Wish upon the Stars chapter 286

Despite the news of some dangerous river stunt the next day, I  actually slept ok. I may have been getting used to living in a state of  perpetual peril. Not that I would ever say that to Abel. He would  probably use it as an excuse to double my training intensity or  something. Still, it was hard to be worried or upset curled up with my  girlfriend after a day getting to know new people and protecting  strangers from crowds of Ascendants trying to kill them.

Yesterday's  entire ordeal had been...fun. No one had actually died that I had seen,  though I hadn't exactly stuck around to check on the people Lament cut  up. It had all just been one big adventure. And Callie was right, it  felt GOOD to be on the right side and know it. The WCP was so murky most  of the time I'd kind of lost the feeling of just helping people. Hell.  maybe I never had it. Even at the Unity I'd been running from crisis to  crisis rather than taking time to just do some good.

Not  that I was planning to devote myself to helping the helpless full time  or anything. But Callie had reminded me that being an effective  Wishmaster Candidate and being a good person didn't have to be mutually  exclusive. Hell, I'd probably MADE some alliances helping Sydney out. It  was a model I could keep in mind going forward. Just because the WCP  existed in a grey area didn't mean I had to. Not all the time.

So  it was with a weirdly cheerful demeanor that I hopped out of bed the  next morning, ignoring my girlfriend's enraged hiss as she was exposed  to sunlight. After an obligatory vampire joke and a quick kiss I was off  to get ready, meeting up with everyone in the dining room off the front  entrance.

While at night the room seemed to be some kind  of gathering hall, with the pool tables in use and some darts games,  during the day it was used to serve meals buffet style. They had a whole  breakfast laid out in chafing dishes. To my surprise, Sydney and Megan  had managed to get a room. I'd thought the Robin was full, but maybe  they paid to get someone bumped or something.

They waved  enthusiastically when they saw us, while Wren just sat at the table,  eating some waffles and sipping orange juice with a stoic expression.  Lament, Lestri, and Saiten had actually already showed up (unless they  bunked with Wren at least) and were enjoying some eggs with Sydney and  Megan. I fixed myself a plate of steak and eggs and plopped down across  from them. "Hey guys. Morning. How's the food?" Despite asking I didn't  wait and dug right in. It wasn't bad. The steak was a bit overdone, but  not like shoe leather or anything, just more pink than red.

Sydney,  who was clearly a morning person, took a long sip of coffee and  chirped. "Oh we don't have any plans. Megan was probably going to go out  looking for trouble again, and I wanted to check out the Unceasing  Stairs. They sounded pretty cool, if a bit confusing." She shot a pout  at the black coated man I only now realized was sitting next to her, the  same on who had threatened us back at the Wombat. "Unfortunately Riley  says that the place is dangerous, and that the rumors I heard were  probably meant to lure gullible tourists on so people could attack  them."

The dark haired man with the scruffy cheeks gave a  long suffering sigh. "Yes, well it is traditionally a poor decision to  announce how much you have to spend in areas such as these before asking  for directions. If those young men had been any more obviously drooling  over the potential windfall you represented their eyes would have been  replaced with chits." he glanced to me with a frown. "I suspect your new  friend may have another potential location to visit in any case."

I  just shrugged. "You got me. Nightstrike and I had so much fun hanging  out with your guys we figured we would invite everyone along on the trip  we have planned today. Be warned, Apollyon planned it, so there's about  an eighty percent chance that it involves potential dismemberment.  Still, he says we're going white water rafting, and that sounds like fun  to me at least." I glanced at Wren. "You guys are invited too of  course, though after the fish incident I wouldn't take it to heart if  you declined."

Lament cut in with a laugh. "He told us  about that. It sounds fun. Your teacher seems like an interesting guy.  I'll accept on Wren's behalf. Boy needs to toughen his spine a bit, and  Lestri was complaining about missing out on the fun anyway." She shot a  glance to Saiten. "Am I to assume you won't be participating Master?"

The  big man shook his head. "Not on your life. I doubt anything your  pugilist could arrange would be any significant threat to my person, but  I don't particularly enjoy being wet. I'll most likely follow along on  land, just in case you run across someone too high ranked to be reliably  countered." Ah, so he really was like her version of Zeke. Considering  Doomtown was closed to E-rankers I doubted he had reason to worry, but  they weren't from around here, so being a bit wary was the smart call.

That  made me wonder exactly what Zeke would DO if I was ever attacked. I  knew that despite not being nearby Zeke was able to keep track of me  easily. If nothing else, stats in the B-ranks were potentially in the  tens of millions. He probably had enough Perception to be listening to  this conversation from the literal polar opposite spot on the planet. I  also suspected my mask might have some kind of Perception or conditional  defensive enchantment on it.

