It was morning by the time Han got home. He had the driver in the Collective car that gave him a lift home drop him off down the block from his house. It was a nice neighborhood his family lived in. Lots of two-story houses and big yards. Nothing fancy, but homey. 

Han reached his house and swiftly pulled himself up into the tree that he often used for sneaking in and out, and climbed back through the window of his room. He stripped off the clothes they had given him at the hospital and fell into bed in just his boxers.

Just as Han was starting to doze off, he heard his parents approaching his door. He feigned sleep, debating attempting a snore to make it seem more real. His parents came into the room a few seconds later.

"Han," his mother called.

Han opened his eyes slowly and blinked a few times. He even stretched out his good arm. "What's wrong?" He asked with a fake yawn. "What time is it?"

"You can cut the act," his father said strictly. "We know you haven't been here all night."

His arm froze in the stretch, hanging motionless above his head as he tried to think of a lie. Nothing came to mind so he decided to play innocent. "What're you talking about?"

"Your brother came into your room to find a game or something and you were gone. We've been worried sick all night. What were you thinking, sneaking out like that?"

"Um...." Han still couldn't think of anything to say.

"Get yourself together and come meet us downstairs."

After they were gone, Han gave a frustrated growl and let his head fall back onto his pillow. Sometimes he really hated his life. He had had a whole plan that involved his parents not seeing him until the afternoon, so he could try and explain his injury. 

So much for that. Han forced himself out of bed and threw on a t-shirt and shorts that he found on the floor. He ran a comb through his hair, trying to make himself look more presentable. Then he went downstairs. His parents were sitting on the couch in silence, his father's arm around his mother's shoulders, like she needed comforting. He took a seat in the recliner opposite them. 

"What happened?" his mother, Lily, asked as she noticed his cast, jumping up from the couch and rushing to him. 

"Oh, it's nothing. Just a stupid skateboard accident."

Han had told his parents years ago that he had taken up skateboarding. It was the best excuse he could think of to explain away all the times he came home injured. They both hated that he was getting hurt, but they also didn't want to control him. And they wanted him to do what he loved. Which they believed was skateboarding.

He figured them worrying about him getting hurt skateboarding was better than them worrying about him getting killed by witches on a night of patrol. And anyway, there were strict rules at the Collective about keeping their secret world just that, secret. 

"Nothing?" Han's father, Jack, questioned as he sat forward with concern. "It's a broken arm. You have a cast!"

"Why didn't you call us? Is that where you were all night? The hospital?"

Sometimes the lies just presented themselves for him. "Yeah. I didn't want to worry you."

"We're your parents," Lily said, sitting down once more. "When something happens to you, we want to know. Why didn't the hospital call?"

"I'm nineteen," Han said with a shrug. "I'm an adult."

Lily and Jack shared a look that Han knew meant trouble. They were getting ready to have some kind of "talk" with him.

"Han," his father began. "We're concerned about you."

"Concerned?" Han asked, leaning back in the seat and putting his arms on the armrests, trying to be as casual as possible, like nothing in the world could possibly be wrong. "About what?"

"You never used to lie to us," his mother said quietly.

The truth was, Han lied to them all the time. Ever since he had become an animal mage it had been a necessity. But he didn't used to get caught very often. It had been harder and harder as the years went on to keep up the charade. The Collective expected more of him the older Han got, and with high school and all, it got harder to juggle everything.

"I didn't lie, I just didn't tell you I was gone," Han said carefully, testing the waters of how they would take this particular approach.

"It's not just about tonight and you know it," Jack said, his voice strained from trying to keep calm. "Your mother and I were almost afraid you wouldn't graduate high school. Your grades dropped so low. To be completely honest, we're surprised you got into the university you did."

Han couldn't blame them for thinking that. He had almost failed out of high school. And he hadn't actually gotten into the college they thought he had. He just had the Collective fake some paperwork and make it look like he had.

"Of course we're proud of you," his mother added, "and we know you're smarter than your grades showed. But that's what worries us. You aren't a D student, Han. You've always been smart."

"I just let things get out of hand," Han said, trying to act abashed. "It was stupid."

His father gave a sigh as he leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs. "You're also so tired all the time. You're never around. This past year it's like you're not even a part of this family. You're gone all the time. And this isn't the first time you've disappeared without telling us."

Han had known, of course, that his parents were probably starting to catch on that something wasn't right. They had grounded him a few times. He had tried to make the times he was around good, so that they wouldn't suspect anything. Apparently it hadn't worked. Han had joked about being in trouble with them before, but now that they were laying it all out like this, and admitting just how worried they were, he just felt bad.

"I just don't understand why you're acting this way," his mother said in a pleading voice, giving way to her emotion. "You're worrying us. This isn't like you. And now that you're going off to school.... I just don't know what's going to happen."

"I'm not doing anything bad," Han said, his voice filled with sincerity. He could never be completely honest with them, but this was one thing he could be truthful about.

"I'd like to believe that, Son," Jack said.

