I stood in a dark space. I could see a little girl with blue eyes and dark brown hair walking on a dim path. Along the path, a man and a woman with matching eyes watched her. The woman had burn scars on her arms and neck. They smiled as she passed, but I could sense that they were fake. Their eyebrows quivered in what looked to be fear.

As the girl walked, a slight breeze started to cause her hair to wave behind her. She seemed to be a bit bigger now. Kids stood to the side, staring at her with a playground in the background. Some of the kids bore bruises with faces filled with anger and fear. A few adults stood behind them with matching expressions.

The breeze grew stronger, the girl’s hair began to flutter, but she continued forward. She was older now, kids played on the path in front of her, but as she got closer, their parents appeared and shooed them out of her way while their eyes remained glued on her. Other adults whispered to one another off to the side. The wind picked up.

The girl was forced to push through the resistance now. Her auburn hair was longer and flapped with the turbulence as she kept moving. Kids standing in front of lockers eyed her with haughty expressions. Girls pointed and gossiped; boys stared at her appraisingly. The gusts became wild.

The girl no longer bore just a resemblance, it was clear that she was Al. She was a teenager with hardened eyes and a clenched jaw. She fought against the wind. The school hallway was full of guys and girls with pock marked faces; clutching books; holding footballs, basketballs, and volleyballs; wearing glasses and braces. Teachers stood among them. They all had expressions that ranged from hunger, staring at her like she was a choice steak, to concern, as if she was a feral animal that needed to be put down. Desire, envy, jealousy, fear, and disdain surrounded her as the gale force winds pummeled her.

She was an adult now and every step she took was a challenge, a battle. The number of people around her grew, crowding her. They stood in her path but parted as she approached. She snarled and struggled to keep her footing. She was buffeted from side to side but kept pushing.

A shadowy figure appeared, standing at the end of the road. It appeared to be a man. She was fighting her way toward him. With every step, more people were around her, but there were also tombstones in the crowd. Tears fell from her eyes, but she kept moving toward the figure. His shape became clearer, but shadows still obscured him from view. The only things visible were a wide smile and a gold band around his ring finger.

Al was forced to the ground by the battering wind. To brace against its onslaught, her fingers dug into the path to crawl forward. She looked like an animal clutching with its claws buried deep to keep it from blowing away in a hurricane. Rage boiled off her and gouts of flame propelled her forward. She screamed at the wind, willing it to let her through. The shadowed man dropped to one knee and spread his arms out to her. Tears fell from her eyes, and she smiled at him. It was a smile that I’d never seen on her face before. The wind stopped suddenly, and she charged, reaching out to hug him. The scene vanished and I flew backward.

The whole apartment shook when my back struck something hard. I was in the most pain I’d ever felt. Blood seeped out of my mouth, and I couldn’t breathe. In front of me, Al was clutching the arm I’d grabbed. She looked like she’d just been bitten by a childhood pet. Her chin and eyebrows quivered in confusion, as if unsure whether to be angry, afraid, or in pain. She lowered her face with an unreadable expression.

“I’ll be back in an hour to pick you up.” She said quietly with no discernable emotion in her voice. I heard it clearly, but then all I heard was ringing. Her footfalls made no sound when she walked out of the apartment. The world lacked color and it seemed a bit darker. My head shook involuntarily as I weakly tried to look down at myself. My entire torso was caved in as if I’d been struck by a meteor.

No bones jutted out of my skin, blood didn’t come out of the wound, and my shirt had exploded. It was a charred crater and everything inside was pulped or crushed. I knew I should be panicking, but there was just – nothing.

All my sensed had been muted, I didn’t even feel the pain anymore. I watched Dale and Leah rush to my side in slow motion like they were running through water. Their mouths were moving frantically, but all I heard was the ringing. There was a moment of clarity and the fog cleared from my mind, but the world didn’t change. I realized that I had to fix the damage to my body, or I would die.

I closed my mind to focus and assessed the injury internally. Everything had been crushed, shredded, and liquified. It was a mess of bone particulates and organ meat. I’d have to rebuild it all from scratch. An image of my body appeared in my mind and a deeper understanding of its workings congealed as if I were staring at an anatomy textbook. My chest popped outward to make room and bones reformed to hold it in place. I decided it would be best to start in the middle and work outward. The heart was my first priority, so I started there.

