Patrolling the corridors was Cal’s least favourite job by a fair way. For a start, it was indoors. Why would anyone want to be indoors when they could be outdoors? For a second, nothing ever happened. Anyone who might threaten the castle was always caught by the guards stationed outside before they even got into the interior, so the only thing for Cal to do was smile and chat to passing courtiers. And, finally, Buddy wasn’t allowed indoors. The two of them had to communicate long-distance. Cal would almost rather be pushing paperwork around her old desk with a bored sigh.

Almost.

Her earpiece crackled to life. “Hey, Cal,” Buddy’s voice sounded eagerly in the empty corridor. “I’m outside the west wing. Let’s see how far this telepathy thing can stretch.”

Cal’s stomach twisted a little, the way it always did whenever Buddy tried to get her to use their shared telepathy. She’d managed to put him off so far. “I dunno, man. I think if minds were meant to be read, heads would be book-shaped.”

“C’mon,” Buddy whined. “You’re not a ker anymore. Fairies are magic.”

Cal’s stomach twisted again, tighter this time. Buddy was usually more sensitive to her feelings, but on this topic they struggled to see eye to eye. Magic was an inherent part of who he was – or at least, it had been until they pitched up here. Now he’d just discovered he had a new power, one he’d never been able to utilise on Xara, and he could only practice it if she played along. Cal, on the other hand, didn’t want magic any more than she wanted to be a fairy. Magic was cool when it was Buddy’s, or someone else’s. There was a difference between watching and wielding.

“Listen,” she sighed, “I just…”

She broke off at the sound of someone hailing her name and spun around. Flynn was waving at her from the other end of the corridor, beckoning her over.

“Listen?” Buddy’s voice buzzed through the earpiece. “Who’s that? Is it Flynn?”

Cal reached up and touched the tech, silencing it. What could Flynn want? Was there some kind of emergency? She wasted no time jogging down the corridor, noting his grin and returning it with a curious one of her own.

“Awesome,” she exclaimed, unrolling the paper. Awesome was one of the many new words which had crept into the ex-ker’s vocabulary since she’d arrived on Shaman. It had taken a table of head-scratching guards to explain its meaning to her in the tavern one night, and she’d first started using it with out of amusement. Now it had become as natural a part of her dialogue as the other guards’ references to tails were. She folded the paper and slipped it into her pocket, glancing back up at Flynn with a slightly different smile this time. “Hold your tail,” she folded her arms and leant her weight on one leg, the corners of her mouth curling playfully. “Are you asking me out on a date?”

She didn’t give him much of a chance to squirm. She unfolded her arms and punched him on the shoulder as she passed.

“Last one to the front entrance grows a caddy crop!” She called back over her shoulder, breaking out into a run.

CALDERA