The tiny speaker in my ear buzzed with a new Omnigram notification.

SongOfDarkness🎻: is that a hammock?! are you effin sleeping up there?!

I typed back quickly:

Alex G: Temporarily. Van's heater is busted and a cold front's coming. Don't worry about it.

SongOfDarkness🎻: ...

SongOfDarkness🎻: you can't sleep in the auditorium

SongOfDarkness🎻: security does rounds at night

Alex G: Already mapped their patrol routes yesterday. They never check the catwalk. they'r too lazy to climb stairs.

SongOfDarkness🎻: alex no

SongOfDarkness🎻: that's not ok

Alex G: It's quite cozy up here actually. Great view of the stage.

SongOfDarkness🎻: seriously, you can't stay there

Alex G: Watch me.

SongOfDarkness🎻: ...

SongOfDarkness🎻:Wait. Where did you sleep yesterday?

Alex G: The van

SongOfDarkness🎻: And before that?

Alex G: The van

SongOfDarkness🎻: And before the fucking van?!

Alex G: Abandoned places. Office towers. Grain silos. Nazarite Cathedrals. Anywhere where it’s warm enough and security is lax. Now quit looking up. You're exposing my super secret location.

SongOfDarkness🎻: get down here

Alex G: No

SongOfDarkness🎻: alex get your ass down here right now

Alex G: Make me

SongOfDarkness🎻: don't make me come up there

Alex G: Lol. What's ur plan? 2 cuddle me to death?

I tried to smash her with a funny.

SongOfDarkness🎻: ...

SongOfDarkness🎻: you're staying at my place tonight

Alex G: No I'm not

SongOfDarkness🎻: yes you are

Alex G: Nope. I'm good here. Got my hammock and everything.

SongOfDarkness🎻: alex i swear to Slayer if you don't get down here

Alex G: You'll what? Sing me to sleep? Already planning on that. Got a recording. Your voice is lovely.

Cinder climbed up the stairwell faster than I could taunt her again, rapidly navigating the narrow metal walkway. Her feathers shifted through determined reds and stubborn oranges as she approached my hammock nest.

"Get. Down." She growled, looming over me with her hands on her hips.

"Nah, I'm comfy," I replied, snuggling deeper into my hammock. "Nice view up here. Great acoustics too."

"Alex..." Her voice carried a warning tone.

"What?" I blinked innocently up at her. "I've got everything I need right here - shelter, relative warmth, and a recording of your lovely voice to lull me to sleep. It's practically luxury living."

Her wings bristled, shifting to frustrated crimsons. "You are NOT sleeping in the school auditorium."

"Why not? I've already nested," I yawned. "Shoo. You're blocking my…”

Cinder's claws suddenly wrapped around my hammock's support ropes. "Last chance to come down voluntarily."

"Or what?" I challenged, raising an eyebrow.

With a swift motion of snapping claws, she severed the ropes. I yelped as the hammock collapsed, but before I could fall, Cinder caught me in her arms, her wings spreading wide for balance.

"Or I carry you out," she said smugly.

"Hey! Put me down!" I protested. Her grip was surprisingly strong.

"Nope," she started walking along the catwalk, carrying me like I weighed nothing. "You're coming home with me."

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"This is kidnapping!" I declared, flailing slightly as my heartbeat went mad. "Io! Help! I'm being kidnapped by a very pretty dragon-bird! She's determined!"

"Have fun!" Iogann called up cheerfully, not even looking up from where he was coiling cables.

"Traitor!" I yelled down at him.

"You can either come quietly," Cinder said, "or I can fly you down. Your choice."

I immediately stopped struggling. "You wouldn't."

"Watch me!" Her mouth spread in a wide grin, wings unfurling wide, feathers lengthening with dancing mini-rainbows.

Cinder's wings erupted with color as she leapt from the catwalk - blazing crimsons, electric blues, molten golds all rippling through her feathers in a dazzling, mind-melting display. The drop made my stomach lurch as we plummeted for a heart-stopping moment before her wings caught the air.

"HOLY SHIT!" I yelped, clinging to her desperately as we glided down in a graceful spiral. Her feathers shifted and adjusted with microscopic precision, controlling our descent with ease.

We landed softly near Iogann, who was failing miserably at hiding his amusement. Cinder's wings folded back with a satisfied rustle, though she didn't set me down.

"See?" She smirked down at me. "That wasn't so bad."

"Completely unnecessary!" I protested, my heart still racing. “Nazareth, who does that?!”

Internally I was laughing like a supervillain. My plan to shake Cinder out of her depression spiral was working quite well.

"I had a perfectly good nest up there!" I continued protesting, though I made no real attempt to escape her arms. "And now my hammock is ruined!"

"You can buy a new hammock," Cinder replied, still carrying me as she headed for the exit. "One that isn't hanging in a school auditorium like some kind of weird theater ghost."

"But I liked being a theater ghost," I pouted. "Had a whole routine planned - rattling chains, moving props around, weaponizing chandeliers, writing cryptic messages on the mirrors..."

