An awkward conversation followed Andrea’s confession. Martin was, understandably, taken aback by the information. To his credit, he never looked at Kael differently or asked if or how he was involved. What finally calmed him down, however, was Andrea’s explanation. “Yes, we operate somewhat outside of the law, but that is mainly out of necessity. There is a reason why we can coexist with the police. They let us deal with the security and wellbeing of the party and pleasure industry, and we help them when something big is going down. The fact is that most people working here don’t like the police. It is far more reliably getting one of us involved when their customer gets too rough if you know what I mean.”

Kael already agreed with Andrea and pointed out that in his experience, the police would not take someone like him seriously. They had to deal with more... important people after all. As their conversation continued and one cocktail was replaced by another, Martin grew more and more interested in their stories. As someone that grew up in the upper-middle-class most everything he knew came from the tv or the news. The evening was progressing nicely, and soon it was Andrea, interrogating the slightly drunk Martin. “Ah you know, pretty normal I guess. My dad works for the ministry of commerce, my mom was a paralegal before I was born. Now she mostly stays at home and does some freelance work… Yap single child, not that I would be against siblings, but that’s not really my choice haha.”

After dancing around the story of their meeting a little, spending some time cursing the idiot Jason, it was already late at night. The festival outside was still going but had quieted down a lot. Only one of the stages was still occupied by a live band, the others relaying their sound to the whole of the street. With the clock showing it past 2:30 in the morning, the boys decided it was time to head home. As their host, Andrea took it upon herself to escort them back to the station. They didn't have to rush since public transport operated on a vastly reduced frequency after midnight. The group stopped for food and little trinkets from time to time as they had fun talking. The evening had transformed a group of three people from very different backgrounds into friends.

They had just left the well-lit festival area and were now walking through the suburban streets leading towards the subway station. Stars shone brightly and, combined with the soothing quiet after hours of loud music, had all three walking along silently. Cool, fresh air had replaced the oppressing heat of the summer day and was slowly clearing Kael’s inebriated mind. A joy that had been absent for so long was slowly returning, beginning the long process of mental healing. He was feeling content for the first time in years.

“YAUAAAHR!” Suddenly a high-pitched scream ripped through the night. It disoriented Kael for a moment, leaving him stunned, unable to process the event. His friends appeared to be in a similar situation. Seconds passed, and no one talked. Kael was beginning to think that he had just imagined the scream, attributing it to the generous amounts of alcohol he had consumed when the tranquility of the night was broken again. “IIAHHHHHCH! Grhlglh” The second scream was even louder, only to be cut short by a gurgling sound. Kael felt his knees go weak. The sound had a disturbing, almost terrifying quality to it. He wanted to help, wanted to run away and call for the police. He wanted to disappear and forget the entire thing, but he couldn’t. His body refused him, not willing to move one way or the other. Then he heard the shaking voice of his best friend. “That… Why? No, it can’t be.” Their eyes met, and Kael could see the terror in Martin’s eyes. “Why did that sound like Grace?”

“Fuck! Why now! Kael, get Martin out of here.” Before Kael had a chance to answer Martin, he heard Andrea. There was some shaking in her voice too, but it sounded much more stable than anything he would have been able to perform. Andrea left him no time to form a response and took off in the direction they had heard the scream from. It took a while, but the adrenalin that had his body and mind paralyzed receded. Martin was still mumbling about someone called Grace, while Kael had more and more trouble understanding him. “Martin. Hey! Martin! We need to get out of here.” Kael said and tried to move his friend towards the station. “Wah? No, Kael no! We have to help Andrea!” - “She told us to get to the station, she can handle herself. She might look nice, but she packs a mean-” - “Fuck! No, you don’t understand! That voice! It was Graces!” He still did not understand what that had to do with anything. “Ok, I am sorry that your friend got hurt, but Andrea knows what she is doing. Ah! Your healing magic!” Kael said. The information had slipped his mind. Now it made sense that Martin wanted to help, but- “NO GOD DAMN IT!”

Martin’s scream left Kael shocked. “Wha?-” - “GRACE WAS FROM MY SCHOOL!” Seeing Kael still not understand, Martin continued. “She is from year three, Kael. They are all trained in battle magic. There is no way an ordinary person could have harmed her. Whatever is going on has something to do with magic!” Kael felt the floor drop out from under him. “Oh, oh no. Oh no!” Memories of his past interactions with Andrea flashed past his mind's eye, stopping at their first meeting for a moment. He remembered it as if it had happened yesterday. The thugs, his knee, the pain, the fear. Then she saved him, saved his life without expecting anything in return. Anger fought against fear and won. He looked towards Martin. He saw the same resolved there that he remembered from the night he had saved his life. A nod was all the communication they needed.

Both of them lunged into action and ran towards Andrea, towards Grace, towards danger, towards a better future.