I watched the melted glass carefully. I had to get this last chip in perfectly or the attachments wouldn't work.

It was so much easier when I had the wrider hearts. Now I had to personally make nano-chips and then hook them to my glasses. I also got cheated in buying all that iron and gold for wiring. I'm not even sure why they would need that. They don't even know what a computer is.

I diligently held the chip with a pair of tweezers. I had to borrow them from Sonja and I'm not sure if she would want to fix her eyebrows with this anymore.

"JORDAN!"

The basement door that was supposed to be secret slammed open.

My hand slipped and the chip and tweezers fell into the quickly drying glass.

"God dammit-!"

I didn't even turn around to glare at Tom.

"I've been places!" he screamed.

"Give hell my regards," I mumbled, trying to get the tweezers from the glass, also burning my hands.

Tom ran over, with wide eyes. He gripped my shirt and shook me. "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!"

"Calm down," I ripped his hands off of my shirt and backed up.

"The King is not trustworthy," he hissed. His flustered tone made me believe him.

I squinted at Tom. I trusted him more than the King, but it was still Tom, and you could never be sure. "What happened?"

So I was just chillin' around the kingdom, because there's nothing better to do.

Seriously like we need to leave its so boring here I want to kill myself. I might just kill myself because there nothing to do-!

Tom. Hurry up.

Okay Jordan I get it.

Anyway, I was just chilling by the bridge, when I saw the king. He looked a lot more well groomed now, but he had dark circles under his eyes.

What are you saying?

I'll get to it!

As I was saying. The king strides up to me with a limp. Everything felt extremely eire. I was on edge.

"Mr. Syndicate", the king greeted me with the same normal stern voice.

I narrowed my eyes, because I'm not to fond of him and I don't think he likes me to much back, "what?"

The King's blistered fist went into a grip. His fingernails had dirt under them. "You will do something for me now."

Woah. what?

Let me finish!

I was at a loss of words. I was sure if he was going to pin one of us to do anything it would have been Tucker. Maybe even Hope because of her new boyfriend.

"I don't get it," I let out.

"Don't be as idiotic as I think you are," I then noticed that he still had the Heralds gun. "Your friends won't be in any debts if you do this task for me."

I backed up. Reaching for daggers that were still in the house. I was stuck in his trapped. I can only expect he was watching for the castle tower and waiting for me to get outside unarmed. "Why would I do anything for you?" Maybe negotiation would work.

He went through his pants pocket. I was sure that he had a knife.

A brown burlap bag sat in his hand. He got a few shiny silver coins out. There shown came out being behind the dark and dreary bag. What can I say? Money calls for me. "Okay", I reached for the money, but the king put his hand out of my reach before I could grab it.

I glared at him. "What do you want then".

His dreary grey eyes moved to the window of the farm house, that was only twenty yards from where we were standing. "You work for the farmer."

Well I know Steve well about now. He's not a bad guy. He's probably as innocent as a guy can get.

"You can get into the house."

"So."

The Kings eyes narrowed at my sarcasm. He didn't seem like he was going to be bargained with. "I need an object that is on the top of his red bookshelf."

And I know what your thinking. Okay Tom you took the money, your a bad person, we know. That's not true this time though. I tried.

The king then brought out the pistol, and unlike when his son held a weapon, he seemed very ready to fire. "Now."

"Jesus, damn," I put my hands up. Steve never talked about the thing. It couldn't be that important. "Alright I'll get the stupid item."

I headed for the little farm house. It was so peaceful and cute sitting there. Guilt started to twinge at me, knowing that I had to give the tranquil house a feeling of chaos. Steve was a really good guy. I don't know what the king could even have against him.

He had been openly kind to Hope and you aswell too so.

Yeah. I know Tom. Sorry you had to do that.

So I opened the door with my key and walked in and saw the statue he was taking about. It's with that stack of books that were by the sword.

It was just a red statue that was crudely made. It didn't even look that expensive.

