Whew, back in school and back to the grind. But allow me to finish this one up.

Sonic, Amy and Tails all belong to Sega Corporation; Ash belongs to Renaissance Pictures; and Jay belongs to Disney Channel. Now what more do I have to say?

"So, what did we all learn today?" Sonic asked as we settled down to dinner in the Fam Zone dining hall.

Yeah, that's where we (and by we, I mean VLADJI and the Sega Gang) decided to have dinner. The girls had already called their folks, letting them know they wouldn't be home for dinner. I'd called my own family about it. Turns out, my parents were already aware of the missile strike – probably from the news –and didn't tell me about it. Didn't want to scare me, I guess. And Daniel went nuts when I described my morning with Ash – full fanboy yell at the mention of his name, and a loud "Why can't I have something like that?"

We'd evacuated the TC building pretty well, but the cops showed up before we were able to leave. I'm sorry, but none of us were leaving a crime scene when the police showed up. That's just not good crime-scene etiquette.

I managed to spin a story about a freak accident with the gas pipes when they asked about the damage in the tower and the stiffs. (We had a lot of freak accidents. You don't want to know.) Ash and Jay backed me up. Since Jay was a responsible senior avatar (I use the term loosely), they bought into the lie. Nobody got arrested, fortunately. And I imagined Starr wouldn't be missed – by anybody. Certainly not by Miss Charlotte Horzvedt.

She and her father stayed behind when the cops showed up. It was difficult for the police to determine his innocence, given his reputation, but my freak-gas-accident story nicely acquitted him of any involvement in Starr's death. Charlie had no involvement in any of the events whatsoever (except perhaps in the gunfight, when she'd shielded us), but she also backed me up on the story, throwing in the fact that Starr had been armed and pointing a gun at Horzvedt – which naturally, lowered the charge against her father from attempted murder to merely self-defense. I imagined it was her form of payback for Starr wronging her.

If so, it was a nice final revenge.

After that, the two had left Philadelphia for good. I'd suggested Florida, which was pretty nice this time of year, and Charlie said she'd book a flight for both herself and her father. They'd be getting a fresh start, which was good. They could both really use those.

I could catch where Sonic's gaze was – on Jay. Wuh-oh. He'd guessed Jay had roped me and DJ into stealing a censer from a criminal, which had gotten us into this mess in the first place. Man, he was good. Then again, he had more experience and seniority than Jay. Mr. Alraj was in serious trouble.

"Stealing and lying leads to trouble?" I suggested. That was on my brain, after Starr's fate and what he'd done. "As does getting humans to do your dirty work?" It was all too obvious that Sonic wasn't too pleased with Jay dumping his training task on us rather than sending Ash. He liked mentors to do their job – and much like DJ, he would not accept excuses.

Jay frowned. "Really?"

Sonic glared at him.

"Okay, so I botched that assignment! I got the censer out, anyway," he said. "It's heading over to another Jew Amos pointed me to. He'll be placing it in a museum. I reckon it'll be a fine addition to the collection of Jewish culture."

Before we left the TCB, Jay had also filched half a dozen other relics that Starr had stored in there and he'd left with them. (All of us were too tired to hassle him about it at the time.) He assured us that they were going to his private collection of relics, which he was selling to anyone who was interested. Not what I would have done with such items, but I wasn't going to question Jay's methods. At least he treated the relics with respect and didn't dirty them up to hide them.

He also informed me that he'd sent Sophie and Ash out into the remaining bases Starr had, to see if there were any more relics that needed to be brought in. That would keep them a good long while – in fact, I would likely not see them in the next half year. But I wondered if Jay was feeling guilty about leaving Sophie out of the action (which was just as well, as everything we'd seen traumatized us, and we were perfectly sane) – and if he felt she should be with the one she was assigned to, manic or otherwise.

I was going to miss Ash, though. There, I said it. I'd secretly wondered if I could get Ash in on my prank wars with Daniel. He'd wait until Daniel was asleep, then switch him out with Solomon back at his college. I must've been getting delirious from lack of food. So I prioritized the burger.

"Are your folks all fine and good with this, Imira?" Knuckles asked, digging into his own meal. He looked quite worried about her. Of course, he had every right to be concerned for Imira, given what had happened in Gaza and the events of our terrible, horrible, no good, very bad terrorist-stomping day. And yes, I was still convinced that the strike shouldn't affect us in any way, as far away as it was. But I was starting to learn how much the consequences had resonated over the ocean toward us. Stupid terrorists.

"Of course they are," Imira retorted. She then shrugged. "Well – Pop wasn't too pleased to hear about the missile strike. He had some choice names for the terrorists – and for Starr, when I told him he was behind it. But he said he'd stay in Philadelphia. Cowardly as it was for Hamas to attack Gaza like that, it'd be even more cowardly to run away when everyone starts turning on you."

