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Author's Note: Welcome to the first chapter of Book 2, everyone. As always, a big thanks to my readers and Big Closet for your continued support. ~Amethyst.
 

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 Chapter 1: Moving

Friday, August 30st, 2041 - Evening

“You don’t have to go,” Aunt Maya tried to convince us one last time as she practically crushed both my sister, Kelly, and her daughter, Ainslee, in a hug. “You can stay here at home with us. That goes for all of you, you will always have a home here with us.”

Thankfully, Poppy and I were both small enough as Sprites that we could avoid being crushed in her arms like that. We likely wouldn’t have survived the experience anyway. She and the twins had already given us far more gentle hugs before getting ahold of Ainslee and Kelly.

“Mom, we’ve been over this,” Ainslee replied with a sigh as she hugged her mother in return. “It’s not like we have to pay for our dorm room, and things will be much easier for all of us if we’re on campus. Besides, Karen could really use our support, we’ve arranged to share a dorm room with her, and Lily already has Moonlight’s stall set up in the stable there.”

Kelly quickly added, “It’s not like we’ll be far away either, Aunt Maya. We’ll be just across town, and we can all come for dinner or visits when we have the time.”

Samantha and Selina seemed to be taking this as hard as their mother was. The Mermaid twins loved their sister, of course, but they grew up with me and Kelly too. We kids all grew up like family, and all of them had just gotten used to having us back in their lives over the past few weeks after thinking that we were either dead or captured by Titans.

There were more hugs and a lot more tears as the four of us promised to call them once we were settled in and climbed into Karen’s hover-jet. The Dark Elf had loaned the luxury model vehicle to Ainslee and Kelly so we could move our stuff to the dorm after we had helped her move everything that she wanted to bring from her room at the base and from her home a couple of days ago. It showed just how much our relationship with our prickly teammate had improved over the past couple of weeks.

Karen was starting to let us in more, and I liked to think that she was starting to trust us more as well. The walls that she kept up between herself and others wouldn’t be easy to break down by any means, but we were seeing more cracks in those walls by the day, at least where we were concerned. She was still cautious and prickly around other people, but it seemed like she was starting to accept us as real friends rather than people she was being forced to spend time with since that clusterfuck of an assignment to take down Alistair Davenport, the asshole who was stalking her and had plans to do a lot worse.

I was glad that she was starting to trust us, and her hover-jet had a lot more space than Aunt Maya’s, and made it so we were able to get everything we wanted to bring to the dorm with us in one trip. Not that any of us had much to bring. My sister and Ainslee had almost a dozen mid-sized boxes between them, packed with their clothes and a few personal effects, and Moonlight’s stuff was already in her stall at the university stables. As for me and Poppy, everything we owned was packed in my new little house. Once we were all settled into the vehicle and Kelly got into the driver’s seat to take us across town to the University grounds, I snuggled with Poppy on one of the far too large seats and thought about my family and my life since I woke up and broke free from the grisly cocoon that had once been my body.

Honestly, we were all lucky to be alive and together after the Incursion that had decimated our hometown of Boulder Creek, Montana and the surrounding area, including the ranch where Kelly and I grew up. The farm next door, which belonged to Aunt Maya and Uncle Gavin, was the epicenter of the Incursion, and both of our homes had been destroyed by the Titans. Somehow, though, most of us had come through the attack alive and had found one another again in Amethyst Harbour.

Some of the people we cared about hadn’t been so fortunate. Our father and Uncle Gavin had both been killed in the attack, Mom and Kelly were taken through the Breach as captives, and Aunt Maya had spent months in the hospital after nearly dying when their house collapsed with her inside. Kelly may have come back to us somehow, but she wasn’t unscathed.

I think Kelly had the worst of it, in fact. My sister spent most of the last four years as a Titan captive before being discarded during an Incursion in Egypt when she became Altered due to what the doctors said was exposure to Wild Magic and elevated hormone levels from being pregnant. From what little she could remember during the nightmares she still had almost every night, being a captive of the Titans was a fate worse than death.

The way they treated her and the things she told me that they made her do made me sick and filled me with a burning fury, especially when I thought about our mother still being in their hands. Kelly couldn’t even control her own body to tell them no, no matter how hard she had tried. Then, when she was finally back on Earth, she had to deal with her changing body, losing the baby, and believing that she had lost everything and everyone she cared about.

She was locked up in the mental ward and on suicide watch when we reunited, not that she could have succeeded since she was seemingly invulnerable now. Both of us were very different from how we used to be. She was now a nine-tailed Huli Jing and burdened by her trauma and a power that wouldn’t let her take the easy way out, while I was now a five-inch-tall Water Sprite.

Until I ‘sprouted’ a couple of months ago, I was in a gory cocoon made from my former body and skipped out on the past four years while my new Sprite body grew inside. Getting used to being a girl (well, sort of, since Sprites only have one gender) and being a five-inch-tall Fairy was easy compared to finding out I lost four years of my life when I became Altered and thinking that everyone I cared about was captured or killed in the Incursion that changed me. At least I had Moonlight to keep me somewhat sane while I adjusted to things, and I met Poppy while I was in the Fairy Ward of the hospital.

Now, I couldn’t imagine my life without the Unicorn and my Fire Sprite girlfriend, and on top of having them in my life and being reunited with my sister as well, we were also reunited with Aunt Maya, Ainslee, and the twins. They were different, too; the twins were Mermaids now, and Ainslee was a girl and a Baobhan Sith, but there was one thing that would never change. We were like family, and we loved one another. It was probably a good thing that we weren’t really related, though, because Ainslee finally worked up the nerve to ask Kelly to be her girlfriend last week.

The past couple of weeks, since our camping trip and the sting operation to bring Alistair Davenport to justice, were actually pretty hectic overall. Between training hard individually with our trainers to master our magic and the other abilities that our respective Altered species possessed, and group training sessions for Incursions under the watchful eye of Sergeant Vale, we were all very busy girls. In fact, someone had sent the sergeant footage from our fight with Davenport and his hired muscle, and after pointing out absolutely everything we did wrong, he insisted on giving me some extra lessons in battle tactics as well.

I would probably be learning more of that once we started at the University, since I would be taking the officer’s track, but he wanted us ready in case my teleportation ability was needed to drop troops at an Incursion. At least the Incursion simulations that he was putting us through now were not quite as brutal as that first day when he had pushed all of us almost to the point of breaking. These sims weren’t no-win scenarios like that first time, either; there was a way to win if I was clever enough and we worked together. We might have lost more than we won so far, but I liked to think that we were improving.

It probably helped a lot that we were getting used to the stomach-churning things that we were seeing during those simulations and were freezing up less. Hell, some of the things that we had seen, done, and experienced during the fight with Davenport and his goons might have helped with that, but I also think that we were all starting to come to terms with the reality that this was war and that if we were reduced to a blubbering mess during battle it could mean that our teammates and civilians would pay the price. None of us wanted that.

Our teamwork was improving as well, and maybe that was because Karen was starting to feel more like a member of the team. She wasn’t as closed off, she trusted us more, and the animosity was disappearing now that we were all on more friendly terms. We still had disagreements sometimes, of course, but now it was getting easier to put those aside and focus on the task at hand.

Training hadn’t been the only thing keeping us busy recently, though. On Wednesday, we helped Karen move her stuff into the dorm after a couple of hours of Incursion simulations with Sergeant Vale, but we had all been too tired to do much more than that, so we put off moving Kelly’s and Ainslee’s things until later. Then yesterday, we spent the afternoon after our individual training sessions doing a major shopping spree.

Poppy and I both had to replace everything we lost when the Sprite-sized house I was gifted was destroyed. I had to buy a new house too, using the money that I got to replace my worldly possessions when Davenport’s accounts and assets were all seized by the Vanguard. That hadn’t been finalized until yesterday, though, so I didn’t have the funds to replace everything until then. So, we spent a lot of the day shopping, which was why we didn’t get to moving into the dorm until today.

My new house wasn’t quite as fancy-looking as the one I had before, but it was more practical and probably a whole lot more durable since Vice-Commander offered to have one of the Vanguard’s defense magic specialists place some protective wards on it for me. It was still somewhat large, boasting three bedrooms, a living room, a bathroom, and a kitchen, though this time, the kitchen had a sink for cleaning dishes and a tiny wood stove that looked like it was painstakingly crafted for both appearance and utility. It would allow us to cook when we wanted to and keep the kitchen warm if it got cool. The kitchen also had plenty of counter space, small cupboards, a pantry, and space for a table and chairs.

Much like my previous Sprite-sized house, this one also had working electricity, lights, heating, a fireplace, and a bathroom with running water for the bathtub and sink, and a magical equivalent of a toilet for our size that disintegrates waste. All of the water in the house came from an indoor, heated reservoir and was filtered through a water purification system before being recycled. The internal walls of the house were painted in soothing colors like mint green, lavender, and baby pink, with white trim and doors.

One thing that I was on the fence about was that instead of having plush carpet like my previous house, this one only had carpet in the bedrooms. The rest of the floors were ceramic due to the wood stove and fireplace, which I guess made sense for safety and fire prevention. I wasn’t thrilled about it, but it was a necessary evil, and overall, the new house was very comfortable and cozy.

The exterior was much like my former house, except that the paint was white with a light blue trim rather than a mostly solid powder blue. It still had proper windows, chimneys for both the fireplace and wood stove, and weatherproof walls and roof, so I could still place it either indoors or outdoors as needed. It even had one of the little magitech batteries that my last house had to draw mana from around them for power, but I guess that was something that the company was putting into all of the Fairy houses that they built. The power was only really used for the lighting and heat, but it would be a boon outside in winter when things got cold and the sun set a lot earlier.

After Poppy and I chose the house together, most of the rest of the afternoon and early evening were spent buying furniture for it and new clothes for us. We had bought a few outfits to last us until we could buy the house, but we needed a lot more clothes, especially with school starting so soon. I was glad that we had gotten all that done yesterday, because after another grueling Incursion simulation today, followed by putting everything in the house so it was ready to be moved while Ainslee and Kelly packed their stuff, I was looking forward to snuggling with Poppy in our comfy new bed tonight once we were all settled in the dorm.

I almost fell asleep on the ride there. I mean, I probably could have just teleported us all there with our stuff, but I had been pushing my special ability as hard as I could for the past two weeks, trying to increase the size of my area of effect and how many people and items in that range that I could carry with me. Frankly, I was exhausted, and I just didn’t have the energy to do that after a long week and a day full of training, something that Moonlight had noticed.

-I am glad that you took my suggestion and did not push yourself too hard, my Maiden,- the Unicorn’s voice said gently in my mind as Poppy and I flitted outside the car, and I stretched my aching muscles. -You have been working too hard recently.-

“I’ll be fine, Moonlight. It’s Friday, and we have the long weekend off from any sort of training until classes start on Tuesday,” I assured her, breathing a sigh of relief at the thought of a bit of rest and relaxation. “Why don’t you go to the stables and get settled in? I’ll probably be calling it a night early, and if I need you, I’ll call you in my thoughts.”

When she answered, it was with a measure of reluctance in her mental tone. -If you are certain, Lily. Sleep well. If you need me, I shall be there in a breath.-

Thankfully, it didn’t take too long to get everyone’s stuff into the dorm room. Poppy and I didn’t have much we could do to help at our size anyway, so we just needed to worry about placing the furniture and such properly in our new little house now that we were in the dorm room. So, while my sister and Ainslee started unpacking, Poppy and I set up our bedroom and decided to save the rest for the weekend before relaxing and talking with Karen, while we chilled on the empty bunk where our house had been placed.

The dorm room that we were in was larger than I was expecting, but I guess it had to be fairly big if it was expected to house four students, or five in our case. The plain white walls were not decorated so far, though there was evidence that they had once boasted posters or other decorations before the previous tenants moved out. The floor was covered in pale blue carpet, and the space seemed to be well-planned.

In each corner was a loft bed, and underneath those were desks with a desk lamp and a chair for studying. Beside the head of each bed was a tall dresser, maybe two feet wide, a foot and a half deep, and tall enough that the top drawer and upper surface could act as a nightstand for the loft bed, while at the foot of the beds were large trunks for gear and other belongings. There was even a mini fridge for drinks and snacks underneath the window that separated the two sides of the room.

As for the bathrooms and shower rooms, they were down the hall, with one on each floor. Even though Rainbow dorm was coed, we were on one of the girls' floors and wouldn’t have to worry about boys being around to bother us. This was something that Karen was understandably relieved about after the incident with Davenport.

We all called it a night early that night, not long after Kelly and Ainslee finished unpacking. In hindsight, that was probably a good thing, and not just because we were all tired from a long week. Because just after five in the morning, I was awoken from my slumber by a very loud and insistent noise emanating from my comm crown.

Feeling sluggish due to trying to rouse myself from hibernation, I fumbled for my comm crown, clumsily put it on, and then sleepily answered what turned out to be a call from Vice-Commander Carpenter. “Mmmm…. hello… Ma’am?” I answered, still trying to shake off sleep.

The Angel’s voice was carefully controlled and very serious as she spoke. -= Lily, thank goodness you answered. We need you. Our satellites just detected a Breach forming in the middle of Rio de Janeiro, and you’re the fastest method we have of getting troops on the ground there. =- I was suddenly very awake.

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Author's Note: Here's chapter 2 of Book 2, everyone. As always, a big thanks to my readers and Big Closet for your continued support. ~Amethyst.
 

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 Chapter 2: Rude Awakening

As soon as I had gotten instructions from Vice-Commander Carpenter and ended the call, I started trying to wake Poppy. Usually, that would be difficult since Sprite bodies enter a state of hibernation to conserve energy when we sleep, making it hard to wake us up. Fortunately, though, my girlfriend had also been roused by the loud and insistent ring tone of my comm crown and hadn’t quite settled back to sleep.

“Moonlight, are you awake?” I inquired, sending my thoughts to my Unicorn companion even as I gently shook Poppy’s shoulder to rouse her and reluctantly told my girlfriend, “We need to get up, hot stuff, there’s an Incursion happening.”

-Yes, my Maiden. I do not seem to require much sleep, even when in my physical form, so I have been patrolling your dormitory while ethereal,- Moonlight responded even as Poppy looked up at me sleepily.

I had the feeling that it had more to do with the fact that it was Moonlight’s first night staying in the stables, and she worried about being too far away in case I needed her, than any lack of a need for sleep, but I let that go for now. We had more important issues to deal with right then. “Okay, can you please come join us so I can teleport us all to Vanguard Tower? We need to hurry.”

-I will be there in but a moment,- she assured me, making me think that she was either already in the dorm room or had been staying very close by.

While she was telling me that, Poppy tried to shake off her drowsiness as she murmured, “Incursion? Mmm…okay, let me grab my stuff.” With that, we both scrambled wearily out of bed to put on our chokers and for Poppy to put on her comm crown as well.

Once we had left our little house, the others proved more difficult to rouse. At least, that was what I was fearing, and since time was of the essence, I decided to use drastic measures to wake them all quickly. As soon as I was out of the little house situated on the empty bunk, I turned up the volume of my voice projection app on my comm crown as high as it would go and called out, “Everybody, wake up!”

Sure, a quick splash of water to each of their faces probably would have had Ainslee, Kelly, and Karen all up in a hurry, but there were good reasons not to wake them that way. For one thing, creating water for me to manipulate like that is advanced elemental magic that I had only recently learned from Captain Monroe, so I didn’t have the best control over it yet, and it still took a lot of mana and concentration for me to do. We did not have the time for me to fool around like that, and doing so would probably tire me. I needed to conserve my energy for teleporting people and gear, and the clock was ticking; every moment wasted was one that we could be in Rio, saving lives.

Another good reason not to do so was that if I had decided to wake them that way, I probably would have gotten them, their beds, and half of the dorm room soaked. Emergency or not, that probably would have made my sister and friends not very happy with me. This way was much quicker and didn’t risk having anyone pissed off at me, at least, not when they realized the reason behind the rude awakening.

For now, though, they were understandably upset with me. “Lily, what the fuck?!” Karen snapped as they all glared at me from their respective beds. “It’s five in the morning for fuck’s sake! I swear, if this is some kind of drill…”

“Not a drill,” I said after turning down the volume on my voice projection to something less than a parade grounds drill sergeant. “There’s an Incursion in Rio de Janeiro, and we need to get to the tower so I can start moving teams and gear. Every second counts, girls, so get geared up so we can get moving.”

The words had barely left my mouth before everyone scrambled to grab their DS-4 chokers from their nightstands, put them on, and hop from their beds to the floor. Getting dressed was as simple as pushing a little bit of mana into our metal chokers to release the armor stored inside the connected pocket dimensions. Our skintight armor quickly materialized over our bodies, and that was all that we had for gear. Kelly, Karen, and Ainslee would have to grab weapons and any other gear they needed once we got to the tower.

Once I was sure that everyone was armored up and present, I mentally tagged Moonlight through our connection, then the others, and pictured the location within Vanguard Tower that I had been instructed to bring us to in my mind. A moment later, we appeared in a gathering area on the thirtieth floor, at the very top of the tower. Most troops would be gathering in the sub-basement level that sat beneath the tower, and the entire grounds of the surrounding compound, which was the mobilization area that hosted both the underground transport hangars and the armories. We had other orders, though; we were being assigned to the first response teams.

The first response teams were based on the top floor of the tower, in the massive saucer that topped the tower and was reminiscent of the Space Needle that used to be in Seattle. The floor was easily large enough to hold two professional sports stadiums and housed the first responder barracks, their armory, the Pegasus stable, and the aerie for the Gryphons. The rallying area that we appeared in was at the very center of the floor.

The scene was carefully conducted chaos as we materialized. People in the same DS-4 armor that we wore were scrambling to grab weapons from the armory, while others saddled up their mounts. Both the aerie and the stable had open-air exits to allow flights for training, exercise, or to board the two high-speed mounted-personnel carriers that they usually used, but today everyone would be gathering here to make things easier for me to organize the transportation.

Forty-seven minutes was as long as a Breach would remain open, and that isn’t a lot of time to organize a response for somewhere halfway across the world, but these people knew what they were doing and moved like a well-oiled machine. Since those personnel carriers would take over an hour to get from Amethyst Harbour to Rio, even going at top speed from beginning to end, we were going to have to count on me to get us there while the other personnel transports were in flight. There was a Vanguard base in South America that could deploy troops to the Incursion sight as well, but they were probably fifteen minutes away, and if everything went well, we could probably beat them there using my teleportation.

