Zane took off his sweatpants to make breakfast, wearing just an apron as he works. I'm pretty sure it's not because I'd mentioned Theo cooked in just an apron – Zane is the kind of guy to go nude when he can and he knows I'm fine with it. He probably normally cooks like this when he's alone or with one of his hookups.

His movements aren't as fast as Theo's, but that's understandable considering he's not charged with lightning. Zane is, however, humming as he works, the tune a cheerful one that still has stability to it, Zane bouncing to the beat of it. It's honestly kind of cute.

"So, Zane," I say as he starts putting our breakfast – omelets, bacon, and a yogurt mix – on the table. "Now that I'm, y'know, not on the market anymore, what are your plans? Because while Lucas is sexy, I know that there's no way on Sivalshi you two will be able to tolerate each other in a relationship."

Though honestly, if I was into poly, they'd probably get along better as boyfriends if we were dating together. Lucas might be starting to accept some things about the Patron, but he still hates the deity too much and still doesn't like the way Zane acts. Even if he's begun to calm down on being aggravated by Stoneboy.

"Hope you two find out you're better than friends pretty fast," Zane fills two glasses with orange juice, setting one in front of me. "And if not, hope a sexy guy with magic as sexy as yours and Lucas's and Theo's shows up soon. And that he's willing to date me and not just be a quick fling."

Zane seems pretty serious about that, so I'll accept it as honesty. He removes his apron and hangs it up, then sits and starts eating. I dig in to the breakfast he prepared for us. Whoever he does get with is a lucky guy, to have someone who can cook as good as Zane.

I'm still terrible in the kitchen. Me improving might take several years to happen, if I somehow manage to live that long.

"Breakfast was great," I tell Zane as we finish up.

"Yeah," he says, sliding his chair back and grabbing dishes. "You can hang out in here until it's time for the shift in the conference room, but I need to get changed and head down to the front desk. I do have to cover it a little bit before joining you for cleaning the room."

"I'll wash the dishes for you," I say.

"Thanks," he deposits the dishes by the sink, then heads to his bed area.

I pull on his apron and start washing the dishes. The apron will protect my body against any splashes that happen, so I don't mind it and I know Zane won't care that I've put it on, though he'd probably be disappointed that I'm still wearing the sweats I borrowed from him rather than going full nude.

A few minutes pass before I hear choking behind me, and look to find Zane red in the face and clearing his throat. He's dressed in his work uniform, the brown polo and tan slacks I see him in while he's on the clock, sneakers on his feet.

"You okay?" I ask.

"Yeah," he answers. "It's just I saw you wearing that and then imagined you doing that naked, and then realized how sexy that would be and started choking on my thoughts."

Snorting, I turn my attention back to the dishes.

"See you in a bit," he tells me.

"See you," I respond, and he leaves.

I finish washing his dishes, then remove his apron and hang it back up before lounging on the couch for a bit. When it's time to get ready, I strip off the pants and get dressed in my clothes. Zach brought them up earlier, which is what woke us up. As usual, he tried to make sure I was fine and Zane hadn't done anything to me.

After he left, Zane told me that if his magic looked anything like his brother's, it was no wonder Theo thought he was sexy, too. Then he puffed up his chest and declared he was definitely the sexier Korriska.

The dork.

Ready for my shift, I make my way down to the conference room, where Zane is waiting outside of it. It's nine in the morning now, a full hour after the group was supposed to leave, and they're still inside, their noise level intense.

"Let me guess," I say. "This is the worst mess we've seen?"

"Yup," he says. "I swear, they brought in more stuff this time just to spite us."

"How come you let them stay this long?" I ask. "Don't you normally not let them wait more than fifteen minutes, with thirty being a rare exception?"

"Yeah," he grins. "But I've got a plan this time, one that will really piss them off."

"Finally giving them the boot?" I ask.

"Nah," he answers. "But they're still going to be pissed by it."

