Circe was waiting in front of the Star Tower.

  Penelope could feel the other woman’s Aura as she walked up to the cylindrical tower. The emotional grief was palpable even though the other woman was maintaining a strong face in the middle of a sea of people.

  It wasn’t just Humans that were milling around the tower. Elves with a rainbow of skin tones wearing black uniforms were swarming the tan trucks parked around the tower. Lizardmen and Centaurs were mixed in as well as a group of hairless, orange, winged people who were flying around the tower. A few Dwarves were hanging around a stone building that hadn’t been there the last time Penelope had been to the surface. Of the six main races that Jeru had first mentioned, Penelope hadn’t seen any of the fish people or Goblins yet.

  “They’re not fish-people.” Jeru corrected her. “With a hood on, you can’t tell the difference between the Mebope and an ELf while they’re on land, but…” He pointed at a silver-skinned Elf with a black skirt instead of the pants that most of the others were wearing. “The skirt is a good giveaway since their legs morph into a tail when they’re in water. Pants will get torn, which makes them impractical for the Mebope to wear.”

  Good to know. Penelope made a beeline for her friend. Most people seemed to have more important things to do than to impede her path, as the Humans were moving away from the locals and the Elves were busy inspecting the damage done to the campus.

  “Hey…” Penelope tried to keep her face neutral as she approached her friend. “Is everything okay?”

  “Hey.” Circe didn’t look up and continued to pick at her fingers as she leaned against the stone tower.

  “Circe.” Penelope moved in front of her friend and bent her knees for she could look up at the other woman’s face. “Hey, talk to me. What happened?”

  The brunette took a deep breath, then looked up at the sky, a lone tear rolling down her right cheek. “He’s here.”

  “He?” I hate that I have to play dumb and make her say it. Penelope reached out and touched her friend’s arm. “Who’s here?”

  “My dad.” A shiver shook Circe’s whole body. She clenched her fists as she steadied herself, and then once the tremor stopped, she pointed at the stone building. “He’s in there with Freddie talking to the Dwarves like he’s one of the people in charge.”

  “You going to be okay?” Penelope took a deep breath as she turned to look at the simple building.

  “I just…” Circe’s shoulders sagged. “I thought I was finally free of him, but he followed me across the universe.” Another tear rolled down her cheek. “I’m never going to escape him.”

  “Hey…” Penelope pulled on Circe’s arm to turn her so that she wasn’t looking at the building anymore. “That Elf called for someone to take me into town so I can start working on my jobs.” She tugged on her friend’s arm. I promised that I’d come back for you, so let’s get out of here.”

  “I just…” Circe hesitated and turned to look over her shoulder.

  “Hey!” Penelope grabbed Circe’s head, forcing the other woman to look at her. “I’m here now and I won’t let him hurt you.”

  “But…”

  “There’s no one here that’s stronger than me and once we learn a few jobs and how to make our lives in the Dungeon better, then we’ll head back down there and the two of us will be untouchable.” She forced a smile. “Don’t worry about him. He doesn’t have power over you here like he did back home and I’ll make sure he never does.”

  “That’s…” Circe sniffled. “I don’t deserve you.”

  “It’s okay—” Penelope grunted as Circe wrapped her in a hug.

  “Sorry, I know you don’t like hugs, but I just…” Circe rested her head on Penelope’s shoulder.

  Penelope resisted the urge to use to get away. Instead, she ran her fingers through the other woman’s short, brown hair while she squeezed her with her right arm.

  “It’s okay.” Penelope cooed. “This time.”

  “Thanks.” Circe’s voice was stronger as she nestled tighter against Penelope.

  After a few moments, Penelope pushed the other woman back to arm’s length. “Okay, you feel better?”

  “I could use a longer hug.” Circe held out her arms.

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

  “You’ll have to find Fae or Freddie.” Penelope shook her head. “Sorry, I’ve used up all my hug energy.”

  “That’s not a thing!” Circe pouted. “Fine, but you have to tell me when you get some back.”

  Penelope sighed, then motioned behind her, towards where the front gate of the school was located on the other side of the main buildings and the large parking lot. “Cirdor said he’d have a car waiting for us.”

  “Can you even call these things cars?” Circe kicked the side of one of the trucks.

  The vehicles didn’t have tires and hovered a few feet above the ground while they were running. The parked vehicles rested on the ground, which made them look like they were partially buried below the ground since they were missing the extra height that tires added to the vehicles back home.

  “They’re vehicles that transport the people inside them from one point to another.” Penelope shrugged as she wove through the parked vehicles on her way to the main buildings.

  “Yeah, but they fly.” Circe ran her fingers over the truck she walked by. “So wouldn’t they be planes instead?”