The structure appeared as a blueprint that filled with muscle, fat, and veins. Ventricles, atriums, and heart valves formed. When it was complete, nerves descended from my brain to create a link and spark of electricity caused the heart to beat once. With it, arteries of light spread through my body like a tree growing branches. They connected to what still existed in my limbs. Another beat caused veins, like twigs, that expanded from the arteries. One more beat and capillaries bloomed like leaves in spring. Blood flowed like water, but the cells were lacking nutrients. The lungs were next.

Just like the heart, I shaped them from the mess in my chest. The basic form was sculpted and when done, they expanded to take a breath, but they were weak and shriveled. I tried to force them to grow further, but the light sputtered and died. I searched for the cause and saw that the beam of light within me had shrunk to a thread and there was only enough power to keep the lights on.

My senses were weakening. The monochrome world had dimmed even further. I could no longer hear the ringing in my ears. The smell of burning flesh was gone and the taste of blood wasn’t there anymore. I felt nothing. I willed my arm to reach out, but it didn’t listen to me. I mouthed a word and forced my final breath through my vocal cords. Somehow it worked, and my senses desperately pushed to feel and hear.

“En – er – gy.” The syllables came out raspy and I barely recognized my own voice. The couple nodded frantically and they grabbed my hands as if introducing themselves. With a final surge of effort, I pulled.

Light of varying colors flooded into me like water through a dam. I’d been drowning, but my head burst through the surface, the waves no longer pushing me down, and I took a life-saving breath. With renewed vigor, I focused on the task at hand.

I was forced to split my focus. Within my soul, I imagined little workers receiving the energy on assembly lines. They were separating the colors as best they could. Some of it was diverted directly to the technicians to increase my constitution and focus, while the rest went to the engineers to strengthen the flow of my life force. From my bolstered core, medical staff grabbed glowing instruments to fix the damage to my body.

The lungs expanded; my stomach, liver, intestines, and other organs formed; muscles, fat, and sinew filled the gaps; bones fused together; veins supplied everything with precious blood; nerves reconnected; and skin grew like moss to cover it all.

A smile spread across my face. I looked up at my friends to thank them, but they were pale and exhausted as if they hadn’t slept in days. I pulled my hands away from them. They drooped, barely able to keep themselves from falling to the floor. By then, Shawn had approached to gawk at the sudden change in my condition. I hastily grabbed his wrist, to which he tried to pull back, but I held on. Without bothering to get permission, I yanked energy out of his soul. His screams of pain were a whistle that blew in my mind and my little workers went into overtime.

I grabbed Leah with my other hand and flooded her system with power from the clear beam of energy in my soul to prevent any unwanted side effects. When she was back to full health, I did the same to Dale. When I was done, I released my grip on Shawn’s soul, and slapped a patch on the tears I’d made. The unpleasant sound coming out of his mouth stopped. He looked weary, but not overly so. Apparently, his power had grown. His stores had increased, most likely from being drained during the fight with Cara and all the healing he’d endured recently. His spiritual muscle, if you will, had gotten stronger.

Having pulled energy from Leah, Dale, and Shawn, my face twitched with emotional strain. All the conflicting colors frantically fought for control over my feelings. I pushed it all down and focused on my friends – and Shawn. Smiles appeared on Leah’s, Dale’s, and with controlled relief, my face. Dale fell back on his butt, then started laughing.

“Thanks guys.” I told them and joined Dale with chuckles of relief. Leah on the other hand stood up with resolve. Turning to Shawn who looked at her in confusion, she made a fist and punched down on the top of his head, almost sending him to the floor.

“Ahh!” Shawn reacted by grabbing the point of impact. “What the hell?!” I didn’t have the wherewithal to chide him for cursing.

“What’s wrong with you?!” Leah shouted. “Now, I can see now why no one likes you.”

In response, Dale and I laughed harder. It was the moment of levity we all needed, but I knew it would be short-lived. I wanted to lay on the couch and forget about the whole thing, but I knew Cara had to be dealt with. I wasn’t a fighter; I had no interest in monster slaying. Maybe I really should leave it to Al, I thought. She loved fighting and could probably handle it on her own anyway. I couldn’t though. Cara’s possession was partly my fault; mostly Shawn’s, but some of the blame, just a little, barely any at all really, was mine.

After the moment had passed, we all made our way over and sat around the kitchen table. Dale and Leah chatted about something, but I had been lost in my thoughts, so I couldn’t tell you what about.

