You are a cynical harpy succubus. You are tired of your mother’s bullcrap. You are Wednesday.

  Quinn may be powerful, smart, and devoted to her vision, but she is often distracted by her impulses. Which is why you were surprised when her pn to infiltrate Camelot University was not to seduce all the most powerful people in the University and turn it into a den of depravity.

  You’ve seen the library she’s designed. Not a lot of books. Yes, a lot of erotica, manga, and fiction novels. And a lot of people engaging in coitus behind bookshelves. Not much in terms of education.

  To be fair, the library hasn’t had much chance of being filled or staffed properly. Sometimes it feels like there’s only you, Shoggy, and November taking care of it. Quinn built Haven to accommodate far more people that inhabit it. Rather than make a devoted effort to filling books with centuries of accumuted wisdom she likely has, she went and had more children.

  You swear she’s addicted to getting pregnant.

  Nevertheless, her pn was a way to address these issues. She must have snuck into the admissions office and forged some records about all the infiltrators.

  You don’t like your younger siblings. They’re needy, horny, and ignorant. You don’t like your ship-born siblings, either. They told the younger ones about your orgasm face and now they won’t stop bothering you about it.

  You can work with them just fine, considering Quinn has emphasized the importance of ‘cells’ in this operation. Monday will go to a sorority with a few of the younger ones. Thursday will go to a fraternity with his own people. Equinox and Solstice will go to the rgest shared dorm with their agents.

  Quinn wanted you to rent a pce with the remaining young demons, but you refused to babysit. She gushed about how cute you were, practically smothered you in her chest, and then allowed you to get your own pce.

  Not that you needed permission, you would have pushed the youngers onto Equinox and Solstice anyways.

  She got all of you in a room and wished you luck, giving you deep kisses and handing each of you boxes of ‘demon meal’ in the new hammerspace bags. A stockpile of condensed milk and semen from that woman with the incredibly bad luck, no doubt.

  It tastes artificial, but they’re well-preserved and will work well as rations.

  It just shows how serious she is for this operation. She emphasized how much you needed to hide your demonic natures, pretend you didn’t know anyone from outside your cell, and gather information. She said she’d reward you proportional to the quantity and quality of information. Which means you needed to pay attention in the csses we chose.

  After a few minutes of sloppy goodbyes, Quinn’s mysterious ally summoned you all separately. That is how you found yourself in the bathroom of an ice cream shop a few blocks away from the University. The sigils in the floor burn away, leaving no evidence of your summoning.

  You check yourself again. Your horns and tail are hidden, your skin is a ‘normal’ abaster white, your clothes are proper. You are ready.

  You casually leave the bathroom, as a mortal would. With the dignified pride and presence of someone who doesn’t care they have to excrete their food every few hours. You pass by a red-haired girl shoveling spoonfuls of some sugary monstrosity and go to open the door—

  “Hey you!”

  Have you been identified? You turn around. The girl’s baby-blue eyes are boring into you, the pointy dog ears atop her head twitching and her tail wagging. A kobold? With such human features?

  “Are you a harpy?”

  Quinn mentioned some races were rare in Pril. Kobolds are supposed to be incredibly rare in cities. Harpies can be found everywhere but are uncommon in Camelot.

  “Yes…?”

  She bounced in her seat. If you were as horny as your siblings, you’d describe how she had enough fat in her chest, butt, and thighs to jiggle without compromising a vague hourgss shape. How those innocent eyes would look rolled back in her head…okay, maybe you had a thing for dog ears. For now, you need to concentrate on getting to the University.

  “That’s so cool!” She squealed. “My friend is a harpy and she doesn’t know many of her kind, but we get along just fine! I always ask her how she does anything with wings for arms, and she always just shrugs and tells me…hey, where are you going?”

  You leave the ice cream shop. A moment ter, the door jingles open again and she follows you.

  “Watcha doin’?”

  “Going to the University.”

  “You too?” She gasps. “I was about to go, but I was so nervous for the entrance ceremony and I just HAD to eat. Let’s walk there together! I’ve never been to Camelot before and with you we’d have less chances of getting lost. Ooh! What courses are you taking?”

