Addy paced her office, her thoughts a neverending whirlwind of worries and what ifs. She knew she shouldn’t be nervous, but her nerves always got the best of her when she had to approach the altar of Hazel Anders.

  She glanced at her watch and sighed. It was time.

  Addy stopped her pacing, grabbed a file off her desk, and exited the small office. As she walked through the hallways of Finnack, she did her best to not think too much about the impending conversation. Why was she nervous? She was the one who requested this meeting with General Anders.

  Clutching the file against her chest, Addy arrived at Hazel’s office. She waited only a minute with Lieutenant Teller before the assistant sent her in to see Hazel.

  “Good afternoon, Lieutenant Baltic,” Hazel greeted her as she sat at her desk.

  “General.” Addy saluted.

  “At ease, Baltic. Take a seat.” Hazel gestured to one of the chairs across from her.

  Addy walked across the room and sat down, keeping the file in her lap.

  Hazel watched her with curious eyes, that startling shade of green reminding Addy of little Fletcher from her childhood. Happier times. She pushed all thoughts of Fletcher away, not wanting to remember her guilt in regards to her friend. He’d saved her life back in Bren’it’p, and she repaid him by getting him dragged into the Mixed and forced to join the military. And now he was off at Vesi Station of all places, wasting away in one of the saddest corners of the planet.

  “What can I do for you, Lieutenant?” Hazel asked.

  Addy tensed up as she considered what she was about to ask of this woman. The woman who got Fletcher’s name put on the list of the “Sacred Seven,” those who all Mixed were given standing orders to protect.

  “Addy,” Hazel said. “What is it?”

  Taking a breath, Addy adjusted her grip on the file. “I have a request, General.”

  “I know that much,” Hazel said. “I was hoping for a few details. I’d prefer not to continue wasting time.”

  She sounded mad. Of course she was mad. Addy was being ridiculous, sitting there all quiet and scared. Hazel probably only accepted the meeting because Addy was dating Jeric. Jeric’s connection to the general was often the only reason Addy ever had direct contact with Hazel, and even after six years of dating, she still couldn’t quite relax around the woman.

  “Lieutenant,” Hazel repeated, her voice weary.

  “I wanted to ask you to release Fletcher’s medical records to me,” Addy spat out all at once.

  “You want… his medical records?” Hazel asked slowly.

  “Yes. Specifically his bloodwork so I can examine his DNA,” Addy explained.

  The General leaned back, putting her hands together in front of her. “You understand that I had those things specifically locked for a reason…”

  “Yes. Because of his… unique Hexing status,” Addy said, glancing around the room. Surely Hazel’s office was a safe place to discuss this.

  “Why do you need that information?” Hazel asked.

  “For my project,” Addy answered.

  The woman scoffed. “You’re leaving for a mission next week. I’m not sure this is the time to pursue your hobby.”

  “‘Hobby?’ General, it’s a research project dedicated to creating a vaccine—maybe even a cure—against Hexing,” Addy said.

  “No, it’s a hobby. We have more than enough people working on an official vaccine, Addy. Your personal interest, while admirable, is still only personal,” Hazel replied.

  Of course Hazel saw Addy’s dedication to the project as personal. Addy had spent four years working on the vaccine project before joining the military, and then due to her substantial Hexing, she was forced into spying and other missions out in the world instead of the lab where she wanted to spend her time. But she’d accepted her fate. She was going to put in her years, and then she’d return to her lab. It was only learning of Fletcher’s [Demanlic] heritage that reignited her passion so suddenly.

  Addy frowned. “It’s not just for me. The vaccine would save thousands if not millions of lives.”

  “Which is why the Mixed dedicate so many resources to attempting to create it. You have other assignments, Lieutenant,” Hazel chided.

  Addy reached up and pulled a piece of hair in her ponytail. “That’s not fair, General. I have a lot of ideas to help with this. I should be working on the research project. Who knows? We might even find a cure, a reversal of Hexing.”

  She met Hazel’s cool green eyes.

  “Your judgement is clouded, Baltic. I’m not sure you should keep pursuing this. Don’t pretend you’re doing this for the good of the world.”

  “I’ve given up a lot for Jeric. Some might say everything,” Addy reminded the woman. As cool as [Skills] were, Addy didn’t take on an additional eighty-two percent Hexing on top of her five percent just for [Skills], and it definitely wasn’t to become a spy.

  “You’re not the only one who cares for Jeric, Addy,” Hazel said.

  “General, just give me the information. I promise it won’t affect my work, but I really believe that Fletcher’s DNA might hold the key to finally gaining control over the conversion process. At the very least, his blood might provide us the means to slow Hexing even if we can’t entirely stop it,” Addy argued. She cared far too much about this project to let Hazel keep her from it, especially when such important information was waiting for her.

  Hazel continued to stare at her.

  “Besides, you can’t risk giving that information to the official project. I’m the best bet at integrating his [Demanlic] heritage into the current research and building off of it. Give me the chance to at least try, Hazel,” Addy pleaded.

