“Why?” Sage asked after hearing Leslie's question.

   “Simple,” Mycah began to respond to the question that was meant for Leslie. “Both hers and my demon live in Luxembourg.” He wetted his lips. “We might as well go check out these demons… Get a feel for them before we bind them to us for good.”

    Leslie nodded. “Essentially what I was about to say. You took the words right out of my mouth, Mycah.”

    Sage raised a dark eyebrow at Mycah and Leslie. “What? So, I'm not able to meet my demon yet?” They crossed their arms.

    Mycah snickered. “You mean your future daughter?”

     Sage rolled their glowing green eyes at that. They exhaled. “So, I'm just gonna have to wait to meet mine?”

     “Sage,” Mycah began to reply. “We don't even know where Tiyuk even lives. That's just not something we can find out.”

     “We can probably find her dad's address,” Sage said, shrugging.

     “What?” Mycah raised an eyebrow. “We do that so you can flirt with Nashoba?”

      “Maybe,” Sage responded.

     “I understand that, Sage… I really do,” Mycah responded. “But think about this from a practicality standpoint… Nashoba and Tiyuk probably live in the United States.” Mycah sucked in a breath. “...while Dylan and Kara live in Luxembourg… You know, the same fucking continent as us. If we wanted to go see Nashoba and his daughter, we'd have to book a flight.”

     Sage exhaled, that idea starting to dawn on them. “Oh shit..  Yeah.” They swallowed before running a hand through their curly, black hair. “It must've slipped my mind. Damn.”

     “But yeah,” Mycah said, turning back to face Leslie once more. “I'll go with you to Luxembourg.”

     Sage nodded. “I'll go too.”

     Nicolas bounced excitedly at this idea. “I want to go. I want to go home.”

     Poor Nico. He doesn't realize now that he's here, he can't go home, Leslie thought to herself.

      Mycah and Sage exchanged a glance with each other after hearing Leslie's grim thoughts.

      Poor little guy, Mycah thought.

      He doesn't realize how things run around here, Sage said, mentally.

     Tomi ran over to Leslie to see what all of the commotion and conversation was about.

      “Alright,” Leslie said to Nico. “You can come with us.”

      Nicolas bounced up and down, excitedly. “Yes! You won't regret this!”

     Leslie looked over to Sage and Mycah. “You two should get a few things before we leave. It's going to be a long trip.”

─┉─¡! • !¡─┉─

    Mycah and Sage returned an hour later to Leslie's dorm room with small bags in hand.

     “I got a few things… Just the essentials,” Sage said.

    Mycah nodded. “I got the essentials too… Donuts and chips.”

     Sage rolled their eyes at that. “What'd you do? Pack your entire kitchen.”

     Mycah grinned, proudly while he straightened his posture. “Yep. And what of it?”

     Leslie was slipping Tomi's shoes on when her friends arrived. “You're gonna go on a trip, buddy. Your first trip ever… You'll get to see the world outside of this room. Isn't that fun?”

     Tomi nodded. “Mhm!”

     Leslie finished tying the little boy's shoes and helped him up. She picked her bag off the ground and slid it over her shoulder. She turned to face her friends. “Sage… You still know how to drive, right?”

     Sage scoffed. “As if I'd really forget how to do something like that.” They sucked in a breath. “Look, I've got a car that's parked in the nearest parking lot to this building. We can head out there. Then… it's smooth sailing from there.”

    Leslie nodded as she let her mind process that information. “Okay then. You and Mycah head off and Nico, Tomi, and I will meet you out there.”

    “Alright,” Sage said. They turned toward Mycah, heading to the door. “Hey… Fuckass… Let's go.” They left the room.

     Mycah gave Leslie a glance before leaving with Sage.

     “Nico!” Leslie called out. “Come on.”

    Nicolas ran over to the door, heading out.

    Leslie then told Tsvetomir, “This… might feel a bit weird.” Leslie then casted an illusion spell that would only let her see Tomi. She grabbed his hand and continued to follow Nicolas down the hallway.

     A little bit down the long, winding torch-lit corridors, Iris stepped out in front of them. “Eliesavetta.”

     Leslie froze, feeling her mouth go dry. “Miss Haynes.”

     “Where are you off to in such a hurry?” Iris then asked Leslie. She eyed the ‘empty’ space beside Leslie, which only made the young witch stiffen even more so.

     Leslie raised her mental block. Dammit! Stop freezing up. You need to relax. Otherwise, she's going to know that something's up. So, come on…. Relax. Breathe. Just breathe. Leslie relaxed. “To the library. I wanted to study up on science you know… Science and alchemy go hand and hand after all.”

     Iris continued to eye the space by Leslie.

     I think she's using magic, Castella said. Hiding something maybe?

     “That is true,” Iris said to Leslie. Her gaze drifted away from the place that Tomi was cloaked in to where Nicolas stood. “Well, if it isn't Nicolas Lieux… Our newest member.”

     “Ma'am…” Nicolas responded, trying not to panic. He swallowed.

     “I see you've met Eliesavetta Kovacheva,” Iris started to say. “She'd be a great mentor to you. She's very powerful, you know… Skilled… especially in cloaking and illusion spells.”

     Shit, Leslie thought.

    “Nicolas… Go ahead down the hall to the third room on the left…” Iris said. “You need to go to orientation.”

    Nicolas looked over to Leslie, unsure of what to do.

     Leslie felt bad that Nicolas wouldn't be able to go with them like he had wanted to. She inhaled. “Go on… Go to orientation.”

     Nicolas sighed, hanging his head and walking down the hall to the room he was instructed to go to.

     Iris smiled in a way that made Leslie feel sick before walking past her.

     Once Leslie knew Iris was out of sight, she and Tomi ran down the corridor and through the stairwells all the way out to the big doors.

     Leslie noticed the door was already unlocked. “Come on,” Leslie said to Tomi before heading outside.

     When the doors swung shut behind them, Leslie released the cloaking spell and picked Tomi up in her arms and ran out to the nearest parking lot where her friends were waiting by Sage's car.

    “Come on,” Leslie said again, outside. “Let's go.”