“Teach me.” Shawn said. I was pulled back to reality, and in my mind, I replayed his words to figure out what he’d just said.

“You’re not ready.” I replied. “You’ll just make things worse and hurt yourself in the process.”

“I don’t need anyone cleaning up after me. I want to be useful.” He said.

“No.” I repeated.

“Alright, fine. I won’t do anything this time. I’ll stay in the car. Just teach me.” He bargained. “Then I can help in the future. You’re supposed to be my teacher.” Maybe it’s because the day had taken its toll on me or it may have been reconnecting with Al, but I didn’t have the energy to argue. Well, not literally. I had the energy, but not the energy energy. What I mean is – you know what I mean.

“You know what? Whatever – but don’t blame me if you kill yourself.” I warned. He smiled excitedly, but he also flinched, there was a little bit of fear and apprehension hidden behind a mask. “Alright. So, remember when you moved energy from the Hasbrook family, you felt it right? You said it was like sludge or something; I wasn’t really listening.” I explained. “Anyway, that’s because it was tainted by their emotions. They probably weren’t feeling contempt or fear, so the energy was incompatible with you.” I paused for that to sink in. He gave me a look that showed a disagreement with my assessment of his primary emotions, but he didn’t say anything – for once. Definitely an improvement. “I taught you how to feel your energy. It can be transferred, moved, and contained. The next step is to condense it. You isolate only what you want to use and focus on it. You’ll feel the corresponding emotion bubble to the surface as a result. If you try to use power that doesn’t align with your personality, it will be significantly weaker and probably won’t even manifest magic. Here’s the most important part: Never use more than one type of energy at a time. If you try to combine two different types or you don’t separate it properly, the magic will backfire.” I paused again. He stared at me intently.

“What happens if it backfires?” He asked.

“The power won’t condense properly. The elements will fight each other. The conflicting types will violently bounce around and try to escape your hold. They’ll tear through your body and damage your soul.” I replied. His eyes widened with the description. “Also, you have to make sure not to use all of your energy – or you’ll die.” I added as if it were an afterthought. Then, encouraging him with an exaggerated smile and a thumbs up I said, “Good luck!”

His eyes showed worry and fear. That’s what I wanted him to feel. Back when I was learning, Al was a terrible teacher. She didn’t expand my knowledge of magic and mostly focused on physical combat. Sure, she would answer my questions, but for the most part, I had to teach myself through experimentation. I wished I had been given more guidance and I didn’t want Shawn to make any major mistakes, but, honestly, it was mostly because I’d probably be the one to suffer from his actions, so I decided to assuage Shawn’s concerns a little.

“Don’t worry.” I sighed. “If you accidentally try to condense energy that isn’t a single type, you’ll feel it resist you. As long as you ease off the pressure, it won’t explode. Just take it slow. You’ll get the hang of it eventually.” I explained. He relaxed slightly.

“Can anyone do this?” Leah chimed in. She and Dale had apparently also been listening to my explanation. I eyed them speculatively.

“No. Only mages.” I said.

“How can you tell if someone’s a mage?” She asked.

“Mages have a bigger reservoir of energy. If a regular person tried to use magic, they’d use up their life’s force and probably wouldn’t even get a shot off before dying.” I replied.

“Can someone become a mage?” She asked. “Like Shawn when you brought him back to life.” I quirked my mouth to the side in thought. She looked excited and hopeful at the possibility of being able to use magic. I didn’t want to get her hopes up, but I didn’t want to lie to her either.

“Suddenly being able to use magic after dying is not very common and coming back from the dead dulls your senses. I suppose, with enough time and focus, it’s possible to increase your energy generation and slowly build up the amount you could hold. It might allow someone to become a relatively weak mage, but the process would take years, possibly even decades.” I explained.

“What do you mean?” Shawn asked. “I don’t feel any different than before I died, except for the whole magic thing.”

“You’re not very astute.” I replied. “You’ve just gotten used to it.” Returning to the conversation, Dale jumped in.

“Ok, so you put energy into people to bring them back to life, right?” He asked. “Couldn’t you just put more into someone that’s alive? Then they would have enough to use magic.”

