Kyle laughed and covered his mouth to try stifle it. Because as every brother knows, laughing at your sister when she was upset and telling her to calm down usually had the opposite effect.

“No. It really is okay.” Her brother promised between bouts of laughter. “It’s your new pet. I picked it up as a present for you last night on the way home. I just didn’t know they had a language and could write.”

“What? A present?” If there was anything that could redirect Anna’s attention in fractions of a second, it was presents. She went from dancing agitatedly while trying to get whatever the thing on her was off, to calm and eagerly hopeful nearly instantly. “What kind of pet? Is it cute?”

“It’s a prism. They feed off magical currents. I rescued the one on you from a raccoon trying to eat it last night.” Anna stared down at her pajama breast pocket with wonder and excitement instead of the dread of only moments ago. Sheepishly, Jones put his wand away and went to run a hand through his hair. His hand paused, expecting a cap, then remembered he was indoors and wasn’t wearing his cover.

“So, not dangerous, and not eating us?” He made sure to get clarification from Kyle.

“No. Not eating us. Just want to feed off our magical output. This one got a taste of my electric magic when I zapped the raccoon that was trying to make off with him. And after I healed him – or erm – it up, it refused to let go until I let it come home with me.”

“It’s so tiny.” The trio had been watching the lump gradually worm its way up Anna’s pocket and when it finally poked its head over the edge, Anna let out a breathy squeal of delight. “Hiiii cutie.” Cooing at the prism in high pitched tones like she was addressing a baby, Anna held out her finger for the little crystal creature. “Are you hungry? Why were you hiding in my pocket?”

“That’s probably my fault too.” Her older brother admitted with a wry grin. “I let it ride home in my pocket last night, so it may think that’s where it’s supposed to be when it’s close to a person.”

“OoooOOOoohhh!” The ice elementalist continued her conversation in baby tones, cooing cajolingly to her new pet. “Did Kyle teach you to ride in pockets? That such a good little prism. Yes, you are. Did the director and his message scroll scare you last night, so you went and talked to him? What a good brave wittle prism. You deserve some tasty magic. Yes, you do!” Jones snorted at the teen’s antics as she wandered away, pointing a finger at her new pet which grabbed onto it and suckled like a baby.

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“Well, that did a quick one-eighty.” His dry remark was not lost on Kyle.

“Mom refused to let any of us kids have a pet because she didn’t want to clean up after it or deal with all the animal regulations during PCS-ing.” He shrugged in a self-deprecating way as if it wasn’t a big deal. “Even if she just keeps her prism here with me, she’s got herself a pet like she’s always wanted now.” Smiling fondly at his sister, Kyle pulled the stylus out of the message scroll and wrote a quick response to Director Arcas before rolling up the scroll, tucking the stylus back into it, and tucking the bundle into one of his pockets.

“Let’s head out.” Taking a breath, Kyle braced himself for the day to come. Following obediently behind, Jones spared one final glance at the teen and her new pet. He was pretty sure Kyle didn’t know what he’d gotten himself into. “Hey Anna,” Kyle called out to her from his front door. “Stay inside the building until we’ve got confirmation that the monsters have all been eliminated. Okay?”

“Okay.” Her response was immediate and distracted… and utterly sincere. Kyle narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

“That felt too easy.” The Magicorps soldier beside him murmured after the door had closed behind them.

“Yes.” Kyle agreed.

They walked in silence toward the front door of the building, pausing to hear the little tinkling chiming sounds of the tribe of prisms that had made themselves at home in the incoming mail drop box. A few poked their heads over the side of the box and Kyle tilted his head skyward a groan.

“Easy.” Jones grinned and shook his head. They exited the building and locked the doors behind them. Now in the walled courtyard that separated the employee housing from Central Park, Jones held up a hand for them to stop. There was a rhythmic pounding in the distance. Like the sound of many feet marching in step. But bigger, heavier. “What’s that?”

Cocking his head, Kyle listened for a moment. Closing his eyes, the mage took the opportunity to enjoy the warm afternoon sunlight on his face. Now that it wasn’t waking him up, it felt quite nice when paired with the crisp breeze blowing through the city. He was pretty sure he knew what the sound was, but he opened himself to the flow of magic around him to confirm his guess.

“The security golems.” Verifying the source of the noise, Kyle opened his eyes and pointed in a direction tangent to where they needed to be. “They’ve been active since the initial event and have been patrolling all day. It sounds like they are actively engaged in monster suppression in the vicinity.” Nodding his understanding, Jones placed a hand on his wand. “Don’t,” Kyle warned the Magicorps soldier, “They can handle anything tier three and under. But if you so much as flare your aura they could perceive you as a threat. Didn’t you get the new employee orientation?”

“I did.” The specialist agreed. “I just… force of habit.”

“Have your museum ID handy. The enchantments on it let the security golems know that you are authorized to be in the area and use magic. But they’re… twitchy… with me.” He raised his eyebrows in a what-can-you-do gesture and Jones raised his eyebrows back in a that-fucking-sucks response.