Somewhere in the City of Yravell, a woman slowly awoke. As she sat up, pain jolted through her head, leaving her leaning back. Bringing her hand up, she went back to the night before—to drinking and loud music, and the man lying naked beside her. Panic swelled; her head swiveled, and she knew that last night wasn't the cause. She knew this firstly because of the precautionary measures left strewn upon her end table. Secondly—most of all—the golden eyes staring back from the mirror across the room. She left the man in her bed as the sight surprised her. Wearing nothing, she walked over and touched her reflection.

"What has happened to you…?" She murmured and took no surprise when the mirror rippled in response. A flood of images rushed through her head, making her grit her teeth. Her eyes remained the same, however, and she let out a sigh. They told her what her day would be, and she'd have preferred something much more exciting.

"You got up early again babe, don't tell me you're about to head out…" The man intoned sleepily, and she smiled wryly to herself.

"Well you know… Sometimes business calls." She pulled open the dresser beneath the mirror. She had to decide what to wear…

○○○

Later that day, Kiara sat on the couch. Her parents and brother were out of the house, treating her aunt to lunch. She couldn't decide if that made her happy. On one hand, they were still worried, leaving her behind because of the news. It was justified, she could admit. When the officers brought her home, her parents met them with horror. When the situation was explained, matters only got worse. They checked her as if they could do better than the paramedics, and barely believed her when she said she was all right. They relented eventually, but not without stipulation. She had to rest in case something was missed. Meanwhile, her friends suffered worse and were already out in the world. On the other hand, though, Kiara didn't miss this outing. She had a month to spend with her father's sister, and there was no love lost between them. There was malice since day one. Scarlet eyes were things of myth—things that brought misfortune. Her aunt hated her from that very first moment and hated her more when her cousin died. She blamed Kiara, making no attempt to hide it. She was a cursed girl, and the woman wished her brother never adopted her. Kiara knew she should tell her father, but knew it'd break his heart. The woman had been otherwise supportive, and he'd find no joy in cutting her out. For six years the story hadn't changed. The month arrived, and she fought a battle of attrition. Sure, she weathered the worst, but always emerged worn. Any chance she could get to save her strength was a chance she was happy to take. Maybe she'd tell them this time since the truth was on her mind. Maybe she could spend a month with Taylor instead. Though…Taylor's house wouldn't be quiet. She knew that for the same reasons she knew her friends were all right. She could even use that knowledge to her benefit if she really wanted. Tristan had gone on a run earlier today, but Taylor and Shin exercised through...other means.

She didn't even want to imagine how that conversation would go. Taylor and Shin had "tried things out," and while it didn't work, it worked in ways they liked. Ways that offered a degree of stress relief, often implemented before difficult tests. They went to these ways after their brush with near-death. Ignorance would have been welcome bliss, but the two weren't bashful about the knowledge. The thought of sharing it with her parents, made Kiara shudder. Shin and Taylor had stopped pinging the group, and she lamented knowing why. Still, she was happy for them. If sharing a bed helped them calm down, who was she to tell them to stop? As gross as the thought was, it offered her respite too. There were definitely questions for her, but while they were distracted they didn't come up. It turned out the speckled beast damaged the camera in Taylor's bow, so no one knew how Kiara survived alone.

"All right guys, I know you won't believe me, but I have magical powers." She practiced aloud, shaking her head at the strangeness of it. She was a fourteen-year-old girl—fifteen in a few months. She knew she wasn't young enough to proclaim such fanciful things. Sure, she could prove it, but she wasn't ready to do that yet. She wasn't even ready to tell them. What if they blamed her for not using her powers sooner? She should have. She knew that. But she had these powers for so long, and they made a cursed myth worse. They weren't things to show off. They weren't things to use carelessly. It took a lot of learning to control, but there was never a time or place. How would people understand? The Scarlet-eyed girl with strange magics? Maybe if Scarlet Eyes made heroes, but that would confirm the destruction they were said to bring. She didn't want to see her friend's blatant fear. She could probably explain why she hesitated, and they would probably support her. But could they support her if they truly saw what she could do?

"Hey, Taylor… I know people are praising you for defeating The Speckled Beast, but I think it was actually me. You see, I have these powers, and I think they made the monster vulnerable." She held her mobile up as she said this, and shook her head. She didn't want to steal this moment from her friend.

She was about to try another line when the doorbell rang. She checked the window, expecting her parents to be back. With the driveway empty, she went to the screen beside the door instead. She tapped a button as the bell chimed again, and a dark-haired woman appeared, raising her finger once more.

