Hello, everybody.

Sara book 2's draft is already 32k words long. I'm going to push it to 100k before I start to edit it. I'll make one round of edits, split it into chapters, then the third round of reviews and start publishing. I'll write the rest as the chapters get published.

When will you get to see our potty-mouthed half-Celestial again?

Soon. Give or take a few months.

Here's a little interlude, if you can call it that.

Rooftop, Bank of America Plaza, SoNo, Downtown, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. Sunday, November 3rd, 2019. 13:00

A man braced his booted foot on the railing and leaned forward. He looked to the east, to the chunk of civilization missing. Instead of the suburban communities and lake, a circular crater that seemed cut with millimetric precision.

He was scowling like only a true soldier could. The hole in the ground was a dozen miles or more across. What could cause it? A bomb? No, a blast that could create a crater that size would surely kill all of them even on the other side of the city. Not to mention it wouldn’t be from conventional explosives. Since they weren't dying of radiation poisoning three days from the incident, it wasn't that.

Sara clearly had some connection to the lake. Did something go wrong? Did the higher-ups that gave the girl powers decided to eliminate her and carve a hole there? At least the System was activated. He had sent her a message. The System marked it as delivered. Why wasn't she answering?

"Penny for your thoughts?" Martha asked from behind him.

Hainsworth huffed. "What happened in there?"

"A huge magical conflagration," his daughter answered. "I could feel the shockwaves all the way here."

"Can you feel it now?" He turned around.

"Yes, there's a lot of energy gathering there, then moving outward."

"More or less than that?" He pointed at the tangled mess of viaducts and overpasses that became the Downtown Connector.

Martha didn't try to look where her father was pointing. She had goosebumps just from thinking. "More. And that energy is not... as bad as the one down there. It's the same energy as this System thing."

"Good. Did you decide to accept the EULA?"

"Not yet. Some guys are pouring over it, trying to see if some clauses are legal here in the USA... What?"

Hainsworth was grinning. "I don't think it matters anymore. Sara said a few times she was working for aliens."

"Aliens? Dad! Really?!?"

The Major chuckled. "Aliens but not the extraterrestrial, spacefaring kind. She said she was doing 'God's work'."

Martha lowered her head, "You still think she's alive."

"I know she is!" He replied. "The System told me."

"Dad, she was surrounded by crazy undead!"

He nodded. "Yes, she was. But she also didn't have to worry about protecting us. Martha, you haven't seen what she's capable—"

Martha let out a derisive snort. "I've SEEN what she did, dad. She had thousands of souls trapped around her. She killed all of them!"

"She released these people from a wretched existence. They were undead. Jonesboro was crowded with them Hundreds. She put them out of their misery."

"She killed a guy, right?"

"Yes. An ex-convict, in self-defense, at night, right in front of her house. She didn't go after Joe. And you haven't seen how it affected her. So, Martha Calliope, I won't have you accusing her of murdering people again. Understood."

His face told her he would harbor no dissent.

"I'll give it a chance, dad. I'll go downstairs and ask the guys studying the EULA if they reached a conclusion."

Hainsworth' face softened. He felt the urge to apologize for the outburst but Martha was acting like she was twelve again. "I have the feeling they could've forced it upon us. The fact they're giving us a choice mean something, right?"

"I hope," Martha said and walked down the stairs.

Hainsworth braced his boot against the railing and leaned forward. This time, he stared southeast, toward the campus. Last night, the lights were on there. They should get a drone supply drop this afternoon. All he needed now was a way to cross the sea of undead between here and there. Even from fifty-something floors up, he could see the ghouls walking into the garage.

He prayed they didn't learn how to climb stairs too.

"System, show me my Class options."