Zoe, Olivia, and Lanie all crowded together, doing their best to protect the box of explosives. "You hand over that bomb you're carrying," said Circe, "Or else all three of you will be killed!"

"Never!" said Lanie. She fired a bolt of energy at Circe, but Circe just absorbed it with her hand.

Olivia looked at Circe with a burning hatred. "You've caused us a lot of trouble," she said. "You trained Miss Johnson to turn boys into girls, which led to the disaster of the Y. F. F. H. You kidnapped Bailey, you kidnapped Rachel, and your men even killed Bailey!"

There is one thing Jason love’s more than anything in the world, esports. In fact, he wants to become the best Dota 2 player in the world. That’s why he recently joined a competitive team, only to find out later. That he joined an all girls team. And while pretending to be “Emily” online is one thing, offline this might prove to be a lot more difficult.

Lady Plague sat on the throne of mithril and emerald green spider silk, that filled one entire side of her office, staring down at Blood Wing, Micheal and myself with her pitch black eyes. The dragon skull on her golden sceptre seemed to be growling at us.

There had been that moment back in the motel...

There is one thing Jason love’s more than anything in the world, esports. In fact, he wants to become the best Dota 2 player in the world. That’s why he recently joined a competitive team, only to find out later. That he joined an all girls team. And while pretending to be “Emily” online is one thing, offline this might prove to be a lot more difficult.

“You were scared of us?” Mom asked, looking heartbroken. I felt tears welling up, but I couldn’t honestly say no.

There is one thing Jason love’s more than anything in the world, esports. In fact, he wants to become the best Dota 2 player in the world. That’s why he recently joined a competitive team, only to find out later. That he joined an all girls team. And while pretending to be “Emily” online is one thing, offline this might prove to be a lot more difficult.

There is one thing Jason love’s more than anything in the world, esports. In fact, he wants to become the best Dota 2 player in the world. That’s why he recently joined a competitive team, only to find out later. That he joined an all girls team. And while pretending to be “Emily” online is one thing, offline this might prove to be a lot more difficult.

Once they'd all gotten out of the Genetics Engineering compound, the companions all piled into their separate cars. Lanie, Conner, and Rachel got into Conner's car while Saige, Olivia, Zack, and Miles all got into Saige's car. Conner followed Saige as she drove off into the night.

Inside Saige's car, Olivia had broken down crying again. Seeing Bailey die right before her eyes had broken something inside of her. She hadn't felt this way since Christina dumped her. "She died," Olivia sobbed. "We came all this way...for nothing."

“Everyone it's now time to test your shield spell,” Mage Malacoda said.

We'd spent most of magic class learning the finer details of shielding, which according to our instructor was one of the most important spells we could know. Something I wholeheartedly agreed with. I'd written down everything he'd said, double checked it with Calci and Garth, asked questions to make sure I knew all the little details, and watched Calci and Garth cast their own shields.

QUICK NOTE: Shoutout to Uhuru N/Uru for commenting on the last chapter with a tip on how to fix this serial's prelude so it came first in the Organizer page. Thanks so much for helping me out.

***

After getting their blood drawn, Bailey and Rachel were both taken back to the padded room where Rachel had been held before. Circe locked them in the room before going back to start working on their blood samples.

"I can't believe they just did that," said Rachel.

"I know," said Bailey, "But they won't get what they need."

"What?"

After I gave my little speech the party started in earnest. And let me tell you something, the scene unfolding before me looked like it had been lifted straight from the pages of The Great Gatsby. All the young men dressed smartly in their rented tuxedos danced upon the polished wooden floor of the country club with the belle's of Benton in their formal, sparkling gowns.

Olivia froze with fear when she saw Josie approaching her and her friends' table. "Your boss?" she asked. "Who'd send you out here?"

"Only the greatest witch to have ever lived," Josie answered. "And she has a bounty on you and your friends."

"What does she want us for?" Saige asked.

"Well, she only told me to take one of you," Josie answered. "My colleagues have already gotten another young woman like you."

"What are you talking about?" Olivia asked. "What do you mean, another young woman like us?"

Since you are reading this on this site you probably are pretty familiar with the basic situation I found myself in that summer.

Then she asked me what high school I’d gone to before I dropped out, and apologetically asked me for my deadname so she could ask them for my records, and made an appointment for me to come back the next day for placement tests. I was in!

The news stations that were showing and analyzing my battle with Michael seemed to be the more liberal stations. On the other hand, the more conservative news stations seemed to be only focused on the religious implications behind the battle. I do not understand how they cannot see the truth behind the whole situation, they have plenty of video evidence including my live stream of the battle but none talk about why I was fighting Michael.

After two weeks without school for Christmas Break, school was back in session at Eastside High. Unfortunately, Lanie had developed a habit of sleeping in over the break, so she wasn't ready to start waking up early again.

Fortunately, she had her roommate Rachel to help her out. "Lanie," Rachel said. "Lanie, wake up!"

"Mmph."

"Come on, Lanie!" said Rachel. "We've gotta get ready for school!"

"Ugh." Lanie brushed her hair out of her face and looked up at her best friend. "Why do we have to wake up so early?"

I didn’t want to know how she had been going to finish that...