Smoking Hot: The Diary of a Fire Demon
Date: 2014-11-06 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Fantasy; Humour; Young Adult
Description: Swapping bodies with a young female demon had not been part of the planned vacation. Nor was having to attend a demonic high school for the magically gifted. When the most magical thing you could do was set your own underwear on fire. Life was not going to be easy, even less so with a painful tail that everyone trod on. Owning a magic sword that always tried to look up your skirt when fighting, was not helpful. But then nor was having a telepathic diary that corrected your thinking instead of your spelling.
Rights: All rights reserved.

Smoking Hot:
The Diary of a Fire Demon
by
Amy Mah

Published by

REARDON PUBLISHING

PO Box 919, Cheltenham, Glos, GL50 9AN.

Copyright © 2014 Reardon Publishing

Written by © Amy Mah

Layout and Design by Nicholas Reardon

Even with a name like Alyce, a girl can quickly come to realize that not all large, magic-mirror doorways lead to a land of white rabbits who carry pocket watches and attend tea parties.

The nice, friendly girl in the mirror offered Alyce an adventure, a personal guided tour of her world, if only she would do the same for her in return.

As she stood in an alien land, Alyce quickly understood that this personal guided tour included swapping bodies with the other girl.

There was one other thing that the girl in the mirror forgot to mention; she was also a Demon. True, Alyce could not complain about the smoking hot body she now possessed, and perhaps in time she could get used to having horns and a tail, but she did wish she could stop setting her underwear on fire.

The Diary of a Fire Demon Smoking Hot: (1)

Alyce stood very still and stared hard at her image in the mirror. It had all sounded like such fun the way Fiametta had explained it to her; it would be an adventure, yet perfectly safe.

Here she was standing in front of a curio or, rather, a very large, very heavy ornate mirror set in what looked to be a bronze frame that stood on four legs that ended in clawed feet. Perhaps Fiametta was late, or perhaps she had changed her mind. At times Alyce herself thought that maybe she should have left the mirror in the junk shop. She had only gone into the place to get out of the rain, and if she had just taken an umbrella with her that day two years ago, then she would not now be standing covered in a very smelly organic, non-drying, all-over-body mud pack, which apart from the smell also wanted to made her want to scratch. Looking at her image, she saw that the gunk was also soaking into the top and shorts she had on in a way that looked kind of permanent, and she hoped it was not going to do the same to her skin. Green was so not her color in clothing, let alone skin tone.

The bad-smelling greenish gunk had taken weeks of internet searching to find the ingredients to make. Alyce had ruined several pots with the boiling of strange herbs, but that was what Fiametta said had to be done.

Why she listened to the girl she did not know; perhaps it was the firm way she was able to take control of the situation or maybe because she was talking to her from what turned out to be a magic mirror.

Her mind tried to get a grip on anything that was normal, and in the mirror she saw that over her left shoulder was an old backpack containing her cell phone along with a camera, three bars of chocolate, an 8-inch kitchen knife, a bottle of water, and a change of underwear. Perhaps it was not the most thought-out packing, but all she could find on the internet when she searched for magic mirrors was types of furniture polish.

Alyce gazed at herself in the mirror and gave a smile; she saw her image smile back at her. She looked at the reflection of her apartment; it was small and not very tidy, as she could see that she had left a bra hanging on a chair and could not remember if it was on its way to the laundry basket or on its way back.

Fiametta, as that was what the girl said her name was, had just appeared in the mirror one day as Alyce was polishing the frame, and yes, it had been a shock at the time and was also one heck of a way to discover you owned a magic mirror.

The girl looked to be in her mid teens, slim with long black hair. In fact, Fiametta looked just like Alyce had when she was about 16 and was just as surprised to see a her in her mirror peering back, Fiametta had chatted to her most days, first telling her of the wonderful, magical world she lived in and asking so many questions of Earth that Alyce had to spend a lot of time googling to find the answers; in the end she just left the TV tuned into the news channel.

Despite being an alien, Fiametta looked and acted far more human than most other teenage girls Alyce had known. During their talks she was always bubbly and happy, and at the time it had sounded like a good idea to accept her offer to visit her world. It was to be simple and safe; all Alyce had to do was mix up and cover her body with the gunk, and the mirror, which was really a window, would then turn into a door. Fiametta would show her around her world, and then they would head back home where she would show her what Earth was like.

So far, nothing had happened. She could not see Fiametta or the girl’s room in the mirror, so she said, more to herself than anyone in particular, “Okay, I’m ready! What next?”

As shocks go on a scale from 1 to 10, what happened next would rate a 12. Alyce froze open mouthed as her image in the mirror said back to her, “Well, I am going to check out your bathroom thingy. I can’t wait to see what a water shower looks like!” She then turned and walked away.

Alyce now slowly turned around. The room behind her was not her room, and more than that, the eyes she was using to look at the room were not her eyes. The room had smooth stone walls and very little furniture except for the large, ornate mirror, which was currently now a window into her own world. Her own room through the mirror looked perfectly normal, except that she was not in it. She could hear the shower being used in the bathroom. The room in which she now stood had no chairs or tables but did have lots of cave-like holes about three feet up in one of the walls that were just the right size to crawl in and stretch out. It also had a mat in it, so she guessed it was a place for sleeping. Seeing nowhere else to sit, she sat down heavily on the edge of one.

“Ouch!” Alyce said in shock.

Pain shot up from her butt area, causing her to leap off the edge, rub then grasp behind her at what was causing the pain. She had a tail! A long tail, which reached the floor and started where her spine ended. It was hairless and ended in an arrowhead-type point, and it did not like being sat on! Nor did it like being stepped on, which she did as she stood up. She did not know that Fiametta had a tail, let alone a very painful one that currently tingled and throbbed, but that was a minor point compared with not telling her that to visit meant they would have to swap bodies.

Alyce hoped that her other self would bring her body out of the shower soon, before anyone walked in and asked her anything like why she was covered in goo and staring into a mirror with a tail in her hands.

After a few minutes, her own body walked back to the other side of the mirror and called out, “Oh, that was sooooooo good! I got rid of all that sticky goo with a wonderful pouring of wet stuff from your shower thingy… so nice, and it makes one gasp when it hits the skin.”

“Don’t use all the hot water; it is expensive to heat!” Alyce didn’t think she should have to pay for someone else’s indulgences.

“What?! It comes in hot as well? Oh, wow! I must try that! Er, I’m off to get all mega clean again with the hot so I can get dirty again. Dustcrabs will not stand a chance here with this magic spring thing. Look, umm, you will not have much time to get used to my life, so I have written down a few notes.”

Alyce suddenly felt a cold chill as the meaning of Fiametta’s words sunk in. “I think we had better swap back before anyone notices you walking about wet and naked with the blinds wide open, and please stop looking out the window! My boyfriend may be around later, so I will need to be back and dressed for him.”

“Now, don’t worry; I have studied your world for, like, forever. Trust me; I will not mess up anything, and I will really look after my new body. I can’t wait to meet a real male! I have watched you both, and it has looked great fun what you do with him. I don’t know what you do together, but you both look like you are enjoying it. Just think! It is so easy to control him by sucking on his lips. We may swap bodies back in the future if I get bored with hot water, but not yet. Is it possible to suck on a male’s lips and shower together with hot water? Oooh, this body tingles just thinking about it!”

Alyce reached through the mirror to grab her own soaking wet body that was still looking out of the window. Her hand slipped through the glass without a problem, but she then found it also slipped through her body standing on the other side when she tried to grab it.

The naked and dripping Alyce on the other side turned and smiled at her attempt and wagged her finger from side to side in a gesture that meant no before staring back out of the window in full view of anyone looking in her direction, which was likely to cause a traffic accident or maybe a police raid.

“Heheheheh, your water spray has removed all the magic goo from this body, so that will not work. And there is no point in having this portal switched on anymore. I’m off to play with the magic fountain again, and I really do think you should read my notes before my sisters arrive and send you off to the Academy, but that’s up to you. Hey, stop looking at me like that! I did promise you a visit to my world along with lots of adventure.”

Alyce was lining up a range of X-rated words to go with her killer look but could not use a single one as she was filled with horror watching parts of her body bounce a little as the interloper jumped up and down and frantically waved at something out the window.

“Oh, look! There are a few good-looking males across the road waving at me. They do look nice and cute… Perhaps I should call them over for some lip sucking? What do you think? Call them over, or wait for our boyfriend? Anyway, do have fun in my world. I am sure I will in yours. Bye!”

Smoking Hot: (2)

She may not have been able to touch her now clean self, but she could step through back into her own world and force the bitch to swap back in person. As she started to step through she watched her other self take a step back.

The right hand on her real body on the other side of the mirror made a strange finger movement towards her, which Alyce first thought was intended to be rude until she found herself facing just her own very new horned and tailed teenage girl reflection in the mirror and felt very alone.

She could now see what she looked like, and the image showed she was almost the same in this world as her own, apart from appearing to be about 10 years younger. She had on what could be called pajamas. The top revealed small but firm boobs underneath, and as for the bottom part of the set, it had a neat hole in the butt area to let her tail out.

To prove it was hers, the tail flicked about as she thought of it; a slight, easy movement of her bottom caused it to appear in front of her face like a snake ready to attack. And like a snake, it was certainly not in her control and produced a strange feeling in her posterior when it moved, which for all its strangeness also felt normal.

Looking hard into the mirror, Alyce decided that this body looked mostly the same as the one she had left behind in the mirror except for the tail. She had shoulder-length black hair with a few red dyed color streaks in it. She used her fingers to brush hair away from her eyes and then brought her fingers to her lips to suck on, mentally adding having a pair of small but very sharp horns to the list to go with the tail. She decided not to look under the clothing, as she guessed she would have normal parts, and if she did not then she really did not want to find out at the moment.

What looked like a leather-bound book was on the floor near the mirror, so she picked it up and opened it to discover a single page made of leather. It was covered in runes and funny shapes.

As she looked at the page, she said aloud, “That’s great! Very helpful, seeing as how I can’t read stupid runes!”

Just as the words were leaving her lips, the page changed, and in her head she could hear the words in English:

“You do not need to read us, as we can read you; we are the top-of-the-line personal recording device with full telepathic communication software for ease of use. Would you like to start?”

Alyce often thought that modern technology was mostly designed to make her feel stupid, and so it came as no surprise that in a world of horns and tails, a talking book would have the same opinion of her.

“Er… yes”

Start:

Hi, Earth female; take a look around because if everything has worked, then this is your new home.

You can ask the book anything, but it can only answer what I have written in it. Take your time, and read it on the trip to the Academy, ‘cause that will be a mega-boring trip.

“Look, what is going on? What trip, and what Academy?”

Prologue:

Well, let’s see. Now that you are me, I had better tell you who you are. You are mega clever with a fantastically developed body, and you just had your 4th birthday, so happy birthday to me, happy birthday to you, and happy birthday to us.

I am a fit and healthy 4-year-old birthday female and, I am sorry to say, testers from the Academy discovered just how clever I am and made me the pride of the clutch. I don’t know why, as I crap at magic fire, but they say I’m rare as I’m some sort of super Battery. And they don’t like me because I bit one of them. Anyway, I’ve been chosen to represent the family at the Academy, which is normally a death sentence.

I have been picked, so congratulations! And if you are lucky, you could be one of the 10% that will survive to serve our glorious Queen: death, or a lifetime of servitude to the Queen… did I say 10%? Well, some years there is only a 1% survival rate, but don’t worry about that. Even if you do survive, I expect you will die in the next Demonic War. The testers were right; I am mega smart, but my magic is crap so I would get killed pretty quickly at the Academy. Therefore, I have thought my way out using my advantage to avoid my fate by becoming you. See? I said I was smart.

End

Smoking Hot: (3)

Alyce watched the words blur back into strange-looking shapes, and the voice faded away. She now heard a noise behind her and turned to see three girls who had entered the room and were standing and looking at her. All three looked to be the same age as the body she now occupied, and the middle one spoke.

“Well, Sis, reading at a time like this? No wonder you were so dumb to get picked; it’s your own fault! We always said you came from a cracked egg.”

She then leaned forward and touched her face.

“Ick, and you are still sticky from the yolk. What, by the loving Sun, is that slime all over you? If this is your plan to hold up leaving, you are mistaken. Get her, sisters!”

Alyce was suddenly grabbed by all three of them and thrown to the ground, where she sat hard down so hard on her bottom that she crushed her tail again. She let out a yelp and rolled over as one of her sisters tugged at her PJ pants and another pulled off her top. Within seconds she found herself naked and being rolled into an indentation in the floor. Alyce screamed as a miniature tornado appeared from nowhere and wrapped itself about her body, pulling at her flesh and sand blasting her at the same time, which was so painful. Without thinking, she tucked her tail between her legs and tried to scramble out.

“Oh, no, you are not finished yet, Sis! Now tail up and head down; we can’t have our birthday girl letting the family down by trying to get back into her shell now that she is the pride of the clutch…”

Alyce now had her tail painfully yanked back through her legs and pulled up vertically with such force that her head had to travel down into the whirling winds or have the tailed pulled out by its roots. She held her breath and shut her eyes as tight as she could, covering them with her hands to stop the wind and blasting sand from blinding her.

After what felt like a lifetime of pain, it stopped as suddenly as it had started, and Alyce lay on her front panting, tucking her tail back down through her legs where she now felt very sore. In fact, her whole body felt sore, and without thinking she blurted out,

“Stop it! You are going to kill me! I am not your sister; she swapped bodies with me just before you came in and is now on the other side of that mirror, walking about naked and waving to strangers! The mirror is a dimension portal; look, I will show you!”

Dragging her aching body up from the floor, Alyce went over to the mirror and pushed her hand though it, which would have been very dramatic if it had still worked and hadn’t bent her fingers back so far that she had to cradle the hand in her armpit until it stopped throbbing. Slipping back down to the floor, she winced as the weight of her body attempted to put a permanent kink in her tail.

She looked up and felt the urge to burst into tears as she used her other hand to rub life back into her now tingling tail.

The sister that had done all the talking was standing with her arms folded and glaring at Alyce. She stepped forward and threw down some clothes, which hit Alyce and tumbled down to her side.

“Another silly outburst like that and we will tie you up, gag you, and throw you out as you are! Now get dressed!!” With that she moved to the doorway, leaned against the doorframe facing out, and sighed.

Alyce picked up the clothing, which turned out to be just a top and shorts. The items looked similar in design and color to those the other three wore. Quickly dressing, she did not comment on the fact that the clothing still made her feel half naked. The top only just fit as it ended right below her breasts in such a way that if she raised her arms, she would give everyone a good flash of boob. As for the shorts, well, they were cut very, very low at the front: so low that she expected they couldn’t be sold without a waxing kit. They were even lower at the back, giving her more butt cleavage than she cared for. She didn’t even own underwear so revealing.

For the first time one of the other girls leaned forward and spoke.

“Wow, that was a great performance, Fiametta, but just a little farfetched. Perhaps if you sounded more like an alien, it would have been more convincing. Now cheer up; we have packed you a lovely lunch.”

The other one elbowed the first in the ribs and told her to get the luggage.

“Yes, we were expecting you to try something clever, Little Flame, but covering yourself in slime and pretending to be from outer space was really original! Oh, and we have also got you a present: your own personal, un-hatched Sylph. He will be company for you and a lot better than having to take the horrid communal sand baths they must have.”

She then did something nearly normal, at least as far as Alyce could still think as normal; she kissed her cheek.

“Don’t forget us, Sis.”

Alyce said she wouldn’t forget them, and she meant it. What she did not say was that she worried that the memory of them would always be linked to dreams of being stripped naked and then skinned alive by a small but very painful sand tornado.

As they walked along an endless stone corridor, she noticed that they tried to keep her between them to prevent her from running off, which was not an easy task when there were four people and one large suitcase in a corridor only wide enough for two. One of her sisters went in front, and another fell behind with the luggage, so she was sandwiched in between.

As they walked they filled in the gap of normal conversation by taking it in turns to offer helpful advice, which if she was back home would have been on the lines of always wear clean underwear in case you get run over, and don’t talk to foreigners, as they are all rapists and murderers. Here it was not too different.

“Try and join a similar race group as soon as you develop; puberatum can be dangerous if you are on your own, and there may not be that many Heat-based races at the Academy.”

“Eat only fresh food and nothing ever more than a day old; you know how it can affect your tummy.”

“Stick with your own race; look for the most powerful in the group, and stay behind her.”

“If anyone attacks you, try and kick their ankles, as that will slow them down while you run away.”

“I have put a bottle each of Tailglow and Tailbright in your case; I find it keeps a tail looking good in any weather condition.”

“Make sure you crack fresh bones before swallowing them, as they are for the marrow, too, and not just the calcium.”

“The Sylph will need to be trained but will be wonderful against dustcrabs.”

“Only clean with the Sylph; don’t use public sandbaths. You never know who has used them before you, and they never use clean sand in them.”

“Don’t play with other girls’ tails, or you will get yourself a bad reputation.”

“Stay far away from Snowflakes, as they are all nasty and eat their young.”

Smoking Hot: (4)

The large luggage case was secured on top of the transport, and Alyce was duly placed inside, with the door firmly shut in case she wanted to change her mind about going. The transport was just as crazy as the rest of what had happened to her; she would have said it looked like a box on wheels, but, like the luggage, the box did not have wheels: just long bristles that simply needed a light push. It would keep going as the bristles sort of rippled underneath, creating a forward motion that must defy a whole range of laws of physics.

The transport was pulled by something that reminded her of a hornless rhino if they came in a six-legged variety, but it looked like it knew what it was doing and hopefully where it was going.

The seating arrangement in the box was odd as it looked like a broom handle. The best she could guess was that she was supposed to ride it like a witch, but after several tries she gave up and stayed on the floor flat on her tummy to stop any weight from pressing down on her tail area.

She got bored as the hours passed, so she opened the book again.

You can ask the book anything, but it can only answer what I have written in it. Take your time, and read it on the trip to the Academy.

“You already said that, and yes, I am now on my way reluctantly to the Academy, thank you very much!”

You can ask the book anything, but it can only answer what I have written in it. Take your time, and read it on the trip to the Academy.

“Okay, okay! Tell me who I am now, and why am I going to an Academy? An Academy of what?”

Prologue:

Well, let’s see. Now that you are me, I had better tell you who you are. You are mega clever with a fantastically developed body, and you just had your 4th birthday, so happy birthday to me, happy birthday to you, and happy birthday to us.

I am a fit and healthy 4-year-old birthday female, and, I am sorry to say, testers from the Academy discovered just how clever I am and made me the pride of the clutch. I don’t know why, as I crap at magic fire, but they say I’m rare as I’m some sort of super Battery. And they don’t like me because I bit one of them. Anyway, I’ve been chosen to represent the family at the Academy, which is normally a death sentence.

I have been picked, so congratulations! And if you are lucky, you could be one of the 10% that will survive to serve our glorious queen: death, or a lifetime of servitude to the queen… did I say 10%? Well, some years there is only a 1% survival rate, but don’t worry about that. Even if you do survive, I expect you will die in the next Demonic war. The testers were right; I am mega smart, but my magic is crap so I would get killed pretty quickly at the Academy. Therefore, I have thought my way out using my advantage to avoid my fate by becoming you. See? I said I was smart.

End

“You have said all that before! Just tell me new stuff. What am I to do at this Academy, and when can we swap back?”

Multi Question:

Academy: You are one of the chosen to serve the Queen, and the Academy trains you to do that. Only the very best make it, and they normally then die in one of the Queen’s wars. At the moment, the Queen likes Colds, so why they would want me is just crazy.

End

Swap Back: How should I know? Do you know what dimension number you are from, as I sure don’t!

“You found me! How did you do that?”

Magic Mirror:

I hit the dial codes at random until the image of your room appeared in the glass, like yonks ago. I just had to wait till you activated the one in your dimension, and you were so slow! I almost gave up. I watched you for so long and grew to love your crazy world. It helped the magic that you also wanted to swap.

End

“How did I get here?”

Potion:

Well, it lets you slip between dimensions, but you have to be so horrid and sticky, and the goo stains, so it should only be used with old clothing.

End

“Where is here?”

Home:

I, and now you, live in one of the nicest parts of the world: not too hot and not too cold, and no nasty Snowflakes.

End

“How come we speak the same language?”

Communication:

We can communicate in the same language, yes. How, I don’t know, but then I am only 4. I expect it is magic; it normally is.

End

“What about eating and drinking?”

Food:

The Academy should feed you; they have lots of other ways to kill you without using starvation. Just remember, fresh food is always best. Stay away from the non-meat meats, as they will give you gas or an upset tummy. And if you find they ever serve Ke’gar, kill for it as it is just divine. I can’t explain the taste, so in your mind just think of chocolate.

End

“Tell me of this world. What is its name? Who runs it? What do you call yourselves?”

Multi Question:
Home:

I, and now you, live in one of the nicest parts of the world.

Your Life’s Purpose:

To serve our glorious Queen

Our Race:

You humans would think of us as Demons: horns and tails and magic, but not like what I see on your magic box or your odd pictures on the walls that show Demons who play musical instruments. No, that is all wrong; you would not defeat us. Your species must have met us in the past to have our image in your culture, and I expect you would have worshipped us as gods, which would have been correct as we Demons are, of course, superior creatures to you. I expect we went away, and your memory got it wrong. The Queen may look to your dimension again, and then we will be gods for you once more.

End

“Demons!!! Satan and Hell?”

Our Race:

You humans would think of us as Demons: horns and tails and magic, but not like what I see on your magic box or your odd pictures on the walls that show Demons who play musical instruments. No, that is all wrong; you would not defeat us. Your species must have met us in the past to have our image in your culture, and I expect you would have worshipped us as gods, which would have been correct as we Demons are, of course, superior creatures to you. I expect we went away, and your memory got it wrong. The Queen may look to your dimension again, and then we will be gods for you once more.

End

“You said that. Stop repeating! Only tell me new stuff, and delete the rest. Now, tell me; am I in Hell?”

Mythology:

Your world has many odd and strange ideas about us, like the Queen letting some male Demon rule her, which is so funny. As to our world being some kind of horrid punishment place for you to travel to, now that is even more ridiculous. Our world is one of the nicest you could wish for, apart from the darktime when most people sleep. The Sun always shines her blessings upon us with warmth and light. I expect we started the rumor to stop your kind wanting to come here; we have enough migrants as it is: mostly leftover remnants from some war we won or lost in the past.

End

All data deleted as requested.

START:

WELCOME to the Mark 12 notebook, diary, and the thinking female’s companion. You have in your hands/claws/tentacles a top-of-the-range recording device.

Just speak a heading or keywords for ease of data recall.

End

Smoking Hot: (5)

Alyce dropped the book back on the floor when it started talking about costs for requesting an extended warrantee and service agreements.

Her transport had reached a rest stop, which she worked out due to her observation that the creature who was pulling the box had relieved itself against a wall and then lay down and started snoring.

At least a pit stop gave her a welcome break to get out, stretch her legs, take a pee, and maybe not feel so travel sick. She also could take a closer look at what this world she was currently stuck on looked like.

She gave up on the idea of needing to take a pee as she really did not have to go, which was lucky as she could not find a washroom and had not seen one since she stepped through the mirror: nor had she drank anything, for that matter.

Alyce let her toes dig into the soft sand she was standing on. It felt like sand, and sand normally came with seagulls and ice cream, but this stuff was covering the floor of a desert that spread out for as far as she could see.

This was not how she had planned for today to be; adventure had been on her list, not walking around in a pair of shorts cut so low at the back that she mooned any passersby, let alone having a stupid tail, which, when she was not stepping on it, just followed behind her making snake patterns in the sand.

The sun was still high in the sky and very bright but not too hot, so at least sunburn was not in the cards. She collected the pack that the three girls had described as her lunch and set off for some shade provided by an outcropping of stone in case she was wrong about the sunburn. Alyce laid the food out on a rock.

Around the rest area, which was as flat as it could possibly be without being concrete, were small groups of people mostly in the distance, so she could not see if everyone was cursed with having a tail. Everything just reminded her of a boring highway service stop, and she half expected to see a McDonald’s. Instead, what she did see was some guy break away from a group of about eight others and walk towards her. He had on a long hooded, body-covering garment that could have gone well with carrying a burning cross and very strong views on African people if it had been white instead of black.

“Oh crap, not here as well!”

It must have been a male under the hood based upon the swagger he was trying to perfect more for show than any forward motion, and here she was dressed in what her mother would have described as a girl asking for it: a top that barely covered her boobs and was just missing an “I’m Easy” logo stenciled on the front, and painted-on shorts with so much butt cleavage she would have felt less naked in a string bikini. With any luck, all he wanted was her phone number and to show off how cool he was in talking to a girl. A girl did not survive in any world without being able to read the signs; this was not so much a bad boy as it was someone trying to look like one.

Alyce had seen some real bad boys in her time, and compared to them, this one was a joke. As for acting tough, she had five brothers who all treated her as if she were also a boy, and she still had the scars and mended broken bones to prove it. She had had to grow up strong or die; the only time they had noticed she was different was when at 14 she demanded a dress and underwear that did not fall under the heading of unisex and would not get so mixed up in the wash that her brothers would get more wear out of her undies than she ever would. She still shuddered at that thought.

What she was watching was a macho act as before her, this overgrown hoodie was weaving about and showing off by passing from hand to hand a long and probably very sharp blade that ran off batteries as it glowed and made a humming sound as it cut through the air, which gave the impression it wanted to be a light saber when it grew up. Alyce also blamed her brothers for her knowledge of what a light saber should sound like!

Instead of trying to impress or scare her, he was more likely to make her feel sick as he circled around. Perhaps she should have felt frightened, but of all the possible emotions this new body came with, that one must have been missing. Then it happened: pain, excruciating pain that ended with her staring down at the unconscious hoodie lying at her feet. She cuddled her poor throbbing tail close to her chest and felt a headache coming on. The idiot had stamped down on her tail! Hard! What moron treads on a girl’s tail on purpose!

She now realized the headache must be due to the act her brothers called “nutting,” which is what she had done to the hoodie as she slammed the top of her forehead into his face with as much force as a bent tail owner could deliver. She had, of course, done it to her brothers in the past, and it made up for being weaker than they were. She had never knocked any of them out, but then that was before she owned a pair of head horns, which also seamed to cushion the pain from the blow for her but had quite the opposite effect for the person on the receiving end.

Now one of the larger hoodies swaggered over and was probably staring with disbelief (she could not see his face) at the large and very prone body. He then looked back at her, trying to work out how she had flattened the other boy.

“What happened? What did YOU do to him?”

“He trod on my tail! It hurt a lot, so I hit him, I’m sorry. I only hit him the once. He did tread on my tail, and it was already very sore to start with. I hope he will be okay; I did not mean to hurt him. Sorry.”

Alyce wondered why he was staring at her so much and not showing more concern for his friend. She could feel his eyes burning into her from inside his hood. He must have made up his mind over something as he shrugged his shoulders, bent down, and picked up the long blade that had given up humming and must have needed recharging as the glowing had also stopped. He handed it to her.

“Here; take this, and don’t tell anyone how you got it. We have our reputation to think about.”

She agreed that she would not tell anyone, quickly packed up her lunch, and made her way back to her broomstick carriage where she discovered that Mr. Rhino had not been able to find a bathroom, either, and from the smell had made use of the area nearby instead. He was somehow all hooked up and ready to go again. She wondered if this sort of strange event was normal in this world. If anyone should have been here, then it should have been one of her brothers, as it was more like the games they played. Perhaps she was scoring points, and someone somewhere was writing down, “Alyce, level-0 girl with sore tail encounters level-1 thug and collects musical glow-in-the-dark knife.”

As the sun continued to shine into the carriage, she tried to sleep again as boring hours turned into more boring hours. At one point she had stuck her head out of the window and shouted in a whiny voice, “Are we there yet?” but the rhino just ignored her.

Letting out a very bored sigh, she picked up the book, opened it, and said heading “boredom,” then said start text “Bored, Bored, Bored, Bored, Bored, Bored,” end text then she shut the book and sighed again.

Alyce decided to check out her new body, but without a mirror it did not take long: two legs and two arms, etc., so apart from the tail, nothing felt different. Okay, so she also had horns, but they were not that big, and she did not even remember she had them most of the time. What she did feel, if anything, was extremely bored, and if anything else, then it was a feeling of normality.

In the end she gave up thinking and gently started to doze in the warm sun with her still-throbbing tail hanging out of the window, but the cool air on it was nice, a somewhat odd sort of feeling but a nice feeling nonetheless.

Smoking Hot: (6)

Alyce awoke with the feeling that something was wrong, and it took a little while to work out that they had stopped. As she stepped out she stretched and tried to get some life back into her legs. So she was here, wherever here was. She was standing outside some very large gates made of what looked like black marble and that must weigh tons. Luckily they stood open; the walls to either side of them went up to some great unknown height that gave her the idea that a tower with a large eye could lay inside waiting for some Hobbit to bring it a ring.

As Alyce looked up at the gates of Doom, another rhino carriage arrived, and she watched the occupant push her luggage off the roof and start dragging it towards the gates. Alyce only realized she was staring when the girl with the standard horns and tail, which had a bow of what looked like pink ribbon tied at the end, gave her a cheerful wave and carried on through the gates, or, rather, she skipped her way through the gates. She gave her a half wave back and kept watching. Here she was thinking about Demons, devils and Hell’s gates when a girl skips in dressed all in pink with pink hair held in place with a large pink ribbon and pulling a large pink case.

Alyce collected her things from inside the carriage then pulled her own luggage off the roof, and as soon as it hit the ground, the rhino transport trotted off in the same direction from which they had come. She gave her luggage a little push and followed it through the gates. What faced her was not a large eye but a sign saying, “New students this way,” not that she could read the runes. When she got close, it spoke the words to her, “New students this way.” It was a little odd, perhaps, but at least she now knew that she was going in the right direction. What was not so helpful was as she passed, it added “And you’re late.”

The outside of the building was flat and very stony looking, and the inside was more like a big square room with glowing walls and corridors leading off in different directions. With a lack of staff to ask for help, it was just like a normal academy back on Earth. She didn’t find any more helpful or rude signs around, so she picked a direction and started walking,

As she walked along she could hear what sounded like an argument as a group of girls looked like they were picking on someone. When she saw a large pink travel box similar to her own luggage lying on its side, she could guess whom they were picking on.

Alyce left her own things near the pink box and moved closer to see what was happening, and she soon saw that her suspicions were correct. Eight girls were all wearing what could be a two-piece uniform a consisting of a grey top and skirt, Though her mind pounded the words: “Don’t interfere! It is not your problem; heck, it is not even your world. If you dress like a marshmallow, then someone will soon want to put a stick up your butt, put you over a fire, and toast you. Ignore it, and just walk on.” But she had not been brought up to watch bullying without comment.

“Hey, do you call this fair? All eight of you picking on one girl just because she is making a fashion statement!”

The girl who had been standing over the pink girl turned, moved to stand in front of Alyce and let rip with what sounded like swear words ending in a threat.

Whatever the threat was, Alyce did not hear as pain shot up from the tip of her tail from the girl’s foot, and it travelled at top speed up her spine to produce a headache. The tail pain was not the only thing to be giving her a headache now, as without thinking, Alyce nutted or, rather, clashed horns with the girl, which turned out to be more painful than when she did it to the hoodie but had nearly the same effect as the girl dropped to the ground. She was not out, but she held her head with both hands and was probably counting stars.

The girl to her right tried to pounce on her but instead got winded by Alyce’s fist, which automatically moved without thinking and forced the girl to double up when it reached her bare midriff between where the top ended and the skirt began. If the other girls could have heard what she was saying, they would still have not been any the wiser as she muttered instructions to herself, linking memorized moves. It had started when she was 5 by just not wanting to be left out by her brothers; then when they pointed out how useless she was because she was a girl, she just hit them harder and got better. Alyce was nowhere near as good as her eldest brother, who now was a marshal arts teacher, but none of them could say that she was no good anymore unless they were smiling when they said it.

It was not that she learned or even used any standard marshal art skills; she just had a mixture of moves to bring down someone bigger, stronger, or both, and most of her moves would have gotten her banned from any normal fighting group and were probably one of the reasons for her lack of boyfriends at college. High school had been more of a learning curve for guys that suggested watching a movie and keeping warm with a blanket, which of course as all girls knew was code for trying to watch a movie while some guy was putting his hand up your dress. The learning curve for the guy that did it to her was how to pretend he got what he wanted without letting others see how he was trying to rub some life back into a hand that had been trapped in a vice-like grip between her knees for a good part of the movie.

One of the girls now came at her with a pole, which sent the question of why was someone would be walking about carrying a pole through her mind as she stepped to one side and tripped her up as she went past.

With three down and only five to go, Alyce picked up the pole that had been dropped and swung it in a circle, missing everyone apart from the girl she had winded who had just stood up straight only to go down again as the pole hit the back of her head.

Alyce knew that numbers were on her side; she only had to hit anything standing, whereas the others got in each other’s way trying to get at her.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the girls grab hold of her blade: the one she had received from the hoodies earlier. She had left it sitting on top of her luggage. As soon as the girl touched it, she screamed before moving away, holding her hand close to her chest, which meant she had stupidly tried to pick it up by the sharp end.

So now there were four, and the four were backing away, leaving the fallen behind as she spun the pole expertly between three fingers and a thumb. Then she heard a shout from the pink girl, and as she turned she felt a cold blast hit her, and the pole was removed from her chilled grasp.

“You will pay for this insult with your life, hatchling scum!”

The girl facing her had white hair with a matching white uniform, and if looks could kill, her face was wearing it. She also looked like she had brought backup as a black woman stood behind her. She was dressed differently and now joined in the conversation.

“No, I think we should let the hatchlings play without interference, don’t you?”

The white-haired girl swung the pole around and hit the woman before a look of horror crossed her face, and she fell to the ground gasping for air and clutching at her top, trying to pull the collar away as if it would help her breathe.

“Umm, perhaps it would be a good idea if you Snowflakes dissipate back to your rooms, for if I see you playing in the corridors again, I will remove life points from every Cloud member here.”

At the girl fighting for breath and starting to cough up blood, she just tutted and then ignored her as she now turned to Alyce and the girl in pink.

“My name is Poisen, and I am a Marshal of Arts in this glorious Academy, so you may address me as Moa Poisen. Sparks, who are you, and what is your dorm placement?”

The pink clad girl stopped trying to pull her case back onto its bristles and stood to attention.

“I’m called Pink, Moa Poisen, and I’m with her, whoever she is.”

“Well, let’s take a look at you.”

The black woman held up a blank black slate, stared at the surface, then turned back to Pink.

“Hmm, a little spark that looks to be soon extinguished by the next passing Cloud, so yes, it would be a very good idea to stay close to our hot-headed fighter here.”

“And you, hot head?”

Alyce noticed that she was now in the conversation.

“Tell me how come you have a Vfang blade with your luggage?”

Alyce looked sheepishly towards the blade then back to Poisen.

“I was given it.”

“No one gets given a Vfang; it can only be taken in battle. So I ask again; how come a hatchling walks in here with a Vfang?”

“Sorry. I promised creepy guys in hoods that I would not embarrass them, but it was nothing special. I had just laid out my lunch on a rock while my transport was sleeping in the sun when a hoodie swaggered over and started waving it in my face. I think he was trying to sell it to me or something, and when I refused to buy it he stamped on my tail, so I nutted him.”

“Nutted?”

“Er, yes. I used to do it to my siblings when they were messing about or trying to get me into trouble. You just bring the head down on the other person, and well, my tail really did hurt, so I think I may have hit him a little too hard as he was just a little unconscious when another hoodie turned up and gave me the blade as a free sample. All it does is make wumping sounds and glows a bit, but I did not want to look ungrateful, so I took it. But I did apologize to them and said I hoped he would get better soon.”

“So on the way here you knocked out a VGar in battle and gained a Vfang? Well, that must have broken up the journey for you; then you walk in here and take on the first Cloud you see. Now, let’s see what our testers have recorded on you, hmmm.”

The black woman who she now knew had the name Poisen and had some sort of position here, held up a tablet of slate, which was what looked like this world’s equivalent to technology, and she felt a tingle when it was pointed at her.

“I see that you left an impression on the testers, but that, I expect, was due to you biting one of them. You have shown zero interest in serving the Queen insofar as you have stated any side you were on would probably lose, so they added here that you want to be a spy. Race: Heat. Aptitude and willingness: 1/100. Chances of survival in the Academy: 1/100. Special skills and abilities: Battery. Power reading: 90++/100.”

“Well 90++, so that is the reason for your enrollment: so much potential, yet they also say so little chance of you living long enough to use it. A prime case for being expelled and returned home as unsuitable, I expect you are thinking? Maybe, but that was before you saw fit to show off in front of me, which means I can now amend the records to show, Special skills and abilities: New and unusual forms of hand-to-hand fighting 85/100. Aptitude and willingness: In specials let’s say 98/100. And as to chances of survival in the Academy, I think we can now safely upgrade that to 5/100.”

“So get it firmly into your little hot head that you have been fully accepted into the Academy, so it is learn or die. Room allocation has finished, but you look like you have picked each other anyway, so it is decided; you will both share. You may well have hidden your fighting skills from the testers, but if I find that you do not give 100% effort in every class, I will stop you worrying about people treading on your tail as I will have it cut off. And to make sure you work your little tails off, I will put your names down for every class I will be teaching this term.”

She held out a little stone, which Pink took, and then she continued.

“That key will lead you to your room, and when you get there, sleep. You will need to be wide awake for the first class. What are you waiting for? Get out of my sight!”

Smoking Hot: (7)

The first thing to come to Alyce’s mind when seeing the room was a cross between a very cheap package tour hotel on a rock-themed holiday or a Disney version of a stone-age dorm room, but Pink had a different opinion.