"Is it drugs?" his mother asked in a low voice, as if scared of the words.

"No, of course not."

"Is it a girl?" His father seemed almost hopeful.

"No."

"A boy?" his mother tried.

"No, it's not any of those things," Han said, laughing despite the situation.

"We're just trying to understand," his mother said. "Please, just tell us what's going on with you."

Han sighed. He wished it were that simple. "I just... I've got things in my life that take up my time. But, it's not anything bad. You have to trust me. I'm actually... I'm trying to do good, okay? I promise you, I'm fine." That much was true. But, he needed to embellish with some more assurances, he knew. "I'm really going to give it my all this semester. I think it was good for me to wait to start until the spring semester. I've really gotten my head straight. I can focus now."

His mother and father looked at each other. They seemed to be sharing some sort of private communication in that stare. His father eventually turned back to him. "We do trust you. We're just worried. We know that you're nineteen, and you'll be off on your own in a few days, but we hope that you know that we'll always be here for you if you need us."

"Okay, enough of this, now," Lily said, giving herself a little shake. She did that sometimes. She called it resetting. "Let's go, group hug."

There was a rule at his house that if anyone ever called "group hug," everyone in the vicinity had to immediately drop what they were doing and participate. The three of them stood and threw their arms around each other. Han was a foot taller than his mom, so he was able to easily rest his chin on top of her head, which he liked to do during the group hugs.

"You know," Han said, attempting to lighten the mood, "you'd know if I was doing drugs, because I would share them with you. I wouldn't keep them all to myself."

His mother gave him a pat on the back. "I should hope not, Dear. We didn't raise our son to be a bogarter, that's for sure."

"Sharing is caring," Jake added.

Han sighed and gave them one more squeeze. "I really do love you guys."

***

Han approached the tall brick fence, almost twice his height, that was the perimeter to Orion's house. He reached the metal gate that swung open to let him in as soon as came close. It was magically altered to recognize friend from foe. The gate opened up to a long driveway, bordered by so many trees, it seemed like he was going into a forest. But then the trees cleared and Han saw the house, a large Victorian style mansion with an added-on garage.

Han stepped into the mansion, as they called it, and joined Rand, who was in the library, her nose in a book while she lounged on the couch. The library was like the base of operations for Third Company, their squad. Besides having a high volume of books, the room also had a nice lounging area for them to rest their feet after rough nights.

"So my parents think I'm on drugs," Han said as he dropped into one of the recliners. 

Rand looked up from her book and smiled over at him. But the smile didn't reach her honey-brown eyes. It rarely did these days. But sometimes, on her good days, Han could get her to really smile, and even laugh.

"What are you reading?"

Rand showed Han the book. It had a rough drawing of a Wasawasa demon on the cover. "Seems... riveting."

"I'm trying to see if I can figure out why the Wasawasas ever agreed to pair up with Orsini in the first place."

The Wasawasas had been fairly low-key demons before, even if they were horrifying to look at. They hadn't made many appearances or stirred up much trouble. But a while back they had teamed up with Orsini, and now he used them to do his bidding all over the city. And his bidding was never above board. 

Han rose and walked over to the whiteboard in the corner. It was covered in magnets, cut-outs, post-its, string, and writing. They were trying to piece together what on earth Orsini was up to. Rand had made very little headway in the past few months. 

What they knew: Orsini was up to something. No surprise there. There was some kind of weapon he had gotten a hold of. He had traded for it with a terrifying clan of demons called Los Malos. But what the weapon was or what it could be used for, they had no idea. Orsini had also attempted to steal an ancient relic from the Asari vampires, but luckily Rand had gotten it back. 

If Orsini was accruing some medley of materials, then that meant only one thing: a spell. But what spell? For what purpose? And what damage would it do? And what else was left for him to find before he could complete it?

There were too many unanswered questions. 

"It's a little strange that the Wasawasas were in the forest to begin with, right?" Han asked, adding another question to the pile. He picked up a marker and found an empty spot along one side of the whiteboard. "Orsini works almost exclusively in the city."

"So they were sent there specifically to capture the vampire?" Rand asked, getting up and joining Han at the whiteboard.

Han added the Wasawasa activity and last night's date to the whiteboard. "Maybe he's after the Asari diamond again."

Rand nodded thoughtfully. "Could be."

Han scanned the board and his eyes drifted to a piece of paper with words scribbled on it. Rand's terrible handwriting. Han had studied the paper so many times, he had it memorized. But still, seeing it there always haunted him.

It was a prophecy, told in pieces over the course of centuries by different prophets, and put together by the Collective and their allies. It was the only definitive clue they had as to what Orsini might be doing, and yet it was impossible to decipher.

And even if they could, prophecies were unreliable for so many reasons. They were almost always misinterpreted. And it was those misinterpretations were what often led the way to the worst possible outcome foretold. 

It haunted him because it was something that he didn't understand. That was completely out of his control. That, to him, was scarier even than going against three witches alone and almost getting killed. It was scarier than facing off against Orsini even.

Han didn't like it one bit.