I attempted to sit up but Maya held up a hand. “Don’t get up. Can you tell me what happened to Mardella? I don’t see her anywhere.”

“She teleported.” Kalli supplied for me. “She was injured through. Right after…”

Kalli trailed off, giving me a confused look. Maya waited for Kalli to continue before realizing that she wasn’t going to. “I see. Last I checked, Mardella didn’t have the ability to teleport.”

Kalli stroked my head as she communicated with me through mate chat. What really happened, Mel? You did something to her before she left, didn’t you?

The truth was, I wasn’t entirely sure. I didn’t want to lie to Kalli. Never her.

I think I trapped her in the ring. I’d have to check to be sure.

Maya tapped her foot impatiently. “Is there anything we need to know about Mardella? Is she dead? Don’t worry. You aren’t in trouble. We have known she was up to something for some time. That woman always did have a thing for forbidden power. I am keen to know what she was after but will not hold it against you if you choose not to tell.”

Realizing I had an opportunity to deflect, I replied. “She wanted access to Luna. She thinks there is magic hidden up there that she could use to rule the world?”

“Interesting,” Maya said while looking up at the ringed planet in the sky. “There are stories about an ancient civilization that was long since exiled to Gaia, but it is also believed that the magic died out generations ago.”

Something was missing from my new sister’s story, so I decided to call her bluff by filling in the blanks. “They say that the Celestea Queendom is tied to that ancient line of magic. You have heard that the castle is back, haven’t you?”

She nodded, a smile spreading across her face. “We have indeed. Typically we do not get involved in the affairs of royalty. This is a practice you would also do well to observe. Speaking of which, what do you know of your bloodline?”

“Not much,” I admitted, finally deciding to inspect her properly.

Name

Maya Xander Halifax

Class

Shimmer Mage

Level

???

Affection Level

Familiar

Skills

Traits

Shimmer Spark

Bloodline: M

Shimmer Friction

Bloodline: Xander

Shimmer Frost

Bloodline: Brent

Enhanced Regeneration

Enhanced Mana Regeneration

Absorption

True Sight

Shimmer

She smiled as she watched me scan her. “I see you have also been collecting bloodlines. Unfortunately, your skills and traits are very cluttered. Skills lose their effectiveness if you collect too many. Bloodlines do not suffer this effect. I am surprised you managed to get three at such a young age. Do you know what they do? Would you like me to help you test them?”

I never got a chance to answer as the carriage of King Thomas arrived. He stepped out with the queen along with Wendy, Rundell, Kiki, and Alariel.

Alariel looked around and asked, “Where is mother?”

“She escaped.” I blurted out, not knowing how else to respond.

King Thomas fell to his knees and said, “You honor us with your presence, White Lady.”

I started to chuckle before realizing that was her title and not a reference to her race. Laughing made me grimace in pain, causing Wendy to make her way over to me. “Are you okay?”

Kalli nodded while still leaning over me protectively. “He’ll live. He was a dummy and gave me his armor right when Lady Mardella decided to stab him.”

I groaned in response. While the pain was subsiding, there was still a dull ache that seemed to be pulsing through my body. Maya gave King Thomas a curt nod and said, “I suggest you get this young man in your carriage and see if any of those mages over there are healers.”

“What about Orpheus?” Kalli asked, pointing at the unconscious Nekomancer.

Maya looked down at the fallen man and huffed. “Very well. Tend to him as well.”

Joe still knelt beside the fallen Raverly, looking up at me with tears in his eyes. “What about Rave, man? I know he messed up but he doesn’t deserve to just rot out here.”

I was torn between anger at the boy for killing Stefanie and feeling compassion for Joe who had just lost a friend. It was Stefanie who snapped me out of it. Her ghost detached from the musical note on Wendy’s cheek and floated over the fallen boy. “Joe’s right. Everybody deserves a proper funeral. Even buttheads like Rave.”

Joe looked down at the ground, refusing to meet Stefanie’s eyes. “I’m sorry. I should have seen what he was becoming. I should have done something. I’m so sorry that you died.”

Stefanie let out a long sigh and knelt beside Joe. “Look. It’s not your fault. It’s really not even Raverly’s to be fair. Sure, he brought that thing and it did kill me, but it was also partially my fault for not listening to Melvin and wandering over there. It’s done. Also, do you want to know a secret? It’s not so bad on the other side. I just want to go home to my family and I think I can be happy. At peace. You know?”

