Inez is in her dorm room, trying to put up a bookshelf. She managed to put up six small shelves on either side of the big, beautiful paned glass window that sits behind her twin bed. But she really wants to connect them with a long shelf on top of the window pane, like she saw once in a magazine.

Since starting at the new school, she hasn't been sleeping much, so her Minor Magic which, on occasion, can be used for small everyday tasks is quite depleted. And her powers as a Seer aren't going to help her much with this particular task. So, it looks like she's gonna have to do this the good old fashioned way...

...manually.

Ugh!

Standing on her bed, Inez's arms are stretched as far and as wide as they can go, her body making a giant "Y" beneath the shelf. She's trying to straighten it as it's wedged against the wall. But the shelf keeps teetering precariously, and she's not sure how she's going to get a level on top of it, much less nail the darn thing in!

And, wow! This shelf is heavy!

She blows out a long breath, tickling her eyelashes underneath her glasses as she rethinks this whole endeavor, when Aidan walks by.

"Whoa there, lassie!" Aidan says. "Do ya need some help with that there?"

"Yes, please!" Inez calls back, gratefully.

Aidan rushes into Inez's room and jumps up onto her desk, grabbing one end of the bookshelf and holding it steady while she slides over to the other side and checks her level again.

She pulls a pencil out of the back pocket of her capri jeans to mark the wall, and as she's working, she glances over at Aidan and asks, "So Aidan, did you ever call Beatrice like you said you were going to?"

"Nah..." he says, a bit cavalierly.

"Aidan!" Inez cries, frustrated with him constantly dropping the ball as far as her friends are concerned. "That's the third time you've asked me for one of my friend's numbers and never sent a text or called!"

"Yeah, I know. I know." Aidan says. "I've really got to get better at that."

"Yes, you do!" Inez retorts. Then after a long beat, she inquires, "Aidan, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"A somewhat personal question," she adds.

"Um... Hmm... Errr..." Aidan replies haltingly. "Yeah, I guess so," he finally agrees.

"So, how come in all the time I've known you, I've never seen you with a girl, like, on a date or at a party or even at a dance?" Inez asks as she leans back to make sure her level is still straight. "I mean you're cute, you're funny, and once someone makes it past your instinctively puerile defenses," she smiles, "you're a really, really great guy!" She shrugs. "So, why don't you have a girlfriend?"

"Well," Aidan replies almost immediately, "it's not like I've never been with a girl before, you know." He chuckles uncomfortably. "I've been with a girl before. Plenty of girls... Tons of girls... Loads of them, in fact!" He clears his throat, barely able to believe his own lie. "But to be honest, even though they're really nice and all, nothing ever seems to click."

Inez slides Aidan a glance as she treads cautiously. "Aidan, have you ever thought perhaps you might be, I don't know, maybe you're--"

"Too skinny for my height?!" The words spill out of Aidan's mouth just a little too quickly. "Yeah," he nods. "I've often wondered if that was a turnoff to the ladies."

"No, that's not what I mean," Inez continues. "I mean maybe you're--"

"Too sarcastic?" Aidan jumps in... again. "Yeah, that could be it too. Not everyone understands my sophisticated sense of humor."

Inez furrows her brows. Clearly, Aidan's not quite ready to discuss his sexuality, although he's been dropping hints that he wants to talk to someone about it for years. And she really wants to let him know that it's okay, she's there for him if he needs someone to talk to.

Although, now that she thinks about it, she might not be the best person for him to confide in, being so ridiculously heterosexual, she's often been accused of being a bit boy crazy--as silly as that sounds.

Okay fine, growing up, she spent far too much time cyber-stalking her crushes on social media, physically stalking them with her friends at the mall, religiously reading teen magazines, and hoovering up any halfway decent story about her favorite ships on any fan fiction site she could find.

Hmm... Maybe she should just let the subject drop for the moment.

"Oh, shoot!" Inez suddenly exclaims.

"What? What?!" Aidan asks, his gaze darting around the room, looking for any sign of danger.

Inez pouts and then nods her chin towards her dresser on the other side of the room, where the hammer lay. "I hate to do this to you, Aidan, but I forgot to bring the hammer over. It looks like we're going to have to put the shelf down for a moment and then start all over again.

She makes a move to let the shelf down, when Aidan pipes up. "Wait. Wait. I'll get it." he offers.

