Alethia finished grading papers before lunchtime. The three of them ate and chatted about their home towns. Alethia grew up in Big Spring, but moved to Seattle for school. That had been as far away from home as she could get at the time. Zoe grew up in a suburb of Boston and ended up going to school at Emerson. She had undergraduate degrees in computer science and history. Alethia smiled. Rachel attracted people like herself: brilliant and interesting.

  Zoe looked ravishing in her light armor garb. Her light blue jerkin was made from embroidered silk, which Alethia would have thought too delicate for armor. But beneath the silk, she had layered padding she hand stitched. A ring of pockets resembled corset boning, but Zoe demonstrated how she had sewn cur boiled leather strips between the seams.

  “I’ll wear a regulation jacket over this for bouts so the Safety clerks don’t freak out, but eventually I will have the Weapon master here certify this coat for armor. It’s better than the jackets alone, in my opinion. And those count as armor.”

  Alethia wanted to examine Zoe’s leg armor too, but that was too much temptation for one day. Zoe had to know how much Alethia appreciated her outfit, so Alethia studiously avoided inspecting Zoe’s legs and butt.

  They drove to Alethia’s house and then to Rachel/Richard’s house for the rest of the garb. Alethia’s own armor would be a regulation jacket and waist coat. But she felt like wearing her most risqué outfit this evening. It was a crimson jerkin with gold embroidery over a pair of black tights. Karen would be at the banquet tonight and maybe Alethia could entice her with a bit of jealousy.

  The afternoon’s event was at a local convention center. Some weekends the bright white tiles and matching lights in the barren space filled to capacity with gun buyers and sellers. But for the purposes of tonight and tomorrow night, this was a feast weekend for Bryn Gwlad.

  Large plaid sheets, faux animal hides, real animal hides, and even a bamboo curtain concealed the ubiquitous modernity. Alethia breathed a sigh. Here she felt like she could take a break from the frenetic pace of her normal life. Zoe spun and grabbed Rachel’s hand. She held out the other hand for Alethia who hesitated only a instant before she accepted.

  Zoe blazed a trail through the hanging cloth and folding tables. Alethia loved the feeling of being swept along, Rachel laughed with her as they cantered forward. Here and there people greeted them, but being dragged along precluded any response.

  Zoe stopped before the dueling boards.

  “Oooh. It’s a random draw single elimination tournament. One moment while I check it. Did you two reserve spots?”

  “I did.”

  Alethia held her hand up. Richard would have insisted on this if Alethia had not planned on whupping Tiny Tim this tournament.

  Rachel shook her head.

  “I am going to watch and maybe spar today. You two are high enough energy for me.”

  Zoe flashed a look at Alethia that she must have thought Alethia missed. But that glance was a hungry one. In a flash of insight, Alethia knew that Zoe looked forward to facing her in a match. That look held not a single ounce of competitiveness. Alethia’s skin flushed with the thought.

  She picked up her cloth swatch. That was how her slot in the tournament would be marked. The little blue and green plaid was fraying on every edge. Alethia’s vision narrowed to the individual fibers of the weave. In a strange flash she could look at all of them simultaneously. At the same moment, she knew she could carefully unravel every single fiber if she wanted. That might take even her some time to complete.

  “Did you hear me?”

  Alethia shook her head,

  “Sorry, I got distracted by my cloth patch.”

  Zoe grew serious,

  “Do you think it took it?”

  “Huh? Took what?”

  Zoe grabbed the piece of cloth and held it on Alethia’s chin,

  “There, all better.”

  Rachel groaned and Alethia giggled. Alethia said,

  “Soul patch?”

  Zoe’s eyes twinkled and she answered Alethia’s question with the barest nod.

  Alethia’s breath caught in her throat and the image of Karen flashed into her mind. She closed her eyes, knowing that her face was turning red.

  Alethia said,

  “Before the cloth ate my soul, you were saying something?”

  She opened her eyes back up and Zoe looked normal. Still ravishing.

  “You mentioned you have some scribe or something stuff to do, right Alethia? I want to check out some stuff before we start anyway and Rachel wants to look for her brother.”

  Alethia nodded,

  “Gotcha. Let’s meet at the feast hall five minutes before the hour, okay?”

  That gave her twenty minutes to check up on new scribe commissions and look for Karen Taylor. She and Rachel ran into Timaeus before either.

  “I did not think you would enter a tournament, Alethia.”

  “Huh.”

  Timaeus stared at her like he expected her to answer a question he did not ask. Alethia was right. He said,

  “What, are you not going to answer me?”

  Rachel said,

  “You didn’t ask anything.”

  “Why did you enter this tournament, Alethia? I don’t think you’re really ready for this level of competition.”

  Rachel rolled her eyes in the corner of Alethia’s vision. Another odd thing happened to Alethia. She could suddenly see right through Timaeus. He was attracted to her. To both her and Rachel, really. But somehow he had fixated on Alethia. Suddenly all of his flailing, awkward attempts to engage her over the months came into stark relief. Her mind groaned while retching. The pattern was clear as print now. He had been ‘negging’ her in an attempt to make himself look more attractive. What a jerk.

  But now a path to manipulate him opened up to her. Alethia looked down, trying to be as demure as she could manage on demand.

  “I was hoping I might see how far I can get with what you’ve shown me already.”

  She twirled her hair around her finger. Not too thick. It might look fake.

  Timaeus stammered, thrown off by the sudden shift in their dynamic. Alethia silently cackled in glee.

  “I. Um. Thank you. Uh. Excuse me.”

  Rachel leaned forward,

  “Holy cats, did you just Jedi Mind trick him?”

  Alethia giggled,

  “I had an inspiration.”

  “Well, color me impressed. What are you going to do for an encore though?”

