The two moons had risen high into the night sky by the time Piper had the strength to make her way over to the kitchen table. A couple of rushlights lit the room—something rarely used due to the expense—and the main fire had been stoked. Around the table sat Alfred, Ethel, and Ophelia, with the terrifying bow, Gorebark, Longbow of Ruin, placed in the center.

  A terrible sense of wrongness emanated from the weapon, and everyone was doing their best not to look at it. Though Piper noticed Ophelia kept flicking the ear on the quiver. Not that she expected anything else from her friend.

  Ophelia frowned. “Why do you have a human ear on your quiver?”

  “Shush,” Ethel said, swatting away her daughters’ hand. “Let Piper tell us about it when she’s ready.”

  Piper shrugged helplessly. “I have no idea why it has an ear. Everything in the Infernal Realm is pretty freaky.”

  Ophelia’s mouth dropped open. “You went to the Infernal Realm? What class did you get? Was it exciting? You have to tell me everything!”

  Alfred glowered at his daughter. “Did you not just hear what your mother said? Do you have hay stuck in your ears again?”

  “But she went to the Infernal Realm!” Ophelia said, gesturing at Piper. “I’ve never heard of anyone going there. She could be one of the most powerful adventurers in the world! I want to hear everything.”

  “Let… her… speak,” Alfred growled at his daughter.

  Ophelia pouted and crossed her arms. “Fine.”

  “Well, I suppose I should tell you my class first,” Piper said slowly, unsure of where to begin. “I received the deceiver class, which is epic quality. It gives me all sorts of spells to hide the fact that I’m a demon.”

  Both Ethel and Alfred looked stunned by the news.

  The big man was the first to recover, and he whistled softly. “Very few folks are even offered a common quality class. Mind you, that’s on their second or third one when they’ve built up their deeds. But epic? That’s almost unheard of.”

  “I was offered a mythic class,” Piper continued. “But it wouldn’t let me live a normal life. Do you think I made the wrong choice?”

  Ethel patted Piper’s hand softly. “You made what you thought was the right decision. That’s all that matters.”

  She nodded at the woman’s words. At the time, the deceiver class had seemed like the right choice, but based on Alfred’s reaction to an epic class, she was a bit worried she’d screwed up. Still, her only goal at the moment was to live a normal life on this farm and someday find a way to see her parents again. And the deceiver class should let her do that.

  “The rest of my awakening was nothing like what you described.” She then took a few minutes to fill them in on the story, while Ethel piled a plate high with cold slices of meat, cheese, and bread.

  Piper popped morsels of food into her mouth as she spoke, telling them about meeting Astaroth, her battle with the imp, and then her desperate fight against the shadeling. Finally, she told them about receiving her bow from the scary tree.

  “I say we bury this thing,” Alfred said, tugging on his beard. “Nothing good can come from having an evil weapon around.”

  “I don’t think it’s evil…” Piper said, trailing off as she realized any weapon gifted from a demon was very likely cursed. But she couldn’t just toss away a legendary weapon. What if they needed it someday?

  “Who are you calling evil?” A voice croaked from the bow. The eyes on the demon head near the grip snapped open and regarded the room.

  As the weapon spoke, everyone at the table except for Piper stumbled back, with Alfred even knocking over his chair. While she didn’t leap to her feet, she was still shocked at the bow’s ability to talk. What else hadn’t Astaroth told her about it?

  Piper leaned forward and poked the weapon. “You can talk?”

  The wooden face rolled its eyes. “Astaroth told me you weren’t the sharpest spike on a demon’s back. Yes, I can talk. Better than these hairless apes at least.”

  Alfred hurried over to the door and grabbed his axe. He strode back with murder in his eyes. “We need to destroy this cursed object!”

  “Wait!” Piper said, snatching the bow up from the table and holding it away from him. “It’s a legendary weapon. What if we need it?”

  “What if it tries to kill us in our sleep?”

  “And how would I do that?” Gorebark asked. “Do you see any arms or legs on me? What, you think I’m just going to hop over and strangle you with my bowstring while you sleep? Hey, that’s not a bad idea. You with the horns. Put me down and let me see if I can do that.”

  “Shut up,” Piper said out of the corner of her mouth, watching as Alfred’s expression darkened. There was no way he was going to let her keep this bow inside of the house now. She was starting to doubt she could even prevent him from turning it into kindling.

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  “Why do you care about these humans?” Gorebark asked. “I assume we’re here to terrorize them, right?”

  “They’re my friends,” Piper said in a strained voice. “I won’t hurt them.”

  Gorebark’s face twisted to the side, fixing his gaze on her. “What kind of demon are you, huh?”

  “The kind that used to be human.”

  “What!” Gorebark shouted. “Oh no, you’re not going to let me kill anyone, are you? How in the name of Elaraxa am I supposed to level up in this cursed world then?”

  “We’ll talk about it later.”

  “If you think you can shut me—” The bow’s sentence was cut off as she slammed her hand down over its mouth. It continued to try to speak, with the occasional muffled word slipping past her palm. She caught something about being turned into a quiver.

  “Give me that thing,” Alfred said, pointing a finger at it. “I’ll chop it to bits and then burn it.”

  Ethel appeared behind her husband and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Even if you could destroy a legendary weapon, which I’m not sure you could, what if Piper’s right and we need it someday? What if the redcaps return? Or another ooze is attracted to our property?”

  “Mark my words,” Alfred grunted. “That thing is cursed, and I won’t sleep under the same roof with it.”

