“Oh, young lady Mercer, I see your contract in the Delta went swimmingly.”

  Cassandra frowned as her hair dripped onto the adventure society floor.

  “Do you think you're a clever man, Albert?”

  “Not particularly, at this moment, ma’am.”

  Cassandra put her badge down on the counter while Albert finalized the contracts she had cleared.

  “May I ask?”

  “You may not Bertinelli.”

  “Understood, Ma’am, I hope your day doesn’t go further adrift.”

  Cassandra snatched her badge off the counter, a puddle left in its stead. Her eyes narrowed at the man behind the counter.

  She was much less damp by the time she made it to the Mercer Towers, but her mood had soured significantly due to wet boots.

  The first to meet her was the head Maid Ahna, who bowed in greeting.

  “Welcome back, my lady.”

  “Have you seen my mother? A man named Bertinelli needs to learn about the dangers of puns.”

  “She had to take several meetings later than expected today, and I fear she will not be available until much later.”

  “Why several? Did anything happen?”

  Cassandra watched the head Maid select her following words carefully.

  “Your brother was hurt in an accident.”

  “Hurt? Were Davone and Kettering not with him?”

  “They were my lady, but it required more substantial healing. The Davone boy was practically in tears when they brought him in.”

  “What would require that amount of healing?”

  “It may not be polite to say.”

  “Out with it, Ahna.”

  “He fell from a brothel balcony.”

  “And Davone couldn’t heal that?”

  “He was still unconscious despite the healing provided prior to arrival.”

  “Is Thadwick awake now?”

  “He has yet to awaken, but the church of the Healer says he will recover.”

  “If my mother left, then who is with him? Davone?”

  “No one is… my lady.”

  The maid took a small step back as Cassandra’s aura flared with anger, before quickly coming back under control.

  “I’ll go to him then. No one should be left alone like that, not even him.” Cassandra stormed off; her boots made a wet squelch with each step.

  The desk in Thadwick's room had been a glorified table for most of its tenure. It had held drinks, random bits and bobs, but rarely paper and pen. What was the point of a desk, if not to use it, Thad lamented as he rummaged for something to write with.

  He paused as he saw the iron spirit coin and recovery potion. His fingers grazed the spirit coin.

  - You have found [1] iron rank spirit coin. Do you want to file this item for later? –

  Yes? Thad watched as the item disappeared from his view. A new file, marked Storage, appeared in his Memory Bank.

  Ok, nice, he had an inventory ability, that was a positive. Thad tapped the potion adding it as well. He touched the desk.

  -You do not have sufficient storage for this item. Upgrades are currently unavailable. -

  Thad sighed and returned to searching the desk, finally finding a small notebook and fountain pen tucked in the back of a drawer. It had a few crude doodles in the corners but was otherwise empty.

  He started plotting the story from memory—or at least the broad strokes. He'd read the whole thing, or at least up to Act 1, the only act, and it still irked him.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  First: why call it the first act if you’ll never add another?

  Second: how could you end a story by having the bad guy kill the main character? No epilogue or follow-up. What had Shirtaloon been thinking?

  Though now that he thought about it, being mad at a heroic sacrifice was ironic.

  Wait, hadn’t there been something about a penalty system when he had mentioned the web novel?

  The wizard Clippy bounced up and down into his vision.

  - It looks like you want more information about the Recurring task list: [Protect Astral Knowledge], do you want to know more? –

  Thad acknowledged the little wizard, who did a happy little dance.

  - Protect Astral Knowledge: You come from a world beyond the Astral. –

  - Your knowledge of the “He Who Fights With Monsters” series opposes this universe. Penalties will be applied when information or actions reveal knowledge related to this Astral secret to avoid cataclysmic collapse. –

  “Why would I be brought to a world where that is possible?!”

  - It looks like you want to question the Great Astral Beings. Do you want me to place a request for a work order with the Great Astral Beings? -

  “NO!”

  Thad watched the little wizard wobble dejectedly before popping back up.

  -Fine-

  Thad stared at the Paperclip Wizard briefly before continuing his original investigation.

  “What constitutes me revealing information?”

  -Possible revelations include, but are not limited to, anything related to revealing the novel. Or its plot lines. Or that you know this world has been serialized into a novel. –

  “I can’t intervene?”

  -You cannot reveal information regarding the novel. -

  “But what if someone figures out I’m an outworlder?”

  -Outworlders exist in this reality. Jason Asano is an outworlder, and you cannot reveal information regarding the novel. -

  “But won’t the goddess of knowledge know?”

  -Knowledge knows many things, but you cannot reveal information regarding the novel. –

  “You told me to change Thadwick’s fate.”

