Author's Note: Trigger warnings for blood (again, nothing terribly graphic) and language (Devon swears in Spanish).

"Ya know, if you'd asked me this morning what I thought I was gonna do today, I don't think a magic carpet ride would have even crossed my mind," Devon mused as she reached her hand up to touch the clouds just overhead as she, Kalim, and Grim soared through the night sky.

"Ah ha ha! You've taken to it pretty quickly," Kalim commented. "What do you think of it, Grim?"

"Myaaaah…," Grim whimpered. He peeked his head over the carpet's edge before clinging to Devon's arm and screwing his eyes shut. "We're really high up, y'know! Scarabia looks so tiny from up here."

"The world above the clouds is pretty great, huh?" Kalim replied.

"It's a whole new world, alright," Devon agreed.

"Heh. I'm glad you're enjoying it," Kalim said.

Devon reached down to pick Grim up and carefully lifted him up towards the clouds. The little monster tried to stammer out a protest at first, but his curiosity got the better of him as he watched the clouds pass overhead. After an encouraging smile and nod from Devon, he lifted his paw toward them hesitantly. His blue eyes widened at strange sensation and he couldn't keep the amazed smile off his face. "Okay…I guess this is pretty cool."

Kalim couldn't keep the fond smile off his face as he watched Devon with Grim, the way her own eyes lit up with amusement as she watched Grim marvel at the clouds and the sound of her laugh as he demanded she lift him up higher. They'd spent a decent amount of time talking as he showed her and Grim around Scarabia and Kalim couldn't help but think she was one of the coolest people he'd ever met. Not that he'd ever had a bad thing to say about anyone, but it was clear to him now how she'd managed to win over so many of their schoolmates.

Feeling his eyes on her, Devon looked over at Kalim to see him smiling dreamily at her. "Kalim? You good, bud?"

Kalim blinked as he snapped out of his daze, rubbing the back of his head and feeling a little bashful at being caught staring. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just lost in thought, I guess." He gestured out toward the wide expanse of sky around them. "Being all the way up here tends to make you think, y'know? Makes you realize how small your problems really are in the grand scheme of things. Although…Jamil tends to think I'm too carefree as it is." He sighed. "I'd really like for him to be able to live a little more freely, you know?"

Devon was about to ask what he meant by that, but Grim shouted suddenly and pointed off into the distance. "Check out that bird, you guys! I ain't never seen one like that before!"

"Hmm?" Kalim looked off in the direction Grim had indicated and his smile widened when he caught sight of a large white bird flying nearby. "Good eye, Grim! Let's go take a closer look."

"Man, that was a blast!" Grim said as Kalim returned them to Scarabia a little while later.

"I'm glad you guys enjoyed yourselves," Kalim replied as he took Devon's hand to gently help her off the carpet. They'd been brought back to the main hallway of the dorm and several students could be seen bustling about and carrying food from the direction of the kitchens toward the lounge. "My goodness! It's already dinnertime. Time really does fly when you're having fun, huh?"

"I see you're finally back, Kalim," Jamil said as he made his way down the hallway toward them. His eyes narrowed briefly when they landed on Devon and Kalim's joined hands, but he didn't comment on it. "There's something I'd like to speak with you about before dinner. Would you come with me for a moment, please?"

Kalim nodded with a smile. "Sure thing." He squeezed Devon hand gently. "You take Grim and make yourself comfortable in the lounge, okay Dev?"

Jamil barely suppressed an eye twitch at the gesture, but once again said nothing as he led Kalim away.

"I'm starving…," one of the Scarabia students said as Devon and Grim entered the lounge. "What do you think we're having for dinner tonight?"

"I guess that training was pretty rough, huh?" another student commented.

Grim sighed happily as he and Devon sat down. "I know Regina's magic keeps the cold outta Ramshackle, but this place is like a permanent summertime paradise. Kalim's a pretty good guy too. Kinda makes me wanna transfer to Scarabia!"

"Hey, do what you gotta do. I wouldn't havin' that big manor pretty much all to myself," Devon teased.

The chatter died down at the sound of approaching footsteps and everyone turned toward Kalim and Jamil as they entered the room. "Is everyone present?" Jamil asked. "The dorm leader has an announcement to make before we eat."

"A-An announcement?" a nearby student repeated warily.

