Annie Kenna's Story

"Fenix! Hurry Up! I wanna see Bryce! He's been gone for years and I miss him! Hurry UP!" Annie is running up the steps into the main building of Henry Jefferson High School followed closely by a boy who could only be Fenix. "I'm trying Annie but we both know that you are much faster than I when I'm in this form." "That't no excuse! This is my brother we're talking about! I haven't seen him for 9 years! You have no idea how much I miss him!" Fenix runs slightly faster. "Very well I will hurry." They reach the entry way and burst into the school. Annie runs up to the first person she sees. "Hi! I'm Annie I'm looking for my brother. His name is Bryce... I'm not sure what his last name is when he was with me it was Kenna but I think he changed it after he got kicked out of the family for not!....." Fenix bursts in at that point. "For not having the family's birthmark. He was thought to be a bastard child and was removed from the family." He glares at Annie his eyes screaming 'YOU IDIOT!' The boy is relatively in shock but after a moment he gathers himself. "I-I don't know about Kenna but there's a Bryce Zephyr that joined classes here not that long ago." Annie bursts out. "THAT HAS TO BE HIM WHERE IS HE I NEED TO SEE HIM!" Staggering back the boy manages to say. "He's off on a school field trip hell be back on Monday I think his room is number 214 in the boy's dorm now please leave me alone!" He turns and goes running off. Annie falls to the ground completely defeated. "Fenix he isn't here after 9 years I thought I could finally find my big brother and he's gone. I miss him so much." "I know Annie but look at the bright side after 9 years of waiting your only 2 days away from seeing him. No doubt he will be glad to see you as well. I'm sure he misses you as well. As I recall the two of you were very close especially since he doesn't have a dæmon. Only two more days and you can see him, but in the mean time we should go pack our things. After that we could wait in his room and surprise him. I know how you like surprising people." Annie perks up slightly and looks into Fenix's eyes. "Thank you Fenix I'm really lucky I have you." She jumps up and gives him a hug and goes running to her new dorm room and packs her stuff then quickly goes and finds Bryce's room and sits in what she expects to be Bryce's bed. "He's going to be so surprised!" She nestles down into Bryce's bed taking comfort in the fact that he would soon be back.

The buses pull up to the school and Bryce walks out with Zac and Lilly. "As fun as that was I'm glad we have some time to rest. I'm ready for a calm normal day with no running from the council and no chasing after devils." They gather their thing and start walking up the stairs into the school. They take the stairs slowly because Bryce's shoulder still hadn't fully healed. His things in one hand Lilly's hand in the other they make it to the middle of the landing before Bryce gets tackled by a fiery red headed girl sending him falling down the stairs letting go of Lilly's hand as he falls.

````````````````````

Annie had been sitting on the roof of the school waiting for the buses to show up. "Today's the day Fenix. He's coming back today!" "Of course he is Annie but be patient he may have changed since he left." "IMPOSSIBLE!!! He will always be my Bryce I miss him!" "I realize this. I just hope you don't have your hopes to high." As Fenix finishes talking he notices a line of buses pulling up in front of the school. "That should be them." "OH MY GODS! I'm gonna go get him!" Annie jumps up and runs through the halls of the school and gets to the top of the stairs just as Bryce makes it to the middle landing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"BRYCE!!!!!!!!!!!!" Annie launches herself off of the top of the stairs and hits Bryce in the middle of the chest effectively turning him into a sled riding him down to the bottom of the stairs laughing and hugging him the entire time.

As he falls Bryce doesn't really have time to think the only thought that he could clearly think of. 'Fuck this is going to hurt like hell.'

They land in a pile and Annie just sits on him hugging him as tightly as she can. "BRYCE!!!!! I've missed you so much! Wheredidyougo?(Where did you go) Whathappenedtoyou?(What happened to you) I'VE MISSED YOU!!!!" After a moment Bryce come to enough to realize that someone is on top of him and that his shoulder is bleeding again. "Ummm. Excuse me but.... Could I please stand up?" Annie let's Bryce stand up but still has him locked in a death hug.

(OOC: included a small translation for those who don't like jumble words)

Lilly blushed slightly at the comment, tugging her hand out of Bryce's. "T-Touchy feely crap makes me sick!! I'm outta here!" Lilly wasn't one hundered percent sure what had come ove her, but there was just something about Annie, Bryce's sister, that set her on edge. "Come on OZ," she snapped at her demon, who responded by simply making his way to her side.