  “Hovercraft is probably the technical term, but considering that these vehicles are the size of our own personal vehicles, I’d say that the locals are using them for the same functions we use cars for, so for them, these probably are cars.” Penelope picked up the pace to get clear of the chaos that was milling around the tower.

  “Did they blockade the other buildings like this?” Penelope looked to her left, where the quartet of other dorms were to the south of the main buildings.

  “They brought everyone over to the Star Tower.” Circe shivered as she glanced over her shoulder. “It was the one that they had the hardest time getting into…” She hurried to catch up to Penelope. “Kent got out.”

  Of course someone let him out once we went down to the next floor. Penelope sighed. “Let me guess, he passed himself off as the one in charge?”

  “No.” Circe shook her head. “That was Dad. He’s only level eleven, but they found Derek’s base and took all the supplies from there, which made him the strongest person out here until the Elves showed up.” She winced. “He did take the slot of Dad’s number 2.”

  “Hey…” Penelope slowed her pace as she entered the alley that led to the courtyard they’d arrived at. “We can let Freddie and Pat handle those two. Right now, we’re about to go into the city and we don’t have to come back until we’re ready.”

  “We need to be there for the funeral.” Circe stopped when they passed the portal leading back down to the third floor.

  There were three portals now. The original one in the middle of the debris of the building, with the one to the second floor to the right and the portal to the third floor on the left.

  “I forgot about that…” Penelope paused to look at the portal. She tapped her finger on the wristpad on her arm. “I’ll bet they get one of these things, then they can let us know when we need to come back.”

  “What is that?” Circe grabbed Penelope’s arm to look at the wide object.

  “It’s like a communicator.” Penelope waited a moment to let the other woman inspect the device but pulled her arm back when Circe pushed a button.

  “Hey!” Circe pouted. “I just wanted to see what it could do.” She glanced back the way they’d come. “Am I going to get one?”

  “We can ask Lady Husley about that.” Penelope motioned for Circe to follow her. “She’s supposed to be waiting for us at the gate with a car. Come on!”

  The pair ran the rest of the way down the alley and across the parking lot. A pair of trucks was parked diagonally at the open gate, blocking the way for anyone trying to get in or out. A trio of Elves in black uniforms moved around the trucks, pointing blaster rifles at the two women.

  “Stop!” The red Elf in the lead shouted. “No one is allowed to leave. If you don’t turn around, we’ll shoot!”

  Circe pulled her bow off of her back and drew a black arrow as she met their challenge.

  “WAIT! Cirdor told me that Lady Husley was here to take me into the city.” Penelope held up her left arm. “I’m supposed to let you scan this.”

  The white-eyed Elf eyed her but took a few steps in her direction. “You can’t take weapons off campus.” He nodded at Circe.

  “I work for the University.” Penelope moved in between her friend and the Elf. “I believe that means there are exceptions.”

  “I don’t care if the Elders made you one of them.” He scowled. “Humans don’t get to carry weapons around town.”

  Penelope took a deep breath as he scanned her wristpad, then read the reading on his own.

  “Okay, it checks out and I’ve got the message from Instructor Pengall, but that still doesn’t give you clearance for the weapons.” The red Elf lowered the blaster rifle to point at the ground. “She leaves the bow and any other weapons here with us.”

  “What about wands?” Penelope drew back her robe to show the pair of wands on her belt.

  “Mages can keep their foci, but if you start casting spells irresponsibly, then you have to answer to Instructor Pengall.” He held out his hand towards Circe.

  “Go ahead.” Penelope nodded at her friend. “If we run into trouble, I can handle it.”

  “Fine…” The brunette grumbled as she handed over her bow, then pulled a dagger off her belt. “You want this too?”

  “Yes.” The Elf took the dagger, then walked over to the truck on the right and deposited the items in the back. He turned back to the women. “I’ve got them scanned in, so even if I’m not here when you come back, the next guards will know they’re yours, Miss Flynn.” He motioned to the other two Elves. “Give us a second and we’ll move the vehicles out of your way.”

  “No need.” Penelope touched Circe’s arm and the two of them to the other side of the trucks.

  “Showoff.” Circe chuckled under her breath.

  Penelope grinned as the guards were too stunned to comment on her display of magic.

  A slow clap drew her attention. There was a lone, blue SUV parked on the other side of the street, almost in the field that was in between the campus and the rest of the city.

  “Very impressive.” A silver-skinned woman stepped out of the vehicle. Her black dress was better suited for a party than combat and her bare feet patted on the stone road as she moved around the door.

  “Lady Husley?” Penelope stepped forward.

  “I am.” She motioned for the two to get in the vehicle. “Come on. I’m sure we have lots to talk about.”

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