“Not exactly. Pushing excess power into someone can be dangerous. Everyone is different and if you tried to force someone’s soul to expand too quickly, you could split or crack it, but that would depend on whether the edges of their soul were more like a basketball or a snow globe.” I described. “It’s kind of like how you get full when you eat. Your stomach can get bigger over time, but there’s still a limit to how much you can eat without bursting. You also have to worry about compatibility. Put in the wrong stuff and a person would have all sorts of problems. Mood swings, nausea, illness, and possibly death.” The gears were still turning in their heads, trying to conjure some other ideas. Then I had one of my own. It was possible, I supposed, to give them my energy to slowly increase their ability. I could bring people back to life. Was it possible for me to turn people into mages? I didn’t have a chance to think on it further because Shawn butt in.

“Come to think of it, Cara’s family members’ souls, as you call them, felt less ‘stretchy’, is the best way I could describe it, than mine.” Shawn said. “Does that mean I could fill my soul with more energy to become more powerful.”

“Well, technically yes, but there’s still a limit to that too – and before you ask, the process is the same as it is for any other person. The difference is, you’re not like a basketball or snow globe, you’re more like a balloon. It’s harder to feel how far your soul can stretch and if you go too far: Pop.” I explained. Shawn paled and thought on that for a moment.

“When I moved energy into Cara, I didn’t feel any limit. It was like filling a pool. There was no resistance at all.” He commented.

“That’s because dead people don’t have a soul. You have to make a container to hold the energy in – something you didn’t do.” I chided. He just stared.

“So couldn’t you kill someone and turn someone into a mage by creating a bigger container?” Leah asked.

“No!” I shouted and they jumped. I cleared my throat and spoke more calmly. “I mean, no. One, I said that you have to make a container, but it’s more like – I don’t know.” I tried to come up with the right words to convey the process in a clear and concise manner that anyone could understand. “It’s like – calling plastic long distance with a stranger’s phone and molding it into a container specifically to hold yesterday’s leftover meat and potatoes.”

“That doesn’t make sense at all.” Leah replied.

“Exactly. Why do you even do that?” Shawn added. “Your metaphors never make sense.” I stared at him in disbelief.

“Yes they do. You’re just stupid.” I told him. “Let’s get back to my explanation. Wait – was I using numbers or letters to list things? Whatever, I’ll use numbers. Two, giving someone a second chance -” I emphasized the term and nodded with a smirk because it was brilliant and I was brilliant, “-isn’t just plopping a bunch of energy into a dead body and putting a lid on it. Every person is different. You need to exceed a minimum energy threshold to overcome death, then fix the thing that caused their death. After that, you have to give them enough power to sustain their life and jumpstart their energy generation system.” I said. I directed my mirth at Shawn while gesturing at him. “Sir Scaredy-Cat-That-Pees-On-Himself-A-Lot didn’t know any of that, and almost got everyone killed.” He scrunched his face but averted his eyes. I continued, “Even though they’re dead, and you form a soul around the energy, as you do so, it hardens, preventing more in. There’s also a limit to the amount their body can hold, which also varies. If you cross either line, any additional power won’t be contained, and it bleeds out. That’s what happened with Cara. In my haste to end the fight, I didn’t feel for the boundary and poured too much life essence into her. Energy outside the body serves as a beacon to other things.” I said. There was a bit of gravity in my tone.

My audience stared at me with unreadable expressions. I could tell that they understood what I meant, but it seemed that they were still trying to reconcile the idea that monsters could be real. There was a long pause.

“How do you know Cara is something else?” Shawn asked.

“We saw her on the news.” I replied. “You and I have gray eyes, a sign that we were dead and have come back to life.” I said with a pause for effect. “She had black eyes.”

“So – if we tried to hold too much energy and it leaked out, we could become possessed like her?” He asked with concern.

“Yes and no.” I answered. “Remember, you’d burst. But, you could still try to hold onto too much energy and lose some of it. That’s probably how you could summon a monster, but it would be more difficult for them to enter a living person. Like you said, you didn’t feel a limit when you poured energy into Cara, and the amount that you let seep out probably alerted the creature to her body. A living person’s life force is hidden and protected from escaping. You can also develop mental defenses to protect entry into your soul, but I, for example, can enter people’s souls without much trouble.” I shrugged, then added. “I don’t know. Al didn’t teach me very much about monsters. She had some theories, and we fought a couple, but that’s it. I’m just going off what she told me and what I’ve experienced with my own ability and extrapolated from there. She did mention that summoning demons violates some mage table law or something, but then again, apparently, bringing people back to life is illegal too.”

“What is this mage table thing? You’ve never mentioned anything about it.” Shawn asked. “Why are you teaching me how to bring people back to life if it breaks their laws? What happens if you break their rules?”

