Morgana Petrew woke up on Sunday morning.

This was only unusual because it was 3:00 AM and she was still drunk.

She was drunk because she had been up until 2:00 AM at her graduation party.

This in turn raised the question: Why was she awake at 3 AM on Sunday morning?

Short answer: Because she was about to wish that waking up with a hangover was the biggest problem she had.

Like any normal person, she rolled over and tried to slip back into the foggy haze of drunken sleep, but she felt restless.

She stared up at the paneled ceiling and groaned. She was planning on sleeping in until late that morning so that she could drag herself out of bed for a pick-me-up at her leisure. Now, she couldn't get to sleep. She could feel the sluggishness of the alcohol dragging at her thoughts, and her body was listless, but she just couldn't sleep.

She cursed, and sat up. Her room tilted around her, and her stomach squeezed.

She made a run for the bathroom, barely making it to the sink. She washed out her mouth and took a drink of the cool water. Once she was done, she clumsily rinsed the sink out. The last thing she needed was a lecture to go with her pending hangover.

She was a normal 18 year old. She had graduated with good grades and was planning to become a doctor. She had her CPR and First Aid certifications.

Her parents were supportive of her goals, but they were so busy with their careers that they didn't really have a lot of time at home. Especially her mom, who was a college professor. She specialized in Medieval History, unfortunately for Morgana, who had been bullied relentlessly through elementary school because of the name she shared with Arthurian legends' greatest female villain.

Regardless, she was happy. She had learned to ignore the hurtful jabs and nicknames and found that most people didn't really care.

She stumbled back into her room, taking a moment to lean against the cool wall to get her bearings. It was a few seconds before she registered a tall figure, standing outside her window. She looked away, reminding herself that there was no way someone could stand outside her window. There was nothing to stand on.

Must be the alcohol, she told herself. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes, nothing was there.

Morgana let out a breath and staggered over to her bed. She crawled in and pulled the covers up to her chin, closing her eyes. Still, sleep eluded her. She huffed and opened her eyes to stare at her ceiling. As she watched, the shadows began shifting, as if some beam of light were moving up from outside. She sat up and looked with bleary eyes at the window. A shadow from inside fell across it as well, shifting oddly with the others. She stared at them, all facing away from the middle of the floor. She looked at the ceiling, but it was just as it had been, except for the shadows creeping across it. She picked up her pillow and hurled it at the spot where no shadows touched. Instantly, the room was back to normal. She waited for several seconds before she lay back, convinced that she had been seeing things.

She closed her eyes and almost immediately, she was asleep.

Up on the roof of Morgana's house, a mysterious man squatted on his heels. His short, platinum blond hairstood out boldly against the dark night sky, and his glacier blue eyes seemed to glow with an eerie light. His features were well defined and proportioned with sharp eyes and a well formed mouth.

He looked down at his hands and smiled. He wasn't sure at first, but now there could be no doubt. She was the one. He tilted his face up to look at the sky and grinned savagely.

"Now its my turn."

He was greeted by the sounds of cars rushing on the expressway and faintly wailing sirens in the distance. There was no answer, but he hadn't expected one.

He rolled his shoulders and stood up, taking one last look down at his target.

She was a typical human. Foolish, ignorant and oh-so fragile. She had long, black hair like liquid obsidian and large, grey eyes that were the color of a stormy Atlantic sea, fringed with long, sooty eyelashes. She was small, even for a human, and she looked like she would crumble at the slightest touch.

A thought occurred to him and he extended his hand towards her. He closed his eyes and focused to gather a thread of power into his hand.

He gritted his teeth. It was pitiful that he had been reduced to straining for such a pitiful thing.

Once he had gathered enough, he formed it into a sigil and directed it to the woman sleeping peacefully below him.

"I'll be seeing you again soon." He whispered, then vanished into thin air.

By late morning, Morgana's hangover had faded some, which she was thankful for, but her headache remained. She couldn't recall the details of the night before, but the party had been very lively.

She got undressed and took a shower. As she was toweling off, she noticed something peeking over her shoulder in the mirror. She turned to see what it was and gasped in shock.

An intricate tattoo of a pair of outstreched wings ran across her shoulders. It was beautiful, but she couldn't remember getting it. She ran her fingers over it cautiously but it didn't hurt. She sighed in relief. Not permanent, then. For some reason, she felt a twinge of disappointment.

Morgana got dressed and came downstairs. Her mother, Nancy Rorden, was sitting at the table, reading on her tablet and drinking coffee.

She looked up and sighed. "I've put your breakfast in the microwave."

Morgana mumbled a thank you and reached for the brown paper bag. As she sat down at the table her mother sighed again and put down her tablet, folding her arms across her chest. Morgana knew what was coming and she put her breakfast sandwich down.

"I thought we discussed this." her mother said sternly, "No drinking until you've reached the legal age."