"I know you're there, girl." The woman spoke suddenly as Kiara motioned for the microphone. Her? No, the woman had to be mistaken. Maybe she was looking for the lady next door. The neighbor often had the company of one new face or another. It wouldn't be the first time that someone got the wrong house. She pressed a button to say as much, and the woman smiled as the video appeared.

"My, you do have a wicked child's scarlet eyes." She grinned. Kiara was taken aback. Could her aunt have sent her? Would her aunt do something this sadistic? "Well, doesn't that make sense. When my pet thought to come after a threat, I didn't stop it. It wasn't going to be the first time so what was there to worry about"—she chuckled. "Imagine my surprise when morning came and he couldn't manifest. Blaster shots have never hurt it before. But then you come and…" She snarled and Kiara gulped.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She hoped she said this convincingly. The woman gasped, mouth agape. She covered it.

"Is this your little secret? Do you think this is like hiding a bad grade from your parents? Listen girl, if you wanted to play innocent you should have just died there. Now I can see right through you! I'll promise you this, your little windy trick isn't going to work when I come." Suddenly, her smile came back. "Better yet, how about I go for one of your little friends instead. You might be able to protect yourself, but you're hiding your tricks from them, aren't you? I wonder what you'll do when they're on death's door, screaming for you to help."

"Don't…" Kiara squeaked and the woman crossed her arms. "The only person you have a problem with is me!" She swung the door open. The woman glared down.

"Shall we do this right here then?" Her smile returned. Kiara reached for her pendant, and the woman gestured around. "I wonder if the kids over there, or that old lady in her garden are ready for this show." Kiara's hands stopped. "Or maybe you still have some stage fright?"

"Just leave my friends alone. They didn't do anything to you!"

"Oh no, girl! That whole group of yours have seriously crossed the wrong woman." She said, turning to head for her car. Kiara thought to chase, but nosy eyes might see. The car whirred, rising from the ground. The woman honked once, zooming off around a corner.

Kiara closed the door and fell against it, mind racing at the threat. That woman was the master of the Speckled Beast. Kiara was too sure to deny it. Even if she wanted to believe it was a prank, the woman was too like her pet. There was too obvious a sense of power—too obvious the certainty of victory. She could see them both playing with their food and futile resistance was the side to the course. Kiara had to tell her friends if she wanted to keep them safe. Her fingers went for the mobile, and she almost dropped it as a notification appeared. She touched it, and Tristan stared back from its floating screen. He smiled at first, but it faded as he saw her face.

"Are you all right Kiara? You aren't feeling any aches from yesterday, are you?" He went full doctor, making her laugh.

"No… Just thinking about how stressful my life is getting…" The school year's end had never been like this.

"You're talking about your aunt, right? Shin and Taylor told me she was over, right before they… well, you know." His face went red at this and hers did too. She wondered suddenly if he knew how diffusing his embarrassment was.

"N-no…" She shook her head. "I mean, yes, it's kind of my aunt. But there's a lot of other stuff too." She sighed, there was no explaining things without looking weird. She looked into Tristan's dark eyes. His concern was honest. Did he call to see if she was okay? "It isn't easy to talk about, I guess." She sighed again and Tristan shook his head.

"Then let's not talk about it!" He blurted. "Let's go out and have fun! We can ignore all of the difficult stuff." He grinned sheepishly, and her heart skipped a beat.

"Just you and me?" His face brightened again as he nodded. Outside she could hear her parents pulling up. She peeked out the window, and saw her aunt too, Jaleek bouncing around her. As their eyes met, the amiable expression on the woman's face flashed sour. It changed when Kanna got out and headed to the door.

"Text me where you want to meet." Kiara smiled at Tristan. "I'll ask my mom and dad and see if I can go." She didn't wait for him to respond before ending the call to step away from the door.

○○○

It took ten minutes to assure her parents that she was fine, and would be in a public place where she couldn't get hurt. Finally allowed to leave the house, she took a shuttle to meet Tristan seventeen minutes away. When she found him, he was standing in front of a theater looking at his mobile. He waved it at her when she came over—having just purchased two tickets for a movie they wanted to see. They loitered until the show started, happily talking about the works the director did before. The movie knocked about two hours off their day. A machine made to serve became a hero to secret fairy people; ultimately defeating the force that tossed it in the trash. The effects were stunning, and she cheered giddily as the robot fought fairy and machine alike. She loved this thing—fighting to protect happiness. And she hated that the movie ended with its fate in the air. As the show finished, she went on excitedly, and for his part, Tristan argued that the ending was a lot like the beginning of the movie. They argued their way out of the theater and into a fast food joint nearby, where Kiara was sure the Fairies wouldn't revive it, and Tristan was positive they'd do it again.

