Everyone startled back from the young woman who appeared in their midst. She had auburn hair with a purple highlight streaking down from above her left brow. The delicate dusting of freckles across her nose and cheeks and her startlingly blue eyes combined to make her almost a live-action anime character. Hector couldn’t tell if she was messing with his head or was inherently so adorable.

  “It got your attention, didn’t it?”

  The girl held up a paper document to dramatically read from it. “Hector Thoreaux. Trespass on restricted zone. Refusal to provide identification. Should we add vandalism? You realize that our ritual of restoration won’t take right because you used cosmic energy.”

  The police officer who had been berating Hector shrank as he addressed the newcomer. “Vivian, how can we help you, ma’am?”

  Hector ignored the man to address the Arahant. “I need your help. My world is in danger.”

  Vivian put a hand on her hip. “Three questions. How did you get here. How many Xian came with you. Why should we trust you. Go.”

  “I’m from an unempowered world targeted by the Dream Engine. I came by myself in a transit sphere. You should trust me because otherwise a lot of people will die in the massive monster attack that is coming.”

  She rolled her entire head along with her eyes. “We have an entire army following the wake of the miasma plume. If we can get to your world, we will. If it’s too far from the main line, then there’s nothing we can do about it. Diverting our forces one pce means we leave another undefended. And I don’t believe you came here on your own. I’m not an expert on your kind, but I find it hard to believe you can move between worlds at level four.”

  “It’s not safe, but I manage. Look… I understand you have a lot of concerns you need to bance. My world isn’t ready to defend itself. This monster invasion is going to be huge.”

  Vivian blinked a couple of times. “Going to be?”

  “A friend predicted it. She has the ability of the Sage of Foresight. That’s why I’m here. She sent me for help.”

  The anime girl act of Vivian slipped for the first time as she responded with sck-jawed confusion. “The Sage of Foresight?”

  “Yeah. Levinia something or other. My friend saw what was coming.”

  Vivian ripped up the charging papers in her hand. “Get up, Hector. We need to see Confgration. Sage business is above my pay grade.”

  “Uh, ma’am, he’s being detained for trespassing.”

  “Not anymore. Hector is an ‘extraterrestrial’ as you say. That exempts him from civilian w the same as me. He’s in my custody now.”

  “Are you sure about that, ma’am?”

  Vivian issued a tinkling ugh. “Of course I am. He’s been pying nice so far, but this Xian could sughter all of you in the blink of an eye if he wanted to. Either he walks out of here with me or I carry his head back.” She winked at him and waved for him to follow.

  As soon as they exited the building, Hector turned a scowl on her. “I don’t want you messing with my head.” He was almost certain that the obsessive way the people of this world responded to the Arahant was due to their mental influence.

  She huffed in annoyance. “Typical Xian. Why would I bother pying with your thoughts? Hmm? You’re not so special, you know. Just a weak member of a blunt species.”

  “A teen pop star doesn’t approve of me. How will I ever look in a mirror again?”

  “Oh, be quiet, Xian. You’re an old man taking his first steps.”

  Hector wanted to one-up the young woman but knew he couldn’t afford to antagonize these people. Earth needed help. He didn’t have to rise to her bait, no matter how annoying and artificial he found this creature.

  Inside the beach house, two men were pying a card game while another woman looked over magazines depicting their group. Everyone looked up when Vivian entered.

  “You brought home a stray Xian. How nice,” the other girl said with dangerous levels of snark.

  The rger of the two men looked Hector up and down. “How did he get here?”

  “By himself. Or so he cims.” Vivian gestured Hector in the direction of the many seating options avaible in the rge living room. “He’s on a quest to find help for an unempowered world. Says he was sent by the heir of Foresight.”

  The uncomfortably cute boy pushed his bangs out of his eyes. “We could really use a seer.”

  Hector jerked his eyes elsewhere. “My name is Hector. My world needs urgent help.”

  The rge man threw down his cards. “Whether help comes is a decision for the commanders. Once the invasion ends here we report back to the main body of the army.”

  “You’re assuming Confgration lets him come with us when we leave,” Vivian said.

  The big man snorted. “Surely we’re not going to leave a rogue Xian unsupervised.”

  Hector settled onto a free couch. “I guess I should get used to the constant racism.”

  “Boohoo,” the blonde girl mocked him as she put away the magazines. “You don’t want to be judged by the sins of your kind. Guess what. Your species of egotistical battle maniacs deyed the formation of the Coalition by five years. Do you know how many worlds died in that time? Hundreds. And the Xian still don’t contribute their full share. You want war, but only when it’s other humans you get to kill.”

  The pretty boy made a T with his hands. “Time out, Zelda. He’s not from Tian.”

  “He remembers being one, though. Don’t you, Xian?”

  “I remember being abducted from an unempowered world by the Lord General after seeing my parents murdered, then being tortured to death when I tried to get revenge. Whatever criticisms you have of me, one of them can’t be that I inherited the life of an evil battle maniac.”

  The big guy turned to Zelda. “How do you think he’s going to impact our branding?

  “Ugh. As much as it pains me to admit it, Rodrick, he’ll give us a nice boost. The Machi Zelda Vivian love triangle is stale. We can get a lot of py off of new team member drama. It would be better if he was younger, but I can see some angles that make use of the gray hair.”