As soon as we appeared, I ordered, “Kelly, Karen, and Ainslee, get geared up in the armory ASAP and then get back here so we can get moving as soon as I have a place to ‘port to.”

Two minutes later, I received a live camera feed from Vice-Commander Carpenter via my comm crown, along with a message telling me that it was the closest feed to the Breach that they could come up with on short notice. It looked like a CCTV camera feed, and it looked like panicked pandemonium over there already, as people ran toward the camera as quickly as they could, and old-style ground vehicles and hover-jets completely ignored traffic laws in their rush to flee.

Well, damn. It had only been around five minutes since the Breach had fully formed and stabilized. I was a little surprised that they were able to find anything close to the Breach in such a short time. It wouldn’t put us very close to the Breach itself, but it was probably the best that we could hope to get between the EM surge that accompanied the opening of Breaches, killing any electronics in the area, and the destruction that the Titans would be causing as they spread out from the Breach and the epicenter of the Incursion.

A moment after that, while I was still ingraining the image in the feed into my mind, my teammates returned, fully geared up. Over their body armor, they each wore gun belts with pouches that likely held spare magazines, bullets, and condensed mana clips for the standard-issue Desert Eagle Mk XXVI handguns holstered on their belts and the M7 Punisher high-powered assault rifles that they had slung over their shoulders. Karen also had a large field medic’s bag on her back for her role as the team's emergency medic. She may not have started her nursing program at the University yet, but she did at least have first aid training and a crash course she had gotten last week on field medicine.

Good, they had all gotten standard gear that they had become very familiar with during our group training sessions with Sergeant Vale, though I did notice that my sister had some of the grenades that Sergeant Vale had her using during our most recent training session as well. The Desert Eagle handguns were fifty caliber, and they were probably using the special loadout for those: armor-piercing shells with enchantments that would cause a magical explosion on impact. While they wouldn’t do much against a fully shielded Titan, they could serve as a distraction or be used to attack weak spots once the Titans’ energy shields were depleted.

The Punisher was a purely magitech weapon, though. While it looked bulky for an assault rifle, it was based on damaged or destroyed Titan weapons and had proven effective enough in combat with them that it became standard issue for all Vanguard troops who could reasonably carry one. Honestly, it was intimidating and looked more like a small cannon than an assault rifle, and rather than a round barrel, it was diamond-shaped. It used condensed mana clips, or if the person using it was desperate, they could feed mana into it directly. The weapon fired bursts of destructive violet colored magical energy that packed a lot more punch than the enchanted ammo for the Desert Eagle, but the downside was that it was a bit of a mana hog and could go through those clips fast.

As for the extra gear, Karen’s medical kit was standard for field medics, and if she ran across anyone with injuries that she couldn’t handle with that kit, Moonlight would be with us to provide healing. Kelly’s grenades were like larger versions of the enchanted bullets for the Desert Eagles. They were regular high-explosive grenades, but enchanted to give a bit of a magical kick to the explosions and pack more punch against the magitech defenses of the Titans. Between the gear and our combined abilities, I was hoping that we wouldn’t do too terribly out there, especially after our Incursion simulation training sessions.

Not that we were going to be allowed to get close to the action if we could avoid it. After all, I had been given strict orders for my team for this mission. We were not to approach the Breach under any circumstances, something that I was more than a little disappointed in, given that Kelly and I were both chomping at the bit to go through that Breach and rescue our mom, something that I believed Vice-Commander Carpenter knew all too well. I tried to tell myself that we would get our opportunity during the Incursion that, if the Oracle Lindsey Dimas was correct, would happen in Rust Ridge, Australia, on Saturday, October 26th, when we would launch a counterstrike against the Titans.

No, we would have to wait nearly two months, and as much as I wanted to rush in and save Mom now, I knew that Vice-Commander Carpenter was probably right, and our orders were sound since we were still raw recruits who had no business in a pitched battle yet. This time, our orders were for me to focus on transporting first response teams and to keep myself energized with as much flower nectar as I could drink between trips, because teleporting so much was going to play havoc with my energy level. While I was doing that, the others would help secure the transport site, cover my ass while I worked, and set up medical tents for the influx of injured civilians and casualties that we were bound to see by the end of this operation.

By the time that my team had their gear all sorted and joined me, I was already gathering as many people and their mounts as I could in a sphere that was a little over twenty feet in diameter. My effect range had increased by a significant amount with how much I had been pushing the ability lately, but when we were talking about regular-sized people and mounts like Gryphons and Pegasi, that still wasn’t a large amount of space. I was going to need to make a lot of trips to move all the first response teams, plus my own.

I counted myself lucky that I could still tag Moonlight while she was ethereal as I concentrated on tagging everyone around me for that first trip and focusing on the video feed from my comm crown. I needed to hurry; I could already see the distant figures of Titans through the video feed, and they were getting closer with every moment. Every second I tarried was an invitation for a stray shot to disrupt the feed or something, and we would have to waste precious time waiting to acquire another jump point for me.

People’s lives were at stake; I needed to do this now. I called for everyone nearby to crowd as close to me as they could manage and mentally tagged everyone in my range as quickly as I could with the strange sense of special awareness that came with my ability before I felt the strain from pushing myself beyond my limits and triggered the teleport, wanting nothing more than to be in that place immediately. No sooner did we appear than a burst of violent violet energy struck a hover-jet trying to flee the Incursion, less than a block away, causing it to explode. Seconds after that, someone shouted, “Incoming!” as the shit hit the fan.

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Author's Note: Here's chapter 3 of Book 2, everyone. As always, a big thanks to my readers and Big Closet for your continued support. ~Amethyst.
 

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 Chapter 3: Run and Gun

A large wall of earth and concrete rose from the ground ahead of us at the shouted warning, blocking shrapnel from the exploding hover-jet and buying us a couple of minutes to get our shit in gear. It must have been one or more of the Earth Sprites, and I thanked my lucky stars that a veritable swarm of Fairies had been hovering within my teleportation range in places where it was awkward to fit full-sized people. There were close to fifty of them, a mix of various Sprites and Pixies, and that was probably practically every Fairy connected to the First Response teams.

I was also very glad that Rio still had streets covered in concrete, rather than the more durable plascrete that newer cities and those destroyed during Incursions used, because otherwise, we might have been screwed. Earth Sprites can’t manipulate plascrete like they can rock, earth, and old-fashioned concrete, and right now they were putting up more walls to try to slow the Titans’ advance. Unfortunately, our adversaries were blowing those walls apart as quickly as they were being built, and we weren’t in the best situation here.

I had teleported us too close to the advancing line of Titans, not that I had much choice in where I brought us. Besides my team and the swarm of Pixies and Sprites, I had managed to bring three Gryphons, their riders, and a couple of field medics. That wasn’t going to be enough to get a handle on this situation; I needed to go back for more people, but I couldn’t risk it when I would just be dropping them in a meat grinder if I brought them to this spot. We needed to get some distance from the front line and out of the way of the experienced fighters among us.

One of the Gryphon riders, a blond Elvish-looking man, seemed to be of the same mind as he pointed in the opposite direction of the approaching Titans and ordered, “You trainees and medics shouldn’t be this close to an active combat zone, you need to find a more secure location for an LZ and the medical tents! We’ll harry them and try to hold them here until you can get set up and deliver reinforcements! Go!”

He barely finished giving the order before the entire group of Fairies and all three Gryphons took to the air to pester the Titans, even as another earthen wall rose to cover our escape. Fuck, this wasn’t going as planned. We were way too close to the active combat zone. I didn’t like leaving so few people to cover our escape while we ran, but he was right.

These people were used to fighting Titans, and there were a lot of Fairies among them, who were small enough and quick and agile enough in the air to avoid most attacks. They could do this, at least for a little while, and the sooner we found a better spot, the sooner I could start bringing in reinforcements. I needed to worry about the people with me now and finding a secure spot so we could do our jobs.

“You heard him; move it, people!” I called out, using my voice projection app to be heard even as I started flying down the street with haste. “Kelly, cover the rear, and Poppy, ride on her shoulder and watch our backs! If anything dangerous comes our way, I want you to tell Kelly so she can intercept it and keep everyone safe! I’m going to get a bird’s eye view and try to find us a good spot!”

I could have asked Moonlight to make herself appear, but she was the biggest target of us all, and there was no purpose to it right now except if someone needed to ride her. It would take time that we probably didn’t have after she appeared for whoever rode her to get mounted, and we were probably better off making a run for it. Our training over the past weeks had helped build up our stamina, and the combat medics were probably both in better shape than us since they were working with the first response teams.

As I took to the air to get above the rooftops and get a better view of the situation, Ainslee took the lead in running down the street below, followed by the two combat medics, and then Karen, with Kelly and Poppy bringing up the rear as I’d ordered. Thankfully, it looked like the Titans behind us were more interested in trying to deal with our fighting forces, who were now harrying them from the air, than attacking those of us who were retreating. There were a plethora of bright energy beams and explosions in the area, as well as various elemental attacks, and our fliers had positioned themselves so that the Titans were frantically firing almost everywhere except down this street.

Beyond them was the usual chaos of an Incursion spread over a wide area, an area that was only growing as the Titans made their way outward in all directions from the Breach. Buildings were either burning or completely collapsed, spires of smoke were so prevalent that they nearly blocked out the early morning light, and I could hear screaming people in the distance. It was almost enough to send me plummeting back to the ground in a panic.

No, I couldn’t focus on all of that. This was the reality of the war with the Titans, I knew that, I had survived it before, and I would again as long as I was smart. I couldn’t do anything for those people screaming, at least, not right now. The best thing that I could do for the people of this city was to find a place to bring in reinforcements as soon as possible. The sooner I did that, the more people we could save.

With that in mind, I flew as fast as I could away from the current boundary of the Incursion, using the mountain with the giant statue in the distance to orient myself as I scanned the ground below for some place that would be easily defensible, or safe from the falling debris of buildings, if the Titans should get that far. Then I saw it, far in the distance, a large open area with a lot of greenery along the shoreline that looked like it might be some sort of park.

Now that I was oriented, I returned to the others. Flying alone could be dangerous for someone my size, and I was probably lucky that a hawk or something hadn’t tried to eat me for lunch. The others were still running, and increasing the gap between them and the Titans, or at least the ones directly behind us. The problem was that the Titans spread out omnidirectionally from a Breach, and the people keeping them off our backs were only making a small dent in the wall of advancing alien mechs.

Even if those behind us didn’t catch up to us, it wasn’t a guarantee that other Titans wouldn’t. Then, almost as if such negative thoughts were responsible, the building ahead of us and to the right collapsed, and a Titan appeared before us, its weapons already glowing and ready to fire. “Kelly, Cover! Everyone else, hit it with everything you’ve got to take down its energy shield and then breakdown strats, you know the drill by now!”

I issued the orders as soon as the metal behemoth appeared, and my sister rushed past me to place herself between the rest of us and the emerging beam of red light and sizzling heat, while the rest of us unloaded on it. Ainslee and both of the combat medics with us opened fire with their Punishers, unleashing bursts of violet energy, and Karen let loose with her acid beam. As for Poppy and me, we both created some of our respective elements, hitting it with a large fireball and a high-pressure water blast, respectively.

That took out a significant chunk of my energy, and Poppy looked similarly drained, but we were both still getting used to creating our elements from thin air, and it would probably be a while before we mastered it. On the positive side, though, the fact that Karen’s acid beam was starting to melt the armor of the Titan meant that we had managed to take down its shield. Everyone knew what that meant, and my team members immediately switched to our breakdown strategy for a lone Titan.

While Kelly continued to stand in the way of its weapon fire, Poppy got into its face, or rather the sensor eye, and hit it with another burst of fire to blind it. Meanwhile, Karen was focusing her acid beam on the Titan’s weapon emplacements one by one to take them out of commission, and the moment that Poppy blinded it, Ainslee summoned a massive magic-plasma sword and started taking its legs out from under it. We took it down in minutes, and as soon as we had, we continued on our way as quickly as we could manage.

There was no use doing anything else to it now that it was disabled; the Titans didn’t have pilots to capture and interrogate, and now it was effectively nothing more than a hunk of dead alien metal. We had more important matters to attend to. “I think I found a spot ahead while I was up high,” I told the others before we continued on our way. “Moonlight, I need you to take me ahead. We’ll stay in touch via comms, and then I’ll come back to teleport the rest of you there before going for reinforcements. Keep making your way down this street and try to stay ahead of any other Titans that appear. Use the same tactics, Poppy will watch behind so Kelly can guard the rear.”

Moonlight appeared at my summons even as the others acknowledged the orders. I had been reluctant to call upon my Unicorn companion, but in this situation, it made sense for two reasons. Firstly, I was a lot more tired than I was ready to admit after summoning that water blast, and I needed to conserve my energy for teleporting. Second, Moonlight could move fast, and even faster when she was ethereal and didn’t have to worry about obstacles or being shot at.

“Okay, Moonlight, by the shore up ahead of us, there’s some greenery that looks like it should be a park, and I think it’ll be far enough from the expanding front line of the enemy to be out of the combat zone when the Titans have to turn around and head back to the Breach. Please, get me there as soon as you can,” I told her mentally as I settled onto her head behind her horn and grabbed hold of some of the hair in her mane so I wouldn’t lose my grip on her. I wasn’t sure whether that could happen or not while she was making us both ethereal, and what would happen if it did, but I wasn’t about to risk it.

-Yes, my Maiden, I shall run like the wind,- she promised. A moment later, we faded from sight and were moving so fast that the buildings, side streets, and people running to the nearest shelters were a blur. I barely even noticed when we passed through vehicles, buildings, and such after the first time scared me half to death. Moonlight assured me that we would come to no harm while in this state and just kept running forward as quickly as she was able.

It was too quiet; I hadn’t heard anything from the others over comms since we left. It had only been a few minutes going by my internal clock, but that concern brought up the thought, “Will my comm crown even work when we’re ethereal like this?” It was something we should have tested, and I felt bad about not doing so before. What if the others were in trouble right now and I had no idea?

I was just starting to have a small panic attack about that when we arrived at the park I had spotted from the air, and Moonlight stopped at a soccer field that seemed to be part of the park. That was good. We would need open space for the injured to be treated, and it would make bringing in reinforcements easier for me as well. We were also well out of the fighting here, and hopefully, the front lines of the Incursion wouldn’t spread this far.

As soon as Moonlight and I were once again solid, my comms lit up. -= Keep moving, everyone, =- Ainslee’s voice called out, -= We can’t let them get us in a pincer attack! =-

-= Fuck… where the hell… is Lily, =- Karen huffed, breathing heavily.

Fuck was right, that didn’t sound good, and how did they get into such a situation in less than five minutes? The answer came easily, “Because we’re in a damn Incursion Zone, idiot,” I chided myself before promising the others, “I’m on my way, we had a comms issue, get ready for a teleport.” Then I quickly took in my surroundings and committed them to memory before focusing my thoughts on Ainslee and activating my teleportation ability to take me to where she was.

When I appeared, the others were running as buildings to either side of the street behind them were being demolished by a pair of Titans that kept firing their weapons. Kelly was hanging back to draw their fire and had just tossed some grenades at them when I arrived and called for everyone to gather around me. “Thank fuck,” Karen wheezed. “Bastards came… from side streets… attacked from both sides.”

“Kelly, move it!” I called out to my sister, “I’ll be ready to ‘port as soon as you’re in range.” I was already starting to mentally tag my teammates and the pair of combat medics. Kelly was still a good fifteen feet outside of my range, but I tagged her as well so I could use my ability to get us out of there the second that she was in range. I was already mentally primed to teleport and straining myself to keep it at the ready, and the destination firmly in my mind, while keeping everyone tagged.

“Go! I’ll be fine, they can’t hurt me!” Kelly shouted back.

I didn’t care if they could hurt her or not; I was not going to leave my sister behind. I had lost her once already, and there was no way I was going to risk that again, no matter how small that risk might be. “I said move it; that’s an order!” I snapped a little more aggressively than I wanted to. The strain of keeping the teleport primed while not initiating it was starting to get to me; it was like something inside of me was being stretched far beyond my limits, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold it.

That was when that strained something inside of me snapped; I couldn’t hold my ability back anymore, and it activated. Sort of. A sphere of light surrounded those of us in my range, around twenty feet in diameter, but we hadn’t gone anywhere, and I could still feel mana being drawn from me to fuel the ability. Outside of the sphere and in front of me, I could still see my sister trying to make her way toward us while holding off alien weapons fire, but when everyone around me gasped as one, I turned my attention to what they all seemed to be staring at behind me, and I gasped as well.

While one side of the sphere was still in the location we had been in and I could still see my sister and the Titans, the opposite side seemed to be the soccer field that I had been ready to take us to. “What the hell is going on?” Ainslee murmured beside me.

“I don’t know, but run out the side of the soccer field!” I shouted to everyone. It was a guess at best, and I needed to try to hold whatever was happening in place until Kelly could get to safety with the rest of us. Kelly, who was now following the order I’d given, ran into the sphere ahead of Titans’ weapons fire, snatched me up in a hand without stopping, and dove out the other side after the others. As soon as we left the strange, golden sphere, it vanished, and I felt the pull on my mana cease.

“What the fuck was that?” Karen asked, reiterating Ainslee’s confusion of a moment earlier as she looked around the soccer field we were now all standing in.

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Author's Note: Here's chapter 4 of Book 2, everyone. As always, a big thanks to my readers and Big Closet for your continued support. ~Amethyst.
 

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 Chapter 4: Strain

I couldn’t blame the others for being confused as we looked around the soccer field that we had appeared in. I was, too, until Poppy suggested, “Do you think you might have leveled up, Love?”

I considered the idea as I landed on my sister’s shoulder. Maybe this was another facet of my teleportation ability, but what caused it? Was it because I kept myself primed to teleport for so long? Or was it because I was trying to keep Kelly tagged while she was well outside my usual range? Of the two, the first seemed more likely, but I wouldn’t know for certain until I did some testing.

One thing was certain, though, that took a lot out of me. I needed to rest my wings for a minute, and it was probably a good idea for me to also drink some nectar and have something quick to eat. I would have to do that fast, though, because we had shit to do and we were on the clock. “I need something to eat and some nectar so I can start bringing the rest of the first responders over here.”

