Sunray felt like her heart was going to break. With fear. With shock. With horror. Because, no matter how much she tried convincing herself that it was just a nightmare, what had happened just a moment ago was real. She'd been about to be shot for the second time in two weeks, when out of nowhere her partner had thrown himself in front of her and taken the deadly hit for her.

Standing just a few feet in front of her, Night appeared stunned. He just stood there, staring in terror at Preciser for several seconds. Everything was tensely silent.

Suddenly a conflicted mix of emotions spread across his face, and his eyes widened for a split second, then shut tightly. He fumbled for his hood with something like a strangled gasp and yanked it tightly over his head with both hands, simultaneously grabbing his temples and doubling over. "N-no, no, no, no, no, you can't—!" he shrieked in a horrified tone, beginning to stumble wildly around the road. "I won't— won't listen. No. No!" He covered his ears firmly, but there was still a pressured and agonized look on his face. "You . . . will never . . . ch-change . . ." His voice trailed away into a distressed cry.

Sunray watched in alarm, not knowing what was happening to him and having no idea how to help him. This was not what had happened to her when she'd been shot the week before.

Night wasn't yelling out nonsense anymore, but she could see his teeth were gritted, and he was shaking violently. Her heart ached to see him have to fight this mental battle all on his own.

At least a minute later, he finally collapsed, his face buried in his arms on the ground and hunched over. She gazed at him for a moment, then moved hesitantly to his side and laid a hand on his back. "Night . . . are you okay?"

She immediately jumped back in surprise and shock, however, when his head jerked up again and his eyes shot open. She quickly drew further back in alarm, because they weren't the usual dark sapphire; they were glowing white.

He was staring forward at nothing, his face blank. Then he slowly lifted his chin to meet Preciser's eyes, which were glittering back at him and almost communicating something to him that Sunray couldn't understand. Obviously it was bad news, though; after a few more seconds' hesitation, her partner turned his head to the right, in Sunray's direction. His eyes met hers, but not with the usual warmth. Now, he wore a simple expression that she'd never seen him wear, yet chilled her to the bone: cold determination.

He rose smoothly to his feet and began walking towards her. Not knowing what exactly was going on but seeing Night wasn't himself, she started to back away, her eyes wide. "Night," she said quietly, raising both hands. "Stop it. You know me. I know you. You're my best friend. We're on the same side."

He kept walking, his eyes never leaving hers.

"You were my first friend ever," she went on, starting to grow desperate. "You . . . you call me Sunshine. Sometimes I call you Night Hawk." Her voice was growing panicked. "Preciser is our enemy. I'm your friend!"

But he didn't respond to her words. Rather, he closed his fingers around empty air and resolidified his seax, turning her blood ice-cold.

"Night!" she pleaded, close to tears. "Don't do this! Don't listen to him! I'm not going to fight you. I can't!"

Still, he remained frighteningly silent. He quickened his pace and suddenly leapt at her, his blade raised in the air for a strike. His quick movement nearly scared her into paralysis; as a guardian, she was used to being attacked, but never by him.

She dropped to the ground and slipped hastily under his swinging weapon, ignoring her instinct to counterattack when antagonized. His blade ended up sinking two feet into the cement building wall behind her.

She hopped swiftly up again and raced across the street. Night glared at her, then yanked his weapon out again and took off after her. But even though he was a fast runner, her power was the fastest thing in existence.

Still, he had his shadow-transferring ability. It made the cloudy sky a sudden disadvantage for her, because if the barrier was gone, he could appear anywhere. In normal circumstances, that was a good thing. These, however, were definitely not normal circumstances.

You can't run forever, a voice inside her that she didn't want to listen to whispered. You'll have to do something at one point or another.

So she had to break the spell. The most popular choice in fairytales was true love's kiss, but she decided that that would be the most awkward thing in the world if he found out, since she still wasn't entirely sure how exactly he felt towards her.

There was also the possibility of hitting him really hard over the head to snap him out of it . . .

Never, she told herself firmly. One, he doesn't have amnesia. Two, I would die of guilt if I did that.