  The General’s mouth twitched and then she sighed. “Fine. I’ll give you limited access to Fletcher’s bloodwork, but I expect you to use the utmost caution with it. If this secret gets out—”

  “It won’t,” Addy promised as relief flooded her body. It was a minor miracle that she got Hazel to agree.

  “You’ll have it after your upcoming mission,” Hazel said. “You still have to ensure you and your team are ready for it, and I’d rather you weren’t distracted.”

  “Of course, General. Thank you, ma’am.” Addy ducked her head. “I’ll stop taking up so much of your time.”

  “Good. Dismissed.” Hazel watched her with those serious eyes as Addy got up and walked out, file still in hand.

  Addy cringed at herself for having not even used it during the meeting. She’d been too caught up in the argument and her feelings to remember to present the data she already collected. Whatever. It didn’t matter. She got what she wanted.

  Walking back to her office, Addy felt a weight lifted off her shoulders. The meeting was done, and she got exactly what she asked for. A new sense of hope buried itself in her chest, dreaming of some seemingly impossible future in which she married the man she loved and settled down to have a family. And they were both Human.

  The sensible part of Addy reminded her that it was stupid to get caught up in daydreams like that. Jeric made it clear that he wasn’t willing to have kids, not when he was so heavily Hexed and destined to die a rather early death.

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  But Addy was determined to see that that didn’t happen. Part of the reason she took on all that Hexing was to get the long life of [Elves] so she could have not just decades, but centuries to work on the project—of course Jeric wouldn’t be around that long as things were currently going, but she still had hope of convincing him to take a chance on stasis to give her the time for it. But in that case, even if Addy developed a cure for Jeric, she could never take it since becoming Human again past the age of a hundred would be a death sentence. But that was okay. Jeric would still love her. She would find the cure for him.

  Addy reached her office and sat down at her desk, her mind already whirling with ideas about the cure research. With Fletcher’s DNA, the DNA of a partial-[Demanlic], there was no telling how much progress they would make on the vaccine and eventual cure.

  Hazel’s words about her upcoming mission came back to her. Right. Addy needed to get through that first.

  She sighed. But before she could even focus on the undercover operation in Vericin, she needed to survive the Christmas party that night. It was at Nora’s place, and not only would Sebastian be there, but Addy fully anticipated Hazel would be as well. Nora wanted to have a party to keep Sebastian from getting too down over the holidays. Nobody was all too happy about Fletcher going off to Vesi, but Sebastian seemed to be taking it the worst out of them all.

  The hours wore on, and Addy wasn’t all that productive since her mind was caught up in a million different things that had nothing to do with her actual work. She was ecstatic to leave her office that evening, and she rushed back to the apartment, eager to be someplace comfortable.

  Addy got back to her studio apartment and frowned. Jeric wasn’t back yet. Not that he always beat her home, but she’d been hoping he’d call it early that evening for the party. No such luck.

  Disappointed, she changed out of her uniform and into a pair of sweats, deciding to be comfortable for the last hour she had before the party. She got out the beat up cellphone—her one remaining treasure from her colony upbringing, and put her earbuds in. Music was her life. She’d grown up listening to all kinds, and she considered herself extraordinarily lucky to still have access to it. The Mixed were so strict about technology—all part of keeping things classified and hidden—that it’d taken pull from Hazel to get her an exception to keep the device. Of course, it had to get disabled so all it functioned as was a music player, but that’s all she wanted for it anyway.

  Laying back on the couch, Addy drifted away as the songs played. She loved just hitting shuffle and letting the mysterious algorithm control the playlist as she daydreamed and relaxed.

  The hour flew by, and before she knew it, the door to the apartment opened. She sat up with a smile and ripped the earbuds out as she rushed the handsome man at the door.

  “Hi, babe. I missed you,” she said, throwing her arms around his neck.

  “I missed you too.” He bent down and kissed her, his tongue dipping into her mouth.

  She did not return the favor since she’d learned early on that those fangs of his were sharp, and she liked having her tongue in one piece.

  “Are you going to be ready in time?” he asked, glancing at her comfy attire.

  “Yes. When have I ever made us late?”

  He chuckled, the ears on the top of his head curling back. She liked seeing him happy. It seemed that was rare nowadays.

  Leaving him at the door, Addy went to the closet and picked out a bright green dress, something that seemed to embrace the holiday spirit. She then took over the bathroom to worry about her hair and makeup.

  She froze as she stared at herself in the mirror. All that daydreaming about being fully Human again had been a mistake, because now she was disappointed to look at her reflection and see an [Elf] staring back.

  Addy’s throat closed up as the heavy realization set in that the only thing that was still “her” were her eyes, and even those had enough metallic shade in them to pass as Unhuman. A web of bronze markings ran across her forehead and neck. The dress was low cut enough that markings which ran along her shoulders were visible before they trailed down the front of her arms to end at the top of her hands.

  It was fine. She didn’t care. She’d lived like this for years. She wasn’t going to let it bother her now.

  Addy forced those nitpicky voices out of her head as she set to work on her makeup and then her hair.

  Only… her hair…

  She wanted to do it down, but doing that always made her self-conscious of her ears. Having her hair up, she didn’t think too much about just how tall they were now, but when she did her hair down, they stuck up out of it like sore thumbs.

