"It's one of the people we noticed earlier," Kyle said as they moved through the crowd. "The Asian girl with the blonde hair. Who do you think she works for?"

"Hmmm that's tough," Jenny bit her lip. "I mean the obvious answer is Taliesin Cromlaire and his organization, but they already sent someone here. So it could be someone else who found out about the lamp. You've kind of got a huge target on your back now!"

"Wait didn't you have like huge psychological problems about that?" Valerie asked, hurrying to keep up with them.

"Oh yeah but now that our souls are directly connected I can literally feel how much he loves me. Wait, how did you know about that?"

"Oh I've kind of been...around," Valerie said. "A lot. I couldn't get into Tanya Myrden's house, and I couldn't follow you when you flew off on that big duck, but anytime you were at school I was probably following you and listening. Uhm...now that I say that out loud that's pretty creepy actually."

"Nah it's okay. You were going through a lot of problems." Kyle smiled at her. "I can't imagine what it was like, and we were your only lifeline. Wait, did you ever come in my house?"

"O-only once!" Valerie blushed bright red. "I left a-as soon as you guys started..."

"Ohhhh hey Kyle! Remember the night "the wind" blew the door open? I bet that was her! Hey it's kinda neat, we can go back through our lives and try to figure out what stuff that happened was actually you. It's like a puzzle!"

"That's going to be pretty hard though, considering we were actually attempting to ignore she was there. Even our own internal monologues might not be trustworthy. I see Tanya."

Tanya was at the drinks table with a cup in each hand. Non alcoholic Kyle noticed. He got the feeling she wasn't a big drinker. She raised a cup at them as they caught up with her.

"Having fun?" She asked, smiling. "I'm finally at a party I wasn't on the planning committee of!"

"That's great!" Jenny said. "Somebody's trying to kill Kyle."

"Right. Of course." Tanya rubbed her temples. "You said both of those sentences just as perkily as each other. Is it Sylvanandra again? No that's ridiculous, she literally can't by magical contract. And even if she did any one of us except Goldie could take her the way she is now."

"It's an Asian girl with pale blonde hair. We noticed her earlier at orientation as one of the high magic people."

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Oh and this is our new friend Valerie!" Jenny gestured to the mousy looking girl like she was on a game show showing off a brand new car. Valerie waved weakly, but her face looked kind of bored and depressed. Tanya just blinked in Valerie's general direction.

"What? Jenny what are you talking about?"

"Her!" Jenny pointed. "Right there! Valerie! She's like double triple ultra mega super invisible."

"Right. Jenny, stop fooling around. I'd think you'd be a little more serious with Kyle's life on the line."

"But she really is there!" Jenny wilted.

"It's okay," Valerie said. "She's right, we have bigger problems. And you had to use your power of true love soul link to see me anyway."

"I promise we'll find a way to fix this," Kyle put a hand on her shoulder.

"What did you say?" Tanya asked, her eyes unfocused.

"I was talking to Valerie," Kyle said. "I think I already have a way to help prove she exists, but it'll take time. Right now what about the others?"

"No idea where they are," Tanya said. "It's really crowded. Evan and Goldie are probably off someplace, and Betty and Trevor...well. Betty and Trevor. We can try calling but I bet they're busy."

"Or Trevor is dead from dehydration," Kyle said flatly. "Alright, that leaves Ammeline..."

"LOOK OUT!" Valerie shrieked, and Kyle just had time to pull on his magical defenses before something slammed into his back. It was like getting poked really hard by an oncoming train. With a finger at the front of it. No, it wasn't a very sensible image but the attack had come out of nowhere, and Kyle was painfully aware whatever he'd been hit with was sharp. If he hadn't brought up his defenses it would have gone right through his kidney.

Which, magically enhanced endurance or not, was game over for a human body. It was how they taught special forces to kill enemy sentries. That had been CLOSE. The closest he'd gotten to dead since Danny O'Brien cooked him extra crispy.

He whirled around to see the Asian girl standing behind him with her arms crossed. She was standing right next to Valerie, but if course took no notice. He couldn't see any sign of whatever weapon she'd just used to attack him. Maybe it had been some kind of spell?

"Frustrating," she said, her voice oddly flat. It reminded him a little of Betty's voice, but...not. Betty spoke in a monotone, but this woman spoke without any emotions at all. It was a subtle difference, but a frightening one.

Or maybe it was just frightening because she was an enemy who had almost successfully murdered him. That was pretty frightening all on its own.

"How did you sense my presence?" She asked.

"My invisible friend saw you and told me."

"Yes, that's fair. I wouldn't reveal my secrets to an enemy either. But I still need to kill you."

"Do you work for Taliesin Cromlaire?" Tanya asked.

"No. The opposite, I oppose him completely. Taliesin Cromlaire must not be allowed to obtain the last genie. So I will kill you, retrieve the lamp, and take it to a secure location to prevent this."

"Well now we know the motive, but it makes me kinda sad," Jenny sighed.

"But killing you is a lot more difficult now," the attacker mused. "You will certainly take defensive measures, so my assassination techniques won't work again. Well, I'm not really an assassin anyway."

"You just tried to assassinate me," Kyle pointed out. "That makes you an assassin by the actual literal dictionary definition."

"I am not primarily an assassin. I learned assassin skills because they are useful. But I am a much better warrior. However I didn't bring my sword, because this is a crowded area and I was ordered to limit collateral damage. Oh, I know now. If I'm going to kill you, I'll need your cooperation."

"Yes well you're not going to get it..."

"I challenge you to a fight to the death. Agree or I will attempt to kill all of your friends. I am certain my assassination techniques will be effective against at least one of them."

"It's really creepy to hear you say that so casually," Tanya said. "Kyle, you don't have to do this. We can protect everybody..."

"No wait this is good," Kyle held up a hand. "A duel. Killing is allowed, but it doesn't have to be to the death."

"I will still kill you if I win."

"Understood, but I have conditions too. If I win, you stop trying to kill is and tell us who sent you."

"What if nobody sent her?" Valerie asked.

"She talked about getting orders earlier, somebody sent her. How about it? One shot to take me out or fail your mission. I'm sure Tanya knows how to set up a binding magical contract."

She took a moment to chew the thought over.

"Acceptable. My name is Hanna Omaya, and I agree to be bound by the terms you have set. Now let's go someplace I can kill you without too mich collateral damage."