  Hector stared at the blonde girl as if she were an alien creature. Which she might as well be. They were fighting for the survival of entire worlds and she was trying to manage their image? What kind of bizarre team dynamic had he fallen into? Were these people truly so desperate for attention?

  “I’ve already started to y the groundwork for a sp sp kiss arc,” Vivian said.

  “Better you than me,” Zelda agreed.

  “I think it would be funny if we had the new guy lusting after me,” Rodrick said.

  Zelda shot down the big guy’s suggestion. “That wouldn’t py well on this world.”

  “Too bad. What’s his retionship to Confgration supposed to be? He can’t be another student.” Rodrick began munching on potato chips, licking his fingers, and reaching into the bag for more. “You know people are going to want hints of drama.”

  “Trust me, I know,” Zelda muttered. Her eyes lit up. “I’ve got it. Confgration saved his life when he was a child.”

  “Oh, that is perfect,” Machi said. “No one knows how old Confgration is. This will blow their minds.”

  Hector cleared his throat. “Hey. Guys? What are you talking about?”

  “Dumb Xian,” Vivian compined.

  Rodrick threw a chip at her. “Be nicer to him. He’s going to be your love interest.”

  “Sp sp kiss, remember? We’re going to hate each other at first.”

  “But only because you’re trying so hard to fight the chemistry.” Rodrick winked at Hector. “Sorry, stud. No matter how she warms to you in front of the cameras, Vivian will never change behind closed doors.”

  Hector opened his mouth to object, closed it, then studied each of the faces turned his way. They began to ugh at his confusion. When his entire head began to flush red with his frustration, they only ughed harder.

  “You brought the Xian back with you?”

  The ughter cut off as if sliced by a knife. Everyone turned to the man who’d just emerged from deeper in the house. He was tall and thin, with a hunched back that made him look like a wolf ready to pounce. His deep voice resonated with command even when asking a simple question.

  “He’s a petitioner from an unempowered world,” Vivian said. “He says someone on his world inherited from the Sage of Foresight.”

  Confgration tilted his head as he studied Hector. “Irrelevant. Hundreds of examples prove Levinia’s insight doesn’t transfer properly.”

  “We can use him to boost our profiles,” Zelda said.

  “Don’t want to turn him loose on a helpless world in my opinion,” Rodrick added.

  The leader took his time coming to a decision. The funereal silence hung heavy while he pondered. Finally, he spoke. “The Xian fights alongside us. If he survives, we bring him with us when we leave. Central command can figure out what to do with him at that point.”

  “I have ideas for our branding strategy, Sage,” Zelda said.

  “Leave me out of your marketing schemes. My reserves are sufficiently recovered already.”

  Confgration then searched through the pantry to find a box of crackers. Having succeeded at his mundane goal of locating an evening snack, the Sage ascended stairs to a higher floor of the beach house. The others rexed at his absence.

  “He was in a good mood before someone broke the window,” Vivian noted.

  Rodrick thumped his fist on the table. “Forget the window. I want in on the Hector script. Strong silent type is barely keeping my restoration above my usage.”

  “They post more combat video of you than any of us,” Machi said.

  “Zelda, throw out some ideas for me. I’m gging behind. You know it.”

  “Your brand on this world is rather one-dimensional,” Zelda agreed. “What are you feeling? Protective mentor figure watching over your protege on the battlefield?”

  “That’s too tame. My whole problem is people don’t pay attention to me. Your love triangle sucked all the oxygen from my story. I’m a background character.”

  Zelda hummed in thought. “You need a character arc. What if you got hurt saving Hector and had a bad attitude about it? You could vent ‘off the record’ about being the rock of the team while everyone else isn’t being serious enough. We could set it up so that you look like you might be leaving the team. Then script a narrative where the rest of us realize how much we need you.”

  “I would hate every moment of that,” Rodrick compined.

  “This is why you never get a romance plot,” Vivian said.

  “Please. You don’t cast me in those roles because everyone would rather crush on Machi.”

  “Fair point.” Zelda turned to Hector. “Any ideas, Xian?”

  Hector shook his head. “This is ridiculous. Just keep your heads down and fight the monsters. I don’t intend to be an actor in your reality television show.”

  Zelda’s eyes lit up. “Oh my. He doesn’t know the first thing about Arahant, does he?”

  “He says he’s friends with one,” Vivian said.

  Hector frowned as the four Arahants looked down their noses at him. What was he missing? With a smirk, Zelda revealed the truth to him. “You know how your type fps your auras or whatever to absorb energy? That’s not how it works for the Arahant. Illusory energy goes where it wants, so we have to make it want to go to us. The energy on Maya is so plentiful we don’t have to make a special effort beyond being competent. The unempowered worlds aren’t so generous. To restore energy at our level, we need all eyes on us.”

  “That’s insane.”

  Rodrick grunted. “We don’t all get to gather energy by sitting on a cushion, Xian. Some of us have to work at it. And if you want us covering your back when you face the monsters, you’re going to help us with our marketing.”

  “So you want people talking about you?” Hector sighed. “What if we competed in sports?”

  “Compete?” Zelda’s initial skepticism suddenly disappeared. “No, but we could go the opposite direction. Let me get some paper so we can script this out.”