Almost caught up in her own thoughts, she nearly got struck with his blade, which was swinging dangerously close to her face. She blinked back to reality and sprang back from him, but he lunged in spite of that and pinned her to the road, ending his attack by hovering his blade an inch over her throat. Even then, however, she realized the boy she knew and loved was still in there, just being controlled; he still knew what even a touch of his blade could do to her especially. In an early fight, they'd found out that Night's weapon felt just as painfully cold to Sunray as darkness, and the same with her bow to him, except hers felt like fire. The rule applied to humans as well; only the weapons' owners could touch them safely. Every time she'd seen him do this move to Preciser or a criminal, he'd mercilessly pressed his blade against his enemy's neck. Yet here, even in a subjugated state, he was keeping it only as a threat and not letting it actually touch her. 

The only problem: he could easily take her gem without hurting her, and she wasn't sure he was there enough to be able to fight it.

However endangered, she didn't fight. She couldn't. For the smallest moment he was staring down at her, his eyes fierce, her eyes sad.

But when he started reaching for her pocket, she moved her hand and grabbed his. For a moment he tensed and tried to struggle free, and his eyes flew back to hers. There was another moment of silence before she whispered, her voice heartbroken, "Night. Please."

He stared down at her for at least half a minute, his eyes slowly widening over the stretch of time. The frostiness in his expression began to drain away, and at last his hand drifted back from her pocket. The white light in his eyes started to flicker as he gradually relaxed and rose to his feet, revealing just a trace of the deep blue she was so used to. She shifted and stood up as well when he took a couple steps backward, their shared gaze continuing, her face hopeful, his stunned. He blinked several times, then frowned and touched his head with one hand in confusion. Very softly, his voice hoarse, he started whispering, "Sunsh—?"

But then Preciser stepped threateningly forward, growling, and clenched one fist. Night flinched and grabbed his head again, this time with both hands. His shoulders tensed and he hunched over once more, trembling. Sunray's hope tumbled into a pit of near-despair as his eyes flashed bright white again, and he snapped back to aggression.

She sprinted across the road as he lunged again, her mind whirling. Absolutely desperate and empty of any other ideas, she snatched her bow, took a deep breath, and raced forward towards him. He had his blade lifted over his shoulder for another strike, but when she approached, she ducked to avoid his swing and brought her bow down hard on him right in the face, muttering, "Please don't remember this." Immediately afterwards, as his hands flew to his face and he staggered backwards and collapsed again, she turned and shot five arrows at Preciser in the span of half a second. The giant leapt back with a bellow of fury and pain.

Never having felt more guilty in her life, Sunray turned back to check on Night, who was already shifting and moaning. His eyes slowly opened again, but although they weren't glowing unnaturally, they were still clouded over. As he sat up, his expression no longer looked intimidating; instead, he looked stunned and puzzled. Hesitantly, his voice trembling a little, he asked, "Sunray?"

Relief exploded inside her. "Night!" she burst out, walking quickly around to his front side. "You know me?"

He'd seemed about to say something, but her words cut them off and made him frown. "Of course I know you!" He sounded shocked. "And also . . . where are you?"

Sunray's mouth opened and closed again in confusion, and her brow furrowed. "I'm right here . . ." she said slowly.

He jerked his head in her general direction, but his eyes only landed on her for a second before darting away again. He straightened uncertainly and swallowed. "Where?"

Her breathing started to quicken. "N-Night, what's wrong?" she demanded.

"I-I can't see!" His voice sounded almost panicked as he rose unsteadily —his arms held out to feel for any obstacles— and began wandering forward, only to trip over the curb and crash to his knees. "Where's Preciser?"

Sunray's heart flipped with panic—half at his reply to her question, half at her realization of where the enemy was. And what he was doing. He had another spell arrow readied and aimed directly at Night.

"Look out!" she gasped, running for him. She grabbed his wrist and pulled him out of the way right before the arrow hit him.