  As she prattles on, you realize this may be a harder mission than you thought.

  You are loud, muscur and hairy. Quinn calls you her ‘Viking stud', whatever that means. You’re not sure, and you don’t really care. You are Thursday.

  Dodder, Yew, and Waxflower join you as you leave the gym bathroom. Four handsome men exiting a bathroom isn’t unusual, though maybe the stares are because they appreciate your fantastic muscles. You may not be as ripped as your minotaur siblings, you’re still a prime human specimen.

  You put your hands in your pockets, feeling the ID’s and documents needed to get into the University.

  You make it to the registration office without any problems, and the four of you get admitted. Easy peasy. There’s still a few days before orientation, and as much as you’d like to find some people you can free from the Pril spell, you have to set up first.

  That means helping your young bros choose their csses and picking a fraternity to join. Quinn told you about fraternities on the boat. In the stuffy halls of academics, they are isnds of pleasure and partying full of spry young men. And if they ever get tired of dudes, they meet up with the all-female sororities.

  There’s a kiosk to enroll for csses. You lean over your young bros as they make their choices. You offer advice to them until they’ve each picked five csses. You encouraged them to share at least one css with the others so you could help each other.

  When it came time for you to choose, you wracked your brains as you looked over the options. There were some courses Quinn wanted you to get, and some that your siblings at home would have loved to take. You’re not going for the crazy smart stuff, best leave that to Monday or Wednesday.

  March, September, and Emancipation would rock your world if you took Wartime Strategy. That goes on the docket. You are going to share Carpentry with Yew, Music Theory with Dodder, and Basic Body Magic with Waxflower. And purely because you want Quinn to throat fuck your rod, you take Magitech.

  That’s bound to get you some points.

  You can imagine her sultry face as she pushes you down on your bed and crawls over you. The smell of ale and rust emerges from you. You quell your pheromones, but there are already some students blushing. You wave your bros out of the room, pulling them to a bench on the street.

  “Let’s talk about fraternities.” Pulling out a map of the campus, you point to each of the fraternities. There are five of them, a brother for every sister house. Quinn said fraternities often had weird names based on a dead nguage to try and seem smarter than they actually were.

  Not here.

  Earth Dragon house is a dwarf-only frat. Maybe the dwarf incubi could infiltrate it, but not you four. Heavenly Dragon house is also impossible: only nobles can join.

  Sea Dragon house is tempting. They have a pool and have the biggest frat popution. Potentially rewarding, but very risky.

  Skull dragon has the fewest members, which would make corrupting them easier, but not nearly as rewarding. Plus, it’s underground and very gloomy. Bloodsuckers and goblins tend to go there.

  Last was the strangely named Attraction Dragon House. More people than Skull, less than Sea, and most importantly, right by the bars and in between two sororities, the Sky Phoenix House and the noble’s Chrono Phoenix House.

  You are very aware that real alcohol is illegal in Pril. What do they sell at bars anyways? That 5% alcoholic fruit juice? You’ve got a good feeling that you’ll find good booze anyways. Liquor and incubi, so close to two sororities?

  This is going to be fun.

  You are the oldest succubus, and therefore the prettiest and the smartest. You are Monday. And you really wish Sunday were here to give you a nice dicking.

  You’ve guided your cute little sisters to the sorority you chose. Ash and Yucca wanted to join Sky Phoenix House. All because you told them Thursday would most likely go to the nearby Attraction Dragon House.

  A lot of the younger ones are excited to fuck their older kin. For prestige. Though they’ll have plenty of chances with you, your oyster is always hungry for some pearls.

  As much as you want to keep in close proximity with your fellow demons, the objective is to give each other a wide berth. When you vetoed, Hazel suggested Celestial Phoenix House, which was out of the way. Isoted, great for orgies, full of pent up nobles...

  A good idea. But you have a better one.

  Life Phoenix House sits on the edge of one of Camelot’s parks, complete with its own greenhouse. Not only will this give you the chance to smuggle pnts into Haven, it will also allow you to find the perfect pce to hold parties.