“I’ve got you covered, Lily,” Karen assured me as she opened her medical bag, which, in addition to the usual suspects, contained a Fairy kit that had a small bottle of nectar and a container of high-protein granola mix, along with some tiny cups for the nectar.

“Thanks,” I replied gratefully as she poured me a cup of nectar. The cup was sized for Pixies rather than Sprites, and thus a bit big for me to hold comfortably, but I still drank the whole thing and ate some of the granola.

I hurried to do so, though, since it had been roughly eight minutes since we had left the gathering area for first responders in Vanguard Tower. It seemed like it should have been longer than that, but time passes quickly when you’re running for your life, fighting Titans, and looking for a safe place to bring in more troops. Still, that’s a long ass time for those people who were covering our retreat and those waiting for me to come back for them, especially since an Incursion only lasts forty-seven minutes. I needed to get the rest of the first response teams here soon, or there wouldn’t be much of the city left to save.

While I quickly recharged my batteries, I had the others help the two combat medics start setting up their gear and secure the perimeter as best they could. As soon as I was done, I flitted toward the center of the soccer field, pictured the gathering area in Vanguard Tower in my mind, and then, instead of allowing myself to just teleport, I tried something different. I held myself back, right on the edge of activating my power, until I started to feel that odd strain from earlier, and it felt like I was going to snap again.

This time, I wasn’t nearly as surprised when I could see the gathering area on one side of my sphere and the soccer field on the other. The strain was more than a group teleport, at least at first, but it wasn’t as difficult to hold the portal open as I first feared it would be, as Poppy zipped through to tell everyone to move their asses while I held the portal open for them. The first response forces wasted no time in doing so; it wasn’t how they were expecting to be delivered to the Incursion zone, but they weren’t about to be picky when Poppy appeared and told them to haul ass.

I quickly flitted as close to the top of the sphere as I could without leaving it, so I wouldn’t be knocked around by the flow of Gryphons, Pegasi, their riders, medics, other support crew, and equipment hauling drones that started rushing through. I had no idea if it was me leaving the sphere via my sister’s hand that caused the portal to abruptly close the first time, but I sincerely suspected that it was probably the case. So, I couldn’t afford to be knocked outside the perimeter of the portal until everyone was through, not without probably needing to recharge again, and I didn’t want to waste that kind of time if I could get everyone through in one go.

From what I was told later, from the outside, people couldn’t see the sphere, only a glowing circle in space that was probably the portal itself. It could only be perceived from one side as well, so those ‘behind’ it needed to go around it to put themselves in a position where they could perceive it and travel through. This made for some awkward maneuvering, especially with the Gryphons and Pegasi, and holding the portal open long enough for everyone to pass through was tiring, but it went much faster than I was originally expecting.

If I had to make dozens of trips bringing small groups over to the LZ, not only would it have taken a long time, but I probably would have had to stop for a nectar break and to take a breather several times between trips. By the time the last of our people were through, though, I was starting to feel pretty damn drained and eagerly left my dome of effect. As soon as I did so, the portal vanished, and the slow and constant drain on my energy reserves and mana ceased.

I was so tired that I could barely move my wings. The soccer field was now a chaotic mess as people hurried to set up tents and equipment, and in the distance, I could see the last of the fliers already rushing toward the advancing lines of Titans off in the distance. Fortunately, I spotted my team nearby and landed on Ainslee’s shoulder, with Poppy following me close behind.

That didn’t last long, though, since Karen was worried that I might have overdone it and proceeded to make sure that I got more nectar and granola, along with the suggestion that I take a break for a while. I did, at least physically, but I had the others helping to unpack and set up tents and equipment where needed. Sure, we were here mostly for observation, but that was no reason to sit on our asses while everyone around us was working. If I were bigger and not so exhausted, I would have been helping too.

Before long, we could hear what sounded like fighting in the distance, but those sounds started to fade away just as quickly as the halfway mark of the Incursion was reached, and the Titans that were still functional turned around and retreated back toward the Breach. I was getting a little concerned that the reinforcements from the closest Vanguard outpost hadn’t arrived yet when my comm crown got a comm ping from someone I wasn’t familiar with. They were on the Vanguard frequency, though, so I quickly answered, “This is Cadet-Major Pierce. What can I do for you?”

“Cadet-Major, this is General Anderson. Please come to the command tent as soon as possible. We have a situation.” That was all that the owner of the deep and gritty voice said, but he sounded deadly serious, so I moved my ass to where the command tent was being set up as fast as my wings could carry me.

When I arrived, it seemed like the command tent was up, but the equipment inside was still in the process of being set up. I found three people waiting for me inside. The first was a large, golden-furred werewolf, in all his fuzzy glory. As for the second, he was a skinny but fit man with close-cropped dark brown hair, green eyes, and deeply tanned skin. He looked like a regular human at first glance, but that didn’t necessarily mean that he wasn’t Altered.

The last was a familiar face, Captain Azalea Monroe, my fellow Water Sprite and the officer in charge of the Vanguard’s Fairy forces. I didn’t realize that she was attached to the first response teams, but I guess that made sense with all the Sprites and Pixies that I had brought along during that first, ill-fated teleport. She was also the person who was teaching me to use my Water magic.

It was she who quickly made the introductions, since we already knew one another. “Guys, as you’ve probably realized, this is Cadet-Major Lily Pierce. Cadet-Major, the werewolf is General Anderson, and this is Captain Laramy. Captain Laramy is our resources officer, and General Anderson is the commander of first response operations.”

There were no other pleasantries exchanged, though, as General Anderson got right down to business. “As I told all of you on comms, we have a situation. Our reinforcements from the Brazil Vanguard Outpost aren’t coming, and neither is anyone else from headquarters.”

That got everyone’s immediate attention, and Captain Laramy was the first to respond, “What?! Why?!” as we all gaped at him in shock.

“Most of our personnel transports are fucked, that’s why,” the Werewolf all but growled. “Lundburg Technologies sabotaged them with a recent system update. They can’t fly right now, and it’s going to take a while for our tech people to jailbreak them, get them working properly again, and make sure they can’t do this again. The timing couldn’t have been worse for this; the updates were made last night, and we didn’t even know about the problem until our pilots tried to get those transports in the air.”

I would have asked why Lundburg Technologies would do such a thing, but unfortunately, I already had a pretty good idea. The owners of the company that had manufactured the lion’s share of our personnel transports wanted to make the Vanguard look bad, and they didn’t care who got hurt in the process. And people would get hurt, because while the first response teams were now all here and harrying the Titans while driving them back to the Breach, grounding our personnel transports was going to prevent our reinforcements from getting here and hamper search and rescue efforts once the Incursion was over.

I couldn’t help but feel partially responsible for this. The Lundburgs were being this petty because the Vanguard had refused to let their son, Terry, walk when he tried to murder Ainslee, and the full scope of his crimes, and his premeditated intent to murder others, was discovered in the hearing that followed the attack. They were used to getting their way and were not happy when he was sentenced to death for his crimes and died in a Vanguard prison, fed on by Vampires until he had no blood left to give.

I was the one to take Terry down when he attacked Ainslee. I was also the one who had streamed the whole attack to my superiors so that they had enough evidence of his crimes for Vice-Commander Carpenter to read his mind. Were it not for me, the Vanguard wouldn’t be having these issues right now, but since it would also mean that sick fuck would probably have killed my best friend and found some way for his sleazy lawyer to get him off with a slap on the wrist, I couldn’t summon any real regret for my actions that day.

“Focus on what you can do right now, Lily,” I told myself sternly before speaking up. “General, I think that I can probably open another portal, but we’ll need to get everyone coming through gathered in one place, like we did with the first response teams, and they’ll have to move through that portal fast. It’ll have to be somewhere in the base that I’ve been, though, and I’m not sure how long I can hold it open.”

“I was hoping that you would say that,” the Werewolf responded. “We’ve got the personnel leaving the hangars for the staging area in the sub-basement, so find an open spot to bring our people in and then get to work bringing over as many as you can, Cadet-Major. You’re dismissed. As for the two of you, we’ll need to discuss some changes to our strategy since our people will be mobilizing from here rather than being dropped from transports.”

I gave the General a quick salute, and then I was off as he started talking tactics and organization with his two subordinates. -Are you certain this is wise, my Maiden?- Moonlight asked as I found an open area of the soccer field to go about my task, because of course, she had been listening in. -These portals seem to be strenuous for you, and you have been pushing yourself too hard today.-

I shook my head sadly as I replied, “I’ll be fine, Moonlight. I’m the only one who can do this, and the faster we get our main force here, the more chance that we have of stopping the Titans before they take prisoners through the gate, and the faster we can launch search and rescue efforts for people needing immediate medical attention or trapped in collapsed buildings. We’re going to save everyone we can.”

I kept telling myself that as well, and I once again focused on a familiar spot in Vanguard tower and held my power back until it strained and then snapped, forming another portal. This time, there was no confused delay before people started pouring through, and I barely got out of the way of the rushing crowd in time. There was another major difference from the last time I had done this as well, though.

There were a lot more people who needed to pass through my portal. While there were no Gryphons or Pegasi slowing things down as they got into position and made their way through, our main force that was stationed at the tower measured roughly four times the size of the entirety of our first response teams. Holding the portal open for that long wasn’t just a strain; it was becoming almost painful the longer I held it open, and the drain on my mana and physical energy reserves was making me feel weaker by the second by the time the end was in sight.

“Move it, move it!” I mentally urged the last of the troops entering my sphere. The longer I kept the portal active, the more difficult it became to do so. My wings felt like they were made of lead as I tried to keep myself aloft, my vision was starting to get fuzzy, and I was hemorrhaging mana to my portal almost as fast as I could gather it. If my blurry vision could be counted on, though, it seemed like the last of the troops were now passing beneath me and through the portal. “I think I did it,” was my last conscious thought before I passed out.

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Author's Note: Here's chapter 5 of Book 2, everyone. As always, a big thanks to my readers and Big Closet for your continued support. ~Amethyst.
 

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 Chapter 5: Learning Experience

When I woke up, I had a splitting headache, and I was absolutely starving. A groan had barely left my lips when Moonlight’s voice entered my mind, and I felt a warm hand gripping mine. -How are you feeling, my Maiden? You pushed yourself too far. You are extremely fortunate that Poppy was watching you and managed to catch you before you hit the ground, or you could have been seriously injured,- the Unicorn chastised me. I could tell that she was more relieved that I was safe and awake than truly angry at me, though.

“I’m fine, Moonlight, just tired and very hungry,” I mentally assured her before opening my eyes.

I appeared to be inside one of the medical tents, and I was lying atop a pillow with Poppy kneeling beside me. It was she who was holding my hand, and as I opened my eyes and attempted to move, she was instantly looking down at me with a worried expression on her face as she asked in a tremulous tone, “Are you alright, Love?”

“Yeah, just a bit worn out, and very hungry,” I reiterated for her sake. “Probably could have been worse. Moonlight said that you kept me from hitting the ground, so thanks for that, hot stuff.”

Her first reaction was to plant a very passionate kiss on me. Once she had caught her breath afterward, she explained, “Yeah, I was panicking that you would get hurt when I saw you pass out, you were a good twelve feet from the ground. You weren’t really falling that fast, though, to be honest. We Sprites don’t have a lot of weight to us after all, and your wings were spread and creating some drag too. I was told that, generally speaking, it’s almost impossible for Sprites to generate enough speed, even at terminal velocity, for a fall like that to hurt us, unless we had something much heavier than us weighing us down.”

Aww, she was doing her nervous babbling thing, so it looked like she really was worried. I felt bad for worrying her like that, so I quickly apologized. “Sorry for worrying you, Poppy. Well, all of you, actually. I know that Moonlight was worried, too, and I imagine that my sister and Ainslee were as well.”

“Yeah, Love, though I think Karen was the worst mother hen of the bunch,” Poppy admitted with an attempt at a smile as she shook her head. “She was insistent that we take you to the medical tent and have one of the Fairy medics look you over. She wanted to do it herself, but she was worried that she might miss something with how small we are, and she doesn’t really have much training yet, other than first aid training and that crash course on field medicine.”

That was touching, and even a little surprising, given how prickly Karen could still be at times. It was nice to hear, though, because it meant that Karen was honestly starting to see us as friends, and not just people she was forced to train and work with. I gave my girlfriend a smile of my own as I tried to get up and said, “See, I told all of you that her icy exterior was starting to melt, at least with us.”

My attempt to get up was quickly smothered as my girlfriend shoved me right back down into a resting position. “Nuh-uh, Love, you’re not going anywhere, Captain’s orders. Captain Monroe came by while you were out and left orders that you’re to rest, eat, and get plenty of fluids until you’re needed for extraction. When you do that, you’ll be doing it in smaller groups than that last one, and you’ll have at least half an hour to rest and recharge between groups. No using your teleportation until then, unless it’s an emergency.”

I didn’t like being sidelined while there was still work to do, but I did have to admit that I had done my job already, and far more than anyone had expected from me, even myself. So, I tried to relax as I inquired, “So, where is everyone now? And how long was I out? Did I get everyone through the portal before I passed out?” Those last moments were still a little fuzzy to me.

“Captain Monroe said that everyone is accounted for, so you managed to get everyone here before you fainted. It’s been almost an hour since you passed out, so the Breach is closed and search and rescue teams are now searching through the wreckage, getting headcounts from the local Incursion shelters, and canvassing those who might be turning into Altered from the Wild Magic escaping from the Breach. We should probably be seeing people seriously injured being brought here from the Incursion Zone for treatment soon,” Poppy explained. Then she quickly added, “As for our teammates, Ainslee, Kelly, and Karen were getting antsy sitting around and not doing anything, so they joined up with one of the search and rescue crews. I assume Moonlight stayed here to watch over you, but you’re the only one who can really communicate with her.”

-You can tell her that I am indeed here to watch over you,- Moonlight interjected. -It was for the best that I stayed here anyway. My healing magic may be needed for those in serious condition. There are a couple of other Healers here for the more seriously injured, but even with three of us, I fear that we will all need to use our power only in the most life-threatening cases or risk being overwhelmed.-

I quickly confirmed for my girlfriend, “Moonlight is here, and it makes sense since she was worried about me, and there might be people brought here soon who will need her healing power. I’m glad the others are out there helping; we should be, too.”

The others would be useful out there, and not just because of Karen’s training in first aid and basic field medicine. Both Karen and Ainslee had special abilities that would allow them to get through rubble relatively quickly, while Kelly could go into potentially hazardous areas to extract people without being hurt. Honestly, both Poppy and I would have been useful out there as well, since we were both small enough to get into tight places, and I could use my teleportation to extract any trapped people while Poppy’s fire could provide light in those same tight and dark spaces.

Just thinking about that made me feel guilty for just lying here while other people were making themselves useful in the search and rescue efforts. Still, I was under orders… at least until I could get those orders changed. I guess some of my disappointment showed on my face, though, and it seemed that I couldn’t fool my girlfriend.

Poppy took one look at me and frowned. “I know that you want to be out there helping people, Love. I do, too. You’ve already done plenty, though. It’s because of you that we were able to get our first response and main forces here before the end of the Incursion, and Captain Monroe said that that limited both casualties and captures during this Incursion. Because of you, we were able to position a few key teams between the fleeing Titans and the Breach and attack them from behind as well. Usually, we wouldn’t be able to get such a sizable force here so quickly, and that’s due to your efforts.”

“She’s right,” a familiar voice agreed, and I turned my head to see Captain Monroe approaching. I attempted once again to sit up and give her a quick salute, but Poppy pushed me back down, and the Captain herself said, “At ease, you’ve done enough already. Your efforts allowed us to hit the Titans harder and faster than we ever have before, even with the hiccup that you encountered when you first arrived. Vanguard casualties have been light, and we estimate that less than a dozen people were captured and taken through the Breach, and most of those were before you even arrived, people who had the misfortune to be close to the Breach when it opened. You did well, Lily.”

“I did?” It felt good to hear that I might have made a difference, and my heart warmed at her words.

“Yes, you did very well under the circumstances,” she insisted with a smile and a nod. “Your teammates seem to be doing well with the search and rescue efforts as well. In fact, I’ll be petitioning Commander-General Kline to have your team officially join the first response and rescue teams once you’ve all finished your studies, and maybe even continue to shadow us on other Incursions like this one until then, where you might be needed to get us on site quickly. You’ll be more useful to us than to the main combat forces.”

Captain Monroe wasn’t just there to give me a pep talk. She had initially intended to check on whether I was awake yet, and since I was, she took me and Poppy to the command tent, where there was a meal of sorts waiting for me. I could have stayed in the medical tent, of course, but the bed and pillow I had been lying on would probably be needed soon, since the first of the injured who needed more than just first aid were being brought in.

While Captain Monroe and Poppy kept me company, I drank a cup of nectar and ate what was essentially an MRE meant for fairy-type Altered, consisting of some dried meat, a couple of blueberries that were as big as coconuts from my perspective, and some toasted grains. The meal was meant to be high in both natural sugars and protein to give both an immediate and long-lasting energy boost. Thankfully, it took care of the hunger that was gnawing at my belly and the lightheadedness from pushing myself too far and going sugar low.

Again, Captain Monroe wasn’t just there to watch me eat or anything like that. As I was eating, she had me, and by extension, Poppy and Moonlight, observing things in the command center and learning how things worked for the search and rescue teams during an Incursion. She apparently wanted to make sure that I was resting until I was needed again, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t learn while doing that.

For Captain Monroe, that mostly meant coordinating the various Fairies working search and rescue, who were mostly doing aerial searches, getting into tight places, searching for survivors in the rubble of buildings, and using their abilities to help get them free when applicable. Search and rescue was an all-hands-on-deck affair, which was why both the first responders and our main combat forces were all involved. The first response teams were in charge of coordinating everything, though, since search and rescue was a big part of their training.

The faster we found people injured and buried in wreckage and extracted them, the more likely it was that we could keep them alive. There was more than just search and rescue operations going on, though. In addition to that, any intact Titans who hadn’t returned through the Breach needed to be tagged so they could be taken care of once the rescue efforts were complete.

Captain Monroe explained that the Titans had no pilots, something that I had already heard before, and that when the Breach closes, any that are left behind go inert when whatever signal is controlling them is lost. That meant that their magitech weapons and shields no longer worked, but there was a risk of them becoming active again during the next Incursion if they weren’t properly dealt with. That involved destroying what Captain Monroe called the main control relay system in the chest.

