Madison almost smiled.

"I just gave you my student ID. Then I told you my name. Then you --"

"Yeah yeah, my great secrets revealed. And I love your show by the way."

That perked Madison up a bit more.

"Thanks. I'll give you a shout out tonight."

"Are you still planning on working? Most people would take a night off after this."

"Those people must not have bills to pay," was the reply. She walked outside with her friends, and Heda gave her the rundown on Alvin's encounter with the cops. Another source of irritation to Heda was that none of the others even seemed that surprised.

“Probably best not say anything about Reichert either," Sasha said.

“Not that I don't believe Madison, but he can do no wrong in the eyes of most.”

Heda looked nervously towards Billy.

"I'm not trying to —'

“It's okay," Billy interrupted, "I basically think the whole King-by -might thing is archaic anyway. It's just a holdover from lycanthrope tribal tradition when physical strength was everything."

"Or speed," Heda put in. The Bird Queen was not the strongest of the bird shifters by far, having a hummingbird for a totem animal, but she was faster than hell, trained like a ninja, and was incredibly aggressive when provoked. Heda felt fortunate to have Samantha Brown as an old family friend.

"Madison, I've got a suspicion that this is where you'll get defensive and independent on me, but I don't think you should be walking alone until this gets sorted out. You know if you just came clean about your Gift, you could deal with him a lot more easily."

“It wouldn't stop him. It would just make him find other ways to screw with me."

"I'm beginning to think that Heda's right," Billy interjected, "but the decision is up to you. Let's get you to the radio station, okay?"

"Babe, I've got a student council meeting to go to. We're talking elections for the year," Sasha said, standing on her tippy-toes and kissing her boyfriend.

“I'm going to take off."

"Heda, could you walk her to the student center? I don't like the idea of you walking alone," he added, turning back to Sasha.

"Sure thing. Madison, you want company tonight? I can swing by after dropping Sasha off and picking up some stuff."

Madison's heart rate picking up to a level dangerous enough that she almost went back inside the medical center. She very much wanted Heda to spend the night, but she did not want to appear weak.

"You don't have to," she muttered.

"Yeah, but I want to. I've slept on less comfortable things than the floor."

Madison got nervous.

“You could sleep in the bed. You know, if you wanted --"