  Not the lewd kind. The information-gathering kind.

  “Hello new sisters!” An elf welcomes you at the doors.

  She’s one of those ft-chested elves. You don’t mind, she’s got legs for days and a spectacur outfit to match; white dress and striped blue pantyhose, with frills accentuating her long neck to draw attention to her pretty face.

  You can sense the self-consciousness and envy buried under yers of emotional and magical suppression. Especially when a human peeks over her shoulder and pushes her aside.

  “New sisters? Joy!” The human girl curtsies to each of you in turn. “My name is Andromeda, Phoenix House’s Treasure…and treasurer.” She giggles. The elf rolls her eyes.

  “This sourpuss is Prudence, our new priss-president!” The elf is trying hard not to gre at her.

  You don’t need your empathic powers to see they hate each other. You can use that.

  “Why don’t I show you around?” Prudence smiles.

  “The President doesn’t need to worry about that!” Andromeda pushes her away a bit forcefully.

  Their emotions are starting to boil over. You are very tempted to ignite their DESIRE and get them to hate-scissor on the porch. Instead, you disarm them.

  “I think we’d appreciate it if you both showed us around. The more the merrier, right?” Lord Quinn did insist that you make friends. Her will is absolute.

  The pair guide you through the five floors of the house, introducing you to the different members. You pick up tidbits as they not so subtly jab at each other. Prudence won the vote for President because she had a real talent for convincing others. Andromeda was the President st year, but she wasn’t well respected because she didn’t take her duties seriously. In fact, she was only in the position because her mother was President when she was studying at the University. Each accused the other of being a hussy for having a total of three boyfriends, one of which apparently dated them both at the same time.

  You had to admire the balls on that one. Maybe you’ll find him and show him what’s beyond handholding.

  When they lead you to your rooms, Prudence finally asks you a question.

  “Where are you from, anyways?”

  “We met on the train.” Quinn sat you all down and had you prepare backstories. “I’m from the west coast, Junipertown.”

  “Hacksonville.” Ash shrugs. She was a bit zy when it came to her backstory. And with her css load. If she messes this up, you’re going to grind her face in your asshole.

  “Straight outta Brockton, coming from the underground.” Yucca speaks in a beat. No wonder she took so many music csses.

  “Um…I’m from the north. In a small town by the Boreal colonies, Chillsburg.” Hazel probably did the most research of you four on Prillia before coming here.

  “Ooh, I’m sorry darling.” Prudence tuts. “I hear it’s quite harsh there, with the roving bands of kobolds. Why, I heard there was one who recently won a schorship to attend Camelot U!”

  “How distasteful.” Andromeda cringes. “They are practically beasts. Next thing you know, the undead will come to try and learn.”

  Their tittering giggles makes you grin.

  “Or worse yet, demons!” Prudence lets out a peal of ughter.

  “That would be ridiculous.” You join them in their mirth. They don’t know how much you want to rut them right now.

  You’ve entered a fun little game. Of biting words and little hidden spites. A sort of dominance py, for title of queen bee.

  You are an easygoing harpy incubus. Normally, you greet everyone with a smile. You are Equinox, and these are not normal circumstances.

  You were given the key to your dorm room. And wouldn’t you know it, Solstice lives right across from you.

  You hate that bitch. There is only one day that has not been pgued by her existence, and it was the day you were born. Every day after, she comes in and ruins it by being a screeching maniac.

  In fact, just yesterday, you finally revealed your css schedules to each other. You swear she picked all of the same csses at the same times JUST to annoy you. She cims the same. So now you’re stuck in the same csses.

  Normally, the two of you would hate fuck and forget about it for a day, but Quinn’s restrictions are hard. So is your cock. You have to work with what you have.

  What you do have is a mortal roommate. A dwarf named Norman Brightsteel. It could be difficult to hide your nature from him. Then again, he’s spent most of his time going through old textbooks at his desk.

  You sit on the top bunk and cross your legs as you watch him pour over a physics textbook. It seems you’re sharing a css with him.

  “Why are you already studying?”

