Hey, y'all! Should have put this up with the first, but, heh, it was the prologue! Never done one before, so I felt a little rushed.

I meant for this to be written on Halloween, but things came up. Well, now it's here, and I might as well post it, so why not?

Read further!

This is DJ here.

I apologize for the trouble Halloween night might have caused you. The nightmares, the monster attacks, everything. I myself had been hoping it would be a normal Halloween – for once. I should have known better. It's never a normal holiday with VLADJI – just one supernatural and weird headache after another.

Maybe I'll just start it all on the day of the big scene, when I bumped into Car-Lynn Matthews in the cafeteria.

With Halloween in the air, everyone at school was allowed to go in costume today – if they so desired. Most didn't do so – either because they didn't acknowledge Halloween by their religion (we had several non-Christians in our school – don't gasp so loud), or they just didn't feel like it. But I spotted several different costumes in the cafeteria – angels, werewolves, superheroes, even a Ghostface and a Jason Vorhees. (That last one was Johnny Stimp's. He'd really loved it. He actually scared quite a few kids before the hall monitor threatened to report him for bullying – again.)

I had chosen not to go in costume – but not for the reason you might think.

Today was my first Halloween in Philly. Back in Loss of Angels (sorry, Los Angeles), I'd been perfectly willing to go out and trick-or-treat with the other kids. It was one of the few occasions I could truly blend in with the crowd. When I was in costume, no one recognized me as the daughter of Casey Jorgman (yeah, I have a celebrity for a father; no, I don't want to talk about it), which was kind of nice.

But now, I was in a completely different place. My father wasn't there as a reference point, as he'd died in a car accident mere weeks before we moved. I had a new nickname and a new set of friends, and my family was about as shadowed as we could get, living in an ordinary house. I wanted this Halloween to be different.

Be careful what you wish for.

I'd just grabbed my lunch when I spotted her. She was a few spaces back in the line, selecting her food. I didn't know whether she knew about the quality of the cafeteria food, but I guessed she was willing to risk it.

She was nicely done up for school, too. She wore a black leather jacket, a gray Tyler, The Creator tee, black pants, and black Chuck Taylors, which made her look somewhere between gangster and emo. Her dark hair was done up in its usual dreadlocks, plaited down her scalp. I wasn't even sure that was allowed in our dress code, but then Car-Lynn had always been a bit of a rebel. Her eyeshadow was a prominent dark color, with white eyeliner that stood out against her dark skin. I didn't reckon anybody was missing her in a crowd – even among the crazy costumes here, on Halloween.

I moved away from the lunch line. She knew me by sight, sure. She'd cheered us on when we messed with the Camford twins (don't ask). But we hadn't spoken face-to-face since I'd left LA – even longer, actually. This was going to be awkward, I knew it.

I tried walking away from her. Unfortunately, I'd waited too long to make a move.

"Delaney! How are you doin'?"

Car-Lynn was already approaching me, her tray loaded. I had a moment of panic. What could I say to her?

"DJ, please," I said automatically. I didn't want to have my real name broadcast anywhere, certainly not this school. Odd, but I didn't want people to make the connection to the late Casey Jorgman. Not that it mattered anymore, since he was long gone.

"DJ? That's your new moniker?" Car-Lynn frowned, then gave me a wide grin. "Well, radical choice, girl. I love it already!"

"How'd you pinpoint me?" I asked cautiously. While I was flattered by her liking the name change, she hadn't acknowledged me that much on the first few days of school. How had she just noticed me now?

"Well, no offense, but you were pretty tough to recognize." Car-Lynn clutched the hem of her jacket – a nervous habit of hers I recognized from our childhood. How long had she been waiting to see me? "I wouldn't have thought that my Delaney hung out with such a diverse crowd."

She must have been referring to my friends in VLADJI, and Olga Levpravda, the foreign exchange student who often sat at our table. Maybe eight years ago, when we knew each other better, I wouldn't have, but I'd learned to appreciate outside contributions. At least, I was among people who agreed on certain standards and boundaries being necessary. Very unlike what Loss of Angels had been for me. It was a real breath of fresh air here.

Besides, in the case of the VLADJIs, it wasn't like I had much of a choice in the matter. We'd been thrown into the chaos together. Long story short – we got commissioned by the Vortex, this supernatural force that commands portals through reality, to basically aid the avatars (the paradoxical tech-magic hybrid creations of the Vortex) as they guarded humanity.

And let me tell you, it was not the easiest job. Monsters attack us frequently, and that isn't fun to deal with. But it does make us more vigilant.

Also, humanity is insanely divided over stupid matters, which makes the job every bit as difficult for the avatars as for us. (They don't like harming humans.) Just three weeks ago, we'd eliminated a forger from the wanted list (which makes us sound like the Punishers) and last week we'd helped resolve a stalking conflict with an active shooter with lethal force (again, don't ask). I was hoping we wouldn't have to do that again. I may be a vigilante, but that didn't mean I had to have a body count.

"Well," I replied to Car-Lynn's comment, shrugging, "I like to surprise people. It's my thing. Along with playing in the streets–"

"Really?" Car-Lynn leaned in, looking quite surprised indeed. (Actually, that had been what I was going for.) "Whoa. You must've gotten into quite the shenanigans in those places. And you're a star's kid."

