“Hey, have you heard from Zoey? She isn’t responding to any of my texts.” Alexander asked Lindsay inside the student council room.

Lindsay shook her head. Although she was friends with Zoey, they didn’t talk that much. Lindsay was still secretly terrified of Zoey’s unexplainable strength and talent. At the same time, she was also interested in Zoey because of her strange circumstances. When they first met, she didn’t have the potential to do magji at all. But as time went on, she suddenly became able to. None of it made any sense to Lindsay. Her curiosity screamed at her to investigate and perform tests, but Lindsay knew that was a one-way road to self-destruction.

“What about her non-magji friends?” Alexander asked.

“I’m not friends with them,” Lindsay responded.

“What?! They’re pretty cool, though! Why wouldn’t you want to be friends with them too?” Alexander looked shocked.

Lindsay was a bit curious about how Zoey acted around non-magji people but not curious enough to find out herself by investigating her non-magji friends. Her intellectual interest in Zoey was purely focused on Zoey’s potential for magji and fighting. She had better things to do than revolve her spare time around studying Zoey and those around her, like studying more about her magji, doing more cases, and preparing for college.

“I just don’t.” Lindsay decided not to tell Alexander that she had zero interest in forming a friendship with Zoey’s friends.

“That’s weird, but whatever. Wanna go check up on Zoey after school today?” Alexander was worried. Zoey hadn’t been to school in a few days.

“Sure.” Lindsay decided to give him a bone by agreeing.

Who knows how often he’ll nip at her about checking up on Zoey if she refuses now? Lindsay was also a little bit interested in why Zoey hadn’t been coming to school. She hasn’t missed a single day of school since they’ve known her, and for some reason, Lindsay had a hard time believing that someone as strong as Zoey could get sick.

“Great! Should we bring a gift in case she is sick or something?” Alexander smiled.

“Keep it simple.” Lindsay reminded him.

“Right.” Alexander gave her a thumbs up.

“Zoey!!! Open up, or we’re coming in ourselves!” Callie knocked on Zoey’s door.

Behind her stood a small group of Zoey’s friends and an adult. Katlyn, Lindsay, Alexander, Joseph, a wheelchair-bound James, Dylan, Caroline, and Coach Scott. The group patiently waited after Callie’s knock for someone to come to the door. They soon heard the sounds of footsteps behind the door and then the sound of multiple locks being unlocked as the door slowly swung open.

“Oh, that’s a lot more people than I was expecting to be in front of my door.” Bruce chuckled as he was slightly startled.

“Is Zoey sick?” Callie asked. “Can we come in?” She soon asked next.

“Sorry, kids, Zoey isn’t home. She’s at her…” Bruce looked at a few people in the group before speaking again. “She’s been at work. Working with her boss.” Bruce robotically answered.

“Work? But she’s been missing school. There’s no way her boss could keep her at work for that long. Plus, Zoey’s rich; why would she still need to work in the first place? It's not like she’s hurting for money that she needs to take work over school.” Katlyn immediately questioned.

“That’s a good point…” Bruce was momentarily stumped.

He couldn’t tell these kids that Zoey had been with her magical teacher for the past few days. The only thing that she told him and Alicia was that she had to clear her head and not to worry about her. She’ll be safe. Alicia tried to demand answers out of her baby, but Zoey glared at her, and she decided to step back after seeing that hostile response. Bruce figured something big happened on one of those magical cases, and it was weighing on Zoey’s mind. Maybe she had to put down a human corrupted by one of those demons or had to put down a young demon.

Regardless, he would give Zoey all the space she needed and all the comfort she wanted when she asked. He was a little hurt at first when Zoey felt that she could trust her magic teacher over her mother and stepdad, but soon put that ridiculous thought in the back of his head. It made more sense that whatever happened during the investigation would make more sense to her magic teacher. He’ll be able to help her better than they could with stuff that happens in the magic world. Bruce’s heart felt lighter after thinking about it that way.

“Truth is, kids, Zoey’s had something bad happen to her.” Bruce looked at the concerned faces of the group and quickly realized what he said. “I mean, she’s completely safe and healthy! It’s just that she’s not in the right headspace to handle life at the moment. So, we sent her to a psychiatrist to talk about her problems with since she didn’t want to open up with us.” Bruce gave a more plausible lie. “So for the time being, just send a few heartfelt messages to Zoey while she’s in recovery so that she knows how much her friends care and worry about her,” Bruce advised.

