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[foreveralwaysanauthor]

Same Trailer, Different Park (Prologue)

April 14, 2024

Notes - Last night, I went to my first-ever DND game with my oldest nephew, and it was incredible! It's supposed to be every other week, but we're doing it again this upcoming Saturday, and the storyline is giving me so many ideas that I could use for one-shots and stuff! Also, my sciatic pain is going away. It's moved from going all the way from my spine to my right knee to just my right hip, so that's an improvement! Anyway, this was just shy of 50 pages and would have been posted sooner if I had the moodboard and divider transferred to my computer, but I didn't, so here we are lmao! The divider I've used is just temporary until I can sit down and work on one I think suits the vibe, but until then, it is what it is. Also, I hope your finals go well! I believe in you!!

April 14th - the day RMS Titanic struck the iceberg.

Usually, on this day every year, I would be prepping for a Titanic watch party and making sure everyone was ready for it, but that’s just not how it’s going to go this time around. After I get out of school today, it’s officially spring break, and I couldn’t be more excited to finally get away from this endless rain despite the deviation from my annual Titanic anniversary get-together. Riven already offered to give me a ride to school this morning, but since Mom asked me to give Abby and Olly one, and Erica’s piece of shit truck can’t go over puddles without breaking down, he’s giving her and JJ a ride instead. I have to remember to pick up stuff for my battle bot before I leave school, so I’ll tell Abby to remind me - she’s good at that kind of thing. Maybe if I take my notebooks with me on my trip, Mickie and the guys can help me figure out some ideas for what I want to build. Then, I won’t have to come up with something when I get back! Yeah, maybe that’s what I’ll do!

Vivien snapped her journal shut and tugged her headphones off before turning them off and tossing them onto her desk alongside her journal. With a sigh, she found her gaze in the mirror that hung on the back of her closet door as she made her way toward it. Despite the hair sticking in every direction, the blanket marks lining the arm she had fallen asleep on, and the wrinkled pajamas she wasn’t quite ready to rid herself of, she looked ready to start her day. Although she highly doubted she would need a cup of coffee that morning as her excitement for the day was propelling her forward like a cup full of espresso shots, Vivien knew she needed to at least look like she was half as ready as she felt.

Her reflection smiled back as she pushed the door of her closet open, but as she pulled the clothes she had set aside the night before down from her hangers, she found herself wondering if she should have put more thought into the outfit she had chosen. Would her typical choice of jeans, a witty graphic tee, and a brightly colored long-sleeve be a good choice in the long run? She would stand out like a sore thumb in the sixties, but nobody at her school would, frankly, give a shit what she wore. Her dad’s signature triple knock on her bedroom door gave Vivien no chance to change her mind as she hollered back that she was almost ready to go. He left after letting her know that he had to leave for an early morning meeting, wishing her a good morning and telling her that he would see her at lunch before leaving to tell the twins the same.

Sighing as she stretched her tired limbs out, Vivien set her cell phone on her dresser, asking Siri to put on one of her playlists as she debated on what to do with her hair. Glancing at the clothes she had yet to pack for her vacation, Vivien cringed as she realized just how much work she’d forced on her after-school self. For once, she was tragically unprepared for a trip. There was a lot she would have to do in the small amount of time between her release from school and Mick’s family picking her up. Pulling her shirt over her head with a huff and freeing her hair from under the collar, Vivien found her phone screen illuminated as a text came in from the girl who had invited her on her family’s trip in the first place.

Mick’s text was simple - a picture of four plane tickets to the John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California. Then, as Vivien smiled at her phone, another message came in, asking her if she was ready. A flutter of eager anticipation flew through Vivien’s text as she replied, telling the older brunette how excited she was to finally be able to spend time with the people they both cared about. Once the message had been sent, Vivien found an ABBA song on her playlist, turned the volume back up, and sang softly to herself as she finished getting ready for the day.

After brushing her teeth and taking the time to detangle the hair she had forgotten to ask someone to braid the night before, Vivien gathered her things for school, shoving her overstuffed folder full of homework and project notes into her backpack before grabbing her permission slip for the regional battle bot tournament and shoving it into the back of her bag where it would be kept relatively safe until the end of the school day. Tucking her school laptop into her bag, zipping it shut, and throwing a strap over her shoulder, Vivien scurried out of her room, just barely remembering to turn off the light as Oliver mumbled out a good morning on his way to the stairs. Chuckling as she wished her brother a good morning, Vivien stepped back to allow Abby to parade by with her backpack on one shoulder, a book in her free hand, and her hair pulled back in a migraine-inducing high pony that Vivien was sure she would hear the girl complaining about later in the day.

Following her siblings downstairs as Abby muttered her oral report to herself, Vivien took in a slow breath and hoped her mother had already left for her meeting with some city council board as the smell of slightly charred bacon wafted through the air. Their mother had a habit of making perfect bacon and sausage for herself and everyone else but would sometimes forget Vivien’s and her ex-husband’s in the pan while she took the time to ensure her twins had everything exactly how they liked it. Vivien never bothered to bring up the issue; instead, she gave the charred bacon strips or sausage patties to Riven as he was practically a walking garbage disposal and seemed to enjoy the blackened breakfast meats. Her siblings had tried to bring it up before, and Vivien knew her father had tried as well, but to no avail. The woman wouldn’t argue much with her younger children and always denied anything being wrong, pointing out the fact that Vivien never brought it up herself, but even when Oliver argued that the disgust on Vivien’s face was obvious, nothing changed.

Entering the kitchen, Vivien smirked as Oliver turned back toward Abby and began spouting random historical facts to throw his twin off her train of thought. Abby was quick to fight back, whacking her brother with her book as she told him to shut up and let her focus. Their mother was quick to jump in and tell her only son to leave his sister alone before handing them both their lunch boxes and telling them to get going before they were late. Abby sent Vivien an apologetic look as the eldest of the O’Brian kids took the only remaining lunch box from the counter, and their mother ushered them toward the coat closet. After giving the twins a quick kiss on the forehead and telling Vivien to drive safely, the woman grabbed her jacket and left, heading out to her car and taking off while the kids were still pulling on their spring coats. 

With a sigh, Vivien grabbed her keys from the hook by the door and held the door open for her siblings, but it wasn’t until they were in the pale blue Hyundai Vivien had received from their father after passing her license test that any of them chose to speak up. Oliver huffed as he slid into the back seat, buckling his seatbelt before stretching out across the bench seat and sighing, “I don’t get Mom’s issue.”

“Olly,” Vivien sighed, a soft reprimand that she hoped would keep her brother from ranting the whole way to their school.

“No, Viv,” Abby cut in before Oliver could speak, “we all see she treats you differently, and it isn’t right!”

“It isn’t,” Vivien agreed as she pushed the key into the ignition and started the car, turning the defroster on to keep the windows clear, “but it isn’t worth the effort of trying to change her. Besides, I’ve got you guys and Dad.”

“And Auntie Hayley and Aunt Charlie,” Oliver piped in.

“Exactly,” Vivien nodded, smiling at her younger brother as she backed out of the driveway.

Abby huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and slouching in her seat as she complained, “Still. I wish we knew what her problem was.”

“I have a few theories,” Oliver claimed.

Abby grinned, “We know. You’ve shown us your corkboard of conspiracy theories.”

“Yeah,” Vivien snorted, putting the car into drive and taking off down their street. “I swear, introducing you to MatPat and Shane Dawson at a young age was a bad idea.”

“Seriously,” Abby agreed teasingly. “If I have to be subjected to another three-hour rant about the government brainwashing us through Justin Beiber’s music, I just might pitch myself off of the water tower.”

“First of all, that’s not what my theory was about,” Oliver chuckled, “and second, I meant about Mom treating Viv differently.”

Shifting so that she could see both Oliver and Vivien, Abby said, “Well, you’re the conspiracy theorist here. What do you think is the issue?”

Excited to finally have the chance to blather about the ideas he had been bouncing around in his head for a while, Oliver beamed as he began his spiel, “My first thought was that she’s jealous that Vivien has a better relationship with Auntie Hayley and is upset that she’s not Viv’s birth mom, but that wasn’t an issue when we were little, so why would it be now?”

“Yeah, makes sense,” Abby nodded thoughtfully, sparing a glance at Vivien, who nodded as she slowed to a stop at an intersection. Turning back to her twin, Abby pressed, “So, what else you got?”

Oliver sighed, “Sadly, I think the most likely reason is that she’s just pissy because she thinks Viv forced me into the ‘Alphabet Soup Community’ and is scared she’ll do the same to you, Abs.”

Abby’s expression shifted, a disgusted wince tugging her eyebrows together in frustration as she took in her brother’s theory. It made sense, but she didn’t want to admit it. Though Vivien had come out as bisexual years ago, their mother never truly seemed to accept it until Vivien began dating Royce a few months ago. When Oliver came out as gay, the woman had taken the news out on her eldest child, pulling her aside and blaming her for “poisoning her baby brother” with her “disgusting beliefs.” Abby had unintentionally overheard the conversation, listening proudly to her older sister as the brunette fought for her brother to be treated better than she had been. When Abby later told Oliver what she’d heard, the pair found themselves in Vivien’s room, showering their sister with kind words of gratitude and love that the older girl seemed to relish in.

Ready to rant about their mother’s blatant homophobia, Abby scoffed; however, it was Vivien who spoke before her sister could rage for the rest of the drive, “Sadly, that could be right.” Vivien placed a hand on top of the one Abby had placed on the center console, gently squeezing her hand as she continued, “Even though I hope that’s not the case, it could very well be. She’s always been a little… uptight about that sort of thing.”

“A little?” Oliver chortled, finding Vivien’s gaze in the rear-view mirror. “That’s the understatement of the year.”

Abby laughed, “You couldn’t pull a needle out of her ass with a tractor!”

“Abby!” Vivien reprimanded despite her laughing at the girl’s choice of words.

“It’s the truth!” Abby argued. “I’m sure she would’ve sent you guys to conversion therapy or something if Dad hadn’t said something.”

Vivien sighed as she turned onto School Street, “Still. She’s our mom, and until we move out, we have no choice but to put up with her bullshit.”

Oliver shifted in his seat, ready to crack a joke in order to lighten the situation, but Abby huffed, “I just don’t get why your sexualities matter so much to her. It’s not like it has anything to do with her in the first place.”

“Maybe she-”

“And why should she care if I’m straight or not?” Abby continued, cutting off Vivien’s statement with a scoff. “Is she just going to drop all of us if I someday decide to come out of the closet?”

Once he was sure his twin was done ranting, Oliver shrugged, “Maybe. Like Auntie Hayley said, Mom can’t stand that we aren’t her little dolls who do whatever she says now. I wouldn’t put it past her if she chooses to up and leave if this becomes a three-for-three situation.”

Taking in the wounded expression on her baby sister’s face as she pulled into an empty parking spot, Vivien smiled reassuringly and said, “I doubt you have much of anything to worry about anyway. Even if you came out as bi like I did, you and Malachi have been dating for, what, almost a year now?” When Abby nodded wordlessly, Vivien continued, “Well, Mom only chilled out when she found out I was dating Royce. Since you’re dating a boy already, I doubt there would be a problem.”

“Besides,” Oliver began as he pushed open his door and picked up his bag from the floor, “you’re straight - you have nothing to worry about.”

Plastering a smile on her face as she tugged her bag up from the floor, Abby nodded, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Patting Abby’s hand with a grin, Vivien opened her door and stepped outside, grabbing her backpack from the backseat and locking the car once the doors were closed. Once her keys were safely tucked into the front pocket of her backpack, Vivien followed her siblings to the front door of the school. Before she could step inside, however, a honk from a nearby car made  Vivien jump, whirling around to see Riven’s red Miata pulling to a stop by the sidewalk. Telling her siblings she would see them later, Vivien headed over to the car as the passenger’s side door opened, and a head of emerald hair stepped out before pushing the seat forward.

“Hey, Viv,” Jade greeted with a smile as she tightened her ponytail.

As Erica tumbled out of the backseat, the seatbelt wrapped around the ankle of her Doc Martens, she peered up at the brunette and beamed, “Oh, good! I was hoping to catch you before first period.” 

“Mission accomplished,” Vivien chuckled as Erica hobbled her way away from the car. As the car door closed and the window rolled down, she leaned over and teased, “That’s the only car full of ladies you’ll ever have, isn’t it?”

Riven sent his best friend a grin and gestured to his fellow bandmates as he spoke, “Blues Clues over there can hardly be considered a lady, and considering JJ is the only cheerleader who has ever given me the time of day, probably.”

Chuckling, Vivien rolled her eyes and said, “You’re an idiot.”

“Love you too.”

Before Vivien could return the sentiment, Erica placed a hand on her shoulder and said, “Alright, dipshits, let’s go before the bell rings and we get told off.”

Jade chuckled as she tossed her Chapstick into her bag, “By who; Viv’s dad?”

Vivien snorted at the thought of her dad reprimanding them, but Erica beat her to the punch as she turned toward her girlfriend and said, “I was thinking Coach Boogeyman.”

Leaning over the passenger seat, Riven wondered, “I thought Bogman was forced to leave after the color guard claimed she was spying on them in the showers.”

“She was supposed to,” Jade huffed, “but until they find enough evidence to take her to court, she has to finish out the year.”

“Sadly,” a voice sighed from behind the group. Turning toward the voice, Vivien smiled as her father spoke, “Until we have her on camera, there’s nothing we can do. Besides, she’s been pushing off retirement for years. With this accusation, we should be able to finalize everything at the end of the year.”

“Good,” Erica snipped as Vivien stepped around her. “She’s always given me the creeps.”

“Understandably so,” Damien chuckled softly, smiling as his daughter slotted herself under his arm. “Hey, babygirl.”

“Hey, Dad,” Vivien beamed. “Did you come to walk us to class?”

Damien shook his head, squeezing his daughter’s shoulder as he replied, “Not quite. I saw you four chatting and figured I would try to get you inside before anyone else came out and started yelling.” Leaning forward enough to see Riven, he asked, “Are you joining us, Riven, or are you just going to do virtual lessons today?”

“No, I’ll be in,” Riven quickly replied, glancing toward the parking lot with his signature grin. “Just have to find a place to park.”

“Make it quick, bud,” the man stated as he glanced at his smartwatch. “The bell rings in ten minutes.”

Riven nodded, checking to make sure his path was clear before pulling away from the curb, his Miata drifting toward the parking lot as Damien began leading his daughter and her friends inside. After handing her lunchbox off to her dad so he could put it into the staff fridge until lunch, Vivien waited until Riven came running up to the front door before stepping inside behind him, taking his hand and allowing him to pull her toward the stairwell across from the main office, waving goodbye to their friends and her father as they propelled up the stairs. Riven dragged her up to the next floor, where their lockers resided, before letting her go as he began twisting in his locker combination. Meanwhile, Vivien pulled her keys from her backpack, slipped a purple-painted one into her lock, and freed it, popping open the metal door with a sigh and placing her bag on the hook inside.

“You know,” Riven began, “it’s days like today that I wish my birthday wasn’t after the school cutoff.”

“Rough morning?” Vivien asked with a grin.

Riven scoffed as he tugged his social studies workbook down from the shelf he had shoved it onto the day before, “I slept through my alarm, and Dad was already at work, so he couldn’t help. Then, I woke up to Erica screeching about needing a ride, only to have my phone die mid-call. And, to top it all off, I’m about eighty-three percent sure these sweatpants are yours from the weekend.”

Vivien’s eyebrow lifted, but as she glanced down at the navy blue sweatpants Riven donned,  her eyes widened. Sure enough, the stars and planets she had embroidered around the pockets and hemline of her sweatpants now stood as a glaring reminder of the clothes she had tossed into the wash at Riven’s house. They had been cooking stuffed shells, and she had dropped the jar of sauce, splattering chunky, red tomato sauce all over the floor and their legs. After putting the food in the oven, they got a majority of the stains out in the sink but threw their clothes into the laundry afterward to get rid of the smell. She had forgotten the pants in her rush to get out the door on Monday morning, having told Riven she would take them back when she went back to his house after spring break was over. Holding back her bark of laughter, Vivien grinned at the thought of Riven rushing around his room that morning, throwing on whatever he could find before leaving the house and somehow missing the colorful threads lining his legs.

“Yeah,” Riven breathed, rolling his eyes at Vivien’s not-so-discrete snort of laughter. “Erica thought it was hilarious.”

“It kind of is,” Vivien giggled softly. At Riven’s dismayed sigh, her grin faltered, and she glanced down at her pants as she offered, “Do you want to trade? I’m pretty sure I stole these from you over the summer.”

Riven spared a glance at the jeans Vivien had worn and grinned; the cuffs were rolled up toward her ankles to prevent them from being stepped on, and she had to wear a belt just to keep the waistband in place, something Riven had no issue with in the slightest. With a snort, he shook his head, “I think I’m good, Pip. You made these and, despite them being on the shorter side, I’m only here until lunch. I can run home and change before work after I’m done eating. Besides, they wouldn��t match your outfit.”

Vivien’s eyebrow lifted into her bangs as she asked, “Since when do you care if clothes match?”

“I don’t,” Riven shrugged as he closed his locker, “but I know you do. Now, come on, it’s almost time for the bell.”

Scrambling to grab her books for the next two classes so she wouldn’t have to run to her locker between bells, Vivien slammed her locker shut and walked alongside Riven until he reached his class. They wouldn’t see each other again until she was allowed to head to the cafeteria for lunch, but their mornings in the halls were something she had cherished for a while. Joining a few of her classmates on their way to their first period of the day, Vivien caught a glimpse of the oversized clock on the wall and sighed. She had four periods until lunch, and only two were on the same floor, but she had planned to use her study hall block to join her friend Emily in the drama wing of the main floor. 

Emily - or Emmy, as she was often called by her relatively small friend group - had been begging her for the last two weeks to join her for the auditions in some musical the school was putting on. Originally, Vivien had no desire to audition as she hated the thought of having so many eyes on her, but when Emily pointed out that the auditorium was in close proximity to the cafeteria, she relented. If it meant she didn’t have to run from her study hall on the top floor all the way down to the main floor to eat, she was in.

Her first block was spent listening to Mrs. Adams - the only social studies teacher who actually seemed to enjoy teaching - ask everyone what their plans were for spring break. She loved to make the class hard as most of her students were either on the honor roll or enrolled in advanced placement classes, but Fridays were the one day a week when everyone got some reprieve from her constant stream of tests, exams, and droning lessons. By the time the bell rang, everyone had broken off into groups, writing out their plans for the week as their teacher sat at her desk with a smile, grading the last few papers on her computer. Vivien had made up a story on the fly, writing out her plans for the trip to California she told everyone she was going on, but as the bell rang, she closed her notebook and shoved it into her desk before grabbing her book for the next class and following her friend, Carter, down the hall toward the French class she had signed up for at the start of the semester.

Although she struggled a lot with the language - finding her old Spanish and German classes easier than French - the teacher commended her many times for at least trying. She wanted nothing more than to learn the language her boyfriend’s family knew, intending to surprise them on her trip. However, she knew her attempts were fairly futile. French just wasn’t her strong suit. Grateful her grade for the class wasn’t going to affect her final grades for the year, Vivien slumped into her chair in the middle of the room and hoped the class would go by faster than it usually did so that she could escape to the auditorium.

Thankfully, it seemed as though the teachers were of the same mindset as the students - eager to escape the concrete and stucco walls and leave for vacation. After answering a one-sided paper of questions in French about how their week had been, the teacher let them wander the halls, allowing Vivien to dump her books in her locker before making her way down to the auditorium. The auditorium was hardly ever used unless they had a guest speaker or a show being rehearsed, but the doors were almost always left unlocked, making it easy for Vivien to slip inside and make her way to the front row of chairs.

The auditorium would be empty for a while before the audition time came, but as Vivien had all the time in the world until her friend showed up, she didn’t mind the silence. Opening the notes app on her phone, she began typing out all of the things she would need to pack when she got home. Her list was already relatively short as she had put her essentials into her suitcase after using them that morning before school - her toiletries taking up the small pouch in the front of her luggage to leave room for the clothes she was still up in the air about. Although she knew that clothes weren’t really necessary as Mick had told her many times that she would be able to borrow period-typical clothes from them upon her arrival, she still needed to shove some summery clothing into her suitcase to make it seem as though her time had truly been spent in the California sun. 

With a sigh, Vivien realized she also needed to leave room for the souvenirs she would be bringing back and any potential shopping she did in either world. By the time she had whittled down her list to just necessities, her journal, and some extra changes of, well, every article of clothing she owned, people had begun to fill the auditorium, ascending the stage and beginning vocal warm-ups that would have impressed Sharpay Evans. Vivien tucked her earbuds in as the noise in the room began to grow, only pulling them out when Emily appeared in the seat next to her, excitedly tugging Vivien out of her shell and onto the stage with her as she rambled about the show they were going to be performing for the end of the school year.

Checking her blood pressure on her watch, Vivien sighed as the drama teachers, Mrs. Kaisla and Mr. Doyle, began telling everyone where to stand before giving them the run-down of the show. “As you all know by the posters in the halls,” Mr. Doyle began, “this year’s final show will be Hairspray.”

“I really want to play Tracy or Penny,” Emily squealed in a whisper mere inches from Vivien’s ear. Grabbing Vivien’s shirt in a fist, she added, “Imagine if Colby gets picked for Link or Seaweed - it would be perfect!”

Chuckling at the girl’s obvious crush on the dark-skinned football player who had been in their friend circles since kindergarten, Vivien whispered back, “I admire your enthusiasm, but is he the only reason you’re auditioning? I mean, you hate being the center of attention as much as I do being on stage; why would you wish for the lead?”

Emily’s sparkling smile faltered as Vivien’s words sunk in but quickly reappeared as the teachers wrapped up their short spiel about the show, “That’s why you’re here.”

