After waiting an hour or so for Bane to go to bed, Zarias quietly pressed his ear to the door. Not a sound. Satisfied, he pulled out the piece of paper he'd used to contact his father the first time. The Demon Lord was almost certainly gong to chastise him for not contacting him earlier, but Zarias didn't care. He set the paper on the floor. The portal activated, and Zorak's image appeared before him.

As Zarias had expected, Zorak was not happy. But then, Zarias was wondering if he ever truly had been. Probably not, since every woman he'd ever wanted had turned away from him.

"You were to contact me every night," The Demon Lord growled.

He hadn't changed one bit, Zarias noticed. He never had, but it was only now that Zarias was noticing it. It had to be boring not to be able to evolve... A flash of himself as a child flickered before his mind's eye. He pushed it aside.

"I know, I'm sorry Father, but I think it is best if I do not," he said. "They don't suspect anything, but that is because I don't escape to my quarters every night to speak with you. I understand your frustration, but as I am in the heart of the enemy's territory, caution is essential."

Zorak didn't seem happy with that reasoning, but he had to see its logic.

"Fair enough," he conceded grudgingly.

Zarias paused. He wondered if he should ask Zorak about what he'd found in the box. Did he even remember what was in it to begin with? Probably not. It had been covered in dust, which suggested it hadn't been moved in a long time.

Before he could decide, however, Zorak spoke again.

"How is our master plan coming?"

"Very well," Zarias said smoothly. "I believe they are slowly lowering their defenses, but it will probably take a little longer for them to fully trust me."

A smile touched his lips.

"But I do believe that one of the girls might be starting to have feelings for me."

Zorak's face brightened.

"Excellent!" He said, clapping his hands with glee. "She'll be easier to convince that way, and can possibly help win over the others, too."

Zarias let out a sigh. He didn't feel like sharing his father's enthusiasm, to be honest.

"It is tiresome to pretend to be those idiots' friends," he said.

"But it is crucial you do it if we are to reach our goal!" Zorak snapped, his eyes flashing. "And you will. Are we clear?"

"Yes, Father."

"Good. That's what I like to hear." Zorak said. "What do you intend to do to convince them to come to me?"

"My first idea was to draw them there the same way we've done in the past. With bait," Zarias said. "But I think we need a new, smarter idea."

"And what idea is that?"

Zarias turned to the window, staring at the night sky.

"I'm not sure, yet. But trust me. It will come."

It grew steadily colder that Monday morning as Andie reached the school. She didn't see her friends in their usual spot, but she couldn't say she was surprised. Jessica hated being cold and would have bent over backwards to keep them from staying outside in this weather. She finally caught up to them in the hallways. They were debating whether to maintain training outside.

"I'm just saying, working out in cold weather is dangerous, everyone knows that!" Jessica said with a shrug, leaning against her locker.

"Yes, but it also works well with your allergy to cold," Isabelle teased.

"We'll just have to do what we did last year," Bane said. "Train separately in our homes whenever we can."

They were keeping their voices down, but the general chatter was so loud it didn't matter anyway. Plus, everyone was so engrossed in their own conversation no one took notice of them.

"I don't know, I mean, do we really need it? We've gotten pretty good over the summer if I do say so myself."

"We'll need every preparation we can get if we're to defeat Zorak," Bane said. "The sooner you get that into your head, the better, Jess."

Jessica seemed about to dish out one of her infamous retorts, so Andie intervened before it could turn into an argument.

"Easy, Bane, none of us want to get pneumonia. But Jess, he's right. We're getting better, yes. However, I still doubt we're anywhere near ready."

"Yeah, especially if we have Mr. Repentant tipping his Daddy off," Jessica commented huffily. "I mean, come on! Am I the only one who doesn't see how dangerous this is?"

"No, you're not," Bane intervened patiently. "But we can at least give him a chance."

"You of all people should agree with me!" Jessica said hotly. "He put you in the hospital, for God's sake!"

He opened his mouth to reply but Andie touched his arm to stop him, her eyes cold.

"You have got to stop using that argument, Jess. It's not right, and it's not fair."

"Are you telling me it's not true?"

"No, I'm not," Andie replied. "But that has nothing to do with you."

"It has everything to do with me! We're all in this group, aren't we?"

"Yes, but what happened that day is between Bane, Zarias and me. You can't just keep throwing it in our faces every time something doesn't suit you."