  She pointed to Richard who stood a few yards away staring at her. Alethia noticed jealousy and hurt for the first time in his eyes. Despite the advancements to her cognition she could not quite figure out what he had to be jealous or hurt over.

  He walked over with Karen and Rob in tow. Alethia’s mind might not have spent as much time pondering the Richard situation in part because it leapt onto the image of Karen and Rob. He had his arm around her shoulder and she leaned into him holding his chest with her hand.

  Alethia wanted to be happy for his transformation so much. Rob stood tall and happy for the first time since she had known him. That magical transformation should have been cause for celebration. But Alethia’s own green eye’d monster intervened and choked her with envy. That was the other reason she discounted the dark look that crossed Rob’s eyes when they met Alethia’s. Only a shadow, a hint of something faint as gossamer moved behind Rob’s black framed glasses.

  “Was Timaeus giving you more trouble?”

  Richard asked as Rachel hugged him. His sister stiffened a moment during his question, evoking yet another question from Alethia.

  “No, I scared him off by changing tactics. At least I scared him off for now.”

  Rachel answered,

  “She used the Force on him. It was awesome.”

  Rachel failed to notice, but the tension between the four of them rose like someone ionized the air with a switch. All three stared at Rachel, even Karen was in on it, and all three wondered the same thing. Was that her super power and did she use it on a civilian?

  Alethia shook her head, hoping all three knew that her answer was ‘no;’ to both questions.

  Without Rachel noticing, the others seemed to understand Alethia’s answer. Karen and the other two looked like something occupied their thoughts too.

  When Rachel ran off to find Zoe, Richard shared his news in a whisper,

  “I was shot today.”

  “What? How? Are you okay?”

  He smiled, happier at the question than Alethia would have expected.

  “I am fine. I think we all have healing factors too.”

  Karen’s eyes widened, but she nodded along with Rob. They believed Richard too, which confirmed this new information in Alethia’s eyes.

  Richard continued,

  “It makes sense. The time guys made it sound like the serum could heal people. It healed me of whatever traveling did to me. That was the point.”

  Alethia nodded. This deal kept getting better and better. That troubled her somehow. Like some consideration right beyond her conscious mind should have concerned her. The troubled feeling faded while Richard told the rest of his tale.

  When he finished, Alethia said,

  “You need to tell Rachel too, you know. She will be pissed if she discovers the official story from someone else.”

  Richard nodded, but Alethia suspected the thought had not occurred to him until she mentioned it. Even post-serum he could be self-centered.

  Rob whispered,

  “I hear you’re competing in the weapons tournament tonight.”

  Alethia nodded,

  “Yeah, why?”

  Rob lowered his voice even further, glancing around to see if anyone might be listening,

  “Be careful. A lot of people are watching tonight.”

  “I know, Rob. I intend to do well, but I don’t intend to win.”

  She hoped that honor would go to Zoe. That just depended on what happened with the draw.

  Rob nodded. He looked suitably uncomfortable about mentioning it. But something still seemed off to Alethia.

  Alethia pouted after the brackets were announced. She had one match before she faced Zoe. The third round was the closest either of them could get to competing against Tiny Dumb. Alethia stretched and meditated before her match. Recalling the purgation of Saint Eustace, Alethia prayed that she would comport herself as would befit any Christian Knight from any era. Her church leaders might be scandalized by prayer to a Catholic Saint, but Alethia suspected that would be the least of her crimes if the the leaders of her church discovered how very far she had fallen. In a way, Eustace was even more appropriate because of the various forms of adversity Alethia faced right now.

  She stood feeling better in her mind, if not in her heart.

  Her first match proved to be far beneath her skill, even holding back as she was. Before she had taken the serum, Alethia would still have beaten this man. He was almost a boy, really. And his name was Claditch. Alethia liked that name and told him as much after their bout. He was gracious and even asked her to show him some moves sometime. She fixed his face in her memory. Graceful losers were less common than hay pennies.

  The next few bouts went as expected. Zoe demonstrated her fast reflexes and precise control. Alethia felt a whole new dimension open as she noticed Zoe holding back. Once she had seen it, the beats were obvious to Alethia. Zoe watched not just for openings in her opponent’s defense, but for obvious openings only a lesser fighter would exploit. Or know how to exploit. She looked like she relied on luck and speed to the casual observer. Alethia looked around the crowd to see who else might have noticed the same thing. She caught the signs of recognition on the faces of Richard and Rob. Karen did not seem to recognize it herself, but she was less interested in the fighting than the boys.

  Timaeus did not appear to pick up Zoe’s ruse. Good. Alethia wanted Zoe to give Timaeus a proper licking after Alethia threw her fight to the woman.

  Zoe won after what appeared to most people to be a close match. Alethia knew that Zoe was never in any danger of losing, but wanted to put off fools like Tiny Tim.

  Their own match was the first fight of the second round.

  Alethia squared off with Zoe, who had changed hands for the fight. She grinned and whispered at Alethia,

  “Try to go easy on me.”

  She winked when the fight started and sprang forward, looking for an easy point from the inexperienced Alethia. A week ago, she would have been taken in by the move. Zoe wanted to force her back, but Alethia could see from the way her muscles bunched and gathered under her jacket that she feinted a high strike at Alethia, but intended a low point-only attack.

  Zoe was ruthless and in a way, Alethia was flattered. Like being given a test the teacher knows you might pass. Alethia intended to make herself a difficult target for the other woman so she performed a feint of her own. She backpedaled exactly like the novice she appeared to be. But her balance was laser perfect now. She kept just enough weight off of her leading foot that when Zoe’s attack shifted mid-strike, Alethia pulled it back shy of being struck by a shocking distance.