"I also apologize for my Masters behavior. It is very nice to meet you, Miss Kenna. I am OZ and this my Master, Lilly."

"Enough with the chit chat OZ! We have more important things to attend to!!" Lilly practically yanked OZ from his spot and towads the girls dorms. What was this feeling that was over whelming her .... it was becoming rather annoying. "Training is more important rght now. No rest. At all. Not in the slightest. We have to perfect everything."

The rest of the trip passed with relative ease. They killed more Devils, Pitt yelled at Zac for pushing himself too hard, and Lilly accidentally almost saw Bryce naked. The wonderfully awkward event had occurred in part, to bad timing and a miscommunication as to when Bryce was showering. Zac chuckled as he remembered it, Lilly AND Bryce had both turned BRIGHT red and Zac had laughed, until he fell asleep from laughing so hard. It was a great weekend, and an even better trip, even though Zac had lost the contest with Lilly, his escapades with the troll had lost him the crucial lead. Regardless, it was still a great trip. Zac was just about to remark on it when a little fiery headed girl blitzed into Bryce, opening up the wounds on his shoulder again. Lilly threw her off of him, and Zac placed his hand on Lilly's shoulder, "Easy Vatalini, I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation of why she tackled him." Zac said. Sure enough, after a tearful reunion, a brother and sister were reunited. "This has been a lovely reunion," Zac said, catching everyone's attention, "and it was very nice to meet you, little Miss Annie, but we've got to unpack and get ready for class soon-ish, you're welcome to come up and visit anytime, further, you've got class with us as well. Don't be late."

Zac smiled the whole time, it was a lovely scene, a family reuniting. Zac felt a single tear form in his eye, which he quickly wiped away. This is what a family is like, this is what it should be, even if it was disjointed and slightly broken. A family loves each other, no matter what. It was nice.

Pitt couldn't help but giggle at Zac, he was so stupid sometimes. He had his own family now, his friends at school, and he had her, he was so dumb. "Zac, you're stupid, but I guess that's what makes you mine. I love you." Pitt whispered into his ear from his shoulder. "Hello Miss, I'm Pitt, the stupid blonde one's demon. I hope you enjoy your stay here and don't get put off by the grueling classwork, the horrendous missions, and terrifying teacher. Good luck!" Pitt said with a nasty smirk. "Oi! Knock that off Pitt, homework's not hard and Rob is fine. You'll do great, I promise." Zac said with another smile.

As Lilly went running off Bryce turned and watched her go calling out. "Lilly! Don't leave come back!" It didn't work. She continued running dragging OZ behind her. Bryce turned and looked at Annie. "I'm sorry I have to go get her. I'm really glad to see you again and I hope we can catch up soon in the mean time why don't you hang out with Zac? He' kinda wired but he's cool." Bryce turns and goes running off following where Lilly had gone. "Talk to you guys later." After casting his usual tracking spell he finds Lilly heading off to the girl's dorms. 'Needa cut her off before she gets there.' But he was to slow by the time he made it to the dorm Lilly had already gone into her room and Bryce had no choice but to follow her in. 'I don't even know which room is hers...' Bryce waits outside of the dorm until a girl he recognizes from one of his non-magic classes walks by. "Umm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you could tell me which room is Lilly Vatalini's." After a short conversation the girl finally tells him which room is Lilly's. "Thank you so much! Talk to you later." Completely forgetting about the rules Bryce runs into the girl's dorm and finds Lilly's room and starts knocking on the door hoping she'll be there and that she won't tell him to leave. "Lilly, It's me..."

Lilly had made it to her dorm, quickly redressing herself for the training she would hope to accomplish after the class. Knock knock knock, she heard. "Lilly, it's me..."Bryce’s voice had emerged from the other side of her door, bringing slight shock to Lilly.

“How the hell do you know which room I’m in,” she snapped as she yanked open the door. “I left because I want to train and I can’t do that with you bugging me!” OZ looked confused at his Master. She had been rather touchy lately … and even more odd, he couldn’t tell why. Normally it wouldn’t take long for him to decode her, but something seemed to be blocking her. “I need to practice and learn as much as I can!”

“Master, we are barely out of the second week of school. You’re learning at a remarkable speed. You should rest or you might collapse.” Lilly was more pale than usual, and her breathing was heavier.