  “Huh?” He takes off his gsses. “Oh, I just want to be ready. If you get good enough grades, a professor will teach you personally.”

  “Really?” You didn’t know that. “Aiming for anyone in particur, or are there several I should look out for?”

  “Well,” he closes the book and leans back in his chair, “Everyone wants to be taught by Dean Sher’khan. But he rarely takes apprentices. I’m aiming for the more realistic options, like Professor Quark, Doctor Prion, or Doctor Node.”

  “Sounds competitive.” You shrug. “Not for me.”

  “Good, I’d hate to live with a rival.” He grimaces. “It’s already bad enough living next door to that annoying elf.”

  “I know the feeling. There’s another harpy from my vilge nearby. We don’t get along.”

  “No way.” He swivels around in his chair. “What room?”

  “204.”

  “By the Patriarch, they’re roommates.”

  You pull your orange wings closer and cocoon yourself in a downy yer of protection. Your cws dig into the mattress.

  “You better watch out for Solstice. When she’s a frigid contrarian.”

  “So long as you do the same for Reyna Moonswallow. She’s a zy bum who tries to cozy up to everyone.”

  You look at each other and nod. Though maybe this Reyna could use some incubus charm. It would be great to have some eyes on Solstice, and it’d piss her off to no end for you to be buddy-buddy with her roommate.

  “Seems like we came with our own enemies.” You leap down from the bunk. “Did you come with any friends?”

  “Yeah.” Norman smiles. “They live in 1005 and 608, Henry Hoofton and Jackie Copperhead…though Jackie is on friendly terms with Reyna.”

  “Nobody’s perfect.” You tap your lips with your dexterous feathers. “There’s Aster, Sunflower, and Zelkova. Rooms 113, 409, and 1010. My sister was supposed to room with Zelkova but…” You stop yourself. That’s information you should not be slipping.

  “Your sister almost came to Camelot the same year as you? A twin?” He’s already poked a hole.

  “Eeh, our mother had a tough bor.” And you just keep talking. Lie, lie! “I was born a few days afterwards.”

  “Wow. I thought…well, I thought harpies had an easier time. I always assumed your females id eggs.” Do normal harpies y eggs? Crap.

  “That’s a stereotype.” You gre at him. “Like saying all dwarven women have beards.”

  He cringed. Quinn mentioned that when she told the story about a Lord of some rings. Good to see that the story saved you.

  “Yeesh, yeah. Sorry.”

  Crisis averted! Hopefully Wednesday never learns of this. She’d crush your balls between her talons. And not in a fun way.

  Shoot!

  You need to buy your textbooks! You run out the door and stop yourself from fpping down the staircase. Some dwarven girl is blocking the way and rush around her, and as you pass you give her the Equinox special: a wink and finger guns. Except you stumble when you knock into another girl carrying a whole load of books. The books fall all over you and you fall in a tangle of limbs and wings.

  When you get up your eyes meet. You scowl.

  “You-“

  “Jackass-“

  Solstice.

  She did it on purpose. A burning hatred sparks in you. She doesn’t know it, but she has sparked a war.

  The Dorm war.

  You have a feeling at least one of your idiot siblings messed up. Your talons are itching. And the sound of slurping fills your ears. You are Wednesday, attending orientation.

  “Slurp slurp sluuuurp!”

  If you weren’t a demon, it would be hard to concentrate on what the speaker is talking about with the kobold sucking on a giant lollipop right next to you. It’s one of those comically oversized candies, but Cherry has managed to put the whole damn thing in her mouth. She’s oblivious to the angry stares sent her way, even as her white-feathered harpy friend tugs at her sleeve quietly.

  “Sluuuuuuuuuuurrrrrp!”

  This pudgy redhead is going to town on that lollipop. You thought she finished it a few minutes ago. But no. Cherry brought spares.

  “Cherry…” Her friend, Fracti, whispers. Too quietly for Cherry to notice.

  “slurpslurpslurpslurpslurp”

  Fracti shrinks under the gres.

  “sl—”

  You sp the lollipop out of Cherry’s hand. Her long tongue sticks out of her mouth and she looks at you sadly.