Zane picks up the air horn, then steps over to the nearby entrance of the conference hall and lets loose that painful sound. Thankfully, I had enough time to cover my ears first, and Zane doesn't stop blasting it for a full five minutes, resulting in everyone else covering their ears as well.

"Attention, attention!" He calls out once he stops. "A new policy has been enacted! For every fifteen minutes you are here past the checkout time, you are charged an additional two dollars and fifty cents per person, which is split between the cleaners who handle the room after your session and the company! If it's not paid before checking out, then you will not be permitted to check in again until the debt has been paid, with a ten-percent interest each day it's left unpaid!"

For every fifteen minutes? That's ten dollars a person per extra hour, and there are two hundred and fifty people here. An extra hour means that they have to pay the same amount that they paid to use the room for thirty-six hours.

"Hmph!" The woman in charge of this group says. "We'll note that for next week, Mr. Korriska. Thank you for informing us in advance."

"I believe," Zane's smile doesn't leave his face. "That you signed the paperwork when you signed in! My brother made sure to tell every person checking in Thursday night to review the paperwork as some terms have changed! It's already in effect! You can pay at the desk downstairs, and failure to do so will incur that interest until the full amount is paid! Thank you and have a good day!"

She stares at him for several moments, then calls for everyone to leave. Once the entire group has left, Zane grins at me.

"Their group is the only one we put that clause in for," he tells me. "They're the only one consistently staying over. By the way – I called Melody during my shift yesterday, and she said that because this fee is being counted as bonus that gets paid to the cleaner or cleaners, it doesn't count as part of the pay. So we can just pay it to you directly, once the group pays the fee."

That's pretty neat. I don't receive actual bonuses for awhile, and if the group is smart, this time will probably be the only one they ever pay.

"What happens if they don't pay it?" I ask.

"Then they don't get to use the conference hall again," he answers as we grab trash bags and enter the conference room to get to work. "It's not as if those kids will be left wanting, though – I did mention before that their families come from apartments with heat. It's just being used as a way to get rid of them for a couple of nights a week so that the parents can spoil themselves. If the fee isn't paid for a full month, we'll send it to a debt collection agency."

"And if they try bullying their way out of it so that they can keep using the room without paying?" I ask.

"It's not like they could actually do anything to us," he shrugs. "If needed, we'll call the cops. While these are the lower districts, we're close enough to the middle districts that we get decent response times."

"Okay."

Zane and I continue working with small talk made between us, and when it's near time for us to break for lunch, an older woman clears her throat from one of the doorways. She's bundled up for the cold, so I'm assuming she came from outside.

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"Rachel!" Zane hops to his feet and approaches her. "Hi!"

"Wow," she looks at the room. "This is how the previous group leaves it?"

"It's worse," he tells her. "Much worse. We've already cleaned up most of the trash. You're a fair bit early, and I don't see the kids?"

So this is the woman who runs the next group?

"Yes," she says. "I had a question for you, and the receptionist at the desk told me you were up here. I didn't realize you helped clean the rooms."

"I just help with this particular room after that particular group," he tells her. "They couldn't answer your question down at the desk?"

"They said I'd need to ask a manager and sent me up here," she says. "Normally, we just play games with the kids, but I found a great deal on a projector, speakers, and some movies. They work just fine – I checked this the last couple of days – and so I was wondering if we'd be allowed to set it up in here during this. I know the sound might disturb others if we turn it up loud enough to let everyone hear, so I was thinking of having the volume low so that only those interested in watching can do so. If not, we could still use it for games for the kids. I was working on one of them earlier and will have it ready by tonight, if you approve of our use of this."

"Have you ever heard the other groups before?" Zane asks.

"No, we haven't," she answers.

"The group in the floor above you plays games all Sunday," he informs her. "Including running around. There are only around a hundred people there, so they have more open space to work with. They also have stereo speakers set up throughout the room during. The floors are reinforced well to prevent too much sound from traveling between them. As long as you don't have it ridiculously loud or aren't intentionally trying to get the other groups to hear you, you won't really be heard. You're free to use that if you wish – part of the reason we charge so much is to help cover additional electricity costs that might be incurred."