“To make sure you don’t look like the worst performer here?” Vivien questioned teasingly.

Emily scoffed, elbowing Vivien in the arm, “Shut up. You’re not that bad.”

“Says you,” Vivien replied as Mrs. Kaisla began ushering some students toward center stage. As soon as she was sure neither she nor Emily were part of the group selected, she added, “There’s a reason I only ever sing in the car or the shower.”

With a sigh, Emily nudged her friend closer to the front of the stage and said, “And there’s a reason I asked you to come with me instead of literally anybody else. You have a beautiful voice. Besides, I need someone here who makes it easier to be in the spotlight. Now, shush!”

Vivien rolled her eyes but smiled as Emily hushed her, urging her to watch the others as they were instructed on what to do. Minutes flew by as the group took turns singing popular songs played over a bluetooth speaker one of the boys had brought to the school. Before she knew it, Vivien felt her stomach clench anxiously as her name was called, and Emily practically dragged her to the center of the stage. Taking a deep breath as the others took turns singing, Vivien tried to think of a song - any song - she could sing at least fairly well, but any titles she knew seemed to flee her brain as her mouth dried up as she resorted to biting the inside of her cheek to keep herself from fidgeting under the blazing lights.

As Emily’s choice - an 80s hit that had made an appearance in the last season of Stranger Things - began to play, Vivien realized just how doomed she was, and her mind flickered to the cell phone in her back pocket. Surely, her Spotify would have something she could work with, right? However, to her chagrin, as soon as the device was free of its jean prison, Vivien found the music had stopped playing, and she was forced to choose a song without any assistance. Had she really taken that long to decide? Clearing her throat, Vivien smiled tersely as she gave up the only song that had found its way to the front of her brain in time - ABBA’s Lay All Your Love On Me. 

The teachers she hardly knew seemed to smile as they talked amongst themselves, and although a part of her was sure they were talking about how easy the song was to mess up, Emily’s encouraging smile from the side of the stage somewhat assured her that all was fine. Closing her eyes as the music began playing, Vivien attempted to force her fears down as she sucked in a deep breath. All she had to do was get through a section of the song, and she would be free to leave as everyone else was. Pretending she was just singing in the car with Riven, Vivien allowed her voice to carry over the music, her enjoyment of the song obvious as she began to sway to the beat, the lyrics flowing out of her like water.

Once the chorus had left her, the music began to fade, allowing the teachers to be heard as they scribbled something on their clipboards. Looking up at her, Mrs. Kaisla smiled and said, “Thank you, Vivien. You’re free to go.”

“Remember to check the cast list when we come back to school,” Mr. Doyle added before gesturing toward the side of the stage, where Emily received her with a hug and a squeal.

The two made their exit relatively quickly, Vivien practically pushing Emily through the double doors so that she could find a source of oxygen in the halls. Once the auditorium doors had closed with a click, Vivien sighed, checking her blood pressure as a wave of anxiety-fueled dizziness washed over her. After making up a quick excuse as to where she was going, Vivien told Emily she would see her after lunch before making her way to her locker, where she kept her water bottle. Sitting on the floor by her locker, Vivien sipped at her water until the bell rang, forcing herself to calm down as she scrolled through Pinterest.

Before long, Jade and Riven appeared, having left the same class Vivien would have to attend after lunch - World History. They hauled her off of the floor, and Riven tossed his books into his locker before draping an arm around Vivien's shoulders and guiding her toward the stairs while Jade rattled off about the teacher - Mr. Smith - being the most boring teacher in the school. After retrieving Vivien's lunch from her father, she joined her friends at their usual table by the windows on the far wall of the cafeteria, spending their lunch block playing a segment of their Dungeons and Dragons campaign on their phones while eating. 

After a while of playing and eating, the bell rang, and they cleaned up their table before tossing Vivien's now empty lunch box into Erica's locker near the gym before saying goodbye to Riven and splitting off to their respective classes. For Vivien, the rest of her classes went by without a hitch, time flying by the way she had hoped all morning that it would. Once her final class of the day ended, Vivien sent a quick text to the group chat she and her siblings had created, telling them that she had to drop off her form for the battle bot tournament and would meet them at the car. Making her way from the top floor to her locker, Vivien gathered her belongings, shoving her water bottle and a small bag of Cheetos her Trigonometry teacher had given her into her backpack before slinging her backpack onto her shoulders.

Once she was back on the main floor, Vivien scurried across the hall, rounded the entrance to the office, and took the stairwell across from the vending machines down to the school's basement. As she descended the stairs, dampness and mildew filled her nostrils, making her nose wrinkle in disgust as she pushed the door to the bottom floor open. Hardly anyone visited the basement unless they had to, as there was little to see, but there were a select few who found comfort in the almost eerie silence and smell the basement offered. While the basement wasn't overly dark or dreary, it never quite felt warm enough to give off the same welcoming feeling the upper parts of the school gave. 

Perhaps it was the piercing white light of the fluorescents or the steady beeping from the computer lab that sounded almost exactly like a hospital heart monitor that kept people away, but regardless, there were only a handful of students who enjoyed the ominous, cold, almost abandoned feeling the basement radiated. Vivien was one of those odd students. After years of exploring abandoned buildings with Riven for his photography blog and her Instagram, the smell and cold environment of the school's basement did little to drive her away. If anything, it was almost calming.

There weren't many reasons for most students to visit the basement, as there were only three labs and two committees that met there. The chemistry, robotics, and computer laboratories were in a triangle-like formation at the very end of the hall, while the photography and student politics groups met at the other end of the hall, their rooms across from each other and sharing a single wall that was thin enough to hear conversations happening in the other room. Vivien hummed to herself as she stepped around an old projector that had been wheeled into the hallway, grinning fondly at the memory of having to haul the old machine up the stairs to the top floor for one of the summer school teachers while helping her dad out in the office. Stepping into the Bermuda Triangle of classrooms at the end of the hall, Vivien scanned the names beside the doors before making her way toward the left-most room.

The door to the robotics lab had been kept open with a hunk of metal the teacher, Mr. Kevin Hill, had welded in his free time one summer. Mr. Hill was one of Vivien's favorite teachers of all time. Mr. Hill was a short Irishman with a fondness for taking things apart and rebuilding them, something Vivien could appreciate. There were a few other students in the room - Vivien's bandmate, Erica; Damon Perry, a vitiligo-skinned freshman who hardly spoke around upperclassmen unless he was spoken to first; and Preston Osborne, a senior who thought his shit didn't stink because he had more money than he knew what to do with. 

Unlike the rest of the handful of rich kids at their school, Vivien had known Preston by extension for years. He had been something of a nightmare for the school system, using his daddy's reputation as a hotshot lawyer in the city to be a dick to anyone who dared push back against whatever he wanted. According to Erica and Jade, Preston wasn't horrible until middle school, when the older kids began picking on him. One threat of a lawsuit later, Preston officially became known as someone nobody wanted to trifle with. Over the years, Vivien had heard her father complain about the boy and had heard horror stories from teachers who'd had him, but Vivien hadn't known him personally until she became the youngest person from their school ever to win the regional battle bot championship. 

In her first year fighting back in seventh grade, she had beaten Preston by a long shot, her little, ladybug-shaped robot tearing Preston's robot apart with its electrified saws. Preston, of course, seemed incapable of taking the news well, having argued with the competition's judges until he was forced to either accept defeat or be disqualified. Ever since that day, Vivien found herself with an upperclassman who thought of her as nothing more than his arch-nemesis. Though she found him obnoxious after a while, Vivien hardly played into his made-up game of tug-of-war unless provoked, something that seemed to piss Preston off more instead of making him see how ridiculous he was being.

Rolling her eyes at the imbecile's glare, Vivien signed her name on the clipboard on the teacher's desk, taking a glance at the competition as she allowed her backpack to slide down from her shoulders. The robotics teacher was supposed to supervise from his desk as Erica, Preston, and Damon scoured the materials the teacher had laid out for them to take, but Damon had somehow managed to ask a question that kept the old Irishman talking while Erica and Preston searched the scrap bins the teacher had left out for them to rifle through. The bins would be there until the day of the competition, giving Vivien plenty of time to come up with a model and a mock-up before she started digging through the bins of scrap metal that, hopefully, wouldn't be sending anyone to the hospital for a tetanus shot that year.

As Mr. Hill stepped away from his conversation with Damon, he found Vivien standing by his desk as she dug through her backpack for the paper she swore she had left in the front of the biggest pouch. "Ah," the teacher began, "Miss O'Brian. I was wondering when you would show." 

Vivien peered over at the teacher and smiled before resuming her search, "Well, better late than never, right, Mr. H?" 

The graying man smiled with a short nod as he sat in his chair once again, "So far, I have only received a couple of sign-ups, so your competition from our school is looking rather small. Do you have an idea for what your battle bot will look like this year?" 

"You know I can't tell you, even if I do," Vivien stated as she tugged her permission slip out and handed it to the teacher. As Mr. Hill glanced over the paper with mild interest, Vivien stepped away from his desk and looked over some of the objects the teacher had prepared. She picked up a few metal pieces she could use for either a weapon or a protective shield and placed them in a plastic Walmart bag that Mr. Hill had left out for the students to use. "Besides, I wouldn't dare divulge my secrets to my enemies," Vivien claimed theatrically as she glanced around at the other students in the room. 

Erica leaned forward just enough to stick her tongue out at Vivien, placing a couple of springs in a plastic bag the teacher had given her. Damon simply smiled but kept quiet as he signed out a workshop tool that he'd need to return in the next two weeks. Vivien returned his smile and chuckled; in the few years she had known him, Damon had always seemed to be a very quiet, reserved person, but he seemed to come a little bit out of his shell when it came time for battles such as this one. However, as opposed to his silent competitors, Preston Osborne scoffed at Vivien and rolled his eyes as he turned toward the brunette. 

He used the wrench he was holding to point at Vivien, watching her with scrutiny as he spoke, "After last year's height requirement debacle, I doubt anybody would take your advice." 

"What?" Vivien began sarcastically, her voice taking on an infantilizing tone. "Are you still upset that mine was bigger than yours?" Ignoring the snorted bark of shocked laughter from her blue-haired friend, the brunette, never one to back down from a fight with the arrogant male, moved so she could look Preston as straight in the eye as her shorter stature would allow. "At least you could see mine in the ring. Everyone needed a pair of binoculars to see yours; it was so small." 

Preston stared down his nose at Vivien before chuckling condescendingly, "At least mine didn't need a judge to do a height check last minute." 

"Yeah, and? Who won that battle again?" Vivien asked rhetorically. Gasping dramatically, she placed a hand over her chest and answered her own question, "Oh, right! Me." 

"You just don't know when to shut up, do you?" Preston retorted with an arrogant scoff. Then, his voice lowered as he hissed, "My dad could sue the shit out of your family. I'd run you and your whole family out of town."

"I don't know who told you that, dipshit," Vivien laughed, "but your daddy's got no power here and neither do you. In fact, I bet your 'big city lawyer' father would love to hear all about how often you try to threaten people in this school. Threatening bodily harm is a potentially jailable offense, you know. I can see the headlines now!"

Vivien pretended to gag as Preston leaned closer, his breath polluting her face as he snarled, "That big mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble if you don't shut it."

"If you think my mouth is big, I feel bad for your girlfriend." Vivien paused, gave a mock gasp, then added, "Oh, wait, you don't have one. Do you, shrimp dick?"

"Look, you little bitch, I-"

"Mister Osborne, Miss O'Brian," Mr. Hill interrupted, rising from his seat before the argument could get any worse. "I believe this argument will get you nowhere. Mr. Osborne, as you have already gathered your things, I suggest you sign out any tools you may need and leave before this ends up as another after-school detention for you. Miss O'Brian, please continue looking around for any particular parts you may need." 

Vivien nodded and waited for Preston to back down and storm off before she resumed her perusing, allowing the teacher to handle Preston as he approached the desk. Mr. Hill was one of the teachers who always formed his own opinions of the children who came into his class, regardless of their notoriety. The man didn't care about who the kids' parents were; he would treat him the same way he would treat any student. Vivien knew from Riven's occasional photography classes at the community college that Mr. Hill had taken opportunities to float around the different universities in the area, teaching robotics and photography when he wished; if he got fired from this school for not babying Preston or some other Karen's spawn, it probably wouldn't be a hard blow. Maybe that was why Vivien, Erica, and most of the other students who didn't like Preston liked Mr. Hill so much. 

Soon, but not soon enough, Preston left and took his bags with him, and Erica flipped him off as he disappeared down the hallway. Turning toward the grinning Vivien, she beamed, "Bitch, you handled him so much better than I would have." 

Vivien smiled as she tossed a handful of small springs into her wagon. "Thanks. I just- I can't stand him."

"Who can other than his parents?" Erica scoffed, "His head's so far up his own ass, I'm surprised he can walk straight."

"I have to agree with you," Mr. Hill piped in as he sat back in his seat. "Although Preston makes fair marks as far as I am aware, he rides on his father's reputation to keep himself above everyone else. Though, as a teacher, I must advise you change your approach, a couple of wounds to his pride will, hopefully, do him well over time." 

"I doubt he'll change," Vivien said, shaking her head, as she examined a small shell-shaped piece that could be used as a cover for her robot. 

The teacher returned to the book he had been reading, and Erica nodded in agreement before taking a battery holder and putting it inside her bag. She looked at Vivien's bag and shook her head at how much the younger girl had already stored away. "Well, I'm looking forward to being annihilated by you again this year, as always." 

Vivien knew the other girl was only joking, as Erica had told her before that she only entered the battles for fun and found it interesting to see how far she could get. With a smile, Vivien chirped, "And I look forward to annihilating you, as always." 

Erica laughed, giving Vivien a quick hug before leaving, claiming she and Jade were getting a ride to work from one of the girls on the cheer team who worked at the mall with them. Once her friend was gone, Vivien went back to picking out parts for her robot, picking out items she thought could be of use and tucking them into the bag that had begun to weigh her arm down. The brunette spent another handful of minutes in the classroom before deciding she had enough things. As she placed her heavy bag inside another, she tied the handles in a knot and said, "Well, Mr. Hill, I believe I'll be on my way." 

"Actually, Miss O'Brian, I have to go over the rules for the battles before you leave," the teacher claimed, tucking a bookmark into the novel he was reading before pulling a paper from his desk drawer. "Normally, I would wait until I have you in class, but since we won't be back in school until after spring break, now is as good a time as any." 

Vivien accepted the paper from the teacher, reading over the first couple of rules before nodding to herself. "Did they change them or something?" 

"Not exactly." Mr. Hill stood and made his way around the desk, sitting on the other side of the surface as he pointed out some of the notes at the bottom of the page. "The officials are new this year. They've agreed to keep the three-foot height acceptance, but they've eliminated the use of robotic arms that can be used to puncture another robot from the maximum height - as you can see here." 

"Let me guess, that rule was made because of my robot from last year?" Vivien pondered. 

"That would be my guess as well," the teacher agreed with a grin. "While that robot of yours was quite impressive, you have to keep it short if that's your plan this year." 

Vivien shook her head, knowing that wasn't her idea at all. She liked to change things up every year, never showcasing the same attack twice. Thinking for a moment, Vivien scanned over the jumbled nonsense on the page that she would probably hand off to Mick the moment she saw her and asked, "Are saws and shields still allowed?" 

"Yes, of course," Mr Hill said, nodding insistently. "It would be very hard to take that ruling out. Just remember that you need to have your robot done by the first of June. The following week, the judges will go through the ruling process. Any final adjustments will have to be made before the end of the school day on Friday, the ninth. The first day of battles will be Saturday, and Sunday will be finals and awards, as per usual." 

Vivien allowed herself a brief moment to process the information before nodding, a smile lighting her face as she spoke, "That sounds good to me." Picking up her backpack from the floor, Vivien folded and tucked the paper into the pocket of her jeans and headed out of the classroom. It wasn't until she was near the stairwell that she heard her name being called again. Turning toward the voice, she found Mr. Hill standing in the doorway of his classroom. "Yeah?" she called in return. 

"Just something I meant to tell you before you left." The teacher held his book up a little, a gesture that made Vivien believe he was going to quote something from it, yet, without looking down, he began speaking once more. "Those who are willing to work hard - day in and day out - to achieve their goals are the true winners, regardless of the scores or the judges' opinions. I don't doubt that you are one of those hard-working people, Vivien; you know what you're doing. Your skills never cease to amaze me, and I hope you prove me right again this year." 

With a raised brow, Vivien asked, "Prove you right, sir?"

"I've been an AP Robotics teacher here for twenty-three years," Mr Hill said. "It's not often that I have someone in my class throughout junior and senior high school. Other teachers said I  should have booted you down to the regular class with Miss Denis, but since the day you first walked into my class, I knew you had potential. Since then, you've proved them wrong every step of the way. I commend you for that."

Vivien stood in place for a moment, stunned at her teacher's kind words. "Thanks, Mr Hill. I won't let you down." 

"I know you won't, Miss O'Brian. You never do. Have a nice evening," he replied before turning back to his book and stepping back over to his desk, leaving Vivien standing alone in the hallway. 

Vivien stared at the spot Mr. Hill had previously occupied, letting out an airy laugh as a brilliant smile found its way onto her face. Taking in a deep breath, she straightened her posture and turned toward the stairs, propelling herself up them with newfound confidence. Her bag of assorted metal bits jangled, clanking together in a symphony of scrapes and tings as she ascended the stairs. Once she had reached the main floor, Vivien retrieved her lunch box from Erica's locker. The girl's four-digit code - 8104, Erica's birthdate and year combined - was one of the many Vivien kept in her notes app in case her friends ever forgot them, and even though she was sure Erica couldn't possibly forget her locker combination, Vivien enjoyed knowing that, if her friends needed her to, she could help them.

After tugging the lunch box out from the chaos that was Erica's locker, Vivien rushed to the office, saying a quick goodbye to her dad before heading to the main entrance, pushing open the first set of doors before lifting the hood of her jacket over her head and hoping her siblings had gotten the spare key to her car from their father as rain poured from above. Shoving open the door to the outside world, Vivien watched as rain slammed down in sheets, taking a deep breath before bolting into the freezing rain, letting out a shrill screech as she scurried across the parking lot to her car. She threw the door open and jumped inside, grateful her siblings had already started the car's heater, as she slammed the door shut behind her.

Abby smirked at her sister's reflection in the rear-view mirror as Vivien shivered in her seat, and with a snort, she asked, "Bit chilly, sissy?"

Turning back toward her little sister, Vivien nodded and sighed, "You could say that." Hauling her backpack and Walmart bag of metal parts over the gap between her seat and Oliver's, Vivien asked, "Can you hold onto these for me, Abs?"

Peering back as Abby placed Vivien's belongings on the seat next to her, Oliver asked, "You're doing the championship again this year?"

"When doesn't she, Olly?" Abby asked rhetorically as Vivien backed out of her parking spot. "She fights every year, and every year, she wins."

"I know that; I'm not stupid," Oliver retorted.

"Debatable," Abby shrugged.

Ignoring his twin, Oliver said, "I just thought that, since she was going on vacation, she wouldn't be participating this year."

"I'll have plenty of time," Vivien claimed, putting the car into drive and steering it toward the parking lot's exit. "Besides, I'll be with Mickie for a whole week. If my battle bot isn't at least halfway done by the time I get back, then one of us either got sick, somehow got pregnant, or died."

Oliver let out a snort, "I mean, fair enough, but aren't you going to do anything fun while you're in California?"

"Building things is fun," Vivien retorted, flicking on her turn signal and glancing both ways before pulling out of the parking lot, "but yeah, we're going to the beach, checking out some museums, and we might visit Disneyland if  we have the time."

Leaning forward between the front seats, Abby asked, "How is it possible that Oliver and I might have a more entertaining spring break than you?"

Sparing a glance at her siblings, Vivien asked, "What do you mean?"

With a smile bright enough to put the sun to shame, Oliver announced, "I'm going with Markus' family to New Jersey so we can check out that American Dream place with the indoor water park and ski slope."

"Really?" Vivien asked. Muttering more to herself than anything, she added, "I'm surprised Mom allowed that after you broke your ankle the last time you went on a trip with them."

Abby hummed in agreement before speaking, "And I'm going with Brynna's family to Great Wolf Lodge for her birthday."

"Those sound fun and all," Vivien admitted, "but how is that more fun than literally going across the country?"

"Because you're going to be doing nerd shit while on vacation while we're having actual fun," Oliver stated blandly.

As the car slowed to a stop at a red light, Vivien turned toward her brother with a knowing look, "You say that like you won't be spending hours upon hours researching some cryptid or something with Markus in the hotel room." Peering in the rear-view mirror, Vivien found Abby's gaze and said, "And, Abby, we all know that you and Brynna will spend your time playing with her little siblings instead of just hanging out."

Abby opened her mouth to argue but quickly shut it again as she let out a soft sigh, "Yeah, I guess you're right." 

"Just because it's spring break doesn't mean we somehow magically turn into party animals once we're on vacation," Vivien claimed with a shrug as the light turned green, and she continued onward. "We've been ingrained to be responsible regardless of where we are, but I'm sure we'll all still have fun being boring with our friends."

Although they constantly joked about going to big house parties at their friends' houses and getting absolutely trashed on whatever alcohol they could find, none of the O'Brian siblings had actually ever gone to a big house party or willingly gotten drunk. Most of the people at their school weren't interested in big parties either as it would be increasingly difficult to get all of their friends in one town. Since their school was regional, kids from towns almost an hour away would be shuttled in on the handful of school-choice buses, making it hard for big parties to really be a thing. Besides, many, if not all, of the friends the O'Brians had made at the school were relatively introverted kids who cared more about their studies than getting wasted, making their running joke of getting drunk with their friends even more preposterous.