Only when that was destroyed could we be sure those Titans wouldn’t rise again in the next Incursion. Those inactive Titans would then be dismantled and collected by the Vanguard’s magitech R&D division for resources and to study their various systems. Most of what we had learned about magitech so far had come from dismantling and studying damaged or deactivated Titans left behind when Breaches closed.

I asked why they hadn’t come up with a way to disrupt the signals controlling the Titans, but apparently, they weren’t all controlled by one signal with the same frequency. Each Titan seemed to be receiving a unique signal, meaning that they were probably being remotely controlled by individuals, which made sense to some degree, according to Captain Monroe. The Titans didn’t seem to be following any one set of orders or even work well together in some cases.

Rarely, more than one would go after the same potential captive, and even more rarely, one would kill someone that another had spared. This hinted at possible division in their ranks, or that maybe they weren’t as unified as the public at large believed. That could provide openings for us when the time came to take the fight to them, but it also made what little we thought we knew about our attackers as a species unreliable.

Even with the various abilities of the members of the Vanguard and the sheer number of people dedicated to the task, it wasn’t until midnight local time that the entire Incursion Zone was thoroughly searched, and our operations in Rio came to an official close. Reconstruction and other aftereffects of this event would be up to the city itself to take care of. By then, our forces were thoroughly exhausted, especially those of us who had first arrived eighteen hours ago.

Poppy had gone to help with the search effort once she was sure that I was okay and that Captain Monroe wouldn’t allow me to push myself too hard, joining the rest of our team while Moonlight used her healing power to stabilize the worst off of the injured so they could be sent to either one of the local hospitals or the one in Amethyst Harbour. I wasn’t just watching and learning with Captain Monroe during that time either. Once she was certain that I had gotten a few hours of rest, Captain Monroe had me start transporting those who were bound for Amethyst Harbour straight to the hospital.

There were over three dozen people who were becoming Altered, some of them seriously injured during building collapses, and some had injured family members who either wanted to go with them or needed better medical care than we could give them in a tent. Fortunately, I took them over several trips over the course of the afternoon and evening and was able to do so by teleporting them rather than by opening another portal. Captain Monoe also ensured that I had enough rest between those trips, as well as some nectar and a meal when needed. I even got to nap for a few hours between two trips to transport groups of people that included some who needed immediate emergency care.

Now that our operations were complete, though, I had to take all our gathered forces back to Vanguard Tower. Everyone was exhausted, and I probably would have been as well if I hadn’t been ordered to rest and refuel between trips. Still, Captain Monroe had me spread that out into five trips, each of which would have close to the same number of people as that first portal I had opened, and I would be taking a half hour to rest and drink some nectar between each trip.

On the fifth trip, I cast my final portal to ferry over the last of our personnel, those who had been disabling any abandoned Titans and packing up all the tents and other equipment that they had kept on site. The Titans would be retrieved by transports once they were functional and secure again, since there was no way I was going to be able to bring those with me, even if I was familiar with their destination. By this point, I was too damn tired anyway, even with the nap I had managed to have earlier.

My team waited until that last trip as well, since I was also our ride home, and it wasn’t until after three in the morning that we arrived back at the tower. By then, we were all thoroughly exhausted from the last twenty-two or so hours, and as soon as I teleported us to our dorm room, we all climbed gratefully into our respective beds (or stall in Moonlight’s case). There was a lot to talk about, but we were all too damn tired and that could wait until morning… or maybe afternoon, after we all had a good, long rest.

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Author's Note: Here's chapter 6 of Book 2, everyone. As always, a big thanks to my readers and Big Closet for your continued support. ~Amethyst.
 

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 Chapter 6: Nerves

The remainder of the long weekend was much less eventful, which was probably a good thing since we slept through most of Sunday. We didn’t get out of bed until well after lunchtime, and then we were all hungry enough to raid the closest cafeteria after we were all showered and feeling more alive. The shower was important, not only because it relaxed the stiffness from working too hard on Saturday and then sleeping through a good portion of the day, but also because search and rescue is dirty work (or so the others told me) and last night we had all just collapsed into our beds as soon as we were able to dismiss our body armor back to the pocket dimension from whence it came.

As we made our way to the closest of the two cafeterias on campus, Poppy and I rested on top of Kelly’s head, between her fuzzy white foxlike ears. Neither of us had much energy and that probably wouldn’t change until we got some food and nectar into us. The only thing that I had the energy for was to read an progress report that Vice-Commander Carpenter had sent sometime this morning while my sister did the walking.

The report had been sent to the Vanguard Officer’s mailing list, and for some reason, it had been sent to me as well. I wasn’t sure if that was because I was an officer in training or because I was so involved in yesterday's Incursion, but I figured it was due to a combination of the two. The report in question was basically just an update on the post-Incursion operations and a breakdown of the issues that had prevented us from using the personnel transports.

It outlined that there had been a malicious firmware update from Lundburg Technologies to all our transports, which made them unusable during the Incursion. While the Vanguard would be pursuing legal action against the military tech supplier, there was little else that we could do to them since their corporation was headquartered in the United States rather than Amethyst Harbour. As for the transports themselves, the issue was taken care of, at least for the moment.

While we were busy with the Incursion, and the search and rescue operations that followed, the Vanguard’s magitech development division was hard at work as well. They had their best computer coding people look over the troublesome firmware on the vehicles to start working on some new custom firmware and remove Lundburg Technologies’ ability to mess with our equipment again. They were working even later than we were last night, and came up with a solid fix in the early hours of the morning. After some testing to ensure that everything was working properly with the new firmware, the cargo transports would be heading straight to Rio de Janeiro to start collecting the disabled Titans left behind when the Breach closed.

It was nice to know that things were working out on that front, but since there didn’t seem to be any other action needed on my part, I just confirmed that I had received and read the report. I didn’t have anything else pressing to do, and since this was supposed to be my weekend off before the Incursion shot that all to hell, I planned to enjoy what was left of it. The first order of business was getting something to eat, and by the time that I finished reading the brief report and sending a reply, we had arrived at the cafeteria.

Once we had gotten some food into us, we decided as a team to just chill for the rest of the day and explore the campus a bit. There weren’t many people around, and there likely wouldn’t be until after the holiday on Monday, so that left us somewhat free to look around without anyone bothering us. Students wouldn’t be required to be on campus until Tuesday, which was the official first day of classes.

Not that there would be any actual classes for us that day. Only second-year students and beyond would be jumping right into classes on Tuesday, while those of us who were new to Vanguard University would be attending an orientation, followed by a tour of the campus in the morning. After lunch, the civilian students who were paying to live in the dorms and take classes at VU, most of whom were non-Altered humans, would be free to settle into their dorm rooms and relax until classes started on Wednesday.

As for those of us who were Vanguard recruits and here for our first year of classes, we would be attending a ‘meet and greet’ during the afternoon. Vice-Commander Carpenter had mentioned that to me before, telling me that it was a good opportunity to meet other Altered recruits who are studying to join the Vanguard upon graduation. It would also be a good time for those of us who had not formed official training teams to do so with people they thought they could work well with, and for teams looking to add a member or two to do so.

I was not looking forward to that day at all, especially the crowds. I had never really been comfortable in large crowds composed of people that I hardly knew or didn’t know at all, and being a five-inch-tall Sprite now only made it an even more daunting possibility. None of my group were really all that social with others either.

Moonlight had the ability, and frankly every reason, to stay out of sight, at least from her point of view. Unicorns might be excessively rare, but from what I’ve seen from mine, they are generally only concerned with the health, happiness, and well-being of the Maidens that they bind themselves to. She got along well enough with my friends and family, but she usually preferred to stay ethereal, out of sight, and avoid the attention that she might get if visible, only choosing to show herself in public places if she felt that I needed her or if I asked her to show herself for some reason.

Honestly, I believe that Poppy was the most social of all of us. My girlfriend didn’t mind socializing, but she tended to get nervous and babble a bit when outside of her comfort zone, like she did when we first met. Okay, not quite that bad, and there was usually a lot less unintentional sexual innuendo with other people, but she still tended to get nervous when placed outside of her social comfort zone.

My sister used to be okay with big groups of people, but she had changed, and not just physically, since she was captured and then discarded by the Titans. Kelly was still dealing with a lot of trauma, especially since she discovered that her nightmares were based on real buried memories. I was a little worried that large groups of people might trigger her as well, after some of those nightmares she had told me about, where she had crowds watching her either as a gladiator or some kind of actress/entertainer.

Karen had trauma as well, and she had been trying to push people away since she became a Dark Elf. She seemed to be getting better with those of us in our group, and I was hoping that she was even starting to see us as friends, but I was worried about how she might react in a crowd if someone pushed her. I knew that deep down she was afraid of getting hurt and losing someone she cares about again, which was why she started pushing people away in the first place, but she had gotten far to accustomed to putting on the bitch act and pushing people away. The mere thought of her at any sort of social gathering before she was used to interacting honestly with people again was sending up all sorts of red flags in my mind.

Ainslee wasn’t terrible with people, but with as unnaturally beautiful as she was, she was bound to draw attention in a crowd, which would likely bring attention to the rest of us as well. If guys started hitting on her or flirting, and they almost certainly would, that could end up being a problem since my best friend had no interest in anyone except my sister, and she could be extremely… blunt. She wouldn’t be a bitch, like the act that Karen could put on, but she would firmly tell them no before they could even finish their come-on line.

Honestly, with Ainslee, I was far more concerned about what might happen when a simple, “No, I’m not interested,” failed to dissuade someone. Ainslee had the stereotypical Scottish temper and was damn scary when she was angry, and not just because she could summon magical plasma weapons at will. She didn’t need her plasma to be terrifying; she was a Baobhan Sith, a sort of Fae Vampire, and the only one of her kind so far that we knew of. She didn’t even need her impressive speed and strength to subdue an overly attentive guy; she just needed to ask them to dance or accept if they asked her.

She had told all of us that dancing was instinctive with her, and that and their physical beauty was how her kind ensnared their prey. If she danced with a man and he got caught up in her rhythm, a geas would take hold of him, and the moment that he stopped matching her speed and movements, his life would be hers to take. Ainslee didn’t like feeding on people, but it would be hard for her to resist the call of the blood singing in his veins, and he would not be able to fight or refuse her. It was how she had fed on the men in the prison.

My best friend was worried that her temper might get the best of her and that she would do something she would regret. That was why she told us all about the dancing thing and warned us to stop her if she tried to dance with any men. She felt that it would only end badly for everyone involved, so if any guys got a little too pushy and refused to take no for an answer, she wanted us to do our best to run interference.

I feared that these first-day social events were a cluster fuck waiting to happen, at least for my team. If attendance wasn’t mandatory for all new recruits going to the University, I would have had us skip it altogether. We already had a team, and I wasn’t interested in adding any new members. Unfortunately, we had to go, and now I was going to worry about it for the remainder of the long weekend.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one worried about that either. As we wandered around the campus in the general direction of our dorm and the stables, so Moonlight could get some exercise, and so Kelly and Karen could each go for a short ride, Ainslee asked, “Is it just me, or is anyone else nervous about Tuesday? That meet and greet is supposed to be a party, and I’m already dreading all the people who will probably ask me to dance.”

“Hmmph… Well, if they can’t take no for an answer, then I’ll just make it clear to them,” Karen offered with an expression and tone that hovered somewhere between angry and protective. “Nobody fucks with my… friends. Honestly, I’m more annoyed that we’ll be stuck in our fucking dress uniforms for the whole day.”

Aww, she said the f-word out loud, and I wasn’t talking about the f-bombs that she dropped either, since she seemed to have an arsenal of those prepared whenever she opened her mouth. She called us her friends; this was such a big step for Karen. Also, I kind of agreed with her on the uniform thing, but this was considered a special occasion, and several high-ranking officers would be at the meet and greet, so we were expected to wear them.

Honestly, it could have been worse, though. We were only required to wear dress uniforms on special occasions, and our body armor when we were doing boot camp training and team training sessions on the weekends. While in classes, though, we could wear whatever was comfortable and suited our individual fashion sense. Still, I felt the need to agree. “Yeah, I’m not looking forward to being in uniform all day either.”

Poppy flew closer to me and fluttered her eyelashes as she suggested, “It’s not so bad. I do love a woman in uniform… as long as it isn’t me. And by the end of the day, I’m sure I’ll love getting you out of that uniform too, Love.”

I felt my cheeks warm at her brazen flirting in front of the others, but maybe there were positives to the uniform after all. Unfortunately, my thoughts on that weren’t allowed to go very far, as that was when we reached the stables. Moonlight wasn’t in her stall, since she had been sticking with us in her ethereal form, but her saddle and other gear were here, Kelly was looking forward to a ride, and she wanted to check Moonlight's shoes and give her a good brushing as well. Karen wanted to ride as well, since she hadn’t ridden a horse for a very long time. Other than her family’s semi-regular camping trips, one of her favorite vacations with them was when they all went for a horseback riding expedition when she was twelve.

“Come on out, Moonlight, Lily said that you promised us a ride,” my sister called.

She had indeed promised, after a little prodding from me. I thought that it would be a nice way for some of us to relax after all the stress from yesterday, and Moonlight deserved some love and care as well, even if she would never admit to desiring such a thing. -Fine, let us get this over with,- the Unicorn complained as she appeared in her stall. I had a feeling that her heart wasn’t truly in the complaint, though.

After checking Moonlight’s shoes, Kelly gave them the okay and then started prepping her for riding. After securing her saddle firmly in place, and then the bitless bridle and reins, she secured the fairy saddle in its place, where the bridle was fitted at the back of Moonlight’s head, so that Poppy and I could enjoy a ride as well. We did enjoy ourselves, too, and everyone got to ride the Unicorn for a bit, even Ainslee, though her hooves made the stirrups awkward for her.

It was almost dinner time by the time that we returned to the stable and Ainslee, Kelly, and Karen all worked together to give Moonlight a well-deserved currying, brushing, and some oats and an apple to eat while they worked. It was a nice time for us all to bond a bit and let loose some of the stress from yesterday. We were all still a little nervous about our first day at Vanguard University, but we would face it together, just like we did everything else.

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Author's Note: Here's chapter 7 of Book 2, everyone. As always, a big thanks to my readers and Big Closet for your continued support. ~Amethyst.
 

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 Chapter 7: Orientation

The rest of our long weekend was, thankfully, fairly quiet and relaxed. After dinner in the cafeteria on Sunday, we had a quiet night in our dorm room, relaxing and trying not to think about our upcoming first day. On Monday, Aunt Maya asked us to come home for dinner and to bring Karen along so she and the twins could finally meet her. I was actually a little bit worried about that, but Karen was on her best behavior, or at least she was doing her best to be respectful toward Ainslee’s mother, Selina, and Sammie, so we all had a nice, relaxing evening together.

Now it was almost eight thirty on Tuesday morning, and we were on our way from the cafeteria, where we had just finished eating breakfast, to Vanguard University’s main auditorium. There, we would have to sit through several speeches and then orientation for new students before getting assigned to groups for a tour of the campus. “This fucking uniform is stiff in the worst places, I can barely walk in this skirt, and I look like an idiot,” Karen grumbled as we walked.

We were all uncomfortable in our Vanguard dress uniforms, so the Dark Elf wasn’t saying anything that the rest of us couldn’t empathize with. Honestly, it wasn’t surprising that the uniforms were uncomfortable, though, since we had only received them recently and hadn’t worn them at all yet. I was not looking forward to wearing this all day either, but there wasn’t really much that I could do about it.

Since we were all girls, our uniforms consisted of polished black shoes, form-fitting black knee-length skirts with gold lines down the sides, and long-sleeved navy-blue tailored dress shirts with a black tie and a gold-colored tie clip. We also had black berets that bore the Vanguard’s coat of arms in gold on the front. The shirts bore gold epaulettes on the shoulders and our names and rank insignias on the left side of our chests. The problem wasn’t with how they looked, though; it was that the material was new and a bit stiff because we hadn’t had a chance to break the clothes in yet.

The tailors did try to make them comfortable and accommodate extra limbs like wings and tails, so I was appreciative of that, as were Poppy and Kelly. The shirts that Poppy and I had been given were a backless cut that was standard issue for Fairy-type Altered, and Kelly’s skirt had a sizable hole for her tails, as well as a button on the rear above her tails rather than at the side. Ainslee got a pass on the shoes for her uniform because she had hooves rather than feet, but she and Kelly had paid extra attention to her hoof care regimen this morning to make up for that. My best friend could be self-conscious about her hooves, which was why she usually kept them hidden with long skirts, but today she couldn’t get away with that with a knee-length skirt.

The only one of us wearing an unaltered uniform was Karen, so I guess she had good reason to complain, especially since the color scheme didn’t really go well with her dark, blue-gray skin, and the skirts were a bit tight and hard to walk in. She wasn’t happy about having to wear her hair in a tight bun all day, either, something that we all agreed with. “Be happy that you don’t have hooves to worry about, Karen. I’m gonna be worried about people staring at them all day,” Ainslee muttered as she cast a glance downward at her partially bare legs and exposed hooves.

“Yeah, I know wearing dress uniforms sucks, everyone, but I didn’t write the regulations, and I can’t change them,” I told her, letting out a sigh as we approached the auditorium. “Let’s all do our best to support one another today. Maybe since we already have a full team, I can get us out of the meet and greet early.”

Once everyone was settled in for orientation, the Dean of Vanguard University gave a speech, probably one that he had given many times before to new students like us. He went on about the standards of this institution and how we students were the future, the sort of bog-standard speech that I would have expected at an event like this. Then he talked about tolerance and working together as he launched into an explanation of how Vanguard University was different from other institutes of higher learning, like how recruits for the Vanguard would be studying alongside civilians, and how we had fields of study that couldn’t be found anywhere else in the world.

That damn speech and the general overview of what the University offered took almost an hour before it was over, and the staff on hand were ready to start dividing students into groups for tours of the campus and facilities. That came as a relief for the Altered among us, who were growing tired of the unwelcome attention. I had noticed that most of the civilian students were spending more concentration openly staring at those of us in uniform, and the rare civilian students who were obviously Altered, than they were listening to the Dean.

Most Altered students decide to join the Vanguard and get their schooling, dorm rooms, and other expenses covered, but some were well off or had no interest in ever being in an Incursion Zone or seeing a Titan again. That was fair, to be honest. If I weren’t so damn determined to save my mother, I probably would have felt the same way in their place. They probably weren’t expecting the stares from their fellow civilian students, though. At least we’d been somewhat prepared for that possibility since we were in our dress uniforms and expecting some attention from that.

