"So, the kid is in the Other Side?" Jerry's amused chuckle boomed throughout the office, "The moment he began wielding magic, he got into all sorts of trouble. Oh boy. He's kinda like you, isn't he?"

"This is not amusing, Jerry," Rainey scowled, her fingers tapping impatiently against the wooden surface of her desk, "I was holding him off from going there until he was powerful enough to make his own decisions no matter what shitstorm arose."

"He can take care of himself. An Adept Magician at 16 is no small thing. I'm sure there'll be people coaxing him to join their organizations if they were to find out," he tucked a cigarette between his lips and lit it up, "And wasn't he supposed to be with that... Evelyn, was it? The hot teacher. Did they go there together?"

She nodded, draping one knee over the other, "Yes, Evelyn Smith. She's an Adept Magician, so it's doubtful whether she'll be able to provide some support to Jered should they come across some unpleasant elements. At least she's slightly knowledgable about the Other Side."

"Do you know who betrayed them?" Jerry puffed a ring of smoke, smirking, "If it's just a couple of Elder Magicians, we could take care of them as a favor for our cute new entry. Actually, you wouldn't even need to do anything. I could kill them all myself—and maybe involve their families too."

"Yes, because having the upper echelons of Ashy Petals dead wouldn't be noticeable," Rainey uncorked a bottle of wine, and poured it in a stemmed glass, "Jered has to do this himself. We can't make an appearance to the world right now. We're supposed to be dead. As soon as Ashy Petals falls into our hands... that, my good old friend, will be the time we make a comeback, and the Other Side would know of our names, once again."

"So... we'll just have to trust Jered has got this in the bag? You're expecting a lot from a 16-year-old."

Rainey swirled the liquor after taking a sip, "He has the potential to stand side by side with us, Jerry. Thanks to him, we'll be able to grow more, grow stronger. Besides, I gave him that spell, 'Soul Eater'."

"You crazy bitch!" Jerry burst out laughing, "Can he handle it?"

"Of course!" she nodded proudly, "As a matter of fact, he even used it to get rid of that pup in the forest. Quite a feat if I must say so myself. I bet he has absorbed a lot of mana in the process. Did you see the aftermath of the fire? Anything caught in that is as good as gone."

"You reckon he managed to unlock his third vein?"

Rainey shrugged, "I wouldn't expect anything less from him. He annihilated the whole pack of Wolfkins, and then their Alpha. It would be stupid to think he didn't manage to unlock it. He's growing fast, and I'm curious to see how long that will last."

"A pretty long time, if we help him."

"I agree... with our backing, Jered's growth will be unstoppable."

Jerry took one last drag of his cigarette before snuffing it out in his hand, "What do we do about his current situation? If you want, I could hop there right quick and see if I can find him."

She shook her head, "We have no idea where he is. Also, we need to take care of his sister's issue. Without him there, she'll go hungry," at her knowing look, Jerry nodded seriously, "I don't want to make you work since you've just come back. But it would be helpful if you could provide Jasmine with some... food."

"No problem. It just so happens that we have a handful of patients to dispose of."

Rainey grinned, downing the rest of the wine.

"Are... you... okay?"

Evelyn panted, never having run so fast in her life.

"That was so fucking close," Jered's breathing was far from the even calmness it used to be moments prior, "It stopped, right?"

She peeked out of the dome of rubble they roped together with their 'Low Telekinesis'. Just as she looked up towards the sky, a smoldering meteor crashed right next to her.

"Ahh!"

Thankfully, Jered managed to negate the impact by pushing a strong wave of mana outwards. The shower of debris that would have undoubtedly injured her was repelled back. She quickly scooted backward, behind the wall of stone, her eyes splayed wide open, "T-T-Thank you..." 

"Don't mention it..."

She worried her bottom lip, "What do we do?"

Another explosion sounded from afar.

"We wait," he sighed, "Let's just hope that whatever is going on there doesn't get closer to us, or not even this cover we made would protect us."

"What if it does?"

"I don't know. For now, concentrate, we need to put up a barrier around us. You cast the spell, I'll feed it my mana."

Evelyn's face tightened into a serious frown. She held her hands aloft, and closed her eyes. From the power gathering around them, Jered could feel that it was an Adept-Tier spell. A glowing, white sphere materialized around their man-made refuge. Jered placed his hands on her shoulders, and pumped as much mana as he could into her. Just as they had predicted, the moment his more potent mana fueled the spell, the barrier began to solidify even further, shining as bright as a beacon in the night.

A rumble went off in the distance, encouraging another flurry of flaming rocks to batter against the barrier.

"How long do you think we can keep the barrier up?" Evelyn asked.

"Tricky question. If it keeps getting bombarded like this, not for long..."

