Captain Tomboy and Unice went to a cafe after the meeting. A floral scent filled the small room, with clay pots of coffee and trays of pastries occupying the glass countertops around them. Baristas in white uniforms stood behind the counters, smiling and listening to other customers.

"I can't believe Meister Draco is forcing you to work with Medusa's son," Unice said. Her short dreadlocks with gold highlights made her amber eyes pop out.

"What an unhandsome thing to say. No one forces me to do anything." Captain Tomboy grabbed a kashata from her plate and ate it whole. Roast flavor with hints of pineapple and coconut exploded in her mouth, making her mind give a sigh of bliss.

Unice grabbed the pot of coffee on the table and filled her cup. "Still, aren't you afraid he might betray you?"

"Why would he do that?"

"If what happened to his mother happened to mine, I'd be out for revenge."

"It was long ago."

"The need for revenge never goes away, only makes the person seeking it bitter."

"Ghost isn't..." Captain Tomboy didn't know him very well. Unice may have been right—she had good intuition. But Meister Draco wanted Ghost somewhere he could keep an eye on him. And out of the three soul reaper squads in Dar Es Salaam, she had drawn the short stick when the captains decided which squad he would be on. "I hope you're wrong."

"I'm not." Unice filled her cup with coffee again. An awkward silence filled the space between them, this time longer than when they journeyed to the cafe. They had become strangers who pretended to know each other. The need to catch up made the awkwardness between them gut-wrenching, killing any hope of rekindling. "Let's get to the fun stuff."

Captain Tomboy glanced at Unice while pouring sugar into her drink. "And that is?"

"What are your thoughts on the increase in revenant attacks?"

"More work for us."

Unice smacked her forehead, then chuckled. "No, I mean, do you have any theories about what may be causing the sudden increase?"

"Everyone has theories," Captain Tomboy said, taking a sip from her cup. "But I prefer facts."

"I have a theory."

"Of course you do."

"Just listen."

"Do I have another choice?"

Unice frowned.

Captain Tomboy smiled.

After rolling her eyes, Unice proceeded. "None of us knows much about Limbo because it's a one-way journey—"

"We assume."

Unice raised her brow. "Meaning?"

"A person is smart, people are dumb. Fifteen hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat. Fifteen minutes ago, you knew that people were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow."

"Did you just quote Men In Black?"

"Yes." Captain Tomboy grinned.

Men In Black was Unice's favorite sci-fi movie. They watched it together after they said "I love you" to each other for the first time. "Whatever."

Captain Tomboy continued. "What I'm saying is, where do the knights go after they leave our realm? If they all come from Limbo, doesn't that mean they return there? Unlike the savants, we haven't killed a knight yet. They come and go as they please. But sorcerers are stubborn. When they don't know something, they assume everyone else doesn't. They won't admit Limbo is a two-way journey until they're able to return."

"But all the sorcerers with portal magic have tried—"

Captain Tomboy waved it off. "Yes, yes. I understand." When Unice crossed her arms and frowned, she laughed. "Was that your theory?"

Unice looked down at her five cupcakes and ate them while sipping her coffee. She seemed annoyed. Even after all these years, she hadn't changed. She quickly chose silence when someone dismissed her points. But her vindictive nature meant that in her quietness, she was thinking about how to get back at Captain Tomboy.

"Unice."

"Yes?" she answered with a mouth full of cupcakes.

"What was your theory?"

Unice swallowed, gulped the rest of her coffee, and then said, "I think Medusa is responsible for the increase in revenant attacks. Her transmutation magic is proof. And I bet the meisters and The Court think so as well."

"Let's say you're right."

"I am."

"How do you explain the revenants using lightning to enter our realm? Medusa can't do that."

"I think someone on our side is helping her."

"Do you hear yourself?"

"I know it sounds crazy; that's why it's still a theory."

Captain Tomboy pointed at Unice. "Your theories used to get you in trouble with Meister Draco."

"And I was always right."

