Music shook the glass in its panes with each pulse of the bass. Heidi nodded her head along to the beat, silently mouthing the words as she pulled packing tape over a large brown and orange Home Depot box, pausing her lip syncing to clasp the lid of a Sharpie in her teeth, pulling the top from the base. She quickly scribbled “Books 6” on the side. Her mother and father had spoken with the Landlord earlier that day, telling her about Heidi’s sudden addition. Luckily, she had just finished renovating a property on the other side of the campus; a small two bedroom house with only a little bit extra rent then she was currently paying now. It had a small covered front porch with a bench swing on one side. Heidi smiled to herself as she thought of the swing. She was excited to curl up with a book in it.

“You have more books than I’ve ever seen.” Thomas said over the music as he picked up the heavy box, placing it against the wall with the others.

“Were books not common when you were growing up?” Heidi asked with a smile, petting George as he rubbed up against her leg.

“My mother had a Bible and my sister, brother and I shared a school book, but most couldn’t afford books.” He explained. “I got bored reading the same stories in our school book, so Mercy and I would always make up our own stories to tell Sam. We would tell stories about Pirates or Kings and Knights.”

“You know Thomas, you can read any book here.” She said fondly. “Or if any of these don’t interest you, my work has books that you can borrow for free, almost like a library.”

“Thank you Heidi, I’ll take you up on that.” He said, smiling at his Ward. A heavy pounding on the door made Heidi jump, sending George scrambling for the stairs, quickly running to hide under Heidi’s bed.

“I got it.” Thomas said as he crossed the room, unlocking the dead bolt that has been firmly in place since they had returned from the hospital. Heidi stood, looking around him as he opened the door wide, revealing Ren and Pharaoh standing on her doorstep.

“Yo Wendy’s!” Pharaoh exclaimed as he tossed a notebook in through the door, it’s pages flapping as she quickly caught it against her chest, looked down at it with confusion as he shouldered passed Thomas, entering the house.

“What is this?” Heidi asked as she opened the notebook, flipping through the pages, smiling as she found it filled with several pages of horrible handwriting and bad doodles in the margins.

“You missed class today, so I took your notes.” Pharaoh explained as he plopped down on the couch. Ren stepped in through the threshold of the door, offering a smile and a nod of hello to Thomas as he shut the door behind the two.

“He’s probably the only one who actually paid attention to the lecture this time.” Ren noted, looking at her with a half smile on his face, as if apologizing. “Everyone else was too preoccupied with whether or not you would be in class today.”

“That’s just….. Awesome.” Heidi said with her smile pressing into a thin line. She was dreading going to class in the morning. “But thank you Pharaoh, that’s very... surprising of you.”

“Ah don’t mention it Wendy’s, I’m just being a caring and valuable friend.” Pharaoh said as he leaned his arms over his head, as he leaned back on the couch. He paused as he looked around before sitting back up.

“What’s with all the boxes? Your parents aren’t making you move back to whereever it is your from are they?” Pharaoh asked, looking from the boxes to Heidi.

“No, we’re just moving to another house on the other side of the campus.” Heidi explained. “Like I was telling Thomas, I didn’t pick this place out with two people in mind.”

“Well what the hell did you think you were gonna get? A dog?” Pharaoh asked with a laugh. He watched as Heidi rubbed her arms with her hands absentmindedly as she looked from the floor up to Thomas without saying a word.

“Oh my god you did! She thought you were gonna be a dog!” Pharaoh laughed as Ren gave him a look of disapproval.

“Pharaoh, that’s enough.” Ren warned with a sigh. “But this is a lot of stuff, are your parents gonna help you move?”

“No, they had to go back to Austin. Dad has an important meeting for work he has to attend, but that’s fine; Thomas and I have it covered.” Heidi assured him.

“Are you sure? When are you moving? We can help you if you like?” Ren offered, giving Heidi a smile.

“That would be great actually!” Heidi said with a sigh of relief. “We’re moving on Thursday. I only have enough cash in my budget to rent the moving truck for a few hours.” She explained. “The faster we can throw everything in the new house the better.”

“I’ll have to check my schedule, I might be working at my new job that night.” Pharaoh said with a sly grin.

“You actually got the job?!” Heidi said in disbelief, jaw dropping. “At the Book and the Bean?!”

“Of course I did, they practically begged me to work there.” Pharaoh boasted, looking to his Ward with a smile on his face; Ren simply rolled his eyes. “You’ll be seeing a lot more of me, Wendy’s.” Pharaoh said with a laugh.

“Splendid.” Thomas muttered as he dug his hands into his jeans pockets.

“No one asked you, Rover.” Pharaoh said flatly, casting Heidi’s Familiar a hateful glance.

“Rover?” Heidi asked, questioning Pharaoh’s nickname choice.

“Cause you thought he was gonna be a dog.” Pharaoh explained with a smile, clearly proud of himself.

“Pharaoh, enough with the nicknames.” Ren said sternly. Pharaoh simply laughed as he looked back to Heidi.

“For real though, I do need to check the schedule. Your boss said that he’d put me on the schedule this week; if I don’t work, I'll help you out with moving too.” He told her.

“Well why don’t we all head over there together?” Heidi said with a smile. “I need to check my schedule too; since I don’t have a phone, I can’t really call. Besides, it would be good to take a break from packing.”

“I think that’s a good idea.” Thomas said with a smile. “I’d like to see your work anyway.”

“Then let’s go.” Ren said fishing his keys out of his pocket. “I’ll drive.”

“Shotgun.” Pharaoh called out as he stood from the couch. “Normally, Wendy’s, I’d be a gentleman and let you have the front seat, but I don’t feel like sharing a seat with Fido.”

“Are you always this polite?” Thomas said flatly as Pharaoh smiled, happy to be getting under the Familiars skin.

“What can I say, my momma raised me right.” He said with a sneer.

“I’ll meet you guys out there, I just need to get my bag from upstairs.” Heidi said as she looked at the three young men who stood in her living room.

“I’ll wait with you.” Thomas said as she climbed the stairs.

“All right, we’ll be in the car.” Ren said as he walked towards the door with Pharaoh following after him.

“How on earth can you stand to be in his company?” Thomas asked as Heidi descended the stairs, stopping to check her hair in the hallway mirror.

“I promise, he really isn’t that bad a person. You just need to get used to him. You can’t allow him to get under your skin or he wont stop picking on you.” Heidi explained as she looked over to her Familiar. “Once he knows he can bother you, it’s fun for him.”

“You seem to know him fairly well for only meeting him a week ago.” Thomas noted.

“Oh, I don’t know him that well, I just know how guys like him work.” She explained, smiling as she placed her hand on the door knob.

“Ready to go?” She asked, hoping to change the subject from Pharaoh.

Thomas paused for a moment as he read his Ward.

“Sure.” He said as he followed her out the door.