“Wowwwwwwwwww! Such a large room for just the two of us! It must be costing our families an arm and a tail to pay on it. My room back home was only a little larger, and that I had to share with 11 sisters! Oh, do come and take a look at the view! We can see over the barrier wall to the Dragon Teeth Mountains!”

Perhaps, Alyce thought, Pink must have very small sisters, as this room was only the size of her bathroom back home. As Pink stared at the mountains, Alyce looked about as she walked towards the window, which was more like a balcony, then she changed the word in her mind from “balcony” to “precarious slab of rock without handrails overlooking an acrophobic nightmare of a view,” which was mostly straight down, so perhaps aeroacrophobia would be a better fear.

The room had one table large enough for two to work on, but it was at chest height so it could only be used while standing, an area for case storage, and what could be taken for bookshelves if you looked at them with half shut eyes, as well as another area that could be laid out for clothing. There was no other furniture, so sleeping would be in one of the two large scooped-out dents in the wall, and she already know which was hers as Pink had placed an almost DayGlo pink blanket in one of them. What she first thought was a fitted cupboard turned out to be a space four foot square that had a covered hole in the center of the floor, which she guessed was what would be called an en-suite bathroom. All in all, apart from the death drop of a balcony, it reminded her of her rooms at college, except for the hole in the floor for a toilet, and that looked a lot cleaner than the ones she remembered sharing at college.

Pink turned and looked towards her.

“Can I ask a personal question?”

“Sure.” Alyce hoped it would not be too personal as she had not even taken a real look at herself and was still hoping that apart from horns and tail the body had the same bits and parts, especially the more personal bits she had grown up with and if not loved then at least knew what they did. If not, she would have to guess, which could be tricky.

“Why do you walk like a lizard?”

Well, that question was not expected; she thought that one foot in front of the other was how she normally tried to do it while hopefully not falling over. That was how she did it when she was human, and apart from being on all fours, she did not know how a lizard would walk if it had been standing upright.

“I do?”

“Yes, you walk with your tail sweeping the ground from side to side behind you, getting all dirty. I was told when I was young I had to always hold it in an “S” shape to keep it clean. Apart from looking untidy, dragging it along the ground is a sure way of getting it trodden on.”

Well, that answered Alyce’s main question regarding why everyone trod on her tail, so she tried twitching her butt a few times until she hit on a funny but kind of comfortable feeling of clenching her butt cheeks. She looked to see that it now hung in mid air. It also looked like it had an invisible cord lifting it in the center. So that was how it worked! A girl had to walk with a clenched butt as if she were trying to hold a pen between her cheeks. Acting normal was hard when you did not know what normality was in this strange world. Her tail did feel comfy in the “S” position, and she thought that now may be time to add in a little white lie.

“Yes, that feels a lot better. Sorry, but I should have told you; I had an accident recently, and a side effect was a loss of memory. You may see me doing funny things and looking blank at times. I think I damaged my tail in the accident, as I seem to have less control over it and need to re-learn to use it again normally. Don’t tell anyone, as I may get thrown out. Will you help me… please?”

“Ouch, sorry! You should have said. How? Oh, you can’t remember, how can you? I expect it was from all the constant head banging you fight with. No, don’t worry! Of course I wouldn’t say anything, as we are now best friends and roomies. That is so sad, and there are none of your sisters here to help you. But apart from the tail dragging, you look and act perfectly normal. I shouldn’t think anyone will care about what you know or don’t know, which is why they take us at 4 years old so we don’t know anything, not even having our elements active as we are still developing. Don’t worry; you act more normal than most here I have seen, and your tail hang position is perfect now. You will soon notice how much more comfortable it is.”

It was not only more comfortable, but Alyce now found she had far more control over it; the less she thought of it, the more it would just do what she wanted it to do. To prove it, she relaxed and got its tip to rub and scratch her shoulder and discovered it made a great back scratcher. It was the not thinking that made it work; her human mind did not know how to control her tail, but her nonhuman and very tailed body did, so she would try and leave it on automatic.

“Pink? What would you say if I told you that I am not who or what you think I am, and that I am really from another world and arrived here by magic just before finding myself first thrown into a sandbath and while still stinging from that I was then placed in a walking box of a carriage to end up here?”

Alyce could see her new roommate was thinking hard about this sudden change in who she was. She then looked straight at her and answered.

“I would immediately inform the Moas and then watch you be dragged outside where you would be tied down and your flesh torn from your bones to make an example to any other aliens trying to spy on our Queen’s illustrious Academy. Why? Is it something you are likely to say?”

Alyce swallowed.

“No, no; it is nothing I would ever say, just a… well… no. It is definitely nothing I would ever say.”

As she looked back she could now see her bloodthirsty roommate bent over with laughter.

“Yes, okay, very funny, but for all you know I could have been.”

After a while the pink-clad girl was able to speak between giggles.

“Oh, I am so going to love being your roomie! You are so funny, as if you did not know; only female Demons can enter here. That is why the transport stopped outside; anything non-Demon passing through the black gates would be destroyed. You must have felt the tingling in your tail as you were being scanned. You are a Demon from the end of your tail to the tip of your horns. Duh! If not, you would be dead.”

Alyce remembered the number of times her tail had tingled from being shut in a door twice, to being sat and trodden on a number of times. No way would she have noticed a little tingle through the constant dull ache it gave her.

“Forget the alien stuff; your memory problem is all to do with the way you fight. I have never seen anyone use their horns to head butt in that way before; it has to be painful, and you do own a very nice blade. Me, if I owned that blade, I would just cut their head off rather than risk a headache. Don’t worry; you act fine for someone that head butts everyone she meets. I expect being away from your sisters for the first time also makes you feel crabby. I know it does me. Back to normality: I see you have a freshly hatched Sylph. You will need to switch on his programming before we sleep or be forced to use the sandbaths for the rest of the term. Would you like me to help?”

If the sandbaths she were talking about were anything like the one her sisters put her in to get rid of the dimension-travelling goo, then she did not know how one charged a cleaning Sylph, but she reckoned it, like a phone, would need a plug and a trickle charge for a few hours.

“Oh, yes, yes! Please, would you help? No more sandbaths! I am still stinging from the course sand one I had before leaving home.”

The Sylph was apparently a tube 12 inches tall and 6 inches in diameter, and she had to lick her fingers before sticking her hand in one end of it and wait with the other end sitting on the table.

Alyce was starting to worry that she would have to stay in this position for life when the sides of the plastic tube clicked apart, first lying flat on the table then pushing down like a drunken spider trying to stand, which forced the center part up off the table to form a little platform for what looked like… well, nothing: just an empty platform. Then Pink spoke, breaking the silence.

“Oh, he is so cute!!! What are you going to call him?”

Alyce stared hard into the empty space on the small platform and was now sure she could see movement, like the heat haze that rose from roads on a hot sunny day. Instead of just rising up into the air, the haze had a spin to it, and it suddenly became very clear as Pink sprinkled some colored sand on him. Now she saw it, and it was a baby tornado about 6 inches tall and between 1 and 3 inches in diameter.

“I think perhaps ‘Dyson,’ as that sounds better than Mr. Vac, but what does it do?”

“He has to be trained, and it is easy; all he has to do is watch another in action, and I have Puff with me. Watching Puff do his work will program him for you, so let’s go.”

Pink walked back to the table with her hand held out, and on her palm was another mini tornado, which looked like it was excited as it spun one way and then the other.

“Now, Puff, I want you to show your new playmate what to do, so a good all over clean. There’s a good boy.”

Leaving Puff on her palm, Pink used the other hand to pull her top off over her head and then swapped him over so she could let her pink top drop to the floor, then with a wriggling movement and help from her tail, the pink shorts joined the top. She kicked them both to one side, shut her eyes, and said,

“Do your stuff, Puff!”

Alyce expected Pink to lay down, but Puff did not need a flat surface. He started travelling about her body like a demented baby tornado in search of miniature farmhouses to send off to Oz.

Pink opened her eyes after he finished her face and was hovering around her right ear, so she said in a voice louder than necessary:

“Your turn, Roomie; try it lying down first, as he will still be learning and may fall off.”

Alyce noticed that Pink had a knack of opening a space in a conversation or even a situation and then leaving other people to fill it in.

Her roommate was now standing with her legs apart and her tail raised, completely unconcerned with her nudity. Without staring too much, Alyce could see Pink looked almost human standing there if she ignored the horns and tail. Her skin was perfect: not a blemish or a mark. Her breasts were small and firm, and she had a flat tummy and strangely was missing a tummy button. That was not the only thing missing, which could mean the body she now inhabited was not quite as female as she had first thought it to be.

With reluctance, Alyce joined her by stripping off her clothes, and for the first time she noticed that she did not have a tummy button, either. Unlike Pink, she folded her clothes and placed them into the hole in the wall that did not have a pink blanket in it, and she felt more naked than she had ever done as a human as she walked back, feeling her tail swing from side to side behind her.

As soon as she reached the table she lay face down on the floor and felt a cool sensation on her back as Dyson dropped down on her. Unthinkingly she crossed her legs only to be shouted at by Pink, who now had Puff in her other ear.

“DUSTCRABS! Never, never stop him going anywhere on the body, as Sylphs not only eat dead skin but all parasites, like dustcrabs. You can’t have forgotten that dustcrabs like living in moist places like under the tail! They will crawl into any body cavity to breed and lay eggs. One of my sisters had one up her nose once, and we had to go in with a long pair of sharp tweezers. She was always getting a nosebleed afterwards.”

The nose was not the first location Alyce decided she would never want to feel a pair of sharp tweezers go, and almost without thinking she uncrossed her legs and let her tail shoot up.

“Remember, it is best to stay clear of any female scratching her bottom, and you never know how clean the previous residents to this room were. Back home I only let Puff out once a day, but now that we have the two we can let them have the freedom of the whole room to play in while we are out so it will be bug free for us.”

When Dyson stopped, Pink said it was time to turn onto her side, which she did and received his attentions again. When finished, he hopped back on the table and sat spinning happily on his little platform, and Alyce was almost asleep from his efforts until Pink spoke.

“I’m hungry!”

Pink’s statement soon woke her. Pink somehow had a way about her that reminded Alyce of the way a cat would look at you with the feed-me look, and if you tried to ignore the look, it would burn into you until you fed it.

“I still have some of my packed lunch left; would you like some? I’m just sorry I don’t have anything to drink.”

Alyce was also hungry, as she had only picked at what she had been given. She did not recognize a single thing that had been packed, plus what she had tried she now suspected was some colored packing paper and a small pack of tissues, not that the tissues were that bad as they had a hint of lemon to them. She now noticed Pink giving her a funny look, and then she burst out laughing.

“You are soooooo funny! You are nothing like a standard hot-headed Heat. You don’t have anything to drink!! At our age! I hope not! Hehehehehe!”

Alyce thought perhaps Pink was a little odd, as she had not said anything about alcoholic drinks: just a drink. She could see that Pink knew what the food was by the way she oohed and ahhed as it was unpacked and laid out on the table. Pink did all the sorting out of what went with what, even to the point of pouring one thing on top of another, which made it sizzle and smoke, and she made such a pretty display of it that Alyce wished she had her cell phone to photograph it, to help with her so-called lost memory. Pink carefully named what they were eating, but having a name for a lump of something yellow did not help at all. Alyce found it better just to watch what Pink ate and how she ate it.

Alyce guessed her teeth must be the same, but it was still a shock to see Pink eat as her lovely set of even white teeth that she showed when she smiled were in fact interlocking and very sharp looking fangs, her whole mouth being a picture of a potential disaster area to anyone who liked to French kiss with tongues.

Chewing did not seem to be an action Pink used when eating her food, as all she did was open her mouth and shut it again on any item of food, and anything that did not fit in was cut in half in a guillotine movement, making the next bite into a suitable size that was ready to be eaten after she swallowed the first part. After some testing out, Alyce discovered that apart from moving things about with her tongue, Pink’s bite and gulp swallow form of eating was the only way her mouth worked, too.

No matter how strange an item looked when she got it in her mouth, her taste buds said it was nice, and she almost matched Pink bite by bite until they finished. Pink gave a shriek and held something up with glee. She had a little box with a ribbon around it.

“Oh, like, your sisters must so like you! Look, it says this is for when you meet your new roommate, and they have even written the saying to go with it, see: One to eat and one to share will give you sharp fangs at both your front and your rear.”

All Alyce could think was that she had enough bottom problems owning a tail without starting to grow any teeth in that location.

Seeing the blank look on Alyce’s face, her roommate carried on.

“It’s a pair of trig-dates; dates are mega good for the teeth: lots of calcium so they protect against tooth worms. Look, it’s an old saying that if you share with a friend, it will mean they will also have good teeth and will protect your back when you face a foe. Now, come on. Let’s share while they are still fresh. Look, I will show you.”

Dates, well, fresh dates sounded okay to Alyce, so she let the girl put a cord around both their tails and tie it in a bow to give the meaning of knotting tails together as friends and get the so-called bonding event correct, then Pink told her to lean back and open wide, which Alyce did with reluctance.

With the word “swallow” she felt something hit the back of her throat. She swallowed then tried to cough it back up. It was the only date she had eaten that wriggled and tried to crawl back up, making it very clear it did not want to be swallowed. She was almost able to cough it out when she felt her mouth being held closed by strong fingers and her throat being rubbed.

“Swallow hard, you silly; yes, that’s it, and again. You have to swallow fast, or it will claw its way back up and give you a sore throat, but the warming tickle as it is crushed when it goes down is so worth the effort.”

Alyce wondered if she could get rid of the said warming ticking effect by sticking two fingers in her mouth and being sick, as now with eyes open very wide she saw the other date being lifted out of the box by its tail and quickly vanish into Pink’s mouth, where she was sure she heard a squeak followed by a loud gulp of a swallow and saw a very happy-looking Pink.

“Ooooooh, wasn’t that the yummiest? When I grow up, I plan to only ever eat my food live.”

Alyce was more worried about what else she may next have to eat in the name of friendship. With a flick that freed their bound tails, Pink gave a sigh of contentment, sank back onto her fluffy pink blanket, and was instantly fast asleep.

She watched Pink sleep. She was flat out on her tummy, arms splayed and head hanging over the edge and breathing through her mouth. Her tail was in the air, and it flicked at Puff whenever he tried to go near her armpits. Each time the tail flicked, it would pass through Puff so he would have to slowly build up momentum again. After a while, Puff gave up on the armpits and wandered off to play on another part of her body that was out of tail reach.

She did not know what time it was as the sun was still very high in the sky and filled the room with bright light, so it would be impossible for her to sleep in such bright light. On the transport here, Alyce had tried many different ways of sleeping and knew that it was not comfortable to sleep on her back as the tail would go to sleep long before she did and start tingling, so on her side was the only way. Pink’s face-down position looked no better. She took her own blanket out from her luggage. It was a nice plain white color. To test it out, she stretched out on it face down so as not to upset the tail. Well, yes, she found it very comfy against her bare skin, but she was not going to sleep naked. She had seen something like a pair of pajamas, which she would go and put on after she closed her eyes for just a second.

Smoking Hot: (7)

She awoke with a start from the odd dream of being spanked naked whilst bent over a guy’s lap. He was wearing a very risque St. Trinnion’s girl’s uniform that started to fall off with each slap he gave her.

Opening her eyes, she knew she was still dreaming, or someone had drugged her with something highly illegal as she tried to focus on a little tornado spinning just in front of her eyes. She decided that it would be best to sleep it off, so she closed her eyes again, and the bliss of sleep instantly returned. It lasted only a second, as she was fully jolted awake by a non-dream, hard slap across her butt. This time it was not delivered by a handsome guy but instead from some strange girl with pink hair who had replaced the tornado and was only inches away from her face.

“Wake up!”

Alyce’s mind tried hard to get a grip on a world where waking naked in a strange bed could mean only one thing, and that was the party was over, and the headache was to remind her of her promise never to drink things in alphabet or even color order again. Hopefully the worst had not happened: that someone had posted pictures of her on Facebook.

“Hello, pink apparition; do you know where I put my clothes?”

The apparition then opened its mouth, and Alyce screamed and fainted.

The next time she awoke it was like being stung followed by the smell of something burning. This time she recognized the worried face looking at her as her live-mice-eating roommate and, like it or not, her only friend in this world. Slowly she moved her head to take in the room and try and update her mind with the present version of reality. She also hoped to find out what was burning.

Explaining that it was only a dream did not help at all, as Pink was certain her reaction was due to her head butting type of fighting, which had caused far too many blows to the head. She insisted on smearing something on her forehead that looked and smelled similar to what they had eaten earlier.

Her forehead did feel bruised and tender, so maybe head nutting other people who also owned horns was not such a good idea; she should stick with those wearing hoodies. Alyce almost laughed when her friend suggested something may be trying to possess her body and thought it would need to take a ticket and form a line after her.

While she had been asleep, all the luggage, including hers, had been unpacked, and the clothing was neatly folded on the shelves. Alyce did not need to ask which were hers as all her friend’s things came in a single color; there were lots of shades, but the overall dominant color was the same as her name.

Pink had laid out her uniform for her: a short kilt and half top in a drab grey color, which made it look dirty before she even put it on.

There were no shoes as Pink said only seniors and those from the Cold lands covered their feet. Alyce was not sure of mixing the colors grey and pink together, but Pink was making a color statement loud and clear; to go with the pink ribbons in her pink hair, she now had painted her fingernails and toenails along with her horns pink to match.

Pink was wearing her two-piece uniform without shoes or, as she tried hard not to notice when her roommate bent over, anything else.

When she told Pink about her idea of wearing something under the uniform, like thin shorts to wear under a skirt so people can’t look up one’s shirt and see what they shouldn’t when bending over or climbing stairs, all she got was a blank look.

“Why would anyone want to see your tail hole? It is more likely being new they would trip or push you down the stairs. And besides, if you sweat, it will attract dustcrabs. Plus without fresh air around your tail, you would get very smelly, and I am sharing a room with you!”

At least Alyce had a selection of thin shorts all with lots of tail room at the rear, and she decided they would have to make up for the limited amount of underwear she had brought with her, which on the second count still remained firmly at zero, so she would wear them and just let Pink think her odd.

The short kilt-like skirt and thin top both in an unpleasant grey and being of a standard size to fit all meant to Alyce that they were a uniform and were therefore designed to make everyone look the same. In Alyce’s experience, uniforms normally looked ill fitting on almost everyone who wore them.

Surprisingly the uniform did look good on Pink, and when she looked at her own reflection from a shiny metal plate her roommate had placed on one of the shelves, it looked good on her as well. The kilt had a tailor-made tail hole that cleverly tightened with well-placed buttons. The top was high necked and long sleeved and by yet another clever design almost locked in place just below her boobs to show off a perfect midriff.

Pink had somehow obtained a list of what and where they should now be, so Alyce was happy just to let her take the lead, but she did wish she would stop going on about her wearing shorts under the skirt as they walked along brightly lit corridors. She found it ironic to be told she was odd by a vivid vision of mixed shades of pink, which was far more an oddity than wishing to wear undies. Pink made it sound like it was as odd as wearing one’s panties on the head, which, alas, she remembered she had done once at a party.

“You are going to get all hot and itchy wearing so much, and I still can’t get why anyone would want to see your tail hole? It is not that it is odd looking or can do anything different from the norm. I mean, I saw everything you have hidden when you were sleeping. Believe me, you have nothing different from my sisters, and we are a different element race from you.”

After a while, Pink had given up or just forgotten about Alyce’s wish to be different as they walked miles through corridors trying to locate not so much where they were but where they should be. In the end they gave up and just followed others wearing the same uniform who also looked lost.

By the time the group they were following looked to be totaling well into the triple digits, they reached what Alyce recognized as a massive auditorium with people standing on a raised dais in the distance. When they spoke, their voices filled the room, and Alyce gave an inward groan as she recognized what sounded like a cross between a high school and college first-day, new-arrivals welcoming speech. Apart from all the standard stuff like not running in the corridors, the major difference was they could pick and choose what they did. A range of tables had been set up around the walls to see what courses they wished to join; they could even choose nothing if they wished, but every course passed did gave you life points. Anyone with less than 100 life points by the end-of-term culling would be killed for lack of effort.

Alyce looked at Pink.

“Er… I think it may be a good idea to check out some courses, don’t you?”

Pink nodded in agreement.

“It may be a good idea to be in the same courses; that way, we can help each other. But I am no good at all in potions, magic arts, or hexes.”

Oh, great! thought Alyce. Life just got better! I’m a 4-year-old mouse-eating Demon, and now I discover I have just entered a girls-only Demonic Hogwarts!

“Nor am I; believe me, I don’t have a magical bone in my body unless I have eaten it. Let’s hope they have a learn-a-musical-instrument course on one of those tables, or maybe a swimming course; perhaps they have a nice large pool of water somewhere.”

Again Alyce watched Pink double up in laughter and wondered what she could be saying that was so funny. The magic book had said she could just talk normal English and it would come out of her mouth in whatever Demonic language was being talked around her, but she suspected it worked on the same lines as an online text translator, which could be the reason Pink gave her such strange looks at times and laughed at the simplest comments she made.

At what on a more familiar planet would have been called the end of a day, they had not only added their names to as many point-giving courses that sounded like they would survive but had also even collected and tried out their sports equipment, which to Alyce looked like a body stocking with large padded knees and elbows. It also came with what looked like a football helmet with horn holes and had a large gap situated at the rear for freedom of tail movement that to Alyce made the whole thing look more like it could double as something from an abstract artist’s porn magazine.

If all the working out of course details was not tiring, after trying on the sports equipment they were taken to try it out, where Alyce discovered Poisen was a teacher (or the Demon equivalent), and to test out the equipment. What felt like hours were spent being paired up, trying to hit her opponent with a long pole, and slashing at each other with their tails. This time Alyce used her head to fight in a different way, mostly by using it as a shield to protect her pole, which received less hits on it than her head had. The pain had ended with her being disqualified for throwing her own pole down, grabbing her opponent’s pole when it hit her head, and chasing her opponent around the room with it.

If the Demonic first day of school had any similarity to a human’s first day, Alyce suspected it would out of sheer cussiness share the worst aspects. Gym was a fine example as the embarrassment of the after-games girls’ shower room in the human world had its own equivalent. Here, Demons turned it into the same type of dreaded experience. Alyce found she had to strip off and take a sandbath together standing naked in a dip in the floor where a wind sprang up from nowhere and pelted their bodies with coarse sand.

Back in her human school days she had never understood why the idea of stripping and being naked together was all right just because you had the same body parts. Growing up with five brothers meant she was so much of a tomboy that she would have found it less hassle and far less embarrassing to use the guys’ changing room to shower. She was sure none of the guys would have complained, but no; she had to suffer the cattiness of girls pointing out she was odd and wore the wrong labels. Designer labels on underwear that no one should see anyway were a real fashion problem. Alyce thought that if a guy were lucky enough to reach a girl’s undies, then he would soon discover wanting to read a manufacturer’s label at that point in a relationship would be a sure way of getting dumped. If she had owned teeth then like she did now, he may have also faced getting something irreplaceable bitten off.

The same teeth came in handy when Alyce followed Pink into what looked like and turned out to be the refectory. She took a tray and picked the same food as Pink, which just made Pink comment that they were going to be perfect roomies as they shared the same tastes in food.

All Alyce had to do was try not to choke or ask what the food was; eating was still a problem and only worked if she tried not to think about it. Etiquette when eating now consisted of making sure the bit you pulled off with your teeth could be swallowed in one go and not spat out for being too large to go down in one try.

Pink also purloined a selection of colored eggs of different sizes for them to take back to their room to eat later, and Alyce gave her a dirty look when Pink told her to hide them somewhere that no one would see.

Alyce could not work out which parts of her body hurt the worst, and she was yawning all the way up from the food hall, which must have made her appear like she should have had shark music playing as an accompaniment to a picture of a bikini-clad girl just about to get eaten if her teeth were anything like Pink’s. Upon entering their room, she went over to the balcony. The sun was still as bright as ever. Stopping short at the room’s edge, as she still did not like the idea of a balcony that had no walls or railings between her and her quickly developing fear of heights. She stripped off her uniform. Could she be seen? After the group-bonding sandbath she no longer cared; heck, at this moment they could have sold tickets to see her.

Even after the sand torture cleaning, she did not feel clean: just gritty. She called Dyson over and lay down to let him play. His cool and attentive movements made her feel a little more awake. She gave him a treat and opened her mouth to let him do a dance on her fangs.

Pink was naked as usual and squatting open legged with her tail tip in her hands and was rubbing the tip of the tail with a little brush and making faces.

“Apart from showing the world you are female and attracting dustcrabs sitting like that, just what are you doing?”

“Trying to free the cutting point; the tipskin is too tight. It should come out with a flick, but I can only free it with my fingers, and that looked real silly when I had to do it in fight practice.”

“As you have got into that strange shape and have your tail in your hands, Pink, I have some Tailbright in my luggage. Would that help?”

“Wow, yes! Now, why didn’t you say before? I forgot you had that. Yes, that will soften the skin. Go get it, and in return I will do your tail tip for you, just like real sisters. It’s easier when someone else does it, and the Tailbright should ease the stinging.”

Alyce watched Pink do practice flicks with her tail, and she was looking very pleased with herself. She pushed Alyce down on the bed, and Alyce groaned at the weight when Pink sat astride her using her butt as a cushion and grabbed her tail. For someone no bigger than she was, Pink was so strong.

“Now, who can see up whose tail? Hehehehe, and you will be pleased to know I can confirm you are also dustcrab free, hehehehe. Now hold still, and stop flicking the point, or you will have me in the eye. Arrrr, you have not pulled your skin before, so, well, this may………..”

“OUCH!¬##~!!” Alyce gave her another dirty look over her shoulder; she then dropped her head back down, resigned to suffer for the good of proper tail management.

“………..Hurt a little, but no pain no gain, and the hurting will soon stop.”

“Okay, yes, that did hurt, and my head hurts, too. I bet this stupid world does not have something like simple drugs for pain control, and please stop sitting on me.”

Pink did not move. She just turned around and placed her knees to either side of Alyce’s body, at which point Alyce discovered Pink was not just stronger but also heavier than she looked.

“Drugs? No need for potions when you have a roomie like me. Now, lay still; this you will like!”

Alyce felt sharp fingers with pink painted nails dig deep into her back and was about to complain when the pain changed to a tickle, and she could hear static electricity. The tickle changed to a most enjoyable tingling sensation covering the area around her shoulder blades.

“No wonder you are so grouchy; your wing muscles are locked solid. Relax; you now have a new sister to care for you.”

Alice felt so relaxed that she felt she should correct her.

“No wings, that is why: definitely no wings. I will have enough problems back home trying to get accessories to match a tail and horns, but wings would make wearing tops and bras a mega problem. But I will try and grow some if it means you would do this to me every night. Don’t stop! No, please don’t stop!”

Pink giggled.

“You say the silliest things at times. If you like that, then I am sure you must have done this with your sisters lots of times in the past. Some say it is rude, but I bet there is not a single girl in the Academy that has not done it.”

She now started to stroke Alyce’s tail. Placing the tip in her mouth, she started licking and sucking off the drying blood, and all Alyce could think was that now she knew why the tail had hurt so much. It was super sensitive in places, and Pink had found those places. She knew she should tell her to stop, as she suspected it was not such an innocent thing between sisters as Pink had said, but she worried that if she did, Pink might just do as she asked. No spa or any pampering massage with nice smelling oils back on Earth had ever felt so relaxing.

“This is so nice ……….”

She did not hear if Pink answered or not as the relaxation had reached a point where she had fallen fast asleep.

Smoking Hot: (8)

Some time later the door to their room opened as Poisen and another black-skinned female, Dream, who had been watching them fight earlier, walked in.

Both smiled when they saw Alyce face down and fast asleep with Pink also asleep on top of her using the hair piled into the nape of her neck as a pillow, and they were anchored together by two tails that twisted around each other as if holding hands. They were locked so tightly that there was no chance of Pink slipping off her, not that the tails alone held them in place, as Pink’s arms were firmly locked on as well.

Poisen almost had a smug look as she softly carried on with a conversation they had been over several times on the way here.

“See, not sisters, and not even the same power color, yet see how close they are? And as to what Pink is doing with the other’s tail in her mouth, I will not even dwell on that! Do hurry up! Do your thing, and tell me what you see.”

Dream gave a pained look at her sister then knelt down, putting a hand on each of their heads. She shut her eyes for a moment and then looked up.

“Yes, well, you don’t need me to tell you that Pink is giving off so much static that she is already maturing: no wonder the Snowflakes took such a dislike to her. Her fighting is poor, and I expect static is going to be the beginning and end of her development. I don’t expect her to last a term before being culled.”

The comment did not please Poisen.

“And what about Fiammetta, who now calls herself Alyce? I need her; she walked in and took on a Cloud of Snowflakes to rescue this spark, Pink, whom she had never even meet before.”

Dream snorted at the idea of Snowflakes being any big deal, which got a harsh look from Poisen.

“A hatchling taking on a Cloud is unheard of, and never mind what you personally think of Snowflakes. They are still Icemaidens out to kill, and even at that rank, as a group they can kill. She did not stop to think, just placed herself in front of a Cloud to protect another hatchling that was in trouble. She did not even use a weapon, and she had a Vfang with her. How many people do you know that own one of them?”

She pointed to the shelf where it lay.

“It’s over there if you dare to touch it! Try it, and it will bite you. A Vfang can only be obtained in battle by defeating the previous owner in a one-to-one fight. A hood made the mistake of confronting her and trod on her tail. Instead of retreating, she attacked him; a powerless 4-year-old hatchling on her first day out did that. Just think what she could do when trained, and that is why I need her.”

Dream touched Alyce again.

“Well, I don’t know how she got selected as her mind is all over the place, not fully in control of her body. It would give me a headache to do more than skim. The selectors just look for potential, and she has that from her breeding. Her mind is crazy: a dormant Battery in a Heat body. The potential is there, yes: so much potential. If her mind were more stable, she would already be a fully active young Fire Demon, which could be the real reason she so wanted to take on a Cloud of Snowflakes: a biological urge to attack and kill any of the Cold race than wanting to protect a fellow hatchling. Even she could not be that crazy.”

Glancing up again, Dream did not like the stubborn look her sister was giving her. She might have called it a poisonous look, but that joke had grown thin with overuse.

“I want them! Fix it!”

She pointed out how their tails were so tightly curled and added, “Biological urge or not, they now come as a pair, so fix them both. They like each other, so each will have something to fight for: two different Heat powers fighting as one, and both fighting for me! And I want this Firefly burning as hot as she can, so do whatever it takes, and do it now!”

Dream outranked her sister, not that she would dare mention it. Her sister had always been the one in charge since they were hatchlings, and something like having a higher rank would not put a stop to that. Besides, having her as a sister did have its advantages; life was a lot easier when your sister scared the crap out of all she met. Poisen let it be known that it would be a terminal mistake for anyone to pick on Dream.

“Fix? You rate me too highly, Sis; the best I can do is a short-term magical link where each can draw upon the other’s strengths. I will cast a maximum-strength Snowflake multi link as if they were a group of 12. It may sound a bit OTT, but it cannot hold them together for long, as they are not fully compatible elements. Your Alyce is Fire, and that cannot normally link with anything else. If they were not close before, they will be now; it will get them through the first cull but will not last a full term. Anything more you want will be up to them and your training; they have, as I said, a short-term fix, so don’t get your hopes up. They have potential, but the rest is up to them.”

Alyce stirred and almost awoke, but the feeling of a nest mate being close made her feel safe and relaxed as Pink’s tail tightened its grip around hers. Sleep folded itself around her again.

“How soon will it take to start showing results?”

Dream stood and stretched, a simple process but a draining one.

“How soon? It is already done! They are firmly linked, be it only for a short time as they are different elements. A Snowflake would be fixed for life, but not these two; it will give them a Cloud-like boost before slowly fading away. The rest is up to them; just don’t hope for too much. We should let them rest and get some sleep ourselves.”

Smoking Hot: (9)

Alyce slowly opened her eyes. The room was filled with sunshine, as if that was anything new! What was new was a dream of being tied up and crushed by a pile of bodies, and this dream had left her aching all over. She suspected it was more from the fighting Poisen had her do yesterday. Could she even call it yesterday when as far as she could tell, the frigging sun just sat in the same place in the sky and never moved?

The sun was always shining and far too bright. It was also doing things to her eyes, as she was sure that when she first opened her eyes she saw a sparkling bracelet of light around her body with a fine thread trailing across the room to Pink, but when she looked again it had only been an illusion, so she turned her mind to something more important.

“Tell me, Pink, how would you say in words when we arrived here, and when we did the fight class with Poisen?”

Pink was near the balcony playing with Puff as she used him for her own form of fight training, aiming her now sharp and ready-for-action tail tip. Her tail would lash out at Puff and try and skewer him, mostly failing as he just faded and reappeared close to his previous location. The times she was able to stab him, her tail did nothing but pass through him. He mostly ended up sitting on the tail when he reformed. Alyce could feel that Puff was having the time of his life with this fun new game.

“Er? Well, do you mean like we arrived two sleep periods ago, and the class we had was the last before the meal one sleep ago? Why? How would you say it?”

Alyce thought for a moment and then said she thought she would say it in the same way. She also noticed how her own Sylph was watching them play, so she walked over to Pink. As she did, much to her own surprise, she sent her tail point fast at Dyson, who just vanished only to reappear sitting on her tail tip. He stayed put no matter how hard she tried to flick him off, which made Pink laugh.

Alyce walked back to her sleeping zone, still giving her tail an odd flick. Something was different, but she could not tell what apart from her nice white sleeping blanket. It looked like someone had been stubbing out cigarettes on it unless the moths here had a likening to cook their food.

“Okay, very funny, you knew that would happen, didn’t you? Well, if you are so smart, tell me why my blanket is full of burn holes?”

Pink stopped laughing and looked serious for a moment as she put her head to one side.

“Well, as a guess, I would say you had a hot dream. I think it is normal for you as you are a Heat. Didn’t your sisters warn you? The red streaks in your hair are a sure giveaway that you are entering a hot phase; element leaking is normal at our age.”

“Er… Sorry, it’s my amnesia again: just another thing I forgot. So tell me, what else comes along with being a Heat apart from adding color streaks to one’s hair?”

Alyce wondered if Pink should skip across the room like a 4-year-old until she remembered that they were both actually 4 years old. Heck, what was the point of being 4 again if you couldn’t skip?

Pink got so close that their noses touched and used her tail to give her a gentle prod as she softly said, “Well, my dear roomie, if you live long enough to grow up big and strong, you will be what we would call in the halls of fame a big, bad ass Hell Fire Demon, only topped by yours truly an all powerful Electric Demon.”

She moved back a little, put her hands together with all her fingertips touching, and slowly pulled them apart, creating colorful pink sparks. She then winked.

“What with my great static back massages and your ability to burn blankets, well, we could rule the world!”

She then burst out laughing again.

All thoughts of laughter vanished when they arrived at their course on Confidence and Deportment, and Alyce noticed the lecturer liked to use a long, thin stick to emphasize what she was saying.

“Come in, stand still, and don’t fidget! First, I want a volunteer to remove her uniform and stand here with me so I can point out to the class what is wrong with her. Well?”

Alyce was surprised that she got a volunteer right away, as one of her fellow onlookers moved forward and started to remove her top. Now all ideas of this being anything like Hogwarts vanished from her mind and was replaced by the idea of a reality TV show instead, and probably a very late night one.

“That’s good; if she had not volunteered I would have had you all strip. So second, this course is worth 10 life points to you if you pass, and I will make sure you earn every single one of them! But for volunteering, this one will earn 20 life points if she passes, which by the current look of her is most unlikely.”

The lecturer, who was called Peace and had to have been misnamed, walked around the living lecture tool and pointed out why she was a poor example of Demonhood, but at least she held her tail in a good S stance. Alyce along with everyone else pulled their tails up to look the same, then what Alyce had been dreading happened; the lecturer looked down at her list and then at her and asked a question.

“You, with the bent tail; yes you, Firefly. You will start us off by telling the class what these are for.”

Alyce swallowed as the long stick pointed to the female’s boobies.

“For the feeding of young?”

Now Alyce could feel herself getting hot as the whole class giggled.

“No. No. No. Not unless you breed cannibals, and why are you smoking?”

She now wished the ground would swallow her as she answered, “But I’m not!”

Peace used her stick to lift up the edge of Alyce’s kilt, and as she did a small cloud of smoke wafted out. Peace let the kilt drop back into place and sighed.

“Miss Firefly, the uniform is fireproof, so just stick with it and don’t think of adding accessories if you are going through a hot phase. The next time you try to set fire to my class, I will remove life points. Now, go stand at the back, and try to cool down.”

Peace then turned to Pink.

“You come out here, sparky, and tell the class what you think her chest lumps are for?”

Pink was standing in a perfect modeling stance as she gave her answer.

“The enlargements to the chest area have three main purposes that are all extremely useful.

They are to help give counter balance to one’s tail; the longer one’s tail, the larger they will have to be.

Of course, they hold the forward muscles for possible future wings. The floating bones contained within the mounds will upon reaching adulthood link together to protect muscle and the primary two forward hearts.”

At this point Alyce could see the lecturer had got her first teacher’s pet.

“Perfect! That was very well put. Let’s take a look at you. Good tail position and lovely color coordination! So, can anyone tell me why the color?”

Three people put their hands up, and Peace picked one of them.

“The electric desert storms of S’mess are pink due to the sand color.”

“That is correct; it is unlikely that this spark will ever get past giving off a small sparkly light display for after dinner entertainment, but looking the part is what being a Demon is all about. Now, please go back and stand with the others.”

From then on, the day for Alyce got worse as she found that Poisen taught the next class, Team Development, which they had picked hoping it was something nice like forming a circle and discussing who should be team leader. She and Pink had picked a number of physical, hands-on type courses such as Weapon Training to try and stay away from things like potions and spell casting, which were bound to give them minus points.