"Not always."

"Mostly."

"Not even mostly."

Unice's mouth remained ajar, and shock spread over her face.

Captain Tomboy cackled. For a moment, it felt like old times. She missed this. "How have you been, though? Arusha doesn't seem bad."

"It isn't. How's the squad?"

"Unhandsome."

"Like always?"

"Like always." She stared at Unice.

"What?" Unice asked after nearly a minute of silence.

I wish I could take you back with me, she thought. "Nothing. How's the Children of Meru?"

"Meister Tobias sent me to Namanga with the nerds." Unice sighed. "I miss fighting revenants."

Namanga was a town divided by the Tanzania-Kenya border with a population of around five thousand people. Surrounded by hills on both sides, its economy depended heavily on tourism, as they could view Mount Kilimanjaro from there.

"What do you do with the nerds?" Captain Tomboy asked.

"Research."

"What kind?"

"We're creating a solution to the increase in the revenants' powers."

"Solution?" Captain Tomboy made an air quote.

Unice groaned. "You know what I mean."

"Honestly, I don't."

"Since the revenants have gotten stronger, we're creating something that would help our magic energy last longer when we're fighting them."

"You're making magic steroids?"

"Steroid is a bit much."

Captain Tomboy frowned.

"Fine. Yes."

"How long does it extend our magic use?"

"An extra two hours."

Wow, Captain Tomboy thought. "Any side effects?"

"You're not celebrating the extra two hours?"

"Not without knowing the side effects."

Unice groaned. "That's so unhandsome of you."

"What are the side effects, Uni?"

A barista brought another pot of coffee and more pastries, stopping their conversation. "Enjoying the food?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you," Unice said.

"What about you, Ma'am?" He looked at Captain Tomboy.

"Good coffee." She gave him a thumbs up.

"It's the best in Arusha. Don't forget to tell everyone you know."

"I will." When the barista left, Captain Tomboy turned to Unice. "What are the side effects?"

"You won't be able to use magic for twenty-four hours," Unice replied. Before Captain Tomboy said what was on her mind, she continued, "That's why you divide it among the squad members. The captain takes it today, the vice-captain the next, and so on. Hopefully, soon, we'll make it have no side effects."

"Alright."

Unice looked shocked at her answer. "That's it?"

"What did you want me to say?"

"I don't know. Anything but alright."

Captain Tomboy scratched her chin. "Do you plan to sell it?"

"Eventually. It'll be an additional source of income for us. We'll sell it to other sorcerers and use the money to fund the squads that need it most. Win-Win situation."

Captain Tomboy didn't like the idea of magic steroids. It came with so many ethical issues, like addiction and drug trafficking. But if they were experimenting with it, then The Court of Reapers must've signed off on it.

Dar Es Salaam was the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. Everyone wanted to live there, making it highly populated. The three reaper squads were well funded. Hearing Unice talk about the suffering of other reaper squads at the meeting made Captain Tomboy realize how out of touch she was with everything outside her region. She used to be so passionate about helping others. But once they sent Unice away, she realized she never cared about those things. She did them to impress her girlfriend.

Their rev-dets' alarm went off, taking their attention away from each other.

They looked at their wristwatches and saw a red dot on the screens—they were near the area where the portal would appear. At the bottom of the screen were the icons "accept" and "decline". They chose the former. As squad captains, their power levels meant other soul reapers would decline after they took the mission, letting them deal with it.

Unice stood. "Let's go."

After paying for their food and drinks and leaving the cafe, they arrived at the central market. People swarmed the area like locusts, buying fresh fruits and vegetables from the vendors.

"Send them away," Captain Tomboy said.

Unice pressed the green button at the side of her wristwatch, and a green energy wave shot out of it, covering a two-mile radius. Every non-soul reaper inside it stopped what they were doing and left the area—they wouldn't return until tomorrow. And the ones outside would turn on their heels and leave if they entered it.

Bzzzt! Bzzzt! Bzzzt! Their rev-dets warned.