I grabbed the statue and have it back. The king didn't even say thank you or anything. He just walked away and continued to stare at it.

Creepy.

I know!

"So what do you think is going on," Jordan asked me in the basement. He wasn't interested in his fancy glass sword anymore.

"I don't know," I paused, "but I haven't seen the herald in awhile either. I think he knows I suspect something."

Jordan wanted this order in for his new sword. I obliged to get it from the dock because I knew how long it took for him to even adjust the last glass sword.

The fact that Hex was able to mix the structure of glass so well that it was stronger than iron is still crazy to me. Now for Jordan to make it again, without even the right materials, must be annoying as hell. I would probably punch someone in his situation.

So in short, I just wanted to be helpful because I was not ready to see Jordan mad. That's about as scary as me mad.

I had to go out when it was busy to get the package. I wanted to get it right after it was delivered. Now I at least had them in my hands, and for a lot of gold and iron it wasn't that to terribly heavy. I hope he didn't get conned out of less stuff than he asked for.

The streets were busy with a lot of Mianites, who I was getting really tired of. The place was infested. I swear the church got ten times fuller over the time the king was back. And every time I would bring it up to Andor through the week he wouldn't answer.

The Mianite infestation was really annoying especially for me. Everyone noticed my hair, because God forbid it wasn't one natural cover. No one asked why it was that color, which is good, but I always felt watched. People were always staring at me.

I don't think it helped that I was dating Andor now, too. Everyone kinda expected him to date someone a lot different.

I mean I was different alright. A girl with bright pink hair walks in and steals the future spot of queen from any of the other younger girls. Not that he's any heartthrob. Probably the exact opposite of that, but the females around here didn't seem to notice him until I was in the picture.

It didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. Really I was surprised with myself for trusting someone I only met three months ago that much.

But now I was in the less busy part of town, where all of the small houses were. I grabbed the outside garage door that lead to Jordan's basement.

He was working on placing all the chips back into placement again. He said Tom interrupted him, but didn't tell me what for. I didn't decide to ask, because he was so flustered.

"I brought your box," I closed the garage door behind me. The basement now echoed and my voice bounced around the walls, "It's kinda light so I hope you got all you need."

I tossed the box onto the small table he had set up. I was surprised it was still standing the metal legs were so rusty. Then in the corner he had say a mattress for him to sleep on. I'm pretty sure he used a coat as a blanket when he slept. If he slept.

Bless the girl who ends up marrying him.

Jordan glanced at me. Then moved his eyes to the box. I think I had made him paranoid.

He put the tweezers down and lifted up the box. "It's seems normal weight to me." He placed down the box a lot harder than I did. The table wobbled and I was so scared it was about to collapse.

He then grabbed the tweezers and went back to placing the chips, which seemed hot to the touch. "Your not as sickly thin as you were. Maybe you just developed muscle."

I ignored the info on my body and watched him pick up another overheating chip.

He dropped it by the tweezers so he could pick it up and then started blowing on his hand.

I left before I could stay to witness his lab light on fire. Maybe putting in electronics that could overheat in boiling glass wasn't the best idea.

I stopped to meet the beautiful blue eyes that I had fallen in love with over the few weeks.

"Hi." I closed the garage door behind me. Not that Jordan would notice anything, but just in case.

"Oh I'm sorry. I just saw you here," Andor grabbed my hand, which was a really subtle thing, but it always made me happy. "I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to spend much time with you. My dad's had me really busy lately."

"He doesn't like me," I paused. "Does he."

Andor kissed me on the cheek. I felt like this was a way to avoid the question. "He doesn't much like anybody."

"He has to like you, your his son."

His smile seemed to be more forced now. I hated when he did that. He always looked better when he was himself, even if it meant bumming me down a little.

"Yeah," he let out weakly. I don't think he believed himself.

