Dex jumped at the sudden intrusion. His eyes staring at the room's new occupant.

"What are you doing with my fish?" The girl's lightly freckled face was flushed with anger. Her appearance was unlike anyone he'd ever seen. She had long red tresses that ran down her back like a waterfall made from the purest flame. Light brown eyes stared into him, hostile but exceedingly beautiful.

"Huh? Well, you see..." The sentence was interrupted when the fish's tail slapped across his face.

Before he could react, the fish wiggled free and was out the window. Dex stared at the free-falling fish until it splashed into the stream below. Unbeknown to him, the girl had rushed to his side.

"I'm finally free!" The gold-colored fish's voice deepened considerably as it stared up at the two figures in the window. "You foul witch! Just wait until I become a dragon!" Then, in a flash of gold, it disappeared into the depths of the water.

"Huh... It was a guy." Dex grinned at the sudden change of events. "Hey, I'm sorry..." His words trailed off as the air seemed to ignite with thousands of sparks of electricity.

"You..." The air around the redhead pulsed with energy; it crackled and popped with the power of lightning. "Sadly, your time at the Academy ends here."

Dex felt a sudden release of energy; without thinking, he jumped forward and shoved the redhead. Taken by surprise, she fell backward into the tub with a huge splash that caused a miniature lightning storm to erupt in the room. His last view of his attacker was her outraged expression as she was submerged in water. Then, shamelessly, he fled the scene like a robber in the night.

Maric looked up as his roommate burst into the quad and closed the door behind me a few moments later. His hair was standing straight up, and his face had been blackened by scorch marks. "You okay?"

Dex nodded while wiping his face down and running his fingers through his hair. "Was almost killed by some crazy person."

"Fights are pretty common, but it's never a good idea to go overboard." Maric gave him a sympathetic smile. "Picking a fight on Welcome Day is nearly unheard of. If they show up here, I'll take care of it."

*******************

Since the dining halls weren't open during Welcome Week, workers from food services delivered hot dinner boxes via pushcarts that rambled up and down the hall on squeaky wheels. Dex eyed his black-boxed 'special.' "Why is mine different?"

They were sitting on the floor chatting; Maric seemed to know just about everything concerning the Academy. The 2nd year student slightly. "Mine is the generic one that those of us without sponsors get. It should be written inside the cover." He uncovered his box and showed it to Dex. In a self-explanatory script, it said, 'Tembai Academy.'

"Do I have a sponsor?" Dex opened the black box and peeked under the lid. In gold-colored ink, the words 'Sponsored by Haven' were scribed. Underneath that, a handwritten signature of the preparer was visible, 'Hyai.'

Maric whistled softly. "Being sponsored by Haven is considered the Golden Ticket. And having Hyai's signature on it means you are part of the inner circle."

"Hmm?" Dex thought back to the Nix the Mad Scientist and his warmly attractive wife. "So, I'm in good shape?"

Maric nodded. "Yeah... Even Seti gives way when it comes to the Rat King."

Dex grinned at the title; there had been a large number of rat puppets in the Inferno Leader's workshop. "Nix is the Rat King?"

"Rat King, Dragon Slayer, Emperor of the Nether... He's got more titles than I can remember." Maric watched as his roommate dove into his prepared meal. "Hey... If you're from Haven, you should know the Thunder Princess. Right?"

"Thunder Princess?" Dex fixed him with a confused glance while continuing to feed himself. Virtual or not, it was by far the best meal he'd eaten since before his at-home confinement.

Maric lowered his voice and glanced at the door nervously. "Nix's daughter... not one of the sweet Aquarion ones, the other one."

Dex chuckled at his roommate's discomfort. His words were barely louder than a whisper. "I don't know any of Nix's daughters."

"Oh, I see..." Maric went directly into lecture mode. "There's Lisa; her mother sometimes makes an appearance here at the request of Instructor Fajii."

Dex shrugged slightly. "Rabi mentioned Fajii. She's one of Nix's wives?"

Maric nodded. "She has the Scorched Earth element; her daughter is named Narissa." The mage smiled suddenly. "No one would ever confuse her and Sigh. Rissa is a dark beauty with a very pleasant personality. While Siyan is..."

Dex found himself smiling at Maric's sudden loss of words; a thought suddenly occurred to him. "This Thunder Princess has the lightning element?"

