Levi had a very interesting conversation with his bosses.

  They sat him down, alone in an office, and drilled him with questions. The only reason they let them go unsupervised was that they were assured that it would be quite easy. All they had to do was pretend to be mall cops, and make sure nothing would happen. The media had gotten news of the event, and hailed Fenton as a hero. Everyone else was seen as incompetent, and Levi's bosses agreed. Levi agreed as well.

  After drilling him with questions they told him that they were “impressed that not as many people died as we expected”, and “we didn't get that many lawsuits”. They simply spent about an hour, antagonizing him, and making sure he wouldn't think that he was in the clear simply because their boss was his father.

  Levi knew all this, he knew why they were bullying him, and he sat in the chair, answering all their questions, choosing his words carefully. After an hour they finally gave up on making him crack and he was allowed to leave.

  It had been three days since their first mission and word had spread around on campus. Some teams were jealous, thinking that Levi had gotten a harder mission because his father was in charge. Many were impressed, and no longer thought of them as “those rich kids who will be out of here in a few years”.

  Levi just wanted people to stop bothering him for ten minutes, to stop asking him questions, to stop calling him at odd hours of the day, and to finally have his teammates stop squabbling with each other, like seals fighting over a small patch of land to sunbathe on.

  He was grateful that for some time they had no more practice missions, that all they had to do was take their basic required training and classes until the end of the year. Then his only worry would be about making sure they wouldn't accidentally shoot themselves in the foot, literally and metaphorically. Levi walked down the busy halls, angry and tired, wondering what he had deserved to be cursed with imbeciles.

Sometimes I think dad gave me all these idiots just to mess with me, Levi thought.

He wasn't wrong.

  Levi's father, Maximilian, took great pleasure in bothering others. He liked to say things in everyday conversation just to see the look of disgust or shock on people's faces. They either gave a fake smile or pretended like they heard nothing, because of the money and power he held over anyone unlucky enough to come through his path.

  Levi tried to understand what he had done to anger his father this time as he made his way out the front gates and into the library. He was there for his daily meeting.

  Fenton finally believed Santos that everything kept repeating, and they decided to team up with Levi to get evidence against Candice. Fenton was adamant about meeting up every day, he would not let his recent injury stop him from protecting his friends, and proving Candice was a monster.  

  He was also preoccupied, wondering how Ace would disappear. Santos told him that every time the months of September and October were repeated, Ace disappeared. He also couldn't figure out why Santos could remember it, while no one else could.

Fenton snuck a bag of beef jerky into the library and was slyly eating it, hiding it underneath his backpack as he sat in one of the library booths.

  Like all astrals, every time they used their ability too often, they lost iron, suddenly had a craving for meat, and sometimes changed in appearance.

  Their Neuman gland released chemicals in their blood that reacted with the iron to use their abilities. Once it was dangerously low, they couldn't use it anymore, their body more concerned with breathing than if it could perform an over-glorified magic trick.  

  Fenton groaned as he shot up an entire two inches, and his legs ached. A side effect of the sudden overuse of abilities was growth. The Neuman gland pushed up against the pituitary, and it wasn't odd for most astrals to be ridiculously tall, hairy, big-chested, overtly sexual, or quick to anger.

  Fenton had barely gotten any sleep, from the growing pains over the past three days, and silently prayed, for the first time in his life, that he would not grow any taller. Ace was jealous, and Fenton was tired of hearing him tell him that he should be grateful, as it felt like his legs were going to walk off on their own soon.

  Levi found Fenton in the corner, groaning, his painkillers wearing off, grumbling to himself, and eating jerky. He sat next to him, and they waited for Santos to arrive.

   "Santos told me none of that was supposed to happen," Fenton said.

"I know," Levi groaned.

He laid his head on the table, exhausted from little hours of sleep and the constant pestering of those around him.

"I messed up," Levi said. “David paid the price.”

  "That's not what I meant," Fenton explained. "All of this has already happened."

 Levi turned to look at him, head still on the table, enjoying the cold library air.

"Santos said he's lived through all of this, but the past few events never happened. Ever,” Fenton continued. Levi sat up, knowing that something was wrong.

