"Wahoo! I got to the next level!" Karmin celebrated.

I tore my gaze away from my System screen and looked down. At this point, I wasn't surprised to see a teak screen in front of her.

She flipped through it, pushing on the teal panel for a minute. Then she paused and slapped a hand over her mouth, realizing that she and Terre weren't alone. If I didn't have a System, she wouldn't be able to speak about it. "Oh, I mean, in a game..." Her voice died out as she looked up at me. And saw my own teal screen.

"Huh?" Her eyes widened. "You have a—" Her voice cut off, obviously from the System. Her expression turned down right confused. "What's going on?"

"That's what I want to know." So badly, I followed Terre back up the mountain, instead of going home where my family was waiting.

Terre stood in the middle of the ice bath, breathing hard. He closed his own teal screen and said, "Let's just say, it's complicated." Unlike me and Karmin, he was battered and bruised all over. His movements were stiff as he tapped the stone giant with the flat of his sword. The giant turned into white sparkles and faded away, leaving two glowing orbs behind.

I tilted my head to the side. So I wasn't the only one the System did that nifty trick for.

Terre limped a little as he sloshed through the water.

Karmin walked over to him and suddenly laughed. "Wait, pause. Terre, run your hands through your hair and give me a smolder. Oh, can you show some muscle and flex? I'll make a killing on paparazzi pictures right now."

Without even changing expressions, he smacked the water with his sword, employing his mist at the same time. A huge splash of water smashed right into Karmin's face. "Take one of yourself."

She gagged and staggered back, coughing through the water that drenched her face.

Terre calmly hopped out of the ice pool. He waved his hand casually over his body. The water clinging to him evaporated into mist that collected around his inched fingers like white cotton candy. With a flick, the mist dissipated in the air, leaving Terre completely dry.

I watched the whole thing in wonder. Terre was completely unphased by her jab. How many times had Karmin made that joke for him to be so blase about it? Huh. I guess I should ignore it too? "Can I come down now?" I asked him.

Terre nodded and motioned to Ghost.

The flying tiger finally reacted. He immediately dropped in altitude, freaking me out in the process.

I gasped and clung to him, as ungraceful as can be. A sigh burst out as soon as I was back on solid ground. Not being in control was the worst.

Karmin huffed a breath and pulled her helmet off. "Come on, Terre, that was cold. I thought besties were supposed to look out for each other? My bank account could use a little fluff." She pushed the randomly wet curls off her forehead, looking wronged.

Terre shrugged. “Then you and Ria can split the drop items. It’s just a couple stone diamonds,” he said, like they weren’t three times the cost of a normal diamond. Armorers loved using them on weapons.

I, however, paused as I stared at Karmin’s face. Again, there was a familiar feeling, like I'd met her before. This morning, I thought it was because I saw her in the Hunter's Association Building the day I got my Guild. But my gut told me that wasn't it. What was it?

“Nah, I’m good. Give it to Ria.” Karmin gave me a searching glance then looked at Terre. "How complicated is it?" she asked, referring to the System situation.

Her actions excluded me, but I was too distracted with the puzzle I couldn’t figure out. The answer was just there, just on the tip of my tongue.

Terre shook his head. "We'll talk about it later."

Yeah, when I wasn't there to hear what they had to say about me. My lips pressed in a hard line. Would it really hurt them to talk about it with me? Then again, the System itself seemed to be the first hurdle. It wouldn't let us openly talk. But it let Karmin mention levels in my presence. Why was this thing so temperamental?

I mean, I had the same System they had. And it was obvious that Karmin and Terre could talk freely. We were practically the same, so how was I different?

Suddenly, inspiration stuck. I gasped, gaping at Karmin. That's why it took so long to put it together. Because it was the same. How the water clung to her skin and accentuated the mole in the corner of her eye. The same shade of dark, wet hair pushed off her face. The dark curved eyes. The nose and jaw line. Even her lips. It was all exactly the same but different.

Because it was on a little girl that I found in a mud golem's pit.

"Ah-ha!" I pointed at Karmin, as my mind sputtered and raced.

Why did it take me so long to put it together? Now that I made the connection, it was so obvious, I felt like an idiot for not noticing earlier. I mean, that image of Una hiding the tree nest would be forever stuck in the back of my head. Probably because I saw past self in her — scared and crying, alone in the wilds. I didn't notice the similarity between Karmin and Una earlier because Una was always scared while Karmin was bursting with confidence. The two expressions were like night and day, but seeing Karmin wet bridged the gap. They had the same face, only Una still had baby fat on her cheeks and Karmin was a mature adult.

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Karmin and Terre stopped their quiet conversation and looked at me, puzzled.

Excited, I gushed, "Do you have a little sister?"

The second most prominent memory I had of Una was watching the small girl on the gurney, being wheeled into the hospital and taken to somewhere I couldn't go. The questions — Was Una okay, now? Why was she out in the wilds to begin with? When can I visit her? — were like splinters in my psyche, too deep to dig out, but always there.

I opened my mouth, ready to pepper Karmin with my questions.

"Ah, no." Karmin stared at me, confused at my excited expression.

Her answer was so unexpected, I tripped over the words waiting on the tip of my tongue. The excited bubbles in my chest popped in an instant, leaving me feeling whiplashed. I blinked at her. "You ... don't?"

She shook her head. "Nope. It's just me and my mom. Has been my whole life."

I couldn't resist glancing at Terre, only to have him nod and second her answer.

