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The school cafeteria looked much the same as it had the last time I’d seen it, but instead of teenagers, it was filled with people of every age. It seemed that the cafeteria was being used as a social and general gathering place for all the survivors, along with being a place to eat. It was loud and cluttered, but there was also something comforting about all these signs of life.

I was standing in a back corner with Shannon, Bethany, and Fleur, fully aware of the fact that many of the survivors were watching us. As far as they were concerned, we were a huge mystery, and most had no idea what to make of us. We were a group of women who were armed with medieval weaponry, and who had appeared just as suddenly as the daemons we were fighting. I could hear the whispers and knew that some of them thought that we were actually with the daemons, though most were logical enough to realize that this made no sense, not with the way we’d been helping to protect them.

I myself had just come back from spending the last two hours as part of a roving patrol around the school, along with a couple jatta. We’d killed a few daemons that got too close, but there were still a lot more out there…creeping around the edges and waiting for an opportunity. And though we were all eager to go out hunting for them, our first priority was protecting the survivors.

At the moment, Julie was out with all the other notru, building a wall around the school and making things a bit more defensible. So far, they were only about half finished, which wasn’t really a surprise. There were only five notru present, but a lot of wall to build. And while the notru were building the wall, the kaern archers had been taking turns standing guard on top of it.

“I’ve spoken to some of the locals,” Fleur said with a frown. “Power and communications have all been shut down. And I was told that when several groups attempted to leave the area, they were swarmed with daemons. It seems that the daemonites have truly isolated this town.”

“If it was just the daemonites,” Shannon pointed out thoughtfully.

Bethany gave her a curious look and asked, “What do you mean?”

“When we were engaged with Estrid at the mall,” Shannon explained, “she had no interest in keeping their existence a secret.”

I nodded at that as I tried to remember exactly what Estrid had said during her rant. “She said something about wanting to come out into the open…”

Bethany just shrugged at that. “Maybe the daemonites just want to get a solid foothold here before they announce their presence.”

“Perhaps,” Shannon agreed. “However, do you think that the daemonites are the only ones with an interest in keeping news of this from spreading?”

There was a long pause before Fleur quietly responded, “Non.” When Bethany looked to her, she explained, “The haunts are well known to remove evidence of daemon activities…”

“You think the haunts shut down the phone lines?” Bethany asked, looking a little surprised.

“Perhaps,” Shannon responded with a shrug. “We don’t know enough about the haunts or the current situation to know for sure. I’m just saying that this is a possibility we should consider.”

“Power is down except for a few generators,” Fleur pointed out. “Cell phones and landline are both cut off. It seems that who did this is less important than how to resolve the situation.”

“Simple,” Bethany stated, holding up the tactical shotgun she’d brought with. “We kill all the daemons and daemonites…just like always.”

Shannon abruptly turned and looked to the side, and when I turned to see what she was looking at, I saw a very familiar woman hesitantly walking towards us. Julie’s mom looked a bit nervous and intimidated as she came towards us, though I didn’t know if that was because we were all armed, or because of what we did for a living.

“Hello,” Mrs. Rosewald greeted us. “I was wondering if you young ladies know where I can find Julie…”

Bethany burst out laughing while Shannon and Fleur both looked amused. “Pardonnez moi,” Fleur told the confused woman. “Our amusement is not at you, but at being referred to as young…”

“We’re a little older than we appear,” Shannon answered politely. “Except for Michelle, that is.”

Mr. Rosewald looked a bit confused, which made me suspect that Julie hadn’t told her everything about the Val Kyr…such as how we don’t age. I certainly wouldn’t blame Julie for holding that little bit back since it would be bound to make other people jealous.

“Julie is out working on the wall,” I answered Mrs. Rosewald’s question, trying distract her. “I’m not sure how long it will be before she comes back in.”

Mrs. Rosewald shook her head, then said, “The things you ladies can do… Julie showed me some of her new powers…”

“Not all of us possess the same gifts,” Fleur told her with a smile. “But we all serve the same goal.”

“Thank you,” Mrs. Rosewald responded before she hurried away.

