I never thought I'd say this, but getting chased by a vampire gave me the best sleep I've had all week.
Probably because I passed out.
Anyway, I woke up in a storage room under the school cafeteria, surrounded by boxes of expired mayonnaise and something labeled "Meat Substitute – DO NOT OPEN."
Nyra was perched on a crate, looking like she hadn't just witnessed me body a vampire agent with a mop and a recycled phone charger.
"You're up. Finally. I thought you were dead. I was almost happy."
"Charming as always," I groaned, sitting up and checking my ribs. Still sore. Still intact.
"We need to talk."
"That's never good."
Turns out, after my magical power bank detonation, the curse inside me reacted again. My aura—or whatever you want to call it—flared like a magical lighthouse, pinging everyone nearby like I'd just posted a shirtless thirst trap on MagicBook.
So naturally, I had to do something to dampen the signal before another bounty hunter—or worse, a magical debt collector—showed up.
And that's when inspiration hit me:Why not convert the magical energy into something else? Like, say... Wi-Fi?
We snuck into the abandoned computer lab. I stole an old router, gutted it, carved runes into the casing using a pocketknife, and shoved in one of the leftover power gems from Nyra's emergency stash.
"This is either genius," Nyra said, "or you're going to blow yourself into another dimension."
"Honestly? At this point, either is fine."
Twenty minutes later, the modified router hummed to life. My curse's aura filtered through it, reshaping into electromagnetic pulses. Translation: I made a magical hotspot that disguised my existence as low-grade student internet traffic.
And, bonus—it gave full bars.
"Ezra Vale," Nyra muttered, "you are a walking OSHA violation."
"You're just mad because I called the network 'CursedAndThriving_5G'."
"...I hate that I like it."
Just as we finished, I got a ping on my phone. Not a text. Not an email. Something worse.
A red-glowing app icon: "You've been added to a Spellwatch bounty board."
And the listing?
Ezra Vale – Unregistered Hex User – Reward: 75,000 Credits – Alive (preferably)
Nyra looked at me.
"Welp. At least you're popular."
"Why does everything about my life now sound like a season finale?"