William found himself a bit behind as he was heading to breakfast. He had still been asleep when the servant had knocked on his door to let him know breakfast would be beginning soon. The beds were just so comfortable. It may also have had something to do with how he hadn’t fallen asleep quickly. Either way, he had hurried to dress, but he knew Dong Xin and Yu Li had already moved on their way. He’d felt their ki pass by, though Dong Xin was much easier to sense.

As he was walking down the hallway, William almost ran into someone coming around the corner, presumably also late for breakfast. In fact, they were both moving fast enough that they might have actually run into each other, but William felt them coming and moved out of the way. William found himself almost face to face with Lorelei. He was shocked for a moment. Then, she greeted him politely. “Good morning.”

“Good morning.” William returned the greeting, but didn’t start walking. His mind raced. What was it? He felt her coming. That implied some level of ki training, though perhaps unconscious. He certainly didn’t feel the ripples that came from making breakthroughs in various cultivation techniques. That was fine. Point two… her hair. It wasn’t particularly special, except the fact that it was very stiff. It also looked slightly strange.

“Is there something in my hair?” She tilted her head, and William thought he saw a slight blurring, but the hair remained as it was, seemingly not affected by the direction of gravity shifting.

William wasn’t the type who acted on instinct. At least, he wanted to be the type that thought things out. Thus, he came up with a flimsy excuse for what he did next. It might seem somewhat weird, if he was wrong. No, it would be very strange. But if he was right, it would matter. William swept his hand up, in a way that it would pass over Lorelei’s head, in an awkward grabbing motion. Then, his hand stopped and there was a momentary flickering, as the illusion had to contend with something new in its area. William saw part of his hand momentarily seem to disappear, but he also felt something. It was hard, and he grabbed onto it. William had been hoping he was wrong. That would have been better. However, he found his hand on a horn.

Lorelei started at his action, and then stood there glaring at him. William glared back. It was a few seconds before Lorelei finally spoke. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you that it’s rude to grab a lady?”

William thought that was a strange reaction. He had expected something else. Perhaps an attack- demons were quite strong, so the fact that she had no weapons shouldn’t have mattered. Perhaps trying to break away and run. However, she didn’t seem even slightly worried. In turn, that caused William to be worried himself. The reasons he could think of for that weren’t good. The first reason- she was much stronger than him so didn’t need to launch a surprise attack or run. The second reason- she was confident in her position here. That would mean the Cyril family was working with a demon. Maybe he had been wrong to trust them just because they were the descendants of good people.

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“Soo…. are you going to let go?” She raised an eyebrow. “Or are we just going to stand here all day?”

William shrugged. “I was actually hoping that you weren’t a demon. I’m not really sure what to do now.”

“Hmm. You can let go and apologize, I guess.”

“Apologize? I’m not the one infiltrating a noble house under an illusion.”

“Have you considered that I was invited here?”

William was glad nobody else was nearby. This situation seemed like it could be very problematic if other people stumbled across it. Lorelei… this demon was peaceful right now, but could become violent at any moment. “You being invited would make it perhaps worse.”

She shrugged. “Is that so?” She yawned slightly. “Honestly, I’m surprised it was a little boy like you that figured me out, and not either of those two wizards.” She glanced up at his hand which was still holding onto her invisible horn. “Well, since it’s come to this, I might as well make myself comfortable. This isn’t that easy to maintain.”

She smiled, and then her face changed. Not significantly in the structure, but the overall effect was much different. Her skin changed from the pale tone it had been to red. Horns appeared on her head. William looked at her… and let go.

“Umm… why did you let go? Not that I’m complaining, but that doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

William sighed. Now that he thought about it, he recognized the voice. The face and horns as well. There weren’t a lot of demons he recognized that he didn’t think were dead. In fact, he was only certain of one. He couldn’t really tell her why he let go though. “You looked trustworthy.”

“Yeah, right.” She frowned. “So what are we going to do now?”

William shrugged. “They know you’re a demon?”

“That’s right.”

“Well, I have no further reason to interfere with family business.” William turned to walk off.

Then, William was yanked backward by his shirt. “You might be done, but I can’t help but find you suspicious. You seemed almost ready to kill me because I’m a demon, but then stop caring once you see my face?” She waved her hand over William’s head, then touched his forehead in a few places. “I didn’t think so… but that doesn’t explain it. You recognize me somehow.”

That wasn’t a question. However, it did seem to demand an answer. “Actually… I’ve seen a representation of you drawn by the Archmage William Stevenson.”

“That’s a pretty terrible lie. I know he couldn’t draw any better than a horse. You’re also a terrible liar.”

William had forgotten the one time he’d tried to draw in her presence. He was fine with defined shapes, circles, squares, triangles and such, but he was bad at representative art. “Well… the truth is that… somebody is coming.”

Lorelei smiled. “Well, I am late for breakfast, so I’d best be going.” Her voice had a rhythmic quality to it. William quickly discovered that it was because she was chanting, and she had replaced her illusion. Like she said, she walked off.

William silently sighed in relief. He wasn’t sure she would let him off that easily… but perhaps she had determined that he was not much of a threat. There really was someone coming though.

“Little brother, are you just going to stand in the hallway forever? Breakfast is almost over… and it’s very tasty.” Big Sister Li approached around the corner.

“Oh, yes. Sorry. I’m coming.”