Lyle woke in a panic following a dream of giant undead dragons roaming the Earth and tearing down cities. A glance at the clock informed him that it was after five in the evening. He’d slept for over ten hours.

Lyle swore to himself immediately, remembering the Tear last night. Would DOER and the guilds soon show up at his house looking for an explanation? If he’d been allowed to sleep soundly, that meant that no no one had shown up yet. They wouldn’t care much if it was in someone’s house—Tears were too valuable to leave unclaimed.

He made a quick call to Abe. Lyle’s friend would know if another Tear had been detected.

“Hey, bud, what’s up?” Abe said as soon as he answered.

“Hi, Abe. I’ve got a quick question.”

“Lay it on me.”

“Have you heard anything through the grapevine about other Tears?”

“Uh… not that I’m aware of,” Abe said, leaving unsaid that he would certainly know if anyone was talking about it. Lyle could hear the curiosity in his voice. “Let me check. DOER site’s got nothing, no guild movement, and… forums are dead on that front.” He became excited. “Why? Did you see another one?”

A knock sounded at Lyle’s door, then it began to open.

“Uh, no, sorry. Tell you later. Thanks, Abe.”

Lyle hung up just as someone entered his room. Fortunately, the intruder was Helen and not his mother.

“Wakey, wakey! I gotta know what’s going on now, or I’m ‘bout to freak the fuck out.” Her tone was sing-song, but her eyes were serious.

“Helen,” Lyle said by way of greeting, falling back onto his bed and pushing his face into his pillow.

“Who was that on the phone?”

“Just Abe,” Lyle mumbled into his bedsheets.

“Get up, dummy. You said you’d tell me what that was about last night.”

“Do I hear someone downstairs?”

“Tanya’s here,” Helen said with a smirk. “What, do you want to go see her?”

“Was now really the time to bring a friend over? Besides, as far as you know, I’m still in a relationship.”

“Hey, I had plans before you decided to jump into a meat grinder,” she said. “And Tanya’s liked you for longer than Emily. Anyway, I’m positive I saw you bleeding from about thirty cuts this morning. What’s the deal? And what do you mean, as far as I know?”

Lyle chuckled, then sat up and looked at his arms. Every single cut was gone and only the vaguest hint of scars proved that the labyrinth had been real. He wondered how much he should tell Helen. He had hoped he would have some time to at least think about that dilemma, but sleep had forcefully claimed priority.

So he just went with the truth. Most of it, anyway. He spared her the gory details, but he only really left out what had happened with Emily since it didn’t seem relevant.

Helen didn’t believe him immediately, but she came around. He showed her his increased strength, then summoned his power to his palm, and she shuddered as the odd feeling of the static visibly ran through her.

“Well, damn,” she said, eyes wide. “You’re an Ember now. Congrats, I guess. Is that what the job you were talking about is?”

“Congrats, I guess? That’s all the enthusiasm you can muster?” Lyle smirked.

“Hey, I’m still kinda in shock about you being all bloody. I’ll be excited for you later when no one else is around, I promise. The job, though?”

He laughed. He needn’t have worried so much. She knew him well and wasn’t easily phased, or she wouldn’t have let him off this morning without an explanation. Lyle could reserve his worries for when Delylah found out.

“Yeah, maybe,” Lyle said. “I… kinda lied about an actual job with the guild, but I do have an in and I’m going to keep practicing and getting stronger.”

“You’ll figure it out. I’m not worried. What about this box thing?”

“Yeah, it’s over here.” He showed her over to his dresser, realizing he was still only wearing underwear in the process.

“Damn, good thing I didn’t bring Tanya up here with me,” she said mockingly. “She’d be weak in the knees—blushing and trying to cover her eyes and peak between her fingers.”

Lyle laughed and looked down at himself. Had he gained weight in muscle since his awakening? He couldn’t even remember eating anything since the late lunch with Trent, Liv, and Abe the day before. The adage of calories in, calories out seemed to not matter so much when there was magic involved. He hadn’t been a slouch before being Kindled, but incredible fitness was a side benefit to being an Ember that he could appreciate nonetheless. His thoughts returned to Emily, and to Helen’s friend, who’d had a crush on him for a couple years.

“I might just sweep her off her feet,” he said nonchalantly, casually flexing and surprising even himself with how defined his muscles were. Helen snorted. He dropped the pose and chuckled, running one hand through his messy hair as he pulled the dresser open with the other. “Emily broke up with me.”

“What?” Helen said, genuine concern in her voice. She had never been Emily’s biggest fan, but Lyle suspected that was more because Emily was Tanya’s rival for his affection—not that his affection was worth much. “Why? What happened?”

He told the story of their last conversation.

“Damn,” Helen said again, looking sympathetic. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s my own fault. She’s right—I’ve been distant. So focused on everything but her.”

“She’s probably right, but she could have talked to you about it more before three years into your relationship. You would have been open to that, right?”

“Of course!” Lyle said quickly. “I just… it’s not her fault. She tried to make it work. Next time, I’ll be better.”

Helen raised an eyebrow. “Next time, huh? You gonna come say hi to Tanya? I thought you were joking, but she’d be happy to see you. I can only get her to come over nowadays when I tell her you’re home.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“A little bit, but not that much.”

“I’m gonna pass. Sorry. She’s your friend, and… I don’t know, it doesn’t feel right. First of all, she’s not an Ember.”

Helen smirked and waggled her eyebrows. “You worried you’d hurt her?”

Lyle flushed. “I mean, a little bit. But also worried that I’d just end up ignoring her, too, and then you’d both be mad at me.”

Helen sighed. “Fine, fine. Don’t you want a relationship, though?”

“Yeah, but… maybe I just need a little bit longer. To think things through, you know.”

“I hear you. You should take your time.”

Lyle nodded. “Anyway, all that was before my actual Kindling with the dragon. This is the cube. I don’t want to touch it in case it sucks me in again and I wouldn’t recommend you touch it either.”

Helen looked curiously at the wooden cube. “It looks harmless enough. Kind of like a die, actually. Although bigger.” She snorted. “Maybe more like one of those letter blocks that teach babies to spell.”

Lyle rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, it’s neither of those things, as my aching body can attest to.” He glanced at his clock. “We can talk more later—it’s almost six. I’ve got a party to get to in a bit here, and it sounds like you’ve got a guest to entertain.”