The rest of the forty-minute drive to OOU’s gym was… awkward, to say the least. My lack of experience with human small talk seemed to make Mark uncomfortable. Not that I could blame him for being weirded out by the alien parasite in his passenger seat. 

When we pulled up to the gym, Mark started to get out but stopped. “You don’t have any gym clothes.”

“I can exercise in these.” 

“In jeans?” He shook his head and started driving again. “There’s a sports shop nearby. You could grab something to wear.”

Did I look like I had a wallet on me? “I don’t have money.”

“I’ll pay.”

His offer to take me around was weird enough--though he was probably doing it for Celest’s sake--but what possible reason could he have for offering to buy me clothes?

“I can’t pay you back.”

“That’s fine.”

A single outfit probably wasn’t a big deal to someone with a car that cost a normal person’s yearly salary, but still--why was he going out of his way for me? 

“I don’t understand why you’re doing this.”

“You said you wanted to exercise.”

“Not the clothes, everything. Why are you bothering to help me?”

He shrugged. “You need help, and I can provide it.”

That wasn’t entirely logical. “A lot of people need help.” 

“‘A lot of people’ aren’t in my car right now.” He parked in front of the athletic shop. 

“So that’s all it takes, just hop in your car and you’ll do anything?”

He twisted in his seat to face me with a curious expresson. “What do you want me to say?”

“I-” What did I want him to say? I wanted an explanation for his behavior, but no matter what he said, I wouldn’t know for sure if he was telling the truth or not. And it wasn’t like I would really understand his reason, whatever it was. Besides El, I’d never met anyone who was willing to help me without receiving anything in return. Even Celest got something out of helping me; she was using my presence to distract herself from Leah’s death. Mark didn’t seem to recieve anything at all from helping me, but he was still doing it. How far was he willing to go? Apparently far enough to inconvenience himself but not far enough to get in trouble with his parents. 

Shaking my head, I got out of the car. “I don’t know.”

Inside, I quickly picked out a sports bra that had a loose enough band not to damage my true body, a long-sleeved swim shirt, and leggings. It was all more expensive than the clothes Leah usually bought, but Mark was unphased by the prices. 

We went back to the gym, but before I could get out of the car, Mark stopped me.

“Your hand, I forgot.” He shivered, and his clothes melted away as he morphed into a labrador-sized dragon with feathered wings. “I have to bite you to heal it.” He opened his mouth to reveal long fangs putting off frost. 

“Ookay.” I unwrapped my makeshift splint. 

Biting my hand, he sent ice flooding through my veins. As he pulled back, my hand trembled with cold, and the fang marks quickly closed. The pain was sharper at first, but it soon faded entirely. Magic rushed through my host into my true body at an incredible rate. It amplified my own healing magic and made the base of my true body itch terribly. Why-

I felt the nub where my tail had been. It was hard to tell, but I could’ve sworn it’d started growing back. It could’ve also just been cramping. Whatever the case, I had to do something to keep my hands busy so I wouldn’t itch off my own skin. 

“Good as new.” I flexed my hand.

Mark returned to his human form with a slight frown. “Be careful. My venom can ease pain before it finishes healing. You should put the splint back on and go easy on that hand for a few days.”

After he helped me put the splint on again, we went inside. I changed in the locker room before meeting him in the lobby. Apparently unworried about being filmed here, he’d donned a tank top and shorts that revealed a lot of his icy blue scales. The light clothing also made it painfully obvious that there was no way I would be able to keep up with him while exercising. He had the lean body of a runner, and I had the body of a geriatric patient. 

He led me across the lobby to the main room, which had multiple balcony-ringed floors overlooking it. We went up a set of stairs that left me panting. Massaging my sore calves, I paused on the second floor balcony. 

Mark looked back at me. “You okay?”

“Y-yep.” I forced myself to straighten. 

We went into a large room with lanes marked on the floor. Each lane had a different mix of obstacles--hurdles that ranged from one to six feet high, rings large enough for a person to dive through, walls with narrow gaps in them, rope nets, tunnels, and a number of things with purposes I couldn’t determine at first glance. 

In two lanes near the middle, a couple of women were racing. The faster woman was petite and dark-skinned, with a black pixie cut. The slower woman was lanky and seemed to be either made of or covered in flexible mirrors. Her ‘hair’--strings of mirrored beads--clinked on her neck with every clumsy hurdle jump, while the petite woman leaped over obstacles with the grace of an antelope. 

