Chapter One hundred eighty-eight – Shell Game

Pandy stared morosely at her stat sheet.

Honestly, it was pretty impressive, wasn’t it? She could jump off walls like a ninja, leap over small sheds, Bite through metal bars, and fly – as long as she didn’t allow any part of herself to touch something that could probably hold her weight, or whatever it took to convince the System she could land there. She even had enough Corruption Points to do almost anything she needed to do, at least in the short term, and she knew how to get more if she needed them.

So what had happened? How had Clara very nearly managed to exorcise her? Pandy would ask why Clara had tried to evict her from her bunny body, but that was obvious enough. Now that Clara had been crammed into a small space with Pandy, and seen how very un-rabbitlike she was, her Light mage instincts were probably jangling like crazy.

The real question was, what should Pandy do about it? Should she go to Clara in human shape and try to explain, or would that just get her dismissed with prejudice? Would Pandy believe a complete stranger who showed up out of the blue and started claiming to be a dead woman reincarnated as a rabbit, and her presence was completely innocent? Well, probably, and for once she wouldn’t even be the first, since Thaniel and Augustus, among others, seemed to believe her. Of course, Thaniel was six, and Augustus had that secret stash of Pandy-pictures he’d been crushing on for a while, so they weren’t really in their right minds.

What are you going to do?

Pandy’s ears popped up. <Kappa?>

Who else would it be?

…

Never mind.

It seems like you’re letting just anyone in your head now.

<The System is your fault! Why did you program it that way? And what does Toaster mean?> This was totally off-topic, but Pandy had been thinking about Clara and her failed attempt at ghost-busting ever since Thaniel’s sugar wore off and he crashed out. That had been hours ago, and Pandy still had no idea what the answer was.

It seems like you forget what you can do sometimes.

You need a trainer.

Like at the gym, when you think you just can’t do that last thousand Zer squats.

A good trainer is right there, urging you on.

All right, there was something to that, because Pandy had to admit she’d reached a bit of a plateau. Sure, she had plans to get away from the school long enough to practice some of her low-level skills, but the higher-level ones just took so many uses to level up that she got bored. Besides, she’d been able to do everything she needed to do, so why keep pushing herself? Well, everything except resist Clara. Which brought her right back to the very thing she didn’t want to think about.

<But why toaster?> Pandy wondered, hoping to put off the discussion for a bit longer.

That’s obvious.

It’s supposed to warm you up.

Oh, it got her warmed up all right, but usually with irritation, if not outright anger. <What did it mean when it said it would have to reboot in order to switch back to Detached mode? And what’s Meek mode?>

I don’t think you’re ready for Meek mode yet.

The System is your interface for everything.

So if you want to change it, you’ll have to restart it.

Don’t worry, it shouldn’t take more than an hour or so.

Or so? <Will I pass out again?>

Probably.

Just try not to be hiding in someone’s shirt this time.

Unless you want to.

I’m not judging.

Keros wasn’t judging – or laughing – like Pandy wasn’t judging him for thinking Dorian was the best love interest. But he had pretty effectively shut that topic down, which meant Pandy had to address the elephant-sized Clara in the room.

<I guess I’m going to have to avoid her,> Pandy admitted reluctantly. <I mean, she’s not who she will be in a few years, but it was still really cool to be able to hang out with Clara. The Clara. But if she sees me as a threat, there’s no way I can keep doing that. And I can’t even try to tell her who I really am and what’s going on, because that would definitely change the story.>

I wondered if you’d realized that.

<Of course I realized that!> Pandy froze, startled by the depth of emotion she felt welling up inside her. She wasn’t angry at Keros, not really. This feeling was more like loss, and as she examined it, she realized she still hadn’t completely let go of the idea that Clara would someday be her Best Friend, the only person who Truly Understood her. But if Clara sensed Pandy’s Dark nature, and feared or hated it, that really, truly, would never happen.

<I really do have to avoid her,> Pandy said again, and this time the words had the weight of truth. <I can’t be part of the Gacha Love story, because the only place in it for me is Demon Queen, and I won’t do it.> Her nose itched, and she rubbed at it with a paw, sniffling softly.

I’m sorry.

Pandy actually believed that for as long as it took for the next sentence to scroll across her vision.

I was looking forward to seeing her events with Dorian.

Especially the Kiss.

<Kappa!> Pandy yelled, but the only response was a distant amusement, which faded quickly. She felt better after her brief rush of indignation, however, and soon found herself staring at her stat sheet again, this time more seriously.