"Uh huh," Cinder rolled her eyes, but I caught the slight upturn of her lips. "And how exactly were you planning to shower? Or eat? Or you know, do basic people things?"

"I had it all figured out!" I insisted. "The gym has showers, the cafeteria and vending machines have food, and the janitorial closet has cleaning supplies. "Why must you ruin my Phantom-of-Skyfall dreams with your caring and warm house?"

"Because unlike the Phantom, you need actual food and a real bed," she replied, her wings shifting through amused blues and teasing purples. "Also, you smell like catwalk dust and a sweaty hexasuit." She glanced at my arms where Emerald managed to tear through a few layers. "Hold up, how many hexasuits are you wearing?!"

"Umm... seventeen," I confessed.

"Seventeen?" Cinder nearly dropped me in shock. "How are you even moving?"

"I synchronized their activation patterns with Yulia's help," I shrugged. "And I'm wearing them in alternating polarities to minimize interference. They're all basic student-grade or generic security-grade stuff. Individually they're pretty weak but together they form a mighty..."

"Dweeb?" She commented.

"No! A... mighty Voltron of basic school equipment!" I declared proudly. "Like your average student debt, but in hexasuit form!"

"Holy shit," she laughed. "No wonder you punted Em into the pool like that! I thought that the entity from beyond the gate blessed you with super strength in exchange for your soul. Slayer!"

"Nah. Captain blessed me with a magic lighter," I said.

"What?" Cinder laughed even harder, taking my words for another joke. "You're absolutely ridiculous, you know that?"

"Says the girl carrying me like a princess," I retorted. "I demand a tiara if this is going to be a regular thing."

"Keep dreaming, dweeb," she snorted, but her wings shifted through happy shades of pink and gold. "Now, are you going to walk on your own, or do I need to carry you all the way to my house?"

"Well, since you offered so nicely..." I made myself comfortable in her arms. "I accept your generous transportation service. Though I must warn you - the proper princess-phantom carrying etiquette requires you to sing while doing so."

"Don't push your luck, dweeb," she huffed.

"What is a 'dweeb'?" I ask. "Should I be offended?"

Cinder rolled her eyes, but I could see her fighting back a big smile. "A dweeb is... you. And yes, you should definitely be offended."

"I am mortally wounded by your cruel words," I declared dramatically, pressing a hand to my chest. "How shall I ever recover from such a devastating insult?"

"You'll live," she snorted, finally setting me down as we reached the parking lot. "Now help us load shit."

Iogann emerged from the auditorium pushing a huge dolly loaded with cables, hexagram amps, and various other show equipment.

I followed Cinder and Io to a battered van parked behind the auditorium - not my rust bucket, but a slightly less decrepit model in faded purple and black. The vehicle was covered in skull moth decals and "DISASTER AWAITS!" painted in dripping red letters on the side. The logo was somewhat peeling, revealing at least three previous names underneath.

"So," Iogann said casually as we worked, "you two seem... friendly."

"Shut up, Io," Cinder growled, her wings shifting through embarrassed pinks.

"Just saying," he shrugged. "It's nice to see you actually letting someone help for once."

"I'm not letting anyone help," Cinder snapped, shoving a large, cracked runestone into the van with more force than necessary. "I'm preventing a homeless idiot from camping in the auditorium!"

“Mmmm, yes, purely practical concerns," Iogann nodded sagely. "Nothing to do with those interesting colors your wings keep shifting to whenever he's around."

"I will stab your eyes out with your own antennae," Cinder threatened.

"Hey, just making observations," Iogann raised his hands in mock surrender. "That's kind of my thing. Noticing impending disasters... and other curious developments."

"Nothing is developing," Cinder insisted. "Get off my wings, you oversized bug!"

"So, are you following us in your van or are we all gonna squeeze into the Mothmobile?" Iogann asked, closing the back doors of his disaster-mobile.

"How'd you know ‘bout my van?" I asked him.

"Ci told me," the Mothman tilted one of his antennae in the direction of orange-red-violet-pink tinted Cinder. "Made it sound like a sweet crib with carpets, beer fridge, beanbags and See-Mass lights."

"My van needs a funeral and a break from being kicked by angry Quetzis," I shrugged. "Riding with the disaster-sensing Moth seems safer. Though I should probably grab my clothes backpack from it first."

"I'll go with you," Cinder said quickly, then seemed embarrassed by her eagerness. "You know... to make sure you actually come back and don't try to nest in there instead."

"Such lack of trust," I clutched my chest in mock offense as we walked to my van. "After all we've been through - death, resurrection, interdimensional tourists, dragon-bestie pool dunking..."

We returned to Iogann's van, where the tetris-like packing situation became immediately apparent. Every inch of space was crammed with show equipment, leaving only the two front seats available. My massive backpack had to be wedged in at an awkward angle on top of everything else.

"Shotgun!" I called out quickly.

Cinder squinted at me.

"What? You can't just fly behind the van like a big kite?" I asked her. "What are those giant fluffy things for? Making pretty colors?"