Sunlight filtered in the window and across my face. That was the first sensation that prodded it’s way through the fog in my brain. It appeared as though the rain had cleared up finally. I sat up in bed, grimaced, and immediately flopped back on to my covers. Achy pain still pulled at my limbs. I felt maybe a smidge better than what I had last night. In all honesty it probably had to do with the fact that despite going to bed, I hadn’t really slept at all.

All night long I’d tossed and turned. Around three in the morning I’d decided that I was going to call off from work. The times I been so called lucky to actually sleep, I’d dreamed of monsters and knives in the dark. It sucked. I guess Trolls and Reapers did that to a person. It made me wonder how Tasha had faired last night after the run in.

Shit!

Tasha.

I was supposed to meet her to study today. However, given the fact that I now had a meeting with the Queensmen to look forward to, that was going to have to go on the back burner. Damn! This entire ‘you’re an Everlasting and back from the dead’ realization was already messing with my life. I still had to figure out where I went from here. Luke lead me to believe I could expect to be badgered into joining the fight agains the forces of evil. God! That’s what my little brother was going to have to do. As if that wasn’t scary enough, I didn’t even know what I wanted to do.

My phone rung, yanking me off my train of thought. “Speak of the devil,” I murmured when I saw Tasha’s name on the caller ID. “Hey Tash. So… crazy night last night right?”

I forced a smile on to my face. Thankfully, Tasha wasn’t physically there. Even I could tell it was incredibly fake and I wasn’t even looking at it.

“You know, at home we try to keep our monsters off of our college campuses. They don’t pay tuition.” Tasha laughed at her own weak joke. I laughed too. More to keep myself from having a nervous breakdown than anything else. Tasha swallowed. “Are you okay? Everything’s a bit of a blur from last night. I remember you being beside me at one point after the Troll appeared but then you disappeared and I don’t remember when it happened.”

Her Russian accent was thicker and a little harder to understand as it usually was when she was stressed. “It’s fine Tasha. There was a lot happening last night. Everyone was freaking out.”

The line went quiet. I could just barely make out Tasha’s breathing on the other end. “I… did I leave you? You were with me and then you were gone and then I was in my dorm with the resident assistant patting my back.”

I winced. If anything, I’d been the one to leave her. “No Tasha. We got separated. You did what you had to to stay safe. Were you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine. Just a few bruises on my legs and arms. I must have fallen.”

Or I’d basically thrown her at Colin so I could use a fire extinguisher to distract a Troll. Yikes. I was a terrible friend. “Do you think we could reschedule our study session? After last night I’m not feeling much like doing school work.”

“Same,” I sighed. At least that was one problem I didn’t have to try and figure out how to solve. “I’m not going into work today either.”

“Near death by Troll. Never thought I’d use that excuse to get out of something.”

“Yeah, me neither.”

Tasha said something else. I missed it though because I suddenly found myself sniffing the air like some kind of bloodhound. A faint but unmistakable smoky smell hung in the air. My heart leapt into my throat. I hated that smell. Nothing good ever came from that smell.

It was getting stronger.

“Um… Tasha, I’m gonna have to let you go.” I swung my feet out of bed and pushed my hair out of my eyes.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah it’s…”

The shrill scream of the smoke detector tore through the room. “Nope!” I yelped. “My condo’s burning.”

“What?”

“Talk to you later! Bye!”

I threw the phone down on the bed and sprinted from my room. Gray haze covered the kitchen and living room like a blanket. Luke was practically hanging out the window, coughing and sputtering. The offending smoke poured out of the oven. “Luke!” I growled. “What did I tell you about burning down my kitchen!”

Luke was still in the middle of a coughing fit. I grabbed some oven mitts from the counter, pulled the oven door open, and fished out the blackened remains of some kind of bread. “What are you even doing in here?”

“Trying to do something nice for you,” he snapped back.

Not only was the kitchen filled with smoke, my counters were riddled with flour, egg whites, dough, and what looked to be cinnamon. They’d been pristine yesterday night. “By making a mess of my kitchen and then trying to burn the evidence?”

Luke glared at me as he opened another window. “I was trying to make you homemade cinnamon rolls.”

I looked down at the charred bits on the cooking sheet. In some vaguely abstract way I could see how they might resemble cinnamon rolls. Abstractly. “We have a can of pre-made ones in the fridge remember?”

“You think they taste like cardboard.”

“They do but they’re easier to make.”

“Again, trying to do something nice for you after last night.”