The Team Development room looked more like a fight ring, and Alyce for one knew that picking who should make the coffee was not what this course was going to be about.

Poisen stood with her arms folded.

“Good; I see we have some familiar faces, so let us start. If you are lucky to pass this course, you will be awarded 10 life points, and anyone failing to have over 100 points by term’s end will not be alive for the next term. I also warn you now that not all of you will pass this course, as the points are not for attending but for passing, and there will be tests.”

“In this lesson we will sort out partners, which normally will consist of two females who will stay together as partners for other events and team sports, except in the case of Colds, who will work with different individuals from within their Clouds. Partners should normally be of the same power, and we have found that most will pick their same power as it will involve understanding one’s partner’s strengths and weaknesses. However, this is not always the case, so now is the time for you to discuss this. If you cannot decide, then I will choose for you; now, carry on. Pink and Alyce, see me now.”

As Alyce walked towards Poisen she prayed that she was not going to get any more biology questions as she was still getting over the private facts-of-life lesson she had received from Peace at the end of the last class, which had almost made her late for this class.

She was a grown woman, but that did not stop her from getting embarrassed to learn that the lack of a tummy button was not the only difference in her body, and that one day she would develop rows of egg sacs ready for mating. She was glad she was able to get away before Peace went on to explain about how the mating was done, as she already felt so hot with embarrassment she worried that her shorts would burst into flame again.

“I have decided that you two will be a team. Your powers are not the same, but they are similar; as you share a room, you will be able to practice more if you hope to pass this course. Besides, you are both so useless on your own I do not wish to handicap any of the other females by forcing you onto them. For the rest of this class I will have you both fighting some Snowflakes in hand-to-hand combat. The winners will be the ones who can throw their opponents to the ground the most number of times, and if I find it is not about even, then I may remove life points.”

As she lay on the ground, Alyce felt that being thrown was not as bad as then being jumped on, and she now hurt in places that could mean she would never develop egg sacs. She was also all hot and itchy down below when they did get back to their room. Darn it! Pink had been right; her body did not like wearing too many layers. She now no longer worried about getting sweaty but more about having her clothing burst into flame while she was still wearing them! When she did remove them later, her shorts looked like they had been in a fight all on their own, as they now had singe marks and burn holes in them.

Smoking Hot: (10)

A girl called Ember, who was likely a fellow blanket burner as she also had the red streaks in her hair that Alyce now knew the previous owner of her body had not simply added as a fashion statement, had even taken her to one side after the smoking incident and warned her to only sleep on plain stone when going through a hot stage or she could cause a room fire when sleeping.

Alyce could not get out of the habit of thinking in days, so she decided that the time between waking and eating followed by sleeping would be a day for her. She used the magic notebook to record them in that way, as owning a magic notebook that had a single entry saying “bored, bored, bored, bored,” was kind of a waste of its ability. However, the idea of it recording her daily activity as “cleaned my teeth and got ready for class,” followed by “the teachers are being mean again,” was far more sad now than the time she had done it as a human teenager.

Some days now consisted of lectures on how to build up magic, which looked and sounded more like a yoga course as you had to tune into your inner self. The major difference was that the end result was not so much about being in a state of calm and peace but instead for preparing to let loose death and destruction on the Queen’s enemies, whoever they happened to be, as the Queen did change her mind and alliances quite often.

Day: 1

Dear Diary… oh, frigging heck! Forget that, testing… Are you frigging working or not????

Okay, start… No, check again. Do I have to say the day number? And it should be later, as I have been here more than a day.

Think at the page, it says. Crap! At least it could have a flashing light to say it is recording!

Day: 5

This is just a few minutes later. Yes, it’s the same day but I can’t go back and renumber. Okay, perhaps I can, but I don’t know how, and the menu gets sarcastic if I ask the same question more than once. I’ve been here for four sleeps, so this must be day five not counting the time travelling here.

I’m a Demon, yes. Horns and tail, and I leak and burn bedding when I sleep, so why does this not feel odd? I just feel like me! I don’t feel any different at all to when I was a human. I don’t even think of what my own body is doing, which, of course, is a good idea after her keenness on wanting to go on a lip-sucking spree with any or all guys she meets.

This Academy place is full of DEMONS!!!… Okay, well, they are people just like me, but it sounded good. So what I have learned is that we have different powers like superheroes and we are here to train to join in some stupid war, but no one knows against who… sorry, whom, we will be fighting as it changes a lot.

Forgot to say that I’m really hot: not so much in the heat department but looks, and there’s not a frigging guy for miles to see me!!!! Hehehehehe! Okay, I’d best record in case I forget. I’m a Fire Demon!! Or I will be if I live at the moment. I think I could be classified as a Firefly or maybe a glowworm: both sound naff but are a little better than blanket burner.

Day: 6

Did not pee today nor yesterday; I’ve not even drank anything since I got to this stupid world. Just what sort of creature am I? Yes, of course I know a Demon cannot pee due to the lack of apertures. That fact first came from the way that Pink walks about naked, but it still feels odd. One good thing is I did discover that I can sit as long as the weight is on the left or right cheek. I can thread my tail between my legs to sit normally, but it then goes all tingly and I am forced to wag it about to get life back in it. If that is not bad enough, it hurts my shoulders if I lay on my back.

Day: 7

Nothing much happened today

Day: 8

Stupid magic yoga! Think calm and peaceful thoughts? I’m Fire! Every time I do that it’s like blowing out a match then trying to light a fire with the fast-cooling hot end… Stupid!!!

Yoga! I couldn’t even sit crossed legged on the floor when I did not own a tail.

The fighting classes are much more to my liking; it’s such a pity my brothers couldn’t see how everyone here loves my fighting style, the rules being bring your opponent down in any way you can, which basically are the same rules I have used for years.

Day: 15

Ember got to chatting with me today. I think it’s because I’m the only one here like her. Ha! Little does she know how wrong she is.

Day: 25

Sunglasses! I need some sunglasses; the whole stupid place is too frigging bright! What are we, sun worshippers? Some kind of crystal runs through the walls, floors, and ceilings, flooding every room on every floor in bright, very bright, frigging blinding sunlight!

Day: 28

Today Pink won top prize in Deportment class, and she was awarded a full-size mirror, not a glass one but rolled liquid metal, which we hung up. It curls a bit at the bottom.

I so wish Moa Peace would stop with the private sex education, not that it is ever going to be needed. I already found out from Pink that a normal egg clutch can be between 50 – 100 eggs, which is why it can be years between clutches. In my case, if I have anything to do with it, make that 100s of years before even the first clutch.

So very few female breed, and now that I have I found out about family size, I will never, ever be one of them! Whatever eggs I have will stay just where they are, thank you very much!

Day: 30

If it were possible to pee, then Pink would be constantly standing in a puddle everyday. If only I had a camera, as today she had her head on the floor and her butt in the air howling with laughter over what Dyson did.

It should be a proud day for me to enter in my diary that I was able to create a small blast of fire from my hands, but no things are ever that simple. I was bending over to pick up my shorts, and Dyson thought it was a perfect time to give my tail hole a good, deep clean; an icy cold mini tornado entering one’s butt hole is something a girl has to be mentally prepared for.

To cut the whole story short, I set fire to the shorts I had in my hands and frightened Dyson so much he refused to come down off the top shelf, to which he had fled when I turned on him. In the end I had to catch him a bug and tempt him down with it as a peace offering.

Day: 39

Spent the time after our meal and before sleep taking turns looking in the mirror. I had a close look at my horns, and, well, there’s not much to say; I forgot I had them until we had the mirror. Like fingernails, skin just stops and horns start. As to their color, I think they could be called ivory.

As bodies go, mine’s not bad; it looks and feels just normal. Is that odd? Like, should it not feel that I am in another body? I do not even know what type of creature I am. I’d guess an animal like a human, as I am warm and have a beating heart, or at least two of them. They beat in tandem, so bang goes the idea that Demons are undead.

I so wish they had the internet here so I could look things up. Biology would be handy so I do not pass out when I’m told I can lay eggs! And I still don’t understand how, and I now wish I never saw the movie Alien where things hatch by eating their way out of you.

I must have strong legs now as most of the day is standing and walking about, but I don’t get tired. As for energy, it’s like being on a sugar rush until it’s sleep time, and then it is like pressing an off button.

Day: 45

Don’t we get a day off! I know I am a Demon, but this is like Hell!

Pink was in a mega sulk today as Ember asked me to move in with her. She is on her own and says it would be nice for cousin sisters to room together.

No going home, no days off: just work, work, work. We have just one year to cover all the basic training as when we turn 5 the real stuff begins! I can’t remember much from the last time I was 4, but I am sure it had less fighting and more cake and balloons.

A year is in three terms with each ending with exams and culling (a nice way of saying killing) of those who fail.

Smoking Hot: (11)

It was the smell that awoke Pink, and it was becoming the unpleasantly familiar smell of burning material. With a not so silent curse she got up and went over to her roommate, pulled off her blanket that was slightly smoking, and threw it on the floor.

What was it with this crazy Heat? Some days she acted normal and then others all strange. Pink just wished the normal stuff did not affect her, like thinking of moving in with her cousin sister Ember. True, that was normal; she would want to do the same if another Electric were here, but she had asked first, and, well, now Pink herself was also acting strange. Why should she even care about her wanting to go share with her own kind? Perhaps the oddness was catching, and it did not help that they liked each other, as it was also not normal to think of another race as a sister.

She looked at her companion sleeping face down, which was normal, unlike all the stupid attempts she made at sleeping on her back. Even if she had lost her memory, the shear fact that it was uncomfortable to sleep on one’s wing case should be hint enough not to keep trying. Pink fired a static ionizing charge, and the smell slowly left the air. This task was becoming a sleeping chore she had to do every time her roommate insisted on wearing things to sleep in.

Laying a hand on her roomie, she sent a calming charge; it was the same as she would use when sleeping with her sisters. It aided sleep and relaxed the recipient. The sleeping form sent her tail up to curl around Pink’s hand, which was again a normal reaction; if Alyce stopped thinking about controlling her tail, it would just act like a normal tail and not like something left over from eating a large lizard.

Pink then wondered if the reason her friend wanted to wear so much was that she was deformed before she hatched. As she was now sleeping so deeply, Pink slowly pulled off the PJ bottoms Alyce insisted on sleeping in and which already had a few small scorch marks on them that added to the strange aroma the room had. She dropped them to the floor onto the blanket.

She lifted up her roomie’s tail and discovered nothing more than a normal tail hole and a smooth surface between the legs, which in breeders would one day split open ready for laying as soon as she developed her egg rows. There was no deformity and absolutely nothing there to hide, meaning she feared to get cold. As a Heat that would never make any sense, as Heats, like Colds, controlled their body temperature from within, and clothing was only ever for show. Could a memory loss be so bad as to not know one’s natural abilities?

The top half of her roommate’s body Pink had seen lots of times, and it was also normal, but she still took off the sleeper top and dropped it on the floor, leaving Alyce naked. Pink shrugged, knowing this was now going to have to be a nightly chore for her if she didn’t want to suffocate from the fumes. With that thought she got back into bed, leaving the sleeping fire hazard to carry on tying to burn the stone she was laying on.

Smoking Hot: (12)

Day: 46

If I have to tell Pink one more time I am not going to swap rooms and move in with Ember, I am so going to show her how I nut people!

I have found out that I get so hot at night I undress in my sleep and even kick the blanket off, so I’ve decided just to wear shorts to sleep in now and forget the pajamas.

I was able to break the ice a little with my sulky roomie by telling her she was the only one that I would let play with my tail. I do worry what the tail fondling is all about and why it then made Pink giggle and start being more her old self.

Day: 47

Now I frigging upset Ember!!! I said I don’t want to swap rooms, and I am sure if she could cry she would have. Just what is it with this place? It is getting more frigging like high school every day!

Day: 48

Ember still upset, so much for Collage School for Demons now it is Feeling more like Junior High everyday.

Day: 50

Waited until Pink was asleep then tried to find out more about this Demon body I am now in. The thing is it feels normal; hands are like normal, but feet are more flexible in this shape. I have great movement with my toes. I am sure I could use my toes to write if I could find a pen and paper. Apart from the head I am hairless all over, including a lack of eyebrows, which I have only just noticed as the darkened line of color over my eyes looks like I have penciled some in with a makeup pencil.

Boobs are a disappointment, as Pink could be correct that they are just for balancing the tail. I have no feeling in them, and they are just tipped with darkened skin but no nipples. There is also no tummy button, and I could say everything else is kind of normal-ish and female-ish in a plastic doll-like way. I don’t need to look closely down below as Pink insists on sleeping face down naked with her legs wide apart and tail stuck up in the air.

This sort of behavior on her part also helps me confirm two things.

1. I have no interest in becoming a lesbian, or whatever the equivalent is in the Demon world, and

2. I have absolutely no idea how one can even get pregnant with this body, let alone lay eggs. Apart from the tail hole, which has a single obvious purpose, there is nothing. No matter how tight a pair of pants I may buy, I need never worry about camel toe problems ever again. Okay, add number

3. I have apparently lost all interest in guys; true, there are none around, but I no longer even think about them.

Day: 51

The refectory is so like the one at my old college it is frightening, apart from only serving raw meat, which sounds ick until you take a look around, your tummy rumbles, and you discover the idea of eating everything so raw it could be still walking about is so appetizing. I also suspect were I to even eat a vegetable with this body, I would throw up.

As to the taste of eating lizards that are raw and sometimes still trying to run away, the best I can compare it to in my human mind is chicken. Perhaps that is the standard universal taste of most things.

Day: 52

Good news!! Ember is talking to me again!! And not just talking; I’m just not sure why she likes touching my tail so much. What is all the fuss over something that can get trodden on so easily?

Day: 53

I woke up today and again discovered I had removed my shorts and thrown the blanket off during sleep time. I seem to be doing this every time I sleep.

Day: 62

All the same: is every day going to be the same? Like, mega boring: it’s high school all over again just without the benefit of guys taking shirts off on hot days. And I fear now I would not even bother to look, let alone drool.

When the day starts, I wake up and discover I am nude again; I could go to bed in a straight jacket and still wake up naked!

I am repetitively attacked by Dyson, my personal washing kit that likes to spend most of its time trying to get up my tail hole, and I am sure I will soon start dreaming of being ravaged by a tornado. If I owned any female bits in that department, I hate to think where I might lose him.

I walk for hours to find the correct room for lecture or fighting or something, so that is no change from high school to college, where no one ever knows what room they should be in or even when they last saw the lecturer sober. I suspected the only way one of my past college lecturers got to class on time was that he slept in the room it was in or he was starting a great collection of empty booze bottles to go with an invasive case of body odors.

Half the day is spent hitting someone or being hit, which for an Earth comparison I think of preschool or kindergarten except without the teddy bears.

Day: 72

Most people have built-in clocks. I have Pink and just follow her everywhere she goes. One day I am sure she will ask why I always follow her into washrooms. Well, I live in so much fear of losing her and getting lost that I have even timed my bowel movements to match hers.

What I would call a day ends with a meal then sleep. The refectory is the place to eat, as if there was a choice, and it is so normal it is frightening, as are the way groups are formed regarding were you can sit. The Colds take over a large part of it and are buffeted from everyone else by the Earths, a Demon version of jocks that even Colds don’t upset partly due to the Earths’ being immune to Cold and partly the way they like to hit anyone or anything that gets in their way. Furniture also suffers if an Earth decides it is looking at them with dumb insolence.

We hang about with the Lights and Airs. I say that loosely as they ignore us, and we ignore them.

After eating everyone is sleepy, so we head back to our rooms, where we sort out stuff to be ready for the next wake time and then go to bed. I go to sleep wearing pajamas or shorts but know that in the morning the most I can hope for is to wake up wearing a smile. I am a sleep stripper! How can I complain that Pink walks about naked all the time when I have this urge to strip in my sleep: a nighttime exhibitionist!

Day: 89

Our second class today went all odd, and we ended up talking on naming and what people’s names mean only to have some Air tell me that my name is stupid, and this is from a girl calling herself “Airlite.” Airs are odd at the best of times. She said that “Alyce” means furry ear covers! At least the Moa came to the rescue and told everyone it was a type of volcanic hot air vent, like that helps! So I am no longer named after a furry hat but a hot earth fart instead.

Day: 90

At last I have got the kink out of my tail! I had tried not to think about it, but it has always been at the back of my mind, and I was sure it did not look good from behind. But I checked it today, and it’s perfect! Ember was correct with the exercises she gave me to do.

I feel happy today, like having a good-looking tail is important. I don’t know how I could have lived without one before, as it is so useful, if only for being the best back scratcher ever designed.

It’s odd, odd, odd! What is it with these stupid feelings of getting so hung up on having a fantastic-looking tail?

Okay, what is also strange in my mind is that it must look great from behind. I just wish I had a camera.

Day: 95

Training went well today. I’m still feeling happy about my lovely tail and getting far more control over it.

I’m also still doing odd things while I sleep. I only wear shorts now, but I still remove them in my sleep. Pink says it is me being a crazy Heat.

I asked Ember about my sleeping habit of taking my clothes off, and she said my body should never get cold as it regulates to the correct heat without having to think on it. She said that wearing too much must confuse it and so I overheat when I sleep.

Now I have to worry about where I sleep, and I will never go to sleep in a public place unless I want to give everyone a free strip show.

Day 100

Watching Colds create ice and snow that dissipates and does not melt as it does not leave any puddles makes me wonder if my Fire is the same as fire on Earth, but I guess it is, as apart from me and Pink, it can set burnable stuff on fire.

Day: 110

Calibration today: I’m colored!!!! All my fears of still being human are over. I’m colored! Okay, just a splash of red has appeared on my uniform near my left boob. At last my uniform has noticed what I am. I was so sure it was broken, as even Pink has been walking about with a large silver stripe running around her skirt.

Day: 121

Okay, so the tail is sensitive, but what is it with the crazy perverted girl-to-girl thing on touching tails? I see it in class sometimes between girls: tail touching when they are of the same race, clan, element, or whatever it is that makes us fall into different groups. Ember will accidentally on purpose touch my tail with hers when we talk, and from the look I get from Pink, I know it is not by accident.

Day: 122

I think I may be banned from practicing tail slashing in company. I now know why the tail tip is so sharp, but I still have poor tail control. No one in class will now hold a target up for me. I just don’t know how anyone can hit a center point that small anyway, and no one thinks that my way of spinning on the spot is a good way of using a tail cutting point.

I have discovered if I straighten my tail, the tip skin rolls back to show the cutting point, and when I relax it, the skin rolls forward to cover it again.

Day: 132

It was a good day for showing off my tail today as we had climbing skills. Like the others, I can’t stand that body stocking thingy we have for sports, so we got together to request not having to wear it for climbing. Climbing in the nude! It’s not something I would have wanted to try when I was human! OMG have I gone native!! The Moa showed us moving air images of what we looked like climbing, and I am pleased to say my tail and butt look great from behind!!!

I am beginning to worry that I am getting a little obsessed with my tail, but it looks so cute when seen from behind. I have a body to die for and no one to show it off to, so no wonder I do a private striptease act when I sleep.

Day: 133

Nothing new

Day: 134

Same

Day: 134

Ditto

Day: 139

I tested out an idea today, and heck, I don’t know what I have done, but I sure got a reaction when walking in a corridor. I used my tail to wrap around Pink’s tail, and her eyes lit up. She wrapped hers around mine in return and did a tail hug.

Day: 160

Major problem! I had to make a note here; should I color my horns? Pink says virgin ivory is a cool look but plain ivory can look so drab at times. I must ask if anyone has a high-gloss polish I could borrow.

I have a feeling I may be going even more native, if that is possible, but heck! They are sticking out of my head! It’s not like they can be hidden like one’s boobs. They should look good, so I now plan to polish them daily.

Day: 163

Crap! I lost a life point today! Like, how was I to know that the sand in the sandbath would heat up if I was in a hot mood? It was just bad timing that a Moa used it after me, and I still think sharing the same sand in a sandbath is not that hygienic.

Day: 180

I saw another Snowflake showing off wearing a pure white uniform today. I also noticed the look she gave when summing up. She was trying to decide if she could take me out on her own or if she would still need to call on her friends for full Cloud backing.

Well, if she ever gives me another look like that, she better have the rest of her Cloud near, or I will leave her as a puddle on the floor.

They can sense me the same as I can sense them. I was told that in the old days there was constant war between our two elements, and they do not even belong to this part of the world as they are Cold Worlders and should have stayed in the dark, whatever that means.

Day: 191

Stupid magic! Think calm and peaceful thoughts? I’m Fire! Every time I do that it’s like blowing out a match then trying to light a fire with the fast cooling hot smoky end! Stupid!!!

Day: 198

What is up with this place? They have invisible force barriers that you only discover when you hit your nose on one, yet they still have yet to invent the wheel!

The world is full of magic, but do we do anything useful with it? No! I have to practice concentrating on lighting a candle with my mind. Just give me a magic mirror, and I will go home for a box of matches.

Day: 200

End of Term first cull quarter. We received our points today, and I have 147!!!!! Yippie!!!!!! 147! 147! 147! 147! So I’m safe, as is Pink.

Day: 201

A little bit of an anti climax today; everyone we know made it over the 100 life-point marker. But there looked to be a lot less at the meal, and no one is saying anything. It hardly seems appropriate to shout out, “look, I’m alive!” when anyone with less would not be around anyway.

New term: we spent all day going between course tables and now have to pick higher point-giving courses. My 147 does not look that good now that we need to get 1000 before the end of the next term.

Smoking Hot: (13)

At the first meal of new term, Alyce could now see the real difference in numbers and wondered just how it worked; did you get summoned to the principal’s office? She had tried to bring it up with Pink, but her roommate did not want to discuss it.

“They were too weak to survive, so it’s just nature, I guess. Anyway, look at what I was able to find on today’s menu specials.”

Pink was holding up two small lizards by their tails, which Alyce knew as “Tri-acks” due to the three barbs on their tails.

Alyce wondered if perhaps she could become the first vegetarian Demon, as the eating of them not only raw but still very much alive and clawing was something her human mind shuddered at, and her mental revulsion was only spoiled by the way her tummy rumbled and her mouth was starting to drool.

“Pink? Do you ever think it may be cruel to eat them alive?”

Pink laughed.

“I so love your humor! No, why the loving Sun would anyone ever think that? The only reason they exist is to be eaten, so do you want one or not?”

No, Alyce thought, why would she? After all, nothing is being said about the killing off of fellow students that could have been 1 point short of the 100 target. Trying very hard not to think about what was happening, she bit the tail off, spat it out, and then placed the little creature at the back of her mouth and swallowed. She could feel it wriggle as it went down, and she wondered why she found it such a pleasant feeling.

Now the problem was whether she should leave the bitten-off lizard tail on the table or look for a bin to put it in? It was a waste, but it had a barbed tail and they were hard to digest and normally got stuck half way down.

Smoking Hot: (14)

Day: 202

Culling is not the only way to leave here early. There are lots of rumors going around about assassinations! Like, why? The Academy kills enough as it is without people killing off each other. Like Pink, I believe the Snowflakes are to blame.

Ember turned away from the view from the balcony of her room and gave a sigh. She would like to be happy, but that was not how she had been created. Irritable was about the best of her moods, which was, she expected, one reason why she had one nice double sleeping chamber all to herself. That and Fire Demons did not make good roomies, and Fire Demons were in short supply at the Academy this year for her to find a cousin sister to share with her. The only other Heat of her year was a cousin sister called Alyce, and she was for some reason slumming it with a noisy Electric. The girl was on the hot side of energy, which could be why they had teamed up, but she was still disappointed that Alyce wanted to stay with her and not stick with her own race, which would have been more normal.

She decided that her cousin sister would come to her senses in time and ask to move in with her, so all she had to do was wait.

Ember tossed her uniform onto the spare bed and placed both hands flat on the stone floor of her sleeping area, sending waves of heat into the stone. When she had mastered the ability better, she would leave it on automatic; at the moment she was forced to wake up halfway into the sleep time and reheat the stone floor where she slept.

Being away from the heat of her sisters was one of the things she most disliked about Academy life.

She should not have had to worry about the temperature, as the body should always keep her warm automatically, but she was still young. Her body could go from hot to cold as she slept, and being cold was so not a good idea at her developing age.

At home she never worried about the cold, as she used to be able to curl up with her sisters and lots of blankets, but now even blankets were a past luxury, as she would only set them alight while she slept during a hot phase.

True, she, like any heat her age, was forced to sleep nude, well, not fully naked, as she had the bloodstone on a chain around her neck. It had been a going-away present from her sisters. She loved it, but some nights a fireproof blanket would have been nicer.

But she always slept holding onto it, as it meant so much. In daylight, it was a fine and very rare black gem that radiated a darkness, or rather, light got sucked in and was not reflected. In bright light, it looked like she was wearing a hole. It was admired by all who saw it, but it had a secret that she kept to herself. If worn by a Heat, then in the dark it changed, and through faults in the gem a red glow could be seen, making it look like a glowing ember. She loved her sisters for thinking of such a thoughtful gift; all girls got gifts when leaving home for the Academy, but none she had seen were as nice a gift as this.

When her bed had reached a point where it would soon start to glow, she climbed onto it, feeling the lovely warmth caress her skin. She gave the bloodstone a kiss and was able to flick her tail twice before she was deep in sleep.

Ember slowly tried to wake. Her mind was still full of cotton wool, but she had to wake. Her bed was no longer warm, and she was sluggish. Something was very wrong; she was not alone. There were others in the room, and then she saw who there were. As one leaned over her, she tried to awaken her flame, but a white and icy rod was jammed into her chest. It burned with Cold, causing both her heart and flame to die at the same time.

Her dead fingers were pried apart, and the black gem and chain were taken.

Smoking Hot: (15)

Day: 203

A sad day. I tried to find Ember, the only other of my kind here that I know of, and she has vanished! But I know she had 164 points, so would have survived the culling.

Day: 205

I told Pink today that if she was thinking of painting her tail cutting point pink to match her horns, I’m going to pretend not to know her! Besides, the color would get chipped as soon as it was flicked.

Day: 208

We had Tag fighting today, another Moa Poisen course, and she’s a bitch when she thinks you are not going flat out. I used to think it would be fun just fighting for fun everyday instead of working for a living. I have now changed my mind, and my bruised body agrees with me.

Day: 210

I’m still down thinking about what could have happened to Ember. Pink told me off for asking, but I know she passed the 100-point mark, so where is she? We should have at least some classes together.

Day: 225

After checking with a Light MOA, I got told that Ember was no longer with us for this term, which Pink says is code for she’s dead but not culled, or they would have just said she failed the end-of-term exam.

Pink suspects Snowflakes, saying my race was always at war with them, but if they ever make a move at me she will fry every single one of them even if she has to burn the place down.

I feel very sad and so down. She was a nice girl, and I will miss her.

Day: 226

Pink has been saying Ember’s death is reminding me of how I miss my sisters, and if it helps I can cuddy with her. I think it is she who wants to cuddle, but I have to be careful not to hurt her feelings. I was never a girl-with-girl cuddler when I was human, and being a Demon is no different.

Day: 250

Stupid world! I said it before; just because the outside world is like walking on one large soft sand beach, that is no reason for not inventing the wheel. Not that I have seen much of this world: I travel to a different planet and what happens? I’m stuck in school! All I have seen so far has been from the window of a walking box, and that was just sand. As for wildlife, unless it is served up on a plate, I have no idea what is about the place. And when I do think about what creatures could be out and walking around, I normally just feel hungry.

Day: 300

I’m back to writing in this stupid diary, and this is my stupid frigging life. There are another 100 frigging sleeps till the end of the next term, and then another 200 more before the end of the year, like how come I am the only one to work this out! I look to be the only frigging Demon that can count!!! On this world a year is 600 sleeps long; like, what is the big secret? Anytime I talk about how the year works, people look like I have just told them I have decided to become a vegetarian.

Day: 310

Nothing new.

Day: 325

Nothing much to say.

Day: 350

Airs look to have mastered creating winds, and what do they do? Yes, all the time they play by blowing each other’s skirts up as if it were just as funny as it was the first time they did it.

Day: 352

Airs can almost create walls of air, whereas Lights can hide real ones! They are light benders here, but back on Earth they could make a fortune as a magic act.

Day: 356

I made the Lights giggle today when I suggested putting signs on invisible tables; they, of course, can see the darn things! The rest of us walk into them, so wish I had a marker pen with me!

Day: 362

More frigging new classes on magic stuff to learn: everything is telepathic! Okay, maybe not the rocks or the lizards, but it is so common it is not talked about. Older Minds can communicate by thought, which is another reason for staying clear of them, as Pink says they are real stuck up over how smart they are and also mega creepy at the best of times.

After all the talking I do with Dyson, Pink now says that, like my Diary, he is telepathic; all I have to do is think at him. He is not that bright, so it is more like sending him feelings.

Day: 380

It’s so odd that everyone back on Earth thinks that Demons are sexy, but I don’t seem to be that sort of Demon. Thinking about guys is no longer of interest, and certainly not girls!!! I look in the mirror and see a fantastic body, and all my mind gets excited about is when we will next eat.

Day: 392

I discovered two things today. 1. Lights find it funny to bend light and like to hide things in plain view, such as stone tables so people walk into them, and 2. Moas do not have a sense of humor, and when they walk into an invisible table, they deduct 50 life points from every Light in the room.

Day: 400

End of half-year term culling today! We are okay. Pink’s at 1185, and I have 1065; the magic life number is 1000. So no Hell and no devil, but we are still a lot of unfeeling Demons killing off our own for failing to reach a stupid number. Follow the system, fight for your world, and do as you are told, as others know best. It is times like this that I can’t see any difference between humans and Demons; we are all monsters in different ways.

Alyce felt down all day. Both she and Pink had more than the required points for this term’s end, but they did not talk about it: nor did their friends. Being different elements meant you did not make close friends, but you worked with other students, saw them in different classes, and ate with them in the refectory. When some no longer came in to eat, nothing was said, and what is not said by so many can be deafening.

She had a mind that wanted to cry but eyes that did not know how; she felt sad but also had a feeling of things being right and normal. Alyce could feel the two things at the same time and wondered if she were the only one who felt that way. She also wondered how her family back on Earth was getting on with having a cuckoo in the nest, or if they had even noticed, as her brothers were not known for their IQs. If her other self did not mind getting an odd black eye, then they would not notice any difference. Even if she had told them that she was really a Demon, they would not have cared as long as she still paid for the takeout. But the Alyce in this world was feeling down.

Even Pink did not eat with any real enjoyment. Alyce thought that all they did was eat, sleep, and work: always the same. Nothing ever changed. She wanted to get out of the place and just scream, but there was no way out, apart from the way those who no longer came to eat with them had found.

When she returned to their room, she discovered that she could not control a nerve twitch in her tail, and her life felt worse as she watched it twitch. Then Pink did something strange. Without a word she collected both blankets, took hold of Alyce’s hand, and lead her out onto the balcony where she laid one of the blankets on the floor and pulled Alyce down onto it. She then lay down with her in the hot sun, wrapped tails then pulled the other blanket over them for extra heat and hugged her until she fell asleep. It was odd, but as she slept it felt like she was at home: warm and safe with lots of arms and tails interlocking to comfort her and let her know she was with family and they loved her.

When they awoke, nothing was said about what happened, but Alyce felt a lot better and now knew that just because you were a Demon did not mean you had to be a monster. This world was hers now, and that meant she had the right to make changes and hopefully try and make it a better place.

Day: 401

There was the normal choosing of courses today, and we are being forced to take things on magic use and strategy plus a few that we cannot even work out what they are. Lights and Airs just walk about with their noses and tails in the air, as the new courses are magic based and therefore more to their liking.

Day: 402

Magic theory is like mega ick!!!! Pink had to wake me up twice in class. It’s like algebra but without numbers, letters, or even logic, and I just wish it were also without me!

Day: 410

Frigging magic lessons! It all sounds less likely than the Easter bunny. We tune into the invisible magic particles floating in the air. It is just a load of crap, but there has to be a real reason for it.

Day: 422

Today I found out that Colds were originally a Crepuscular race. Now all I have to do is find out what the heck Crepuscular means!

Day: 430

I must remember not to ask questions; all that ever happens is that I get strange looks. I just wanted to know what the temperature was outside, and the best I can get is that it is normal for the time of year.

Day: 431

Another thing not to ask is why the sun does not set. Like, why is that such an odd question to ask?

Smoking Hot: (16)

Day 450

A new course starts tomorrow: weapon training supplementary. It sounds good; I am hoping for sword fighting, but knowing my luck someone has gone and invented a gun here. I have shot one before and couldn’t hit a barn, let alone a barn door.

Alyce noticed that the Moa teaching Weapon Training was an Earth Demon and therefore not someone to go hand-to-hand with after learning what the different magic abilities people had could do in Magic Workshop. She wondered if they had a room 101 on campus, and knowing her luck it would store fire extinguishers. Even a weak Earth did not feel heat or cold, and they could change body density, so it was not a good idea to hit one with a bare fist unless you wanted broken fingers.

Moa Poisen must have told the other Moas of her fighting skills, as she was picked on from the start by being one of two given a blunt blade and expected to put on a show and fight in front of all the other students. After that she had to go back to her room and fetch her Vfang blade, which she had forgotten about and had just left on the shelf to gather dust.

As the Moa explained just what a Vfang was and what it could do, the most surprised student was Alyce. What she said was exactly what Alyce had jokingly thought when she got it; it was a magic blade, and making whoomping noises was not its only ability. Having been won fairly in a fight, it could now only be used by her; anyone else who touched it would be cut.

The Moa was far more impressed with it than Alyce had been and gave her a tie-on leg sheath in smelly leather, as the blade would for some reason need to be close so as to bond with her. Then the Moa gave a warning that she could only take it out when she was in her room. If she ever took it out of the sheath anywhere else without permission, she would lose life points, so it was not so much a weapon but more of a decorative leg weight.

Alyce thought if she were going to have to wear it daily, she may as well take a proper look at it after meal time. And as for being magic, she so hoped that its magic ability was to make itself lighter; if not, she would either develop a limp or stronger calf muscles on one side.

Day: 451

I took a long look at the Vfang. Okay, so I am no expert, but it just looks like a normal blade to me: a handle on one end and a sharp point the other. As for bonding, that sounds more crazy than most of what I am told here. Sometimes I am sure they are winding me up, and if it is true, then I think it is more likely to be sulking after being ignored for so long.

Day: 452

If I have to explain to anyone else why I am walking about with a blade strapped to my leg, I am going to have flyers printed!

Day: 455

A lesson today not so much on races, as everyone should know who is what (apart from me), but other creatures that also share this world with us. We are, of course, the top species, but then we would think that, wouldn’t we?

Day: 460

So, so, so fed up with this blade bonding! Having it tied to one’s thigh everyday may look cool but just means getting a darn rash from the sweaty leather sheath rubbing the skin.

Day: 461

Frigging heck! I just found out that my blade is also telepathic as well as magical, and, like, what sort of convo can you have with an overgrown piece of cutlery? I was relieved when I found out I don’t have to talk to it! It needs to be close to me to get the feel of me… er? No, don’t ask how that works, but apparently I leak. And as I own a body that can’t pee, I expect that means it can pick up leaked thoughts. Seeing how interesting my life is, I will end up as the owner of a magic sword that has an intimate knowledge of my toilet habits along with knowing my one great fear is having my tail trodden on, and still being freaked out over the way my toes can bend upwards.

Fighting classes are more interesting when you can actually stab your opponent, and if you don’t like her, you can even try and cut her head off. This, of course, can be a little disturbing for those watching, as they may want to start betting on the results.

Alyce wondered if now being a Demon made her so like hitting things, but then she remembered she had liked hitting things when she was human, well, she mostly liked hitting her brothers, but that was just because they deserved it.

To get around too many people getting killed in practice fights, Alyce found out that magic gets involved so that illusions are created for you to fight, and every time they hit you, a gong sounds. The Vfang now came into its own as she could not do any harm apart from lashing any member of the audience who came too close to an uncontrollable tail with a razor sharp bone tip. When Alyce was fighting, she sometimes forgot about her tail and let it do its own thing, which mostly meant striking out randomly in any direction, a fighting style that was considered both unique and also dangerous to anyone entering or leaving the room. Passing near to her was considered dangerous at any distance less than 50 feet.

Alyce did discover the Vfang was very nicely balanced and nothing like the toy she once thought it to be. It still made the odd whoomp sound as it traveled through the air, but it made up for the sound effects by being almost weightless when held and at the same time glued to her hand. Being almost weightless when tied to her leg would have been a more helpful magic ability. Unlike other blades she had used in the past, this one would never be knocked out of her grasp. The fake fighters vanished upon being hit with a very lifelike scream.

Day: 465

I had fun today telling Pink that she sometimes sparks when she sleeps! The real look of embarrassment on her face!! If only I had my phone here I could take a video of it, as it is very pretty: perhaps a phone and a bag of popcorn, as it is fun to watch.

Day: 466

At last I sorted out my horns. Of all the fashion ideas on horn care, the best is the simplest: a careful soak in oil, and then I used Dyson to give me a nice long buff with some light powder. As long as I remember to keep my eyes closed and brush all the dust from my hair afterwards, then the look is fantastic, and I am sure they now sparkle.

In this world, to look good you have to have a nice tail and bright, sparkling horns.

Day: 467

Okay, so it has only just come to mind, and when I asked Pink she just laughed. Yes, of course I know that Dyson is nothing but living, spinning air molecules, but I still wish he wouldn’t try and clean my teeth right after he has been cleaning between my legs!

Day: 470

Slowly it is sinking in about element differences; most families only breed a single element type Demon unless for some reason you are supreme black like Poisen. Her family’s type is super special as they breed different sorts. Poisen is a Venom, and her sister here is a Dream. Now why do I find that odd, but not the fact that some Minds can blast a hole in a wall just by thinking about it?

