"I have been trying to avoid meeting these creatures for 215 years. You are perfectly aware of my attitude towards them. How can you be sure that I won't destroy this human being myself?"

"She is important!" Tol got up abruptly from the table, tired of bickering with his subordinate. "Too much depends on this girl. The Charon's escape ruined the Balance, which may affect the Source."

"Oh, Gods! And this human being is a woman! And don't you say she is a teenager!"

"I don't know. But you will have to watch her even if she is a baby! Do you understand?"

Tol was in that state when it was better not to argue with him. Regardless of Eugene's attitude towards the mission, since he considered the protection of some human being beneath his dignity, he had to come to terms with his Commander. He sighed heavily and asked,

"How can I find her?"

"The High Priest said to follow the trail of Charon. This is the way for you to find her. Try not to scare her with your appearance. According to the prediction, she must fight on the side of good! You are to help her become a fighter! Too much depends on this! I still have to talk to the Elders. This has never happened before, and I think that there may be complications in your mission, but so far you are required to protect her."

Having heard the last sentence of the Commander, Eugene barely suppressed a chuckle, thinking that if the existence of both kingdoms depends on the girl they are in serious trouble…

Boston. Massachusetts.

At the end of August, the freshness of the breeze came to Boston from the ocean and finally dispelled the suffocating heat. The stone jungle was able to take a break from the heat and breathe deeply. At this season, the city became especially beautiful, filled with the atmosphere permeated with knowledge, excitement from the approach of a new stage in life and the rustle of pages. Tens of thousands of freshmen flocked from all over the country to this amazing city to become part of the great Harvard brotherhood or to learn exact sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Everyone had their own dream, in the implementation of which no one could doubt, inhaling the wonderful aroma of the city, which motivated and inspired confidence.

But no one dared to confess a constant sense of fear. When you come to Boston from a small town, with all your provincial habits, you get the fear that you will never get used to it and blend in. Boston, like New York, was famous for its outstanding scientists who had achieved success. However, a number of failures also became the talk of the town. The city simply chewed those who got lost in the abundance of opportunities and spit them out to the edge of life.

Personally, I felt terribly afraid, and I preferred to keep silent about it. It was my first day away from home, my first day of independent life away from family and friends. My boyfriend Jackson came along with me. Though we spent almost all our life together, it was frightening and uncomfortable to realize that we would live together as a real couple.

We almost immediately found an apartment on the outskirts of Boston. Jackson did not want to live in the dormitory far from me, so we did not hesitate to rent an apartment of 29 sq.m. that had struck us with its atmosphere. It immediately seemed so cozy that I felt like crying and laughing from the feeling of being like home.

All our belongings fitted into the trunk of the Jackson's pre-owned Ford, and now these few boxes were scattered randomly around in the bedroom.

"We should have marked them!" I involuntarily shuddered from unexpected touches of Jackson, which brought me out of my reverie. "Did I scare you? I am sorry!" Jackson leaned his cheek against my ear, as he always did hoping to reassure me. "You have nothing to fear. Soon we will get used to the new place, make friends, find a job. Everything will be all right!"

"I know. It's just unusual not to hear the cries of the little ones, not to help my mother around the house, not to think about final exams…" and yet there was this strange feeling of anxiety inside, which did not pass no matter what I did.

"By the way! We still did not celebrate your graduation! Your friends insist on a party," my boyfriend's posed enthusiasm touched me. He never liked parties, but I did. My friends oftentimes had those evenings when Jackson came along with me and acted like a knight in shining armor if things got out of hand. It should be noted that it was an ordinary thing when Mickey and Rosy were the ones to organize the event. My best friends are walking disasters.

"Oh, no! Please! I don't feel like having a party right now. There's still so much to do before the semester starts."

"I'm afraid they won't back off. You know them well! They are not going to stop…" Jackson started laughing.

The only good news was that the girls would move to Boston in two days. And only then they would organize a party to celebrate the graduation, which we were deprived of due to Director Sanders. This old intriguer did not allow us to attend our own graduation. The day before the exams, he searched our drawers, where the students kept their secrets. In the end, he found a package of weed in the drawer of some cheerleader, and we all were deprived of the right to attend one of the most important events in our lives. Due to the absence of graduates, the chic ball turned into some gathering with homemade pizza and the signature toddy of our math teacher. Something told me it was Mr. Sanders' thoughtful step to save the school budget.

It took us long to persuade Mr. Sanders to let us at least pass the exams, otherwise, we would not be able to apply to universities. We defended this right though had to say goodbye to the party.

Not that I was too worried about it. On the contrary, instead of a stupid ball with voting for a queen and a king of the class, I had an unforgettable evening with my family. We said goodbye to my parents who did not want to let me go as if Boston was not three hours away from our home but on the other side of the Universe. And here we are far from all the friends, plunged into the routine of independent life.

I felt exhausted by the evening. We had no bed but a mattress with pillows, though it seemed unusually attractive and infinitely comfortable. It is so strange that people sometimes leave a cozy father's house for the sake of independence in an empty and cold apartment with dilapidated walls. We fly out of the parent's nest, filled with dreams and great plans, enthusiasm to implement them but, eventually, we turn into the same slaves of routine as our parents and hundreds of generations before them. One way or another, we still had a lot of strength and hope that our life with Jackson would be filled with a little more meaning than "home-work-children-death."

The next morning, I went to the Harvard Administrative Corps. I did not believe that I still managed to enter the most prestigious and old university in the country. I was lucky enough to get a scholarship since my parents could not afford to pay for my tuition regardless of their desire. Though, I had to cover myself the rest of the expenses. Jackson helped me with financial matters, but I had already arranged a couple of interviews because I could not be a drain on his pocket and wanted to help him pay for the apartment and other current bills.

After filling out a bunch of forms and finishing all the formalities at the university, I decided to take a walk around the territory. The green lawn was neatly trimmed as if calling to sit down and enjoy the book by Shakespeare; the majestic buildings, built of red brick, were waiting for the arrival of new students. The smell inside was amazing: the combination of old volumes of books, leather and wood inspired to acquire knowledge. Now I understood the worship of Harvard students to their University, who were honored to become members of the brotherhood and proud to be called the graduates of the Ivy League Institution for the rest of their lives. Most of them worshipped Harvard University so much that they would constantly wear various attributes, confirming their association with the university, starting with caps and ending with hoodies.