Author's note: Please remember that this is a fantasy book with "love at first sight" and “overprotective partner” tropes. If somebody tries to claim instant eternal love, is over controlling, or shows signs of some rather stalkerish behaviors, you might need the police, not a kiss. As a general rule of thumb, love is willing to wait, but the power-hungry want it their way, and lust usually wants it now.

Serena’s POV:

I yawned as I sat on the bus. The bus wasn’t far from the café at this point. A sign was advertising self-defense classes again. It was tempting, but I knew the outcome already. I had spent over a year in that building trying to learn how to defend myself, which I had thought was an excellent investment when living on the streets.

The trainer finally pulled me aside when I had tried to sign up for the beginner class for the fifth time. She told me that in all her years she had never seen anything like me.

I still remembered her exact words as she had looked at me in kindness and perplexity, "People often have different variations of the flight or fight reaction. Some just tend to freeze up before the reaction can get them going. These classes do help overcome the freeze up, which you have done quite well. Then we focus on the fight side of an encounter before concentrating on flight. You are the first person I have ever met that simply does not have any of the fight reaction. I simply cannot take your money again. Instead, I am going to refer you to my friend. He focuses on evasion and I think that will be a better fit for you."

I had thanked her and gone off to locate the address she had given me. I was disappointed at her observation, but I had noticed that I had been unable to learn a single technique in her class despite trying my hardest and repeating that 3-month class four times. I guess she had noticed as well.

The only move I had even partially managed to remember was to stomp on someone's foot if they grabbed me. I knew the moves themselves and could use them by myself in front of a mirror just fine. Throw in a practice partner and it all disappeared like fog under the desert sun despite the fact that I hadn't panicked.

In my desperation to learn, I had even tried using my musical magic. It was to no avail. My music was unable to affect my personal physical abilities, so that meant no extra speed or strength.

The evasion class was more of a success. They even taught things like picking locks, breaking out of rooms we might be held in, and how to stick to more public places where predators were less likely to try something.

The man allowed me to sign up for the next two levels once I passed the beginner class with flying colors. I was glad that I wasn't completely hopeless. Outside of that class I had also practiced, but with my own twist - music.

I was stunned when I figured out just how easily humming could undo almost any lock I encountered, a whistle could even unlock an electronic card lock. It did take trial and error to get the right pitch and tone for that particular lock, but I could get almost any lock undone in less than three minutes.

My music could also help make people more likely to ignore me or get distracted. Several times, I had hummed a song for protection when I noticed someone following me through the park. I had been winging it to be honest, but it had worked in some fashion or another. In the past, I had mostly tried to avoid my magical abilities until I started taking those classes.

With the protection hum, it usually wasn't long before some sort of intervention arrived in such a public place. Although the form that the help came in was highly unpredictable and uncontrollable.

One time it was the man's girlfriend. Once it was some rival gang members of my stalker. Another time it had been a police officer doing a regular patrol through the park. I was once more reminded of why I didn't like travelling through that section of the park.

The day flew by as I tried to provide the best service possible to the café customers. If the service was excellent, they would sometimes leave tips. This café wasn’t fancy, so tips were rare. I finished my shift and once more headed up the street.

I quickly swept the rundown restaurant while paying attention to the cracks and corners. If I did a good job, he probably would let me keep doing this every day. Sure it was only $2, but it was $2 that I didn't have and I would have just been waiting for the bus anyways. A little cabin in the mountains beckoned to me. I collected the money and headed for the bus stop.

The bus was half empty once again. I sat by the window and gazed out. My eyes lingered on people who looked happy as we passed them. Perhaps I could be happy one day. If I kept saving my money at this rate, I could buy a small cabin and bus tickets to get to it within the next three years. At the library, I had found a website that had a small cabin listed for cheap.

It was still posted because the closest road was an hour walk away and the terrain made it impossible to put a driveway in without spending far more than the cabin was worth. It had big boulders and tiny cliffs that needed a ten-step ladder to get up. I could walk or ride a bicycle though.

There was also no cell service, internet, or power out there, which was another reason that it was still listed for sale. It looked a bit run down, but I had researched home improvement ideas at the library as well as any camping tips I could get my hands on.

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I was ready to go. I just needed the rest of the money. Believe me, whistling for money didn't work. Despite how many songs were about money, it was as if my music simply had no concept of the idea.

Last winter, I had whistled softly in hopes of a warm blanket while walking and one had blown out of the back of a passing truck to land not far ahead of me. Music could work on other things I needed, but that odd thing called money was just not in its vocabulary.

The medical research center came into sight and about thirty policemen surrounded a criminal transport vehicle. They were so far away that I couldn't make out any details. The police watched as a man got out of the van, he was much taller than any of them. I wondered what the man had done if they were taking him to that place.

I somehow doubted he had been given a choice in going there. I had looked up the place online once and almost half of their experimental drugs ended up killing the people within five years.