Day: 472

Nothing much happened today, so I will list types of Demons and what they are good at:

Names can be confusing, and they depend upon whom one is talking to, but this is what I have so far:

Name: Venom

Ability: Poison and kill by touch

Job: Spy, or perhaps catering?

AKA: I don’t think people give them any.

Moa Poisen is a Venom, and she teaches marshal arts so bang goes the who-should-do-what theory.

Name: Cold

Ability: To form groups called Clouds and do magic stuff that is cold or icy.

Job: Military fighting units and generally getting up the noses of everyone they meet.

AKA: Ice, Snowflakes, Ice Maidens, Ice Queens, Ice Clouds, Children Eaters, think of Narnia on a bad day

Name: Dream

Ability: No idea

Job: Perhaps Human Resources

AKA: Just like Poisen’s sister

Name: Heat

Ability: Anything to do with Fire and I expect a mobile central heating system.

Job: On a world where the sun never sets and it is hot and sunny every day so there is no need for open fires or making things hotter than they already are, I have no frigging idea.

AKA: Fire, Flame, Firefly, Hot Stuff, and Me

Name: Electric

Ability: Fantastic cell phone charger if and when they invent phones. I just wish I had one as a friend when I owned a cell phone that always went flat when wanting to make a call. Electrocute people and throw bolts of lightning, which, in Pink’s case, are the size of a matchstick.

AKA: Electricity, Static, Lightning, Sparks, and Pink

Name: Light

Ability: Create light, bend light, see invisible stuff, and make things not seen

Job: Mostly Admin and perhaps a mobile lighting unit on legs

AKA: Touchy but mostly only by me

Name: Air

Ability: Showing off by walking an inch off the ground

Job: Admin? And perhaps handy if you want a change of air.

AKA: I expect anything linked to air; that seems to be the common way to do things here, apart from not inventing the wheel. Their imagination with names is kind of limited. The only other Heat I knew here had the name Ember, so it’s no wonder people think Alyce is an odd name.

Name: Mind

Ability: The top thinkers and can melt your horns off just by thinking it! Also great card cheats.

Job: Anything they want to

AKA: Stay clear, and don’t upset unless you want to die or wake up with two heads and no tail.

Name: Earth

Ability: Very strong and with natural protection to magic

Job: Anything that needs a strong pair of hands and a tail.

AKA: Earths: if you try and give them any other name, they will hit you.

There are others but noncombatants don’t care to talk about them, like Medics: a rare one said to be almost extinct as no clan is breeding them anymore, and they are called Battery.

Name: Battery

Ability: No ability on their own but can boost others

Job: The old non-Cold Clouds, the Heat and Electric Clouds in the past, were powered by them

AKA Extinct, but some elements, such as Colds and Heats, have it as a secondary ability.

FYI I am told the testers said I should have this ability, but that was the previous owner of this body. My secondary ability is diary keeping, and judging by the number of blank pages, I suck at that as well.

Day: 480

I’ve been playing again with trying to create Fire. Look, if Stone Age man can do it, why can’t I? If I ever sort it out, I will treat Pink to melted marshmallows.

Day: 481

I spent like forever trying to explain to Pink what a marshmallow was. I now realize that apart from coming in bags and being pink and white, I also have no idea what they are! More courses on magic start tomorrow… ick!

Day: 490

Pink is giving me those funny thinking/listening looks more often now; she used to only do it in class, but now she does it to me when we are alone. Today I got so fed up that I asked her what she was doing, and she said listening. She had to concentrate, as I must think differently than I speak, as she can pick up deeper meanings to some of my weird statements. I asked if she could read my mind, and she laughed. She said no, but when you are close to someone, undertone meanings can be picked up the same way sisters of the same brood can at times think as one. Then she ruined it by saying I am louder than any of her sisters and I shout thought meanings so loudly I must give any passing Mind a headache.

Smoking Hot: (17)

The course on element magic was, for a change a course, that started off nice and easy with everyone saying what they were, as if that was not so obvious to everyone anyways. Earths, Lights, Minds, Airs, Dreams, Venoms, Colds, and, of course, Energy, and Heat. Apart from Moas, Alyce did not know any Minds, Dreams, or Venoms socially, as they did not normally do the same sort of combat courses she attended, but she did know a number of Earths as they were the mega-good fighters and all of them could hit far harder than she could. As for the Colds, one of the many names for the Snowflakes, most tried to ignore them.

The following listing of what a Demon could do proved more handy to know what she should be able to do than to worry about how a mega-powerful Light Demon could zap you with a laser beam by accident, as most just ended up as clerks lighting underground bunkers in the war effort and would be more likely to get killed on purpose by some Ice Demon that should be on your side.

It did help to know of Clouds and how the Snowflakes teamed up in a special way unique to them; a spell bound them together and created something called a Cloud, and then they were able to pool their powers. A well-formed Cloud could take down any single, high-powered Demon with little problem, and they knew it. They had special classes on group action. She asked about other element Clouds but was told they were tried in the past but were never that stable. Electrics apparently were the only ones that semi-mastered it with something they called a Storm Cloud, and Alyce imagined a thunderstorm and thought it must be something like the way Pink looked when someone tried to steal her food or made a rude remark about the color pink.

Earths normally stayed in groups. Heats and Electrics used to also work in groups and once made up most of the Queen’s firepower, but that had all changed. Nowadays they acted more as individual attack units. This information sounded like she was going to be used as cannon fodder. Alyce also wondered if the Queen got her war skills from a Dungeons and Dragons game and pitied the poor Earths, as they looked to have taken on the role of Orc, as in “let’s slow the enemy down and send in another mob of Orcs.” Personally, Alyce thought they were the nicest, cutest bunch of Orcs you could hope to meet.

Alyce found out that basic magic could be done by anyone, and there was a lot of crossing over on who could do what. Your own element was easy to master, but others would find it hard. The best example would be the small viewing windows, a spell that would create a small window that you could then cast spells into. Alyce thought of it as a Kindle or iPad that only Airs and Lights had been given the instruction book for; you knew it could do wonderful things, like making phone calls, but the best you could do was read a book on it. When you tried to do more, you normally ended up dropping it.

Day: 492

I got Pink laughing today. I said that if she ever wanted to eat her meat cooked, then I am the roomie to help. She said if she ever wanted indigestion then she would zap it with lightning. I still cannot explain what a marshmallow is, and my best translation for sugar is an edible white sand. I am so not going to try to explain chocolate.

Day: 500

And yes, I am the only one in the place who knows we are half way into term 3 of year 1, and no, of course no one apart from me calls it that: only 100 sleeps till the end of the year.

Day: 510

My fighting style is changing, or more like being changed for me, as I have been banned from nutting. I am the only person that can do a ballerina spin (others get dizzy if they try) on the spot, creating a lethal tail-slashing curve. That move is still allowed, but I just can’t use it in class, or the Academy, er… or on this side of the planet!

Day: 511

I have now dropped one fighting move, which is useless here; kicking and kneeing your opponent between the legs is never that helpful when all your opponents are female! It may be obvious, but growing up with so many brothers, it was locked into my fighting moves skill set, and I have now grown tired of hoping about on one leg due to having my kicking leg trapped between an opponent’s thighs.

Day: 520

It was a bit chilly tonight, so I put on a pair of PJs. Looking in the mirror, I could see something that would make a great cartoon, as here I am a horned and tailed Demon girl wearing PJs. It does look funny!

Day: 522

I hope Pink is only joking when she says some Demons develop wings. Horns and tails are cool but would be hard to get accessories for back on Earth, but wings! That would ruin the fashion industry on Earth, as wearing tops and bras would definitely be a mega problem.

Day: 533

For some reason it feels colder. I would like to wear my PJs to sleep, but I now worry about setting them on fire when having a hot dream. My blanket is already looking more of a burnt brown color than the white it used to be, and it smells very odd in the morning as it sits and smokes in a heap on the floor. Besides, Pink gives it such dirty looks that I am sure she is going to bin it when I am not looking.

Smoking Hot: (18)

Pink could not sleep; she felt cold, so throwing the useless blanket to one side, she stretched and yawned. She was naked and loved the freedom, as clothing made her feel trapped. But then, so did living in the Academy. She was a Surface Demon, and her essence was linked to hot desert storms.

Her roommate was forced to sleep nude for other reasons, and she was still fast asleep, so Pink would not disturb her. Her blanket was on the floor and smoldering, so she was now sleeping on plain stone: possibly a better idea so that she did not cause a fire. Pink wished she could be as warm as her roomie and not just get the munchies from the fumes the smoldering blanket was giving off. She did still take the blanket off her at night, but now Alyce dragged it back on.

As she wandered onto the balcony and tried to lean over but was pushed back by an invisible barrier spell, she wondered if many students had tried to jump off only to discover that it would be like throwing yourself at a wall and therefore a painful way of not killing oneself. She looked up, and about 40 feet up was another balcony. Movement caught her eye as something was crawling about under it. The barrier spell was designed for students and not bugs or even small creatures, so when everyone was sleeping, small creatures came out to hunt bugs and the like.

Pink wondered if she could make 40 feet, and if she did, would anyone notice? But the thought of it so close made her tummy rumble as she closed her eyes and let the storm build up inside her. When she next opened them, she was ready and pointed her hand upwards. There was a flash and a crackle as she swung her tail around to pluck out of the air the falling creature: a bug eater 6 inches long including the barbed tail. She bit off the tail and spat it out. Next she leaned her head back so that she could drop the rest of the creature in, and with a single swallow it vanished. She could at first still feel it fighting for life, but that stopped as soon as it was crushed inside her. Such morsels made life worth living, and she carefully licked the blood off from around her lips.

Pink was slowly getting stronger. She may have been young, but she now knew she was no minor Electric Demon but something a lot better: maybe one day a Storm. Only 1 in 1000 made it to Storm level. She was developing fast: too fast and too soon. She still carefully made sure the silver did not show in her hair. She let people think she was weak: not too weak, as that was a sure way to get culled, but storms needed to build up slowly. Soon she would be able to kill Ice Demons singly at first then as they cowered together in a Cloud.

The Queen favored Ice Demons at the moment for her wars, and so they bred in large numbers. Should she talk to Alyce about her thoughts on Fire Demons? They were at one time plentiful and powerful, but then they turned on the Queen and were culled to almost extinction, leaving just a few that never became very powerful. Alyce, she expected, was now the only Heat remaining in the Academy. There had been another one that Alyce had got friendly with, but not anymore, and rumor had it that she had been killed by some Snowflakes.

Pink looked up at the Sun and could see clearly now the shadow in the bottom corner of it. She knew it was just the start and first warning of the cold times to come; soon she would have to wear something to sleep in, and maybe the uniform would change to replace the skirt with some leggings. With the cold coming, her hot friend would be worth her weight in lizards.

As she walked back into the room, she made her way to the sleeping form of her roomie. It was so odd, but she felt more connected to this Heat than any of her sisters, and she guessed it was because they shared a common enemy. Their powers, while not fully the same, also did not clash. She knew Alyce was strange, but that was because she was a hot head, and all Heats were a little crazy.

Pink also knew that Alyce liked her. She would have known if they had been on other sides of the planet; Alyce leaked so much it had at the start given her a headache. Pink was not a Mind, so she could not mind read as such, but thoughts were made from little sparks. She was an Electric Demon, so she could not so much hear as feel a static mumble coming from her friend.

One year olds were taught not to leak, but Alyce leaked all the time, so perhaps she had forgotten how to mask. If Pink listened really hard when the Heat tried to put over an idea, she could pick up meaning that did not come over with the words. She sometimes felt that she had become addicted to the static mumble, as when they were apart she found herself missing it and struggling to try and hear it.

She placed one hand on Alyce’s back and sent a small charge through her fingers that made the sleeper sigh in her sleep. She was so warm! A reading of 90++ as a 4 year old? No, it was when she was 3, Pink remembered. That’s high, she thought, maybe too high. Alyce was showing a lot more strands of color in her hair recently, and it was not the Fire Demon orange/red but a lot darker: a blood red.

Pink ran her fingers through the hair and watched the red color lighten. She let the same number of colored strands show but she would camouflage the shade; something was going on, but it was not something to ask any Moa about, as no one should know what she suspected. And that was her friend’s dormant Battery ability was becoming active, and somehow it was not just Alyce that was able to draw power form it.

Could being close to her roomie affect her power development? She had not heard of it before. In the past, an Energy or a Heat with Battery ability could create a type of Cloud, but that was when you were the same race. True, Energy and Heat were similar, but they were not the same.

She had just used a lightning bolt to gain a snack at over 40 feet, and no 4-year-old Sparks should be able to do that.

Pink curled up around her sleeping friend who had once more covered up with the blanket. She sighed, pulled the blanket from her, and dropped it on the floor before it started smoking like it did every night unless she parted it from her roomie. Tiny little flames were now covering her friend’s back, which Pink thought must be normal for a sleeping Fire Demon.

She thought they made a good team, as she was fireproof and got cold easily, and her friend was hot and a deep sleeper. As she linked tails, she was now warm; she decided she would have to do this more often. Her friend was odd and too proud a Heat to come over to her for comfort, and she must feel the same loneliness of not having sisters nearby. True, it was nice to have so much space, which was done to force them to become independent.

She thought that she should not complain, but ever since being born she had had the comfort of her sisters’ tails wrapping around her as she slept. Her crazy roomie may not be a sister, but she was the closest thing to one here, and she liked her friend. From the thought leaking, she knew that her friend also liked her, so producing a pleasant static charge that covered both of their bodies, she snuggled up with the tickling little flames and let her static charge do its work: to help all the hurt and aching bruises mend faster, and to give them both a good sleep. It was only fair in a friendship that you give and take. Was this giving? Or taking? Not that she cared about such crazy thinking, as only her friend worried over such stupid ideas. With that she was once more asleep.

Smoking Hot: (19)

Day: 540

Pink has been acting odd over that last few days. She will not say what is wrong yet. I know there is something on her mind that she is not saying.

Day: 541

I confronted Pink, and she says it is the sun being eaten that is upsetting her, and that it will now get colder. She does not like the cold, and she misses her sisters. Now that I know what is wrong, I can help.

Alyce noticed that the offer of a massage made Pink’s eyes light up. Apparently one thing a Fire Demon is good at is heating up parts of her body, so heating up her hands would be a simple task, if she only knew how. Alyce had wished more than once that her body came with a user’s manual, but she would at least try.

As Pink lay face down on the floor, Alyce imagined a flame and then mentally moved the flame to her hands. They did not burst into flame but heated up and made Pink sigh when she rubbed her back.

After a little while Pink was fast asleep, so Alyce covered her with a blanket and went over to her own bed, but before she could sleep she heard a plaintive cry from Pink.

“You stopped! But I’m still cold!”

Alyce got back up, warmed her hands, placed one on Pink’s back and waited. Her friend was soon fast asleep again, but upon taking her hand back, Pink moaned. Alyce made a mental note to never have children as she placed her hand back again, getting sleepy herself and very bored with the new title of masseur Demon or even being someone’s personal central heating Demon

She used her practice stone, a fist-sized stone that she had been using to test her heating skills, and for the first time she succeeded in heating a stone up. She then placed it on Pink’s back to replace her hand and left Pink again asleep. Back in bed, she heated the stone eunder her body then she shut her own eyes and fell asleep herself.

Day: 542

Pink asked why when she woke up she had stones in her bed; I told her she must have been sleepwalking and thought it was food to eat.

Day: 543

I looked at the sun today, and it is hard to see but there is a bit missing, so this dark time must be some sort of eclipse as the sun never changes its position in the sky. I wish I knew more about astronomy! All I can guess is some planet or moon is going to get between us and the sun, but Pink’s idea of it being eaten by a large snake could be just as true.

Day: 550

Only another 50 sleeps till the end of term and the end of a very, verrrrryyy long year. Pink give me one of her one-too-many-bangs-on-the-head type looks; numbers do not mean that much to her, it seems.

Day: 551

Oh, crap, does my back itch today! I had been rubbing and scratching it with my tail point until Pink pointed out that I looked like I had been flogged.

Day: 553

There is an extra-point tag tournament tomorrow, so we will need to get up early, but not before I get Pink to do her magic massage on my shoulders. She said it was normal, which is crap, so I told her to shut up and keep rubbing.

My back itches most days now, and Pink laughed when she caught me rubbing my back against the wall. I put Dyson in overdrive to check if I have dustcrabs or the like.

Just to prove I am not all needy, I gave her shoulders a hot finger rub in return. I just know she also has an itchy back but won’t let on.

The tag fight was not going well. It should have been her in the ring first and not her friend. It was an error on Pink’s part and a bad idea to add magic into the fight against full colors as the Snowflakes had the magic advantage but could only use their magic if the underdogs used it first. Without thinking, Pink blasted the opponent with a static charge when she was hit hard. It was very pretty but not a fight-winning move, as they were fighting full-colored Snowflakes (or Icemaidens, as they chose to call themselves).

The pole the Snowflake was using in one hand was so cold that it was covered in Ice, and Alyce was sure she was using her other hand to flick small darts of Ice as Pink looked to be in pain and unable to use her own magic. Somehow she could also feel the cold pain of her friend, and her body reacted in the only way a young Fire Demon could, and that was in getting hot.

Trying to do as Pink said she did, Alyce pictured a ball of energy spinning inside her. Some classes said to relax, and other classes said you should build up at the center and project. Full Fire Demons could project flame from their fingers and not just a few flames to frighten her pet tornado, but that was hard to do when she relaxed and not something to try when facing an invisible fight square barrier. Only a tail could pass through the magic barrier, as they had to touch tails; that was why it was called tail tag fighting.

Alyce could only enter if they swapped, and that only happened if they touched tails. The Ice bitch made sure Pink stayed in the center and well out of tail range. Alyce clenched her fist and punched into the magic wall. All it did was hurt her hand, but she tried again, and this time Fire was dancing on her fist as she did, which was a first, but she was still powerless to do anything to damage the barrier.

Her wrist was now hurting for some unknown reason, as it was not even on the same side as the fist she had hit the wall with, and she was getting hot: a sure sign that she should sit and relax. But at the moment she was far from doing that as frustration turned to anger, and her stupid sports leotard was getting clammy. She also expected it would be nowhere near as flameproof as her daily uniform.

Pink was down! And Alyce knew the Snowflake would not be happy with just the points a win would give her; a kill would provide the same points along with the joy of killing at the same time.

Most people did not see what happened next, as all eyes were on a girl bursting into flame; it only lasted a few seconds and was as much of a surprise to Alyce as it was the spectators. Flames covered her body; they did not hurt her but burned off her clothing, and somehow she could also feel heat leaving her body.

Her visual effect was enough for her partner to turn the tables. A blow to the Snowflake’s head brought her down and out of the game, but instead of looking pleased, Pink gave Alyce a look that meant as soon as they were on their own, that look was going to turn into words.

Pink was congratulated, and they both gained winner points in the game. The Snowflake was helped out of the ring by her teammate, and they did not look happy, which was nothing new. They hated Alyce because of what she was and also could not attack her outside of class partly due to her fighting skills but also because she was never alone and always walked everywhere with Pink or in a small group with some Earths. It made it very difficult for them to create an accident.

The others had left Alyce to take a second sand bath on her own to try and get rid of the burned-on bits of leotard stuck to her body. She hated sandbaths at the best of times and this was not the best as she had to increase the grain size to almost sandblast her skin. As soon as the noise of the bath died away, Pink was at her.

“Just what the frigging heck did you think were doing? And don’t play innocent with me! I felt it!”

“Er, I just overheated and caused a bit of a spectacle of myself, but it did give you a chance to bring down your opponent when her attention was on me. Look, I was helpless outside to help you; at least I caused a distraction!”

“Yes, that is what it looked like, but we both know better, don’t we!”

Surprise began to turn to annoyance. As Alyce stopped trying to dress, little flames danced across her body, and flameproof or not, the uniform in her hands began smoking.

“No, we don’t know better! So tell me what, apart from saving your life, am I supposed to have done?”

Pink took a breath and tried to calm down.

“Well, for a start, what you are doing even now is not normal. That is more of a static trick, but that’s not the point. I was down, and that slush was about to finish me off. So yes, I know I should be thanking you, and maybe I will when I find out what is going on!”

“That Snowflake was not distracted by you. One moment I was too numb from Cold to do anything, then suddenly I was bursting with hot energy, and I blasted her with so much she was immobile just long enough for me to hit her over the head with my pole. That is what happened, and I felt where it came from; it was you! You transferred energy through a shield to me as if we were some Cloud of Snowflakes, and that can’t…”

Pink trailed off.

“Let’s get some food and take it to our room. This needs sorting out, and I need to get something on the way. If anyone asks anything of what happened, just act dumb, okay?”

Act? Alyce thought. Until now all she had been worrying about was whether she would lose points for setting fire to her sports equipment!

Back in the room, Pink was giving her the silent treatment as she played with Puff and fed him colored sand as he went up and down her body. Then she stopped and stared at Alyce.

“Okay, I now know what it is, and it is still crazy. We have formed a two-person Cloud!”

Alyce watched Pink start to shimmer with static and guessed it could be either from excitement or dustcrabs.

“That’s stupid. I may not know much about magic, but I do know only Cloud-based Elements like Colds can be a Cloud, which is why this place is crawling with Snowflakes… Ouch!”

Pink grabbled her friend’s hand and watched how the static jumped across from one hand to the other.

“Relax. It is too weak to hurt, and if I am right with what I am thinking, it is maybe possible that you have immunity to it. Now, look at our wrists.”

As one they both looked and saw a wristband of sparks on both their wrists with a line of current between them. Pink let go, walked to the door, opened it, looked down the corridor, and shut it again behind her. The vision of bracelets vanished as soon as they parted, but still a line of static linked them.

“Normally, yes, but not always. I remember hearing of the old days before the current Queen. You Fire Demons were plentiful, and my kind could form Electric Clouds. I have only ever heard of an Electric mix, and that could only exist on the border between the dark and the light. It was never just two people of different elements like us, as that can’t work.”

Alyce was not used to having a thinking roommate. Pink played, and Pink ate. Pink had to work hard to get her points, and Pink did not give history lessons. Pink was not into magic theories, and mostly the Pink she knew did not look at her in the way she was now.

“What we have is an amplifier spell. Snowflakes use links like this to form Clouds. We would have to have been touching when it was cast, and that I expect was when we were sleeping together. And don’t look like that; I get cold when I sleep, and you are warmer than a blanket. Besides, I do not wake you, so your body is happy with my closeness, which is another reason to think something magical is going on.”

Alyce sighed. She thought she had done so well in getting used to tails and horns and having a sickening liking to the eating of raw meat so fresh it was still walking about. She could now flick her tail with the best of them; perhaps the idea of setting her clothing on fire while wearing it was still a little new, but heck! If half the Academy had girls that were likely to give you frostbite when they gave you a cold look, then why should she be surprised at turning into a Cloud because your roomie treated you like a hot water bottle when she got cold?

“Why are you acting so calm!? Don’t you see what this means?” Pink asked.

Alyce did not know what it meant, but she also did not see how it could possibly be any worse than being turned into a Demon. And as to not staying calm, well, if she was not then she would still be screaming. It was true she was calm; she had not thought about it before but expected there was only so much one could worry about. Nothing here felt any more dangerous than fighting for the right size in the 90%-off January shoe sales back on Earth.

“No, Pink. I have no frigging idea, so why not slowly tell me as we eat? I am very hungry, and if the world is about to explode, then I intend to die on a full tummy.”

She ignored the way her roomie stood open mouthed, and she sank her teeth into the largest slice of Kiban. Her tongue could tell it was nice and fresh, so the animal had been freshly killed. The blood had a pleasant Kiban tang to it, and if Pink was any slower in starting, then she would eat her portion as well.

Pink could not understand the lack of horror from her friend at the news or, for that matter, the lack of manners as she finished off all the Kiban.

“Not only is it not possible, but I don’t know, it’s probably illegal as well and can mean just one thing. And that is I am going to zap you if you don’t stop eating! No wonder our hair is changing color so fast… and stop eating my share!”

The table now had only ¼ of the food she had placed on it, so she grabbed all that was left and pushed as much into her mouth as she could in a push, cut, swallow, push, cut, swallow way of eating that left her with hiccups. As words were failing to convey the mega problem they were facing, Pink decided to rely on visuals. Using a negative charge, she removed the carefully placed color she had been adding to both their hair for so long.

Alyce looked at her friend, who now was almost sparkling with a metallic silver hairstyle, and said she looked nice. She thought that being in a Cloud must gave you nice hair, so she went over to the mirror and looked at her own. Alyce was very pleased to see that half of her black hair was now a full, rich blood red instead of the few strands of orange she normally had showing.

“Nice! I love the silver, so why want to hide it? And please don’t touch mine again. Sleeping with me is one thing, but you don’t touch another girl’s hair without her permission, okay?”

“You are acting like a 3 year old! Now, listen! Snowflakes are allowed to Cloud as they are too weak on their own. They mature faster when in a Cloud, as everything is shared, and so they gain their colors faster than the rest of us. The Queen likes them as they have never caused her any trouble, whereas our elements are now nearly extinct.”

She took a breath and carried on.

“The Queen uses all of us in her wars but does not want us too strong, as we could turn on her. So she uses lots and lots of Icemaidens, and as they are Cold Worlders, they are never a danger to her rule in the hot lands. We are both of Light and Heat and so are a danger if too strong. We have to score just enough points to live but not too many to be marked as a target, as neither of us could survive a multi-Cloud attack or an Academy culling. So we cannot show others what we are, or we will die.”

Pink raised an arm and pointed her hand at a wall, and the room was filled for just a few seconds with a crackle and then blinding light, which left the wall with a circle of soot where her small lighting bolt hit.

“We are turning into something that this Academy will destroy if it finds out about us. They are trying to turn us into nice foot solders, where we would be short-lived, front-line attack Demons: you a Fire Demon and I an Electric Demon. But at still only 4 years old, we have the makings of something a lot stronger. The testers discovered you with a 90++ at only 3 years old, and that is why you were picked; 90++ at 3! What are you now? What will you be at 5 or 6, 99.99/100? Only the Queen could beat that as the benchmark, and whatever you increase to, I will be dragged along with you!”

This was not helping Alyce, as all she could think was what was the next level up from a Demon. All she could picture was a devil, and she wondered if she would get a pitchfork? And as long as she kept her tail that would be okay, and even if she ever became human again, she would insist on keeping a tail and horns, as they looked so nice.

“Is this sinking in? We are an unstable Cloud! We are in the early stages of becoming Storm Demons, and that is not possible at our age! Don’t you understand this sort of development is a death sentence?”

Alyce looked at her friend and smiled a nice piranha smile at her. She was such a little worrier; the only downside as far as she could see was that at the moment she could not show off her real hair color.

“Well, that is a relief. I thought you had some bad news or something to tell me. As far as I can see, we just need to keep our heads down and slowly grow up plus not get into any life or death fights where we demolish the Academy. Storm Demons? Yes, that has a nice ring to it, and it may even give us a get-out-of-war card to play. Will we be an Electric Storm and a Fire Storm, or a mix of both? And think of the bright side! If we share our elements, you will not be so cold at night.”

“I don’t know what we will turn into, and don’t you know how long it takes for me to just hide the true color of our hair, let alone the semi-permanent charge I have to feed into the uniforms to stop them changing color?”

With a stretch and a yawn, Alyce called Dyson over to clean her teeth as she headed for bed.

“Well, I have to keep the Battery topped up, so get started on the hair, but I am sleeping. And if you get cold, well, if you get cold, just try not to wake me, okay?”

Smoking Hot: (20)

Day: 554

Ate all of Pink’s Kiban last night, which pissed her off. It looked like I would have to do games naked today after setting fire to my leotard, but Pink says just to take along shorts and a tee. Oh, yes, she took like forever to inform me we are more powerful than we should be at our age, which mostly means coloring our hair and not telling the Queen.

Day: 555

It is odd when I think about it, but I kind of like it here. I have a friend and teachers that like me to fight as dirty as I can. I just wish my brothers could see me now. I do miss them, but sometimes they feel like a story. It seems like this has always been my world.

Day: 556

I stood out on the balcony to enjoy the view, but it no longer feels right with the sun so dull. I never thought I would miss the constant brightness.

Day: 557

It is not just that the sun maybe going into an eclipse, but it feels weaker, too. I am sure it must be my imagination, as I have heard that funny things happen to animals when there are eclipses on Earth. And, well, laws of physics don’t work normally here at the best of times.

Day: 558

We have a free practice period tomorrow, so we must try and find an empty chamber so that no one sees us practice.

The following day it took them some time to find a chamber well out of the way but still large enough for them to practice; they found a disused Snowflake Cloud training room. It was cold, but it had targets around the walls.

“Look, they get special rooms to practice as a group! Talk about life being unfair!”

Alyce still could not get her head around the idea that she may be more than a Fire Demon: something far more. Pink had grand ideas of the two of them being Storm Demons.

Colds always teamed up and formed a Cloud. They never got on with anyone else, so being in a Cloud was the reason they could get on so well with each other. But as to her being a Storm Demon, it sounded very unlikely, as she did not feel powerful at all. Perhaps for her the Cloud just produced a relaxed mind and a close friend. Yes, she was relaxed and her mind somehow clearer.

Pink stripped down and started doing some exercises to warm up before changing into her sports leotard. Lots of the girls were now wearing their sports leotard under their uniform due to the chilly air. Alyce examined a large square block of stone that could be used for a Cloud to stand around and discuss tactics, and she laid her hands on it. It was so much larger than the warming stone she made for Pink, but why should it be different? She closed her eyes. Deep inside her, she knew a flame was sitting and waiting for her command.

“Pink, put your skirt and top back on; you will get cold. And besides, wearing just the crappy leotard makes you look like a pregnant lizard!”

Alyce let the flames grow until they filled her body, and then she felt them start to seep through her pores to cover her body. It was such nice a feeling; she had been able to heat up pebbles and small stones for some time, and she could now do more. The stone table she rested against began to glow a nice cherry red. They were right; she was a Fire Demon, a calm, useful flame to be used as a tool by the Queen. But Pink was also correct; she could feel another stage of development coming on.

At this moment it was just out of reach, but it was a stage that would change her from a useful tool to something else. She was not sure if it was a Storm that Pink said they could turn into, but on the day she was no longer calm, then that would be the day she would know. She expected that at that point she would not be the only one to know the answer. Looking up towards Pink, Alyce smiled.

“Come on over and warm yourself up. I think I have mastered a new skill. After training, we must go find a large stone that we can carry between us back to our room, which will now be the first one on campus with central heating!”

Day: 559

Pockets! I travel to another planet, or perhaps even another dimension, and what do I find? The female uniforms here are all designed without pockets, and Pink is of no help. She just asks what would I want to carry, which of course is not the point.

Day: 560

Pink gave me a present of a purse today. Well, it’s a square of leather with a cord threaded around it so that it pulls together to make a pouch. It is true that I have nothing to put in it, but I wear it anyway so as not to upset her. Now I so wish I had not said anything about pockets.

Smoking Hot: (21)

Soon it would be the end of the year, and along with everyone else, Alyce would face the end-of-year exams. Those who lived would get the dark time off and start the new year as 5 year olds moving to another part of the Academy to make room for a new batch of 4 year olds. In some ways she thought it was sad that they had to move on.

Alyce wondered if perhaps they had been putting something in her food. She was Fire, and according to all the lectures she should be angry and hot headed and, well, kind of fiery. When that was read out, everyone turned and looked at her, as she was getting so relaxed at times she had started to tell people to chill out, which normally stopped any conversation dead and made most Snowflakes mad when she said it to them.

It was not that she could not feel the warm glow inside her and a flame that acted like Dyson. She would think of her inner flame as a dancing salamander. The calmness was good, as it also acted as a perfect protection against Pink’s sudden bursts of action and excitement. That was one reason they were covering the lower corridors where the light was a lot weaker and the temperature meant that for the first time, she saw her roommate wear leggings and a thick top, and she knew that they were hers and not borrowed as they were in a deep shade of pink. But mostly Alyce brought Pink down here in the hope that it would stop her from skipping as she walked. She was starting to get far too excited over the end of the school year and the long-awaited trip back home for the end-of-year hibernation, Alyce pointed out that girls who were nearly 5 were too old to skip as they walked, let alone do summersaults in public without underwear.

Apart from hiding her roomie’s skipping habit from their friends, the exploring was a good idea, and everyone was now doing it in their free time. This time everyone had to have 10,000 life points to pass, so the tests and exams would be more than just a tag match. If Alyce had any worries, then not getting enough points would be one of them.

Pink had not only stopped skipping but looked decidedly chilled, so Alyce put her hand into the purse she was wearing, if you could call a leather pouch tied onto one’s waist a purse. She took out a large pebble and handed it to Pink, who quickly swapped it from hand to hand like the hot rock it now was, and Alyce saw a smile cross her face.

“Gee, thanks; you’re a lifesaver! Surely we don’t need to go any deeper. It’s getting so dark down here, and we have not seen anyone else this deep, not even Snowflakes.”

Pink was right; no one would want to come this deep at this time of year. The sun was now only at half size, and it was getting colder every day. Only Snowflakes and creepy Darks liked this time of year, but the final exam would cover this part of the Academy. Everything they had learned would be tested to the fullest with real life and death missions, and the hardest gave the most points.

“Okay, let’s work our way back up, but we will still need to come back down after the next sleep period and bring something with us to help map the place.”

Day: 561

Crap! Why can’t someone invent paper? I want to try and map out the lower levels, and so far I can’t even find a slate to scratch on! In a world without paper we gain by not having to do a written exam, but the downside is that you have to memorize everything!

Pink was not going to tell her friend, but she did have some good ideas; she just normally had them at the wrong times. One out-of-time good idea was underwear, as the idea now made perfect sense after the sun grew colder. She had not said anything to her roomie, but she was now wearing shorts under her skirt and a cut down tee under her top, and it did help to keep her warm, while Alyce now never wore anything under her skirt and liked to fight in the nude. Pink now knew for sure her friend had received far too many blows to her head as she was quite mad. During the hottest time of the year, her friend had insisted on wearing lots of excess clothing and was too shy to let anyone see her tail hole, but now that it was cold she would strip off all the time.

If Pink had her way, she would personally now fight wearing PJs over the thin fight suit to stay warm.

Classes were getting more erratic as groups formed and then disbanded. As the only ones of their kind still at the Academy, Pink and Alyce had no groups to meet up with, so they moved from meeting area to meeting area observing what others were doing.

“It is crazy that all the Moas say we used to be the major firepower for wars in the past. Okay, the Queen hates us, but here we are in one of the top Academies of the hot lands, and how are they going to supply the war effort with distance firepower with just two of us! I met only one Heat here, and now, she has vanished. I have not seen another one. You said you thought there should be at least five Sparks about the place, so where are they now?”

Pink said nothing, and Alyce could feel some of her calm leaving her at the thought of her sister Elements being murdered. She would have to calm down; if she got angry, then she may not be able to control that which now lived inside her.

“Some should have passed the culls, so where are our Elements here?”

She could see that Pink was thinking, and she wondered why it had not crossed their minds before. It did not make sense. They both knew it was said that only about 10% made it out alive from the Academy, but this was only the first year, and already the Academy had just one Fire Demon and one Electric Demon to keep alive for another year.

Another thought that had not occurred to her until now was that her sisters had said to stick with her own. Even they had expected her to find more Heats at the Academy.

The next area was what her mom would have said was a little nippy, but frigging tail-numbing cold, as Pink put it, fit the temperature description better. That alone kept most Demons away, and they saw why as it was a gathering point for Snowflakes or, rather, the heads of the Clouds. Alyce thought they were forming alliances; Clouds rarely attacked other Clouds, but this looked like some were forming mega Clouds.

They knew their presence was not welcome due to the sudden temperature drop that set Pink’s teeth chattering, and even Alyce shivered, which was not a good sign for a Fire Demon. The next time Pink told her that Fire Demons did not get cold, she was going to stick her cold hands up Pink’s skirt.

“I still don’t get it. As powerful as they are, why would they need to get bigger? They would only have to share the points.”

“Yes, the word ‘overkill’ comes to mind, and I have a feeling a lot of unofficial culling for points will be going on during the tests. How many life points do you think we are worth?”

“Even a large Cloud would not want to take us on together. They don’t know what we can do, but they will know that we could hurt them.”

“One Cloud, maybe, but what about several Clouds at the same time? Did you feel how cold that room got? I guess we could now be worth at least 1,000 points each, and we have no friends to back us up. They also attack teams in the exams, as they can take their points.”

They gave up on the touring and headed for a lecture hall to see what was on. They found one halfway through on planning. The following one was on Clouds and the way groups of Elements could form to take on a task, but as points got shared it would mean the more Demons in a Cloud, the harder the task had to be to make it worth it. The Moa then started to explain the types of tests to expect. They had attended this one before, but it was warmer in the hall than out in the corridors, so they stayed.

It was warm, but alas! It was also a long, boring lecture. Alyce was sure that Pink was asleep, and she herself began to doze. Her mind traveled back to an earlier time in a faraway and different place. She had done this before; okay, not quite like this, but something very similar. The major difference was dice or, rather, the lack of them.

She stood up and woke Pink up as she did. She then asked her question. She knew by the look from the Moa that it was not what she should be doing, but she wanted to know, and it was important. She liked the answer, so she asked another before the Moa told her to sit down and stop wasting the hall’s time with stupid questions.

As soon as she could, she re-awoke Pink, and they both snuck out. Pink was not very pleased to leave a warm room, and she could not understand why her friend looked so happy.

“What is going on? You look like you have grown a second tail.”

Alyce’s smile was so wide that she looked more like a shark than a Demon.

“Yes, I have, and so have you. Now, let’s register and show off our new tails!”

