“Uh, hi, Dad.”

  That was the first thing Mira said to Doug. Neither he nor Tanya responded immediately. He was terrified he’d say, “Is this a joke? You imply she’s different and then you show us another person?” and Mira would burst into tears. At the same time, he wondered how he could accept that Mira looked nothing like she used to. The woman in front of them resembled a Greek goddess—the idea of one. She didn’t even sound the same.

  Mira winced. “Uh, can we do like a… questionnaire? Like… the names of people in church, or like… embarrassing things I did when I was at Front Range?”

  I couldn’t tell if Gatsby knew it was me or was overly friendly. Either way, the Labrador Retriever swung his tail like a maniac as he rubbed his head on my toes. I knelt to pet him, but Kline transformed into a super-sized panther and grabbed the dog by the nape of the neck, moving him away.

  I cupped my face, turned to Kline, and said, “I swear to God, Kline. If you show off again, no amount of camouflage will let you sneak in the house.”

  Kline dropped Gatsby, who knew for certain that Kline was Kline. The male calico transformed into a form that was slightly larger than Gatsby's, and was showered with licks and tail wags.

  There wasn’t a brain cell in that dog—just love. Kline magnanimously accepted it and strutted around.

  “Well, that answers that,” Doug said, opening his arms.

  “Really?” Mira asked. “You actually believe me?”

  He chuckled and said, “That cat doesn’t listen to anyone but you.”

  Mira’s eyes glittered, and she rushed forward. “Dad!” she exclaimed, hugging him tightly. He teared up, unwilling to let go for a minute. Tanya waited patiently. Mira was a daddy’s girl through and through, and she respected that, crying softly when she finally hugged Mira.

  “I thought you had like… burn marks everywhere.”

  Mira’s face paled. “Oh… I didn’t mean to worry you. It’s just like, how do you say that I’m—”

  “I’m pretty now?” Tyler suggested.

  “She was always pretty,” Doug said.

  “Oh, please. Mira would’ve fit in in Ward a few years ago. Now she’s—”

  “Tyler Hill!” Tanya interrupted. “That’s not funny.”

  Ward, Colorado, was a town with… a reputation. They weren’t quite hillbillies, more like a colony of hippies who disappeared into the woods one year and detached from civilization. It was a place that I passed through on the way to a hike, and it was… weird. I didn’t like the comparison.

  “What?” Tyler asked. “It’s true. Okay, whatever. Mira was a perfect goddess a couple years ago, and now she’s… a different goddess?”

  “Damn straight,” Doug said.

  Tyler rolled his eyes. “Okay, well, I’ll leave you two to… process.” He grinned. “And don’t forget—we’re having dinner with Sarah tonight. Oh, and make sure Mira’s boyfriend comes.”

  Doug snapped her eyes on Mira. “Boyfriend?”

  She grimaced. “Uh… let’s show you around.”

  Mira rushed around, weaving between people as she showed them Wraithwood Cafe, the dining halls, personal spaces, the multi-story bathhouses with hot tubs, and then the greenhouses and alchemy labs. They forgot about Kai immediately.

  “I can’t believe you’ve built all of this…” Tanya said.

  “Right?” Doug said. “The last time we were here, there was just a few treehouses. Now it’s… like Breckenridge.”

  Breckenridge was a Colorado ski resort before it was, you know, destroyed by aliens.

  “Not yet, but it’ll get there,” Mira said with a proud smile. “Though we have Breckenridge beat super hard in one area. Come check out your house.”

  Doug’s mouth parted in shock when he saw their home. “We’re totally living here, honey.”

  Tanya couldn’t speak.

  Mira had ditched the 'My Side of the Mountain' vibe. Their home wasn’t a mountain resort-Airbnb cozy cabin anymore. The downstairs area was spacious, featuring a full kitchen, dining table, and living area. Then, she led them up a spiral staircase to the second floor, where there was a queen-sized bed, a full walk-in closet, and dressers.

  “The blankets are heated,” Mira said. “Just add some mana. There's water glasses.” She lifted a glass with an array on the side and another on the bottom. It was dirty. “The first array purifies the glass.” She activated it, and the glass and the grime disappeared, leaving it sparkling like a Windex commercial. “The second fills it with water. Don’t worry, it doesn’t overfill.” The glass filled itself with water.

  Doug laughed. “You sound like an infomercial host.”

  Mira puffed out her cheeks. “I’m a magician, thank you very much.”

  “You’re so our daughter,” Tanya said, bursting into tears as she hugged Mira.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  She was finally convinced, and she sobbed.

  Mira pleaded with Doug to save her, but he just laughed and waited until the moment ended. Once it did, she took them up to the third floor, which had a Roman-style bath.

  “I’d say, It’s not much, but it’s home, but it’s like… way too much,” Mira said. “I don’t want to buy your love, but I really want you to stay. So… here’s like… proof of my love… or something.”

  Doug hugged her, and then she cried again. Tanya pouted that she didn’t get a fraction of that love, but… that was just how it was. Tyler was a Momma’s Boy. Mira was a Daddy’s Girl. Both he and Tanya were just glad they were reunited.

  2.

  I left my parents to settle in and went to Kai’s to invite him to dinner early. I wanted to do it without Tyler, but that would be rude to Tyler and Sarah. The two were getting married in two weeks—I needed to make sure that Sarah felt welcome. Like Felio, she was going to be my sister. It was kind of a big deal.

