"Bang bang bang!" Romeo called out happily as bolts of lightning shot out from his palms. The majority of them missed their targets and dispersed into the air, but he smiled happily nevertheless.

"Lovejoy, try slower, more accurate shots," Eryn called out. "And straighten out your posture. You need to breathe properly to channel your magic effectively."

It had taken him the better part of three weeks, but Eryn had finally dropped the Mr. from Romeo’s name. He was still working on getting her to call him Romeo though. He figured he could convince her within the week.

Romeo flashed Eryn a grin and fired off another rapid series of bolts. "But this is more fun! It’s like a thunderstorm. Don’t you think that’s cool? Besides, the slower I go the stronger the charge gets and it gets harder to control it."

Eryn shook her head. "That is exactly why you should practice it."

"Fine, fine, I will." Romeo said with a suddenly gasp as the rapid use of magic abruptly drained away his energy. His hand came up to clutch at his chest.

Eryn shook her head and walked over to him. She tossed him a water bottle. He greedily drained half of it and poured the rest over the top of his head.

"Man, this is tiring," Romeo yawned as he pushed his wet hair from his face. "I get why Cross was always bitching about not wanting to train."

"You've mentioned that name before," Eryn said. "Along with another, I believe."

"Cross and Lexi? Yeah, they're both mages, were able to use their powers before this whole magic resurgence thing. Lexi has some spooky shadow magic and Cross is a clairvoyant."

"A real one?"

"Pretty sure. Never really thought to ask though. I already know my future is gonna be golden." Romeo stretched his arms out. "Lexi had some crazy skill with her powers even before. Nothing like she can do now, probably, but more than I ever saw anyone else manage. She trained like every day until she was practically unconscious."

"Imagine where you could be if you shared her ethic,” Eryn said.

“I know, right? Probably pretty good. Though I think I’ve been pretty good for the last few days”

Eryn smiled. "I suppose you have."

"Exactly." Romeo said, his gaze suddenly moving to a trio of girls that were walking by. “Excuse me for a moment.”

Eryn watched with a darkening expression as Romeo bounded over to the group. Even though his voice was loud she couldn’t quite make out what he said. It must have been something particularly amusing, however, as one of the women let out a loud laugh before nodding and taking Romeo’s hand. Romeo brought it to his lips before bowing deeply and giving the others cheery wave.

He returned to Eryn with a serene smile on his face.

"Do you just have… no shame?" Eryn asked as Romeo stared in the direction the girls had gone off.

"Not really." Romeo shrugged as he created a ball of light between his palms. He idly began to toss the ball of energy back and forth. “I don’t really get the point of ‘shame’. Never did. Why should I feel shame?”

"Just, how can you be so confident?" Eryn sighed. Over the past few weeks she had seen Romeo strike up conversation with just about any female in his vicinity, and it did not seem to matter to him whether or not those conversations went particularly well or not.

"Well I mean, why not, right?" Romeo said, throwing the ball high into the air. It hung for a moment before dispersing into the air. "At the very least, I know I'm good looking. Maybe not to everyone, but I am to myself. So that is my base and it is rock solid! Actually, if I think about it, I'm just pretty awesome all around. As long as I know that as a fact… well, then everything else will just kinda fall into place around me."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Eryn stared at him blankly and Romeo took it as an opportunity to continue speaking.

“It’s not that I don’t get what you’re saying though, I think. I just think people shouldn’t be so afraid.”

“Afraid?”

“Yeah. I think people would be a lot happier if they weren’t always so scared of failure, you know? I mean, it may not be entirely fair for me to say that, just because of who I am. Failure is kind of hard for me, but still, I think, at least with love, you should put yourself out there. I want to fall in love and that’s not going to happen if I don’t go looking. Can’t sit around waiting forever, you know?”

“…And if you get hurt?”

“Being alone is going to hurt too. I’d rather be hurt at least trying than sit around waiting for the pain to come to me, you know?”