“Robert trains every day of his life! And there are people out there way stronger than him! How am I supposed to beat anyone if I take breaks or relax. If you don’t like the way I work then you can just leave OZ!” Lilly stomped across her dark room to where her bed was. She knew her way in the dark, but anyone else might have fallen repeatedly over the mess tossed all over the floor. Lilly almost seemed frantic as she stashed assortments of weaponry all over. “The only reason anyone is even remotely helping me is because I’m a stupid Shadow Mage. Hell, I may as well be a shadow myself! And you know what Shadows do, OZ?”

“What Master,” he asked obediently.

“They walk alone! The train alone! They rule every inch of this Earth! No matter where you go, there is a shadow somewhere to be found!”

“Master … Just rest,” OZ almost pleaded. He knew more than she, maybe even more than Robert. He was a Shadow for Christ’s sake. “Robert promises to teach you, Zac promises to teach you. Bryce and I will teach you, just give it time.”

“Well, I want to teach myself, so deal with it!” Without a second thought, Lilly moved past the two boys and back down the hall. She wanted to see Robert and tell him that what he was doing wasn’t enough. Lilly was going to learn, and she was going to do some of it on her own. “I’ll make sure that damned Council never touches any of them.”

Bryce stood there in shock as Lilly stormed past slamming the door behind her. After a few moments Bryce looks to OZ. "What did I do OZ? I didn't think I was doing anything wrong I just wanted to make sure she was alright..." Bryce sank down to the floor in front of Lilly's bed his knees pulled up to his chest. "I-I just don't know what I did."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Annie stood watching as Bryce ran off after Lilly. "We finely see each other after years and you go running off just like that?!? I'm so going to kick your ass next time Bryce!!!" Annie sits there fuming for a while then remembers that Zac is there. "OH! Your Bryce's friend right? Can I be your friend too? I've never really had friends before so I don't really know how to make them... BUT I'm sure I can be and AMAZING friend if you give me a chance!" Annie keeps talking about anything and everything barley giving Zac time to get a word in edgewise. After a few minutes Annie feels something on her leg she looks down to notice Ikari pawing at her leg. "OH Hi who are you?" "I'm Ikari, Bryce's demon I ju-" "BRYCE HAS A DEMON?!?" "Of course he does Annie he is a mage." "Oh right. I almost forgot... He couldn't do magic when he was at home with me so I never knew he had a demon." "It's alright Annie. I just wanted you to know Bryce is very happy to see you again he just has to make sure Lilly is alright. Please don't be to angry with him." "Alright Ikari I won't. So Zac! What do we do here for fun? Cuz I've been bored sitting in Bryce's room all weekend I wanna do something."

As Annie jabbered back and forth with them all, Zac just smiled. She was the polar opposite of Bryce, it was actually quite comical, as if to demonstrate, Zac chuckled softly under his breath. She sat there for a while, obviously upset with Bryce, then, it seemed she remembered that Zac was there. "OH! Your Bryce's friend right? Can I be your friend too? I've never really had friends before so I don't really know how to make them... BUT I'm sure I can be and AMAZING friend if you give me a chance!"

Just as Zac was about to tell her that he was Bryce's roommate and that they'd probably be seeing each other quite often, Annie just steamrolled right through him, talking about anything and everything barley giving Zac time to get a word in edgewise. Zac was just starting to get upset and consider leaving, when Ikari showed up. Zac knelt down and greeted the little fox, "Hello Ikari, here for Lilly?" As she explained the situation between Lilly and Bryce, Zac nodded, "They'll sort it out, it was a long weekend. I was just about to head up to our room, would you like a lift? Or would you prefer to walk, I know that you guys like to play everything close to the vest. I would, however, be honored to carry you, should you find me suitable." Finally, after letting Annie talk at thin air for a while, Pitt chuckled and Ikari stepped forward to get Annie's attention. After a few minutes Annie feels something on her leg she looks down to notice Ikari pawing at her leg. "OH Hi who are you?" Annie asks. "I'm Ikari, Bryce's demon I ju-" Ikari thoughtfully explained. "BRYCE HAS A DEMON?!?" Annie interrupted, flabbergasted. "Of course he does Annie, he is a mage." Ikari sighed. "Oh right. I almost forgot... He couldn't do magic when he was at home with me so I never knew he had a demon." Annie fumbled. "It's alright Annie. I just wanted you to know Bryce is very happy to see you again he just has to make sure Lilly is alright. Please don't be to angry with him." Ikari explained. "Alright Ikari I won't. So Zac! What do we do here for fun? Cuz I've been bored sitting in Bryce's room all weekend I wanna do something."

