I was in heaven. I was reunited with Kalli and she had even ditched the rich kids for me. I still wasn’t sure that was a good social career move for her as a student, but I was glad she did it anyway. She was currently ranting in my ear. I can’t believe those kids. They were so rude. You didn’t deserve that. I’ve been with you for days now and you haven’t looked at my butt once. Wait, are you looking at my butt right now? You better not be.

I leaned back and laughed, careful not to relinquish my grip on her waist.

Don’t worry, I am definitely not looking at your butt.

Her mind growled in my ear. Why? Is there something wrong with my butt?

I didn’t know how to answer that question, but she didn’t wait for one and continued her rant. You know what, Mel? It was kind of nice being accepted by those kids. I always wanted to know what it was like to be part of the upper crust. Well, now I do. And you know what? I think I'd rather continue being gutter trash if that’s what I have to do to be a part of their crowd.

I didn’t know what upper crust and gutter trash were, but I knew what it was like to be looked down on by the other kids.

You’re not trash Kalli. You’re better than them. Better than all of them.

We flew in silence for a while. Then she said, Thank you, Mel. You’re better than them too.

I smiled. She was willing to give up her new friends for me.

Was there a popular kid’s table in your world?

The feeling I got from the girl felt eerily similar to the way I felt about my bullies. In my world, it's the nobles who look down on the rest of us. There is no way we would ever be allowed to set foot in one of their academies. That didn’t stop their children from looking down on us whenever they encountered us though. I used to dream of escaping to their world with the fancy balls and the ruffled dresses.

Did you have fun with those today with those guys before I got there?

She was hesitant to answer, so I sent reassurance. They were nice enough. The part that felt amazing was how the other kids treated me just for walking with them. They didn’t get nasty until you got there.

I might have told them off once or twice for not doing anything when they saw Tim bully me. You know, Kalli, if it makes you feel good to hang out with them, I think you should do it. I’ll just hang out in the library and we can talk in group chat.

The pyromancer seemed apprehensive. Maybe. But I’m still eating lunch with you every day. I’ll see if I can talk them into giving you a chance. That thing about you being a pervert was a lie. Right?

I could sense the doubt in her question. She wanted it to be a lie, but then again she knew I was a boy. I felt a slight pang of guilt when I recalled a situation in the mall when I accidentally saw an older woman’s panties while she was going up the escalator. I must have been projecting again because Kalli commented in my head. Ew. That's gross. It was also an accident though, so it doesn’t count.

The conversation ended as the ocean suddenly loomed on the horizon. Kalliphae gasped as the massive body of water flooded the horizon. I’ve never seen anything like it. I can’t see the other side.

I sat there in shock on the beach. When we first arrived, Kalli noticed the other beachgoers enjoying themselves in the water. She happily announced that she wanted to try it too and before I could say anything the phoenix outfit morphed into a two-piece bikini. I could tell that she got the idea by observing a group of women who were sunbathing nearby, but the sudden transformation floored me. I was happy to discover that the wound on her belly had completely healed without even leaving so much as a scar.

I’ve never had any scars come to think of it.

She caught my thought and replied as she skipped away toward the water. You don’t have any scars? I used to have one on my arm. I got it climbing a tree when I was little. It disappeared last night though.

The first thing that entered my mind was an image of little Kalliphae climbing a tree. I imagined her looking the same as she did now, only smaller. She giggled in my mind and showed me a vision of her true self as a child. The reality was much more gritty. Young Kalli explored a small wooded area near a monastery wearing a tattered dress that was too big for her wiry frame. I couldn’t see her face, but that was because I was seeing her memory from her perspective. Her thought filled my mind. Now show me you when you were a kid.

I cycled through memories of my childhood. One particularly pleasant memory came to mind of playing handball in elementary school with my best friend Brian. We lost touch when my mom was forced to move and I had never heard from him since.

Kalli sent her emphatic appreciation of my memory through the connection and thought, Sharing memories is a fun trick my master showed me when he was teaching me to use pyromancy. I always wanted to try it with a friend. Now, get off your butt and come make some new memories in the water with me.

But I don’t want to get wet. I didn’t bring a change of clothes.

She growled at me. Did you forget who you’re talking to? I can dry you off no problem.

We both laughed as I was forced to remember Kalliphae’s very unique drying methods and soon I joined the girl in the water. We splashed and played for nearly half an hour before I remembered we still needed to get back to school at some point.

You probably already missed your next class, but we shouldn’t stay gone all day.

Kalli froze and stammered. No, wait. You forgot to eat the food I made.

She dragged me out of the sea and plopped me down on the beach, removing the bag she had shown me earlier. Inside was a Tupperware container that she must have gotten from Mrs. Hodgins containing a dark brown liquid with chunks of meat and vegetables.

She told me all about it as I sniffed the stew. It’s supposed to be cockatrice stew, but Mrs. Hodgins didn’t have any cock meat so I had to settle for a different bird that I’d never heard of.

I spluttered at the girl’s explanation and informed her.

I think the word cock has a different meaning in this world than it does in yours.

She eyed me curiously. Do you eat it here?

Some people do, I guess.

I tried my best not to project a mental image of my thoughts. I didn’t have to worry as she went on with her introduction. Fortunately, your world does have an abundance of potatoes and various vegetables. This was a very popular meal at the orphanage, though we only ever got meat during the holidays.

As she spoke, she placed her hand above the thick liquid. For a normal person, this would be very unsanitary, but for Kalli, I could tell by the glow that she was heating the stew directly with her flames. When it started to bubble she blew on it for me and handed me a spoon. Dig in.

