"Kazuki," Stella repeated, her voice cracking. "I need to know. Was that your mother?"

  Stella took a step towards him, her eyes still locked on his.

  Kaz nodded slowly. "Yeah... that was her name alright."

  He looked around nervously, and I did too. There was nobody near the four of us. The area we had chosen to train was very remote, and the rest of the gym was far enough away that nobody would be able to overhear us.

  "Can we talk about this somewhere else?" Albert said, his voice low. "This is the sorta thing we should be talking about in private."

  Kaz nodded. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea. I don't want to make a scene or anything, but yeah. You... you know my mother?"

  Stella bit her lips. "Like I said before. It's complicated. I read a dossier or two about your mother. And she was... a friend of my mother's. We should talk about this somewhere private."

  Kaz froze. He looked at me and then at Stella, and his eyes went wide. Then he looked back at Albert and then back at us.

  "Are you..." he trailed off. "Um..."

  Albert walked up and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Forget tonight. Let's finish our workouts and link up. How about that?"

  Kaz took a deep breath, and then exhaled slowly.

  "Okay," he said. "Okay. Yeah. Let's... let's do that."

  He took another deep breath and then looked at Stella, and me again. "Okay, so... I'm going to finish my workout, and then we're going to go somewhere private and talk about this. Umm, I guess you guys should know that I did carry Sienna back when she completely went beyond her limits during the night of the Cataclysm. So uh, I know who she is. And I guess you know who I am, Stella, and we'll just... talk about that, yeah?"

  Albert nodded. "We can talk about that later. Just... don't freak out."

  Stella and I shared a glance, and I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Don't freak out."

  Kaz nodded again. "Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. I'm not freaking out. I'm definitely not freaking out. This is cool. I'm cool."

  He turned around, muttering to himself. "This is totally normal. Totally cool. Nothing to see here. Just a normal day at the gym, nothing to worry about. Gonna go with Seb. And Blake. And Jess. Astrid. And Niko. And the rest of the guys. And just, like, pump some iron. Yeah. This is fine."

  He walked off, and I could hear him muttering to himself as he walked away.

  He paused for a moment, and then turned to face us. "Hey."

  "Yeah?" Stella asked.

  "Sienna hasn't touched her smoothie yet. She should drink it while it's still cold. Niko worked hard on those," Kaz said, and then he turned around and walked off.

  "Huh," I said, looking down at the smoothie. "I'll... do that?"

  I'd never had a protein shake or anything before, but I decided to give it a sip. It was surprisingly tasty, and not overly sweet like I had expected. I drank it down eagerly, enjoying the refreshing taste of strawberries and bananas.

  "Huh," I said again. "That was actually pretty good."

  "Good," Stella said, smiling softly at me. "Because you're going to need a lot of protein in your diet if you want to get in shape. And don't even get me started on carbs and fat and the finer details like fiber and vitamins and such."

  She paused and took a deep breath. "Alright, well. This is... a thing. But I guess we'll figure it out after you get through your first day of training, Sienna."

  Albert nodded in agreement, taking a sip from his smoothie. "Yeah, just keep going to the next exercise. How about some rowing?"

  "Um... that would be fine," I said.

  It took a minute for it to hit me. I was still in shock over the implications of what Stella and Kaz had dropped on us.

  Kaz said he'd seen me passed out from out from exhaustion during the night of the Cataclysm, and carried me back to Kaleidoscope Academy.

  Then that could only mean he was Braveheart Kitsune. Which meant...

  Which meant...

  "Holy shit," I said, my mind racing as the implications set in. "Holy fucking shit."

  "You okay there Sienna?" Albert asked, sipping his smoothie next to me.

  "I'm fine. Just... processing things," I said, my head spinning. "Small world, huh?"

  "Yeah," Albert replied. "Small world."

  He smiled at me. "But hey, let's not worry about that for now. Let's just focus on getting you in shape. How about we go do some rows?"

  I smiled back. "Sure! I still have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, though."

  Stella shook her head and huffed. "I was teaching Sienna some internal aura channeling tricks. But if you insist, I'll humor you. Let's revisit this for another day. That whole vision thing was a bit freaky."

  "Vision?" Albert asked, raising an eyebrow.

  "Long story," I replied, "I'll tell you about it later. But it's been a long day, and I'm kinda going through it. I'll be fine, though."

  Albert nodded. "Okay. Fair. You sure you're okay?"

  I sighed, rubbing my temples. "I'm. Fine."

  He put his hands up defensively. "Alright, alright. I get it!"

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  I paused for a second, rubbing my temples some more. "Sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm just tired and sore, and kinda mentally checked out right now. But I'll be fine. Don't worry about me."

  He shrugged. "Nah, it's cool. Actually uh, Sienna... I know you've had a long day and you're probably not in the mood, but I'm just gonna go ahead and say it. You're kinda being a little bit of an asshole."

  I blinked in surprise, looking up at him. "What?"

  Stella looked at him in surprise, then at me, and then back at him.

  He put a hand on my shoulder. "I get it. You're stressed out. But you've been a jerk about this whole thing, and that's not cool."

  I stared at him, my brow furrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

  He sighed, and looked at Stella. "Do you mind if I have a talk with Sienna? Really quick?"

  She nodded. "Sure, I'll give you two some space."

  Stella looked at me apologetically, and then walked away.

  Albert turned to face me, his expression serious.

  "Look," he said, "I get it. You've been through a lot. You've been through more than I can ever imagine, and you're probably dealing with a lot of stuff that I can't begin to understand. But I just wanted to let you know that I miss you I miss hanging out with you. And I know you're probably dealing with a lot of stuff, and you're probably stressed out, and you're probably not in the mood to talk, but I wanted to let you know that I'm here for you. And I miss you. And if you ever need to talk about anything, I'm here."