In truth, I guess I couldn’t really blame the civvies for staring, though. The lion’s share of them were foreign students who had probably never endured an Incursion or seen a Titan, let alone someone who was obviously Altered. And from all the uniforms that I was seeing around me, at least a quarter of this year’s new students were Altered. Sure, some of those civvies could be Incursion survivors, not all of us become Altered after all, but from the way that most of them were openly staring, I got the feeling that most were lucky enough to have never had their lives turned upside down by an Incursion.

Unfortunately, they were separating us into tour groups based on what programs we were in, so that meant that my team was completely separated from one another, and I would only have Moonlight for familiar company. So, after we all promised to meet up at the cafeteria closest to our dorm for lunch, we separated to find our tour groups. Luckily, they were easy to find with the clearly marked signs that our tour guides were holding above their heads for our convenience.

The group that I found myself joining wasn’t very big, barely two dozen students, including two fellow Sprites who looked like Earth Sprites from their green hair. Only one of those students wasn’t in uniform. She was Altered, though, some kind of Fey from the look of her ears. I thought she might be an Elf at first, but most of them tended to have willowy figures while hers was closer to Ainslee’s more generously curvy build. She was also very pretty with tanned skin and bright pink hair that made her stand out in a crowd.

I wasn’t surprised that there were only Altered students in the program I had chosen. A good portion of the program’s courses did focus on magic studies after all. Magic of any sort required some control over mana, and since only Altered seem to have that ability, it made sense that only we would be able to get anything useful out of this program. That probably contributed to the small class size as much as the fact that the program was sort of niche.

I looked around at my fellow students while the faculty member counted heads, hoping to find someone to talk to, and I found my attention drawn to the pink-haired Fae who wasn’t in a Vanguard uniform. She looked like she was feeling kind of awkward with all the people in uniforms surrounding her, so instead of trying to strike up a conversation with the two other Sprites, I started to approach her. -Perhaps you should try to make friends with the other Sprites instead,- Moonlight suggested, a strange nervousness in her mind voice.

“I’ll be fine, Moonlight. Besides, she looks kind of lonely all by herself,” I replied, wondering what that was all about. I mean, she was often wary of people, but that was usually because she didn’t want to interact with them; this time, she actually sounded nervous for some reason. Promising Moonlight that I would be cautious, I flew into the pink-haired girl’s line of sight so she could easily see me before offering a friendly, “Hi, I’m Lily.”

Despite my efforts, it seemed that I startled her because her eyes went wide as she noticed me. “Oh! Umm… hi. I’m Raina. Sorry, I… uhh… wasn’t expecting any of you Vanguard recruits to talk to me.”

“Why not?” I inquired, genuinely confused about why she might assume that.

“Well…” she started nervously while looking at her feet, “I’m Altered, but I didn’t join the Vanguard. I just… couldn’t, and I had enough money from the insurance policies and stuff that I could afford the tuition.”

“Fighting Titans isn’t for everyone,” I offered practically, “and at least you know your limits. I don’t see why anyone should hold that against you. So, why did you choose the New World Synergy Program?”

“Well, you see, I’m a Wood Nymph and I’m really interested in learning more about Altered flora and fauna. Ideally, I want to join one of the research teams studying the ecology and new species to be found in former Incursion Zones,” she answered with a bright and enthusiastic smile.

Well, now it made a lot of sense why she hadn’t joined the Vanguard. From what little I had heard about Wood Nymphs, they’re generally very gentle in nature and don’t like violence. I had also heard that they’re very good with nature magic and helping plants grow, so she would probably be very useful to the ecological research teams. I had just told her as much when our guide called out to follow him for a tour of the campus.

I had already seen much of what the campus had to offer, but there were some things that I hadn’t, such as the eco-lab that was exclusive to our program. It was a large geodesic dome, almost a kilometer in diameter, that was positioned on the far northern edge of the campus. It held a developing ecology of Altered plants and small Altered animals that had been found in and around former Incursion Zones.

Raina was practically bouncing in excitement the entire time that we were there, and I have to admit that I was pretty excited about observing all the new species as well. Since we both seemed to share a similar interest in Altered ecology, I spent the majority of the remainder of our campus tour talking with my new friend about the program and what courses we were looking forward to taking the most. She seemed to be most interested in New World Ecology and Magical Conservation, while I was most looking forward to Altered Herbalism and Magical Mixtures, which studied not just Altered flora, but also potion making using those plants and other, more mundane, herbs and ingredients.

We had other things in common, too. We had both grown up on ranches, for instance. She grew up in northern Alberta and had been involved in rodeo and 4H when she was a kid, just like Kelly and I had when we were little. She came to Amethyst Harbour after she was caught up in the Incursion south of Grand Prairie a couple of years ago and lost her parents and home in the attack.

By the time the tour ended, just before lunch, we had exchanged call codes, and I had invited her to join me and the rest of my team for lunch. I kind of wanted to introduce her to Moonlight as well, since she showed such an interest in Altered fauna, but Moonlight seemed reluctant to let me even mention her to the Wood Nymph for some reason. Raina didn’t get to meet my other friends that day either, since she said that she had just moved into her dorm room last night and had to get all her stuff unpacked and work some things out with her new roommates.

It was after Raina had run off toward her dorm, and as I was making my way to the cafeteria to meet the others, that I asked Moonlight, “Fess up, what was your problem with Raina? I know that you’re not comfortable showing yourself to people on a general principle, but you haven’t been that resistant to someone since I first decided to introduce you to Poppy and Kelly. What don’t you like about her? She seems very nice.”

-She’s hiding something,- the Unicorn responded cryptically before giving a sort of mental sigh and elaborating. -There was a hidden presence with us for that entire tour, and it was connected to that girl. I could feel the bond; it’s just like the one that you and I share.-

“Wait, are you telling me that she has a Unicorn, too?” If Moonlight were visible, I probably would have been gaping at her in shock.

-It is very likely, though, I have never encountered another of my kind before, so I cannot be sure. Whatever it is, she is hiding something,- she responded suspiciously.

“Oh, you mean like how I didn’t tell her about you because you didn’t want her to know about you? That kind of hiding something?” I replied, rolling my eyes. It would certainly explain why she was so nervous when I came to talk to her and why she left so quickly despite us getting along so well. If her bonded Unicorn was anything like Moonlight, they probably were trying to keep Raina from revealing them… or the poor girl thought that she had voices in her head.

-Perhaps,- Moonlight admitted reluctantly, -but I think it would be wise to be cautious.-

“Yeah, I get the feeling that she’s being told the same thing right now," I grumbled. "Fuck that, I’m calling her tonight after the meet and greet to talk about this. Raina seems like she could be a good friend, and if she does have a Unicorn bond too, then maybe we’ve found a new friend for you as well.”

Moonlight was not happy about that decision, but there’s such a thing as too much paranoia, and I was beginning to think that was a trait that all Unicorns shared. She was quiet as I got my lunch from the Fairy service line in the cafeteria and searched for my teammates. I tried to convince her that I would be careful when I talked to Raina, but I could still sense her nervousness in the back of my mind when I found the others waiting for me at a table and asked, “So, how did your tours go?”

“I liked mine,” Ainslee responded first, grinning from ear to ear. “I’m really looking forward to learning more about Magitech Engineering, and our year group is pretty small for such a cutting-edge tech course. Everyone seems to be fellow Vanguard recruits, too.”

“Yeah, well, that’s not surprising, given that only people who can sense and manipulate mana can work in that field. My program is stuffed full; we had to split into two different tour groups, and I only saw a few other Vanguard recruits,” Kelly countered. I guess that wasn’t surprising since Psychology and Counselling was a program that anyone could take, and Vanguard University had hired some of the best teachers available for the program.

“It’s the same for Nursing and Trauma Care,” Karen huffed in reference to her own program. “I saw a few other recruits like me who want to be field medics for their units and go into nursing when their contract is up, but most of them were regular humans. I spent most of the fucking tour being stared at by rude assholes.”

“Yeah, I’m one of the few Altered starting in the Music Studies program this year, and the only Sprite. The program isn’t very big either, so the group was small, and it felt like everyone was staring at me the whole time,” Poppy added, looking uncharacteristically frustrated. “Well, it’s just the first day. I’m sure those people will get used to being around Altered soon while living and studying here, and then it won’t be so uncomfortable. So, how did things go for you, Love?”

Everyone turned to look at me, and I smiled. “My program is pretty small, too, but there are magical components to it, like with Magitech Engineering, so that makes sense. All my fellow students are Altered, and there was only one who wasn’t a Vanguard recruit. I spent most of the tour talking with her; we have a lot in common, probably more than either of us suspected. Moonlight thinks she has a Unicorn pal.” The looks on the faces of my friends and girlfriend were well worth it as I quietly started to eat my lunch.

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Author's Note: Back on schedule and here's chapter 8 of Book 2, everyone. As always, a big thanks to my readers and Big Closet for your continued support. ~Amethyst.
 

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 Chapter 8: Meet and Greet

Of course, the others were able to eventually get me to elaborate on my shocking statement as we ate our lunches. Eventually, the consensus was that I should call Raina after the meet and greet and try to get her to meet me somewhere neutral so I could bring up the whole Unicorn thing first and hopefully take some of the pressure off her. Karen and Moonlight weren’t too sure about that idea, but agreed that I could always back out if the talk with Raina didn’t look like it was going to go well.

The conversation helped to fill the time as we ate. We had to talk about something after all, and I don’t think any of us wanted to discuss the obvious elephant in the room. What elephant, you ask? Well, that would be the other people in the cafeteria. Sure, we were fortunate enough that nobody bothered us while we ate so far, but that didn’t mean that we went unnoticed. Far from it, in fact, but at least it was limited to uncomfortable stares and lingering glances for the moment.

While there were plenty of Altered around for the more mundane students to stare at, our table was getting more than our fair share of staring, especially from guys of both the regular human and Altered variety. That was largely due to Ainslee, unfortunately. As a Baobhan Sith, my best friend tended to be the most beautiful girl in any room that she graced with her presence, and that tended to get attention.

Kelly and Karen were getting a share of the glances as well. While not as unnaturally gorgeous as Ainslee, they were both very pretty in their own right, not to mention exotic. They also presented an interesting contrast: Karen, the dark and intimidating Dark Elf, and my sister, with her paleness and soft, fluffy white tails, hair, and fox ears.

Granted, none of the three were particularly happy with the attention that they were getting; it was making them very uncomfortable. Poor Karen was asexual and hadn’t been interested in that kind of thing even before that asshole Satyr went out of his way to threaten and assault her, and now men in general made her nervous, even if she wouldn’t admit it and tried to act tough. As for Kelly and Ainslee, those two only had eyes for one another, especially now that Ainslee was feeding on Karen twice a week and didn’t need to search for other ‘meals’.

Honestly, I was kind of glad that Poppy and I were too tiny to get much attention from people who were more than a table or two away from us and that Moonlight was wisely staying out of sight. We didn’t need more attention than we were already getting. I also wasn’t sure how any of the three who were getting unwanted attention would react right now if people stopped staring and actually approached our group.

None of us were looking forward to the meet and greet, and Ainslee in particular was worried about what she might do if guys approached her and things went too far. Kelly and Karen, on the other hand, were trying not to show it, but they were both very tired. While we all managed to pull through the most recent Incursion without freezing up or freaking out, both Kelly and Karen had been having nightmares the past couple of nights and hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep.

Not that it was very surprising, given that they both still held a lot of Incursion and Titan-related trauma. A few weeks of training sessions and one successful Incursion under our belts weren’t going to make that instantly vanish; it was going to take time and therapy. I think the only reason they were able to get any sleep the night we returned from the Incursion was that we were all dead tired from a long and exhausting day, and none of us had gotten much sleep the night before.

We managed to make it through lunch without anyone approaching us, and I let myself breathe a sigh of relief as we left the cafeteria and made our way back to the auditorium. I couldn’t quite relax yet, though, because I knew that we weren’t going to be able to avoid talking to people for much longer. After all, the whole point of this meet and greet was to talk to other students training to join the Vanguard, make friends, and form training teams.

When we arrived at our destination, I noticed that the auditorium’s layout had changed since orientation that morning. The low stage that held the speaker’s podium was still at the front of the room, as it had been for orientation, but three-quarters of the rows upon rows of seats that had been facing it had been removed. Now, the remainder of those seats were placed around over a dozen tables gathered near the stage, while the rear of the cavernous room held various refreshment tables and a large open area, likely intended for dancing or socializing.

Despite arriving ten minutes before one o’clock, there was already a sizable contingent of students present and dressed in Vanguard dress uniforms, as we were. Perhaps half of the recruits who were expected, if the number of full-sized chairs available at the tables was any indication. More recruits were filing inside behind us as well, but then, we were informed this morning that the meet and greet would begin promptly at one.

Yeah, this probably wouldn’t be the best time to show up late, at least, not if you wanted to look dependable for any possible teammates. Everyone here knew the risks of joining the Vanguard when they signed up, so they were also aware of the hard reality of being a member of the Corps. Fighting Titans can easily get you killed, and if they wanted to survive their first Incursion after training, it would be important to have a good team around them.

My team knew that as well, and that teamwork and trust were just as important, if not more so, than what abilities your teammates possess. Sergeant Vale had certainly worked hard enough to drill that into our heads during our training sessions leading up to the start of the school year. It was one of the reasons that I wasn’t looking to expand my team anymore.

The team I had was made up of my family and friends, even Karen was becoming a trusted friend and started to trust us as well. I would put my life in their hands, and we all knew our roles on the team by now. Adding more people to our team now could throw things into confusion again, so I didn’t want to risk it unless all of us felt that the person would be a good fit, and I wasn’t about to start actively looking for anyone.

To be honest, we were only here because it was a requirement for all first-year Vanguard recruits attending the University. It also made a certain amount of sense to get to know our fellow recruits, so that we could communicate and work together better when the occasion arose. However, I did not want to put up with anybody who did anything to make me or any of my teammates uncomfortable. Sure, military discipline was a thing, but we were all still raw recruits, and most of us hadn’t even gone through any sort of basic training yet, so I wasn’t expecting a lot on that front, at least not yet.

I led the others to a table that was close to the podium on the small stage, one of a few that I saw with a Fairy-sized table and chairs sitting upon it. There were four seats at the Fairy table and eight at the larger one, which meant that we probably weren’t going to get away with finding a nice, quiet spot to watch the proceedings from without having to socialize.

Sometimes, I hate being right. Things started so well since there wasn’t much time for socializing, while people found spots to sit, not much more than basic introductions between people at the same table. Then, there were speeches from Vanguard personnel, including Vice-Commander Carpenter, which took attention away from us once things got underway. Now that the speeches were over, though, we were encouraged to mingle and get to know our fellow cadets.

Except for my team, the other cadets at our table had gone to do that after realizing that they weren’t having much luck with us. I did try to give those who were polite a fair chance, but none of them would have been a good fit. Some of them had interesting abilities and were honestly looking for a good team to join, but I felt that we either already had those roles covered or that their personalities would clash with ours.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of people trying to join our team. Our table was getting a lot of attention, mostly from guys who couldn’t stop staring at Ainslee. They were mostly interested in joining our team as a transparent attempt to get their foot in the door with my best friend.

We were now dealing with the seventh such guy to approach us, and I think we were all starting to get a little bit frustrated. I was trying not to dismiss these people out of hand, but even I was beginning to lose patience after this parade of lust-addled idiots. This one couldn’t seem to take his eyes, or mind, off Ainslee well enough to even answer a simple question.

Fuck being polite, it wasn’t like he was extending us that same courtesy. I flew right into his face, blocking his view of Ainslee and making sure that I had his complete attention. “Cadet Howe, an officer just asked you a fucking question. Now, I’ll ask one more time: just what do you think you have to offer my team?”

Yeah, I used the rank card. I didn’t like doing it, but this guy needed to know there was a small, yet very important, roadblock standing between him and Ainslee. It took him a moment to process this and come up with a reply. “I’m… uh… big and strong? Oh, and my special ability lets me harden my skin. If you need a tank, I gotcha covered.”

My sister, who was holding Ainslee’s hand, snorted dismissively and cut in. “Sorry, pal, but that role is already taken. I tanked a Titan’s destruction beam with my face on Saturday. Do you think you could do the same?” Howe turned to stare at Kelly, his eyes widening, but she didn’t let it go there. “And since you’ve been staring so hard at my girlfriend, you should know that role has been filled as well. The only interest she might have in you, like ever, is as a snack.”

That managed to bring a smile to Ainslee’s face as she put an arm around Karen and said, “Nah, that role is already taken, too, Babe. See, I’ve got my tsundere juice box right here.”

“Hey! I do more for this team than just give you blood!” the Dark Elf immediately protested. I was amused to note, however, that she didn’t argue the tsundere part of that statement.

“Perhaps, Cadet Howe, you should try your luck at another table and stop bothering Cadet MacKenzie and her teammates,” a familiar voice interjected. “I would like to speak with them anyway and introduce them to someone.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Howe responded, snapping a salute and then rushing to obey the order. I turned to see Vice-Commander Carpenter standing beside our table with a very pretty young woman in a cadet’s uniform. At first glance, I thought she might be an Angel, like the Vice-Commander, simply because of the big feathery wings emerging from her back, but a more detailed glance quickly told me otherwise.

Firstly, her wings bore golden feathers rather than white. Secondly, her hair was aquamarine in color, which matched her eyes and the iridescent scales covering what I could see of her legs beneath the knee-length hem of her skirt. Those legs didn’t end in human feet either; they looked more like the talons of a bird of prey. She was a Siren.

“Girls, I’d like to introduce Cadet Naia Lazos. Naia, this is the team that I was telling you about earlier,” Vice Commander Carpenter offered before making all the proper introductions.

“I recognize you; you were in the tour for the music program this morning,” Poppy pointed out cheerfully. “There weren’t a lot of Altered there, and you kind of stood out.”

“Oh, yeah, you were like the only Sprite on the tour, so you weren’t exactly hard to miss either,” Naia replied a little nervously as she fidgeted. It seemed like she was shy around new people, but I had a feeling that being a student here and training to be in the Vanguard would help her to get over that.