"Thanks," he said breathlessly as she led him across the street away from the giant. "Except . . . I kinda can't look out at the moment." He started rubbing his head with his free hand, still round-eyed.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the realization hit Sunray like a freight train, making her freeze in her tracks in the middle of the road. Night bumped into her from behind as she muttered, "Oh, no."

"What's wrong?" he asked quickly, tensing up even more and glancing around with quick, jerky movements. "Are you okay?"

She almost didn't hear him, she felt so guilty. Her bow was made of light, and she'd just hit him in the face with it. So putting that together with his current situation meant . . .

". . . I think I accidentally struck you . . . temporarily blind . . ." she said slowly, each word a cringe as she waited for his reaction.

"What?" His stunned tone made her wince. "Why?"

Panic swept over her, followed by a defensive feeling. She continued leading him away from Preciser and distractedly deflecting his shots with her bow as she protested, "Well, you were trying to kill me . . . so I had to—"

"I was?" Night's voice had gone up an octave, and all of a sudden he was the one sounding guilty.

"Don't blame yourself!" she told him firmly, realizing what he was thinking. "It wasn't your fault! Apparently the arrows have different effects on different people."

His expression didn't change. "Still . . ."

"It wasn't your fault," she repeated, guiding him over to the wall of a nearby building. "Stay here," she instructed, stopping him by the wall. "I'll be right back."

As she began walking towards Preciser once more, her eyes narrowed, her fear and guilt replaced by silent fury. Thoughts of every single thing he'd ever done to hurt them, physically and emotionally, swirled through her head. The mere thought of Night's marred past added to her anger as well as her strength. Her pace started to quicken.

Preciser seemed almost uneasy as she drew closer, her bow ready with an arrow nocked. His weapon changed back into an axe as he apparently shook off his discomfort and gradually began to charge her. His expression shifted ever so slightly back again, however, when her glow rapidly brightened and her eyes began to shimmer with a piercing white light.

Her vision was almost blurred from rage by the time she broke into a run and attacked. Her memories of what happened next were only glimpses every here and there. She recalled hurling attack after attack at him and never giving him the chance to retaliate.

Being honest she didn't remember how or when, but at some point, after only five or six minutes, the massive villain was gone. She found herself stumbling backwards with no threats in sight, her bow lowered and her breath coming in gasps. In an effort to calm herself, she dropped her weapon and took a deep breath, then turned to Night.

He had one hand on the wall behind him and was staring straight ahead round-eyed. Obviously hearing her approach, he started glancing around again, his eyes never landing on anything in particular as he asked, "Is he gone?"

"Yes," she replied quietly, and he let go of the wall and reached forward hesitantly. "How's your eyes?" she added, stepping forward and touching her hand to his.

He stopped moving when their fingertips touched. "A bit better. They don't sting as much, but I still can't really see a lot." He paused. "What happened to the fourth creature?"

"I'm not sure, actually." She frowned. "Maybe he took it underground again."

"Do you remember what it was? Or what it looked like, anyway?"

"No . . ."

He took a small step forward, closer to her, their fingers still entangled. "How did he get his weapon back?" he muttered.

Sunray glanced over at the empty space where the giant's weapon had lain earlier, and began leading him down the street as she replied, "He might've used one of his other powers to take it while we were finishing with the third creature. Maybe it was invisibility or something."

"True, true," he said with a shrug. Then he added more quietly, "Don't say those kinds of things around him, though! He might take it as an idea!"

She giggled, and he smiled a little wider.

For a few minutes, silence reigned over both. In those quiet moments, it was almost like they were slowly drifting closer and closer to each other in their walk. But she was pretty sure it was just her imagination.

Or maybe it was reality . . . because by the time the two drew near City Hall, their arms were linked.

She looked up slightly and he jumped as the sudden roar of a cop's motorcycle sounded right before it came speeding around the corner. Night stepped back and started rubbing his eyes while the cop jumped off and walked up to them. "Night, Sunray, Mayor Niccolo wants to see you."

Surprised, Sunray glanced up at Night, then back at the officer and replied, "Yes, sir. Where is he?"