In a matter of seconds, the petite woman finished her lane and mock-boxed in Mark’s direction. “Hey, we reserved this room, mister.” 

“That so?” He danced around her, shadow boxing over her head. “I’ll race you for it.” He took off down the nearest lane. 

“I’ll kick your tail, Glace.” She raced after him.

I was mildly annoyed that he hadn’t introduced me, but being the center of attention wasn’t really my cup of tea, anyway. I started stretching. 

Breathing heavily, the mirror woman stumbled off her lane. She plopped on a bench and took a swig of gatorade. “Who- who’re you?”

“I’m-” Should I tell her my real name or Leah’s name? If I was going to stick around on Earth, I would have to come up with an answer, but it didn’t really matter which I chose to tell someone who’d never met Leah. “I’m Elva.”

She raised the beaded crescent on her brow ridge that passed for an eyebrow. “You forgot your name there for a minute?”

“N-no, I just- I’ve, uh-”

Rolling multi-faceted eyes, she scoffed. “Never seen anyone with a physical oddity? That why you trailed Mark up here like a lost kitten, you wanna get some pics for your Insta of freaks?”

“I don’t have an Instagram.”

“Then what--TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter?”

“I’m here to exercise.” I bent over and futily tried to touch my toes. Leah hadn’t been especially flexible even before her death, and she definitely hadn’t become more flexible since then. It was difficult to reach past my knees. 

She snorted. “Sure you are. ‘Cause you’re so athletic.” 

I wanted to say “Look who’s talking,” but I didn’t really want to get in a fight with one of Mark’s friends after he’d been nice enough to help me out. Not to mention, my current host wasn’t nearly as strong or agile as the tachak I was used to, so I would definitely lose in a fight. 

Ignoring the mirror jerk, I chose the easiest-looking lane of obstacles. It was mostly low hurdles and large rings at a nice height for gently summersaulting through. I hopped over a foot-heigh hurdle and nearly caught my big feet on it. It was pathetic compared to the fifteen-foot vertical jumps I was used to as a tachak. 

I turned back to the little hurdle and jumped it again. Though, ‘jump’ was a strong word for the stiff-legged motion I’d done. 

Mark and the petite girl finished their second round trip down the lanes. 

“Who’s the champ?” Dancing around him, she spoke in a sing-song voice. “I’m the champ!”

“Yeah, you’re the champ.” Chuckling, he shook his head and gestured for me to come over. “Hey, guys, this is Elva. She’s… a friend.”

Mirror Jerk sent me a worried glance. “You know this chick?”

“Yep.” He flashed me a comforting smile as he gestured at Mirror Jerk. “This is Olivia, and this is Kiara.” He jerked his thumb at the petite woman. “Anyway, Elva’s going to be hanging out with me today, so be on your best behavior, guys.”

Kiara laughed as she checked her phone. “Save the speech for Vince. He’s on his way up.”

Mark grimaced. “Good point.” He drank from his water bottle before offering it to me. “Want some?”

“Sure.” I was a little thirsty, even though I’d hardly done anything at all. I tried to drink from his bottle without putting my lips on it, but my lack of coordination struck again. The water largely ended up going down my front. Leave it to me to make a complete fool of myself in front of his friends. He had to regret bringing me here already. 

“I’m sorry.” I handed the bottle back to him. 

“Don’t worry about it.” He took a cloth from his bag and swiped the water off my shirt before much of it could sink in. 

I appreciated his care, but I could’ve done without him drying my face like I was a dribbling toddler. Not that there was much difference between my coordination and a toddler’s at the moment. I caught the others staring. They both looked confused, but Olivia’s lip curled in disgust. 

“You okay?” Mark asked. 

I nodded. Acutely aware of all eyes on me, I spoke softly. “I’m going to do a little exercise over there. You can do whatever you were planning to do before I came along.”

“Okay, but you let me know if you need anything.” He squeezed my shoulder. 

“I will.” I retreated to the easy lane. 

Olivia scoffed quietly. “Where did you find this chick, Glace?”

Mark shot her a look. “Don’t be a jerk.”

“I was just asking how you met.”

“That’s not what you asked.” He shook his head. “All you need to know is, she's a friend who’s been through a lot, and the last thing she needs is your attitude.” 

Wonderful, he was giving more people a reason to look at me like I was the most pitiful thing on Earth. I’d have preferred the attitude. At least I was used to that.