“She seemed like a nice woman,” Bethany commented with an amused look. “But why was she asking about Julie?”

I just chuckled. “That was Julie’s mom.”

“I knew you both had family in the area,” Bethany said, nodding in approval. “I’m pleased to see that she found hers alive…”

“She isn’t the only one,” Shannon responded, her eyes going to me.

Fleur gave her a curious look, then asked, “What do you mean?” I just squirmed uncomfortably, knowing that the Val Kyr gossip mill was already running. Then she abruptly said, “Oh, I have heard that Lindrell had been in a relationship with the leader of these survivors…”

“She was married to him,” I muttered self-consciously.

“Really?” Bethany asked in surprise while Fleur looked startled as well.

“You remember the last sabbatical that Lindrell took?” Shannon carefully started to explain, giving me a sympathetic look.

“Gotcha,” Bethany replied, before Shannon could finish. Then she looked at me and said, “You’re from this area, Michelle…so, do you know anything about this guy?”

I just groaned at that and announced, “I’m going to go help with security…”

“What?” Bethany asked in confusion as I started to walk away.

Shannon let out a sigh and said, “If I didn’t know better, I’d almost think you were male…”

I made my way up to the school roof, where I found several other people were already there standing watch. However, none of them was Val Kyr, so I was satisfied that I’d still be useful. I started towards the side of the building where the wall had yet to be built, which meant that we’d need to keep a closer watch for daemons.

As I reached the edge of the building and looked out, I turned and glanced towards the nearest guard, startled to realize that he was not only a teenage boy my own age, but also one who was quite familiar to me. Buff Grissom looked almost exactly the same as he had the last time I’d seen him, big and tough with close cropped hair, though he did look much more tired, and there was a haunted look in his eyes, as though he’d seen things no person ever should. It was the same look I’d had in my own eyes after Australia.

“Hey, I’m Buff,” he said, introducing himself. Then he quickly added, “I mean, that’s my name…short for Bufford…which I really hate.”

I chuckled as his nervousness, startled to realize that he was stumbling around a bit because I was a pretty girl. Even after my experiences getting hit on back at that mall, I still wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to people thinking of me as a pretty girl, much less someone I’d considered a friend.

“I’m Michelle,” I told him, relieved when he didn’t seem to recognize me. Then again, my own father didn’t recognize me either.

Buff looked me over, then gestured to the bow I was holding in my hand. “I don’t think that thing is going to do much against those monsters…”

My eyes went to his weapon, one of those military style rifles that seemed to be fairly popular among the guards. I didn’t know whether or not his had been converted to fire fully automatic or not, but I didn’t think it really mattered. I doubted Buff was a skilled enough a shooter to really hit anything unless it was right in front of him.

“This does well enough,” I said with a faint smirk.

Buff gave me a skeptical look but didn’t contradict me. “I’ve seen some of your friends fighting out there,” Buff said instead, towards the football field behind the school. “They tore those demon things up.”

“The Val Kyr have a lot of practice fighting daemons,” I responded. “Some have been doing it for a very long time.”

I stood watch beside Buff, stretching my senses out to catch any signs of approaching daemons while he used a pair of binoculars. After a few minutes, I saw a daemon in the distance and pointed it out to him. He used the binoculars to get a good look, gasping in surprise of how I’d seen the thing with my bare eyes.

“That thing looks like some kind of demon dog,” he observed.

“A hellhound,” I agreed, scowling as I remembered the first time I’d seen one of those things…inside this very building. I shuddered at the memory and drew an arrow from my quiver. “Keep watching it.”

I notched the arrow and drew back on the string, letting the stored charge of essence flow from the bow into the arrow as I aimed. Once I was ready, I released the arrow, which shot through the air with all the force my custom made bow could impart to it, in addition to the essence which gave it an even greater push. Moments later, the arrow hit the hellhound in the head and blew a hole straight through it. The daemon collapsed to the ground.

“Holy shit,” Buff blurted out, obviously surprised. “You one-shotted that mother-fucker… I can’t believe you even hit it from here…”

“That was quite an impressive shot,” a new voice said from behind us.

