To All: Please stay indoors. The HRF is on-site. All current classes are suspended until 9 a.m. All classes after this time are to resume normally.

There went her plans to get to class early to maybe build up the courage to say hello to her professor.

Emily fidgeted on the spot. Another boom rocked the dormitory windows.

New Quest!

Fighting Good

Join the battle against the forces of good.

Reward: +3 Skill Upgrade points per Hero incapacitated or killed. Villain +4 per kill!

Accept? Refuse?

“Refuse!” she squeaked. “I-I can’t fight Heroes. I don’t even know what Create Sister does,” she whined to the box.

And then, as the words escaped her lips and an inward rush of wind filled the room, she realized her mistake.

For better or worse, a sister was coming.

CHAPTER TWO

Don’t Panic

Emily decided, quite sensibly, not to panic.

The breeze shifting around her room settled, and Emily shivered as the air stilled. She sat on the edge of her bed, her hands folded on her lap and her breath coming in deep gulps.

Skill: Create Sister successful!

Emily stared at the woman, no, the girl, standing before her where no one had been a minute ago.

She was on the shorter side, with a squat figure and big chubby cheeks framed by brown hair that was cut off at neck length. Emily would have placed her at thirteen or fourteen, with some growing left to do. She had a simple beige T-shirt with the word Bear on it in big letters over a pair of green cargo shorts.

She looked, at least to Emily, like any other teenage girl. That is, if the girl hadn’t had a pair of rounded ears poking through her hair and a few words floating about her head.

??? Wright

WereBear, Level 1

Emily looked away from the hovering words. The girl yawned. “What do you want me to do, Boss?”

“What?” Emily asked. She didn’t know why she was surprised by the girl talking. She should have expected it, really. “Wh-who are you?”

The girl blinked slowly. “I dunno. You haven’t named me yet.” She reached under her T-shirt and scratched at her tummy. “So, we’re gonna do that?”

“Name you?” Emily asked.

It kind of made sense. She’d never been one for games and such, but she knew that naming pets was normal. But this was a girl, an actual human . . . maybe. People didn’t name other people, not unless they were naming a baby, and that was a comparison that Emily was really, really not ready to make.

The girl nodded. “Yeah. I mean, unless you’ve got something else that needs doing?” She looked around the empty room as if to confirm that there really wasn’t anything to do.

“I . . . how?” Emily asked. She shook her head. That was moving ahead too quickly. She had to figure things out. “Can I . . . unsummon you?”

“Nah,” the girl said.