  “You will be quiet. We need to hear what they are saying.”

  “Sorry.” She whines like a dog. “My mom always told me I was orally fixated.”

  “Of course you are.” You mutter sarcastically shaking away thoughts of her head between your legs.

  This kobold has unfortunately adopted you into her gang of misfits. Well, her duo. You’re not even sure how it happened. She just knows where to find you. She drags her shy friend to you wherever you go and plops down to join you. The plump girl clings to you like candy on feathers.

  How awful.

  You almost wish Cherry kept making noise. The speech was full of the rhetoric used to manipute the small minded into thinking they were important. Emphasis on the trials they passed to get there, establishing camaraderie, and a healthy dose of nationalism. After a round of appuse, the speech was finally over. You take to the air and escape that damned auditorium, ignoring the frowns of the ground-born students.

  The northernmost of the twelve massive towers surrounding the university campus slowly rises to its apex, marking the hour at high noon. You sit down in a tree and—

  “Hey!”

  Nearly fall off the branch.

  Cherry is sitting like a dog on a perch on the branch above yours. Her tail is wagging. If yours weren’t hidden, it’d be whipping about restlessly. She’s got branches, leaves, and another lollipop stuck in her frizzy hair. Fracti flies over quietly to nd on the same branch, nervously looking about. You don’t bother asking Cherry how she could move so quickly.

  “SoooooooOOO?!” She leans closer to you. “Csses start tomorrow. You excited?”

  “To learn in a cssroom stuffed with people that will constantly ask dumb questions? No.”

  You learned everything there was to learn in Haven’s empty library. The only reason you volunteered for this mission was for the chance at learning more.

  “Um…I’m a bit excited.” Fracti peeked from behind her bangs. “Especially for all the Zoology courses. Though Monster Zoology may be a bit scary.”

  Great, you’re sharing a css with the wallflower. At least she’s better company than the kobold.

  “Me too! Though it’s too bad I have to take biology and chemistry before the Body Magic Mastery csses.”

  “Mastery?” She’s got to be kidding.

  “No kidding! Technically, I can do eighth-level body magic, but you need a license for every level after fifth level.”

  You’ve got no idea what level a spell is. And a license? It makes sense that a sufficiently advanced civilization would restrict the more powerful spells. Those in power restrict the methods for others to repce them. Except Lord Quinn.

  “Impressive. What can the highest level of biomancy do?”

  Cherry holds out her arm, her soft skin rippling with muscle and growing a thick yer of reddish fur and thick bck cws. A limb found on normal kobolds. Is she maintaining a transformation? Her arm is huge. She must be over eight feet tall in her original form! Not what you’d expect from the plump, five-foot-six girl.

  “I need to redo my transformation every few hours. But at the ninth level, you can change the basic threads of life. Make transformations permanent.”

  Her arm turns back and you’re left staring at her. Threads of life…DNA? The level Quinn only recently reached is an already established paradigm. Interesting.

  “Where did you learn so much about it, anyways?” You ask her.

  “I dunno, it just comes naturally. It happens to people. Like how Fracti is stupenderrific at the druid arts.” The harpy shrinks away from the praise. “It’s how we met.”

  A small flicker of DESIRE sparks inside Fracti, the chastity spell quenching it immediately. Well, something close to it. The students clear out, leaving the three of you in the tree as Cherry prattles on. Eventually, she’s interrupted by someone clearing their throat.

  A centaur woman holding several folders close to her ample chest is looking up through horn-rimmed gsses.

  “Students shouldn’t be sitting in trees.”

  Cherry and Fracti straighten and jump down. You’re tempted to stay there to spite her…but now is not the time to leave an impression.

  “Sorry Miss Prairie.” Fracti bows her head, her tone nearly reverential. “We must have lost track of time talking.”

  Prairie’s cold attitude softens. She gives the three of you a smile.

  “Just be careful. Most of the trees around the University are unique specimens.”

  When she clip clopped away, you stared inquisitively at the two as they watched her leave. They know her, you realize. From reputation or something else. And from the way other students turn their heads to watch her pass, she’s practically famous.