I felt my eyes begin to water as Kalli’s tears dripped onto my face. Death was so sad, so painful. Another tattoo removed itself from Wendy’s body as Elysiana appeared. “Another lost child has found his way to my domain. Stefanie, child, the choice is yours. It would be completely understandable if you wish to leave him in this realm.”

Joe still didn’t look up. “He didn’t have family on Earth. Rave just bounced from one couch to the next. I doubt he will care which afterlife he ends up in.”

Stefanie floated back and forth as she debated. “Well, I don’t know. On the one hand, he is a big jerk, but on the other, I don’t want to abandon him out here. Wait, I have an idea. Let’s go get him. I’ll haunt him a while for revenge. That’ll show him.”

“Very well.” Elysiana smiled at the ghost. “If the rest of you would excuse us.”

Maya held up a hand. “Hold it. You are a god, are you not?”

Elysiana stiffened and cowered away from the woman. Suddenly Jagriel appeared and stood between the god of death and The White Lady. “We are gods. Do you intend to interfere?”

Maya shook her head. “No. Just making sure. You haven’t made your presence known in quite some time. We presumed you had abandoned this planet.”

Jagriel wasn’t acting the way he normally did, his voice had a softer tone and was more timid than I had ever seen him. “So long as the people believe, we will always be around. It takes a strong will to summon us to the mortal plane. You should know at least that much.”

“I see,” Maya replied coldly. “Very well. Be on your way. Retrieve the souls of the damned if you wish.”

Without waiting further, Stefanie and Elysiana vanished with a snap. Joe and Rundell worked together to load Orpheus into the carriage. When they went to carry Raverly, the king stopped them. “You do not intend to make us ride with a corpse, do you?”

Joe and Rundell looked helplessly at one another before I came up with an idea. “We can take him back to the Thief’s Corridor and I’ll teleport him back to Meltopia when I’m back on my feet. Go ahead and message Nolgrit for help.”

Nolgrit marched over to where we were with a group of trolls and a makeshift stretcher for Raverly. Joe and Rundell wanted to accompany their friend. Wendy turned to me and asked, “Do you need me to come with you?”

I shook my head and smiled. “No. Go with Joe. We will be fine. I think the fighting is over.”

Staggering to my feet, Kalli and Kiki helped me limp over to the carriage while Alariel gently scooped up Orpheus.

Once we were in the carriage, Maya noticed Kiki for the first time. “Ah, there is another. Kiki Morin, huh? Two foreign M Classes in one day. How exotic. I assume the two of you found each other in your world?”

Kiki nodded, passing me a nervous glance. “That’s right. We attended The Academy together. Are there a lot of people with The Bloodline on the planet?”

Maya gave Kiki a knowing smile. “There are quite a few actually. Once we recognize them, we move them to the high house. That prevents squabbles. Undocumented M Classes can cause a lot of damage to the lesser nations.”

She nodded to King Thomas as she mentioned the lesser nations, causing the royal to grimace. Still, he didn’t say anything or even meet her gaze.

When she realized that nobody was going to say anything, Maya continued. “Left to chance, M Class kids usually turn on each other as they grow in strength. The two of you are still children, but the older you get, the more formidable you will become.”

“What do you mean?” Kiki asked, a puzzled look on her face. “I am already above the age of majority and so is Melvin.”

Maya laughed, shaking her head. “That’s not what I mean. The two of you are old enough for what? Voting? Sex? Alcohol? I am talking about power. The power that comes with truly understanding what you are!”

“What are we?” I asked, following the logical line of questioning.

Maya sighed, wagging a finger around, pointing at the air. Suddenly, a menu appeared in front of our eyes.

Skills

Traits

Shimmer Spark

Bloodline: M

Shimmer Friction

Bloodline: Xander

Shimmer Frost

Bloodline: Brent

Enhanced Regeneration

Enhanced Mana Regeneration

Absorption

True Sight

Shimmer

“What do you see here?” She asked, a smile tugging at her lips as she spoke.

Kiki shrugged. “I don’t know. Your menu? It looks pretty standard to me.”

Maya chuckled, waving Kiki off. “Yes. That’s what it is. What do you think bloodlines do?”

“Gives us skills,” I explained, thinking I was a genius for figuring it out. “I know that the Shaw bloodline gives me vampire abilities and the Ramsey Bloodline gives me illusions.”

Maya outright laughed, closing her window as she explained. “That’s a good overview and a part of it, sure. However, the truth behind the bloodlines is trickier. They aren’t just skills or even familiar traits. They are packages of skills that come bundled with a person. For that reason, they don’t have the same mana cost as normal skills or traits. Do you know what that means?”

