He had done this to her. And his wielder. It would be the end of both of them. She clenched her fist and gritted her teeth and continued on. There would be no stopping her now.

—

Aremana, at least, felt the scratches were not the end of the world. He was disgruntled all day and he had his usual unhappy sneer, but Kim couldn’t help but feel he thought his scratches were worse. She did ask, and he offered to restore the symbols that had been ruined. That at least seemed to put the staff in a better mood.

It was strange to see Geoffy after reliving Myrddin’s memories. A lot of things were strange, but her own feelings were starting to merge in with them. There had to be a way to separate them. At least dear sweet Mithra was a welcome reprieve from all this. Myrddin had no easy analogue of her in his mind, and even if she’d finally managed to make the nickel reappear, she was still an outsider to the whole magic business.

There were a lot worse things to deal with. They had no idea where Arada was, and even peering through the veil took Warcraft levels of magic. Myrddin suggested he might be able to do it, but her mother drew the line there. Even doing something slightly wrong could result in the entire corruption of her being at best and the end of the world at worst. These were things generally to be avoided.

To restore the staff, Aremana had to keep it for a few extra days. While her parents would breathe easier with the staff gone, Kim felt a little less safe with him gone. It wasn’t as though she couldn’t call him with a breath, though. Maybe she was getting too comfortable.

There were other things to do to take her mind off things. Midterms and papers and projects. It was so long ago to her that she was an outsider to all this, but now she had her friends and her life and she didn’t even mind not being at home in Leeds every day. She talked with Ashley and Thomas less than before, but she sent them a message to make up for lost time, and that felt good enough.

And then, well, Leod came back.

—

Begrudgingly, Kim sat down with the white-suited man. She hated to talk with him, but if there was anyone to help them track down Arada, it was his organization.

They sat down in her mother’s office in chairs facing each other. Kim was not happy with any of these arrangements, but she soldiered through, mostly since her mother was forcing her. He set a ledger between them.

“This is purely as a record of the conversation,” he said.

“Did you do this to everyone else?” she asked.

He didn’t answer. Instead he took the staff into his lap. She bristled, as did the staff. She swallowed it down.

“You’ve been speaking with it,” Leod said. “You said it was an imprint of the actual Myrddin.”

“That is what I said.”

“Fascinating. We’ve been looking for information on him for a long time.”

She nodded, tapping her finger against her chin.

“What has he said to you?”

She squeezed her eyes shut. “There’s a lot to sift through. Mostly he tells me about his powers, how to be a proper wielder. That sort of thing.”

Leod frowned. She tried not to be pleased by his frustration.

“We’ll have to go over that more in full another time,” he said. “Tell me about Arada.”

She thought harder about this. “He said she lives beyond the veil, whatever that means. He said they shared a father.”

The expression he made at that was unreadable. He soldiered through. “You realize it takes a tremendous amount of power to even look beyond the veil.”

“I’m only repeating what he said.”

“How much of what he says do you think is trustworthy?”

He was testing her now. She sat back and propped a leg up on the chair. “I’m not sure. He’s more like sharing his memories than just telling me things, but that doesn’t mean it’s entirely truthful.”

“Your mother assures me you’ve only been using him for self defense.”

“When I need to, yes.”

He turned over the staff and set it aside. “Arada has antagonized you how many times?”

“Twice,” she said. “Wait. Three, I think.”

He nodded. “She’s appeared coming through the veil each time.”

“She came through my mouth.” She stuck out her tongue for emphasis. “We blocked her from coming through the veil, but I guess she found another way.”

“Through your mouth?”

“Through my dreams, I think. I’m not really sure how it worked.”

He was staring. She tried not to grin.

The interview continued like that for a while. She should’ve been more helpful, really. She had many of his secrets locked away. But it felt like a betrayal to give them to this complete stranger. These weren’t her secrets to give. Leod, to her tiny amount of pleasure, became increasingly more frustrated. Finally he took back the ledger and told her they were done. He went outside and chatted with the adults for a little while, and judging by the expression her mother was giving her, he hadn’t been very pleased. Eventually her mum came in and shut the door. She saw the staff was still there, and her eyes narrowed.

“Not too painless,” she said, sitting down beside her daughter.

Kim nodded. “It was alright.”

“You really should be more helpful, dear.” She squeezed her. “I know it’s hard, but he is our best chance of finding out how to fix all this.”

“I know. I tried. It’s not very easy to put into words.”

“Alright. Your father’s promised me he’s cooking dinner at the moment. Are you ready?”

Kim nodded and stood, picking up the staff. Her mother paused, and then folded her hands over it to take it away.

“I’ll take this to Anselm,” she said.

“Oh. Yeah.” Kim let go, reluctantly. “Okay.”

She pretended she was okay with it, but it was a hard sell.

—

Kim missed the presence of the staff in her home, but a few days gone she wasn’t so mixed up about it. She was pleased to have her privacy back, and her parents eased off her a bit. Still no sign of Arada, however, and they were beginning to worry she was trying to find a way through their defenses. She chatted with Ashley online and finished up her homework. After that there wasn’t much to do. She’d never stopped watching the windows, just in case, but she felt more and more secure. Maybe it was in line with becoming better with the staff. It felt good knowing she could take care of herself if necessary.

There were no dark glimpses beyond the windowpane, but that didn’t comfort her. She went into the living room where her parents were sitting. She paused at the door when she saw they were cuddled up together and chose instead to trek back to her room. At only ten, she curled up in her covers and closed her eyes, and eventually she went to sleep.

—

Kim was alone in the forest this time. She was herself entirely, which was strange. Every time she’d had this dream, she’d been sharing a memory, but this was the first time she’d experienced it as herself. She stood in the forest in her pajamas, kneading her bare toes into the dirt. The sky was black once more, the moon completely obscured. There in the distance on the water stood a girl, her eyes the color of the water, her hair the color of the dirt. The name escaped her, but she was familiar anyway She walked towards her.

“I know you,” she said, as she stood on the bank of the lake.

The girl said nothing. She watched her with sad eyes. Suddenly she was pulled beneath the water’s surface without a sound. Kim jumped back and landed directly into someone. She turned around and there was Arada, hair flowing all around her, red dress violent in its color. She screamed and reached out for the staff, but it did not come.

“No,” Arada said, her voice strangely hollow. “This one’s all you.”

She reached out to grab her, and Kim cried out again and fell back and landed safely in her bed. She shot up, tearing the covers off her legs and pressing her hand against her chest. Her breath was ragged, the adrenaline still shooting through her veins. After a minute of breathing again, she looked around. Had that been real? Had Arada once more gone into her dreams, or was that just a dream? She rubbed her forehead. No. It was just a dream, her own dream. How many months had it been since she hadn’t had to share memories?

Still, the appearance of Arada in her mind couldn’t bode well. She glanced at the clock. Only one in the morning. It would be a long, fitful night.

—

Mithra was pleased the weather was getting warm enough that they didn’t have to wear leggings underneath their skirts. She kicked up some remaining ice while Kim sat chin in her hand on a bench. She was riding on around three hours of sleep and wanted deeply for the day to be done with already.

“You’re so grumpy today,” Mithra said. “Anything important happen?”

Kim shook her head. “I don’t think so. Just bad dreams.”

“Ah. Plenty of those, I presume.”

She shrugged. “I guess. How ’bout you? You are unexpectedly cheerful. Girlish prospects?”

Mithra pouted. “None at all. You remember Kris?”

“Sure.”

“He asked me out the other day. I said no.”

“Of course.”

“I’m a little pleased, actually.” She sat down beside her friend. “He’s liked me for a long time I think. I think he’ll stop bothering me now.”

“Don’t you have to do things with him? Babysit or something?”

“They’re his sisters. I really just did it for the extra cash.”

“Noble.”

She smiled. “It’s nice not feeling the pressure anymore when I see him. Now it’s a different kind of weird, but at least I don’t feel like he’s expecting something.”

“That’s good.”

“Speaking of weird, how’re you and Geoffy?”

Kim pinched her. “Perfectly normal, thank you very much. I’ve been a little weird lately, but that’s because of outside circumstances.”

“The staff.”

“The staff.”

“Still nothing?”

“Yeah.” Kim sighed. “I think I might be okay with that. It’s not hurting me. I feel a little like I”m living two lives, but it’s not detrimental to my being.”

Mithra peered at her inquisitively. “Are you sure?”

“What? Why would you ask that?”

“I’m legitimately curious. You’re not–I’m always a little worried about you.”

She laughed nervously. “You don’t have to be!”

“I’d just like you to be safe.”

“I’d like that too.” She patted her friend’s hand. “I appreciate the worry.”

“You’re my friend. You’re my best friend.”

She hugged her. “You’re my best friend too.”

They bell rang, calling them into their classrooms. They walked away laughing.

—

Aremana had not completed fixing the staff, which made Kim anxious. Mithra had followed her in that day, and Hortense had to ask them to stay in the reception area. It really was a drag. It wasn’t like Mithra didn’t know about anything going on back there. Hortense promised it was nothing against Mithra, though Aremana probably hated all of them. Hortense admitted that was probably true.

“You two just going to wait here?” she asked as she pulled out some files.

“Sure,” Kim said grudgingly. “We don’t mind.”

Hortense gone, they sat back to wait on Geoffy. Kim’s mood was elated thanks entirely to her friend. Mithra was enjoying making comments about everyone that passed in front of the windows of the Collection. Eventually Geoffy did appear, which did not stop her from making comments, and Kim had to wrestle her to get her to be quiet. He entered as they erupted into giggles, but he had learned to take it in stride.

“I’ve missed something,” he said as he approached.

“Mithra is just being a horrible person,” Kim explained, poking her friend in her side. “Please tell me we can leave this place.”

“How’s the nickel trick going?” he asked.

Mithra sat up, grinning. “Great, actually. I am now up to a quarter.”

“Bored!” Kim complained. “Let’s go!”

They walked out without any real plan. Luckily the street they were on had plenty of shops and they enjoyed the coffee place on the corner. Kim wanted to enjoy her last hot cocoa before it was too warm for one.

“We’re running out of things to do in this town,” she sighed as they sat down.

“Welcome to my life,” Mithra said. “I’ve been here ten years.”

“That is upsetting,” Geoffy said. “Still marginally more interesting than where I’m from.”

“Nothing but sheep there,” Kim said with a grin.

He glared at her. “I should never tell you anything.”

“Sheep are great,” Mithra said, nudging her friend. “You love sheep.”

“Shut up.”

“I’ve lost what’s going on,” Geoffy said.

“Nothing important,” Kim assured him.

They sat there for a few hours, until Mithra had to return home and Kim assumed her mother was off work. Mithra left them, still giggly, and Kim and Geoffy paused outside the Collection.

“She’s weird today,” he said.

“She’s weird everyday,” she replied.

They waited another hesitant moment, and then Kim took his hand and pulled him closer. Their lips still met messily, but they were getting better. She ended up pressed against the wall, his hands hesitantly rubbing at the small of her back, his fingers reaching just below the hem of her shirt. She urged him on by lifting her shirt just a little. They were only getting started when Kim’s phone went off, and they jumped apart quickly. It was her mother, probably being psychic.

“Hey,” she answered, clearing her throat. “We’re walking in now.”

Geoffy was laughing, and she punched his shoulder.

“At least Hortense didn’t see us,” he said.

“So dumb,” she muttered. “There has to be a better way to do this.”

“We could, like, do a date. I hear it’s totally acceptable to make out during those.”

She pressed her lips together. She might’ve given her an answer if her mother hadn’t walked through the door at that moment.

“There you are,” she said. “Hello, Geoffy.”

He waved in greeting.

“Ready to go?”

Kim nodded. “Yup. I’ll call you later.”

He smiled and squeezed her hand in goodbye.

—

“You and Geoffy are quite close,” Mrs. Zhi said as they drove back.

“Yeah,” Kim answered, elbow propped against the window of the car. “He’s my friend.”

“That’s good. I don’t think his father is getting any better.”

She wrinkled her nose. Geoffy never talked about it, and she felt strange about getting it from a second source.

“Your father and I have never really set down any rules for dating, have we?”

Kim turned her head. “Mum!”

She smiled. “He would prefer it if you did no dating at all. I don’t see the harm.”

Kim sighed and folded her arms. “I’m not dating anyone. I’ve got bigger worries.”

The change in her mother’s expression was instantaneous, and she regretted reminding her.

“It doesn’t hurt to have a little fun,” Mrs. Zhi said. “Especially because you have bigger problems.”

“Yeah.” Kim sighed. “I guess you’re right.”

—

Arada had attempted to step through the veil once more but had been rebuffed. The creatures were on to her human status. They knew what lay in her veins. Still, she might be able to manage a small jump if she was quick enough and clever enough and knew where she was going. She had one chance to pass through, and she would not waste it until she was sure. She needed to find the wielder as quickly as possible.

The town stretched ahead of her. It would only be a matter of time.

—

Since the weather was warmer, Mithra couldn’t stay after school anymore. She was going to practice again, which meant Kim was welcome to walk home. Since the ice had started melting, she didn’t mind. She did stop at the gallery more often, but she was sort of avoiding Geoffy right now. She didn’t know what stopped her from accepting a date from him. They were make out buddies and regular buddies but it made it weird if they were boyfriend-and-girlfriend. It was like when Ashley and Thomas got together. She liked having friends, not boyfriends.

So she did the mature responsible thing and avoided him. She did have to see him occasionally, but luckily they were under the supervision of her mother and Hortense, though she imagined Hortense probably wouldn’t care. Though since they were forced to stay in the reception area, Kim found herself having actual conversations with the blond glasses-wearing secretary. Hortense was remarkably cool, which surprised her. She had advice about everything, but it was more like she had an opinion about everything. Kim found out that she didn’t really mind.

Arada was still a concern, but she had completely disappeared. Any attempts by the white coats to track her down were not going well. The darkness no longer haunted her in her dreams, though there were more of her own nightmares. The staff was returned to her, and while she kept it in the living room, she was feeling better. Her dreams were returning to the forest, and she felt comfortable there. The forest was safe, its trees protecting her and its sky a welcome canopy. It pleased her to return.

She did dream of Arada a few more times. One had her waking up gasping for breath as Arada had choked her slowly and submerged her beneath the waters of the lake. Another one Arada just stood over her, watching her while she laid on the dirt. There were others, where she’d chased her, where’d she been a distant figure watching her, where she lay in a hole and Arada threw dirt over her. They always woke her with a start, and she couldn’t sleep afterwards, but she was certain they were only dreams. The real Arada would not let her go so easily. At least the forest was a welcome reprieve.

The staff once more became a fixture of their house. Kim was happier there, she hated to admit. Her parents were unhappy about it, but they were pleased by the peace of mind it gave her. She moved it into her bedroom for a night, but she woke up to the disapproving stares of her parents and quickly put it back. It had made her uncomfortable anyway. It was like having a bodyguard standing over your bed.

Kim was happy that things seemed to be returning to some semblance of normal. There were still fears around every corner, and she was still attached to the staff, but she had friends and her parents and her life and that was going well for her. Maybe it could all be alright.

—

Kim was forced to hang out with Geoffy alone at some point. It wasn’t as bad as she thought it might be, but she was dramatic by nature. Secretly she was pleased that he seemed a little uncomfortable as well, probably because she’d never really given him an answer on that whole date situation. They were walking beyond the town square where it was mostly trees and houses. Her parents were being more lenient lately, despite the danger still present, though she wasn’t being ridiculous about it. She could summon the staff with a breath and she could call her parents if she ran into actual danger.

They walked together, just chatting. Kim had called Mithra earlier, but she was back into her tennis and couldn’t be reached. At least Geoffy wasn’t trying too hard. He did reach out to and hold her hand, but that didn’t go far. They were happy to just talk.

“Where does Aremana even live?” she asked as they stared out at the houses.

“A big scary mansion,” he said. “It’s surrounded by wrought iron fences and bats and a graveyard.”

“That’s a total lie.”

“It’s a total lie.”

She smiled. “It’s kind of how I imagine it.”

“He’s a pretty creepy dude, I’ll admit that.”

“Do you like living here?” she asked. “Or is it totally terrible?”

He shrugged. “It’s not totally terrible. Uncle Anselm is pretty strange, but I’ve gotten used to it. I miss home a lot.”

“How’s your dad?”

He chewed on the inside of his lip. “I don’t know. Spring break I’m going up.”

“Really?” She pouted. “I’m jealous.”

“I’ll spend most of it in a hospital. I wouldn’t be too jealous.”

She frowned and squeezed his hand. “It’ll be nice seeing your dad.”

“Yeah. It’ll be good.”

She smiled for him and thought of a way to change the subject. “So do you think your uncle is a vampire?”

“Yes. Absolutely.”

She grinned and reached her hand out to grip his. Yeah, alright, maybe she could be okay with this. She almost reached up to kiss him, but something caught her eye. Far away was a startling red figure, dark eyes staring right at her. She gripped his hand harder and almost fell back. He turned hurriedly to see what was frightening her and seized up as well.

“No,” Kim murmured, rubbing her face with her hands. “It’s a dream. It’s all a dream.”

“Kim,” he said.

She shook her head. “I’ve had this dream before. I’ll wake up. I always wake up.”

“Kim!”

She was closer. She seemed to jump, like those creepy Japanese ghosts. It was definitely Arada, and by the way Geoffy was shaking her, it was definitely real. She gasped and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to wake the staff, but in a moment Arada had thrown Geoffy aside like a doll and laid her hand across Kim’s forehead, forcing her against a tree. Her fingers felt like they passed through her skin and bone and entered into her mind and Kim felt panic rise up in her chest, beating against her rib cage. Arada found what she was looking for and began to drag it out, causing Kim’s eyes to roll back and her body began to seize, and then Geoffy hit Arada with a tree branch. Kim was released, and she collapsed. Luckily Geoffy caught her.

“Did you–” She gasped, blinking her vision back. “Did you just hit her with a tree branch?”

“Kind of all I could think of,” he said.

He helped her up, but Arada was back on her feet in a moment as well. She clutched the side of her face where the bark had hit her, ugly red welts bleeding all down her skin. She snarled and launched herself at both of them, grabbing both of their throats and the black portals opened up behind them.

—

One jump left, that was really all she had.

In a moment they were beyond the veil. The cold breath of it left Arada reinvigorated. Even a moment could recharge her powers. The two she held were struggling. They hadn’t learned to breathe in this atmosphere, hadn’t learned how to blend oneself with the environment. It took time, and she’d had centuries. The creatures had grown sluggish once more since no one had entered their realm, but they were shaken awake quickly enough. She let go of the children, giving them a little push. They both had a panicked moment where they tried to anchor themselves, and in that moment she slipped through the veil once more.

She landed on the concrete of the human realm. She already missed the place she’d made home for so long, but she could return eventually. Once they’d finished devouring the children and returned once more to their docile, sleeping state. Hopefully the wielder called the staff to her. He may go unharmed long enough, but even he could not break through the veil as cleanly as she did. His choices would be to tear a hole through the veil and release the hundreds of creatures that would then go about devouring mankind, or to float forever. It was the rest he had wanted anyway. She was really doing him a favor.

She giggled to herself–and goodness, it’d been a long time since she’d done that–and absconded before anyone could take notice.

—

Beyond the veil, they floated.

The first thing Kim did when Arada had let them go was grab for her and for Geoffy. They couldn’t afford to be separated. He had never experienced the realm beyond the veil before, but she had, and already she could see the huge creatures beginning to move towards them. Thank god neither of them were bleeding. She had a feeling they would only be more excited. She gripped him by the shirt and tried to calm him. Speech appeared to be a problem here. Every time they attempted to speak, it was lost in the thick atmosphere they were experiencing. Frustrated, she pointed to the creatures all around them and let him know best she could not to get near. He didn’t seem to need help on that issue.

There was the question of returning. Arada had left them here, which meant they didn’t have a ride. It meant they would be floating here forever, at least until one of those things caught them, and then they would be dead and this would be their grave. They would die here and would anyone know?

No, she thought quickly. No thinking about that. This is not a time for panic this is a time for figuring things out.

The entire realm felt like they were underwater. Breathing was hard here, the heavy air weighing down on their lungs. It felt too much like suffocating, but she couldn’t think about that. If they couldn’t find a way out they’d have a lot bigger worries. Could she summon the staff here? In theory he would have to pass through the veil, but maybe that wasn’t a problem for him. He’d offered before to look beyond. Perhaps he knew a way around. Still clutching onto Geoffy, she tried with all her might to wake the staff and get it here. Arada had stuck her hand around in her mind, and her thoughts were still scattered when it came to him, but she managed to feel a few sparks in her chest. The warmth was welcome here, and indeed she felt the staff shake itself awake and reach out to find her. There was hesitation in coming to her, but he might be able to warn someone else. Arada couldn’t be the only one capable of breaking through the veil. Sparks lit at her fingertips, and this seemed to wake the creatures more, but with a small pop, the staff appeared only inches in front of them. Quickly she reached out and grabbed it.

There was an explosion of sparks over them. It drove the creatures back, and as they were hit they gave out little cries and squeaks. Their noises shook the eardrums of Geoffy and Kim, but they didn’t have time to cower. The staff began to drive them back to the veil, but they were stopped.

Kim heard the voice of Myrddin in her head and frowned. What? she asked. What do you mean you can’t break beyond the veil? You got here, didn’t you?

Sheepishly, the staff answered her. I can find my way to you without regarding the rules. We are bound in that way. However, actually leaving poses a problem for me.

She gritted her teeth, disappointed that she could not yell. She looked to Geoffy, who was holding the panic back in his eyes. She couldn’t think of a gesture that properly conveyed that they were stuck. An idea struck her, and she held out the staff to him. He held on as well. Myrddin appeared to understand what he was asking.

We appear to be stuck, she said, and yes, she saw it register with him. Good. They might get somewhere.

Why can’t he break through? he asked.

The staff was stuffy now that he had an audience. Breaking through the veil requires a sort of finesse so that those things don’t follow us through. I lack such finesse.

Kim frowned. He did tend to use himself as a blunt instrument. Arada had been sneakier than that.

We have to try, she said.

No, Myrddin responded. Trying means if we fail, those things are let loose on your realm.

She glanced at Geoffy. He was agreeing with the staff.

Then we’re trapped, she said.

If you give me time, Myrddin said, I may be able to finesse our way out.

They glanced at the creatures. The spark had driven them away but not hurt them. Now they were awake, and they knew there was prey out there.

Time may not be on our side, Geoffy said.

Here, the staff said. Arada has laid a path for us.

He instructed them to hold him against the veil. They held him side-by-side, squeezing their other hands together. The creatures were moving closer again, quicker this time, but a bright colored flame appeared to breaking through the wall like a blowtorch, and then it spiraled through. It was not as neat as Arada’s prancing between walls, and colorless cracks drifted off, but there was little time. Kim pushed Geoffy through first and followed soon after. They landed on the dirt where they had been standing only moments before, and Myrddin let up a wall of flame behind them, closing off the hole. She could tell he was unsure how clean their escape had been, but there was little time to worry. Arada was still on the loose somewhere, somewhere nearby.

“Are you okay?” Kim asked, resting a hand on Geoffy’s shoulder.

He ran his hands through his hair. “Remember when I told you I thought the universe was messing with me?”

