Lucky Rabbit

Pandy shared a short but surprisingly comfortable dinner with Augustus, then flew home to check on Eleanor and Isidor. Isidor spent most of the evening doing homework, and looked distinctly shifty when Pandy asked how school was going, but she didn’t have enough time to probe, even if he was willing to open up to her. She did notice that Tempest sat on the table beside him, her long, wrinkled neck extended as she stared at the page with one red-orange eye. Could turtles read? Could elementals read? Well, Pandy could, but she suspected she might be a little odd, even among elementals.

Eleanor couldn’t tell Pandy what she’d learned in her ‘lessons’ with Glory, but she and Hazel produced cookies that were very nearly edible. Nyssa had finally proven she could actually cook, at least well enough to combine flour, butter, eggs, sugar, and whatever else went into cookies that only vaguely tasted of parsnips and peppermint. Princess and Dragon were both covered in what had to be the entire week’s allotment of flour, but they were too adorable to chastise, so Pandy dutifully ate a stack of cookies almost as tall as her bunny self, and never once asked why they were green and black, instead of a more standard brownish shade.

Now, Pandy lay beside Thaniel – well, not exactly beside, because as he’d been doing ever since he’d begun to remember the truth of his past, he’d spent a good part of the night thrashing. She always started out curled right next to him, but at some point she usually ended up on the floor, and at least half the time she moved to his pillow before dawn.

Are you certain this is what you want to do, Pandora?

Your Augustus seems competent.

You could leave it up to him.

Pandy shook her head, watching the way Thaniel’s curls clung to his cheek. As the weather cooled, he burrowed ever-deeper into his blankets, even though she was almost certain magic was keeping the school the same temperature it had always been. His sheet and blanket were actually pulled up around his head, and he was curled up like an enormous shrimp, with only his face poking out. As always, he looked angelic while he was sleeping, though she knew he was trouble on the hoof when awake.

Edging closer, Pandy reached out and laid her paw on the boy’s soft cheek. <I’m sure. We need to know who’s after him, and we need to stop them.>

But if you level up Minor Heal-

<If.> She cut Keros off, even as the rest of the sentence formed in the air in front of her. <We don’t know if that will work. We do know this will.> Drawing in a deep breath, she thought, <Cast Shifting Faces.>

Shifting Faces successful.

Shape selection finalized.

Shifting Faces is now level 10.

Select one person to copy.

You must be touching that person in order to use this skill.

Oh, no, you’ve got that part, hang on.

The pillow flattened beneath her, and suddenly Pandy was a whole new person. Literally. She had to scramble backwards in order to avoid crushing the real Thaniel with her new and uncomfortable body. Unfortunately, she pulled on the blankets as she did so, and Thaniel snorfled in his sleep, rolling over. She stared at him, frozen, but he didn’t open his eyes, and eventually his breathing settled back into the smooth rhythm of sleep.

<Status,> Pandy-Thaniel thought, even as she stared at her own hands. They were so small, the fingers and palms mostly soft except where calluses were just beginning to form from his sword training. She’d finally realized she might be doing him and the other students a disservice by healing them so often, since they needed some damage to their skin and muscles in order to develop these calluses, as well as stronger muscles. Still, Pandy needed all the points in Minor Heal she could get if there was even a chance for her backup plan to work, so she continued healing everyone else. They could get all callused and tough after this was over.

Name: Pandy

Race: Human? (Deceased)

Age: 24

LF: 9/9

Mana: 929/929

Stats▾

Skills▾

Spells▾

Boons▾

Corruption Points: 477

CONGRATULATIONS! You have completed Squawkward Spire! Claim your reward now?

Dungeon rewards must be used within forty-eight hours of completing the Dungeon.

Seriously.

I don’t make the rules.

If the System didn’t make the rules, and Keros didn’t make the rules, then who did? That wasn’t what Pandy was worried about right now. Right now, she needed her dungeon clear rewards. Though she couldn’t help but take a moment to admire her stats, which were finally looking pretty good.

She’d been pouring most of her Mana into fixing the house and Nyssa, so her spells hadn’t gone up much, but the more she used Hop and Dance, the more cathartic she found them. Dance was especially pleasant, which wasn’t something she’d ever expected to say, given how prone to tripping over her own – and everyone else’s – feet she was. Used to be. With sixty-eight points of Agility, Pandy finally felt like she could actually get through a real-life dance event if she had to, gliding and graceful as a princess. Of course, it would all be ruined the moment she opened her mouth, but a girl could dream.

Thanks to levels in Hop, Dance, and Dual Wielding, she’d gained six points in Agility and two in Strength. Unfortunately, she’d also added two points in Charm, one from Air of Superiority and one from reaching level ten in Radiant Presence. She very much hoped that was a special thing for reaching a level threshold, and she wouldn’t be getting Charm for every level of Radiant Presence from now on. Pandy really should have known a Kaden skill would add to Charm, but she was finally kind of enjoying masquerading as a glowstick periodically, and she would be sad if she had to stop using Radiant Presence in order to avoid getting any more Charm.