The Vice-Commander smiled at the pair before giving us all a serious look and saying, “I won’t beat around the bush, Cadets. I’m introducing Naia here in the hope that she’ll be a good fit for your team. As a first response team, and likely one of the first to arrive at some Incursions, I think that her special ability will be of great use to you in the event of a communications breakdown or for information that can’t be relayed through open channels. We still can’t be sure whether the Titans can intercept our comm signals yet.”

That brought my mind back to how my comm device wasn’t working when Moonlight made us both ethereal. That could be a major weakness that negated our ability to scout ahead while safe from harm. “What’s your special ability, Naia?”

“We… umm… think it’s long-range telepathy with anyone I know well, or… maybe who I’ve been in physical contact with? I won’t be getting tested officially until tomorrow,” the Siren quickly replied. “I used it for the first time on Saturday, so I’m… uhh… still working out some of the kinks.”

“We do have five people in the Vanguard with similar abilities, so I’ve had one of them start working with her to try to discover her limits. Still, I think we can safely say that contacting someone in Rio from here counts as long-distance,” Vice-Commander Carpenter offered with a smile at the Siren.

“Wait… she contacted someone in Rio… on Saturday?” Kelly asked as she started piecing things together.

“Yeah, when my ability manifested, I was kind of having a bad day and freaking out about something, and really needed to talk to my big sister, Aster. She’s the only family I have, and she’s in the Vanguard. She kind of raised me since we lost our parents and our village, Kini, was destroyed in the Incursion six years ago,” the Siren nervously babbled.

Kini, that was a familiar name. If Naia was just starting university now, then she must have been only twelve or thirteen when the Incursion happened. “Yeah,” I offered to the fidgeting girl. “We have a friend who was in that Incursion, a Centaur named Annika; she was pregnant with her daughter, Lyra, at the time.”

“Oh! I know Annika and Lyra!” she enthused, seeming to lose some of her nervousness.

Vice-Commander Carpenter gave me a small smile and a subtle nod of approval and then offered, “Well, I’ll leave you all to get to know one another, then, and see if Naia will be a good fit for your team. Enjoy the party.”

With that, she left the shy Siren in our care. She seemed nice, but as we talked about our lives and interests, I couldn’t help but notice Karen’s frown growing steadily deeper until she was practically glaring in the girl’s direction. I fluttered over toward the Dark Elf’s pointed ear to ask, “Hey, what’s wrong, Karen? She doesn’t seem that bad.”

“Fucking asshole,” she grumbled under her breath before she seemed to realize what I’d asked and said, “No, not her, I guess she’s not terrible or anything.”

“Then what…” I began to ask as I followed her hostile gaze. On the other side of one of the refreshment tables, one of the catering staff was watching our table raptly. “Great, another Ainslee admirer,” I thought bitterly before realizing that his intent gaze wasn’t locked on my best friend as I had feared. No, his eyes were on my sister, and the expression on his face was just blank. Not like he was lost in thought or something, this was almost absent and just plain creepy.

“You see him, Lily?” The concern in Karen’s voice surprised me.

“Yeah, fuck staying around here,” I whispered back to her before announcing to the others, “Let’s go get to know Naia somewhere more private.”

That got me eager nods and a few relieved sighs. Not only was I done with dealing with cadets with no discipline and obvious designs on my best friend, but I was pretty sure that the others were as well, and that large gatherings of people like this one made Naia nervous. I wanted to get us away from here, but I needed to know if that guy was going to be a problem. So, I had Ainslee lead the others out of the auditorium and into the afternoon sunshine while I rode on her shoulder and sent to Moonlight, -Watch our backs, please, and let me know if that guy follows us or does anything suspicious.-

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Author's Note: Here's chapter 9 of Book 2, everyone. Unfortunately, nothing got posted or written last week because I spent most of the week asleep, but I'm feeling more energetic this week. As always, a big thanks to my readers and Big Closet for your continued support. ~Amethyst.
 

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 Chapter 9: New Acquaintances

Thankfully, the catering guy didn’t follow us or anything. At least, that’s what Moonlight told me as we looked for somewhere more peaceful and private to speak with Naia. She was watching our backs, as I had asked, while remaining ethereal, so if he had followed us, then she would know. She promised to inform me if the situation changed, though.

We managed to find a quiet spot on the campus quad to talk, under the shade of an old oak tree. There weren’t a lot of people around, and most of those were older students passing by along a nearby path, going about whatever they had planned for the day, or new students of the baseline human variety taking the afternoon to freely explore the campus. In any case, the tree not only gave some welcome shade from the afternoon sun, but also a bit of privacy to get to know Naia and discuss some things.

Despite it being the beginning of September, the weather was nice and warm, and it was a beautiful afternoon to spend outside. Poppy and I would have to be on guard for any predators that might consider us a meal, like hawks, cats, and such, but we were starting to get used to that. Ainslee, Karen, and Kelly would all be on guard for that kind of thing as well, and so long as we stuck close to our human-sized teammates, we would probably be okay.

“Sorry about having us all leave the party to do this, Naia. I felt it would probably be better to have this talk somewhere quieter and more private, where we wouldn’t have to worry about people bothering us,” I offered to the Siren as we all made ourselves comfortable.

“No… that’s okay… really. I’m not really a fan of big social gatherings,” she assured me, waving her hands in front of herself as she spoke. “So… thanks for getting us out of there. I have a bit of… umm… social anxiety. It was… uhh… a bit of a problem in high school. I didn’t make friends easily, and I guess being the quiet music nerd didn’t help.”

Poppy gave her a sympathetic smile. “No worries, Naia. I feel you there. Before I ended up in a cocoon of blood and gore for several years, I had issues talking to people, too; I still do sometimes. And I was openly lesbian and a music nerd too. So, yeah, I get socializing being hard.”

I was a little surprised when Karen smiled weakly and nodded in agreement. “It’s cool, not everyone is a social butterfly. I tried to avoid social interaction for a long time; I avoided making friends. These girls… didn’t give me much choice, and I still have trouble dropping my guard sometimes, but as teams go… If you do join us, I know they’ll all have your back… like they do mine. I’ll try too.”

“Awwww… our team tsundere is trying to be nice and welcome her. I’m so proud,” Kelly teased the Dark Elf.

“Fuck you, furball.” Karen retorted before going quiet again. There was a faint smile on her face, though.

What Kelly said hadn’t been entirely in jest, and I was kind of proud of Karen, too. First, she was watching Kelly’s back, and now she was trying to make Naia feel welcome in her own way. Even the one-fingered salutes that the pair exchanged held no real animosity. It was nice to see Karen taking baby steps and making progress, because I knew that she still had trust issues, and this friendship thing wasn’t easy for her.

Ainslee shook her head at the exchange, but she was smiling too as she inquired, “So, Naia, if you don’t mind me asking, why didn’t you take a year off before starting at the University? I hear that a lot of Altered in the city do that if they haven’t Awakened and gotten their special ability yet. I was planning on doing that, but I Awakened over the summer.”

“Actually, that was the plan,” Naia replied, looking down at her hands. There was a touch of nervousness in her voice as well, not as bad as at the party, but enough to see that she genuinely had anxiety issues when dealing with new people. “I was ready to wait a year, and then on Saturday… well, stuff happened, and next thing I know, I’m talking telepathically with my sister. The distraction nearly got her ass blown off.”

I winced in sympathy, but at least it sounded like her sister was okay. “Yeah, I imagine that wasn’t the best time to be on the receiving end of that discovery, in the middle of an Incursion and all,” I commented.

“Yeah, that’s putting it lightly,” she agreed with a grim nod of her head. “Anyway, she reported it to her superior officer after the fighting died down, and then on Sunday, we got a visit from Vice-Commander Carpenter. She… umm…. set me up with someone to help train my telepathy, got me an appointment for testing tomorrow, and… uhh… fast-tracked my registration for classes and stuff.”

“She probably decided to introduce you to us and see if we all click as soon as she had all of that set up,” I muttered. The Vice-Commander had made a good point about Naia being useful to our team, with us possibly being one of the first teams on site if we had a visual for me to teleport to. And if she could stay in touch with command to get new orders or pass on important information with that kind of range, she would make an excellent comms officer.

I wasn’t against the idea, so long as we all got along, and so far, it seemed like she would be a good fit. Even Karen was trying to be supportive and make Naia feel somewhat welcome, and I knew that wasn’t easy for her. Besides, the VC could have made Naia’s assignment an order, but she was giving us the choice, and I appreciated that.

I was so lost in my thoughts about that, I almost missed my sister asking our potential new teammate, “So, Naia, will you be staying in one of the dorms, or living at home?”

“We’re… umm… my sister and I are hoping that I can find a place in one of the dorms, but it might be a bit late for that now. If I could live here on Campus, it would be much more convenient. And my sister would move into one of the barracks rooms in Vanguard Tower. Not having to rent an apartment for us would save her a lot of money since it’s only just the two of us.” Naia’s expression was thoughtful as she replied, and she seemed to be losing a little of the hesitation in her speech the more we talked with her. The latter was a good sign.

“Well, if things work out and you do join our team, we do have an empty bunk in our room, so long as you don’t mind living in Rainbow Dorm,” I offered. She seemed nice so far, and the others weren’t giving me any signs that they would have a problem with her joining us. Even Karen and Moonlight hadn’t made any objections yet, either subtle or obvious.

The Siren just sort of gaped at me for a moment before she managed to find the words and will to reply. “Wait, really? You’d all… umm… let me room with you?”

Ainslee gave me a subtle nod and a smile before replying in my stead. “Well, if we all get along and we’ll be training together anyway, I don’t see a problem with it. It’s sort of the reason we’re all rooming together anyway. So, as long as you don’t have a problem living in the dorm for LGBTIQ folks…”

As my best friend trailed off thoughtfully, Naia was wildly shaking her head from side to side. “That’s perfect!” she blurted out, looking a little more relieved than just for having a possible dorm room. “I mean… I’m… uhh… I don’t know where I fall on that spectrum exactly, but I’m… not really attracted to guys. Not that I… uhh… have much experience or anything.”

Well, things might actually work out better than I feared when the Vice-Commander approached us with poor, shy Naia in tow. I was starting to feel positive about this in general, right up until Moonlight’s voice slipped into my thoughts. -My Maiden, someone is watching your group again.-

Well, shit. My mood immediately soured as my thoughts were tinted with annoyance, and I inquired, “Is it the same guy from the meet and greet? The catering guy who was watching Kelly?”

-No, this is a human girl, close to your age. She does appear to be focused on your sister, though. Look to your right, she is standing on the path and has been looking at Kelly very intently for several minutes now.-

I turned to look in the direction that Moonlight had indicated and saw a girl who looked like she might be one of the new students. She was just standing there, in the middle of the path, and looking in our direction. With a silent command to my comm crown, I accessed its camera and jumped in VR for a moment so I could zoom in and get a better look at the girl.

She looked ordinary enough, baseline human of mixed ethnicity with dark hair and eyes, and she was dressed casually for the weather in a pair of jeans, sneakers, and a green blouse. She was carrying a bag from the University bookstore and otherwise looked unremarkable. But then there were those dark eyes of hers, which looked vacant, just like the guy earlier, and that empty gaze was once again laser-focused on Kelly. This was not a coincidence; I could feel it in my bones, and something about that empty stare bothered me deeply.

“Girls, Moonlight says that we have another watcher,” I said just loud enough to carry to the others.

“Moonlight? Watcher?” Naia asked, looking more than a little confused at my sudden announcement.

“Fuck,” Karen muttered before glancing around.

Meanwhile, Kelly was explaining to the Siren, “Moonlight is Lily’s Unicorn, she’s invisible right now, so we don’t get even more attention. We’ll have to introduce her to you later. Wait, what do you mean by ‘another watcher’?” The last was asked as my sister seemed to finally process all of what I said.

“Yeah, I see her. Different person, but the same creepy, empty stare, and her eyes are locked right on Kelly, just like the last one,” Karen announced before mirroring my thoughts. “I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”

With that, Karen and I quickly explained to the others what we were talking about, and Kelly visibly shivered at the unwelcome attention as she tried to subtly get a look at the girl. “I don’t recognize her,” she said after a moment.

“Me either,” Ainslee agreed. Then she turned her attention toward me and asked, “So, what’s the plan, Lily?”

I frowned as I considered the situation. “The way I see it, we have two choices here, girls. One, we go find somewhere else to talk and see if it happens again, or two, we confront her here and now. She might bolt if we’re too obvious about it, though, and I want to know what this is about.”

“I say we go, let her know not to fuck with our friend, and get some answers about what the fuck is going on,” Karen bluntly suggested, her face set in a frown that seemed even more angry than I was used to seeing from her, even when we first met. Yeah, this had her on edge and pissed off, but she wasn’t the only one feeling that way.

“Maybe you and I should go in, Love,” Poppy offered. “We’re small enough to avoid notice if we’re careful.”

I considered the idea. I wanted to confront the girl, as Karen suggested, and to be able to have my sister confront her and find out what her malfunction was, but my girlfriend made a good point as well. Getting the drop on her would be a good idea for a lot of reasons. I smiled as an idea came to me.

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” I announced as I started doling out orders. “Naia, are you familiar enough with the Vice-Commander to contact her telepathically?”

“Y-yes, Ma’am,” she quickly replied with a nervous nod of her head.

“Okay, I want you to contact her then. Let her know what’s going on and tell her that I think we may have a problem here. We might need some backup here, maybe a medic if things go off the rails, though she looks like she’s a regular human, so that’s just a contingency in case something happens we’re not expecting, or in case she’s an Altered with no visible changes. Once you’ve done that, I’m going to teleport us right to her so she can’t try to make a run for it. Everyone, be prepared in case she pulls a weapon or does anything else hostile.”

It was a moment later that Naia confirmed that she had informed Vice-Commander Carpenter of both our current situation and location. The staring girl hadn’t moved a muscle so far as I could see, and she was still focused on my sister, to the point where she was either ignoring the rest of us or just didn’t see us as important. It was time to correct that assumption.

I had already tagged everyone while Naia was doing her thing and said, “Okay, everyone, this will be easier if you’re all standing and ready to react as soon as we change locations.” As soon as everyone stood up as I had asked, I focused on the spot directly in front of my sister’s strange stalker and moved us there.

Everyone was in motion as soon as we appeared, save poor Naia, who looked just a little disoriented from her first time teleporting. Ainslee and Karen immediately moved into position to cut off any escape, and the Siren quickly followed their lead while Poppy and I hovered at my sister’s shoulders, directly in front of the girl. Her eyes immediately widened, though it somehow still looked almost as if the lights were on, but nobody was home. “Who the hell are you, and why are you watching me?” Kelly almost snarled, glowering threateningly at the girl in front of her.

She blurted out something in surprise, but it wasn’t any language that I recognized. Kelly did, though, I could see the recognition and fear written all over her face as it lost any color it had, turning almost as white as her hair and tails. In that same instant, the girl’s eyes rolled back in her head, and she fell to the ground in a dead faint.

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Author's Note: Here's chapter 10 of Book 2, everyone. As always, a big thanks to my readers and Big Closet for your continued support. ~Amethyst.
 

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 Chapter 10: Serious Business

Well, shit. This hadn’t turned out the way I was hoping at all. Neither Kelly nor the girl who had been creepily watching her was responsive while we waited for the response team to arrive. The latter was seemingly out cold after suddenly fainting on us, while my sister seemed to be in the midst of a PTSD flashback, something that those of us who had been through simulation training with her sadly recognized.

It was frustrating that we couldn’t do much of anything for Kelly while she was in that state. The best that we could do was to stick close to her, keep talking, and let her know that we were there for her. It didn’t feel like enough, and I didn’t like feeling like I was powerless to help my sister through this. We did our best, though, while Karen quickly looked the unfamiliar girl over to ensure she hadn’t hit her head or something when she fell.

Thankfully, the response team arrived fairly quickly (in the company of Vice-Commander Carpenter herself), and I found myself seriously glad that I had asked for a medic as well. Karen couldn’t find any obvious injuries on the staring girl, on her head or otherwise, and neither could the medics when they showed up, but when they did manage to wake her, there was a slight problem with trying to get any useful information out of her. She had a large gap in her memory, and she was kind of freaking out about it once it came to light.

Don’t get me wrong, I was somewhat sympathetic, but my main focus was my sister, and I might have still felt a little hostile about the whole creepily spying on my sister thing. I mean, I’d probably be freaking out too if I woke up in the middle of the quad on my first day of classes with no memory of getting there and being accused of stalking someone. The last thing that she remembered was leaving the cafeteria after spending a couple of hours there talking to some new friends she had made on her campus tour. Everything after that was completely blank; she didn’t even seem to recognize Kelly now, let alone remember stopping to watch us as intently as she did.

So, now, as far as finding out why she was stalking my sister with that creepy, empty-eyed look on her face, we had nothing to go on but a very disturbing suspicion. When we managed to finally ease Kelly out of her PTSD flashback, she was able to tell us what had caused it in the first place, though she was still shaking and not in a very good place mentally. So, even then, Ainslee and I had to gently coax the information out of her.

As I had feared, Kelly recognized the strange language that the girl had blurted out before passing out on us, and it wasn’t something that she had heard on Earth. It was the language she heard in her nightmares, the language that she had been made to speak while somebody else controlled her body. It was the language of those alien fucks who were behind the Titans, the Incursions, and all the suffering that my sister had been through on the other side of the Breach.

That would have been damning enough, but we also had another person with missing time and memories who had passed out at the meet and greet. The description matched that of the man on the catering staff who had been watching Kelly until we left the party. It was as we finished comparing notes that Vice-Commander Carpenter frowned grimly, her brow furrowed, and she muttered, “One of those invading alien fuckers is in our city, probably somewhere on this campus. Hell, there may even be more than one. It’s bad enough to have one on Earth, but having one here is a worst-case scenario.”

Yeah, she didn’t look or sound happy about this, not that I could blame her. Hearing my suspicions confirmed was not even remotely comforting. Hell, we probably would have thought it was some Altered with a mind control ability, like that asshole Alistair Davenport, if the girl hadn’t blurted out something in an alien language that my sister recognized. This was probably the worst place on Earth to have one of the aliens behind the Titans snooping around, especially since it seemed that they could just do a bit of body snatching and have our own people do the spying for them.

Why were they even here, anyway? Were they trying to probe for security weaknesses or get intel on our troops, equipment, and tactics? That would make the most sense, from the perspective of an enemy force, but if that was the case, why were they spying on my sister of all people?

Honestly, I couldn’t come up with any answers that made sense, so I turned to the angelic Vice-Commander to ask, “So, what do we do about this?”