She choked out a laugh. In a split second decision, she stood up on her toes and kissed him warmly on the mouth. It was pleasingly chaste, and her body appreciated the heat radiating off his body. In another moment, she stood back on her heels. They stared at each other, and she swore the staff cleared his throat.

“Right,” she said quickly. “Catching Arada.”

“Yes,” Geoffy said. “Let’s do it.”

She held out the staff, and it whisked them away.

—

They landed in the gallery to the surprise of everyone around them. Mrs. Zhi came running out, and Kim was nearly knocked off balance when she grabbed her.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Arada attacked us,” Kim said.

“You’re okay?” She looked to Geoffy as well. “What did she do?”

“She pushed us into the Phantom Zone,” he said. “Staff broke us out.”

“She left us there a long time,” Kim continued. “We thought she might still be nearby.”

“Does he know?” Mrs. Zhi asked, pointing the staff. “Can he find her?”

She considered the staff. “Maybe. He was certain that she was still here.”

She patted her shoulder. “Good. We need to know where she is. I’ll get Anselm.”

“Can he really find her?” Geoffy asked.

“He says yes,” Kim replied with a shrug and held the staff up. It fizzled with energy for a moment, but they were interrupted by a loud bang from the reception area. The entire room stopped, and they all turned to look. Suddenly the door was covered with colorless energy and was thrown clear across the room. It appeared they did not need the staff in finding Arada.

She stepped through the doorway, pure glee written on her face, that is until she saw the two teenagers standing there. Her face dropped in an instant.

“What?!” she screamed, her voice bolded black font and probably written all squiggly. “I left you to die!”

“Get down,” Kim advised.

“Sure,” Geoffy said and got out of her way.

She lifted the staff up and a wall of fire appeared, going straight for Arada. The witch created her own wall, and they collided together and exploded. Kim was thrown back, but she didn’t let that slow her down. She was up before Arada and ran towards her. They could restrain her, keep her from doing magic, keep her until the white coats showed up and she’d be their problem. The staff formed the ribbons, but Arada figured out her plan too quickly. She dove away from her and slashed the air. Black scratches appeared and Kim nearly ran straight into them. They froze her cold, and she she had to cling to the staff to pass through them. Was she trying to force her back into the veil? She had to know it wouldn’t work.

It seemed more a distraction than anything. Arada was already on the move, but she ran directly into Mrs. Zhi, whose fists were bright green, and she hit her broadly. Arada let out a screech and went down. She grabbed at her ankle, and her veins began to turn black It crawled up her leg, but Mrs. Zhi hit her with her heel until she let her go. Arada returned with a blow that knocked her back against the wall. She turned to run again, but this time she was cut off by Aremana, who had his ankh in his hands. In a moment she was caught in golden bonds and thrown against the ground. Kim rushed to keep up and stopped only feet from the fallen witch. Arada would not give up so easily. She scratched against the bonds and broke them easily. She flailed at Aremana, but Kim threw her back with a swing of the staff. Mrs. Zhi had brushed off the attack and rejoined them, creating her own bonds with her green magic.

Arada was trapped against the wall, and there was really one last option. She’d hoped to burn this place to the ground, but no. She’d underestimated her enemies. She’d underestimated the wielder and, worse, she’d underestimated Myrddin. For the last time. Quick and clever enough, that’s all she had to be. She opened the portal behind her and began to move through except–

Except Myrddin hadn’t closed that crack as well as he’d hoped. The creatures had been denied food too many times, and they had almost found their way through. Now Arada had opened up a pathway that should’ve remained closed, and they took notice.

Arada knew it had gone wrong instantly. Instead of feeling the magical bonds trying to keep her in this realm, she felt the slimy tentacle of one of the monsters. It wrapped around her midsection and pulled. She grabbed onto the edges of the portal, trying to keep herself from being dragged beyond. One of the magicians wrapped a bond around her as well, perhaps in a misguided attempt to save her. She screamed as she was pulled between two worlds, screamed louder as the other creatures appeared, also eager to share in the prey. Her fingers could not continue holding onto the edges, and Hui-ying’s magic was not strong enough to keep her here and too strong to leave her unscathed. She had to let her go. In that moment she was sucked through with a sickening slurp.

But the portal was still open, and neither Mrs. Zhi nor Aremana could close it. Kim let the staff take lead on this, and he attempted to patch up what he hadn’t earlier. She felt everything drain from her as he repaired the wall, fighting the creatures who were curious enough to probe into this world. Finally, finally he let her go, and she would’ve fallen if her mother hadn’t caught her.

“It’s done,” she gasped. “They can’t get through.”

“This’ll be fun to explain,” Aremana said. “Someone check on Hortense.”

Ah. Life returned to normal.

—

Many things had happened next. Hortense was a bloody mess but refused to be escorted to the hospital. There were many, many questions asked by Leod and his many friends, who were far more concerned by a break in the universe than a teenager with a magical staff. Aremana had to shut down the gallery for a while so they could return everything to order, which had severely irritated him. Kim had to return to school on Monday as if nothing had happened, and she told Mithra everything through passed notes in class. Mr. Sullivan had caught them, and they told him they were working on a story together.

“So that means you’re free,” Mithra said after school let out. “No more Arada means no one’s after you.”

Kim breathed deep. She liked the sound of that.

“It doesn’t mean I’m totally safe,” she said. “I’ve still got the staff. People want that sort of power.”

“But no more transdimensional witches.”

“No.” She laughed. “I’m safe there.”

“Aaaaand,” Mithra said, wriggling her eyebrows, or tried to anyway.

“And what? Day is saved. Spring break’s almost here. That’ll be nice.”

She sighed. “You’re so hopeless. You and Geoffy?”

Kim rolled her eyes. “I almost die in another dimension and you want to know what happened between me and Geoffy?”

“Allow me my priorities.”

“Alright. We’re going out next Friday.”

“Good,” Mithra said. “What’s the fun of saving the world if you don’t get a significant other out of it?”

“I didn’t save the world. I kind of just saved myself.”

“Good enough.” She slapped her friend on the back. “I’m proud of you anyway.”

Kim laughed. “Thanks.”

—

And it was surprisingly easy from there. In a few days the whole thing felt like a distant memory. In a week it was Friday and she was suddenly worried about what she was wearing to a date. It surprised her how quickly life moved on like that. Her parents kept up all the wards and things, but they suddenly didn’t have to remind her to take her phone everywhere or to come straight home or to call every few hours so they knew she was okay. They even minded the staff left, though it remained a permanent fixture. It talked less these days, perhaps exhausted from the fight, perhaps feeling he wasn’t needed anymore. Maybe when the next horror popped up. Right now, she was pleased to be free of her magical lifestyle. Right now she wanted to worry about what she was going to wear tonight and what they were going to do and how quickly she would call Mithra with details. Right now she could worry about what she was writing to Ashley in the e-mail and how soon she would see them again and how Geoffy would take his return trip home and how to keep him from meeting her parents, at least her dad, who she feared would try for intimidating and could probably pull it off too easily. Right now she wanted to be normal. She could wait for the next disaster to strike. She could wait to figure out how to unbond herself to the staff and how to tell her parents that didn’t really concern her anymore. The only thing she really worried about what was whether or not she would have to call for him tonight. But Mithra picked her out a dress and a proper pair of boots and she was waiting in anticipation on the edge of her bed while she chatted with Thomas and thought about what kind of chocolate she was going to bring Hortense when she saw her next and how tonight was going to be perfect.

Another time, she could worry about being normal. Right now, she had a life to live.

After a while she toggled between Geoffy and Mithra and ended up calling her best friend. She told her about what happened, how weird it’d been in that other world. She’d been lucky to have the rods there. She’d felt them pulling her back the whole time. Her parents had freaked of course when the fire disappeared, but she’d been fine. Myrddin wasn’t going to hurt her.

She wasn’t sure what to do with this now. There was no immediate danger, and there was no real training. She just had to learn to channel the magic. She had to learn to trust him, which was the hard part. She wasn’t enjoying anymore than she had to.

—

For the first time in a few weeks, Geoffy, Mithra, and Kim were hanging out together. They pretended things weren’t weird and for the most part they weren’t. Mithra made jokes, but Kim only had to nudge her a few times. For the evening, Kim’s parents had relented, and they were a few blocks from Mithra’s house, laying out on benches. The snow and ice had been letting up, and they barely even needed three layers.

“Geoffy, you know magic, right?” Mithra asked.

“A little, yeah,” he answered. “I don’t exactly have the mind of a powerful wizard backing me.”

“Thanks,” Kim murmured.

“Not to dismiss your natural ability.”

“I have no natural ability,” she said.

He shrugged. “I doubt that’s true.”

“Do something,” Mithra said, poking him in the stomach. “Kim always leaves me in the dark.”

“That’s cause I can’t do anything on my own.”

“Whatever,” her friend sighed. “I want to see something.”

“Alright,” he said, sitting up. “What do you want to see?”

Both girls shrugged. Neither were remarkably versed in his abilities.

“Here,” he said, taking a handful of snow. He packed it tightly in his fist, held it up to his lips, and blew between his fingers. When he opened his palms, it was solid ice.

“Neat,” Mithra said, taking it.

“I can turn it into water too,” he said. “It’s good in the winter when you end up stuck in your house. My nan taught it to me.”

“Cute,” Kim said with a smirk. “What’d else she teach you?”

He narrowed his eyes. “It’s mostly stuff like that. They grew up farmers, so they know a lot of practical stuff.”

“Where are your grandparents now?” Mithra asked.

“Uh, dead.” He shifted uncomfortably. “I really only knew my nan.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

He shrugged. “It was a long time ago.”

“What else can you do?” Kim asked, eager to change the subject.

“Some little stuff. I’m not straight out of Hogwarts or anything.”

“Is there any way I could learn magic?” Mithra asked. “Is it an in the blood sort of thing?”

Kim shrugged. “It’s passed through families but not through blood. Most people I know grew up in it.”

“But I could.”

“Sure,” Geoffy said. “I bet we could teach you some stuff.”

Mithra grinned. “When can I start?”

—

Pathways lay in front of her. She could not physically enter the realm through these, but she could still find a way in. She pressed her hand against her chest and sloughed off thick black jelly. She folded it in her hand and kissed it. She let it loose and watched it crawl away.

—

Kim dreamed of the forest, the dark soil and the heavy wood. There was someone there with her, but she couldn’t see him, but his presence didn’t bother her. The sky was dark and the moon was covered, and she pressed her head against the ground and took in a breath of the dirt. She felt something press against her face, something wet, but when she reached for it, it was gone.

She slept soundly that night.

—

There was more playing around with the staff. It was starting to feel normal, wielding it. She wasn’t scared anymore. Her parents still were. Her mother took the staff back to the gallery so Aremana could look at it.

“I thought you gave it to me,” Kim said, crossing her leg over the stool she was forced to sit on. Aremana didn’t want her moving around.

“It’s a priceless artifact,” he growled. “To think I’d let a teenager run around with it without ensuring its safety is absurd.”

Mrs. Zhi patted his back. “He’s just making sure, dear.”

Kim scoffed, but said nothing more. Geoffy walked in, Hortense following him with a planner.

“A client’s on the phone,” she said. “I assumed you wanted to take it in your office.”

“Thank you, Hortense,” he said, laying out the staff on the table. “Don’t touch anything.”

“Learned that lesson,” Kim sighed. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Geoffy said. “What’s going on?”

“Your uncle’s making sure I don’t ruin any more priceless artifacts.”

“You do have a track record.”

She sneered at him.

“If you two want to go sit in my office,” Mrs. Zhi said. “Door open.”

Kim rolled her eyes, but she was happy to be off the stool. They walked together and did indeed keep the door open.

“I swear she knows everything,” Geoffy said.

“Probably.” Kim pressed her palm against her ear. All day she couldn’t quite hear out of it very well. “What have you been up to?”

“Nothing much, I guess.” He sat down and kicked his feet up. “Mostly school.”

“I know how that feels.”

“What exactly does my uncle think you do with that staff?” Geoffy asked.

“I don’t know.” She sighed. “Probably slam it against walls or something.”

“Still freak you out?”

“Yeah. Less so recently. I think I’m getting used to it.”

“Is that good?”

She shrugged. “I have no idea. Hey, what did Hortense means by clients?”

“I’ve got no clue,” he said. “It’s not like he tells me anything.”

“So I guess you don’t know what Hortense actually does.”

“I’ve been trying to figure that out too.”

Kim coughed slightly and rubbed her throat. “This whole place is weird.”

He laughed. “That’s true.”

“You miss home?”

“All the time. You?”

She nodded. “At least I can Skype with Ashley. Do you ever talk with your friends?”

“Kind of. When I can.”

“I also know that feeling.”

He shuffled through his things. “I’m gonna grab a soda. You want one?”

“Nah,” she said. “Thanks.”

She stayed in her mother’s office, since the other option was the stool. She’d brought her laptop for doing work on, but she actually opened up her chat to see if Mithra was online. More coughing rose up in her throat, and she wished she’d had gotten something. She must be getting sick. So far she’d avoided illness, which her family had a good track record of. At times she suspected magic, but a more reasonable side of her suggested that it was all the Vitamin C her mother drank. She coughed again, and this time she felt mucus rise in her throat. great. Life would throw a crazy witch and the flu at her at the same time.

Covering her mouth, she walked into the reception area to find a cup of water. She made it about as far as the door when her chest began to ache. She couldn’t breathe, and she felt something thick and disgusting climbing in her throat. She grabbed onto the wall and keeled forward, where she fell to her knees on the floor. Someone touched her shoulder, but she couldn’t do anything but hack away. Something thick like gelatin poured into her mouth, and she let it drip onto the floor. It black and viscous, and it slid from her mouth onto the floor. It left a cold, dead taste in her mouth, like rotted meat. She wiped saliva from her lips and stared at it. It skittered away so quickly that she sat back in surprise.

“My god,” she heard her mother murmur.

She heard Hortense’s heels clicking on the tile as she ran over. “What was that?”

Mrs. Zhi took the cup of water from her and handed it to her daughter. “Where’s Geoffy?”

Hortense gestured to the door, where he was entering.

“Geoffy!” Mrs. Zhi shouted. “Stay right where you are!”

He stopped, holding his hands up. “What happened?”

Kim swished the water in her mouth and spit it back into her cup. The taste was still there, and the smell of rotten meat was rising up in her nostrils. “I think I’m gonna be sick,” she murmured.

“You just were,” Hortense said. “I’ve got her.”

Mrs. Zhi nodded, standing. She held up her hand and looked around. “We need to find it.”

“Three guesses where its going.” Hortense gestured to the staff.

She nodded and walked carefully over, keeping her eye on every nook and cranny. There was a noise, and she stopped. The slug like creature had wrapped itself around a little golden ball. Its weight caused it to roll over and hit the floor. After a moment of silence, there was a slight groan, and the slug began to grow, its slimy body stretching out and taking the form of a person. Slowly, Kim began to recognize the form as Arada covered in slime. She stood quickly, having to grasp the door frame to do so. Hortense stood as well.

“That’s her!” Kim shouted. “Mum!”

Arada held out her hand and a black swirl of energy hit Mrs. Zhi directly in the chest, causing her to fly backwards. Without even thinking about it, Kim held out her hand and the staff flew into it. She swirled an arc of rainbow fire, but Arada was quicker, throwing a blast of energy her way. Hortense stepped in front of her and with a complicated hand gesture created a shield. Sensing she wouldn’t be getting anywhere with that, Arada sent a hit at Geoffy, who dodged out the way before it could hit him.

“Damn,” Hortense muttered. “Where’s Aremana?”

Kim didn’t wait for an answer. She ran straight to her mother, skidding to a stop beside her.

“I’m fine,” Mrs. Zhi said. “Don’t–”

Arada appeared behind them in a moment and sliced through the air. Kim blocked it with the staff, and sparks rained down as she caught on it. The witch used that opportunity to grab her by the throat, lift her up, and throw her across the room. She slammed into a table not five feet from Geoffy, who crawled over to her side.

“You okay?” he asked.

“I think she was in my mouth,” Kim said.

“What?”

“Nothing.” She sat up. “How did she do that?”

“I thought you said she was blocked from entering this world.”

“I’m gonna guess she found a different way.”

Arada lifted herself off the ground, hair swirling all around her. She began to fly at them, but she was hit out of the air by a golden beam of light, causing her to crumple to the ground. They looked over, and there was Aremana, holding a gold ankh in the air.

“Oh,” Kim said. “I didn’t know he could do that.”

“Learn something new every day.”

Kim stood and allowed the staff to lead her. She stepped forward and slammed the staff against the ground. A wave of fire lifted on the ground straight towards Arada, who swung her legs beneath her and disappeared through a dark hole in the ground. Everyone stood there, holding their breath.

“Is she gone?” Hortense asked.

A hole opened up at Aremana’s feet and she rose up, slicing straight through his chest. He staggered back against the wall, and she moved to strike again, but Kim moved faster, smacking her head on with the staff. Arada released a breath but grabbed onto the staff as she fell back. There was a quick tug-of-war, but the witch scraped her nails against it. Sparks flew up, burning her hand, and she cried out, falling back.

Hortense was quick in those heels. She was beside them in only a moment, cell phone out. Arada meant to strike out at her, but she dodged out the way, dropping to her boss’s side. Kim took the momentary distraction to slam the staff into the witch’s chest and letting the fire burn against her. Arada screamed and clawed up at her and managed to grab onto her skin, but the hole opened up beneath her, and she disappeared within it. The hole closed, and she did not reappear again.

“Is he alright?” Mrs. Zhi asked, running up to them. She put her arm around her daughter’s shoulders but kept her attention on her friend. “Hortense.”

“I’m going to drive him to the hospital,” she said.

“Call an ambulance.”

“And tell them what? Come on, sir.”

Aramana allowed her to lift him. “This is getting ridiculous.”

“Don’t talk, Anselm.” Mrs. Zhi reached out to touch his chest but thought better of it. “Do you need help?”

“No,” Hortense said. “Someone needs to be here in case she comes back.”

Somehow they got him into the car, though Kim didn’t get to see. She sat with Geoffy against the far wall. He’d curled his legs to his chest and sat with his forehead in his hand. She settled next to him.

“You okay?” she asked.

“Awesome,” he said with a laugh. “You?”

She held out her arm to inspect it. “I don’t think she cut the skin.”

“That’s a win.”

She watched him a moment, and then nudged him. “Really though. Freaked out?”

“It’s not–” He sighed and removed his glasses to clean them. “Do you ever feel like the universe is testing you?”

“Constantly,” she said.

“It’s not so much the evil sorceress climbing from the dark shadowy realm beyond the veil through your mouth to destroy us all. That part I can deal with. But you know how my dad’s not really getting better? There was like a full minute where I was absolutely sure I’d lost my uncle too.”

She squeezed his hand. “Your dad and your uncle are fine. I promise. Aremana probably refuses to die out of sheer stubborness.”

He laughed. “I can see that.”

She sat back. “I wish I could stop dragging people into this. I wish there was some way to finish her.”

“Like, for good?”

She shook her head. “This. I want to finish this.”

He smiled and pressed his shoulder against hers. She lifted her head to press a kiss against his cheek, but the door opened, and they both sat back as Mrs. Zhi walked in.

“Your uncle will be fine,” she said to them. “Hortense will take care of him. How are you, dear?”

Kim smiled up at her. “You know. Great.”

“I suppose it was a good idea that you’ve been practicing.” She sighed, running her hands through her hair. “I wish it weren’t necessary.”

“Honest, mum. I’d rather fight her face-to-face than have her crawl out of my guts again.”

“Yes, that was troubling. Do you two want to help me clean?”

“Sure,” Geoffy said.

They stood up and got to work.

—

She fell back beyond the veil, skin blistering where the fire had hit her. Other’s blood was splattered on her, and the creatures began to move immediately. They reached out to her, began to tear at her. She gasped and struggled away. They were awake now. They knew she was not one of them. They wrapped their limbs around her and began to peel her away, and she sliced and fought, but they were strong, and her magic came from them. She dove through the veil once more and collapsed onto the ground. She was bleeding and blistered and her haven had been taken from her, but she was alive. She could still fight.

Where she had landed was uncertain. Frozen grass and soil stretched as far as she could see, the trees bare except for a few pines that littered the ground with needles. A dirty road ran beside chain link fences, and there was not house nor home for miles. She shivered with the cold, but she would not have to wait long. Soon her enemies would be vanquished, and no one would be able to stand against her.

—

“Oh my god,” Mithra said. “She came out of your mouth?”

“It was disgusting,” Kim said. She’d swallowed twenty mints afterwards and brushed her teeth for an hour. “I think she crawled in through my dreams.”

“Can she do that?”

“Apparently.”

“That’s so creepy.” She pressed her hands against her head as if it might happen at any moment. “Can you stop her?”

“I think so. Mum has some stuff for dreaming.”

Mithra curled her legs underneath her. “Dang.”

Kim shrugged. “We locked her out, and I guess she found other ways.”

They sat in silence. It was too cold to enjoy sitting outdoors, but the hallway outside the choir room was a good lunch time spot. Kim was far too used to the diet of lunch meat and Doritos, but Mithra’s parents always made her something good, so they were sharing. They found privacy for their lunchtime conversations better than allowing their classmates to overhear. The professors always gave them strange looks for it, but Kim hadn’t ever looked for their approval and she wasn’t going to start now.

“How’s using the staff?” Mithra asked after a minute of chewing on some naan. “Creepy?”

“Unfortunately no,” Kim replied with a sigh. “It makes me more nervous that I’m used to it.”

“At least you’re working together.”

“Yeah. I don’t miss the explosive headaches.”

“How about you and Geoffy?” she asked. “Still on the friend front?”

Kim rolled her head back. “I have no idea. I think for now we’re just occasional make out buddies.”

“No prospects from his school?”

“Mithra,” she said, “the real reason we three are friends is because we’re barely respectable members of society. Unless he’s found his own Island of Misfit Toys at his school, I think we’re safe.”

“You’re safe,” she said. “I have no stake his romantic prospects.”

Kim rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

“But really. Any chance for him?”

“I have no idea. I’m sort of still stuck in this ‘not dying’ mode. Why do you care so much anyway?”

Mithra shrugged. “My romantic prospects are nil until college, and even then I’m probably going to wait to out myself to my parents on their deathbed. Can’t I live vicariously through my best friend?”

Kim grinned. “Should I be sharing details then?”

“Yes. Not too gross though. I still have to hang out with him too.”

She rolled her eyes. “Alright.”

—

Luckily for all, Kim’s great-grandmother had been a superstitious woman, and many of their heirlooms were things she’d kept to keep away evil spirits. It was actually fairly comforting to see the old relics aligning her walls. Her grandmother’s house was filled with these things, and it reminded her of her home in London, where she would make them tea and tell them stories of China.

Kim had rested the staff downstairs. She felt better about it, almost as if this were turning into a partnership, but she was also starting to think of it more and more as a person. She treated it like a visiting uncle or cousin and let it sleep in the living room. She knew where it was at all times, which was even stranger. She’d almost like to keep it back at the gallery, where the distance allowed her to feel as though he wasn’t watching her, but she felt safer with him in the home, where she had easy access. Besides, the minute Aremana returned he’d flipped out that Arada had put actual scratches into its wood. They appeared as three ragged lines that cut deeply into the wood. She had ruined some of the symbols, and the staff had not felt good about that. Kim didn’t know what the symbols were for, but they did seem to have some bearing on the power behind the staff. Myrddin had been more vague and less responsive. She supposed no one had ever gotten that close to him before. He could’ve potentially been lost for centuries as well. She realized she never asked Aremana where he retrieved the staff from. He certainly wasn’t too revealing of his sources. These were things she should’ve been working on, she thought, instead of indulging in her drama.