"I did notice in the contract," Rachel says. "That if we use an excessive amount of electricity, we'll be required to pay an amount equal to thirty percent more than the extra electric bill incurred by our group before we're allowed to use it again, with interest added every day we don't."

"Yeah," Zane scratches the back of his neck. "Your group has never actually used much extra electricity, but years ago, we had a few months where people were running up the bill to the point we almost couldn't pay anyone for their services, so we started adding in that clause. Normally, we only add clauses to the groups causing the problems warranting the clauses, but there were so many it was added to everyone's."

So the addition of that clause to the previous group wasn't out of the norm for the company. Do they do the same if, say, a group uses the bathrooms too much, resulting in a higher bill for sewer and water?

"Okay," Rachel says. "Thank you, Zane. I just wanted to make sure of this first."

Zane thinks for a few moments, then chuckles.

"A little-known thing about the fees," he says. "If you have a group of two hundred and fifty, the limit, then you're paying enough that you can actually have ten slow cookers running almost the entire time, along with probably ten to fifteen of those drinks heaters for coffee or cocoa or whatever."

"Really?" Rachel seems surprised.

"Yeah," he answers. "A general rule of thumb to think of is one large slow cooker – the kind you might cook a turkey in – per twenty-five people and one drinks boiler for every twenty to twenty-five. Don't worry about leaving a scent behind – we do scent bombs in any rooms that have a smell before the next group begins. That's why this one always smells nice when your group finally arrives."

"You know," Rachel says. "I've wanted to ask about slow cookers and water pots before, but figured it wasn't allowed due to the cost."

"It's allowed," he says. "You just have to be mindful of how many you do else you'll drive the bill up too high and have to pay extra."

"Thanks for letting me know," she says, then looks at me. "Do you clean this room after my group as well?"

"No," I answer. "I only come in for this one particular shift to help Zane. Zane takes care of what you don't. He says your group leaves it so clean, all he really needs to do is a couple of quick things."

"We do our best to respect the place," she tells me. "They're being courteous to us, after all."

"Yeah," Zane hums to himself for a moment. "Actually, since I'm the one who cleans this room after your group, there's no cleaning fee that we have to incur. We can increase the threshold of the electricity bill for your group a little bit more. If you bring in a couple of extra slow cookers or water pots, it won't be a trouble. That would help feed that many kids better."

"Thank you," she says. "Since I know about this now, I'll see if we can get some stuff for that. It might not be much today, but I'm sure the kids will enjoy being able to have a hot meal and some cocoa."

"Stews work great," I tell her. "Rather than cooking something like a whole turkey. Or do roast pig or beef. Something that actually fills up the pot's space, rather than leaving lots of extra space. But if you do that, you might want to bring rolls as well, so that the kids can wipe up the liquids a bit easier."

"That's a good idea," she nods. "Thanks."

"Were you planning on just projecting onto the wall directly?" Zane asks.

"Yes," Rachel answers.

"If you have a white sheet," he tells her. "The image will be cleaner for them. Rig it up on a frame that folds to fit through the doorways and stand it up against one wall, and boom, clean image. We can even store it here for you – we do charge an extra fee to store things, though."

"I'll talk with the other parents and grandparents helping with this," Rachel says. "See if we can't figure something out for that. Thank you so much, Zane."

"No worries," he smiles. "Your group is my favorite, so I'm glad to work with you. Your kids are always so polite, too."

"We do our best," she smiles. "I should be going now so that we can get a few more things for the kids before our session tonight. See you tomorrow, Zane."

"See you," he says.

"Enjoy your night," she tells me, then leaves.

"How many groups use the slow cookers?" I ask.

"There hasn't been one in about five years," he tells me. "I think we actually have some in storage, too. I'll ask Zach to check when we go to leave for training. Since Rachel and her group are so nice, it probably won't be an issue to let them use some we have in storage so that they don't need to buy as many."

