Ren was out within minutes of relaxing on his couch. He had to wonder if the medication prescribed to him also worked as a sleep aid. Not that he knew anything about medicine, anyway. He threw the covers off him, grumbling at the rays of light peeking through the blinds.

“What time is it?” he muttered, reaching for his mostly broken phone. “10 a.m.?”

He’d slept almost eighteen hours since his visit with Scales. Maybe he needed more rest than he imagined.

He shook his head and tossed his phone onto a cushion beside him. Making his way to the kitchen, he pulled open the fridge door, smiling wide when he saw his favorite box of wings was still waiting for him. Once he pulled it out, he saw a note on the top from his sister.

Eat these slowly! Watch yourself and take it easy! If I catch you outside, you’re a dead man! Love, June.

Ren chuckled and shut the refrigerator door.

---

“All right, here we are,” June said, pulling up to the front of the school. She pulled the lever behind the wheel, putting the vehicle into park. “Got everything you need?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Sunny nodded as she shifted through the contents of her backpack. When she was done, she zipped the backpack shut and opened the passenger side door. “Thanks for driving me!”

“Of course, sweetheart.” June nodded. “Have a good day now! Say hi to Benji for us!”

“I will!”

Sunny shut the door, waving as she made her way up to the staircase leading to the school. June perched her chin atop her palm, watching until Sunny entered the building—a habit she’d formed from Ren’s delinquent past in school. June chuckled, and the memory of her and Sunny’s first meeting resurfaced.

Goodness, she’d been so angry with Ren. With the unpredictability of Ren’s work and her low wages, she wasn’t sure if she and Ren could pull it off. But how was she supposed to say no to someone who’d just lost her father?

The first week or two of Sunny’s move in had been rough, strange, uncomfortable. Everything one would expect from a new roommate.

Now, though? June couldn’t imagine life without her.

June leaned back in the seat. The springs squeaked, and she listened to the hustle and bustle of children and their families. She remained like this for a few minutes, then shifted the gear back into drive.

Next stop. Amber.

---

Shit, this was exactly what I needed, Ren thought.

It wasn’t until his third wing did Ren acknowledge how little energy he had. With every bite, he felt renewed and full of vigor. It wasn’t unlike the sensation one got after recovering from being sick. Sometimes it took an awful experience to help you appreciate the slow and mundane.

“Baka!” cried one of the characters on the show Ren was watching. Seemed the new Everyone’s a Catgirl movie was coming out soon. Maybe some time spent relaxing on the couch wouldn’t hurt once in a while.

Tossing the remains of his thirty-sixth wing onto the plate, Ren let out a sigh of contentment and leaned back against the couch, feet on the table. It was almost noon now, and with the newfound energy given to him by the food, his legs were desperate to move. Olivier and Maxis’s class would be starting at 1 p.m.

Smiling, he stood up and stretched his limbs. Those two were overdue for a visit, anyway. Well, one that didn’t involve him getting stitched back together.

---

Black Lotus University was everything Ren hated about school. Pompous and pampered young adults walking around like they knew the first about living in the real world. While they sat around in their cozy little classrooms, Ren was out making a difference in the world, eliminating the Lurker threat one monster at a time.

As Ren passed by a group of jocks, he caught Silas out of the corner of his eye—the spitting image of a man and a gargoyle fused together. Unlike someone like Maxis, who had—for the most part—just inherited his father’s height and relative build, Silas’s skin was pale like a corpse. Silas reminded him of the group of emo teenagers who thought they were tough, edgy, and misunderstood. There was nothing to misunderstand about Silas.

Ren clicked his tongue, and pretended not to see them.

By the time Ren arrived at Olivier and Maxis’s classroom, it was close to 1 p.m. Smirking at his good sense of time—he did have a good sense of time, right?—he looked to his left, and then his right before climbing the tree nearest the top floor of the building beside him. Olivier and Maxis sat relatively close to each other, the former seated next to the window.

Ren shimmied along the branch as he usually did in these circumstances, and watched as the teacher droned on about some complicated formula that didn’t matter. He counted the seconds—three to be exact—before he mentally checked out and reached into his coat pocket for a piece of paper. Among the paperclips, knickknacks, and other miscellaneous objects, Ren found a couple of receipts. It’d be a little awkward up here, especially with such a long piece of paper, but he could build paper airplanes with the best of them.

How Olivier and Maxis could concentrate, Ren had no idea. Somehow, they hadn’t noticed him yet. Which, hey, that was fine. It would make his paper airplane entrance all that much sweeter. There wasn’t a whole lot of space on the receipt, but there was at least enough to set up a meeting spot later on.

“Tell Maxis,” Ren mumbled as he wrote the note, “meet at Sigg’s after class. Have a great day, Olivier!” Ren scribbled a small smiley face at the bottom, scanning over it one last time before folding it into an airplane.

“And now, for my next act,” Ren mumbled, putting the finishing touches on the receipt given life, “watch as this bad boy brings some life to this boring-ass classroom.” Lining up the back wing of his airplane with his nose, he rocked his good arm back and forth a couple times before letting it loose.

The airplane flew with perfect accuracy, and in good time, too. The professor’s back was turned, his attention on the board. Olivier rubbed the side of her head where the paper had hit her, frowning. She plucked it off her desk, glancing in Ren’s direction. Olivier stifled a laugh as she unfolded the piece of paper under the desk, mouthing off what Ren had written.

Olivier turned her head in Ren’s direction, her eyes still glued to the instructor. She flashed him the okay sign.

Maxis turned his head toward Olivier, then followed her gaze to see Ren. Maxis’s shoulders slumped, and he shook his head.

Glad to hear it, Ren thought, chuckling. Err, see it, I guess.

Apparently, his chuckle was too loud. The instructor’s head snapped around, his hand still preoccupied with a piece of chalk, and saw him. “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?”

Time to get the hell out.

Ren threw both legs over one end and hopped down from the tree. He stumbled as he landed, but quickly recovered and batted the grass from his pants. As the teacher peered over the edge of the windowsill, Ren put a thumb to his nose and waved with the remaining fingers.

“Later, loser,” Ren muttered before darting off.

“Hey, get back here! I’ll have you reported if I catch you on private property again!”

“I’d like to see you try!” Ren cried, spinning on the spot to meet the teacher’s gaze briefly.

No one came to chase him off. No one ever did, and Ren liked to believe the instructor knew it was a losing battle. Getting onto the campus was just too easy. Ren knew he looked the part of a college student coming onto campus, and he’d take advantage of it any time he could. It was worth it to see the looks on their faces—and of course, to see Maxis and Olivier.

“Well, they got the note,” Ren said, looking over his shoulder at the monstrosity of a school. God, did it look creepy. Whose idea was it to model it with so many spires and arches of black, anyway? At a distance, it just looked like a series of spikes jutting out of the ground. Ugly as hell. “Might as well check up on Sigg while I’m waiting,” he mumbled.

Don’t know what Rudy was so worried about. I feel fine. Always been a quick healer, he just doesn’t know it.

With a smirk, he made for Sigg’s bar—Battalia’s.