Free Feros and the Underworld Prince by A.L. Bridges

set up a lot like humans; now, in a society full of the most arrogant people you can think of, what do you think would happen to someone that was different from everyone else?” Sara inquires.
    They’d be shunned or treated as worthless; I can see where Sara is going with this. In a society like that, it isn’t even beyond the stretch of imagination to suggest that Naia may have been given away instead of taken.
    “ Now, moving on to your problem: what are you going to do about Cheza?” Sara asks.
    “ What do you mean?” I ask even though I know what she is talking about.
    “ So you don’t love her anymore?” Sara inquires.
    “ Of course I do! It’s just that… she can’t have a normal life with me; I’ve already resigned myself to the fact that I won’t have one. My future is most likely going to involve joining The Agency and fighting until I die or I’m old enough for an administrative position. I don’t have the right to rob her of normalcy… have you met her boyfriend?” I ask.
    “ Yes.” Sara replies.
    “ Does he seem like a nice guy?” I inquire. Some part of me is hoping that he isn’t just so I can trump my own argument about normalcy.
    “ If I say no, what would you do?” Sara suggests.
    (Kill him, chop up his body and pack it into seven parcels that will be strategically placed in seven garbage cans around the city so that when you look at the locations on a map, it forms a smiley face)
    “ Airi is telling me to kill him, chop up his body, and place his remains in garbage cans around the city that form a smiley face when you look at a map.” I respond bluntly.
    “ Speaking of which, Cheza hasn’t mentioned Airi in a long time; do you know anything about that?” Sara asks.
    “ Airi told me that our connection has been broken, but it can be reestablished if I give her more of my blood.” I reply.
    “ I see… so what is your plan? Are you going to go back to school?” Sara inquires with a motherly tone.
    “ Well I was thinking about going back to school; Hel told me that I’ve been readmitted to U-Dub. However, it will be difficult to even go outside with this.” I say while gesturing to my silver arm.
    “ That’s an easy fix, Cole. We will just have to get a latex sleeve made for it. Until then, just wrap it in medical gauze or cloth bandages.” Sara suggests.
    “ Okay, I just need to have it so the sleeve doesn’t cover the hole in the palm or I won’t be able to make a draw if it becomes necessary.” I explain.
    “ That should be doable. As for school, I think it would be a better idea for you to stay nearby… in case Naia needs you!” Sara exclaims like she just came up with that explanation on the spot.
    “ ASU only started classes last week so you wouldn’t be too far behind; I could have you signed up for classes and starting there tomorrow.” Sara says in a rather obvious ploy to get me to go to the same school as Cheza.
    “ That actually doesn’t sound too bad…” I reply, ignoring the fact that this is a ploy… perhaps I’m not ready to give up on Cheza after all.
    …
     

 
     
     
    Chapter 12: I don’t want to sound jaded or anything…
    [September 9th]
    After the hour drive to Tempe, thirty minutes spent finding a parking spot (which was much easier in the Maserati than it would have been in the Mercedes SUV, which Cheza took), and another twenty minutes trying to find the building, I was a little exacerbated by the time I finally reached my organic chemistry class. I enter in from the bottom of the auditorium and find a seat about halfway up as the professor starts his lecture. I take out a notebook and start taking notes on things I’ve already learned. I took my first quarter of organic chemistry at UW before Jason’s death, but ASU is a semester university so I have to take the first quarter material again until I start to learn something new, which will be in about eight weeks.
    About halfway through the class, I notice a girl staring at