  "You don't believe him about-"

  "I know what he is and it terrifies me," Fenton interrupted. "Don't lie to me. I can read your mind."

   Levi shifted in his chair and tried to avoid another uncomfortable conversation. He stared at his hands clasped on the table, but it was no use. Fenton continued, angry and bold. He had almost died three days ago and no longer cared. He would make sure to meet his goals before he died.

  "I don't like you, and I’m afraid of him, but I work with you to get rid of her," Fenton said. "Don't lie to me, because I already don't trust you enough as it is."

  "I've never done anything to you," Levi snapped.

  "Yes, you have," Fenton growled. "You used to bully me and Ace and suddenly you think you can be nice?"

   "No, I-"

  "Yes, you do! Just because he makes your dick feel funny doesn't give you a right to pick on him."

 Levi felt hot as he now knew that Fenton knew.

"Stop reading my mind," Levi whispered.

  Levi avoided his gaze and prayed that Santos would not be late.

  He of course, in his usual fashion, was ten minutes late, as he was to almost anything because he took nothing seriously.

  "I've seen her true face," Fenton shuddered.

  "Rikka saw it too," Levi replied. "We have to figure out how to take a picture and show everyone."

  "That won't work," Santos said. "People will just think it was edited on a computer."

  "He's right," Levi replied. "What else can we do?"

   "We have to catch her in the act," Fenton whispered. "I caught her eating fingers on the ship!"

   "I told you," Levi shouted.

   Other patrons in the library shushed him and he quickly sank into the booth, trying to avoid any more attention.

    "Santos, what's going to happen next," Fenton asked.

  "No clue," Santos sighed. "Everything is different now. Maybe we stopped things from repeating?"

  Fenton shook his head. "It is never that easy," he said. "We didn't even catch her!"

  "How do we know it's her doing all this," Levi asked. "It could be someone else."

  Fenton and Santos were thrown for a loop as they never even considered this.

 "We could catch her, and everything could start all over again," Levi continued. "Shouldn't we find that person first? Then we can get her."

   "That makes more sense," Fenton agreed. "How do we even find this person?"

  Santos stared off into space, trying to rack his head if he knew anybody who could do such a thing, but out of the many people he had met over eons, he had not.

  "Let's check the directory," Levi suggested. "It has every person on campus and all their abilities."

  "What if they're not on campus," Santos asked.

  "I think Candice is trying to find the same person we're looking for," Levi explained. "Why else would a monster hang out here?"

They all nodded, as it seemed to be the easiest answer.

  "So, we find whoever has this ability, and then we can trap her," Fenton concluded.

"Yes," Levi grinned. "Let's get to work." He slid out of the booth and was excited.

  The directory for everyone who worked for the Defense Program, their trainees, and those who attended Slater Academy was online and quite expansive. Not everyone was on there, for obvious security reasons, so Levi gave Fenton and Santos the public directory while his job was to find the actual directory, on paper.

   Keeping information on paper, in one singular place, stopped hackers from stealing their most important data.

  After getting a giant 30 oz. mug of coffee with espresso shots, he made his way to his father's office.

---

Levi didn't expect his father to be in his office because he was rarely there. He was always traveling for work, or what Levi assumed was him pretending to work and getting everyone else to do it for him. Clarice, his father's secretary greeted him.

  She had a soft spot for Levi, as she watched him grow over the years. Clarice hated most people. She hated most animals. She did not like children. Yet for some reason she loved Levi, and she would ask him about his day, how his girlfriend was doing, and if he had been taking care of himself. Other employees in the office breathed a sigh of relief whenever he came by because, for the rest of the day, Clarice would be manageable.

  "Are you here to see your father," Clarice asked. "He's here today."

 Levi tried not to scowl at the horrible news.

  "Great…I would love to see my father,” Levi lied.

He prayed silently that God would forgive him for lying.

Clarice told him he could just make his way to his office since he was free.

  Levi opened the door, and his father was on the phone with Mary Sue. He and Mary Sue had been long-time friends, and their families both knew each other. Levi had known Mary Sue's daughter, Mary Jane her entire life as well. They were dating, but Levi wasn't serious about her, nor was he truly interested.

