Caleb’s discussion with Keane about the curse, parasite, illness situation took so long that Alois was growing impatient. To help kill some time and fill their stomachs with something other than cookies, Cassandra borrowed the kitchen to make some lunch. Or was it supper by now? Dinner, perhaps? Either way, her therapeutic cooking class came in clutch.

  It wasn't until everything was prepared that Caleb rejoined them. "It is definitely that fish, but Keane is having a hard time getting any details on what it is and where it came from," he reported, "He agrees with the idea about the curse, but he is also certain it is a parasite."

  "Can we not talk about this over dinner?" Alois complained, grimacing at his forkful of food.

  "I just thought you should know," Caleb said with a shrug, "You didn't do the summoning without me, did you? I can't wait to see how much the environment affects your summoning abilities."

  "It will be something incredible, and useful in our situation," Alois bragged, "Now that Cassandra summoned Michelle I won't have to worry about inheriting my mentor's summon by accident."

  Caleb smirked. "Well, no matter what you summon, it can't be more impressive than Yuki himself," he teased.

  Alois grimaced. "Don't jinx me. If I'm not careful, I might end up summoning a person instead."

  "We won't find out until you start," Cassandra pointed out, "Now finish your dinner and make sure to clean up." She took the final bite of her food and headed to the sink herself. Magic was always so convenient. The magic powered faucet functioned much better than the plumbing she recalled from her dreams. It also had the bonus feature of automatically cleaning dishes once they were placed in the sink.

  Dinner finished with only a bit more bickering between Alois and Caleb with Wayde silently observing from the side like always. How had someone so introverted managed to become king in the past? Seeing how skillfully Maximus worked a crowd it truly was hard to imagine their positions being swapped. Then again, maybe he had the drive to make up for it before everything happened.

  Rather than the cozy living room, Alois chose the sunroom, with a perfect view of the ocean, to perform his summoning. It was hard to tell if his flair for dramatics came from his time as a merchant or as the Headmaster's apprentice. Either way, Cassandra made sure to watch from the next room over so whatever he managed to summon didn't feel too crowded.

  Once the room was empty of everyone but him, Alois stood in the middle and began to gather magic. Cassandra wasn't really an expert on summoning, but she felt that something was a bit off as the magic continued to build and gather. Just what kind of monster was Alois trying to summon right now?!

  "Should we stop him?" Cassandra whispered to Caleb.

  "No. This is the reason he tried summoning here in the first place," Caleb whispered back, "First time summoning takes a lot more magic than normal summoning. From the looks of it, whatever his magic is reaching out to must be from another world. Wait... This specific magic pattern seems familiar."

  Stolen novel; please report.

  That sounded oddly foreboding. "Familiar in what way?" Cassandra asked cautiously, but before Caleb could answer the summoning was completed and a terrifyingly familiar man with silver hair appeared before Alois in the center of the room. It was that rogue summon. No, since Alois had summoned him properly he wasn't rogue now, but he had killed his summoner last time.

  "Send him back!" Cassandra warned, bursting into the room in a panic, "We can't summon that one!"

  The summon locked eyes with her after her desperate shouting and smirked. "Ah its the cookie girl who sucks at summoning but is good at sending things back," he noted, "Judging by how panicked you are, my being here must be an unfortunate accident this time."

  "Cassandra?" Alois asked uncertainly, taking a step away from the silver haired summon, "This isn't that summon, is it?"

  The summon grabbed Alois's shoulder to stop him from retreating any further. "You must be my summoner this time," he mused, "Don't send me back just yet. I am curious about this world now that I have gotten over being a puppet."

  "Unfortunately, we can't hold onto the summoning for long unless we make a contract," Caleb provided, "Normal summoning magic requires the summon to accept the summoner and the exchange of names."

  "I have to tell you my name?" the summon asked with a frown.

  "Any name will do," Alois told him hurriedly, with a wince as the hand on his shoulder tightened, "It is just what I would call you to summon you and during your time here."

  The summon considered it for a few moments. "I can't be sure you are worthy of using my name, but names have a special significance in my culture so I can't let you just give me a new one," he deliberated, "Then again, I am retired so perhaps it would be fine for me to give myself an alias. Let's go with Winter."

  “Winter,” Alois repeated cautiously. The moment the name left his mouth, the summoning magic stabilized. “This is the first time I have seen an alias like that working.”

  “That’s true,” Caleb agreed, “but the theory is that any name will do, so long as the summon acknowledges it. This is safer for us, too, since you will only be able to summon versions of him that accept the name. There is no risk of summoning him in his unretired state.”

  “Would that have been a possibility without the name?” Winter asked in interest.

  “Time between your world and ours is inconsistent,” Caleb explained, “We have observed the same summon appearing with both past and future versions of themselves each time they are summoned. The only way to ensure you aren’t summoning someone for the first time later is to make the pact with a name. That name will become the starting point and the summon will only be capable of being summoned after it is given. For beings that already have names, sometimes we give nicknames for the same effect.”

  “In other words, if I were to tell you my childhood name you could theoretically summon my childhood self with it?” Winter asked.

  “Theoretically,” Caleb confirmed, “but we have no interest in doing so.”

  “Good. I didn’t have a name back then anyway,” Winter said with a smirk, then looked to Cassandra, “Since I am here, prepare something for me to eat. I will treat this like an unexpected vacation.”

  “Aren’t you retired?” Alois asked.

  “Retired people can’t have vacations?” Winter shot back, never losing his imposing confidence.

  “We won’t be having much of a vacation,” Cassandra warned, “We are heading back to the seaport to investigate a parasite that might be tied to a curse.”

  Winter grinned. “Sounds entertaining. Count me in.”