I drew my bloodsaber as I approached Kalei, who clutched her head. She looked distressed, like she did before she shifted into that monstrous form. If she tapped into that beast state again, I wouldn't lose this time.

She turned at the sound of my sword's ignition, scoffing.

"Damn," Kalei said. "Really was hoping it was Marms."

I didn't respond, knowing I had to be quicker taking her down this time. But after a tense minute or so, she relaxed.

"Tch, thought it was gonna happen," Kalei said. "Ran off and everything so no one would see. But no, nothing. Dunno why I'm bothering to tell you that."

"Are you sure you're not shifting?" I asked. It took a special kind of concentration for me to transform into my own state of heightened powers. It did carry a particular feeling with it, like the kind one gets after drinking something with too much caffeine, or the moments before an anxiety attack.

"Pretty sure, yeah," Kalei said. "Maybe I just have indigestion or something."

I cautiously lowered my sword. "I suppose I'll leave you to it, then."

"Leave me to what? I'm just gonna head back," Kalei said. "Gotta come up with a good excuse this time."

I didn't know what to say to her, so I attempted to also head elsewhere. She grabbed my arm at my elbow before I could.

"P.D." Kalei said. "Before you go, we should talk, actually."

"About what?" I asked.

"You haven't said anything to her, have you? Your mom, I mean." Kalei asked. She gestured to herself. "About...the whole..."

"I didn't tell her," I said. I easily could have. Caeda told us not to tell Mother about Kalei's thievery, but I wasn't particularly in the mood to follow her leadership.

"Good," Kalei said. "Keep it that way."

Who was she to order me around? And yet, I didn't snap back. I just stood there as she crossed her arms and sighed. Maybe that was part of why everyone was obsessed with her. The charisma that kept you talking to her even if you were furious.

"Second thing," Kalei said. "I don't like the way you go about any of what you do. I should've kicked your ass again when you pulled that stunt at Zeta's. One of my best friends, by the way. So if you do anything like that again—"

"Her girlfriend already warned me," I said. "I get it."

"Why do you hate her so much, anyways?" Kalei asked. "She's just a huge dork. It's like having a beef with an awkward kitten."

I clenched my fists. "I don't need to explain why. And don't you dare try to convince me my hatred is unjust, or foolish. It's the only..." I trailed off, almost saying it was the only thing I was certain of.

It was the only thing I was certain of, but I didn't like what that meant for me.

"Well, whatever," Kalei said. "You sound like her, you know. I knew you sounded familiar."

I could have started another fight right there. I know we obviously would sound alike, but I didn't want to be anything like her. I knew that in my heart from the moment I first saw them.

It was so long ago that only a few concrete details about the day remained in my memories, but they were all I needed. I sat on the patio of my father's home, the one place that really felt like home to me. He brought me a photograph with two people on it, his expression serious.

"These are your siblings," Father said. "Our family is fractured because of them. Broken, dishonored, filled with shame. It's up to us to fix what they've done to us."

Over the years, I only got brief details about the Faleurs, and about how exactly they broke our family apart. My older sister Stella fled with the youngest, taking on the name Faleur instead of embracing our Kathron lineage. I'd learn when some major events happened like Zeta choosing to go by Zeta, never exactly sure how Father learned this information, never questioning it either. All I knew is that I had to be better than them, stronger than them, to give Father a daughter that lived up to our heroic bloodline.

When I started living with Mother, she didn't tell me much, either. The way she talked about Zeta and Stella sometimes felt like she didn't consider them family, the distance in her voice suggested as much. I surmised that Stella's breaking of our family caused both my parents to disown them in different ways. Why I was different, I wasn't sure.

The first time I got decent information on Zeta in the stable world was on a stroke of luck at Wildfire Hearts, when I met the new student Ovie Chirhart. Ovie had her life ruined by Zeta, and upon questioning I learned that her Zeta was also the one I'd spent so long despising. Without revealing that she was my sister, I asked Ovie for information on her, my long held suspicions of Zeta's character were confirmed more and more. Having her go to a school so close to me felt like an absurdly convenient twist of fate, but Mother wouldn't say if the Faleurs had anything to do with the decision of school. Even more convenient was when the Recreant Protocol business began, eventually sending me to Rising Shards.

I wasn't prepared for how much rage I'd feel when I first encountered Zeta and Stella in the flesh. They had no idea it was me, of course, but a simple trip to the library turned into something harsher. I just wanted to get a book about bass guitar strings when I saw them. Stella the librarian behind the desk, Zeta in front of it talking mindlessly about something.

My legs locked in place, body filled to the brim with rage instantly. How could they just go about their days after ruining my family? I almost tore my helmet off there and told them right away, breaking the promise I'd made to Mother that I wouldn't say anything until she said it was alright.

My hatred of the Faleurs was motivational, wanting to be better at everything in Cani school life than they could dream of.

Finding there was nowhere further our conversation could go of any worth, I left Kalei to her devices, walking back. The twisted feelings inside me from talking about my siblings mixed with how talking to Kalei felt had me ill, and I debated just leaving the void and taking the rest of the day off, retreating to either my room or a nurse's office, but halfway from one edge of the field of flowers to the other, the last person I wanted to see approached.

Zeta.