*Hecate*

Hatchet and Jacin's relationship or whatever was going on was going decent enough, so that was good. They're cute with each other so I kinda ship them. Well, they'll be better when Hatchet's over the 'I don't know if I should be scared of you or just deal with you' phase. But one out of two isn't too bad.

"Are we gonna get on with the lesson?" Hatchet asked, bringing me out of my shipping my two friends mode.

"Yep," I replied, popping the 'p'. "Just promise me you won't pass out this time."

"It's okay if you do though," Jacin yelled from the porch. "I don't mind carrying you back to your room again."

"Jacin!" I yelled. "Stop flirting with my young padawan. He needs focus and concentration."

"Wait," Quin said from next to Jacin, "when did you two become a thing?"

"We're not a thing!" Hatchet screeched. "Would you two just go away so I can not accidentally blow up!"

They didn't move. Hatchet scowled in their direction before turning back to me.

"Alright," I said, teacher mode now activated, "same thing as last time. Try to move the water in a small bubble. But this time, try to keep it small enough so you don't burn out right away." I held up my fist. "About this big."

He nodded and turned back to the pond. His eyes closed and he started concentrating on the water. I could feel the water, thick in the air. A small orb of water rose from the pond, bigger than my hand but smaller than last time.

I watched Hatchet while he concentrated. He looked better than the last time he tried using magic. Still a little weak at the knees though.

"Enough."

The water fell back into the pond. Hatchet took a few wobbly steps. I planted my hand on his back to support him.

"How'd I do?"

"Amazing for your first time. You have a lot of magic. I think the only thing that kept you from blowing up in the past was that you have a small limiter which is kinda good and bad."

"Wait, so I have a lot of magic but I can't use it?"

"Kinda."

"As per usual, you're not making any sense."

I shrugged. "You can slowly use magic to make things happen."

"...what?"

"She means," Quin said, "that you have to use your magic slowly so you don't break your limiter. Since you have a lot of magic you can do a lot of stuff, but slowly. I think... Is that right, Majesty?"

I nodded. "Pretty much. Did you read the papers in the room I specifically told you might end the human race if you entered?"

He smiled and gave me a shrug.

"Uh-huh. And how's the glyph reading going?"

"Confusing. So there are symbols that mean words but also an entire alphabet for words that there aren't symbols for?"

I nodded. "Hehe. You're starting to sound like me."

"Well I did quote your work. Oh and by the way, some of it isn't even in English. Do you-"

"Alright, padawan. Your homework will be this." I drew a circle with my finger, cutting a small compact ball of dirt from the ground. I let it carry itself into my hand before throwing it at Hatchet who bounced it a few time before catching it. "Keep it floating for as long as you can. If you feel even a little bit tired stop and take a break. If you pass out I'll make Jacin take care of you. Got it?"

"Wait, that's it? No big lesson, nothing else?"

"I can't teach you anything if you don't learn to concentrate. If you can't concentrate then your magic might go haywire and you might-"

"Let me guess. Blow up?"

"Well yeah, there's that. There's also a chance that you might accidently burn up everyone around you in a huge fire."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're incredibly morbid?" He asked, closing his eyes to focus on the small ball of dirt. "Especially for someone as generally happy as you?"

"Yep. Lots of times. Go pack up some of your things. We'll be leaving in a little less than an hour."

"Leaving? We just got here two days ago."

"Yeah," Quin said, "but in those two days hundreds of non-magicians and magicians have died."

"And you call me morbid? But yeah, he's right. There's some ruins I need to stop by. And before you ask, Mr. Grumpy Pants, yes. There're some camps on the way. A big city in between too that I wanna stop by and check up on."

"Magic city?" Hatchet asked.

"Nope, completely taken over by the government. For now."

I could see Jacin smirking from the porch. "We're gonna reform it?"

"Yep."

"Reform?" Hatchet asked. "What's that mean?"

"Reform," Quin repeated. "You mentioned something like that in your works. Was that where you went into a government run city and hand it over to magicians?"

"Specifically ones who I know'll do the right thing. That's why Niquie runs New York."

"Niquie isn't magic though," Quin said. "Don't you want magicians running magic cities?"

I skipped over to him. "Magic or not I trust her." I skipped over to the porch and took hold of Jacin's arm. "We're gonna have a private talk."

He nodded, letting me drag him into the house and up the stairs.

I knocked on Heather's door first and told her to pack up whatever she had. Wait a minute, they don't have anything. They left all their stuff behind in their homes which they left behind for me. Does that make me a bad person or some kinda reformer?

"Which rooms yours?"

Jacin pointed me to the first door on the left so I dragged him in there. I gave a small snap of my fingers to soundproof the walls and lock the door.

"You're not gonna like, kill me or anything right? I thought it was just a private conversation when you locked the door but the soundproofing? Murder."

I let out a long laugh, holding my stomach while I crouched over myself. "I couldn't kill you and get away with it." I stood up straighter. "Wait a minute, yes I could. Quite easily, actually. But no, that's not why you're here."

He leaned back on the queen sized bed, crossing his arms. "What is it?"