I held back a retort. I didn't like people bringing up my family's star status. It never really meant that much to me – it was just another wedge between me and the other kids. It certainly hadn't stopped people from harassing me because I thought of things differently from the California norms. (Mom actually started homeschooling me when the admins turned a blind eye to the bullying I got for it.)

And the streets were quite rough to play in, thanks for asking. And I frequently got lost in the sprawl of LA. But that was what I loved about it.

How did I know Car-Lynn, you ask?

We used to play together as kids. Her father had been the butler to my neighbors – Smith something-or-other, I could never correctly recall the name – so she got the run of the place. I didn't think much of the neighbors – I'd never been drawn to wealthy people, even as a child – but I liked the servants, who were always friendly to me, and Car-Lynn, who was the most daring girl to spring from that Victorian. When I came over to visit that place, it was usually to play with Car-Lynn.

Odd, yes, that I was coming over to a wealthy neighbor's place just to play with their kids, but like I told Car-Lynn, I thrived on being a little different. And I found Car-Lynn to be a pretty nice girl – if a little trigger happy and dangerous with toy guns.

I mention this because we often did shooting contests with the Nerf guns the Smith kids had around the house. Anyone who won the contest – who got off a hit in the back or the chest – got to start off the next game. Car-Lynn almost always got to start off the games, because she had a real knack for hitting her targets – even though she was working with the big foam bullets. (Those don't really have the greatest trajectory.)

But we always had fun together – at least, until the pandemic hit our city and we all had to stay in our homes. After that, her family moved on to a different house, and I kind of forgot about her. Moved my activities further into the streets. You know how it goes. People just grow up and move on with their lives.

And now here she was – an old childhood friend in my new city. My past has got to stop catching up to me.

"So," I began, "how's your father?"

Car-Lynn had been adopted by the family's butler after he found her in a cardboard box on their doorstep. None of the Smiths were willing to take in a street urchin (because snobs), but Mr. Matthews wasn't just leaving a baby girl out in the streets alone. So naturally, she became a part of his life.

Car-Lynn tensed up. "The Smiths laid him off. Said Pappy wasn't worth the trouble with a teenage kid around. He just packed up and moved here. I thought we could have a fresh start here. I sure wasn't expecting to find you. How's your family? Your dad found a new place?"

I winced involuntarily, trying not to show the pain in my face. Car-Lynn must've really lost touch with our family if she didn't know about Dad's death. I didn't really want to tell her, but she deserved to know about it.

I also wasn't surprised the Smiths had laid him off now that Car-Lynn was a teen. They can only put up with so many children that weren't their own around the estate, and admittedly, Car-Lynn was a lot more tolerable as a cute little kid. And I highly doubted they would have been keen on keeping a girl with a love of shooting Nerf guns all over the place. (And yes, the worry had crossed my mind.)

Also, it seemed like a lot of people were looking for a fresh start in Philly. I was just one of them. But I needed to tell Car-Lynn why we'd really left.

"Car-Lynn," I said, "we did find a new place in this town. Last week of May. But Dad… he's not–"

"Your parents didn't split up on you, did they?"

I sighed, trying not to show my irritation. I don't particularly like it when people assume the worst. Or assume anything, really. "Dad's no longer… with us. He died. Car accident."

"Ah. Wow. That's…" Car-Lynn's voice trailed off. There really wasn't much to say to something like that. Especially since she'd never known her biological father. "That's hard."

"I know." I straightened up and faced her, changing the subject. "How long ago was it? I mean, the move here?" I remembered seeing her in the school on the first day. That didn't really tell me anything.

"Last week of June, actually. So a month after you. Pappy just got us settled into our new place."

Weird, I thought. Just an odd coincidence, I would've thought, but I don't believe in coincidences. Car-Lynn just went on like she hadn't said anything special. (Which she probably hadn't, in her mind.)

"I'm just settling in myself," she added. Her tone carried a little wistfulness, like there was something she'd like to get away from. "I'd like a little change of pace. Something different from the elites. If I'm being honest, I'm on giant-mansion overload. Like something a little more… common folk. Proletariat."

I smiled. So Car-Lynn had gotten tired of the LA scene, like I had? Interesting. We could really commiserate now. Also, it had been three years since I'd last seen her. I wanted to make up for lost time. "Then you'll love my friends. Actually, I should mention we got a small place down in East Lansdowne. Enough for the seven of us still at home–"

"Whoa, lemme keep track." Car-Lynn counted off her fingers. "There's you, your mom, Courtney, Callie, Dexter, Joshua… who's the seventh kid?"

"Valerie. We adopted her a year before the crash." Almost two years now, I thought to myself.

"Dang. Your family's sure gotten big. Daddy must've been keen on it expanding."

I just shrugged again. Catholics and big families mixed like peanut butter and jelly. Not that this was a frequent occurrence, just more likely. It hadn't occurred to me that this might be weird to someone like Car-Lynn, who hadn't grown up with any siblings. For me, it was a fact of life – like monsters, crooks, and losing track of old friends who left your life.

"Well," Car-Lynn said, scanning over the tables and finding VLADJI's. "I take it those are your friends?"

I nodded. "Why don't we go meet them?"

Wonder how that's going to turn out. Will Car-Lynn like DJ's new company?

Verse for the update: Matthew 2:13. Stay tuned for more!