  Their fight did not slack from that first attack. Alethia’s senses and physical abilities would have let her dance circles around Zoe, even though her technique was better. That would not have satisfied Alethia’s plans. So she made herself appear to be nothing more than a lucky, reckless novice who barely avoided Zoe’s semiprofessional strikes.

  Until the end of the fight, tied point for point, Zoe advanced on Alethia, who surrendered ground, intending to take the first blow from Zoe by being just a little too slow. She still wanted to sell it, so Alethia reversed course before she could be cornered. She telegraphed the course change so Zoe saw it coming from a mile away.

  The other woman shifted her weight and stance to deflect Alethia’s blow, but something happened. Zoe’s eyes widened as her feet tumbled out from under her. By accident, Alethia’s sword struck Zoe as she went down, securing the final point and victory. Zoe looked astonished for a second and then clapped for Alethia with a goodnatured smile on her face. Alethia extended an arm to help her stand, but she appeared to be limping.

  “I think I twisted something, can you lift me?”

  Alethia’s heart fluttered. This would be a perfect way to invoke Karen’s jealousy. And Alethia admitted that she wanted to be this close to Zoe anyway. Zoe put her arm over Alethia’s shoulder and hobbled out of circle together. A sideways glance brought Alethia eye to eye with Tiny Tim. He looked earnestly frightened. Based on that last match, either of them would have beaten him. Now he faced the prospect of defeat at Alethia’s hands.

  In a way, Zoe spraining her ankle went as well as Alethia might have hoped. She felt guilty as soon as that thought rose in her mind. She did not want to be pleased over anyone’s suffering.

  Rachel and the rest of their group walked up to check on Zoe and congratulate Alethia. Alethia insisted on ministering to Zoe’s leg. After all, she was responsible for it. Her ankle was swollen when they pulled her boots off.

  “You know, in the field you would leave those on.”

  Richard spoke over Alethia’s shoulder. He stood a little too close for comfort, Alethia’s or Zoe’s.

  “Step away Kaine, they don’t need a backseat nurse.”

  Karen’s voice sounded harsh to Alethia’s ears. She wiped the grin from her face before she looked back at Karen with gratitude on her face. Karen’s lips were pressed together in a smile. Not a happy one.

  Alethia resumed removing Zoe’s boot, letting her touch linger on the other woman’s leg. By the time someone handed her gauze, Zoe and her own face were blazing red from unspoken embarrassment as well as titillation. Behind her, Karen excused herself to use the restroom. She dragged Rachel along with her. Alethia chided herself for the satisfaction she felt at Karen’s departure.

  Everything really was going according to plan.

  The fourth round, the semi-finals, pitted Alethia against one of the older fighters in Austin’s barony. She made short work of him using her speed to her advantage while still holding back. Zoe watched her, but now Alethia detected a hint of dissatisfaction in Zoe’s face. When Alethia approached after she won, Zoe replaced the look of deep thought with one of congratulation.

  “You did that still holding back, why?”

  “Because.”

  Zoe nodded. She hugged Alethia, but already Alethia could feel a weird distance between them. Zoe kept glancing at Karen, who had snuggled closer to Rob. But her gaze fell on Alethia whenever she thought Alethia was not watching. This was not exactly what Alethia had been planning.

  Her last fight against Timaeus, Tiny Dumb, was crowded and loud. Several boisterous bets had been placed on the fight. Few of them favored Alethia, even though she had displayed her prowess and skill all night for their benefit.

  A part of Alethia’s frustrations snapped when Timaeus gave her a curt nod in place of the customary salute. She gritted her teeth and went to work on him. In a surge, all of the lessons and techniques that she had studied and observed during her short time learning weapons with the SCA came to the fore.

  Rather than rely on the cheap trick of speed, Alethia displayed a skill and precision she had never been capable of before. She knew it was a trick. Each strike or riposte was a shadow of some other move by another more capable fighter. But Alethia made them her own and perfected them in her mind before she released them on the unsuspecting Timaeus.

  If she had bothered to finish him off quickly or had recalled the caution Rob had reminded her of, everything really would have been perfect. But Alethia vented in that tiny dueling space. Timaeus had mistreated her repeatedly and publicly. Karen was mad at her now and clinging harder to her stupid jerk husband Rob. Richard still followed Alethia like a puppy, and this thing with Zoe. Something had changed while binding her ankle, but Alethia had no idea what it was.

  Without his knowledge, Tiny Tim’s body became painted with targets only Alethia could see. In her mind, she killed stupid Rob with one strike and convinced Richard to leave her alone with another. The final point she scored on Tiny was for both Karen and Zoe.

  She finished hardly winded while Tiny looked completely dejected. Applause did not erupt from the crowd at first, her performance stunned them. Even the laymen knew they observed a duel worthy of an aspiring master tonight. And then that realization crashed over them like a tsunami and with it their cheering roar shook the concrete and fiberglass building.

  Alethia was feted as befit a champion that night. She had observed the spectacle of champions before on nights like this and found the display sybaritic. But she blushed and clapped as the fit members of the crowd who bet against her ferried food and drink back and forth from her small throne. She wore a white stripe of royalty, only for the night, complicated procedures dictated nobility status in the kingdom of Texas. Alethia was only the champion for tonight.

  The biggest problem was that her honors prevented her friends from spending any private time with her. She did not see Zoe for the rest of the banquet, which Alethia found particularly distressing. Karen enveloped Rob even more desperately to Alethia’s eyes. That made looking at either of them difficult. The only person of the evening who was easy to hang out with was Richard. He did not care about her status as champion and because there was no romantic tension between them, she could relax around him.

  Once dinner ended, Alethia followed Rachel to Zoe. She sat outside smoking a joint and passing it with the young man Alethia defeated in her first match, Claditch was his period name.