"Whoa! You've been in our room?" Zac asked, slightly concerned. "I'f I'd've known, I would have picked up after Pitt's mess." Zac joked, garnering him a fierce poke in the ear. "Ouch!" Zac said, rubbing his ear, "Anyhow, we don't really do much anything for fun specifically. We hang out with friends, I personally am always training, and students do have to do homework, it's pretty lame here actually." Zac explained, putting his hands on his hips and giving the school a generally displeased face. "I'm actually going to unpack and then train some more, because I have to practice some more, I'd hate to run into another troll and be as unprepared as I was this time. I guess that's it for now. You could come up with me to meet Bryce at our room, if you like." Zac supplied lamely. He wasn't the type to go out and party, and he was always doing schoolwork and training just to get himself ahead of the curve. Talk about boring...

"I'm actually going to unpack and then train some more, because I have to practice some more, I'd hate to run into another troll and be as unprepared as I was this time. I guess that's it for now. You could come up with me to meet Bryce at our room, if you like." Annie makes a quizzical face as Zac finishes. "Bryce was right you are weird! There's always something fun to do! Training is one of my favorite things to do EVER! Pushing your self to be better what could be more fun than that?!?" Annie pauses for a moment thinking. "I'd like to go see Bryce but I think he's gonna be busy with Lilly so maybe I could go train with you? I am a pretty good fire mage. My family's kinda legendary in the ways of fire magic." Ikari again steps in. "You guys can spar later but Zac I think Bryce may need to talk to you before to long if you wouldn't mind taking a break from training. You know a bit more about people than he does and he's really confused right now." Annie pipes up. "But what about me?! What am I supposed to do?!?" "Well the roof of the school is usually used for training so if you wanted to train you could probably find some students to fight with. Or you could come with us, but that will likely be boring." After thinking for a few moments Ikari looks up at Zac. "I don't think Bryce would mind if I let you carry me, and Thank You for the offer I am quite tired after running through the school looking for you guys." Annie turn and runs off toward the school to go train. "See you guys later! Have fun!" Fenix looks at Zac, Pitt, and Ikari. "So sorry about her see you guys later!"

Annie arrives at the top of the school looking around she sees someone she recognizes. Lilly is up training with some strange man.Annie runs up to them. "Hey! Lilly I thought you were off with Bryce! What happened is he alright?"

Lilly was just about to start in on Robert again, when a voice interrupted. Robert almost froze completely, but felt the fact that this girl was a mage. "Is there something I can help you with?" Her attention was on Lilly.

"Hey! Lilly, I thought you were off with Bryce! What happened, is he alright?"

Lilly only glanced at Annie. "If you could find me so easily, I'm sure you can find him on your own too."

"Don't be rude Lilly, this young woman only asked you a question," Robert said, walking a few steps closer to Lilly.

"Don't talk down at me like I'm a damn child," she snapped. Robert was frustrated enough, it seemed as though the two of thsm were clashing more and more each day. So he simply gave her the, "I'm tired, find someone else to fight," hand wave. He moved over to the rails, waiting to see a show. "Dammit Robert! Why do you have to be so lazy!" Lilly remembered there was a third party there, so she turned to face her full on. "You're one of those stuck up, good for nothing Kenna's, aren't you? How about you spar with me? I've been looking to usesome good old fashion magic for a few days now," Lilly said as a slightly evil smile spread across her face.

"I came here to train anyway! If you think you can beat me then Let's GO!" Annie looks at Lilly focusing her power. After a few moments a red aura appears around her and cloaks Annie in flame. "Well then let's start." Annie take a running start forming a ball of fire in her hands as she goes. Jumping into the air she throws it at Lilly preparing another as she goes.

Anjoe waa obviously prepared, instantly going for "the kill". Lilly jumped quickly out of the way, dodging the first fire ball. It didn't take long for her to decide on her signature move, Shadow Fire. Pulling out a blade, which was instantly covered in the dark flames, she swipped at Annie once she got close enough. "Shadow Puppet," she mummbled to herseld. Distraftiinsbwere good, and maing distractions was one of Lilly's best areas. Shadows from everywhere on the roof began to spin rapidly aroujd the pair of them, as if theybwere to be engulfed by the shadows. Lilly kept thrusting and slashing at Annie whenever she could, hoping the Shadow Fire would have its way.