These were the thoughts that lulled her off to sleep. Her forest was free of the heavy darkness that had been hanging over it recently. For the first time in a long time she could see the moon and the stars and the tops of the trees, but there was still the man. He paid her no heed, sitting instead at the base of a tree, and she could almost make him out in the shadows. He was carving something in his hands, but that was the most she could see of him. She reached out and spoke to him.

She woke up.

—

“You don’t think that was the first thing I would’ve done?” Mrs. Zhi said early the next morning as she poured herself a cup of coffee. There was still an hour before Kim needed to be at school, and her dream had woken her up much earlier than that. Returning to sleep had been more of a chore than it was worth.

“I sort of assumed you would’ve told me,” Kim said.

“I didn’t think it was important, dear.” She set the pot down and took a seat at the table. “I asked Anselm for the papers, but you know our community is notoriously bad at paperwork. A wizard in Australia traded it for the goblet of Midas or something. Not exactly something you put on the books.”

“That’s disappointing.” Kim sighed. “And he never figured out what it was before all this?”

“He knew it was something powerful. The symbols are precursors to Druidic runes.”

“Oh.”

“Darling, if you’re so curious about the staff, why don’t you ask him?”

“I…” She sunk into her cereal. “I don’t trust him.”

Mrs. Zhi glanced into the living room, where the staff was still sitting against the wall. “Good.”

She pulled her chair closer, and Kim looked up. This was Serious Conversation time.

“I know you need him to protect yourself,” Mrs. Zhi said. “I know why it’s good that you’re training with him. But I don’t want you to be comfortable with this. We’re going to cut you apart from him. I promise.”

“I know, mum.” Kim smiled reassuringly. “I’m working with him only as long as I have to.”

“That’s my girl.” She squeezed her hand. “Now get dressed. I’ll see what I can dig up today.”

Kim closed her eyes. “Thanks, mum.”

—

There was a fire drill at school, which meant they spent a good hour sitting on the sidewalk outside. The snow was starting to melt, but there were still crunchy layers of ice that hadn’t turned to slush yet. Mithra and Kim had snuck behind the school where they could sit on benches. Kim was trying to teach her simple magic she would’ve learned as a kid, but it was a bit harder to teach than learn. Her uncle had taught her to make the nickel disappear when she was six years old.

“This is way too hard,” Mithra said.

“No, it’s–” Kim turned her fist over and raised it palm out. She turned her other fist over and when she opened her fingers, there it was. “It’s really all in the wrist.”

“Easy for you to say.” She turned her fist over, and when she raised it up, the nickle was still wedged between her fingers. “Are you sure I don’t have to be magic to do this?”

“No one has to ‘be magic.’ That’s not really a thing.”

She tried it again. “Well that’s what it feels like.”

Kim did it for her again, slower this time. By the time they were ushered back inside, Mithra had figured out how to make it disappear. Its reappearance was still lost on her.

—

Geoffy was pretty amazed by their nickel trick, especially since at this point it was a tandem act. Mithra made it disappear, and Kim reappear. Geoffy could make a whole pencil disappear, though even Kim was lost on that one. They did this all in the reception area, since Aremana wasn’t too keen on letting them in. At some point Hortense joined in the games, though her magic was far advanced from the rest of them.

“Hortense,” Kim asked, “do you know what Aremana was doing with the staff before I got to it?”

She twirled a pen between her fingers. “Trying to figure out what it was, I guess. It’s like in Pawn Stars, when you buy something hoping it’ll be awesome and worth it. His friend thought it was a piece of junk.”

“You watch Pawn Stars?” Geoffy said incredulously.

“Do you know how many terrible shows there are on Netflix? That is not the worse of what I’ve watched.”

“So you guys really didn’t know,” Kim attempted to bring the conversation back on track.”

“No,” Hortense said. “Not until you grabbed hold of it.”

“Fantastic,” she breathed.

“You been trying to figure this stuff out?”

“There’s gotta be a clue somewhere.” She threw out her arms. “He couldn’t have wiped himself off the earth.”

“Completely given up on Arada then?” Mithra asked.

Kim nodded. “She’s as much a mystery as she’s ever going to be. I’m not interested in her history anyway. I just want her to leave me alone.”

“Fair,” Geoffy said. He snatched the pen from Hortense, but she found it behind Mithra’s ear. “What are you going to do next then?”

She sighed. She really didn’t have any other choice. “Ask him, I guess.”

—

It was sort of a private thing, Kim supposed. It was starting to feel weird carrying the staff around, like she should be asking him permission. Quietly, she took him up to her room, laid him down beside her on the bed, and stared at him for a very long time. She didn’t want her mother to know she was doing what she told her she wouldn’t. She was never quite sure how her father felt about these sort of things, but he’d been treating the staff as an unwelcome houseguest, keeping his distance and glaring at him across the dinner table. There was so much she felt she needed to know though, and really only one source to get it from.

“So,” she said, crossing her legs underneath her. “Myrddin.”

The staff stirred. Its symbols sparked lightly.

She asked, “Who are you?”

And then the flames engulfed her.

—

She was–he was somewhere new.

He had visited this place before, in his many lives. The forest would always stand. Even when the world was stripped apart by the monstrous machines he saw in his visions, this forest would stand, and he with it. But here, now, it was new once again. The dark soil was rich beneath his toes, the heavy bark of the ancient trees rough against this fingertips, the rich scent of the forest everywhere, filling his nose and his lungs. He would die here one day. He would live forever here. He thought of them as much the same thing. There was a lake not far from here, more of a pond really. Its waters were almost green, and it shone in the sunlight and gave him much solace in his days here. This face was still young, but his body felt old, and he rested here on its banks, feeling the dark grasses between his fingers.

This is where he met her, the beautiful girl. She was young and soft and she might’ve been everything to him. Her eyes were the color of the water, her hair the color of the soil, her lips the color of the berries that grew on the bushes, her skin so like a peach. She would lay in the water and they would talk, and he would teach her magic, and they would love each other and she would betray him at his word, but that was all to come. He had to remember which present he was in, what was happening now. He’d always had such a problem with tenses.

Her name was Viviane or Nimue or Margaret or the Lady or whatever they are calling her now, he can’t remember. She laughed every time he got it wrong. Suddenly his face was not so old with the long beard he grew and the way his bones ache but he feels young like he could swim a thousand laps with her. She is no older. She kisses him like she always did before she put him in the darkness.

No, wait, he’s getting it wrong again.

There had only ever been the darkness, and that’s where he is now. A beautiful woman came and carved away a chunk of him, and that brought with it a portion of him. She would sit beside him and carve the symbols until it was perfect, and she named it Merlin and she would tell his story and she loved him, hadn’t she?

He was always so bad with tenses.

—

Kim blinked and rubbed her eyes. The forest disappeared from her vision and the room returned. The staff sat, waiting for her reply. Once again she felt like he’d downloaded information into her brain, though she wasn’t sure he understood the analogy.

“And that’s you then,” she said slowly, trying to unravel what he’d told her. “You’re sort of an imprint of the actual Merlin–Myrrdin.”

His answer was yes.

“And you’ve just been passed around from person to person.”

Again, he responded yes.

“Is that why you choose girls like me–young girls? They remind you of her?”

His answer was a little more sheepish this time, but still yes.

“I don’t think that makes it less creepy.”

There was no reply to that.

“Well, alright,” she said. “I suppose that answers a few of my questions. How’d you get dragged down with people like Bedelia or Arada? How come you kept getting reborn? Why did you let yourself be locked away?”

I have memories of all these, he said, but they are jumbled. I cannot always understand what I see.

She pictured the scattered memories he’d given her. He was never quite sure which moment he was living in.

“Alright,” she said. “I think we’re getting somewhere.”

There was more, of course. She caught glimpses here and there and wherever she could. He’d lived a long time before that and a long time after. It appeared his forest, the same one she saw in her dreams, was his sanctuary, his place where the world couldn’t touch him. He was the most powerful wizard of three ages, and the world would place a heavy burden on his shoulders.

There were other things too. She saw glimpses of them men he learned from, the people he helped. There were a million memories, locked away that she could find bits and pieces of it if she tried. There were answers there. She could unravel them at her own leisure. It was a good starting point. She could go from here.

There were as fewer stories of Arada than there were of Myrddin. There were a million stories about what could possibly lay beyond the veil, and all of them were bad.

Of course Mrs. Zhi was upset. Kim sat in a chair like she was in the principal’s office. Aremana was pissed that she’d even tried anything, but his rampage was taking place outside. Her mother sat there, silently slamming her fingers against her keyboard. Kim would’ve liked to point out that she probably almost died, but thought it might not be the best time.

“This can’t keep happening,” her mother murmured suddenly.

Kim cringed. “I’m sorry, mum. I just wanted answers.”

“Not…” She sighed and looked at her daughter. “You did what you thought was best. I wish you’d told me, but you went looking for answers. I just wish this wasn’t our only source. I’m talking about what’s happening to you.”

“Mum…”

“We can’t allow this to continue. There must be some way of breaking the bond.”

“Mum.”

“There has to be a better way of protecting you.”

“I think he’s trying to protect me,” Kim said. “He thinks no one can trump him.”

“The best way to protect you is to get him away from you.”

“He’s not going to let me go.”

Mrs. Zhi narrowed her eyes and pressed the enter key a little harder than she needed to. “It’s not his decision.”

Kim folded her arms and sat back in her chair. “Maybe… Maybe if he’s not going to let me go, then the best way to protect me is to teach me to use him.”

Her mother stared at her and then slowly turned away, shaking her head. “That’s not–that’s not plan A. For now, we’re focus on keeping you safe.”

Kim nodded, but she wasn’t entirely sure. The look in her mother’s eyes told her she wasn’t either.

—

The fire was carried back with her, the final wisps of it sending sparks of light through the darkness. The creatures groaned and turned until the light disappeared. All this activity was making them more active. Soon they might try to come through with her. She sat among them now, examining the skin where the fire had burned her. The skin moved as it tried to heal itself, but she could still feel its heat and occasional bursts sparked new pain. It had been a long time since they had last battled. It was refreshing to be challenged once again.

There was still the matter of the wielder. She needed an opportunity where he could not interfere. She needed to end this quickly. She could only wait so long.

—

Kim’s lock down wasn’t any easier now, but at least she’d gotten some answers. While the Internet withheld any potential answers, she did manage to find one or two pieces. When nothing else came up, she continued her prison sentence. Geoffy visited, and she told him everything that happened.

“I’ve never heard of her,” he said.

“She’s terrifying.” Kim sighed, laying over the edge of her bed. She was texting Mithra, trying to get her come over. “And she’s stalking me.”

“Do you think she’d still come after you if you weren’t connected to the staff?”

“I don’t know. Myrddin said she was ‘complicated,’ whatever that meant.”

“Probably means she doesn’t usually have a reason when she starts killing people.”

She grimaced. “Thanks.”

“Sorry.”

Mithra wasn’t texting her back. She lifted herself up and glanced out the window, as she did every few minutes. Geoffy noticed but said nothing.

“He said you’re safe here,” he said.

“Yeah.” She threw down her phone and ran her hands through her hair. “I mean she probably would’ve killed me by now if she could get in.”

He poked her, forcing her to sit up. “Let’s do something that isn’t completely depressing.”

“Like what? I’m stuck here for the foreseeable future.”

“I don’t know. We can hook up the NES or find a movie or something. You’ve got to do something that isn’t steeped in paranoia.”

Kim listened to the house for a moment. Her mum was at the gallery and her dad was in his study. There was nothing she really felt like doing, but anything had to be better than what she was doing now.

“Movie,” she said, even though they’d watched nearly everything in the house. “Something that doesn’t make me think.”

—

Hui-ying unlocked the kitchen door and tossed her keys onto the counter and her purse into a chair. She had spent another day tracking down contacts, but it was pointless. Arada was an urban legend at best. She set a kettle on the stove and then went into the living room. Geoffy and Kim were watching a movie, and she pretended not to notice how quickly they moved apart. She said hello and kept walking. Her husband was still in his study, and she knocked on the door. He appeared a moment later, wiping his face with a rag.

“Your daughter has a boy over,” she said, kissing him on the cheek.

“Geoffy, yes,” he said. “I do know what goes on in this house.”

“Just making sure. Are you joining us for dinner?”

“Sure. Do you need any help?”

“I’ll be fine. Shower, please?”

“Sure.”

She kissed him again and returned to where her daughter was. They were now sitting on opposite sides of the couch. She tried not to smirk.

“Geoffy, are you staying for dinner?” she asked.

“Um, no,” he replied. “Thank you, though.”

The kettle whistled, and she went into the kitchen to start preparing dinner.

—

Kim pressed her fingers against her lips as she thought about her day. She thought about calling Mithra, but she settled on writing a lengthy e-mail to Ashley and not sending it.

She thought more about what to do about the staff. Ignoring it wasn’t working, especially not now. Hiding was working, but for how long? Arada could get into the gallery, how long before she could get into her home? She needed more than just a few wards to keep her safe. She needed to learn to protect herself. She needed the staff.

She needed to convince her parents.

—

Kim was waiting in the courtyard. Mithra had to leave right after school, and Kim had to finish something. She was enjoying her five minutes of freedom before she had to walk back. The school was nearly empty of people, and she began her long trek home. She thought about stopping by the gallery, but that was an even worse prison, and she couldn’t get on the Internet.

She folded her things into her backpack, finally ready to leave, and made it about five feet before she saw it. Of course she should’ve expected this, but Kim was nothing if not an optimist. There was what looked like a hole in the universe, a dark expanse stretching out into empty space, and Arada crawled through like a Japanese girl in a horror movie. Her hair swirled all around her, and her toes brushed against the cold ground, her tattered skirt going every which way in an invisible wind. Kim took a step back, looking to see if anyone was around. The school was pretty much empty–there was no one in her near vicinity.

“All alone, little girl,” Arada said. Her voice was soft, almost completely devoid of emotion. This sounded like a job to her, a chore she had to do before doing the dishes and taking out the trash.

Kim didn’t think. She ran. Unfortunately her only real means of escape was right past Arada, who caught her with her bony fingers and threw her into the snow. Kim coughed and sputtered but did not stop, choosing instead to crawl away. She was half way to her cell phone when Arada caught her again, slicing a clean line with her nails and slashing into her arm. Blood colored the snow around her, and Kim fell back again. For a moment, the witch seemed transfixed by the stark red against the white snow, and her eyes moved from Kim long enough for her to stand and back away.

“Don’t think you can run,” Arada murmured. Her eyes looked up lazily from the snow. “There is no one here to protect you.”

Kim suddenly found her back against the red brick of the school. She cursed silently. You think a church would do a better job of holding off witches.

“You think I can’t call the staff to me!” she shouted, holding out her hand. “He can pull me away! I won’t be here much longer!”

“No,” Arada said. “You won’t.”

She lunged at her, a violent streak of red. Her nails caught her throat, and Kim felt the sensation of falling backwards. Suddenly all around her was only darkness. It was empty and grey and filled with the unknown. She saw creatures all around them, massive bodies quietly slumbering, large limbs rolling over in their sleep. One blinked its eight eyes in the presence of Arada, and Kim realized she was still bleeding. Suddenly all of them knew it. One by one the creatures began to lift themselves in search of it, and one by one they stretched out their limbs to greet her. Arada’s fingers closing around her throat and the ever growing presence of these monsters, Kim felt her whole world becoming darkness, and she rolled her head back and closed her eyes and let it succumb her.

In that moment there was a spark, and then light exploded all around them. Bright colorful fire shot out in every direction, blinding the creatures and Arada. Kim felt herself land against the ground, her fist wrapped around the staff, fire burning all around her. The snow melted around her body, and Arada was only a few feet from her, clawing at her face.

“Cheating!” she shouted. “You cannot enter that realm!”

If the staff had a reply, Kim didn’t hear it, but she allowed her arm to be guided up. The staff slammed against the ground, and Arada was thrust backwards, back into the hole she’d created, and the fire consumed it until it disappeared. She was locked out. Not for good, but she could only sit back and lick her wounds for now. In another flash of light, Kim found herself in her mother’s office, and she collapsed into the chair and closed her eyes. She could barely murmur a thank you before she felt her body go limp and sleep overtook her.

—

Hui-ying entered her office to the surprise of her daughter laying there, staff still clutched in her hands, her arm dripping blood all over the tile. She nearly dropped her papers and called Hortense over to find bandages and something for her. They thought about removing the staff, but it seemed a poor decision.

When Kim was finally up, she explained everything that happened. Fear sent a dark chill down her spine. She wasn’t safe at school. Was it worth it to pull her out? But Arada had waited until she was alone. Would it be enough to surround her with people? She had taken her to that dark place, and did she bring anything back with her? They checked the cut and finally Kim let go of the staff, but there appeared to be little actual damage. There might be a scar, but Hui had seen worse.

Kim was convinced that the staff had closed at least that portal into this world, meaning they would be safe for a short time. She went very still when asked about what lay beyond the veil and did not offer clear answers. Perhaps trauma. Should she invest in a therapist for her? Goodness knows she’d probably need it. Anselm might know someone. Bartholomew always had a few numbers when they couldn’t go through normal channels. She’d have to talk it over with Cadmos, of course. She’d have to call him. He worried so much. She hated when his fears came true.

The staff continued to not speak to anyone. Hui-ying wished she could hold a conversation with him. What he was doing was so far from acceptable she felt the only proper response was a restraining order and a shipping crate to Tibet, but she doubted that would actually do anything. Especially if Kim could call him at a whim. And her whims were becoming more and more in support of the staff. But she’d had a point, the other day, when she’d asked about learning to use it properly. Could they justify keeping her from the best protection, even if it felt like she was losing some of her autonomy? Perhaps they had to rely on each other. Perhaps Kim would be completely lost.

They allowed her to take it home anyway.

Hui-ying hated the staff. She hated him with her heart. She told her husband this, as they sat quietly in their room. He told her she had every right to, and it was stealing away their daughter, and she wanted to break it or burn it or throw it away, but she had a feeling that wouldn’t do anything. She checked on her daughter later that night, brought her an ibuprofen when she complained about her arm hurting, and she saw the staff leaning against the wall beside the bed. She saw how it comforted Kim, how she slept easier with it there. She had been prepared to lose her daughter to boys or to college or to life in general, but to lose her to this? It was terrifying. She wanted it to end everyday.

Instead she kissed her daughter on the forehead and told her sweet dreams and to tell her if she needed anything. Kim was out the moment she turned out the lights, but she left a sliver of light coming through the door, in case she woke up in the darkness. Hui-ying went to bed herself and held her husband and told herself she was being strong for her daughter.

—

The creatures lurked on the edge of Kim’s dreams, but the fire kept them away. She felt like a proto-human, sitting by the fire in the middle of the night as the sabertooths circled. She dreamt of them in her forest. They hung in the sky, larger than the moon, reaching out for her. Arada was hidden amongst the trees, watching her but never seen. Flashes of red in the corner of her eyes, but Kim realized it might be the blood all over the ground. It looked like her blood, and the lake ran red with it.

She woke up in the middle of the night and saw the staff there. Its presence was a comfort, and she wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Her mother had left some light on as well, which she was thankful for. She closed her eyes again, and this time dreamed of nothing at all.

—

Kim was kept home from school the next day, but her parents admitted since Arada was locked away now, it’d be useless to waste her sick days. She had to wait to fill Mithra in on everything, and when she finally did, Mithra was in shock. She gazed at the cut on her arm, amazed at how deep it was.

“I can’t believe she came after you here,” Mithra said. “Shouldn’t she hate churches or something?”

“I don’t think they had Christianity when she was alive,” Kim pointed out. “Maybe it’s like a grandfather clause thing.”

There were three long scratches in her arm, still pink and a little swollen. She could see the rumors spreading all around her.

“You really can’t go anywhere then,” Mithra said, looking disappointed.

“No. I think mum might even pull me out of school.” Kim thought of her last bit of freedom slipping away and sighed.

“Maybe there’s a way to trap her for good. You’re sure she can’t get out?”

She shrugged. “Myrddin said that pathway was now blocked or whatever. He thinks she can open another, but it would take time.”

“What are you going to do if she isn’t stopped by this summer?”

Kim went wide-eyed when she thought about it. She groaned and leaned over. “Die. Horribly. And alone.”

“Summer I can visit you at least.” Mithra cringed. “Except for the month I’m in India.”

“You go to India for a whole month?”

“Pretty much. There’s a lot of family gatherings then. I can see if I can cut down my time.”

“No, don’t sacrifice yourself for me. I’ll just chat with Ashley and Thomas all day or something.”

“Are they still dating?” Mithra asked. She was mildly kept up on the gossip back home.

“Yup. Um.” Kim looked to her friend, feeling suddenly embarrassed. “So there’s one more thing.”

“How many psychos do you have in your life?”

“Not that.” She leaned forward, curling her body up as much as possible. “I, um–Geoffy came over like a week ago and I was super depressed or whatever. We ended up watching this really lame movie to keep my mind off things and it was so lame that didn’t even work. So me and Geoffy kind of…”

“Oh my god.” To her surprise, Mithra was grinning. “You didn’t.”

“We only made out a little bit,” Kim said. “It was so weird. And I haven’t seem him since. Do you think it’s weird?”

“You mean do I think it’s weird that you and the only boy you spend an inordinate amount of time with tried to get physical? Is that what you’re asking?”

Kim rolled her eyes.

“Was it awkward?” Mithra ask. ” I bet it was.”

“Yeah, it was a little awkward. Neither of us knew what we were doing.”

“I kind of suspected he was secretly a sex god or something.”

Kim snorted. “Not even a little.”

Mithra sighed dramatically. “I was still kind of holding out hope for you.”

“What? That I liked girls?”

“You have so much potential in you. But I know I’m just going to continue to be disappointed.”

Kim pinched her friend. “Whatever! You just wish you had a make out buddy.”

“Well that is true.”

Kim laughed again and then hugged her friend. She was starting to miss moments like these. They felt entirely too fleeting.

—

Hui-ying was trying not to be upset at her friend. It was very hard. Anselm was most infuriating.

“I can’t believe you’re opposing me on this,” she said. “You’re the one who wanted to figure out all the staff’s secrets.”

“By letting a fourteen year old wield the most powerful object we’ve ever encountered?” he asked. “You don’t think that’s a little irresponsible?”

She shifted her weight. “It’s not ideal, but what choice do we have? She can’t spend every day trapped in our house.”

He sighed, rubbing his face. “That much is true.”

“Cadmos has already agreed with me. The only reason I need to even ask your permission is the fact that it’s your staff.”

“Hardly,” he scoffed. “I have a feeling it wouldn’t be sitting in my warehouse if it didn’t want to.”

She nodded at that and rested her weight against his desk. “It was quite a find, wasn’t it.”

“A shame it has a penchant for teenage girls.”

Hui wrinkled her nose. “Please don’t say that.”

He relented slightly. Opening a new fat file, he said, “I’m surprised you got your husband to go along with it.”

