Demeteria’s operatives arrived at the scene only a few minutes later. Thankfully, they arrived in time to treat the injured researcher who seemed to have survived the ordeal, albeit with numerous broken bones.

  Noelle immediately coached Evantra into negotiating a significant raise for their bounty. The representative from Demeteria was perfectly happy to oblige, citing their need for reliable Ghostslayers for assistance in their greenhouses.

  “Nice shooting, Ben. You can definitely handle yourself around a sniper rifle. You know… I saw a Wraithkiller Sniper Weapons System in person for the first time just a few days ago.”

  Benjamin sniffed, squinting his eyes at her.

  “Amitabha. Sometimes, great boons come to those least deserving. You should have been honoured to bask in its presence, Wraith.”

  Evantra cast a quick glance towards the back seat. Noelle was seated with her hands folded in her lap. She had been silent from the moment they had returned from their bounty, wrapped up in her thoughts. Although Evantra had ian nkling why the girl was acting like she was.

  “Noelle… thanks for securing this bounty for us.”

  Benjamin quickly discerned Evantra’s expression and nodded his head with a smile.

  “Were it not for your quick thinking with the negotiation, we wouldn’t have almost doubled our fee, Amitabha. And securing the bounty is no easy feat—”

  “You don’t have to make me feel better,” the girl said softly, still looking staring out of the window. Benjamin simply smiled at her before reaching within his robes.

  “Uhhh… Ben?”

  “Forgive me, Wraith. Occasionally, my buttocks itch. Ah, here. The root of the problem.”

  Evantra resisted the urge to glare at him when he withdrew what looked like a pad from within his robes.

  Noelle stared open-mouthed at the device, her emotions momentarily forgotten.

  “You got your hands on a pad!?”

  “One of the researchers was flung close by to me. Miraculously, it seemed to have survived the impact, guarded by the researcher’s body. We may not have found any direct leads—”

  “Ben, you’re a genius,” Evantra grinned. “And a kleptomaniac. Do monks usually steal from megacorporations?”

  “Amitabha buddha. It is the simple redistribution of wealth,” the monk smiled serenely. The monk withdrew another, smaller device from within his robes and jacked it into the pad.

  “Let’s see here,” he murmured.

  The monk’s eyes widened.

  “A report from Demeteria’s ops team. The discovery of an artefact bearing the appearance of a golden compass was delivered to a Doctor Antoine Venn for further study.”

  Noelle froze, her expression turning to stone, before it reverted.

  Noelle’s reaction to the name didn’t escape Evantra’s attention. From the look of it, it seemed like it hadn’t gone unnoticed by Ben either.

  The girl remained silent, staring out of the window at the passing houses as they neared Megabuilding A3.

  “But… the delivery manifest notes that the artefact was transported to their ‘Gaia’ facility. Are either of you familiar with it?”

  Evantra and Ben both glanced towards Noelle who was still staring out of the window, watching the passing houses and apartments. She straightened, smoothing over the worry in her expression and gave them a smile.

  “Leave our next steps to me,” she said softly.

  Evantra met Ben’s eyes briefly in the return view mirror before they entered the megabuilding.

  ***

  After returning, Ben had bidden them farewell before expressing his intent to come along for other bounties. They had agreed to an even revenue split despite the monk’s protests, and he left to make his way to his apartment located close to the city centre.

  They fell into a comfortable rhythm upon returning home. Lucas was helping his mother wash the vegetables, while Evantra set the table. Taco lounged on the sofa, licking his paws and enjoying his effortless dominion over the apartment.

  “Are you excited for your excursion? Excursions are the best time to make new friends,” Noelle asked Tai as she helped Carmen prepare dinner.

  Ever since they returned home, it seemed like Noelle had been doing everything she could to take her mind off their bounty run and the mention of “Antoinne Venn”. Despite Evantra’s pestering, the girl hadn’t disclosed anything more of the ‘Gaia’ facility that the delivery manifest mentioned. She only asked Evantra to wait for her to make the necessary preparations before proceeding further.

