I could feel her eyes on me, but I couldn't see her. She used her Artifact, the Veil of Isis, for invisibility in and out of combat and it had become frustrating around the Cathedral.

  "Andrea, I know you are there." I called into the dark empty hall.

  This had become a favorite past time of hers. She stalked me around the entire complex, hiding in the shadows. She refused to reveal herself unless I could pin point her location exactly.

  Frustrating indeed.

  I adjusted my glasses and tucked some loose locks into my tam and then continued on down the hall, listening to every rattle and hiss. Every breath.

  She had told me stories, of back home, her home. She used to hide under warm sands and behind the shadows of brick houses and try to frighten her father. He was a stoic man; a warrior of the Order, in Egypt, who feared nothing. Except maybe his daughter.

  Although he would often find his hiding daugther, she never gave up. This love of hers for stealth was probably the reason the Veil Bonded to her.

  I made the turn around the corner to the connecting corridor and there she was, hanging upside down from the industrial pipes, arms crossed.

  "You're no fun." Her Arabian accent always made me smile. She was unique here. Like some kind of exotic flower growing up among weeds.

  A beauty of the desert.

  She had adjusted well to Western culture, but kept a strong pride of her homeland.

  "Hector, are you analyzing me again? I am not something to be studied." She flipped down and fell into a crouch, reminding me of some feral cat. She stood and I couldn't help but admire her, this gorgeous creature, agile and free.

  "Quite the contrary my dear." I said with a gentle smile. She shook her head, hating when I used pet names. I was thankful that she'd chosen to wear her hair out, falling out of a loose bun. Strands of her naturally curly black hair bounced down the sides of her neck.

  "I am not a book Hector, I am to be experienced, not studied." She smiled and the hallways brighten a bit.

  If only just for me.

  "I'm going to the library. Will you join me?" I proposed. Andrea sighed heavily.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  "You are always in the library. For a big fìrefighter man, you sure spend a lot of time with books." Her smile turned into a pout.

  "How can I not? We've been thrust into a world full of magic and legend, that has been sitting just beneath the surface our who lives. All the fantasies and myths are things to be researched as fact now. It thrills me to know there is so much more to the world. Does it not interest you?" I gushed. I guess I truly was a nerd.

  Andrea shurgged and my heart fell into my stomach.

  "Where I come from, there are scarier things than giant sand wurms and mummies. Sometimes, humans are the real monsters. I've been part of the Order since I was a child. My father raised me to be a warrior. The things you think are fantasy and magic, were just part of daily routine." Her playful demeanor was gone, and I suddenly felt guilty.

  "I didn't mean to dig up old memories. Sometimes I get so excited about things that I forget that not everyone sees things the same way. I respect your lack of interest, but please understand that this is all new to most of us." I told her.

  She mulled it over and chewed on her bottom lip. I saw the gears going to work as she both translated and digested the information I provided. She took her time and then nodded.

  "I will join you. But you must take more time to experience with me. Less reading. More adventure." That beautiful smile returned, accompanied by a shimmer in her hazel eyes.

  "I will make an effort to add more excitment into my life, if you promise to share it with me." I smiled widely. Andrea playfully hit my arm. She recoiled, seeming surprised.

  "You are surprisingly fit under all your sweaters. You should show off more." She said groping at my arm and chest.

  "Showing off isn't really my thing." I told her. She shrugged.

  "All men do this." She said it like it was a fact.

  "Well I'm not 'all men'." I told her.

  "Yes, this is why I like you." She replied, her eyes sparkling.

  As we made our way to the library, I felt eyes on me again, but Andrea was walking in front of me. I shuttered. I had become so adept at finding her while she was invisible or hiding that I felt other things that seemed to loom in the shadows. I made a mental note of it, but chose not to phyiscally acknowledge the sensation. When I did eventually look around, the feeling disappeared, but only in the sense that whatever it was, had returned to hiding.

  I decided that I should research spirits, or other lingering negative things next. But I had a feeling I already knew who lingered around the Cathedral.

  Griffin was like some kind of spectre, looming behind walls, moving silently and always absent from group participation. I had seen him staring at the women on our team from time to time, but he had a very difficult time approaching them.

  Mostly, if he wasn't training or in the library reading, he locked himself away in his dormitory to play his Playstation. Even walking by his door late at night, you could hear the sounds of his games. It was like he didn't sleep.

  Although he was odd, I held no ill will for the man, but Magnus was another story. Seeing him as the weakest link, Magnus continually antagonized him, even the point of physical violence.

  To my knowledge, Gideon had threatened to kick him out if it continued, only seeming to fuel the anger of the large Norseman.

  And to make matters more complicated, the new guy and Serena had been going off on all kinds of trysts, which was interfering with the routine day to day training exercises.

  As Mr. Spock would say, it was all highly illogical. And yet, as I followed behind Andrea, heading toward the library, I felt like, perhaps, I could understand the need for those moments.