The only reason the government hadn't closed them down was because the people were all - supposedly - volunteers and the place had created a couple of rather miraculous drugs in the fight against certain bacteria and viruses.

I pitied the man, although with that many cops around, he was likely quite dangerous. Who needed thirty police officers to supervise one guy who was likely in handcuffs and leg shackles? I absentmindedly watched the man walk down the gauntlet between the rows of officers. It was as if I couldn't look away.

The man paused and looked around. His brilliant glowing blue eyes seemed to meet mine across the vast distance. I couldn't even blink as his eyes seemed to hold mine. The energy that usually came with my magic rose up even though no sound left my lips. It made me feel like sunlight was running through my blood, as it only did with the strongest songs I had ever sung.

The trees of a park broke our locked gaze as the bus kept on driving. I took a deep breath, suddenly realizing that I had stopped breathing the moment our eyes had met. The energy that had risen was slowly falling once more back into its dormant state. It was as if I had used my magic, but I had been silent the entire time. It was very unusual and my magic had never done anything like that before.

I glanced around, but didn’t notice any odd side effects. No one else seemed to have noticed me or the man either. That was a relief.

My mind went back to the man. I had never seen such blue eyes before - and they glowed! A shiver ran through me. There was no way I should have been able to tell what color his eyes were at that kind of distance. My eyes drifted back to the trees, hoping for an opening so I could see the man again. I had no such luck.

I got off the bus, still in a bit of a daze. The walk to the shed was a blur and I couldn’t really remember the trip between the bus stop and the shed. I couldn’t even remember if I had gone the long way or taken the short cut...

I pulled out the push mower and cut the grass. Many of the neighbors thought I was just there for the yard work. I always made sure that no one watched me as I went into the shed if I didn't plan on coming out for a while.

The man kept popping up in my mind as I worked. My attempt at reading a book afterward was fruitless as I kept thinking about him. I eventually gave up and went to sleep. My dreams all night were restless as I tried to find the man with the bright blue eyes, glimpsing him briefly, only for him to disappear again.

* * *

I was a bit groggy when I woke up, why couldn't I get that man out of my mind? I couldn't even work up any anger that he had interrupted my sleep with the memory of his eyes. I was simply too glad to have caught the small glimpse of his eyes in my dreams. I shook my head as I got dressed. I must be losing it.

I watched as the research center came into view. For some reason, I was disappointed that I didn't see the tall man. I shook my head at my absurd behavior. It wasn’t as if they would just let a criminal sit outside of a research center for others to gawk at. It wasn't long before the place was out of sight and the bus entered the busier roads.

The day was warm and I was glad that I was wearing loose capris and sandals. It was hard to keep my mind on my work. I glanced at every tall man who walked past the tables I served. It was driving me crazy. My distraction must have been noticeable since I didn’t get a single tip, although I had been almost as fast as usual. The day felt far too long as I tried to force myself to concentrate on my work.

There were a lot of sandwiches left over today and I got four of them. Most of my co-workers turned up their noses at the plastic wrapped sandwiches that had sat in a display cooler all day long. If they wanted to be that fussy, then it was their loss.

For the bus ride back, I made sure I got a window seat where I could see the research center. Who knows, if he needed regular treatments, I might just catch a glimpse of him again. My newfound obsession was quite unhealthy and I knew it. I wasn’t able to do anything about it though.

I was disappointed that no prisoner transport van was present today. Even when the park interrupted my view, I kept trying to look back to where I had last seen the blue-eyed man. For some unknown reason, I was sad that I hadn't spotted him. I sighed and watched the trees go by my window.

A glimpse of blue deeper in the trees made me turn my head slightly. I blinked slowly in surprise. A set of glowing blue eyes were watching me from deep within the shadows of the forest. A mere second later, a small clump of trees passed between us and once more interrupted our staring match.

I waited impatiently for it to pass and quickly looked back, but he was not there. My shoulders slumped in disappointment, had I imagined it? There was definitely no one standing there...

Another hint of blue off to the side caught my attention. It took me a few seconds to spot him again. He was further back in the densely forested park, so far back that I could only catch an occasional brief glimpse.

He was running alongside the bus. The bus couldn't go that fast inside the park due to the speed limit and numerous speed traps, but he was keeping up. How was that even possible? How was he running so fast? What was he doing in the park? I had seen him surrounded by police yesterday...

I was positive it was the same man. How many people could have glowing blue eyes? It was more than that though, it was as if there was a faint invisible force drawing me to him.

I lost track of him shortly before we reached the edge of the park. I watched closely and eagerly, but he never appeared out of the trees. I kept watching in hope until the bus turned down another street and went out of sight. My heart sank as I realized he wasn’t going to appear.

This park was too far away for me to walk to, and I wasn't aware of a bus stop anywhere near here. This bus certainly had no stops anywhere close to this area.

Half an hour later, the bus reached my stop. No one else got off at this stop today. With a sigh, I hefted my worn out backpack as I turned and started heading towards my usual destination.