As Pink was forced to almost run after her friend, she put it down to the cold. It must affect Heats in odd ways, but whatever plans her friend had, she expected they were better than anything she had to offer. She hoped the new idea was somehow like the things called “gloves,” which Alyce had been going on about just after she had screamed when Pink tried to warm herself up by putting her cold hands on her friend’s thighs.

Several Moas were standing around a registration table, and both girls watched groups of Earths line up to register their group along with Snowflake Cloud leaders, which were registering not only members but also alliances: Poisons, Lights, and Airs mostly worked on their own at potions and magic, which gave life points in ways Alyce did not understand, as they both sucked at that sort of thing. From the start, Alyce had thought the only way for them to score points would be as jocks and not nerds.

Those who were good at magic could earn points for creating special spells and things, but the Earth groups and the Clouds had to share points between all members. Ice Clouds were very strong when they contained lots of members, but they were always very point hungry.

When a Moa became free, Alyce dragged her friend up to her table.

“We want to register as a Storm Cloud!”

Pink turned white at her friend’s comment, and the Moa looked at Alyce and sighed.

“I am sure you would. Once you can form one, we will take it as registered. Now, what do you really want to do?”

“We are basically both Heats, so we want to register as a team as we wish to link our points and fight as a team. Our last lecturer said that to do this correctly, we should come here and register. Was she wrong?” Alyce asked.

“No, she was not wrong, and yes, that would be the only way to share points, if that is what you wish to do. I think it is a bit pointless as you are different types of Heat, but if you are sure you want to, we can call you a Cloud and you can act as a team the way the Earths do. I would have to impose a joining penalty of 500 points off each member. Your only bonus as far as I can see is that you would have permission to hold meetings in a Cloud meeting room, and that would only be possible if a real Cloud did not want to use it at that time. So are you still sure you wish to do this?”

Alyce gave her cutest smile then stopped in case it looked more like she was threatening to bite her. Instead, she elbowed her friend to agree.

“Oh, yes, please! That is what we both want.”

After Pink nodded in agreement, Alyce suspected something magical was done to both make their team legit and also to remove 500 points each. As they went off, Alyce wondered if she could get away with skipping out of the room after all she had told her friend about skipping earlier. Maybe it was a little childish, but what she really wanted to do was throw her fist in the air and shout, “Got ya!”

“You! You told her we wanted to register as a Cloud! How could you? I nearly died!”

“Did you want me to lie? And did you notice that she said if we form one, then it is an automatic registration. I had to follow the rules, as the request will be magically recorded, so now we can proceed to stage two.”

“Stage two? You mean me losing 500 life points was just the first stage? I don’t mind us working together; I just expected to do it unofficially and without penalty points. We will now need 20,000 points to both pass. We are already down by 1,000, so we will have to kick some tough butts to gain that back.”

“We are now a little safer as a team. I am sure the Snowflakes will use the exams to at least try and snuff out my flame, but by then our team hopefully will be larger, and I am burning with ideas for the exams!”

Smoking Hot: (22)

Moa Poisen was irritated. She did not like to be summoned at any time, and certainly not by some jumped-up Admin that though she was better than anyone else due to the stupid ranking system the Academy practiced. Nor did it help that her sister had also been summoned along with her, and then when they reached the room, it was empty.

A door appeared on the blank wall at the end of the room. Two people stepped through it, and then it vanished. Knowing the Admin was a Light Bender did not improve her mood as she faced the two females who had entered in such a showy way. It was not even real magic; the door was always there, just cloaked as it was an entrance to a non-student area.

“I do hope this is not going to take long. I am very busy preparing exams.”

The Light looked like she was reading from the window of light-like tablet floating in front of her. Normally anyone nearby could read such a screen, but this one was just a panel of light.

“Just a little while ago I was on desk duty for registration, and I thought you two may be interested in my work. I had a Cloud request official recognition. This may not sound that unusual, as the Cold Elements do it as soon as they arrive at the start of term, but today was a little different as it was a Cloud of two, and they were different elements.”

“Did you notice I did not say they wished to form a Cloud but just to register it? See, they did not request any magic linking spells. I told them it was an automatic registration as soon as a group was able to create it. Of course, it sounded like a student plan to have a free way to register as a mixed Element team group.”

“In the end they left with a normal team registration that could take in other Elements. Perhaps it is because I can see what others may not see, but the Fire looked too happy at the cost of 1,000 life points and Academy permission to form a Cloud when they become able.”

“As I said, I can see what other Elements cannot, and on looking very closely I saw what could be the start of future problems. I think you may know of them, Moa Poisen, as you personally registered them for each and every one of your courses, and magic spells are very individual, are they not, Moa Dream?”

Dream glanced at the female that stood slightly behind the speaker, not that she needed to, as she knew what she was as soon as a dead space entered the room. The speaker was an uppity Light Bender, hence the illusion trick of doors appearing and disappearing, which only they seemed to find amusing. The dead space was a Mind and, of course, could recognize the magic of others. She was also not someone Dream would like to argue with, let alone fight.

“I think I may be able to shed some light on this.”

Darn! Dream thought. What a dumb choice of words! She saw a smile flash across the Light Demon’s lips.

“Please do! I am all in favor of light being cast about, even by amateurs.”

“What you must have seen could only be a remnant of a short-term spell that I cast when they first entered the Academy. Moa Poisen noticed that they were on the Ices’ hit list due to their Elements and a fight that they had upon arrival. With their firepower it would have been a pity if they were to be killed off too soon, as they may be useful in the future to the Queen’s war effort. That is, if they survived, which of course would have to be due to their own merits. All I did was a temporary bonding spell that would bind them for a short time and then fade as they developed on their own.”

The Light looked away, and when she looked back the room was a lot brighter as her eyes blazed.

“Well, then, that’s all sorted. So I was mistaken when I was concerned at seeing their hair colored with metallic dust to make them look less powerful and at noticing that their uniforms had been burnt out by a static field to hide their true power levels. These behaviors are all very odd, as 4 year olds typically try to look more powerful than they are and not the other way around. Unlike others, when the situation calls for magic, I called in expert help instead of dabbling in things that are outside of my field of expertise.”

As if on cue, the Mind now spoke.

“Surprisingly, the spell you cast has not faded but instead been locked firmly in place, and that would be obvious to anyone who followed standard protocols for checking on cast spells and the recording of the dispersal rate. But then, if the standard protocols had been followed, a mind scan would have been done first, as you should well know. If it had, then you would have seen more than the useless testers we employ; I would not be surprised if they next send us lumps of rock as students if they happen to show a magic score on their stupid sensors.”

“The thinking of the subject who calls herself Alyce is somewhat different, to say the least, and not what we would classify as normal. Her crazy thinking has somehow amplified the normal body abilities, which the testers failed see, and so they have a recorded a power reading with an error of a factor of 10.”

Poisen had been too quiet for too long and now had to correct this overconfident mind.

“No, she is not that bad. True, she does not use her Fire in combat, but she went through all the normal blanket burning stages. I have seen her burst into flame, so how can she be as low as 9/100?”

Poisen hated how the higher Magics looked down on Demons like her. She was treating her sister like a child, but the look she gave her seemed to suggest that she was an animal that had just spoken.

“An error of a factor of 10 upwards. I thought I had made myself clear; I normally do.”

The Mind then turned back to Dream and ignored Poisen as if she were no longer there.

“It is not unique but very, very rare to have a Heat who is also a powerful Battery. I have read that in the olden days, Heats would join together with a Battery in the center. They made a formidable force of nature, so at least we can be lucky to only have one of her kind.”

The Light Bender waved a hand, and panels of shimmering light appeared in the room, which her colleague filled with images of Pink and Alyce.

“If you look at the air shimmer between the girls in this picture, you will see that there is a reddish power link between them. Your spell should have been useless and should have lasted at most for two sleeps, but somehow it is still being fed by the two girls. Before you suggest canceling the spell manually, I would say that if it were tried, then the result will not only be failure but also the practitioner being fried to a crisp, blown up, or both. And as to the girls not being very magical, take a look at screen two.”

Poisen could feel herself getting angry, but she held it in as this was not the time or place for any such emotion. The next screen showed a tag match, as did the other screens, but each was from different positions around the hall. It was the match when Pink had nearly died.

“Now, let us see the same event again slowly and with some intelligence that was not shown at the time by Demons who were there and should have been looking.”

Dream chose to remain silent and hoped her sister would do the same.

“At this point, the so-called Sparks, and don’t we like the playful little names we give our students? We call this one a Spark or a Static or maybe say she is from an Electric breed. What we do not do is call them what they are; this one is a young Electric Demon that when fully grown could take out whole regiments of our enemies single-handedly. Sometimes I think we forget what we are teaching.”

“Well, back to the picture. You will see she is down and so numbed by the Cold that she cannot use her so-called weak magic. As you will see later, she did have the power to defeat her opponent easily, but she left it too late. I expect it was due to a lack of correct training, but that is not for me to comment on. She now has to just rely upon her fighting skills, and that will mean she will lose and, knowing the character type of the opponent, also die.”

The screens now changed to show Alyce’s fist hit the tag barrier and then again when she was covered in Fire. At this point all the screens froze the image.

“A normal sign of frustration, perhaps, but no; we are talking of a young Heat or, put another way, a young Fire Demon who when really angry would not produce a few flames on a hand like she just has. No, she is very calm, so it is more likely that she is testing the barrier to see if she can help her friend. Of course, we all know that this would not be possible; the only part of the body that is able to pass though would be the tail, as the game is called tail tag, I believe, and certainly the barrier is magic-proof.”

The screens now realigned to show Alyce from different sides, and one was focused just on her tail.

“The following actions are not what you would expect from a 4-year-old hothead or, rather, they are what you expect to see, but that is not what is going on. A hothead bursting into flame is not that uncommon, but to cover herself in such a way is more like a static body charge than a Heat ability. It is very nice and very showy, and all eyes are now upon the hothead who can’t control herself under stress. Later people would call it a clever ploy to get the Ice to look away from her opponent so that the Spark could attack back at the last minute.”

“And this, I believe, is what was recorded in the fight records; the opponent distracted the Ice, giving her teammate the chance to attack. This most certainly did not happen! Look at the screen showing how her tail is not covered in Fire and is just poking through the barrier, proving that the barrier can block outside magic. Now the colored bars on the top left of our screen show background magic as well as magic used by combatants, and from what it shows, there should be a full magic battle taking place.”

As she said this the screens now showed still frames of Alyce’s tail, Alyce covered in flames, and Pink on the ground about to be struck. The Mind then carried on with the commentary.

“The flames now look to fade away on the young hothead unless you are looking at the background magic levels, which spike at this point, showing a massive power discharge as the Ice is stopped in mid-fight and hit with a charge of electric current to immobilize her, giving plenty of time for the grounded Spark to knock her out.”

Slowly Dream asked what her sister was also thinking.

“Magic cannot pass through the barrier, so what are we failing to see?”

The Mind turned on her, and the look she gave was like receiving a slap.

“Failing to see? Yes, that is the point: failing to see what is happening! Even after seeing it in slow motion, you still have not the wits to see what is happening! You are watching not only excellent team action but a real Cloud in action: not the fancy team actions of the Ices, which they call Cloud action. No, real Cloud action happens but goes unnoticed, as it is just natural.”

“We have just witnessed a charge built up in the Cloud and passed to the member who needed it. The pyrotechnic show was just to hide what was going on, and that was a magical charge traveling between Cloud members. The tail tip was on the other side of the barrier, so it could act as a conduit to pass power through and then discharge it to look like it had come from the fallen female.”

“Want to see more?”

Without waiting for an answer, a different view appeared on the screen, and that was of Pink standing naked on her balcony. They watched as she lifted a hand. There was a flash, and in the grasp of her tail was a fallen lizard, which she promptly ate.

“That is known as a close-range minor battle bolt, or to us non-Electrics, she just used a small bolt of lightning to catch a snack. It is quite common amongst midterm 5 year olds, but they normally have to rest afterwards. As you can see, this female uses it for snacking with no visible aftereffects, apart from maybe putting on weight!”

“All right, you are the smart ones; so what should we do about it?”

The Mind and the Light swapped glances, and the Light was the first to answer.

“We? I don’t think you understand; there is no we here. All that we are doing is letting you know that two of your students have now completed all the correct procedures to form a Cloud. I am sure you will be able to answer any questions if this causes a problem in the future.”

“This stupid mess is your own fault, so clean it up yourselves. Let’s hope for your sakes that they pass the next exams, as it will be interesting to watch you as an exam moderator request for them to be culled. They may be a very small Storm Cloud, but I expect it will be an interesting event to watch a Cloud be culled and may be best observed from a distance. Personally, I am going to record the forthcoming exams, as this year should make entertaining viewing during the dark time.”

Smoking Hot: (23)

Day: 562

Spent like forever trying to explain role-playing games to Pink then even longer trying to get her to forget about wanting to be an elf! I finally succeeded by telling her elves were like Airs, and that stopped her dead.

After Sleep she has agreed to come and help me look for people to join our team.

The room was a meeting place for the dregs: the ones hoping to think of a new way to make extra points at the last minute or to join some two-bit group on the off chance that if the others died, they could get their share of the points.

Alyce’s first try was a Light who was reading a floating panel containing point listings for low-level magic. Alyce did not know the correct way to recruit team members, but it was apparently not the way she tried with this Light. She looked down her nose at Alyce and told her where she should stuff her offer, which was a pity as she was the only Light in the place. Without one of her kind, they would need plenty of torches.

When she turned away she felt someone punch her arm. It was an Earth.

“What do you want with a stuck-up, dim Light when you could make an offer to have me? I need some points and fast, or I will have to fight the cullers.”

“How many do you have?”

“I only have 510 today. I used to have 8,010 until some uptight Moa slapped a penalty on me for fighting.”

“A 7,500 penalty! That is steep!”

“Tell me about it! And I didn’t even kill the Air Moa; she only lost three teeth. I was expecting just a 10-life point penalty, not 1,000!”

“Wait, 1,000 points? But you said it was a 7,500-point penalty?”

“Yes, well, I got an extra 6,500 penalty on top of the first 1,000 for then breaking both the Moa’s arms; I was only expecting 100 points, so I lost my temper.”

Alyce knew Earths were strong; she had fought matches with them in the past and normally lost, as you could hit them and hit them hard, but they did not go down. She had even tried to burn one once only to discover they are mostly flameproof. Their magic was weak, but they made up for it in other ways.

“I am happy for you to join our little team, and it will be equal shares all around. There is a joining fee of 500 points, and you will be free to leave if that is your wish after the exams.”

“You’re on! All the Earth groups need a 1,000-point joining fee, so that Moa really had it out for me for some reason, but you are in luck. After the fees, I can still bring to the point pot a whole 10 life points.”

The Light was opened-mouthed at the discussion that had just taken place a few feet in front of her.

“You are mad! No one takes in people with 10 points! The three of you will need 30,000 points between you. What is going on that you are not telling me?”

Pink, who was thinking the same question, hoped that her friend really did have a plan.

“What is going on? Well, we just wanted to round our numbers up, for we are going for maximum points as we will be heading for the hardest, darkest parts of the exam. We did hear that having a Light would be useful, but seeing as how you are smart and can see that it is not worth it, I quite understand,” Alyce said. “Besides, after further consideration, I think an Air would be of more use to us, so I will go ask one. Nice talking to you.”

As all Lights were thinkers, that was nothing to be surprised about. With weak powers, you think or you die. True, she was not like the powerful Minds or Dreams, but she was a thinker nonetheless. The major thought currently in her mind was that after a few sleeps she would be culled, and just because she could not personally see at this moment what they were planning did not mean she did not know that they had some super fantastic plan. Yes, she could see that they had something to hide, and not just a nice, pulsating pretty Cloud link between a Fire and an Electric, which was, of course, not possible (or, rather, should not be possible).

Knowing this place, she expected it was just something more that they forgot to tell her, so perhaps at most it was just odd. But they were planning something special. They were well known as fighters, and now they had stupidly picked a zero Earth… But Earths were the best hand-to-hand fighters around…

She tried to put her mind into overdrive, as the possible offer of a lifetime was walking away. They did not care about life points, which meant they planned to get more than they needed, so it was not the points. They had just picked up one of the strongest 4-year-old Earths here, yet she needed them more then they needed her. That was clever. Perhaps they needed four for some magic reason where a square was important. They now had between them all the best attack and defense types of magic apart from Air and Cold, and they had offered her a place, which she had turned down.

She was a Light, and Lights could see things. She just wished the ability also came with an understanding of what the heck she was looking at. Half the time she had to say things like, “I can see something shimmering in the corner, but what the frigging heck is it?” No, here was a stupid Fire with dyed black hair when her real hair looked far better being a lovely deep red that would show off her power. All the black color did was make her look weak, and what idiot would want to look weak in this serpent pit?

Fake black hair would just attract every Ice to attack at first sight, and she hung around with a dyed-pink haired Electric, as if a poor Light like her could not see the real silver of a full Electric Demon under such poor camouflage. Crap, crap, crap! Of course no one saw it, as they were not as good as she was. It was a trick and a trap for stupid Colds and Ices that needed group instruction on how to pick their own noses. Even the uniforms were not correctly colored, as they had a few color blotches that were also fake. Even that dumb zero of an Earth was wearing almost pure brown.

The Light looked very pale as she realized all three walking away were, despite appearances, full-color Demons! Why did she not think of even looking at their power auroras before she told them to stuff an offer of a lifetime? She only had 5,000 points, and she would need twice that to stay alive. As a magic specialist she was crap and would be lucky to get just another 2,000 in the exams.

“Wait! Wait! Airs are not that much use when going deep down. No, for the dark you need a Light, and not one who is too involved with magic to give her full help. No, no. What you need is a general-purpose Light who can see traps and know what is real. You want one who is great with mapping and, well, someone like me! I have 5000 points to bring to the magic pot. After much thought and consideration, I can inform you that I will be happy to join you. Please?”

Pink had to cover her mouth as the Light now dropped to her knees in front of Alyce.

“I am not asking for any high position in the group, and I am very good at taking orders! I will not let you down. Please let me join you?”

Alyce cast a look dirty at Pink to try and stop her laughing, but the best she got was that she walked further away but was still shaking with her held-in laughter.

“Of course you can. The offer is still open, and now we do not need to look for anyone else, so let’s get you both registered!”

Pink passed her the coin-sized disc they had been given for registering new team members. As Pink did not have any pockets, Alyce wondered just how she carried it or, rather, where she had put it, as it felt warm. She decided she would not be the first to ask in case she regretted knowing the answer.

The coin made a funny noise when touched by the two new members, so Alyce suspected it was telling them that registration was complete.

“Our first job is to sort out the exams that give the highest points, so I want everyone to check the display stands. We will meet up in the refectory then go and find an empty Cloud meeting room to discuss our plans.”

Smoking Hot: (24)

The Dream’s Air viewing screen was not as good as those produced by the Lights, but Poisen strained to see what was going on.

“Why the frigging heck can’t you get sound on this? I can’t read lips! A Light has just begged to join them! First an Earth and now a Light: they will now need 40,000 points to pass as a team!”

Dream flicked off the image, as all it did was give her a headache.

“It is what we were warned about; that smartarse Mind could see it but did not say. They look like a small fringe team working together for the good of all four, but I feel it is more like them slowly building up a Storm Cloud. They have just registered the two as extra team members: what use an Earth and a Light could be to them, I have no idea.”

“Well, for one, with a Light I expect they will have a better viewing screen than the ones you create, maybe even with surround sound!”

The special abilities of the newest members soon came into play when they found an empty Cloud meeting room. The Earth’s touch to the stone door meant that not only was it locked but it would be easier to smash down the wall itself than open an Earth-locked door.

The room lit up as the Light looked about, and Alyce, not to be outdone, laid a hand on the central stone table and held it there till it started to glow red, which only left Pink. She informed them that their abilities were all very fancy, but she was the only one to remember to bring some snacks from the refectory.

The first comment made by the newly formed group meeting was from the Light.

“We are being watched!”

The rest all looked about but could not see anyone in the room with them until the Light said they would not as it took a different sort of looking to see the floating viewing eyes, as they caused a little blur where they were placed.

With that it was agreed that a change of location was needed, and Alyce softly sighed when Pink suggested their Dorm room for the meeting.

Alyce was thinking it was getting to be more of a slumber party than an adventuring team of highly trained magic Demons as they all moved into their room. No matter how large Pink said it was, it was nothing more than a college dorm room that would normally be okay for one human student but not four Demons. The Light looked about.

“It’s okay. No one is watching us now, so we are free to talk and plan.”

The Earth and the Light sat on Pink’s bunk, and Pink sat close to Alyce on hers: too close, Alyce thought at times. She wished that Pink did not try and link tails with her, as it made them look more like a couple than just roomies.

Alyce also wished she had never told Pink about role playing, as she was now explaining it to the new team members, which after introductions Alyce discovered were named Shale and Alaula. Shale sounded nice and female and earthy, and she suspected Alaula was something to do with light. She had found out long ago that “Pink” was the name of a desert electric storm, and she wondered what hers translated to. True, it sounded like “Alyce” to Alyce, but she often wondered why no one asked, as Heats had hot type names like Ember or Blasé or something fiery.

While this was going through her mind, Pink had sorted out group walking positions as if role-playing and had started to also explain that she was going to take the position of Paladin as she liked the name. Alaula would be a cleric, as they had lots of wisdom and would need to be kept safe at the rear, lighting the area in front. With her view screen, she could see the front and back to check for danger or traps.

Alyce was going to try and stop her, but the plan sounded good, so she kept quiet. Shale wanted to know her position. Pink explained that she would go in front, as the strongest should be the warrior leader of the team, and she could spot any physical traps not seen by Alaula.

In the middle would be Alyce as a Fire Mage, producing lots of heat to keep them comfortable and warm. As Paladin, Pink would move where needed and carry extra food supplies. If attacked, those at the front and rear would drop to the ground so Pink could blast anything coming towards them with a lightning bolt.

It was at this point Pink suggested they have a snack, and she unpacked a small picnic for them on the single table.

As they ate, they murmured between mouthfuls that it was a great plan. Because they had a Fire Mage to keep them warm, they could all carry extra food and blankets and sleep down in the tunnels to save time between locating the exams.

Alyce just nodded along with everything that was said but wondered how suddenly she had been so sidelined. It was now Pink’s team; she had the membership coin and the plan and the support of everyone. The others felt they were important with words like “wisdom of a cleric” for Alaula as she hid in the background. Shale was the one in greatest danger, so she was given the title and role of warrior leader.

Sometime during the meal it was also decided that they needed to get to know each other better, so they all stayed together for sleep time, discussing which exams to do in what order. Pink pointed out that even though it would have to be mutually agreed between them all, Alaula should put forward her idea first, as she had the better training in planning. Then after sleep it would be off to the refectory to stock up on food before starting the exams.

Day: 563

Okay, Pink keeps changing on me. She took over the meeting and the team, and she is good at it! Not that I mind, well, not too much, as she is so good at it. My brothers would have spent all night fighting over who was going to be the leader, and Pink just gave it to Shale, and no one objected.

What I don’t like is why I did not think of it. I’m the one with the years of role-playing with my brothers, and from just one confusing, hair-pulling debate on fantasy role playing, Pink had taken it all in and is good at turning it into real life!

I may have joked about having a slumber party with different races in the past with her, but she has gone and fixed one up! With blankets between the two beds, we are all to sleep together on the floor, and she has pointed out that I will be in the middle as I am good to cuddle as I am so warm. The only thing for sure is that back on Earth they would never believe that the major disadvantage in being a Fire Demon is that everyone wants to cuddle you when it gets cold.

OMG, this means Pink does really listen to me when I come up with some odd human concept or idea and just takes it in. It’s that look she gets when she is listening, like in class when they blab on about magic theory. She drops her head to one side and just absorbs it. I now worry that after a year of idle chat, she is testing some of my crazy talk out in real life.

I forget that I may have a Demon body, but she has a Demon mind in hers, and it works differently than mine. Demons don’t normally think in the way she is currently doing, so is she changing because of me? Adapting her thinking by adding in new strange human ideas? Crap! What have I done? First she turns the exams into role-playing, and now she is fixing up the first-ever slumber party for 4-year-old Demon girls that normally hate and try to kill other races, not curl up in bed with them.

Alyce finished off her telepathic filling in of her diary and put it away in a pouch. Shale checked that the door was sealed, stripped down to what looked to Alyce to be a pair of baggy brown shorts and a matching top, and went over to look at her blade, which she had hung up on the wall. Shale asked if she could hold it. Alyce warned her that it does not like to be touched, and she smiled and then, to Alyce’s surprise, she bowed to it then took it out of the sheath and held it without any harm. She just smiled at Alyce’s shocked look.

“You forget I am an Earth. He knows I have no wish to take him or harm him. That is why he lets me admire him, and he is a wonderful blade made from starstone, so forever sharp. And he is happy to own you; of course, it is a male blade, but that is obvious. And he says he watches you fight, and with time you could be a great warrior.”

She put him back and gave another bow to him.

“He also says he likes the way you grip him so tightly and rub him so tenderly, but that was when I put him back. He is slightly telepathic, which is why I can hear him, and he has taken your ideas of how a male should think. I could not understand his meanings when saying things such as he liked being strapped to your leg as it means he can look up your kilt. It does not make any sense to me, as he does not even have eyes.”

Shale then gave a shrug and headed to the blankets. Alyce hoped that if she had started to go a little red in the face that people would think it was just her being a Fire Demon and not a girl who had just found out that she owned a perverted, sleazy, voyeuristic magic blade that had very strange ideas about the way she gripped him.

Alyce put on a pair of pajamas and joined the slumber party. The room was not that bright now that the sun was being eaten. Alaula darkened it a bit more, as she said it helped her sleep. As soon as they got settled, Pink, the only one to sleep naked, put her arm between Alyce’s legs, latched firmly onto Alyce’s tail and pulled her towards herself so they were touching nose to nose. From behind, Shale wrapped herself around Alyce, leaving Alaula to wrap about Pink. Alyce thought that this was not the type of slumber party she had been to before, and not just because they had not tried different types of makeup or ordered pizza.

Then Pink whispered to her, “What about some heat, Firefly? I’m getting frigging cold, so do your thing, or I will pull your tail.”

Alyce pried Pink’s fingers off her tail and removed her arm then concentrated and got an “Ouch” from behind her and the smell of something burning, which meant the heat was just a little too much. Instead, she kept the flame under her skin so her body was just very warm and placed a hand on the floor to give the room a central heating feel to it, which got an “ooh, that’s nice!” from Alaula, a snigger from Pink, and a bone-crushing hug from Shale behind her, which just confirmed the fact that Earths were naturally strong. With Pink’s grip from the front, she was feeling more like a squashed Jell-o sandwich.

As far as her human sleepovers went, Alyce remembered there was far less hugging, and when human she had never had to get up during a sleepover and strip off her pajamas due to their being about to catch fire and already beginning to smoke, then get back in again naked. The only one to notice was Pink, who giggled and put her arm between her legs again and grabbed her tail at the root. This time when Alyce tried to get free, Pink whispered to stop fidgeting or she would bite her.

Smoking Hot: (25)

They were moving along the deep underground tunnels still in their role-playing game format, which had worked very well. The only thing Pink had been disappointed about was not being able to get 50 ft of rope or to find anything called iron rations in the refectory.

Shale was a perfect leader as she was so at home with enclosed spaces. Alaula, on the other hand, hated it but kept her eyes on a couple of floating screens to try not to see the real world. The only problem they had encountered was getting deeper; every time they tried to descend to deeper levels they ran into Ice Clouds, which would try and attack them on sight. So with a Light special floating eye sent ahead, as soon as they saw a Cloud in front of them they doubled back, which was why they had to work harder on less profitable tests.

The tests had been going very well, and the points were slowly building up. Each time they finished something, Pink would take the coin out, and it would make a little noise then she would put it away again.

They sometimes ran into other teams and sometimes a single person, but as long as they were not Colds they just ignored them and were ignored in return. If they saw another group working on an exam they wanted to do, they either waited until they finished or moved on to the next one on the list, which Alaula had created with Shale’s help.

They ran into a hardworking team of 12 Earths that were having a lot of problems finishing one test that required different skills than the ones they had. Two of their members were lying down resting as they had been hurt from some magic traps. They were good with magic resistance, but even they had limits, as proven by the two hurt members.

Seeing the two hurt, Alyce said what she was thinking out loud in what she thought was just a simple comment.

“We have time; why don’t we help them just get past the magic traps. If not, they will get real hurt.”

As comments go, Alyce was not expecting such a reaction from her three other team members: shock mostly from Shale and Alaula. From Pink she was getting the slanting head kind of look that normally meant she was listening. As Alyce had recently discovered, the problem with Pink was that she listened to a human idea with Demon ears that made little changes to what she heard. Shale and Alaula now turned their shocked look to Pink.

“Yes, why not? We could take our lunch break at the same time. Shale, go and have a word with the team leader. Tell her we are not interested in any points here but could do with the experience of magic traps, and would they be so kind as to let us disarm them for practice?”

Alyce watched Shale go and have words with the Earth leader, who looked rather nonplussed but agreed to let another team practice disarming their traps. This exam was not on their list, as the second part of it was beyond their abilities as it called for lots of heavy lifting and digging. It was a perfect exam for Earths if they could get past the magical traps. Alyce also wondered why it was such an odd idea when she suggested it but normal when Pink did.

The team’s Light and trap detector Alaula stepped up to investigate, sending a floating eye forward to take a closer look. She saw that all that was needed was someone to switch off the trap by operating a lever, which was unhelpfully located on the other side of the trap. From the movements in the air, she could see that the trap was a set of magical electrical discharges that would be set off by anyone trying to reach the lever. While the others watched, Pink just walked over, ignoring the flashing of discharging energy, which in turn just ignored her. She pulled the lever and walked back.

While she was doing that, Alaula asked Alyce if Pink was a full breed Electric, as she had never heard of one who thought or acted like she did. Alaula wondered if she had any Airs in her family, as Electrics were not known for their thinking skills, and the simple act she had just performed was unheard of. Shale told her that Earths have a good memory, and that the help they had given would be remembered.

As they walked on in perfect gameplay order, Alyce also wondered if Pink was also an alien, as they had done classes on normal behavior patterns of those with fixed Demonic abilities. Pink was not acting as a normal Electric, but then Alyce never acted like a normal Heat herself but with a good reason. She was not all hot tempered and trying to set the world on fire, and at the same time Pink should not be going about thinking and being so good at politics. Shale would not have noticed, as she was one of the doers; Earths, Colds, Heats, and Electrics were the front-line soldiers and were not bred to think, just to do, whereas Alaula, being in the Demonic thinkers club, would see the strangeness in Pink’s actions.

Their first sleep time arrived, although Alyce could never understand why on a world where the sun never set they would have built-in clocks telling them when to eat and when to sleep. But internal clocks they had, as without a word everyone knew when to stop and look for a safe place to eat and sleep.

The major problem Alyce saw with this was that they could never place a guard and take it in turns to sleep like humans. When one slept, they all slept. Her fears soon vanished when she watched Alaula set up what could only be described as magical trip wires that gave off a blinding flash if set off by someone trying to approach them as they slept.

She suspected all the weaker thinkers could do something similar, although it was a trick not learned by the doers as Earths were always in groups, and what affected one affected all. So if you attacked one sleeping Earth, you would soon discover lots of very awake Earths attacking you. As for Colds, Heats, and Electrics, even when asleep the body’s natural abilities could defend the sleeper, or that was what was talked about in class.

Her body’s only natural ability was to tell her when to eat, and she expected disturbing a sleeping Electric would make her cranky, and she would sleepily zap anything in sight, which was as good as any other survival technique.

Day: 564

Okay, this is a quick dear diary moment as I am getting odd looks from Alaula, who thinks a Heat keeping a diary is as crazy as trying to teach a lizard to talk. The Lights (thinkers) have some strange ideas on what doers such as Heats should do, and keeping a diary to her is an oddity. She will be on one heck of a steep learning curve if she wants to know what goes through this Heat’s mind, such as thinkers like her being too dumb to invent the wheel! We could really do with a shopping cart to put our supplies and blankets in. My backpack straps are now leaving grooves in my flesh. Fantasy role-playing is okay when you are sitting down with a bottle of Coke and a plate of fries, but here in real life it is all flat-floored corridors everywhere. We have traveled miles and are still on the same floor. If we had roller blades, we could have finished the whole complex by now.

Alyce carefully put the little magic book away in its pouch. From what it had told her on her first day, it should be able to service a nuclear blast. Then again, she had once owned cell phones that also said that sort of thing, but for some reason they forgot to say they should never be taken in swimming pool due to not being waterproof, which she had found out the hard way.

The area Shale picked for the sleep time looked good. It looked like someone had intended to make a room there but gave up after about eight feet, so it was more of an alcove or perhaps a dent in the wall. But whatever it was, blankets laid out turned it into sleeping quarters. Shale volunteered to be the one on the outside, and Alyce was deepest in with Alaula and had the job of wall heater.

Wall heater was an easy job. What worried Alyce more was her habit of not so much sleepwalking but sleepstripping, which would, she expected, get more funny looks from the others.

Sleep came as normal like switching off a light, and this time it was even more like that due to Alaula not projecting any light when she slept.

Smoking Hot: (26)

When light did arrive it was blindingly bright, almost like lots of camera flashes going off. Alyce knew she was dreaming, as attending a firework display while deep underground was not possible. What did feel very real was a slap across the face from Pink.

“Wake up! We are under attack!”

Alyce felt very sluggish, like her head had been stuffed with cotton wool. Things were happening fast; a headache suggested a large build-up of static in the air, and that meant Pink was going to start discharging, and in a big way.

It was heard to think, but Alyce knew she should be doing something; Alaula was crouching behind her, but she could not make out was she was saying. Pink was by her side trying to recharge, as some of the colored fireworks that had awoken her had been small lighting bolts. The other stuff must have been Alaula’s warning light traps going off.

She moved forward and saw Shale holding back a group of Ices. Three were down, and she was single-handedly holding back six others. She was strong and was even taking magic Cold hits that would have killed any non-Earth, but the fight was not even and would not last much longer unless she had help. If only Alyce could think clearly, and that was not happening. So she grabbed Pink, forced her to link tails, and shouted in her face.

“Zap me! Hit me hard, and do it now!”

Pink just looked puzzled, so Alyce hit her.

“Now I said!”

Pink did not know whether to be more surprised at being hit or at what she was asked to do, but as Alyce took another strike at her, thinking stopped and a charge left her unwillingly.

“Again! I am too cold to think.”

In front of them Shale had fallen, but then so had the others attacking her as a blast of heat spread out. Alyce let go of Pink’s tail, which she was holding in a way to hint that if the electrical charge did in fact hurt then she would bite the tail, and stepped forward. Pink had once told her the reason she was fireproof was due to the heat that her energy created, and Alyce’s body should be immune to her lightning for the same reason. She did not need 30,000°C, but even a few thousand degrees would not harm her and was one heck of a way to wake up.

Stepping out from their little indent of safety, Alyce saw that the situation was bad. There were Ice walls at both ends of the corridor and a dozen or so Ices in between, mostly getting back up from the blast. The three that did not move were being carried off, so she quickly dropped down and pulled Shale back. She was not fast enough, as she felt a sharp, icy pain in her left shoulder, and for a moment her head swam. Shale was surprisingly still alive, and Pink came forward and dragged her to the back. At the same time Alaula gave out what she was seeing from the floating windows.

“They planned to kill us while asleep. As it failed, they will regroup and try something else. They do not need to rush, as from what I can see there are three Clouds, so between 25 and 40 Colds all safe behind walls of Ice.”

Pink dropped down beside her.

“We need to know what they plan to do and how best we can attack them.”

Alyce saw that Pink knew what she was doing even at a time like this. She was holding the team together. Lights were thinkers, and they needed to think and not worry. Alaula looked into the screens, and her hands stopped shaking. Things seen on a screen were just data, and she liked seeing things from a distance.

“The best bet for them is to stay behind the walls safe from our distance lightning attacks but to slowly move the walls to crush us. There is no danger for them that way, and it is an easy task for so many. They will do it slowly, as it takes a lot of energy. They would want us to make mistakes like charging the walls where they can strike us down before we could even damage the wall. Three Clouds working together can create very strong walls and still have power to spare.”

Pink was speaking calmly, and Alyce also noticed that Pink had her listening look on, the same one she used on her when she listened to meanings and not just words.

“We have good attack capability, and we have time, as they do not wish to rush us. How could we gain more time? You are a Light and many times smarter than all those Snowflakes put together. With Shale down, you are now in command, so now list different actions we can take.”

Alaula still looked into the screen, but she was not looking at anything as she listed possibilities.

“To gain time, a challenge could be issued for single combat but would be unlikely to be accepted.”

“I do not know your full powers, but I do know you are full color, and that means Energy and Heat together would normally have the power to take out a single Cloud. But with three Clouds working together, I don’t think that they would give you a chance to take them one Cloud at a time.”

“We have the power to take down one wall for a short time, but it would be reformed very fast, and we would be killed before we could even reach it.”

“The use of Heat could slow the walls down from moving forward, but not for long.”

“Of our capability, our main fighter is down. My light bending would only be able to hide myself for a very short time, and they know that trick and just turn the air icy to find me. It goes without saying my element attack abilities at my current age are useless.”

“Normally they would have moved in and wiped us out by now. They clearly wanted to kill us while we slept, and as they would not care if a Light or Earth were awake or asleep, it is you two they are afraid of. For some reason that I can’t see, they believe you can hurt them, so they are using an underground pincer attack, which is normally something reserved for a team five times our size.”

“Using all the facts I have at my disposal, if we go up against a slow pincer attack where they can take turns to rest and we cannot getting outside help, we will all be dead by the next sleep time.”

Alaula still stared into the screen but now stopped talking, Pink patted her on the shoulder as she stood up and then looked directly at Alyce.