She looked over me silently for a moment before letting out a small sigh. “We keep it quiet for now, apart from Commander-General Kline, the people here right now, and some people that we trust implicitly. If they’ve slipped under our radar like this, who knows how long they’ve been lurking about, and they probably have a means of blending in. My guess is that they have some sort of disguise ability or magitech that allows them to do it.”

“Could they be posing as some sort of Altered or something?” I asked thoughtfully. “I mean, he was watching through people right here on campus.”

The VC considered the possibility for a moment before shaking her head. “It’s unlikely. If they’ve been watching quietly from a distance, like they were with your sister, they’re probably trying to avoid any direct social contact. We also run genetic testing on all Altered who are tested. Altered may be genetic offshoots, but those who started as humans still have a genome that’s largely similar to that of humans. I like to think that if an alien tried to slip in as an Altered, we would have caught it when they were tested.”

She was probably right, and I did remember them taking some DNA samples for testing when Moonlight and I had our powers testing. “So, I guess we don’t know shit then,” I grumbled.

“Not exactly,” the Vice-Commander said thoughtfully. “We do have some places to start looking into things, at least. We can start by checking in with the campus clinic, have them check for anyone else who has fainted recently, or who is missing time or having memory issues. Perhaps we can find a pattern in that. I might have to have any receptive telepaths and mind readers start surreptitiously scanning surface thoughts within their range. These aliens may be able to blend in physically or hide themselves, but they can’t hide their thought patterns. If the language they speak is as alien as Kelly said, then their thoughts are likely the same and will give them away. Stealth teams containing those with heightened senses would be useful too; maybe they can pick out any unusual scents or sounds and observe the sources. We also know that at least one of these aliens is showing an interest in your sister.”

“You want to use Kelly as bait?” I asked. It wouldn’t be the first time that someone on my team played that role.

“It’s a possibility, if we can determine that their interest in Kelly is more than just in passing. For now, try to keep going about your routine normally, but have Moonlight move around the campus in stealth and keep an eye out for anything that doesn’t belong. Perhaps, if they’re using a similar means to hide themselves, she can spot it,” she leaned in to tell me in a near-whisper before asking just as quietly, “About Naia, what do you think?”

I glanced over at the Siren, who was currently singing a song to try to calm Kelly down, along with my teammates. Apparently, the myth about Sirens having magical singing voices wasn’t quite a myth, and she was experimenting with ways to use the ability to help people, rather than lure them to their doom. Honestly, I liked her, and I had to admit that she would probably be a good fit for my team once she had some time to settle in, and for us all to get to know one another.

I shrugged and had to admit, “I think you’re probably right, she would be useful for my team, especially if we’re going to be one of the first on site in an Incursion. She seems nice, too, and the others seem to be okay with her. So, I guess she can join us, if that’s what she wants. I’ll extend the offer, and I don’t see any reason why she wouldn’t take it.”

“Good. If you, or any of your other team members, notice anything else unusual on campus, or anyone spying on Kelly again, have Naia report it directly to me, and I’ll dispatch someone that I know we can trust. No comms on this matter, we can’t be certain if they’re already compromised,” Vice-Commander Carpenter instructed, both her tone and expression deadly serious.

It made sense, and it seemed that was to be the end of our conversation, but I needed to tell her one more thing, something that could be important, or maybe just a coincidence. I took a deep breath and said quietly, “Um… one more thing, Vice-Commander. You mentioned Moonlight possibly being able to sense something hidden from sight. Well, earlier today she did. There was this girl on my tour, Raina, who said that she’s a Wood Nymph, and she isn’t a Vanguard recruit. She seemed nice, but I got the feeling she was trying to hide something, and Moonlight sensed a hidden presence. She thinks it could be another Unicorn, pressuring her to keep its presence a secret, but given the current circumstances…”

“It could be something else entirely,” she finished for me, her frown deepening. “Try to find out for certain, Lily, but do not reveal any of this to Raina. If it’s another Unicorn, I’ll want to speak with both of them myself and get a read on her. Even if they’re not joining the Vanguard, perhaps we can get her companion to help patrol the campus with Moonlight and search for our hidden enemies.” She didn’t say what to do if it wasn’t a Unicorn, but I think by then, we were both thinking that might be a worst-case scenario, and I would have to call in for backup.

“I was planning on getting her alone somewhere for a talk after dinner, maybe the stables, to see if she might open up,” I replied.

“Be careful, Lily,” she cautioned. “Stay in contact with Naia the entire time, and if we’re dealing with a worst-case scenario, have her contact me immediately so I can send in support.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” I responded, snapping a quick salute and then heading back toward my teammates. I didn’t want to take up any more of the Vice-Commander’s time than absolutely necessary, now that it seemed she had far more important matters to look into. I did send my thoughts toward Moonlight, though, to ask, “What do you think, Moonlight? Was the presence you sensed another of your kind, or something alien?”

The answer I received wasn’t very reassuring. -I cannot be certain, my Maiden. I have never sensed another of my kind before, but the presence had a familiarity to it. Since I am inexperienced with such things, I would advise caution.-

Yeah, that wasn’t comforting at all. For all I knew, that familiarity she spoke of could be due to our experience on the night we were still normal and hiding from Titans in the stable on the ranch. That presence had just as much chance of being an alien as it did being another Unicorn. Fuck.

Okay, I guess that meant that I would have to be extra cautious when meeting with Raina. I also might have to be a little more direct than I would like to confirm things. I would rather not interrogate a potential friend, but if that wasn’t a Unicorn, then there was a good chance that she was in danger as well.

“Okay, Moonlight, could you do as the Vice-Commander asked and go for a run around the campus while ethereal until dinner? You know, keep your senses open for anything else weird or potentially dangerous?” I asked my Unicorn companion gently.

As I suspected, she didn’t sound enthused by the idea. -Lily, if there is anything dangerous on this campus, my place is at your side, where I can keep you safe.-

“Do you sense anything dangerous now?” I pressed.

-No,- she admitted, and she didn’t sound happy to have to do so.

“Then the best way to protect me right now is to search for any other possible dangers lurking around,” I told her. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be with the others, and as soon as we find out whether Naia wants to join our team, we’ll be heading straight to our dorm room. If I need you, you’re only a thought away, and I’m going to need you with me when I go to meet Raina later.”

-Very well, my Maiden, I shall go and scout, but only because you wish me to and have made valid points on the matter,- Moonlight reluctantly acquiesced.

“Thanks, Moonlight, I appreciate it,” I sent as I could feel her presence moving away. I did appreciate it, too. She had made it clear how much she equated protecting me with being by my side, and I knew that she wasn’t a fan of us being separated unless it was truly important. This was though, and I knew that she had sensed that in both my conversation with the Vice-Commander and my words to her.

With her on her way to look into things around the campus, I turned my attention back to the rest of my team as I rejoined them. I would have to update them on the situation and our role in it, but that could wait until I knew if Naia was going to join us and once we were safely ensconced within the privacy of our dorm room. “Okay, everyone, I think we need to have a little talk,” I told them in my most serious tone.

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Author's Note: Here's chapter 11 of Book 2, everyone. As always, a big thanks to my readers and Big Closet for your continued support. ~Amethyst.
 

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 Chapter 11: Planning Ahead

“So, what’s going on, Lily?” Ainslee asked once we were all comfortable in our dorm room, where we wouldn’t be disturbed and would have a modicum of privacy.

Naia, who had gratefully accepted my invitation to join our team, was with us as well, since I wanted everyone in the loop about the current situation. This was especially true for the Siren since I would need her to stay in telepathic contact with me later when I met Raina and communicate any sensitive information directly to Vice-Commander Carter. If there truly were aliens infiltrating our campus, and possibly the Vanguard as well, there was every reason to believe that our usual comms frequencies might be compromised, so we absolutely needed a secure means of communication.

Thankfully, Kelly looked a lot better than she had just after the incident earlier. It seemed she had gotten over the shock of hearing the language of the aliens who had controlled her for years and left her with far too much trauma and a memory like Swiss cheese of the time she had spent in that hellhole. She was still looking a bit shaken and traumatized, but that was probably to be expected under the circumstances. At least she wasn’t catatonic anymore and was responding to us enough to hopefully be involved in the conversation.

I sighed as I looked at the faces around me and said, “Chances are, at least one of those alien assholes is on our doorstep and is trying to get a foothold here at the University, possibly within the Vanguard as well. All Altered within the Vanguard, and any others who have been tested had gene analysis done as well, so if any of us were aliens so far, it would have probably been detected there. At least, I hope so. The Vice-Commander suspects that they have some sort of disguise ability or magitech that is allowing them to blend in among us.”

“What do we do then, Love?” Poppy asked, looking toward Kelly in concern. The predictions that her Oracle friend had given her hadn’t included anything about this, so honestly, I couldn’t blame her for being a little bit nervous when everything had happened as predicted so far. For all we knew, this could mean that even Lindsey’s future sight didn’t see this coming. Alternatively, it might simply be something that gets resolved without much trouble or fanfare. Vice-Commander Carpenter did want to keep things as quiet as possible for now, so that could be why as well.

“For our part, we need to keep on our toes and keep our eyes open for more incidents like this one, or anything else out of place. It could be just a passing interest, or they could be specifically monitoring Kelly for some reason,” I explained as I shrugged my shoulders to indicate that there probably wasn’t a lot more we could do at the moment.

After letting my words properly sink in for a moment, I added, “I have Moonlight going around campus right now searching for anything unusual, or anything that might be keeping our ‘guests’ hidden. It’s probably just a coincidence, but I feel that it’s even more important now that I talk to Raina tonight and find out whether what she’s hiding is a Unicorn pal or not. For now, if anyone sees anything, report it straight to me, and I’ll have Naia send the details to Vice-Commander Carpenter. We can’t be certain if our comms are compromised.”

“So, that’s it? We just go on as if nothing’s happened, keep our heads down, and wait for them to come after Kelly again?” Karen practically snarled.

My sister, for her part, attempted to put on a brave face, even though she was obviously still a bit shaken by the encounter. “Let them fucking come. This time, they startled me, but next time, I’ll be ready for them.”

“We’re not the only ones who will be looking into this,” I assured them both. “This is going right to the top. The VC will be letting Commander-General Kline in on what’s going on, and she’s already planned on placing stealth teams around campus to look for anyone suspicious or any other incidents. She’ll also have the more sensitive receptive psychics with a decent range looking for any surface thoughts that feel alien, and she’ll be checking with the clinic to look into anyone who has recently reported a fainting spell, memory issues, or missing time.”

“Maybe they should check with campus security as well, in case anyone else has reported a sudden stalker, people watching them intently, or other creepy behavior? I might not be the only one who has had to deal with this before now,” Kelly suggested with a frown.

“Good idea, Sis,” I agreed before turning toward Naia. “Could you please contact Vice-Commander Carpenter and pass on that suggestion?”

“Umm… sure, I’ll do it now,” the Siren confirmed. Then her eyes got a sort of distant look in them, similar to when someone was looking at something in VR on their comm device or implant. A moment later, she was back with us. “She said she would have someone look into it. Umm… isn’t the Vice-Commander a really strong mind-reader? Couldn’t she use her ability to get any useful information from that girl?”

Both Karen and Poppy blanched at that, though it was far more apparent on the Dark Elf, who was both much bigger and whose dark skin paled at least a couple of shades. It was my girlfriend who addressed the question, though. “Vice-Commander Carpenter’s special ability is… how should I put this? It’s a brute force approach. Even if you voluntarily submit to it, if you fight it the slightest bit, even subconsciously, it is an extremely painful experience. It’s like someone digging through your brain with jagged shards of glass over and over, until she’s done. I asked her to do it, I tried not to fight it, and it was still an experience that I would rather not repeat anytime soon.”

“If that girl was being controlled and had her memory casually wiped, it was a violation of her mind, identity, and everything that makes her who she is. I’ve been through that, and just the thought of following it up with another similar violation of self immediately afterward… I hope she didn’t read her mind.” Kelly looked even more pale than usual as she spoke those words, but that wasn’t surprising given the subject matter and what she had already been through this afternoon.

Karen quickly added her agreement. “Yeah, I’ve been on the receiving end of both mind-control and the Vice-Commander’s ability. I never want to experience either again, and not even I’m enough of a bitch to wish both on somebody back-to-back.”

“Don’t worry, the Vice-Commander mentioned something about having someone with a gentler mental ability read her mind to corroborate her story and look for any clues that the alien might have left in there. They’ll do the same with the catering guy from earlier, since I guess he fainted just after we left the meet and greet, and was in a similar state as the girl,” I assured everyone.

“Maybe they can find a common thread,” Kelly mumbled despondently, though her tone made it clear that she wasn’t very hopeful about that.

“We’ve got your back, Babe, I won’t let anything happen to you on my watch, and I know that the others feel the same way,” Ainslee offered as she wrapped my sister in her arms and kissed her tenderly. Then she blatantly changed the topic as she turned to focus her gaze on our team’s most recent addition. “We should get Naia moved into the dorm room as soon as possible. Karen, can you help her with that?”

“Me? Why the fuck do I have to help everyone move their shit lately? You’re the team’s muscle, not me, you fucking ginger bitch,” the Dark Elf in question huffed in protest. I could tell her heart wasn’t in it, though, and I bet that the others saw it too. Most of her attitude was a thinly veiled show these days, at least with her teammates. Naia might be new, but Karen hadn’t done anything to oppose her joining us.

“Because you’re the only one with a vehicle, you fucking tsundere,” my best friend shot back impishly. “So, stop bitching and don’t get your panties in a knot. We all know that you’re just the team medic… and my designated juice box.” The last was said with a playful lick of her lips that had Karen rolling her eyes.

“Fine,” the Dark Elf conceded grouchily. “It’s probably not a good idea for any of us to go anywhere alone anyway. I’ll help the noob and keep her safe.”

Naia, who had been watching the byplay between the two and looking like she wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, turned to Karen to nervously inquire, “Are you… umm… sure?”

I gave the Siren a reassuring smile as I told her, “Don’t worry about Karen; she’s spent years trying to push people away, and it's become a habit for her. We’re trying to help her break that habit, and her bark is worse than her bite. She’s a big softie underneath it all.”

“I… thanks then, Karen. I appreciate it, and I promise it shouldn’t take long. I… uhh… packed most of the stuff in my room yesterday.”

“Whatever, it’s fine. C’mon, Newbie, let’s get going and get this shit done so we can be back in time for dinner,” Karen replied as she waved off the thanks. Then, the still slightly nervous Naia was sort of pulled along in her wake as Karen took charge, went to grab her purse and keys, and half-dragged the poor Siren out the door.

It was close, but Karen and Naia had returned to the dorm with Naia’s belongings shortly before six o’clock, and with Kelly and Ainslee helping them, they managed to move the boxes inside fairly quickly. Poppy and I acted as lookouts while they were doing it, keeping a watchful eye out for any other people who had developed a sudden and intense interest in my sister, or any of us, for that matter. We were all understandably uneasy at the thought of there being enemy aliens on campus.

Once we had gotten all the boxes into our dorm room, we decided to head to the closest cafeteria for dinner. None of us had the energy to help Naia start unpacking, and we decided that particular task could wait until after we’d all eaten something. There weren’t all that many boxes to unpack, but we all knew from recent experience that getting those boxes unpacked and their contents put away in their new places would be a chore.

We were all hoping for a nice, quiet dinner, but it would seem that, unfortunately, fate had other plans for us. While we were eating, our table had a lot more visitors than any of us were comfortable with. Some were new students of the baseline human variety, who were curious and had worked up their courage to approach us to ask questions about being Altered, or our individual species in particular. At least they were trying not to stare too much, and they were being somewhat polite. None of them were creepily watching any of us or speaking in alien tongues. I think we’d all had enough of that for one day.

I guess it made sense, even if it was annoying to have them approaching us while we were trying to eat. I saw Altered groups at other tables getting approached in a similar fashion, and of the six of us sitting openly at our table, we represented five different Altered species, most of which were extremely uncommon or even limited to one known person in Ainslee’s case. Actually, we had six species covered, if you counted Moonlight, who had returned from her scouting, though she remained ethereal and was keeping an eye out for trouble.

It was understandable for those people to be curious, especially if today was the first time they had seen so many different types of Altered. They were trying to learn, and as long as they weren’t too rude, we tried to answer their questions. If we wanted regular humans to accept us and not believe every exaggerated horror story they heard about us, then we needed to be ambassadors instead of scaring them off. Even Karen was trying her best not to snap at any of those people and to answer their questions.

Then there were the Altered guys. Thankfully, there weren’t quite as many of those as the curious humans approaching us, but it was a close thing. They were there to try their luck with Ainslee, of course, though Kelly and Naia were getting hit on as well. Karen glared viciously at any guys who looked at her like they were even considering trying to talk her up, and thankfully, none of them were stupid enough to press their luck with her. Still, what should have been half an hour in the cafeteria to eat dinner escalated to over an hour with all the unwelcome attention.

I was glad for once that Moonlight was so reluctant to be seen by others, because her presence would have likely generated much more attention than we were already getting. Unfortunately, she hadn’t found much of interest during her patrol of the campus, though. There was nothing unusual that screamed ‘Aliens’ to her, and the only concealed presence that she felt was familiar enough to determine that it was probably the same one she’d felt around Raina during the tour.

If it was ethereal, like she was, then she was probably fortunate just to sense its presence and the bond it shared with Raina, since we’d discovered during our testing that Moonlight doesn’t show up on scanners or any other tech that the researchers had available. Well, hopefully, we would find out shortly whether that hidden presence was a Unicorn or something else. While Karen and Naia were gone getting the Siren’s belongings, I had called Raina and arranged to meet at the stables at 7:30, telling her that I wanted to show her something cool, a rare Altered animal I had encountered. I had gotten her interest immediately.

With all the extra time we’d spent in the cafeteria, I had less time to plan for the upcoming encounter than I was hoping for. In fact, once we got back to our dorm room, I would probably have to teleport straight to the stables to make it there on time. I still had no idea what I was going to do if Raina refused to show what she was hiding up her sleeve, or worse, if the presence either wasn’t a Unicorn or she didn’t know that something was bonded to her and following her.

So, I was just a little bit on edge by the time we returned to our dorm room, five minutes before the arranged meeting. “Well, I need to get going,” I told the others.

