(Quote and song above)

*Hecate*

Quin was standing over me, arms crossed.

"Do you need something?" I asked, sipping my coke and channel surfing.

"Do I need something? Let me think... How about you tell me why you were carrying an unconscious Hatchet back."

"He passed out," I said, taking another sip.

"Obviously. Why?"

"Don't worry, Jacin's taking care of him."

"Oh, and about him, who is he?"

"A friend."

He let out a long sigh, and I could imagine him clenching his fists in the back of my head.

"Hecate, serious time, okay? Who's the guy and what happened to Hatchet?"

I peeked back at him. "Jacin's a friend and he's taking care of Hatchet." I held up my hand to silence him, knowing he would interrupt me. "As for what happened to Hatchet, wait for him to wake up and let him tell you himself. Good?"

He plopped down next to me. "For now."

We sat in silence for a minute before I talked again. "Where's Heather?"

"She didn't want me to tell you, but she's exploring. She doesn't trust you."

I laughed, then took another sip of the coke. "That's fine. She won't find anything to get mad at me for."

"I don't know, she was pretty mad about the whole Niquie incident."

I couldn't stop smiling. "Yeah, I forget you people wouldn't be...okay with something like that. It's pretty normal. Well, not like an everyday thing, but, you know."

"No, I don't."

"Right, I guess you wouldn't. How about we head back out, huh? Do something. It get's boring sitting around here."

He thought about it for a second. "How about we go to the bar and get a real drink."

"Still thinking about Xavier?"

He stopped talking.

I set down m drink and looked at him. "Drinking it off won't do anything."

He looked at me, suddenly serious. "Talking from experience?"

I smiled at him. Digging for info, huh? Well, I'll have him know-

"He's awake," Jacin said, stepping in from the hall. He went into the fridge and took out a can of coke. "Awake and confused."

I laughed. "Makes sense, after all that. What d'ya say, Mr. Grumpy Pants, wanna go talk to him?"

I stood up, but he grabbed my hand. "I don't trust someone with as many secrets as you have, Hecate."

I shrugged, still smiling. "Like a good soldier." He scowled and I shook him off me. "Let's go, Mr. Soldier. I'm sure you have a lot of questions."

He stood up, standing over my short height. "I'm not a soldier. Not anymore."

I nodded. "Of course. You're a criminal now."

I could see his fists clenching.

I walked away, heading towards the back room. What? If he could pick and prod at me, I could do the same.

When I opened the door, Hatchet was sitting up in bed, bags under his eyes.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty," I said, closing the door behind me. "You still look tired."

"I'm exhausted," he answered with a raspy voice. "Where're the others?"

"Heather went snooping and Quin's cooling his head outside."

"Did you tell him?"

"No, just peeved him off a bit. He doesn't like not knowing things, does he?"

Hatchet smiled. "Not at all."

"He's gonna have to get used to it."

Quin opened the door. "Get used to what?"

"Nothing," Hatchet replied.

Quin scowled. "So, wanna tell me what happened here? Ms. Queen of Magic won't tell me a thing."

Hatchet glanced at me. I gave him a nod.

"I...I'm not going with you."

"What?"

"I'm not going with you when Hecate sends you off to god knows where."

"Why not?"

"I-I'm not. I just..."

"Take your time," I told him. "I'll go get you some water."

Hatchet nodded, and I left the room.

"How's it going in there?" Jacin asked.

I leaned up and stood on my toes to grab a cup from the cupboard. "He's nervous."

Jacin let out a hardy, deep laugh. "I would be too. Especially if all my friend were former Black Hands."

"Yeah, well so was he."

I flipped on the faucet and the cup started filling up.

We were quiet for a minute before he spoke up.

"Where're you headed next?"

"Hmm, probably home. Gotta feed the cat."

"You don't have a cat."

"It's a figure of speech."

"No, it's not." He sighed. "And you're taking the kid with you, aren't you?"

I laughed. "The kid? You're only twenty-three."

"And how old's he?"

"Don't know. I think he's twenty-ish. And yeah, I'm taking him with me."

"Wanna take me too?"

I turned off the faucet and looked at him. "You? I thought you like sitting around here."

He shrugged. "It gets boring, sitting around all day."

"No it doesn't."

"Look, I just wanna go with you. Is that a problem?"

I held my hands up. "No problem at all."

He nodded, satisfied with my surrender. "Are you gonna give the kid his water?"

"I'm waiting until the kid's friend leaves the-" there was a click. "Now I'm going."

When I passed Quin, I peeked up at his face. It wasn't angry or upset or even disgusted. Actually, it was pretty plain.

I slid in through the door and looked at Hatchet. He was smiling. I hoped it wasn't one of those weird smiles where you're so mad you have to smile. Or a sad smile where you don't wanna cry but you really wanna cry at the same time.

I held out the water to him and hoped for the best.

"How'd it go?" I asked when he took the cup.

He took a sip then looked at me. "I told him everything that happened. I told him what you told me and how I could use magic and how I was going with you so you could teach me..."

