Seth stood beside Andrew in his driveway. The sensible gray Ford Fusion his dad drove was parked next to Seth’s Subaru. But that wasn’t what concerned him. An all-white Porsche 911 was parked behind the Ford. Seth let out a long sigh as he took his earbud out and glanced over at Andrew.

“You want me to come in with you?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“I know whose car that is. You sure?”

Seth wiped sweat off of his forehead before it could drip in his eyes. “I guess…” He swallowed.

“I’m not leaving you to this man, besides, I know you have chocolate milk. Come on.” Andrew led the way towards the front door and Seth followed, hesitation in his steps. They took their shoes off in the entryway and walked up the stairs to the main level. Seth could hear two familiar voices around the corner through the dining room and in the kitchen. Andrew walked right in with his usual cavalier air.

“Hey, Mrs- Ms. Blackwell.”

Seth waited just a moment around the corner.

“Oh, hi, Andrew. It’s back to Bailey now. And you know I want you to call me Erica.”

“Right. Mind if I get to the fridge?”

Seth rounded the corner and leaned against the wall. His mom and dad were in the left-hand side of the kitchen, both with a coffee mug in hand, as Andrew pulled the gallon of chocolate milk out and began pouring himself a glass.

“Seth!”

“Mom.” Seth looked over at the corkboard on the wall. Three hooks. One for his dad’s keys, one for his… One always empty. He kept his face blank and looked back to her. “Why are you here?”

“Because I heard about everything that happened.”

“Five weeks late? Sure.” Seth turned and began walking towards his bedroom.

“Seth, honey, wait.”

Seth walked up the stairs and entered his room, only pausing at the doorway long enough for Andrew to follow before he closed and locked the door. Seth fell back on his bed and stared at the ceiling as Andrew sat down at his desk and took a long gulp of chocolate milk.

“Your mom seems happy.”

“Yup.” Seth reached over to his nightstand and pulled his phone off the wireless charger. He opened Instagram, scrolled a bit, and showed a video to Andrew. It was from his mom’s account, a video of her on a yacht party one week after the shooting at David and Anthony’s party. “I’d already been declared missing.”

Andrew nodded slowly. “Okay. That’s more than a little messed up.”

Seth placed his phone back on the charger and continued staring at the ceiling.

A knock came at the door. “Seth, honey, can we talk? I want to make sure you’re okay.”

“Fuck off, Erica,” said Andrew.

Seth’s eyes bulged.

“Excus-”

“Go back to your fucking yacht.”

“I will not-”

“Yeah, fuck off when you want to get drunk when your son goes missing during a mass shooting. Or do you want me to come out there and say it to your fucking face?” Andrew began to stand up from the chair, but they heard retreating footsteps. He sat back down and took another gulp.

“Thanks, man,” whispered Seth.

“I told you I’ve got you, bro.”

Seth nodded, putting one arm over his face as the emotions swirled around the drain of the void within him. “Thanks.”

Andrew paused. “Hey, dude, when did you put a purple lightbulb in your closet?”

Seth bolted upright and looked. Andrew was right. Purple light emanated from under his closet door. Seth stood up and crossed towards the door, cautious. It opened before he got there.

Olivia stepped out, auburn hair in a messy bun, one green eye covered by an eyepiece attached to a black metal headband. Three red lights on the eyepiece constantly rearranged themselves like someone teasing a cat with a bunch of laser pointers. A large black satchel hung from her shoulder. Andrew fell back into his chair. She looked him up and down, the lights focusing into one single glow for a moment before she flipped it up and looked at Seth.

“Seth. So good to see you.”

“Olivia, what are you doing here?”

Andrew’s mouth flapped on his jaw. Olivia looked at him again and smirked. “You’re eighteen now, right?”

Seth hesitated. She was looking his bare torso up and down just like she had at her house. “In a week and a half…”

“Happy birthday, then! I brought some gifts. To make life just a little better.” She crossed over and sat down on his bed, then set the satchel on the floor and began rummaging through it. She produced half of a leg. The lower half, specifically of the left side. The foot was shaped exactly like Seth’s right, the top of the calf terminating in a flat plateau of flesh. She set it on the ground and it began hopping in circles around the room of its own volition. Andrew still sat with his jaw slack.

Seth looked from the disturbing sight to Olivia. “What’s that?”

“What do you think? I’ve been working on a birthday gift for you for the last two weeks. See, after you destroyed my stone spell with my monstrosity of an augment, I got to thinking that you were going to face some difficulty training with people who didn’t have metal legs, and it made me sad to think how sad that must have made you. Can’t have you being sad on your birthday, so… Go on. Try it on.”

“How?”

“You already can feel it, can’t you?”

Seth’s face flat-lined for a moment as he became aware of the feeling of a third foot moving, hopping, in fact, around the room. As the feeling filtered into his consciousness, the foot slowed until it eventually stopped and stood there. Andrew finally managed to close his mouth, now he just stared with wide eyes. Seth concentrated. The foot and calf flopped over to the right on the floor, and he felt the sensation of the cold hardwood slapping the side of his leg.

“Keep trying.”

“Fuck this.” Seth walked over and picked it up, very uncomfortable with feeling his fingers on his calf when his calf wasn’t attached to him or even actually his calf. “What do I do now?”

“Detach the original. It’s mindlocked. Only you can do it. Tug and twist right.”

