?


    The next morning Bodeir Sr arrived to ask what Kat would like as additional payment. He seemed a bit annoyed at the time, but Kat and Lily were of the opinion he was just ying it up. So Kat asked for shadow magic spells, letting Bodeir be as generous as he desired. It seemed like the simplest way to keep everyone happy. Kat didn''t know how many spells Bodeir had, nor wanted to give them, so he could just hand over what he feltfortable with. Kat was also sure she''d get more spells then if she''d argued about it, considering how bad she was at negotiations.


    Later in the day, Sue returned with the two boxes. One for herself, and one filled with shadow spells. Kat and Lily were not brave enough to ask what was in the second box. A brief discussion between them and it was decided to visit Meng, Bing, Lian and Feng before they''d both just head off. Lily had… minimal interest in exploring the Mountain Shaker sect and getting sand everywhere, and Sue didn''t feel strongly enough about staying to argue.


    As they were walking to the ce Baofengyu''s current residence, Kat pondered if that was really what it should be called, considering Kat very much doubted that Meng''s realst name was Baofengyu. A block away from their residence, Sue spoke up, "Hey Kat, I''m nning to leave a beacon behind for Bing, do you want to add your demonic energy to it as well?"


    "What would that do exactly?" asked Kat.


    "Oh… right, that''s probably not something you''d thought to ask. So, when a demon leaves behind a beacon, they can let other demons add in their own demonic energy to allow for them to be summoned by it as well. I MUST show up every time because it''s my beacon, but if you added to it you can be summoned using it as well," exined Sue.


    "Sure, I''d be happy to do that… but it seems a bit abusable," said Kat.


    "Eh, perhaps a little bit. It doesn''t work with close family though. Apparently the demonic energy signature is a bit too close together and blends instead of remaining separate. D.E.M.O.N.S also keeps track of these beacons with a keener eye then normal ones, so if we''re found to be abusing them, or it''s found that you forced me to let you connect to the beacon we can get in massive trouble.


    "Think of it like… well… I don''t really know whatws you have in your home dimension, but sharing a beacon makes everything a stage worse essentially. Like… if it was a five candle me it might jump straight up to fifty candle just because we used a joined beacon to do it. A lot of people think thew in this case is unfairly harsh, but from what I was taught in ss it was to stop organisations just connecting a bunch of worlds together, and to make sure that if you''re adding to a beacon, you trust the person holding it," exined Sue.


    "So… just checking but if you used this beacon to do bad things, and I''ve never been summoned with it… would I still get into trouble?" asked Kat.


    Sue made a ''so-so'' gesture. "Possibly. It depends exactly what I did with it… but yes that IS a risk you need to be aware of, and I''d understand if you didn''t trust me to use it well,"


    Kat shook her head immediately, "Don''t be silly Sue. I trust you just fine, but it might be important information to know in the future. I''m perfectly willing to add my demonic energy to your beacon when you hand it over,"


    "Thanks, I''m d," said Sue, though Kat could detect a little undercurrent of uncertainty. It wouldn''t be tillter that Kat understood Sue''s concern.


    Unaware of the future embarrassment Sue was about to undergo, they knocked on the door to arge house on the outskirts of the city, positioned much like the one the subi were staying at, though in a slightly different architectural style. Meng opened the door with a smile, "Hello to you both, might I ask why you''re visiting?"


    "We''re here to say goodbye," said Sue with a soft smile, "We''re not sticking around past the end of the day, and we wanted to see our new friends… and Feng I suppose,"


    "Ah… well I''m afraid Feng is away in the city sulking at the moment. Really, I''m disappointed in that boy. He hasn''t noticed any of the tails Bodeir Sr putt on him, nor the copy of myself that''s doing very little to disguise itself. I didn''t even bother to make the illusion look differently to the body they grew up with, and still Feng hasn''t noticed. If Feng decides to stay with us, I''m going to have to drill him for cking in his spy, spotting abilities,"


    "Did you teach him those well originally?" asked Kat.