She rolled her eyes. There had always been some small rivalry between her husband and her friend, one she’d never understood and was forced to let pass. “He was the one who wanted her to be indoctrinated earlier. If she weren’t in so much danger he’d probably be happy.”

“It is strange you’ve kept her away from it.”

“You know how it is. Everyone outside of it has this inability to understand. I didn’t want her to be ostracized. Now she’s wholly unprepared for this.”

“Yes, well. I suppose that’s what she has you for.”

She smiled, but it was short lived. Other thoughts were plaguing her mind. She couldn’t help it. She was a worrier.

“And Geoffy?” she asked. She’d hoped her segueway would be less clunky, but there you go. “Is that what he has you for?”

Anselm glared at her, folding up his work. “I have been attempting, per your suggestion. You know I don’t understand children.”

She huffed. “He’s not a child. And you really ought to talk with him. No news about his father?”

“It looks like his stay will be a long one.”

Her lips pressed into a thin line. “At least he’s adjusting well. You really could be doing more for him.”

He scowled. “He hasn’t complained yet.”

“No, I imagine not.” She stood, dusting off her skirt. “So I have your permission to start then? I’d like to start helping Hakimi now, while she remains unprovoked.”

He waved a hand dismissively. “Go ahead. I can hardly stop you.”

She thanked him and quickly left his office.

—

Kim was e-mailing Ashley when her mother knocked on her door and entered. She lowered the screen and sat up.

“I think,” her mum started, grabbing the computer chair and sitting down, “you might be right about the staff.”

“What about it?” she asked.

She folded her hands in her lap. “You shouldn’t be left unable to defend yourself. We still have to figure everything out, but–if you want–you should start working to understand how to use the staff.”

“You want me to wield it,” Kim said slowly.

“That is what you asked.”

“Yeah, but…” She ran her fingers through her hair. “What exactly is the plan?”

“I’m not sure. I’m going to trust you, and I’m forced to trust Myrddin. I understand he’ll have to do the teaching.”

“So you’re basically just giving me permission to mess around with the staff.”

“Unfortunately.”

Kim tugged her her sleeves. “Alright. I guess.”

“I prefer supervised sessions, obviously.”

“Obviously.”

“We’ll start this weekend. I just want you to be safe, Hakimi.”

She smiled. “I know, mum. I appreciate it.”

She kissed her on the forehead and left her on her own. Kim looked to the staff, still propped against her bedroom wall, and wondered how much of that it had heard.

—

They were hungry now. They’d missed an opportunity to feed. Some of the more awake ones were crawling on her, trying to find the tiny flecks of blood. If they woke anymore, they may become more active in their hunting.

She had slammed her fists against the veil for hours with little luck. He had locked her out. He had kept her here, but not for long. She could not peer back, she could not feel the passage of time, but there were many ways through. One path closed to her, and a million lay open.

—

In their backyard, Mrs. Zhi had set up three different rods at different ends of the yard. On one Kim had taped a picture of her and her family, on another she’d rested a keychain Mithra had gotten her. On the last she placed a friendship bracelet she’d made with Ashley. If the staff did anything, carried her anywhere not of this world, they would act as a means for her to find a way home. Her father had buried totems in the ground around her, and her mother found her grandmother’s old jade beads and rested them around Kim’s neck.

“I want you to be safe,” she said.

“I will,” Kim promised.

They didn’t want to leave her, but their other option was watching in lawn chairs. They stood instead behind the rods, hoping their fence was high enough that the neighbors wouldn’t notice. Kim held the staff out, breathed in, and let the fire consume her.

You have finally come to learn.

She looked around but only saw the wash of multicolored lights. “If you’re not going to let me go, then I need to know how to protect myself against your enemies.”

And your caretakers?

“My parents want me safe,” she said bitingly. “I appreciate their presence.”

A child must be looked after.

“I’m hardly a child.”

You are hardly grown. But you have made the best decision.

“I’ve made the only decision. Now teach me.”

As you wish.

By the time Kim awoke, her mother had fled back to the gallery. Her father was doing something in the yard around the house that she was sure the neighbors would mistake for gardening, and she told him where she was going before taking off. Mrs. Sinha let her in very reluctantly, and she found Mithra in her room, still in bed, covers folded over her legs as she played on her computer. She sat up when Kim came in and smiled.

“How’re you doing?” Kim asked, shutting the door.

“Actually, pretty okay.” Mithra pressed the spot on her chest where Bedelia had dug her nails in. “A little bruised but whatever.”

“What’d your mum say?”

“She thinks I’m really sick I guess. She’s pretty much let me be.”

“That’s good.”

KIm sat on the edge of the bed and folded her hands into her lap. “I’m really sorry, Mithra.’

She blinked. “What for? You didn’t even do anything?”

“It’s my fault she went after you. If it weren’t for that stupid staff–”

“No, listen,” Mithra said, leaning forward. “Your life is crazy, I get that, but that doesn’t mean it’s your fault. You didn’t do anything to make her attack me. If anything it’s my fault. You didn’t even like Morgan, I think. I was the one who wanted to hang out with her.”

“Yeah, but you couldn’t have known. The staff should’ve given me some kind of warning or, I don’t know. Anything.”

“And it didn’t, so you couldn’t have known either. Which makes it Bedelia’s fault.”

Kim smiled. “I’m still sorry. If you weren’t friends with me you wouldn’t even be dealing with this.”

“Also my fault,” Mithra pointed out. “So there. You can’t feel sorry for anything.”

“At least let me feel a little self-pity.”

“Alright. But only because I think you need it to live.”

Kim laughed and hugged her friend. There was always some fear in her that Mithra would turn and run, and this was the end of that feeling.

—

Hui-ying stared into the blood splattered room, holding her hand against her mouth and nose. There was a man behind her who had introduced himself as Leod. His white coat was cleanly pressed and his old-fashioned fedora being carried in his hand. His expression was not of horror and disgust but of concern. The remains of Bedelia had already been packaged away, and now there were the leftovers to deal with.

“Hui,” Anselm said, resting a hand on her shoulder. “The others need help.”

“Y-yes, of course.” She peeled her eyes away from the room and offered a wavering smile to Leod. “It’ll take days to set it up right again.”

He offered only a consoling glance before putting his hat back on and stepping into the room. Anselm waited at the door. He had already seen enough.

“Your girl saw nothing?” Leod called out, removing a purple handkerchief and wiping the unsullied chair where the broken ankh still lay.

“Hortense was attending to disturbance in the main room,” he replied. “She didn’t return until she heard the witch’s screams.”

“And when she came in–”

“She was dead. Whoever entered here was tricky enough to not be seen.”

“You said Bedelia snuck in at least once.”

He breathed out. “This time the only thing that set off the wards were the objects in the other room. Whoever did this was completely cloaked.”

Leod lifted up the handkerchief and stared at the black grime that had come off on it. “I’d say so.”

“Obviously if there’s–”

“And you don’t think she was after the staff.”

Anselm gestured to the warehouse. “It wasn’t touched.”

“I’d like to see it anyway. I’ll need to the full story on it.”

Anselm attempted not to seethe through his teeth. “Of course. Right away.”

He marched over to where Hui-ying was gathering up objects and glowered back at Leod.

“I do not like him,” he said.

She grimaced. “You don’t like that he’s touching your things. Anselm, I’m very concerned.”

“So am I! If someone is breaking in and disrupting my things–”

“I’m worried about my daughter,” she snapped. “What if this person was after the staff and just decided to go through Hakimi to get it. Bedelia said more would come, didn’t she? What should we do?”

Anselm looked at his friend and sighed. “I suppose we should find some means to take her away from it.”

“Couldn’t they help?” She gestured to Leod.

“…I suppose,” he admitted reluctantly. “I think he wants to speak with her.”

“Fine. If it’ll help I’ll bring her down. I’m just so worried. What if we can’t keep her safe?”

“You’ve protected her so far.” He squeezed her hand. “Hortense can drum something up for your home I’m sure. And I suppose for that other girl.”

“Mithra.”

“If we’re going to start involving people we might as well make sure they’re safe.”

Hui-ying allowed a small smile of relief. “And does our guest know anything yet?”

“No.” Anselm glared at the man as best he could. “I’m sure he’ll find something.”

—

Kim found Geoffy sitting in the reception area, arms crossed as he curled up in one of the chairs. Hortense was not there, which was the only surprise. She kicked him to let him know she was there. He looked up from his game.

“Hey,” he said. “How’re you?”

“Tired, mostly.” She sat beside him. “What’s going on inside?”

“Dunno. A white suit’s taking care of things. I’m supposed to stay out here.” He sat up. “What happened last night?”

Kim told him. He cringed with her and said consoling things at appropriate times. She apologized for calling and worrying him. She asked if he knew if Bedelia had been taken away yet.

“Dunno,” he said. “I haven’t seen her.”

“That’s good at least.” She folded her legs against her chest. “I hope I never have to see her again.”

“I don’t think that’ll be a problem,” Hortense said as she entered the room. “She’s gone for good.”

“They took her away?” Geoffy asked. “I missed it.”

“Someone else snuck in last night.” She slid a finger under her throat.

“What?” they asked together.

“Someone came in and killed her.”

Kim stared at her. “What happened?”

Hortense shrugged. “No clue. That’s what what’s-his-face is looking at. He’s real cute too.”

“But–” Kim was still wrapping her mind around the news. “You didn’t just leave her.”

“The artifacts were going insane. I had to deal with that. When I came back…” She shrugged. “Someone else must’ve broken in. Someone I never saw and who did the whole thing in under five minutes. I literally walked outside, poke around, heard her screaming, and ran back in. She was already dead.”

“Oh,” Geoffy said, glancing at his friend. “Then that guy in there is–”

“Trying to figure out who did it.”

“Does he have any ideas?”

“Well, since we also have security cameras, which show absolutely nothing, our options are–” She counted them off on her fingers. “–vampire, fae, a really powerful sorcerer, or a ghost.”

“Wow.”

Kim bit her lip. “Is my mum here?”

Hortense nodded. “You want me to get her?”

“No, I can find her.”

Hortense hesitated but didn’t stop her from entering the warehouse. She saw the two other men working on gathering the objects, and there was her mother, chatting with the tall man in all white. She walked up slowly and realized they were standing right in front of the staff. She walked a little slower, but her mother looked up and saw her, waving her over.

“Darling,” she said. “This is Mr. Leod. He came to take Bedelia away.”

“Hortense told me what happened,” Kim said, allowing her mother to fold her into her arms. “Is it true?”

“Erm.” Mrs. Zhi glanced to the man in white. “Unfortunately. I was explaining to Leod about the staff.”

Kim glanced over Leod. She supposed if Prince Charming was going to exist, he was going to look like this. He was all pushed back hair and perfect teeth and baby blue eyes. There was something else about him though, and maybe it was just the all white suit–even down to the shoes–and the old fashioned cut of it that made her want to stand as far away as possible.

“You’re Kim, I assume,” he said. He grinned at her, leaning down to get closer to her level, and she tried to inch away. “You’re bonded to the staff, aren’t you?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I am.”

“Good. I need to look at the staff to understand what happened.”

“It’s not…” She glanced at the staff. To say it returned to sleep would be a lie. She could feel its presence. It wasn’t talking to which, which was great. Tasting the words in her head were bad enough, but she was more than a little upset at it. Still, it remained quiet, like it was watching them.

“It’s not doing anything,” she finished her thought. “It was pretty active last night, but lately it’s been quiet.”

If this mattered to his investigation, it wasn’t apparent. He took the staff and once again it was laid out on the table. Kim glanced back and saw Aremana standing by a small room in the back. For a moment the scent of iron and blood filled her nose, and she almost stumbled back, gripping the table for support. The staff sparked briefly in her mind, but she tried not to let it show in her face. Leod did not have fancy equipment like Aremana did, instead waving his hand over it. He murmured things she couldn’t hear, and she saw his eyes glance over her before he pulled away.

“We’re hoping of finding some way to remove the bond,” Mrs. Zhi was saying. “If what Bedelia said was true–”

“What did Bedelia say?” Kim asked suddenly.

“She, er, warned Aremana others would come to take the staff.”

“Is that what happened?” She looked at Leod. “But they didn’t take the staff.”

“Bedelia did disappear for a few centuries,” Leod said. “It’s possible she still had enemies about.”

“We’re still not sure what happened,” her mother said. “We’re not going to worry yet.”

Kim took note of Leod’s expression and decided to ignore him.

“Kim,” he said, “could you hold the staff for me?”

She stared at him. “Why?”

“I want to see the response.”

Her mother nodded in encouragement. Kim hesitated only a moment before gripping the staff in her hand. There was a moment when nothing happened, and then the fire flickered up her arm and into her chest. It wasn’t the impact it had been in the past. This time warmth flooded into her, and while colors danced in the corner of her eyes, she was still there in the room. It was a welcome change. It felt good.

Leod was staring at her. She dropped it immediately.

“Are you alright?” her mother asked.

“Fine,” Kim breathed. “It didn’t even hurt.”

She reached out to mother her, but Kim ducked away.

“If it’s alright,” she said, “I’m gonna go back to sitting with Geoffy.”

“Of course.” Her mother nodded. “We’ll be here.”

Kim left as quickly as she could. She returned to the reception area. Hortense had returned to whatever she had been doing, and Geoffy was trying to keep himself amused. She sat back down beside him and kicked her legs up in his lap. He glared at her but not very strongly.

“You talk to Mithra?” he asked.

“Yup. She’s doing surprisingly well.”

“That’s good. You really freaked me out last night.”

“I said sorry about that.” She sighed. “To be fair I was under a lot of stress.”

“Sure.”

She curled up, hugging her jacket tighter. “Have you talked to that Leod guy?”

He shook his head.

“He’s such a creeper.”

“Does he know anything?”

“He didn’t say anything to me.”

“Not even about the staff?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Mum’s hopeful, but no one knows anything about it.”

“I bet he’ll take it back to the main council. They have to know something.”

“Yeah,” Kim said. “You’re probably right.”

—

If Leod was still around, Kim didn’t know it. The next time she returned to gallery, it was a few days later, and by that time Leod was gone. Mithra came as well. At this point it was no use trying to keep anything a secret. She still wasn’t allowed in the main warehouse, but that didn’t bother anyone. They mostly stopped by to grab Geoffy, but today Kim needed to sneak in to speak to her mother.

“I have no idea what he thinks,” Mrs. Zhi said. “We may not know for a while.”

Kim tried not to let her disappointment show, but it was obviously read on her face.

“You know I’d tell you the minute we knew anything,” she said.

“I know.” She sighed. “I just wanted to be sure.”

Her mother hugged her. “You’re wearing the necklace your father gave you, aren’t you?”

“Of course.” She kept it hidden underneath her shirt, but she felt safer having it. “All the time.”

“Good. I’ll see you tonight.”

Kim was leaving, and she paused in front of the staff. It was still alive, still waiting for her, and as she moved closer, the warmth began to bloom in her chest again. She’d avoided it for so long, but it had left her when she needed it most. She didn’t want to wield it. It couldn’t force her to. As soon as she thought to lodge the complaint, she found herself holding the staff. Fire thrust over her arm, and suddenly she was somewhere else, not part of the physical world. The staff was staring at her as much as a staff could.

“This is your fault!” she shouted, too angry to comprehend the circumstances of the conversation. “I just wanted you to let me go!”

The staff said nothing. She wanted to hurl her fists at it.

“You would’ve let Mithra die over letting me go!”

No came the voice in her head, pounding against her temple with its force. She clutched her forehead. I wanted to make you stronger.

“That wasn’t strength! It was stubbornness!”

If you had allowed me to help you, she would still have been spared.

“That’s not the point!” She almost reached out to grab it, but the lack of physicality made that hard. “I asked you to give me up. I don’t want you! I don’t want this power! I liked the life I was living.”

You have so much potential in you.

“You can’t force me to use it. You can’t force me to use you.”

You have enemies.

“You have enemies! You have people coming after you! You’re forcing me to fight them!”

I need a wielder.

“But you don’t need me. You could’ve chosen Hortense or Professor Aremana or, hell, even my mum or Geoffy. Why did it have to be me?”

The staff was silent for a moment. For a brief, solitary moment she believed she may have convinced it.

Power, it said, is a corrupter. Minds that seek power, even if their intentions are just, do not understand how to wield it. You do not wish to wield me. You fear the magic I bring. It is best that you are the one to hold me.

“That’s messed up,” she murmured. After a moment she sighed, rubbing her face. “Unfortunately I’m getting used to you, which is even more messed up. At least you stopped attacking me.”

I did not deem it the best way to get your attention.

“And the headaches?”

I am simply reminding you that I am here.

“I don’t appreciate that. Next time someone’s life is on the line, you do what I say.”

Next time someone’s life is on the line, perhaps you’ll learn to trust me.

In that moment she was released. She was back in the warehouse, blinking under the fluorescent lights. No one appeared to have noticed her. She fled quickly before they could.

—

The three of them had moved to the park in an attempt to get away from their houses. A fresh layer of frost covered the swings and the playground, and they walked the length around it to keep warm. Kim told them of her conversation with the staff, and they considered what to do about it.

“Maybe you can convince it,” Mithra said, kicking up a pile of leaves. There was a small stream that ran the length around the playground which she’d been attempting to kick various things into. “If you’re not going to use it, then there’s no point of it keeping you around.”

“But I do keep using it,” Kim pointed out. “Which is entirely its fault. What am I supposed to do if that crazy person who killed Bedelia comes back?”

“Run, probably,” Geoffy said. She poked him in the ribs. “You probably shouldn’t be dealing with him anyway.”

“Yeah, even if you have the staff,” Mithra agreed. “Isn’t that what the dudes in white are supposed to be dealing with?”

Briefly, Geoffy had tried to explain to them how the main council worked, which even Kim was a little sketchy on. The main function appeared to be old guys in white suits who policed magic with various arbitrary rules to keep anyone from going dark. Leod was the first time she or Geoffy had ever met a white-suited man. It was probably a good summation for the rest of the council.

Kim dug her shoe into the ground. “I still have to defend myself from a million other people who want the power of Merlin or whatever.”

“Hortense is gonna put up all those wards or whatever,” Geoffy said. “And you said your dad was putting some stuff up.”

“Yeah, but…” She glanced at her friends. “I mean you guys aren’t safe either. Mithra almost got canned.”

“Totally fine,” Mithra said. “Not even a little traumatized.”

“You got hurt.”

“Mostly my feelings. Definitely don’t enjoy feeling used.”

Kim pouted, feeling her point drifting away. “Still. It’s all Myrddin’s fault.”

“Maybe that guy will know what to do,” Geoffy said, resting a hand compassionately on her shoulder. “Then we won’t have to worry anymore.”

“Yeah,” Kim sighed. “Here’s hoping.”

—

Here in the darkness, blood still flecked her fingers. It caused them stir, long tendrils of blackness reaching out inquisitively. She let them lick it away from her. It was the most she’d seen them awake in millenia. She had to be careful next time she stepped through the veil. They may attempt to follow.

One bird put down quite easily. Now there was the matter of the staff and its wielder. She would find him, and then she would end him, and then there would be no one who could stand up to her.

—

Kim was studying, but not very well. Winter break was almost upon them, and outside more sleet was coming. Ashley and Thomas had been asking her if she’d come home for Christmas, which seemed a likely possibility. They still had family in London and other places, so it wouldn’t be too much of a trip to stop by. Her parents had been slightly reluctant recently, possibly fearing what would happen if they got too far from the safety of the gallery and their now protected home, but Kim figured with all that had been happening, she deserved a little break.

These were the thoughts that were going through her head when suddenly she felt a small tingle on the back of her neck. She brushed her hair back nervously and sat up, curious what was causing the sensation. Just cold, she determined, but no. Sparks burst in her mind. They were warning her. Quickly she went to the window to look outside. Her front lawn was cast in blue from the ice and the streetlamps, the bushes slowly losing any foliage they had left. The flowerbeds were empty and hard brown from the frozen soil, and there was no one on the cracked concrete. The cars lay like dead statues covered in ice and sleet and snow. Everything was deathly quiet, the birds long gone for warmer weather, the small furry rodents buried in their homes for the winter. Not a sound, not a breath. There was something across the street, shrouded in darkness, as in literally wearing the darkness as a shroud. The form was hard to make out, and there was a flash of red, and then it turned away and disappeared as if it’d never been there at all.

Kim stood at her window a moment longer, breath fogging against the glass. She pulled away, closed the curtain, and curled up in a ball in her bed. She could barely close her eyes that night. The darkness was waiting.

—

Kim told her parents of the incident, but there was little to do. The wards appeared to be holding in place, and her dad went around the house again, doing what he could. It was decided that she would go to school, the gallery, and then home and nowhere else. If someone was waiting for her, the less time she spent unprotected the better. She could still hang with Mithra and Geoffy, but their choices were the reception area of the gallery or her house, and that quickly became old. Her friends were ever faithful though. The dreams were stopping as well, and though the staff still left little tricks in her mind, it was beginning to fade away. Maybe it took what she said to heart. Maybe it would finally leave her alone.

All went well until winter break came. They were given three weeks off and to Kim’s disappointment they wouldn’t be able to go back for Christmas. Her aunt and uncle and great-aunt were going to visit them here, but she still had to tell Ashley and Thomas the bad news. Other than that she was basically trapped at home, with only her laptop and occasionally Mithra and Geoffy for company. Finally cabin fever became too much. She took a walk to the gallery, and she took the long way.

It felt good to be outside. She loved the way the cold stung at her cheeks and the way ice crunched beneath her boots. She kicked up some snow for a while and played with it between her gloves. Greenery still survived here, and while pine needles were everywhere, it was a pleasant sight to still see the tall thin trees bearing leaves in protest of winter. She paused as she passed the pond, which was nearly completely frozen over. In the middle of the day there were a few kids running around, but it was almost entirely empty. She closed her eyes and let the wind brush her hair back and stood there. She almost got to enjoy herself, until she felt the hair rise on the back of her neck and spark in the back of her head and she turned around. Not two feet from her was a woman standing barefoot in the snow. No, her feet barely brushed against the top of the snow, her tattered red dress swirling around her legs. Her shoulders were bare against the wind, as were her arms, and her hair was tangled and thick and flying every which way in the breeze. Her eyes were almost impossibly to make out, hidden by darkness and by wayward strands of hair, and she appeared to be staring with nothing at all. She didn’t smile, the way Bedelia had. She didn’t cackle or make any sort of noise at all. She reached out a hand gently, so silently that Kim didn’t even realize what she was doing until her fingers brushed against her cheek. She continued to stare at her, darkness ebbing around her feet and her arms and where the tips of her hair disappeared into nothing. Her fingers curled beneath Kim’s chin, and she tilted her head with fascination.

“Is this all?” she said.

She withdrew almost as quickly as she had come, the darkness closing around her and then disappearing altogether. Kim still felt the pressure of her fingers and the hard edge of her nails against her skin. Her mouth popped open and she tried to stutter out something before simply falling to her knees in the snow, still watching the same spot.

She ran the rest of the way to the gallery. She didn’t stop at all until she threw herself through the doors and nearly collapsed on Hortense’s desk. The secretary carried her to the chair and let her rest there as she got her water, and her mother appeared sometime after that. Kim must’ve looked a mess, her hair going everywhere, out of breath, sweating despite the cold. It took time for her to calm down and to tell them all the story, and after that they let her rest and went off to discuss what to do.