Devon glanced over at the student who had spoken. 'Why does he sound so nervous? This is just like earlier in the cafeteria. Somethin' about how they couldn't leave if they wanted to. The dorm residents sounded outright terrified of Kalim, but the guy's a literal ray of sunshine. Am I missing something here or…?'

"Oh yeah. Kalim was talkin' about callin' off the special training and lettin' everyone go home for break," Grim recalled. "I'm sure all the residents will be happy, but it sucks that we won't get to come over here to eat." He narrowed his eyes as he looked at Kalim before tapping Devon's arm. "Hey Dev, does Kalim seem a little, I dunno…off to you?"

Devon blinked before looking over at Kalim as well. "What do you mean?"

"When we were hangin' out with him earlier, he was practically bouncin' with energy, but now he seems," Grim paused as he tried to find the right word, "almost like a robot."

Devon took a closer look and realized quickly that Grim was right-something did seem strange about the way Kalim was carrying himself. When they were with him earlier, he was energetic and excited as he eagerly showed them around the dorm, the smile never leaving his face. There was no trace of any of that enthusiasm now: he was standing rigid and motionless next to Jamil, his arms behind his back as he looked out at the dorm students. He looked more like a drill sergeant than the bubbly, cheerful guy that had taken them on a literal magic carpet ride just a few minutes before. But the most off-putting thing to Devon was his eyes. Every time she'd seen or spoken to Kalim, his eyes always held a certain inviting warmth. That warmth was nowhere to be found now and Kalim's expression was cold as ice.

"If you recall, I decided that those of us in Scarabia would be staying at the dorm over winter break for a voluntary six hours of daily studying," Kalim began, his tone even. "However, I've realized something…" He paused and narrowed his eyes into a very unsettling and uncharacteristic glare. "Six hours is nowhere near enough!"

Everyone, including Jamil, let out a collective exclamation of shock; apparently this announcement was news to him too.

"What are you saying, Kalim?" Jamil asked. "I thought you said you were planning to send the students home."

"For real. That's a complete 180 from what you said earlier!" Grim agreed.

"If we want to close the gap between us and the rest of the dorms and keep from bringing shame to Scarabia, a mere six hours isn't going to cut it!" Kalim continued. "We'll have to work twice-no, five times as hard if we really want to drag ourselves out of last place! Starting tomorrow, all of you will be tasked with five hours of study time and four hours of practical training each day."

"He seriously expects 'em to commit to nine hours of work every day?!" Grim exclaimed.

"We'll be having a defense magic training drill after dinner, so hurry up and eat," Kalim ordered. He turned his glare toward Devon and Grim. "And as for you two, Devon and Grim-your participation will be mandatory as well. Do I make myself clear?!"

"Fgnya?! Why do we have to join in?!" Grim shouted.

"What in the world is going on here?" Devon muttered. A wave of unease washed over her as vision faded for a split second. For a moment, she was no longer in the Scarabia lounge-just an empty orange-red room. A couple droplets of ink fell to the floor with an audible 'plop' before inching across the room unsettlingly. The vision was gone as quickly as it had appeared and the Scarabia lounge came swimming back into her sight. She shook her head as she tried to make sense of what she'd just seen, but any theory she came up with just disturbed her more. 'That was…different. Ink blots are never a good sign, though, so I think it definitely confirms that something isn't right here. I just wish I knew what it was trying to tell me…'

Jamil, meanwhile, remained silent and crossed his arms as he watched Devon carefully. He'd seen the telltale blue glow in her eyes, but it passed so quickly that he doubted the rest of his dormmates had. Much like everyone else at Night Raven College, he was well aware of Devon's blessing, but exactly what it did and how it worked remained a mystery. He'd tried to casually bring it up with Ace at their basketball practice before, but the only thing Ace was able (or willing, given how protective he tended to get whenever Devon was involved) to tell him was that her power was likely just going to get stronger over time. As he took in the concerned look Devon was currently directing at Kalim, he couldn't help but wonder if her blessing was somehow alerting her to the fact that Kalim was being magically influenced to act the way he was. He knew asking her directly was out of the question-he didn't want to risk putting himself on her radar if she already suspected something was up-but he did know of a way to preemptively throw her off his scent. He just had to wait for the right moment…

"Alright. That's enough for today," Kalim announced nearly three hours later. His glare from earlier hadn't abated in the slightest. "We'll be marching to the eastern oasis tomorrow morning. I suggest you rest up because you will be put through your paces!" He turned on his heel and marched back into the dorm, leaving his fellow residents panting and about to collapse in the courtyard.