"Here we go," Unice said.

Three claps of thunder filled the sky, then lightning struck ten feet in front of them, connecting the airspace and the ground, forming a silver portal. It began throbbing, sounding like someone swallowing too quickly while emitting a high level of magic energy.

Unice looked at Captain Tomboy. "Barrier."

"Right." Captain Tomboy pressed the yellow button on her rev-det, and a shutter sound reverberated from it. The wristwatch stored what the area looked like. Once the battle with the monsters ended, she would press the button again and reverse the market to its present setting. It was a valuable tool for soul reapers without time magic or pocket dimensions.

The magic emitted by the portal increased in waves, making the whole area windy.

"How many do you think are coming through?" Unice asked.

"Always one too many," Captain Tomboy replied. "Obatala, show your handsome self," she called her deity. A pearly-white scythe materialized in her hand.

"Aje," Unice called her deity, Aje Shaluga, and a gray-white scythe with a short handle appeared in her grasp.

Over at the portal, an enormous head with four eyes peeked through, staring at the two captains. "Soul reapers." It smiled before coming out. Two more savants followed with five and six eyes, respectively, before the portal vanished.

The three revenants stood twenty feet tall, snarling at them like wolves hunting prey. It was an unhandsome sight. The two captains glanced at each other and smiled, unnerved by the low-ranked beasts.

When the monsters pounced, Captain Tomboy activated her gravity magic, aimed her palm at them, and moved her hand downward. The revenants crashed into the ground, creating fissures that sank half the market.

Using her magma magic, Unice thrust a flood of magma toward the revenants, washing the flesh off their bodies. Then Captain Tomboy dashed toward them and destroyed the hearts inside the tongues. They vanished out of existence in seconds.

Unice gasped.

"What's wrong?" Captain Tomboy asked.

"There was an attack at the Dar Es Salaam Soul Reaper Academy."

"What?"

"A group of savants and a knight attacked the academy."

Captain Tomboy scrambled for her phone in her pocket. She had turned it off because she didn't want to be disturbed while she was alone with Unice. Ransom was in charge of the squad, anyway. When she switched on the phone, thousands of messages popped up on the screen, each informing her about what had happened. The phone froze. She wouldn't be able to use it for a while.

"Fuck!" she cursed.

The revenants had gotten audacious over the last few years after getting stronger. There was no such thing as a weak revenant anymore. All of them were a threat to the shrinking soul reaper squads. With the governing bodies thinking about recruiting children to address the member shortage, the monsters attacking the academy showed they their recent power increase coincided with their organized attacks.

"Casualties?" she asked.

"The headmaster and the soul reaper students."

Captain Tomboy's eyes enlarged. "All of them."

"No. Two survived. One is unconscious, and the other is severely injured." Unice looked at her. "It's Rocky and Bow."

"Which is which?"

"Rocky is unconscious, and Bow is severely injured."

"Shit!" Captain Tomboy caught Unice looking at the ground. "What's wrong?"

"All the revenants are dead."

"How?" The glimpse she had gotten from some messages said the revenants had conjured a barrier that barred people outside the island from entering. "By who?"

"Rocky."

Impossible. Even a captain can't do it on their own. "Including the knight?"

"That's what they're saying."

Rocky, who hadn't killed a savant before, had killed a knight. It sounded like a story straight out of a Disney fairytale. "I need a minute." She took a deep breath. Rocky's more powerful than I initially thought.

"They're also saying she activated a pocket dimension. That makes it—"

"Four of us on the Smiling Jokers who can use pocket dimensions."

"You know what that means, right?"

Captain Tomboy nodded. By activating her pocket dimension and killing a knight, Rocky became an omega-level sorcerer. "There hasn't been an omega level in her age bracket in decades."

"She must be a prodigy."

If Rocky's head was big before, then getting called a prodigy was about to make it burst with pride. A superstar was truly born that day, and now not even Bow would deny it.