"That's nice," I say. "You know, when you told me she was 'nice', I'd assumed you meant lower-districts 'nice'. Not actually polite and kind and considerate of things."

"Right?" He laughs. "It's always a surprise. She's like the grandma everyone should have."

"You knew yours, right?" I ask.

"For a bit, yeah," he nods. "You?"

"All of my grandparents were dead before I was born," I shake my head. "I think my brothers might have known one of them, but I'm not sure."

And since my brothers and parents are dead, I can't really ask them what my grandparents were like, now that I'm old enough to wonder. Great, now I'm thinking about my family again.

"Hey," Zane steps over and gives me a hug. "Just remember that even if you're the only one left, Kieran, you've still got friends. And now a boyfriend, I guess. And a couple of boys to fall back on if that one fails. Make sure to pick me over Lucas if that happens."

"Thanks," I snort. "I'll keep that in mind. Let's get back to work, yeah? Else your brother might get the wrong idea when he brings up the pizza you ordered."

"How did you know I ordered pizza?" Zane takes a step back, eyes wide with shock.

"It was a guess until just now," I chuckle. "Let's get back to work. We've got a lot left to do before five."

"I might try to convince Zach to help us for a bit," Zane tells me. "At least once we finish sorting out the trash. Might be able to convince him to work on the chairs, he's a bit of a clean freak and won't want to join us on the ground for scrubbing the carpet."

That might actually be to avoid comments from you.

"Alright," I chuckle, then hold out a trash bag. "Here you go, Zane. Do plastics for that one."

"Will do, sir!"

Rolling my eyes, I return to picking up trash and sorting it into the bags I have set out already, Zane getting to work looking for plastic to pitch into his bag. This previous group… is Zane trying to find a replacement group before actually banning them? Is that why he hasn't banned them yet? If so, that's kind of smart, since it means they'll still have the income from that session after.

The new clause in their contract might be because a potential group has been found, and the Korriskas want to try to get this group to leave on their own. If it is, then I'll probably find out soon if it worked or not.

Though it also means I'll probably lose out on this income after, but depending on the pay for being a guardian, it might not be so bad.

"You know," I say. "I'm actually starting to get nervous."

"About what?" Zane asks.

"The job," I tell him. "I mean, I know everyone says it's basically a guaranteed thing, but still. That doesn't mean the nerves are going away anytime soon. What if I get my hopes up like everyone says I should, and then find out I didn't make the cut?"

"Tell you what," he grins. "Since you're finding out the same day I get to tell them I still want to whether or not you get the offer, let's do a big celebration on Saturday, whether or not you get the offer, because at least you tried, right? We can invite Todd and Danny – maybe not Todd, since he's normally working during that time. And if you're still with Theo, you can invite him, too. And Lucas will be there, of course."

"Of course," I snort. "Thanks, Zane. That doesn't relieve the anxiety, though."

"Of course not," he grins. "Just remember that you did put in the effort, Kieran. Anytime you start to feel anxious and nervous over it, just remember that they'd be a fool not to take on someone as dedicated as you. Even if they do end up rejecting you, there are other places that will want to hire someone with your talent – and some of them will definitely pay for a specialized spellsuit that will go with you when you shadow-walk, regardless of whether or not you can bring it along with you or not."

That's actually a good point, and it makes me feel much better. While I'd much rather become a Sivalshi Guardian, there are other jobs that will probably want to hire me once they find out I can teleport, even if it's only short-range. It's also possible that if I fail now, I'll get an opportunity again in the future due to this power.

Then there's the fact that there seems to be a job the Patron wants me to do right away. Does that really increase the chances of me getting in, despite how weak I am? I'm still confused by that. But I'll take Zane's advice for now and try not to worry too much. It's better for my mental health, anyway.

"Thanks, Zane," I tell him. "That actually does help a bit."

"That's what friends are for!" He grins. "Now let's get to work, Shadow Boy! I ain't paying you to laze around!"

"Says the guy who's making a tower out of trash."

"I'm bored!"