*Jacin*

When I woke up, her Majesty and the grumpy one were gone. We were pulled into a parking lot, so I had a pretty good idea of where they were.

The scary one was silently sleeping in the back and the cute one had his head pressed against the arm rest between our seats. He looked oddly comfortable with his spine bent horribly sideways like that.

Rain was tapping the top of the car and coating the gravel outside.

With nothing better to do, I leaned back in my seat and tried to sleep again.

Tried, until I remembered what Niquie said to me last night, after I met Hatchet.

---

"Does her Highness seem weird to you?" She'd asked, when we'd gotten a free moment at about two in the morning. Bad time to close a bar, but there were others and Niquie was tired, so she did.

Niquie, myself, and Wynnie were at their house. She'd asked me to walk home with her. Something about wanting to talk.

"Weirder than normal?" Wynnie asked from between us. "Cause I don't think there's a limit to her weird. I mean, she is the queen of magic, and that's a pretty weird title."

"Yeah," Niquie replied, pulling Wynnie closer into her shoulder while we walked, "weirder than normal."

I nodded. "I guess. But she's been through a lot, you know? What with Savanah and all. I don't blame her."

"Yeah, but that's the thing. She was just betrayed and now she's already got some new student to drag along with her."

I nodded again, thinking about it. "Well, I'm going with her so I'll keep an eye on her. I'll call you if anything happens."

Niquie nodded now.

"I'll be heading back," I told her. "I wanna rest up for a long day of travel."

"Yeah, see you in the morning."

---

Thinking about it again, it was weird. Hecate never took anyone to her house, besides Savanah. I don't think anyone even knows where it is except her and Savanah.

I sighed, dropping my head into my hands.

Savanah knew where she lived and now she was playing for the other team. She went from being one of the biggest magical supporters to being one of magic's biggest enemies.

"You okay?" A voice asked, making me jump.

I turned to Hatchet who was sitting up straight now, giving me a sideways glance.

"Yeah, fine."

"I'm not an expert, but someone who's fine doesn't hold their head in their hands and sigh that loud. I think China heard you." He let out a short laugh at his own joke. "So, what's up?"

I looked at him, not sure if this was something I should tell him about. Then I remembered he was Hecate's student.

"I'm...we're worried about her Majesty."

"We're?"

"Me, Niquie, and Wynnie."

"Why? She seems perfectly happy to me."

"Because she hasn't been normal since she got back. Normally the only person she takes anywhere was Savanah, and you know how that ended. Every once and a while she'd take a strong magician to help her out on big jobs, but that was it. I think this is the first time she's taken any non magicians with her."

"Are you calling us weak?"

I held my hands up in surrender. "No, not at all. I'm just saying, she gets into some pretty dangerous stuff. Normally, she'd only take freakishly strong people with her- Uh, not that you're not strong or anything but... I'm sure you noticed at the camp you went to, from what I heard from Hecate, but she puts others before herself. If she has to put everything into protecting you guys, us, she'd blow herself out and put everyone in danger. She's never taken a risk that big."

He turned, leaned back in his chair and was quiet for a minute. "In case you didn't know, me, Heather, and Quin were all Black Hands. We can protect ourselves well enough, especially me suddenly being magical and all. But, for the situation, let's assume that we can't protect ourselves.

"Now, here's Hecate, who literally just had her heart torn to shreds by her friend. You really think she wants to be alone after that? I've known her for, what, a week? I've know her for a week and I know she couldn't make it without someone with her. She's a social...thing. Even if she doesn't realize it, she hates being alone."

I nodded. "You're probably right. Still, I wanna keep an eye one her. Especially with her 'heart torn to shreds by her friend' and all."

He smiled, giving me a nod. "And for the record, I'm not weak."

He turned over and buried his head against the door.

I leaned back, one thought going through my head;

He's cute, strong, and smart. I think I may have fallen in love.

I could feel a laugh bubbling it's way to my head.

From the corner of my eye, I could see her Majesty and Quin walking to the car. Her fingers were held up, protecting both of them from the rain. In her other hand, she had a drink, probably coke. She was smiling, a real smile not her neutral face, and saying something to the grumpy one.

Both of them slid into the car.

"Morning, Jacin," she chirped. "You might wanna go back to sleep. Still got a few hours ahead of us."

"I thought you were close," I replied. "It was only supposed to be a few cities over."

"Yeah, but there's a lot of checkpoints on the way."

"Alright, but would you put me out? I'm not falling back asleep otherwise."

Smiling, she turned back, sliding her way between the two front seats. Her cold fingers brushed against my temple and I was out in an instant.

-Author's Note-

Sorry that this chapter's really short. Unusually short, actually. I hope you guys are enjoying it so far. Judging from the comments, I'm pretty sure some of you are.

A thanks to everyone for all the comments and the likes I'm getting. Special thanks to @BrianaMagic3 for the likes and comments.

Hope you keep reading.

Love you all,

~Q