"I knew we shouldn't have let that worm get away," Audrey growled.

"We didn't do it on purpose," Deynan said, rolling his eyes.

"You guys shouldn't blame yourselves," Amarie said with wide eyes. "Damius is dangerous. I'm impressed that you even knocked him off his feet for a little while." Her eyes widened even more, if possible. "He controls...demons."

"Yeah, we've met," Sierra said grimly.

Amarie looked like she was about to say something, then closed her mouth again.

Just then, we heard a shout from across the courtyard. Tess was running towards us. I glanced up at her, concerned. She looked like she had bad news.

She stopped for a moment, catching her breath.

"What's wrong?" Sierra asked, sitting up a little straighter.

"We're being attacked again," Tess said between breaths. "Spotted on the north side. So Mrs. Simone and the teachers are handling that. But you guys should spread out on the other edges, see if anything's coming."

We all stood up hurriedly. "Thanks," I said quickly.

"I have a question," Deynan announced.

I gave him a look. "Is it a stupid question? Because we're kind of on a time crunch here."

"No," he shot back. "I just want to know why we're always the ones that have to fight. Where is everyone else? There's a whole SCHOOL of kids in there."

"They're preparing," Tess said with a glare. "They just aren't on the front lines. You guys are more experienced."

"We've only been doing this for two months," Sophie whispered.

Deynan looked at Sophie. "THANK you." He looked back at the rest of us. "See? She gets it."

I pinched the bridge of my nose in annoyance. "Deynan, now is not the time."

He muttered incoherently under his breath.

I took a breath, dropping my hand. "Okay. Who do we have?"

"The seven of you, and me," Tess said.

"And me!" a voice shouted.

We turned our heads to see a girl with short blonde hair running up. She was in full warrior mode, which seemed to be somewhat steampunk themed. She had a revolver stuck in her belt and small golden knives strapped to her clothing.

But the most interesting thing was her left  leg. From the knee down, it seemed to be made out of an old machine, adding to the steampunk feel. It was the most intricate piece of machinery I had ever seen, though I suspected magic was involved.

I remembered this girl. She had hand delivered the note that had begun the war. When she arrived at the school, part of her leg was gone.

"Lee, what are you doing here?" Tess asked coldly.

The girl called Lee cross her arms. "I want to help fight."

"Well you can't," Tess snapped.

Lee looked at us desperately. "Look, I know I messed up in the past, but I want to help now. I really do! Please, let me prove this to you," she pleaded.

All heads either turned to me or Sierra.

We glanced at each other. I didn't know the girl, so I hoped Sierra would have some idea on what to do.

She nodded slightly.

I turned back to Lee. "Of course you can help. We can always use another hand."

"We're wasting time," Deynan complained. "Hurry up!"

Lee flashed me a grateful smile.

I turned to face the rest of the group. "Okay, here's the split." I took a moment to think. Clearly, I couldn't put Sophie and Deynan in the same group again. That was disastrous. I needed to put Amarie with some bigger fighters, because according to Sierra, she wouldn't use her power to help us. It seemed a little rude to me: coming here, promising help, and then not even fighting. But I tried not to be too annoyed. Some people just didn't like fighting.

But I also needed to put Amarie with someone she could trust.

"Okay, Amarie, I want you to go with Audrey and Sophie to the south side."

The three of them nodded, Amarie biting her lip nervously.

I desperately wanted to put Sierra in my own group, but I knew she would be better off somewhere where her ability to toggle would be more effective. I sighed. "Abigail, you and I will take the west side with...oh, I don't know, Isaac," I chose randomly. Abigail immediately beamed, and I smiled back at her awkwardly. Her over-the-top cheerfulness was unnerving at times.

"And then that leaves Sierra, Deynan, Tess, and Lee to take East," I finished.

Tess glared at Lee but didn't say anything. Deynan saluted me.

Sierra clapped her hands together, and I couldn't stop a smile from spreading across my face.

