A couple of days went by in blissful silence. Mom reached out once more after they landed, to tell me how incredible the place was and how much they were all loving it. She said Strava had turned Dad and the others into frolicking teenage kids again; they were all swimming, hunting, and exploring through the night and sleeping through the day.

I had eyes on the resort via the video feed that Jovi had connected to Corrine’s telescope. Whenever I looked at it, everything seemed peaceful. Black dots moved around occasionally, throughout the day, before they’d disappear for hours—my dad and the whole gang exploring the area.

Caleb, Ben, and River joined me in the Great Dome that morning to catch up on all GASP-related issues. After we’d heard from our parents when they landed, we’d all instantly relaxed. Frankly, I was more worried about traveling in a light bubble throughout the cosmos, than I was about our people relaxing on a relatively unknown planet. But, since everything was okay, my mindset had shifted to a more productive attitude.

“How is the selection going for Neraka’s shift change?” I asked Ben, who’d taken it upon himself to oversee all the screening processes. He’d spent half of the past couple of days on Calliope with Phoenix and Draven, just for that.

“Pretty smoothly, actually,” Ben replied. “We’ve already covered 20 percent of the positions. I think we’ll be done and ready by next week, if we keep this up.”

“This new generation of Shadians joining GASP has definitely helped,” River said. “They’re young, extremely capable, and eager to prove themselves.”

“Those are some of the qualities that make the selected candidates stand out, actually,” Ben said, flipping through some personnel files. “I’ve got a kid here, for example, one of the ten I’m due to screen tomorrow. He’s half vampire, half fire fae, which is, if I’m not mistaken, pretty unheard of. You know, since we, as vampires, don’t exactly react well to fire on our skin.”

“He was recently turned, wasn’t he?” Caleb asked, frowning as he motioned for Ben to give him the file. He checked the kid’s profile, then nodded. “Yeah. A year ago. He’s well-adjusted, too, and seems to have retained all his fae abilities. The amazing part is that this is the one vampire you can’t burn alive.”

“This is the first instance of a fae turning vampire successfully, right?” I replied, my heart throbbing with excitement.

“Pretty much, yeah,” Caleb said. “According to the notes in his file, he was warned of all the possible risks, yet he went ahead and did it anyway. I’m impressed.”

“It means that Caia and Vita can turn, too, if they want. Or Grace, right?” River asked.

I understood her vested interested in this topic, given that Caia and Vita were her granddaughters and possibly two of the most precious creatures in River’s entire existence. They’d floated the theory of fae turning vampire before—as we knew now, it was possible. It was just particularly risky for fae with a predominant fire ability.

“We can consider this a preliminary yes,” Ben replied. “But I think we should monitor this kid going forward and attempt a couple more transformations before we clear Caia and Vita for this. Maybe have Varga, Lenny’s brother, assigned with him?”

“I agree. Varga is strong and capable enough to keep the kid in check, if needed,” I said. “It’s one thing to try it on a human. But fae have different physiognomies and their genetic structures are literally out of this world. Vampirism stems from the Supernatural Dimension, but the fae belong to the In-Between. There are still many biological unknowns for us, especially when we conceive hybrids.”

Caleb chuckled softly. “You’re all still placing bets on what Voss will turn out to be, huh?” he replied, changing the subject. “My money’s on winged wolf, by the way.”

“If only!” Ben shot back. “I’m betting on Field’s Hawk genes. Aida, unfortunately, is only half wolf. Her genetic package may not be as influential as Field’s.”

I leaned back into my chair, crossing my arms and pursing my lips as I looked at my brother. He shrugged, raising his eyebrows at me.

“What?” he asked.

“There’s no other GASP business for us to talk about, is there?” I replied.

“Nope,” he said. “Everything is running smoothly. Everybody knows what they’re doing. I swear, I don’t understand why Dad was so reluctant to go on a vacation. GASP is running like a lean, mean, well-oiled machine.”

River laughed. “Derek just hasn’t been away from his GASP baby since he first founded it. He knew, deep down, that it would function just fine without him. He said so himself.”

“Yeah, and now he’s out on Strava, swimming, hunting, and doing whatever else you’re supposed to do while on a break,” I replied. “I’m willing to bet that, two weeks from now, they’re going to tell us they’re staying for another week or two.”

