We walk towards the large mansion and I start to feel embarrassed about how underdressed I am compared to Rose.

I sniff myself, wincing. I should have cleaned myself after that practice at Mr. Akiyama’s house and I am still wearing the sweater showing some bald dude punching a monster.

Rose leads me through the front lawn gracefully, obviously thinking about something else.

This is an… uncomfortable situation I have gotten myself into, social situations aren’t my favorite. Plus, Rose’s father reminds me of someone that I would rather not remember. I know that they are two different people, but still it’s his attitude, it just brings up bad memories.

Rose leads me into the house, my mouth opens a little in amazement, now that I don’t have Rose’s possible death on my mind, I can finally notice the extravagance and beauty of the house. I feel as if I was transported back in time a hundred years.

The first room we enter has a giant marble staircase leading up to the second floor, while a chandelier lights up the whole room. This house is so… expensive.

Rose pulls on the straps of her dress with annoyance, bringing my attention back to her, “Ugh. I hate this dress.” She says to my surprise.

I study the blue dress, each butterfly blending in with another as it travels up in strange patterns. “Why do you hate the dress? I think it looks beautiful.” I say, my head tilted questioningly.

“It’s so… expensive. Rich. It reminds me of those arrogant rich girls you see on TV.” She says irritably, while adjusting her dress ever so slightly.

“Aren’t you an arrogant rich girl? You certainly fit the rich part.” I respond, taking another glance around the room.

Her eyes narrow at me, “Haha. Very funny.” She says monotone.

“Um. I hate to ask this, but do you have an extra pair of clothes I can borrow? I need a bath.” I say motioning towards my clothes.

Her face brightens, “yeah! You can wear this dress, it should fit you.” She grabs my arm, pulling me up the stairs, “that way my dad can’t complain that I am not wearing it.”

She drags me through a few rooms until we reach a large bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later, I have my hair wrapped in a towel to dry and am putting on the dress that Rose hadn’t wanted to wear. I step out of the bathroom to find her waiting for me, dressed in ripped jeans and T-shirt saying “I only kinda care.”

I look down at my dress “Now I feel overdressed.”

“Don’t worry about it. I don’t care what you are wearing and dad’s opinion doesn’t matter.” She waves her hand. “Speaking of him, we should probably go downstairs for dinner.”

Mr. Demor greets us at a small table, beautifully carved. It is the only small thing about the room he greets us in. A giant mural showing a beautiful rain-forest covers the walls and ceiling of the room, large oak cabinets line the walls blending in with the mural. The chairs themselves, which are neatly arranged around the table, have high backs, reaching higher than my head if I were to sit in one.

Mr. Demor stands up in greeting, “Welcome to our house Elena. I am so glad that you agreed to join us. After all, I am curious about this super human that rescued my little Rose.” He pulls out a chair for each of us.

I sit down in the chair awkwardly. Huh. I love these cushions, too bad that even this chair probably costs a fortune.

A young man dressed in the traditional chef outfit comes out, placing salads in front of all of us.

I eat the salad slowly, all eyes on me as I eat it. Mr. Demor probably expects me to respond to his comment. I won’t give him the satisfaction.

The salad is actually very tasty, with a dressing that isn’t too sweet. I usually prefer vinaigrettes, but whatever dressing the chef used tastes delicious.

“Are you planning to tell us what happened?” Mr. Demor asks, raising an eyebrow. God, I really want to learn how to do that.

I put my fork down and dab my face with a napkin. “Nope.” I say, before continuing with my salad.

A small laugh turned cough comes out of Rose.

Mr. Demor sends a glare towards his daughter. “Rose has been strangely quiet about the subject ever since she got home from school. I didn’t even find out about the school shooting until after the school called me.”

“Strange.” I say, finishing up the last of my salad. “Your food is delicious by the way.” I offhandedly comment, raising the empty fork.

Mr. Demor studies me, trying to understand what I am thinking.

People try that a lot, it usually doesn’t work.

After a few seconds Mr. Demor laughs, “Thank you, I have one of the best chefs around.” He claps his hands and the main dishes are brought out. Chinese food? I should eat here more often.

“It must be nice to have people come at your every beck and call.” I absently comment, grabbing a large amount of chow mein to put on my plate.

Yeah, I know it’s fattening, but it is also delicious, sue me.

