By the second period, Arkgrim had completely risen from the dead. He stopped resembling an amorphous mass and even began to show signs of meaningful activity—for example, drawing some strange, toothy creatures in the margins of my notebook.

  "Listen," I nudged him with my elbow. "Have you even thought about what you're going to do for New Year's? There's barely any time left, a week and a half."

  Arkgrim froze. His black eyes suddenly flared with such excitement, as if I had proposed he hack the Pentagon server at the very least.

  "New Year's?" he straightened up sharply, and I felt with my skin how the energy sparked around him. "Listen here, Leon. I have a plan. A grand plan. We must..."

  He made a dramatic pause.

  "Must what?" I asked apprehensively.

  "We must find ourselves girlfriends. That is our number one goal."

  I almost fell off my chair.

  "What?! Arkgrim, are you in your right mind? Have you seen yourself in the mirror? You're fourteen, you're tiny!"

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "What do you mean, 'in my right mind'?" Arkgrim raised his eyebrows indignantly. "Are you the normal one here, Leon? You're sitting here surrounded by cards of men in armor while life passes you by!"

  I just sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose. Yeah, teenage hormones are a terrifying thing. You can't argue with biology.

  "And how do you picture this?" I asked skeptically. "Do you have some kind of strategy?"

  "A strategy?" Arkgrim smirked smugly. "Everything is already figured out. Plan 'Direct Action'. We'll just walk up to the first girls we meet on the street and introduce ourselves. The mathematical probability of success approaches infinity if the sample size is large enough. Someone will eventually agree."

  "That's a lost cause," I cut him off. "We'll either get laughed at or they'll call the police. Do you have any idea how that looks from the outside?"

  Arkgrim suddenly stopped smiling. He looked at me with such unshakable confidence that it made me uneasy.

  "Why are you such a pessimist?" he almost growled. "Well, if you don't believe in yourself, then believe in me! I could use your faith in my abilities. I am Arkgrim Helv, you think I can't handle a couple of girls in the park?"

  I couldn't help but smile. After all, no matter what power he possessed, at heart he remained a child. Naive, arrogant, and completely restless.

  "Alright. Just don't whine later when even the ice cream vendor rejects you."

  "Oh, you'll regret your words, Leon," Arkgrim sprawled out in his chair again, throwing his hands behind his head. "You'll see, by New Year's we'll be the kings of this city. Or, at the very least, of this food court."