Still holding the shelf up with his right hand, Aidan uses his teeth to pull up his left sleeve, exposing a small Gryphon tattooed on his lower forearm. He whispers an incantation--an ancient mixture of Greek and Egyptian--and suddenly the Gryphon squawks as it peels itself off his arm and comes to life.

About the size of a small chicken with a lion's body and an eagle's head, at Aidan's command, the Gryphon flaps its wide wings and swoops up and over to the dresser, grabs the hammer with its talons, and then swings back to drop the hammer into Aidan's waiting hand.

"Good job, Maximus! Good job!" He nuzzles the creature's neck playfully before it returns to its resting place back on his arm.

"Holy crap!" A voice suddenly calls out from the hallway.

Aidan and Inez turn to see Patrick standing in the doorway of Inez's room, eyes wide, in complete and utter awe. It happened so quickly, practically in the blink of an eye, but he thinks he's just seen something his mind can't process.

Aidan instinctively pulls his sleeve down with his teeth in order to cover up his tattoo.

Patrick steps into the room. "Uh... What the hell was that?!"

"Oh, it's a Gryphon." Inez remarks gleefully. "Aidan is a Spirit Guardian. Which means that he can call upon the--"

Aidan clears his throat harshly and shoots Inez the dreaded glare of death.

Her eyes go wide as she immediately clamps her mouth shut.

"It's just a tattoo." Aidan snaps back.

Patrick looks at him, quizzically. "Yeah, but didn't I just see a--"

"It's. Just. A. Tattoo." Aidan repeats, his jaw clenching tight.

Quickly reading the room, Patrick holds up his hands and starts backing out into the hall.

"Hey, dude. Chill," he says calmly. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry. Honestly, I just stopped because it looked like you guys might need a little help with that shelf there." He nods at the shelf with his chin.

Without looking at the current state of their work Aidan growls, his voice still tight and unyielding. "Like I said. We're good."

"All right. All right. Whatever you say." Patrick looks up at the shelf, now tilting at a 45 degree angle and chuckles. These Enchanteds certainly are a sensitive lot. He shakes his head and smirks as he heads for the weight room.

Seconds after Patrick has left, Inez shoots Aidan a chastising look. "Now, what'd you do that for?! He was just trying to be nice. And I think for him, that's a really big deal." She sighs, disappointed. "Why didn't you want to tell him about your spirit tattoos? He's going to see them, eventually."

"I don't know," Aidan grumbles. "I just don't like gettin' into it with folks I just met, okay? Plus," he adds, "I really don't like him, and I certainly don't trust him!"

"Why not?" Inez asks.

"Because, Inez, he's not one of us!" Aidan says. "Look," he sighs heavily. "I don't like having to explain what it means to be a Spirit Guardian all the time. There aren't that many of us, so it's hard for even Enchanteds to wrap their head around my powers. So, things can get kinda complicated... especially when an outsider is involved."

"But, Aidan, we can't be hostile to the other kids, just to be hostile," Inez argues.

"No," he replies. "But did you see how he treated the Vampyr kids during training? I thought he was going to snap Farid's head right off! And Farid seems like a pretty chill dude."

Inez looks over her shoulder at where Patrick was standing just a moment ago. "You know what I think?" She doesn't wait for an answer. "I think maybe he's just feeling out of place and that puts him on the defensive," her gaze shifts back to Aidan. "Kinda like someone I know, hmm?" Her accusation isn't necessarily lost on Aidan, but he's not about to go there.

"Inez, I'm perfectly aware that we've got to learn to fight with the other kids, I'll grant you that. But nothing says we have to like 'em and..." His face scrunches up. "I don't know... I just don't like that one in particular. There's something... off about him." He frowns. "Let's just leave it be, okay?"

"Okay." Inez sighs, then decides to let the issue rest... for now. "If that's what you really want," she says.

"Grand! Grand! That's exactly what I want!" Aidan cracks a wide smile. "Now, let's get this freakin' shelf up 'cause, 'good gods!' my arms are killing me!"

**********

A/N: Oh, this was a fun one to write! 

As much as we'll see lots of danger and adventure coming up, my favorite scenes are during the kids' downtime. 

Sometimes, I have to physically remind myself to include their adventurous missions into the story, 'cause I just love hanging out with them in the dorms. 😜

~ Paula ❤️