Abby peered out the window at the rain as Oliver said, "You know, I kind of like that we're boring."

"Oh, yeah?" Vivien asked, glancing at her brother as she checked whether or not she could cross through the intersection.

"Mhm," Abby nodded in agreement.

"It means our parents let us hang out with pretty much anyone without really caring," Oliver claimed. "Even if our plans were to go out and do dumb stuff at a friend's house, they wouldn't think anything of us going over there."

Abby thought for a moment before saying, "That's true, but we also would feel pretty bad if we took their trust in us for granted."

This time, it was Vivien's turn to hum in agreement, "Yeah."

For the first time since her parents gave her permission to join their neighbors in their house in California, Vivien felt wary about her decision. Although she knew that they had no qualms about her going to California as they had known the Birch family longer than Vivien had been alive, they had no idea about the other universe they would be taking her to. She had no plans of telling them about it as she had promised to keep it a secret from literally everyone she knew, but the thought that she was, for the first time in her life, taking advantage of her parents' trust to go off galavanting in a world they had no idea about. Even though she had no plans of doing anything wrong or illegal while there, a knot began to form in her stomach at the idea of letting her parents down for keeping such a large secret from them.

Taking a deep breath as she pulled onto their street, Vivien pushed her thoughts aside, allowing her excitement to fill her once more. She could worry about it later when she had Mick to talk her through every insignificant problem her mind could sprout up. For now, she had to get ready for the trip, and with a limited amount of time to get all of her clothes folded, she needed to focus on that. As Vivien's blue Kona pulled into the driveway, their mother stepped outside with a few umbrellas, making her way to the end of the walkway and waiting for Viviebn's car to stop. As soon as the car was in park, Chelsea held her umbrella over the passenger's door and opened it, handing her son an umbrella as he stepped out with his backpack.

Wrapping her cardigan tightly around herself, Abby tapped Vivien's arm and said, "I'll take your metal stuff in so it doesn't get wet."

"Are you sure?" Vivien asked in return as Abby handed her the purple backpack she had kept an eye on during the trip home. "I can take it."

"That's okay," she replied. Once the front passenger's door closed, she quickly took hold of the Walmart bag's handles and added, "I don't think Mom bothered to bring out your umbrella, and I don't want them to get wet."

Hoping to save her sister from having to lug the heavy bag inside, Vivien tried to gently argue, "I'm parking in the garage, Abs, it's not a long walk to the door."

"That's okay," Abby shrugged. "I've already got it. I'll bring it up to your room for you."

Before Vivien could say anything to the contrary, Abby grinned, pushed open her door, and slid out, taking and opening the umbrella her mom handed her before slamming the door and rushing to the house with their mother not far behind. Left with her mouth still open, Vivien breathed, "Thanks," before shaking her head fondly and pressing the button to open the garage. Once her car was parked in the spot furthest from the door, Vivien slid out of her seat, pulling her backpack with her. Glancing out at the pouring rain, the brunette sighed, hauling her backpack onto one shoulder and gripping her keys in her free hand as she rushed into the downpour with a squeal, closing the overhead door with a single click as she raced toward the front door of the house.

Once inside, she closed the door, grateful for the warmth of the house, as she trudged her way to the coat closet and began taking off her now-soaked sneakers. Loki soon joined her on the floor, licking the water from her cheeks as she tossed her sneakers onto the drying rack alongside her siblings' shoes. Running her hands through the dog's fur, Vivien felt herself calm as she thanked the dog for his warm welcome. Pushing herself from the floor, Vivien ascended the stairs with her backpack and her Saint Bernard, grateful her bedroom was near the landing, as Loki shoved his way into her room and onto her bed. With a sigh, Vivien rolled her eyes at the oversized puppy and dropped her backpack onto the floor at the end of her bed, plopping herself onto her mattress as she debated how much time she had to pack.

Not even a minute into her procrastination party, Abby stepped into the room without so much as a knock, snickering at her older sister's dawdling as she passed by. "You know, lying there like a limp spaghetti noodle isn't going to help your bags get packed."

"Okay, Mom," Vivien huffed with a smirk, missing the way Abby visibly winced at being compared to their mother. Taking in a heavy breath, Vivien pushed herself from the bed and sighed, "Is it weird that I'm not ready for this now that I'm leaving?"

"Not really," Abby shrugged as her sister entered the closet and pulled her suitcase down from the top shelf. "You get this way before out-of-state competitions too."

"This is different from comps," Vivien said as she placed her suitcase on the end of her bed and opened the shell. "I don't usually go far without you guys."

Stepping up behind her sister, Abby placed a hand on the older girl's back and smiled once she had Vivien's attention, "You'll have tons of fun and you know it. I'm sure you'll forget all about us once you land."

"That's impossible, Abs," Vivien breathed, pulling the lighter-haired brunette into a hug. "I love you guys too much to not miss you."

Lifting her head enough to see her sister's face, Abby replied, "Trust me, you'll be sick of us by the end of the week. Dad will keep you updated with pictures of Loki every morning like he does when we go to camp, I'll send you pictures of the lodge and everything interesting I see, and I'm sure Olly will send you paragraphs of random facts he and Markus found online while they're away. By the end of vacation, you'll be so sick of us that you'll want to get away the minute you come home."

Vivien laughed, "Probably, yeah."

Stepping out of her sister's hold, Abby grinned and said, "Now, come on, we have packing to do."

Allowing her sister to take the reins, Vivien headed into her closet to figure out what clothes she wanted to bring, hauling her plastic bins of summer clothes down from the top shelf as Abby headed into her en-suite bathroom to pack up the essentials Vivien had typed out on her phone. Once Vivien had fished out a handful of clothes she wanted to bring, she brought them to her desk and dropped them in a heap in her chair. By the time Abby finished getting stuff out of the bathroom and into the suitcase, Vivien was halfway done folding her clothes, something Abby had helped finish in record time. After reassuring her sister that she would be borrowing swimwear from Mick's closet upon her arrival, Vivien threw a couple of pairs of shoes into the mesh pouch on the lid alongside her journal and the astronaut-shaped galaxy projector she kept on her bedside table as a nightlight.

With her packing done quicker than she had anticipated, Vivien sent a text to Mick that she was all set before grabbing a dry hoodie from her closet and hauling the suitcase to the main floor of the house, leaving it near the coat closet so that she could slip on some shoes and get out the door as quickly as possible. Once everything was in place, she and Loki joined her siblings in the living room, where Oliver had begun setting up Mario Kart on the Switch. Sitting in the space the twins had left for her, Vivien took the purple joy-con from the coffee table and slouched into the comfort of the couch cushions as Loki took his place on the floor by her feet.

As she chose her usual character, Yoshi, Vivien's phone dinged, and she pulled it out of her pocket, giving her siblings the chance to argue over who got Baby Bowser. Unlocking her phone, she opened her dad's text and smiled. Peering over Abby's head to where their mother was leaning against the kitchen counter, sipping at her freshly-made smoothie while she presumably scrolled through her Facebook, Vivien rolled her eyes and went back to her conversation, thanking their dad for his offer of dinner and asking if he could pick them up their usual McDonald's orders before tucking her phone between her thigh and the couch and picking up her joy-con once again. Breaking up her siblings' argument with ease, Vivien started the game. Once they figured out who got which character, the three of them quickly got immersed in their battle for the first place.

As Oliver overtook Vivien for second place in Coconut Mall, leading the oldest of the siblings to cuss him out and jab him with her elbow, the front door slammed shut, alerting the whole house to the new visitor. Loki let out a bark as he rose from the floor, abandoning his post as the protector in favor of following the smell of french fries and cheeseburgers to the front door. The kids called out greetings to their father as they entered the final lap of their race, getting a chuckled response as Damien made his way through the entryway to the kitchen. Damien set the flimsy drink tray and paper bags plastered with golden arches on the kitchen counters, ignoring the look his ex-wife sent him as he began pulling fries and boxes from the bags and setting them out according to which family member had ordered what.

By the time the kids had finished their race, Chelsea had begun arguing with Damien about the quality of the food he had brought home, but the man seemed unbothered by her attitude, pushing aside her frustrations as the children approached. Stepping aside to allow them access to their meals, Damien accepted quick hugs from each of his children and asked them how their school days had been before following them to the living room. As Abby began to explain how her usually strict English teacher had them watch a movie as he had a migraine, Vivien sat cross-legged in her usual space on the far end of the couch and put one of the throw pillows over her lap so that the plate she put her food onto wouldn't fall.

After her siblings had rambled about their days, Damien turned to Vivien and asked, "What about you, babygirl? Anything fun happen today?"

Vivien shrugged, swallowing her mouthful of french fries before replying, "Not really. I signed up for the battle bot tournament after class."

Before her father could say anything, Abby butted in, "Alix said they saw you at the first round of auditions for the musical. I told them there was no way 'cause you hate being on stage, but they said it was true."

"It was," Vivien admitted before taking a bite of her burger.

Oliver choked on his chicken nugget, coughing a few times before swallowing thickly and asking, "Wait, seriously?"

Nodding, Vivien dipped her sandwich in a pile of ketchup and said, "Yeah. Emily wanted to audition, but didn't want to go alone, so I stepped in. It's not that big of a deal."

"It's a huge deal!" Abby squawked, twisting so that she could see her sister better. "Alix said the drama teachers were thinking of cancelling the other auditions because of you."

"Bull," Vivien scoffed, carefully avoiding the rest of her accusatory cuss as she felt the growing heat of her mother's gaze. "It wasn't even a meaningful audition. I sang some ABBA and ran for the hills; there's nothing impressive about that."

"But Alix said-"

"Alix could have heard wrong," Vivien argued, cutting off her sister's statement before it could spiral out of control. "Besides, even if they do choose me - which they won't - I'll just step down and let the understudy take whatever role I get."

"That would be for the best," Chelsea stated as she stabbed her fork into the grilled chicken salad her ex-husband had bought for her. "We've all seen how you get on stage at your grandparent's camp; putting you in any leading role in front all those people would be so much worse."

Ignoring their mother's statement with a roll of his eyes, Oliver turned to Vivien and said, "You can't back down."

Vivien grinned, sending her brother a curious look as she asked, "Why not?"

"Because!"

"That's not a reason, Olly."

"But it is," Oliver claimed. "We've all heard you sing in the car and you love theatre. This is your chance to see what it's like on Boadway."

"Who says I want to be on Broadway?" Vivien asked with a laugh.

Oliver thought for a moment before saying, "Well, nobody, but-"

"But the school is petitioning to get the Titanic Musical for the April show next year," Damien piped up, eyeing his eldest daughter out of his peripheral vision as she froze, her handful of ketchup-soaked french fries hanging in midair as she processed his claim. Smirking, he added, "If you have at least one show under your belt, they might consider you for one of the primary roles when the time comes."

Excitedly watching the wheels turn in Vivien's head, Abby grabbed her sister's free wrist and wiggled it as she said, "See! If you back down now, you'll never get to be in Titanic next year."

Vivien sighed, green eyes shifting from mild annoyance to fondness as she turned to her younger sister and slipped her fingers between Abby's, "As much as I would love that, there's no chance of me getting the lead."

"Would you at least try out for Titanic next year?" Oliver asked. "That would be right up your alley."

With a snort, Chelsea chortled, "She would probably spend all her time critiquing the accuracy of everything."

"Actually," Vivien began, finding a sliver of courage to meet her mother's gaze, "the show is fairly accurate when it comes to representing the people aboard the ship that night. The historical details are only slightly manipulated to add more drama, and-"

"See," Chelsea began, glancing between her children and ex-husband, "she's already at it."

Abby opened her mouth to argue, but Vivien's grip on her hand tightened, telling her to back down before things could get worse. Abby's bluish-brown eyes found Vivien's emerald gaze, and with a shake of her head, Abby resigned, returning to her food with a barely audible sigh. Refusing to let their last family dinner before spring break be soured by the cutthroat words of his ex-wife, Damien took the remote from the coffee table and switched the input back to the Roku before letting the kids decide between two of the movies on their watchlist - The Outsiders and The Truman Show.

With the rather unanimous vote of The Truman Show, the family settled in once more and relaxed as they watched Jim Carrey's character come to life. Not long into the movie, Abby shifted between Vivien and their father, and it wasn't long before she was sprawled out over the two with her head on Vivien's lap and her legs on their dad's. Once Abby had settled into a comfortable position, Vivien began absentmindedly running her fingers through the girl's lighter hair, calming both of them at once as Truman watched his dad get shoved into a bus and taken away. However, further into the movie, as Truman began drawing a spacesuit around his reflection, Vivien's phone began to ring, and she quickly stood, shoving a somewhat disgruntled Abby off her lap and taking her trash with her to the kitchen before answering the phone. 

After checking the caller ID, she smiled, tossed her trash into the bin next to the refrigerator, and quietly said, "Please tell me you're on your way."

A snort came from the other end as Mick replied, "Hello to you, too. I mean, damn, child, are you that willing to run away from home?"

Vivien glanced at her family and chuckled, "Maybe a little."

"Well, good," Mick replied. "We're pulling into the driveway now, so come out when you're ready."

Snickering to herself, Vivien said, "I thought you already knew I was bi, Mickie."

"Look, rugrat," Mick snipped, though Vivien could clearly hear the humor in her tone. "We're parked by the garage, but bring a rain coat or something; it's pouring."

"Still?"

"Yup."

Vivien sighed, "Alright, I'll be out in a few." She sucked in a deep breath and smiled to herself as Mick hung up her end of the call. Vivien headed back to the living room and grinned as she noticed Oliver holding the remote, keeping the movie paused until her return. Ruffluing her brother's hair, she cooed, "Aww, Olly-bear! Did you pause the movie just for me?"

Shoving her hand away, Oliver ran his hand through his hair and scoffed, "No, I just didn't want to have to rewind it for you."

"Yeah, sure," Abby drawled sarcastically as she punched her twin's thigh.

Chuckling as the twins began arguing over Oliver's ability - or lack thereof - to show kindness, Damien twisted in his seat, found Vivien's gaze, and asked, "Was that Mick and her parents?"

"Yeah, they just pulled up," Vivien nodded, glancing toward the front door.

With a smile, he asked, "Are you ready to go, babygirl?"

Vivien excitedly nodded, but her excitement seemed to dim as Chelsea asked, "Go where, exactly?"

"To California," Vivien explained. "You know, for spring break?"

"I never said you could go," Chelsea stated, finally looking up from her phone with steely eyes. "A trip like that requires planning, and I highly doubt you, of all people, are prepared to fly three thousand miles across the country for a week in some random city you've never been to."

Before Vivien could argue, Damien turned to his ex and said, "She asked both of us months ago, and, actually, she's had everything planned out since I gave her permission. Vivien's a smart girl; she wouldn't jump into something without proper planning."

"She even helped Abs and I plan our trips with our friends," Oliver piped up.

Placing a hand on her dad's shoulder and glancing toward her brother, Vivien thanked him with a smile before turning toward their mom and saying, "And, since Dad gave me permission, I can go, right, Mom?"

Chelsea took in a deep breath, glancing between Damien and Vivien with a stare that would end wars, but finally, she picked up her phone and huffed, "Fine. Go."

Hoping to get out the door before her mother could change her mind again, Vivien began making her way to the door, only to hear footsteps rushing up behind her. Turning, Vivien smiled as Abby and Oliver jogged up to her, Abby wrapping her in a hug as Oliver stood to the side with a grin. Squeezing her older sister, Abby pleaded, "Take lots of pictures for me, sissy."

Letting out a breath of a laugh, Vivien waited until Abby stepped back before taking her keys from the hook by the door and pushing them into the palm of her sister's hand. At Abby's confused look, she said, "Can you put them in your lockbox for me? I don't want Mom to use my car while I'm gone just 'cause it has lower mileage than hers."

Nodding in understanding, Abby softly asked, "Do you want your diary in there too?"

Vivien shook her head, "I'm taking it with me, but thank you."

Oliver shuffled closer, hinting at his desire for a final hug before his oldest sister's departure as he asked, "What about your fancy rocks?"

Wrapping her arms around Oliver's shoulders, she replied, "I took a few with me, but I doubt Mom will do anything with them because most of the ones I left are big and would be obvious if they went missing."

"If you're sure," Oliver mumbled into Vivien's shoulder before patting her back and slipping out of her grasp.

Once she took a step back, Vivien reached into her pocket and pulled out two colorful crystals, holding one out to either of her siblings, "For Abby, some charoite. It's good for keeping away negativity and helping you see a new side of yourself. Hopefully, it'll help you relax while you're away."

Abby smiled at the purple rock, shifting it in the light to see the different hues before thanking her sister and pocketing the crystal. Then, with a roll of his eyes and a smirk, Oliver accepted the smooth green lump and said, "Let me guess, this is some hard-to-pronounce rock too."

"Actually, no," Vivien snickered. "It's green aventureine and it's good for creativity, luck, and opportunities. I figured, with all the activities you'll be doing, and the theories you'll be picking apart, it would be nice to take with you."

Rolling the crystal around in his palm, Oliver allowed his smirk to spread into a smile as he handed Vivien her raincoat and said, "Have fun in Cali, Vivi."

Vivien smiled but didn't have the chance to respond as her father entered the room and said, "She will. Brady and Mack reassured me that they had a fun week planned."

Finding her dad's tired eyes, Vivien slotted herself in his arms and asked, "Will you be alright here without us for a week?"

"I'll be fine," Damien claimed as he ran a soothing hand over Vivien's hair. "Your mother is going on one of her work trips on Monday, so I'll be alone most of the time you kids are away."

Peering up at her father, Vivien smiled, "A week of empty-nesting, huh? That'll be interesting for you."

Damien pressed a kiss to Vivien's forehead and smiled, "It'll be over before I know it. Now, do you have everything?" Vivien nodded. "Are you sure? You've got your toothbrush, hairbrush?"

"I'm sure, Dad," Vivien chuckled. "And, before you ask, yes, I have the taser pen Riven's dad gave me. I took the batteries out and everything, just like he taught me."

Nodding, Damien sighed, "Good. I know I'm overthinking this, but I don't want you to be in a strange city without protection."

"I know," Vivien said with a knowing smirk. "And I don't blame you. It would be stupid of me to go without anything."

Damien hummed before smiling at his oldest girl, "I had your sister sneak something into your bag from the three of us, but promise me you won't open it until you get where you're going and have the chance to settle in."

Glancing at her sister, wondering when she could have slipped something into her luggage, Vivien smiled and said, "I won't, I promise."

"Good," he said, more for himself than his daughter. Then, patting her arm, Damien told Vivien, "Alright, well, get going before I chicken out."

"Alright, alright," Vivien snickered as she rolled her eyes up at her dad. "I'm going."

Allowing his daughter to step away and pull the zipper of her raincoat up as far as it would go, Damien pulled up her suitcase handle and held it out for her to take as he breathed, "Have fun, sweetheart."

"I'll try."

Placing a hand over Vivien's, he smiled, "You will." Once Vivien nodded in agreement, he requested, "Let us know when you land, okay?"

"Of course," Vivien beamed, anticipation bubbling up in her chest as she nodded excitedly. "I'll let you know when we get to their house too."

As Oliver opened the door and Vivien stepped out, Abby said, "I'll let Mom know you said goodbye."

Vivien crossed the threshold of the house and dragged her luggage with her, waving to the Birches and saying, "Thanks. I'll see you guys in ten days."

"Have fun!" Abby called as Vivien rushed through the rain to the Birch family's minivan.

"Enjoy the sun!" Damien said as Brady helped Vivien haul her suitcase into the trunk before closing it.

"Don't get wasted on the beach!" Oliver added, earning him a middle finger from his oldest sister and a tap on the back of the head from their dad. "What?" he asked rhetorically as Vivien hopped into the van and rolled the window down. "I'm just saying."

As the vehicle began to roll down the driveway, Vivien leaned out as far as the seatbelt would allow and yelled, "Love you!"

As her family called back in kind, Vivien rolled up the window and relaxed in her seat, earning a chuckle from Mick as the older brunette greeted her, "You look like a wet dog."

Laughing breathlessly, Vivien pushed her stringy, wet bangs away from her forehead and sighed, "I probably smell like one too, to be honest with you."

Mick pretended to sniff the air before grinning, "Only a little bit."

Vivien smiled and tipped her head to the side, finding Mick's gaze as she sighed, "I hope I don't look like a drowned rat when Royce sees me."

Mack laughed from the passenger's seat, leaning over the center console to see Vivien as she reassured her, "You won't, sweetheart. We'll make sure of it."

"I mean," Brady drawled as he pulled out onto the main roads, seemingly weighing his options until Mack slapped his arm with the back of her hand.

"Brady!"

"Kidding!" the man chuckled, somewhat proud of his playful jibe as the girls in the backseat snickered.

Vivien sighed contentedly as she relaxed into the van's faded, somewhat worn fabric seats, "I've missed this."

"You won't be saying that for long," Mack claimed. "By the end of the first week, you'll be begging us to send you home."

"Doubtful," Vivien replied with a smile. The idea of spending any length of time in the world Mick had been talking her ear off about since the day she discovered it back in December had been like something of a fantasy for Vivien. Now that she actually had the chance to see the places in her friends' pictures, the thought of cutting her stay short for anything other than the most dire circumstances was bizarre. "I'm pretty sure you'll have to drag me away kicking and screaming."

"Well, we certainly won't be doing that," Brady laughed.

"Yeah," Mick agreed, taking Vivien's hand with a brilliant smile. "You can stay there with us for as long as you want."

"And time here won't change, right?" Vivien recounted.

"Right," Mack agreed. "That machine will allow you to stay as long as you like without anything changing."

Mick nodded, watching Vivien's thoughtful eyes flicker behind her circular frames as she explained, "We turn the time control mechanism off while we're in this world so that they can enjoy life normally there, but we freeze time here so that we can enjoy things without having to go back and forth to pay bills and stuff like that."

