Toms voice echoed in Stu’s head saying, “Get up, get up, get up..” Stu slowly opened his eyes; he was in the living room.

  Stu muttered, “Time?”

  Marrow said, “It’s four in the afternoon.”

  Stu rubbed his face exhausted saying, “That’s not what I meant.. I meant how long..” He realized he hadn’t been tripping; he must have fallen asleep for a while. “Never mind.. What’s up cats?”

  Tom said, “We wanted to see how things were progressing. There’s less than twenty-four hours left before the test. Think you will be able to handle it?”

  Marrow hopped up next to him curious as well, “We weren’t sure after we checked with Broth. He said you answered then hung up. So, we came as soon as we had free time.”

  Stu still groggy said, “It’s all going okay, I think it’s actually working. It just uses a lot of energy on my end. Hey, while you guys are here I wanted to ask about Kay. He was a little weird with everything going on the other night, and he should have come by already to get his prize and we haven’t seen him.” He looked at them expectingly.

  Marrow said, “Yes, about him.. He’s been reassigned for now.”

  Stu’s tone went from friendly to serious as he asked, “What did you do to Kay?”

  Marrow said, “He’s been reassigned for now, as I said before..”

  Without a moments warning Stu grabbed Marrow by the back of the neck and held him at eye level saying, “I’ll ask you one st time, what happened to Kay?”

  Tom said, “He is alright, he’s just not allowed to contact you anymore. It was a rule viotion; there was nothing we could do to stop it!”

  Stu gred a Marrow asking, “Is that the one hundred percent truth? Yes or no? Don’t give me anything else.”

  Marrow said, “Yes.”

  Stu set him down, saying, “Sorry about that. You guys are hard to read sometimes. It would be nice if you were just straight forward about things.” He almost felt bad for snatching Marrow up, but he still didn’t know if they were telling him the truth.

  Tom said, “It’s alright, we’re not the type to hold a grudge.”

  Annoyed Marrow said, “Speak for yourself, he didn’t give you a heart attack..”

  Tom looked at Marrow saying, “You have eight more lives, I’m sure you’ll be fine..” Then looking at Stu, he said, “Anyways I assure you he’s fine, if not just a little upset, that’s all.”

  Stu got up and grabbed a pen and asked, “Can I send him his prize? Will he receive it?”

  Tom looked at Marrow for a moment before the cat nodded. Tom said, “Alright, it cannot be anything having to do with the tournament. No information, no items.”

  Stu said, “A picture of me and the girls with our autographs, that’s all.”

  Tom said, “That’s acceptable but you may not send anything else.”

  Stu spoke sadly, saying, “As long as he gets this, if he doesn’t receive it, I’ll know you lied to me.”

  Tom said, “He’ll receive it, don’t worry.”

  Stu yelled for the girls and they showed up. He said, “We’re taking a picture for Kay and we all need to sign it.”

  They were unsure about why it was so urgent, but they relented and took the picture holding a piece of paper that said, “Missing-u-K” They signed the picture and handed it to Tom, they put it under his colr.

  Stu said, “Make sure he receives that..”

  Chaos asked, “Is everything okay here? There seems to be some tension between you all today. What happened?”

  Stu looked at Marrow asking, “Would you like to expin, or should I tell them ter?”

  Marrow looked at Chaos saying, “Nothing is wrong at all, we just seemed to have a minor miscommunication over Kay’s new work arrangements. He will not be working in this district anymore. Your contact will most likely be nonexistent from this point forward, unless something unforeseen changes that. That is all, it was an error on my end and I apologize.”

  Tom said, “Now that this whole situation is cleared up. We should be on our way, that is unless anyone has anything else to discuss?

  Prosperity quickly asked, “Is Kay really, alright?”

  Tom said, “I assured Stu, that it is the truth, just as I’m trying to reassure you too. He is fine.”

  Marrow begrudgingly said, “This is my fault, he is fine.”

  Tom asked, “Are we good now?”

  Stu still heavy with disbelief said, “Yeah.”

  Tom reluctantly spoke, “Alright then, we will see you in the morning. Keep working that power, you are running out of time before you are judged.”

  Stu said, “Will do, don’t worry I’ll be ready.”

  The cats left the house and the girls sat in the tension waiting patiently. After a few minutes Chaos asked, “Are you worried about Kay?”

  Stu looked at her before saying, “Yes. The cats seemed to be straight forward, but everything they say sets off my bullshit detector. I can’t put my finger on it though. Every time I think I can trust them my gut says somethings wrong.”

  Prosperity asked, “Why do you think they are deceiving you?”

  Stu shook his head saying, “I really don’t know. Do you girls think there’s a chance.. maybe.. Do you think there’s a chance I might be autistic?”

  The girls looked at one another and seemed confused. Chaos said, “We’re not sure what that means but if you are asking if we think you are special then we say you are as autistic as they get!” they all smiled at him agreeing with Chaos.

  Stu stared in disbelief. He slowly said, “Really? How am I supposed to believe you now? You have to be fucking with me! This is going to be what defeats us in this tournament, at some point my brain will just be hemorrhaged and I’ll die. All from you girls fucking with my head so much… I realize now it’s inevitable…” His despair had reached new heights, or lows depending on how you looked at it.

  Prosperity asked, “Do you think Kay is actually okay?”

  Miracle spoke up saying, “Look, I worked with Marrow, he’s a sneaky bastard but I don’t think he’d hurt Kay.”