  “I’ll find a hiding place for it in the barn,” Piper said quickly. “At least then it’s far away until we can figure out what to do with it.”

  Alfred frowned and combed his fingers through his beard. “I still don’t like it.”

  Ophelia appeared beside Piper and poked at the bow. “That thing is so cool! Next time you go, can you bring me back a demonic sword? No, wait, what about a demonic halberd? That would be amazing. Just think of me with a legendary weapon.”

  Her father let out an exasperated sound and rubbed a hand down his face. “Now’s not the time, Ophelia.”

  “Don’t forget,” her friend whispered as she headed back to the table. “Bring me a demon halberd next time.”

  Piper fought down a chuckle and did her best to remain serious. The thought of Ophelia with a legendary weapon was terrifying. No tree or structure around here would survive. She’d probably become a local menace with a weapon like that.

  Taking Ophelia’s cue, Piper returned to the table, while Alfred picked up the chair he’d knocked over. But this time, she didn’t place Gorebark back on the wooden surface. Instead, she propped it up next to her, with her hand firmly over its mouth.

  Once they were all seated again, she returned to her meal, trying to ignore the murderous glare that Alfred was directing toward her weapon. It had taken him a long time to trust her, and she doubted he would trust a weapon with a demonic face on it any time soon. But at least he’d put down his axe for the moment.

  “What spells did you receive?” Ethel asked softly, breaking the silence. “Anything to hide your race?”

  “Oh, right.” Piper held up a hand to hide her full mouth. “I got Veil of Lies and False Face. The first one says it’s just a minor illusion spell. And the second makes me look however I want.”

  “Why don’t you try them out?”

  She nodded and finished chewing before turning her attention to her spells. Her heart skipped a beat as she prepared to cast [False Face]. Would it actually work? Would she be able to look like a human again? What if it didn’t work?

  Piper cast [False Face] and closed her eyes to form an image of how she used to look in her mind. She concentrated on her long blond hair, her heart-shaped face, and her blue eyes. Then she did the same for her body, adding her skin tone, and even the scars on her arms before changing her mind and removing them. There was no reason to carry them into her new life. Once she was done, she had the perfect image of herself.

  When she opened her eyes, everyone was looking at her and smiling—even Alfred. She lifted her hand and gasped. It looked completely human again. Then she grabbed a strand of hair to see it was blond once more.

  A notification appeared in her vision.

  Ding! Your spell False Face has reached Level 2.

  Piper blinked her eyes, nearly overcome with joy. She was finally herself again. She could live a normal life here until she found a way back to her parents.

  “You’re so pretty!” Ophelia breathed. “Is that what you used to look like?”

  “I think so,” she said. “And thank you.”

  “You’re a lovely young woman,” Ethel added. “I’m sure we’ll find a nice suitor for you someday.”

  The last thing she wanted to think about right now was taking a suitor, but she couldn’t wait until she got a chance to head back into town for a day with Ethel. The sweetmeats were calling her name, and maybe they could even find a way to make ice cream. What she wouldn’t give for a chocolate sundae. It had always been her favorite treat back home.

  “What about your other spell?” Ethel asked. “Would you like to try it out?”

  She nodded and focused on casting her next spell. This time, she targeted the table and formed the image of a banana split with all the fixings. Then she cast [Veil of Lies].

  There were no ripples of magic or anything to announce the spell. One second the table was empty aside from her plate, and then a banana split appeared in a glass bowl. She leaned forward to inspect it, and everything looked completely real.

  “What… is… that!” Ophelia exclaimed. “And more importantly, do you know how to make one for real?”

  “It’s called a banana split,” Piper said. “And it’s made using bananas, ice cream, and chocolate sauce. I don’t think any of that exists in this world.”

  Ethel laughed. “We have ice cream. There’s a seller in town who makes wonderful flavors.”

  “You have ice cream?” Piper said, stunned at the news. “Why didn’t you tell me? Ice cream is my favorite!”

  “I’ll make sure to buy you some the next time we go into town.”

  As they were talking, Alfred withdrew something wrapped in linen from his pouch and placed it on the table. “Speaking of buying things, we got you a few gifts for your awakening. Now, mine isn’t a legendary weapon, but I hope you like it.”

  Piper took the package from him and unwrapped it to reveal a sturdy dagger in a wooden sheath. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the sheath, where a demon who looked remarkably like her battled an ooze. She quickly realized that it was her.

  “I carved it myself,” he said. “I thought we should memorialize your big victory.”

  Holding the dagger to her chest, she blinked back her tears. “Thank you,” she said, a lump forming in her throat. “This is the best gift I’ve ever received.

  Alfred puffed out his chest at her words, looking pleased.

  Ethel placed a much smaller wrapped item on the table next. “This is from Ophelia and me.”

  Taking the next gift, she quickly unwrapped it. Inside was a beautiful bronze pendant in the shape of a burning flame. The details were exquisite, and it couldn’t have been cheap. She immediately lifted it over her head, the string briefly becoming caught on her horns. After she managed to untangle it, she let it settle against her chest.

  “It’s the sign of Infernus,” Ethel explained. “While you wear it, he’ll watch over you and keep you safe.”

  “I don’t know how to thank you,” she said, clasping both the pendant and dagger close to her heart.

  “No need to thank us,” Ethel said. “We’re all happy that you came into our lives.”

  Piper felt the same way. Of all the places she could have ended up, she was eternally grateful she had stumbled across this farm that fateful day.