1:30 PM September 13th, 2026

Inside the New York Preparatory Academy Ice Bubble

Oh, the Gods! That wasn’t Camina Wattkins. Camina’s armor was white. And clearly female. Like, it left nothing to the imagination. Sara’s mother always told her that it wasn’t classy. Even if her own clothes were far more revealing than a mech battle suit.

It was the principle of the thing. You know? You didn’t dress to kill in order to actually kill. You dressed to manipulate people and get what you wanted. So, no. Sara was one hundred percent sure that… that was most definitely a dude in that suit. He was sporting a whole different sort of curves.

“Do you know who that is, Anna?” Liam had asked. “He’s wearing armor similar to your mom’s.” Anna squinted at her ice dome, smoothing it further with a wave of her hand to see more clearly through it.

“I… I…don’t know.” She finally answered. “It’s not Uncle Michael.” Sara gave a snooty shrug from where she stood eavesdropping and rolled her eyes. Calling an archangel ‘uncle’? Show off. “Michael’s armor is different.”

Ugh. Liam Ecclestone, the guy who claimed she didn’t even know, well he’d been hanging very close to her ever since they ran out of the darkened hallway together. Soooo…

Sara clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth making an annoyed tisking sound. Yeah right, Anna wasn’t interested in Liam at all. The cheerleader’s eyes rolled as she tucked a lock of hair behind one ear and smiled at her unknown hero while he mopped up the monsters outside. That white-haired frosty bitch could have Liam. Sara had just wanted him because he was the cutest and the richest guy in school.

But a guy who killed monsters in a giant mech suit? That was. Yeah. He’d taken out that monster so fast. Stupid Anna couldn’t do that. Even if she did manage to create an ice shield.

Grinning, Sara giggled as she watched the mysterious hero working. Then covered her mouth. The distracted girl didn’t even notice her fellow cheerleader standing next to her give her an astounded and disbelieving side-eye.

While Sara wasn’t the only person cheering for the pair that was coming to rescue them, she was the only one who had made fan-girl giggles while still trapped between the wall of an ice dome and a group of monsters. It was fine. It was all good. Mystery hero was going to save them.

After the big monster was dead, and the smaller monsters outside had been killed or driven off, then the guy in the suit came up to the dome and opened his helmet. He was… so… cute. Not cute-cute, but normal cute. Sara did a little happy dance. He didn’t look that much older than the teens huddled together either. Yeay.

This was nice. Maybe, maybe she’d get to talk to him? Thank him for saving her? Things were looking up if Anna would hurry up and let the armored guy in so he could finish off the monsters that the trapped warlocks and security guards inside were currently fighting behind the students.

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Things were going well indeed. Until that freak Anna Wattkins let out a shout of delight as she got a good look at their savior on the other side of the, admittedly, easy to see through ice.

“Kyle?!” Sara’s head jerked over at the pale haired girl. Jumping for joy she waved her arms to open a door in the ice. “He came. He’s okay.” Bouncing and beaming, the freak grabbed Liam’s hands excitedly. “Yeay!”

Oh. Look at that. Poor Liam looked just as disappointed as Sara to see that Anna knew their rescuer. Which actually cheered Sara up a bit. Now he got to see how it felt. With a self-satisfied smile, the blonde smoothed her hair and straightened her uniform. Twirling a lock of smooth unfrazzled hair around one finger, she shrugged happily that everything was going to turn out okay.

And she probably wouldn’t have to come to school again for a while.

Except for cheer practice. That couldn’t be canceled. There were competitions to prep for.

“Who’s Kyle?” Liam’s question went unanswered as Anna dropped his hands and sprint-hopped happily to the armored man chanting.

“You’re here. You came. You’re okay. Hooray.” Flinging herself into his arms, her voice almost broke on a sob, that she quickly stifled.

“Hey. When my sister calls, I’m going to show up.” His brown hair glinted with sun bleached highlights in the bright sunlight coming through the opening in the glass. It matched the gold accents of his armor. Anna was still hugging him tightly and he gently pulled her arms off him.

“I gotta go help your teachers.” He explained when she tried to tighten her grip. It was so… didn’t she care what her classmates were going to think? She was being so emotional. Like…ugh. Nobody else knew if their families were okay and they weren’t crying. Okay, well the boarding students knew. But… “I promise, I’ll be right back.”

He smiled, and Sara kind of sighed as she felt her heart flutter a little bit. He was such a good brother. Then he was off, a swirling whirlwind of blades and tightly controlled magical spells. While the freed-up school staff were organizing the students to follow the yellow-bereted Magicorps soldier who was covering the exit from the ice dome.

Some of the students had wanted to stay and watch the creatures that had terrorized them though the halls get demolished by the badass who was apparently Anna Wattkins’ brother.

“Dude…why’d the papers claim he was a cook?” An eyebrow rose on Sara’s face. Interesting?

“What do you mean?” She asked the no-longer-hot Liam as she fell into line, letting the teachers calling for an orderly evacuation as if they hadn’t just been shitting themselves seconds ago corral her out the opening of the ice dome with her fellow student.

“That article about Anna’s family this morning. It said that her brother Kyle was a cook.” Gesturing at the clearly skilled spellcaster who was absolutely wrecking the remnants of the monster horde on the second-floor cafeteria. “Does that look like a cook to you?” Sara wasn’t the only one who paused and turned as Kyle Wattkins bathed the shattered roofless room in a wash of magical light from one of his attacks.

“Maybe he’s called The Cook because with all that firepower he’s able to bring the heat!” Someone enthused before giving a cheering hoot. “WOOT! GO KYLE! BRING THE HEAT!” Then shaking his head with a grin, he turned and walked out into the open air and dis-a-fucking-peared.

“What the hell just happened?” Sara stopped dead when – What was that kid’s name again? – dropped out of sight.

“It’s fine.” An almost bored sounding voice came from beside the door in the dome. Searching for the owner, Sara found an exhausted looking Anna. For the first time ever, the other girl’s enviously tan skin was pale enough that she almost seemed to match her hair. Not like legit pale, she was still tan. But she had a pallor to her. “I had to make a slide for us to get down so no one would get hurt. Ice, stairs, and warm sunny days don’t mix well.”

“Oh.” Straightening and trying to hide her moment of sudden panic, Sara squared her shoulders. “That’s fine then.” She sat and immediately regretted the chilly wetness that soaked through her skirt as she tightened it around her knees. Taking a deep breath, she kicked off and started her slide to the grassy field below.