It was almost time for lunch, so that's where Mary and Paolo headed. It went without saying that Mortimer wouldn't be joining them anytime soon.

“So...,” Mary said, “I suppose I shouldn't talk about Nicolaus around Mortimer?”

Paolo nodded with a sigh. “It's still a fresh wound. I miss that guy, and we had known each other for like a week. But he and Mortimer... those two were like brothers. And the way they fought together, it was like they were one greatly overpowered person. Muchmighty knows I've never seen anything like that before or since.”

Mary walked forward, barely paying attention to her surrounding. It was almost noon, and the sun didn't exactly encourage her to look up. That was when she noticed...

“We called him Nico, by the way, so I suppose you should-”

“What's wrong with your shadow?” Mary asked. It seemed way too big compared to her own - well, Paolo was bigger than her, and more muscular, and... anyway, he still wasn't that much bigger - he was maybe fourteen? Possibly fifteen, now that she'd gotten a better look... but still.

“Oh, that? That's my companion. Usually, he fully hides in the shadows, but at noon he's just too fat to fit in.” He glanced down, then up at Mossie that buzzingly hovered next to Mary's head. “You got lucky with yours, you know.”

The girl blinked. “You mean that glorified flying plate?”

Unfortunately, said plate managed to slap her with a ten-dollar fine for just this little commentary. “See? That's all he does!”

“At least it won't kill you,” he shrugged.

“Wait, what?” Mary stopped in place.

“Type O.” That did sound a bit familiar... “Doomed One.”

“But wait... what does it have to do with killing you?”

The boy shrugged dismissively. “They say that it's for everyone's safety. The prophecy says I'll help bring about the end of this world... or something along those lines. They didn't even let me hear the damned thing. But well, let's say this is as merciful as the government gets in the killing baby Hitler dilemma. They are graciously willing to wait until I grow up a bit. Or until I start the evildoer career.”

“That's horrible!”

“Yeah, a bit. It's still a step up from what they had forty years ago - people were running around with literal swords hanging above their heads, can you imagine? I'd go around with that, always banging on every doorframe on the way, and one day...,” Paolo mimicked a cutthroat motion.

“But can't you do anything? I don't know, cast it into a volcano, kill it with some laser light, have it exorcised by a certified priest?” Mary felt the wrongness emanating from the creature. In her mind, she saw it like a cat readying itself to pounce its prey, only doing so already in mid-air, and having bat wings, made with only bones and hatred, and way too long fangs, and... Yeah, maybe let's not get too far ahead...

“That, I believe, would be considered 'starting the evildoer career', wouldn't it?” Paolo said. “Well, that's what Mortimer said, anyway - he studied his for ages and never tried to dispatch it.”

“Wait, he has one too?” Mary asked.

“Yeah, weird, isn't it?” Paolo started walking again. “Type Os aren't supposed to be that frequent - so what are the chances that we'd have two of us in the party, right? Although... there may be some way involving a true chance. He can't really see those very well.”

They passed an actual medieval tower, only with stone-shaped glass instead of actual stone for wall material. It stood guard to a nearby swimming pool. The (probably) cool water reminded Mary that yes, it was hot there, and she should probably get her head out of the sun - preferably sometime soon, too.

But that head of hers was too full of questions to be getting anywhere.

“Why me?” Mary asked.

“Huh? You... what?”

“Why have you guys helped me specifically? There were probably hundreds of people fighting that battle. And there are many people doomed in so many different ways - I seem to learn about another every second day. So... why save me?”

The silence stretched uncomfortably, broken only by some puppies' barks in the distance. Eventually, Paolo twitched.

“You'll have to ask Mortimer for the details. Sorry.”

“What? WHY?”

“He... he simply knows more than me. Look, I... I've only been doing this as long as you. We were selected in the same ceremony, remember? I still know close to nothing. But Mortimer... he and Nico had been doing this for years. Years! Aaaaand, he's a bloody Seer on top of that. So if he said it is you that we should save, it is you that we saved.” The boy shrugged apologetically. “So, sorry. I just don't have your answer. But I guess it's a pretty good one.”

“And how can you be so sure? You've just said you know nothing!”

The boy looked at a distant wall, or rather - towards the ominous gate of the academy. The inner side was perfectly smooth, as opposed to the intricately carved outside - but it still tended to grab people's attention. Somehow, that gate seemed scarier than all the trophies impaled all over the walls. Those were just barbaric - the gate was... wrong.

“I had seen Mortimer talking about it with our team leader. They planned all this in advance, you know?” He paused for a moment.

“But what does it have to do with-”

“Think, Mary. They knew.” The boy looked at her intently, entirely unlike his usual gaze that tried to flee immediately as soon as it noticed that you noticed. Apparently, this time he intended to stare the obvious into her brain via looking alone. “Mortimer knew. Nico knew.”

It hit her like a concrete-filled ice-cream truck. A vivid image of a body stripped of patches of skin and even chunks of flesh, screaming as it was thrown violently miles away towards a raging sandstorm... And Mortimer was a Seer, which whatever it meant, likely included seeing that before it happened. They knew it would happen. They could change what would happen - they couldn't save Mary otherwise, right? So...

“So they chose to save me, despite...,” she swallowed. “Even after what happened... would happen... to Nico?”

Paolo nodded.

“But... but why?”

Paolo twitched again. “I've told you, I have no idea. I've told you everything.”

They went the rest of their way in silence. What possible reason could they have? Mary couldn't understand. She'd been... no one. Worse, she would probably be no one for the next few months, and that was all she had, and...

No. No, that wasn't true. Mary could be someone. She knew she could. She wouldn't... just... No. She'd wasted enough time. She wasn't going to waste whatever she had left.

With that resolve, she stomped towards the grey, boring building for her serving of... whatever it was that they would serve that day, she hadn't checked what it was in advance.