  That said, when Kai flashed me a smile and said, “I can’t wait,” I knew I was screwed. Because the thing about Kai was that he spoke about violence like it was a sport he had taken since middle school, and Tyler took every chance he got to prove that he wasn’t a worthless idiot anymore.

  I’d like to say that they held back—

  They didn’t.

  We hadn’t even been served food on the top floor of Wraithwood Cafe before the trouble began. It was Tyler, my parents, Kai, and a beautiful, shy brunette with a bright white smile. Her name was Sarah—a name that was once so common and now felt so… foreign. She was posh. I’m not sure if that’s the right word. Some people called a girl like that well-to-do, meaning financially established when used to refer to parents, and implied “groomed for success” when referring to children.

  My parents were intimidated by her, afraid to look like bumpkins, so they started with me.

  “So… Kai,” Mom said. “What… uh… do you do? For a living? I mean like… I guess I don’t know what people do here.”

  Kai wasn’t even remotely nonchalant. “Well, I don’t really have a job. Mira gives me projects. Right now, I sit around and fill seeds with mana six hours a day. Then, somewhere in the middle of that, I go slaughter beasts so that one day, I might be a great war god who can stand by your daughter’s side.”

  Dad choked on his water. “Um… sorry? Are you… serious?”

  He flashed them a smile. “Absolutely.”

  “Kai!” I cried.

  “What?” he mused playfully. “You lead an army. I’d have to be able to destroy a mountain before I could court you.”

  I glowered at him, and he pointed at my head, mouthing something I couldn’t see to my dad. Both of my parents chortled with laughter, a strange term to describe the abrupt chuckle that caught them off guard.

  “No, seriously,” Kai said, rubbing my back. “I don’t have a profession. I really want to be a swordsman like my father, so I’ll probably end up in the army. With any luck and a lot of nepotism, I’ll be a general or something.” He winked at me, and Dad smiled.

  “It’s good to see you smiling,” he said.

  “Agreed,” Mom said.

  I blushed and looked away.

  Tyler coughed, and we looked at him. Sarah was pawing at him, trying to avoid the awkwardness. Tyler said, “Should we continue the introductions?”

  “Sure,” Mom said nervously. “And forgive us in advance, we’re… a bit disfunctional.”

  “What, why didn't you warn Kai?” I cried.

  “Kai’s a war god,” Dad said. “And this lovely lady is a…”

  “Arraymaster,” she said quietly.

  “Oh, that’s exciting,” Mom said.

  “Sarah was in the engineering department at MIT,” Tyler said proudly. “I told ‘er you’d get along.”

  Dad’s face turned grim. “Son, I can’t even use Excel well, let alone… whatever magical BS my work uses. Don’t—”

  Sarah sputtered with laughter, then blushed and put her hands up. “Uh… I was just agreeing. The calculators here feel like they have Aristotle inside them, answering with chalk boards.”

  “Yes!” Dad cried. “That’s exactly what they’re like!”

  And so it went. We ate soul meat steak and soup, made with plenty of spices, cooked by chefs that made things perfect. It was so good that we stopped talking for a good while and just enjoyed it. Once we finished, we wrapped up with the meat of the matter.

  “It feels so strange to meet you a couple weeks before your wedding, but I think you’re lovely,” Mom said.

  “She’s the best,” Tyler whispered, “isn’t she?”

  Sarah blushed and nodded. “It was lovely meeting you, too. Maybe we can go to the spa.”

  “There’s a spa?”

  “No,there’s not a dedicated spa, but there’s some people here who…”

  Dad turned to Kai during their conversation. “Are you planning on marrying my daughter?”

  “I doubt she’ll ever marry me,” Kai said honestly. “But I’m prepared to be there… forever. So… kinda.”

  I was mortified, but Dad was satisfied. He said, “Usually we’d throw around a football or something, but that’s obviously not happening here. I hear you teach my son sword fighting.”

  “A little,” Kai said. “We learn from the same man, actually, though we do spar a little.”

  “That’s interesting. I’d like to see that. Maybe bring Mira along—finally get the… big picture.”

  Kai smiled nervously. “I’m not sure we should bring Mira.”

  Dad frowned. “Why not?”

  “Because I don’t want to get my ass kicked in front of her father.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m not participating. It’s your time to show off and do the whole, I can protect your daughter thing. So let’s just bring out Malo.”

  “Oh, let’s just bring out the void slayer,” Kai said sarcastically. “Can’t we just pick someone I can win against?”

  Tyler snorted with laughter. “Sorry, I just… I can empathize.”

  “Right?” Kai mouthed to him, flipping his palms. “Okay, how about this. If I fight Malo, you have to fight Malo. That way you can do the whole, Your daughter protects me thing, too.”

  Tyler put his hands on the table and stood up. “This has got to happen.”

  I frowned. I hadn’t acclimated to my second evolution core because I spent six months each year practicing soulmancy exclusively. I rarely used magic either, and when I did, it was typically ultra-destructive hurricane arrows or illusion magic. Besides that, I used mana-sharpening to enhance my machete or relied on Kira.

  I had no combat skills.

  Yet I did have Moxle Dilation, and I had recently started the third grade of Mental Shielding. That was demigod-grade magic, and I hadn’t used it in a long while.

  I was curious to see how I would fare against Malo, whose body and core were now catching up with his mind and skill. So I nodded and said, “Okay.”

  It was time to check out my combat abilities in the second evolution.