"A couple streets down south and to the left," the cop answered, pointing, then climbed back onto his bike and started it up again.

"Thank you, sir!" she called as he rode away, then turned back to her partner. "Your vision any better?"

He shrugged. "A little bit, I guess." His words were ended with heavy raindrops tumbling from the dark gray sky, soaking them both within a couple moments. He sighed and pulled a face. "Great."

"You don't like rain?" she asked, resuming their walk in the direction the cop had shown them.

"I like clouds," he replied, squinting to improve his incomplete vision and to keep the rain out. He reached back and pulled his hood over his head, only to make a face when the rainwater that had already collected in his hood dumped over his head. He sighed. "Not so much the rain."

Silence reigned for a minute or so as they walked, until she commented, "It's actually almost a good thing it was cloudy during . . . you know . . ." she pointed out, "coming to think of it. You weren't able to pull the same trick on me as you did to Preciser." There was a pause, then her eyes widened and she facepalmed. I am such an idiotic blonde. "Okay, forget I ever said that," she finished with a cheesy smile. "I don't even have a shadow."

Night halted momentarily, and, although he still couldn't see very well, turned his head in her direction and focused right on her with a small grin. "Yes, you do," he said softly.

She stared back at him in confusion. "No, I don't . . ." she responded eventually.

His little smile only grew. "Yes, you do," he repeated. "And he's standing right next to you."

Pleasant realization dawned suddenly on her, and she blushed as she realized he was saying he'd always be right there by her side, faithful as a shadow itself. And he didn't even need to tell her; his continuous actions proved it already, even though she'd never thought of it in that particular way before. She couldn't suppress her delighted smile as they proceeded on with their walk.

After a few more moments of quiet, she glanced over at him and questioned curiously, "So . . . do you have any ideas on what the mayor wants?"

He paused for a second or two, then looked down at her and answered, "He's probably wondering why Preci—" He cut himself off as he accidentally walked straight into a lamppost beyond his current line of vision. With a frustrated huff, he reached out with his free hand and felt around until he touched the pole, then carefully moved around it and tried to focus straight ahead. "—why Preciser had his creatures attack the people," he continued. "He's never done that before."

"I was thinking about that, too." Sunray frowned. "Any ideas on why, in case that's really what he wants?"

There was another few silent seconds before he finally replied, "I thought maybe it was to make everyone scared of more attacks on them rather than us. If Preciser keeps this up, they might get so scared that they'll try and force us to give up the gems so they'll be safe again."

She hesitated for a moment. "But . . ." she protested at last, "would they seriously get that desperate? I mean, we've saved them how many times?"

Playfully answering her question quite literally, he drew in an overly-dramatic inhale and replied slowly, "Well, first off, twice in each week. There's . . . fifty-two weeks in a year, and we've been doing this three and a half years now, so . . . fifty-two times two is . . ." He frowned, obviously not thinking straight. ". . . something, and then that times three point five is something else—"

"At least over three-hundred-sixty-four times," Sunray cut in, having mentally figured out the answer to her own question while he'd been speaking, "since there's the other times like the earthquake last week."

Night immediately halted and turned to stare at her incredulously. She gave him a sheepish grin as they slowly started moving again. "Okay," he said at last. "You are officially named mathematician of us. I'm pathetic at math."

She started to giggle. "Why don't you just call me the bright one?" she asked finally, then helplessly burst into a fit of laughter.

He stopped again, closed his eyes briefly, then looked at her. It was obvious he was barely suppressing a smile as he protested, "And you say I make all the worst puns around here?"

"Worst?" she echoed, still giggling, and nudged him teasingly on the shoulder. "Oh, come on. You gotta admit that was awesome."

"Yeah, whatever." He waved his free hand dismissively like he didn't care, but she could tell he was making a huge effort to look casual. Just a few seconds later, he lost control and started smiling.