I looked back and nearly jumped at the sight of my dad, who stood there leaning on a cane, which helped support his prosthetic leg. He had a pair of binoculars in hand and very familiar looking rifle strapped across his back. It was one of the weapons that Dad had taught me to shoot with, a leftover from his days in the Army.

“Thank you,” I responded, trying to keep my voice calm and steady so he didn’t see how nervous I was.

“Go on and get some rest,” Dad told Buff. “I’m your relief.”

“Thanks, Mister Sorensen,” Buff said before leaving.

Without another word, Dad took Buff’s spot and began to look out with the binoculars, though I wasn’t sure why he bothered. I knew that the scope on his rifle would have been even better. Then after several minutes, Dad paused, lowered the binoculars and unslung his rifle.

When I saw what Dad was aiming at, I said, “Don’t bother…”

He paused at that, not even looking at me as he asked. “Why?”

“That’s a haunt,” I responded, staring at the distant shadowy figure. “You can’t kill them. They’re like ghosts.”

“Ghosts,” he stated simply. “I’d laugh at that if I hadn’t seen those daemons.” He absently felt his prosthetic leg, scowling as he did so.

“Haunts are pretty harmless,” I continued, watching the one dissolve a daemon body. “They’re like vultures…cleaning up the dead daemons. No threat to us.” Of course, I didn’t mention Shannon’s suspicions about the haunts being behind the communication shut down. After all, not only was that just a theory, but there wasn’t really anything we could do about the haunts if it was true. As I’d told Dad, they weren’t any direct threat, but we weren’t any threat to them either.

Dad nodded at that but didn’t say anything. However, a few minutes later, he opened fire, taking only a single shot. The target was three headed daemon that was coming in the direction of the school. He’d caught it right in the center of the middle head, but the daemon kept coming. Dad scowled in annoyance, probably wondering why a head shot hadn’t worked.

Without a word, I drew another arrow and charged it with the remaining essence from my bow, sending it right into the daemon’s torso. I blew a nice sized hole in the torso and the daemon fell over dead. I was just thankful that it wasn’t one of the larger or more heavily armed daemons, or I might not have been able to get it with one shot.

“Impressive,” Dad said, finally turning to look at me. “I wouldn’t have thought a bow would be that good for killing monsters…not when compared to this.”

“Under the right conditions,” I told him as I filled my bow with a fresh charge of essence, “I can shoot about as far as a good sniper rifle…and do even more damage.”

Dad grunted at that, then asked, “Do you mind…?” I nodded and handed him my bow, which he looked over with all the attention of a practiced bow hunter. But when he tried to draw the string back, he grunted and could only pull it back a couple inches, not nearly far enough to use it. “Damn heavy draw…” He gave me a curious look, obviously wondering how a girl like myself could possibly manage.

“Custom bow,” I admitted with a faint smile as I accepted it back. “Some Val Kyr like Bethany and Lei are strong enough that they could probably bench press a car. I’m not nearly that strong, but I’m still a lot stronger than I look.”

“And Lynn?” he asked me curiously.

I hesitated a moment, then admitted, “She’s one of the stronger ones.”

Dad scowled faintly at that but didn’t say anything, at least not at first. “So, you work with Lynn…”

“Lindrell,” I corrected him quietly, feeling uncomfortable with the direction this conversation was going. “She’s my…drill instructor,” I said carefully. “And my team leader.”

“The Lynn I knew,” Dad said as he stared out into the distance. “She was gentle and sweet…but she could be surprisingly hard at times. I can see her as a drill instructor.”

“I…should probably get going,” I said awkwardly. Though I was definitely curious about the relationship my dad had with Lindrell, it was just too weird to stand here talking with him like this. “I need to go see if I’m needed for another patrol…”

I turned and started to walk away, then Dad abruptly said, “You look so much like your mother…”

I instantly froze, feeling a cold chill of dread go down my spine. I slowly turned back towards him and saw that he was staring at me, but unlike when I’d first run into him in the gym, this time there was a look of recognition.

“She told you,” I said quietly, suddenly feeling even more self-conscious, as well as a little betrayed. Lindrell had told me that she wouldn’t say anything.