  Alethia said,

  “Hey you two.”

  Zoe snorted,

  “Busted.”

  Claditch nodded to her and said, “thanks” as he stood and walked back into the convention hall. Zoe looked up red eyed at Rachel and Alethia. When Alethia held her gaze, she looked away.

  Rachel said,

  “Are you okay? You disappeared?”

  “I am fine. Great even. I’m glad you’re here, Rache. Here to hear. Mmm. Ears of corn.”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Her behavior was a little too inebriated for marijuana and Alethia caught a glimpse of a small silver flask in Zoe’s hand.

  Alethia said,

  “Hey Zoe.”

  The other woman’s head twitched, but she kept her eyes on Rachel. Rachel said,

  “What’s going on, yall?”

  Rachel looked from Zoe to Alethia, concern on her face. Zoe’s words slurred when she spoke,

  “Ask her. But she’ll lie, so there’s no point.”

  Zoe pointed to Alethia. At that, Rachel and Alethia both said, “What?”” in unison.

  Zoe hiccuped and giggled,

  “She’s gooder. Better than me. I don’t care about that. But I care that she lied. What. Where. Where did you really study? Wasn’t here.”

  She pointed at Alethia shakily; Zoe reeked of alcohol.

  Rachel said,

  “What are you talking about?”

  Zoe slammed her hand on the ground,

  “And! And I thought she liked me. But no, she’s just using us. Me. Using me for us.”

  Rachel’s face betrayed understanding and Zoe shouted,

  “You knew too! I thought’s much! Damnit! The first hot, lesbian I meet is using me to fuck a housewife. A straight housewife. How is that fucking fair?”

  Alethia really wanted Zoe to shut up and lower her voice right then, she started to speak, but Zoe shouted again,

  “Go ahead, deny it! I saw you staring daggers at her husband! And then the way she ran off when you started foot fucking me… She did not like that. Maybe I should go talk to them…”

  Zoe started to stand up, Alethia moved to help her,

  “Don’t you fucking touch me!”

  She waved Alethia away. Once she backed off, Zoe calmed down. Rachel approached and held out her hands,

  “Why don’t we go home instead of doing that?”

  Zoe looked Rachel up and down,

  “You’re my friend. And I bet you did something stupid like promise not to say, right?”

  Rachel’s look answered Zoe’s question,

  “Then you’re forgiven,” Zoe spun to face Alethia and almost fell over if not for Rachel’s grip, “but you! You’re in the dog house. No, worse… the bitch house! I don’t want to talk to you no more.”

  Oh shoot

  Alethia’s powerful new brain had no words to offer her to make this any better. All she could hope for was this was just drink talking and not Zoe’s real feelings. Maybe tomorrow’s sobriety would bring some kind of reconciliation. Her powerful new brain told her that was a desperate lie before the thought finished leaving its impression on that brain.

  Alethia bade farewell to Rachel for the night and agreed to get a ride home with the Taylors.

  Back inside the convention center, the magic was gone. Alethia no longer felt like traveler from her time who stepped back into the past. She felt like a pretender, a tourist. Indeed, she told Rachel she was going home with the Taylors, but when she approached Rob and Karen, the woman’s initial wince at her appearance was all Alethia needed to cap off a terrible night.

  “I am going to take the bus home you guys. I don’t feel so good all of the sudden.”

  Richard tried to stop her, but Rob and Karen just nodded their heads. Karen still would not look at Alethia. The two seemed angry with her for another reason entirely.

  “Do you want me to come with you?

  Richard’s offer was sweet, but unnecessary.

  “I am good, thank you Richard. I will see yall Monday?”

  Rob shook his head and said,

  “Actually, the three of us want to have a meeting tomorrow evening. At our house. We can provide snacks?”

  Alethia did not need the querying look from Rob and Richard to understand that they were not planning on having a wargaming or SCA-related meeting. They wanted to talk about super hero stuff. Alethia almost refused. She grew tired of the drama already. Being a super hero had only made her day way less fun so far.

  Three different busses would carry Alethia home. Had she gone home a little earlier, she might have been able to catch just two or even one of them. But most of the lines did not run this late unless they also went downtown.

  The first ride was the longest, but only two other people sat on the bus with her and none of them commented on her period garb. Alethia hated this method of going home more than any other. After events and on the weekends, the buses filled with drunks and weirdoes. Alethia knew she was one of the latter, but neither would balk at making a snide remark about her clothing.

  She waited at a stop for the second bus. No one else waited with her, but three men crossed the street toward the bus stop, look in her direction and chatting. One of them lightly slapped his friend across the chest and pointed at Alethia. Her blood boiled when she read, “bet she has a sweet ass…” in his lips.

  Alethia clenched her fists. She did not want this kind of encounter to be the capstone of her evening. A part of her thought back to Saint Eustace and his harrowing. Maybe she had not quite anticipated the adversity she would have to rise meet today?

  That thought brought the three men — correction: boys — close enough that Alethia became uncomfortable. One of them had blonde tips dyed on his short cropped hair. The second had a flimsy goatee and wore a sleeveless t-shirt under his open jacket. He had to be cold, even in the Texas winter. The third boy wore a black ski cap and kept staring at Alethia’s chest.

  Aside from the third boy, none of them looked directly at her. They crawled over the bus stop though. One squatted two feet away from Alethia on the bench. He hopped up and down on his toes, shaking the whole bench. The second boy shouted obscenities at passing cars while the third continued to stare at her.

  The noise finally irritated Alethia beyond tolerance.

  “Could you please stop hopping on the bench? And would you please stop yelling at traffic?”

  She considered ignoring the third boy, but anger and impatience took control over her mouth,

  “And would you please find something to stare at other than me or my breasts? Thank all of you.”