"M-My arms and legs are like noodles," one of the resident said as he struggled to catch his breath.

"Water… Please, I need water…," another one gasped out.

"And we've got another day of melting out in the desert sun ahead of us," a third groaned, letting out an "Uuuuugh" before collapsing face-down onto the ground.

"Seriously, what's gotten into the dorm head?!" the first demanded. "He never used to act like this."

Jamil held his chin between his thumb and index finger, a contemplative look on his face as Devon walked over to him holding an exhausted Grim. Since she wasn't able to actively participate on account of having no magic and no Wisps with her, she was the only one who didn't look as if she was about to keel over.

"I thought we'd never be done," Grim panted. "Kalim was all sunshine and smiles earlier. Where'd that personality shift come from?"

"I can't say exactly when it started, but I think most of us first noticed Kalim behaving strangely after Scarabia collectively scored at the bottom for our final exams," Jamil replied. "Considering our dismal showing at the Spelldrive interdorms shortly before that, I can only assume that he feels personally responsible, as if he's failed as a dorm leader. He's had these terrible mood swings ever since."

"Mood swings? Oh no, no, no," Devon said, shaking her head. "That wasn't a mood swing. Mood swings are what Floyd gets; good mood or bad mood, he's still him no matter what and it's a 50/50 chance that his squeezes will either be the best hug I've ever had or result in him accidentally-on purpose breaking my spine."

"Yet that never seems to stop you from allowing inviting him to hug you," Jamil commented dryly, recalling Devon's more recent visits to the Basketball Club. She'd been turning up more frequently now that she no longer actively avoiding Azul and the twins.

Devon shrugged. "My desire for physical contact with people I care about will almost always overrule what few survival instincts I have. My point is, I don't think that's what's happening with Kalim."

"Yeah! He was actin' like a completely different person," Grim agreed.

"Kalim says you two have known each other since you were kids, Jamil. Has anything like this ever happened before?" Devon asked.

Jamil shook his head. "It's true that I've known Kalim for a long time, but I can't recall him every being this volatile. It's left me at something of a loss as to how to approach him."

"The way he's sayin' one thing and then doin' somethin' else the next minute is really freakin' me out," Grim commented. "Those power trips of his are gonna get outta control if somethin' isn't done about it."

"The whole dorm used to look up to Kalim, but we've all been left scratching our heads since this behavior started," Jamil told them. "As you just witnessed, he's been making unreasonable demands on the students and I'm afraid it's only a matter of time before they reach the breaking point." He sighed and shook his head, doing his best to look lost and hopeless. If he could tug at Devon's heartstrings enough, he should be able to convince her to put in a word to the headmaster for him. She'd stuck her neck out for all the fools Azul had roped into contracts, after all, and she didn't even know most of them. "I've been doing all I can to smooth things over but this is getting out of hand. I'm not so sure I can handle this alone."

"Yeesh. The vice dorm leaders sure have it rough, huh?" Grim observed. "I mean, between you and Trey over in Heartslabyul…"

"Ah! Of course! You two are the diamonds in the rough that we've been searching for," Jamil exclaimed, looking over at Devon and Grim eagerly and trying to make it appear as though this was the first time the thought had crossed his mind.

Devon and Grim exchanged a look. "What're you talkin' about?" Grim asked.

"You two are the ones who have been going around solving problems for the other dorms," Jamil elaborated. "Heartslabyul, Savanaclaw, even Octavinelle… I'm not sure what exactly you did, but rumors have been running rampant about how all of those dorms are doing much better thanks to your intervention."

'Myah ha ha ha!" Grim cackled. "It's true, y'know! And all those guys are suuuuuper grateful to us, too."

"That's why I'm asking-no, begging you both to please find it in your hearts to help Scarabia the same way you did for the other dorms," Jamil pleaded.

Grim and Devon blinked. "Huh?"

"I'm sure of it now," Jamil continued. "Meeting you two in the cafeteria wasn't just a coincidence; it must have been guided by the hand of fate!" He reached out and took Devon's hand, gently rubbing his thumb over the back of it. "Surely the two of you can work out a solution with that sparkling intellect."

"Yeaaaah… I wouldn't hold my breath about that, bud," Grim replied. "I mean, Dev and I are a pretty big deal and all, but those situations and this one ain't got nothin' to do with each other."