  His comment had taken me completely by surprise.

  But when I thought about it...

  He continued. "What I mean is. Well. Our classes don't line up really well this semester, but well, that's just making me worried. Hearing from Stella that you got seriously injured in that training exercise just two days ago and that you almost died... I feel like you're slipping away. And I don't want that. We're best friends. We've always been there for each other. I don't want that to change, and I don't want you to push me away. I miss lying on the grass, and studying, and playing games, and just generally goofing around. Whatever's going on, you don't have to deal with it on your own."

  I looked at him, and his expression was serious. I could tell he was genuinely concerned about me, and I could tell he was being serious.

  "Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was being an asshole. I'm not trying to push you away, Al. I promise I'm not. I just... I have a lot going on. As you can probably tell."

  I looked over at the tuft of Stella's hair poking out around the doorway to the mat room. She was far away enough that she wouldn't hear us, and I could tell she was trying to give us some space to talk.

  He smiled softly. "I know. I get it. It's a proper freaking soap opera. And I get it. I'm not part of this whole family drama thing. I'm not involved in it, and I'm not going to try and force my way in. But be careful of the people you're leaving behind if you run face-first into all this craziness. That's all I'm saying."

  I sighed. "I'm sorry, Al. I'll do better. I promise. And come on, give me some slack. You're the one who dropped your phone into the toilet, leading to, you know."

  He laughed. "Okay, fair. I'm at fault there too. And that was a ridiculous domino chain of events afterwards too. But I'm not the one running around with a new sister and god knows what kinds of weird intrigue. I mean I've been hanging out with the new friends I've made here. It's just been... quiet, without you. And then I turn around and learn you had your throat ripped out."

  I nodded slowly. "I get it. But trust me when I say it wasn't intentional. I'm not trying to push you away, or shut you out, or anything like that. I'm just... distracted. God, my head's all over the place."

  He smiled softly. "I get it. I really do. It's a big change. A lot of big changes, with a helping of traumatic danger to boot. And you're adjusting. And I'm sure the stress of all of this is making it hard to focus on anything else. But I did triangulate the Knights' infirmary and stay up late pitched outside the barrier waiting to see if you were okay. I was really, really worried about you. And then I didn't even get to talk to you until you and Stella came around earlier. That's a lot of hours of me being really worried. And I know you're okay, but that doesn't change the fact that I was scared for you. And, I dunno. Maybe it's selfish of me to be so focused on how I've been feeling, but I don't want to lose you. You're my best friend, and I'm not sure I could handle it if something happened to you."

  I shook my head. "You? Selfish? Come on."

  I hugged him, and he hugged me back.

  "Criminy," he said sheepishly. "I've been rambling."

  I smiled. "It's fine. It's kind of nice to have someone to talk to about all of this. I'm glad I have you, Al. And I'm sorry I've been a jerk. I'm the one who should be apologizing here."

  He smiled back. "Don't take it like that. I just wanted to let you know that I'm here for you, and that I care about you. And I'll always be here for you. No matter what. Even if you're being a jerk."

  I laughed. "I'll keep that in mind."

  "But seriously. I know it's crazy and you want to bottle it up. You're a tough girl and that's fine. But don't bottle up your emotions. I can tell you're hurt and scared, and it's perfectly okay to be hurt and scared. So please. Be open about your feelings, okay? I'm here for you."

  I felt myself choke up a little bit, and tears formed in the corners of my eyes. "I... I'll try. Thanks, Al."

  He smiled and patted my back.

  I paused for a moment. "I'll make time. For you and for Stella alike. Promise. But right now? I want to get back to working out. I'm feeling a lot better, and I think I'm ready to try out these rows. Plus I kinda wanna finish and shower before anything else."

  He nodded, and then gave me another squeeze. "Let's get back to it?"

  "Let's."

  I wiped my eyes, and we walked toward Stella together as I continued to sip at my smootthie.

  I had to admit, I felt a lot better after that talk. I felt a lot more clear-headed, and a lot more focused. That curveball with my second mom had thrown me for a loop, but it centered me on what really mattered.

  "Hey," I said to Stella as we left the room. "Sorry about that. Albert and I just needed to have a talk about some stuff."

  She was twirling her hair, and she took a second to reply. "It's okay. I get it. You two are best friends and all. I didn't want to interrupt you guys."

  Stella's lip twitched, like she was biting it. She looked troubled.

  I hugged her.

  "Sienna?" she said. "Are... are you okay?"

  "No. I'm not. But I will be. Thank you for being here for me. Both of you."

  She paused like she was about to say something, but then she stopped herself.

  Then, she slowly returned the hug. She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed, holding me tight.

  "And I'm here for you too, Celeste..." I whispered.

  It was weird how quickly we were becoming close, but I was grateful for it.

  She was my sister, and I was glad we were getting along. I felt like I'd made a connection with her, like I'd rekindled an old friendship that had been left to grow cold and neglected. One I never had the chance to build in the first place. Talking with her mother in that meditation state made that all the more impactful.

  Stella was my family, and I was going to do everything in my power to keep her safe. I was going to make sure she was happy and that we had a chance to be a family. Albert was too, even if we weren't related by blood. He was family in the ways that mattered. And I was going to make sure he was taken care of, too. I was going to be there for them, just like they were there for me.

  "Okay," I said, half-muffled against her chest. "Back to training?" I asked, looking up.

  "Just one more minute..." Stella muttered. She looked away, her cheeks red. "Please?"

  I smiled, and squeezed. "Alright. One more minute then."