The three of us—Deen, Myra, and I—were inside the elevator. We casually chatted about Myra’s car that had broken down, how long it would take to be repaired, and so on. Just pretending that Deen and I didn’t have a session at the theaters earlier. That was long enough to be considered a session, wasn’t it? Thankfully, Deen had lost the flush on her face. She was super red when we exited the theater earlier.

  I couldn’t help but feel that I was missing something… Something important connected to Myra. Something that’d be a hassle because I hadn’t dealt with it before.

  But what? Myra already knew that I was an Adumbrae. There was really no problem, was there?

  I’m sure it’ll come to me later.

  Opening the door to my unit, I said, “This will now be the official hideout of the Three Bs.”

  “Thanks for letting me stay here, Erind,” Myra said, looking around as she entered. “Man, this place must’ve cost a lot. I wish I were loaded.”

  “It’s my mom who’s got the money. Not me. I’m just a leech.” That got a chuckle from all of us. Maybe I should do stand-up comedy. I think that I was hilarious. “Here. You’ll sleep in Mom’s room. I’ll just fix this up a bit, change the sheets and stuff because she had stayed here.”

  “Are you sure this is okay with your mom?” Myra asked. “Did you tell her about this?”

  “I didn’t. Don’t want to deal with more questions. And I’m sure it’ll be fine with her since it’s just for a couple of days. She barely stays in this room anyway, that’s why it’s bare.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Myra said, peering into Mom’s room. “Looks more like a guest room. You know that I’d be fine with crashing on the couch. I’m not picky or anything.”

  “It’s really fine.” I rummaged the closet for a fresh change of linen. I was pleased that I was showing some sense of responsibility. Entertaining two guests—that was a show of maturity, wasn’t it? I might just become a functional adult after this.

  “Where are you staying?” Myra asked Deen.

  “In Erind’s room,” Deen said, a pitch higher than normal. She was going to give our secret away if she continued to respond in such a suspicious manner. “Erind’s bed is big enough for the two of us.”

  I glared at Deen. What the hell was she doing? She should just shut up about this. “I couldn’t let Deen sleep on the floor,” I clarified, chuckling. “The least I can do to repay her for letting me stay at her place.”

  “If that’s the case,” said Myra, “then Deen should sleep in your mom’s room, and I can sleep on the floor or something. Got an extra mattress?”

  “No!” Deen exclaimed. She shrank and blushed. “I meant that Erind doesn’t have an extra mattress. And I’ll stay with Erind. We’re used to each other now.”

  “When are you returning to La Esperanza?” Myra asked. “We can go together, a little convoy of two cars through the desert. It’ll be less lonely for me during the long-ass drive.”

  Deen and I looked at each other. We hadn’t discussed this.

  Deen cleared her throat, formulating an answer. “We’ll stay in Vegas for a while. Cresthorne adopted a hybrid setup, given the recent Adumbrae attacks. We’re free to attend classes online if we want to.”

  “Yep. Since I have a place here,” I said, “we’ll have a sort of vacation. We’ll return to La Esperanza when a plan is formed for our next mission. Just relaxing here after going through a whole lot of stuff. That said, Vegas might not be such a good place to relax in anymore after the Greaves Tech Fair attack.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Where do you want to go next?” Deen asked me in a joking tone as she laughed. I could tell that she was trying to shift the topic, but she was just making both of us look more suspicious.

  “The same thing with us at Melchor,” Myra said. I almost forgot that she was also a student at Eloyce. “But only for this week. We can’t really continue our lessons online because there is some practical stuff, labs, and whatnot.”

  Just by looking at Myra, it was difficult to guess that she was a med student. Her schedule must be packed, which means that she definitely skipped some classes to come here to Vegas. Probably didn’t care as much about schooling anymore. It might be better for society if Myra flunked med school. Her rashness, hot-headedness, and all the other ‘ness’ was definitely a danger for her future patients.

  “Have you told Dario about what we’ve found out?” I asked.

  I was referring to the tip that Bianca gave us about the cruise ship called the Islas de Sangre, which probably meant Islands of Blood or something like that. Red Island, anyone? The ship must be heading there. This was our most concrete lead thus far.

  “Yep,” Myra replied. “He’s still thinking about what we’ll do, but he says that we’ll probably have to board it. Not long until its departure, isn’t it? Buying tickets this close would be the hard part. Hopefully, it isn’t fully booked.”

  “The port is at New Los Angeles, isn’t it?” Deen asked. “Erind and I can stay here until it’s time to leave.” She winked at me as she said that. This freaking idiot!

  Myra gave us a weirded-out glance. “What do you two do here, by the way? Other than study. Do you go out and meet guys or what?”

  “No, no, no,” I hastily said, shaking my head. “There are better places to look for guys than Vegas. Not that I’m interested in meeting anyone. Just focused on studies.”

  “The caliber of men in bars around here wouldn’t be high enough for Deen, amiright?” Myra laughed, elbowing Deen. “I just thought that you met someone because you seemed to be glowing.”

  “Deen always glows,” I said, hoping to turn it into a joke.

  “It must be the environment,” Deen said. “I’m not saying that Las Vegas is a good environment—it’s quite hectic here compared to La Esperanza. But I’m living with Erind here. She has a calming effect on things.”

  I frowned. Deen was treading dangerous territory here. “What calming effect are you talking about?”

  “You’re like a cute animal. I’ve read that having a pet reduces stress levels. It lowers cortisol while raising serotonin. I think that’s what’s happening to me.”

  “Some kind of pet play going on between you two?” Myra asked with an amused snort.

  “It’s not pet play!” Deen protested. “I’m just saying that Erind’s cuteness and innocence are comparable to that of a dog.”

  “Perhaps you can stop making things worse with your explanation,” I said with gritted teeth.

  “Definitely no pet play involved?” Myra grinned at us. “Just kidding around. Seriously, though. Deen, don’t take yourself off the market and join the other side. Men will riot when they know you’re joining their team. They’re going to have fierce competition with you around.”

  “Sometimes I wonder if I should try having a relationship with a woman,” Deen said, flicking her eyes at me.

  This bitch was trying to get us found out! Was she itching to announce to the world that we were a couple? She was like a teenager eager to change their relationship status on their Snippet profile. She kept returning this dangerous topic while dropping obvious hints.

  “Nah, I don’t think you’d want that,” Myra said. “You know what they say—‘Women understand women, and they hate each other.’ I can’t speak from experience because I don’t have any, but I’m woman enough to admit that I can be a handful sometimes. If two women are two handfuls, then… wait, I can’t remember where I was going with it.”

  “You should rest,” I said. “Deen and I have to change. Right, Deen?” I emphasized that last sentence.

  “Wait, I have to tell you something,” Myra said.

  “What?”

  “This has been weighing on my mind for some time now.” Myra pointed at me. “You and I have made peace. Some sort of peace. But I haven’t talked about this with Deen.”

  My eyes widened, realizing what Myra was going to say. How would Deen react to this?

  “What is this about?” Deen asked.

  “Deen…” Myra took a deep breath. “Remember Sanders Mall? You were attacked? It… was me.”