September 11, 493 U.C.

The noise of the cafeteria surrounded me, and yet I sat alone. I’d avoided Daniele before school. I didn’t want those looks. No one else was wearing long sleeves, and I was tired. I looked at my food and forced myself to start eating it.

Daniele sat next to me and frowned. “Casey? What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing, Daniele. Leave it,” I said.

“Just know that I’m here for you.” Daniele gave me that look.

I didn’t want to see that look of pity and sorrow. It was just training. She kept assuming it was Dad. Fine, it was Dad, but you get it. He’s my dad. He’s the only family I have, and the fae are searching for me. But let’s get back to the story.

I looked up. “Hi, Ryan. You look good.”

“Hi, Casey.” Ryan gave a smile that looked too forced.

That was a smile I recognized. I used it a lot myself. “What’s wrong?”

“Just some of the people.”

“Who?” I demanded. “I’ll kill them.”

“The loser table,” Lucy said with a sneer as she approached. “Only fitting for you to sit there, Ryan.”

“You bit-” I started to say.

“Shut up, Lucy,” Spen’ze said as he took a seat next to me. “Final warning.”

I smiled at him. It was sort of nice. And it prevented me from doing something foolish.

“Sorry,” Lucy said with blushing cheeks.

I turned back to my food and tried to get the motivation to eat it. My stomach grumbled, informing me of the need. I didn’t feel it. I just felt numb.

“You look nice, Ryan,” Zriulth said as he took a seat.

Ryan turned bright red. “Thanks,” she whispered.

“Interrogating Casey?” Daniele asked.

“Yes,” Spen’ze said with a frown. “I need to find out what she knows. Want to go get dinner, Casey?”

“Can’t. I’m grounded.” I forced myself to eat another bite, wishing that I had the normal motivation. On the positive side, his barbs weren’t working. It was hard to care anymore.

“She’s not lying,” Daniele said with a sigh. “You really can’t come back to guardian club?”

I swallowed down the sandwich. “Not until October.”

“How’d you get grounded?” Spen’ze asked.

“Made dad mad... I broke curfew.”

“What time is your curfew?”

“Ten?” I winced at my hesitance and vowed to prepare lies ahead of time.

Spen’ze frowned. “You know that you are a terrible liar, right?”

“Can confirm,” Ryan said with a smile. “You should see her with cards.”

“Ryan! You’re on the list!” I pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down her name.

“Your revenge list?” Ryan giggled.

“Yes. I will get everyone with glitter later.” I turned back to the sandwich and forced myself to eat another bite.

“Hi. How was your meeting?” Amy asked as she wedged herself in next to Zriulth.

“It went well,” Zriulth said and turned to his lunch.

“That’s great. Do you have a girlfriend?” Amy asked.

“I do.”

“Does Spen’ze?”

“Yes.”

Amy sighed. “Oh. Well, let us know if that changes.”

“We will.”

I rolled my eyes. Then I glanced at Spen’ze. “Really?”

“Yes,” Spen’ze said.

Disappointment crept in with my lethargy. I turned back to my food and forced myself to eat it, rapidly forcing the food down my throat.

“Did you think you had a chance, criminal?” Lucy laughed. Then I flushed as many others joined in.

“No,” I shot back with a red face. Then I began shoveling in my food. Just get to the library.

Giggles and laughter spread around the table. I kept my focus on the task at hand, swallowing whole bites. As I finished half of it, I bolted away from the room filled with clanging silverware, chattering kids, and way too much embarrassment.

Tossing the remnant of my lunch in the trash, I went and took a seat in between the rows of the books. They were comforting. I knew that they wouldn’t attack or embarrass me. That was when I grew tempted. I pulled out a book from the fae library and started reading.

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My head jerked up as Daniele took a seat next to me. I panicked and slid the book down to the side.

“Doing alright?” Daniele asked.

I shrugged. “It’s a week. A really crappy week.” I looked back at my legs.

“Sorry, Casey. You could talk to them?” Daniele asked. She had that same face.

I shook my head. “I can’t.”

“What book is that?” Daniele asked as she peered over.

“Ummm.” I slid it under my leg.

Daniele’s eyes widened as she saw the title. “Casey? Where did you get that?”

I sighed and looked at her. “Yes. It’s what you think. I found it on Vuln.”

“How can you read it?” Daniele asked.

“I stumbled on one of their libraries and got in. I didn’t understand a word until I touched some enchantment. It gave me dreams in Faiin. I’m still learning, but I’ve picked up a lot. It’s like a magic language class while you sleep. It’s a little exhausting..”

“That sounds amazing.” Daniele giggled. “And you should put it away. They may come.”

I nodded. “I know. Maybe that awkward moment will end this nightmare. That’d be nice.” I let out a long breath and sent the book to my subspace.

“It’s wild that you can do that.”

“You’ll get magic too. You know that.” I grinned at her. Then I turned. “Hi, Ryan.”

“Doing alright?”

“It’s just been a rough weekend and week.”

Ryan took a seat. “Do you like him?”

I flushed. “It’s just a crush. I’ll be over it quickly. It’s not like we’re the same species.” That sent a wave of sorrow through me. I didn’t know my species. Using the ancient art of repression, I slumped against the wall. The two next to me started talking.

