Strange things were afoot.

It was like falling deeper into the rapid whole, never sure when it might end or what hideous beast might pop up. A Jabberwocky or two wouldn’t be a surprise at this point. He thought of the man on the hill and everything that had been said, of all those Senshi and others, yes, he wasn’t quite sure what the others were but he needed to remember to ask Olga about it. They were clearly warriors of Order though they didn’t feel quite like the Senshi did.

It was frustrating to know so little. Every time he learnt something new, something new and unknown turned up. There was always a new mystery. It was both exciting and frustrating. He wanted to know everything.

Jayce thought of the man on the hill and the crystal, which he had already filled with energy that morning. It had been exhausting but he’d done it and he planned on going back to the hill and finding out more. He couldn’t help it. There was no fear in his heart, only excitement.

“You’ve been really quiet tonight.”

Jayce rolled sideways and eyed Kate where she was sitting on his bean bag, playing some game on her phone. “Why’s Erin pissed at you? She sent me a message. Said you’d better not be hiding with me.”

Kate pulled a very unattractive face and Jayce tossed a pillow at her head.

“Ugh, I dunno,” the pillow had rumbled her hair and she ran her fingers through her blond locks, “I kinda maybe slept with Reggie.”

“Wow.” Jayce rolled onto his back and held his arms up, giving a big, slow clap. “Well done.”

“It just kinda happened!”

“If she cracks the s**t and makes an ultimatum, you know you’re the one out of the band right?”

“Don’t be an a*****e!”

“She was here first and you know how she feels about Reggie. That’s a dog move.”

“It’s not as if he likes her. She doesn’t even like him! Not like like! She’s just weird and possessive. Like he’s a pet dog.”

Jayce covered his face with his hands and groaned.

Energy draining crystals, wars, dudes with knives, monsters, evil forced beyond imagination and he still had to deal with dumb s**t like this. It was some sort of cosmic joke. Jayce Walker, Centisima of Centipedes, your task, if you choose to accept, is to fight the forces of evil and stop your dumb friends from doing dumb things and ruining the band you’ve loved forever.

“Just apologise to her,” he suggested. “I’ll talk to her. No wait, I’ll talk to Reggie and he can talk to Erin because he’s half of the stupidity.” He caught the pillow when she threw it back towards him. “Besides, I thought you had the hots for Erin?”

Kate buried her face in her phone. “I dunno.”

“You dunno?”

“Shut up and go back to staring at the ceiling.”

“Sure, sure.” Jayce closed his eyes. Back to the hill. Discover more answers. He couldn’t wait.