Part of me hoped I'd never  have to find out, but a deeper part really hoped I got to at least  witness him cutting lose someday. Seeing what a B-ranker could do would  be eye opening at the very least. I was jarred from my thoughts as a  plate smacked down next to me, a rumpled and glaring Callie sitting down  to my right. "Coffee." She growled. I smirked slightly as I got up to  go get her some.

I made it like she preferred, then  dropped it on the table in front of her with a thud. She took a long  pull, closed her eyes, and let it seep into her bloodstream. Callie's  morning demeanor, as usual, relied heavily on how she woke up. Getting  roused early tended to make her grumpy. Coffee helped. After a few  seconds to get her head straight she was fine though. The extra morning  sulk was partially a factor of her trying to do things for herself and  be a bit selfish like I asked, even if she never said it.

"So."  She said, after polishing off the whole mug. "What were we talking  about? My brain just switched on a minute ago and it had to boot first."  I snickered at that, grabbing her plate and heading to the buffet to  fill it up with things I knew she would like while she talked to the  others. I didn't feel like rehashing, so it seemed faster. Speaking of  hash, there was some corned beef hash I hadn't noticed, as well as  biscuits and gravy and I added some eggs before bringing the plate back  and setting it in front of her.

She almost swooned at the  smell. "Thanks honey, you're the best." She never took her eyes from the  plate, but gave me a perfunctory peck on the mask before she assaulted  her breakfast like it had sworn vengeance on her family line. Since  everyone had already seen Callie eat yesterday, they understood that as  long as you kept your appendages away from her mouth she was safe enough  to eat with, and didn't stare at her devouring her food with relish  (not literally, thank the gods, I'd have left the table).

"Anyway."  Said Sydney. "I was just telling Nightstrike that rafting sounds like a  lot of fun! I doubt even Riley would complain about it, the big  worrier." She stuck her tongue out at the somber, formal man, and he  gave a small smile. Sydney had warmed up to us all immensely over last  night's bonding, and it was jarring to see what a big difference that  made in terms of our interactions. She reminded me a lot of Jessie now,  actually, though still less outspoken and a bit more timid.

Megan  nodded. "Rafting sounds like more fun than trolling for a fight. At  least in this town. Half the idiots I met yesterday were garbage in  combat anyway. If I was included in the invite I'm in. We can pay our  way, and pay for our people too." She nodded to Riley and the five other  rabbit themed attendants. "We brought two teams for this. Kind of like  your friends over there brought three." She nodded over at Sloane, who  had just come into the room with her own posse.

I almost  literally smacked myself in the face with my palm. Of COURSE Sloane  brought twelve people to form three teams. Why not triple your odds.  Hell, Melinda was an E-ranker. She probably knew about the tournament  before I did. I wouldn't be surprised if she'd sent along the twelve of  them specifically so I could get them ready for the tournament in the  first place. I felt like an idiot for not considering it before.

The  only thing that made me feel a bit better was that Callie looked as  shocked as I did. It was a little petty, but it was nice to know I  wasn't the only one thrown in the deep end with all this. She was way  more suited to political maneuvering than I was, but she was still  learning, same as I was. Seeming to pick up on my amusement she just  rolled her eyes, mimicking Sydney's earlier gesture and sticking her  tongue out at me.

We all finished up breakfast, with Mel  and Abel being the last to arrive and eat, and then Abel hopped to his  feet excitedly. "Alright." He said with gusto. "Since we're all  finished, which of you are planning to come along on our little  excursion? I'm assuming the kid told you all about it and invited you.  He prefers to share the pain." That got an uneasy chuckle from a few of  the minions, and a middle finger from me, which my teacher just laughed  off without acknowledging it verbally.

Everyone who was  interested held up a hand, letting him know who was coming. He nodded in  satisfaction. "Oh good. None of you are trying to weasel out of it. I  knew I liked you for a reason." He clapped his hands together. "Well  then, let's get going. It's a bit of a walk to the river, and we want to  get there early before all the boats are gone. They run out sometimes  and we'd need to wait for the next day for them to get new ones."

With  that, he turned on his heel and strolled out of the room without  another word. I got another ominous feeling from that last statement,  but once again it mostly just confirmed what I knew. This would be  dangerous or life threatening in some way, that wasn't news. The others  gave me exasperated smiles for the most part, but we all got up and  followed after him once we paid for our meals. As we left, I couldn't  help but look forward to the coming day. This had been a lot of fun so  far, even the dangerous parts. I had no reason to believe this next  activity wouldn't be the same.