The wail of sirens gradually filled the air as the duo drew near the part of the city with the most damage, the same place Mayor Niccolo was. Sunray couldn't tell if she was imagining it or not, but Night appeared to be getting more and more uncomfortable as they approached. When they finally rounded the corner in view of the sirens' sources, he stopped suddenly, stiff as a board.

"You okay?" she asked, taking a step back to resume her place beside him. She blinked. "Can you see?"

After a bit of hesitation, he replied distantly, "Sort of," and slowly began walking again. She figured out pretty fast that that hadn't been the reason, because she had to guide him back into a straight line of walking numerous times on the way to the mayor, who was standing on the right sidewalk on the far edge.

When they reached him, he stepped forward and said quickly, "Thank you for coming," then added, "Why were we attacked?"

Sunray exchanged a knowing look with Night, then turned back to Mayor Niccolo and began explaining their answer to him. As she talked, her partner just stood there like a statue beside her, until a group of reporters approached him and he turned aside to talk with them.

Afterward, they both stood back to the side of the road. Sunray knew their help wasn't needed anymore, but she wanted to hang around so she could be sure everyone who'd been hurt was going to be fine. Beside her, Night was beginning to look nervous as well as uncomfortable; every now and then he'd look down at his wrist as if to check the time, obviously forgetting repeatedly that he didn't have his watch in this form.

Is he late for something?

She realized that she was staring all of a sudden, and quickly jerked her gaze straight ahead again. Strangely, she felt a momentary rush of the old awkwardness she used to get in the first few weeks she'd started liking him. They'd grown so close that she didn't really get it anymore, but even though she wasn't the type of girl who'd turn into a babbling machine every time her crush was near, she still thought he would find it a bit odd if he caught her staring at him. Especially since she knew him so well.

She was so deep in thought and memories that she was only vaguely registering the fact that in her corner vision, he was slowly inching backwards. It wasn't until she unconsciously glanced over, resumed her straight-ahead stare, then looked back to find him gone, that she turned around and realized he'd moved behind her.

She gave him a confused look for a moment, and after a pause, she leaned towards him a little and whispered, "What are you doing?"

"Hiding," was his quiet reply.

Blinking in confusion, she frowned, and almost started scanning her frontward view for the fourth creature or Preciser before remembering that hiding from it would be the last thing he'd do. Further bewildered, she protested, "From what?"

"Shhh . . ." He put one finger at his lips as he slowly sank down to a crouch until touching the pavement with one palm. "I'm not here."

Sunray didn't know what to do. She had no idea what on earth he was doing, but couldn't think of anything to say, so she turned back around again, attempting vainly to stifle her confused smile. Night was a guy who had the good-weird personality, but she still couldn't understand him half the time she was with him.

She froze as she suddenly caught sight of the mayor staring at her, puzzled. His expression clearly said his unspoken question: why was she smiling while standing while standing in a site of devastation?

Oh, he didn't see. She pointed subtly over her shoulder, but understanding didn't light his face. Frowning, she turned around again, but Night was gone. Alarm lit a fire inside her for an exact total of three seconds before she spotted him on the roof of the building across from her.

She stared at him for a second, then waved her arms palms-up at waist level: What the heck are you doing?

Although he was looking back at her, there was no response. It took her a moment to realize why: he was still half-blind. A moment went by before he vanished, and didn't reappear anywhere in sight. She waited as long as five minutes before giving up and leaving to detransform.

Why was he acting so weird?

• • •

"Wakey-wakey, eggs and bakey! Time for fried eggs on Friday!"

Jakira's eyes snapped open in surprise, and she sat up in bed, awakened by Synthia's singing and rapping at her closed bedroom door.

"Friday?!" she called back in shock, swinging her legs out of bed and stumbling to her dresser. She rubbed her eyes groggily. "Isn't that tomorrow?"

"Nope," sounded the answer. "Thursday was yesterday."

After she dressed, she pulled a dark gray sweatshirt out of her closet and went out into the hallway, still finding it hard not to limp. Her leg had been hurting ever since she'd been bitten by the third creature, on Monday. One of the many things she liked about the gems' powers was their ability to numb any pain from accidents their hosts got into while in guardian form so injuries wouldn't interfere with fights, but the downside was that the deadening power would disappear as soon as they turned back to normal. It was how Night had been able to bounce back so quickly after he'd been bitten last week . . .