“Your makeup is so good,” Daniele said. “You should give lessons.”

Ryan giggled. “Thanks. I watched a lot of tutorials. - Can I ask you something, Casey?”

I looked up. “What’s up?”

Ryan swallowed. “They joke about it a lot. But if you know how to give someone magic, could you do it to me? I promise not to tell.”

“Why do you say that?” I asked. God, maybe school was a mistake. That thought was not comforting. It was the only normal thing about me.

Ryan took a moment. “Well, they say that you are Platinum or Viper. And they were the first. And so they must know more.” Ryan’s face turned red. “I won’t tell or anything. You don’t even have to say anything. But think about it?”

“I’ll do that.” I let out a deep breath while temptation built. Ryan would make a great guardian.

“Thanks. Is it true?” Ryan asked. “I won’t tell anyone.”

“No.” Then I winced. Disappointment showed on her face.

“I can leave. Sorry to bug you two.” Ryan stood. I could see the water in her eyes. That hurt. She was a fun new friend.

I grabbed her leg. “Wait, Ryan. Sit down. I can’t talk about it. I will think about your request though.”

Ryan took a seat. “I know it’s true. I saw you move in class.”

“Move?” I asked.

“Yes. You were suddenly just in a slightly different spot.”

Damn it! Who notices that? “You’re too smart. I will think about it. You have some time.”

Ryan smiled. “Thanks. How do you look different?”

Reaching down, I pulled up an amulet and waved it. Then I dropped it back under my blouse.

“What do you look like? Viper?” she whispered.

“No. I don’t look like Viper, but not here, Ryan. Not here. I’m already doing a terrible job. And I think the officers are coming.”

Ryan’s eyes widened. “Platinum.”

I clamped my hand over her mouth to stop any outburst. “Yes, but no. And we can’t talk about it here.”

The door opened. The detective duo had entered the library. I sighed and thought about running off. My mood and energy did not support that. I sat there instead while the two walked up.

“Have a moment, Casey?” Spen’ze asked.

I huffed. “I was messing with you.”

“You are a very mediocre liar.”

I groaned, stood, and walked over. Then I followed him to some other shelves. Blood surged through my cheeks. Fantastic. Just what this shit week needs. I searched for a distraction. There were plenty of books. These will work.

“This one is a classic. You should read it.” I grabbed a book from the shelf. There was a rotk on the cover. How bad could it be? I held it forward.

“A Guide to Vuln Wildlife?” Spen’ze asked with a quirked brow.

“Whoops. Let me try again. No… No… No…” I groaned. “We should move to a different row. These are nonfiction.”

“I am sorry, Casey,” Spen’ze said gently. “Humans and fae are different species. It would never work.”

“I know. I was messing with you,” I protested while my cheeks glowed.

“Alright. You got me.”

“Yes, I did.” I let out a breath of relief and turned to put my shield of a book back. Then he reached forward and tucked my hair behind my ear. My face went bright red again. With blood setting my face on fire, I shut my eyes and prayed that it would just end.

Spen’ze leaned close. “You can’t lie forever. You should come clean about the things that you’re hiding.” He turned and walked away while I focused on calming my thundering heart. It took me several minutes. Then the bell rang, and I headed back to class.

Slumping in my chair, I glanced out at the room. Students chatted. The instructor walked in. I rested my head on the desk and tried to pull out of my funk. My week hadn’t been going great.

The rest of it continued in horrible mediocrity.

Current Level 11 Current XP 19.63% Current Max Mana 9792.23 Regen per minute 14.84 Reputation 12000

Tier Skill Cost Tier 11 User Time Dilation (Haste)

- User experiences 256 seconds for 1 earth second.

- Force transference limited to 25%. 1 mana per earth second. Tier 7 Pocket Dimension

- 128 cubic meters of pocket space.

- Rapid stash and rapid draw.

- You may tether objects to your pocket space.

- Your pocket space cleans, preserves, and organizes items inside based on your will. 32 mana Tier 7 Time Stop

- Caster leaves spacetime. They may remove and place things back in spacetime.

- You may control the flow of time in the demiplane.

- You may summon in willing living creatures.

- This automatically triggers if you take significant damage.

- Recast to gain vision. 200 mana to cast.

Variable cost to move items in and out. Tier 7 Teleport.

- Teleports the caster or a willing creature.

- You may cast this on a willing or unwilling creature if they are within fifty meters.

- You may teleport inside an object, causing the matter to push outward.

200 mana for the caster.

400 mana for a willing creature.

1000 mana for an unwilling creature with no resistance.

- Short range casts cost less mana.

Tier 3 Attire Swap

- Locked to a single outfit. Current outfit set to Magical Girl Uniform.

- Attire cleaned on swap.

- Attire repaired on swap. 20 mana. Tier 3 Enhanced Body

-Caster’s body is enhanced by a factor of eight. 2 mana per caster second. Tier 2 Enchanting.

- Enchantments last twice as long. Variable cost. Tier 2 Potions.

- Potions last twice as long. Variable cost. Tier 2 Familiar Manifestation. 20 mana to cast Tier 2 Free casting

- Cast any spell you can replicate.

- Slotted Spell. Use half the normal cost of the spell to store a single spell for future use. Cast the spell for the remaining cost. Variable cost. Penalty of 8x mana.