Name: Pandy

Race: Rabbit? (Deceased)

Age: 24

LF: 3/3

Mana:  875/875

Stats▾

• Strength: 23

• Intelligence: 35

• Agility: 30

• Pain Tolerance: 2

• Charm: 1

• Fire Affinity: 2

• Dark Affinity: 1

Skills▾

• Hop: Lv. 20 (147/190)

• Bite: Lv. 24 (254/550)

• Scratch: Lv. 13 (7/46)

• Dance: Lv. 10 (4/19)

• Dual Wielding: Lv. 1 (0/2)

Spells▾

• Minor Heal: Lv. 23 (69/460)

• Wings of Glory: Lv. 3 (1/4)

• Verdant Surge: Lv. 1 (1/2)

• Vita Herbalis: Lv. 1 (0/2)

• Spark: Lv. 20 (3/190)

• Shifting Faces: Lv. 7 (2/8)     00:13:02

• Radiant Presence: Lv. 3 (0/4)

• Innate Magic: Lv. 23 (1/460)

• Shield of Darkness: Lv. 2 (2/3)

• Air of Superiority: Lv. 1 (1/2)

• Dark Restoration Lv. 1 (0/2)

• Scorching Sonata Lv. 1 (0/2)

Boons▾

• Ismara’s Blessing I

• Mark of Keros

• Aglaea’s Kiss

Corruption Points: 509

All right, so she still needed more Corruption Points. She would have to spend more time with Suzanne over the coming weeks, and make sure it never dipped too low again. Not that four hundred and fifty points should have been ‘too low’, but there it was. Lian’s attempts to Purify her had only required a single Corruption Point to resist, but he wasn’t supposed to be the hero of the story. In fact, as the villain, he almost had to be weaker than Clara, simply so she could defeat him in the end.

It was also obvious to Pandy that she needed to do some more grinding. She thought her Agility was high enough, but she hadn’t been able to dodge Clara’s grab for her. Not that she’d been expecting it, and next time she would be, but Pandy still felt like she’d failed. If she was faster, or stronger, or more decisive, she wouldn’t have almost died. Again.

Which led her to the only change in her Status – she now had three Life Force, rather than two. But what did that mean? The mysterious VitalLink module had triggered, increasing Pandy’s LF. According to Keros, when LF reached some unknown number, something would happen. Something tied into every part of Pandy’s existence here, in a way Keros couldn’t understand or undo. Pandy couldn’t help but feel like her Life Force going up was like the ticking of a time bomb. Nothing good ever came of a bomb going off.

Overhead, Thaniel sighed, and the bed creaked as he rolled over. He wasn’t sleeping as heavily as usual, probably thanks to his overindulgence during the day, but Pandy couldn’t help but feel like it was worth it. He had so few opportunities to just be a child. Thanks to Cassie – his supposed nursemaid – he’d all but run wild for two years after his mother died, and now he was expected to be calm and quiet all day at school. He needed some time to just be loved and coddled, and one day certainly wasn’t going to spoil him.

Her ears perked up as a soft moan reached her. A second one caused her to hop out from beneath the bed. As she did so, she saw the light reflected in Isidor’s eyes, and knew that he, too, had noticed the sound.

“-ma,” Thaniel whimpered. “Mama.” He tossed and turned, the blankets falling away to land on the floor beside the bed, half-covering Pandy.

Isidor sat up, swinging his legs out of his bed, but Pandy thought, <Use Shifting Faces,> and grabbed the blankets as her body expanded, furry toes becoming fingers and opposable thumbs. No, she would never take opposable thumbs for granted again.

Kneeling by the bed, Pandy carefully tucked the blankets around Thaniel, kissing his sweaty brow. His eyes were moving rapidly beneath his thin lids, but when he felt her presence, they slowed. He turned toward her, and Pandy took his hand, using the other one to stroke his curls back from his face.

Without realizing it, she began to hum, quiet words emerging after a moment. “Rest your head here in your bed, upon your pillow deep,” she sang, kissing each of those restless eyes. “Dream of fun, and wind and sun, where summer lasts forever.”

Thaniel finally fell still again, though his hand clutched Pandy’s so tightly she was afraid she would wake him if she tried to extricate herself. Instead, she stood, then settled a hip on the bed, finding a spot that should be comfortable enough for the twelve minutes she had before Shifting Faces ran out.

“You’re the strangest elemental I’ve ever seen,” said Isidor, so softly she barely heard him. When she turned to look at him, he was watching her, expression indecipherable in the shadows cast by the dim lamp. She didn’t dare try to answer him, but he didn’t seem to need an answer anyway, because soon enough he, too, closed his eyes again. As he did, he dropped a hand down, brushing his fingers against the box in which Tempest slept.

Normally, the tortoise went into her box as soon as Isidor put her down, and didn’t come out until the bell rang in the morning. Pandy had no idea what she did in there, since it literally seemed to be a wooden box with nothing but a bowl of water in it, but the elemental tortoise always acted like she was an introverted teenager, and the box was her parents’ basement.

Now, however, the turtle stuck her head and long neck out of the Tempest-sized opening, staring at Pandy as intently as Isidor had. For once, she didn’t look like she’d like to try some tender Pandy-nuggets, and Pandy found she couldn’t tear her gaze away from the turtle’s beady, orange-red eyes. Something pushed at Pandy’s mind, and for the briefest instant, just long enough for Pandy to be certain it was real, and not a figment of her imagination, the image of a tortoise disappeared, leaving a crackling, glowing ball of energy behind. Then pressure and picture both vanished, and Tempest retreated back into her box, leaving a befuddled Pandy behind.

What was that? Had Tempest given Pandy a vision of her real form? If so, how and why? And perhaps more importantly… Could Pandy do that, too? She closed her eyes, curling up next to Thaniel on the bed. For a little while, at least, she had something better to think about than Clara.