The most important thing, of course, was the two point increase in Pandy’s Life Force. Once again, she’d forgotten to check her stats in order to see exactly when that had happened, but according to Keros, it was when she touched the statue of Ismara, which made sense, at least as much as anything about Life Force made sense. She was up to nine points now, and Pandy was both curious and a little frightened to see what might happen when she reached ten, which was a threshold in Gacha Love.

<Cancel Shifting Faces,> Pandy thought, then hopped off the bed, her three pounds barely denting the covers, especially in comparison to the fifty pound boy she’d been a moment before. She wiggled under the bed, feeling almost nostalgic for the many nights she’d spent under here, blithely practicing her skills. The floorboards were scarred, and the legs of the bed dented. She was definitely going to have to replace this bed at the end of the school year. Or have them take it out of her pay, if she ever got paid.

<Claim Squawkward Spire reward,> Pandy thought, once she was safely ensconced in her favorite hiding spot. She’d cleared out her Emergency Rope and ten-foot pole from her Inventory, so she had room for whatever she got. Now to see if it was the same as in Gacha Love.

You have acquired 500 Gold

Your Mana has refilled

You may increase the level of one skill or stat by +1

You may either:

This time, the money went directly into Pandy’s cash storage, though the lack of an enormous bag of gold was somewhat disconcerting at first. Her Mana was already full, so that was a waste. It was too bad there was a time limit on this, or she could have used double the Mana on fixing up the house . Unfortunately, the next twenty-four hours weren’t going to be any less busy, so she might as well get it over with.

The rewards were almost the same as they had been for the Emberwrought Labyrinth, except that because this one was supposed to happen earlier, she got less gold and no gacha spin. A player could easily make it through the tutorial part of the game just by using their free spins wisely, even if they didn’t always get the best option. Pandy was certain that was completely intentional – get the players hooked before you start demanding nine ninety-nine for a dozen gachas.

In the game, almost everyone took the Barter boon, unless they’d paid for the Moneybags package from the in-game store, which started Clara out with five thousand gold. That really was playing the game on easy mode, since you didn’t have to do all the money-earning side quests that used up your Stamina and left Clara too tired to do all of the romantic events. You still had to select the right answers and actions to woo your chosen boy, though, so at least there was that.

Speaking of which, Pandy definitely didn’t need to increase anyone’s Affection, so that was off the table. Everyone she cared about somehow seemed to like her back, and she was already uncomfortable with all that Charm. She didn’t want to end up like poor Matilda, not knowing who her real friends were when the magic wore off.

In any case, Pandy had already decided that if she had the opportunity, she was going to take Barter. Dual Wielding was her only weapon-based Skill, and the silver knives Augustus had given her worked just fine. What would she do with a glaive or a morning star, no matter how Magical they might be?

<I’ll take Barter,> she said, locking in her choice. <And level up Minor Heal.>

Boon: Barter added

Minor Heal is now level 27.

+27 Mana

Eight hundred and twenty uses to level 28.

Two more levels. Two more, and then she’d see what happened when a spell reached level thirty. Pandy closed her eyes, thinking about the small boy lying fast asleep only a few feet above her. I’m going to protect you, Thaniel. No matter what. She had promised, and Pandy was nothing if not a rabbit of her word.

Now that it was done, and with far less fanfare than Pandy had expected – she’d half-hoped another glitch would result in her receiving bonus rewards – she wiggled back out from under the bed. Thaniel’s arm dangled down beside the bed, his fingers not quite brushing the floor, and the clock read six fifteen in the morning. Only fifteen minutes since she’d made an irrevocable decision to give up what might be her last chance to get a shape that was more like her own. That was a decision she was determined not to regret, which meant she had to make it worthwhile.

Hopping to the door, she thought, <Cast Shifting Faces.>

Select shape:

Alexandra Wells

Nathaniel Conroy

Pandy sighed. She would have to get used to specifying who she wanted to be every time. <Alexandra Wells,> she thought, and in a moment, she was able to turn the doorknob, allowing her to slip out into the hall. There, a dark shape awaited her, shadowy in the dim light that filled the hallways from bedtime to rise and shine. She felt the expectant silence and nodded.

“I did it,” she whispered, and Augustus nodded back, though his voice was tight when he responded.

“I don’t like this, Rabbit.”

She smiled and took his hand, almost as if she’d done it a hundred times before. It somehow felt natural, in this dark, familiar place, in the pause between what had been and what would come next. “I know, but I can’t do it without you.”

His head moved, light glinting from the glasses perched on his nose as he looked down at their joined hands. He wove his fingers through hers and said, “Then it’s a good thing you don’t have to.”

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