"Could you give us just a sec, Jamil?" Devon asked before heading to a more isolated part of the courtyard so she and Grim could talk more privately.

Once they were far enough away that they were sure Jamil couldn't hear them, Grim whispered to Devon, "I vote we pass on this. I'm tired of cleanin' up the other dorms' messes. I've still got a headache from the last time we had to get involved!"

"I really don't wanna leave Jamil in the lurch but…yeah, I agree," Devon replied, unconsciously rubbing her side. "I'd really rather not have my ribs broken again."

Jamil felt his eye twitch as he watched Devon and Grim walk away. He might not have been able to hear what they were saying, but part of his job description was being able to assess potential threats quickly and the easiest way to do that was to read a person's body language. It was even easier when the person he was observing wasn't trying to mask themselves at all. He could tell from Grim's expression and the way he was gesturing that he was against accepting Jamil's request and was trying to convince Devon to do the same. He felt hopeful for a moment when he saw Devon hesitate, only for that hope to drop when he caught her subtle nod as she responded to whatever Grim had said. He began making his way over to them. This was too good an opportunity to let slip through his fingers.

"You will help us…," he began as he took Devon's hand again, startling her into looking up at him, her eyes locking with his. Just as planned. "Won't you, Devon?"

Devon's mind went fuzzy again as she made eye contact with Jamil. She completely forgot what she and Grim had just been talking about-heck, she'd forgotten that Grim was even there. She struggled for a brief moment to pull her eyes away from Jamil's, but found herself unable to look away. Once again, the only thing she registered was an almost unbearable compulsion to agree with Jamil. "Of course. Leave it to me," she replied emotionlessly.

"Mrah?!" Grim exclaimed. "What the heck, Dev?! I thought we were on the same page!"

Devon could only blink in confusion as the fogginess faded from her mind. She shook her head as she tried to get her bearings. "I… What?"

"You'll help us, then? Oh thank you, Devon," Jamil said with a sigh of relief as he pulled Devon into a hug that she was too busy feeling confused to get flustered by. "Now that we've settled that matter, why don't the two of stay here tonight?" Without waiting for a response, he clapped twice and several dorm members ran toward them. "Devon and Grim will be staying here as our guests tonight. Please show them to their room.

"Yessir!" the students replied in unison before ushering Devon and Grim into Scarabia.

Back at Ramshackle, Zephyr and the rest of the Wisps were beginning to grow restless. Devon and Grim had yet to return from the cafeteria and the longer they stayed away, the more concerned the Wisp colony and the Ramshackle ghosts grew. The ghosts had already gone to the cafeteria to look for them and upon finding out they weren't there, had checked in with any other ghosts remaining on campus, but nobody they spoke to had seen the pair once they'd entered the main school building. Zephyr recalled the Leech twins mentioning that the two of them and Azul would be staying at Octavinelle over break, so their next suggestion was to sneak into the oceanic dorm to see if they'd taken Devon and Grim hostage or something. It was a promising lead, but Regina was leery about sending any of the Wisps out to one of the dorms-especially one with students that had explicitly tried to put the colony (Devon and Grim included) under their control.

For now, they would watch and wait. If Devon and Grim hadn't returned by morning, they would make their own sweep of the campus. If they were still unable to locate their human and monster, they could discuss sending a team to Octavinelle.

"Have a good evening, you two! Hope you have a good night's sleep," said the Scarabia student that led Devon and Grim to one of the vacant dorm rooms.

Grim waited until the student shut the door behind them before starting in on Devon. "Ya wanna tell me what that was all about?! I thought we agreed we weren't gonna get involved this time. You know just as well as I do that this is gonna end up bein' a whole thing, so why'd you have to sign us both up for it?! This is Scarabia's problem, so we oughta just let them handle it."

"You're right," Devon conceded. "I was gonna say no at first, honest, but… I'm not really sure what happened, but as soon as I looked at Jamil it was like any thought besides agreein' with him just…melted away."

"Hmph. Simp," Grim scoffed, though his glare softened a bit when he saw how genuinely confused she looked. "Can't say no to anything when it comes to him, huh? You can be such a sap sometimes." He lowered his voice, talking more to himself than to Devon. "Though you can get pretty scary when you're actually mad." His voice returned to its normal volume. "Anyway, I'm not about to get roped into more dorm shenanigans and neither are you. Let's get outta here while we can and head back to Ramshackle."