Vivien grinned, "Like taking random teenagers into different dimensions without their parents feeling the need to call everypolice department in the tate to see if they can send out search parties?"

"I guess you could say that," Brady snorted as he pulled onto the turnpike and pressed the gas pedal further toward the floor.

The conversation seemed to split from there as Mack pulled up the directions to the airport on her phone, telling Brady to slow down before they reached a particular spot the state troopers liked to park in order to catch people speeding on the turnpike. Watching trees and distant buildings fly by as the car sped up, Vivien pulled her phone out of her pocket and unlocked the Discord chat she had with her bandmates, sending them a selfie of herself and Mick before hastily typing a message about them finally being on the road.

Erica was the first to respond - her text of "bitch, you bettr not become a fuckign valley girl!" appearing just before Riven's "Have fun, Pip! Don't get eaten by a shark; I need you for comp" and followed soon after by Jade's ever-calm message of, "ignore their bs. we love you. stay safe. xoxo." Vivien snickered as the trio began blowing up her phone; Erica starting an argument with Riven about sharks being harmless while also telling Jade to fuck off for being the responsible one.

"You good over there?" Mick asked, her humor evident as Vivien glanced up from her phone.

Holding out the device and leaning over so that they could both watch the drama unfold, Vivien explained, "Erica's being a bitch, Riven is a sarcastic shit, and Jade's acting like a mother hen, so Erica picked a fight with both of them."

Mick watched as Erica sent a wall of text that only consisted of the middle finger emoji, snickering, "So, a normal day, then?"

"Pretty much," Vivien agreed. As they watched conversation bubbles appear and Erica's rant spiral into nonsense, her smile faltered. She would miss them while she was away. Even when her family went on vacations, Riven would go with them, and she could text the girls anytime she wanted. This time, her ability to message them and ask them for advice on things would be revoked the minute she entered the other world. With a heavy sigh, she admitted, "I'm going to miss them."

Taking in the girl's expression, Mick reached up and placed a hand on Vivien's back, rubbing circles into her plastic raincoat as she said, "It'll suck for a few days, but after a while, you sort of get used to it."

Peering up at the older girl, Vivien allowed herself to smile, "You're talking from experience, aren't you?"

"Sadly," Mick confirmed. "My instincts were to take pictures of everything to show my friends when I got back, but then I realized I couldn't. It took a while to adjust and my phone is still full of pictures nobody else has seen, but after a while, I got used to just saving the memories for myself."

Nodding in understanding, Vivien breathed, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I can send them some pictures when I get back, but until then, I can keep them to myself."

Pivoting in her seat, Mick turned toward Vivien and asked, "So, what are your plans for Royce? Are we doing a casual surprise where you just walk in and say hi or are we doing something grand in front of everyone?"

"I don't know," Vivien shrugged. "I haven't really given it a lot of thought. I was more concerned about my mom keeping me from going."

"Well, now we've got time to think it through!" Mick exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

“Not much time,” Mack explained. “We’ll be at the airport in about five, maybe ten minutes, and since we have a private flight, we’ll be in the air within the hour.”

“You guys never told me you have a private jet,” Vivien stated. “Like, I knew you guys had money, but damn.”

“It’s not ours,” Mick shrugged.

“One of my friends from school became a pilot,” Brady explained. “He’s offered us free trips whenever we need it since he knows how often we travel to the East coast and it gives him the opportunity to visit some family of his in Vermont.”

Vivien hummed, more to herself than to anyone in the vehicle, “That’s nice of him.”

After a moment of relative silence, Mick patted Vivien’s hand and told her, “Anyway, regardless of what you decide to do, Royce will be surprised.”

“You think?” Vivien asked. “I thought someone would have told him by now.”

Mick shook her head emphatically, beaming proudly as she explained, “Actually, I haven’t told anybody that you’re coming.”

Vivien’s eyes glittered with excitement as she asked, “Seriously?”

Mick nodded, her wavy hair bouncing with the movement, “The only person who knows is Butchy, and he’s not one to spill things like that.”

“That’s insane!” Vivien exclaimed, a laugh tumbling from her lips at the thought of surprising her friends with her sudden appearance in their world.

“I know, right!” Mick giggled. “But that means we have endless possibilities for surprising people. It all depends on where they are at the time.”

“When we land, it will be about one in the morning, Pacific Time,” Mack explained. “On a commercial flight, we usually stop a few times along the way to swap planes or pick up new passengers, but since this is private, we’re going to stop in New Jersey for a few minutes due to busy airways, and then get back in the air.”

“That will give us plenty of time to think about it,” Mick said cheerfully.

“And give both of you the chance to sleep,” Brady reminded his daughter, peering at her in the rearview mirror before he pulled onto the street that led them to the airport. “We don’t need both of you to be zombies when we touch down.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Mick brushed off with a wave of her hand, her excitement over the whole situation outweighing the concept of sleep. “Anyway, I’ve got ideas for both options, and we can talk about them on the plane, if you want.”

Sending the older girl a smile and a nod, Vivien watched Mick smile and relax in her seat; pulling out her phone as Vivien took in a slow breath and glanced out the window. As they passed the Mall of New Hampshire, Vivien snapped a quick picture of the building and sent it to the group chart that had begun to quiet without her presence there to encourage the chaos, sending a cheeky message teasing the two girls who worked within the large, stucco and concrete building. Jade was the first to respond, her video message of her waving to the camera, arriving on Vivien’s phone as they pulled up to a gated parking lot. As Brady began speaking to the guard, listing the passengers and which flight they were on, Vivien sent a private message to Riven, telling him how nervous she was about being on a private plane.

‘You have nothing to worry about, Pip,’ was his reply. ‘The Birches know what they’re doing and wouldn’t put you in danger like that. Just breathe. You’ve got this.’

Sucking in a deep breath through gritted teeth, Vivien sent back a reply of gratitude and tried to relax as the car lurched forward and moved past the gate. Mack popped open the console between herself and Brady, pulling out a trio of passports before turning toward Vivien and asking, “Do you have your passport ready?”

Reaching under her rain coat and into the pocket of her hoodie, Vivien pulled the navy blue booklet out and handed it up to Mack, who added it to the stack in her hands. As they rolled down the tarmac, Vivien watched through the windows, trying to guess which aircraft they would be in. Narrowing it down the further they got, Vivien let out a noise of surprise as Brady turned to the side, lurching her toward the door as he pulled to a stop in a parking space. Looking around in confusion, Vivien followed the others out of the car, following Mack to the back of the vehicle, where they pulled their luggage from the trunk.

Mick grabbed Vivien’s free hand, pulling her toward a jet that had the door open and a set of stairs waiting. Pushing the handles of their suitcases down and picking them up by the straps on top, the girls boarded the plane, pushing their suitcases to the side to be scanned before finding seats to collapse into. Nudging Vivien into a window seat, Mick took the seat across from her and relaxed, waiting for her parents to board before instructing the younger girl to buckle up.

After the pilot came to greet them, telling them all the basics he needed to go over before the flight, he returned to the cockpit and announced that they would be leaving as soon as he had permission from the traffic control tower. With much reassurance from the others, Vivien began to relax, snapping pictures of the plane and the setting sun to send to her friends and family. After another announcement came over the speakers about taking off, they were in the air, and Vivien’s phone returned to her pocket as the seatbelt lights turned off. Peeling off her rain coat and shoving it into the seat next to her, Vivien huffed a sigh of relief as she realized the part she had worried about the most was now over.

Watching as the ground below grew smaller and harder to see, Vivien turned her attention to Mick, who had folded her arms on top of the table between them, leaning closer with a smile that told Vivien she didn’t want to know what the girl was going to get her into. “Do I want to know?” she asked the older brunette.

Vivien could hear the girl’s feet thumping against the base of her chair as she swung her legs back and forth, but Mick’s smile refused to dissipate as she explained, “I’ve been cooking up ideas for you.”

Nodding to herself, Vivien rolled her eyes, “Yup, didn’t want to know.”

Ignoring the girl’s statement, Mick said, “I was thinking-”

“That’s dangerous,” Brady chuckled from his seat on the opposite side of the plane.

“Dad,” Mick sighed dramatically. When the older man snickered and struck up a conversation with his wife, Mick turned her attention back to Vivien with a roll of her caramel eyes. “I figured that, once we land, we can-”

“Go to sleep?” Vivien interrupted.

“Ha!” Mick laughed. “No.”

“Yes,” Mack said, her motherly tone giving Mick little to no wiggle room as she deflated slightly.

“Okay, yeah, that too,” Mick relented. “But we can pick out some cute outfits from my closet and make sure you feel beautiful before we go.” Pointedly turning toward her mom, Micxk asked, “Right, Momma?”

“So long as you two aren’t up all night, yes,” Mack replied before taking a sip of the water bottle she had taken from the cabin’s mini fridge. “Now, Vivien, did you have anything to eat, sweetheart? They have sandwiches and things in the fridge, if you’d like.”

“That’s alright,” Vivien brushed off graciously. “Dad brought home some Mickey D’s on his way home from work.”

“I’m surprised he made it through the warden with that,” Brady said in a scoff.

Vivien smirked as the other two women gave their own forms of agreement, simply glad she wasn’t the only one who found her mother’s strict food control to be something of a nightmare. “Yeah, well, he didn’t exactly give her a choice. He came in, gave her a salad to shut her up, and let us get our meals without letting her anger break him down.”

“Good for him,” Mick grinned.

“Glad to know he’s finally growing bigger balls than hers,” Mack added. “I think we’ve all been placing bets to see how long that would take.”

With a hum of agreement, Vivien allowed the conversation to flow between topics, absentmindedly bringing up the subject of the battle bot project she wanted to work on when they got the chance, something that made Mick practically vibrate with excitement. Brady brought up the idea of using his tools if need be, which inspired Mick to go off on a spiel about possibly going to either Butchy’s or Miles’ place of work to utilize their welding kits and use some of the metal scraps they had tossed aside. By the time Mack had managed to pull them away from the topic at hand, they were starting to make their descent at an airport in Newark, New Jersey.

Before the plane took off again, Vivien sent a few relatively dark images and some quick messages to the people who knew she was leaving before stepping into the bathroom of the jet to call her aunts before they went to bed. They discussed the trip and spoke for a while about all of the activities Vivien was looking forward to before they wished each other a good night. Vivien promised to let them know when they landed before ending the call and scurrying back to her seat as the captain announced their approaching departure. Once they were back in the air and allowed to roam about, Mick showed Vivien how to recline her seat and find a comfortable position to sleep in before offering the girl a blanket and promptly passing out in her chair.

One by one, Vivien watched as the Birch family succumbed to the land of dreams, but despite her growing exhaustion and yawns tumbling from her mouth every other minute, she couldn’t find it in herself to actually sleep. She could have easily chalked up her inability to sleep to her nerves, but that wasn’t quite right. Somewhere deep inside her, she knew that there was nothing to worry about. Royce and Bentley would love to drag her around, Carrie had promised to take her to the lot they were filming on if she ever found herself in their world, and even Butchy and Miles had discussed dragging her to their respective jobs to show her knowledge of old vehicles off to their respective coworkers. There was nothing for her to be worked up over.

Forcing herself to take in a deep breath and push her unfounded fears aside, Vivien allowed another yawn to overtake her as she stretched. Reclining her seat and tugging her blanket around her shoulders, Vivien slouched into a more comfortable position, tucked her cell phone into her pocket, set her glasses on the table between herself and Mick’s slumbering form, and waited until the soft humming of the plane’s machinery lulled her to sleep. To her dismay, what felt like only a few minutes passed before Vivien found herself being gently shaken awake, grumbling at the interruption as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

A chuckle came from a blurry form as Vivien searched blearily for her glasses, listening to the person apologize in a soft voice before handing her the glasses she was searching for. Finally peering up at the person, Vivien found Brady smiling back at her, offering her a hand as he told her, “We just landed, kiddo. Time to go home.”

Chuckling exhaustedly as she stretched herself out like a cat rising from a comfortable position in the summer sun, Vivien muttered, “Am I too old to ask for someone to carry me?”

Brady let out another soft laugh, “Never, but I haven’t carried anybody in years, and I’d rather not drop you down the stairs of a plane.”

Vivien snorted and pushed herself from her seat, “Yeah, let’s not do that, then.”

“Smart girl,” Mack advised, patting the teenager on the back as she passed her on her way back from the bathroom.

As Brady worked on waking Mick from her slumber, Vivien folded up the blanket she had used, made sure she had everything she brought with her, and followed Mack to the front of the plane, where they received their belongings. Yawning as she followed Mack down the stairs, Vivien welcomed the warm California air with a tired grin. “It’s nice out,” she muttered as Mack led her toward a pale blue Jeep that had been brought onto the tarmac for them.

Accepting her car keys from the driver who brought the car over, Mack chuckled, “My phone says it’s fifty-something right now.”

More than content with the idea of the summer-like weather, Vivien sighed happily as she hauled her suitcase into the trunk of the car alongside Mack’s, “Like I said, I think you guys will have to drag me kicking and screaming from this place.”

Bringing an arm around Vivien’s shoulders, Mack smiled, “Just wait until you see how close we are to the beach.”

Vivien’s eyes glittered as the woman brought her to the side of the car, encouraging her to climb inside as Mack slid into the driver’s seat. However, before she climbed inside the vehicle, Vivien pulled out her phone and took a picture of the plane they landed in, sending it to the group chat with her bandmates before sending a message to her family members, letting everyone know they had landed safely in Santa Ana and were on their way to the Birch family’s home. Once she was sure the messages had been sent, Vivien slid into the backseat behind Mack and pulled the seatbelt across her body. Once the others had found their way to the car, Mack started the engine and pulled away from the plane, heading through a series of gates before making her way to the street and pulling away from the John Wayne Airport.

Unable to fall back asleep as they pulled onto the San Diego Freeway, Vivien watched with wide eyes as she took in the glow of the city. Throughout the half-hour drive, Vivien took a myriad of pictures. Glowing palm trees, buildings in the distance that appeared to touch the sky, and, as the freeway pulled them through San Juan Capistrano toward the beach, pictures of a seemingly endless night sky over the water. Smiling as he watched the girl take another picture, Brady encouraged his wife to take the long way home without saying a word, and Mack took the next exit, pulling onto Pacific Coast Highway and following it until the first set of lights she could turn at. At the next intersection, she turned onto Park Lantern and followed the street toward the water until it merged with Coast Highway.

The couple suppressed their laughter as Vivien gasped, leaning over their daughter to take pictures of the water that was still covered by a blanket of stars in the nighttime sky. Once houses began to block her view, Vivien relaxed, but her excitement was still very much palpable as the car glided down the highway. Turning toward the backseat, Brady kept his voice hushed as they slowed to a stop at a red light, “If you want a good shot, our street sign is right up here.”

“Really?” Vivien whispered.

Brady hummed in confirmation, “It’s on the light post up here on your side.”

Sure enough, as Vivien leaned closer to her window and squinted up at the post, she found a green sign with the words “Camino Capistrano” in thick, white writing. Although her cell phone refused to see the sign in the dark, Vivien smiled and kept her eyes on it until they had turned onto the aforementioned street and could no longer see the sign. Smiling more to herself than anything, Vivien watched with bated breath as Mack drove further up the street, past a traffic light, and through a curve. When they finally pulled to a stop in front of a fancy black gate with a Mediterranean-style roof and a few doors on either side, Vivien felt her jaw hit the floor.

Contrary to popular opinion, Vivien’s family had money. For a while in her childhood, her family had lived in an apartment that barely gave them enough room to live, but they had enough money to put food on the table and buy new things here and there. After her grandparents offered them the opportunity to move into their old house and take over the winery while they moved closer to their beloved summer camp, Vivien felt as though she was the luckiest person on the planet. While they weren’t exactly Elon Musk-level rich, the winery her parents operated and her grandparent’s summer camp made them more than financially secure. Knowing she had the chance to take on their jobs in the future, Vivien thought she would become richer than she had ever previously thought possible. However, as she got her first look at the Birch’s house, she realized she didn’t know shit about rich people.

Being well off on the East Coast meant having a home you owned, a car or two, and potentially a pet if you felt like it. Most people back home enjoyed taking up residence in old, colonial-style homes that would set them back a good hundred thousand dollars at least and were originally built for families with eleven or twelve children. East Coast wealth was classy, clean, and, well, antique. West Coast wealth, on the other hand, was a new kind of expensive. Stepping out of the car once they rolled to a stop in the four-car garage, Vivien couldn’t help but feel poor in every sense of the word.

Although Vivien had seen bits and pieces of the house over FaceTime with Mick, the sheer size of the house was astonishing. Following closely behind her friend, Vivien’s eyes scanned from the large, orange roof to the various balconies, to the swimming pool that seemed to wrap around the side of the house, and the various water guns and toys strewn about in the yard that were evidence that her friends from another world had visited before the Birches had come to collect her. Entering the house, Vivien waited for the lights to turn on before looking around at the pristine entryway. A large glass chandelier hung above the entrance, glimmering rays of light throughout the hall and part of the living room.

Although Vivien felt more than awake and ready to explore the luxurious home, Mack and Brady urged her to follow Mick upstairs once she had taken her shoes off by the door. Relenting despite her excitement, Vivien followed Mick up the hardwood stairs, grinning at the various childhood photographs of Mick and her friends along the wall as they climbed. Coming to the landing, Vivien found herself taken aback once more by the view. Across from the top of the stairs was a panoramic view of the beach across the street, a comfortable lounge area settled facing the floor-to-ceiling windows with a television mounted on the right wall - the only one without windows.

Before she could take a moment to process the kitchenette on one side of the staircase or the gaming area on the other, Vivien found herself taken by the wrist around the banister to a short hallway with three doors. They passed a room with Mick’s initial painted on the door, but Mick didn’t so much as glance toward her bedroom before opening the door to another room at the end of the hall and stepping aside for Vivien to enter.

With a yawn, the short brunette explained, “This used to be one of our guest rooms, but the boys usually take it when they stay with us, so a lot of Bentley art supplies and Royce’s books stay here.”

Looking up at the coffered, waffle-esque design on the ceiling and the various signs of life in the room, Vivien let out a disbelieving laugh, “This is insane.”

Mick took a look around and sighed at how poorly she had cleaned the room before leaving the week before, “Yeah, I know it’s not the cleanest right now, but we can pick everything up in the morning if you-”

“No, no, no!” Vivien said with a quick shake of her head, turning back toward her friend with a smile as she stood her suitcase by the end of the queen-sized bed. “Mick, you don’t understand.”

Confused in part by the conversation and part by her lack of sleep, Mick’s head tipped slightly to the side as she asked, “What do you mean?”

“I thought my house was big and that we were well off,” Vivien began, twirling around as she examined the room before finding Mick’s gaze again, “but I think yours just bitch-slapped my whole family onto the poverty line!”

Mick let out a snort, shaking her head fondly, “Well, don’t start comparing dick sizes just yet, gremlin. Save that for a time when I can actually think straight.”

“I hardly ever think straight,” Vivien smirked, taking a seat on the edge of the bed she had been given.

With a roll of her eyes and a fond smile, Mick teased, “Believe me, I know. Now, try to get some sleep. You don’t want jet lag to knock you out on your ass later.”

Raising her hand to her forehead in a mock salute, Vivien said, “Sir, yes, sir.”

Chuckling, Mick wished the younger girl a good night before disappearing into the hall, leaving the girl’s door open so that she could see the dimly lit lights in the hallway. Taking in a deep breath in the silence of her new room, Vivien hefted her suitcase onto the bed beside her and unzipped it, pulling out her astronaut lamp and setting it aside before tugging a pair of celestial pajama shorts and a matching tank top from one side of her suitcase. Picking up the luggage, she carried it over to a chair and left it open in the seat, changed into her pajamas, plugged in her lamp, and slipped under the covers with her headphones in one hand and phone in the other.

Putting on her headphones and listening to one of her favorite ASMR channels while watching the stars dance across the ceiling, Vivien finally found herself able to fall asleep relatively quickly. Dreams of surfing cerulean waves with her friends filled her night, and by the time the sun had begun poking through the curtains on either side of her bed, Vivien felt well-rested and ready to start her day. After hastily getting dressed in something appropriate for the eighty-three-degree weather her phone forecasted, Vivien took her time examining the house as she made her way down to the kitchen. Mick’s bedroom had already been vacated, and if the voices floating up the stairs were anything to go by, she was with her parents.

Making her way through the house to the kitchen, Vivien smiled as she listened to her friend’s family converse. The energy in the Birch’s house was always somewhat calming to Vivien, an environment where she could relax and feel at home regardless of what they were up to that day, but the feeling of belonging never wavered, no matter how far apart they truly were. Watching Mick dance around with her mother to the music on the radio, Vivien smiled as she leaned against the island counter. Brady nudged her arm as the song changed, beaming at the new addition to their household before offering her his hand. 

Without much hesitation, Vivien placed her hand in Brady’s and allowed him to lead her in a bouncy dance that twirled them around the kitchen as Vivien giggled. Mack and her daughter stopped after a while to watch the pair, listening to Vivien half-sing, half-shriek her way through the lyrics as Brady spun her around the kitchen with ease. As the song came to an end, he twirled Vivien away, grinning as she laughed over the voice of the radio host.

Once her vision had stopped spinning, Vivien giggled, “Good morning, America!”

Brady chuckled, “Good way to get the blood pumping early in the morning, right, kiddo?”

Vivien nodded, but it was Mack who spoke, “We find it’s nice to do something fun before you start your day.”

“Speaking of starting your day,” Mick began as Vivien climbed onto one of the stools on the side of the island, “are you feeling up to leaving yet?”