I never pressured him about his dad. I wanted to know, but it didn't mean I needed too. He never asked about Mianite, even though I knew he needed to know, and he always wanted to know. Every time anyone brought up Mianite he would always look at me, no matter what the conversation was.

He cleared his throat, which was code for 'change the subject'.

He grabbed my other hand, and I really didn't care if anybody else was judging my hair anymore. "Since we haven't really been able to talk for two days I was wondering if we could go out tonight."

"Is this one of those dinner date things," I questioned, "because I will probably end up stabbing someone with a fork."

He laughed. "It doesn't have to be. I just thought we could plan a time tonight and we could just walk." His blue eyes stared into my boring brown ones, that he always somehow found mesmerizing. "The ethereal blooms are all planted so the forest looks like there's a bunch of stars on the floor."

My eyes widened out of curiosity. "Seriously."

He smiled at me. I couldn't understand what there was to smile about. "Yes-"

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

He held my cheek and I flushed. Public affection was still not a thing I was used to. "I wanted to see your reaction. So now you have to wait until night when I take you."

I moved some of his messy brunette hair from my view of his eyes. "Okay," I whispered.

The garage door slammed open. Andor grabbed me and moved me to the side out of Jordan's way.

He was holding a hot glass sword. It didn't really actually look like a sword, just a glob of half baked glass and metal.

"Hot, hot, hot," he was holding the steaming mess with his coat, but it must have been so hot that the extra padding wasn't helping.

He threw it in the ocean that was right across the street from his house.

He whipped his head and then noticed Andor. "Don't tell your dad!"

Andor nodded his head, his arm still around my waist. "Okay."

Jordan gave a weak thumbs up and then went back to fishing out the glass from the ocean.

"So I'll pick you up after dark," Andor smiled.

"Okay."

He pressed his lips against mine for a kiss that I wasn't prepared for. I guess he saw the chance and took it.

He let go and started to rush off to his next meeting.

So this whole chip idea wasn't working.

I should have seen them overheating. I made them so poorly it was a risky shot at the start.

I was now just walking around the kingdom, because I needed to clear my head. If I couldn't use electronics I needed something else that could connect with my glasses, or I couldn't use attachments.

My brain wasn't allowing me to think, which of course was the problem.

By the back castle entrance, around the housing area, was very quite, so I decided to stay around there.

I noticed the castle gate was closed. It made me feel more erie. I suspected that the king liked his privacy a lot more than Andor. Then again Andor doesn't live in the castle.

I knew Andor and the king were different, which really was a good thing. I don't know if I would want Hope to be in love with someone like the king. Andor was very calm and easygoing, and if you were going to climb the rocky slope that is dating Hope, I can only imagine you would have to be that way.

His father, on the other hand, was stern and always had this angry aura around him without even changing a facial expression. He was scary, in a dadish sort of way. I can only imagine Hope liked him as much as he liked Hope.

I walked off ignoring the gate and minding my own business. I guess I deserved a brake anyway. I hadn't got much sleep last night and I was really exhausted. My eyes just needed to shut for a moment.

I leaned on the side of a random small house, not feeling to guilty. Exhaustion was starting to rule over my thoughts and my heavy eyelids started to close.

"Do you want help home?" The Prince's polite voice spoke up.

I was now laying on the ground, and the sun was in the middle of the sky.

"Oh sorry," rubbed my eyes, "I just couldn't think, so I went for a walk and I must have dozed off."

Andor leant out his hand for me. I wasn't sure if he was sucking up or being friendly anymore. Either way his intentions were good, so I grabbed his hands and got up off the dusty ground.

"If you don't mind me asking, what were you working on when you littered in the ocean?" He seemed to have a slight bitter tone, which was understandable. It was still his home and if anything happened to Mianite I would probably loose it.

"Oh," I threw my hands through my hair, still pretty groggy from my little nap, "It was a sword I used back in Mianite. It's made out of glass. I need some way to connect the glass to my glasses so the swords stronger."

"Why?" And there I noted that he was about as curious as Hope.