“Alright, Mr. Murphy…” Callie answered him as he closed the door.

“Are we bad friends for not noticing something bad happened to Zoey, or is this something that happened outside of our control?” Katlyn wondered.

“I’m sure it’s the second one,” Alexander spoke up. “Let’s stay positive, guys, and give Zoey our support.”

“I didn’t realize the little hellraiser had so many friends.” Coach Scott looked at them all. “Let’s get back to the gym. Also, keep Zoey’s mental health struggle a secret. If news blows up about this, it’ll just be bad for her.” He reminded Dylan.

“Okay,” Dylan responded as he followed the coach to his limo. “Bye, everyone.” Dylan waved goodbye to his teacher’s friends.

“Bye, Wrath!” Callie waved goodbye, along with Katlyn and James.

“We should get going as well.” Lindsay nudged Alexander and Joseph.

“Before you two leave, can I speak with you in private?” Caroline called out to the three of them.

“Sure.” Alexander didn’t mind.

“Same here.” James wheeled himself to the black truck parked near the sidewalk with a conflicted look on his face.

James was pissed. He wasn’t pissed at Zoey or anything crazy like that. He was pissed at himself for not being a good enough man that Zoey couldn’t even confide in him when she was going through something tough. What kind of boyfriend was he when his girlfriend couldn’t even rely on him? Even if he couldn’t solve her problems, he could at least lend a listening ear for her. But it looks like he wasn’t even dependable enough for something like that. What a fucking embarrassment. He needed to get his shit together and get it together fast.

“Do you three know anything about what’s going on?” Caroline could see their internal energy.

“From what her dad said, She’s gone to Mr. Khan,” Alexander told her.

“Mr. Khan?” Caroline didn’t know anyone named Khan.

“Victor Khan,” Lindsay explained.

“The Chosen One?!” Caroline nearly screamed in shock.

“I didn’t know people still used that nickname for him, but yeah.” Alexander nodded.

“Zoey is the student of The Chosen One…” Caroline suddenly realized a lot of things made more sense now. “No wonder I lost against her… Even with my training, the four of my masters were only strong enough to contest against The Chosen One when they fought him together at their full strength. If he’s had a student, it would make sense that she could defeat me so easily…” Caroline nodded.

Joseph saw a lot of emotions pop up in Caroline. Understanding, envy, competitiveness, determination, acceptance, and frankly, he didn’t understand it until he closely listened in on her muttering. It seems this girl fought against Zoey for some reason, and after hearing about her background, it made more sense why she lost. Joseph thought she was just a loser, though. Although he probably wasn’t to talk with his background being not that different from Zoey’s. Lesser skilled magjistars always try to blame the difference in their statuses like that’s the only reason why they lost. Joseph thought if it was such a problem, just train harder. Hell, he still had to train his ass off just to keep up with Zoey’s insane progress. As his master’s student, there was no way in hell he or she could allow himself to fall behind his master’s rival student. For political reasons, personal reasons, social reasons, and more. It was integral that Zoey could not be known as more powerful than himself.

“I guess I’ll have to take my training much more seriously now… Thank you all. My name is Caroline Hines. I’m a monk and the only disciple of the Four Monks.” She finally introduced herself.

“Four Monks!?” Alexander exclaimed.

“That’s quite the background…” Lindsay was startled as well. Zoey had a friend that was an ascetic and an ascetic from a prominent group.

“Impressive.” Joseph thought she was just some random magjistar Zoey befriended but he could use a connection like this…

“It isn’t like I have monks on speed dial or anything. I’ve left the temple to further my training, gain experience in the world, and purify the sins of mortals. Just treat me as you would any other wandering monk.” Caroline smiled.

“Wanna trade numbers?” Alexander innocently asked.

“Sure.” Caroline didn’t decline him. She even gave her number to both Lindsay and Joseph as well.

“I have to go, but it was nice meeting you three. I hope we can become good friends.” Caroline politely said her goodbyes and soon left.

“Me too!” Alexander waved goodbye.

‘Well, that was easy.’ Joseph thought to himself.

‘Zoey also has a strange ability to bring together all sorts of people…’ Lindsay realized.