  She thanked them because for a moment while she spoke, all of them stopped their odious behavior.

  Then the first boy, the one with frosted tips, held his right hand on the cover support and swung himself close to Alethia, ending grabbing her hair.

  “You are really pretty.”

  Alethia swatted at his hand and said,

  “Do not touch me.”

  All three made “oooh,” noises as they rose from the bench and followed her.

  “I didn’t touch you, I touched your hair.”

  The third boy, the one who kept staring at her said,

  “Jacob said you’re pretty. You should thank him.”

  The second boy said,

  “Yeah, why be rude lady?”

  Alethia’s fear grew in her chest. She knew three personal acquaintances who had been assaulted sexually. None of them ended up being strangers, but Alethia was now on high alert. She looked around, but the city was practically empty at this time of night.

  “Can you say anything else?”

  The second boy swept her hair across her shoulders. Alethia had just about enough, she swatted at his hand, and connected with it, leaving little scratch marks across the back of his palm. He cradled his hand against his chest and said,

  “Ow. She scratched me.”

  The first boy, now in her face, stepped even closer and said,

  “You should apologize to me and my friends lady.”

  A change came over Alethia for a moment. She abhorred violence unless it was simulated or consensual. Otherwise, how could she study martial arts? But now she might be forced to hurt these three boys and she wanted to avoid that if she could. At the same time, her veins ran ice cold and her mind embraced the plan already forming there.

  She stood her ground in the face of the terrible breath from the ringleader of the group. Her voice was low and filled with fury as she spoke,

  “All three of you should leave me alone unless you want to be hurt.”

  When the frosted tips grabbed her right hand, Alethia exploded.

  The first move involved tensing her hand and swinging it forward to break his hold. His hand was too tight, so Alethia planted her left foot between his legs and swung her upper body in a semi-circle. She heard the audible snap of his thumb breaking as she felt the snap in her arm. He started to howl, but she spun again and delivered an elbow strike to the solar plexus.

  The boy behind her made the mistake of raising his fist to her. She kicked him in the groin with a simple snap kick. His fist continued down while he started howling to match his friend. Alethia broke his arm before he managed to lower it.

  The third boy shook while staring at Alethia. She shrugged her heavy coat off, revealing her garb beneath. She took a step toward the froze boy and shouted,

  “Do you still like what you see you little shit!?!?”

  He jumped up at her words and ran before she finished shouting. Part of Alethia thrummed and could feel the cold wash of adrenaline pumping through her body. She wanted to go after him and beat him to a pulp too now. But a strange sound burbled behind her. Goon number one had started choking and coughing. He had blood flecked around his mouth. Adrenaline fled her body with that sight.

  Her phone was in Alethia’s hand without her conscious mind ordering it. She had dialed 911 just as automatically.

  “What is your emergency?”

  “Three men just tried to attack me. I drove one off, but I might have seriously injured one of them. He’s coughing up blood. Oh god help me.”

  The operator’s voice led Alethia through providing her location and giving status on her victims.

  Victims. Tears filled Alethia’s eyes now. Even as a child learning martial arts, she had never hurt anyone on purpose. Her father called her one of God’s gentlest angels. She took martial arts at his prompting and was involved for two years before she decided she could participate in sparing matches.

  The ambulance arrived and picked up both of the boys. One of the three police cars to arrive followed the ambulance away from the bus stop.

  A female officer approached Alethia. Her hair was invisible under her hat and uniform, but the uniform was unflattering enough to demonstrate that the officer was very fit.

  “I am officer Park, ma’am. You are?”

  “Alethia Thompson.”

  “Can you tell me what happened?”

  Alethia replayed the conversation and events for the officer. She was glad she put her coat back on and looked like the frumpy graduate student she was. That diverted any questions the police might have asked about her wardrobe. The woman asked several questions, “Did she know the attackers?”, “Had she seen them before?”, and “Did she set out to hurt them?” The answers to these questions were all no.

  They made her go back to the police station with them. The female officer kept asking Alethia if she was inebriated or high in any way. They could probably smell the pot from Zoe. Or maybe from one of the other dozen people who where less discreet about their habits.

  The police took her the wrong direction, further away from her apartment. The station downtown looked much like most police stations on television did. This was the closest Alethia had ever been to actual trouble. She struggled to embrace it as a novel experience.

  She failed.

  People watching was less interesting than she expected. Most of the people brought in on Saturday night were in more or less the same state. The people who seemed not to care about their confinement looked Alethia right in the eyes with a kind of daring pride. Everyone else hung their heads or held their face in a grim mask while they moved about the station. The grim ones spoke with their eyes, “I am here for an honest reason, not as part of this rabble.”

  Alethia had no way of knowing which was which or who’s silent claims were sincere. So she just stopped watching people and waited for the third police officer to speak with her. This time she spoke to a male detective. He seemed distracted and more or less uninterested in her story,

  “Alethia Thompson right, you sent two of your attackers to the hospital. Did you know that?”

  Alethia had no answer for that. The question seemed rhetorical so she just shook her head.

  “I am sorry, did you say you did know you sent two of your alleged assailants to the hospital?”

  Alethia suppressed a sigh and said,

  “I called an ambulance for them. How could I not know?”

  That was the wrong thing to say to Detective Preston. He pressed his lips together,

  “This report here says these boys were harassing you. Is that right?”

  Alethia tried to recover. She said,

  “Yes sir.”

  “What exactly were they saying? Doing?”

  Alethia knew that her answers had already been recorded by the officers on the scene. But she described their words verbatim for the officer. And described what they did to her.

  “So you attacked them for touching you?”