“I’m not teaching you how to bring people back.” I said between clenched teeth. “I was only teaching you how to not kill yourself. You begged me to let you come along on a couple jobs and I told you specifically not to do anything. Of course – you didn’t listen.” I scolded. “Al didn’t tell me much about it either. I think it’s a group of magi and they’re some sort of governing body for mages. Also, apparently, Al is part of it. I’ve only met a few people with powers, and they were all friends of hers – I think.”

My phone chimed, pulling me away from the conversation. It was Al; she was on her way back. The notification made me anxious. She’d just exploded my insides like a grenade, but I somehow stayed in one piece. Even if that hadn’t happened, I didn’t want to be around her any more than I had to be, but I guess I’d have to tolerate her presence for a little longer. Also, I was going to have to fight again, and I knew she was probably going to critique me the whole time. I sighed and gestured to Shawn distractedly.

“Just try to do what I said and don’t kill yourself. Al is on her way back.” I announced. “You can come with, but this time – you stay the car. You can practice in the back seat.”

“We’re coming too!” Leah said excitedly.

“What?” I said. “No.”

“There’s nothing you can do to stop us; we’ll just follow you there.” She challenged. I sighed again in frustration.

“For death’s sake, what is wrong with you people?” I complained. “Nobody listens when I talk. It’s not a game, there’s real danger out there. You could die.”

“ You people?!” She demanded. “What’s that supposed to mean?” My unconscious reaction was to make a warding gesture in response, but I caught myself and gave her my best you’re-really-going-to-go-there-again face.

“Shut up. You know I’m Hispanic, right?” I countered incredulously. She quirked an eyebrow. “Well – half Hispanic.” I corrected. “My mom was Mexican, but my dad was Canadian. Well, he was kind of Canadian.” I said, correcting myself again.

“We’re coming.” Leah said with finality. I looked to Dale, but he just shrugged. A lot of help you are, I thought, shaking my head. Shawn wasn’t listening to the conversation at all. He was already practicing with his palms facing each other like he was in an anime and trying to make a ball of ki or something.

We made it down to the street and I called shotgun as Al’s luxury sedan drove up. She wore combat clothes with a tactical vest, but there weren’t any weapons or ammo strapped to her. They wouldn’t really help; she was the weapon. I wore my work clothes: a white dress shirt and black tie. I also had on black pants and a belt, but instead of business shoes, I mixed it up with a pair of high tops. I figured I’d be a bit more active than usual.

“You look like a Mormon.” Al said eyeing me. I inspected myself.

“These are my work clothes.” I told her. “I have an image to uphold.” Shawn snorted from the backseat, still trying to focus on his ki generation jutsu. We started driving, and not to be deterred, Leah and Dale followed close behind. Besides some idle small talk, the ride was mostly silent. Al never brought up what had happened at my apartment, so I didn’t either.

We pulled onto Cherrywood Drive, but as we drove down the street, we saw something we hadn’t expected. It appeared that the neighborhood decided to have a block party in the cul-de-sac just past the Hasbrook home. Every guest’s head turned as our vehicle approached. They all stopped what they were doing, to face us with their whole bodies.

“That doesn’t bode well.” I noted. Al pulled the vehicle to the side of the road, and we watched for a moment. All the neighbors just stared at us expressionless. It was obvious that Cara had to be the source of the odd behavior, and the Hasbrooks were most likely there as well. “I’m gonna assume they’re not going to invite us to their barbecue.”

“Something is definitely off.” Al said, then presented her wrist to me, but never took her eyes off the gathering. “Take some energy and be ready.”

I remembered the odd look Mrs. Hasbrook had during the news interview. She’d been acting strange; unnatural. Her half blank stare coupled with her comments about our encounter made me feel uneasy. Understanding the precaution, I hesitantly gripped my mentor’s wrist and inhaled with the core of my being. This time I had permission and didn’t see anything of her soul.

Siphoning energy had become second nature, but I was already full from Leah and Dale. It had been a long time since I’d pulled power beyond my normal reserves. Relief like chugging a cold glass of water on a hot day came over me. It changed into satisfaction after settling in a recliner after Thanksgiving dinner. Next, it was the rush of elation from someone agreeing to go out with you. Then it matured into ecstasy like – I won’t go into that. Before things got any further, Al snatched her arm away with a look of consternation, her brow furrowed angrily.

