Haley frowned, “I hope they’d trust you. You nearly died killing The Thing and their team didn’t get anywhere close to doing it. They were more of a problem and a distraction than they were a help.”

Amy shook her head, “I know. It’s stupid, but blood magic is different here or at least the kind that they’ve seen is. I wouldn’t trust blood magic either if only vampires used it.”

Haley’s lip twitched, “I wouldn’t either, but the magic they do work with isn’t all stuff I’d be proud of either. There’s Vengeance. His dagger sucks the life out of guilty people and turns them into his zombie servants until they work off their debt. Then there’s the Graffiti Knight. He’s just some guy who found magical armor and it’s cursed. Now they use him to fight supernatural evil. Throw in that elf wizard who can change into a bird and that’s their team. Is that less evil than blood magic?”

Amy grinned, “You sound angrier than I am. I was angry about all of it because it is all stupid, but that’s not what I was unhappy about. I’m unhappy because I’m not home. My family’s rule might be under threat and the people I came here with think I’m a big threat because I’m a throwback to the old style of Bloodmaiden. Whatever. I realized that don’t have time to care what wizards here think. I’m here to prepare to go home. Until then, I’m going to do what I can to keep them out of my hair.”

“Alright,” I said, “then I guess we can look forward to talking with them and being cooperative.”

“Yeah,” Amy shook her head and sighed. “I’m sorry I got their attention. You don’t need this on top of everything else.”

I grinned, “I don’t love it, but so far it doesn’t seem like the wizards are out for blood. It seems like they’re just cautious. This might be easy.”

Haley shook her head, “Don’t say things like that. It’s never easy.”

“Yeah,” I said. She wasn’t wrong. “You know what? I’d like to go to the lab and get rid of most of my suit. I don’t need it anymore.”

Haley nodded, “I believe you. I wouldn’t want to wear that any longer than I had to. Oh, and taking a shower wouldn’t hurt.”

I thought about that, “With your sense of smell, everybody always needs to take a shower.”

“No,” Haley said, “Amy doesn’t need to take a shower. You do.”

Amy grinned at me, “Technically, this isn’t even the same body I used in the fight.”

What I was about to say next disappeared as Kayla turned away from her desk to wave at us as she talked to us over our comm systems, “There are people at the office.”

At the same time, Haley and I asked, “Who?”

Crossing her arms over her chest, Amy didn’t say anything, shaking her head as Kayla replied.

“A pointy-eared woman in medieval clothes, someone in plate armor covered in writing, and Vengeance. They’re asking to talk to Bloodmaiden.”

The three of us looked at each other. Even though I didn’t want one, I knew I wasn’t going to be taking a shower soon. Haley frowned, but responded, “We’re heading over there.”

Amy glanced toward the tunnel to the office, “The Bloodmaiden construct needs to rest. I’m going to go as me. It might make them less worried.”

Tapping the watch on her wrist, Amy told Kayla, “Tell them I’m coming.”

I commanded the suit to recreate my helmet and the three of us left for the tunnel, Amy keeping up because she scratched her arm and used blood magic to fly, saying, “I’m still a blood mage when I’m not using Bloodmaiden.”

Minutes later, we were in back in our official, downtown headquarters. It felt as if we’d just been arguing with Major Justice here. Except for the puffs of powdered sugar that had landed on the floor, it could have been a few days ago when that happened. There weren’t any donuts today at all—which was fine.

Looking through the window, I could see Amothel, the elven wizard, the Graffiti Knight with his symbol-covered armor, and Vengeance standing next to the door. Vengeance looked like he always did—standing tall, seeming to check every direction, his beard covering half of his face, dagger on his belt, and camouflage pants.

We let them inside.

Within a few minutes, they were sitting in the office, asking Amy about how she’d used Mime’s magic. It seemed to be going okay. They weren’t raising their voices. They were calm.

Haley and I weren’t even sitting with them. The discussion had turned technical and neither of us knew enough magic to follow it. We’d withdrawn to the other side of the room, texting each other over our comms, sometimes answering questions on the League comm channel. As we sat, Major Justice’s icon wobbled in my vision. I didn’t answer. He wasn’t likely to have anything to say that I wanted to hear.

Then I noticed a new figure standing on the street. Halfway between a human woman and a large cat, it had to be Shifter. That or Grand Lake was hosting a furry convention.

I didn’t like where this appeared to be going.