  He gave Alethia a reason to purse her lips and clench her fists,

  “No sir. These men physically assaulted me. I asked them to leave me alone and to stop touching me twice. I did not strike them or respond with violence until they grabbed my arm. At that point, they were clearly attacking me.”

  “Let me get this straight. Two guys touched your hair and then grabbed your wrist. In response you broke one’s thumb, radius, and sternum. You only broke the other one’s arm, why?”

  “Officer,”

  He interrupted,

  “Detective.”

  “Sorry, Detective. Have you ever been in a physical fight?”

  “This interview is about you, not me.”

  Alethia kept speaking,

  “If you had, then I believe you would know that when adrenaline is surging and you are fighting for your own safety, you do not have a good deal of restraint. I attacked both of them until they no longer posed a direct threat.”

  “And the third, why didn’t you maim or attack him?”

  “He ran and did not try to attack me.”

  “So you had enough control that you let him run?”

  Alethia was starting to feel angry now.

  “Are you saying I should have chased him down and beat him up? For what? Not trying to touch me? That was not going to happen.”

  Detective Preston started to ask Alethia another question, but this time she cut him off,

  “Am I being detained, Detective Preston? Or am I free to go?”

  Detective Preston widened his eyes like he had not expected this from Alethia. She was making friends right and left tonight. His face darkened and Detective Preston said,

  “Young lady, two men are in the hospital because of you. I think we have more than enough to hold you.”

  “You mean arrest, right? Are you arresting me, Detective Preston?”

  “Will you answer the rest of my questions?”

  “Will you answer mine? Am. I. Free. To go?”

  The Detective took a long suffering sigh and lowered his gaze to Alethia’s,

  “Ms Alethia Thompson, you are under arrest for assault…”

  Alethia felt herself grow numb at the words. She had never even been sent to the principal’s office, much less been arrested. She had no parking tickets. At least tomorrow was Sunday.

  Detect Preston handcuffed her while Alethia started crying. Through choking tears she said,

  “Are you really arresting me because three men tried to assault me and I defended myself?”

  Detect Preston said,

  “I am arresting you for assault, nothing more.”

  “I want to speak to my lawyer.”

  Detective Preston slumped behind her and said,

  “Fine. It is Saturday night. I suspect something will have changed by Monday.”

  “Wait, Monday? I have work, I have responsibilities!”

  Alethia was dragged off by two uniformed officers who threw her in a large holding cell with almost twenty other women. The cell had no more room for her, so Alethia stood and ignored the other prisoners with her.

  Only about ten minutes later did Alethia realize she had not been given an opportunity to call anyone.

  She shouted for one of the guards while several other prisoners told her to shut up. The guard who arrived was a heavyset woman with dark red hair pulled back in a loose braid,

  “What the hell do you want?”

  “Can I call my lawyer?”

  The guard raised her eyebrow at that request,

  “You have a lawyer who will answer three AM phone calls?”

  Alethia was already shaking her head when the guard said,

  “You can make calls tomorrow morning with the rest of your friends in there. Keep the noise down until then princess.”

  The rest of her cell mates laughed at Alethia’s naivety.

  She felt sick to her stomach for the better part of the night. With the crowding and the noise, she could not sleep. Nevermind the smell. The smell of drunken unwashed women was enough to make Alethia question her own confused sexuality. Though she had to admit a drunk tank full of men would have been far, far worse.

  One of the women in the tank, a slim dark skinned woman wove her way through the crush and stood next to Alethia.

  “What happened Gwen?”

  “Gwen? Like Stacey?”

  The woman cocked her head,

  “No, like Paltrow. Damn girl. Is it meth?”

  “Is what meth? Huh?”

  “Why you’re here. Did you get busted with meth?”

  “No, I defended myself from three men who tried to assault me.”

  One of the other women in the room overheard her and perked up,

  “What did you say?”

  Alethia repeated herself and the new comer said,

  “What did you do, cut off their dicks?”

  Alethia blushed and said,

  “No… I am pretty sure that I broke one of their arms. The other one, I hurt more than I intended.”

  The squat woman stayed on her bench, as if protecting her tiny piece of real estate in the drunk tank.

  “How bad?”

  Alethia said,

  “I broke his sternum, thumb, and arm.”

  “Sternum, what’s that?”

  The large woman on the bench looked up at Alethia while the other slim woman grinned and nodded at Alethia. In response Alethia pointed to her own sternum and said,

  “This. I broke this and I might have accidentally punctured his lung.’

  Both women’s eyes grew wide and the large one on the bench nodded,

  “Damn girl, you show those bitches!”

  The slim girl smiled and said,

  “That is pretty awesome right there! I guess I see why they threw your ass in here with us though.”

  Alethia said,

  “What did you do?”

  Both women’s faces changed. The slim girl who stood flared her nostrils while the heavier one sat and chewed her lips. The slim girl answered first,

  “Name’s Nakisha, Nakisha Spence. That’s my ma, Adelia Porter.”

  The older woman nodded at the introduction, Nakisha kept speaking,

  “My dumbass uncle was using our house as an occasional drop stop. So when the cops came to pick him up, they threw the rest of our asses in here.”

  “What? That’s insane. Was your uncle dealing recently?”

  Adelia started laughing before Nakisha shook her head. Adelia said,

  “Damn white girl. You’re squeaky clean, aintcha? Don’t know the first thing about this shit. The police rounded us up so we can rat out Reggie’s supplier. When none of us do that, they’ll take my house.”

  “What. That’s not insane. That’s evil!”

  Nakisha shook her head,

  “You’re right, but it’s legal. Shit, they already took the house.”

  “You have nowhere else to live?”

  “Naw, we got family. We aint about to get kicked out on the curb.”