“Your idea of having a Light on our team looks to have saved our lives. I honestly did not know why at the time, but now I see. Having a thinker means having a plan. Life is so simple when all we have to do is follow a plan. Here we all are playing your role-playing game, and I bet you did not think that I noticed the reason for your comment about stopping and helping some Earths out of kindness.”

Alaula stopped looking at the screen and now turned a puzzled stare at Pink. It was true that Lights liked plans, but she had just carefully explained to everyone that she did not have one. Alyce was still held in Pink’s stare, and she could see sparks skipping between Pink’s horns as she again spoke.

“They are afraid of us! Colds are mega dumb, always charging in without thinking, and as they have not then we worry them. All we now have to do is discover what they think we can do to them and then do it. In the meantime, we have the plan. If they are afraid of us now, wait until we show them our true colors and perhaps a little Cloud-based action of our own!”

Smoking Hot: (27)

Alaula had turned her lighting off, but the Ice walls stood out in the dark as they glowed pale blue in color. Alyce could replace Alaula’s pure light with flame, and outside their dent in the wall hiding place, two nice walls of Fire now crossed the corridor to give the effect that a defense was being prepared to meet the Ice moving towards them. Alyce knew that her Firewalls were just for show. They looked pretty partly due to Alaula’s illusion that the flames were billowing with energy, but she suspected even an Ice could walk through them without getting burned.

The main thing that Alyce was doing was getting hot. She was a creature of Fire, so feeling hot was not a thing that worried her. She suspected it was a normal but uncontrollably Demon body thing, and the harmless feeling of getting hotter was to give a strong hint that subconsciously she was getting mad. It felt good that her body liked it and (no pun intended) gave her a warm feeling.

She could heat stone, and with a hand to the ground that was what she was doing along with radiating as much heat as she could to warm the corridor up. This was also part of the plan; the heat would make the Firewall illusions look to be giving off lots of heat, and the heat would also help dissipate any Ice bolts they shot towards her.

Alaula, on the other hand, was struggling at being brave. She was slowly making her way along the corridor, keeping her back flat to the wall to help the camouflage. She had almost dropped the team coin that Pink had given her that contained all the group points, and it was hard to do several things at once. She had to bend light around her to blend into the wall as well as project an illusion to boost the Firewall. She also knew that she would have to cancel the illusion soon, as she would have to use all she had to bend light about her to stay hidden when she reached the Ice wall. As soon as the flames died down, she suspected that would be the point when she would die.

Between the curtains of flame, Alyce stood still and prepared to see if her 6th grade acting skills that had won her a prize for being an Indian Princess in a Thanksgiving play would work now she was a lot older and definitely a different species than the girl she had been then. Pink had released the mental command color hold on the uniforms, so Pink was now all in silver and Alyce in a deep red, plus she burnt out the black coloring Pink had added to hide the red in her hair. When the flame walls went down, the Ices would see a full-color Fire Demon center stage and hopefully not take much notice of how her tail was tightly wrapped around an Electric Demon’s tail as she knelt at her feet.

Alyce could almost feel Pink’s excitement: no, not almost feel it. She could really feel it as it was coming to her via the most sensitive part of her body. Heat did not matter, but her tail was now becoming slightly numb from the discharges Pink was sending through her.

Pink felt she could burst, and not just with excitement as her charge level reached maximum, and still she pushed her body to build it higher. She was sucking as much energy as she could from her friend. If they had the makings of a Storm Cloud, then transferring energy between members was a benefit that she would make full use of as she first drew out the energy and then returned it, using her friend as temporary storage.

Behind the walls of Ice, the members of three Clouds mostly relaxed, as the operation outcome was a forgone conclusion. An underground pincher format could not be stopped. They were taking the wall creation duty in turns, but never less than five at a time held it in place. It reached from floor to ceiling with gaps at each side for movement around it, if they needed to fire Ice bolts. It was made as transparent as they could to see ahead.

It was both shield and weapon, and its shape could change with a thought to go around corners or create holes to shoot through. Currently most Snowflakes were watching a wall of Fire in the middle of the corridor where the enemy hid. Most could not understand why their group commander was taking so much time over this kill. It was all standard and practiced many times. Create an Ice Storm between the two walls, lay down a barrage of Ice bolts, and slowly crush the enemy between two walls of Ice. They could do it with just two Clouds, and today they were a grouping of three.

Then it happened; it should have happened all at once, but a small time delay made for a better theatre and a larger audience.

The wall of Fire grew brighter until the flame turned from red to orange then into a bright white light. Then it vanished, but the darkness was complete as a figure now stood before them. The viewers could see the flame wall had turned into a burning figure, and it slowly got brighter as flames covered it.

Standing there was a full-color Fire Demon; her uniform showed her to be a full-power top-level 4-year-old student. She was dripping Fire, and even her hair was ablaze. Behind the Ice walls, worried Cloud members now understood why their leader was taking such care. They had heard of the Academy’s single remaining Fire Demon, but most had not seen her, and none knew she had become so powerful.

All attention was on Alyce, and she burned hot. Some overly enthusiastic Ices shot Ice bolts towards her, which dissipated long before they reached her. And when they did, she laughed and shouted out.

“Do you think I care about your Cold? I have all the points I need, so just sit there and hide from me behind your puny walls until the exams end! You want to crush me? Are you as stupid as everyone says? Do you think I would even let them get that close?”

With that Alyce sent a stream of Fire toward the wall where their Light was hiding, and as the Fire kissed the surface of the Ice wall it sparked and changed, glowing so bright that it dazzled all that watched. Alaula became visible from the effort of the special effects she was creating, but no one was looking in her direction. The brightness did not cover the sound, but the boom of Pink’s full discharge towards the wall and the sound of the exploding wall masked it.

Ices quickly started to reform it, keeping a careful eye on the vision of their burning nemesis in case she tried to move towards the now closing gap, but she only laughed. No one noticed a young Light Bender slip past them or the noise a coin made when it dropped to the ground before being speedily picked back up, and no one even heard the sound of swearing or the running feet.

Under the cover of her friend’s warming Fire, Pink unlinked her tail from Alyce’s and crawled away back into the alcove to sit near Shale. It had felt good, but she was now so drained she could not stand. If only her sisters could have seen her; she had destroyed a three-Cloud wall! With just a single bolt, she had blasted it into little pieces that had not only evaporated but would have given all the wall holders such a headache that it would stop them from casting any more magic until after the exams.

Seeing how weak Pink looked, Shale helped her to the back to rest for a little while. She knew that other races were weak due to their reliance on magic, so she did not think too badly of her. She personally had recovered from the beating she had received and was ready for action apart from one little problem. It was only a minor problem, and she was digging through backpacks looking for things to help create a splint for her leg. An Earth did not need long to recover, but having a broken leg limited her fighting positions to mostly ones that involved sitting or lying flat out. If only she could get ahold of one, or better still, two of these metal sticks the Ices had, that would be great.

In the meantime, she had ripped apart the backpacks and was using the leather strips to tie a hammer and 12 fastening spikes tightly in place around her leg. The plan in action did not involve her, but hopefully some stupid group of Ices may get past Alyce, and that would then mean she would have at least one or two of their magic Cold Sticks to strap up her leg. The hammer was a help, but it was too short, and the claw head was already cutting an extra groove in her leg when she tried to walk.

Alyce smiled; she was a star act with if not a captive audience at least one that feared to ever turn its back on her. She might even surpass the famous Indian Princess performance.

The three Ice Clouds were currently under a single leader. It was not normal, but the joint leader was a powerful Icemaiden who had achieved her position by ruthlessly pushing all others aside, as all Clouds needed strong leadership. But if that leadership began to look less strong, the alliance could falter, and two of the Clouds would again separate.

Icelyn was the name of the leader of the three Clouds, and she did not like setbacks or the idea of losing any power. The three Clouds were just a start, as she planned to have a much larger grouping of Clouds to make it possible to turn her into the leader of a Storm Cloud.

She could not understand how this Heat had become so powerful or how she was able to even wake up after they had cast a Cold sleep at her. It should have worked; they had killed the other Heat that way. They had killed the one who called herself Ember by lowering her body temperature then hitting her with an Ice blast while she slept.

Icelyn could feel the unease in her followers. A three Cloud wall should not have been destroyed so easily, but she had felt the heat that dissipated it, and it was real. With that power, if the Heat had wanted to, she could have just walked out of their trap at anytime she wished. The question was why she had not done so; the others in her team were different races, so it would not be because she was staying behind for them.

For some reason the Heat was playing with them, and then the reason hit her. That bitch had even bragged at what she was doing; “I have all the points I need, so just sit there and hide from me behind your puny walls until the exams end!” The bitch was planning to stop them gaining anymore points by keeping them tied up here, and with 38 members they needed lots of points. Perhaps she did have all the points she needed, or maybe she didn’t and other teams would be paying her points to delay their team. The Fire’s team itself was odd as it was made up of a mixture of races.

Then it all fell into place: a single, high-level Earth when normally all Earth worked in blocks of 10, and that one was one of the strongest they had come across. There had to be a reason why it was not with its own kind. They also had a Light with them, when the whole world knew there was no point in dragging one of those useless head-in-books clerks about on a team, as they just got in the way.

Icelyn knew she was smart, and now she understood. She could clearly see that some of the races had gotten together to send out little mixed teams, and the payment was to give a strong member to make up a small but very strong group, hence having a useless Light just to make up the numbers. These teams would pretend to be trapped by Colds until the exams ended, where they would be paid points by the real teams they were in and not the pretend one like the one before them, which was nothing but one of many pointless decoys!

Now that she knew this, she could take back the day. Her followers would be too stupid to understand why they needed to ignore this stupid sham of a group and leave, and she would lose prestige if she asked them to retreat, or get stuck here. Instead, she could do something the Heat would not expect; she would meet her face to face. She did not fear Fire, and her fighting skills were the best in the Academy; besides, she would bring support with her.

Alyce began to wonder how long she could keep up an act of just standing there looking menacing before she would start to yawn. Acting like some Roman gladiator playing to the crowds was all well and good, but she had noticed she was now not so much standing looking like death on two legs and tail but instead was pacing and more likely looked like she was waiting for a train.

She was even looking the wrong way and needed a “pssst” type sound from Shale to warn her to turn about as a small group of five appeared from behind the Ice wall when she was not looking and moved towards her. They were all dressed in the pure white of Icemaidens. The thought and slight hope that they were going to ask for peace talks vanished as soon as two of them raised long bluish Ice Sticks that Alyce had seen Ices carry in the past. Up close, they looked more like aluminum tubes about 3 feet in length; they only looked like Ice due to the frost covering them, and they were used to channel cold.

She was correct about the Cold as an Ice blast hit her and would normally have hurt if she were not burning so hot. As it was, it felt like nothing more than perhaps an Aircon unit on full blast, and maybe if they kept it up for too long she could catch a cold or need to get a jumper, but apart from that she could just ignore it.

The one in front now spoke.

“Yes, we know that does not affect you; you can cancel it out the same way we can cancel your heat. It was not meant for you but as a warning to your cowardly team members of what will happen if they try and leave their tail hole of a hiding place. You so bore me with your acting tough and asking us to come and get you, so that is what we are doing. So crawl back up your tail hole or meet me and die!”

Alyce found that her heart skipped a beat. A fight? They wanted her to fight? Since the group had formed, she had felt a little left out, but here she was pretending to be a mighty creature of Fire and they were asking if she wanted to fight: skip out on the magic stuff and get her hands dirty. They may not celebrate Christmas on this world, but for her, Santa had just arrived.

Ignoring the very loud whispers coming from Shale to hold her ground and leave any fighting to her, with uncontrollable excitement Alyce knew she was leaking, this time it was not thoughts no the overall Fire she had for show vanished to be replaced by lots of little flames that were now dancing across her body, and her hair was a mass of flame.

At last! she thought. I have something to do! Without taking her eyes off the group of Colds, her hand travelled to her leg until she felt the hilt of her blade. She could lose 100 points just for taking it out of its sheath, but those were points well spent as her fingers took hold. She thought to herself, let’s see how they like my girl commando style of blade fighting. The moment was spoiled when the magic blade let out a loud sigh, the same blade that had only made whoomping sounds in the past like it had watched far too many Star Wars movies had been able to make a sigh that sounded that it had been polished with male hormones.

She did not know if she could hear it in her mind or just feel its meaning, but her human side registered something definitely male, positively magical and with the mind and perverted personality of a teenage boy. She also had the feeling that it like her gripping it so tight and it was very happy for her to squeeze tighter with her strong fingers. Alyce made a mental note to clean her hands every time she touched the blade in the future.

Alyce moved towards them to force any attack from behind to have to go past the remains of the party and hopefully a recharged Pink.

Icelyn introduced herself as an Ice Princess and Tri-Cloud Domina, so Alyce gave her name as Alyce Fire Storm of the Death Cloud, as it sounded a lot better than princess, but then almost anything would sound better than being called an Ice Princess unless you liked watching Disney and wearing large lacy white frocks with lots of glitter.

Alyce gripped the well-balanced magic blade. It sat comfortably in her hand. When she had been told it needed to be worn daily next to her skin, strapped to her thigh so as to bond with her, she thought it would mean she could fight with it better. Nowhere in her wildest nightmares would she have thought about it getting a crush on her. And as for it telling Shale that it liked looking up her kilt, well, now that meant she would have to find some nice, thick fireproof undies or a way of blindfolding a magic blade.

The so-called Princess on acid was armed with a rod and a blade, and Alyce wondered if her opponent’s blade was magical. She started to worry about all weapons and had the sickening thought of the Icemaiden’s blade sighing and saying, “you are my princess” when they were alone or perhaps bursting into song.

With a shake of her fiery locks of hair, Alyce tried to dismiss all thoughts of Disney cartoons. Besides, she had been the one who got the award for being a Native American princess, and she had even helped her mom make the costume!

Alyce assumed the correct fighting position, and with a flick of her wrist made the blade give out its normal whoomp sound, proving it was either so sharp it could cut the air or it just liked to show off.

The whoomp sound had never really impressed her, but it was now earning brownie points with its current trick of bursting into flames. It reminded her that the whoomp sound could be similar to the finger-burning experience of lighting a gas stove.

Icelyn tried to circle her so that she would be able to have her friends behind her, but Alyce backed up to the nearest wall. She was trapped, but she was not planning on going anywhere and could now keep an eye on them all. The only way someone could get behind her was by knocking the wall down. It also meant she could reach back and touch the wall with her left hand and do her central heating act, which helped cancel out the chill from the Icelyn’s four cronies.

Alyce knew she was very good at fighting. She had been good when human, and she had been practicing everyday for, like, eternity since she had been a Demon, so “very good” was an understatement. Earths like Shale had strength, but she had skill along with a murderous competitive need to win, which like the chicken pox, she had caught from her brothers.

The Colds had numbers, good eyesight in the dark, and tricks, but Alyce knew from the center of her being that she was superior to anything Cold, and she had her own tricks. The next time Icelyn tried to force her away from the wall, she let her and was instantly surrounded by all five of them.

She was the only light source in the corridor, so they could not fail to miss her; just looking at her messed up their eyesight. What she wanted was for them to all attack at once, and that was what they tried, only to find how annoying it can be when fighting deep underground and your opponent was the only one holding the on/off switch to the light.

Five people attacking in a close area in the dark was just an accident waiting to happen. Alyce dropped to the floor and even caused someone to trip over her as she retreated from the mêlée and burst back into bright Fire to see that one had died and two were being helped away by the lucky uninjured one. Icelyn, of course, was also unhurt, so Alyce gave her a quick little curtsy, not knowing if it would mean anything to her; it had always pissed her brothers off when she did it to them.

Alyce was a little miffed that Icelyn did have real fighting skills. Even with the help of a perfectly balanced blade, Icelyn could always block her attacks and counter attack at the same time. At one point the Ice Stick touched her shoulder, and her skin was burnt from the Cold. It did not hurt for long, as without even thinking her body flames changed from an orange-red to a white-yellow. She burned hotter due to the wave of anger that started deep down: maybe not a wave but ripples of heat coming off something hidden within her. It was currently happy to stay dormant inside her, but Alyce could feel that was only a temporary situation.

And as temporary situations go, it lived up to its name. Instead of ripples this time, a wave of anger rose as from the corner of her eye Alyce saw three of the four cronies who had followed Icelyn in link tails into a position known as a power burst. Alyce had learned about differences in racial attack modes, and this one had stuck in her mind as all three held onto one Ice Stick, which was pointing her way.

Alyce’s anger of them interfering again in what she considered a match fight turned into what she nicknamed her Fireball flick: a build up of heat. She sent it eating its way through the air until it reached a surface. She had played with trying to hit Dyson with a little Fireball, and he loved the game. This time a hot flush of anger was behind the flick, and she saw three Ices pull themselves apart trying to unlink tails and move in different directions to get away from what was coming at them.

The last attack she had made on an Ice wall was mostly all show due to Alaula’s illusion of lots of Fire, which hid the single high-voltage battle bolt Pink cast. As her anger powered it through the air this time, it missed the three now scattered Icemaidens but not the wall, and even that did not stop it. As the flames died back, Alyce wondered how far it had traveled; the wall had a perfectly round hole about three feet in diameter straight through it. It must have surprised those standing behind the wall, as by heck it sure surprised her; her normal Fireball discharges were about three inches across, not three feet.

A worried look crossed Icelyn’s face not so much over the Fire attack, as that was what Heats did, and it was stupid of her cousin sisters to make themselves such easy targets, but more in regards to why the wall was not being repaired. Those behind the wall should have fixed it at once and not left a gaping hole.

The heat Alyce had released with the Fireball should have drained her, but it had the opposite effect as if her anger had awoken something that had been sleeping. She felt hot, and that was odd. She also wanted to do something, as hand-to-hand fighting for what would be hours when someone finally got around to inventing clocks was not something that should have taken her full attention.

She must have looked distracted, as Icelyn took the opportunity to attack. She had put away her blade and had both hands around her Ice Stick, which she was now using as a very blunt double-handed sword. It was pulsating with a blue light. Alyce was able to sidestep its first blow, but on Icelyn’s second swing she meet it with her flaming blade.

If they had been in a movie, the things that were now happening would have been shown in slow motion. Alyce’s blade cut the Ice Stick in half, and the icy blast threw her about 30 feet down the corridor and separated her from her blade.

Alyce was shaking from Cold, and her skin was painful. Looking down, she could see that it appeared cracked as if she were a broken vase that had been glued back together. The blast must have ripped the blade from her hands, for she looked up to see it stuck in the ceiling. And unless she could find way up there, it would have to wait for a very tall King Arthur-type warrior to pull it out.

She slumped down to her knees as her legs gave out, and she knew she had lost. The shaking had stopped, but her body felt too stiff to move. She could no longer feel the Fire inside her, not that she had taken much notice of it before. Now it felt that she had a gaping hole where her heart should be, and without it she was dead. Not all of her body knew that yet, but it would in a few moment’s time.

She felt sad. She would not be able to say goodbye to Pink, but she hoped she had bought her some time and that she would get out. No, she decided, it was more likely that she had failed to save her friend just like she had failed to save Ember.

Alyce could no longer kneel, and she fell over. Looking up did not make her feel any better, as Icelyn was standing above her. Alyce decided that of all the people she did not like, this one was at the top of the list. That thought should have been Alyce’s last, and it would have been if Icelyn had just let her die. Instead, she bent down and whispered something softly for Alyce to take to the underworld with her.

For the first time Alyce recognized what the Ice had hanging around her neck on a chain. The meaning of her words swam slowly through her mind. No flame, no Fire, no magic weapons: just that part of the Demon that thought of itself as human was listening.

The bitch was standing over her explaining how they had killed Ember by making her sleepy with a Cold spell as she slept and then slowly killed her while she was in a Cold stupor and could not defend herself. It was the same type of spell that had made it difficult for Alyce to wake up earlier, leaving Shale to fight without her help. Icelyn had crossed the line in spitefulness, and besides that, she was standing on her tail!

As a Fire Demon she was crap, as Fire needed Demonic control, but her human mind had no problem with anger. She now burned with a rage her Demonic side had not mastered: a rage that was fully human, and it took control.

Alyce swung two stiff arms up and grabbed the so-called princess that was leaning over her. Her fingers went numb as they closed around the chain that hung about her neck. Blasts of Cold washed over her, but she did not let go as she smashed her forehead onto the girl’s nose.

“You think this is cold, do you?! You don’t know what cold is! I have walked three miles home in February in the snow without a coat and wearing unsuitable shoes due to believing the cute-looking weather forecaster on Channel 7 who told me it was going to be a nice, mild day!”

After the blow to her nose, Alyce then nutted Icelyn, but her horns got in the way, so she changed the angle and did it again. After three more attempts she wondered if she had just gained a new Demon power of flight, but the world was spinning so erratically that she thought the only thing extra she had received was a concussion.

The Icemaiden only got away by slipping her head out of the chain that Alyce was using to hold her within nutting range. Alyce now tried to hold onto the floor as if she were going to fall off it. Her opponent was not in any better state, and after a few faltering steps back to her Cloud members, she toppled over.

Alyce’s tail still hurt, but it was not the only part currently in pain. The head butting had not been a good idea; true, it had knocked her opponent out, but it had also given her one heck of a headache. It was accompanied with strange flashing lights that had not been created by any Light and were the type that should normally be produced by some illegal drug. Something which she guessed was her own blood was running into her left eye. She must have been lying on the ground, as Shale was now standing above her wearing a worried look.

“Shale, check on that Ice bitch; I think I only knocked her out!”

Out of the one eye that was not going all blurry, she saw Shale go over to where the Icemaiden lay and give her a kick. Then she bent down and picked up the pointed metal pole that was her adversary’s weapon. It was no longer frosty; it looked more like an aluminum or maybe a steel pole.

Shale looked at it for a moment then plunged it deep into the chest of the Cold fighter. Without their leader, the remaining members of the Ice Cloud stood and watched for a few moments before trying to escape. Before they could get far, the air started to sizzle, and a loud crackle of sound matched four blinding flashes of light that knocked all four off their feet. Two did not move, and the two that could stood up and sent Ice darts towards Shale. Instead of flooring their leader’s killer, they just ran into an Earth who was running towards them. The Earth did not slow her down as she bowled into them, knocking them both down again this time before they had a chance to get up. Strong fists repeatedly crushed into them, and judging from their fallen state, none would be getting up again. Shale returned to Alyce’s side proudly holding two metal tubes.

“Nope, I think she is dead.”

Alyce was surprised at the ease with which her friends could kill.

“I didn’t say to kill her, and if we had let the others go, they would have warned the rest to stay clear of us in the future.”

Shale looked over to the very dead fighter and then turned back to Alyce.

“I’m sorry; forgive me. We all know she was your kill, and honestly I will not take any credit for it. But she needed to be finished off quickly, and you had done all the hard work in taking her down. It would not have been good if they got away. And they may even have taken all the metal sticks with them, so I had to stop them doing that. My idea of using a claw hammer was not such a good one, so I needed these to replace it.”

“Besides, I think lots of dead bodies are always a better deterrent, plus we now get to keep the Ices’ point coins. Even if we share the coins with the Earth team that Alaula was able to convince to come and help us, we will all have full points and will have finished the exams early. It was a great idea of Pink’s to help my sisters’ team with the traps. The share points system that Alaula sorted out with them has really made me look on Lights in a different way.”

The beaming smile on Shale’s face stopped Alyce from saying anything more.

“Now you sit and rest for a while as we finish off the stragglers. It will be a lot easier for me to help after I can find a way of strapping these sticks together around my leg without them going off and freezing my butt off.”

“My friends thought I was mad to throw in with you lot, but I can bet all future Earth teams will recruit at least one Light to travel with them. Who would have thought those silly weaklings could be so useful?”

“By the way, you will be pleased to know you seem to have stopped bleeding, but you still look dreadful. You got a nasty gash from that bitch’s horns that should be looked at. You are a great fighter, and it is no shame being weak. Having such a weak body is nothing to be ashamed of; not everyone can be lucky to be born an Earth, so I expect you may need to go to the Infirmary.”

Alyce held the glowing blood gem in her hands before carefully putting its chain over her head. It felt nice to touch; she did not care if it had value or even that looked it stunning. No, it reminded her of Ember, a fellow Heat that had now been lost to the world.

She watched her little team work at first piling up bodies of the now-dead Cloud members. It was strange, but in looking at the carnage she realized that she did not care about their deaths, and her central flame burned a little hotter at the thought.

The group of Earths that came back to help them was happy to have a share of the points, and together they traveled to the start point to have the scores recorded.

No more Ice Clouds showed up, which meant they were either all too busy gaining points by attacking other teams or had decided an unofficial team of four that had so completely destroyed three Clouds already was not worth the effort in attacking.

She realized that this was more like full military war games with live ammunition than any kind of role-playing game she had ever played with her brothers. Back home the only thing they murdered on a game night was a family-size pizza.

With difficulty, Alyce had convinced her little team that she was capable of going to the Infirmary on her own: not that she needed to, as all she had was a scratch. And so much for being her team! They had looked to Pink for conformation before reluctantly leaving her, but not Pink; she just ignored all Alyce’s protests of even needing to go there. After all, it was not that she was ill or anything; she just had just a scratch and a headache that would go away once she learned not to head butt other horned Demons. Shale was the one with a broken leg, but she was not going to get it looked at and said it would soon heal without some non-Earth poking at it and making it worse.

From what she had heard about the Infirmary, it was not somewhere to ever go to if you were ill, as even the most hardened Demon considered the place dangerous, which is why people went there in numbers in the hopes that some of the more healthy ones might make it out again alive.

Alyce didn’t even know where it was that she should be going, so she let Pink support her with the hope that it would shut her up. Through the now pounding headache she thought she could do with a long, stiff drink and a nice nap, but trying to think about a drink was hard with her current body unless it came packaged in a small living creature. And as for a nap, her body did understand that, so she promptly passed out.

She awoke with a start and felt hands pushing her back down as she tried to sit up. The room was white, very white, and also bright with lots of color and people, and then she passed out again.

Smoking Hot: (28)

The next time Alyce awoke slowly, opened her eyes without moving her body, and was pleased to see Pink staring back at her. At least, she was until she saw the look on her face.

“Well! It is about time! First I have to carry you here on my own due to you being stubborn and sending the others away, and then I’m forced to stay in case they want to dissect you or something. Now they will not let me leave, and I have missed eating! It was very boring to sit here for so long watching you sleep! Well, at last; now that you are awake, they can operate!”

The word “operate” did not sound good in any tense, let alone a present one.

“What are you talking about? I am perfectly fine, just a headache.”

Pink went over to a wall and tugged at a mirror until it came away. She placed it in front of her friend.

Alyce took just one look and passed out. This time she was not out for long, as it is hard to stay out when someone is painfully pulling one’s tail.

“Oh, crap! If you keep going back to sleep, I am never going to get anything to eat. Now, stay awake so I can tell the Medics you are still alive and ready for them.”

No wonder she had a headache. Alyce winced when she touched her left horn, which felt like it was no longer facing the same direction as her right one. She could only guess at whether there was any other damage, as half her head was covered in congealed blood.

She was thinking that if she could safely move her tail out of Pink’s reach, she could pass out again when someone came in. She guessed it was a Light, and it was followed by what looked like a walking plant. A few small viewing screens popped into being near her, and the female started attaching parts of the plant to her head.

“You must stay very still. This will check the damage and then activate your body’s bone growth cells to slowly encourage your body to repair itself. Understand?”

Alyce nearly nodded but stopped herself in time and just shut her eyes and muttered she understood, which was far from the truth as for all she could tell, they were going to use her skull as a plant pot. Some extra words, like “this is not going to hurt” would have been nice, but somehow she knew that was too much to hope for.

The Light was good at her job, and the only reason for wanting to remove the necklace was fear it would get in the way of the curing process. She was stopped as soon as her fingers touched it due to a blinding flash of Fire that was followed by a strange smell of burnt cabbage. Alyce opened her eyes to see the room covered in bits of plant, including the female, who was currently standing with her mouth open. She looked like she had either taken to wearing jungle camouflage in a big way or had just returned from a swim in a swamp.

She shut her eyes for what she thought was only a second and opened them again to see she was now the star act for the audience that had gathered around her. They were all wearing what could be only described as coveralls with unknown symbols on them.

Alyce then changed the star idea to exhibit as she saw at least one hold up a burn rod, which was a short wand with a white-hot tip to it. All the rods she had seen in the past were larger and used for cutting up dead meat in the Academy kitchens. This one was being pointed at her very-much-alive body. It was not pointed at her for very long, as her glance at it caused the holder to drop it fast. A burn rod is designed to be fireproof or at least not heat conductive, and so it came as a surprise to the one holding it that she had to drop it fast due to it bursting into flames, which could have been a strong hint from Alyce’s inner Fire not to point one at a Fire Demon.

Several of the audience members stepped back, and Alyce could now recognize the feel of at least one Mind and several Lights in the room; one was still wearing a lot of dead plant.

Calmness now washed over her, and she knew it was not a correct feeling to have, so she imagined it having a coating of flame on it.

“Please relax, and stop doing that. You are quite safe; we are here to help you. Now lie still so we can fully scan you, and try not to play with the tools.”

A deeper calm set in, and Alyce no longer had the will to fight it. She closed her eyes and let the voices in the room begin to wash over her.

“Clear the room; I need just two Light assistants. Will someone remove that smoking fire hazard before I trip over it, again! And let this be a lesson to you all to switch off all lance cutters when examining a member of the Heat clan. Just be thankful you did not point it at a member of the Ice clan.”

“I am the consultant, so I should just be standing at the back telling you what to do, not standing here getting my hands dirty or my legs burnt! Will someone get some gloves on and remove that frigging burning lance! This is the third time I have trodden on it! I will not ask again!!”

“Now, three more screens need to be set to levels 3, 7, and 9. Come on; I have not got all day! I want to see what happened with the bone repair under the sinister horn. Well, well! That shows a perfect repair, and we could put it down to excellent energy displacement between horns, as they would need to be in alignment to pass a spark between the tips, which the level 7 scanner is now showing as a perfectly normal process if she were of the Electrics Clan, but she is not so a crap repair. Didn’t anyone think to clean the horn blockage so she can vent?”

“Now, that is interesting! Increase the magnification on screen 7; take it over the section where the horn grows from the skull and show it at bone depth. Hmm, now over to the dexter horn and do the same, and that is why I say interesting!”

Alyce’s thoughts began to clear, and she found herself looking into the eyes of a Mind, which was not something she had ever had on her wish list.

“I must say, you have taken us a little by surprise, and we may not have even discovered your difference if you had not been injured. Your mind and body are not fully in alignment, almost as if you are not in your own body. Our tests show you are fully Demonic in your thinking, so we believe something was different with your pre-hatching development. Perhaps you should have had a twin, but the yolks joined. Well, whatever it was caused you to be double in another way; your mind thinks like a Battery and yet your body is fully a Heat. Somehow nature has been able to join the two parts, which your body has done in a unique way by forming what I can only explain as a little internal Cloud-like linking the Battery and Heat sides of you together.”

“You are very lucky to be alive; Battery Demons have always been rare, as it is speculated that power is drawn from a linked dimension. Being part of a double is unheard of; I think I will write a paper on you. You may become famous, if you live that long. The scans also show something that is going to be a problem, and not just the odd body changes you have; your body has far more iron than it should, and you must have been collecting it from the red meats you have eaten. When your horn repaired itself, it used the internal Cloud links and the extra iron to make improvements.”

The medical Mind then called someone over, and Alyce was pleased to see it was Pink.

“Now, this affects both of you, so try and listen carefully. If you have questions, then leave them until I have finished. Sometime in the past year, an Ice linking spell was cast on you, which is a common spell used by Colds and sometimes on non-Colds as a temporary link to bring on faster development: a stupid spell that some of the less-intelligent Moas like to cast about without thinking of the consequences.

It is normally harmless and temporary but should never be used without a full medical scan first, which in your case would have shown the danger in using it as one of those linked is already internally linked. Alyce, you would appear to be a small Cloud to the spell, and so instead of a temporary link, the spell would try and add a member to your Cloud group. That is what you two are: a very unstable Cloud. Any questions?”

Alyce looked to Pink and opened her mouth, but before she could say anything Pink started talking.

“We suspected that for some reason we had taken on Cloud-like tendencies but thought it was only due to being similar elements working close together. Could someone have cast the spell without us noticing, as we would never have done such a thing without Academy permission?”

Alyce closed her mouth and let Pink do all the talking. It always took her by surprise the way her friend could change when talking to different Moas.

“Yes, that is quite possible and is not a current concern. It is, of course, magic well beyond your ability, so there will be no disciplinary action against either of you. However, it is not designed for your race and will be unstable, so we will have to cancel the spell.”

“I am free at the moment, so right now will be the best time. If no action is taken, then the link may in time kill you both, and more likely everyone who is standing too close at the time. Before you ask, there are three possible outcomes. One, the link will be destroyed, and you can then operate as a normal team of two. Two, a more stable link will form, which is unlikely but possible as once a Cloud is formed it does not like to lose members. Three, the shock of separation will kill one or both of you, but that is not the outcome I wish to have, so we shall all hope for the best! Now, follow me, both of you!”

As they followed, Pink gave Alyce a look that said, Don’t cause problems! She wrapped her tail around Alyce’s tail and added some pressure as they walked, meaning she was not happy and also wanted comfort, or she was offering Alyce comfort. Whichever way it was intended, Alyce was happy to have the touch of it.

Alyce mostly tried to treat all Moas the same: always with respect and sometimes fear. Pink had a real fear of Minds, but then, Alyce conceded, all students did. Neither of them knew the rank of this one, but that did not matter with Minds, as they never cared about ranks themselves. Why should they, as anyone not a Mind was naturally below them?

They followed the Mind as she walked down several corridors and collected two Lights, who fell in behind them. They also wore the same coveralls. Alyce was feeling better. Her headache had now gone, and the only thing left to remind her of what had happened earlier was the smell of burnt cabbage. It still covered her and meant she would have to take a horrid sand bath before sleeping, as even Dyson would not get near her smelling like she did.

What they were currently doing was not that alien to her, as it reminded her of Earth medical centers. Lights would be doctors, nurses, or interns, and the Mind acted like a consultant or surgeon. As for herself and Pink, well, they were patients but probably the sort that did not have the correct medical insurance.

At the end of the last corridor, which was a dead end, the two Lights stepped forward, and a door appeared. After the last lecture on magic doors, Alyce no longer knew if it was just a door that was hidden by light bending or a portal door hidden by light bending. She really hoped that it was the former, as portals worked like some sci-fi teleport device along the same lines as the magic mirror that had brought her here. Now she knew how they worked, and more importantly, how they could go wrong and end up thinly spreading her across the landscape like a hot sauce.

The Lights did not enter, which did not give Alyce any more confidence regarding their safety, but the Mind did so they had to follow. Alyce still closed her eyes as she went through, which did nothing for safety but instead caused her to bump into the Mind, who had stopped on the other side. She received a dirty look from her as she apologized.

She was cold: very cold. As a Fire Demon, it was not a good sign. Her body automatically covered itself with tiny flames, and as soon as it did Pink grabbed hold of her to share the heat. The little flames danced off her and along Pink’s arms, and then Alyce saw the look the Mind was giving them.

“Sorry! I should have asked, but I kind of do it without thinking.”

The Mind had a shield of heat around her to keep herself warm. Alyce knew that these shields were invisible to most viewers, but because she was a Heat she could see it. The Mind seemed more interested in how the flames moved from a Heat onto an Electric’s body as if they were sisters.

“It is a normal body function for you, so no need to apologize; just keep the flame size down to a low setting.”

But by now Alyce was not listening, as they were outside in an area that must have been the size of a football stadium. She saw what she could only think of as a vision of Narnia when ruled by the snow queen, and it was beautiful. She could not stop herself saying so out loud, and then both Pink and the Mind were now looking at her, forcing her to continue.

“Er, well, it looks so beautiful with the Ice carvings and the way everything sparkles, giving a rainbow of colors. I just wish I had a camera.”

The Mind tried to see what the girl with the head injury was seeing. All she could see was a Cloud of stupid Colds doing some sort of outdoor exam, possibly showing their ability to manipulate Ice particles into various shapes and forms. She thought that they would get points for structure and density, but beautiful?

She looked harder and yes, the angles in the structures produced an interesting array of light refraction. The angles were random, but the effect was pleasing as it showed that order could be found in chaos. She looked back at the Battery/Heat and wondered if she should do another head scan on her or if it was simply the radiation spectrum that interested her, as her Battery side must somehow tune into it to draw power. Yes, she was correct; this would make an excellent paper on duality. And maybe, just maybe, they could be of use to her real reason for being here. Having gotten all that sorted out, she looked back to the Ice Cloud and summoned the Cloud leader to her.

“Yes, yes, all very pretty, I’m sure! And if Ice sculptures would help us win a war, then you will all be heroes. Now, leave here, and tell your judicator that I have said you have passed this exam, or whatever it is, with full points. If someone is stupid enough to set art classes as part of the exam, I see no reason why you should not have maximum points for landscape design. If you are still within sight when I start to set fire to this area, I will not be able to vouch for your safety.”

As there was no movement from what must have been a high-level Ice Cloud member, the Mind looked straight at the lead member.

“Now, please don’t bother trying to think about it for too long, as it was a very long sentence. To make it simple, that was a warning that unless you all run away very fast, you will all be dead… NOW GO!”

Alyce saw a passing look of contempt on the Mind’s face, and then it was back to its normal emotionless state. As the high-ranking Ice Maidens ran off towards the entrance, barely slowing down to grab piles of clothing as they went, she knew what had been different. They were wearing frost: no clothing but a self-created layer of frost. The Cloud leader’s skin had a tint of blue to it. It did not take them long to run off, and as they did the Ice sculptures began to evaporate. Pink kicked her hard on the leg and whispered.

“Shut up and stop acting weird again, or you will get us both culled!”