DJ clapped her on the back. "This is why I like your family, Imira. They know when to leave and when to stay and fight. It's why I like you, moreover."

I had to agree with my leader – and not just because of the obvious. You just have to respect strength – physical or otherwise.

After we finished dinner, Amy quickly left for the cafeteria kitchen. She came back into the room with a large box in her hand. She set down the box, put her hand against her lips and whistled – Preeer!

Tails straightened up. We all did, in fact. When it came to getting our attention, a whistle often worked better with us than clinking a glass.

"Well, Tails," she said, loud enough for the rest of us to hear. Oh, right. Someone in the Sega Gang was celebrating a habituation day today. Almost forgot about that. "I think you deserve a little something special for today. I will admit, it wasn't the best time you could have had–" I flinched at the reminder of the horrors and tragedy we'd all been through today. "But I can help with that."

She whipped open the box to reveal a sheet cake decorated with frosting in white and gold. Yellow icing read Happy Habituation Day in bright cursive. I didn't need to be a genius to know that this cake was meant for Tails. A couple of York chocolates decorated the center, which was enough of a giveaway. He had a thing for mint-flavored candy.

"Thanks, Amy," Tails whispered back. "And you really didn't need to. I already had a pretty good time as it is."

Still, I caught the fox grinning widely at the cake. He probably hadn't had this sort of party experience… well, ever. An avatar's life was never easy, after all. They were constantly attacked by monsters and other weird things. This likely didn't give them a great deal of time to party. But when they did, they definitely made the most of the experience. I'll give them that.

Amy assured the rest of us that the cake followed our religious restrictions – "And believe me, it was not easy to convince them to make it that way," she said – so we all were able to enjoy it. Always nice when the considerate one's doing the catering.

The cake itself? It was chocolate, and quite delicious. But hearing it from me, you'll know how much I like food.

After I'd had my helping of cake, I walked over and nudged Tails. "Happy habituation day," I whispered to him.

"Thanks," Tails said, swatting me back. Just the camaraderie of an avatar.

"Feeling a year older?" I asked, just by way of a joke.

Tails smiled faintly. Then he glanced at my Comclip.

"Whoa, is something on your mind?" I asked him. He seemed a little distracted when he looked at the device. Correction – even more distracted than usual. Avatars are almost always distracted.

Tails frowned. "I was thinking about your temper flares," he said. "Trying to figure out where they came from."

Something told me he wasn't talking about what caused them. More like: what made them possible in the first place? Neither question was addressed around me, but I could tell that the mystery baffled even DJ.

"Are you any closer to figuring it out?" I asked.

Tails shrugged helplessly. "If you call eliminating a possibility closer."

What now? I leaned in. Now I really wanted to know. I didn't like my temper flares, and the way I'd lost control like that. I'd gone way off the rails the last time I detonated – and I'd killed someone. I didn't want there to be a second time.

"Eliminating a possibility?" I asked.

"It's not a hex or curse," Tails said. "Had it been–"

Something came to my mind – something DJ had said en route to our rendezvous with Jay – about how she'd put her Comclip on her waist because the magical Forcecuff on her left wrist would likely short it out. "Then the magical presence would have short-circuited the Comclip."

"And it's functioning," Tails said quietly.

I didn't ask how he figured that out. Tails had a way with devices and machines that none of us understood. It figured that he could sense whether it was working or not. Next time I needed my phone checked for bugs, I'd call him.

I glanced at the Comclip. I hadn't really paid attention to my dear little gizmo, but it didn't look to be sparking or anything. But this had been long after we'd left Terminal Commerce. Nevertheless, it looked more or less intact. After everything it had been through, this was pretty surprising.

"Either that or your tech's incredibly durable," I commented, trying not to think about the fact that I hadn't been as careful with Tails' gift as I'd thought I was.

Tails frowned at me. "I'm not joking, Amos. Even the strongest technology wouldn't hold up around magic."

"Well, what do you think's causing it?" I asked.

He glanced downward. "That's the thing," he said. "I still don't know."

He then left to rejoin the Sega Gang, who were waiting for him with gifts of their own.

I couldn't help smiling. Yeah, we'd had the worst day ever, but it worked out fine. We'd retrieved a priceless relic, stopped a criminal, solved a cold case, and put a ghost to rest. That was more than enough for a day for VLADJI. While Tails still couldn't figure out the big mystery – me – I was happy about it. I'd be glad if I had a few mysteries of my own.

"I hope you're happy, Jethro," I whispered to the heavens. Then I spoke to Starry, not caring who heard: "Wanna serenade the birthday boy?"

His voice, clear as a singer, resonated in my mind: Absolutely.

With that, I yanked off the pendant and ran into the fun, happy to be among my friends.

Ah, don't you just love happy endings?

Verse for the update: Malachi 1:3. Another story, coming on up!