"...and?"

"And he was okay with it."

I let out long sigh of relief. "Well, that's good."

"Yeah, for now. I still have to tell Heather and that'll be a-"

"Train wreck? Apocalypse? Blight? What other possible end of the world scenarios are there? Umm... World wide disease. Or, or... Ooh! Alien invasion!"

"Yeah, kinda like all those together."

"As your new teacher, I know I'm setting a bad example, actually a horrible example that I'd never live by, but, anyways, you don't have to tell her. If you really didn't want her to know, I mean. Again, that's something I would never do, but you can."

"Yeah, I know, but I'm going to."

I nodded. "Whelp, I'm gonna go down to the bar and talk with Niquie and Wynnie. You know, gossip. Normal girl stuff. Oh, and magic and I'm gonna get a map of labor camps and stuff."

"Yeah, normal girl stuff."

I laughed, leaving the room.

"Keep an eye on him," I told Jacin when I left.

I opened the door and started walking in the direction of the bar.

It was still crowded with people; witches, wizards, and normals all dancing together. The music was blaring Zedd's Clarity. The lights were changing with the music. The bar was about halfway full, but Niquie was the picture of calm. Probably because Wynnie was behind the bar now, running to take people orders.

I saw Quin's back, and let out a little sigh of disappointment. This is what happens when I give people advice, I thought, walking over to take the seat next to him. They ignore me. Is it because I wasn't serious enough, cause I don't think my face could do serious. Even though it's hard to tell, cause of my adorably pudgy and eternally happy face, I seriously wanted to know.

I slid up next to him and saw him sipping on the yellow and orange drink I had earlier. I smiled. Maybe adorable and pudgy faced was the new serious face? I hope so cause I want to start being taken more seriously.

"Chocolate milkshake," I said to Niquie, making Quin jump.

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" Quin asked, a smile on his face.

"What're you talking about?"

"A milkshake? Hecate, goddess and queen of everything magical. Lover of milkshakes."

"Maybe I'd act more serious if I was the self-proclaimed queen of magic. Until I decide to get serious, I'll continue to drink chocolate milkshakes and love chocolate milk to my hearts content." I glanced at him. "And what about you, Mr. Grumpy Pants, enjoying your Sunrise?"

He glanced at the drink. "I figured I'd follow your advice. Instead of drinking it away, I figured I'd burn it away with this awful taste." He took another sip and bit back, shaking his head and squeezing his eyes closed. "Yeah, it's working."

Niquie came by and set the drink down on the bar.

"Thanks."

"Course, Majesty."

She walked away to tend to other guests. Wynnie came running back, nearly knocking her over.

"I don't get how they work," Quin said, looking at the alcohols behind the bar. They were lit up with bright white lights. "The two girls."

"Girls can love girls, guys can love guys, and girls can love guys. I don't get why all you Black Hands think-"

"Not that. I don't get how their personalities fit."

I shrugged. "Who knows, but they're close, I promise. Try to avoid being in a room alone with them, if you can help it. It'll be...uncomfortable."

He nodded.

We sat in silence before he took another sip of the drink. I laughed when he pulled back. "I can't tell if I like it or hate it."

"Yep, and that's what makes it good."

"Hecate, I was thinking." He rubbed the back of his neck, looking at the drink on the bar. "Can you...can you put up the barrier so no one can hear us?"

I nodded, leaned forward to attempt to take a drink of the milkshake, and snapped my barriers. To us, all the noise outside stopped. People on the outside couldn't hear us either. Niquie glanced to me, knowing what I was doing.

"Thanks." He took in a deep breath. "You know, I've never been to one of those camps. They're...pretty bad. I saw some things that were so...inhumane. I just-how can you deal with that?"

I shrugged, still trying for that first drop of sweet chocolate.

"Well, I was thinking, no matter who you are no one should have to go through something like that. I couldn't-I can't sit back knowing things like that are going on. I want to help people. I want to be the hero my little brother needed."

I smiled when I tasted the first drop. I suddenly felt motivated to try harder.

"So, I was thinking, take me with you."

I stopped. The milkshake, to my greatest despair and disappointment, dropped back into the cup.

I looked up at him. He was joking, right? Even after all that, he still wanted to come along? He just saw his brother die because of one of my rescues. But no, his eyes were hard and serious. He really wanted to risk his life for the magicians he was raised to hate.

"Alright, but it won't be like you think."

"Travelling with you, I don't really know what to expect."

I laughed. "I know I'm weird, but not like that. I mean it won't all be saving lives and breaking into labor camps. Actually, I gotta stop by home first. I'll probably stay there for a little while, you know cause I'm a genius and I need my lab and all. Then I'll probably start heading west, preferably away from the Capital after all that hell and stuff. There are some places I wanna stop by. On the way, I'll probably hit up one or two labor camps th-"

"I get it," he said, holding his hands up in surrender. "I get it. Still, anything's better than nothing."

I nodded.

"Anything's better than nothing," I repeated. "I gotta get that on a keychain or something."