They moved to the middle of the stadium, and Alyce thought it was a pity that the Ice melted so fast. She also wondered what it really was, as water would have left behind puddles. It was a strange thought, as at the same time it made her sick to think of water. Maybe being a lover of Ice sculpture was not a good idea if you were a Fire Demon, as she knew a comment like being sick over artwork was not normal criticism for a work of art.

The Mind turned to Pink and took hold of her arm then did the same to Alyce.

“It is at these points the spell links you together. What I am now doing is making the link weak and brittle, but you will have to snap it yourself. I will move well out of the way, and when I give you the signal, you are to both run in opposite directions. Ignore any feelings of being held back. You will know when to stop, as when it snaps and cancels out, you will feel it.”

Alyce still had Fire rippling over her body, but as soon as she stopped touching Pink hers faded to be replaced by little sparks as her body was trying to warm her skin.

“Do you think this is a good idea?”

Pink looked around and replied.

“No, just look at how rough the ground is. I am sure to have blisters before I have gotten half way across it. But that is what a Mind wants, and you know how they always have their way.”

Alyce inwardly sighed and thought that was not what she had been thinking. Forget blisters; she was more worried about the third possibility of death of one or both of them in this dangerous tug of war.

When she had reached a safe distance, which she considered the Academy entrance, the Mind set up a selection of shields and anchored them in place around her. She suspected she was being too careful, but that was the correct procedure so it was what had to be done. A heat shield plus one that would ground electrical current with a blast shield to finish off would make her safe unless a mountain dropped on her.

After she had determined that she was fully prepared, she sent a command that took both girls by surprise, as out of thin air the words, “You may now start!” could be heard.

With a quick touch of tails for comfort, they both turned and as one started to run.

As soon as they began, Alyce knew that if the invisible binding spell did not stop her before it snapped, then her lungs plus lack of running skills would. The constant daily training she had received here gave her the ability to kick like a mule, but as far as she could remember, this was the first time she had had to run anywhere in her present body.

Even when human, the only running she had done was for a bus, and she was so bad at that she always missed it. It had never even occurred to her to imagine being a Fire Demon and having to run anywhere for any reason, as you were always warned that as soon as you turned your back on an opponent, that would be the time you died.

While this was still going through her mind, along with the idea that a slow trot may work just as well as a flat-out run, it happened. As happenings go, it was kind of disappointing. She almost fell over as something like an invisible cord that had been slowing her down snapped.

She stopped and looked back to see that Pink had also stopped running. By the way she was leaning forward holding onto her knees for support, Alyce surmised that she would also not make a good Olympic runner.

So that was it; nothing happened apart from an overwhelming feeling of sadness and pain followed by fear and worry. She saw that Pink was now lying flat out on the ground, and with unknown extra amount of un-summoned strength, she ran to her and knelt over her unmoving form.

Smoking Hot: (29)

A whole kaleidoscope of emotions now became available, and the one that forced itself forward was anger: a burning anger that first took form as a Cloud of blackness that surrounded her and grew and grew, looking for anything to blame for this pain. Through her the Cloud looked about and saw a shielded form. It removed the shield with several loud explosions of dissipating magic, leaving a large hole in the ground where the shielded creature had been.

The Cloud did not know what it had removed as it did not think; it just was. If it could have thought, it would have cared even less. The whole stadium was burning from the aftermath of the Fire strike it had sent, and now it looked for anything else living to destroy. Content that it was now alone, it lifted the prone body of Pink into the air and surrounded it in a living flame. There was then a bright flash of energy, which made Pink’s body shudder two or three times.

Alyce’s heart missed a beat when she saw her friend’s eyes blink open. She could now feel a difference in the Cloud, and with a deafening clash of thunder her body slowly settled back to the ground. The black Cloud condensed until it vanished from sight.

Pink began to stand and tried to say something, but before she could speak her friend embraced her. For a few moments neither of them moved, and then Pink leaned slightly to one side of her friend and vomited violently, losing whatever was still in her stomach from her previous meal. When she finished, she carried on with what she had planned to say.

“I was going to say I feel very sick, er, but I think you may have guessed that, so I will make a statement instead, and here it is. Never, and I mean never, ever, never, will I ever try that again. I almost died for trying that crazy Mind’s idea, and you are to remind me of this every time I say we must do what a Mind says: frigging Minds and their ideas! Well, that one has made me feel like I was ripped apart and stuck back together again in the wrong order. It was a real waste of time, as nothing has changed. I can still feel that we are linked. Now, where has she gone, and why does the place look like we have been in a war?”

As they made their way to the entrance, which could now be now clearly seen due to a large smoking dent in the ground, Alyce tried to fill her in on all the things that had happened along with her suspicion that their Cloud did not like the idea of members wanting to leave.

The door swung open not so much to let them in but more to let a very excited Mind gush out at them.

“I have it all recorded! I will not be writing a paper; I will be writing a book on this! The first recording ever showing the power of a Storm Cloud Fire Strike! It destroyed three class-10 shields to wipe out all recording viewers I had placed and then tried to kill me! I always have medical viewers set up inside my shields, and they are almost indestructible! Or, as I would have said before this, they were indestructible, but now we know to add the word ‘almost.’”

“The Cloud detected me as a possible danger and removed me! Or, rather, I retreated inside at the last moment so as not to aggravate it anymore! It did not want company, as it reformed the connections and protected its members. It is a blend between Heat and Energy class Clouds and of Storm value. Just think of its Storm value with just two 4 year olds at its heart! It has formed from the Battery side of your nature, and that means it has full Storm capability and a captive membership.”

She looked towards Pink.

“So there will be no more tries to separate you two again. You will be the closest of sisters whether you wish to be or not. This time you have a real, fully functional, and very stable connection. The operation was a great success! We got rid of that useless spell, and at the same time we were able to record a Storm Cloud forming.”

She turned as if to leave then turned back.

“You are still under medical observation, so no more head butting, or next time I will remove both horns. I will be working on my book during the hibernation time, so I expect you to come to me as soon as you awake. It will be interesting to see your development, and try not to burn the place down. If you need any outside Cloud practice, use the stadium. I give you permission, and I will place eyes there to record your progress. Now, run along and play, or whatever it is that 4 year olds do!” This time she turned and walked away, not looking back.

Day: 565

Lots of stuff happened today, too much to write, but the main thing is that the damaged horn is now fine.

It’s true that I stared long and hard into the mirror, and my horns look great! There is no visible damage, and yes, they look stunning! I love the tingle that the sparks between the points produce. Pink says any horn that does not spark is just a bone.

Being part of a Cloud means my body uses whatever it can to help make repairs, and so it used Pink’s Electric repair ability. Now I have horns that can spark and look super cool.

What else? Well, we set fire to the stadium and got all the points needed to stay alive.

P.S. Made friends with some Earths

Alyce thought her uniform looked a lot better now that it had turned to a blood red color to show her status. But seeing as how it was of a magic material and therefore one size fit all, she did wish it would stretch a bit more, as the waist was getting tight due to all the extra food she had been eating. She had had to manually let the kilt out twice so far, and it was getting tight again. She would have worried if it hadn’t been the same with everyone. It was generally known as the hibernation bulge, as one’s body was getting ready for the long sleep. She wondered if it would leave stretch marks when she slimmed down during the sleep.

Day: 566

For some reason I have picked up a smoking habit! I never had one when I was human, but for some reason my horns look like they have little lines of smoke coming from them… Odd!

Pink says they look cute, and that is a high compliment coming from a Demon who dresses in pink!

Day: 567

My body now feels great! All fit and repaired and ready to go and kick butt again.

I still think that Pink’s sparking between her horns is frigging cooler looking than my smoking ones. I guess I should be happy they don’t come with sound and a husky smoker’s cough.

If I could get some time away from Pink, I would ask that crazy Mind Moa what she was talking about when she said we would be closer. Heck, it is just not possible for Pink to get any closer!!! Just what is it with this Cloud link thingy? Demons do not get all close and clingy unless it is to strangle you!

Well, Minds can’t be that smart, as she was wrong about Pink being just a close sister but more like a true sister. Heck, she is now acting like a cross between an older brother, a girlfriend with benefits, and an overbearing mom plus a dominant husband all rolled into one! Just because we sleep naked does not make me gay, just very worried that she will bite my tail if I say no!

Smoking Hot: (30)

They had made their way down to the scoring center to meet with Moa Poisen and dissolve the team, as the points they had made fighting the Cold Clouds and the various exams had given them all well over the score of life points needed for the end of this term.

Their Light and Earth team members hugged them and let it be known that whenever they needed another team, they should call on them first. Moa Poisen shook her head in disbelief over such mixed-race harmony and signed them all off as passed.

Something had caught Alyce’s eye, and she left the others to investigate. On the other side of the great hall was a line of mixed Demons, and something felt wrong, apart from the fact that she had never seen any Demon lining up for anything, as had been proved many times in the refectory. It was your right to be first at the food no matter who was standing in front of you.

Alyce suspected it stemmed from the Demonic way of seeing what you wanted and making it yours because that was how it should be, and if anyone stood in your way, then it was her own fault if she got hurt. With this idea, Alyce thought they would make natural politicians back on Earth.

The Demons in the line were not acting correctly, and when she asked one or two of the Lights in the line she was so shocked that she went over to Moa Poisen to find out what was going on. They were lining up to be culled and saying that they had let their families down, so they needed to be culled.

“What is wrong with them? They are Demons! They can’t just give up! So this is what happens if you fail to get the correct points? You are asked to form a line and go off to die without causing any trouble?”

The living flame inside her was burning a lot more to allow her be able to speak so directly to a Moa, but Moa Poisen looked to be in agreement as she pointed out another Moa. Alyce saw that this one was one of the dreaded Moa Minds, not the friendly medical loony Mind that had mended her horn and almost killed them both to get the information to write a book.

This was a culler, and no one liked her. It had taken a while, but slowly Alyce had found out how things worked. If you failed in the exams, you were culled. The way it was done was dreadful, as a Mind would make you think it was your own idea to die due to the shame it would cause if you returned to your family. It was still too early, as there were still two sleep periods remaining before the exams ended during which they could add whatever points they lacked.

As a Fire Demon, Alyce did not burn that bright most of the time, but that did not matter. She considered herself to be human, and she could fight as such, but that was before she knew that she was only weak by being in two minds about things. She decided that must stop. She was not one or the other; she was just herself. She made her way to the Moa Mind.

“The exams are not over! There are still more tests! Let them finish with pride!”

Alyce felt a tickle in her brain and could guess it was coming from the Mind. She could feel it growing stronger, and thoughts that were not her own appeared. This Moa was not as good as the medical Mind that had gently put her to sleep. No, this one was harsh and demanding. She found she could look at these commands as not hers by stepping to one side. She knew they were not hers, as part of her told her that they were wrong and that she did not think like that. They were thoughts that it did not matter if the others died, as they were worthless.

The Mind had to exert more energy to try and hold the thought she had created in place. The subject was not a Mind; she should not even know she was there, let alone be able to do what she was doing! That was not normal, nor was it normal for a subject to create an image of burning words in reply to her mental suggestions.

The burning words got larger, and they had the desired effect. Alyce did not know what the runes said, but from the way Pink had explained them to her she knew they were as rude as you could get in a world where words had magic in them.

“How dare you interfere! Leave here at once!”

The words the Mind now spoke were out loud, but she still expected no one else to notice. Alyce felt her mind become free, and the Fire she had been using to hold back a mental attack had nowhere to go, so it poured from her horn tips like mini volcanoes. She was now the center of attention in the room; she was covered in dripping flame as Fire flowed like a liquid down her body.

“No, it is not right! They should not die for a lack of a few stupid points! You are just convincing them that they are worthless, whereas you should be helping them improve. The wars sound stupid, but here, instead of asking for warriors, you ask for suicides.”

“There are more tests left, and you plan to waste a year of training on them? Give them to me, and I will share my points with them and lead them as a team to help them get the points they need!”

The room had gone silent due to a Fire Demon warming up for something that looked to be entertaining to say the least. People could not decide if they should move closer to watch or move back in case they got involved. A student sometimes did have a fall out with a Moa. Occasionally it led to more than just words, but no one ever took on a Moa Mind, as they could cancel out any magic used on them or turn the same magic back on the user.

“If you are so keen to join them, all right! Then join them in the cull, as I now strip you of all your points. The Queen has no need for those who question the rules; you will be just a dangerous loose cannon.”

Alyce felt her flames fade as she was hit by an invisible brick wrapped neatly in an invisible sock. She dropped down to one knee, placing a fist to the ground before her and creating by accident a battle stance they had been taught. A gasp went around the hall, and at that point Moa Poisen stepped forward.

“If this is to be done, then it has to be done in accordance with the rules. What I see here is a challenge that has been laid down and accepted; as the Moa over exams I can allow this, but only if that is what both parties wish.”

The Moa Mind must have done more than just look at her colleague, as those nearby saw her flinch from the look.

“You overstep yourself; this student no longer has the points to continue here. She is my responsibility, not yours.”

Moa Poisen disliked all Minds, and this one took far too much pleasure in the culling of those that other Moas had spent so long training. The odd head-butting Fire Demon was right; it was a waste. Of course, she would have no chance against a Moa Mind, but to offer a challenge was better than to be culled. And a match with a lowly 4-year-old student so below her would be a wonderful insult, so she pressed ahead.

“She has challenged you. It is stupid, of course, but rules are rules, as you say. You may back down and return her points if you do not wish to accept her challenge.”

Moa Poisen knew the reason she had a headache was the look she was getting, but it was worth it. Ignoring the drumbeats in her head, she smiled as she waited for the reply.

“All right; we will play your stupid game. But do not think this will be the end of the matter; as soon as I have disposed of this hatchling, we shall have words.”

Alyce was feeling unsteady, and the battle stance resting one hand on the ground was the only thing holding her up. Looking out at the gathered crowd, she saw her team drop down to follow her example in a battle stance, and she shouted at them.

“No! This is not a team fight! Stand down; I don’t want your help!”

Reluctantly two team members stood up and moved back into the crowd, and Pink, being the third, was painfully pulled to one side by Moa Poisen.

“She says no team help, as that would be against the rules. The rules only allow help if she were part of a Cloud, understand? It’s a pity you are not a Cloud, or you could help, as to attack one Cloud member you attack all. The rules are very straightforward on that, so have I made myself clear? You would die taking her on as an individual. Only a Cloud could hope to take on a Mind. Now, go think on what I have not suggested, and do it fast!”

Alyce was feeding her flame; she thought of it as a flame deep in the middle of her chest. It was going out, and she shivered. If it went out, she knew she would be dead. Her mind was human, but the body was a just a container to hold a flame. It was being extinguished as her mind filled with water, wind, and cold.

She drew more power from her reserves and forced the flame to burn brighter. Magic was not just technique but also imagination, and Alyce had a good imagination. Her inner flame did not need to get larger, just hotter. She saw it first as a blowtorch that ignored wind and cold and still burned underwater. She fed it more, and now it was so hot it would melt rock and evaporate water.

The room was a massive underground chamber, but it was slowly getting very hot.

Poisen was grabbed by a young Light surrounded by several little floating windows.

“Moa, it is real! People think it is a trick, but it is real! The floor under Alyce is melting! The stone is melting!”

Moa Poisen was indeed impressed. This was a strange fight; a non-magic user was using her own essence to fight off a mental attack. That other stuck-up Moa Mind that had treated her as a child had been correct; the power being displayed was that of a Battery feeding a fire.

This was a major field battle ploy she had read of. It was only as strong as the Battery but would just keep building up until it ran out of charge. A Mind could put out a fire with a thought, but she wondered what it would take in mental power to put out a volcano.

Her next thoughts were not so pleasing as a number of high-resolution floating windows appeared to give spectators a better view, as news of this was fast spreading. Most of those who were in the hall when it started had sensibly now moved to the far end of the hall, taking the floating windows with them through the exits, so they could still watch but from a safer place.

Soon the hall would be empty, so she took her nearest exit. Just by luck (bad luck), she joined two of her least-favorite Moas, who were standing safely behind a nice solid stone door; one of them was the uppity Admin Light that had rudely summoned her to a meeting along with the stuck-up Mind she brought with her. At least being near the Light would be useful, as she already had a number of floating windows showing different parts of the hall. The Moa Mind looked her way.

“I said it would be worthwhile to keep an eye on them. I have always said the Academy should only have top-ranking Minds as Moas; just look at that idiot in there! No more than an 8th level, and they made her a Moa! A distant cousin sister that should have just stayed in the nest scrubbing floors: it serves her right if she gets killed. She was asking for it by lining up those to be culled before the exams finished and in plain sight.”

“I put it down to liking her culling job too much; she gets careless and now tries to do a cull in front of everyone. She has not even noticed she is not fighting a single person. That young hothead is due to your meddling with now a two-person Cloud. A simple scan spell now shows she should be looking at where the other Cloud member is hiding, let alone how many others are still in the room watching.”

Moa Poisen looked hard into the largest floating window to see just two people, or maybe one person and a pillar of Fire in female shape. She relayed what she saw only to be ignored by the Mind, who decided she could not be bothered by Poisen pointing out the obvious. The Light took over and opened three new windows, and she was excited with what she was seeing.

“I will try and boost the clarity on this one to show the small group standing hidden at the far end of the hall. Two are the Fire Demon’s team members, and the others are some of the ones who were lining up to be culled. The reason you cannot see them is due to normal light bending, which is hiding them from sight along with the other Cloud member, the Static charging up for battle. But that is common stuff. What is special is the unique link of talents between Four Lights, two Airs, and an Earth: a full defensive, invisible protection bubble.”

“I am recording this, and I will present it as an addition to next year’s curriculum. Something like this was created ad hoc! I don’t know what points they need, but I am personally going to see that they all receive a 10,000-point bonus for its creation!”

Poisen looked from screen to screen. She was more interested in seeing where Pink was hiding, and she asked.

“She is on screen four still powering up. You can just make her out. I’m surprised the light bender can still keep her hidden. I would not like to do it for so long, as it must be very draining trying to hide a building electrical current. We will have full view of what happens to her when the room explodes. Will a fellow Cloud member be protected from the meltdown? Well, we will soon see.”

“Oh, darn! There goes another eye! I will need to watch from the room corners like everyone else, as the heat and static are starting to disrupt all the nearby eyes: perhaps near the group of young observers. I must ask them what mathematical formulas they used. As far as I can see, two Lights are bending light to create invisibility; the other two are concentrating on rotating blast walls, whereas one of the Airs is doing a dense air bubble and the other is spinning air madly between the blast walls and the bubble to keep it cool. The Earth is protecting the ground they are standing on, keeping it cool: so clever! I expect the two bending light will have to turn their attention to reinforcing the blast wall shortly, so all will become visible. Four Lights, two Airs, and an Earth should create a formidable defense, and they may survive a blast that would kill any of us, if we were in there!”

The Mind gently coughed to let her feelings be known on what she had just said. The Light continued.

“All right, well, most of us could not survive, as it would take high-level magic or a good stone door to stop what is building up. LOOK! The Electric build up has overwhelmed the light bending, and she will be fully visible to the Mind now!”

What they now saw on the screens was a Mind facing a two part Cloud: one a pillar of Fire and the other a mass of small electrical discharges that hid whatever was inside, and it was moving closer to the pillar of Fire.

“Oh, blast it! Three more of my eyes have gone down. I am pouring everything I have into the last remaining eye; I think I may need some help here.”

The last remaining window they were all staring at flickered and lost color. Poisen saw that the Light Moa standing next to her was visibly struggling to hold the vision until the Mind held up her hand. The window sharpened and gained color once again but still flickered. Now the Mind decided to make a comment about what was happening.

“As soon as the two parts of the Cloud physically join, that stupid female in there will be as good as dead. Did I not say there would be problems with trying to cull a Cloud with a Battery at the center? We can see on this screen, but she is stupidly going about it in all the wrong ways.”

“She is still using a Mind kill to put out the Fire, which would have worked instantly on a single Fire Demon but not a Battery Fire, as it would be like trying to put out 100 Fires at the same time. Yet that is what she is still doing, and all that it has done is hold back the Fire but not stopped it building up.”

“She should have worked this out as soon as the first attempt failed, but she has carried on. Now she cannot stop or all the power will be released at once. She is now planning to wear the Battery down; she will have to place a powerful blast wall and climate control. But she is not just fighting a Battery/Fire Demon but a Cloud, which means more than one person, and the other person is an attack element. That adds more problems, as she cannot stop what she is doing, and half the Cloud is still in play. So she is dead unless she has help.”

Poisen knew that sort of help was beyond both her and the Light, so she aimed her question at the Mind. “Are you going to help?”

A strange look that could have been disbelief in having to answer such a question crossed the Mind’s face.

“Help? Of course not! That would be a grave insult to her, and she would have to cull herself out of shame. I may not think much of her, but I would not do that to her. I am surprised you think me so callous!”

The Mind chose to ignore her again, so all three stared into the magic window without comment.

This was the first time she had seen a Light-created window powered by a Mind. She did not know it could be done, but that was not what surprised her. Watching a magic window explode did surprise her, but not as much as seeing the speed at which a Moa Mind could run down a corridor, followed by the Light with her head down and the hope of overtaking the Mind. Poisen was no Mind or Light, but the idea to follow came very quickly.

When the light bending invisibility began to fade, Pink decided it was time to join Alyce. She had planned to attack the Moa from behind but found that she could not control the power build up to be able to aim. She had never felt so much energy try and burst from her, and she expected it must be a Cloud thing. There was no point in thinking as an individual; she would have to physically link with Alyce, and that female was extremely hot. She hoped that her Cloud membership would offer some extra protection, as even being naturally fireproof had its limitations. Looking at the floor around Alyce, Pink knew the best she could hope for would be severely blistered feet.

“What the frigging heck do you think you are doing taking on a Moa without talking to me first? We are a Cloud, you idiot! Everything you do affects me! Plus you are charging me up so much that I have such a headache you would not believe. You are so going to owe me big time for this! Now, grab my tail before I explode!”

Alyce did not say anything, as her full concentration was on trying to stay calm and keep her inner Fire under control. She did not notice what happened when they touched tails, as all the eyes in the room had now burnt out. The only ones that could still see were the members of the small group that had been helping Pink to hide, and of course the Moa Mind, who was still trying to put Alyce’s Fire out and hold a blast shield at the same time.

It was not enough, and Pink decided it had to be more intimate. Her tail intertwined with her friend’s, and this time Alyce reacted by gripping it with her own. She let her hand go. It was the correct move, as the world suddenly went dark; her headache vanished, as did the feeling of wanting to burst.

Alyce looked at her in surprise.

“What happened? I don’t feel like I am going out anymore, but my flame is still getting stronger. And I can’t stop it! What is going on?”

Pink could no longer see the hall and also knew she was floating, as her feet felt less like they were about to melt. Even in the dark she could see the face of her friend along with its puzzled look.

“Well, unless I am mistaken, this is our version of an Ice Cloud. I don’t think we have moved, but we are in a Cloud of our own making: by the looks of it, a Storm Cloud, which has automatically absorbed our essence. I expect we are still being attacked, but our Cloud is somehow defending us. I just wish we could see out.”

In answer to her request, a window appeared in front of them. It showed their attacker about 50 feet away in some sort of protective semi-transparent shell. Another screen appeared next to the first, and this one showed the whole room. They could now see a large black Cloud filling most of the hall and guessed that it contained them. It was not just a black Cloud but truly a Storm Cloud, as the blackness looked to be more like the billowing smoke created by a flaming heart. At the same time, a constant barrage of lightning bolts was randomly sticking out at different parts of the hall, and each one caused a vibrating rumble as it hit.

From the Moa a blue light appeared and traveled towards them, making them shiver and causing Pink to comment.

“Just how the dying Sun do we attack that bitch?”

As if to answer her, the random lightning discharges stopped. When they started again, they all were a lot stronger, now sticking to the Moa’s shield.

“Owwwww! I can feel that. These bolts are mine, and each is the strength of a battle bolt. Wow! I’m a single-person strike force! I just can’t… oh, burning Suns! No wonder Snowflakes spend so long learning Cloud control: this is frigging impossible! I have just blasted a table behind us. I’m bursting with power but have no aim!”

Alyce was not listening. She was trying to relax; Take deep breaths and relax. Frag! This is more like childbirth than fighting, she thought, except when she let out the air it was on fire. She was getting hot and angry, and she felt that it was all a balance. If she could just not get upset, it would be fine. Not being upset failed as a blue light in a tight beam touched her. It burned. She let out a scream and lost control of the fine balance she was maintaining.

Alyce was very angry, and if anger made a sound, it would have been whoomp. Anyone outside the Cloud would have heard that sound as all the oxygen ignited, and flames filled the hall. They continued to fill the hall. Upon discovering the hall was not big enough to contain it, she built up the pressure to seek any weakness in the stone container that held its prisoner. Upon finding doors, it removed them and ate the air that was hiding behind them. This flame was not a thinking thing; it did not care that the doors were stone, just that they were weaker than the walls and were in the way. And if a door did not melt, it would crack or explode. The only thing it could not do was hold them back.

Annoyance replaced the feeling of anger for Alyce. She was not annoyed over anything in particular, just generally at everything. That, in turn, changed to something she could not put into words, but whatever Armageddon was, it was a good name for her current emotion.

Smoking Hot: (31)

Moa Poisen stopped just behind the Mind and stood next to the Light, feeling the power build up in the very air that surrounded them. The Mind was casting high-level magic, and she could even see it form, looking like a blue-tinted transparent shell around them. The Mind looked a little worried, and that made Poisen very worried. Her ears now started to ring, and she found it hard to breathe, which meant what she was standing in was a very high-magic, pressurized defensive blast shell. Due to the color, she expected that it would be burningly cold to the touch.

Then it started; first, it was like small little earth tremors, which only stopped when the stone door at the end of the corridor was blasted off its hinges. It crumbled as it hit the opposite wall followed by a wall of flame, which, having found the large hall too small to hold it, was now filling the corridors surrounding the hall and at the same time hitting their protective shell and sending it along with the occupants another 50 feet further down the corridor.

The three Moas stood up as the magic shell faded, and they coughed due to the smell of burning and the presences of more smoke than air to breathe. The Mind was the first to speak, and from the look on her face, she would also be the last to speak.

“I have sent word to my sisters, and they are sending a few Air students to clean this area up and some Lights to help with the wounded in adjacent corridors. I have also just received communication from one of my sisters currently controlling the Infirmary, and she has made it very clear that the two girls we have been watching are under medical observation and therefore in her ownership. She also mentioned something about writing a book, which for some reason means she will personally terminally remove any other Moa who puts this Academy in danger by even thinking of attacking them again in an enclosed space. She also suggests we take a look at the remains of the stadium when we have the time.”

“Well, I don’t know why she is so interested in them, but she gave up a position in government to play with her medical hobbies. She is extremely clever, so I expect there is a logical reason for all that she says. So far, she is correct; it is not a good idea to attack an outdoor battle Cloud indoors.”

“Now, as I am already here, they suggested that I am the best one suited to deal with the current mess of a situation. Now that it is agreed, send some eyes into the room so we can see what has happened!”

Within seconds, several windows appeared in the air and a very smoky hall came into view. As they watched, the smoke slowly cleared. The Moa Light spoke.

“That is about the best I can do, but I see that other eyes, not my own, have also appeared in there, and several are here looking at us in this corridor.”

The Moa Mind flicked a finger in the air and spoke again.

“I am not some side show for entertainment of bored Lights to view, so what about now?”

The Light did not just see the eyes go out but felt them silently explode, which would give the viewers a nasty headache to say the least and a strong hint that it was not a good idea to spy on a Mind.

“All gone from viewing us, but you may get complaints.”

The Mind completely ignored the idea of any possible complaints and intently watched the screens.

A scorched but otherwise unharmed Pink was shaking Alyce, who now knelt on a solid floor that was no longer trying to melt under them.

“Are you okay? Speak to me!”

Alyce looked up at her friend and smiled.

“Wow ……………………..”

The first to leave the hall were a couple of Lights and an Earth dragging out two unconscious Airs and a Light who was having problems walking. The Light Moa cast a look to the Mind and said:

“You can have the Storm Cloud; I will deal with this group. I will just make them think it was all a test.”

The Light was all smiles when she reached the soot-covered mixed group.

“Well done! You have now finished your last exam and passed with a merit, meaning you have all passed the 10,000-life point mark. So as I said, well done!”

Two of the Lights shook their heads, trying to clear their minds and work out how it had all been an exam. It had to be, as that is what they were all doing at the moment. It had been tough, but they had passed! Yes, passed, and with a merit that would be rewarded to their family for excellent breeding achievement! They could now go home for the yearly hibernation with their tails held high.

“Very creative, yes! Very creative! If you have not done so yet, make sure you all know who everyone is and record their names, as I will need the listing to go with the recording made on your new dual race shielding techniques. I suggest you spend the remaining part of the term getting to know each other, as next term you will be working permanently as a mixed team.”

The Light Moa now led them away towards the Academy sick bay, as she said they could not lose any members of such a winning team. They all knew the idea of forming a group or team had been a good one. No one could remember who had first suggested it, but they all had agreed and therefore all deserved the praise.

The Moa Mind looked at the parting group and stopped playing with their minds. It was easy now, as they would all reinforce the idea she had placed in their minds. The more they agreed with what they were told had happened, the more they would believe that was what actually did happen.

The same could not be said about the two members of the Dark Cloud that were leaving the room. She gently touched on their minds, the gentlest of touches, and she could feel a black curtain form to block her touch. However this strange Cloud worked, her stupid cousin sister had taught it to know the touch of a Mind and to get ready to attack those with the touch without even consulting the other Cloud members.

She did not know if her cousin sister had survived or not. She hoped not, as her position here was now untenable. It was better that she had died in a fight than at the hands of her sisters for bringing such shame down on their caste by being beaten by two 4 year olds.

She was a Mind: the elite of all the casts. She did not need tricks like mind bending to handle this situation. The Cloud members were looking toward her and knew what she was, which would save some time. She smiled towards them.

Pink was the first to stop; she nudged Alyce. Even though she had stopped saying “Wowwwwww,” she was thinking it loudly and very often to herself as her body tingled and small flames danced across it. Her hair appeared to be on fire unless you looked closely, in which case you would see that each strand of hair was a thin flame trying to play at being hair.

“Please do not worry. I am just here to tell you that the match was all perfectly within the rules. The ones listed down for culling were able to come up with a unique shielding technique that so impressed one of my colleagues that they have all been given sufficient points to attend the Academy next year.”

“After analyzing the power in your Cloud, it has been agreed that you could pass any of the remaining exams. If you then gave away your points to any student falling short of the 10,000 life points, it would make their tests pointless. The tests and exams will, of course, continue, as they are designed to help train, but we will accept that all students will have sufficient points to be spared culling this end of term. We may also look into the idea of cancelling end-of-term culling in the future, as I, for one, consider it very wasteful on resources.”

The Woowwwwwing had stopped, and Alyce was trying hard to catch up with the current state of normality before it changed again. It seemed that you could get into real trouble for not cleaning up after eating in the refectory, but killing a Moa and burning down a large section of the Academy somehow did not raise a comment.

She wondered if she should bring it up herself or if no one had noticed, or perhaps they were trying to forget it. If given a choice, forgetting it was looking to be a good idea. For all she knew, it was covered under a rule saying you could destroy one room per term as long as you helped clean the plates after eating.

As Alyce was digesting the situation, Pink took on the lead.

“Thank you, Moa Mind. We are sure the whole Academy will join us in thanking the life-giving Sun over the Queen’s wisdom in appointing such great Demon Minds as yourself to help shape us to best serve the Queen.”

“We hope that our impolite behavior in challenging the rules will be put down to our youth and the post-exam tensions of the coming dark days, and not any idea that we would normally question our obvious superiors.”

The Moa Mind controlled her face. She was good at not showing emotions, and now was not the time and place to burst out laughing at the most well-spoken bucket of crap she had ever had the misfortune to hear. She had been correct in believing that these two were special; that trash sounded like something a 6-year-old Air would come up with and not a hatchling spark. Then again, she had never heard of any 4 year old from the energy caste who could help create a High Plains Storm so deep underground.

“I perfectly understand your youthful energies as well as your standard youthful total inability to listen to what is said, so I will repeat. I said no rules were broken, but my sister in the infirmary tells me your lack of Cloud control means that you will not be going home for hibernation. You will need some special tuition between now and the dark days. I expect my sister will have that arranged, along with booking you a dark days sleep chamber on campus, so now go and get cleaned up!”

They walked back to their room in silence until Alyce could no longer hold back the questions. Pink had never talked like that before, and it had been creepy. True, she was top in deportment and picked up the crazy five-dimensional magic theory like it was nothing. But to come from a fight and then blurt out such waffle? It was definitely odd, if not creepy.

Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Pink turned on her.

“Don’t you dare say a word until I have calmed down! Just what were you thinking? No, of course you were not thinking. Take on the whole frigging system, why don’t you, and then drag me into a fight with a Moa Mind? And don’t you frigging say anything stupid like I did not have to join in, as frigging being part of a Cloud makes such choices irrelevant. What affects one member of a frigging Cloud affects all members of it, and now I can’t even go home to hibernate with my sisters! If you ever, and I do mean EVER, do something like that again without discussing it with me first, so help me I will strangle you in your sleep with your own frigging tail! Now leave me alone!”

Alyce watched her friend get into bed without even changing. Pink pulled her pink blanket over her whole body, including her head, as she turned to face the wall.

Day: 568

Today was a crappy day; I killed a Moa and lost my only friend. I feel so sad; I just don’t know what to do. She was so looking forward to visiting her sisters, and I have ruined that for her. I wish I were dead.

Smoking Hot: (32)

Alyce tossed and turned. She felt drained, but sleep refused to come. She was sadder than she could ever remember being, and in this body, she could not cry. At last she got up and made her way to where Pink lay. Gently pulling the blanket up so she could move under it, she got in and wrapped herself around her friend to increase her body heat.

She felt Pink move, but it was not to reject her, so she reached out and held her hand. After a little while she could feel her friend’s tail slowly entwine itself with hers, and Pink gave a soft, sleepy comment.

“Still not forgiven, but at least you are trying, so all is not lost. Now, let me go to sleep, or I will strangle you with your own tail!”

When she next awoke, Alyce found the still-sleeping form of Pink holding onto her.

Day: 569

Pink went mega ballistic on me again today; somehow whatever I try to do at the moment goes wrong.

After Pink’s outburst I went to apologize to the other team members or, rather, now ex-team members, for my, well, fiery episode. I found them down in the Infirmary all bright and happy chatting to some Lights and Airs with whom they had made friends. They thought Pink had done an excellent job.

I was then dragged away by the medical Moa and examined again, which is getting boring. I now worry that this crazy Mind will ask me to stick out my tongue and say ‘ahhh’ every time we meet.

If she is so keen on writing a book, then a manual on owning a body would be helpful, or at the very least a dictionary on TLAs: three-letter acronyms. She says at this present time of the year I may start showing the first signs of PHM, and if I get hot and smoky, I should go and stand outside in the cold until I’ve cooled down. This should help with my mood. Okay, so what the heck is PHM??????

Day: 580

Apparently we have gained the nickname Death Cloud, which reminds me of Star Wars every time I hear it, but I can’t remember why.

At least I found out the TLA of PHM = Pre-Hibernation Mood. It is just the body getting ready for the long sleep and can make one a little moody.

Day: 581

Everyone is free to do what they want except for me and Pink. We are stuck watching screens on old Ice Cloud lectures, and they are boorrrrrrrringgg.

It was a unanimous decision to turn the mirror to face the wall, as neither of us wishes to see the couch potatoes we are becoming.

Day: 582

Just a few sleeps to go before the big one, and I am so hungry! I notice everyone is stealing from the refectory to take food to their rooms.

As to moods, I have not been too affected. I did burn an Air’s fingers in the refectory. She was taking all the confirg, which is something that looks like road kill and tastes the same, but she should not take it all, so I burned her.

Day: 583

Another frigging recorded lecture on Cloud control. It is all crap! It just talks about Ice Clouds, and what the frigging use is that to us!?!

Day: 584

Today Pink broke the silence regarding my black gem bloodstone. No one has said anything or commented on it since I took it off the Ice who stole it from Ember. I wear it all the time now, and it gives a strange feeling of comfort when I touch it.

It was kind of odd but nice and sweet the way Pink broached the subject. To paraphrase, she said it looked good on me, and Ember would be happy to see me proudly wearing it to remind people how a Heat will take revenge on anyone harming another Heat. Personally I just like the way it reminds me of Ember.

Day: 590

No lectures today, as the room we normally use has for some reason been closed and is awaiting repairs (cough, cough, say no more).

Day: 591

I risked going out into the stadium. I went on my own as Pink said something that I think translates to it being a frigging loony idea.

And it was FRIGGING COLD!!!! And I was wearing Fire! I copied the Icemaidens’ idea of clothing. Where they used frost, I shaped flame over my body until it was like wearing a burning bodysuit. There were some Ices playing like they were throwing snowballs when I went out, but when they saw me they packed up and went in. It is a strange thing getting a reputation as a Cloud killer. I feel no safer than I did before, as it just means you will get stabbed in the back instead of the front.

The sun is looking like a real moth-eaten star, as now it has large chunks missing from both sides. With my human mind I would say it is slowly being crossed by two planets or moons, or someone with a large tin of black paint. But to everyone else, it is being eaten and will be reborn from the darkness. Despite my knowledge of astronomy, I will go with the eating idea, as that is the social norm here. After being here for so long, they may be correct; just look at me, a Firelighter on legs!

Day: 592

I went out again today, and it is so easy to leave the building! I should have tried before. All I have to say is that I feel like I want to burn something, and a Light opens the doors for me. I expect if I keep doing it too often they may give me a key.

It was the same as yesterday; a group of Icemaidens cleared the area when I arrived. I now wonder whether it is because the place still looks like it was hit by a meteorite, and the Ices know I was that meteorite.