  Alethia was on the verge of offering help, but realized that she needed help herself. She was not really in a position to offer these people a place to stay.

  “What happens now?”

  Ma Porter flicked her chin at Nakisha and said,

  “She’s been through this before, not me.”

  Alethia looked at Nakisha who said,

  “Since it’s Saturday, they will make us wait until Monday. You got anyone who can make bail for you white girl?”

  Alethia grinned at her and said,

  “My name is Alethia, and yeah. I am going to call some friends tomorrow. They should be able to pick me up.”

  Nakisha shook her head,

  “I wasn’t asking that. I was asking about bail. They can drive they cars down here, but without cash, you stay here with us.”

  Crap. Rob and Karen were stable financially, but only about average, which meant they lived more or less paycheck to paycheck. Richard was worse. If not for his modest inheritance and Rachel splitting the bills, he would have been kicked out of his house years ago. She was going to have to call her father. This would be about perfect.

  She had not spoken to the man in four months. Not since she had broached the possibility of being gay with him. Of her entire family, he was the most open-minded and most likely to accept Alethia no matter what. The sting of his rejection still felt fresh to Alethia.

  Nakisha and her mother made polite, casual conversation while Alethia tried to find anyone else in her life who might be able to pay her bail. She did not want to call her father. After their last conversation, this would only confirm his beliefs about her “lifestyle.” The most singularly frustrating part of the whole conversation was that she had called her dad to tell him she was breaking up with Tony. His family belonged to the worst possible church according to her family, the Catholic Church.

  Her relationship with Tony caused ripples through her family, especially when her deep south cousins learned that Tony’s last name was Acevedo. Her mother has been apoplectic. That episode had made Alethia sever ties with her whole racist, bigoted family. Except for her dad. He was not happy about Tony’s religion, but he did not care about the other stuff. Alethia would always be his little girl, or so he said. The tune changed when Alethia mentioned that she might be bisexual or even gay.

  There was a chance her dad would not help too. That might be best, she considered. In a way, he might only make things worse by “trying to help.”

  Alethia spoke to Nakisha and her mother through the night. She learned that Nakisha was going to Austin Community College this semester in computer science. She told them that she was a graduate student in Biology. That elicited the usual barrage of questions from laymen. Alethia loved answering those questions. She talked about UW and taking her GRE. How proud she had been when UT accepted her into a graduate program.

  At some point in the night, Alethia fell asleep leaning against the wall. She woke before anything untoward happened, but she was panicked for the first few seconds of consciousness. When she realized where she was and what happened, she became even more unsettled.

  Now, calling her dad and asking for help did not seem that onerous. Anything would have been better than remaining in her cell.

  At 6 AM an officer finally arrived and removed one prisoner at a time to use the phone. They still had to pay for the calls, Alethia started to panic even worse now, but Nakisha gave her a pair of quarters with some advice,

  “Put change some place where you can hang onto it even if you’re searched. You meet enough cops on the wrong side, you learn. Good luck Alethia!”

  They exchanged phone numbers before Alethia wandered off.

  The slender female cop who lead her to the phone wiped it down with a damp cloth before handing her the receiver. Her tone was flat and disinterested,

  “Number?”

  Alethia did not register the word as a question right away. When she finally understood, she stammered out her dad’s number. The police officer dialed and her dad picked up after the second ring. He was retired, but already awake.

  “Hello Nathan Thompson speaking.”

  “Daddy?”

  Silence greeted her on the line. Alethia did not realize she held her breath at first. But she did after ten seconds passed by. With an even quieter voice, she said,

  “Daddy?”

  Her dad’s voice sounded stern,

  “Is that you, Alethia?”

  “Yes.”

  She waited for him to hang up. That was her honest expectation, given the pauses and the odd tone in his voice. But he surprised her when he tone rose and he said,

  “It’s good to hear from you. Why is it so fuzzy?”

  Alethia sighed, this was the part of the conversation she did not want to have.

  “I need help daddy. Some men attacked me and I defended myself, but now I am arrested and I need a lawyer.”

  That did not sound right to Alethia, she had practiced her speech to her dad, but the butterflies in her stomach mangled her words as they both escaped her mouth.

  “Are you in jail? Do not speak to anyone. I will call some people.”

  Alethia started crying right away,

  “Thank you, daddy. Thank you.”

  “It will be okay, Alethia.”

  Through choking sobs, Alethia tried to tell her father what happened, he cut her off.

  “I will see about flying down to Austin in a day or two. Maybe on Tuesday. Until then, is there a way to reach you?”

  “I don’t think so? I am just in a holding cell until Monday I think.”

  “Okay, I am going to call my lawyer up here and I will see what they say. If I can, I will have them send someone to you today.”

  “Thank you!”

  “Everything will be fine, Alethia…” his voice deepened and he said, “aside from that, Ms Lincoln, how was the play?”

  Alethia choked on a laugh. That was one of her dad’s favorite dumb jokes.

  “Sorry I didn’t call sooner. I… was worried and stuff.”

  Her dad sounded like he had sat down in his favorite chair. He sighed himself and said,

  “I am not personally okay with how we ended that discussion. For for my part, I am sorry Alethia.”

  She held her breath again, waiting for him to say something else. Something to undercut the apology or remind her that she was a sinner rejecting God’s love with her choices. But the recriminations never came.

  The police officer ushered Alethia away from the phone and back to her cell. Nakisha looked up at her and said,

  “Did you get ahold of someone?”

  “Yeah, my dad. He’s gonna try to send a lawyer today.”

  Ms Porter whistled,

  “Damn girl, yo daddy has money then?”

  Alethia shook her head,

  “Not really. But he’s good at networking. He probably knows someone or his lawyer does.”

