Minx and Sil kissed then he left, taking his bag with him.
Minx followed her normal routine. When she finished her sword training she went back to her lab. The girls were on speed drills outside and then to study more once they returned. Minx realized she should bring some of those plant books to the lab as well and retrieved them from her house.
She wanted to put the ones she would not be reading immediately in a safe place. She opened her locked cabinet to discover something was missing…
"Damnit Sil!!!"
She slammed the cabinet closed. Then she opened it again to put her books away and closed it again.
Minx turned around and leaned against the counter. "What am I going to do with him?"
Since she was the only one in the room, she didn't expect an answer.
"What did he do?" Minx about jumped out of her skin as she heard Shalt's voice. He had been in with the babies since the Blade kids were back on the ship and the girls were training.
Minx sighed. "He's developed a … problem. He likes my energy bars. A little too much. He stole all of the last batch as well as all of the current batch I made just before he came home."
"And these bars do what? Are they dangerous?"
"Not at all. It's just extra energy. Too much could put a strain on the body but I haven't made any one bar that could do that. If he ate all of those in one sitting, it could be bad. Based on this, I will pause on making them."
Shalt nodded, "sounds like a plan to me. You should also tell the Tenth Leader."
"I'm not sure if I should involve Quinn…"
"Minx, if Sil could tax his system, He needs to know."
Minx nodded. She went into the room, "grab Olivia," as she picked up Owen.
"We'll leave Caser here. Her kittens are due at any time. We need to make this trip fast."
"Then let's go."
As quickly as they could, they were headed toward the command center of the Cursed Ship. They met Quinn moments after he left there, headed their direction.
Quinn stopped in his tracks and stared at Minx for a moment. She looked so different from when he last saw her. Minx also faltered in her steps. She noticed Vincent was back.
Noticing his pause but not caring, she approached him and said, "I need to talk to you about Sil. In private."
Next thing Minx knew, she was in a dark place. Owen pulled her hair then tried to put it in his mouth. Minx pulled her hair from her son's fist so just his fist went into his mouth. Suddenly, Quinn was in front of her.
"I know you're busy so I'll be straight. I have succeeded in making my energy bars. The bars that refill your MC? Well, Sil took both batches. The last one he stole from my bag a few days before you took him to the vampire world. He ate all of them while you were gone. Also, while you were gone, I made a batch three times stronger so they would go further in helping the troops win against the dalki."
Minx took a deep breath, noticing Quinn's expression hadn't changed. "He tried telling me he ate them because they reminded him of me while he was away. While I'm sure that's part of it, he also told me he feels useless. He doesn't have enough to do. I told him to use your soul weapon machine as well as go on hunts so he can get some armor. He has some beast clothing but armor would also be good for him."
Quinn was still staring at her. "I heard everything you said but I must ask. Can you fly with those?"
Minx laughed and flapped her wings. She lifted off the ground. Owen screeched and clapped.
Quinn smiled. "That must be fun! As for Sil, is it dangerous?"
"As long as he only eats 1 or 2 days he'll be fine, but I won't make any more until this problem is solved. He's too idle."
Quinn nodded. "Military school will be starting soon. I was thinking of sending him as a student to look for that ability and have someone be with him at all times."
Minx nodded, "I like the idea. He functions just fine, maybe childlike sometimes, around me. Kind of like he would around Vorden or Raten but he wants to help you which significantly pushes him way out of his comfort zone."
Quinn nodded, "I'll make sure he's not alone from now on. I'll let you know if there are any problems."
Minx nodded, "Thank you, Quinn. I really appreciate this."
Quinn smiled softly, "it's not like this is a favor. He's my friend. I want to help him, too."
Minx smiled and was suddenly standing next to Shalt. "And quit being a stranger!"
Minx laughed, "do I always have to visit you? You could visit too."
Quinn's eye went between the babies, "they've gotten so big. Has it been that much time already?"
Minx smiled and nodded, "I don't know if you know but Sil brought me a bunch of books from your library. They look to be very beneficial in my research."
"Good!"
"Before I go, I'd like to welcome back Vincent and hope his council will be beneficial. I'll see you later, Quinn. I didn't tell anyone where I was going and they tend to panic…" Minx chuckled.
Owen waved at himself as they turned around to head back home.
Minx walked into her lab, thought about her energy bars, got angry and returned home. She decided to read the books on magic instead. After all, this was what vampire technology was based on.
While Minx was telling on her husband, Sil was sitting in the soul-weapon machine. Minx never used this since Nate's instructions helped her greatly. Sil didn't know he should talk to Nate. It would have been a simple thing to ask Quinn what he should do in this regard but he refused to talk to Quinn unless he had to at this point. He needed Quinn's help and wasn't getting it. In short, he was pouting.
He didn't know what to do so he put on the helmet and sat in the chair and just waited. Eventually, he fell asleep. While in a dream, he saw a book inside him. However, since he didn't have any guidance, he had no idea how to use the book or how to manifest it in his hand to even look at it.