“There are stories of people gaining strange powers.” Mr.Demor continues, “I have seen some very convincing evidence that these strange powers are more than stories. Maybe your tale of a superhero was truer than I realized.” He says picking up his glass, taking a sip, his eyes never leave me.

“Mhm. He had the tights and everything. There was a giant T on his shirt. I think he called himself Testificate man.” I say, taking a bite of food to hide my smirk.

Rose starts coughing. I pat her back with twitching lips hidden by food.

Mr. Demor looks at us curiously. “Testificate man? I think I have heard the name somewhere, but I can’t remember.” He says, and it keeps all my effort to stop from laughing; a sentiment shared by Rose beside me if her shaking shoulders are anything to go by.

The doors open as a woman walks in. She is a petite south american woman with long flowing hair. Her face reminds me of an actress, but I can’t quite place which one. “Hello hun, the meeting was cancelled.” She says, sitting in Mr. Demor’s lap and giving him a passionate kiss.

He tilts his head towards our direction. “I am glad that you could make it, but we have an audience.” he says calmly.

She looks at us, her gaze zeroing in on me. “Oh chica, you look beautiful in that dress. Even if I meant for it to go to someone else.” She says with a smile, her eyes flashing to Rose, who is paying extra attention to her food. The woman stands up, walking towards me. “What is your name Chica?” She holds her hand out in greeting.

I stand up, shaking hands with her, “Elena. What is your name?”

“Sofia Garcia. Yes, I know that it is a common name, but it is mine.” She smiles brightly at me.

“You look beautiful as well, Miss Garcia.” I look at the clothes she is wearing, a feminine business suit without a tie. It fits her.

“Thank you chica.”

“Sofia, please join us for dinner.” Mr. Demor says, motioning towards an open chair.

She accepts and the rest of the dinner is spent talking about inane things. Mr. Demor doesn’t bring up what happened again, but I can tell that he isn't done with me. He isn’t the type to give up that easily.

They call a driver to take me home, Rose rides with me all the way there. The car is quiet as she just rests on my shoulder, these last few days must have been stressful for her. The silence is even therapeutic for me, after everything that has happened. I close my eyes, savoring the moment.

The car pulls up in my driveway too soon. I carefully get out of the car, leaving behind an asleep Rose.

I unlock the door to find everyone in the house quietly doing their own thing. Dad already went to sleep and Mom is reading a book, while my sister is watching something on a tablet.

I tiptoe towards the stairs, hoping to make it to my room before Mom sees me.

“Elena is home.” My not-so-cute little sister says.

“Oh?” Mom looks up from her book with a knowing smile, “Did you have fun with your girlfriend?” she asks.

I lean against the staircase nonchalantly, “Girlfriend? As in friend that is a girl?”

“Your father already told me.” Mom says, her smile growing.

“Turncoat.” I whisper under my breath. “Yeah. I had a nice dinner with her and her Dad.”

“Be careful honey. I’ve heard some bad things about the Demor family.” She says, looking back at her book.

“That’s all?” I ask, surprised.

She looks back up from her book, “of course I’m not exactly happy, I had hoped that you would find some nice guy… like Blake. But you’re my daughter and you proved long ago that you can make your own decisions.”

“That is surprisingly cool Mom.” I say, stepping forward to give her a hug.

“I am a surprisingly cool person.” She responds, squeezing me close. “I don’t need to give you the sex talk again, do I? Doing it with another woman is a little different.”

I quickly pull away from her. “No. No, you really don’t. The first time was traumatizing enough. Plus, there is always the internet.” After that last statement, I beat a hasty retreat. Best not wait for her response.

I open the door to my room to find Dee floating in the air waiting for me, her hands on her tiny hips.

Dee motions me into the room, “We have a problem.”

“What is it?” I ask, throwing my bag onto my bed.

She waves her hand and a black creature with red hair lands on the floor. I focus on it, studying the creature.

It has a humanoid shape and is about the size of Dee, its skin is completely black, its red hair is more of a dirty-red than the red you might see in a human’s hair. “What is it?” I repeat myself.

“A Klo’ktun. Also known as a Red Cap.” Dee says, her usual personality replaced with a serious expression. “It isn’t supposed to be here.”