"Yeah, I'm with ya," Devon agreed. She waited for Grim to hop onto her shoulder before gathering up her coat and hoodie in her arms. She opened the door as quietly as she could and Grim leaned forward to peek out into the hallway to check for any students wandering around.

"I think the coast is clear," Grim reported and Devon stepped out into the hall. "Okay, we don't have Flapjack with us, so the first thing we need to do is get to the mirror portal that connects to the Hall of Mirrors-"

The loud 'fweeeet' of a whistle cut Grim off, thoroughly startling the Ramshackle pair.

"What in the world-?!" Devon exclaimed, looking frantically around to find the source of the noise.

"What's that noise?!" Grim demanded, looking around as well.

The sound of running footsteps pulled their attention to a pair of Scarabia students rushing toward them. "Hold it right there!" the first one shouted. "Just where do you two think you're going?"

"Nobody's allowed to leave the dorm for any reason for the duration of the break unless they have the dorm leader's permission," the second supplied. "End of story."

"Pfft. Please," Devon scoffed. "Who do you think you are to tell us we can't leave when we aren't even students in this dorm? We can outmaneuver you guys, easy." She looked around, mentally making a path. "I see plenty of stuff I can parkour off of in here."

"We had a feeling you wouldn't go quietly," the first student replied. He let out another blast on his whistle, causing even more Scarabia residents to come running, quickly surrounding Devon and Grim. "Seize them before they try to escape!"

"Oh for cryin' out loud!" Grim shouted as the students rushed toward them, cutting them off in every direction. He felt one of them grab him by the scruff of his neck and lift him off of Devon's shoulder, causing his claws to come out on instinct. "What do you think you're doin'?! Leggo!"

"Augh!" the student holding Grim shouted in pain as the little monster managed to sag him with his claws before he could move him out to arm's length. "Why you- Just settle down and submit, you little rat!"

"I might be grey, but I ain't no rat!" Grim protested, making another attempt to scratch his captor.

Meanwhile, Devon was busily fighting off her own handful of Scarabia students. She elbowed one in the solar plexus and kick another in the groin as she fought to get to the one holding Grim, only for another to grab her from behind in an attempt to hold her in place. This had the unfortunate (for her would-be captor, at least) result of kickstarting Devon's fight-or-flight reflexes and before either realized what was happening, Devon had opted to bite the poor sucker on the arm.

"Ow! Seriously?!" the student shouted as he released his grip on her. "What is wrong with you? Who does that?!"

"Come mierda, maldito idiota," Devon growled before sweeping his legs out from under him.

Noticing that Devon was preoccupied, a few of the Scarabia residents decided to seize the moment and use their advantage in numbers to overwhelm Devon and force her to the ground. Devon thought she felt something-probably one of the snake armbands the Scarabia students wore as part of their dorm uniform-knick the skin next to her eye, but she was too angry and preoccupied to give it much thought.

One of the Scarabia boys tied Devon's arms behind her back with magic before hauling her back to her feet. "That's enough, you two!" he chided as if Devon and Grim were just misbehaving children. "Come on, now. Back to your room with you!"

The Scarabia residents managed to haul Devon and Grim back into their room, grateful they'd managed to catch them before they'd gotten more than a few feet. Devon stubbornly dug her heels in as best she could, but there were simply too many of them for her to put up a decent fight.

"Now stay in here and don't give any more trouble!" one of the students grunted as he shoved Devon back into the vacant room. The one carrying Grim followed not far behind, his arm now bleeding from Grim's scratch.

"Owwww!" Grim protested as he struggled in his grip. "You don't gotta swing me around by the scruff, y'know!"

"Hey!" Devon shouted before stomping over to the boy holding Grim, ignoring the other students moving to stop her if necessary. "Don't touch him!" She reached out to take Grim back but the boy moved him out of her reach, causing Devon's eyes to narrow even further. "I suggest you hand Grim over to me now," Devon snarled, her voice trembling with barely suppressed protective feral rage as she nodded toward the student she'd bitten moments ago, her New York accent coming out even thicker in her anger, "unless you wanna end up with a chunk bitten outta you too."

The student looked toward the one who had initially blown the whistle on them, who proceeded to look between Devon and Grim before heaving a sigh. "Whatever. Just give her the monster and we can get back to patrolling."

The student holding Grim did as he was told, keeping a wary eye on Devon the whole time.