Eryn stared at him for a long time. "I'm not certain if that is a rather sage way of approaching life, or completely stupid and something you made up just now."

"Let's say that it is a little bit of both." Romeo beamed

xXx

"Man, Cross has a way better room than I do," Banksy grumbled as he dragged his eyes over Cross's living quarters. "This isn't even one room, it's like three. This is an apartment. This is nicer than the guild! I don't even have a freaking window. And they make me pay for my own food? Can you believe that shit? They’re lucky I’m not just breaking into the kitchens, which have bad locks by the way.”

"Banksy, be quiet." Lexi said, tapping her fingers sharply against the table. "It's not safe for us to remain in Cross's room for too long, it would be inappropriate if anyone were to catch a student entering the living quarters of a professor. Especially at night."

"So that's why you left Makina in her room," Banksy said, nodding his head.

"It would be much harder to avoid detection if I were to bring her along." Lexi nodded. "Though I did invite her, but Maki is quite convinced that the girl she has befriended, Lara, has information regarding the attacks. She is with the girl now."

"Does she?" Cross asked as he entered the room, a steaming cup of tea in each hand. He placed one in front of either of his two guildmates. Banksy said a quiet thanks.

"It's hard to tell. I have met the girl a few times, and admittedly she does seem nervous about something, but Makina has been unable to get anything substantial out of her." Lexi said without looking at Cross. “It is possible she is simply a nervous child.”

"What about your mark?" Cross said.

"Anna is unlikely to be of any use to us."

"Why's that?" Banksy said as he took a sip of his tea and made a face at Cross. "You made it too strong."

Cross sighed and pushed off from the table and disappeared into another room.

"She found the victim, but has no knowledge of the other incidences. At least, none that isn't more than the usual student gossip. It seems that she was simply in the wrong place at the right time,” Lexi said, sipping her own tea. Though she did not make a face she agreed with Banksy, Cross had made the tea far too strong.

"Here." Cross returned and placed a small bowl of honey in front of Lexi. Lexi glanced up at him before pushing the bowl towards Banksy. The thief wasted no time in dumping nearly the entire bowl of sweetener into his cup.

"So what do we do now?" Banksy asked, much more content with his drink. He picked up the spoon, still dripping with honey, and popped it into his mouth. "If your mark is a bust and Makina isn't making any headway, we're kinda stuck, right?"

"Not entirely," Lexi said. "Anna did not know much about the victim, but it seems the victim was seeing the Academy’s counselor leading up to her attack and has continued to see her since."

Banksy's eyes lit up and the spoon fell from his mouth. "You want her file, don't you?"

Lexi nodded. "Among others. I would also like you to get the files on the other victims."

"My time to shine," Banksy sighed serenely as he reached up to his neck and gently ran his fingers over his necklace of rings. "I can have it done tonight. From what I've seen, they don't have any particularly good locks here. Most of them are still from when the school was founded, and only a handful are even magic."

"Tonight won't work," Lexi said, shaking her head.

"Why not?" Banksy asked, crestfallen. "I haven't cracked anything in almost a month. I'm going to start suffering from withdrawal soon."

"I took the time to shadow the counselor for a few days last week," Lexi said as she swirled her teacup. "She often works late and sometimes returns to her office at night."

"So I'll just go fast. In and out. Snatch and run," Banksy said. “Three minutes, tops.”

"That won't work. We can't risk her realizing the file is missing. You'll have to make a copy of it."

"Guh." Banksy dragged a hand over his face. "Alright, I can do that, but it's going to take some time, I'll have to do it by hand. I didn't bring any scanners."

"Understood." Lexi nodded. "Cross, you will need to find a way to get her out of her office to give Banksy enough time to make the copy."

Cross sighed. "How do you expect me to do that?"

Lexi looked at Cross, her dark eyes piercing through him. "Just lie to her. You're good at that."

Cross held her gaze for a moment before looking away with a small nod. "Right, then."