  -You will not surprise the reaper twice, and you cannot reveal information regarding the novel. -

  Thad frustratedly ran his hand through the see-through screen that held Clippy, wiping the little wizard away. The answer still felt so vague.

  A knock came from the door.

  Was that an aura? An aura much more potent than his own?

  A louder knock came from the door.

  Rushing back to bed, Thad hit the desk chair with his toe, letting out a stream of curses as he hobbled.

  “Thadwick? I thought you weren’t awake. Are you ok?”

  “I’m fine!”

  “Doesn’t sound fine, I’m coming in.”

  “Don’t I’m not… decent!”

  “When are you ever?”

  Thad heard the doorknob turn, and a stunning young woman entered the room. She shared many of his new features. It had to be Thadwick’s sister, the only problem was that he couldn’t place her name.

  Thad pulled the blanket off the bed and wrapped it around himself.

  Cassandra gave her brother a once-over with a confused grin.

  “Such modesty, from the guy who just fell out of a brothel window. Also, what did you do to your hair?”

  Thad tightened his grip on the blankets. What was wrong with his hair?

  “What do you want, sister?”

  “I’m not allowed to check on my baby brother after he makes a laughingstock of the family, yet again?”

  Cassandra stepped forward, causing Thad to take a step back reflexively, which made Cassandra stop and raise a brow.

  There was something weird about seeing his sister, who was not his sister.

  However, what was not odd was seeing the look of challenge come into Cassandra’s eyes as she took two steps closer. Thadwick took three back.

  “What are you doing?”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Stand still!”

  “Absolutely not!”

  Thad dodged Cassandra once but then lost sight of her for a split second; Her hand clamped down firmly on his left wrist.

  He tried to jerk out of her hold, but he lost grip of the blanket, which caused him to stop struggling and pull it back around him.

  After adjusting the blanket, he looked up at Cassandra and received a flick on the forehead from her.

  “Ouch!”

  “Don’t run next time!”

  Thad looked at his wrist, then back to his “Sister”. Part of him wondered if a shock would even phase her, but this wasn’t a shock-worthy thing. Just siblings fighting.

  He remembered the last fight he’d had with his real sister, Cassidy. She’d begged him to stay at the house. He’d begged her to move out with him.

  She was a mother now. He’d seen photos on Facebook. But the privacy kept him from knowing the kid’s name. He regretted how he had left things with her, not his actions at the time, but him holding a grudge that she’d not been a part of forming.

  However, she’d never reached out either.

  “There it is again,” Cassandra said, looking over her brother with concern, letting go of his wrist to instead firmly take hold of his shoulders, inspecting him more closely.

  “What’s it again?” Thad asked, shocked at her firm grip. Was this the tyranny of rank?

  “Your aura, it's like you're in pain.”

  “Then ignore it, Cass!”

  “You almost died yesterday, Thadwick. Why would I ignore that?”

  Thad felt his throat tighten a bit; there was no, almost. He had died yesterday. He had just gotten used to the thought, for it to hit him again. He tried to shrug out of her grip, but she held firm, making him face her.

  Cassandra watched as her brother avoided her gaze, his shoulder tense. She’d never seen him like this. He was petulant and stubborn, but never openly vulnerable, and those traits had only worsened since she had left.

  “You never call me Cass.”

  “What?” Thad snapped out of his sulk with horror, realizing that he had just called her by his Sister’s nickname.

  “I mean, I don’t hate it, I just didn’t think we were a nickname sort of family.”

  The character’s name had been Cassandra!

  Cassandra felt Thadwick’s aura go from turmoil to pure relief.

  “You need to start meditating. I think the head trauma made you lose any ounce of aura control you had.”

  Thadwick gave her a serious look, which was thrown off by him being wrapped in a blanket.

  “You could teach me. Right, Cass?”

  “I…” Cassandra released her brother, who now had one of the most earnest expressions she had ever seen on his face.

  “Well, I. You see, I’m not really a great instructor, you remember when... You know, you do it, by…” She waved her hands as she spoke.

  Cassandra could have given 100 guesses on what her brother would say, and none of these were it. Now she was on the back foot, a first with her brother.

  She was by no means equipped to teach someone. Especially not Thadwick, she had tried that once already to dismal results. She also remembered him sleeping through almost every lesson they had shared growing up.

  “I’m joking with you.” Thad said with a smirk. And while she could tell from his aura that he was lying, she took the out.

  “You should put on some clothes… Thad,” Cassandra said, trying out her version of his name, shortened, immediately bringing a smile to her brother's face.

  “You’re saying the blanket isn’t proper attire?”

  SVSSS My wife asked if I was going to kill Shirtaloon off when I was initially writing this chapter a while ago... and then he got sick and I was like "best not."

  I'm glad you are doing better Shirt!

  fan art I made of Thad and Cassandra hanging out together.