Seth sat on the bed beside her, set the fleshy leg on the floor, and then grasped his augment, tugging down and turning it right. With a sound like goopy oatmeal, it popped off like it had never been there and slid out of his pant leg. After rolling the sweats up, all that remained was a cleanly formed stump.

“Oh, FUCK.” Said Andrew. “I’m done.” He turned and faced the wall.

Seth moved his other leg close to the stump and flesh-tendrils reached out from the augment, waving like so many tiny arms until he touched it to his stump and they swarmed around it, a bubbling mass of flesh for an instant before settling down. It now looked like a regular leg. In fact, it looked exactly like his leg had used to. Seth ran his hands through his hair. “Jesus.”

“I went ahead and made the bone to the specifications of your right leg. It possesses the same amount of calcification, so you can kick with it like your other without worrying about breaking anything. But, it’s not going to attract attention like my other finely made piece of tech will, and you’re not going to break someone’s leg on accident.”

“Is it over?” Asked Andrew.

“It is,” said Olivia. “You may look.”

Andrew turned around and raised his eyebrows. “Looks just like before… Yeah. Hold up, though. Who are you?”

“I’m Olivia.”

“And how did you walk out of Seth’s closet?”

“I’m a monster here to collect the screams of children and power my world.”

Andrew narrowed his eyes, then looked over at Seth’s phone. “Seth, are we…?” He trailed the question off.

She smirked. “No one’s listening. Not while I’m in the room, at least. Seth told you about his adventures, then?”

Andrew looked to Seth.

“Yeah, I did. I had to have someone to tell, even if I was told not to.”

“By who? Ben and I gave you no such instruction.”

“Hunter-33.”

“Oh, gods above and below.” She massaged her temples. “I told Ben it was an incident like Tibet. The man won’t listen. Infuriating overtalented-” She stopped herself. “Nicole was as I warned Ben, then?”

“Assuming you warned her she was a murderer.”

“Yes. I’m extremely sorry I wasn’t more insistent, but Ben assured me he had checked her out thoroughly. I suppose then, he was checking something else out rather than her character and intentions.” She placed a hand just a little too far up Seth’s thigh for him to be comfortable. “Truly. I’m sorry you had to deal with that. But apparently,” she took her hand back and started rummaging through her satchel again. “Hunter-33 is friend, not food. Here.” She proceeded to pull out a series of brown bottles with yellow caps. “I always give people brews of my own creation on their birthdays. Yes, I know you’re not twenty-one, I’m assuming you know how to hide things if your parents are the strict type.”

“Something like that.”

Andrew stood up and crossed over, crouching in front of the twelve bottles she had set on the floor. “No label, what are they?”

“Don’t know now, but there’s a stout, a porter, and then a kolsch I’ve been working on. No promises on that one, it’s my first go.”

“You just pull these out of the fridge?”

“No, they cool themselves.” She tapped one of the caps. “Has an elemental path on the bottom of the cap, it draws ambient power from the environment. Doesn’t take much to keep a beer at a frosty forty-five degrees. Maybe a hundredth? If that.”

Andrew sat back on the floor in front of them. “Okay. Lot to take in today. Magic is real and it can keep beer cold.” He pursed his lips. “I should learn magic.”

She smiled. “It’s not outside the realm of possibility. There are very few who can enact meaningful impact through their innate capabilities, but everyone has the smallest spark of it…” She leaned forward and placed a hand on Andrew’s thick chest. “In here.” She winked. “Certainly enough to keep a beer cold.”

“Can you teach me?”

She pulled back. “I seriously doubt you have the concentration to form one.”

Andrew raised an eyebrow. “You kidding? Seth made me be his meditation buddy for a year straight. I know how to focus.”

“Another time. Unfortunately,” she said as she stood from the bed. “I have to be going. But don’t go trying yourself, you might attract things you don’t want to. Or worse, just outright kill yourself by overcasting and ripping your lungs straight out of your body.” She tousled Seth’s hair, but in a slow manner than unnerved him like her hand on his thigh. She pointed at Seth’s phone and snapped her fingers. “There. You have my number if you need help troubleshooting one of your augments, or any…” She paused. “Other reasons.”

Seth swallowed. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” She walked through the closet door and shut it behind her. There was a flash of violet light and Seth knew she was gone.

“Dude.” Said Andrew. “She has it in for you.”

“She’s like thirty!”

“And?”

Seth’s face become one of a skeptic. “I don’t think so, dude.”

“Then let me have her number.”

“No, Andrew. There’s plenty of girls for you to hook up with here.”

“I haven’t checked redhead off my list yet.”

“How, man? I can think of at least four girls who are gingers who’d be into you.”

“I said redhead, not ginger.”

“There’s not a difference!”

“There totally is,” said Andrew, picking up one of the bottles and inspecting it.

Seth concentrated and the mithril augment hopped over and kicked Andrew in the leg.

“What?”

“We’re not drinking tonight. It’s Monday. Still have a week of training to go.”

“Just one.”

“I want to save them for my birthday.”

“Party?”

Seth shrugged. “You know I don’t like parties.”

“No, not like one I’d throw. I mean I’ll round up some people you like hanging out with and we’ll have a bonfire.”

“Yeah, thanks. That sounds really good.”

The idea did sound good. And for now, the demon and the knots in his stomach remained out of thought.