—

At some point Kim felt well enough that she could wander into the gallery. She saw her mother having a very serious conversation with Aremana off in the doorway to her office, and she made her way over there. She passed the staff and felt a jolt up her spine, but she only acknowledged it with a glare. At least it had thought to warn her this time. Perhaps they could reach an understanding yet.

As she approached the words the adults were sharing got quieter. Aremana turned without a word and stalked off. Mrs. Zhi took her daughter into her arms and then led her into the office.

“This is very troubling news,” she said as Kim collapsed into one of the chairs. She’d had to strip away nearly every layer due to the adrenaline and the fear and the running. Her side ached. If this was going to be a thing she’d need to start working out.

“Do you think it’s the same person?” she asked. “The one who killed Bedelia?”

Her mother did not look at her, instead focusing on the computer in front of her. “It’s very possible. You said she just disappeared.”

“It was–” She felt a bit silly saying it. “It was like she was never there.”

“Why didn’t you say something when you saw her the first time?”

Kim had ended up mentioning the figure she’d seen outside her window, imagining it to be the same person. “I don’t know. That time it really was like she wasn’t there. It was a trick of the light or one of the neighbors. Not everything I see is going to kill me.”

She really didn’t like how her mother didn’t answer that. Silence fell over the room, and Mrs. Zhi folded her hands and leaned forward.

“You shouldn’t leave the house,” she said. “At all. When you’re with us, fine, but this woman is dangerous. She might actually kill you.”

“Mum–”

“No. I’m putting my foot down about this. I’ll tell Anselm to bring Geoffy over, lord knows what that boy’s doing by himself all day, but you cannot leave the house.”

Her mother was very serious about this. Kim relented.

“Good,” she said. “You can stay here until I leave.”

Kim leaned back, folding her arms in front of her. “What was the professor so upset about?”

Her mother rolled her eyes. “I’m going to call that man, Leod, and ask him to come back. He isn’t happy about that.”

Kim wasn’t happy about that either, but it made sense. There was something different about this woman. She wasn’t something they could handle on their own.

—

And thus winter break became more a prison sentence than an actual vacation. Her father was nice about it at least. He came out of his study occasionally to watch movies with her and they cooked meals together and even maintain some of the wards they put around the house. There was an entire Saturday where they painted every single window with a thick brown liquid that they used to create intricate patterns and symbols. He washed over them with something else that made the actual paint disappear, but sometimes if she moved just right under the right lighting she could still see them there. Mithra came over as often as she could, but she was often on babysitting duty, and Geoffy was starting to spend every day there. He found an old Super Nintendo for ten dollars and a bunch of games for it, so they spent a lot of days playing Mario and Donkey Kong. It wasn’t the worst vacation, and on Christmas morning she got a call from her friends online, and they chatted face to face for an hour before she went downstairs for presents. She had a good haul that year, and some packages came in the mail a little later, which was extra nice. Her closet was now stocked with cute clothes and boots and Geoffy got her some books on magic that she actually ended up enjoying. She bought him a little plush sheep to remind him of home, and for Mithra she got her a rainbow belt, something small that wouldn’t give her away. Mithra got her an assortment of teas from India, and she had fun trying a new one each day. There was only a week after that before they returned to school, and Kim spent it by herself mostly, which she didn’t actually mind. Sometimes she would look outside and think she saw something, and Mister Leod returned to ask her a few questions, but there wasn’t anything she could tell him. After that, it was Monday, and she was once again in her school uniform wearing three pairs of leggings underneath the skirt to keep herself warm.

Her mother still expected her to to go straight home every day, which was fine, since Mithra could drive her now. Sometimes they hung out, but mostly Kim went straight into her room, worked on her homework a while, and then moped around the house out of boredom. Being locked up was wearing on her once more, and finally she was allowed free for the evening, so long as she promised to keep her phone on and stay inside somewhere. That wasn’t a problem at all. It was still too cold to enjoy the outdoors properly, and instead Geoffy, Mithra, and she all went to the mall to walk around and then potentially see a movie. It surprised her when Geoffy knew people, but she supposed he couldn’t spend all his time locked up in Aremana’s house (wherever that was).

Being cooped up wasn’t the worse thing in the world. She certainly felt safer inside. Even if Mithra dismissed any kind of danger from associating with her, she still felt bad for any situation she might put her in. And there were moments when she thought she saw something from the corner of her eye, the empty unseen eyes of the woman in red watching her. These moments were fleeting and always seemed imagined, but she was never quite sure. Her dreams as well were no longer of forests and lakes and the thick smell of earth. She would still lay in that forest, but there was a darkness overhanging her. She couldn’t see the tops of the trees or much beyond the place where she lay. Fear and dread began to bleed into her mind when she slept, and she tried not to carry the trepidation with her during the day. It was the next time she saw the figure pass briefly in front of her house that she thought to ask questions.

—

Kim assumed she would get in trouble if this was her plan. Supposedly she could’ve told one of the many adults in her life what she wanted to do, but she thought they might stop her. She didn’t even tell Geoffy or Mithra. She made up her mind and just needed an opportunity. The last time she spoke to the staff, no one appeared to have noticed, but they were extra careful with her now. It was possible she could sneak in, but she had to be sure.

Saturday she took the excuse of boredom to go back to the gallery. Geoffy was working on some school project instead of moping like he normally did, and she pretended to be surprised when she arrived. Hortense offered her apathy and irritation as always, and she went in to say hello to her mother. Mrs. Zhi had to shelve items for the rest of the day, which meant she was busy in the back of the warehouse. If Aremana was lurking about, he didn’t show himself. She was grateful for that. She did ask if the man in white Leod had ever returned any answers, but she was only returned annoyed looks and silence, so she supposed the answer was no.

Kim wasn’t supposed to be wandering around by herself, and really she was supposed to go home, except she’d brought her homework as an excuse, so for a while she pretended to be curled up in her mother’s office. After a while of staring at her textbook she stood up, stuck her head out, and then made her way over to the staff. It had been waiting for her. It knew what she wanted the moment she walked in. For once, she was entirely aware when she grabbed onto the staff, and she wasn’t scared.

Again the fire absorbed her in only a moment, and once again she was in another place. Maybe it was her mind. Maybe it was his.

This is the first time you sought me out. His voice filled her head like a drum. She no longer cringed.

“I’m tired of being stalked by these–people,” she said. “Bedelia’s gone, but she’s replaced by something worse.”

The staff did not take form to her here, but she imagined his face tense, his shoulders hunched in thought. The image came to her so vividly she was surprised it wasn’t the form he would take.

“Who is she?” she asked imploringly. “What is she? How is she doing this?”

She is… There was a pregnant pause, filled with memories. We share a father, in a way. We have always shared a rivalry. She means to destroy me.

“And me?”

Possibly. She is complicated.

“This doesn’t answer any of my questions,” Kim said. “Who is she?”

She has taken a few names. Arada was how I knew her.

“Arada,” she murmured. “And she’s some kind of super awesome sorceress?”

Her power comes from a different source. She spends much of her time in the veil.

“The what?”

A place beyond consciousness. There are beings there that feed on darkness. She has harnessed them for her own means.

“Is that how she travels?”

It allows her to peer into the world at any time or place she pleases. You are protected. That is good. But you will not be protected everywhere.

For a moment there was a pulse of black. It felt as though she blinked. She rubbed her eyes, but there was only the rainbow colors of the fire.

You will not be protected here.

And suddenly the darkness opened up in front of her. She saw the woman’s–Arada’s–face, her arms reaching out to grab her. The fire pulsed in response, attempting to absorb her, and Kim fell back, landing on the floor, the fire disappearing in the air. Arada was still crawling after her, her hair in long tendrils behind her. Her ragged nails scraped against the stone, and Kim screamed, holding the staff in a line against her. Fire reputed from it, and Arada screeched but did not stop, scratching her nails against the wood. Her eyes were blank and dead, but her lips curled back into a smile.

“Stop her!” she screamed, and the fire rose up in a wall against her. The darkness closed around her once more, and Kim dropped the staff.

Nothing remained, but the air was heavy with magic. The cold scent of the darkness where Arada had come from filled her nostrils. She covered her nose and staggered up. She heard the heavy footsteps of someone running over to her, and she saw her mother. This was not going to be easy to explain.

The headaches were getting worse. Kim was downing two advils every other hour. Worse, the dreams were getting more vivid, and they occasionally involved that girl. Repression seemed to work for a lot of people. She’d keep trying that.

There wasn’t much else to do. She’d attempted to keep her parents in the loop about what was happening to her, but there wasn’t a lot changing anymore. Sometimes she felt the fire prickling her skin during class or while she was working, but if that’s all it was going to do, she wasn’t that bothered. She tried to visit the gallery when she could, since what it mostly appeared to be asking for was attention. Aremana didn’t like having her around, but she wasn’t a fan of his either, and mostly they kept their distance. Geoffy was always nice to see anyway, and she always felt a little like she was giving him the attention he needed as well.

This Friday they were hanging in the gallery waiting for Mithra to get out of her practice. She had a game soon, so practices had been longer and more intensive. They had planned to see a movie, and she had just decided to be dropped there so they could walk. Indeed, when it was starting to get dark, she knocked on the door and waved at them. Behind her was Morgan. Hortense gave them a very pointed look, but Kim had gotten used to ignoring her. They entered, and it was the first time Mithra had ever entered. She glanced around the small waiting area. Morgan was taking it in as well, her expression passive.

“Please tell me this isn’t it,” Mithra said.

“They’re not allowed in the back,” Hortense said loudly. She didn’t even look up from her magazine, but her annoyance was clear. Ever since Bedelia had broken in, she’d been increasingly irritated. Kim figured it had to be some sort of principal thing.

“We’re leaving anyway,” Kim said, grabbing her jacket off the chair. “I assume you’re coming with.”

Morgan nodded. “Mithra said you wouldn’t mind.”

“‘Course not,” Geoffy said, poking Kim in the ribs. “Ready?”

Together they headed out.

—

The evening was without remark. Mithra was attempting to figure out why Kim was annoyed with her, or maybe she was annoyed at Morgan, which made sense she supposed. Perhaps she should be more sensitive to her friend, but she really liked Morgan and wasn’t above being a little selfish. And then Geoffy and Kim had gone home, and it was just her and Morgan, which she couldn’t pretend she wasn’t a little pleased about.

It was, of course, hopeless. Even if Morgan was interested, which seemed hardly likely, what would they do about it? The white bred conservative community was bad enough, but if her parents found out she’d be sent to a boarding school in India. That would be the end of life forever. She was lucky enough to have Kim, whose problems would be eternally weirder than her own, and she doubted anyone like that would exist anywhere else.

Still, it was nice to pretend.

And Morgan was pretty cool. She dyed her hair and wore her uniform when they weren’t at school, which was weird but whatever. She didn’t talk a lot about herself, but she asked lots of questions about everyone else. She was interested in Kim and Geoffy but most importantly she was interested in Mithra, who easily obliged her with answers. Currently they were standing outside the theory, watching Kim and Geoffy drive away, and Morgan turned to her and stretched her arms. Mithra attempted to not stare. It was incredibly hard. Morgan watched her from the corner of her eye and grinned.

“We should do something fun,” she said. Her voice was soft and lilting, almost musical. Sometimes she hit syllables with an accent, in almost the same way Kim was starting to hit them with an American accent.

“Sure,” Mithra said. “What’d you have in mind?”

Oh god she hoped she wasn’t being obvious about hitting on her. Morgan just smiled, grabbed her hand, and they started walking. That was how they ended up outside the gallery, staring at its dark windows so late in the evening.

“I want to see what’s inside,” Morgan said.

Mithra sort of knew what was inside, not that she could tell her that. Mentioning mystical artifacts might make her more eager.

“We can’t get in,” she said. “And Kim thinks Hortense lives there.”

“We aren’t allowed in,” she replied. “Don’t you want to know what’s inside?”

Well… yeah. Ever since Kim had told her everything, ever since the fear dissipated into curiosity, Mithra had wondered. Kim had grown up with it, so magic was the norm to her. It was an everyday aspect of life that she could understand. Mithra didn’t have that luxury. It was a far off thing, a story book she wanted to believe. After the initial demonstration of power, there’d been little to fill the curiosity. Kim was forthcoming with her own tale, but the little intricacies and basic mindset were lost in retelling. She wanted to see actual magic. She wanted to hold it in her hands and feel it.

But that was dangerous, and she couldn’t drag Morgan into it, not without proper prep and permission most importantly. It was Kim’s world. Mithra had been invited into it, but she doubt it had a Plus One tacked onto the bottom.

“We really shouldn’t–” Mithra started to say, but Morgan was looking at her so earnestly. Her eyes were dark and cool and it was almost a cliche all the things she wanted to say about them. She wrapped her hand around hers and leaned forward, so close the perfume of her was everywhere, and her skin radiated warmth.

“Please?” she asked.

That was how Mithra and Morgan had found a window into one of the offices. There seemed to be very little security, but then she remembered that it was magic and that’s probably how that worked. They hopped onto the cool linoleum and listened for voices. All the lights were out, and they heard no sounds anywhere. Morgan found a light switch that turned on half the lights, creating a dim atmosphere. There were piles and piles of objects on the tables, little place cards beside each object giving a name and information on it. Mithra picked one up that had been beside a mirror. Possible portal was written beneath the description and beneath that a number for a physical place. Beyond the tables were huge stacks of storage boxes that potentially held more objects. The place was definitely bigger on the inside, and she turned to Morgan to express wonder at that, but Morgan was already moving. She passed a glance over each object, face filled with glee, but she was looking for something. Her dark eyes were hungry.

“Really,” Mithra said as she ran to catch up with her. “We shouldn’t stay.”

“Just for a bit,” Morgan replied, and to her surprise she folded her hand in hers and led her along. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“It is pretty cool.” Mithra was currently focused on the heat between their hands. Was she doing this on purpose? No. Maybe?

“Anyway.” Morgan turned suddenly and she almost ran into her. “We’re alone now.”

Definitely had to be doing this on purpose. Mithra swallowed thickly. She was so focused on Morgan, she didn’t notice they’d stopped right in front of the same ancient staff that had scared her off so many weeks ago. She didn’t notice, that is, until Morgan reached for it, and after that things went a little fuzzy.

—

Kim had pulled on her pajamas and was chatting with Ashley online when her phone went off. It was past eleven at that point, so she assumed Mithra was calling with good news or very poor news. She’d really tried to set aside her dislike of Morgan, but it was hard. Some people just rub you the wrong way.

“Hey,” she said as she picked up the phone. She settled it between her shoulder and her chin as she messaged Ashley to brb. “How’s your date going?”

“Um.” Mithra’s voice wobbled a little. “You know.”

Kim hissed under her breath. “That bad, huh?”

A new voice responded: “You have no idea.”

Kim’s eyes went wide. Bedelia. Bedelia was talking to her through the phone. Bedelia was calling her through Mithra’s phone.

“I do hope you remember me,” she cooed. “I gave you a bit of trouble.”

“You–where–what are you doing with my friend?” Kim stumbled up and slapped her laptop shut before moving to the door. Her stomach churned. Shouldn’t she have gotten a warning? Was the staff so in contempt of her? Had it returned to its previous owner?

“I wouldn’t worry,” Bedelia continued. “The staff and I are having a conversation, but he’s being so stubborn. I need a bit of help from your end.”

They had to be in the gallery if she was talking with the staff. Kim called out for her parents but there was no reply.

“See, he’s convinced you’re going to take care of him. We both know that’s not true. There’s one little thing I need you to do.”

No one in the living room or the kitchen. She moved to her dad’s study.

“I need you to renounce him. He’s attached to you. I need you to remove that attachment.”

“I don’t know how!” Kim shouted into the phone. “I’d do it in a second if I knew how!”

“Good,” Bedelia replied. “Then you’ll come down here and I’ll help you out. See you soon.”

The phone went dead.

Kim let out a strangled scream and hit the wall. There was no time. She dialed another number.

“What’s going on?” Geoffy’s groggy voice entered through the tiny speakers.

“Bedelia’s at the gallery,” she said quickly. “I think she’s got Mithra and she’s going to mess with the staff.”

“What?”

“I’m going down right now.”

“Kim!” She heard him moving quickly. “Wait! What about–”

“I don’t know where my parents are. I thought you could warn your uncle. I’m going.”

“Wait–”

She hung up the phone. The staff had been acting dead for the past few weeks, but she hoped this would work. She needed to get there now. She held out her hand and–

It heard her. He heard her. The wielder was calling out to him. Finally.

–she felt her hand brush against the ancient wood and there was the feeling of something shifting, and she was standing there directly in front of Morgan, who also had a hand wrapped around the staff. She jolted back, nearly knocking over a table. She glanced around wildly, looking for Mithra.

“Ah,” Morgan said, and she realized that Bedelia’s thick Welsh accent was coming out of her mouth. “He wakes.”

Kim slipped from her grip on the table and tumbled to the ground. Morgan appeared to still be Morgan, but there was something about the gleam in her eye and the way her lips curled that was all Bedelia.

“I wouldn’t worry about your friend,” she said, kneeling down to be at Kim’s level. “I’m just keeping her for collateral. See, you have two choices. Either you keep your friend or I do.”

“I don’t–I don’t know how to stop it,” Kim said. “Please, I–”

“No excuses. I don’t understand why he wants you so badly. You won’t even keep him.”

“I don’t want him!” she shouted, hoping–begging–him to hear her, to help her. Take back your previous master, please. Just let Mithra be safe.

Indeed, the staff started to glow with the multicolored fire licking its way through each of the symbols engraved on it. It pounded in her head like a second heartbeat. Bedelia grinned and stood, holding the staff out.

And then, something–

—

The fire engulfed Bedelia, and she spread her arms to welcome it. Take me back, she begged. Let me have your power again.

He answered, No.

What? But I’ve been nothing but loyal. I have wielded you and I have used you as you instructed!

The fire started to singe her fingertips. You have used me for your own means. You listened, but as a means to manipulate.

She was desperate now, fighting the fire growing around her. But she will not even wield you, she shouted. You are lonely here, and you are left to rot!

I have who I need, he responded. I am just waiting for her to awaken

The fire consumed her.

—

–happened. Bedelia was quickly engulfed in flames and then just as quickly shot back. She was throw into a table, and the impact folded it against her body. Artifacts scattered everywhere. The staff remained perfectly happy in the air, fire still flickering around it. Bedelia stood, tossing aside the objects that had fallen on top of her, and lifted up her arms. The staff had forced her into her true form, all forty feet of curly hair and low cut dress.

“Fine!” she shouted. “Fine!” And she brought her arms downward. A rift of blue light followed the movement, and Mithra collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air. Before she had the time to take in what was happening, Bedelia grabbed her by her ponytail and held her up. Her nails began to glow with blue light, and she held it up to her throat.

“Wait!” Kim shouted, scrambling up. She grabbed hold of the staff. Please, she pleaded. Let go of me please.

“I’m not in a forgiving mood,” Bedelia hissed and dug her nails into Mithra’s chest. Her friend screamed, desperately digging her hands into her arm but to no avail. The nails went in, and Kim grabbed onto the staff harder.

“It won’t let me!” she shouted. “Please! I can’t get rid of it!”

“No excuses!”

Tears pricked at Kim’s eyes and she begged the staff do something please just help me please just help her please please please.

The fire began to press against her skin and she didn’t even notice. If he wasn’t going to give her up, she had one other option. She could always fight. Fine, she whispered, fine, just save her.

Bedelia hadn’t been expecting the blast, which hit her squarely in the chest. She dropped Mithra, who curled on the floor, sobbing and clutching her chest. The witch growled and flicked her wrists. Two shiny clear daggers appeared in her hands and she dove them into the ground. Ice began to cover the area and moved quickly, rising up in sharp spikes at Kim’s feet. She fell back and whacked at them with the staff, which made quick work with them. She waved it in an arc, and the ice was shot back at her. Bedelia was barely able to deflect it, and she was pushed even further back. In a moment of quick thinking, she grabbed the nearest artifact–a small arrow with a red ribbon tied to it–and threw it at her. Kim blocked it as best she could, but the force of the hit still threw her back a solid five feet. The arrow clattered lifelessly to the floor.

By the time she stood again, Bedelia had scattered off to the shadows. Kim took the opportunity to run to Mithra’s side, turning her over to get a good look at her chest. There was no blood and no visible damage.

“I’m fine,” Mithra gasped, struggling to sit up. “We should go.”

“Yeah,” Kim agreed. “Come on.”

The staff said no. She was still here, somewhere. She needed to be dealt with.

She would be, Kim promised. Just not right now.

That was when she felt a stab of ice in her right shoulder. She cried out, nearly falling on top of Mithra. The staff managed to hold her up, and she climbed up to see where the attack had come from. Bedelia was standing on one of the tables, holding a small dagger.

“This is interesting,” she said. “Old magic.”

Kim lifted up the staff to attack, but the pain stabbed through the nerves in her shoulder. She gritted her teeth and looked up again. Bedelia had moved elsewhere.

“Are you okay?” Kim asked her friend.

Mithra nodded. “You?”

“Yup.”

“Where’d she–”

Mithra was grabbed into the arms of Bedelia, who held the dagger against her throat.

“Really?” Mithra hissed.

“This has stopped being funny,” Bedelia said. “Give up the staff.”

“I can’t!” Kim shouted. “It won’t let me!”

“Make it.”

She thrust the staff out for her take. “I can’t! I don’t know how!”

Bedelia pressed the dagger into Mithra’s neck. Poison seeped into her veins, swelling and turning inky black. “Tell it what you want.”

“I have!” She staggered forward. “Just take it!”

“I can’t have it unless you let him go.”

“I’m trying!”

“Let me have him!”

Suddenly a green ball of fire erupted across Bedelia’s back, and she fell forward. The knife clattered to the floor and Mithra attempted to crawl away. Kim clutched the staff tighter, but her mother ran forward. In an instant she had her gathered in her arms, and Kim held her tight. Aremana appeared behind her, holding a small golden ankh in his fist. He held it out and muttered something, and golden rope appeared around Bedelia, wrapping her up tight. He knelt down beside Mithra, who was clutching at the veins in her neck.

“Hui,” he said.

Mrs. Zhi turned around and released her daughter. “What does she need?”

“Medea’s dagger.” He held it out to her.

“Uh, check the back cabinet.”

He left to find something to cure her with. Bedelia squirmed in her bonds, her nails glowing blue as she tried to claw her way out.

“I want it back!” she was screaming. “Give it back to me!”

Mrs. Zhi stood beside her and muttered something into her hand. Her palms began to glow blue, and she swept her hand over her forehead. Bedelia’s head rolled back and her eyes closed.

“That should shut her up,” Mrs. Zhi said. “Are you alright, dear?”

Kim nodded, though she didn’t really feel it. She sat down beside Mithra and clutched her hand. The poison wasn’t spreading as quickly now that the dagger was removed, but it wasn’t until Aremana returned with a small stone in his hand. He pressed it into Mithra’s mouth and helped her swallow it. After a moment, the poison began to seep away entirely.

“Someone is going to have to explain what happened,” he said as he helped Mithra to her feet.

“It’s my fault,” she said, coughing into her hand.

“It’s Bedelia’s goddamn fault!” Kim shouted. “She attacked us!”