“No,” Dad responded, still staring at me with a strange look. “But I’m smart enough to figure things out on my own.”

I gulped at that, feeling almost as dazed and confused as when I’d found out Lindrell was really my mom. It took me several seconds before I was even able to open my mouth enough to speak, and then, the only thing that came out was, “How?”

“The way you reacted when Lynn and I saw each other for the first time,” Dad said carefully. “It struck me as odd.”

“I didn’t think you even noticed me,” I muttered, staring at the ground.

“Not consciously,” he admitted. “Not at first. But it stuck out…along with the other things. The way Julie acted like you were an old friend…and called you Michelle. The way you shoot…” He gestured to my bow and smiled faintly, “And then there’s the fact that you look a lot like Lynn.”

I was a little startled by that last one since I hadn’t realized that I looked much like Lindrell. Sure, we were both tall and good looking blondes, but so were a lot of Val Kyr.

“When I was talking to Lynn,” Dad continued with a shake of his head, “she said you’d joined the Val Kyr…but later…she said that only women could be Val Kyr. Then I thought about the way Julie had changed…” He paused at that, still staring at me with an odd look. “I still never would have imagined such a thing was possible, but I’ve seen so many impossible things lately that I’ve decided to remove that word from my vocabulary. Daemons, Val Kyr, ghosts, Julie using some kind of magic, and arrows that act like RPGs…”

“I didn’t know how to tell you,” I said quietly, forcing myself to meet his eyes. “This is pretty embarrassing…” I gestured down at myself. I hadn’t felt this self-conscious about my body in awhile, not even when I was dressed up in the mall and getting hit on by guys.

“Mike,” Dad started.

“Michelle,” I quickly corrected him. “It’s Michelle now.”

“Michelle,” he agreed, pausing to shake his head. Then he smiled at me, and his expression seemed to contain a mixture of relief and sadness. “I’m glad you’re all right… When I heard about the attack on your school…” He paused, looking just a little teary eyed. “I was so worried…”

“I’m glad to see you too,” I admitted, giving him a nervous smile. “When I heard that there was an incursion here…” I paused for a moment, smiling just a little wryly as I added, “I was pretty worried.”

Dad and I just stood there, staring at each other in silence. Neither of us was sure what to say or how to really react to each other. This was extremely awkward, but at the same time, I also felt a strong sense of relief that I no longer had to hide this from Dad.

“What happened?” he finally asked.

I let out a sigh, not sure where to begin. “I was at school, waiting on Julie, when two daemons came out of nowhere…” I told him about the fight, how Lindrell had suddenly charged in with an axe, and how I’d ended up being disemboweled. Dad watched me with an even expression, not acting surprise, though his eyes did widen a little when I described my injury. “I passed out, and the next thing I knew, I was in Val Halla and looked like this…”

“Val Halla,” Dad muttered with a shake of his head. “Have you seen Odin?”

“No,” I responded with a grin. “But Freya is my mentor.” That got a look of surprise.

“The way you dealt with those daemon things,” Dad abruptly said, gesturing out away from the school. “You didn’t act like a rookie.” He gave me a flat look and said, “You’ve fought them before…and not just that first time.” It wasn’t a question.

I nodded at that, not knowing what to say. My thoughts turned to Australia and all the death I’d seen there. The mall hadn’t been nearly as bad in comparison, but it had been quite a nasty little battle. And then, there were the daemons we’d faced her back home. I might not be as experienced as most of the other Val Kyr, but I wasn’t a noob anymore either.

“I see,” Dad said with a grim expression, perhaps regretting the fact that he used to push me to become a soldier.

The two of us just stood there, staring out at the distance for some time, neither of us saying a word. It was relaxing, and I felt myself becoming comfortable with Dad again. He definitely wasn’t the drunk I remembered, much to my relief. It seemed that the whole daemon incursion had been just the thing he needed to come back to life.

Eventually, Dad said, “I’m sorry…for everything.”

I just smiled at that, feeling delighted at having my Dad back again. Then without warning, I grabbed him in a hug, saying, “I’m glad you’re back.”