  Tai stared back at Noelle, making a face that implied that friends were the last thing that she wanted.

  “I don’t want to make friends. I want to go to a gun store.”

  A mischievous glint entered Evantra’s gaze as she rounded on the kitchen island, picking up cutlery from a drawer.

  “You know, Miss Tran…”

  Noelle paled, vigorously shaking her head as Evantra trailed off to the perfect extent to grasp the little girl’s attention.

  “Think of them as future clients. After all, if they’re at Rosewood, some of them are likely to have deep pockets. What else are friends good for, right Noelle?”

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  Noelle the broke heiress coughed into her hand, a blush rising to her cheeks. Tai’s eyes went wide and she brightened considerably. Evantra was reminded of the time when she had introduced her to the concept of performance bonuses.

  “Maybe I can make some early sales in advance,” Tai mumbled under her breath to Noelle’s abject horror.

  “That’s right, Tai. Presales,” Evantra said with a grin.

  “Presales,” the girl echoed reverently.

  “Tai, don’t listen to this idiot. Genuine social connection—”

  “Maybe investing in some trackers is a good idea, once I find the rich ones, hehehe,” Tai muttered, giggling deviously while pointedly ignoring Noelle’s words. Noelle’s blush and look of horror intensified, knowing full well who had put the idea in Tai’s mind.

  Speaking of trackers, Noelle never told me why she was so desperate to partner up with me in the first place. I always found it weird on why she had been so fixated on becoming my techie.

  And my friend for that matter.

  Evantra tapped her cheek, her eyes lingering on the other girl before she turned to Lucas.

  “What about you, Lucas? Have you made any new friends?”

  Lucas nodded with a smile.

  “I did make one friend. She said she fought against the creatures!”

  “Oh? Is this Nina? Ade’s sister? The girl who almost got abducted by that yaoguai?”

  “Yes! We have lots in common!” Lucas nodded with a smile. Evantra stared at the younger boy as he beamed back at her, before eventually shrugging.

  Common ground is common ground.

  At least he’s making friends.

  So long as she isn’t a—

  “Don’t worry, I won’t let her be a bad influence. It’s nice to make a friend” Lucas smiled warmly, reading Evantra’s mind and making her snort. Tai simply scoffed at his words, turning her chin up at the sentiment.

  “Miss Tran, why do I get the feeling that anyone who doesn’t have money to offer you is a waste of space?”

  “That’s because they are,” Tai whispered, diligently helping Amy prepare some noodles.

  Shooting a discreet glance at Amy, Evantra noticed how her hands continued to shake and tremor while she prepared the noodles. Seeing her struggle through the task felt like a claw raking itself across her heart with the regret it produced.

  Every attempt to raise the condition with Amy had immediately been dismissed. According to Carmen, the doctors at St Raphael’s had said that she would gradually regain function, but it would take a while and lots of physical therapy.

  It had already been about a week since the Veilsurge that had appeared in Rosewood College. Tai and Lucas had “settled” into their new schooling environment, and they were departing on Rosewood’s annual tour of Demeteria’s greenhouses which was a week away.

  Unlike their own excursion, it seemed as if they would be granted access to one of Demeteria’s volatile greenhouses to take a peek inside their state-of-the-art research facilities.

  Evantra had immediately dismissed the errant thought of leveraging the excursion to attempt to search for the artefact. She didn’t want to directly endanger or enmesh the children in their plans.

  “Do you two remember what I told you? If anything happens, if Demeteria does something dodgy, if another Veilsurge opens up, or if Tai here ends up sticking trackers on her classmates—”

  “Tsk,” Tai upturned her nose.

  “You call us, ok? We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

  Lucas paused from his meal to give them a sincere nod. Evantra’s fists tightened under the table as Carmen laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

  ***

  The next few days passed by in a blur.

  Noelle had taken up a job tutoring students from Rosewood College, while Amy had found a job working as a cook in the Lilydale bar, courtesy of a recommendation from Ben. Despite Evantra and Carmen's protests, it seemed like she was eager to begin working again.