  You don’t know what she is. They keep whispering ‘Paragon’, so probably that. But the way people look at her is the opposite of how they look at your two new hanger-ons. You hope you’re not stuck with the Outcasts.

  There’s a problem with the conditions Quinn set on you. She told you very specifically NOT to put yourself in lewd situations. That means avoiding locker rooms, swimming pools, kitchens…

  Well, you tried.

  You are Thursday, and you have to stop going to Attraction House’s gym. It started out as a joke. Yew suggested that you all workout without your shirts to show off your awesome gains. The other frat bros were impressed by all your muscles, and the next day they were all working out without their shirts.

  Watching all of them get sweaty as they worked out…that was cool. It was also cool that you could feed on each other’s DESIRE as you got yolked. After a week of all these righteous dudes working out in nothing but shorts, Dodder made a joke about leg day.

  He came in with tight short shorts to show off his sick calves. Considering Dodder has a tentacle dick, he was risking a lot with this bit. But it paid off over the next week, more and more guys coming in to show off their legs. The sight made your pheromones go into overdrive.

  Soon, DESIRE was trickling, and everyone was admirin’.

  It was hard. The mortal frat bros were really weak to your pheromones. Some dudes squatted for a bit too long in front of you. Others made their lunges reach a bit too close to your crotch. And you swear, they’d moan harder when you passed them as they lifted.

  Things came to a head when Waxflower floated the idea of nude group workouts. The mortal bros were really into it. You only went there once.

  Your pheromones filled the room and they all looked at you. Almost expecting something. You got the sense that you could break the ECS for all of them right there, after only three weeks in Camelot.

  Too risky. You forbid your little bros from going any further, but the damage is done. Bare Muscle Monday has been enshrined in Attraction Dragon House’s constitution. The others can go in and feed off the residual DESIRE, easy.

  Dodder only had to expin his tentacle dick. Apparently, people now think he is one-sixteenth merman. You’re not so lucky. If you enjoyed Bare Muscle Monday, no amount of industrial solvent would clean away the cum from such a massive gay orgy.

  And eating it all would only raise more questions!

  Thankfully, you still have rations. You still need to do something to occupy your time, though.

  You get your chance when all the school clubs set up booths in the auditorium to recruit freshmen. You and your bros split up to search for something that suits each of you. Yew, being the only elf among you, finds an archery club with oddly standoffish elves. You spot Waxflower with the track and field club. Dodder makes friends with the all-female Cephalopod Appreciation Club.

  You have a harder time finding the right fit. You stop by the chess club, but it’s too stuffy. You try to chat up the guy talking about the Rowing Club. He gets jealous once you show off your guns. Understandable, you can crush a watermelon between your biceps. You don’t need that kind of mojo, though.

  You almost consider the Alchemy club, but as the girl is showing off her potion it spills all over her and her clothes melt away. You hurry away before your pheromones can cause the entire popution to devolve into perversion. You sm the door behind you and the girl’s panicked scream cuts off.

  You lean on the parapet and try to find where the stairs are. It’s a bummer that you can’t find a club. Quinn was very clear, don’t get into pervy situations. You hate to admit it, but Prillians are weirdly prone to ending up in sexy messes. Just down there, a girl in a skirt is walking over the subway grate.

  The train passes by. White and pink stripes.

  See, if she had the chastity spell removed, she’d know not to do that. Actually, if she had it removed, she’d probably go over it again and again until someone bent her over and fucked her until her cum spilled into the subway line.

  Your pheromones go wild again, but you’re outside. It disappears in the breeze, and all that’s left is a girl who got a weird thrill from fshing some strangers.

  You need to find somewhere where you can meet a small group of people, with enough cover to corrupt a couple of them into giving you DESIRE and is also well ventited so your pheromones don’t do them what it did to your frat.

  You scratch your bushy chin. They are just one brojob away from cascading into a major sausagefest. Who knew a frat was such a potent source of homoerotic intent?

  PTTTTTTT-WYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEENNNNNG-ENG-ENG!