“Makana,” Mack scolded lightly, “let the poor girl wake up first.”

Vivien smiled as Mick sighed dramatically, but she shook her head as she turned to the older woman. “It’s alright, Mrs B. I think I’m too excited to be tired.”

Sighing as he opened the fridge, Brady said, “Well, that’s good because I think we’re going to have to have breakfast at Butchy and Lela’s house this morning.”

Mack appeared confused for a moment before realization dawned on her face, “We forgot to pick up food last night.”

Mick shrugged, “It was two in the morning.”

With a shake of his head, Brady turned to his daughter and asked, “Do you mind us using your kitchen?”

Before Mick could reply, Vivien asked, “Wouldn’t it be easier to go to Big Momma’s for breakfast since we have to go there anyway?”

“It would be,” Mick replied with a nod, “but by the time we pry Lela off of you, it’ll be time for lunch.” Turning back to her parents as Vivien nodded in understanding, she said, “Butchy and I can make up something while everyone gets settled in.”

Mack nodded and turned her attention back to Vivien before asking, “Would you like to go now, then? Do you have anything you would like to bring with you?”

Vivien thought for a moment before nodding, “I brought some stuff with me that I wanted to show everyone. Can I run up and grab it?”

“You don’t have to ask, Vivien,” Brady insisted. Nodding toward the stairs, he said, “Just go; we’ll still be here when you come back.”

As Vivien slid out of her seat, Mick patted her arm excitedly and said, “Just put your clothes on the bed and take your whole suitcase. I’m, like, ninety-three percent sure you’ll leave with more clothes than you came with.”

Her excitement surging at the idea, Vivien nodded and hurried for the stairs, bounding up them two at a time and pushing aside her desire to explore the large home as she headed for her room. Moving her suitcase from the chair she left it on to the end of her bed, Vivien began pulling out a majority of her daily clothes, leaving her essentials, headphones, charger cords, astronaut lamp, the envelope with her name on it that her siblings and father had given her before she left home, and a few items of clothing Carrie and Lela had let her “borrow” and never got back. Once she was certain she had everything she wanted to bring with her for however long she would be away, Vivien zipped up her bag and took in a deep breath. Glancing out the window at San Clemente, Vivien smiled at the knowledge that, within mere minutes, she would be transported into a world she had only ever heard in stories and seen in a movie.

Grabbing her suitcase by the handle, Vivien left her bedroom and headed for the stairs, lifting her bag before her descent and taking the handle once she’d reached the landing. Practically skipping to the kitchen, Vivien beamed at the Birches as she cheered, “Ready for liftoff!”

Happy to show off his work to a new person, Brady clapped his hands and gestured toward the sliding glass doors that led to the backyard, “After you, kiddo.”

Vivien took the lead, opening one side of the door and sucking in a sharp breath as she was hit full-force with the heat of Southern California. Mick snickered, wrapping an arm around Vivien and guiding her toward the shed at the back of their property as she chuckled, “Welcome to California.”

‘Ugh,” Vivien groaned, “is it always like this?”

“Not always, no,” Mick claimed, “but believe me, summers are much worse in Florida.”

Hoping the older girl was simply joking, Vivien remained quiet until Mick ushered her into the shed, and she was made to carefully toe her way around scrapped projects and stray tools until she reached the yellow, tube-shaped behemoth pressed securely against the back wall. A large flower Vivien recalled seeing on a surfboard hanging on the wall in the Birch’s home was engraved into metal at the very top of the machine, wires and metal bars sticking out behind it in a haphazard yet efficient way. Pulling the handle on the right side of the machine, Vivien stepped back as the rounded glass panel at the front slid back into the left side of the machine.

With a gentle nudge from Mack, Vivien stepped into the machine, followed soon after by the family who had brought her there. As the glass door slid closed again, Mick took her friend's free hand and told her to hang on to her belongings before instructing her to watch out the window to see things change around them. Somewhat cautious of the machine as it whirred to life, Vivien watched as a vibrant glow from above seemed to illuminate the otherwise dark mechanic's shed. A soft hum filled the air as colors began to swirl outside the machine, a kaleidoscope of hues coming to life in a vibrant array that faintly reminded Vivien of a show she had seen as a child. The colors grew brighter and more vibrant, rivaling the LED lights Vivien knew Oliver had lining his ceiling before slowly dimming and allowing Vivien to see her first glimpse of another world.

Although she didn't want to appear let down by the view she was given, Vivien couldn't help her quirked brow and immediate response of, "It's an old pickup in a dark garage. Cool."

Nudging her friend with her elbow, Mick stepped around her to open the door and snorted, "It's Butchy's. Now, come on."

Taken by the hand. Vivien was dragged into the house and pulled toward the kitchen, where running water could be heard just over the sound of Chubby Checker's song The Twist that played over the radio. As she came to a stop, Vivien felt a smile split her face as she took in the striped wallpaper and yellow cabinets, the vibrant colors of the room making it feel even more inviting than she thought it would. Tilting so she could see around Mick, Vivien held in a laugh with a hand over her mouth as Butchy turned off the faucet, and Lela's voice could be heard as she danced to the music beside him. It wasn't until the music came to an end and the radio host began speaking about the next song that the raven-haired girl noticed the new figures in her house.

Lela jumped and pressed a hand to her chest, her instinctive reaction to cuss out her sister-in-law cut short as she spotted the taller brunette standing behind Mick. Letting out a screech so shrill Butchy flinched behind her, Lela rocketed forward, all but shoving Mick out of the way in order to wrap her arms around her younger friend. Rocking Vivien from one side to the other, Lela excitedly asked, "What are you doing here?!"

"It's spring break back home," Vivien explained as Lela moved back just enough to squish her cheeks in her hands. With her lips resembling that of a goldfish, Vivien continued, "I wanted to surprise everyone."

Prying his sister's hands away from the sixteen-year-old's face, Butchy smiled, "If this is anything to go by, I think Royce might end up having a heart attack when he sees you."

"Let's hope not," Vivien chuckled somewhat nervously. "I don't particularly feel like killing him."

"Sure," Butchy chortled sarcastically. "You know, I've seen some of those crime shows you love so much, piccola. You'd be arrested in an instant if you tried to kill anyone."

Smirking, Vivien said, "First of all, I watch those enough to know how to not get caught at this point. And, second, one of these days, I'm going to figure out what you're calling me, big guy."

"I'm sure you will," Butchy grinned, allowing the girl to step forward and bring her arms around him as he ruffled her hair. "It's good to see you again, Viv."

Staring accusatorily at the man as she took a step back, Vivien asked, "Is the swear jar still in place here?"

Confused as to what that had to do with him being glad to see her, Butchy slowly nodded, "Yeah, why?"

"In that case," Vivien huffed, "I'd say it's nice to see you too, but maybe I shouldn't just yet."

"Oh yeah?" Butchy questioned. "Just because of the swear jar?"

"Mhm," Vivien nodded. "You keep that thing in place and I'll be broke by the end of my first week here."

Butchy chuckled, but before he could formulate a response to Vivien's jab, Lela spoke up, "You're staying for more than a week?"

Turning to the shorter girl, Vivien shrugged, "I was hoping to, if that's alright."

Mick chuckled as she began pulling things from the refrigerator, "She is. I don't think her staying is the problem."

"What do you mean?" Lela wondered.

Butchy stepped up to the counter to help Mick make breakfast before answering, "After letting the boys know she's here, it'll be nearly impossible for them to let her return home."

Lela breathed a noise of understanding before taking Vivien's hands and saying, "We need you to look as normal as possible before you go see the boys. How do you feel about borrowing something of mine?"

Smiling, Vivien nodded, "You're the boss."

As Lela let out a noise of excitement and began pulling her away, Butchy called out, "See you in three hours."

Vivien barely got the chance to look around on her way up to Lela's room, pulled up the stairs faster than she thought humanly possible as Lela began babbling about all the things she wanted to do with the younger girl. Although the girl's excitement was evident, Vivien couldn't help but feel astonished at how fast Lela could talk when she was happy. As Lela pulled her into her bedroom, Vivien couldn't help but look around in wonder at how different it was from the movie. Despite everything looking fairly similar, there were touches of modernity that stood out against the mid-century style of the room - pictures from modern times that had made it back in the girl's luggage, an old iPod Vivien was sure Mick had given her, and some items strewn about that Vivien recalled seeing the older girl buy in her world.

Before Vivien could ask her about anything she saw, Lela pulled her over to the closet, where she revealed a room that had Vivien convinced she had somehow ended up transported to Mia Thermopolis's closet from the second Princess Diaries movie. Two plush chairs sat against the far wall, racks of clothes illuminated by little dome lights lined the walls, and shelves of shoes and accessories filled the empty space. Lela scanned the racks of clothing as Vivien looked around in wonder, picking up a pair of oversized sunglasses with a smile before setting them down and moving on to the shoes.

Moving with practice ease through her color-coordinated clothing, Lela pulled clothes down by their hangers and began stacking them on her chair. Once she felt satisfied by the selection she had laid out, Lela turned to Vivien and smiled as the girl looked at herself in the mirror with a pair of elbow-length gloves, cat-eye sunglasses, and a large sunhat that flopped in front of her face. Stepping up behind the girl, Lela said, "Time to play dress-up."

Vivien giggled, pulling the sunhat off of her head and lowering the sunglasses as she said, "I think I already am."

"And you look fabulous," Lela claimed with a smile before stepping aside and gesturing to the clothes on one of her chairs. "However, I put aside some clothes for you to try on."

"Ooh," Vivien sang as she turned around, setting her accessories aside in favor of the large pile. As Lela began setting things in their rightful places, Vivien picked through the clothing and quickly found herself lost in the myriad of colors, fabrics, and styles. "You want me try on all of this?"

Lela glanced at the dainty watch on her wrist that her uncle had gifted her for her birthday before answering, "Well, I think we'll only have time for a few before they bring us something to eat, but yeah."

Shifting a pair of shorts onto the arm of the chair, Vivien mused, "I'm surprised you didn't want me in a dress today."

"Normally," Lela began as she made up the distance between herself and the brunette, "I would have, but where most of my dresses would be far too short on you, I figured we could make up for that at the shops later. For now, I figured pedal pushers, tees, and some shorts would be more comfortable for you."

"You're definitely not wrong," Vivien smiled. Turning to the older girl, she asked, "Where should I try these on?"

"Right here," Lela beamed, unhooking a curtain from the wall and letting it fall between herself and Vivien. "If you find anything you feel suits you for the day, let me know and I'll come help you look for accessories. In the meantime, I'll be doing my morning skincare."

Excitement flowed through her like an ice-cold drink on a hot summer day, and Vivien thanked Lela before turning toward her pile of clothing and sorting through everything. Setting aside bottoms she could put together with various tops, Vivien began picking out options and trying them on, examining her reflection before trying on something new. After trying on different outfits for a while, Vivien finally settled on one - a pair of striped, white and lavender shorts with a matching purple tank top that covered far more skin than that of the tank tops back home. Lela was quick to offer assistance with the rest of the outfit, deeming Vivien's classic, black and white, doodle-covered Converse acceptable before selecting a handful of necklaces and bracelets for the brunette to choose between.

Once they had taken a break to eat breakfast, Lela began working her magic on Vivien's hair. After making sure her bangs were separated from the rest of her hair by a curler, Lela brushed out Vivien's hip-length locks before pulling them up into a ponytail and securing them with not only an elastic but also a ribbon. Lela curled the very ends of Vivien's ponytail so that it all ended in a uniform ring before spraying it down with enough hairspray to poke a hole in the ozone layer and pulling the curler out from under Vivien's bangs. 

Grinning in disbelief at her reflection in Lela's vanity, Vivien thanked Lela for putting in more effort than she ever did back home, "I could never do anything like this."

"You could," Lela argued as she placed the cover back on her canister of hairspray and set it on the corner of her vanity. "It just takes practice, that's all."

"And far more patience than I could ever manage," Vivien chuckled, rising slowly from the bench Lela had practically shoved her onto. "Seriously, though, Lela, thank you."

"Anytime," Lela beamed. Checking her watch once again, she clapped her hands and said, "Now, I believe it's time we show you off to everyone at Big Momma's."

"What about Royce?" Vivien asked hesitantly as Lela began to leave the room. "Shouldn't we go see him first?"

Turning back to Vivien as she opened her bedroom door, Lela smirked knowingly, "His shift starts early on weekends."

"His shift?" 

But Lela was already on her way out of the room, a wink being the only response Vivien could pry from the girl as she followed Lela out of the room and down to the living room where everyone else was waiting. With everyone else decked out in their finest sixties regalia, Vivien didn't feel half as out of place as she assumed she would be as she followed them outside, where a blue Volkswagen bus waited. As Mick climbed into the driver's seat, Vivien was allowed the seat beside her, and once everyone was inside, they took off down the road. Taking in the sights of the beach town as they rolled down the street, Vivien found it impossible to wipe the smile from her face.

The look of everything in the area was so different than what she was used to back home - mid-century houses with slanted roofs and fun doorways lined one side of the street while small businesses with typically fifties and sixties fonts in their windows lined the other. Turning toward Mick, she said, "I think I'm already in love."

With a laugh, Mick's gaze flitted toward the brunette before settling on the road again as she turned into a small parking lot where a few cars and motorcycles had parked, the expansive beach and a large building with a thatched roof within walking distance of the lot. Confused, Vivien followed the others as they climbed out of the car, but as everyone headed around the building, Vivien found herself dragged by the wrist toward the back entrance. Mick held the door for her younger friend and guided her through the kitchen before depositing her by the refrigerator and telling her to stay low until she came to get her. 

Resigning to her fate of being stuck between the fridge and the trash can, Vivien crouched low to the floor, observing the people in the kitchen as they moved around, seemingly without noticing her presence. The smell of freshly cooked fish and baked potatoes filled the air, contrasting the stench of the food scraps piling up in the trash next to Vivien as she inched as close to the fridge as possible. However, as a blonde waitress entered the kitchen through the swinging door Mick had left through, Vivien found herself caught. With a hesitant smile and an awkward wave, the blonde neared the fridge with a tray and gathered colorful bottles of soda from it before placing it on a stainless steel counter and glancing over her shoulder at Vivien.

"Are you supposed to be back here?" the girl asked, a thick, southern twang accenting her voice.

Vivien swallowed thickly, offering a shrug as she explained, "My friend pushed me back here."

"Why?" the blonde questioned as she began popping off the lids of the sodas.

"I'm trying to surprise my boyfriend," Vivien explained. "I'm from New Hampshire and he doesn't know I'm here."

The blonde glanced around the kitchen, seemingly looking for someone, before settling her hazel eyes back on the girl crouched on the floor. Lowering her voice, she said, "Be grateful Big Momma isn't back here. This place is supposed to be staff-only after the soda geyser incident that happened a few weeks ago."

"Soda geyser?" Vivien repeated, mildly curious as to whether or not that had anything to do with the Mentos experiment she had shown the boys over Facetime not long ago.

"It was a huge mess," the blonde said before waving it off. Kneeling down to the brunette's height, the girl held out a hand and asked, "What's your name?"

Latching hands with the girl, Vivien smiled and said, "I'm-"

"Vivien, it's time!" Mick whisper-yelled as she pushed open the swinging door. Finding the girl on the floor and the blonde in front of her, Mick stalled, the gears in her brain turning for a moment as she processed the scene before a smile appeared on her face. "Oh, hey, Juliet."

"Hey, Mick," Juliet greeted. Turning back to the girl before her, she asked, "I presume that makes you Vivien?"

Vivien nodded, "And you Juliet?" 

"Guilty as charged," Juliet smiled, her teeth a blinding white in comparison to her peachy lip gloss. Pulling the younger girl to her feet, Juliet asked, "So, what's the plan? How're we surprising this lucky mystery boy?"

"Well, I was thinking Viv could go out and pretend to be a waitress to surprise him," Mick claimed.

Glancing through the serving window, Juliet asked, "What table are they?"

"It's Miles' little brother, Royce," Mick explained. "He should be on his lunch break with his brothers now, right?"

Juliet's wide-eyed gasp shocked Vivien as the blonde whirled around, "Wait, for real? You're with Royce?" When Vivien slowly nodded in confirmation, Juliet let out a soft chuckle, "Everyone thought he was pulling our legs when he said he had a girlfriend. Especially 'cause he said she lived in a different state."

"Well, he was telling the truth," Vivien smiled nervously. 

"I guess so," Juliet beamed. Turning to Mick, she said, "Anyway, I just got all their drinks together. If you want to head out now, I'll take Vivien here with me and say she's a new trainee."

Mick thought for a moment, but it didn't take her long to decide, "Honestly, that's a better plan than mine. I'll go back to my seat, and I'll see you out there in a few!"

As Mick hurried back through the door, Juliet turned to Vivien and asked, "So, newbie, are you ready for your first day at work?"

"I guess so," Vivien said, sucking in a deep breath. 

With a smile, Juliet took a spare waist apron from the hangers on the wall and tied it around the younger girl before picking up her tray of sodas and asking, "Think you can carry this to their booth?"

"I can certainly try," Vivien offered, eyeing the collection of colored liquids.

Once Juliet was sure Vivien had a good hold on the tray, she said, "Just stay behind me and don't say a word until I introduce you. The less chance he has of seeing you, the better chances you have of surprising him."

Vivien nodded, and without another word, Juliet began to lead the way out, holding the door open behind her for Vivien before leading her through the busy restaurant. Vivien didn't get the chance to look around much as they walked, more focused on not spilling any drinks than exploring. However, as Juliet stopped at a booth along the far wall, Vivien looked around, hoping to see some familiar faces among the crowds.

Clearing her throat, Juliet spoke, "Hope y'all don't mind, but we've got a new girl with us this noontime and I figured I'd show her the ropes while Royce here takes his break."

"That's fine, Jules," Vivien heard Miles say. "What's her name?"

"I figured I'd let her introduce herself when she's ready," Juliet said, glancing over her shoulder at Vivien before stepping aside.

Finally able to see the group in the booth, Vivien took in the look of surprise on Miles' face first. Miles quickly got Carrie's attention by squeezing her hand, getting her to look up from the menu in her hands. Cerulean eyes glittered like fireworks as Carrie saw the girl standing at the end of the table, and she hurriedly tapped Bentley's shin under the table with the toe of her shoe, making him lift his head from the crayon drawings he had begun on the back of one of the disposable, paper placemats. Somewhat annoyed at the interruption, Bentley lifted his gaze with a question on his lips, but as Carrie pointed to the end of the table, his question died, and his mouth dropped open, his eyes widening to the size of dinner plates.

Before anyone could signal Royce to lift his head from his arms as he yawned tiredly toward the table, Vivien smiled at his tangled curls and said, "Hey, handsome."

Without bothering to look up, Royce decided that, since nobody else cared to speak, he would, and mumbled, "Believe it or not, Miles has a girlfriend."

Vivien fought down a laugh and said, "Believe it or not, I wasn't talking to him."

The first to pull himself out of his shocked stupor, Miles grinned and said, "Royce has one too."

"I don't see her anywhere," Vivien said, placing the tray of drinks on the end of the table. "Maybe I need a mirror."

Royce rolled his eyes, lifting his head from his arms enough to take his soda from the tray as he said, "Not interested."

"Royce," Bentley began warningly but was quickly stopped by Miles as the oldest of the brothers placed a finger to his lips and gestured for the boy to stay silent.

"Damn," Vivien sighed as Royce's forehead rested against his arms once more. "And here I thought we would have lasted at least half a year before you decided to break up with me, Rolls."

Startled by the choice of nickname, Royce's eyes peeled open, and through the corner of his eyes, he found himself looking at a pair of Converse with faded doodles on the white of the toe, but it wasn't until he saw the tiny ship charm dangling from her laces that he began putting pieces together. As he slowly lifted his head, Royce found himself frozen with shock. Sure enough, standing before him was his girlfriend, but she looked as though she had stepped out of a magazine. Her typical jeans and T-shirt were replaced with clothing he was used to seeing on some of his friends at school, and her hair was pulled into a ponytail he knew she would normally complain about at the end of the day, but she didn't seem upset by it in the slightest. Her round glasses caught the light above their table perfectly, glinting magically as the light above another nearby table casted a golden halo around her from behind. For a while, Royce was convinced he was seeing things - Vivien couldn't be in his world; it was impossible! She would have told him she was coming! - but then she smiled down at him and said something he couldn't hear over the thoughts running rampant in his head.

Swallowing as he blinked up at her, Royce softly asked, "Vivien?"

The girl before him laughed, and while that beautiful symphony was all he needed to hear, her nod dispelled any further doubts he could have had. Rocketing up from his seat, Royce lunged forward, bringing his arms around her as far as they would reach, nearly lifting her from the floor as she giggled by his ear. They stood like that for what felt like an eternity before Royce backed away enough to take her face in his hands, examining her as though it was the first time.

"Hey," she breathed, as eloquent as ever.

"You-" Royce cut himself off with a laugh, "You're real. You're real and you're here. How are you here?"

Vivien shrugged, "Magic."

Scoffing a laugh, Royce shook his head and brought her back into an embrace that she quickly returned. Looking over her boyfriend's shoulder at the group, who had now pulled themselves out of the booth to greet her, Vivien smiled and gestured for Bentley to join them. Needing no further encouragement, Bentley was quick to attach himself to the pair, ducking under Royce's arm as it came around his shoulders and smiling as Vivien's snuck around his back. The trio refused to separate until Miles asked for his hug, making Vivien pry herself away from her boys for long enough to give Miles and Carrie a greeting as well. Then, just like magnets, the trio fell back together again. This time, however, they separated after a minute, and with Vivien's hands locked firmly in theirs, the boys began showing her around to anyone and everyone who would give them the time of day.