  Noelle remained noticeably more subdued and continued to avoid speaking about their discoveries during the bounty run. She threw herself into her training with Coach Senju, attending the Training Grounds with a diligence that surprised Evantra. Her time off was spent tutoring students from Rosewood or 'preparing their next steps', which she refused to elaborate on.

  Carmen had made inroads with a few small businesses in the megabuilding offering bookkeeping services as a freelancer, which also afforded her a much more flexible schedule.

  Because of all of the chaos around Wisptown and her inability to attend the interview, the Lilydale had regrettably hired someone else as a bartender.

  Evantra would never admit it to her face, but she was relieved at the outcome. At least this way, it would give Amy the ability to help her refine her abominable cocktail-making skills.

  Using the proceeds from their bounty, Evantra had secured some good quality physiotherapy sessions for Amy despite her protests. Evantra could also see a gradual improvement in her condition, which brought her a great deal of relief.

  Tai and Lucas also started at Rosewood College, and Evantra and Noelle were awestruck when the happiness and hope in Lucas’ adorable brown eyes didn’t get dulled by the ‘wonders’ of the private education system.

  It seemed as if Lucas had no trouble making friends and had quickly become quite popular with his peers, something that didn’t surprise Evantra in the least. She was certain that Lucas had more charm than the rest of them combined.

  Even Tai was regaining more of herself with every passing day. Occasionally, Evantra would catch her with her father’s glasses in her grip, staring out from a window at the continental greenhouses. It seemed like she was processing her loss in her own way.

  Evantra continued to attend Ha-Eun’s morning and evening tai chi lessons, activating [recovery] to supplement her growth. Over time and by testing the skill further, she realised that it didn’t affect her strength gains so much as it made a considerable difference in her stamina. Both her ability to exert herself for longer periods of time, and the speed at which she recovered from fatigue had seen dramatic gains.

  Evantra completed her motions, releasing the [recovery] skill with a soft sigh of relief. Over the past week of practising with it, she had finally grown capable of using it consistently while practising Ha Eun’s tai chi motions without feeling like every muscle fibre was at risk of giving way. Soon, she was confident that she would be able to use the skill while doing more onerous tasks, like walking or running to train her stamina to a further degree.

  She gave a nod of gratitude towards Ha Eun as per usual, as the class dispersed at the end of evening training. Evantra hefted her backpack and walked towards Senju’s corner of the gym. To her surprise, there were a handful of people still around, cluttered around one of the benches.

  “COME ONNN NOELLE. LET’S GO.”

  A group of extremely buff men, each of whom would have given Galahad and Clark a run for their money were surrounding Noelle. She was on her back, her arms shaking as she attempted to complete the bench press rep. Her hair was slick and sweaty, and she could see a vein pulsing on her temple as she struggled to push through her fatigue.

  “CURLS FOR THE GIRLS AND TRAPS FOR THE CHAPS! LIGHT WEIGHT BABY!”

  The crowd surrounding Noelle erupted into raucous cheers as she completed the set. She looked like she was about to topple over from the exertion, but her triumph was written on her expression. Evantra grinned, before receiving a sharp jab in the side by Ha-Eun forcing her to return her attention to her exercises.

  Something that she was quickly learning, was that there was a strong culture in the Training Grounds for uplifting beginners. Noelle had unashamedly thrown herself into Master Senju’s training regimen, despite the fear of ridicule. Evantra noticed the way that she cast furtive glances at others, anticipating their judgment.

  She was certain that the last thing Noelle would have expected was the support she was receiving now.

  In fact, Evantra was almost certain that Noelle was far more popular than herself.

  She deserves every bit of it. She’s been training hard, almost to the point of injuring herself.

  But she still refuses to tell me what’s wrong, and I have no clue why.

  “Evantra. A moment please.”

  She stiffened, her heartbeat spiking when Ha Eun’s voice emerged from behind her. Evantra stared at her instructor with wide eyes, prompting a soft chuckle from the old woman.

  She moves like a ghost.

  Evantra stared in surprise as her tai chi instructor strode up to her, tugging at her shirt.

  “Come with me.”

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