Wait a minute.

. . . Hadn't he been bitten on the same arm that Alex was favoring on Monday?

Her mother's voice interrupted her sudden thought and somehow distracted her from it easily. "Is everything okay?"

Jakira exhaled. "I'm just scared," she muttered. "Preciser's been acting so strange lately. I never saw the subjugation arrows or the creature things coming. I'm actually starting to think we're going to lose."

Synthia walked over and patted her daughter's shoulders. "Don't be," she said confidently. "Remember: Night's there to lead you two through this. Has he been fazed by all of it?"

She looked down. "No. Not really."

"Exactly." Her mother smiled. "He knows his role. He knows to set the example for you."

"Then why was he acting so weird at the end of the fight on Monday?" Jakira protested. "I've been thinking about it all week and I still can't figure out what he was doing. And it'd be a little awkward if I asked him today."

"Two things." Her mother's grin grew wider. "One, he's a boy. Get used to seeing him do things you don't understand. Two, he has his secrets, too. He probably knew something you didn't."

"Then why didn't he tell me? We tell each other everything, as long as it won't give away our identities." She hesitated. "Not counting my crush on him."

"He was most likely tired out." Synthia turned and pulled two plates out of the cupboard. "You told me yourself everything he'd been through already." There was silence while she dished out their breakfast, and for the first few minutes of the meal, both remained quiet.

Jakira was just finishing when Synthia finally spoke up again. "You and Alex finished your project already, right?" 

Jakira nodded. "I turned it in on Wednesday." She frowned. "But Alex has been absent all week except Monday."

"Huh." Her mother's brow furrowed. "Have you tried contacting him?"

"I called and texted him a million times. He never answered." She sighed. "I hope he's okay."

"Did you try his parents?"

"Yeah. Nothing there, either. Alex told me once that they forget their phones exist a lot. Guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"If he doesn't show up today, you can try visiting him after Preciser," her mom suggested as they both stood up.

"Okay," she sighed, picking up her backpack and beginning to walk towards the front door. If there is an "after Preciser."

• • •

She was among the last to arrive at her first class. She walked quickly to her seat, sat down, and pushed her backpack underneath her desk.

Alex's seat was empty.

Sighing, she lowered her head in disappointment. This would make him absent four days in a row now. Where was that boy?

Ms. Elena walked to the front of the room, and after a moment's hesitation began roll call. Halfway through, however, to Jakira's surprise and heavy relief, the door in the back creaked open and Alex entered. The eyes of the entire class were fixed on him as he walked quietly to his desk in an unsteady way, sat down, and rested his head in his palms.

The teacher stared at him in disbelief momentarily, then shook herself and continued calling out names.

A little over an hour later, after the bell had rung and they'd been dismissed, Jakira almost fell out of her chair trying to get out and raced over to her friend. "Where were you?!" she exclaimed, kneeling down to eye-level, since he was still sitting down. "I sent you like a gazillion texts and left a whole bunch of messages in your voicemail box . . . Are you okay?"

He looked startled. "Yeah . . . I'm fine . . ." he replied eventually, shifting slightly. She tensed as she realized all of a sudden that his eyes looked . . . different. Still dark blue, but clouded slightly . . . with . . . white.

Night had looked the same last time she'd seen him . . . 

Much later on, she would look back and wonder why, but a second later the stunning thought just left her mind. She blinked obliviously back to normal and asked him, "Can you see okay?"

"Mostly," he replied, grabbing his backpack and rising. "Sorry I didn't answer your texts and phone calls. My phone died at the end on Monday, and then I lost it when I got home. I couldn't really have looked for it 'cause I was totally blind from Monday night till around Wednesday." He stepped out from his desk and began walking with her to the hallway. "My parents kept me home yesterday just because I couldn't see well enough to read. It's fine now, though. Everything's just a bit fuzzy."

