The rest of biology class passed uneventfully, each one lost in their own thoughts and only passing attention was paid to the lecture. ‘A way home… a real way home… maybe? To let them know we’re alive? Maybe to get back… maybe to bring some of these tools back with us?’ Lialah turned that thought around in her head with growing excitement… that is, she did, until she saw her sister’s face.

Even disguised as the human ‘Isadora Blackworth’, she could read Raziel like a book.

Demons didn’t have an easy time at home, and succubi were even worse off than imps, seen as having little worth beyond their capacity to induce pleasure, only their magical potential gave them another avenue of potential success. Even with someone like her sister, a prodigy with magic potential that far surpassed others of her age, she was often subject to the advances of those who were meant to be either teachers or… if she sought them, friends. ‘She’s not thinking of home right now, not even a little bit. It’s the technology she’s interested in…’ Lialah watched her pouring over the book, her eyes rapidly sweeping over the pages.

To the angel’s surprise, Albaer wasn’t telling her to slow down. His eyes were moving as fast as hers.

It was at just that moment that it occurred to her that she only saw Albaer doing homework ‘once’ and that was when he had an abundance. ‘Is he… smart?’ She wondered in her own mind, not even harboring a passing thought that he was dumb, but watching him keep up with a prodigy made her reevaluate the boy again in a new and different light.

Lisa watched the way Albaer and Isadora zipped over the pages of the book, reading far ahead of the others by leaps and bounds, notably in her mind, neither seemed to be aware of the fact that they were taking turns turning the page, or even that either was even doing it.

She tried to focus on her own book, reading the section she was told and understanding it as she assumed, well enough to pass the test before she was allowed to forget the knowledge she didn’t need.

A few feet behind her was the proof that her lab station wasn’t really paying attention. Several of the more popular girls were gossipping in hushed tones, confident they wouldn’t be noticed. Confident that nobody would say a thing even if they noticed, they gabbed on.

‘...so then he was like… no, I just don’t want to, and they can’t make me.’

‘Based. Totally based.’

‘I know, right, and he’s on the football team, we’re going to go to the same college…’

Lisa vaguely recognized who was speaking, but it all seemed so… stupid. She closed her eyes, ‘Why did it seem so important… I just wanted to be liked, but… liked by ‘that’?’ Getting an ‘in’ with them… just the thought, it made her remember the utterly broken look on Albaer’s face when he was down on the ground outside her home, the shock of betrayal, the hurt on his face as he tried to hold back and mostly failed.

‘Even if they became ‘nice’ tomorrow, I couldn’t be friends with them, just listening to them makes me relive that moment… What am I supposed to do…? I’m so confused…’ She closed one hand over the other in her lap and sought answers again and again. ‘Angel… please come again, I did what you said, I told them the truth before the rumors spread, I… I’m on the outs now, with everyone, or most people… but Albaer hasn’t forgiven me and now a demon, possibly two, watch me. I don’t know what to do! What do I do?!’

No answer came to her, and no angel spoke, let alone appeared as it had that night.

It wasn’t until the bell rang and the class stood up that an idea came to mind. Bold, unthinkable, and… ‘I might get hurt, or fail… but it’s worth a try.’

“Now we’re going to lunch,” Albaer said as he snapped the book shut and shoved it in his backpack, “it’s not what you’re used to back home I’m sure, but it isn’t half bad.” He chuckled, “It’s better than my microwave soup and sandwiches at least, but probably not as good as your cooking.” He gave a warm smile to Lialah, who in turn waved the compliment aside.

“Nonsense, you taught me how to use those tools so it’s only natural I should get proficient with using them.” Lialah said, and it was Lisa’s turn to hang her head as she watched Albaer walk out without saying a word to her.

A few minutes later they were standing in a long line leading to a brown metal framed doorway with no door to close it.

Albaer, for his part, ignored the constant deniably deliberate brushes that rammed a passerby’s shoulder against his own, and kept speaking with Raziel and Lialah as if nothing were happening. After the sixth one, Raziel leaned close, “Aren’t you going to say anything?” She asked in a whisper, recalling the way he’d quietly told them not to interfere before.

“No, it’s too deniable, if I do anything about this it’ll just get me in trouble, at least the last one everybody could see he was provoking it.” Albaer explained, and the demoness traded a displeased look with her sister.

She smiled wickedly and she flicked the demonic ear just a little to catch the more precise motion of footsteps veering closer than they had any business being to a long line.

‘They want to be petty? Fine, I’ll show them petty.’ Raziel kept her cheshire smile on her face while she watched Lialah read her mind, and then as a rather largish boy came close, she stuck her foot out.

At that same moment, Lialah grabbed Albaer at the arm to ensure he was rooted like a rock to his spot, and while he looked at her, just before he could ask what she was doing, he felt the thud and heard the crash.

He looked to his left and down where he saw a young man covered in spaghetti and meat sauce. “Sonofa...” He was saying, laughter rang out and turned him redder than the sauce that stained his white and blue striped shirt, but before he could rise, Raziel was down beside him on one knee.

“Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself?” She kept the cheshire smile on her face, her bright eyes looming and shining like stars over him, her radiant, ethereal and illusory beauty on full display, his hormones immediately getting the best of him.

Anger melted away in the fires of his desire to look cool.

“I tried to catch you before you could fall after accidentally bumping into my dear friend, Albaer, goodness, you have to be careful about that, you know? Unfortunate accidents happen while trying to hit people from behind, making people look clumsy and cowardly, so I’m sure you just lost your footing...” She said and when he closed his hand around hers, she tightened her grip, stood, and gave a solid yank, pulling him to his feet.

He looked down at her, briefly surprised by the ease with which she did it. “Y-Yeah of course, ah, I’m fine… just an accident, uh… thank mmm… Eric, my name is Eric.”

He was a sizable young man, as humans went. Or so Raziel thought when she had to raise her chin to look up at him. Muscular, athletic. ‘Kind of like Albaer’s muscles…’ She thought. Typically Albaer dressed ‘down’ with loose clothing that made him look smaller than his true size, but having handled his body herself many times as she and her sister built, destroyed, and rebuilt their skills into something that would be more apt to let them survive? By now there was no question left in her mind, his body benefited enormously from their efforts, breathing easier and being considerably stronger than when they began.

Eric in front of her was waiting quietly, and Raziel snapped back to the moment, “Isadora, Isadora Blackworth.” She said and jerked her thumb over her shoulder toward her sister, “My sister, Isabella, the two of us live with Albaer.”

Eric’s face, red with embarrassment, was briefly jaw droppingly stunned by her words, “You live with him?!” Eric said rather louder than he intended, and heads turned in their direction.

“Yes, they do.” Albaer said, finally speaking up, he said it with the kind of matter of fact contempt reserved for stupid questions. “They’re… very dear friends, not that it’s any of your business Eric, but they’re staying with me for a few months, maybe more.”

Albaer glared up at the taller boy, a hard expression on Albaer’s face, his jaw set, Eric was darting eyes back and forth between the two and the target of his dislike, struggling for words until someone spoke up.

“Hey! Move it along, we want to eat!” A voice farther down the line called out, and Albaer showed his back to Eric, pausing only to put a hand on Raziel’s shoulder before he moved up and entered the food service section of the cafeteria.