Kyle's magic flared, but the elven sorceress held out a hand.

"Whoa there big boy, keep it in your pants. I'm not here to start a fight. Just look at me."

She DID look different. Her pointed ears were gone, disguised as round human ones. She hardly looked threatening in a baggy sweatshirt and sweatpants. She was also shorter, and looked...younger. About the right age to be an incoming freshman, come to think of it.

"You're here as a student," Kyle says, relaxing his power a little.

"I mean obviously I'm here incognito," Sylvanandra rolled her eyes. "Catch the fuck up."

"Does incognito normally mean walking up and announcing yourself to people you've tried to murder?" Ammeline asked, her voice filled with acid.

"I'm not hiding from YOU. I'm hiding from the Uzbedis. You didn't think me making a deal with you meant the boss was going to just forget about you right? I'm here to keep an eye on you. Not to do any fighting. I barely could if I wanted to."

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"I think she's right," Jenny said. She was the best at sensing magic out of all of them. "I'm pretty sure her power is severely damaged. That can happen when you push your magical control beyond it's limits."

"Like how?" Kyle asked.

"Like casting multiple copies, all of which got destroyed, then conjured a massive plant golem you got punched out of without properly disengaging and then punched so hard in the face you passed out," Sylvanandra sighed, waving her hand in the air. "You know, hypothetically, just a random example not connected to anything that's been been happening recently."

"So they sent you here as a spy," Kyle said.

"Yep!" Sylvanandra said. "I'm here to join your friend group! Well be hanging out all the time now, besties!"

Kyle considered a lot of responses to that, ranging from laughing in her face to directly applied violence. The problem was he couldn't think of any response to that sentence which wouldn't turn into a downward spiral of cliches. Short of the violence, he was really leaning towards the violence.

"Kidding!" Sylvanandra laughed, holding up her hands. "Kidding, kidding. I'll just be constantly present in the school watching your every move with unseen tendrils of mystical shadow. Please do worry about it."

She turned and walked off into the crowd.

"Well that's certainly something we'll have to deal with later," Ammeline said. "How many other people here do you think are plotting to kill us?"

Kyle and Jenny just shrugged. They had no way of knowing.

But for the record, it was seven.