"First of all, how are your arms so well muscled? I mean, when I was dragging you here I was thinking, 'wow, this guys really has good muscles'."

He balked for a minute before smiling. "I'm a mechanic. I work with cars all day."

"Yeah, but you're not lifting cars or anything."

"I lay on a skateboard with my arms raised working under a car. That's a pretty good excuse."

I shrugged. "I guess."

"What else?"

I gave him a small smile before sitting on the bed next to him. "How serious are you about Hatchet?"

There it was, the expression I was looking for. A calm serious face with a glint of challenge in his eyes. If I'd seen anything else I might've told him to quit it.

"I'm serious about him."

I nodded. "Good. He needs some good. But... I want you to back off him for a bit."

"Majesty, what're yo-"

I raised my hands in defense. "I'm not saying to give up. I'm not saying that at all, in fact I completely ship you two. What I'm saying is, I want you to give him space."

"You know, normally I'd do whatever you ask without question, but this is different. I'm not backing off unless you give me a good reason."

"Think about this from his perspective, okay? He's a kid, nineteen or something I think. Maybe twenty. The average age from that Black Hand Academy place is about eighteen. The whole time he was there everyone made it clear to him that magic was bad, basically brainwashed him. So, he had a normal life, probably, and gradguated. Then he went to work.

"Probably not even a year later his closest friends come to him and ask him to give up everything, family, friends, his entire life, and everything he was taught, to save a kid. A magic kid. He agrees because, and you and I both know this, he's a good person.

"Now he goes to save the kid and they think they've won. Everything's okay. But it isn't cause the kid dies. Then he learns that he is magic. Everything's wrong for him. And then there's you. You come along and-"

"-make it even harder," he mumbles, holding his hand over his mouth.

"Thank god. I'm not good at speeches."

"So what should I do?"

"First of all stop flirting with him so blatantly. That might help. Mostly, just give him some space."

Jacin nodded, before looking back at me. "Thanks, Majesty. I'll give him some space. At least until things calm down."

"Alright, good. You should get ready to leave. Tell everyone to meet me at the car in ten minutes. I'm gonna go grab some last minute things."

And, with that, I walked out and headed to my forbidden room.

I needed to remember to keep my magic lock on this thing, I reminded myself, closing the door behind me.

I reached down and grabbed the dusty bag from the corner of the room, giving it a little shake to get rid of some of the dirt and spider webs that collected on it.

I set it open on the rooms floor and went to collecting.

First the magic taking thing that I really needed a better name for. Then research papers and then blank papers. I took some glyph research too, incase Quin got through what he was working on. Lastly, I bent down and grabbed hold of a small clay ball with glyph symbols all over it. This one was for Quin too, something to translate. And then Jacin could use it when Quin was done.

I grabbed another bag too, just in case I found something I felt like taking.

What? It's not stealing if the owners are probably dead already. It's more like looting.

"Alright, guys!" I yelled down the hall, figuring that they could probably all hear me if they were downstairs. "Let's get going. Everyone in the van."

"Hold up a minute!" Heather yelled from the room across from mine. She barreled out, grabbing onto me and pulling me back in the forbidden room. If I named it the welcoming room do you think less people would go in it?

"What'd you need to tackle me for?"

"What? Oh, right, sorry about that. But, I need to ask you something. Kinda like a request."

"Alright. What do you need?"

"I was wondering, if it's not too much trouble, if we could stop in Troy."

"Why?"

She looked away, suddenly embarrassed. "Our families."

"Of course we can stop. As long as, you know, you guys don't try to turn me in or anything."

"No, of course not. I just wanna tell my Dad that I'm okay and everything. I won't tell him anything. Actually, I'd probably need you to come with me so I can sneak through the city. Quin and Hatchet might wanna see their families too. Especially Quin, after-"

"I get it. It's totally fine. The ruins I wanna stop by are in Johnstown so it's not that far away. As long as you don't mind waiting a few-" She wrapped her arms around me, pulling me into a hug. "What're you doing. Are you okay? Want me to heal you?"

"Thank you."

I smiled, giving her an awkward pat on the head. "Of course. Family's important. Now, why don't we head on down to the car and we can get on the road. Lives to save and all that."

She nodded, her eyes a little puffy but a smile still on her face.

*Unknown P.O.V.*

"You understand why you're here?" The old man said, giving me a stern look.

I nodded. "Of course. I was debriefed on the way."

"Good. Keep the casualties under five hundred. We want to make it look like she did it."

I nodded again, fingering the little glyph marks that were on my book. My magic traveled through my body, giving me a tingling feeling up my arm.

"I hope you know, I hate your kind. All of you magicians are better off dead. If I'm lucky, maybe you'll kill each other."

I smirked. "All you Americans are the same. So hateful."

"I have something for you," he said. He waved his hand. The door behind us opened. I glanced back to see a young woman with a pink stripe through her brown hair. "This is Savannah. She used to work with the damned witch. Use her as best you can, but remember something. As much as I hate it, I made a deal with her."

"If you break your deal you'll look bad in the public eyes. I completely understand. I'll keep her safe as best I can." I turned back to the girl. "Laisse aller la sorciere chasse, ma dame."