  Chaos gave a more hopeful thought, “We can trust Tom, we should be able to trust Marrow too. The judges aren’t human or God, they are just different and it makes them seem untrustworthy. I’m sure we can trust them.”

  Miracle said, “Now I’m not sure anymore. If Chaos thinks their trustworthy then they probably aren’t.”

  Chaos asked, “Why do you say that?”

  Laughing Miracle said, “Because you can’t trust a virgin’s judgment about men.”

  Chaos’s eyes became wide and her face turned red. She grabbed both Prosperity and Miracle dragging them out of the room against their will. Stu sat on the couch staring at the empty doorway. Today was a messed-up day, and he couldn’t help but wonder; that doorway, what was it? What did he see inside the void on the other side?

  He sighed heavily, he still had a test tomorrow, then a tournament to win after. His workload never grew lighter, and now he was worried about Kay as well. He wasn’t sure when it became his job to worry about judges, but he found himself there anyway. “Double damn it..”      Grabbing his notebook, he began to scribble furiously, he was working out everything he needed to do. This tournament may pile up, but he decided there wasn’t one person, god, or judge, he would leave behind when this was over. He was going to make sure that no one got left behind, and as long as he was alive he’d make sure he saw Kay again. Setting the notebook on the table he resolved himself. Tomorrow, no matter what, he’ll beat the test.

  Getting up after a little while, grabbing the blue gods while making his way to the gym, he was determined to get the most training in today as possible. Walking into the room he saw Miracle there working out. He didn’t want to bother her, but he found himself staring, she was an incredibly attractive girl. He watched her bouncing up and down running on the treadmill when she noticed him in the reflection on the wall. She said, “Hey Stu, what’s going on?” She continued jogging in pce for a few minutes, before stopping the machine and grabbing a towel. He watched the sweat crawl down the skin on her neck to the cleavage of her sports bra. Still silently watching, he looked at the way her yoga pants clung to her hips, obviously no underwear he thought. She looked over at him curiously asking, “Are you alright? You’re being too quiet.”

  He blinked his wandering eyes back to pce saying, “Yeah, I’m good. Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind right now. I must have zoned out a little.”

  She smiled at him while she toweled off saying, “Look I get you’re worried about Kay, I’m telling you though Marrow wouldn’t hurt him nor would Tom.” She threw the towel on a bench and began stretching. This wasn’t helping him concentrate at all, he thought while watching the definition of her fine ass through the pants. She said, “Or maybe Kay isn’t the main thing on your mind tonight.. If you think I don’t know how hard you are staring or what you’re staring at, think again.”

  He sighed too tired to be embarrassed. “Can you bme me? Have you seen what I go through here? You are the closest I’ve gotten to sex in a very long time and that was.. Preempted before it even got good. I’ve got gods running around pying sexy time everywhere, a tournament to win, a bunch of people counting on me to save them, enemies lurking around every corner, who knows what side anyone is on, sexy gods running around teasing me constantly, then I can’t even go into the bathroom to rub… Eh-hem, I mean night cry without a crowd of paparazzi gathering, oh and did I mention I ate a heart the other day?.. So yeah, I have one or two things on my mind..”

  She was confused saying, “You said sexy gods twice.”

  Rolling his eyes he said, “Yeah, I was highlighting the importance of that one.”

  Miracle walked over taking a seat near him. She was there not looking at him but just sitting there. She asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

  Stu ughed asking, “Which part?”

  Miracle giggled saying, “Definitely the bathroom thing, Chaos has been on that forever now. She really can’t figure it out, poor girl.. Prosperity and I, can’t figure out which is funnier you or her.” She looked over to see Stu’s jaw hanging to the floor.

  He gasped, eyes-wide and pointing at her, “I knew it! You were fucking with me! My god! That’s so messed up of you two.. and the joke wasn’t even about me?”

  Miracle shook her head grinning, “No it was all about Chaos. You were just along for the ride; you know, the whole worshipper thing.”

  Stu was still in shock saying, “Now that I know the joke wasn’t about me, I feel like I got screwed over.” He grinned at her asking, “So, what else are you girls messing with me about?”

  Miracle still grinning said, “Work harder..”

  He smiled at her saying, “You must think that you are pretty cute to be giving me the me judge answer.”

  She stood up saying, “Well, it’s time for me to get out of here, but I am pretty cute so hang on tight. Also, if you want to um, night cry, as you put it, my door is always unlocked.” She smiled slyly leaving the gym.

  Stu was still and in complete shock, “Fucking ay.. I will... I mean.. God damn..”

  Chaos said, “Wow, that is a lot of sexual tension.”

  Stu ughed saying, “Sorry, that’s my fault. I had to let some out and apparently it called you here. So, are you going to tell me you leave your door unlocked too?”

  Chaos said, “We are fighting in a death tournament. Of course I lock my door.”

  Stu shook his head, “God.. damn.. Pragmatic as usual, huh Chaos?”

  She yelled at Stu for the first time ever, “You were cursing up a storm in hear and it was ringing in my head, I’m only here because you won’t stop thinking; God damn what I want to do to Miracle’s ass! Geesh, when you think God-anything, it’s basically a prayer I hear. You have got to quit filling my head with your nasty perverted thoughts!” She stopped catching her breath and giving Stu an unhappy look. Stu thought, God damn she is a virgin isn’t she? Chaos’s eyes grew wide as she hit him on the arm. “What? Why would you think that?”

  Stu said, “I’m sorry, but I did that on purpose. Seriously though, are you a virgin?” She started punching his arm again and yelling at him, this would have to do for a workout this evening.