"Oh, that's beautiful," she whispered. She did not see Madison slink back down the stairs. Her echolocation, however powerful, would never reach the mountains, so she would never see what Heda saw would never appreciate the world on that scale. She lived in her own little bubble and always would.

Heda caught up with her lover in the kitchen, where Carla was drooling over the stainless steel appliances.

"Can we have it mommy?" she asked, looking at Heda.

"Can we can we can we —-"

"That's up to everyone," Heda grinned.

"I ain't supporting you clowns."

I need to find a job for spending cash as it is. My folks will only put up with so much." She put an arm around Madison and kissed her cheek.

"So, interested?" Then she looked at Peter, who walked back in with a cell phone to his ear.

"What's the damage?"

“His Majesty would only charge us fifteen hundred a month for the house, but we'd pay all our own utilities. Still, that's . . . let's see, me, you, Kevin, Anthony, Joanna, Carla, Madison, Sasha, and Billy. That's ten."

“One hundred and fifty apiece?" Madison said, her eyes opening wide.

“Sounds Like something you could do," Heda whispered into the girl's ear. She and Peter made eye contact.

“As extra incentive, you could have the whole basement as yours."

"Ooh man," Anthony said as he walked in.

"If we could wire the whole house for sound, we could set Madison up as the house DJ! The house would be rockin' twenty-four/seven!"

Madison tried to appear stoic when she asked, "So how do we get out of our housing contracts?"

Heda paced the hallway outside of Reichert's office several times before knocking. She hated doing this. Absolutely hated it. The door opened just as her fist touched it.

"Come in Miss Adler," the Reptile King said.

"Your pacing is giving me a headache."

She walked in and sat in the offered guest chair while he sat behind his desk, giving her an even glare.

"Thank you for seeing me," Heda said between clenched teeth.

“Some of us were looking to rent a house together just off campus . . . you know, the whole safety in numbers thing. It's close enough that I could still perform my neighborhood watch duties, or maybe even assume a new area for shifters who live off campus."

“Sounds reasonable," Reichert said flatly.

"Why are you talking to me?"

“Because we would need to get out of our housing contracts. You have enough sway to make that happen without us having to pay a lot of penalties." Heda actually began to grow uncomfortable under his stare.