  Nakisha laughed and said,

  “Damn, Alethia. If your daddy has his own lawyer, then he has money. Maybe not as much as some people, but you don’t just ‘have a lawyer’ unless you have money or the need. Your daddy slang or something?”

  Ms Porter laughed at the question,

  “There is no damn way her daddy slangs Ds.”

  “Oh, drugs? No. He sells fishing and hunting equipment.”

  They chatted until a woman walked into the cell room, escorted by a guard. She held a yellow pad of paper in her hands and wore a light brown skirt suit. She was older than Alethia, but only barely. She said,

  “I am looking for Alethia Thompson?”

  The guard pointed at her and Alethia raised her hand.

  “Good. I am Gretchen Pitt. With your permission, I will be representing you going forward. Is that acceptable?”

  “Did my father call you?”

  “No, he did not. Your father’s legal counsel, Noah Reagan called my office, who assigned this case to me. Here’s my card.”

  She pulled something off of her legal pad and approached the cell. The guards stepped between her and Alethia. The lawyer rolled her eyes and said,

  “Officers, can I speak to my client privately, please?”

  The guard escorting Gretchen left the room and returned shortly. He nodded and yelled for the rest of the inmates to back away from the door and had Alethia step out alone. The same guard followed her and Gretchen to a room with a large window and door. A camera with a blinking red light under it watched events in the room.

  Gretchen smelled nice and not just in contrast to the horrid scents of the cage she had been in.

  “I have some questions for you, Ms Thompon, and some forms to sign.”

  “Okay.”

  Most of the questions just covered ground Alethia had already covered with the detectives. Her lawyer said,

  “They did not arrest you until you asked to leave? And the detective told you that you were only being charged with assault, right?”

  “Is that not right?”

  “The man who’s sternum you broke is not doing well in the hospital. There is a chance that they will try for aggravated assault, though that would be far harder for the DA to prove. I am going to arrange to have you released today, but you will have to stay in Austin for several weeks. At least through the initial hearings. I am going to try to have your case dismissed on ground of self-defense. But until then you cannot leave Travis or Williamson counties.”

  “Oh my god, what about my job?”

  “What do you mean, you’re a TA, right? Did you miss any days of work because of this?”

  “No, but could they fire me for this?”

  “Technically, yes, depending on the contents of your employment contract.”

  Alethia felt panic try to rise her in stomach. Gretchen smiled and said,

  “It is not likely in the case of a mere arrest. Especially considering the circumstances. If you’re worried about it, my office will prepare a brief for UT as well as a packet for the press.”

  “What do you mean, the press?”

  Gretchen gave Alethia the first condescending smile yet,

  “Alethia, this is Texas. The only thing that would have garnered more sympathy for you was if you shot the men who attacked you. But let me be clear: The DA would have to be insane to let this go to trial. You’re what, 5’4” tall? The shortest of the three men who attacked you was, six foot three and two hundred and fifty pounds. The only thing people will have trouble with is how you managed to subdue two men who collectively outweighed you four to one.”

  Alethia said,

  “Then why arrest me?”

  “My guess is that you annoyed the arresting officer. That is why it is always best to immediately ask for a lawyer no matter what. I have some more questions for you about your lifestyle and habits.”

  “Wait, why?”

  Gretchen’s smiled only faded a notch,

  “I like to be gentle in cases like this, but you were not actually a victim here. You were a potential victim so I am going to be a little harsh. If you ask me why we’re doing every little thing, this meeting will take eight hours when it should take two at the most. To answer your question: we need personal details in case the DA tries to take this to trial, or in case the men who attacked you try to sue. If either of those things happens, my office needs to be able to broadcast what a pure and wholesome young lady you are. Do you do any volunteer work?”

  Alethia spent the next forty exhausting minutes answering uncomfortably specific details about her life. Once the questions drifted to her sex life, she became even more uneasy.

  “Do you have a boyfriend?”

  “No…

  “Girlfriend?”

  “Not yet…”

  “You’re gay then?”

  Gretchen looked up from her pad like she was waiting to check a box. Alethia answered,

  “I don’t really know?”

  Gretchen cocked her head to the side,

  “Are you attracted to men or women?”

  “Both, I guess?”

  “Then you are bisexual?”

  “I don’t know if that is the right label for it.”

  Gretchen smiled and put the pad down.

  “Why don’t you explain it to me so I understand it.”

  Aside from Karen, who was one of the first people Alethia told her feelings to other than Rachel, Alethia had not tried to explain her feelings to anyone. Even her dad bailed out of the conversation when Alethia mentioned that she might be attracted to women.

  “How do I explain this? I am Baptist. Born and raised. Since I was a little girl, I grew up on the promise of a big wedding and then a spate of grandchildren crawling around my two or three generation home. My father is a Texas to Washington transplant. So is my mom.”

  Alethia pulled her hair back with her hand and tried to pull a phantom tie over her pony tail.

  “After college, I broke with tradition and went back for more college rather than get my M-r-s degree. Here in Austin, I met a boy. He was really nice and sweet, but I don’t think I am attracted to him the way I should be. You have to understand, this is hard for me.”

  Gretchen smiled and said,

  “You are doing fine. If anything does go wrong, I think we will just let you explain yourself to the media. They will adore you. Keep going.”

  “Anyway. I thought my feelings about men were abominations sent by the devil to tempt me. So it makes sense that I thought exactly the same thing about my feelings toward women, right? Now that I think about it, I have always thought that girls and boys my age were attractive. And the person I am most interested in right now is a woman. That really brought everything into focus for me.”

  Gretchen nodded,

  “Good. That is a good explanation. And if the DA decided to press charges or the men sue you, we may use that. Let’s move on.”

  The lawyer raised her pad and pen and continued to note Alethia’s answers to the rest of the questions.