Ben chuckled softly, scratching the back of his head. “You know, Strava isn’t inhabited or owned by anyone. We might as well turn it into a resort planet, from top to bottom. Make it into a prime vacation destination.”

We all thought about it for a minute.

“For free?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Free for registered GASP members, maybe. The others could pay, in gold, money, or goods. Nothing exorbitant, but enough to help fund our space exploration operations. Think about it… We need certain materials to build our spacecrafts. We might as well capitalize on Strava.”

“That makes sense. I mean, there’s only so much that magic will cover on its own,” I replied. “We could build multiple resorts across the two main archipelagos, for example. Enough to bring in the numbers without having an impact on the planet’s environment. The revenue could totally fund some of the materials we need… Yeah, sounds good. I’m on board. Let’s work on a business plan over the next few days and have a proposal ready for Mom and Dad when they get back.”

“Draven’s still checking the Druid archives for info on Strava’s extinct population, right?” River asked Ben, who replied with a nod. “If nothing comes up, and it’s all clear, we could open a GASP base there, too. Heck, if it’s such an amazing place, we could consider it a potential second home, not just for us Shadians, but for any Eritopian or Nerakian who might be interested.”

Ben gave her a warm smile. “I knew I married the smartest girl on Earth.” He kissed her softly on the lips. He shifted his focus back to me and grinned. “And we should definitely try Strava ourselves after our parents get back.”

“You’ve been itching to go since the kids mentioned it, huh?” Caleb asked.

“Absolutely!” Ben replied, making me chuckle. “You’ve seen the place. It’s fantastic! Let’s do this second-generation vacation next, then let Grace and Lawrence, Hazel and Tejus, and Yelena and Benedict do a third-generation round. We can take Pippa and Jeramiah and Victoria and Bastien, too.”

“Send all the Novaks to Strava, but in generational turns, so as not to overwhelm the planet, huh?” I shot back, outright laughing to the point of tears.

My brother had this way of stepping back and looking at the whole picture, then oversimplifying everything to best suit his narrative and his personal needs. That skill certainly came in handy during diplomatic meetings and negotiations with foreign supernaturals, but it didn’t really fly in the family.

“Pretty much, yeah,” Ben replied.

“Just say you want to do all kinds of crazy stuff without having the kids around,” I said, reminding him that I could see right through him. “I’m not going to scold you for it. I’m behind you 100 percent on this. We need a vacation of our own on Strava. No kids and no parents. No GASP and no Shade. Just us, the sand, the ocean, and the jungle, in a land far, far away.”

Ben crossed his arms, his lips stretching into a conspiratorial grin.

“See, this is why Mom was always afraid to leave the two of us alone for too long when we were kids,” he said. “When we put our minds to something and worked in tandem to achieve it, it spelled trouble for the Novaks.”

“Only, this time, we’re the smart and reasonable adults,” I said, laughing. “I think we can sell this as a feasible plan.”

Both Caleb and River nodded in agreement. It meant the world to me to know that our loved ones supported us on this and pretty much any other ambitious endeavor we took on. Ben and I had grown incredibly close over the years, and we’d been helping mom and dad run GASP for decades, now. The bigger it grew, the more work came to us, since there was only so much our parents could do over the course of twenty-four hours.

“We could even call Strava ‘the Second Shade,’” Caleb suggested.

Ben’s eyes lit up, and he made a quick note on the back of a file. “Writing this one down, putting it into the final presentation,” he muttered.

“Shall we start planning for our own half-month vacation, then?” River asked, eager to get ready for Strava. “I mean, in less than two weeks, our founders are coming back. Perfect timing for us to take their place.”

“We might as well!” Ben replied enthusiastically.

A vacation on Strava didn’t sound bad at all. We’d been at this for plenty of decades ourselves, as relentless and as dedicated as my dad. I, too, looked forward to some swimming under the moonlight, fresh blood by the firepit, and nothing but lush jungles to explore at night.

In the meantime, however, we had a multi-universal organization to run, a Shade to look after, and some peace missions to pursue. On top of that, we had some new places to explore. Those required extensive research and preparation, and, to be honest, were my favorite part of my role in GASP.