Living in Me (Sequel to Not Gonna Die)

|Chapter 4| Rebecca Lee

          It was a fairly unusual place to have an impromptu and serious meeting, but the Generals of Team Crafted held the meeting in the common room anyway. It was placed a few rooms and a sweeping staircase away from the main hall of the castle that dominated the base, and was furnished with two couches, a few single chairs, some coffee table, a few cabinets pushed up against the walls and carpet covering the floor. Two of the walls opened up into the hallways that lead to the Generals' bedrooms but for now, everyone was seated and waiting patiently for Seto to explain himself.

          "So I got another message from a village asking for help," Seto started, then held up a hand to forestall any interruptions, "I know, they've become insanely frequent over the past few months-"

          "Oh good, so it wasn't just me," Mitch said, interrupting anyway. Quentin shushed him and gestured for Seto to continue, which he did.

          "This time, the message says that a little girl has suddenly exploded into magical chaos. One moment she's fine and the next she's throwing magic around with little or no control. According to the message, there was no warning of her magic appearing and no known connections to any magical ancestors."

          "So pretty much like every other message you've gotten over the past while," Ty said, twirling a pencil between his fingers.

          "Yeah, pretty much."

          "So why call us?" Ian asked, gesturing to their gathering.

          "Simple reason," Seto said, leaning back a little. "I can't figure out what's going on or how to help this little girl while fighting and trying to protect both her and whoever else might be nearby when her magic spits out. So I'll need some back-up to deal with that so I can focus on helping her get better."

          "And you think that's a good idea when none of us have magic?" Ty asked, raising both of his eyebrows.

          Seto shrugged. "It's as good of an idea as I've got. I could bring one or two of my apprentices, but I'd rather not make things more complicated than they already are."

          "Yeah, no logic in freaking people out anymore than current circumstances have lead them to be," Adam muttered. Then, slightly louder, "I'm happy to help out."

          "Count me in too," Mitch said with a nod.

          "I didn't get to go on the last big trip we had, I wanna come," Jerome said.

          He glanced at Jason, who also didn't get to go on the last big trip they had, but Jason hesitated and shook his head. "I'm good at hunting, tracking and settling debates. This kind of thing doesn't sound like my party. Besides, we can't all leave at the drop of a hat."

          "So then we'll go halves," Adam said, looking around. "Seto, Mitch, Jerome and myself go to the village; Jason, Ian, Ty and Quentin hold down the fort."

          "Probably for the best," Quentin said with a nod to Seto. "It sounds like you'll need strength and planning over talking things out. But are you sure you guys won't need a medic?"

          "Mitch has been trained in first aid, right Mitch?" Ian asked.

          Mitch made a 'so-so' gesture with his hand and Jerome rolled his eyes. "I have, I can make sure no one bleeds out and dies before we get back."

          "Seto, please don't tell me we're going to have to leave straight away," Adam said as he saw Seto going to speak. "I was really looking forward to what was for lunch today."