  That has got to be the weirdest noise you’ve ever heard. The weird looking thing flew by you at speeds that would make December swoon. This child of a dildo-octopus-umbrel gangbang disappears through the clouds by the time you hear people yelling about it.

  “Damn speedjunkies!” An old professor yells as he runs after his toupee.

  “Unaesthetic swine!” Yells a purple-pstered art student. Looks like magic art can mess up in explosive ways.

  “Greenski—” An elf yells but is elbowed in the side by his dwarf friend.

  You approach the professor. You didn’t think dwarves needed beard toupees. If Monday ever shaves you again, you’ll remember that.

  “What was that?” You point at the clouds that are slowly shifting into new shapes as the purple vessel flies through it.

  “That,” he huffs, “is our dear arcanomechanist club. How they even got permitted is beyond me.”

  “A club? Where do they meet?”

  The clouds form in the shape of winky face, then dissipate. You like them already.

  “By the three o’clock tower, in the old mithril forge. They needed a pce with ventition for their infernal machines. Be careful though, there are some abandoned old buildings in that area. Just follow the noise. For so few people, they make a lot of it.”

  Everything’s turning up Thursday.

  You make your way there. The old dwarf is right, you can hear power tools and loud hammering as you get close. The flying machine hovers down through the opening on top of a building. That’s got to be it.

  You come across a giant pair of bronze sliding doors. You knock, but you don’t even hear it over the noise.

  Clearly, you need to open these doors to get inside. You spit on your hands and grab the handle. With a mighty push, the door slowly whines open. You flex your burning muscles and move the door inch by inch, step by step. The hammering and power tools fade from your awareness as you focus every rippling muscle in your body to…

  Open.

  That.

  Door!

  With a sigh of relief, you step back and walk through. Don’t even need to squeeze through. Wait, why hasn’t the sound come back. By Quinn, did you rupture your eardrums from the effort? Can demons even do that?

  Can mortals?

  “You know you could have used the side entrance, dude.”

  Wait no, it’s because you opened that door. People can’t normally open a door that weighs about a ton, right? You look around. Bits of machinery hang everywhere, tools are scattered around, and half-finished arcano-engines are on a couple different tables. Blue molten metal drips from a crucible.

  There are about a dozen goblins in thick overalls, heavy engineer hats, and reflective goggles. They stare at you, the only hint of their race their twitching green ears sandwiched between their hats and protective bandanas. They stopped their work to watch you open that door.

  “This is the arcanomechanist club, right?” You ask.

  “Whaddaya think?” The goblin who spoke to you turns to the others and chuckles huskily. “Beefcake wants to know if we’re the arcanomechanists. Y’think his airbike broke down?”

  The goblins ugh among themselves. You notice three familiar presences huddled together by the tables.

  “Listen, Beefcake. We’re not gunna fix your shit.” The curse seems out of pce here, and by the ooh’s of the others, it’s a big deal. “So go on back to the coddled campus and—”

  “Do you guys have a sign up sheet, or is this part of the hazing process?” You interrupt.

  “Ye—Wait, you want to sign up?”

  “Sure.” You shrug. “I’m taking the introduction css, and I’m really liking it, so…”

  The goblin turns to the three huddled by the tables. They look at each other and nod in perfect synch. You knew those three were familiar! Those are the goblin triplets in your css. You recognize them because they’re always together and act like they’ve never been apart for long. Freshman girls, very nice too.

  “Even if you have to wear stuff like this?” The heat doesn’t bother you. It could help stop the pheromones.

  “Ye.”

  “And you’ll do whatever the Chief says? Whatever I say?”

  Cool, this one’s the club president.

  “Yup.”

  The goblin takes off the yers. A skinny goblin woman, lithe from little food and lots of work, gives you a beaming smile. Not a lot of curves, which is good.

  You like curves. This shrimpy goblin girl will never risk exciting you.

  “Not a lot of guys come to us. But hey, we could always use someone as weirdly strong as you.”

  She shakes her frizzy orange hair loose and holds out her hand.

  “Welcome to the Mechanist’s Club.”

  Dee_DubbleYew