"What even happened, though?" she exclaimed in shock. "You were fine last I saw you; how did you lose your sight? Temporarily, anyway?"

Alex paused for a moment, then replied hesitantly, "I got hit in the face with the ball during gym class, and my eyes got infected. But it's fine now."

Jakira slowly nodded in acknowledgement. "Well, glad you're doing good now. I was worried all week."

He cracked a grin. "Sorry."

"No worries." She smiled, then added excitedly, "Guess what?"

"What?"

"Our presentation won second place."

"Presenta . . ." His eyes grew wide suddenly. "Oh, no, I forgot! Did you—?!"

"Don't worry," she reassured him quickly. "It worked out fine. It wasn't your fault."

He paused abruptly in the middle of the hallway, his eyes wide, and slowly turned to look down at her. Jakira stopped, feeling a little awkward. Had she said something weird without realizing it? "You okay . . . ?" she asked eventually, fingering her shirt rim with her free hand.

Alex finally nodded, turning straight ahead again and beginning to walk forward. Jakira caught up to his side quickly, growing confused when she saw a blank look now on his face.

The day had barely started; why did everything seem so strange?

-

Towards the end of the last class, once again, Jakira found herself repeatedly checking the clock. She tried to pay attention to her teacher's lecture, knowing it was important for the future, but it was hard with all her apprehension and worry flying through her head.

"Please turn to Section Three in your textbooks."

1:50.

"Can I have a volunteer to read the fourth paragraph?"

1:53.

"Alex?"

The familiar name jerked her back to attention. On her front left, Alex was still for a moment, then took a deep breath and began reading the section aloud. But the whole time, something was wrong; his voice was shaking. Jakira could tell by the confused and concerned looks of her other classmates that they could hear it too, but no one said anything.

1:56.

Okay, I can't do this.

"Excuse me, miss?" she asked, raising her hand. "Can I get a drink of water?"

Her teacher had barely nodded before she scrambled out of her desk and raced to the door. Just a few seconds after she exited, to her surprise, Alex swiftly emerged into the hallway as well.

"Alex?" she said in puzzlement, halting. "What are you doing?"

"I, uh . . ." He paused briefly. "I'm thirsty, too," he finally declared, then added while backing down another hallway, "But . . . I don't wanna rush you, so I'll just . . . uh . . . use the other one." Without another word he whirled and raced down the hall, then disappeared around a corner.

Jakira stared at where he'd just been for a moment, blinking, then shrugged and took off in the other direction. Like on Monday, she found an empty classroom, slipped inside, flipped the light switch, and began chanting:

"Sun, moon, and stars of light

All gather and remain—"

Footsteps sounded out in the hallway, making her jump. Panicked, she lowered her voice and hastily finished,

"Fuse together and ignite,

To keep the darkness tame!"

The door handle clicked. Terrified, she raced to the closed window, turned herself into a beam of light, and eradiated through the transparent surface to the next-door roof. She landed lightly, then jumped up and sprinted along each roof until she was out of sight.

That was close.

Still in a crouch, she summoned her weapon and tried contacting Night, but he didn't respond. She rose to her feet, disappointed, and walked to the edge of the roof, scanning the streets below before she'd jump down to find her partner.

Right before she did, she suddenly spotted him down across the street in an alley. He was heading for the entrance, but to her surprise, his eyes were wide with fear.

Her mother's words replayed in her head: "He knows his role. He knows to set the example for you."

So he was worried, too. Maybe even a little scared. Honestly, she couldn't blame him, considering his near-death experiences in the last three fights. But, obviously, he was making a strong effort to hide it, knowing that showing his true emotions wouldn't help to dissolve her fear, which he'd probably already seen.

Yet somehow, seeing him like this did help to settle her.

She launched herself off with one quick leap, landing almost silently in a cleared space. Night looked up, smiled, then shadow-transferred himself next to her. "Hey."