"I add these special programs to them and the way I had it set up before, there was these crystals I used, made the glass stronger. Now I don't have those, but I'm going to try to rely more on technology than magic".

He nodded his head. I was surprised that he actually listened. Most people don't.

"Maybe you could try magnets," he suggested.

Well shit. That's actually kinda smart.

He shrugged, "just an idea."

Andor's face went to shocked as I heard heavy feet stomp over to us.

The Herald was covered in dirt. Grass, spit, and blood stuck in his now ragged beard. His fingernail were ripped and muddy.

"My god," Andor breathed. "Where have you been!?"

He had the fear of God in his eyes as he peered up at one of the castle windows. His eyes looked dead. Everything about him looked scared and dead.

At least it did until he saw Andor. It was almost like his hatred fueled the little sanity he had left.

He hobbled over to Andor with his ripped brown boots. The Herald jabbed his finger at Andor. "You will not last a week in this kingdom."

Andor held a firm face.

"You filth," The herald hissed.

The Prince gasped in a weak breath of air, probably trying to grasp some bits of pride, "Such a shame my father now hates you more than he hates me."

I held my mouth shut.

Probably shouldn't be involved in this conversation.

The Herald, having no other option, stormed off to his troops. Probably going to boss them around for the rest of the day.

"He looks like he just dug himself out of his own grave," I spoke after The Herald was a safe ear distance away.

I think Andor expected me to answer differently to that whole situation. He smiled, which was relieving, "probably did."

"So," Sonja spoke up from the side of my bed. I wasn't sure how she got into my house on the first place, but we had been talking for quiet awhile now.

I was sketching mindlessly on a sheet of paper, trying to murder all the butterflies in my stomach. "So what," I tried to ring out all the empathy in my voice, but it didn't work.

"Are you excited for your first date?"

I continued to sketch, expecting that this is what she was going to say. "It's not a date," I let out with no emotion.

I could almost hear her roll her eyes. "Sure it isn't."

I heard a knock on the door.

Sonja lifted her head like a fox perking up its ears.

I slide off of the windowsill. "Please behave."

"I'm not Tom," she shouted as I headed down the stairs. "That's just rude!"

I was pretty much ignoring everything else. Why was I so tense and against me? I had honestly stopped questioning anything.

That is what I decided adulthood was. Not questioning anything.

I opened the door, and like I had predicted Andor was standing there waiting for me. His hair wasn't as messy as it usually was, like he actually combed it.

The only thing I noticed, like normal, was his gorgeous blue eyes. I could stare into them for hours. His eyes were like they held a world of there own, and everything was perfect there.

"Hello," he smiled, which made me smile and bite my lip.

I kissed him on the lips, before Sonja could slip downstairs.

"I've been a little excited," I mustered up.

He nodded his head up and down, smiling harder, "I noticed."

I grabbed his hand, feeling kinda weird for being so open.

"Okay," he laughed, "we can go now."

"That's great."

Steve and I were picking the last batch of apples for the day. He hadn't brought up the statue. I don't think he even noticed that it was gone.

So if it wasn't important to Steve, why did the king want it so bad?

"Alright Tommy," Steve sat down a bucket of red apples in the grass. "I think that's all for today."

"You sure you don't need more help," I asked politely. I liked Steve, in a different way than my team, he respected me. It was like what it seemed like. He was just my boss who I really enjoyed spending time with.

"No," he patted my back, "that's all I want"

I headed in to the farm house to grab my black blazer that I always wore. I'm not sure why I chose a blazer instead of a coat, but it made me just as warm and I always felt so classy wearing it.

Steve sat down on one of the old missed matched chairs around his table.

I grabbed my blazer and put it on.

"You know Tom,"

Steve said while taking his muck boots off. "We're a lot different."

I was now confused. He had never talked to me like this.

"What?"

Steve chuckled at my obliviousness. "I've noticed your mask"

Oh shit.