Annie kept her calm while the shadows attacked. "I've played with shadow mages before your going to have to try harder." Managing to dodge the knife Annie began to throw small fires onto the ground causing an increase in light weakening the shadows. Annie didn't manage to dodge every slash though. The shadow flame blade managed to catch her arm and a shock went through her arm. 'Need to avoid that again that was terrible.' Annie jumped back creating space between them and reached out to the fires she had started on the roof. They began to swell and grow pulling in towards Annie covering her in roaring flame. Annie took a deep breath in. As she did the fire around her pulled into her mouth. Once she finished drawing in the breath she blew and a pillar of flame flew out engulfing Lilly.

As the shadow fire approached Annie she summoned the fire around her. The fire created an intense whirlwind around her shielding her from the shadow flames. "That was so cool! Breathing Shadow fire?!? I didn't know that was possible!" As shadow fire subsided Annie decide's it's time to introduce her bear. Pulling it out of her bag she looks at Lilly. After a moment she tosses the bear at Lilly but halfway there she shoots the bear with a fireball. Instead of burning up the bear grows to the size of a large dog. "Tell me Lilly why are you so mad at my brother? What did he do? He went chasing after you as soon as you left. He was worried about you!" The bear runs towards Lilly and tries to grab her around the waist. The bear misses his grab but the aura of flame around him still manages to burn Lilly some.

"I'M HIS SISTER! It's my job to worry about him and since he cares about you I have to care about you too! He's worried about you didn't he tell you when he ran off after you?" Annie was screaming trying to make Lilly understand but she stopped when the giant shadows began to form on Lilly's back. "OOOOOOOHHHHH That looks so cool! I wish I could do that!" Annie makes some more fireballs and launches them at Lilly as her bear continues to chase her. "I really hope we can be friends after this Lilly your fun!"

Annie quickly called her bear back shrinking as it returned to her. She walked over to Lilly slowly and summons fire to scare the shadows off of her. "Please don't hate me Lilly. I really want to be friends with you. Not just because of Bryce but because your fun. I've never had to try like that in a fight before. If you want I can heal the burns. And then if it's really what you want I'll leave you alone you'll never have to see me again. I'll go back to my family and forget all about you guys." Annie kneels down and starts pulling the fire out of Lilly's wounds quickly healing the burns. Fenix finally makes it to the roof as Annie turns to leave. "Let's to Fenix. We're going home." Annie starts to walk with tears in the corner of her eyes. "Good-by Lilly take good care of Bryce."

Annie spun around as Lilly spoke. "R-really you want me to stay!?" She made a sqeee sound of happiness jumping up and down. "Fenix did you hear that? She wants me to stay! I just got here and I already have two friends!" She looks at Robert. "Oh ummm yeah, Zac told me something about a class. He said it was boring though. I don't like boring but if I have to go to class to say here I'll do it! But... I don't know where the class room is... So could I just follow you? If i can't that's fine I'll just go sit in Bryce's room till it's over, and I'll make it to the next one." Annie skips along happily behind them to the stairs waiting for Robert's reply.

As they dropped off Lilly in the nurse's office Annie waves good-bye. "Bye-bye Lilly see you later! Maybe I'll bring Bryce over after class so he can see you." With that Annie followed Robert to the classroom. "So what am I supposed to call you? I mean I could call you mister, sir, Robert I mean I could come up with like a million things to call you, but what do you want me to call you?" Annie skips over to the window seat in the back of the room opens the window and takes the seat. "Fenix why are you so slow? We weren't even walking fast and you were way behind!" "Annie we've been over this... I don't move very quickly in my human form and I don't think the normal humans would understand a phoenix flying through the halls. We tend to start fires. I could just see it I fly through the halls and light someone's homework on fire. 'Oh I'm sorry teacher some giant fire bird lit my homework on fire.' That would be just amazing." "Alright fine party pooper I'll stop teasing you about being slow."