She leaned against the rocky wall. It was cramped there, and she and Jered were very, very close. They had no time to make a bigger shelter, so they ended up with this clumsy excuse of a fortress. She tried to curl her legs towards herself, but it got entangled with Jered's, "Sorry..." she muttered.

He shook his head, "Don't worry..."

Evelyn was tense. The booming sounds rippling through the sky were like the reaper's scythe looming ever so closer to them. She was a strong woman, but she had to admit that their current situation made her incredibly fidgety. Her heart wouldn't stop thrumming like the engines of a locomotive. Unlike her, Jered was as calm as someone could be. She almost wanted to question it, but thought otherwise. It was not the time. 

She took a deep, soothing breath, and waited. How long she didn't know, but the noises only kept getting louder and louder. They couldn't escape, for if they did leave the safety of their cover, they wouldn't last a minute under the baneful sky. She gritted her teeth, slamming her head back and meditating. However, even so, the feeling of approaching death distracted her. That must have been what soldiers felt like during World War II. Absolute helplessness in front of tanks and napalms. 

"Are you scared?" Jered asked with a confused tilt of his head.

"Umh..." she released a shuddering breath, "... a bit..." that was an understatement, she was very scared. 

He nodded thoughtfully, as if in some secret compartment of his mind, it made sense.

"Are you not?"

A half-hearted shrug was her answer, "Of course I'm afraid of death," he said matter-of-factly, though his soft smile gave her the illusion that he was lying for the sake of making her feel better, "But that doesn't give us the reason to panic, right? There's nothing we can do right now but wait and pray that our luck is smiling at us."

"I can't believe this..." 

"Hm?"

"I'm older than you, more experienced... yet I'm being such a little girl right now. It's so unbecoming of me," Evelyn said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. She was stressed, so much so that she started feeling sick. Wasn't she supposed to be confident? Wasn't she supposed to be strong emotional support? Now that they were facing an apocalyptic disaster, she felt like burrowing herself under a blanket and cry out for her parents. 

How pathetic. 

Jered reached a hand out and tucked a chock of hair behind her ear. The action was so gentle and smooth that she was left gawking at him, "You've been very strong, Miss Smith. Stronger than most women and men I know. Stronger than Santiago and Eun-Kyung. Stronger than you should have been in the face of the unknown. Experience matters very little when this is clearly your first time witnessing something like this. I just know that right now, I wouldn't want anyone else but you to accompany me through this storm. Whatever happens, happens. If death is what awaits us once the barrier fizzles out, then I'll be glad to say that I had a stunningly beautiful woman to die with. No regrets."

A thunder-like rumble cracked overhead, and with it, a long chain of explosions followed. 

Evelyn flinched. The sounds of death, and Jered's touch, words, and comforting gaze were such a dichotomy that for a moment she didn't know how to react. She found his eyes amidst the waves of fear running down her back. It was funny how despite his smile, his eyes didn't transpire any kind of emotion, "I'm such a bad person..." she intoned, pursing her lips inward, "I'm so fucked up..." and then she burst out in a peal of giggles very unfitting for their surroundings. 

Jered was caught a bit off-guard by her sudden mood swing, "What do you m—"

And then he knew what she meant.

Evelyn had closed any distance left between them and captured his lips within hers. He didn't know if she was aiming for a soft, chaste kiss, or a passionate, slobbery one. She was incredibly indecisive. Clearly, the idea of kissing someone nearly 20 years younger than her had yet to catch up with her action. Still, her mouth parted further, and Jered unconsciously mimicked her. Her lips were soft, like a rosebud.

She brushed her tongue against his upper lip before knocking against his teeth. Jered readily granted her entrance, his own tongue greeting hers—they hugged, entwined, and twirled around as if they were old friends seeing each other after years of longing.

The faint clicking of their saliva sounded out.

"Fuck... we can't..." Evelyn muttered between kisses, her hands fumbling around all over his body, seeking no particular spot, "We... can't..." the logic behind her actions and words was contradictory, but he didn't complain. Instead, he answered by taking their tongue-wrestling in her mouth. A husky moan rumbled in her throat, and she nearly melted when Jered slithered a hand inside her torn blouse. 

"Why not?" he whispered when she pulled back to breathe, his lips slipping off from hers and moving down to the hollow of her neck, where he licked and sucked on the delicate skin. The way she arched her back, clawed at his shoulders, and hissed was too fucking delicious. She crawled on top of him, and due to the cramped space, his hands easily found her buttocks, using them to balance himself.

"Because..." that's all Evelyn managed to say for she found his mouth again, her fingers running through his hair. A fire had lit up in Jered's stomach, and the fact that the woman had straddled him, grinding her core against his erection didn't help—not that he wanted any. He was going to fuck the woman senseless.