“Duh. This whole world is kinda going to shit.” I say grabbing a clothes hanger to turn the thing over. The smell of burnt flesh comes from it.

Dee shakes her little head, “No, you don’t understand. It isn’t supposed to be here. Monsters don’t come to Beta worlds until… until later.” She motions with her hand and the corpse disappears, presumably into her inventory.

My mind goes to the butterfly I saw outside of the Cafe window. “Do you know what could have happened?”

“A god, or someone just as powerful let them through? I don’t really know.” And with that statement, her old personality comes back. She flies in front of me, “So, was Miss Rose a good kisser?” She asks from right in front of my nose.

“I guess. I don’t have that many people to compare her with.” I answer, stunned at her sudden change of subject. “Where did you find the Red Cap?” I ask, trying to continue our conversation.

“He was watching your sister from outside. It would be very bad if he used your sister for the red in his cap.” She says seriously, flying to the top of my dresser to sit down. “So I killed him. Oh, he dropped two gold coins, I am going to keep one as part of my fees.” She throws a coin at me.

I catch it mid air and put it into my inventory without looking at it. I am about to ask another question, but a small knock at the door stops me.

“What is it?” I ask.

Elizabeth opens the door, she looks around my room with a curious expression, “Who are you talking to?“ She asks.

“No one little sunshine.” I answer as Elizabeth’s gaze skips right over Dee. “What do you need?”

She bites her cheek, taking one last look around the room before turning to face me. “Mom told me to tell you that your school called. School is cancelled tomorrow because of the shooting.”

“Thank you sunshine.” I answer, giving her a smile.

She looks at me strangely before shutting the door. I wait a few moments before speaking “You said that thing was after my sister, is there any chance that others will be after her?”

“Red Caps usually travel in groups, but everything about this situation is weird.” Dee says.

I think for a moment, biting my cheek. “Is there any way that you can protect my sister? I don’t really need you at home anyway.”

“I’m not supposed to leave the property that I am guarding, but there is a way to change that.” Dee’s eyes focus on something in front of her. A few seconds pass before a notification appears in front of me.

Your (fabulous) guardian suggests that you buy an upgrade for her: Roaming 1g: Allows your guard to leave the property that you’ve assigned them.

I look at Dee curiously, funny that I have one gold, the perfect amount to buy this upgrade. Oh well, my sister’s safety is more important than a vague suspicion. I buy the upgrade.

Dee smiles as a she reads something in front of her. “Thank you. You won’t regret it.” She says.

I move towards my bed and fall into it.

♦ Cadet: Captain! All systems are failing! The human is going into an unconscious state.

♦ Captain: Activate emergency system “have to pee!” we can’t let the human fall asleep yet!

Crap. Sighing in annoyance I get up and run to the bathroom. Once I am finished with my business, I take care of the rest of my nightly ritual.

Let’s see. I don’t have school tomorrow. What do I do with my free time? I am definitely sleeping in, until two in the afternoon.

Dee is busy reading one of the books I have in my room, so I fall back into my bed. My thoughts go to that butterfly I saw. No one else saw it, which is strange, I wasn’t the only one looking out that window. Then there is the issue of the Red Cap, if creatures were starting to run wild in this world, someone would have noticed and someone would have video of it. Maybe those creatures are like Dee, invisible except to Beta Testers. That seem like the most likely explanation.

Speaking of Dee, I really know nothing about her, except for the world that she comes from. Even that, I have forgotten. The only reason that I can trust her is because the system recommended her as a guard. What are her motivations? Why is she a guard in the system? I just spent my only gold, which means that I can’t even ask Taylor.

Monsters are hunting the regular people in this world, that Red Cap is proof enough of that. I had tried to fool myself about the color of its hair, but I know that color better than I have any right to. It was the color of blood. Killing monster give gold and experience. The only way that I can protect the people that I love is with both of those commodities.

I think I have an idea of what I want to do tomorrow.

I am going hunting.

 

Class gained: Protector (lvl 3). You fight to protect those important to you, nothing can stop you when you set your mind to it. You do not kill without reason, you kill to protect others. Let all those who threaten your protected, cower in fear. You are a Protector. Abilities gained: Danger Sense. Mark of Protection. Perseverance. Physicality: +5% Brilliance +5%

 Why do things keep happening right as I am about to fall asleep?