I bit my lips, lost. "Are you sure?" The question slipped out before I could stop myself. As soon as it was, I felt like an idiot.

But it also wasn't that far-fetched of an idea. A tight-knit family like mine was rare in the current society. Because the death rates were so high, people tended to not make lasting commitments. They simply entertained themselves for a while and moved on. But I still felt like an ass for asking. I didn't know her family dynamic.

But Karmin and Una were so similar...

Karmin's brows pinched together, confused. "Absolutely sure. My dad split as soon as he found out my mom was pregnant and died a couple months later when his new fling used him as a meat shield against a griffin." She obviously didn't give a damn about his death.

"Oh," I said slowly. "Do you have a cousin?"

Karmin folded her arms and leaned on her hip. "What's this about?"

"I just," I took a breath and focused my thoughts. "I found a little girl in the wilds last week. She looked just like you," I motioned to Karmin. "The same hair, the same face, the same eyes. She even had a mole under her eye, just like yours." I pointed to my own face, demonstrating where it was. "Only, she was like, five."

Karmin and Terre shared a look, clearly both confused.

"I wanted to know how she was doing," I explained. "The hospital wouldn't tell me, since I wasn't a relative. And since she looked so much like you, I thought you two were related." Oh man, I really did sound presumptuous.

Karmin hummed under breath. "Well, sorry. I can't help you there. I took after my mother, and she was an only child. And we've shared the same roof my whole life, I'd know if she had a daughter five years ago. And I'm definitely not a mom." She gave an exaggerated shudder.

"Right." I pinched my thumb. "Sorry to bother you."

"No worries." Karmin gave a shrill whistle. The clucktrice standing on the ice mist squawked and jumped off, bounding over in seconds. In the meantime, Karmin ran her hands over her face and hair. The water still clinging froze into ice diamonds, which she brushed away with a casual flick, the element responding to her magic. Once all the ice was out of her hair, she moved to her wet armor.

The ice bath rippled as Levi swam over. The feathery plume on his head breached the water, but his body stayed inside, perfectly content.

"What is that, by the way?" Karmin asked and walked over to the pool. She looked down, watching his lazy movement.

"That's my snake," I explained and joined her side. "He can change sizes."

Karmin's eyes widened and brightened with glee. "Seriously? A spell increased his size that much? Teach me. Just imagine ChoCho being thirty feet tall!" Then she paused. "Where did you learn the spell?"

My lips pressed in a tight line and I glanced at Terre, who watched the whole exchange with interest. I simply opened my System screen, showing the teal panel.

Terre's and Karmin's faces furrowed, understanding what I meant.

"That's where you learned it?" Terre asked.

I nodded and closed the screen.

"Why would it teach you that and not..." Karmin's voice died out.

I was just as baffled. And crestfallen. The more I learned from my interaction with Karmin, the more I understood Terre's words. We really weren't the same, huh? Why? "I don't know. All I know is that Levi and I are compatible." I paused. "Maybe you haven't found a monster you're compatible with yet."

Terre glanced at Levi. "Compatible, huh?" He was quiet, his eyes serious even though his lips were still curved in a loose smile. "Your snake doesn't have a mount chip in it, correct? You picked it up out here in the wilds," he pointed out.

I paused then nodded in surprise. The chip is what prevented mounts from attacking each other. They were trained to ignore the monsters with that scent, while monsters without the scent were classified as enemies. I glanced at ChoCho and Ghost, vigilantly.

Both mounts could do serious damage to Levi. But my alarm was for nothing. Ghost had laid down, his head lazily on his crossed front paws and his eyes closed like he wanted a nap. ChoCho was busy preening its feathers. None of them looked interested in Levi.

"You and the snake are sharing magic, aren't you?" Terre asked. "Your magic matches perfectly. It's something I've never seen before. And you both used your magic together to manipulate the water. I've seen Hunters work magic together, but never a Hunter and monster."

Did I plead guilty, or act flattered? It sounded awesome when Terre said it, but it also reminded me that what Levi and I did wasn't normal. In fact, it might freak other people out if they saw it. I should keep our shared abilities under wraps for now. If word got around that a monster could join magic with a Hunter, who knew what mania it would cause? Scientists – the same that freaked out over every new monster found in the wilds – would love to examine him, and Hunters might even attempt to steal him to use for themselves. Of course, his ability only worked with me, but that might make things even more dangerous. Such as, if someone thought getting rid of me could make Levi bond with them.

"But your shared magic is what makes the monsters ignore him," Terre pointed out. "He doesn't feel like a monster, he feels like you."

"That's good," I said and watched Levi swim in the pool. I doubt he'd willingly get a mount chip put in him.

Karmin huffed. "So where do I find a compatible monster?"

"I don't know. You could say, I stumbled across him by accident." Okay, what was a major exaggeration, but I couldn't say that I’d planned to reap free EXP from him after he almost died in a deadly grudge match. Levi liked me now, and I wasn't going to risk that falling apart.

Levi paused mid swim and lifted his head out of the water to stare at me with narrow golden eyes.

I tilted my head and looked away, trying not to be guilty. Seriously, he couldn't blame me. I was completely ignorant and innocent at the time. Any Hunter would have done the same.

My gaze landed on Karim. Now that I put two and two together, I was reminded of Una every time I saw her. But Karmin was a dead end and all I did was embarrass myself. Was I ever going to meet Una again?

*****