, just a bit, when I saw Iraklis standing there.
Everything else seemed to fade away for a few moments of total silence.
“What are you doing here?” Surprisingly enough, Birgit was the one to speak first. Iraklis chuckled and walked closer, saying something about going inside because it was too cold.
“Not as cold as winters in New Weston,” he said in Greek. “Winters there are rough. One day we had so much snow that we couldn’t even get out of the dorms without using our powers.”
“You still can’t handle the cold, huh?” It felt good to speak in my own language again in person. The only times I actually used Greek at this point were the times I spoke to my parents–and half the time that was in text.
“And you still have to be a smartass.” He turned to Birgit and switched to English. “How do you handle him, honestly?”
“If only you knew the half of it! But I think I’ll leave you to figure that out.”
“You’re leaving?” I asked her. “It’s early. And we have a lot to talk about. Spend the night.”
“And deal with a probably hungover, or even still drunk, Sadid? You really are an idiot, kæreste.”
“Such loving words from my girlfriend.”
Based on what happened a few minutes ago, they were definitely words I deserved. We hugged goodbye and I was left alone with Iraklis. For the first time since last Christmas.
“Looks like I’ve missed a lot,” he said.
And all of my joy suddenly seeped out of my body. I’d gotten so excited to see Iraklis, that I’d forgotten just how much I’d kept from him. I put on a weak smile and led him to my room which I knew would be empty. Sadid was out with God knows what wreck of a human being–and on the night before his sister came to visit no less.
“Alpha Surge died,” I said as soon as we got into the room.
“I know,” said Iraklis. “I wanted to reach out but after Christmas I-I didn’t know how to. I know I said there’d always be a place for you at my side–and I meant it–but I fear…I guess I fear we’ve lost it, hero-in-training. We’ve lost our spark.”
“I don’t think so.” I pulled out my desk chair for him and sat down on my bed. “We’ve gone through too much for that. Besides, is that why you came all the way here? So we could mope about how we’re not the same as we were in school?”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Oh, I’m still the same, Alex. As they say in English: you don’t mess with perfection.”
I laughed in spite of myself. We talked about our news–about anything and everything–for a long time. It was awkward and different but also good. I almost told him about everything that happened to me but I stopped at the last second.
This wasn’t the time for that. Plus, having this, no matter how much we’d both changed, made me feel better. There wasn’t any drama or mysteries. Just the two of us reconnecting.
“You’ve lost every single time we faced off!” he said, indignation flowing out with every word. “There’s no way you’ll beat me in the tournament. Especially now they’re taking away the fluff.”
“Fluff?” Now was my turn to be offended. “You’re just saying that because you’d lose to me at anything other than straight-up fighting. And now you’re going to lose at that too short-and-blonde! I’ve got way too many rivals to risk falling behind!”
“Really? You’ve got rivals?”
“Yeah!” I raised my arms as high as I could, gesturing wildly. “There’s this big, tall, dragon, fire breathing guy, Azam. It’s like something out of an anime–I’m pretty sure he hates me more than Maria does. Who I kind of, sort of, made up with in a way.”
“Okay, now we’re getting to the good stuff.” He leaned forward with eyes so wide they looked like they’d pop out of his head. “Πόσοι φούρνοι έπρεπε να γκρεμιστούν για να γίνει αυτό?”
I looked down. This-this wasn’t going to be easy. I couldn’t tell him about the Paragon-Charles-Jacob stuff, but I could talk to him about the Alpha Surge stuff.
Don’t trust him.
In a conspiracy like that, there was nothing better than someone you could trust with your life. And I knew I could trust Iraklis. So I explained to him everything as well as I could. How we were all in the same club, how we met Kent Smith and what we thought the message he left behind for us was about.
“We went to Jensen’s office,” I said. This would be the most difficult part to explain. Mostly because I didn’t even understand it properly. “He had this old flip phone there. Maria and I had to fight against a villain. Honestly, it’s just a blur. We called him and he said we’ll meet again at the tournament.”
“I really missed out by not coming here,” said Iraklis with a small laugh that almost instantly turned into a frown. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you.”
“It’s fine. If nothing else, I've made a lot of friends here. And some enemies”
“So it’s not just a tournament,” said Iraklis. “Maybe there’s someone there. Someone he can’t get to normally.”
That made sense. But who? Everyone there would be a hero, or know a hero. Maybe a civilian in the crowd?
And then it hit me. Sophia. Jensen knew where she lived but she was one of the few people that knew the truth about him. She had to be. She knew too much and had worked too closely to Charles not to know.
“There is someone,” I told Iraklis. “I don’t think she’s going to be here though.”
“Who?”
“Her name’s Sofia. She used to go here but transferred out for the second semester.”
Iraklis smiled. And for whatever reason, I felt like I wouldn’t like what he was about to say.
“You’re in luck, hero-in-training. I actually know her.”