“Um.” I began tentatively as I worked out what Maya was trying to tell me. “Are you suggesting that we can have as many bloodlines as we like?”

Maya nodded. “Bingo! Of course, It’s not easy to collect them. You have to reach into a person’s soul to extract that kind of knowledge. I am surprised you managed to do that at such a young age.”

“How did you do it?” I asked, wondering if I wasn’t the only person who was able to unlock a person’s core after all.

“Through sex,” Maya replied, winking at me. “There is more than one way for two people to merge cores. The act of making love is one of them but only if you do it right.”

Kalli turned to look at me. Melvin Murphy!

I gave her an exasperated look.

Really, Kalli? You know exactly how I got both bloodlines. Besides, you also know who I got them from and they were both old and creepy!

She giggled in response. I know. I’m just teasing you.

I looked up to find Maya staring at me. “Mate Chat, huh? The two of you must have a very special bond. I don’t know if that’s a mistake or not. I guess only time will tell if it’s a mistake.”

Glaring at my so-called sister, I replied. “She is special to me. More special than you could ever know. If you want to be my sister, then you better get used to that fact.”

Kalli beamed at me.

Maya insisted that the healers tend to me first. I lay in the cool grass as several wands passed over my body. A tingling sensation started in my toes and soon spread through my whole body before they were done. Then, without speaking to me, the head mage walked over to Maya and whispered in her ear.

She walked back over to me and said, “It appears that Mardella tipped her blade with some sort of poison. We are unsure of how this will affect you, so I would like to take you back to the high house for observation.”

“How long will that take?” Kalli asked, hovering over me protectively.

“As long as it takes,” Maya replied, crossing her arms as she stared Kalli down.

In the end, I decided not to go with Maya. She assured me that I wasn’t in trouble for any of the shenanigans with Lady Mardella and made King Thomas swear to not cause any trouble for me as I was officially family.

Before leaving she wrapped her arm around my neck and whispered. “I know you like playing at royalty, but our kind cannot get involved. You will only cause trouble for them. If you wish to spend time on Gaia, visit me any time. If whatever Mardella did to you causes you trouble, send me word and I will come for you.”

The next thing I knew, she was gone. King Thomas gave us all a ride in his carriage back to the Thief’s Corridor. Halfway through the ride, Orpheus woke up. He sat up with a snort and said, “Did I get her?”

Kalli and I exchanged a glance and laughed. “Yep, you got her alright.”

He let out a long sigh of relief. “At long last, I am avenged.”

“You know, you have a lot of explaining to do.” I began, remembering how he vanished when we restored Celestea Castle. “Where did you go when you left us? And what do you mean revenge?”

Orpheus adjusted himself in his seat. “Let’s start from the beginning, shall we. Do you recall that I told you my wife was murdered and I couldn’t save her? That was Mardella’s doing. She also murdered your parents, Miss Kalliphae.”

“Kalli’s parents are alive,” I said, cutting him off.

We watched Orpheus’s expression change. “What did you say? That’s impossible.”

“It’s true,” Kalli replied. “I met them as well as my sister, Shiveria.”

Orpheus was beginning to panic, overwhelmed by a rush of emotions. “If that’s true, that is so much more than I ever could have hoped for. While their bodies were never found, the puppet master was quite ruthless, so I assumed she left no traces of her crimes.”

King Thomas, who had been listening in silence up to that point, suddenly spoke up. “Did you say Lady Mardella was the puppet master?”

“Wasn’t it obvious?” Orpheus asked, crossing his arms as he glared at the king. “You never lent a hand when Celestea was attacked. You left all of those people to suffer. I originally went to the palace to kill you before I learned of Mardella.”

Turning his attention back to me, his expression softened. “When the puppet master attacked us at Celestea Castle, I knew she was close. My only option was stealth. I knew I must remain hidden from her so I could get my chance at revenge. I truly apologize for abandoning the two of you.”

Looking at the shredded remains of his shirt, I asked, “Are you sure you’re okay? The poison in Mardella’s blade was pretty strong. I can still feel it.”

Orpheus looked down and traced his fingers across the red spot where his healed wounds had been. “Ah, this. It’s still a little tender but otherwise, I’m fine.”

Once again Kalli looked at me nervously. When we arrived at the entrance to the Thief’s Corridor, Queen Celestea was there with her husband to greet us. Upon seeing Orpheus, her jaw dropped. “Can it be?”