The first thing that hit my tongue was the spiciness of the stew. It had a pleasant bite that tickled my senses without hurting my taste buds too bad. I normally had a low tolerance for spicy food. The meat turned out to be chicken, which I didn’t mind one bit. To go with the perfectly cooked potatoes, she had added carrots, celery, and onions. I couldn’t pick out the combination of spices that she used, but it was the best stew I had eaten in my whole life. I told her as much.

This is amazing. You could easily make a living as a chef in this world.

She beamed at me and blushed. You’re just saying that. You’re probably the only person in this world that I would feed that to.

That confused me. Was this some kind of a meal that only lovers shared? Did I dare to dream? She made it clear that that wasn’t the case by repeating. I am not your girlfriend. Stop thinking about that. The reason I said only you would eat it is that I used my flame in it. I only did it because you ate that frozen dinner that I dropped the other day.

Why does that make a difference?

I thought to myself.

Did she just turn even redder?

She continued to explain, When I cook food for myself, I infuse it with my mana to cook it. It makes it taste better to me. But it also makes the food contain my mana. Most people think it's gross to eat another person’s mana, even if it is from their lover. However, since you already ate some before and didn’t complain, I thought I’d show you how spicy my magic is.

It took me a few minutes to digest what Kalli had just told me. So I had eaten her mana? Oh well.

Kalli mana tastes good.

She balked and pushed me, causing me to fall back, spilling stew on myself. She looked apologetic, but she yelled out loud, “Shut up.”

We had to find a private place to get cleaned up.It wouldn’t be a good idea to do a firework display for everyone on the beach to see when Kalliphae used her flames to clean us both.It just so happened that there was a place under the pier that was out of the line of sight from the beach.Kalli did herself first.

“Pvruzth”

I watched in awe as she temporarily became a fire goddess, washing every inch of her body with her flames. Then she turned to me. Okay, Mel. It’s your turn. Assume the position.

This time I knew what was coming so I decided to be funny and placed my hands on the wall, sticking my butt out at the pyromancer. She replied. Very funny.

However, she didn’t hesitate to work her magic on me.

“Pvruzth”

I didn’t cry out this time. I tried to breathe normally as the feeling of warmth washed over me. My clothes had been mostly dry already, but I had been all dirty with both Kalli’s stew and salt from the seawater. Kalli’s magic removed it all.

Kalliphae had just transformed her outfit back into its mini skirt form and was about to summon the phoenix when a loud voice screamed from the beach, “Hey. You two. Get out of there. I know what shenanigans you kids get up to back there. Come out, now.”

We made a break for it in the other direction. I infused my legs with mana and was suddenly outrunning the girl. I sent her a thought.

Infuse mana into your legs so we can get away quicker.

She panicked a bit and thought back. I can’t.

Fortunately for us, the lifeguard seemed to either be out of breath or didn’t want to run too far from his beach because he had given up on catching us. We both gasped for air for a few minutes before looking for another place to summon the phoenix. We were eventually forced to leave the beach to find a quiet walkway between houses where we could safely summon it.

Once we were sky bound and headed back to school Kalli sent me a question. Why did you ask if I can put mana in my legs?

I was suddenly worried that I did something wrong. She quickly amended herself. It’s not that. It’s just that I don’t think what you suggested is even possible. My master never told me anything about using mana that way.

That was odd. Could it be that I discovered something new? Or was it just that Kalliphae had never been educated on the technique. Perhaps not everybody could do it? I wanted to test my theory.

Um, Kalli. The other day when I thought you were going to die, I tried to infuse your wound with my mana. Do you mind if I try to infuse your leg right now?

I could feel her hesitance before the girl replied. Can we maybe try it later? Besides, I wasn’t hurt too bad yesterday. That stupid griffon just knocked the wind out of me. The doctors said there wasn’t even a bruise.

I sighed. I decided not to press the matter because I didn’t want to freak her out.

It was obvious that something was wrong when we got back to school. Several police cars occupied every parking lot, even the small one out by the baseball fields. Swarms of blue uniforms flooded the open areas and students were all being corralled into groups.

It looks like something’s going on down there.

Kalli started to worry. Do you think they noticed we left campus? Should we not come back?

I had an idea. I directed Kalliphae.

Land over there behind that grocery store. I need to make a phone call.

“Can you please transfer me to the library.”, I asked the secretary who picked up the phone.

A curt reply came over the connection, “Yes, sir.”

It took a few rings, but Mrs. Hodgins finally picked up. I said, “Hi Mrs. Hodgins. I…”

She cut me off, “Where are you? All hell is breaking loose over here. A student has gone missing.”

“We’re over by Lucky’s”, I announced, “Who went missing?”

She replied, “You need to get back. They are doing an all-student roll call to make sure nobody else is missing. It was Kevin Mellow. I'm sorry, Melvin. He’s a friend of yours right?”

Why does it always have to be the good ones? Can’t the villains kidnap someone like Tim? I’d send them a thank you card.

Kalli chastised me. While that is kind of funny, it's not very nice. Why don’t you try being nice to the other kids? Maybe they’ll like you better.

Not getting an answer, Mrs. Hodgins assumed I was upset, “I know its a lot to take in. They are making councilors available if you want to talk about it.”

I sighed and said, “No, it's okay. He is a friend of mine. We will be back right now. Is it okay if we both go straight to the library?”

It was Mrs. Hodgin’s turn to sigh, “Very well. I will have to pull some strings when you get here. You know that only seniors are allowed to leave campus during lunch.”

I shared a glance with Kalli as I hung up the phone. She had recoiled the phoenix around her body and was looking at me anxiously.

Oh well, even if we get into trouble over this is was worth it. That has to be the best lunch break I’ve been to all semester.

Kalli beamed at me. I had lots of fun too. By the way, Mel, what does shenanigans mean?