They all knew that already, though, and none of them were too thrilled with the idea of me going to this meeting alone. It was something that we had hotly and quietly debated on the walk from the cafeteria, after all. In the end, I had managed to convince them that it was for the best, since if it was a Unicorn, I doubted that Raina would open up about it with anyone else present, and until I knew what we were dealing with, I didn’t want to alienate a possible friend by ambushing her with a group and interrogating her.

“Be careful, Love. Not just of the hidden presence either. It’s a stable, there could be owls, and mice, and cats…” Poppy cautioned as she squeezed me tightly in her embrace.

“Oh my,” I retorted with a halfhearted smile. Not that I wasn’t taking her warning seriously. At our size, any of those would be a danger, and likely try to eat me, if I wasn’t careful and keeping my eyes open. So, I promised, “I’ll be careful, Naia will keep in contact with me the whole time, as planned, and if anything happens, then I’ll either teleport here or open a portal so you can all come to me.”

“I’ll keep everyone here up to date on what’s happening on your end, so we can… umm… be ready if you need us,” Naia vowed in an attempt to reassure me. She seemed nervous about it but determined to do what was needed to the best of her ability. The way she was nibbling on her lower lip, trying to hide her nerves, was kind of cute.

Ainslee nodded grimly as my girlfriend finally consented to release me. “Yeah, and if Naia tells us that it’s go time, we’ll be through that portal as fast as you can make it.”

I knew that I could count on my team to do what they could to help me if things got hairy, and in that case, I would also have Naia contact Vice-Commander Carpenter to update her and receive any orders based on the situation. It wasn’t a full plan; it wasn’t much more than the bare bones of one, but it was probably the best I was going to get for any of the worst-case scenarios, under the circumstances. I tried not to overthink it as I focused on the familiar image of the campus stables in my mind and let my power take me there.

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Author's Note: Well, this year has just sucked, but I'm hoping that things will calm down enough that I can start posting regularly again. Fingers crossed, knock on wood, and all that. Anyway,here's chapter 12 of Book 2, everyone. As always, a big thanks to my readers and Big Closet for your continued support. ~Amethyst.
 

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 Chapter 12: Hidden

As soon as I materialized in the stables, my head was on a swivel as I scanned not only for Raina’s presence but also that of any owls or other predators that might think I was an easy meal. Immediately, I could hear some snorting and nickering from the nearest Pegasi, and my nose was greeted with the familiar and heady scent of horses, hay, manure, and leather. Fortunately, I neither spotted nor heard anything that might be an immediate danger to me. In fact, it seemed that Raina hadn’t arrived yet since the Pegasi were the only obvious signs of life.

Moonlight was there waiting for me, of course, but she would stay ethereal until I asked her to reveal herself. There was no sign of Raina yet, though, at least not yet. Since it seemed like I still had some time to prepare, I sent my thoughts toward the extra presence at the back of my mind, nestled somewhere close to Moonlight’s constant and reassuring mental aura. “Naia, I sure hope that’s you.”

-Yes, Ma’am,- the Siren’s mental voice quickly replied, and I was relieved that her telepathic ability seemed to work similarly to the mental bond I shared with Moonlight. Where Moonlight’s mental voice was soothing and familiar, Naia’s sounded much like her physical voice, but with an added musical quality to it that I couldn’t quite define. It was pleasant and somewhat calming, even if her tone sounded a bit nervous and uncertain.

“There’s no need for the formality with me, Naia, at least, not unless we’re actively working or in front of the Vice-Commander or other higher-ups. I’d like us all to be friends as well as teammates. So, you can just call me Lily when we’re all hanging out privately,” I quickly assured her. “Now, how does this work? Is it just pure communication, or can you see what I’m seeing?”

-It’s just communication, and only while I’m maintaining mental contact with you. I think so, anyway. I haven’t really been tested yet, and that seems to be how it works so far. I can’t directly read your thoughts, either, only those you specifically send to me, so if anything happens on your end, I‘ll need a play-by-play if you need me to inform the Vice-Commander about it, and I’ll need to drop my contact with you briefly to do it. So far, I’ve only been able to mentally link with one person at a time,- Naia’s pleasant mind voice explained.

I nodded thoughtfully as I took that information in and flitted over to land on the door to Moonlight’s currently vacant stall to wait. “That’s good to know, Naia. I’ll try to keep you up to date.”

Save for the sounds of the Pegasi in the stalls nearby, the next few minutes were quiet as I waited for something to happen. Finally, though, that near silence was broken as Moonlight’s voice entered my thoughts. -The presence approaches, my Maiden. Be on your guard.-

“Got it. Thanks, Moonlight.” I sent back, and then let out a sigh as I sagged in relief and passed the message on to Naia.

At least Raina wasn’t standing me up. Or so I hoped. I suppose she could have just sent her invisible companion ahead to scout things out. Ah, well, if that was the case, there wasn’t much I could do about it. I couldn’t blame her for being cautious, either, if she had a voice in her head that was as suspicious of me as Moonlight was of her.

I stayed in my current spot to remain within sight of anyone coming close, in case the presence had decided to scout the area for Raina. I needed to be visible so it wouldn’t think that I hadn’t shown up or that this might be some sort of trap. It was probably the right call, because it was a few minutes after that when Raina finally arrived and looked around, warily scanning the stalls and shadows, as she approached me.

I attempted to put a cheerful smile on my face as I awaited her by Moonlight’s stall, trying to appear relaxed. The last thing I wanted was for her to feel like this might be a trap or something. I liked her, and I wanted to be her friend, but I needed to know if that presence with her was another Unicorn, like Moonlight, or something potentially dangerous.

I didn’t want to have to put Raina on the spot about it unless I absolutely had to, so the plan hadn’t changed much since I had first come up with it. I would show my cards (and my Unicorn companion) first, and hope that it would get her to trust and empathize with me enough that she would show hers as well. If she wouldn’t show her companion, then I gave it a fifty/fifty chance that her Unicorn was being particularly stubborn. I didn’t even want to consider the other fifty percent because that most likely meant that we were dealing with either a complete unknown or something alien, and that would mean that I had much bigger problems to worry about.

So, I was trying to radiate a relaxed and friendly vibe as she approached and kept smiling as I called out, “Raina, I’m glad you came. With how interested you told me you are in Paranormal animal species, I think you’re going to love this.” I gestured to the apparently empty stall grandly.

Raina looked into the stall and then at me in utter confusion, but at least the confusion seemed to be displacing some of her nervousness as she said, “Ummm… Lily, there’s nothing there.”

“Oh, she’s there,” I promised, “she just hasn’t shown herself yet. Anytime, Moonlight, let’s not make this awkward.”

-As you wish, my Maiden, but I am still not certain that this is a wise course of action.-

“Me either, but it’s the only plan we have right now. It’s not like other people don’t already know about you, and I would rather know what we’re dealing with here,” I mentally replied.

Without another mental word, Moonlight materialized in the stall, eliciting a lengthy and audible gasp from Raina. The Wood Nymph looked to be a mix of stunned, amazed, eager, and genuinely surprised, as if this was her first time seeing one of Moonlight’s kind, and that reaction caused my stomach to clench uncomfortably. Once she could breathe and do more than just gape at Moonlight with wide eyes and a dropped jaw, she let out an ear-piercing shriek of excitement.

“Omigod, is that really a Unicorn?! Where did you find one?! How did you find one?! Can I touch it?!” The words started flying from Raina’s lips before she even finished shrieking in excitement.

That… was not the reaction I was expecting. It was like she had never seen a Unicorn before, which twisted my stomach further as I began to fear that we might not be dealing with a Unicorn here after all. My mind was racing, trying to come up with alternative plans as I attempted to field her rapid-fire questions.

“Yeah, her name is Moonlight. She was a filly that my sister gifted me before the Incursion that changed us, and we’ve been through a lot together. She bonded with me, I guess, and stayed with me, staying hidden for the whole time I was in my cocoon until I Sprouted. She’ll let you touch her if you’re nice about it; she’s as intelligent as you or me, though our bond only lets her speak to me. The reason you didn’t see her before is that Unicorns have a way of completely hiding their presence; they can also sense when others are using the same method and when someone has a similar bond to the one she formed with me,” I explained, hoping that this might get her ethereal companion to realize that we were on to them and show itself.

No such luck. Raina intently listened as she reached out to gently stroke Moonlight’s mane, and when I finished speaking, she turned to me, her eyes wide with interest. “That’s so cool that you have such a bond, and she talks to you.”

Why did it feel like I was beating my head against a wall here? I tried to give no outward sign of anything but friendliness, but I mentally asked Moonlight, “Are you certain that she had a bond like ours with whatever is hiding? She seems pretty oblivious about your kind, it still hasn’t shown itself, and I’m about ready to start entertaining worst-case scenarios here.”

-There is a bond between the two, and it feels very similar to our Maiden-bond. Since I don't have any past interaction with others of my kind, though, I cannot be completely certain,- she offered apologetically.

I sighed and decided to stop beating around the bush. “Raine, Moonlight senses that you have such a bond, and there is a hidden presence with you.” She looked completely bewildered at that statement, so I pressed further. “Have you been hearing a voice nobody else can hear?”

Her reaction was immediate, and both the shaking of her head and her denial were too fast and defensive as she stumbled back away from me and Moonlight’s stall in sudden horror. “No! I’m not crazy!”

I took a deep breath and then, as calmly and slowly as I could. “Raine, I never said that. I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on here. I don’t think that you’re crazy. You know, when Moonlight started to talk to me in my head after I Sprouted, I thought I was going crazy, too, and then she showed herself to me.”

Raina shook her head frantically again. “No, the voice isn’t real, the doctors said so! They said I was just…” she trailed off, not finishing whatever she was saying as she collapsed to the stable floor and curled in on herself. I could barely hear her murmuring, “Things were going so well… it was gone…. Why did it have to come back?”

Suddenly, as I looked down at the Wood Nymph who was now curled up in the fetal position, I was very uncertain whether I was equipped to deal with this. I needed to think, to put the pieces together and figure out what was going on with Raina on my own, because I wasn’t too sure that she would be much help at the moment. Even if she wasn’t curled up in a ball on the ground, crying, she probably had less of a clue about what was going on than I did.

“Think, Lily,” I told myself as I looked down at Raina in concern. Should I call the Vice-Commander and request a medical team? No, I got the feeling from some of what she had said that getting doctors involved right now probably wasn’t the best idea. I would send Naia a mental update on the situation, but bringing my teammates in on this might not be the best plan either.

Raina didn’t know any of them or have reason to trust them, especially in her current mental state. No, I needed to handle this myself. I would have to be cautious and gentle, though, because I didn’t want to make things worse.

Okay, so as far as I knew, Raina had awakened during an Incursion on her family’s ranch in Alberta a little over two years ago. She had been the only survivor, at least the only one from the ranch who could be confirmed alive and not captured. I knew from experience that that was more than enough to make a person emotionally and mentally brittle, especially when you start hearing voices and think you might be going crazy. Given Raina’s reactions and mumbled comments, I had to assume that she had been through that too.

The only reason that I stopped questioning my sanity was that Moonlight had revealed herself to me, showing instead of just telling. Moonlight was the first Unicorn that had revealed herself, though, and that was purely through my stubborn insistence on the matter, for my sake and Kelly’s. Using Moonlight as an example, I had to assume that others of her kind were equally reluctant to show themselves to anyone but their Maidens.

Without Moonlight as proof that they existed, how would doctors have reacted to someone newly awakened and in a delicate state of mind, telling them that they were hearing voices? They would probably think it was all in her head and attribute the voices to something trauma-related. Likely, they would get a therapist involved or something if it continued.

That wasn’t enough to go on; I needed to try to coax more details out of Raina. I flitted down to ground level, landed close to her head so she could properly hear me, and then spoke in the kindest tone I could manage. “Raina, I think I can help you. I don’t think you’re crazy, and we can prove it.”

It was a long moment before the Wood Nymph’s teary-eyed face emerged from where it had been buried in her arms. She looked doubtful, weary, as if she had fought this fight before and lost. “R-really?” she finally asked with a wet sniffle.

“Yeah, really. You’re going to be okay. I just need to know some things first. So, I need you to answer some questions honestly, okay?” I told her as soothingly as I could. Her answer was a hiccough and a brief bob of her head that I took as a nod of confirmation. “You heard a voice before, didn’t you? When was it? And what was it saying?”

Raina sniffled and wiped her eyes on her sleeve as she hesitantly answered, “A f-few days after the Incursion. H-he tuh-told me I wasn’t alone.”

I slowly and gently managed to coax more details out of her, getting her to tell me her story. She had still been in the hospital, following the Incursion, when the voice first tried to assure her she wasn’t alone. Not the hospital in Amethyst Harbour, but one near her hometown in Alberta, and she was just starting to show signs of awakening as an Altered. It was so rural that it barely counted as a true hospital; it was more of a clinic, according to what little Raina said about the place. Not that I could blame her, since it looked like there was some trauma connected to that place.

One of the doctors had caught her talking to thin air and thought she was having delusions. Since he and his counterparts weren’t used to dealing with Altered, magic, and other such things, they said some unkind things that had Raina seriously questioning her sanity. One outright told her that it was all in her head and that she sounded like a crazy person. It got worse over the next couple of days as the voice tried to convince her to run away from the hospital.

Moonlight probably would have done the same thing in his place. She had made it abundantly clear that Unicorns had no priority higher than the health and happiness of their bonded Maidens. If it were a Unicorn watching over Raina and he saw the doctors and that place as the source of anguish for Raine, then of course it would try to protect her by getting her away from them.

I suspected that the only reason he didn’t just appear and run off with her was that he had no opportunity to do so without being seen. The doctors had a twenty-four-hour watch on Raina during those few days following the first incident with the doctor and before it became apparent that she was some kind of Altered, and she was transferred to Amethyst Harbour. With the way Moonlight was so adamant that no one except me should see her at first, it made sense that the one watching over Raina would have the same issue.

So, Raina ended up in the middle of the doctors, two of whom didn’t bother even trying to hide their disdain for her, and the voice that wanted to get her away from them. Eventually, she snapped not long before she was moved to Amethyst Harbour, and since the voice was what had both her and the doctors questioning her sanity, that was where her stress from the situation was focused. She screamed at him to leave her alone, that she never wanted to talk to him again.

I gathered that the Unicorn, not wishing to see her hurt further, especially due to his actions, did as she asked but continued to loyally watch over her. Maiden bonds are for life, as Moonlight pointed out at that part of the story. Raina hadn’t heard a word from him again for over two years, until earlier today, during the campus tour, when he cautioned her to be careful around me.

Having that happen again, out of the blue, certainly explained why Raina seemed so nervous earlier. She had been reluctant to meet with me at first as well, afraid that the voice would come back again and that she was at the start of another mental breakdown. I felt for her because that could have very easily been me in her place.

Raina was still visibly upset following the telling of her story, but I figured that she was still worried that she might be going crazy and that I was just humoring her. There was only one way that I could think of to truly reassure her. So, I spoke up, knowing that her invisible companion was probably watching and listening to everything that was happening.

“I know you’re listening, and that you only want what’s best for Raine. There is one way, and only one way, that you can do that. She has every reason right now to not believe in you and think that she’s having a mental breakdown, and that is hurting her.” I stressed that last part, hoping to make him see what this was doing to Raine. “I thought the same when Moonlight first started talking to me, and the only reason that I stopped thinking that and was able to move on happily with my life was that Moonlight showed herself to me, and eventually to another person as well. Someone else seeing her made her real to me; it made me accept her and our relationship.”

Hoping that I wasn’t totally off base about this whole thing, I finished my lecture by stating, “Right now, it’s only the four of us here: you, Raina, Moonlight, and me, and I already know all about the existence of Unicorns. So, if you truly care for nothing more than Raina’s health and happiness, now is the time to ease her mind by showing yourself.”

For a moment, nothing happened, and I feared that I might have just done more harm than good, or that I might be wrong about the whole Unicorn angle after all. Then, a dark figure began to shimmer into existence, taking the form of a gorgeous, pitch-black stallion with a golden horn and a foot-long black beard dangling from his chin that matched his coat and mane. It looked toward me briefly with a snort before starting to nuzzle Raina affectionately, causing the Wood Nymph to look up at him with still-teary eyes. Eyes that widened in awe.

“I… I…” Raina seemed incapable of words as she stared at the new arrival, but the look on her face spoke volumes as she turned toward me, near-desperate for some confirmation of what she was seeing.

“He’s a handsome one, isn’t he?” I commented as casually as I could to reassure her. “Such a gorgeous black coat, and that beard is kinda cute. Moonlight doesn’t have one of those, so maybe it’s only a male thing.”

She practically collapsed in sudden relief, and then, after several minutes of heavy silence (at least on my end), she got shakily to her feet to wrap her arms around the other Unicorn’s neck. “S-sorry, I’m s-so sorry, Midnight.” I nearly sagged in relief myself. At least this wasn’t an alien thing.

It was too bad that I wasn’t privy to the other side of that conversation right now, but I figured that after all this time, they were probably long overdue for a talk about things. It was probably for the best that I left them alone to do that. So, I flitted close enough to her ear for Raina to hear me without using an app to project my voice and said, “Are you going to be okay if I leave you alone, Raine? I think you two should have a heart-to-heart, but I’ll stay if you need me to.”

Raina sniffled, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. “I… I’ll be fine. Midnight said he’ll keep me safe. Th…thanks, Lily, for everything.”

“I’ll see you in class tomorrow then,” I replied. “Before I go, though, a word of advice. You and Midnight should watch your backs and keep an eye out for anything weird on campus. I can’t say more yet, but Vice-Commander Carpenter might be contacting you about that. Don’t worry, you’re not going to be drafted into the Vanguard or anything like that, but she might have a part-time job for you to do.”

“O…okay,” she responded. I didn’t wait to hear anymore and teleported back to my room for some privacy. I had kept Naia up to date on what was going on and had her keep the others in the loop, so I only needed to report things to the Vice-Commander.

I was going to tell her the broad strokes, as I had with Naia, but I felt that most of what happened was between Raina and Midnight. I would confirm that the presence was another Unicorn rather than an alien, but I also planned to suggest that she give the pair some time before approaching them, and to be as gentle and empathetic as possible once she did. Maybe I could convince her to let me work as an intermediary with Raina. She had been through enough, and I was going to make it clear that she needed to be handled gently if they were going to ask her and Midnight to be some sort of invisible scouts searching for signs of aliens.