We stared at each other for a moment, the smoke detector still wailing over the tops of our heads. Finally I sighed and set the burnt cinnamon rolls on the stove. “Well, it’s the thought that counts anyways right? Thanks Luke. This was incredibly sweet.”

I gave him a sincere smile. Luke ducked his head and grabbed a chair so he could take the batteries out of the smoke detector. He mumbled something under his breath but the only thing I actually caught was the last bit. “It would’ve been sweeter if I’d actually managed to make them correctly.”

“Turn the oven down next time.”

The smoke detector finally cut out. The silence that followed was blissful. Luke put the chair away as I started looking for something breakfast related. “I’m meeting the Queensmen in about an hour and a half,” Luke said abruptly.

I nearly smacked my head on the fridge jumping to attention. It was barely nine in the morning! “That’s—“ I fumbled for words. “That’s really early.”

“I got a message from Snow White last night after you went to bed. The Huntsman’s impatient. You don’t have to come this time around but he’s going to want to see you eventually.”

“Didn’t Snow White say something about me having to see him?”

“You don’t have to do anything.” Luke looked me dead in the eyes as he repeated his words from the night before. “You don’t owe anyone anything.”

“I know Luke,” I sighed. I really didn’t feel up to a rehash of the same conversation from the night before. “I might as well just get it over with now. Especially if I’m just going to be chased after if I don’t.”

“Suit yourself then,” Luke murmured. I didn’t really want to think about how Snow White had contacted him when supposedly the night before was the first time she’d ever met us. Luke had mentioned something about them keeping their distance from us. Maybe they’d been spying anyways.

And I was thinking about it.

I shook my head, closing the fridge door. Luke happened to be dressed already which was a bit surprising given his usual Saturday track record. However, if we were going to go meet a group of magical heroes then I supposed that I needed to follow suit. I muttered some half-hearted order at Luke to clean his mess up in the kitchen as I turned back for the hallway.

It turned out that I had enough time for a quick shower. The only downside to said shower was the fact that I’d spent the entire time pointedly avoiding looking at my scars. I’d always been self-conscious about them and written them off as the by product of a clumsy accident. Now that I knew exactly what they were though…

I hated them.

By the time I got out of the shower Luke sat waiting for me in the living room. Surprisingly, he was incredibly patient. Usually he’d be moaning and groaning about me taking too long. I guess he still felt like he was walking on egg shells around me after last night. Wonder how long that would last.

He hopped off the couch, keys in hand, and pointed towards the door in silent question. I nodded. “So other than extreme pushiness, what else can I expect from the Queensmen?” I asked just to make conversation on our way down.

Luke might have be okay with long and uncomfortable silences that stretched on for minutes. However, they no longer held any charm for me. A raised eyebrow was his initial response. We made it to the elevator and then on to it before he finally answered. “Another slightly more overwhelming history lesson.”

“Didn’t you cover that last night?”

“You think I crammed an entire civil war history into one night after you were attacked by Reapers and a Troll? You were freaking out enough as it was.” The elevator doors opened in the middle so Luke dropped his voice to a whisper towards the end.

I nodded and replied, “No, I guess not.”

Suddenly I had the feeling this meeting with the Queensmen would be painful in more ways than one?

Roger and Joel stood camped around the security desk. The newer guard was there too but I’d forgotten his name again. As soon as the bell dinged, all three of them looked over at us. I could feel their scrutiny. It probably had something to do with wandering into the building completely soaked and haggard the night before. Roger must have told the other two. They watched us like hawks.

“You two are looking much better this morning,” Roger called out to us from their post. He smiled but I caught the guarded look behind his eyes. Joel and the other guard also gave off the vibe that something wasn’t entirely right.

“The perks of getting a good night’s sleep and dry clothes,” Luke said with a shrug and a forced smile that came off as an easy one.

“Good point. Though we were wondering if you two might have gotten caught up in that attack on your college campus last night?” Joel tilted his head. That’s when I noticed the newspaper laying folded on the top of the desk. Three guesses as to what the headline was.

“Don’t be ridiculous. We were long gone by the time that happened.”

I think I did a passable job pretending to be nonchalant. I could pull just as convincing false smile as Luke. “Sure about that?” asked the guard who’s name escaped me.

His eyes were narrowed at the both of us. I actually shrunk a bit under his gaze. The eerie feeling that he, nor anyone else, actually believed either one of them. I shifted a little closer to Luke. “Well! We have to get going! Important things to do at the moment. See you guys later!”

Without warning, Luke grabbed my hand and dragged me off. Roger didn’t even have time to beat us to the door. “Do you think they believed us?”

Luke snorted. “Not in the least.”

“Fantastic.”