She felt her mother’s hand on her shoulder. “Asking Bedelia may be the best course of action. I will sit with the girls why we have this figured out.”

Mithra and Kim sat in the front. Mithra was still weak, but she was feeling better. Kim had her eyes closed, hand still clasped around her friend’s, trying to keep the tears from coming. At some point Hortense arrived and went into the warehouse, and then Mrs. Zhi came out and to take both of them home.

She went inside with Mithra when they dropped her off. Kim waited in the car, so whatever her mother said to Mithra’s parents would forever be a mystery, and when she returned she remained completely silent. They returned home, where her dad was waiting, and they sat in the living room.

There was a lecture that Kim didn’t really hear. Her bones ached and her head hurt and she just wanted to sleep. She explained what little she knew, though she couldn’t say a lot to what happened before she arrived. There was nothing more to say after that, and Kim went to her room to sleep.

—

Hortense hung up the phone and went into the room in the very back. Bedelia was still tied up, propped up in a small chair.

“They’ll be here tomorrow,” she said. “What should we do with her?”

“This is fine,” Professor Aremana said.

“I’m staying the night, aren’t I?”

He sighed, rubbing his forehead. “I’m afraid so.”

“That’s fine. I don’t mind the overtime.”

Aremana ensure that the door was closed when she left. He twisted the ankh in his hand, and Bedelia lifted her head, eyes narrowed.

“Sending the White Knights after me?” she purred.

“That’s an ancient institution,” he said and sat in a chair across from her. “But you’ll be dealt with. I need to ask you some questions.”

“You’re curious about the staff.” She smiled. “You like things like that, don’t you? Powerful things.”

“That’s unimportant. Tell me about the staff. It calls itself Myrddin.”

She flounced back in the chair, fiddling with the ropes. “Why should I tell you anything?”

“No one wants that girl to be attached to the staff, least of all her. If we can find a way to remove her from it, it would benefit you.”

She pursed her lips. “You’re sure you don’t just want to make sure you have a genuine magic article?”

“That would be helpful.”

She sighed. “Fine. Once upon a time there was a man. He had a lot of names and lived a lot of lives. Every time he lived, he would grow old and die, and then he would live again. He wasn’t exactly what you’d call human. Eventually he got bored of this, so he made a pact with his lady friend. When he was close to death, she instead locked him inside a tree. But she did love him, so she took part of the tree and crafted a staff from it so she could carry it with her.”

“You did that.”

She laughed. “God no! I was just getting started in his final days. She was trapped herself, and ever since then the staff’s been passed around. He chose me over his previous wielder. I wanted to use him to find the real Myrddin, and that’s how I got stuck in the trees for the past few centuries.”

He stared at her. “You were stuck in the trees.”

“Obviously that’s where I had to be to look for him.”

“So the Myrddin that’s in the staff is the same?”

“I suppose. I think it’s more of an imprint. I wouldn’t know for certain.”

“So the staff isn’t yours.”

“He chose me,” she snarled, suddenly defensive. “I wielded him and he shouldn’t just cast me aside because of a few years of separation!”

“It appears that’s what it was always going to do.”

She bit her lip and settled back into her chair. “I suppose he always went for the younger model. You should’ve seen his lover when he went in the tree. What was she? Sixteen?”

He folded his fingers together. “So you’re saying the only way to get rid of the staff is through its own accord.”

“Yup.”

“And you followed around Miss Zhi for the past few weeks in order to accomplish this.”

To this, Bedelia pouted and shifted her shoulders. “I wanted to see what made her so special. Which there isn’t anything. You aren’t even training her. She spends all her time in the non-magic world completely ignoring her power! She should be wielding him! You should be teaching her to use him, or else he’ll start using her. From what I’ve gathered, he already is.”

“And you gathered all this…”

“It’s not hard following people around. A little magic, I can take any form I please. Mice are fairly easy for sneaking into places, birds for when I’m following someone.”

“Tricky,” he said.

“It got through your rubbish security.”

“I wouldn’t tell Hortense that.”

She shrugged, scratching at the rope. “I imagine I’ll be hauled off then.”

“Tomorrow, hopefully.”

“And then you’ll never see me again.”

He glared at her. “What point are you trying to make?”

She grinned. “You really think I’m the only person who’s going to come after the staff. It’s Myrddin’s staff. You can smell it. I’m the first because I was looking for it already. I can’t wait until others start.”

“Well.” He stood and rested the ankh on the seat. “Thank you very much.”

She squirmed a little, leaning forward. “You’re just going to leave me here?”

“Don’t worry.” He opened the door, and there was Hortense, filing her nails. “She’ll keep you company.”

Hortense grinned and shut the door.

—

Kim had different dreams that night. They were fitful, and she tossed and turned in her bed. Darkness closed around her, whispering soft words to itself. The fire protected her, but for how long? It didn’t matter. The darkness could wait.

—

She opened her eyes and saw, and then the darkness parted and she stepped into the other world.

Her bare feet touched the ground without a sound. The softest of whispers followed her, and she was still shrouded in the darkness. The items that lay scattered on the floor could sense her but not where she was. They began to react poorly, bleeding their magic into the air. A young blond woman stepped into the room as the wards began to break, and she continued to pass unnoticed. This was not where her prey was.

She found the woman in a small metal room, wrapped in ropes that filled the air with their magic. She breathed it in, and it left the taste of honey on her tongue. There was an ankh, such a trifle thing. So many priests had placed their power in it. She took it up in her hands and closed her fist around it. It broke so easily. The ropes removed themselves, falling to the floor and dissolving away. The woman looked down in surprise, and then she saw her. Fear trickled into her eyes.

“You,” she murmured.

She wore the darkness like a cloak and let it fall back enough so that she might be seen. Her eyes were hidden by shadows and the thick clumps of unruly hair that hung over her face, but it was obvious.

“Bedelia,” she murmured. “It’s been how long?”

“Not long enough,” she said and stood. With a wave of her hand, she was forced back into the chair. “I haven’t got it anymore. Some brat stole it from me.”

“That does not matter.” She swept forward, taking Bedelia’s chin in her hand. “We were still rivals, were we not? You thought you could defeat me.”

“When I had the staff! It’s gone now!”

“That doesn’t matter. I shall prove you wrong.”

Bedelia started screaming, but it was short lived. Red painted the walls now. She smiled. Such a pretty color. No time for these things. Bedelia had been right, with the staff she could potentially be beaten, but worse there was someone else who could do it with his own power. She needed the staff to find him. Then it could end.

She allowed the darkness to wash over her again and escaped once more into the veil.

It makes sense. It’s a place with no real rules and regulations and everyone is hiding behind a mask and they can say whatever they want and you can only believe them. To the generation who are only just being introduced to the Internet, they cling to horror stories and they fear. Corporations are terrified of the Internet. It’s this free domain where all of their items can be viewed and no profit can be made. The Writers’ Strike in 2007/2008 was centered around the issue of content on the Internet. Online pirating is not getting better and there appears to be no real way to stop it.

A shining light appears. It’s name: the Stop Online Piracy Act.

It is created to stop piracy and create a system where the website can be shut down if a company thinks its rights are being infringed on. This sounds great, right? Piracy is bad and stealing is bad, so what could go wrong?

How about:

• Giving government lawyers the power to go to court and obtain an injunction against any foreign website based on a generally single-sided presentation to a judge.
• Internet service providers and payment processors get the green light to simply block access to sites on their own volition—no content owner notification even needed.
• Allows the government to go after anyone who builds a tool designed for the “circumvention or bypassing” of the Internet block.
• Requires search engines to block certain websites.
• And can shut down a website without any need to try it legally.

The bill is vaguely written so that it could affect any website anywhere. It could potentially bring us to China levels of censorship. The government and corporations would effectively control your ability to look at certain websites.

So what can we do?

You could sign the petition at change.org. You could write a letter. You could keep yourself in the know.

Don’t let corporate interest ruin the Internet for the rest of us. Fight for net neutrality. Keep the Internet a safe haven.

Links to check out:

• arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/10/house-takes-senates-bad-internet-censorship-bill-makes-it-worse.ars
• http://gothicegg.tumblr.com/post/12856164934/cheeeeeeen-by-far-two-of-the-most-dangerous-and
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_neutrality
• http://www.conservativeactionalerts.com/2011/11/internet-freedom-countdown-3-weeks-left-until-big-gov-control/
• http://www.chicagonow.com/publius-forum/2011/11/tweet-and-facebook-activism-stop-congress-from-destroying-the-internet/
• http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/243917/lawmakers_seek_alternative_to_stop_online_piracy_act.html

Kim had still been dreaming when the burning erupted in her chest. Dream Mithra had been marrying Dream Zooey Deschanel and Dream Kim had felt a pain in chest, and then the real Kim had rolled over and started screaming. Her whole body was sending off warning signals, hitting every nerve until she was a writhing mess. She pulled at her shirt and then grasped her neck as she tried to breath, and her pants tangled in her legs, and she rolled off the bed, landing with a thump onto the floor. At this point someone must’ve come in, because they were shaking her, but she couldn’t see a goddamned thing. There was someone there, only, no, no they weren’t. They’d reached in, they’d just taken her, she didn’t want to be taken, and she slammed her fists against the chest of someone, the blow reverberating back into her arms. She heard someone mutter an ‘ow,’ and she struggled to understand what was happening. She was in her room, but she was in the warehouse, and that was Geoffy trying to help her, then who had her now? The woman. The image was entirely too clear, her lean, pointed face and all her teeth smiling at her. As understanding permeated her confused dream state, she blinked and sat up, allowing someone to take her by her limp arms. When reality was once again restored, she was sitting at the kitchen table, her mother making a pot of tea and her father wrapping his arms around her shoulders. She stuttered out what she’d seen, and her mother nearly dropped a glass running to call Aremana. Apparently he already knew–who would run a warehouse full of magical artifacts and then not put something in place in case this exact thing happened–and one of the two men she worked with was taking care of things at the warehouse. The staff was indeed missing, and suddenly expectant eyes were on her.

“We can’t allow her to run away with it,” her mother explained very quietly. “Not if you’re still connected to it.”

The pain was still deep in her ribs, as if someone was stretching her apart. Kim could only nod.

“You should call to it, dear. See if it will come back to you.”

Her mother squeezed her hand, and Kim closed her eyes. There was so much pain inside her, the loneliness, the dejection eating at her insides, and the actual physical discomfort of it being carried away from her. It wanted her, and she was afraid to admit that she wanted it.

Very quietly, like a whisper (like a prayer), she whispered his name.

It appeared with a flash of light in her hand, and everyone in the room jumped back. The fire didn’t even singe her fingers, and she felt calm again. The pain dissipated, leaving only a dull, throbbing headache to remind her of the ordeal. After that, her parents said very little, and Geoffy only stared at her. They led her back to her bed and set the staff against the wall beside her. When the lights turned out, she stared at it, feeling its presence all too comforting, and cried herself to sleep.

—

While Cadmos tucked his daughter into bed, Hui-ying checked in with her employer. She wasn’t exactly in a good enough mood at the moment to refer to him as a friend.

“Of course I’m not encouraging the connection,” she said after she explained what had happened. “Only what else could I do? You didn’t see what it was doing to her.”

He gave an unconcerned hm. “How’s the boy?”

“You mean Geoffy?” She frowned and glanced over where he had curled back into bed. “Scared, mostly. I’m surprised you ask. You’ve been pawning him off on me so much lately I thought you were trying to pretend he didn’t exist.”

Anselm sighed on the other end of the phone. “I prefer to focus on my work.”

“Don’t pretend to be so noble, Anselm. We both know your ‘investors’ could get you blackballed or worse. Which, by the way, what the hell happened? Hortense wasn’t at the door?”

“She said no one walked past her. I also caught her playing some kind of idiotic Internet game earlier today, which is strange since I’m fairly certain her computer isn’t hooked up to anything.”

“So this woman–”

“Bedelia,” he interrupted. “That’s the name she gave me.”

“So she just strolls into the gallery, grabs her staff, and then trots back out again without anyone noticing.”

“The wards noticed. I can’t help but point out that your daughter noticed.”

Hui-ying rubbed the bridge of her nose. The middle of the night after her daughter had woken up screaming in response to a priceless artifact being stolen out from underneath them was not her favorite time to be doing this with Anselm.

“Tomorrow,” she said. “We can deal with all of this. Right now, I’m off to bed.”

She hung up before he could retort. After turning out all the lights and saying goodnight to Geoffy once again, she went to check on her daughter. Cadmos stood outside the hall, just closing the door.

“She’ll sleep,” he said. “It seems to calm her.”

“That’s what worries me,” she said with a sigh. She wrapped her arms around her husband, pressing her face against his neck. “What if it doesn’t turn out alright?”

“It will,” he promised. “She is ours and we will protect her.”

They took comfort in each other and awaited the morning dawn.

—

Kim allowed Aremana to take the staff from her the next day. It was the busiest she’d ever seen the warehouse. Both Bartholomew and Handel were securing every lock and every ward, while Hortense strutted back and forth, trying to figure out where the woman had slipped in. Mrs. Zhi and Aremana cleared a space for the staff and began placing a lot of very small, very delicate equipment around it. Geoffy and Kim sat against the far wall, watching everyone work. Kim had made sure to wear the necklace her father had made for her that day. She felt unsafe every moment it was off of her. She still wanted to tell Mithra everything that happened, but it was nice having Geoffy around. She didn’t have to explain things to him, and he completely understood what magic was. Mithra still got weirded out if she tried to bring it up, even when her own fascination got the better of her.

“That’s it,” Hortense said, stalking into the warehouse. “I have no idea how she got in here. Not a single person was here last night but me. Why don’t you put cameras up like I ask?”

Aremana did not look up from what he was doing. “I hate fiddling with those thing. Also half of it’s always static.”

Hortense gave a frustrated cry and stamped her foot before marching over to where they were sitting.

“That girl’s mojo is all over the place too,” she muttered. “She wasn’t exactly being subtle. Do you guys want anything?”

They shook their heads and off she went, probably to go over everything for the fourth or fifth time. It appeared to be a direct insult to her that all of this had occurred.

“You’re feeling okay today, right?” Geoffy asked as they sat a while longer.

“Maybe not okay,” Kim replied. “Better. Kind of numb.”

“Probably shock. Interrupted sleep patterns.”

“I don’t need my head examined.”

“Sorry.”

She relented, sitting back. “Definitely stressed.”

“Yeah,” he muttered. “I can see that.”

“Kim,” her mother called from across the room, waving her over, “can you come here?”

It was a bit like seeing a dead body examined. Even after it had all gone quiet last night, Kim could still feel a gentle pulsing from the staff. In the morning even that had stopped. Strangely it was as if it had folded back inside itself, the same way she was starting to, like leftover trauma from last night had left it dead and quiet and unwilling to come out again. With all the delicate gold equipment perched around it, it was exactly like a medical examiner. Some of the equipment she could not even recognize. One piece looped upward like a drill, while another held nine different magnifying glasses different lengths from each other. Another was spider-like, a blue jewel perched on the top of its frame. Aremana was getting increasingly frustrated with all of them.

“Darling,” her mother said, taking her by the shoulders and setting her right in front of the staff. “You said something last night to call it back to you. Do you remember what it was?”

Vaguely, she understood that she had given some name to the thing and had once more begun referring to it as ‘him.’ She could not recall the information.

“It could be some kind of trigger word,” her mother murmured. “Or a summoning command.”

She shook her head. “It was a name. I gave it a name.”

She watched her mother try to remain passive. It was a struggle. “You can’t recall what it was?”

Kim really did try. She found herself reaching out to the staff and asking what was it?

“Oh,” she murmured. “Myrddin. That’s what–”

She jumped when Aremana’s hand slipped, crunching beneath it the set of glasses. He cursed and removed a handkerchief from his pocket, wrapping it around before blood could form.

“Are you sure?” Mrs. Zhi asked, watching her compatriot.

“Yeah,” she replied. “I thought–”

“Thank you, dear. Why don’t you go sit down with Geoffy while I help Anselm bandage his hand.”

Kim was pushed away back towards her chair, and she watched the adults retreat for a moment before returning to Geoffy’s side.

“What was that about?” he asked.

“I don’t know.” She sat down beside him, pulling her legs up to her chest. “I have a feeling it’s not good.”

—

Bedelia cursed, nursing her wounds in the makeshift tent she’d created. He had burned her! The nerve of him, treating her like she was some sort of common thief in the night! When she found his physical body, she was going to scratch out his eyes and cut off his fingers and string out his insides and make a nice delicious stew of his meat!

It didn’t matter that he’d never really liked her. It didn’t matter that she’d always had to fight to keep control. He was hers and she was taking him and she would find him again, oh she would find him. Even if it took another thousand years, she was going to end this little game.

—

A million other things stirred. There had always been people who sought power, and there had always been people who sought him. She had only been the first because she had still been searching. Soon they would all know. They could already smell it, they could see it in the distance. They would come for him. They would fight for him.

There is a place deep in the hard to reach corners of the universe. It is blackness, it is dead night, it is dark matter, it is the things we cannot see or understand but know is there, watching us. This is where the horrors lay, the monstrous beings that are sleeping, that will one day awake and with one sharp cry wipe out life in the universe. There is a girl that sleeps among them. She is very small, always quiet, and she has found solace here. It is the only place for her to rest. Her sleep is over. She is opening her eyes. She can see from the dark corners into the world, and she knows where you are.

—

“I don’t get it,” Kim said. “Myrddin’s a real person?”

Her mother had taken them into her office and shut the door. Geoffy at least was as confused as she was, and they sat together as Mrs. Zhi gave them a history lesson.

“He’s more or less known historically,” she was saying. “There’s some dispute whether he was actually a part of the occult, but he’s remembered by a different name. He was the template for the creation of Merlin.”

They stared at her. Geoffy managed to utter a, “What.”

“There’s lots of variations on his story, but all we really know was that he was a prophet living in the sixth century.”

“But Merlin’s not a real person,” Geoffy said. “He’s just a made up story.”

“The tales of King Arthur aren’t entirely accurate, no.” Mrs. Zhi reached into a file folder and found something. “That doesn’t mean some of it isn’t accounts of real things.”

The pictures she laid out were of a rusted old spear and a dagger.

“Rhongomyniad and Carnwennan are often left out of the stories these days, but these are probably they.”

“So,” Kim said slowly, “You’re saying inside of that staff is the fictional wizard Merlin.”

“I’m saying that Myrddin predicted his death, which was witnessed by many people, and there are still sightings of him up to a hundred years later. Whatever he is, he’s ended up in a chunk of wood and appears to be picking hosts.”

“Then what do we do?” Kim asked.

Her mother frowned, pulling out another file to sort through. “I’m not sure. It’s an amazing find, yes, and there’s little proof of Myrddin as anything but a historical madman, so if that’s what it really is, this raises a lot more questions. I wonder if that woman would be willing to tell us anything.”

“Mum.”

“No, right, it’s best not to invite her presence. Surely Anselm knows someone who can–”

“Mum,” Kim said again, leaning forward, “is that it? There’s not really anything else to do but keep looking.”

“I suppose…”

“Then can I leave? I’m really exhausted.”

Mrs. Zhi looked to her daughter and softened. “Of course, dear. Geoffy, you can stay here or you can go back with her.”

He opted to stay, which relieved Kim somewhat. She was tired and wanted to take a nap and then she was going to call Mithra, and it would be alright if he came along for that, but mostly she was pleased to be by herself. Her mother dropped her off and then paused.

“Do me a favor,” she said. “Stay inside today. We have no idea where that woman is or what she might do. Let’s be safe.”

“Of course, mum,” Kim said and kissed her goodbye. She hadn’t planned on going out anyway. More than anything all she wanted to do was curl into her nice warm bed and forget this had ever even happened.

—

Mithra came over in the afternoon. Kim had napped from her return all the way through lunch and was still lazily propped up in her bed, laptop sitting on her legs. She told her everything and showed her the Googling she’d been doing on Myrddin.

“So now this crazy woman’s after you?” Mithra said, leaning over her screen. “That’s scary.”

“It’s not like she came after me.”

“But that was because she thought she could get away with it. Now she knows she can’t.”

Kim stared at her friend. “She’s after the staff.”

“And she might do something to it, and it’s already affecting you now.”

“I hadn’t–” She sucked in a breath. “Maybe she knows how to get rid of it. Maybe I can convince it to go back to her.”

“You should probably stop calling it ‘it.’ You know who he is.”

“Stop saying things!”

“Sorry!” Mithra relented, curling her legs beneath her on the edge of the bed. “Anyway, your mom probably knows all of this. She’ll come home and tell you exactly what to do.”

Kim plucked at a thread on the comforter. “I don’t think so. Not even the professor knows what’s going on, and this is what he does with his life. Mum said she’d call people–”

“There,” Mithra said. “Someone’s got to know! This thing hasn’t existed so long with Merlin inside of it only to waste into obscurity.”

“Yeah. That’s probably right.”

“And it’s not like your parents would leave you completely unprotected.”

“Right.”

“And you’ve got me!”

Kim smiled. “What exactly do you plan to do against an evil Welsh witch?”

Mithra shrugged. “Admittedly not a lot. But I’m always good for moral support.”

She laughed, feeling a tiny bit relieved. Of course her parents were going to take care of her. And how could that crazy woman find her anyway? She would be staking out the gallery if anything, and the only one there at night was Hortense, who apparently could take care of herself. Everything, she decided, would work out for itself. She knew it. It had to. She’d only have to endure a little longer.

—

Indeed, Bedelia seemed to have disappeared following the incident Saturday night. By the end of the week, it felt like a dream that hadn’t really happened. Kim still felt nervous out of the house or away from the gallery, and her mother didn’t let her go out very much, but slowly the fear and stress at the thought of another attack was fading away. Instead she was worrying about things like tests and papers. In a few weeks they’d have Thanksgiving break, something she found nearly pointless but appreciated nonetheless. It almost would’ve been okay, if it weren’t for that Friday, during chapel.

Kim had been sitting and not really listening, as always. Mithra leaned in to whisper something to her, when she’d suddenly felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck. Her eyes watered, and she tried to stand to leave, when it hit her like a punch to the stomach. She doubled over, cried out, and fell to the floor. Suddenly everyone was gathered around her, students and faculty alike. Someone grabbed her, and that was when every nerve in her body screamed all at once. That was when she blacked out.

She woke up in the infirmary, her father by her side. The pain was still there, and her limbs felt weak and lifeless, but other than that she was fine. The school dismissed her for the day, her father promising them they were on their way to a doctor’s office, but instead he took her home and let her lay on her bed while he called her mother. The staff was untouched, as far as they could tell and seemed as dead as it had all week. If something had happened, they were completely oblivious. Kim closed her eyes and tried to see what had triggered it, but the staff was quiet to her.

Mithra called her later, but there was little to say. Eventually Mrs. Zhi came home and doted over her daughter for a while, but at the end of the day, Kim just wanted to be left alone to sleep.

—

Even after that, things stayed quiet. The only notable event was a new addition to their class. Her name was Morgan, she had a purple streak in her dark black hair, and Mithra liked her immediately. They sat with her at lunch, and mostly she and Mithra talked. Kim was feeling less and less social these days. Morgan mostly just nodded and added agreement while Mithra talked. She appeared to mostly be absorbing, which Kim could sympathize with. The first week in a new place hadn’t been great on her, and Morgan was coming in the middle of a semester.

