"Lysander told me all about the Kraken thing. Says you were just like me." Damon said.
    "It was really fun." Thalia replied, blandly.
    "So... What d'you think of being a Skylord?" Damon asked.
    Thalia sighed. "I dunno, pops. I really don't. I liked it but I just don't know if I really wanna be a Skylord."
    "You're sixteen now, you know." Damon pointed out. "You're old enough to apply to the academy."
    "Honestly... Before I came here I would have done it simply because you asked. But now... I kinda wanna stay in the army."
    "Really?" Damon asked incredulously. "Military?"
    Thalia shrugged. "I really like it here. And training with the Commander, I just sort of realized I don't want to leave."
    Damon shrugged with a short sigh and kissed her forehead. "Do whatever makes you happy, sweetheart." He stood up, rolling his eyes. "Maybe Toby'll carry out the family name." He teased.
    "I wouldn't be so sure." Thalia replied. "He seems to be pretty interested in the Star Cadets."
    "Oh boy..." Damon groaned. "Not another damned diplomat... First your mother, then your uncle and now this..."
    Thalia laughed. "I think he'd be good!" She stopped as she realized Damon was walking out of the training hall. "You're not going, are you?"
    "Got to, kid." He replied. "I'm supposed to still be at the Skylord meetings but Lysander let me visit because of the whole Sealord thing."
    "Well... What about Toby? Aren't you going to visit him?"
    "I saw him earlier." Damon replied. He smiled sympathetically. "I'll see you soon, little one."
    Thalia sighed. "Yeah, in like four months..."
    "If that be so, then I expect you to be a better swordsman than me, got it?" Damon said.
    Thalia nodded. "Yeah, yeah." She smirked. "Later."
    "Goodbye, little one." He smiled at his daughter. "Stay out of trouble, alright?"
    "No promises."
    Damon rolled his eyes and without another word, he saluted and walked off down the hall. Thalia stayed where she was quite a few minutes after he was out of sight, listening to the sounds of the recruits training in the hall behind her. Suddenly, Logan poked his head around the corner of the doorway.
    "TK, Venom wants in the library."
    "Oh god, what now?"
    "No idea." Logan said with a shrug. "She just found something and I think it might be important."
    Thalia sighed and followed him out of the hall. "Fine, let's get this over with."
    Logan raised an eyebrow. "You okay?"
    "Of course, why wouldn't I be?" Thalia asked.
    Logan looked rather confused. "I dunno... You just look kind of... glum."
    Thalia shook her head. "I'm fine, Ginger." She lied.
   
"What's the big deal?" Logan asked, crossing his arms as he and Thalia met Venom and Kevin in the library. "I was in the middle of lunch. It's taco Tuesday, guys!"
    "I looked up Xandra." Venom said, getting straight to the point like she tended to do. "Turns out she's the recluse."
    Logan's eyes widened, clearly thrown off by the sudden change in mood. "Whoa, what?!"
    "Yeah, I know." Kevin said. "But it's true. She told Thalia and I her story when we were on Sandy Island and it matches up."
    "Hang on, what's a recluse?" Thalia asked.
    "Not a recluse." Logan said. "The recluse. The recluse is a scary story older recruits told the younger ones on missions to scare them, but it's not actually true." He caught Venom's piercing green gaze and stopped. "...Is it?"
    She shook her head. "That's what I thought too... Until I read this."
    She held up a rather small, very old looking book and placed it on the table, opening it to reveal very small print. Each page had a different persons picture on it, and information about them.
    "Whoa, how old is that thing?" Kevin asked.
    "It's actually only about fifteen years or so." Venom said. "But it was shoved up against the very back of the shelf. Nobody's touched this thing in years."
    "Well what is it?" Thalia asked. "What does it say?"
    "This," Venom held it up as she rad the title, then set it down on the table again. "Is the printed data base. The only printed data base. These are the profiles of forty nine missing recruits. I read it a while ago, and it just occurred to me that the name Xandra sounds very familiar." She cleared her throat as she opened the book to page forty-seven. "Recruit Number 47. Name: Alicia Juliana Xandra. Age: Eighteen. Sector: Sky Army (Commander's Apprentice). Current Status: MIA, presumed dead." She closed her book and set it down on the table. "Guys, I dug a little deeper and the facts match up. I think Xandra really is the recluse. She's recruit number forty-seven."
    "But that doesn't make sense." Kevin said. "The legend says that the recluse never led anything. But she's leading the Teuthidans, so... How does that work?"
    "I don't know." Venom shook her head. "Maybe she's not their big leader, maybe she's still under Owlet. But there's something about this that doesn't feel right..." She looked up. "Alright, I'm gonna stay here and figure out what we're up against."
    "Shouldn't we tell the Commander about this?" Thalia asked. "I mean, shouldn't this be something he should know about?"
    "Yeah, but let's just do a little more research on this first." Venom replied. "Meet me in the mess hall at lunch and I'll tell you what I found, if anything."
    "Got it." Logan said. "Now I better go; there might still be some tacos left over." He turned and jogged out of the library.
    Kevin rolled his eyes. "That kid and his tacos..." He said. "Every damn Tuesday, he does this."
    Thalia laughed. "Shakespeare and tacos. What a nerd."