"Yes. Before you ask, it's exceedingly rare. She's the only one in the Academy with that element. She also possesses the Water and Air elements, which means she'll mature into a Storm Dragon."

Dex considered his roommate's words for a moment. From Maric's expression, Storm Dragons were formidable. "Is this Thunder Princess a beautiful redhead with a pet fish?"

"It's a predecessor. Basically a talking fish with tiny legs. By all accounts, it has a nasty tongue on it."

Dex faked a smile, "I see." Maybe she wouldn't carry a grudge.

The two roommates talked for several minutes before Maric decided to call it a night. Dex cleaned up his area while Maric exited through the bathroom door to say goodnight to the Dread sisters.

[You've reached scheduled sleep time. You may explore your surroundings or fast forward to the morning.]

Since he didn't want to spend seven hours sleeping in a virtual game, Dex chose to fast forward until morning. Immediately after choosing the second option, his eyes grew heavy and closed.

"Hmmm?" Dex opened his eyes at the sound of an incessant buzzing. A quick glance out the window told him that it was still nighttime. "I know I didn't pack an alarm clock."

Dex rolled out of bed and quickly tracked down the noise; it was coming from his wardrobe. After a brief search, he found the source of the alarm, a dark sphere about the size of a softball. "Nix gave me this before I left..."

It stopped buzzing when he touched it. A short sentence glowed into his view.

[Log off now, Dex. They are coming for you.]

He'd never experienced fear in a virtual setting before, but those words caused a shiver to run down his spine. He immediately logged off and listened.

His loft was dark and empty when he eased open the pod door a moment later. Instead of exploring his surroundings, he knelt in place, continuing to listen for any noise while deliberately setting off the alarm on his ankle bracelet. Then, since there were no easy entry points to the upper level of his loft, Dex moved to the stair exit that led to his garage.

The last time his alarm had gone off, the drones arrived within two minutes, and the squad cards five minutes after that. A jiggling of his front door's knob sent him scurrying into the kitchen to look for any kind of usable weapon. Instead, he settled for a rather hefty rolling pin and gripped it tightly before returning to his previous location.

It seemed like an eternity before the drones showed up, but the reality was more like a few minutes. Dex spotted their flashing blue and red lights from his loft window. The moment they crossed his property line, their searchlights lit up the area.

There were four small drones, the standard four-prop hover variety that law enforcement used for surveillance. They divided and moved around the perimeter of the barn, recording everything they found.

"Shit..." Dex made sure all of his contraband was stowed away before making his way to the front door. Three minutes later, the lights from three cars lit up his driveway.

Dex stepped outside when the vehicles came to a stop. Holding his arms straight out with his palms facing the group. "I activated the alarm on purpose; someone was trying to break into my house."

"It's okay, guys. Check the perimeter while I talk with him." A familiar voice spoke to the four officers that exited the two squad cars.

"Gene?" Dex breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of his P.O.

"I was pulling a double when I got a call from the Chief. Lucky for you, or else you'd be spending the night in a cell." Gene's white smile gleamed in the darkness, his sharp eyes taking in everything despite the absence of light. "Where'd you see them?"

"Someone tried to open the front door." Dex stepped to one side and gestured toward the door. A quick visual inspection showed no signs of tampering or forced entry.

Gene produced a flashlight from his coat and shone it at the door in question. "They could have easily forced this open or broken the window."

Dex nodded in agreement. Like most places, if someone were willing to use brute force to enter, they could have done so. "I do have an alarm system."

"Found something!" A woman's voice sounded from the side of the house.

Since Gene moved in the direction of the voice, Dex followed him. They found the female police officer as she was slipping surgical gloves onto her hands. She was kneeling on the ground near a black case, the cloth kind that could be easily folded and stowed away. Then, with Gene's light shining on it, she slowly opened it.

Gene whistled softly. "Lockpicking tools and electronic bypasses." He glanced at Dex. "Guess you weren't expecting company. Weren't you going to start your two-week dive today?"

Dex nodded, feeling sick to his stomach. He had just started an extended deep dive. He'd been warned by Enigma to log off, but he didn't dare mention that. What the fuck was going on? "Was feeling a bit under the weather, so I decided to wait a few days."