"Alright team," she shouted, "let's go get the bad guys!"

~~~~~~~~

I had made a mistake. Yet again, I had unwittingly placed myself with two people who, I could already tell, were going to drive me crazy.

Deynan and Sophie bickered like children. It was like each one was constantly trying to prove he or she was better than the other. Isaac and Abigail weren't like that. Oh no.

They were flirting.

Now, to be fair, I'm not the best judge of these things. One time, Shreya had been talking about a boy non-stop. This guy came over to our house all the time. They sat next to each other on the couch and he put his arm around her waist. I barely noticed, nor did I care.

That's right. My own sister had a boyfriend for two weeks before I noticed.

At any rate, we stood on the edge of the cliff, looking down at the water. It was a quiet day. I had to actively remind myself to be on my guard. There were monsters about.

"What a beautiful day," Abigail sighed happily. I raised an eyebrow. Abigail always seemed a little cheesy to me.

"Just like you," Isaac responded simply. Abigail blushed and stuck her tongue out at him. He grinned slightly.

I fought the urge to groan. I was about to third wheel during a battle.

"So, Ravi, what's the plan?" Abigail asked cheerily.

I shrugged. "We wait for a monster to show up. Then we fight it."

"I think we can handle that," Isaac said with a slight laugh.

Abigail sat down on the grass. "Well, until a monster shows up, we can just relax!"

Isaac sat down next to her.

I sighed. Why me? Why? Isaac, you're breaking what Deynan calls 'the bro code'! Don't do this to me!

"So, what do you guys think of Amarie?" Isaac asked, leaning back on his elbows.

"I like her," Abigail declared.

I shrugged. "Yeah, she's okay. I mean, I feel kind of bad for her. She's always nervous."

"I don't think where she comes from allows for a lot of trust," Isaac said slowly.

"I can't imagine growing up with no friends!" Abigail exclaimed.

I wrinkled my nose. "See, that seems weird to me. She grew up and not ONCE did she make friends? It would make sense if she tried, and it got beaten out of her...but none of them even made the attempt? It sounds like basic human nature to me." I shook my head. "I don't know. Her story just doesn't fit perfectly in my head."

"She has the right to not tell us everything straight away," Isaac pointed out.

"I think it's impressive that she trusts as as much as she does," Abigail mused.

"I mean, she basically told us she was the enemy," Isaac said. "She's a monster. Literally. And she told us this, trusting we wouldn't kill her or whatever."

I frowned. "Yeah, that's true...I guess I'm a bit paranoid. I just can't help but wonder why she refused to fight with you and Sierra the other day."

Abigail shrugged. "Maybe she was scared."

"Wait...hold up," Isaac said suddenly, sitting up. "What the heck is that?"

I followed his gaze to where it was pointed out at the sea. Rapidly approaching the island was what looked like...a large bush?

"It looks like seaweed above water," Abigail mused, she and Isaac standing up in unison.

I squinted at the horizon. The sun was going down, so the wriggly bush looking thing was silhouetted by the burning orange sky. Each tendril arched up into the air and bobbed around with a serpentine majesty. The ends looked weird...

"That's no seaweed," I said slowly, realization dawning. "Those are necks. With heads."

I looked at them. "That's a hydra."

"Oooooh," Abigail said, raising her hands to her cheeks.

Isaac squinted. "The dragon with a ton of heads?"

Abigail nodded. "And when you cut off one head, two more grow back in its place!"

I crossed my arms. "Okay, so I have a proposal. Let's not cut off any heads and just go straight for the chest, agreed?"

"Agreed," they said in unison.

I nodded. "Okay, good. Because it happens WAY too much in movies where they instinctively cut off the heads and it's SUPER annoying."

"I could enchant one of your swords to fly straight into it's heart," Abigail offered.

"No," Isaac said immediately. "Absolutely not. Save your enchantments, Gail. For when you really need them."

I frowned suspiciously at his use of Gail, but didn't say anything.

Abigail sighed. "I could zap him with my staff, but I'd have to get close enough."

"Okay, so I can transform into griffin, fly you close in, you zap him," Isaac said simply.

Abigail winced. "I don't want to put you in danger..."

Isaac looked at me. "It's a good plan though, isn't it?"

I sighed. "Yeah, that's actually a really good plan."

Isaac took a few steps forward and closed his eyes.

"No, wait," Abigail protested.

But it was too late. The light swirled around him and he was a griffin, standing tall and proud, his feathers sleek and shining.

Abigail hesitated for a moment, then placed her hand on his neck and swung up between his shoulders.

Isaac-the-griffin started to gallop towards the edge of the cliff, then took off, spreading his wings and floating out to where the hydra was approaching.

I watched as they grew smaller and smaller. Then Abigail shifted, presumably taking the staff out of her cloak.

There was a flash of red light, followed by a mighty, cacophonous shriek. I winced.

Then the heads of the hydra tilted over and fell over with a splash.

After a moment, the water was still.

Isaac and Abigail circled back around. I waited as they made their way back to land.

Abigail slid off and Isaac transformed back into human. They were grinning.

"Well," Isaac said, slightly out of breath, "that was easy."