"Hi," she replied with a wave, then began walking forward. At first it was hard because there were so many people around them, but as they gradually took shelter, it became easier. A couple times every here and there, she'd glance over at him, relieved that he seemed normal again. His eyes were once again their normal starry blue. And if she hadn't seen him earlier in the alley, she wouldn't be able to see that he was the least bit unsettled. His expression was thick with a calm confidence, masking his fear but still not overlaying his quiet, everlasting grief deep within.

They both jumped when suddenly a random tourist popped up between them, his camera focused on Night. Even after realizing what was going on, her partner still appeared startled and almost confused, like no one had ever taken a picture of him before. At first, Sunray smiled at the slightly humorous scene, but she almost panicked as she realized at the last moment that the flash was on.

"No—wait!" she yelped, grabbing the tourist's arm, but she was too late. Night leapt back wide-eyed at the bright flash accompanying the photo and vanished, probably by accident, and the tourist was left staring at a picture of a wall.

Sunray exhaled heavily. "Please no flash photography," she moaned, then continued walking down the cleared sidewalk.

Night still hadn't reappeared anywhere in sight by the time Preciser showed up; it had to be him, because sudden chaos was erupting a few blocks behind her somewhere around a corner. The streets now empty of people, Sunray whirled around, grabbed her bow, and took off running back down the road. She tried imagining the worst thing possible that Preciser could have in store for them, although she wasn't quite sure what it was and had no desire to find out. But maybe whatever was actually going to happen would seem small and minor compared to what could happen.

But to her weighty relief, when she caught sight of Preciser, he was alone, standing in the center of pure wreckage. She'd hoped that Night would be there already, but there was no sign of him in the large shadows surrounding. So for the first time in never, although it wasn't technically her partner's fault, she had to charge the giant by herself.

Throughout the five minute struggle they had, she tried seeing what exactly Preciser was planning with each attack so she could counterattack accordingly. Every time he swung his axe, she would leap up and use it as a springboard to get higher; he was most vulnerable above the neck because he never wore a helmet. Several times she was knocked down again, but the last time she got in more than one sharp strikes with an arrow. In the second half, he started swinging from over his head straight down, preventing her previous retaliates because she wasn't able to do the same thing without leaping straight into the long blade. She began sliding sideways each time instead, grabbing his hands and the axe handle, then either flinging him over her shoulder or attempting to disarm him so she wouldn't have to worry about getting diced.

Finally, in awful timing, Night re-solidified in a nearby shadow just as she was flung from the villain's axe and rolled to a rough stop on the pavement. "Where were you?" she burst out, only looking at him in her corner vision as she leapt to her feet and charged again.

"Sorry," he replied breathlessly, hunched over with his hands on his knees as he spoke. "I got flustered and took a few accidental trips around the world."

Absorbed in the fight, she could only get a few quick looks at him before refocusing on Preciser again, but with each she could see his appearance was . . . slightly different. "Two things," she called incredulously, still not looking directly at him. "One— are you wet?"

"Including the Chesapeake Bay," he exhaled, still panting.

"What are you wearing?"

" . . . And Mexico.'' He took off the random sombrero that he was wearing for some reason. Pulling a tired smile, he held it out to her and asked, "You want it?"

Before she could even process what he'd just said, the sharp glare of light reflecting off their enemy's blade flashed in her face as it slammed down between them, slicing his "gift" to her in half. Night was left holding the side half, staring at it like it was on fire.

Deciding to make the fight a little more comical for the first time, Sunray crossed her arms and glared up at Preciser. "Hey," she complained. "You just destroyed my gift!"

That was when Night gave her a big surprise.

He dropped the remaining half dramatically, pointed at Preciser, and shouted, "Teras!" Then he turned back to his bewildered partner, gave a quick bow, and, flashing her a charming smile, declared, "T ekdikitho gia senna, agapi mia!'' With his last words he snatched up his seax, charged, and attacked, leaving Sunray gaping at him with her brain split into three parts each focusing on a different thought.

The first part: Did he just try to give me a hat?

The second part: What the heck does that mean?

And the last part: Why does he know some other language and I didn't know about it?!