Vivien couldn't help but smile as she was dragged through the restaurant, her face burning like a neon firetruck. As much as she hated being the center of attention, she tried to swallow back her growing anxiety at being surrounded by strangers in favor of allowing the boys to introduce her to the people they cared about. She was sure her growing nerves and embarrassment at being shown off like a prize horse would wear off over time once the boys began to settle, and she wasn't about to complain to either of them until they were calmed down a bit. After all, they had waited long enough for this. Besides, what was the harm of a little embarrassment? If it meant the boys' gleaming smiles never left their faces, she would deal with it a thousand times over. Catching Royce watching her fondly as Bentley introduced her to some of their and their brother's friends, Vivien smiled. 

Maybe - just maybe - she could get used to this.

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

Tiny update:

I’m feeling a bit better today (I not longer stand or walk tilted to the side, yay!), and even though I still can’t sit properly in my desk chair without feeling stabs in my tailbone, I’ve borrowed my sister’s old, work from home laptop and begun writing again!

Also, here’s a sassy little sneaky peek to get you excited for what’s to come…

In the last three days, I have discovered that sciatica is no fun. It wasn’t too painful when it started on Easter, but yesterday I could barely stand or walk without leaning to the right in order to not feel pain. Today, it’s not horrible, but it feels like I’m being stabbed if I move wrong and I’m still walking very slowly and leaning worse than the tower in Pisa. While I’m sure this will be over soon as it’s a bit better than yesterday, it’s still bothering me to the point where I’m not even eating much. Heat isn’t helping, nor is Tylenol, but ice is working. My insurance doesn’t kick in until the first of May, so getting it checked is not an option, but based on my relatives’ experiences, it’s sciatica. I just don’t want this to still be bothering me on my birthday or the day after (my day off to go with my sister to a mall near Boston we’ve never been to before). I still have to work - I don’t get days off for sick time - so that’s not cool, but I think what’s frustrating me the most is the fact that I can’t sit at my desk to write like this. My old laptop isn’t working anymore, so writing from bed is not an option, and my phone doesn’t have the storage for Docs, so it’s bugging me a lot. Anyway, hopefully I’m better soon, but I just wanted to let you know that I’m trying to rest as much as possible so that I can continue writing. Hopefully, despite the setback, I’ll be able to crank out as much as possible once I’m able to sit properly.

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

In the last three days, I have discovered that sciatica is no fun. It wasn’t too painful when it started on Easter, but yesterday I could barely stand or walk without leaning to the right in order to not feel pain. Today, it’s not horrible, but it feels like I’m being stabbed if I move wrong and I’m still walking very slowly and leaning worse than the tower in Pisa. While I’m sure this will be over soon as it’s a bit better than yesterday, it’s still bothering me to the point where I’m not even eating much. Heat isn’t helping, nor is Tylenol, but ice is working. My insurance doesn’t kick in until the first of May, so getting it checked is not an option, but based on my relatives’ experiences, it’s sciatica. I just don’t want this to still be bothering me on my birthday or the day after (my day off to go with my sister to a mall near Boston we’ve never been to before). I still have to work - I don’t get days off for sick time - so that’s not cool, but I think what’s frustrating me the most is the fact that I can’t sit at my desk to write like this. My old laptop isn’t working anymore, so writing from bed is not an option, and my phone doesn’t have the storage for Docs, so it’s bugging me a lot. Anyway, hopefully I’m better soon, but I just wanted to let you know that I’m trying to rest as much as possible so that I can continue writing. Hopefully, despite the setback, I’ll be able to crank out as much as possible once I’m able to sit properly.

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

I don’t usually make moodboards for stories/chapters that aren’t done yet, but as this will be the start of a sort of story that I’m particularly excited about, I couldn’t help myself lmao. I’m not sure if you remember a post I made about stories I’d like to write someday - and I don’t recommend you start searching for it either unless you feel like digging through my page for a while - but one of those was a string of one-shots that are all tied to Vivien spending some time in Wet Side Story - Same Trailer, Different Park (inspired by this song). If that helps you remember it, great, but if not, that’s fine too - I posted it a while ago. This story has been on my list of stories I want to write for literal years now, and I have a ton of ideas I’d like to work on for it. It’ll take a long time to get all of this done, I’m sure, haha! Honestly, it's starting to hurt my brain with how many ideas I have written out for it. I think now would be the best time to start whittling it down. I plan on bringing back some characters that haven’t seen the light of day for a while, which should be fun. I’ve been wanting to bring back Juliet, Kona, and Serena for quite some time now, but some heavy hitters from way back, like Xander and Hornet, might make an appearance, too, if I feel like throwing in a bit of chaos - so it should be a lot of fun hahaha. While I’m still going to work on other projects in the meantime, I feel like this is a good way to split my attention so I don’t feel overwhelmed with ideas. Also, this is in no way the actual moodboard I’ll be using for the first part, but there are quite a few hints at what’s to come if you look closely! Consider it a teaser, if you will.

Here's the playlist btw

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

The Stories That Shaped Us

March 13, 2024

Notes - When I said I would be done by the end of the week, I genuinely thought it would take that long to work through everything, but here we are! I finished it all late last night, and it's finally here!

Our history is a beautiful medley of memories that has been perfected over time.

Warm, tan hands ran up and down arms covered in goosebumps, encouraging the flesh to warm as emerald eyes peered through a frost-covered window. A disgruntled sigh breathed heat against the glass, creating fog in the space that a thin sleeve had once cleared. Those same emerald eyes rolled behind rounded glasses as a hand reached up and cleared a spot on the window once more. Why she even bothered to look outside was beyond her - she would only see the same thick blanket of snow she had minutes prior. Despite this knowledge, however, tired eyes scoured for any semblance of the street underneath the nor’easter’s grip on the state the young brunette called home.

Nor’easters weren’t unheard of for February as it was still winter, but nobody in a snowy region liked to hear the word tossed around so close to the turn of spring. Two days earlier, most of the northeastern states and parts of Canada had experienced what they would all call a “winter heatwave.” However, those clear skies, temperatures just grazing sixty degrees, and people donning their favorite pair of shorts as they walked through town were long gone as thick, gray clouds kept the area cold with snow.

They had known the storm was coming days before it arrived. California had gotten nailed by not only rain but a rather ungodly amount of snow for the typically toasty state. Rain had battered the unsuspecting state, producing a layer of black ice on more than one city as the temperatures dropped and snow began flurrying to the ground. Not long after the snow had begun in her home state, Mick had called to laugh about the awful drivers who chose to brave the unusual storm, resulting in a many-miles-long traffic jam on many of the state’s biggest highways. Now, Vivien wasn’t laughing.

Typically, a nor’easter wasn’t a huge deal in many New England states. Those living in Connecticut would open their front doors hoping to see a dusting, only to find out they had at least eight inches on their hands; Rhode Islanders would laugh as they brushed off their cars and headed to work; Massachusetts residents - or Massholes as they so proudly called themselves - would start cussing at the sky before slipping on a coat and hoping the roads to the nearest Dunkin’s were open as they shoveled out their cars; people from Vermont and New Hampshire would just be grateful they hadn’t gotten as much as Massachusetts or the Maine seaboard; and those living in Maine would simply put on a thicker coat and go about their day as though nothing had happened. Small nor’easters bringing five to ten inches of snow were common, and despite everyone hating them equally as much as the next person, those living in the affected states had learned to adapt over the years.

This storm, on the other hand, was different.

The day before, while working on a quiz for her robotics class, Vivien saw the shadow of snowflakes flurrying down across her desk. She soon regretted looking up from her papers as she saw thick white flakes sailing through the air, an inch or so already blanketing the flimsy branches of the seasonally dead shrubs outside the window. By the time the bell rang and signaled her release from the prison named Winnisquam Regional, the air had turned frigid, and a few inches of thick, slushy snow had begun to coat the ground. As her father had to work late to ensure everything was locked away before they took the next week off, Vivien got a ride home from Riven. Her stay at home didn’t last long as she bagged up some clothes and said a quick farewell to her siblings before dashing back out to the Miata she relentlessly teased Riven for buying a year prior. 

After grabbing snacks at Cumberland Farms and picking up his order from the pizza place across from the end of his street, Riven drove them halfway down Whipple Avenue and pulled into the driveway, parking his car in the garage with a relieved sigh. After gathering their belongings and making sure Vivien sent a text to her family’s group chat to remind them that she was spending the weekend at Riven’s house to work on some new song ideas, they made their way inside and set up camp on the living room couch.

By the time Riven’s father returned home from his job at the police station, half of their respective pizzas were gone, and both Vivien and Riven were singing along to Hamilton as it blared over the speakers. They talked for a while about the torrent of snow that had begun to attack the area before the man snagged some pizza and headed for his office to touch base with the local plow companies. After playing video games for a few hours, Riven and Vivien made their way to Riven’s bedroom, closing the door so they wouldn’t bother the auburn-haired nineteen-year-old’s father as they worked on writing songs.

A few hours went by with little to no progress - as had been the norm for their writing once the school year and winter season took control of their lives - but they found it impossible to beat themselves up over it as they had spent the majority of their time together goofing off and listening to other bands for inspiration. Around seven, a knock on the door encouraged them to leave the room in favor of joining Riven’s father for ice cream and a movie. Anthony - or Tony, as he preferred to be called - had set up a makeshift ice cream sundae bar on the kitchen counter and handed the kids each a bowl as they followed him into the room.

After watching an old Pixar movie and suffering through the ten o’clock news, Riven pulled Vivien off the living room couch and wished his dad a good night before dragging his best friend down the hall to his room, hoping to escape before the eleven o’clock news started. If they had stuck around much longer, they would have been stuck listening to the same reports for another half-hour. After a while of mindlessly playing Minecraft and taking turns annihilating each other at Mario Kart, the two fell asleep while watching YouTube videos together.

It wasn’t the first - and, frankly, wouldn’t be the last - time Vivien fell asleep in Riven’s cushy, king-sized, memory foam mattress with her head pillowed above his heartbeat. She had found peace in his presence for as long as she could remember. More than once, she had claimed Riven’s oversized mattress as her own after long, tiring practices and only left when Riven or his father dared to wake her in the morning. The pale blue house on Whipple Avenue was a place of refuge from her chaotic life - an escape from her siblings, school drama, and, well, pretty much anything. If she needed a break, she knew she could find it within the cream and teal walls.

Riven’s bedroom was his sanctuary, and as she spent more and more time there after school or practice, it became Vivien’s sanctuary as well. The pair had spent hours together there, working on school projects, writing songs for their band to work on, creating fantasy worlds for Dungeons and Dragons, and playing video games until the sun began to peer through the curtains. She had many fond memories of the Hewlett home from over the years - game nights, Nerf gun fights, late-night movie marathons, and impromptu band practices in the basement. However, it didn’t matter how old they got; their nights would still end the same - the pair passed out in bed without either one having the forethought to set an alarm for the morning.

The first thing Vivien had done when she woke up in the frigid abyss that was Riven’s bedroom was check how the outside world looked. Needless to say, she regretted bothering to look. Ice frosted the window shut, but she didn’t need to open it to see just how badly the storm had settled over their small town. Deciding to go on Riven’s computer while he slept, Vivien found the internet to be dreadfully slow, so as she used her cell phone’s hotspot as WiFi, she looked up outages in the area. Comcast, the only internet provider for their area, was down, as was most of the electricity in several states. By the time Riven had awoken, she had gone back to playing Minecraft to distract herself from the possibility of being trapped inside due to the storm.

Upon making their way to the living room to grab something for breakfast, they overheard the news reporter talking about mass power outages and the absurd amount of snow that had fallen overnight. Six inches had fallen overnight alone, bringing the total snowfall to a whopping ten inches. Closings lined the bottom of the screen, and even though her school wasn’t open that particular Friday - something about closing grades for report cards - Vivien smiled as she watched Winnisquam Regional appear alongside its elementary and middle school companions. 

Swiping the fog from the living room window once again while Riven and his dad made breakfast in the other room, she snickered to herself and watched some of the neighborhood children run outside in their Michelin-Man-esque snow gear. All too soon, they would be shoving each other into the snow, building forts, or pelting each other with slushy, ice-filled snowballs. It felt like forever since Vivien had done anything like that. Sure, when Mick lived in the area during the winters, they spent afternoons in the snow at the older girl’s house with the whole extended family, and when they both had the chance, Riven would take her to the park, where they would spend hours sledding and just enjoying each other’s company. Still, nothing could beat the feeling of having a snow day and having the chance to mess around with the other kids. Nowadays, even her siblings couldn’t find the time to hang out like they used to.

Vivien sighed. In a way, she sort of missed them being practically up her ass all the time.

“Over five hundred thousand residents have been left without power as town, county, and state workers struggle to clear the streets for emergency personnel and recovery crews,” the monotonous Jack Wu - the only news reporter on their local station who seemed to never smile despite the cameras - said for what felt like the thousandth time since they had turned the television on that morning. If it had been up to her or Riven, they would be watching something else; however, it was Riven’s dad who had control of the remote as he had beaten them to the living room that morning. 

Turning her attention to the television, Vivien watched as the ever-smiling Ciara Knight gestured to map behind her while she read off the teleprompter, “Parts of the coast observed wind gusts of sixty miles an hour or more. Parts of Cheshire, Hillsborough, and Rockingham Counties have the most accumulation thus far. Still, as the storm moves further north, those in the middle counties - Sullivan, Merrimack, Belknap, and Strafford - should expect to be inside for a while.”

“How much are they looking at, Ciara?” Jack Wu asked.

“Anywhere from eighteen to twenty-four inches by tonight, Jack,” Ciara answered.

Vivien rolled her eyes at the thought and forced herself to tune out the television as a clang followed by a deep scraping noise drew her attention back to the window. The thick blanket of snow would have been blinding if it weren’t for the gray clouds overhead, and Vivien sighed as she watched a plow truck shove a load of thick powder onto the end of Riven’s driveway as it drove down the dead-end street. With a frustrated huff, she mused, “Why do they always feel the need to make other people shovel up their mess?”

“Because, unless it’s their house, they don’t really give a shit,” Riven claimed as he handed his brunette friend a cup of steaming chocolate.

“Actually,” Riven’s father, Anthony, began as he entered the room with plates balanced precariously on his arms, “the head of the parks department offers to come by and clear us out every year, but I turn them down.”

“How come?” Vivien asked as she and Riven found their way to the dining table. “You always complain about the snow.”

“I clear our driveway as an excuse to help the elderly in the neighborhood,” Anthony claimed. “If I don’t help them out, they’ll try to do it themselves.”

“Plus,” Riven started with a smirk, “it gives him a reason to talk to his girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend?” Vivien echoed as a grin tugged at her lips. Anthony sighed, an exasperated look on his face as Vivien turned her attention toward him and asked, “You’re cheating on my dad?”

Riven’s father chuckled, a fond shake of his head coming with it as he recalled the age-old joke that ran between their families. What had started years prior as a misunderstanding when the two men attended a “Mommy and Me” class together to make sure they both knew how to fix Vivien’s unruly hair for performances had evolved into a running joke about the two men being in a years-long relationship. The situation was only made worse when Vivien and Riven found out that common-law marriages were a thing, and the pair subsequently resorted to teasing their respective parents on the matter.

“No, I’m not,” Anthony said before taking a sip of his coffee and leveling his gaze on his son. “And, for the record, Diana isn’t my girlfriend. She’s just Miss Patsy’s caretaker.”

“But you can’t say you don’t like talking to her when you’re over there,” Riven said as he placed his cup of hot chocolate on the table. 

“I don’t have much of a choice, son,” Anthony sighed. “She practically lives with the Warrens.”

Figuring he was getting nowhere with his father, Riven turned to Vivien and said, “She comes out onto the porch and flirts with Dad while he shovels the walkway.”

“Oh yeah?”

Despite the hint of a smile beneath the man’s salt-and-pepper, Tony-Stark-esque facial hair, Anthony groaned, “Don’t encourage him, Vivien.”

Riven nodded, decidedly ignoring his father as he smiled at his closest friend, “Sometimes, she’ll invite him in for cocoa or cookies, even if the Warrens aren’t home from the senior center yet.”

“Ooh,” Vivien vocalized, turning her glittering green eyes on the older man across the table. “Get some, Uncle Tony.”

“I don’t ‘get’ anything other than what she offers,” Anthony claimed, ignoring his son’s laugh at his choice of words. “I don’t have any plans to start another relationship.”

“Because you’re still married to my dad?” Vivien asked somewhat rhetorically.

Instead of letting his father answer, Riven spoke, “No, he just turns every woman down because they’re not my mom.”

“Really?” Vivien wondered as she tossed a french fry into her mouth.

Anthony shrugged, “What can I say? I made a vow.”

“To a woman who’s been dead since I was six,” Riven tacked on. When his father sighed, Riven leaned forward and said, “Come on, Dad. We both know she would have wanted you to move on and be happy again.”

“Riven, we’ve been over this before,” Anthony said as he reached across the table to take his son’s hand. “I am happy, bud. I have you, and that’s more than enough for me.”

“But don’t you miss having a relationship like that?” Riven pressed as he squeezed his dad’s fingers.

“Not particularly, no,” Anthony chuckled. “What your mother and I had was the best I could ever hope to have, and whilst I appreciate you giving me your blessing to move on, I loved your mother far more than I will ever be able to love another woman. It wouldn’t be right for me to move on with someone I couldn’t give my heart to.”

As Anthony released his son’s hand and returned to the food before him, Vivien observed him for a moment before muttering, “I want a love that deep.”

“And I’m sure you’ll find it, if you haven’t already,” Anthony claimed with an encouraging smile. 

“Speaking of,” Riven began, finally removing his gaze from his father as he turned to Vivien and asked, “how’s your boyfriend doing?”

“He’s good,” Vivien said. “We talked a bit when Mick called the other day. He said he was worried about us, but that he wouldn’t be able to Facetime until tomorrow.”

“Why couldn’t he do it today?” Anthony asked.

Vivien’s gaze flickered to her plate before lifting again as she admitted, “He got his phone taken away until tomorrow.”

Riven’s eyebrows lifted, “Are you sure we’re talking about the same Royce here?”

“Sadly, we are.”

“Since when does that boy get grounded?” Anthony questioned. “I’ve met him only a handful of times, and even I can tell that’s a rare occurrence.”

Vivien sighed, leaning back in her chair as she recalled, “Some dickheads at their school were harassing Bentley for his dyslexia, calling him names and all that bullshit. Royce overheard them and took things into his own hands.”

“What did he do?” Riven asked with a disbelieving laugh.

“One of them ‘tripped’ down the stairs, and the other one was sent to the nurse’s office with a black eye,” Vivien claimed.

Anthony hummed approvingly, nodding as he gathered his dishes and said, “Good for him.”

“I would’ve done worse,” Riven admitted.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” Anthony stated as he made his way to the kitchen.

Chuckling at the older man’s statement as he disappeared around the corner, Vivien said, “I would have too, but Bentley said he saw it happen and that Royce scared a bunch of kids.”

“Good!” Riven said. “I hope someone recorded it or something because, damn, I would pay big bucks to see Royce lose his shit.”

“You and me both,” Vivien snickered. “But, anyway, even though Royce didn’t start the fight, Miles took his phone because he knew that, if Royce wanted to, he could’ve torn those kids apart verbally and sent them to the principal’s office for what they did.”

“I mean, yeah,” Riven agreed, “but what’s the fun in that?”

Raising his voice enough to be heard over the rushing water of the kitchen sink, Anthony asked, “How are they both? Royce didn’t break his hand, did he?”

“No,” Vivien said, shaking her head despite knowing the older man couldn’t see her. “He has some badly bruised knuckles, but that’s all. And Bentley says things have calmed down a bit. I guess the kids got in-school suspension or something.”

“Good,” the man stated.

Vivien chuckled, lowering her voice as she nudged Riven with her elbow, “Reminds me of the time you went nuts on Levi for me.”

Riven sent her a look begging her to shut up as he muttered, “First of all, I didn’t ‘go nuts’ on anybody, and, second, shut the fuck up.”

With a roll of her eyes, Vivien smiled and said, “Yeah, sure, whatever you say, dipshit.”

“Half-pint,” Riven shot back.

A look of disgust flashed across Vivien’s face as she squinted at him from the corner of her eyes. “Wrong name.”

“I know.”

“Dick.”

Riven snorted as he picked up his drink, brushing off the girl’s comment as he asked, “Why do you always react like that when I call you anything other than Pipsqueak?”

“Because Pipsqueak has an emotional attatchment to it,” Vivien explained with a shrug as she pushed out her chair and grabbed her plate. “Everything else is just you teasing me or calling me short, which, by the way, I’m really not.”

“Are too,” Riven argued as he placed his plate atop hers with a grin. “What are you again; four-eleven?”

“I’m five-eight, and you know it, dickhead. You’re just freakishly tall.”

“And you’re freakishly small, Pipsqueak.”

With a beaming smile she didn’t bother fighting off, Vivien chirped, “There it is.”

Anthony chuckled, patting the young girl on the shoulder as they crossed paths in the doorway of the kitchen, “I’m surprised you’re not sick of him calling you that, nugget.”

Glancing over her shoulder as she began spraying down the plates she had brought from the table, Vivien said, “It’s pretty much the only thing I let him call me apart from my name.”

Allowing the girl to finish the dishes he used to insist she never needed to do at their home, Anthony directed his attention to his son as he leaned against the archway between the rooms and asked, “Why do you call her that? She’s not even that much shorter than you.”

“He’s been calling me that since we were little,” Vivien answered.

“Actually,” Riven began, “I first called you that on the day we met.”

“Really?” Vivien asked as she turned off the water and dried her hands on the tea towel dangling from the oven door handle.

“You don’t remember?” Riven asked in astonishment.

“I had just turned four!”

“This from the girl who remembers watching her parents get married when she was three,” Anthony chimed in.