Morgana groaned. "Mom, it's graduation! Everybody goes to graduation parties."

Ms. Rorden rubbed her temple. "That may be true, but that doesn't mean you have to drink."

Morgana rolled her eyes. "That's the whole point of the party Besides, it's not like you stayed dry until you were 21."

Her mother sighed. "That's true. But I'm just trying to keep you from making the same mistakes as I did."

That hurt a lot more than it should have. Morgana knew that she had been concieved while her parents were drunk at a party in high school. They had attempted to raise their baby together for a while, but they never got married, and eventually, Nancy had decided to just raise her daughter alone.

Raising her daughter while trying to get her Doctorate was quite difficult for her. After she graduated, she became a workaholic and her relationship with her teen daughter became strained.

Ms. Rorden was silent for several tense minutes as she sipped at her coffee. Finally she spoke. "Your father called last night."

Morgana perked up at that. "What did he say?"

Her mother shrugged. "He didn't. I told him you were out and he said to have you call him."

Morgana's father was now a successful businessman who lived and worked overseas. She hadn't seen him for quite a while, but he would call occasionally and sometimes sent her gifts or money.

Morgana called him and waited for him to pick up as she finished her food.

After about five rings, he answered cheerfully, and congratulated her on her graduation. Then he asked about her plans for the weekend and made small talk before telling her that he had sent her a present. She asked about his job and when he was planning to visit, and recieved a non-commital answer, as usual.

After hanging up, she groaned in frustration.

It wasn't really his fault that he couldn't come back to the US more often, but knowing that didn't make it any easier.

Nancy pointedly ignored their conversation, and she immediatly asked about something else as soon as Morgana hung up.

That afternoon, Morgana met up with her bestfriend at the mall's food court. Jayna had alreay ordered herself a sandwich and she waved energetically as Morgana approached.

Morgana ordered something for herself, then joined her friend at the table. Jayna was chattering on about a massive fight that had happened at the party, while Morgana tried to think of a way to ask about her new tattoo without alarming her.

"Jayna, did I do anything weird last night?" she asked casually.

Her friend stopped chattering and shook her head. "Not really. Why?"

Morgana rubbed her shoulder awkwardly. "Well, I have this tattoo and I can't remember getting it."

Jayna's eyes glazed over for a second, then she smiled brightly. "Oh, that? I thought it was pretty."

Morgana couldn't shake the uncomfortable feeling in her gut, but it seemed like she really had gotten a drunk tattoo. Her mother was going to be mad.

After eating, she and Jayna went shopping. Morgana and her mom weren't rich, but neither were they poor. With the money her father sent her every month, she had more than enough to spend as she pleased.

She finished shopping, then headed out. She was on the escalator going down when a man ran up the ascending stairs to her right and grabbed her purse. She shrieked in surprise, and her purchases went flying.

The purse snatcher dashed up the stairs and disappeared as Morgana tried to collect herself. She reported the incident to security, but given the time he'd had to get away, the thief was unlikely to to be apprehended. She left the Mall and went to the bus stop. The last bus had barely left, so she sat down to wait.

A footstep scraped off to the side and she looked up. A tall man in non-descript casual clothes was holding out her wallet. She immediately sensed something 'off' about him. He was generic, in every way. It somehow reminded her of an NPC in a video game. She reached out hesitantly to take it from him and checked the contents. Everything was still there and she blew out a relieved sigh.

"Don't you trust me?" he asked, and she instantly felt wary of him.

"No." she replied honestly, then added, "But you're not the one I was worried about."

He smiled and sat down beside her. "You don't mind if I wait with you, right?"

She considered refusing, but he had already sat down, and she didn't want to be rude.

An awkward silence fell between them. After a few minutes, Morgana's phone rang, startling her. She answered her mother's call and for several minutes, she tried to calm her down. Apparently, someone who had seen the incident had called her mom and told her about it. After she finally calmed down, she mentioned that a package had come for Morgana.

After another long, awkward wait, the bus arrived, and Morgana hurried over to it. The man got up and started walking away. "Hey." she called out, "Aren't you getting on?"

He shook his head and held up a pair of car keys. "I was just escorting the lady."

She blinked, then smiled. "And they say chivalry is dead."

He grinned, and she could see that it was genuine. The first show of real emotion that she had seen from him. It was actually a little eerie. "I'll see you around, Mall Lady." He called as he turned away.

"I wouldn't count on it, Random NPC." she said under her breath as she got on the bus.

He walked away from the bus, grinning at her quiet words. She was going to be quite surprised. He waited until the bus pulled onto the busy street before he released the glamor. Being unremarkable was more draining than he'd expected. People passed by him, unaware of his presence as always.

To his knowledge, Morgana was the only human who could see him as he was now. He intended to chage that, but for now, he could only wait patiently. He had waited so long already, what was a few more months or years? If there was anything that he had learned during his banishment, it was patience.