  He sat on the couch, drinking from his giant mug and thinking about different ways he could make Mary Jane lose interest in him. None of the things he had tried so far had worked, and he was slowly starting to accept that he should just keep her around, or else people would notice him staring at Ace.

  Levi noticed that the only time his father smiled was around his mother, around Mary Sue, and when he was bothering someone else.

  Once Maximillian was done talking with Mary Sue on the phone, he was in a good mood. He decided to listen to his son, hoping that he wasn't wasting his time.

"Leviathan, good to see you," Maximilian cooed. "I heard about your first practice mission. Amazing."

Levi was surprised at his reaction.

  "You're not angry? I got chewed out today by your lackeys!"

  Maximilian laughed and assured his son he wasn't angry, he was pleased.

 "You know they're just trying to get rid of you," he chuckled. "They hate you because one day their boss will be someone younger, and their years of hard work will amount to nothing."

Levi was silent, surprised about his bluntness and his lack of remorse over obvious nepotism.

  Maximilian opened one of the drawers in his large desk and got out small glasses. He opened his cabinet and poured out some red wine and relaxed behind his desk.

"Do you want some," he offered.

"No thank you," Levi said quickly.

 He hated it whenever his father drank, which was now becoming more frequent.

  "I'm very impressed with Acheus," Maximilian sneered. "All these years I thought he was an idiot, yet this entire time he had something magnificent."

Maximillian spat out the word idiot, the way someone said something much, much, much worse. Ace's idiocy was quite well known among those in the Defense Program that were saddled with teaching the trainees. Levi tried to drink his coffee faster, to quell his fears that again Maximillian would do something to hurt him.

  Levi feared his father for many reasons, the biggest one was that he could easily wipe any memories of the horrible things he had done by getting someone else to do it for him. Levi knew it was his Uncle Rico, Rikka's father, but said nothing of the subject because he didn't want to confirm that he was right. Maximilian drank wine while he continued to insult those around him, possibly the world's worst living caricature of the wealthy and entitled.

  "That filthy, red-headed, Ionadian, made me think he was taking space up all these years that I could have given to someone much stronger, but patience has brought good fortune upon us," Maximillian said. "I want you to find out what his celestial object is and give it to me."

  Levi nodded, knowing that he would have to lie often once he learned the truth himself.

  "What did you come here for," Maximilian barked.

For the first time in a long time, Levi decided not to lie.

"I need the directory," he said. "It's important."

"What do you need it for," he asked.

"It's personal," Levi replied.

  "Nothing is ever personal around here," Maximilian grinned.

It was true. Everyone in the Defense Program was horrible gossips, and everyone was quick to believe a lie, even after the truth was on full display.

  "I can't tell you now," Levi mumbled. "Later."

   "Levi don't do this to me," Maximilian sighed. "If you can't talk to your parents, then who can you talk to?"

Levi talked to his mother, and his sister, Sara, just not to him.   

"How about this," Maximilian suggested. He poured himself a glass of wine and enjoyed every sip he took. "You get the files, but afterward I ask you to do a favor for me. No questions asked."

   "What kind of favor is it," Levi asked.

Maximilian wagged his finger and scolded him.

 "What did I say? No questions asked!"

Maximilian studied his son, knowing that he would say no.

  "Okay," Levi sighed. "Can I have it?"

   Maximilian scowled. He did not like it when people didn't play his petty games.

  "Are you sure," Maximilian asked. "You can't change your mind afterward."

Levi nodded, sure. Maximilian leered at him and grumbled.

"Come back in the evening," he said, waving him away with his hand. "I'll get someone to give it to you. Don't lose it."

Levi thanked him and promptly left, trying to drink his coffee faster before it got cold.

   Very rarely did Maximillian ever know what someone else was doing. With the press of a button, he could bring up his different trackers and know where people of interest were. He opened his laptop and looked at Levi's location history. The library, his apartment, the gym, nothing unusual. Maximillian reasoned that he could be meeting up with someone at one of these places and planning something, but what could it be?

  Maximillian decided that he would get someone to tail his son for a while until he got the information that he wanted. He made a phone call to his usual man for the job and continued with his wine. He groaned, hating that now he had to work since he returned.

I should just get someone else to do it, Maximillian thought.

So he made another phone call and did.