"Looks like the first patrol didn't lock their room door when they were first brought here," observed another student who had been inspecting the door since they'd walked in.

"Hmph, well you'd best not forget to lock it this time," the whistleblower replied with a warning tone. "Who knows what the dorm head would do to us if he found out someone managed to escape…"

The student inspecting the door shuddered. "No kidding…"

The whistleblower turned to glare at Devon and Grim. "I don't want any more funny business out of you two. You won't get off so easily next time."

The Scarabia students filed out of the room, slamming the door behind them. A second later, the sound of a very audible lock could be heard, followed by retreating footsteps.

"Hey!" Grim yelled, banging on the door with his paws. "Let us outta here!"

Devon tried the doorknob to no avail. "This door ain't budgin'. Looks like they really did lock us in. Whatever happened to hospitality? They're treatin' us like prisoners." She sighed and shook her head. "Are you okay, Grim?"

"Hmm? Yeah, I'm okay. My neck's a little sore where that guy had me by the scruff but other than that I'm-myah?!" His eyes widened as he got a good look at Devon's face. "Are you okay, henchman? You're bleeding!"

Devon blinked before remember the feeling of getting cut by something near her eye. She reached her hand up to rub at the spot, pulling it back to see that blood was indeed coating her hand. It wasn't an especially deep cut and she knew that the bleeding would subside on its own in a moment, but now that the adrenaline of the fight was wearing off, she could feel the sting. "I thought I felt something cut me when we were tanglin' with those jerks," Devon commented, digging into the inner pocket of her coat to pull out a small pack of tissues. It wasn't perfect, but it would get the job done. "I'll be alright, Grim. It looks bad, but it's just a little cut," Devon assured him as she used the tissues to clean up her face.

Now it was Grim's turn to get protective. The only one allowed to accidentally injure his henchman/friend/sister was him, dang it! "Little or not, it's unacceptable! We're supposed to be guests here and this is how they treat us?!" He flopped onto the bed with a huff. "You can bet I'm gonna have a word or three with Jamil about this in the morning." His eyes widened and he sat up abruptly. "Hey Dev, you have your phone with you, right?"

"I think so…" She felt in her pockets, hoping it hadn't been damaged in the scuffle before pulling out her miraculously intact smartphone with a smile. "Yep! Got it right here."

"You put the headmaster's number in there after he gave it to you, right? Then why don't we give him a call?" Grim suggested. "He said to use it for emergencies and I'd say this definitely counts!"

Devon eyed her phone skeptically but pulled up Crowley's contact all the same. "Given the headmaster's track record, I don't really have much faith that he'll come through for us." She shrugged before pressing the call button. "But it never hurts to try, I guess."

The phone rang once before a familiar voice came on the line. "Hello. You've reached Crowley."

"Oi, headmaster! There's a whole heap of trouble goin' on over at Scarabia!" Grim said. "You need to get back here and deal with this!"

"As I am currently on a tropical vaca-ahem! I mean, as I am in the middle of a most serious and vital investigation, this phone will be turned off until I return to campus," Crowley's voice continued. It was then that Devon and Grim realized that what they were hearing was a voicemail recording. "Please leave a message at the tone and I shall respond if I feel so inclined. For I am so very gracious!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Grim exclaimed. "You were totally just about to say 'vacation'! You aren't even tryin' to hide it anymore."

"And what was the point of givin' us your number if we can't even reach you when we need you?!" Devon added.

"Worst. Headmaster. Ever," Grim finished as Devon hung up the call. "Think we oughta try Ace and Deuce? Not that they'll be much help either…"

"They're more reliable than Crowley, at least. Not that he's really setting the bar that high," Devon replied as she typed out a quick message and sent it. She grimaced when she checked her phone's battery. "And the phone's about to die and I don't have a way to get my charger. Wonderful. Hopefully we hear back from at least one of 'em before the battery runs out."

Ending Notes: I love writing Devon getting ferally protective over Grim more than I probably should. She's normally willing to talk things out first, but as soon as someone threatens Grim, Devon can and will bite and claw her way through as many people as she has to. Book 6 is gonna be fun.

The next chapter is going to be split between Lilia having his promised audience with Briar Valley's queen and Ace and his brother having a heart-to-heart about the big 'L' word. I hope you guys are looking forward to it because I'm very excited to write it!

Thank you all so much for reading! As always, feedback and constructive criticism are welcome. Geekinthepink, out!