Embarrassment churned in my stomach from the look she gave me. I’d gotten caught up in the feeling and it appeared that I’d taken more than she intended for me to have. She tempered her expression, but I saw mix of guilt, confusion, anger, and concern hidden beneath her skin. After a moment, she went back to watching the people that still stared in our direction. I looked away from her in shame.

When Al was teaching me, we experimented with my ability, but there was a limit to what she felt was safe for me to hold. This time, I’d far exceeded that prior maximum. I knew Al was strong, but once again, I had no idea that she was this powerful, and what’s more, she still had plenty to spare. It made sense why she always exerted her strength. How could she have this much power and not use it? I wanted more.

Fury demanded to be released, but I was confident that it was completely under my control. It would be set free when I decided to let it out. Staring through the window at all those people sent a jolt of anger through me. They reminded me of who I was when I got in the car, the old me; the past me; the weak me. There was an image of someone reflected in the window that caught my attention.

It was that of a man with powerful face accentuated by strong lines, but it was contorted with rage. He stared at me with gray eyes, but they weren’t the light color of an overcast sky or one of rain on the horizon; they were the angry gray of clouds filled with thunder and lightning, ready to smite anyone with the audacity to linger in its presence. Then I had a moment of realization, and I touched my cheek; the man mirrored the motion. It wasn’t the face of a man I didn’t know. The reflection in the window was me.

It could have been the battle with Cara that had strained me to my limit, the slow healing that starved my soul for days, the reminder of my weakness with Al’s return, or my near brush with death as she left my apartment; I couldn’t be sure. The clear lack of power that I felt caused me to lose control and I lost myself to the temptation of drawing from the overflowing well of energy that Al had at her disposal. But the power wasn’t mine; I was only borrowing it. I hadn’t gotten any stronger; I was still just me. I wanted to get more powerful so I wouldn’t have to rely on anyone else, but as they say, you can’t always get what you want. The expression that I saw in my reflection was Al’s anger infecting me, but now all I saw in the window was the sad realization of my weakness.

Shaking away the emotion, I collected myself. I looked into the back seat. Shawn was still focused intently on the space between his palms.

“Stay in the car.” I commanded. “I repeat, do not leave the car.”

“Got it, stay in the car.” He replied without looking up. I had no illusions that he was listening. He’d give up on the practice and come out of his stupor, then he’d suddenly appear to screw everything up. I felt bad for future me.

“Do you have child locks or something?” I asked Al.

“I don’t have any kids. How the hell should I know?” She commented shooting an angry glance between him and I.

“Language.” I sighed, drawing out the word. “Fine, let’s go.”

Her and I stepped out of the vehicle. Shawn pulled his attention away from his task long enough to inspect Al’s butt. You would have never guessed she’d beaten him within an inch of his life by the wide grin that appeared on his face. I rolled my eyes, but I was used to that reaction. I was immune to her charms, but everyone else couldn’t resist.

Her combat garb fit tightly in some places, but loose in others. Her intention was to hold things in place that were better off not moving around, while giving her enough freedom to fight unrestricted. My battle attire on the other hand, didn’t offer much protection. Then again, I didn’t have any fighting gear to don. I was a healer, not a monster slayer. We approached the crowd in front of the house.

“Hey everybody!” I announced with a wave. “Nice party you’re having. We’re just here to see the Hasbrooks.”

“There he is! I knew he’d come.” One of the neighbors yelled. It was the guy that had rambled religious nonsense on the news. “The devil has returned to reap our souls! Turn away demon!” He shouted, then he warned the others. “He’ll lure you in with temptation. Don’t look into his cold, dead eyes.”

“Whoa… coming on a bit strong there. I’m not here to reap any souls. We’ve just come to talk to the Hasbrook family.” I placated.

“I don’t know.” Al said, looking over to me with a smirk. “You do have cold, dead eyes.”

“Not helping.” I commented under my breath. Three of the people from the party approached us.

“Now, now, Carl.” A woman that looked to be in her 70s admonished. “Don’t be rude.” Her reassuring smile eased some of my tension. When our two groups met, we came to a halt to greet one another. The woman made a welcoming gesture to me. “Please, join us. I’ll make you a plate.” She said with a gentle smile. Her hand reached to grab my arm like the elderly tended to do when they wanted to guide you somewhere.

Without warning, Al hit her with a right cross that sent the old woman cartwheeling into the yard next door.