“I don’t think I did anything wrong,” argued Nigel. “And I apologized anyways, didn’t I?”

  The smiling man, Barcus, clicked his teeth. “I was joking. Relax. The apology wasn’t even necessary. Believe me. If you can even call that an apology.” He seemed more impressed than angry. His gaze drifted to me. “I see you made a friend.” He looked back at Nigel and raised an eyebrow. “I tell you there’s a cute devil girl your age in town, and you go running toward her the first chance you get.” He let Nigel go and ruffled his hair. “I am so proud of you! Guess it runs in the family, huh?”

  “N-No!” stuttered Nigel. “It’s not what you think…”

  But that’s precisely what I think he did. That’s what he told me. Barcus talked about him, and Quintin said it was okay, so he ran out to find me. That is literally what happened. Not that I mind. After that confrontation with Annette, he’s okay in my books.

  Quintin, standing beside Barcus, narrowed his eyes at Nigel. He didn’t even look at me. Uh oh. The eyes of a defensive father. I didn’t think I’d ever see that from him. It warmed my heart, honestly.

  “How did yah two meet up then?” asked Quintin calmly.

  “I found him while wandering through town,” I lied. The real story seemed rather creepy when I thought about it, even though Nigel was an innocent person at heart, from what I could tell. So I changed the subject. “You all went on a dangerous adventure, huh?” I directed my words at Barcus. “Did you guys get what you were looking for? What happened? What did you do?” My eyes were probably sparkling as I spoke.

  “Yeah, we did well. Confirmed and finished it in my codex.” Barcus glanced at Nigel. “Now we can focus on your training for the next month. Get you some real-world experience. How’s that sound?” He grinned. “Or would you rather play with the girl the whole time?”

  “N-No! I want to fight!” defended Nigel immediately.

  “Oh. I suppose I’m too boring to want to be around. I understand,” I said with a sigh, laying it on thick. “Why would you want to spend time with me when you don’t have to?”

  “I-I’ll still spend time with you!” said Nigel. “Promise!”

  “What about your training?” interjected Barcus.

  Nigel’s gaze bounced between me and Barcus. He looked as if he was being drawn and quartered by a horse.

  I laughed first. Barcus followed. The rest of the group chuckled at Nigel’s expense, causing his face to burn bright red.

  “I’d say you could join us, but you haven’t awakened yet, have you?” Barcus looked at me. I glanced away. “If you did, Quintin would have talked about it the whole. Your old man’s a proud daddy.”

  Quintin scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “Sorry, Yen.”

  “No, not yet,” I lied. “Someday.”

  I could feel Nigel’s eyes on me, but I ignored him. Thankfully, he didn’t say anything about me awakening. Me saying I hadn’t told my parents yet must have run through his mind. It was good to know he could at least keep a secret.

  “If it happens while we’re here, we wouldn’t mind including you. Nigel could use the competition. I’m pretty good at teaching people how to use a sword, and Jessie’s basically a professor,” said Barcus. “With some stark differences,” he added after a moment. “You good with that?” he asked the woman in question.

  Barcus’s party, the Trail Blazers, consisted of five people in total. I’d met them all a handful of times throughout the year, though not for very long. Still, I was comfortable with them, and they were the same with me.

  Including Barcus, there was Jessie, Garreth, Bydon, and Tart. Garreth and Jessie were humans. Bydon was a beast devil, and Tart was a forest devil. They were a unique-looking group, to say the least.

  Garreth looked to be about twenty. He was usually armed with a large knife and a rapier that he, like most people, kept secured inside his codex. Given his weapon choices and light armor, he was likely a practitioner of the Warring style, focused on speed and quick kills. He had long, black hair and a scar that ran from his left cheek to the right side of his forehead, just above his hairline. He also had the shadow of a beard on his face and never smiled. I’d rarely heard him talk, either.

  Bydon was a massive man. He wore heavy armor and fought with a giant bastard sword about six feet in length. In contrast to Garreth, Bydon was always smiling. He was dark-skinned with bushy hair. A black wolf’s tail sprouted out his backside, and matching ears twitched at the top of his head. The guy was handsome in a beastly way. He was always kind to me because I was a fellow devil. We hadn’t talked much, though.

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  Tart was a tall, thin woman with flowing blonde hair. A set of large daggers was usually her go-to weapon, from what I’ve seen. Light robes clung to her body. She wore leather armor on her legs, wrists, and chest. Barcus pointed out that she was a forest devil the first time I met her years ago, but she ignored and dismissed me. It was honestly the norm, as far as relationships with other forest devils went.

  The final member of Barcus’s little party was Jessie. She was a short woman in tight, thin robes with a magnificent staff strapped to her back. She also wore a floppy, wide-brimmed hat that completely shaded her face. The sides of her legs popped out of her robes since they were intentionally cut to reveal them, and she had a sizable chest that she made sure everyone could see. Her appearance sometimes caused fights among the village boys during her past few visits. Not many people looked or acted like her in town. And she did have a type. Young and virile. Or so the rumors said.

  Jessie looked at me. She considered Barcus’s words about training me. Her gaze flicked to Tart. “You don’t think Tart can do it? Never mind. You’re right. We want people to think we’re good at what we do.”