"Lis-"

"No, you listen." Andie interrupted. "You're my friend but this is over the line. Don't you think that every single time I look at Zarias, I think about what happened? Don't you think I'm just as wary as you? The difference is, Jessica, that if he sincerely wants to turn his life around, I don't want his past mistakes to get in the way of it. He deserves a second chance."

Jessica just gave her a dark look.

"He's not as evil as you think, Jess," Isabelle put in tentatively. "Really, he's not. He's quite interesting when you give him a chance..."

Andie glanced at Isabelle, frowning slightly. Something about what Isabelle was saying felt strange, somehow.

"Oh, please," Jessica snorted. "Why would I even-"

She suddenly froze, her eyes locked on Isabelle.

"Oh. My. God. Are you serious, right now?"

"What's going on?" Emily asked.

"She has feelings for the guy!" Jessica exclaimed "Don't you, Isabelle?"

"Jess, cool it!" Andie intervened. "Zarias has been around for days and has given no indication of being ill-intentioned."

"No, but that's when you have to watch them most! And certainly not have stupid crushes on them! I mean, I'm all for being in love rather than alone, but this is ridiculous!"

And she stormed off angrily. Andie sighed and touched Isabelle's shoulder.

"... Is she right?" she asked her. "Do you have feelings for Zarias?"

"... I don't know..." Isabelle admitted unhappily. "There's something weird when I'm around him. But he's really not as a bad as Jessica says."

"I know he isn't," Andie said. "But at this point, we just can't be sure of anything..."

It wasn't till early that evening that Zarias left his room. Robert wasn't there, which Bane explained was because he had a "dinner date" with someone named "Lisa". He'd seen couples eat in the same place at separate tables, maybe that was what he was referring to. Which meant that he and Bane were the only ones in the house, that evening.

"Everything okay? Is the pasta overcooked?"

It took a moment for Zarias to realize Bane was addressing him. Of course, their being alone should have made that obvious, but he'd been lost in thought.

"Huh? Oh, no... the food is fine..." he said absently.

"What's up?" Bane asked. "Not that you talk that much anyway, but usually I at least get a syllable or two."

Zarias swallowed his mouthful. The pasta was indeed a little overcooked, but he didn't mind.

"I was just thinking."

"Dare I ask what you were thinking about?" Bane asked, pushing a large forkful of pasta into his mouth.

Zarias hesitated. It still felt so peculiar, talking so conversationally with someone he'd fought and even severely injured...

"... How did you know you wanted Adrianna?" he asked.

Bane seemed confused by the question, then said:

"Oh, you mean when I realized I loved her. Well... at first, she was just the cute girl with a book by the tree. I didn't dare speak to her. Balon said it was too risky. And then, she met Emily and Jess, and she just... opened up like a flower in spring."

"But Adrianna's not a flower..." Zarias commented.

"It's an image," Bane clarified. "I mean she became more outgoing, more comfortable. And it's at about that point that I fell for her."

Bane looked at a picture of Adrianna and him.

"And I've loved her ever since."

Then he turned to Zarias, a slight frown on his face.

"Why do you ask?" he inquired. "Has someone caught your eye?"

"... I... don't know, that's why I wanted to know how you'd known."

"Everyone is different, but... a pretty good way to tell if you like someone or not is if you can't seem to stop thinking about them. Or it bugs you when they're with someone else," he added as an afterthought.

"So... if I keep thinking about the same person without meaning to... it means I like her?"

"You do have someone on your mind, don't you?" Bane teased, a smile on his lips. "Who is it? The girl across the street? She's pretty, but I think she's taken."

"... No, no... I don't have anyone in mind. I was just... curious."

"If you say so," Bane shrugged, though Zarias wasn't sure he was convinced. "I'm stuffed, you want any more?"

"No, thank you," Zarias replied. "I think I'm going to retire for the night."

"Okay, then. Night," Bane said.

Zarias nodded and went to his room. Once the door was securely shut behind him, he sat on the bed, staring absently at the wall. He'd considered physical attraction to Isabelle... but never anything more... perhaps because he'd never learned to recognize any other form of attraction... Isabelle was after all quite attractive without her peaceful, reasonable personality... he was surprised to be drawn to Isabelle when they'd been enemies just a few weeks before... What was that quote Bane's uncle had told them once? It was some philosopher... Oh, yes. Now, he remembered:

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.