“Not helping, Uncle Tony,” Vivien groaned.

“Wasn’t trying to,” Anthony chuckled, placing a hand on the girl’s head as he pushed off of the archway and headed back to the living room to watch the news.

Riven stood, following Vivien as she wordlessly headed toward the hallway, and asked, “Do you seriously not remember the day we met?”

Vivien shrugged as she pushed open the door to Riven’s room, the noncommittal act forcing a disbelieving noise out of Riven’s throat. Turning back toward her friend, the brunette admitted, “I can piece together some bits and pieces here and there, but not everything. I don’t have your Doctor-Spencer-Reid type of brain, Riven. I can’t just pull memories out of my ass.”

Riven rolled his eyes as he kicked a shoe in front of the door to keep it open. His ability to recall things at the drop of a hat had been a source of entertainment in recent days due to Jade explaining that his nearly photographic memory wasn’t as normal as he thought it was, but he wouldn’t go nearly as far as saying he could compare to the doctor from Criminal Minds. Dropping into the office chair his dad had helped him buy years prior, Riven questioned, “Well, what do you remember?”

With a chuckle, Vivien said, “Punching some kid in the dick.”

Riven snickered, the fond memory surfacing in his mind as he asked, “Anything else?”

A smile tugged at Vivien’s lips as he perched herself on the end of Riven’s bed, “Meeting Coach Barlow and dragging you around with me all day.”

Smiling at his long-time best friend, Riven said, “Okay, yeah, I remember that too, but there was a lot more to it than that.”

“Well, in that case,” Vivien began, shifting so that she sat cross-legged on Riven’s bed, “enlighten me, all-knowing one.” 

Hazel eyes rolled as Riven shook his head, sure the girl’s quip was meant to get a rise out of him and divert his attention elsewhere. However, as he took in the genuine intrigue in Vivien’s pine-colored gaze, Riven’s teasing remark about her height died on his lips. Allowing a fond smile to tug at the corner of his lips, Riven relaxed in his spinning chair and said, “Maybe I will.”

The Purple Finch Ice and Arts Center had not been easy to find. The fifty-minute drive from the O’Brian home to the middle of nowhere four towns over had been… entertaining, to say the least. With a practically bouncing four-year-old and two squealing two-year-olds in the backseat of their rust-speckled, in-desperate-need-of-repair 2001 Ford Explorer, the ride felt as though it took twice as long. However, as they pulled into the parking lot of the center and the children in the backseat got a good look at the large building, the car became relatively quiet, and Damien and Chelsea let out sighs of relief. After breaking the wagon stroller out of the trunk and buckling their twins into the seats, Damien hoisted their eldest daughter onto his hip and followed his wife toward the door as she wheeled the twins onward.

The car locked behind them as Damien tucked his keys into his pocket, his attention drawn to the excited child in his arms. Vivien had been begging to take figure skating lessons ever since the neighbors’ daughter, Makana, showed her a movie called Ice Princess, and now that the oldest of their children was finally old enough to be signed up for figure skating lessons, Damien drank in her starstruck expression with fervor. As though his little girl knew she was being watched, Vivien turned to her father with a brilliant smile and brought her arms around his neck before pressing a kiss to his cheek and thanking him for what could have easily been the millionth time since they told her where they were going that day.

As Damien took the door from his wife and stepped into the lobby, he watched as Vivien’s sea-green eyes flickered around the large lobby from behind her purple, sparkly glasses, scanning for every minuscule bit of information they could find. She was always fascinated by new places, something she shared with her father, and Damien couldn’t bring it upon himself to avert his gaze as Vivien’s wide, glittering eyes darted from one object to the next. As the girl’s gaze locked on a raised platform where a group of teenage girls were observing a figure skating lesson through a wall of windows, she turned to her dad with a pleading expression, a hushed question tumbling out of her mouth in a quick, nonsensical jumble.

Chuckling at his daughter’s enthusiasm, Damien nodded, lowering himself and his daughter to the ground before taking her by the hands and informing her to stay where her parents could see her. Vivien quickly agreed to the terms, wrapping her arms around her father in a quick, grateful embrace before darting off to watch the skaters. With a chuckle, Damien watched the older girls quickly accept Vivien into their watch party, a short blonde helping the small child balance on the bottom rail of the metal guardrail many of them were leaning against. With Vivien contently distracted, Damien turned his attention to the front desk, where his wife was discussing their options with the twenty-something worker behind the counter.

Meanwhile, Vivien’s eyes glowed a honeydew green as she took in the performance before her. Leaning as far over the railing as the bar against her chest would allow, her mouth fell open as a tall, raven-haired boy tossed his red-headed partner into the air, catching her in his arms only moments later. A stunned noise of surprise left Vivien’s lips, making the blonde girl behind her laugh, “They’re good, aren’t they?”

“Uh-huh!” Vivien vocalized. “Who are they?”

“Kirsten and Ryan Matthews,” another skater answered. Vivien peered up at the boy, his fluffy, onyx hair falling close to his eyes as he met Vivien’s gaze with his own dark, nearly black irises. “They’re siblings and they’re training for sectionals.”

“Like in Ice Princess!” Vivien squealed. “Are they gonna go to the Olympics?”

The blonde keeping Vivien from falling - Cleo or Chloe, Vivien already couldn’t remember - laughed, “Only if they’re really good.”

“They still need a lot of work to make the Olympics,” the boy said dismissively. “After Kirsten’s fall last year, she’s been struggling to land her jumps properly.”

Vivien looked up at the boy on her right, her nose wrinkled in frustration as she snipped, “What are you talking about? They both looked great.”

The blonde behind her snorted, patting Vivien’s bony shoulder as she smiled, “Jake’s just talking about what the judges will say. When you try out for the Olympics, you need to be perfect - the judges will see every little misstep they make and take points away for them.”

“That’s not nice,” Vivien muttered as she watched the skaters on the ice converse with their coach.

“Sadly,” the brunette skater standing on Vivien’s left began, “the judges aren’t paid to be nice to us, half-pint.”

The blonde quickly jumped in, finding Vivien’s gaze with a smile as she spoke, “Don’t let that stop you from trying, though. If you put in the effort and find that you love skating, it won’t matter to you what everyone else has to say.”

“Says you, Chlo,” the brunette said. “How many trophies in that case have your name on them, again?”

“That doesn’t matter, Ava,” Chloe sighed. “All that matters is that we love what we do and we put our hearts into our performances.”

Vivien glanced between the three skaters, taking in Jake’s resigned shake of his head and Ava’s teasing grin before tipping her head back to look at Chloe as she asked, “Can I see your trophies?”

“They’re not all mine, Vivien,” Chloe said with a grin, “but yeah, knock yourself out. They’re over there by the dance studio.”

Following the girl’s manicured fingers toward a glowing case filled with various trophies and medals, Vivien thanked the blonde before jumping down from the railing and slipping away from the group. Glancing down the hallway to ensure nobody would run her over, Vivien bolted across the hall to the trophy case, keeping her fingers away from the glass as she looked over the awards from various competitions. Despite only being able to make out a few of the words on each award due to her father teaching her how to read early, Vivien found herself enamored with the display. As her emerald eyes scanned over pictures of large groups of hockey players and figure skaters alike, a pair of barking laughs drew her attention away from the display case and onto a door labeled Studio 2.

Vivien took a curious step toward the door before glancing back over her shoulder at her parents. Finding them occupied with boring adult conversation as her dad talked with some people she couldn’t see beyond the counter and her mom dealt with her younger siblings, Vivien figured she would only poke her head into the room before returning to their sights once again. Making her way to the room, Vivien slowly opened the door and poked her head inside, finding a small room filled with mirrors and ballet barres. The room was nearly empty, apart from the three boys still lingering inside, and Vivien figured they were just messing around, but just as she was about to close the door once more, she heard one of the boys laugh again, drawing her attention back to them.

The youngest of the group, an auburn-haired boy who looked to be around the same age as Vivien’s friend and neighbor, Mickie, jumped, grabbing for something in the tallest boy’s hands, “It’s not funny, Gabe! I need those!”

The elder two boys - a brunet and a blond who had to have been at least ten or eleven - laughed as the tall blond stretched his arm as high as it could go and taunted, “Then, why don’t you grab them yourself?”

“Or get your mommy to buy you a new pair?” the brunet boy teased, laughing as his friend tossed him the item. “Oh, wait,” the boy began mockingly, “nevermind.”

The smaller boy looked up at them with wide eyes, hurt flooding his face as he took in the boy’s words. However, he didn’t get the chance to argue as the blond boy cackled, “It would be kind of hard for her to send you anything from heaven, wouldn’t it?”

The brunet tossed the object to his friend as the younger boy jumped with a gasp, allowing Vivien to catch a glimpse of the item. Her eyes widened as she realized they were tossing around the younger boy’s glasses. As the auburn-haired boy jumped once more, scrambling hopelessly for his glasses as the older boys threw them back and forth out of his grasp, Vivien shoved the door to the dance studio open and marched inside, pushing her glittery glasses further up her nose bridge and pushing the sleeves of her Care Bear sweater up to her elbows. She had already been ready to step in when she heard them teasing the boy about his mom, but she couldn’t just stand by while they were throwing around his glasses. She knew how upset her mom had been when she broke her glasses on the playground months prior; she didn’t want the boy’s parents to be upset with him if they broke, and it hadn’t been his fault.

Just as the blond tossed the younger boy’s glasses to his friend, Vivien swung her leg around and sent a swift kick directly into the older boy’s shin, forcing him to bend over and grab his leg with a howl of pain. As the brunet caught the glasses, his taunting smile quickly disappeared as Vivien’s rage-filled, emerald irises turned on him, and her tightly wound fist came into contact with her target. As the boy’s moment of shock and confusion culminated in a high-pitched,  pain-riddled shriek, Vivien snatched the glasses from his hand and grabbed the auburn-haired boy’s hand, pulling him behind her as she scurried toward the door. Once she was sure the boy had left the room behind her, she tugged him toward where her parents and siblings were sitting around a table, signing paperwork. 

Pushing him under the lip of the table, behind the cover of the wagon her twin siblings were playing in, Vivien met the boy’s wide, hazel eyes with a grin as she scooted into the gap between him and her dad’s chair. After giving his glasses a thorough inspection for cracks or scratches and wiping the lenses on the fabric of her shirt, Vivien placed the boy’s glasses on his face and pushed his hair away from his eyes before saying, “There you go. All better now.”

Bewildered, the boy glanced between the girl’s eyes before softly stammering, “Thank you… I-I think.”

“You’re welcome,” Vivien chirped before settling back into place beside the older boy. Realizing she never properly introduced herself, Vivien held out a hand, her handmade friendship bracelet from Mickie glistening in the fluorescent lights above as she spoke, “My name is Vivien. I’m four.”

“I’m Riven,” the boy admitted, hesitantly latching onto the girl’s tiny hand and allowing her to shake it. “I’ll be seven next month.”

“That’s cool,” Vivien mused. As the toes of her shoes tapped together, sending flashes of pink and purple across the soles of her sneakers, Vivien looked up at her newly acquired friend, “Why were those boys being mean to you?”

Riven’s eyes fell to the floor, minutely following the lights of Vivien’s shoes as he said, “’Cause I don’t have a momma anymore.”

Vivien’s head tipped to the side, “How come?”

“She went to heaven,” Riven claimed. “She was hurt in a car crash.”

“Oh,” Vivien said with a nod. Though she wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, she took his hand in hers and smiled reassuringly as she said, “I have two mommies. Now that we’re friends, you can borrow one if you want.”

Riven found Vivien’s eyes before leaning forward to look between the girl’s parents in confusion. “Wait, are they not your parents?”

“They are,” Vivien said, “but my mommy couldn’t have me, so my auntie had me and gave me to her as a present.”

Finding himself smiling despite his confusion, Riven asked, “Like, for Christmas?”

“No, silly! For my birthday,” Vivien giggled. Then, after a moment of thought, she said, “But my daddy says I’m a gift from God, so I guess it’s kind of like Christmas.”

“Does that make you baby Jesus?” Riven asked with a snicker. 

Appearing thoroughly miffed at the suggestion, Vivien’s nose scrunched as she argued, “I am not a baby!”

“No, but if it’s like Christmas, and you were the baby,” Riven began, “that makes you baby Jesus.”

Riven watched in amusement as Vivien’s face contorted, shifting from confusion to astonishment at the revelation to thoughtful. Then, he fought the urge to laugh as Vivien grumbled, “I hope they didn’t put me in a horse’s feed box like they did to baby Jesus.”

Vivien watched as the boy beside her snorted, a laugh forcing its way through his lips before he quickly smothered it with a hand. Glad she had been able to make him laugh, Vivien joined him briefly before he asked, “So, Vivien, what are you here for?”

With a shrug, Vivien claimed, “I’m gonna be a figure skater like Casey Carlyle.”

“Who’s Casey Carlyle?” Riven wondered aloud.

“She’s the Ice Princess,” Vivien claimed as though the boy should have known better. “I want to dance on ice in pretty dresses like she does.”

Although the girl’s response hadn’t actually answered his question, Riven found himself nodding, “I’m a figure skater, but I don’t wear dresses.”

Vivien looked the boy up and down before meeting his gaze with a blank stare, “Good.”

“What; you don’t think I’d look good in a dress?” Riven joked, nudging the girl’s arm with his elbow.

“No,” Vivien shook her head adamantly. “It’s just that you don’t sit like a lady, so you’d have to wear shorts under your dresses all the time.”

Riven glanced down at his criss-crossed legs and the brunette’s before saying, “You’re not sitting like a lady either.”

Vivien’s legs quickly straightened, one ankle placed over the other as she looked up at her friend with a cocky smirk, “Now I am.”

Chuckling at the younger girl, Riven stuck his tongue out at her, watching as her eyes widened, and she followed suit, blowing raspberries his way. The pair stopped as Vivien’s father peered under the table curiously, but as the man smiled and briefly joined them, the pair lit up, sharing wide-eyed smiles as they realized the adult didn’t mind their antics. However, as Vivien’s parents pushed out their chairs and stood, the young duo put their conversation aside and crawled out from under the table, Vivien dusting off her pants before taking Riven’s hand and tugging him along behind her parents as they followed a tall man through the lobby.

Riven didn’t miss the way the girl’s eyes flitted around the room, scanning for any sign of the two boys from earlier, but he was quick to reassure her in a hushed voice, “They won’t bug us anymore.”

Vivien’s gaze shifted away from the hallway and onto her new friend, a look of concern evident in her eyes, “How do you know?”

“We’re with grown-ups,” Riven said, brushing off her concern with ease. “They won’t mess with us if we’re with grown-ups, or else they’ll get in trouble. Plus, you’re here. You’ll protect me, right?”

“Yeah, I promise,” Vivien nodded, taking in the boy’s words as she began swinging their joined hands between them. “I’ll stay with you forever.”

The pair followed the adults down a long hallway of doors with various labels, Riven pointing out different rooms to Vivien in a hushed voice as the brunette looked around with genuine interest. After passing a set of locker rooms at the end of the hallway, Vivien’s father ushered his daughter and her new companion into the chilled skating arena before closing the door behind them. As Vivien looked around in wonder, Riven smiled, lightly guiding her toward where his dad was talking amiably with his coach. Taking his father’s hand in his free one, Riven introduced his new friend, smiling as his dad crouched before them and held out a hand to the small girl.

His coach was quick to follow suit, kneeling on the padded floor with a smile as he shook Vivien’s hand, “It’s nice to meet you, Miss Vivien. My name is Coach Barlow; I’m Riven’s teacher.”

Vivien smiled as the man released her significantly smaller hand, “Are you gonna be my teacher too?”

Riven’s dad spoke up, “You’ll probably be with the younger kids, sweetheart.”

Riven was quick to shake his head as he argued, “No, she’s staying with me, Papa.”

Coach Barlow chuckled as he found Riven’s hazel eyes, “Oh yeah? Is this your new skating partner, Riven?”

Riven dutifully nodded, “Yup.”

The two adults shared a look before Coach Barlow glanced up at Vivien’s parents and spoke once more, “I’m sorry, kiddo, but you’ll have to start out in the beginner class. I teach the six-to-nine-year-olds.”

“But I know how to skate already,” Vivien argued, “my Mickie taught me how. Besides, I promised I’d stay with Riven forever.”

“You did, did you?” Riven’s father asked with a grin tugging at his lips.

Vivien nodded, but before her parents could step in to steer their daughter from the idea, Coach Barlow looked between the children and smiled as he said, “We’ll have to see how much you know, but Riven, are you sure you’d like her as a partner in the future? She’s just a pipsqueak compared to you.”

“Yeah,” Riven said with a shrug, glancing between his coach and his new friend with a proud smile, “but she’s my pipsqueak now.”

A smile tugged at Vivien’s lips as she took in Riven’s peaceful smile from her sprawled-out position on his bed. After adding her limited recollection of that day, she had allowed Riven to tell the story as he remembered it, letting him drift back and forth between the faithful storyteller and the boy who couldn’t help but add his thoughts on different things as he spoke. Though she couldn’t recall their little origin story in its entirety, snippets of memories came to her as her best friend retold their first meeting. Meeting her friend’s hazel eyes, Vivien said, “I remember that.”

“You do?” he questioned in return. 

Vivien nodded as she hummed, “That’s the only reason I still let you call me ‘pipsqueak.’ If it hadn’t been for that day, I would have told you off years ago.”

“Really?” Riven asked.

Again, Vivien nodded, “Yeah. For a little while, I couldn’t stand it.”

Riven sighed, standing from his chair and maneuvering so that he sat beside Vivien’s head. As the girl rolled onto her back and smiled up at him, he brushed a few stray hairs away from her face and said, “You could have told me it bugged you. I would’ve stopped.”

“I know,” Vivien breathed, “but I didn’t want you to stop altogether, I was just sick of the rest of the older kids picking on me for being short.”

“They picked on you because of me?” Vivien shrugged, brushing off the question, but before she could say anything, Riven asked, “Who?”

“It doesn’t matter now, Riv,” Vivien chuckled as she pushed herself onto her elbows. “It was years ago, and they gave up when they saw it didn’t bother me. Besides, most of them don’t even skate anymore.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about it?” Riven pressed. “I could have made them stop sooner.”

“Again, I didn’t want you to stop calling me your pipsqueak just because of a few assholes,” Vivien admitted. “I mean, we’ve been through so much shit together since then that I can’t imagine you calling me anything else.” 

Riven sighed, but as Vivien reached up, pushing the corners of his mouth up with her fingers, he allowed himself to smile. He shook his head and chuckled, “We have been through a lot, haven’t we?”

Vivien hummed, nodding with a smile, “Concerts, break-ups, competitions.”

“DnD campaigns, summer camp, exploring abandoned places,” Riven added.

With a breath of a laugh, Vivien added, “Don’t forget the operations, surgeries, and car accidents.”

Letting out a heavy sigh, Riven rubbed subconsciously at his left side. Though it had been years since he and Vivien had been thrown from his moped on their way home from band practice, the memory of that day still bothered him. It wasn’t often that he found himself unable to protect Vivien - something he liked to pride himself on - but when those rare moments occurred, he found it impossible to let go. Warm fingers pried Riven’s hand from his shirt, dragging his attention away from his thoughts as Vivien tucked her fingers into Riven’s hand.

“I’m sor-”

Vivien’s empty hand landed over Riven’s mouth as she shot him a knowing look, “No.” Riven gave a muffled apology through her fingers, and Vivien shook her head. “You’re not allowed to be sorry; it wasn’t your fault.”

With his free hand, Riven took Vivien’s wrist and brought it away from his mouth so he could say, “It was, and I’m allowed to feel bad about it.”

“No,” Vivien said in return. “I mean, yeah, you can feel bad all you want. I can’t tell you how to feel, but you’re not allowed to apologize for someone else’s poor judgment. The only time - and I mean the only time - I’ve ever let you apologize for something that wasn’t your fault was when I broke my wrist, and that was because you wouldn’t let me stop you.”

Taking in a breath as the memory of Vivien’s fractured wrist came to the forefront of his mind, Riven released her wrist with a wince, “I’ll never forget that day.”

“I’m sure you won’t, Doctor Hewlett,” Vivien said as her arm fell back to the blankets, hoping the remark would steer her longtime friend away from any lingering regrets he might have held from that day. Despite Riven’s minuscule grin, Vivien found herself frowning. “You know,” she began, “I think I was more upset that you kept your distance from me afterward than I was about the broken wrist.”

Riven’s brows lifted as he peered down at his friend, “You were?”

With a scoffed laugh and a roll of her eyes, Vivien nodded, “I wouldn’t have showed up in the middle of a thunderstorm if I wasn’t.”

Edwin Barlow wasn’t an easy coach by anyone’s definition. He pushed his skaters harder than most because he knew they had potential, knew they had it in them to do great things. Many skaters had come through the doors of the Purple Finch arena looking for him, but few stuck around through his grueling hours of training. Though he was great with children and helped shape them into adequate skaters for other coaches, it wasn’t often he found ones that he felt confident enough in to push toward greatness. Students came and went over his twenty-three years of teaching, but very few had Olympian-level potential.

That was until he found Riven Hewlett and his young partner, Vivien O’Brian. 

From his first few weeks of one-on-one training with the boy, Edwin knew Riven could become something worth gold medals. The six-year-old had practiced with his parents since he could walk, skating on homemade rinks in their backyard or down at the frozen pond behind the playground at the elementary school, and his years of amateur practices had paid off. By the time Riven’s mother and father had signed him up for lessons with Coach Barlow, he was already capable of a handful of novice jumps and spins. For the first time in a long time, Edwin found himself wondering if there was a chance he was training a future Olympian.

