A little while later...
Lithia stood in the middle of the Hensleys' living room, arms crossed, glaring at her surroundings. Everything about this place screamed boring. The beige walls. The overstuffed couches. The kitchen table that looked like it had seen far too many family dinners for her liking.
But then, there was the fact that this was her new home, whether she liked it or not. Greg had insisted on offering her "shelter" (as if she needed it) after she showed up, more or less falling out of the sky. She still hadn't figured out how the whole "teleportation" thing worked, but clearly, whatever sent her here was just as unkind as the people in this absurd world.
"Alright, kiddo," Greg said, his ever-present cheerful tone making Lithia twitch. He clapped his hands together like he was preparing for a show. "Let's make it official, yeah?"
Lithia barely acknowledged him, still mentally preparing to burn the entire place down if it came to that. But Greg's voice cut through her dark thoughts.
"You're gonna need a place to stay, right? I can't just let a kid like you roam around the streets. That'd be inhumane."
She gave him a blank stare. "What do you mean by 'inhumane'? Are you suggesting I'm not human?"
Greg chuckled like she'd cracked a joke. "You might be more 'warrior princess' than regular kid, but I think we can make this work."
She narrowed her eyes. "I don't need charity."
"You've got a roof, don't you?" Greg shot back with a grin. "And, well, now you've got a family, too. It's what we do around here. Adopt the weird ones. You're one of us now."
Lithia froze. Adopt.
She'd never needed family, but the sheer absurdity of the situation made her blink. Was this how humans operated? Offering shelter so easily? Without question?
Her fingers twitched, feeling her sub-space pocket where her spider-silk outfits lay, ready to be called upon. She didn't trust these people, but she needed a place to stay, at least until she figured out how to tear apart this strange world's infrastructure.
"Fine," she said, voice as cold as ever. "But I won't stay long. You're wasting your hospitality on someone who doesn't need it."
Greg smiled warmly, already used to Lithia's icy responses. "Trust me, I think you'll be around longer than you think. We're a weird family, but it's never boring."
The Next Day...
Lithia sat at the breakfast table, glaring at the cereal bowl in front of her. She didn't trust the "food" they put in front of her. Some of it looked like... tiny colored rocks. They called it "cereal," and when Greg offered to pour milk on top, Lithia stared at him like he had just offered her poison.
She didn't move.
"You don't have to eat it if you don't want to, but you are going to need some energy if you're going to school, kiddo," Greg said, sliding into a chair beside her, completely unbothered.
"School?" Lithia scoffed. "I am not... normal enough for your school." Her glare cut through the air like a sword.
Greg chuckled. "I think you might fit in just fine, honestly. If nothing else, you'll make an impression." He turned to his wife, who was smiling over her own bowl of cereal. "What do you think, Carol? Does she look like she's ready for our world?"
Carol Hensley looked over at Lithia, eyes twinkling behind her glasses. "Well, she certainly looks like she could teach everyone a thing or two. But yeah, I think school will be a good place for you to start learning... about us."
Lithia opened her mouth to argue, but then the sound of feet pounding on the stairs interrupted her.
"Mom! Daaaaad! We're gonna be late!" shouted a boy's voice from above. Lithia turned just in time to see Ethan — the kid who had immediately introduced himself like he was the king of the world — barreling down the stairs with his backpack swinging wildly.
Greg shot a glance at Lithia. "You're about to meet the real insanity. Hang tight."
Before she could retort, Greg got up and turned to lead her outside. Lithia followed him without a word, still trying to comprehend how any of this worked.
Outside the Hensley Home...
Greg had insisted on driving, so Lithia had begrudgingly gotten into his car. It still looked like a demon beast, but she held her tongue, only glaring at the seatbelt like it had personally offended her.
When they arrived at Ethan's school, Lithia immediately stood out like a sore thumb. The children around her stared at her as if she were an alien, and honestly? She kind of felt like one. Her towering height, stark white hair, and red eyes definitely weren't helping with blending in.
"Come on," Greg said, giving her a light shove toward the school entrance. "Time to meet the locals."
Lithia walked alongside him, careful not to break anything with her mere presence. The school was just as ordinary as everything else in this "human" world: boring, gray brick, a couple of kids running around, and zero magical auras to speak of.
As they entered the school grounds, she saw a girl standing with a group of other kids. This one was taller than most, with dark hair and a skeptical look on her face. She wasn't afraid of Lithia, which was something Lithia instantly respected.
"This is Leah," Greg said, gesturing toward the girl. "Leah, meet Lithia. We adopted her, you know, because we're super into collecting weird kids."
Leah looked Lithia up and down, then gave a small smile. "You're definitely... different," she said, looking Lithia dead in the eyes. "But don't worry. We have all sorts of weird here."
"...I'm not weird," Lithia said, though her voice lacked its usual icy edge. "I'm a noble. I'm—"
"Right. You're a noble. But you're here now, and you're definitely going to fit in just fine. Trust me, it's all chaos." Leah grinned, throwing an arm around Lithia's shoulders with surprising confidence. "Come on, I'll introduce you to the others. We've got plenty of room in the weirdness department."
For the first time since arriving in this chaotic place, Lithia hesitated. Maybe, just maybe, this world wasn't the complete disaster she'd expected. The people here were... odd, but there was something about their warmth, their openness, that made her wonder if this was what she'd been missing.
The ride to the Hensleys' might have been jarring, but this? This was something completely new.
End of Chapter Two.