"Think about it, Kiara." He said with certainty. "They needed the robot in the first place to protect them from rivals and other machines. Their not safe yet!" He assured her and she snorted.

"They totally just wanted to use it!" She exclaimed. "None of them saw it as a living person. It was just a tool for them—they don't really care. They even have the Retire-Bot now, so they have a stronger machine. Just pump magic into it and bam!"

"But that's the thing! The magic is the spirit of the robot. No matter what machine they put it into, it'll still be the H31M in spirit."

"Yeah, but they're the ones who killed it! If they brought it back, I think it'd want revenge."

"I don't think so. It didn't even want revenge against the decommission machine. Everything was just to fulfill its duty."

"Then why even decommission it in the first place? It clearly worked fine."

"I think it was because it could absorb fairy magic," Tristan paused to take a sip. "Think about it; H31M was pretty rusty. It was junk! They could have chosen any of the other machines—anything better than a server-bot, but they specifically chose H31M."

"Why would the machines decommission it then?" Kiara huffed. "They wanted to wipe out the fairies in the first place, so what's better than a fairy insurgent?"

"That's a good question. Think about it like this Kiara, if you had special powers, would you fight for the people who gave it to you or the people who created you?" Tristan crossed his arms, and Kiara went quiet. She thought about where her powers came from, and what she'd do in H31M's place. If they came from secret fairies, would she fight for them instead of her parents? The thought made her shudder and think about her friends. Hadn't she hesitated to use her powers for them?

"I'd fight for whatever was most important to me…" She closed her eyes tight. "Even if I didn't want too." She murmured and Tristan nodded.

"I would too, to be honest." He smiled and she smiled back. How could she stay dour in front of that face?

"What if the powers were really dangerous?" She met his eyes. "You're powerful, but you might hurt people instead of saving them. Powers like that mean anyone around is in trouble."

"I wouldn't want to hurt them, but if it was the only way? I'd rather do it and apologize, than never get the chance."

Kiara held those words in silence. She wished she could have come to that conclusion as fast as he did.

"What if it's not something pretty. What if I had acid powers and you saw me use them. Do you think you'd rush over, kiss me, and say, 'Kiara! You're my hero.'." She asked and it was Tristan's turn to hold words in silence. Oblivious to this, Kiara went on. "What if I did something really horrible with my powers and innocent people got hurt…" Looking down, she didn't notice when Tristan rose, moving to the seat beside her. She did notice when he took her hand, holding it tight.

"I'd definitely call you my hero Kiara… and if you let me, I'd kiss you too." As Kiara looked up at him, she was surprised when he didn't look away.

For the first time, she realized, Tristan was more than just the boy she met back in middle school. He had always been taller, but she could really see that with him sitting beside her. He was smiling as he looked down. His firm grip made her heart flutter; made her think about his words. She wondered if she would allow him to kiss her, and wondered what that kiss would be like. Before long, she realized he wondered that too. Was this how these moments happened? How could you know what to do next? Before she found an answer, their lips came together. She closed her eyes. The kiss was warmth when the day was too cold. It made his hand electric to touch. It felt like it went on forever, and felt too short-lived when they stopped. But they had to breathe and were panting fiercely.

"That was…" She gulped and he gulped too.

"Yeah…" He smiled and she could see a question in his eyes. She knew it was in hers as well.

Was that feeling real? Before they could answer with another kiss, their mobiles beeped, making them conscious of how close they were. They looked at their devices to find new messages in their group chat. Shin had finally left Taylor's house and was wondering if the two wanted to hang out with him. Taylor couldn't; her mother was bothering her about some publicity thing. Neither Kiara nor Tristan wanted this moment to end, but they powered through their feelings as Tristan moved his thumbs.

"Are we going?" He asked. Kiara's heart jumped at the "we." She remembered the woman from earlier though and shook her head.

"I… I have some things to do but um… before I go to stay with my aunt, let's hang out again." Her heart was racing, screaming even. Tristan made room as he sent his message and when she stood, he grinned.

"Yeah. Let's do that." Not sheepish, but confident, and still Tristan's smile.

Kiara rushed out without saying another word or looking back. A part of her wanted to call Taylor and ask for advice, but something bigger told her to stay on task. A summer here in Yravell, staying with Taylor; kissing Tristan. She wanted to make that dream reality, but reality had a different face. She wanted those good moments now, but if she didn't stop the woman, now might turn into never…