  With her soft curls gracing her face, Addy stared long and hard at those stupid pointed ears. She reached up and folded them over, burying them in her hair just to remind herself what she used to be.

  “You regret it, don’t you?” Jeric asked from the doorway.

  Startled, Addy released her ears which sprung back up. “No. Why would you say that?”

  “You always mess with your ears when you get ready. And you’ve been spending more time on your makeup, using all that foundation to cover your markings,” Jeric said.

  She frowned. She hadn’t expected him to notice that. “I just like trying new things.”

  “Don’t lie to me. You wish you still looked Human,” Jeric growled.

  “Everyone whose Hexed wishes that,” Addy argued. “You wish that too. You always talk about dying your hair.”

  “But I didn’t have a choice. You did,” Jeric pointed out.

  She looked away, ashamed of herself for letting him see her moment of weakness. “I did it for you.”

  “I didn’t want you to,” he said. “I told you that you would regret it. I knew this would happen.”

  “You wouldn’t be with me when I looked Human!” Addy yelled.

  Jeric shook his head and walked away. “I knew it,” he murmured.

  Addy stifled a sob. That jerk. From the moment she joined the Mixed she’d been in love with Jeric. And he’d loved her back. But he was so stubborn and self-conscious that he wouldn’t be seen dating what appeared to be a Human. So Addy did what she had to do. She got more Hexing and became more [Elf] until he couldn’t use that as an excuse.

  The emotions ran their course through Addy, and then she cleaned herself up and finished getting ready. As she exited the bathroom, she found Jeric on the couch staring at the wall blankly.

  “Jer.” She sat down next to him, but he moved his hand as she tried to grab it. “Jeric, no. I don’t regret it. I never will. Doing this meant I got to be with you, and you are the greatest thing in my life.”

  “The greatest thing that’s destined to die young,” he muttered.

  “Not if I can help it.” She grabbed his face. “Jeric, I love you, and that’s all that matters. I stand by my choice to take on so much Hexing. I did it for the [Skills] and the long life. I told you that originally. I wanted this, and I still want it.”

  He looked at her with soft brown eyes. “I don’t want to be the reason you hate yourself.”

  “I feel the way about my Human appearance the way an old lady feels when she looks at a picture of herself when she was a teenager. It was a fun time, but it’s past. I’m happy where I’m at,” she assured him.

  Jeric nodded and then leaned down and kissed her forward. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.” She put her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her. They stayed that way for a while until he sighed.

  “We should get to the party. Nora will kill me if we’re late again.”

  Addy smiled. “It’ll be fun. I love Christmas. I’m excited to celebrate with everyone. It’ll be nice to have Sebastian here too.”

  Jeric stood up and led the way out of the apartment. He was wearing a set of black jeans and a nice button down, and he looked good. Addy reminded herself how lucky she was to have such an incredible boyfriend.

  It was a quick walk to Nora’s apartment. She grinned as the door opened, and she ushered them inside. It was decorated with a few lights and a small tree—which was actually a lot of decor for the Mixed. Sebastian and Hazel were both already there, and based on their faces, Addy and Jeric’s arrival had interrupted some kind of intense discussion.

  “Don’t mind them,” Nora said with a wave of her hand towards her parents. “They were arguing about Fletch again.”

  “They still can’t get him out of Vesi?” Addy asked.

  Jeric scoffed. “As if they should.”

  Nora rolled her eyes. “I’m with you there, Jer. But no. My mom’s latest attempt at pulling him out got blocked by some other general. It’s a whole mess. Let’s not talk about it. I’ve heard enough about my brother to last a lifetime.”

  “And then some,” Jeric added.

  Addy shook her head with a sigh. She didn’t understand why Jeric disliked Fletcher so much. She found him to be the same easygoing guy that she’d known as a child, but Jeric seemed to resent the fact Fletcher got a normal life in the colony despite being Hexed. To be fair, Addy was a bit jealous of that too, but she couldn’t complain nearly as much since she was rescued before facing an Unhuman conversion facility. Sometimes Jeric still woke up screaming from the nightmares.

  Nora presented them to the table. Jeric smiled as he hugged Hazel, and Addy opted for a duck of her head. She and Hazel were definitely not that close despite the fact she was like Jeric’s adopted mother. She did hug Sebastian however, and then they all sat down at the food laden table.

  Just as Nora went to begin serving up, her cat—J-Dawg—jumped up on the table. He wore a colorful Christmas-colored bandana, a stark contrast to his pitch black fur. Everyone laughed—even Hazel—and after Nora put him back on the floor with his own Christmas feast, they dug in.

  Addy felt a weight lifted off her shoulders as she ate and chatted. Hazel and Sebastian seemed to get over their argument fast, and even Jeric was in a truly chipper mood. The holiday spirit had managed to worm its way into everyone’s hearts, and that made Addy extra happy. As she enjoyed the well-crafted dinner, in the back of her mind she was still dreaming of a future where she had this kind of experience with Jeric and their children. And thanks to Hazel giving her access to Fletcher’s medical records, that dream was closer to a reality. She was going to make that cure, not for herself, but for Jeric and the future they deserved to have together.