A Human’s Guide to Surviving Magical Mishaps by Kit Bryan
Rule 76- When hungover, drink plenty of water, eat something greasy, and don't make any major life decisions until you can remember your own name.

After I finish my dessert, no one really feels like staying at the pub anymore. I'm feeling a lot better, but I don't think I've ever been so quiet in my life. I have to argue with Lucy who doesn't want me to drive home. She's worried I'm in shock. Eventually she agrees to let me, but mostly because she doesn't want to leave her car behind and fitting everyone in my car would TECHNICALLY be possible, but it would crush poor Fin's wings. I drive home carefully and slowly and honestly it's nice to have something to focus on. In the rearview mirror I can see Lucy following carefully behind me. She has Marcus in her car while I have Fin and Ashton, although I think Fin only came with me out of some strange sense of loyalty and desire to keep an eye on myself and Ashton because I'm fairly sure he would rather be with Lucy. We all head back to my house and within seconds of pulling into the driveway, Lucy has taken charge. She unlocks the door and directs Ashton to take me to the living room. She drags Fin and Marcus with her down the hall and when she returns they are both dragging mattresses with them from my room and Ashton's. She leaves Marcus with the two fae and directs them to 'get the room ready' as she drags me back to my bedroom. My bed looks so empty without the mattress. Lucy throws my most comfy pyjamas at me and directs me to get dressed. When I return to the living room, the guys have set up all the mattresses and couch into one giant comfy bed. Lucy puts on my favourite movies and we all curl up in the bed, although Fin noticeably stays as far away from the group as he reasonably can and while Ashton stays near enough to hold my hand, he also makes sure that there is no other physical contact between us, and more importantly between himself and my friends. Considering how much of their contact he's tolerated thus far tonight, I'm actually kind of impressed. I wake up to the sound of the front door creaking open. Sitting up, I disentangle myself from Lucy and move to greet my dad. A glance at my phone tells me it's already five am. He worked all night, he must be exhausted. I meet him in the hallway and drag him into a tight hug.

"Are you okay dad?" I whisper to him. He sighs deeply.

"Not yet, but I will be. I don't have long to talk, I just came home to sleep for a few hours then I'll be heading back to work. I'm going to find out what happened to her Kat." He promises.

"How... How did she die?" I ask nervously, not totally sure that I want to know the answer.

"I'm not totally sure, I have people looking into it right now and the coroner is trying to work out what happened. She was found in a park but physically she looked fine. I didn't even believe she was actually dead when I first saw her." I can hear the sadness in my dad's voice, and also the exhaustion. He suddenly looks up over my shoulder and I whirl around to see Ashton standing behind me.

"I do not wish to intrude but... Is it possible that your friend died because of poison?" He asks solemnly. Dad contemplates his question.

"The coroner would have to confirm it but... it's possible I suppose." He admits.

"Then I will assist you. I will try to find out who harmed your friend, if she was indeed harmed by someone else. Do you have any information we could use to start with?" Ashton asks. Dad sighs again and rubs at his tired eyes. "Alright. We don't have much. But call George and he can send you what we do have, tell him I approved it." he agrees. Decision made, he pats me on the shoulder one more time before stumbling down the hall and off to bed.

We call George right away to get the information. I can hear Lucy stirring in the living room and murmuring quietly to Fin. Marcus must not be working today but that's probably a good thing because he is going to be so hungover. I'm feeling a lot better today, still sad obviously. But I'm ready to do something, and if Ashton is willing to help investigate then that's what I want to do, even if there is no guarantee that the fae assassin is involved.

"We don't have a lot to go on yet, mostly we're just working on tracing Lara's steps for the last few days. She was meant to be working yesterday but she called in and requested a personal day. She didn't say why. Her phone records have her making several calls to her sister though. I was going to send someone down to ask about them. We tried last night but after notifying her she was... Not in a condition to talk to us about anything." George explains.

"Can we go with them? Or would that be too much? I don't want to overwhelm her..." I trail off. George is quiet for a moment.

"I'll send Graham to talk to her. You can go, but maybe just pick one of your fae guests to go with you, I think a whole group of you would be a bit much." He agrees.

"We can do that, Ashton and I can go. What time? We can meet Graham there." I offer. We work out the details and after I tell George that I'm sorry, we end the call. I'm about to head to my room and get dressed, we're going to have an early start after all, but Ashton catches my hand and pulls me into a tight hug.

"Katerina... Are you feeling better? I know I volunteered to help with this investigation as it might be related to my own, but you do not have to participate if it is going to cause you further distress. I do not want to upset you further." He murmurs into my hair. I hug him back tightly for a second before pulling back.

"I'll be fine. I want to help too. I need something to do." I answer, looking him in the eye. Ashton assesses me for a minute, probably trying to decide if I actually mean it before nodding slowly.

"Very well. But you will tell me if you are not okay, and you will not endanger yourself again by engaging with dangerous fae criminals." He orders. I narrow my eyes at him but he doesn't relent. Finally, I give in. He's not wrong. I should be more careful. He's not asking for anything unreasonable.

"Okay, I promise." I tell him before retreating to my room.

Lucy makes breakfast again, mostly because she's much better at it than me. While we eat, we update everyone on the plan. Well, except Marcus who is still sleeping. I expected Fin to be a little more disappointed at being left behind, but he's happy enough to stay back, particularly when Lucy volunteers to keep him company. By the time we're ready to leave the two of them have made plans to go explore some I.T. store so they'll be plenty busy. Time passes quickly and it's not long until we are heading off to talk to someone who is having an even worse day than I am.