  Tart’s eyebrow twitched.

  “Kidding!” Jessie smiled. She nudged Tart from the side. “Tart’s competent. Most of the time.”

  My eyes moved between the two women. Why do they always act like this with each other?

  “Given what you are, I have no doubt you’ll be strong when you awaken. Forest devils are naturally gifted with higher mana. You might even awaken with better eyes than me.” Jessie crouched in front of me. I dipped my head slightly and narrowed my gaze so she wouldn’t see that they were white. “I’d be honored to teach you if that turns out to be true. Maybe you’ll join the party in a few years, and I won’t be so outnumbered by witless warriors.”

  “Oh?” Barcus made a surprised noise. “And which one of those ‘witless warriors’ carried you for half a day to the nearest town when you broke your ankle during an ambush?”

  Jessie smiled sheepishly. “You liked it.”

  “That’s beside the point.”

  “Fine, fine. I was only joking.” Jessie’s gaze turned serious. “I’d train anyone if they had potential.” Her eyes glowed with energy, making their violet color flare. The rings around her fingers and the marks around her wrist matched the color of her eyes.

  The woman was powerful. The team consisted of three individuals with violet eyes: Barcus, Bydon, and Jessie. Tart and Garreth both had green eyes, like my father.

  Though all of them had rings on all their fingers, signifying a basic understanding of the four elements, Jessie was the only person I’d ever met with an additional ring on her finger—one signifying an enhanced mastery of wind. At least, that’s what Quintin told me.

  “If you have the talent, I will make you flourish. If not, I’d send you on to Barcus to swing a weapon around while screaming,” Jessie teased. “Or you can imitate Tart and not really practice either, getting by with pure luck and the abilities of your betters.”

  “Screw this,” muttered Tart. She walked away from the group into the inn. “I’m getting a drink.”

  “Oh? Very surprising, dear,” Jessie called after her.

  It was an interaction I’d seen many times before. They got along like water and oil, but they’d been together for years. I was never around them for more than a few minutes, so their relationship must have been more complex than those awkward little exchanges.

  “I’d say be nice to each other, but that never works out,” said Barcus with a sigh. “Kiss and make up later, okay?”

  “We always do,” quipped Jessie. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to drink and read a book. Alone,” she stressed. Her eyes wandered to me, and she smiled. She reached out to touch my head, but I deftly avoided her. “Oh?”

  “Does it to me too,” said Quintin, annoyed.

  “She’s at that age. Oh well.” Jessie patted Nigel’s head. He jerked in surprise, and his face turned red. “Her reaction probably wouldn’t have been as good as his anyway.” She walked into the inn. “Ta taaaa!”

  What a weird group of people…

  The rest of the group followed her inside. With nothing else to do and the day growing short, Quintin and I headed home. Nigel asked if he could see me tomorrow, and I gave a light “sure” before Quintin began pushing me home.

  Halfway to our house, I began to fidget.

  The conversation with Barcus and Jessie reminded me how much I wanted and needed to learn to use my mana. That wouldn’t happen unless I revealed to someone that my eyes had turned white. Honestly, it was a miracle no one had spotted them yet. I did a good job looking away and hiding them with my hair, but there were too many close calls. Sooner or later, someone would notice. I needed to reveal what I was intentionally, eventually, rather than let it be a surprise.

  Taking in a deep breath, I decided on an approach that would help me save face, just in case. “Dad.”

  “Yeah?” Quintin responded immediately.

  “How much can someone’s mana jump when they awaken?”

  “Depends. From what I’ve seen, most people awaken with green or brown eyes. I heard Jessie awoke with violet, but Bydon and Barcus worked to get theirs to that color. It depends on the person,” said Quintin. “Luck and destiny play a big part, too.”

  “How so?”

  Quintin glanced at me. “It’s a part of the Pantheon’s gospel. A theory about the codex everyone gets when they awaken.”

  I frowned. A beat passed, and then, “Has anyone ever awakened with white eyes?”

  “Probably. I’ve never heard of it, but anything’s possible. Why’re you asking?”

  “J-Just by the inn…while you were out…I was…curious,” I stressed, trying to act like a scared child afraid of punishment. “There’s still so much I don’t know, you know?”

  Quintin sighed. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but thanks for the reminder, Yen. I told you not to go near there without me. Not until you’ve awakened and trained a little. Barcus and his group are nice, but adventurers come in all shapes and sizes. Some might try to take a girl like you.”

  “What? Pretty?”

  “And a devil. So please do what I ask, okay?” he stressed. “The world isn’t safe for you.”

  “But I was with Nigel.”

  “…that’s not much better than being by yourself, from what I’ve seen.”

  Quintin and I passed the fence to our home. I took a deep breath and stopped. He kept moving, but when Quintin noticed I was no longer beside him, he stopped and turned to me.

  “Something wrong?”

  “I have to show you something,” I said. “And I’m sorry ahead of time for keeping it from you for so long.”

  I lifted my bangs, looked at Quintin directly in his eyes, and flooded my body with mana.

  Quintin’s entire body froze.