    "I did," Meng smiled, obviously pleased with her past self. "As a spy myself, I need to know how to spot spies, not just to ensure I''m not likely to be caught, but because part of the job of a spy, is spotting other spies. I taught my kids to spot them as best I could, and usually Feng isn''t too bad at it. That''s why I''m saying he''ll need remedial lessons once I see him in person next,"


    Meng sighed, but then turned her face back into a smile, both her real one, and the illusion Sue and Lily could see, because apparently Meng still didn''t want to show off her real face. Perhaps it was just habit. "Let''s not waste any more time discussing my moping son, please,e in, I''m sure that Bing and Lian will be happy to see you. They''re both rxing in the underground pool. After living in the chill most of their lives, they find it rather hot here, even if their cultivation means it not truly a problem,"


    Sue grinned wickedly, "Oh, I''d love to join them. What a shame I don''t have any clothes to wear in the water… I''ll just have to go naked,"


    Meng rolled her eyes at that and started showing the demons the way. They were lead down two flights of stairs and into a deep underground pool with glowing crystals to light the room. Lian was doingps while Bing floated around, staring up at the ceiling. They both had simple cloth to hide their more private areas and nothing else on. <novelsnext></novelsnext>


    Sue, uncaring for propriety dismissed her demonic attire and hopped into the pool herself. Lily jumped out of Kat''s arms and made her way over to the towel area off to the side and imed that for herself before curling up to sleep. Kat looked at her own outfit and decided, it was demonic attire, it could get wet, and jumped in herself.


    Lian noticed them first, "Hey guys! The water''s great isn''t it?"


    Bing sat up and looked over, "Oh Hello, I wasn''t sure if we''d see you again before you left," Bing was going to say more but her eyes had justnded on Sue, who was probably floating purely on the buoyancy of her chest alone. Bing went bright red, breaking her posture and falling into the water. It took a few moments of scrambling, but Bing made it to the edge, "Sue where are your clothes!"


    "Well I''ve got nothing on me for swimming… so now I''ve got nothing on me!" said Sue with a grin.


    "We''ve got spares!" hissed Bing scandalised.


    Sue gave a very obvious nce towards Bing''s own chest, then down at her own, "Pretty sure those spares aren''t designed to fit me,"


    "They''re one size fits all!" returned Bing, "There''s plenty of material… you don''t have to be naked!"


    Sue looked at the binding on Bing''s chest again… and quite quickly worked out that ''one-size-fits-all'' did not in fact look like it would fit the Subus-sized chest Sue sported, whatever delusions Bing might have. Sue did briefly consider trying anyway, the look on Bing''s face as she squeezed into a breastband that was obviously too small, chest spilling out of from basically everywhere… before giving up on the idea, she didn''t actually SEE any spares, and Sue wasn''t getting out of the pool for the joke.


    "Right… Bing''s delusions aside," said Lian as Bing let out a ''pained'' gasp in the background "Are you just visiting to have a bit of fun?"


    Sue shook her head, "No, actually I''m not, I suppose I should give you this before I forget. Sue pulled out her hands, pooling her demonic energy into her beacon before passing it off to Kat, where more demonic energy was added. Kat stared awkwardly at the beacon''s shape as she did so.


    "Sue… is this what I think it is…" whispered Kat.


    "Look, I was young… and it seemed like a good idea at the time," whispered Sue back.


    "Well are you going to tell them? I mean sure technically you''ve got petals on it so it looks a bit like a flower… but it''s clearly not the type that grows in the ground!" whispered Kat.


    "Well… I mean… you can''t talk your beacon is also a flower," returned Sue.


    "Yes! A real flower! Like the ones on my outfit I''m wearing right now! When Bing notices what''s she going to do!" Kat hissed.


    "You do know we can hear you right?" asked Lian.


    Kat and Sue looked at each other, "I did know," admitted Kat.


    "Traitor!" hissed Sue in response


    Kat just shrugged. Sue should''ve picked something else for her beacon''s appearance.