In private, Mithra admitted it was nice that she had someone to tell things to, which Kim agreed with. So while Kim talked about the insane magic she faced, Mithra told her about girls she liked before and when she figured it all out. They spent their days laying around, sharing things they found online and curling up in front of the TV. Kim found herself with headaches and strange dreams, but if it meant there were no more attacks she didn’t mind.

Her dreams always took place in the same place. There was a forest of ancient trees and occasionally there was a pond. The moon was always fat and full and shining down on her, and sometimes she lay in the grass and there was someone there with her. She couldn’t see a face, but sometimes there was the brush of fingers and a gentle laugh and the scent of someone she might’ve known but couldn’t remember. Mostly it was the quiet tranquility of her forest, the sounds of wind blowing through the leaves or the scent of dark soil or the feel of the cool earth.

—

Kim felt strange for not seeing Geoffy so long when she’d accidentally sucked him into her life so quickly. She took Mithra with her to stop by the gallery, though Hortense wouldn’t let her through the door. Geoffy was attending public school, possibly because Aremana couldn’t be bothered, and he walked back with them, telling them of his adventures there. Mostly he was bored by the people and the teachers, but he had attempted conversation with a few people. It was by chance that they ran into Morgan leaving the convenience store.

“Hey,” Mithra called to her as they passed. “What’re you up to?”

Morgan held up the bags she was carrying out. It was home from there, but with a little needling in Kim’s side she was suddenly invited along. They were only going to Kim’s to watch movies and veg out, so it wasn’t too much trouble. By now they were friendly with the neighbors, so her father had been forced to throw a cloth over the skulls, and her mother had hidden the more explicit references to their practice. If it had just been Mithra and Geoffy, appearing normal wouldn’t have been so important to Kim, but Morgan put her off. She pretended she wasn’t annoyed that Mithra did her best to curl up beside Morgan or flirted nervously without actually giving away that she was flirting. She tried to focus on the movie, but they were holding their own private conversation and giggled loudly every few minutes.At some point in the middle of the movie she got up to get more popcorn and wasn’t all that surprised when Geoffy followed her.

“So,” he said, gesturing back to the living room, “that’s weird.”

She shook her head. “I’m glad it’s not me then. I thought I was just in a bad mood.”

“I actually meant to ask you about that. Still weird?’

“Yup.” She pressed the settings on the microwave and settled into a chair. “Not as much bursts of weirdness.”

“Good,” he said.”My uncle still hasn’t found anything. I wish he would.”

“Mum’s come up short too. Right now I’m hoping it’ll get bored with me and move on.”

“Let’s hope.”

Once the popcorn dinged, they returned to the living room, where Mithra tried not to look suspicious. Morgan looked peacefully oblivious, which amused Geoffy somewhat, but Kim nudged him with her foot.

They didn’t end up leaving until late. Mithra’s parents picked her up and took the others home as well. Kim was disappointed that she didn’t get to talk to Geoffy more, but she was pleased to be alone. She put on her pajamas, spread out on her bed, and pulled out her laptop. Her own research had been going poorly, mostly because finding legitimate information on magic online was next to impossible. There were other sources she could go to. It’s not as if she hadn’t made friends in the past.

Eventually she tired enough to justify turning out the lights, and she fell into a restless slumber.

—

Indeed, Hui-ying had pulled all of her contacts to find information on Myrddin. Anselm was looking as well, but she couldn’t help but notice how his search was pointed more towards the staff itself. She was currently on the phone with Brynn, who lived and worked in Wales.

“Yeah,” Brynn was saying. Hui-ying could too easily imagine her strawberry red lips forming a large smile, and her dark red hair pulled into a messy braid. It was late there, but she did all her work and lived in a small cabin near the site they’d been working at for years. “Ever since we hired a necromancer, it’s been ten times easier. Just raise a few spirits and–bam–they do all the talking for you.”

“Necromancers are tricky to work with though,” Hui-ying replied. “I had to fire the last one I worked with. I couldn’t trust him with the skulls.”

“Terrible I know. This one’s alright. He wears a lot of black, but who doesn’t these days?”

“So you’ll let me know if you dig anything up?”

“Of course. I’ll see what we can get out of them tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” she said and ended the call. She sighed loudly, running her hands through her hair.

Besides the three scholarly essays she’d managed to drum up from a friend, there was nothing beyond what she already knew. He was a myth, mixed in with other myths and incredibly hard to extricate. No one was being any help, and if she didn’t figure this out then–

Then she couldn’t help her daughter. And that wouldn’t do. There were a million things she’d expected to not know anything about. Boyfriends, driving, drugs or sex or rock n’ roll or even all three she supposed. An ancient myth-filled staff bonding with her wasn’t on the list. Of course she’d get sucked into the lifestyle. It was the natural course of it. She’d just hoped it been less forceful.

There was still so much to do. There was an entire backlog of items and Hortense was still going over every little crack in security and she had to get home to take care of things there. She wished Cadmos did less work at home, but it was important to him and she wanted him to be able to do what he needed, but Hakimi was getting the short end of this. At least she had friends. As poor as Geoffy’s circumstances were, at least he was able to help Kim in a way they couldn’t.

It was getting to be too much for Kim though. She could tell. It would only be a matter of time before it all fell apart.

Part 6

In which I use up all my Harry Potter references.

Kim was almost embarrassed to tell her parents what had happened. She stashed the staff beneath her bed, covering it with a blanket just in case. She had no idea what she’d do about it. They’d notice it missing by morning. She had no idea what to do about Mithra either. Freaking out was what she’d expected, but some tiny part of her had hoped she’d try to understand.

In the morning, she brought the staff down to show her mother. She had a panicked look in her eye but she took it, patting her on the head. They’d deal with it later, she promised. Kim was just happy there wasn’t an interrogation. At school Mithra didn’t show up that day or the next. She called her at home, but each time it went to voicemail. Dejected, she decided to go to the gallery after school, possibly to explain the full situation. She wasn’t entirely sure yet. When she got there, Hortense was still at the desk, but she told her everyone else had gone home for the day.

“Why?” Kim asked.

Hortense shrugged. She was in the process of unrwapping another stick of gum. “Bossman doesn’t tell me anything. All I know is, he had to rush off somewhere.”

“So do you ever leave?”

She grinned sardonically, the half-chewed gum smashed in her back teeth. “I’m very devoted to my job.”

Kim walked the rest of the way home and found her mother in the living room, looking over a stack of papers. She smiled as she walked in and apologized for not telling her.

“What happened?” Kim asked.

Her mother shrugged. “Some sort of emergency. I’ll be in tomorrow, but as I understand it, Hortense is in charge.”

They stayed for a moment in silence. Mrs. Zhi set her papers down and gestured for her to come sit beside her. When Kim did, she wrapped her in her arms.

“I told you before everything is going to be alright.”

Kim smiled in her mother’s comfort. “I know, mum.”

“How have you been feeling?”

Kim told her, a little. She told her mostly that the staff had been lonely when it reached out to her, and it was a feeling she was beginning to share. Maybe they were meant to be together. Her mother was properly sympathetic, but there was little she could offer in help. After they talked a while, Kim went up to her room and was stopped by her father. She was pleased to see him out, but right now all she wanted to do was go up and nap. Still, she stopped. He pulled out from his pocket a small pendant with tiny radiant lines in its center. It was held on a thick string, and he tied it around her neck for her.

“Protection,” he told her. “In case.”

She hugged him and thanked him. If she wore it to school, they’d probably call home about devil worship, but she didn’t care. Already she felt lighter, and when she got to her room, she threw down her bag, folded up in her bed, and sent an e-mail to her friends back home. After that she sent a text to Mithra and waited.

—

Her hands had been digging a way out for a long time, and suddenly, they hit air. Urged by this, she worked harder, using all of her strength to climb the last foot out of the ground. She gasped for breath, laying in the dirt and watching the moonlight for the first time in a thousand years. She’d felt moonlight, felt its stilted rays, and it used to suffocate her. Now she saw it in the open air with a cool wind and the open sky and it was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. Finally, she climbed to her feet, shaking away the dirt clumped in her hair and on her face and all over her clothes and she tsked. This certainly wouldn’t do. She was going to have to make an entrance.

She sang and danced the whole way home and dreamed of finally getting what she wanted.

—

By Friday, Mithra no longer had an excuse to not be present at school. She did not sit beside Kim at school and at lunch completely disappeared. Kim tried to get to her before she disappeared into her parents’ car, but she had no such luck.

Saturday, Kim could stand it no more. She went to Mithra’s home, knocked on the door, and Mrs. Sinha told her she was upstairs, go right up. Mithra was laying on her bed, a book between her arms. She was surprised to see her but did not slam the door in her face or tell her to get out. It was already going better than Kim had anticipated.

“Hey,” Mithra said.

“Hey,” Kim replied.

She stood at the door nervously. Finally, Mithra rolled over and tossed her book to the floor, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. She did not meet her eyes.

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” Kim asked.

“I sort of hoped I’d imagined it.”

“That’s fair.”

Kim closed the door and sat down on the bed. Silence filled the space between them. There was no proper way to breach the subject.

“I didn’t know you were gay,” she said finally.

Mithra’s eyes shot straight up to the door. “Shut up!”

“You told me.”

“My mom’s probably listening at the door!” She got up and pressed her ear to the door. After a moment, she breathed out. “That was mean.”

“Sorry.” Kim smiled at her. “I didn’t mean to freak you out.”

She stared at her a minute, hand still pressed against the door as if she may run. “Are you really magic?”

“Yeah. I’d do that thing again, but I’m really not supposed to.”

“That’s fine.” She sat down beside her again. “I’m sorry I freaked out.”

“Totally expected. I was being an idiot.”

“Yeah, you were.” She bunched her sheets in her fist. “You sounded really freaked out. What happened?”

Kim, not entirely sure how to explain it to an outsider, started at the beginning. She explained what the staff was and then told her when she was bonded to it. She told her everything that unfolded since. She told her of fighting the Medusa, of the sickening feeling when she saw her mother on the floor. She even had to explain her parents, her mother’s association in western magic culture and her father’s practice as a houngan. She explained what the Collection really was and told her all about Aremana and how creepy she found him. After that she couldn’t stop. She told her how she felt the fire still prickling at her skin sometimes, the fear that the staff would call on her at any moment, the connection she still held with it, and how she was starting to understand it as if it were a different person, as if it spoke to her. Mithra listened, mostly with a disguised look of horror, but when Kim finished, she was still listening, her head propped in her hands as she lay across her bed, eyes filled with concern.

“My mum wants to help, I know,” Kim continued, falling back onto the bed. “There’s nothing to do though, and I guess Aremana’s disappeared or something.”

“And Hortense is…?”

“The secretary.”

“Okay.”

Kim looked to her friend. “Do you believe any of this?”

Mithra sucked in a breath. “Yeah. You showed me. You’re dad’s really into voodoo?”

“Vodou.”

“That’s not the same thing?”

“Not the way you’re thinking of it.”

“Oh.” She rubbed her face in her hands, thinking. “Does anyone else know?” she asked. “Your friends at home?”

Kim shook her head. “They’re both muggles.”

“Oh god,” she murmured. “This raises so many questions about Harry Potter.”

“As far as I know, J.K.’s a muggle too.”

“Well that’s disappointing.”

Kim rolled over to lay beside her. For the first time since everything had started, she felt like a weight had been relieved from her shoulders. She might’ve suffocated in all this, and here she was reaching out for a life raft.

“Does anyone know about you?” she asked.

Mithra shook her head. “I can’t believe I told you that.”

“I can’t believe you thought I was gay.”

She rolled her eyes. “You have a big ol’ bisexual vibe.”

“Do I?”

“Really.”

“Ashley told me the same thing.”

Mithra laughed. “Sexuality decided by democratic vote.”

They fell into comfortable silence. Kim checked her phone for the time.

“It’s already getting late,” she said. “I should probably head back soon.”

Mithra glanced as well. “My parents must’ve realized how shitty I’ve been feeling if they let you stay this long.”

“Were you feeling shitty?”

“I skipped class for two days. The last time I did that I had pneumonia.”

Kim called her mother to come pick her up, and they were able to hang out a while longer until she showed. Mithra’s mother called her down, and they hugged goodbye. Mithra told her she’d text her tomorrow, and there was no getting rid of her now. It was the best thing Kim had heard all week.

—

It was right when Kim was feeling best that things took a turn for the worse.

First, Aremana returned. After a week of being gone, which her mother explained he’d gone to Britain to take care of something, which had only served to make her homesick once more, he stormed back into the Collection and made them redo everything they’d done in his absence, at least according to her mother. Mrs. Zhi was normally kind enough to call him out on his jerk tendencies, but for some reason she was allowing his rampage, which Kim did not understand. It would’ve been fine, if her mother had requested she come by one day after school. Kim had no intention of standing in his way, and she was well aware how much he didn’t like her, but it must’ve been important. Maybe they figured out something about the staff.

Hortense was manning the reception area as usual, smacking her gum louder than strictly necessary. Today was a second presence in reception: a thin, lanky boy slumped into one of the chairs, his legs stretched out in front of him, fiddling with his phone. He wore huge coke bottle glasses over his bright blue eyes and even covered the tips of his sandy brown hair. He glanced up as she came in and offered a little wave, which she awkwardly returned.

“You can’t go in,” Hortense said as she passed.

“What?” Kim stopped. “Why?”

She shrugged. “Prof is completely reordering the place. Also he doesn’t like you very much.”

Kim narrowed her eyes at her. “Is my mum still here then?”

“Yeah, I think. She told me to tell you to wait for her.”

“Hortense, what do you do all day?”

She rolled her big brown eyes and flipped her bangs back. “I practically run this place.”

Kim collapsed on the chair beside the boy, nodding to him in acknowledgement. He smiled at her, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

“You’re stuck waiting too?” he asked.

She was surprised to find he had a North accent, something she wasn’t expecting to hear in the States. She sat up. “Looks like it. Can I ask–”

“Tiny town,” he said. “Wester. No one’s ever heard of it.”

She grinned. “Leeds.”

“So I’m not the only one trapped in this place.”

“What brings you all the way out here?”

He shrugged. “Sort of on my own at home, you know? Uncle Anselm decided to bring me back with him.”

She hoped her eyes didn’t open to widely. “Uncle Anselm?”

“Yeah.” He pointed towards the warehouse door. “Everyone here calls him Professor Aremana I guess.”

“No–yeah, Anselm. Sorry, I just didn’t know he had family.”

“I only kind of knew I had an uncle. I think the last time I saw him was…” He counted on his fingers briefly and then shook his head. “I don’t even remember. Had to be when I was a babe.”

“I know how that is. All of my dad’s family is in Haiti, and then my mum’s is split between China or London. We get to choose one for Christmas.”

“I’m Geoffy, by the way,” he said, sticking out his hand.

“Kim.” She shook it.

“Oh, good,” Mrs. Zhi spoke up. She was entering through the metal door, her purse in hand, ready to go. “You two are already chatting. Geoffy, your uncle’s going to be working late tonight. Would you like to come eat dinner with us?”

“Sure, yeah,” he said.

“Alright then. Good night, Hortense.”

Hortense only rolled her eyes and went back to filing her nails.

The car ride home was pleasant enough. Geoffy spoke little, and he was always pushing up those glasses. Kim didn’t even know they made them that big anymore. His face reflected abject misery as he stared at the picturesque town, and Kim could remember when she shared the same expression. There house didn’t help either, her father’s skulls still waiting on the mantle and the strange things he was starting to keep in the fridge. At least his family was steeped in a similar magical background as hers, so he wasn’t too weirded out. He was at least deeply interested in the pendant she wore, and she let him play with it a bit. She learned he knew way more about magic than she ever really would. His parents had been practitioners of old country magic, the sort that only got passed family to family like an old heirloom. He was looking for a bit more schooling, which was why he was actually pleased to stay with his uncle, who appeared to know a lot. Apparently he’d been talking with her mother as well, because he had more than a few kind words to say in her direction, but that may also be because she was making them both dinner. Somehow she coaxed Mr. Zhi down from his study to join them, but Kim recognized the fatigue written on his face. His eyes were sunken, worry lines etched around his mouth where he pressed his lips into a straight line. He said nothing the entire time he spent with them and then stalked back to his room. If Geoffy noticed, he said nothing, but he also helped them clean the dishes, so perhaps he was just polite. Kim took him up to her room after that (her mother propped the door open) and she showed him some of the letters her friend had sent and told him how much she missed home. He admitted the same, but whenever she asked him anything about where he was from, he got quiet and started tearing things up with his hands.

“Really though,” she asked finally. “Why’d you get dragged all the way down here?”

He pushed up his glasses and looked at her. “Well, honestly? My parents died in a mysterious car crash, so I was left on my own with my mean uncle. All I’ve got left now is this weird lightning scar, but I’m told I’ll finally start my magical training.”

She glared at him. “How much of that was the plot to Harry Potter?”

“Almost all of it.”

“Really though.”

He sighed loudly. “My mum really did die in a car accident. I was probably five at the time. I don’t remember it very clearly. My dad, he got sick recently, and then he just kept getting sicker.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

He shrugged. “Uncle Anselm’s taking me in, I guess, until he gets better.”

They looked at pictures of their respective homes online until finally Kim’s mum told him she was taking him back. They exchanged numbers, and Kim told him whenever he got homesick to just text her. Before going to bed that night, she sent a long e-mail to Ashley and Thomas, promising to see them again soon.

—

Kim was urged by her mother to invite Geoffy out with her and Mithra, and since there appeared to be no headway into her problems, she was forced to agree. Mithra had scowled a little at inviting him along, but she’d relented when Kim explained his situation. That Saturday they took the tram to the next town over, where apparently their mall was so large that it was packed every day. Neither Kim nor Geoffy completely understood the appeal of malls, but there was little else for three teenagers to do on their own.

The Firewheel Mall was indeed very large and not entirely indoors. It took up three blocks, and each corner held a huge, two-story department store or similar shop, and while a few candle stores or jewelry stores or earth stores lined some of the streets, it was mostly big brand names that Kim didn’t recognize. They ended up in the Barnes & Noble at the Starbucks inside, sipping chai lattes and feeling unimpressed. Eventually they decided a movie was the best way to pass the time, but the theater there played mostly indie films. They picked at random, and ended up seeing something with Zooey Deschanel and a skinny boy. They both cuted at each other for two hours, the whole time they spent in a nearly empty theater. Kim and Mithra devolved into yelling at the screen every time anything happened, while Geoffy watched either the screen or them, depending on which was more entertaining. Afterwards they got burgers and sat outside in front of a man made pond, tearing up the grass and laughing at the people they saw pass by. Mithra bummed a cigarette off of someone and proved she was an excellent smoker when her parents weren’t around. Daylight was beginning to run low, the dark purple blush of night bruising the sky. It was probably time for them to head back, and they sat at the tram stop on the wire green benches, except Mithra stood on them, trying to see how close it was to arriving.

“You’re going to know when it comes,” Kim said, grabbing the hem of her skirt to pull her down.

Mithra stretched her limbs out and pouted. Kim had never seen her so wired.

“Geoffy,” she asked, turning to him, “is having a stick up your ass a British thing?”

“Yes,” he said, expression nothing but dead serious. “Absolutely.”

Kim reached over to slap him, but Mithra shrugged her aside and continued her line of questioning.

“You’re magic too, right? Like her.”

“Not like me,” Kim said. “He’s got an education. I’m more homeschooled.”

“That’s pretty much how it’s all taught though,” he said. “We haven’t got schools lined up to teach us. Well, actually…”

“You’ve got schools?” Mithra asked excitedly.

“If you’re lucky, there are these groups of people who do all magic all the time. It’s sort of like university, but probably more like camp.”

“I’ve met some of those people,” Kim said. “Basically you live in the forest with a guy who doesn’t bathe and whose beard is longer than you and then he teaches you extra special magic.”

“That’s dumb,” Mithra said.

“Pretty much.”

They did in fact know when the tram arrived, because it approached with a dull roar and then slowed to a screeching halt. The doors groaned open, and they climbed inside, choosing from the available plastic yellow seats. They sat at the back of the train and read the graffiti someone had left in Sharpie. Mostly people drew dicks, and Mithra had to stop Kim from giving them smiley faces. They arrived back just as night had set in completely and had to call Kim’s mother to come pick them up.

Mithra was dropped off first, and then Geoffy would be returned to the Gallery. Professor Aremana had a house, Kim was assured when she asked, but he lived outside of town, so they went there instead. Mrs. Zhi had to get some things from her office anyway, so it worked out. Kim walked inside with them and was surprised to see Hortense still behind the desk.

“You can’t just sit here and file your nails all day,” Kim said to her as they passed.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Hortense responded with a sigh. “I can’t file my nails every day.”

She might’ve responded, but that was when the door opened and someone new walked through. Kim couldn’t remember ever seeing her. She was tall yet curvaceous with thick, curly black hair and went all the way to the floor. The clothes looked ancient, the dark green fabric falling off her shoulder and split down her legs, and she wasn’t wearing any shoes, just a small band around her ankle. Her eyes were intense and dark, and her lips curled back into a smile as she looked around the room. She stood as though she had just busted in on a party, and she was going to make it hers.

Hortense stood quickly, trying to look nonchalant about it, but there was something gripped in her fist that Kim couldn’t see, and her expression was hard set. Her mother as well stepped forward, putting her body between the woman and the children. Geoffy and Kim exchanged glances, but she couldn’t tell if he felt the same as she did. The woman’s gaze caused her skin to prickle and she couldn’t hold it with her own, and deep inside her chest a fire began to light.

“‘Ello then,” the woman said, flipping her hair back. Her accent was distinctly Welsh and thick, her language garbled enough that it seemed English was a recent development. “I’ll be speaking with the proprietor of this establishment.”

“We’re closed,” Hortense said sharply. “Please return next Monday between the hours of 8 to 5.”

“You haven’t got a sorcerer about?”

“If you’d like to speak with Professory Aremana, you’ll have to wait until next–”

“It’s fine,” Mrs. Zhi said suddenly. “I’ll go grab him, shall I?”

Hortense glared at her. “There’s no one on the schedule.”

“Good. That means he’s free. Why don’t you two follow me?”

She pressed against the shoulders of the two children, leading them to the back room. Kim’s heart thudded in her chest, and she felt the woman turn her gaze directly to her. She knew. The fire was burning her inside and she knew. The staff was telling her this isn’t safe we’ve got to leave we’ve got to destroy her take me use me let’s end this now. The woman held up a dirt stained finger and pointed directly to her.

“That one,” she said, “has got my staff.”

The whole room paused, and Kim thought her mother was going to force them through that door no matter the cost, but it opened all on its own, and Professor Aremana stepped through. He surveyed the entire room, his withering glare penetrating each and every soul.

“What is going on?” he asked, and then Mrs. Zhi pushed the children through the door and shut it behind them.

—

“What the hell,” Geoffy asked as they stood in the dark on the other side, “was that?”

Kim was still shaking, and she hoped desperately that he didn’t notice. She pressed her back against the wall and tried breathing slowly to keep her heart rate slow. She flinched when he found the light switch, and he turned to her with concern.

“You alright?” he asked.

She nodded. “A little freaked out.”

“Who the hell was that woman? What staff? Why did she point at you?”

The last of the tension unknotted itself from her chest. She breathed out cleanly and stood straight.

