Alexa sat herself down behind the table Gavin and Nik were sat at. Kaleth sat near her but Patrick went to hang out with a group of boys his age that were congratulating him on his summoning. Pitch slunk under the table and laid down out of sight. Alexa kept an eye on her brother but he definitely seemed to have impressed the other boys his age and seemed to be making quick friends. It would be good if at least one was in his class when he started school so he had someone he knew.
Alexa looked at Logan as he cleared his throat to start the meeting. Alexa tried to keep up with all the politics of the meeting. It seemed the guild made an income by taking fifteen percent of any earning made through magical work. Magical work was not taxed by the government as far as Alexa could tell. She was sure a few quick spells could cover any trail and keep them from getting audited. The funds gathered by the club were spent as the club saw fit. The club got to vote on what to spend that money on. They apparently had an annual Christmas party. This was something that the club voted yes for almost anything they wanted to spend. the club also could pay out one of its own members to do magical work in town. Logan brought up clearing out the factory as a job that would qualify for that. He explained how dangerous it was and that it needed to be done for the general public's safety. There were a few volunteers and Alexa was glad that none of them was the girl that shot her dagger eyes or her friends. They had a group of volunteers, not enough to summon all the ghosts as familiars but enough to cover about half. Someone suggested exorcising the more dangerous ones. Alexa didn't know that ghosts could be exorcised and just sent away. She wondered where they went. Then she remembered the anger the had seen when the ghosts attacked. They had to go, wherever they were sent. The two co owner's seemed to have been terrible people in life and death hadn't changed them at all.
They had the group focused to meet the next day and plan a form of attack on the factory. Each volunteer would get two hundred dollars from the guild when the factory was cleared. When the meeting finally wound down Logan came to speak with Alexa, Gavin, and Nik. Kaleth stuck close but didn't seem to be paying particular attention to their conversation.
"You and your brother will come to the meeting tomorrow and help us with the ghosts right? You have the strongest shield spell I have ever seen and we will definitely need that and Patrick seems to be doing a lot better since the summoning," he said Alexa agreed and Nik definitely seemed excited.
"I might actually be able to summon more than a paper airplane." He said happily.
Alexa noticed Kaleth moving away from them and looked to see what he was doing. His focus was obviously not their conversation at all. He was watching the catty group of girls and seemed to be slowly moving towards them so Alexa followed. She noticed Pitch watching Kaleth curiously. Kaleth was walking over to speak with the girls. Obviously, he had heard or knew something they did not. Logan followed slightly behind.
Kaleth focused on the snarky bitch. She had done nothing but insult Alexa's integrity for most of the meeting and was still going on about how Alexa must be having both he and Logan in her bed. He had been forced to sit here quietly because of the meeting but now she was going to get a piece of his mind. Alexa was the most honest and honorable person he'd ever met. Not that he had many good people to compare her to but this girl was painting her as a lying whore when Alexa was anything but. He crossed the room slowly, the girls had yet to notice him. He had to force himself to keep his wings and tail contained and his eyes and acceptably human looking color. He wasn't sure how successful he was with his eyes but he didn't really care at this point. He didn't bother to hide the anger set in his shoulders as he approached the group. The ringleader was the first to notice him.
"Hi." She said plastering a big fake smile on her face. Obviously, she was too stupid to notice the set on his shoulders or the look on his face. She must be thinking she could make Alexa jealous which he doubted was even a possibility.
"You should leave Alexa alone. Don't talk about her anymore." He said quietly. He didn't need the whole room to hear him, just this stupid girl so she would back off.
"I didn't do anything to her." the fake one said with a disgusting pout. Kaleth curled his lip. She seemed to think that her ditziness was going to impress him when it was doing the exact opposite.
"Don't go spreading lies about her. She is not having relations with anyone and you are being petty for no reason other than she has more worth than you." He said a little louder. The girl glared at him obviously offended. Not that her glare could do anything against the glares he'd faced over the years.
"Keep your nose out of our business. We weren't talking to you." she snarked. Kaleth let out a breath of frustration.
Alexa watched Kaleth approach the girls and realized what he was doing. She had assumed they were gossiping and spreading rumors. She wasn't stupid but chose to ignore it. Kaleth snarled a little by the girl's latest response and Alexa's eyes widened as she watched his tail whip across the floor. She watched in slight horror as he crept closer to the girl. She could see his wings appearing over his back.
"Stop!" Alexa called to Kaleth but Kaleth didn't even seem to hear her. Kaleth snarled something unintelligible at the girl and she cowered lower in her seat finally realizing that he was a threat. Alexa moved beside him.
"Kaleth back off. It's fine, I don't care what she says." Alexa shouted. He never even flinched or looked at her. The girl, at this point Alexa couldn't even think of her name, mumbled apologies. Kaleth still wasn't backing off so Alexa resorted to grabbing his arm and pulling.
Kaleth was seeing red instead of this shallow girl insulting Alexa. Alexa who was ten times the person this girl could ever hope to be. Alexa who had shown more moral and emotional strength than this girl probably would in her lifetime. She didn't deserve to share space with Alexa let alone have her name grace the heavily glossed lips. He moved forward closer to the girl, watching her finally cower like she should have to begin with. Her friends had backed away out of the picture. He leaned closer to her, he was about to reach out to grab her when he felt a hand on his own arm. He hadn't even registered someone was beside him. He could feel a familiar magic pulse from the person holding his arm and turned to find himself face to face with Alexa. She looked worried but seemed relieved to have gotten his attention. He had forgotten she was in the room, let alone the fifty others.
"Leave her." She said. Kaleth straightened up and took a step back with Alexa. He looked around the room to realize that everyone was staring at him with mixtures of amazement and horror on their faces. He glanced to Alexa for guidance but she was still watching him with a worried expression. He blinked and focused on making his wings and tail disappear before stalking back over to where Alexa had been talking to Logan and his friends. Alexa and Pitch followed as some quiet conversation began again. Logan was staring at Kaleth wide-eyed. Gavin looked scared of Kaleth and Nik's eyes were almost popping out of his head.