To keep warm, I started to copy what I saw the Ices do. First I attempt to make shapes out of Fire and then I play at throwing Fireballs like they did with a snowball, which sounds a lot easier than it is.

Smoking Hot: (33)

For the first time Alyce witnessed first-hand the meaning of PHM: Pre-Hibernation Mood, as Pink was in one in a mega way. Everything was fine if everything was going smoothly, but as soon as the slightest thing went a little astray, it was very likely to get blasted, regardless of what it was: anything from a Snowflake making a rude comment to a door that tried to catch her tail.

Alyce found she was the most relaxed person still walking about and also the one most worried, as she did not like the idea of pretending to be a tortoise and being put in a cardboard box with some straw and a lettuce for the winter. It was all so stupid; they were mega-powerful magic creatures, yet somehow central heating was beyond them.

The Colds did not hibernate, or perhaps they did. They were still packing up to go home, along with being as nasty as normal to anyone else crossing their path. At a time of mass PHM, this behavior made most of the Academy look like a small warzone, or in some places, like the refectory, a large warzone with a takeaway buffet on the side.

Apparently for safety, the Academy had cast dampening spells to try and stop too many getting killed over the constant danger of sitting at the wrong table or for taking the last slice of something someone else wanted, even if you did not know they wanted it as they had not been in the room at the time you took it.

The Colds had stopped going to the refectory after Pink’s last tantrum over the last fresh living try-rad. There had been an argument over who should get the last one, and Pink decided that as they already had the pick of everything else, it was her turn. She ignored their protests and just walked back to her table with it, but a Snowflake made the fatal mistake of coming between an Electric Demon with PHM and her liking for live food by zapping it with a beam of Cold that left Pink holding the tail of something that now looked more like an ice-lolly and was very dead.

Many said it was the first time they had seen what an only-to-be-used-outdoors, full-sized long-distance battle bolt could do in an enclosed area. The process of casting a lightning bolt was not as fast as people imagined, as many took advantage of the hint to leave when their hair stood on end as the static built up in the room. The worst time to think about leaving was after the blinding light and smell of burning that followed the destruction of the eating area favored by the Colds occurred. Their eating area now looked like it would need extensive re-modification before the next term.

Those of the Ice Cloud that were not still trying to stand formed an Ice barrier shield and summoned up a counter attack, which may have worked if they had not then been blasted by different sized chunks of their Ice barrier, as it was the next thing to explode from the battle bolt.

The Cloud of Snowflakes was having problems breaking through the dampening spells. They regrouped for a second time and felt the static of a third bolt powering up. The strain on the holding spells must have summoned in a Moa. At the best of times, she considered dinner duty to be beneath her, and being picked for it at the end of term when she was cold and tired was more due to her superiority to most of the other Moas than to any let’s-take-it-in-turns bright ideas from her colleagues that should stick with learning to bang stones together instead of thinking.

The Moa did not have any great attack powers, but she did not need them, as she was a Mind. The whole room went silent as she entered, and she pointed toward where Pink was noisily standing and sizzling.

“You discharge at once! And get out of here! Meal time is over for you, and I will see that your family is sent a bill for the damage!”

In annoyance, Pink discharged though the nearest wall, which caused it to crack as she turned and stormed out of the refectory. Everyone’s hair stood on end due to the static charge that still surrounded her like a personal Storm. A good exit was all she was going to risk, as this Mind could at any time recognize her. Another fight with a Mind was not something she wanted to happen without Alyce nearby.

The Moa now turned her attention to the Snowflakes.

“And as for you stupid creatures, I suspect it was your fault; everything that causes me more work is always linked to your kind. Without being in a Cloud, I shouldn’t think any of you would have the brains to get dressed without help. Well, you are now banned from the refectory until next term, so pack up and go home hungry!”

The Cloud members silently packed up. They had contempt for any breed that was not from the Cold. However, this Moa was a very powerful thinker, and even a Snowflake was bright enough to know not to upset a Mind. It was said that a Mind Moa could melt them with just a thought if she wanted to, and that was the least she could do. Besides that, they were grateful to end the fight, as they suspected their opponent was from the Death Cloud they had been warned about. If it was all true, then they could leave it for now. Next time, they would strike her down when she least expected it, and probably from behind.

Alyce thought that attacking a Cloud just when they were about to hibernate was not a good idea, but then again, Pink had just demonstrated how much power she had. If anyone had been planning to attack them as they slept, she would now be rethinking the idea. A 4-year-old Electric Demon should not have been able to cast a battle bolt, let alone several, and certainly not indoors against dampening spells. Now all chances of keeping their abilities secret were gone, as images of the disturbance in the refectory were being broadcasted all over the Academy by anyone who could create a viewing window.

Pink and Alyce expected the worse when they were again summoned to the Infirmary by the medical Moa. She still had the tendency to look at them as if they were in line to be dissected.

“I want you to listen carefully. I believe outbursts such as what happened in the refectory have more to do with possessing an untrained mind than they do with the standard get-out clause of the so-called PHM time. Until you can control this weakness of mind and body, you will stay away from all other students.”

Alyce looked towards her friend, but Pink just stared straight ahead and ignored her, as if what had happened in the refectory was her fault.

“I am sure you have been told, but you will not be going home for the dark time. I have arranged a deep sleep chamber for you with plenty of food to last you for hibernation. Of course, you will have only hibernated in a family group before, but I have studied your racial abilities, and I strongly believe that your bodies should be able to cope in an insulated room.”

“Please do not prove me wrong by dying, or I will be very disappointed. Now, for some good news: I know that at your young age, you have been missing your families and that it will be a disappointment not to see them or enjoy the smell and touch of sleeping sisters during the dark time. Therefore, I have arranged for a great privilege to be granted for you to see and speak with your closest family member.”

“It can only be a short connection, as the spells are complicated and draining for the Lights I recruited to work on them, but it will give you a chance to catch up on the family news and let them know the honors you have gained over the past year.”

An Air appeared from behind them and asked Pink and Alyce to follow her. She lectured them of the procedure as they walked and informed them that they should be extremely grateful for this unheard-of boon, especially due to the spell power that was going to be wasted for such a pointless purpose.

They did not say anything out loud, but both had the same thought. This Air was just like the uppity Admin Airs who walked about with their tails stuck deep and firmly up their own tail holes…

Smoking Hot: (34)

Alyce did not know how long Pink had been gone, but on a watch-less world a guess of 15 minutes felt about correct.

Pink did not look as happy as she had thought she would be after talking with her sisters, but she did not dwell on it. She had bigger problems to worry about, as she now would have to Skype with her so-called family. She had only met three of her relatives before, and they were the ones who had thrown her out! Just what would she talk to them about?

The room was large and had a row of what Alyce thought of as perches: something like small-headed letter Ts that you sat on, leaving your tail free to hang behind.

Alyce flicked her tail over one in the middle and looked into what could only be thought of due to its size as a ballroom mirror. It would have looked a lot better in some castle rather than hanging from the ceiling by uneven metal chains.

Before the Air left, she told Alyce that she didn’t have to do anything but relax, as the spells would search out her closest relative over any distance and at a time when he or she were near a mirror.

On the wall, a line of what she remembered from lessons as power cubes began to light up, not that Alyce had the faintest idea of how they worked. There had been talk of them being unstable and sometimes exploding, and long ago she had decided that if she ever saw one, she would never touch it.

She should have been worried as to who was going to appear in the mirror, but instead she was mostly admiring her reflection. True, a little bit of extra weight had recently been added about the tummy, but that was only hormonal due to the time of year. Even with that, she still looked smoking hot; back on Earth she would have killed to look this good. She felt disappointment as the mirror clouded up and she could no longer see herself in it. Alyce thought that this was a fine time to pick to turn native.

As she looked into the mirror, getting ready to adlib a conversation with some relative she would not recognize, her mouth dropped open. Even though she had been told a thousand times by Pink that you did not show your teeth unless you were going to bite something, as it was rude, she still could not stop herself from staring at the image that was peering back at her.

A voice from the image in the mirror spoke.

“Cool teeth!”

Alyce partially closed her lips to cover them so that only the tips were visible when she spoke.

“Er… Sorry, that was rude of me, but I was expecting to see a… and, well, not… Er, you are human, aren’t you?”

The girl that sat with her chin balanced on her knees as she stared back was perched in a large stuffed chair in a room that was very Earth-like in its decorations. Perhaps it belonged to members of some strange fire cult, or at least volcanologists that liked to bring their work home with them.

The walls were covered in murals mixed in with framed paintings and large photos all showing smoking volcanoes and hot lava flows burning their way down mountains. In the corner of the room stood the largest lava lamp Alyce had ever seen; it could have been classified as a room feature if that prize had not been taken by something that looked like a living flame of changing colors contained in a 6-foot glass bottle standing on its head.

The girl, who could have been human and about 13 years old, moved her knees down and leaned forward before she spoke.

“If you are after Martians, then I think you have misdialed, but if you are looking for Mom, she is out!”

The room was a little odd, but it also had a wall-mounted TV above a super-sized stuffed bear wearing a T-shirt saying Coca-Cola, which had to mean Earth and human or… But before Alyce could dwell on how Coca-Cola could get room placement advertising on interplanetary mirror vision, the girl looked away at a sound made out of Alyce’s field of vision and then yelled:

“GET OUT! Can’t you see I’m talking?”

Now Alyce could see another girl, a little younger, perhaps 10 or 11, come into view and sit on the corner of the chair. She got a very dirty look from the one who she could only guess was the girl’s older sister.

The new girl looked straight at Alyce, fully ignoring her sister.

“Hi! I’m Ash. Are you one of Mom’s sisters?”

The first girl now loudly sighed, raising her eyes and folding her arms, all of which were lost on her sister.

“Of course she is, you dummy! Like, who else with burning hair, horns, and a tail would be calling us?

Still ignoring her sister, the younger of the two carried on.

“Nice to meet you, Auntie. Mom is off at some meeting or other. Conrad is sitting us; he is what we call here a male. Sis has the hots for him, but he is like mega dumb. At the moment he is playing on his stupid games pod in the kitchen and eating all our leftover pizza.”

“After what we did to him last time, he knows it is better to stay in the kitchen until Mom and Dad get back than to find out what we are doing around the house. And in case he gets any ideas that he is in charge, we have locked him in the kitchen!”

At this she looked at her older sister, smirked, and then turned back towards Alyce. Before she could say anything more, another face came into view followed by a small body, which was lifted up off the floor and placed into the older girl’s lap.

“Enya, say hello to your Auntie.” She then looked fully at Alyce. “I’m Blaize, and Ashley has already told you her name. Our other four sisters are about the house somewhere, and I can call them if you want to say hi. Is there any message you want us to give Mom?”

Alyce was preoccupied with the problem of adding 3 + 4 without screaming, so she stuck to the facts.

“Umm, well, just say her sister from the Academy called. I am fit and well and passed all the exams. There’s not much to say except that I burnt down the outside training area, blew up a large auditorium, and killed a Mind teacher in a duel. Now I am just going to hibernate.”

Alyce saw two of the girls’ mouths become perfect circles, while the third girl just drooled down the oldest sister’s neck. The oldest was first to break the silence.

“Wow, that is so thermo-mega! I wish we could do exciting stuff like that, but Mom complains every time we try and set fire to Conrad. She is odd like that. We even have to sleep in the same room! We have 12 bedrooms, but Mom says we have to sleep together. Like, is that odd, or what?”

Before the conversation became any more surreal, a wailing sound filled the room along with a blinking blue light. Ashley and Blaize looked at each other and said “Pyralis!” at the same time before starting to get up.

“Sorry, we better go! The house is fireproof, but Pyralis is always able to find something that is burnable. We better put it out, and if we don’t unlock the kitchen, Conrad will only piss himself again!”

With that all three girls ran out of the room, and Alyce was the one left with a round mouth. In her case, it just showed off double rows of interlocking fangs.

Alyce stepped back out of the room into the corridor where Pink and the Air stood waiting for her.

Smoking Hot: (35)

Pink was not happy; she never liked this time of year. It was not normal to be so dull, and the cold made her body ache. She sometimes wished she could have lost her memory like Alyce had.

This time of year just meant death to Pink. Her favorite sister had died in her arms during the last dark sleep. It was the reason she had the name Pink; it had been her sister’s name. It had caused problems in her family when she took it as hers, but they could not stop her. She wanted to make sure her sister still lived on, if only in her name. Pink would always try her hardest to be the best for her sister’s name.

Alyce sometimes reminded her of her lost sister. It was not that she acted more Electric than she ever did Fire; it was just that she did not act like a Fire at all. Heats were normally rude and bad-tempered, whereas Alyce generally just acted calm or confused most of the time.

Her talk to her sisters had not gone well. They had told her of the family shame and the fact that she would be the last of her family attending the Academy due to the Queen canceling her family’s permission to breed as she did not think they served her well. Her family was to die out! No, she would have to prove the Queen wrong and have the family reinstated again.

Pink had been looking forward to going home, but that was no longer possible. Even if it were, how could she take Alyce with her? She certainly did not want to go visit any Heat family, either. The Cloud link would stop each of them going anywhere on their own, so they were stuck together. Strangely, she did not mind: quite the opposite. That in itself was odd, and she could not understand why she would be happy over the unnatural arrangement.

Smoking Hot: (36)

Day 593

Okay, what the heck is going on? After the video com, Pink is acting all odd. If anyone should now be acting odd, it should be me!

How the heck have 14+ years passed on Earth when I am still only 4 years old here? I know the time could be a little different between worlds, as no way have I spent 14 years learning how not to burn my bedding!

I am the mother of seven daughters!! And I have not even met the father! I have been knocked up by some guy, and I do not even know his name! Okay, so it’s not me, but MY BODY has had seven childbirths without me being around to say the best oral way not to get pregnant is to say no! Like, what would that have done to my boobs, let alone my butt? And frigging heck! I must now be over 40!

Well, if she thinks I am ever going to swap back, she can frigging forget it! My life here may be crap, but at least I have a body to die for. And I will kill anyone who tries to get me out of it!

The Academy was now going into recess, but Alyce expected they were in for a lot of questioning after the long sleep. Alyce still could not figure out how it worked. Pink was no help, as she just looked at her and tut-tutted when she tried to ask for more details.

“Look, you can’t have forgotten that! It’s the dark time sleep. It happens every year! Like me, you would have been a carefree 3 year old last time, all snugly curled up and warm with your sisters, which is what we should be doing now instead of being stuck in this cold monstrosity of a building!”

It had not taken long to pack, as they did not have anything that couldn’t fit into the cases they had brought with them, and Pink was right; the place did feel cold, as did the new room they had been given. It was a deep central room, so there was no balcony and not much light as the crystal strata was transferring less light now due to the temperature. Soon it would turn black until the sun returned to warm it again.

Pink unpacked both cases without asking if her friend wanted her to; she even re-hung the precious mirror she had won. Alyce did not ask why anyone would hang a mirror when they were heading into the dark time, so instead she tried heating the walls before going to look at the “snack cages,” as Pink called them.

“But how long do we sleep for?”

This time Pink sighed loudly.

“Until we wake up, of course! Just what is it with you and wanting to divide life up into regular slices? Stop worrying about it; it is biology stuff, I expect. Now, what is going on with those two?”

The two personal cleaning sprits Puff and Dyson were causing a small Storm between them at the corner of the room, and Alyce followed Pink to investigate. They saw what looked like a very large cockroach that was covered in spikes being rounded up and held in place by a pair of whirlwind sheepdogs. Pink let out an “Uck” and blasted it with a small lighting bolt.

“Eat up, boys; you deserve it. Careful with the bits of spine, as they are poisonous, not that you would notice.”

Pink started to examine the walls for cracks and holes.

“Nasty little thing; lucky our boys were on the job. I don’t like these holes, as if there are more of them, they could kill our food supply while we sleep, and they are too large for the boys to eat.”

“What about us?”

Alyce did not like the idea of sleeping in a room full of alien-type cockroaches, let alone these things that even Pink would not eat, and they had poison spines that could kill.

“Ummm, yes, I see your point. The boys should keep an eye on us while we sleep, but we should do something about these holes, as there could be a large nest in the wall.”

Pink looked at Alyce with her it’s-your-turn-to-talk look, which was similar to a number of her other looks that started or ended with a sigh and came with a look of impatience that gave a heavy hint in pointing out action was needed and it was her turn to take it.

“Go take a look at your butt in the mirror, my dear roomie, and read the runes written in Fire, as it will give you a hint. Then, if it is not too much trouble, go burn them out! Okay?”

A cold Electric Demon was not a happy bunny, unless you had some very strange ideas on bunnies, for as she got colder, she literally sparked. Alyce suspected her own idea of heating up the walls earlier had been the reason for the bug invasion, if you could call one bug an invasion. Bugs would also be getting cold and seeking somewhere nice and warm. Pink was most certainly cold; either that or she was going to practice being a superhero, as she had wrapped two blankets around her and tied them at the neck as capes or cloaks.

What they needed was an Earth; they could seal the holes with a click of their fingers, but the best Alyce could do was try and fry anything inside without attracting more with the heat it would cause. She knelt down and linked her thumbs, trying to work out a way of getting a narrow but long flame without making a back blast that would cover her face in soot and dead, quick-fried body parts of insects.

While crawling about the floor looking for holes to blast, Alyce also watched Pink begin to construct a sleeping area. Her friend had now taken over all decision making, even to the point of the placement of the food pens, which consisted of two interconnecting cages linked to a large container of something that could have been a grain. The best Alyce could guess was that they were rodents; there were several very pregnant females and an obviously horny male. Pink had also made it very clear that when she woke up and needed a snack, she was not to eat any with tags, as they were the breeding male and females. Based on the amount of grain, there would be a large supply of young ones all ready to be eaten, and if she wanted there were also the packs of non-meats and meats on the table.

Pink had made sure that they would have plenty to eat when they awoke, not that Alyce thought she would need much, as she had put on a spare tire of fat and was still chewing as she worked now. Alyce herself worried that she would never want to look in a mirror again after discovering that she could no longer wear any of her low cut shorts without looking several months pregnant, and she thought that Pink kind of waddled a bit as she walked. She knew better than to mention that in Pink’s current mood, however.

The spirits had no need to sleep or care about the temperature, and they would spend their time playing and eating any little pests the rodents got in their fur. One of the females already looked like she had a new blow-dried hairstyle, as Puff had decided to give her a spring clean whether she wanted one or not.

Alyce had never seen Pink act so domineering before. She had laid out PJs and other things to wrap up in for the sleep, only to watch her friend let out a sigh of disgust and throw them across the room. After that, Alyce just tried to keep out of her way.

Alyce noticed that she was now getting a brooding silent treatment from Pink, but it was silent only in words, as the static in the room was very loud. Alyce could feel her hair start to stand on end, and if it lasted much longer, she would have been walking around looking like a toilet brush.

“Okay, what have I done wrong? And if you say nothing, so help me I will fry you where you stand for making me look like I have seen a ghost with all this static charge!”

As far as Alyce knew, she thought in English and spoke in Demon, apart from a few non-translating thoughts or ideas that were too alien to translate, such as the idea of someone inventing soft toilet tissue. Alyce now watched her friend try and work out what a ghost was.

“What is a someone who was living and now is not living but still walking about but without a body and is not even visible so can’t be seen?”

“Look, forget the ghost idea; it’s just my word for all your static making my hair try and run off one strand at the time. And don’t change the subject; why are you treating me like I’m a non-edible barbed tail?”

Pink gave an exaggerated sigh.

“If you had not addled your brain with all your head banging, you would know. I did not say anything, as your ignorance of pre-Academy life has stopped you worrying. I did not want you to worry, as I have enough worry of the long sleep for both of us. It is not talked about, but everyone here will be edgy as they, unlike you, will remember the loss of sisters during the previous sleeps. I cannot remember much of when I turned 1, but the following two sleeps I do, and that is because I lost some of my closest sisters at those times.”

“The last one was the worst; something went wrong with the sleeping chamber, and three of my sisters cuddling around me had died of cold in their sleep. One of them was my closest sibling. They say it was only my high-static discharges that kept me alive: the same type of charge that the testers found and that got me picked to come here.”

“So it is nothing you have done so far but what you may do, and that is upsetting me. It is selfish, I know, but if I wake up and you don’t, well, it is just the thought of waking up next to another cold, dead sister that is making me want to have this chamber as ready as it can be. Sorry I am selfish, so just don’t die on me, okay?”

Alyce did not know how safe her hibernating would be. Her human mind could not do it, but she hoped that her Demon body knew what to do. To try and earth her friend, she decided upon making it up as they got ready.

“Neither of us will die; we are now a Cloud, so super powerful. And I will keep us both warm, hopefully without burning the Academy down. Now, as you have the memory for this, I will let you take the lead, and I will do as you say.”

Day: 594

Well, this is it; it is frigging cold, and I am about to try and go to sleep for what could be months with the chance I will be dead long before I wake up.

The cold has made all the crystal in the stone walls and ceiling turn black; there is still plenty of light outside, but it will no longer penetrate this deep into the building. Pink says as it gets colder, the crystals will need a full sun to reactivate them. We will not wake until a new sun is in the sky, which just means the double eclipse will be over.

Pink will not let me heat the room. She says it will confuse her body, as she has to cool down to get the body ready, which means that for the first time since coming here, I am getting cold and sluggish.

Okay, this could be my very last entry, so there is not much to say. It has been, if not fun, a wonderful experience and, well, it is strange to say, but I would not have missed this for the world! So good night; I am signing off.

Smoking Hot: (36)

Pink assured her that the blankets in a heap on the floor were fireproof, and knowing her problem with hot dreams, she hoped that as well as being fireproof they would be melt-proof, too, as she could get very hot at times.

They had three oil lamps, but only one was currently burning, as the smell it gave off was not that pleasant. Alyce watched her Cloud sister noisily drag her luggage across the room and put it behind the door, and then she got the other bristle-legged trunk and placed it on top of the first.

“What are you doing, Pink? Is that safe? Like, what if we need to get out in a hurry?”

There was not much in the way of furnishings in their current room, but what they did have was slowly turning into a small mountain in front of the only door in or out.

“You mean like a fire? Yes, that would be so dangerous for us, what with you being almost made of Fire and me being able to survive creating a lighting bolt by heating the air around the bolt to the same temperature as the Sun. I’m so glad you warned me of that!”

Alyce thought, no, you may want to get out fast when I try to kill you in the next couple of seconds, but she had enough sense to say something else instead.

“I was not thinking of fire being a danger, stupid, but more of me getting so fed up with your moods that I would need to get out and look for somewhere else to sleep, or not bother sleeping at all. I think I would rather stay awake heating rocks for all the dark time than spend it sleeping anywhere near you, unless you stop being so moody and tell me what the heck you are frigging doing!”

Pink used her bottom to push the pile closer to the door, then she made her way across to where the lamp was burning.

“Okay, sorry, sorry, sorry, but it was a stupid question. Look, we have a lot more enemies than friends, and I, for one don’t wish to die in my sleep like Ember. Anyone forcing their way in here now should make enough noise to wake us, and even half asleep, I can send a lighting bolt at any sound I hear in here that wakes me.”

Alyce thought it may be a good idea to use the toilet now so she did not have to get up and make any noise, and perhaps she should warn the food not to play on the hamster-type exercise wheel in their cage too loudly or they would end up as target practice. As to the play wheel in the cage, it was the first wheel she had seen on the whole planet. Alyce thought it was a kind of sick idea to be able to watch the food play, like having a farmyard petting corner at McDonald’s, but in Pink’s current mood, it was not something she thought she should mention.

On looking again at the fresh food supply, she thought that it would not matter if she just tried one before sleeping to check on the taste. She looked harder at what she thought was a wheel and noticed it was not fully round and did not even turn. Instead, a marker at the bottom moved when one got on it, so it was more of a way for the creatures to tell the viewer which was the heaviest and fattest to eat, which was even more twisted of an idea than a play wheel.

So as not to feel so useless and to take her mind off eating, Alyce got the bed warming stones ready and started to heat them one by one before placing them in the blankets.

Alyce now watched as Pink discharged herself against a wall, which was the fifth time she had done so since they began getting ready for bed and which made Alyce think she was going to sleep in a tank full of live eels.

Seeing the frown on Pink’s face, she thought that perhaps eels would be better company. She was quickly going off the crazy idea of hibernating like some stupid squirrel with a pile of nuts to nibble on, and if the door had not been set to hold off hordes of Ice giants or dragons or whatever else that would get stuck in the narrow corridor outside, she would have just left. Pink was now giving her a look.

“Have you been to the toilet?”

Alyce gave a silent inward sigh.

“Yes, thank you. It is all yours if you need it.”

The odd look on Pink’s face was still there.

“No, I have been, thank you. How about a good Fire discharge? The blankets are fireproof but will still smell if you let off a discharge in your sleep.”

She did not have it in her, as after she had used the toilet she has blasted all her excess Fire down the hole to kill any germs or odors. If she had not, she would have happily aimed a nice, hot Fireball up Pink’s tail hole.

“I am fine with all my bodily functions, thank you. I am all fully discharged and starting to feel cold, but if you are worried about me making any bad smells while we sleep, the offer of me moving out is still on the table.”

Pink was still giving her a look, and it was the same type that she had fixed on her face when she had rescued the PJs Pink had thrown off the bed and had changed into them along with a couple of tops and a pair of shorts underneath to keep warm. You built up layers; it was normal on Earth. Heck, it was normal everywhere but here! Obviously, it was the right thing to do and was far, far more normal an idea than Pink’s desire to get naked and curl up to cuddle together like she had done at home with her sisters during the last great sleep.

There was no earthly frigging reason why it always had to be her giving in; it was her body, so it should be her decision what she wore to bed. She had had less bother sleeping with guys back on Earth; at least with them, after they got what they wanted, they did not care if you went to bed in Wellington boots and a plastic raincoat. Come to think of it, one or two of her more weird boyfriends might have liked it more if she had. No, there was no reason why she had to be the one always giving in, and she would tell her, right here and now.

“Stop giving me that frigging look; I’m cold! I will take it all off before I get into bed, okay? Now, if you have finished turning our bedroom into a bomb shelter, put the lamp out, and get in, as I’m not shivering my butt off naked in bed while you play lady of the lamp.”

The look on Pink’s face changed, but she still was not her normal, happy self.

“If you can’t remember stuff, then just trust my judgment on what is the correct thing to do. Having only two of us sleeping together is a danger in itself; we are designed to sleep in groups. The bodies regulate the correct temperature from those around them. If you get a hot dream, it will cause me problems as it is by setting fire to your clothing.”

“This is not the time for you to start acting odd; we are not just friends but Cloud sisters, so stop talking out of your tail hole. Cut the stupid talk on leaving, as it is not funny. Even you should realize that is not possible; as sisters of a Cloud, we are well and truly stuck together for frigging life, never being too far apart. The Ice Clouds are like weak things, and the numbers mean they can separate, but do you see them doing it? No, they can feel the boundaries, so why can’t you? Sometimes I don’t think you even try?”

Alyce wondered if a lecture was called for at a time like this, but she could either put up with that or start a full argument, so she decided to keep quiet. She pulled off her clothing, and with a shiver she quickly got into bed and grabbed hold of the heated stones before frostbite had a chance to start.

“Now, no more talk, okay? When we next wake, it will be our birthday, and we will be 5. Perhaps you will then understand why I am correct in this. Now, it’s the long sleep time.”

Pink put the lamp on the table and blew out the flame. Alyce could hear her removing her things and fumbling around for the pile of blankets before sliding in next to her. It had always surprised her just how strong Pink was as she was rolled over to face her but pushed all the hot stones out and away from the bedding so that Pink could wrap herself around her and in such a tight grip that movement was not possible.

“Goodnight, little Firefly sister. Sweet dreams.”

Alyce wished her the same but was not sure she heard as she could tell from the heavy breathing that she was fast asleep. Being asleep had not weakened Pink’s death grip on her, so she was forced to lie still and watch the occasional spark hop between Pink’s horns.

A lot had happened since she had found that magic mirror. She must be crazy, and the only reason she did not notice she was crazy was because she was crazy. At times she wondered if she was in some psychiatric institution and they were testing some interesting and probably highly illegal hallucinogenic drugs on her.

It was either that or she did have horns and a tail along with a sister that had just pointed out she was the crazy one even here, not thinking it normal that they would be hibernating the winter away in an underground chamber sleeping together and hoping not to burn the place down by having a hot dream.

She was not even sleepy at the moment and was sure an arm or leg would soon start to tingle from Pink’s death grip on her. She was trapped, wide awake and being strangled by the tail of a naked girl who was currently drooling on her left boob. True, she did like her, but only as a friend: a close friend, yes, but this close? A Cloud sister she could live with, but it was beginning to feel more and more like having a Cloud husband.

She would have to say something when they woke up; now all she could do was enjoy the soothing electrical discharge coming off her friend; it felt like a gentle massage. Not that she could sleep… What she should have done was try and dream of big blond guys. That had always worked when she was human. With that thought, she was fast asleep, dreaming of lots of arms and tails wrapped around her and the warm, comfortable feeling of many sisters helping to keep her warm and safe.

Alyce awoke and felt the body of Pink nestling into hers. She thought, it’s no good; I can’t even dream of guys now! She tightened her own grip on Pink and received a sleepy murmur of contentment in reply. She closed her eyes and fell back asleep…

Smoking Hot: (Epilogue)

Alyce gave a little shiver as she awoke to find her face was being washed. She tried to push away something that did not have a body.

“Go away, Dyson! Yes, okay, I love you, too, and yes, you miss me, but it is too cold for that!”

She stopped talking when Pink kicked her hard. As a friend, Alyce thought it was a little too hard to be a hint to be quiet. She crawled out from under the blankets. The room was pitch black and icy cold. Without thinking, small flames covered her naked body: a side benefit to being her type of Demon. Her own body now lit the room. Little Dyson, the small baby whirlwind pet and body cleaner, danced about on her. As he did, he collected flame and spun it around, taking on a look similar to the pillars of fire that had in the past started religions on Earth. She made her way to get a snack, falling over twice as her legs felt too weak to support her. When she reached the food cages, she was pleased to see how full they were.

She had no idea how long she had slept, but it was still dark and cold, and she was very hungry. She was forced to turn off most of her flames, as it frightened them. Perhaps a burning hand trying to grab you so you could be eaten alive was not the most tactful way of going about it, but her mind was sluggish.

She reached in through the top of the cage and grabbed if not the fattest then the slowest. She placed it in her mouth and swallowed. She then did the same with five more, one after another, and after the sixth went down she found that her hands had stopped shaking. She had not even bothered to unlock her jaw as they felt so nice going down. She enjoyed feeling the small bones snap as they were compressed and the warmth they released when they were crushed.

So as not to wake her roomie, she tried to belch quietly. She believed it was not her fault; eating food live was how the body liked it. Maybe her current need to belch was due to eating too fast, but that did not stop her from taking another three to slowly eat by first cutting them in half with her teeth to moisten her lips with their body fluids before she sealed the cage again.

She covered her naked body with flames once more, but even with the flames back in place, she still felt bitterly cold. For the first time since coming to this world, she was able to blow warm air from her mouth that created a little cloud in the firelight. She had been able to do this back on Earth, but then the cloud had just been warm, steamy air; now it came out with little yellow flames. She slowly moved back to the heap of blankets and warmth of her sleeping companion, trying not to fall over again.

As she crawled back in she felt the warmth hit her, and it was nice. It reminded her of childhood and curling up with her many sisters, which would have been a very odd thought if she had been awake enough to realize that she should not have nest memories, as her mind had not been in this body at that time.

Pink was still asleep, but that did not stop her from putting her arm between her legs, grabbing Alyce’s tail near its root, and pulling her towards her. She attached her other limbs, creating a single ball of mixed arms, legs, and tails. If Alyce had been more awake, she might have objected to having to sleep in such a fashion with a friend that now decided to try life as a limpet. As it was, she could not keep her eyes open, and the warmth of another body put her instantly back into a full, deep sleep.

While they slept, the blankets were tossed aside one by one, as they were no longer needed for warmth due to the little waves of living flame that started uncalled for on Alyce’s body and moved like waves to cover both their bodies. When one moved, the other would change position to always make sure some part of their bodies touched.

If she had been awake, Alyce would have been surprised to discover that, like her friend, she had hands and a tail that constantly sought contact with the other sleeper. Any time she was not gently holding Pink’s tail with her hands, she had her tail intertwined with it and her hands touching some part of Pink’s body. The Fire was not the only thing they shared, as static sparked unnoticed between both their horns. The flames did not wake them and also did not light up the room, as they had created their own pool of dark within the darkness of the room that was there not just because of the absence of light.

The room was hidden from the Fire, which was at the center of the small black Cloud covering the sleepers, but not so the discharges of electricity. As the two Demons slumbered, the sharp bone tips of their tails would sometimes touch, lighting up the room a few seconds at a time as a bolt of lightning randomly lanced a wall and frightened the caged food supply.

After a while the black Cloud condensed, lifting the sleepers off the ground. As they floated, tightly gripping onto each other, their bodies no longer twitched in sleep, and their body functions slowed to a state just above death. They entered into the deepest state of hibernation fully safe and protected inside the magic Cloud of their own subconscious making. The Cloud itself did not think; it just was. Nor did it plan to protect those in its care, as planning would take intelligence, and it had none. But that did not mean those in its charge were not protected, for if anything moved towards it, then it would just react. Using the full power of the sleepers, it would utterly destroy anything that approached. Not that it would know it was protecting the sleepers: that was just what it did. The two air spirits that did have intelligence, be it only limited, saw it for what it was and stayed well clear of it.

As time went on, the new sun slowly heated up the crystals in the stones. As the crystals heated more and more, light penetrated deeper into the Academy. The hibernation chambers were some of the deepest, but even deep ones like the room Alyce and Pink shared began to slowly fill with light. The light should have acted like an alarm clock for the two sleeping Demons, but no matter how hard it tried, it was ignored by the sleepers, who were behind a wall of magical darkness and so slept on.

Fangs Rule by Amy Mah

"FANGS RULE a girls guide to being a vampire .... is a for anyone between Puberty and Senility as it takes a close up look at life as a female teenage vampire in easy to follow A to Z advice for the reader, the book is also full of manga art which helps show the human world what life is like in a vampire world..........

Giving helpful advice such as how to explain to your Mom that as a teenage blood curdling denizen of the night you would like to paint your cave bedroom black without having a shouting match over why you don’t like the way she painted the stalagmites bright pink to go with the large stuffed pink bats hanging from the ceiling. Everything is explained from how to polish your fangs to fashion tips and ways of climbing across a ceiling wearing a nightdress without showing your underwear.

Fangs Rule is a must for every teenage vampire and from these pages you will see why Amy says “Vampires Don’t Sparkle! ....

Life as a teenager is normally a living hell but even more so when you have fangs.

The world is just out to get you, and not just by people trying to stake you because you have better teeth than they do!

Vampire by Amy Mah

This very funny vampire novel is very different from your normal vampire book and not just because it is bursting with full colour art fitted in with the text showing the life of a young vampire forced to walk about in a transparent nightdress all day without underwear because that is what female vampires are supposed to do! “The massacre on 22nd and 3rd was greatly exaggerated by the human newspapers and not altogether my fault. It was my very first hunting trip, and a girl should not be judged by her first bite night. And no one ever talks about me saving the life of that cat. Besides, most of them kind of killed themselves without any help from me...."

Books With Teeth Reviews: Vampire: By Amy Mah offers exactly what I was looking for in a Vampire novel. She creates a vampire society that lives just out of sight of humans but close enough to get a midnight snack...or take out if they feel like staying home! The story takes place around the life of Amy Mah a typical teenage girl in every way except for instead of painting her nails and worrying about shoes she polishes her Fangs and sharpens her claws both hand and foot! That of course does not sound typical at all but for Amy it is. Our teenage Vampire soon finds herself swept up in a world of social intrigue and ancient hierarchy as she enters the hidden world of the Vampires. Adopted Amelia becomes one of the clan and quickly finds she needs to grow up fast and catch up on the rules of being a Vampire if she is to survive long in a cut throat society filled with political feuds and clan territorial disputes. Being a Vampire is not as Romantic as Hollywood makes it out to be! Amy has a writing style that is refreshing and well thought out. She handles the romance tastefully and you can tell the character is an extension of the author herself. The illustrated version is a real treat because you get to see, obviously, illustrations of the characters done by the talented Heby Sim. This adds a significant value to the book. I suggest that everyone read this book. Give it a try because there will be more coming from this EXTREMELY talented author.

Table of Contents

- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- The Diary of a Fire Demon Smoking Hot: (1)
- Smoking Hot: (2)
- Smoking Hot: (3)
- Smoking Hot: (4)
- Smoking Hot: (5)
- Smoking Hot: (6)
- Smoking Hot: (7)
- Smoking Hot: (7)
- Smoking Hot: (8)
- Smoking Hot: (9)
- Smoking Hot: (10)
- Smoking Hot: (11)
- Smoking Hot: (12)
- Smoking Hot: (13)
- Smoking Hot: (14)
- Smoking Hot: (15)
- Smoking Hot: (16)
- Smoking Hot: (17)
- Smoking Hot: (18)
- Smoking Hot: (19)
- Smoking Hot: (20)
- Smoking Hot: (21)
- Smoking Hot: (22)
- Smoking Hot: (23)
- Smoking Hot: (24)
- Smoking Hot: (25)
- Smoking Hot: (26)
- Smoking Hot: (27)
- Smoking Hot: (28)
- Smoking Hot: (29)
- Smoking Hot: (30)
- Smoking Hot: (31)
- Smoking Hot: (32)
- Smoking Hot: (33)
- Smoking Hot: (34)
- Smoking Hot: (35)
- Smoking Hot: (36)
- Smoking Hot: (36)
- Smoking Hot: (Epilogue)
- Fangs Rule
- Vampire