When the decisions were all made, and Annie had headed off to find someone to train with, Zac spoke up. "Alrighty Ikari, let's go! Pitt, get down please, there's only room for one of you up here, and you haven't walked all day. Plus, you've been growing up. It's getting hard to balance you up there." Zac said. He wasn't insulting Pitt, she'd actually grown over the course of the weekend, and she was really growing everyday. She was now about the size of a six year old, and had gone through about twelve different sizes of clothes all in one weekend. Regardless, Zac loved Pitt, and she knew it. He was so proud of her and all the improvements she'd been making. Her raw magical strength had easily tripled, and she'd gained near perfect synergy with the Earth, though she, unlike Zac was a demon, so her bond to it was much stronger than Zac's could ever be. Pitt came down from her post with relative grace. While she was upset that Zac had told her to leave, and was now carrying someone else's demon, she understood why. Ikari was tired, after all she was so small, and she had been riding Zac's shoulder ALL day. It was time. "OK Zac, I suppose I can get down for a smaller, more fragile demon." Pitt taunted jokingly, giving Ikari the evil eye then smiling wide. The two had become good friends while their masters were out hunting, more rivals than anything else, but you could tell they cared for each other deeply.

At that, Zac knelt down and let Ikari climb up his arm to his shoulder. Zac didn't want to pick her up because he knew how sacred that was to her. Once she was situated, Zac stood again and hefted his bags with one hand and grasped Pitt's with his other. "Where to Ikari? Our room?" Zac asked, and after she responded, Zac headed over to where Bryce was; sleeping and in their room. Pitt opened the door for Zac, who thanked her by bending down and giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Thank you Pitt." Zac said, much to her delight. She loved it when Zac doted on her. Zac walked in on Oz patching up Bryce's shoulder. "Hey How you guys doing?" Zac asked. After waiting for their responses, Zac laughed. "I didn't think your sister was so strong that she could tackle you to the ground. I'm so glad you've met up with her again. Family is a great thing to have." Zac unpacked his things as quickly as he could. "I'll see you guys after class, I've got something to do real quick, but after class do you wanna go out for dinner? All of us, bring Annie too, it'll be fun." Zac offered. After their responses, Zac picked up Pitt and headed to the door. "I'll see you guys later. Bye." Zac said. As he left, Zac noticed Ikari giving him Ikari a quizzical look, like she was wondering what he was doing, but Zac knew better. Bryce needed a bit of time to cool off and Ikari was the best one to cool his jets.

OZ grabbed Bryce’s good shoulder, making sure he looked him in the eyes before he spoke. “She isn’t angry with you, or anyone else. She is just upset with herself. She never thought it would be this hard, so she wants to push herself as much as she can.” OZ grabbed Bryce’s hand, pulling him up. “First,” he started, going into the bathroom and then coming back with a first aid kit, “let’s clean this up.” OZ quickly fixed Bryce up, even gave him a clean shirt to wear. “Now let’s get to class, I’m sure Lilly will be there waiting.” He already knew she wasn’t, being a shadow, he knew what happened. OZ started for the door, pausing to make sure Bryce was following, and then continued out of the dorm and towards the class room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Robert had been sitting in his desk for what seemed forever when the kids started to show, Kira among them. “Did ya miss me,” he said, holding out his arms as if he thought she would jump into them.

“Not really. I have gotten so much sleep lately, it’s amazing.” She was only kidding. She had slept barely a wink, to worried that one of the kids would do something stupid and Robert would have to deal with it. “How were your little ‘protégés’?”

“Zac was excellent as always, Bryce was well off too. Lilly just went mad. I think she took out 2/3’s of the Jersey Devil population on her own. Apparently she and Zac had a little contest. I had my money on Zac, but he got a little distracted. Oh the things you find out.” He shook his head, laughing. Then he remembered. “That’s right! We have a Kenna joining us for class. Miss Annie over there gave Lilly a thorough ass kicking on the roof. By the way, Miss Annie, call me whatever you want,” he said, smiling over to her. “Lilly now has a new sparring partner. There is no way she isn’t going to develop quickly now. Between Zac, Bryce, Annie and I, there just isn’t any possible way. By the time we get to the showcase, she’ll be unbelievable!”

“Keep your voice down Robert,” Kira snapped.

“Yeah yeah,” he waved her off. Then, OZ walked through the door with Bryce in tow. “Welcome back. Your dearest Lilly is skipping out on class due to a lack of responsibility, she might appear sometime or later,” he lied through his teeth, though no one would be able to tell. OZ, of course, knew what a load it was the moment he opened his mouth. But the obedient OZ stayed silent without his Master’s presence.