“There is a–” She paused, unsure if she should show him now. It still called to her now, and she was worried with the slightest provocation it would appear, and somehow that woman would know. “I have got a staff. It’s not technically mine, but it’s, well, I suppose I’m its.”

“That makes no bloody sense,” he told her.

“No, I suppose not. I’m not very good at explaining it.”

He sighed and jammed his hands into his pocket. The place was not made for comfort, and who knows how long they would be stuck there.

“Well,” he said, “even if it is her staff, she didn’t have to barge in here. I’m gonna guess you felt that. She’s all bad mojo.”

She was relieved that it had affected everyone. “Maybe it really is her staff. Maybe she can take it away. Maybe it’ll leave me alone.”

He stared at her and then jumped out of the way as the door opened again. Professor Aremana came through, Mrs. Zhi right behind him.

“Darling,” she said, gesturing to the two of them, “we’re just going to go back to our place. Geoffy, do you mind staying the night?”

He glanced to his uncle, who was busying himself elsewhere and did not look back, and shrugged. “That’s alright. I haven’t got anything.”

“We’ll find some things for you. Come on.”

“Wait,” Kim said. “What’s–”

“Later, dear. We’re leaving now.”

There was enough urgency in her voice that they did not argue. They had to pass the woman on the way out, and she smiled at Kim with all her teeth. She ducked her head and tried not to shudder.

They waited until the car was a few blocks away before asking their questions, which came pouring out at once. Who that woman was, what she really wanted, why she gave off that vibe, where she had come from, all were mysteries.

“Anselm is going to let her inspect the staff,” Mrs. Zhi said. “He wants to see how it reacts to her. She claims it was stolen.”

“Do you think it’s really hers?” Kim asked.

“If it is, she has every right to request it back. She may be able to help you.”

This was good news to Kim, even if being in the same room with her gave her a panic attack. Maybe the staff would be out of her life by tomorrow. Or maybe it liked its new wielder better and would refuse to give her up. The latter possibility seemed more in tune with her actual life.

They arrived back at the house fairly late. Kim wanted to call Mithra with the news, but she was surprised at how tired she suddenly felt. Instead she helped her mother unfold the bed from the couch and laid out pillows for Geoffy. They gave him an old shirt and some sweatpants, and Kim sat with him a while before heading off to bed.

“So the staff,” he said after she’d explained a little, “is connected to you. So what if it’s not really her staff?”

“Then I guess I’m stuck with it,” she replied.

“No, I mean, it obviously chooses its wielder. Lots of objects develop their own consciousness after being infused with magic. Maybe it was hers once, but it moved on. Maybe that’s why she thinks it was stolen from her.”

“So your theory is it moved on on its own, and now she wants it back.”

“She must’ve recognized it in you. She already knows it has a new wielder.”

“I just.” She rubbed her eyes. “I’d like it to be over. If she wants it back, I say let her take it.”

“That may not solve your problem though.”

“I don’t want to think about that.”

Eventually, Mrs. Zhi turned all the lights out and ushered her daughter up to bed, telling her to get some rest, it’d be a big day tomorrow. Kim hoped she was right.

Part 5

Getting a little harder on the word count. Still doing pretty well.

Kim hugged her father tightly and didn’t let go for as long as she was allowed. She had to move when her mother spread kisses all over his face, because there was no way she was getting in the middle of that. Aremana–Anselm, as her mother insisted on calling him–mostly paced back and forth, throwing his arms up in the air and shouting things that weren’t obscenities but certainly sounded like them. Her mother had quieted him when she showed him that everything was back in its place, and in fact without Kim being around, they would’ve been short on shield and up one Medusa. Kim could feel the staff was unhappy to be taken away from her, but she said nothing. Perhaps Aremana could feel it as well, because he glared at her once it was returned to its crate.

“I’m afraid,” Mrs. Zhi said, allowing her husband to fret over her wound while she spoke, “there is a bigger problem at hand.”

“You both are safe,” her husband said. “No more problems.”

“I’m afraid she’s right,” Aremana interrupted, and man, could he glare. She was surprised his expression didn’t turn her to stone. “Your daughter appears to now be connected to the staff.”

Her parents exchanged a meaningful glance. Kim had no idea what that meaning was, but they appeared to come to a decision.

“Anselm,” her mother said. “You’ve no idea how grateful I am to your patience these past few days, but our daughter has been through quite enough right now.”

“Do you–”

“So we’ll take her home,” she said loudly. “And tomorrow we can decide what needs to be done. For now it’s late, and I am still bleeding quite a bit.”

Aremana sneered as only he did, but he eventually conceded. The three of them piled into the car, and Kim spent the whole ride with her head pressed against the window with her eyes closed. She wasn’t asleep, though she didn’t mind if her parents thought so. Instead, she was focusing on the feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was as if she and the staff were connected by a very thin string that was being pulled further and further apart. She could picture it clearly in its crate in the warehouse. She saw Aremana lean over it, inspecting it without touching it. He was so upset that she’d unraveled the secrets he hadn’t been able to. He did not understand why it called to a child when he was right there. She almost laughed at his frustration. The staff, she realized. The staff almost laughed at his frustration. She wasn’t quite sure why she thought it was her.

—

Sleep was not an easy target that night. At around three in the morning, she pulled open her laptop to see if she could tire herself. She was surprised to see Thomas online. It was early there, though she supposed he might have obligations to the band. For a moment, she wanted to tell him everything. She almost started typing too. For a brief solitary second, she thought she might be able to heap her woes upon her friend’s shoulders so that they may carry them together. He might understand and give advice and tell her it would be alright, it didn’t matter that her soul was now bonded to some sort of creepy magic staff and she’d defeated a Medusa, because she was still her and he would still love her. Her hopes died though in the next moment, when she realized that telling anyone what happened would put her in an insane asylum. In reality, he would probably just ask her what drugs she was using and then knock off to whatever he was up to. Her other friends would react the same way. It was the natural way to react. Everyone else saw magic and just laughed it off as swamp gas or weather balloons.

She still had a text from Mithra as well, waiting for her response. It was easy not to send a message to her friends across the pond, but she would have to face Mithra at some point. She would have to pretend her life was completely and utterly normal and she wasn’t scared and nothing exciting had happened ever, but it would be written all over her face and in the way her hands were shaking and what if something happened? What if the staff just decided to appear in front of her again? What if she was in class or at the mall or doing anything that wasn’t sitting at home? There were much bigger problems than what her friends would think of her. The staff had chosen her, but for what? It whispered to her, but why her? Why not people with actual power, like Aremana or her mother? Anyone there would be a much better candidate, but it had chosen her. It wanted her.

Sleep did not come easy that night.

—

Among the trees, there was light.

It burned her it was so bright. The trees groaned with anticipation, leaning ever so slightly to gather the light and harness it for themselves. It was exactly what she’d been looking for, but it wasn’t here! It was far off, in a place she didn’t know, and she could not arrive there in the trees. She was done searching. She was going to find it.

She dug down deep into the roots, feeling the soft soil compacted overhead. She reached a hand up, and for the first time in a long time it was not part of the tree. She smiled and started to dig.

—

With only a few hours of sleep in her, Kim was awoken the next morning by her mother. She was told to shower and get dressed and they were going to sort things out down at the gallery. She crawled into the shower and turned it on hot so that her skin turned red beneath it. If her mother was impatient, she would just have to wait. The shower was her safeguard at the moment. It allowed her to be cut off from the world, the sound of water hitting the shower curtain not unlike rain, and she closed her eyes and pretended everything was going to be okay.

Eventually she had to get out. She dressed quickly and stuffed a Poptart in her mouth, and together she and her mother headed out the door. When asked what her father would be doing with his day, her mother just shook her head and said he was taking care of some other things. Kim glanced behind her as they pulled out of the driveway, concerned for what that meant.

At the Collection, only Aremana was there. Kim was pleased that this was a private affair, but she still hated the cold, calculating looks the professor gave her. He sized her up like a specimen, like a lab rat he was waiting to put in the maze and let run around. The staff was still in its crate, almost as if it had never moved. In new light, its whispers had gone, and she no longer felt the overwhelming urge to touch it. It was just a dead piece of wood. It had to be a trick. Kim was no closer to trusting it than she had been last night. It would wait for her to get close and then spring.

“This really isn’t necessary,” her mother was saying, keeping Kim firmly behind her.

“We must figure out why the connection is there,” Aremana said firmly.

In a voice so quiet Kim almost missed it, her mother said, “You know there isn’t always a why.”

There was no further arguing after that. Kim was situated directly in front of the staff, and Aremana held up some kind of large golden magnifying glass, like the kind old detectives would use. In the glass near the rim, small runes had been etched, and they would reflect off different colors in the light. He circled her, like an animal stalking his prey. He trekked once around and once back, holding the glass out towards her. He tsked and hmmed under this breath and repeated the gesture, and then he set it aside and turn his attention to Mrs. Zhi. Kim relaxed a little, but his eyes might still glance her way, his cold watchfulness still upon her. Dread tightened in her stomach, and her knees wobbled beneath her. Her breath stuck in her throat and it was impossible to swallow. She might faint or vomit or explode or something, and that was when the staff began to react.

No one noticed at first, least of all Kim. She’d put her hand against the wall of the crate to steady herself, and that was when she saw that the runes of the staff were glowing slightly. They were purple first, then blue, no, then orange, and then ever color all at once, and she was so entranced by it. It unknotted her stomach and let her breathe again. She stood a little taller, letting out a short soft gasp as her fingers brushed against it once more. It felt so alive, like a person. Like a heartbeat. It promised to take care of her, promised to get rid of all her problems. It was worse than offering power; it offered comfort instead. It wanted to keep her safe because it needed her, needed her to wield it, just take it, just wrap your hand around me and let me do my work.

Kim was pulled back sharply, and she gave a surprised cry. Her mother had her hand wrapped around her collar like she were a dog, and she was yelling something at Aremana. The world was all colors though. Kim could barely understand what was being told to her. Eventually they dragged her away out to the reception area. Hortense was still there, still popping her gum. She said something that made Aremana practice another cold glare on her, and it was the first time Kim had seen someone not back away. Hortense got her a water anyway and sat with her while the adults talked.

“Sucks, doesn’t it?” Hortense said.

Kim looked up blearily. She held the small paper cup in her hand but did nothing with it but watch. “What?”

“The whole ‘soul bonded to an artifact of extreme power’ thing.” She smacked her gum noisely between her teeth and blew another bubble with it. “I was thirteen, in Egypt. Got my first boyfriend and also got an eagle that would kill things for me.”

Kim stared at her in horror. These could not be real words coming out of her mouth.

Hortense waved her hand dismissively. “It got sorted out. There’s probably like a support group for these sorts of things.”

It was then that Mrs. Zhi marched out into the reception area, grabbed Kim by the shoulder, and dragged her out without saying a word.

—

“Mum,” Kim said quietly. She still had the cup of water in her hand. She’d managed to drink it, and now she just turned it over. “Prof. Aremana isn’t just your employer, is he?”

The expression on her mother’s face was somewhere between confusion and anger. Her lips were in a thin line, but her eyes were set to contemplation. They slowed at a red light, and she glanced at her daughter.

“Anselm and I are old friends, dear,” she said. “We worked together on an expedition in China.”

Kim tried to imagine Professor Aremana digging into the ground, wearing work clothes and dirtying them with soot and soil. He probably couldn’t hold a spade, and he probably complained the whole time. At night she bet he snuck off to drink with the locals, and then she imagined her mother going with him, and that was where that ended.

“Don’t worry about a thing,” her mother continued to say, but her fists were clenched so tightly around the steering wheel her knuckles were turning white. “We’ve decided that for now it’s best to keep you away. From the staff, I mean. The gallery as well, I suppose. We’ll get this all sorted.”

It looked more like she had decided, but Kim didn’t say anything, not for the rest of the trip home.

—

Kim was more or less left to her own devices for the rest of the day and the next. Her parents were trying to give her space, but with the fear and trepidation filling her insides, the silence in the house, and the sullen looks her mother was sporting, the only thing Kim wanted was to leave. She told her mother she was meeting Mithra, and she absconded into the neighborhood, walking the tiny streets and cul-de-sacs. She found the elementary school, closed on weekends, and was greeted by the sight of Mithra and another small, brown girl playing on the swings. Off on the jungle gym was a boy with his own small child. Mithra saw her as she approached and waved, letting the little girl down and gesturing for her to go play with the others.

“Hey!” she said excitedly. It was beginning to get chilly, and she was bundled in a dark blue hoodie. The weather was almost close enough to home for Kim to think of it as normal, but she’d expected it to be colder by now.

“Hey,” Kim replied. “What’re you doing out here?”

She gestured to the children and the boy their own age. “Babysitting. That’s Kris. He lives next door to me. Those are his little sisters.”

“Oh. Sorry, am I interrupting?”

Mithra grimaced. “Not even a little.”

They sat on the swings together, idly kicking their legs. Mithra explained what had been happening Friday night, in that her parents were concerned she wasn’t meeting enough Indian boys. There had been a small get together at her house, where she’d been forced to socialise, not her strongest trait. Luckily she’d known Kris since they’d moved here, and they had gone off in the corner together, which had pleased her parents to no end. There was not a chance anything would come of it, but she liked to give them hope. From there, she asked Kim to explain where she’d been last Friday. Halfheartedly, she’d mumbled something about being sick. She didn’t mention the Medusa or the staff or Professor Aremana or being inspected under a magnifying glass or nearly throwing up three days in a row. That last one probably would’ve helped her case, but she thought if she said a little thing she might say everything.

“Are you coming back tomorrow?” Mithra asked.

She nodded.

“Thank god. We had a lab and we had to pick partners and Taylor Moore picked me because–and I quote–’I thought you Indian kids were supposed to be smart.’”

Kim snorted at this. “He really said that?”

“Yes! I thought I was going to punch him.”

“I wish you had.”

They continued to laugh and joke for a while, and it was enough to make Kim feel normal again. All weekend she’d been trapped in her parents’ world, where adults prodded you with sticks and did things like sense magic and the ilk. With Mithra she could be a teenager again, where the worst she had to worry about was an English paper due next week and if the boy she liked was gay. She’d take that over this any day.

Eventually Kris came over and chatted with them a bit. He held onto the chain of Mithra’s swing and stood close beside her. If Mithra noticed she gave no tell, and eventually they left together, having to herd the kids back home. Kim stayed a while longer, just sitting on the swing and contemplating life. She’d made up her mind to go and message Ashley and Thomas, just to have the comfort of their words. It wouldn’t fix her problems, but it was a comfort, and that’s what she needed at this moment. Her life having lifted momentarily, she returned home to her quiet house.

—

Returning to class did in fact relieve some of the stress, surprisingly. Kim, who’d detested the monotony only a week ago, took comfort in it. She felt normal again. She had friends and she had work and she wrote essays and solved math problems and didn’t do things like explode with fire or summon staffs or fighting monsters. It was good.

Less and less people thought of Kim as the cool foreigner and more and more as Mithra’s kind of dorky girlfriend. It was a lot closer to how she’d been viewed back home, so it didn’t bother her too much. Even as the cold sweeping wind of winter began to permeate the air, they continued to sit outside behind the school at lunch, where no one bothered them and there was quiet. Kim liked the biting cold against her cheeks, though Mithra enjoyed complaining.

No longer returning to the gallery helped as well. Mithra gave her rides home when she didn’t have practice, but Kim didn’t mind walking. The weather was kind and it allowed her to clear her head. Every day she returned home to find her father working in his study and her mother still at the gallery. Until she returned, Kim would curl up in her bed and surf the Internet. Any moment reprieved from distraction left her to wallow in her own thoughts, which she hated to do. Even though she could no longer see the staff when she closed the eyes, but there were thoughts buried in her mind, wrapped in multi-colored fire. She didn’t know what they meant or why they were there, but letting them brim to the surface was terrifying to her.

It was one of these moment later in the week when she was hitting refresh on her computer over and over. No one was responding to her, and there was no work for her to do. She laid back, closing her eyes for a brief moment, and that was when she felt it. The fire emerged in her mind, and she caught images she couldn’t quite see and heard words she could understand, and she shook her head and stood, trying to find something to do. When she looked down at her hands, she saw little multicolored sparks spiking out of her skin. Panic overtook her, but she breathed slowly, moving to the bathroom. In the mirror she could see the sparks all over her body, and quickly she ran her fingers under the water. Of course it didn’t do anything, but she scrubbed at the skin, gritting her teeth in frustration. Tears pricked at her eyes as she grabbed a washcloth and forced it under the water and pressed it against her skin, over her face, over her arms, over her collarbone. The cloth dropped away and she pressed her nails into her skin, trying to claw the fire away. Nothing was working. It wasn’t going away.

Without warning, it exploded in the back of her mind. She felt as if she were caught in an explosion, and she hit the wall behind her, slumping down to the floor. It was angry, upset, lonely. She cried for it, the emptiness filling her chest and the anger in her stomach and she thought she might vomit it all up. Her heart thudded in her ears and she went limp with the loneliness. It needed her, just her, no one else, and she was leaving it. She had left it alone and all it wanted was to be wielded and she was his wielder and they should be together and she should reach for him and she would wield him and they would be the same.

It released her in that same moment, and she collapsed forward, her cheek pressed against the linoleum of the bathroom tile. She stumbled up, grabbing onto the sink for support. The sparks had left her skin. It seems it had only intended to leave her a message. She shut off the water and looked to wear she’d clawed at her own arm. The bandages were under the sink, and she returned to her bed, curled up, and called Mithra.

—

This night was warmer than it had been, but Mithra still bundled up in a few layers. She couldn’t stand the cold, even after living here all her life. Those summers they’d gone to see family in India were ruining her ability to acclimate.

She’d been surprised when Kim had called her and asked her to meet. It wasn’t that she wasn’t used to her dramatics at this point–she could drop into a soliloquy over lunch meat–but she’d sounded near tears. Sneaking out of her house was hardly a bother, as long as she returned before her parents checked up on her. The trip to the elementary school was only a few blocks, and once again she found her friend sitting on the swings, moving idly back and forth. She called out in greeting, joining her on the swing beside her. Kim’s face was wet with tears that she pushed away with the sleeve of her sweater, her normally cheery demeanor crushed, even as she attempted a smile.

“What’s wrong?” Mithra asked.

Kim sniffled loudly. God, this was stupid, she thought. The staff just blew up her brain to tell her it was lonely, and the first person she should’ve called was her mother. There was something different, though, in the way her mother looked at her now, as if she were a bomb she were waiting to go off. She needed someone to understand, to still talk to her and be her friend. There was no way she could get the words out. She stuttered along a while, trying to avoid the subject, but Mithra was steadfast.

“Really,” her friend said, wrapping her hand around hers. “Tell me.”

The words caught in her throat, but she swallowed and started again, from the easiest terms. “Something happened.”

Mithra waited expectantly.

“It was, um, remember when I was sick?” That had felt so long ago. “When I missed that day of school? I didn’t–god,” she moaned, pressing her face into her hands. “Sorry, sorry. It’s not easy to say.” She shook her head and tried once more. “Okay. Remember the gallery where my mom works?”

Mithra nodded.

“Okay. There’s all these artifacts in there and I was just wandering around on my own and I guess I saw–I don’t know what happened, but there was like this instant connection and I went for it, it all happened so fast, and now I’ve got this like–it’s in my head, these weird thoughts, and then–oh!–my mom practically died. Now it’s there all the time and Hortense says the same thing happened to her, but my parents are treating me so strangely and it just sort of comes at me when I least expect it, like tonight, I thought I was on fire! And I just need to talk about it with someone, okay, so please don’t think I’m a crazy person.”

Mithra stared at her, surprised she managed all that in one breath. “Wow,” she said.

“Yeah.” Kim bit her lip. “Wow.”

“So, hold on. I didn’t get all that. Hortense is your girlfriend?”

Kim sat straight up and had to grab onto the chains of the swing to not fall back. “What?”

“That’s, um.” Mithra squinted, trying to recount the tale. “You said she went through the same thing.”

“I’m not–I didn’t–”

“It’s okay though, really.” She smiled widely. “I’m just glad I have someone to talk about it with.”

“…What?”

“Is that why you didn’t come to school then? Your parents found out and they flipped?”

Kim waved her hands wildly. “That is not what I said.”

“Oh. I thought–”

“No, sorry, I–” She breathed out and shut her eyes. “Oh my god, I’m an idiot.”

Mithra shook her head. “Maybe I didn’t quite catch all of it. So you’re not gay then?”

“No!”

She recoiled a bit, wrapping her hands around the swing. “Oh. Sorry.”

The disappointment in her eyes was crushing. Kim stared at her. “Are you?”

“Hm?”

“You said you were glad. Is that because you are?”

“Um.” Mithra glanced at her and attempted a smile. “Yeah. I guess. It’s not something I’ve ever done in practice.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

They sat, silently swinging. This was not where Kim had pictured this conversation going.

“I mean,” she said. “It’s not bad. I didn’t mean to sound so offended. It’s just–it’s not that. It’s something else.”

“What is it?” Mithra asked.

“I–The gallery isn’t just for artifacts and stuff. It’s–the stuff they have–all of it’s–it’s magic. It’s all super powerful stuff and you’re not supposed to touch any of it but I, you know, did, so now I’m magically connected to this super old staff and I think it’s a dude living inside of it.”

There. Done. She’d told someone. She’d never done that before. Mithra’s reaction was about what she expected. Her eyes were wide, her jaw slack, and she gave the distinct impression she was staring at a crazy person.

“You’re sure,” Mithra said slowly, “you’re not just gay.”

She nodded.

“Wow.”

They stared at each other for a long time.

“And you’re not,” Mithra continued, “on any medication?”

“I’m not a crazy person.”

“No, I believe you, it’s just that you sound a little like a crazy person.”

“But I’m not.”

She held up her hands. “Kim, magic isn’t real.”

She glared at her. “It is. I’ve seen it. I see it every day of my life.”

“Okay, but how? Where? You’re confused–”

Kim stood up and marched a few feet in front of her. She’d known it would come to this. There was no way Mithra was going to believe her just on her word. She held out her arm, closed her eyes, and thought very, very hard. It was there, untouched in its crate. No one was at the gallery now, and it sat in the darkness, waiting for her. The invisible thread that held them had seemed so weak lately, but now it was strong and it tightened around both of them, and all she had to do was pull. In a flash of light it appeared in her hand, this time without knocking her back or filling her head with fire. She laughed as she grabbed it, accomplishment rising up in her chest. She hadn’t been sure if she could do it, but here she was.

And there was Mithra, staring at her. She was aware that the multicolored fire flickered over her skin and the light had not completely dissipated. Once it did, she walked over to her friend’s side and held out the staff.

“It’s real,” she said.

“You–” Mithra’s gaze flitted between her and the staff. “You really just did that.”

“Yes. I did.”

“But–but how?! Where did it come from?!”

“It’s kept in the gallery.” Kim grimaced as she thought about it. “I’m not sure if i can put it back.”

Mithra nearly fell off the swing. “Oh my god. Oh my god, Kim, did you really just do magic?”

“Yes.”

“I–I have to go.”

“Wait, Mithra!”

But it was too late. She’d gathered up her things and sprinted away. Kim didn’t blame her. This whole thing had been a stupid idea. And now she’d lost her only friend.

The staff disagreed.

Part 4