Riven had been the coach’s pupil for just shy of a year before Vivien and her family came into the arena looking for a trainer. Initially brushing off the thought of adding the four-year-old to his ranks, Edwin found himself surprised by not only Riven’s immediate attachment to the child but also the girl’s skill on the ice. Riven pushed him to give the girl a chance, and while he was glad that he had, he hadn’t expected to see half of the talent he had. Vivien’s parents told him about how the girl had learned from an older child who lived down the street from them, but his attention was solely on the small girl who glided over the ice as though she owned it. Glancing down at the boy who had brought Vivien to him, Edwin knew then and there that he had a match made in heaven.

Truthfully, he hadn’t quite anticipated just how well the two would work together. As time progressed and the pair grew from nervous little children too hesitant to push outside of the routine that had been ingrained in their minds to pre-teens with creative choreographic ideas of their own, Edwin found himself bragging about them to anyone who would listen. The pair were still young, yes, but their skills on the ice far surpassed many others in their age bracket.

Just a week after Vivien’s tenth birthday, the duo approached their coach with an idea - switching their discipline from ice dancing to pair skating. Upon questioning their reasoning, Riven excitedly told their coach that they had found videos of the Sochi Olympics on YouTube and wanted to learn how to do lifts and throws like Russian gold medalists, Volosozhar and Trankov. Initially, Edwin was reluctant to allow the children he had grown to see as his own try anything more than the jumps and spins they had already worked so hard to perfect, but as Vivien’s pleading, puppy-dog eyes teamed up with Riven’s soft, hopeful smile, the coach found himself agreeing. 

He started them off small, training them off the ice in simple, Group 1 lifts where Riven would lift Vivien with one hand under her armpit and the other holding her hand while she braced herself on his shoulder for balance. It didn’t take long for the pair to move onto the ice, perfecting the movement with ease before a half-hour had passed. Though they worked their way through different variations of the lift over the next couple of weeks, it became evident that Vivien and Riven could easily make their way onto the next type of lift. 

By the next month, they had moved onto Group 2, where Riven would lift Vivien by her waist and hold her as high as he could while she held onto his wrists for support. Though Riven made it obvious that the lift was incredibly easy - their at-home efforts behind their coach’s back making it exceedingly easy for him to lift her above his head on the mats surrounding the rink - Edwin was wary about putting them on the ice. It was one thing for them to perform the lift on dry ground, but adding the harsh ice and the potential for other skaters to get in their way gave Edwin pause. The ten-year-old and her loyal, twelve-year-old companion were capable; they had proven that time and time again, but he just wasn’t quite sure if they should advance so quickly.

However, on the sunny afternoon that was the eleventh of October, he found he wasn’t given a choice in the matter. Edwin had left the children on a bench just outside of the rink to take a call in his office, telling them to practice a segment of their newest routine while he was out. There were plenty of others around - coaches, students, observant parents, people he knew he could trust to watch the children if need be. What he hadn’t accounted for, though, was the determination of two children who had been left to their own devices.

Once the door closed behind their coach, Vivien turned to Riven and tugged him to his feet, “Come on, let’s go!”

Grateful he had finished lacing his skates before his friend began yanking him toward the ice, Riven laughed, “Why are you in such a rush? We don’t even have our music ready yet.”

“Megalovania can wait,” Vivien brushed off with a wave of her hand, the video game music turned orchestral suite the pair had picked for their next competition being pushed aside for something far more entertaining. Turning to her friend as she stepped onto the ice, the brunette grinned mischievously, her braces gleaming in the fluorescent lighting surrounding the arena as she spoke, “Now that Coach is busy, we can finally practice our lifts on the ice.”

Riven seemed to hesitate as he glided toward his beaming friend, his eyes flickering toward the doorway through which their coach had disappeared. He knew deep down that if they were caught doing the one thing he asked them specifically not to do, they would be in his office quicker than they could utter an explanation. However, as his attention was drawn back to the girl before him, Riven found himself drawn to her excited smile and her piercing, emerald eyes, making it nearly impossible for him to argue. Instead, as Vivien reached out a hand, he found himself latching on with a smile, “Alright, but only once. I don’t feel like getting reamed by him or our parents.”

“Deal,” Vivien giggled, eagerly tugging her best friend further out on the ice and away from the group of four-to-five-year-olds who were training for a group performance they were going to be doing for the Christmas showcase.

The pair glided with ease across the ice, evading areas that the maintenance crew would be repairing at the end of the day as they found an area large enough to practice. After receiving a nod from her best friend, Vivien began skating backward toward him until Riven’s hands came to her waist. As Vivien pushed into his grasp, Riven began the loop lift they had practiced, bringing Vivien off of the ice and into the air as he extended his arms. Once he was sure of his grip, he pushed into the spins they needed to perform in order for the lift to qualify in a competition. 

Entering into the second turn, Riven’s eyes caught a glimpse of a small child skating far too quickly in their direction. Letting out a noise of surprise, Riven stumbled as he tried to come to a halt, nearly tripping over the child as Vivien let out a shriek of surprise, her nails digging into Riven’s wrists. As one of the coaches yelled for the kid to stop, Riven stepped around them, his toe pick catching on a sharp divot in the ice that had been left by the high school’s hockey team. With a shout, Riven released his hold on Vivien’s waist as gravity claimed him, hoping the girl would be able to catch herself faster than he could. However, as he slammed to the ice, a dull thump followed by a groan echoed nearby, and Riven knew that his efforts had been in vain.

Pushing himself back up, Riven checked on the child, who had already taken off to their teacher, before sliding across the ice to Vivien, who had silently pushed herself onto her knees. Vivien stared blankly at the ice, seemingly unbothered by the patches of snow on her clothes and in her hair, and Riven frowned as he took in how her right hand gripped her left wrist as her left hand pushed against her shakily rising chest. Apart from her panicked breathing, reddened cheeks, and a faint, pink scratch on her forehead, Vivien appeared to be fine. Placing a hand on her shoulder as he knelt before her, Riven said, “I’m sorry, Pip. I would have run that kid over if I kept going, but I thought you would’ve landed if I let go.” Vivien shrugged minutely, more of a twitch than anything, as she sucked in a shuddering breath. Riven’s eyebrows knitted together as he leaned into the girl’s line of sight and asked, “Are you alright?”

Finally lifting her gaze from the ice, Vivien shook her head as she met Riven’s gaze. As Vivien removed her right hand from where it gripped her left wrist, Riven felt mildly relieved to see no gaping wounds or pooling blood, but his relief quickly dissipated as the ten-year-old breathed, “I can’t move my fingers.”

“What?” Riven breathed.

Vivien’s eyes flickered between her best friend and her limp wrist as she explained, “I tried to catch myself instead of just letting myself hit the ice, and when I fell, I heard a crunch.”

“A crunch?” Riven repeated slowly, a weight settling in his chest as realization sank into his skin. 

Vivien’s ponytail bobbed as she nodded, “And now I can’t move my fingers.”

Riven instinctively reached for her arm, but stopped himself before his fingers graced her arm, taking her free hand instead, “Do you think your wrist is broken?”

Vivien shrugged, her mouth opening and closing a few times before she finally settled on shakily whispering, “I don’t know.”

The weight in Riven’s chest dropped to his stomach like an anchor, and as he looked around for an adult, a coach, someone more capable of handling both Vivien’s injury and his own rising panic, he found himself swallowing the thick lump that had begun to settle in his throat. Spotting Coach Cheryl Knight - a formal professional skater turned one-on-one coach for Vivien’s friend, Alexis Warren - Riven yelled out for the woman, stumbling over his words as he explained the situation and pleaded for her to find their coach as Vivien might have broken her wrist.

As the young coach took off, others began to swarm them, and Alexis was the first to take up the empty space beside Vivien as the young brunette held herself together far better than anyone seemed to think possible. It didn’t take long for Coach Barlow to rush into the arena, Coach Knight and both Riven and Vivien’s fathers close on his heels. Time seemed to fly as the growing crowd was pushed aside to make room for those in charge, but Riven refused to move as Vivien’s right hand clenched around his fingers, keeping him as close as their coach and fathers would allow.

Before long, Vivien’s arm was stabilized in an elastic bandage, and she was ushered out to the O’Brian family’s minivan. Riven, who had carried the girl’s belongings along with his own, helped her change out of her skates in the backseat, trying to listen to both their fathers’ hushed worries and Vivien’s soft singing as the radio played One Direction’s You & I. While he wanted nothing more than to listen to Vivien’s calm singing throughout the duration of the ride to the hospital, he couldn’t fight the urge to hear everything being divulged in the front seats. However, as they neared the hospital and Vivien softly asked him to stay with her, Riven found himself focused on helping his best friend as much as she would allow him to.

The emergency room was, thankfully, fairly empty, but they were still forced to sit in the waiting room until a nurse in kitten-covered scrubs called for Vivien to follow her. Riven pushed himself to his feet, ready to follow closely behind his friend and her father, but was stopped by his dad before he could get too far from the hard, plastic chairs. Vivien glanced over her shoulder at her friend, disappointment evident in her gaze, but it was quickly replaced by joy as her father asked the nurse if her brother could join them.

The nurse spared a quick glance toward Riven, her quick response dying on her tongue as she took in the boy’s expression, forcing her lips into a small smile. After receiving a nod, Riven dumped his belongings into the chair beside his dad and propelled himself toward the door, latching onto Vivien’s awaiting hand as she pulled him through the hallways of the hospital. Despite Vivien’s attempts to get something other than a nod or shaken head from her best friend, Riven remained silent as hospital staff came and went from the room they were brought to. When Vivien was taken to have some x-rays done, her father tried to reassure the boy that all would be fine and that Vivien was a tough girl, but Riven could only give short answers as he took in all that had happened.

Throughout the process of Vivien’s wrist being set and wrapped in a cast, Riven was silent yet allowed his best friend to keep his hand hostage as the nurse wrapped her arm in violet. Not long after, they were back in the parking lot, Vivien digging through the glove box of her parents’ minivan while Riven silently slid into the back seat, his eyes glued to the back of the driver’s seat headrest where he and Vivien had signed their names in Sharpie during a road trip to a competition. Vivien’s mom had tried for a week to get the writing out of the upholstery, but despite her best efforts, the childlike handwriting remained. Staring at the tiny stars replacing the dots in Vivien’s signature, Riven couldn’t help but feel like the worst best friend in the history of friendships.

Friends don’t break each other’s arms.

As the adults climbed into the car and Vivien settled into the bench seat beside Riven with a huff, muttering something about her cast under her breath, Riven felt his chest clench. For the next six or so weeks, Vivien would be stuck in a cast, and it was all his fault. As the car started, Vivien’s head slumped onto Riven’s shoulder, the girl’s chocolate hair pushed into Riven’s cheek as she asked her dad to play the One Direction CD she knew he kept in the car’s radio just for her. Riven peered down at Vivien in surprise as the girl began singing along to the music - how was she so calm?! 

As the car pulled onto the street Riven and his father lived on, Vivien lifted her head from Riven’s shoulder and smiled, chirping excitedly about how many signatures she was going to get on her cast during the following weeks. The brunette’s voice faded into nothingness as Riven watched her ramble. It wasn’t until they pulled into the Hewlett family’s driveway that Riven realized, to his surprise and mild frustration, that Vivien seemed far from upset with him. If anything, she seemed almost happy to have fractured her wrist. Why was it that he was more upset about it than she was? She was the one with the broken wrist, yet she was smiling away while the person who hurt her sat beside her, fearing the possibility of hurting her more than he already had.

As his father pulled the sliding door open, Riven said a hasty goodbye to his skating partner and her father before hefting his bag of belongings onto his shoulder and practically running toward the front door of his home. He dug the spare key out of the mail slot by the front door and pushed his way into the house, closing the door behind him as his father stopped to talk to the people Riven left in the van. Stumbling through the house toward his room, Riven tossed his bag on the floor by the couch and sucked in a shuddering breath. 

Throwing the door to his room open, Riven all but collapsed onto his mattress, running his hands through his hair until the icy digits came to rest against the back of his neck. He wasn’t sure how Vivien could be so calm; he was barely holding himself together, and he wasn’t even the one injured. If anything, Vivien should be wary of him, but instead, she was just as blasé about the injury as she had been when she attacked his bullies on the day they met.

It wasn’t long before Riven’s father came in with his son’s bag, depositing the duffel on the floor by Riven’s closet before sitting beside his son and placing a hand on his back. “She doesn’t blame you, y’know,” Anthony reassured his son, rubbing light circles on Riven’s back as he watched for some kind of reaction.

“She should,” Riven muttered, refusing to lift his gaze from the wooden floorboards he hoped would open up and swallow him whole. “I broke her arm.”

“It’s nobody’s fault that her arm broke,” Anthony contested softly. “You tripped trying to avoid hitting a kid, and both of you went down; there’s nothing to blame you for.”

“If I had seen the kid before-”

“Riven,” Anthony interrupted with a sigh as he knelt before his son, taking the twelve-year-old’s hands in one of his before placing his empty hand on his son’s cheek. “There was nothing you could have done to stop it. You are not to blame for this, and I am not about to let you beat yourself up for it.”

Riven searched his dad’s sea-green eyes before silently asking, “Why not?”

Anthony smiled, leaning over and pressing a kiss to his son’s forehead before saying, “When your mom passed, did you let me beat myself up for it?” 

Slowly shaking his head, Riven breathed, “No. You didn’t kill her.” 

“Exactly,” Anthony stated, cupping his son’s face in his hands. “Vivien knows you aren’t to blame - we all know it. You just need to take the time to figure that out for yourself.”

Riven tried not to scoff as he asked, “How long will that take?”

Without missing a beat, Anthony chuckled, “Knowing Vivien, not long.”

A part of Riven knew his dad was right, but as the man stood and made his way to the kitchen to put together something for dinner, he couldn’t help but feel the knot in his stomach grow bigger as his eyes landed on a picture on his wall of himself and Vivien at a nearby go-kart track. Would he ever be able to allow himself to be that comfortable around her again? Was he ever going to able to make up for hurting her? Could he truly be considered a good skating partner after this? Would she ditch him? Would they remain friends even if she did?

It took all of a week for Riven to get his answer.

A week of radio silence, a week of solitude, and a week of pent-up frustration boiled beneath Vivien’s tan skin. She understood that they were unable to talk during school hours as neither of them had cell phones, and they went to separate schools, but they normally talked after school until either Vivien’s dad needed his phone for something or its battery died. Vivien had tried calling more than once a day after being let out of school, but had always reached either Riven’s father or the home phone’s voicemail.

Although she didn’t appreciate being stone-walled by her best friend, Vivien knew to give him space. Riven was the type to take things to heart and think things through to the point he physically couldn’t think of anything else, whereas Vivien liked to talk things out immediately and clear the air so there was no tension. She wasn’t good with silence, while Riven needed silence to process things. As much as it ticked her off, she gave him space. 

Well… for as long as she could handle it.

When Monday rolled around, and she still hadn’t heard anything from Riven, Vivien began to concoct a plan that would make it impossible for him to avoid her any longer. Her first idea came to her in Homeroom while Mr. Alderman was busy trying to help a group of kids from her science class with their homework, but it was quickly brushed off as publicly dragging the chief of police’s son from the school to her dad’s minivan probably wouldn’t go over too well. Vivien’s next plan of action spiraled from a conversation on the track with Alexis, her friend from the arena. However, the thought of pretending to be injured to gain Riven’s attention was quickly pushed aside in favor of what became her master plan.

As soon as the bell rang that afternoon, Vivien made a mad dash across the parking lot and into the high school, bursting into the principal’s office while the poor secretary at the main desk hastily tried calling her father to let him know of his daughter’s arrival. Upon filling her bewildered father in on a portion of her after-school and borrowing a couple of dollars from him for the bus fare to the next town over, Vivien headed out to the parking lot and ran across the street to the bus stop by the gas station. While she waited for the bus to arrive, it began to rain, and one of her classmate’s parents pulled up beside the bus stop, asking if she needed a ride home. Vivien was quick to graciously decline, explaining she was going to Laconia to visit a friend and had gotten permission from her father to take the bus.

Once they left to pick their son up from school, Vivien only waited a few minutes before the local bus pulled up to the stop, its rusty brakes screeching as it slowed. After stepping aboard and handing the driver some of the money her dad had given her, Vivien collapsed into the closest seat to the front, digging into her backpack to inspect the homework she had been given as the bus pulled away from the stop. It didn’t take long for her to finish the math homework she’d been given, but as she struggled to read through her history assignment on colonial times, the words jumbled on the page like a bowl of alphabet soup, the driver slowed to another stop.

Looking up from her migraine-inducing history book, Vivien quickly pulled her rain poncho out of the front pocket of her bag before shoving the rest of her belongings into her backpack and hauling it onto her shoulders before rising from her seat. As the bus stopped at the covered bench outside of the Laconia police department, Vivien made her way out of the bus, thanking the driver for the ride before pulling her poncho on over herself and her backpack and stepping out into the rain. As the people waiting at the bus stop rushed onto the bus, Vivien scanned the police station parking lot for the black Silverado she knew Riven’s dad would have taken to work. There were a few trucks in the lot, but the sticker of the local high school’s mascot on the tailgate of one told Vivien all she needed to know.

With a grin, she waited for traffic to clear before dashing across the street. Not wanting to deal with the cracked, uneven sidewalks that she almost always rolled an ankle on during the summer, Vivien walked up the length of Cross Street on the side of the road. Avoiding the occasional pothole as she jogged across the intersection of Cross and Fenton Ave, Vivien used her uncasted hand to swipe water from her glasses and push them further up her nose before tugging the hood of her poncho back into place.

The walk from the police department to Riven’s house was maybe five minutes on a good day, three if they ran, and potentially ten if it had snowed, but Vivien hated walking in the rain most. Her soggy sneakers squelched as she jogged up the porch steps, reaching for the key she knew they hid in the mailbox, yet Vivien found she couldn’t care less about the circumstances as she pushed the slightly curved key into the lock. Opening the door, Vivien silently made her way inside, discarding her sneakers by the heater vent and hanging her poncho on the coat rack before pulling her backpack from her shoulders and dropping it onto the nearest couch cushion.

She knew from the damp hoodie by the door that Riven was home, but he wasn’t in the living room or kitchen, and as she peered into his bedroom, Vivien frowned as she realized he wasn’t there either. As she glanced into Riven’s dad’s office, unsure where her best friend could have gone, the sound of steady drum beats drew her attention to a door by the end of the hall. The typically locked basement door was unlatched, and as Vivien nudged open the door, she could see that a light had been turned on. Making her way down the stairs, Vivien found the sound becoming more clear with every step. As she turned toward the music with a smile, Vivien found her best friend messing around on his father’s old drum set.

“You know,” she began after watching him play for a moment, making him jump as he realized he wasn’t alone, “I thought with your dad being the chief of police, he would have found a better spot to hide the spare key.”

Riven’s eyes widened as he found Vivien leaning against the railing at the bottom of the stairs. As his eyes flickered between hers, the purple cast on her arm, and the drum set before him, Riven asked, “What are you doing here?”

“Watching you rock out, apparently,” Vivien claimed as she inched further into the room. Taking a look around, she smiled and said, “This place would be great for a band to play in, but it kind of reminds me of that new show I’ve been begging you to watch with me.”

“Stanger Things?” Riven asked as he set down his drumsticks.

“Mhm,” Vivien hummed. “They play this game called DnD in the basement. If you put up some decorations and move the boxes and stuff around a bit, this would be a cool place to start a campaign.”

Against his better judgment, Riven grinned as he nodded, “I’m hoping to join the DnD club at school next month.”

“You should suggest having a meeting here or something,” Vivien suggested as she pulled a folding chair open and sat down. “It would be cool.”

Riven hummed thoughtfully before his gaze fell on her arm once more. Quickly averting his gaze, Riven asked again, “So, what are you actually doing here?”

Sucking in a breath, Vivien sighed, “I miss my best friend. He’s been ignoring me for a week now and I can’t take it any longer.”

Riven’s gaze lifted from the drum set before him as he asked, “How can you still call me your best friend after what I did to you?”

Vivien shrugged, “You ignored me for a week, that’s not a dealbreaker here, Riv.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” Riven stated with a shake of his head.

Vivien looked down at her cast and sighed, “I know.”

“I’m sor-”

“It was super rude of you to not sign my cast, but I still forgive you.”

Riven’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion as followed Vivien’s eyes to the purple wrapped around her hand and forearm. Scanning over the material, Riven realized nothing had been written on the girl’s arm. “What happened to getting everyone in your class to sign that?”

With a smile, Vivien said, “You’re my best friend, Riven; you get the first signature. Everyone else can wait their turn.”

Confused and exasperated by Vivien’s avoidance of the topic at hand, he asked, “I’m the reason your arm is broken in the first place; why on earth would you want me to sign it?”

“First of all, no, you aren’t,” Vivien said, “and, second, I already said it’s because you’re my best friend.”

“If I hadn’t dropped you-”

“You didn’t drop me.”

“Vivien,” Riven huffed, “you can deny it all you want, but if I didn’t drop you, your arm wouldn’t be in a cast.”

“It wouldn’t have happened at all if I hadn’t insisted we practice lifts while Coach Barlow wasn’t around,” Vivien insisted. “We could play the blame game for hours, but none of this is anyone’s fault.”

Riven held Vivien’s gaze for a while before heaving a sigh, “I don’t know how you can see it that way, but I don’t think I can ever forgive myself.”

“Even though I don’t blame you for it,” Vivien began slowly as she stood from her chair and moved closer to Riven, “saying that I forgive you doesn’t change that, does it?” 

With a small smile and a shake of his head, Riven said, “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have a reason to be,” Vivien stated with a roll of her eyes, wrapping her arms around Riven’s shoulders and tucking her face into his shoulder, “but I forgive you.”

As though a weight had been taken from his shoulders, Riven sucked in a deep breath and closed his eyes as his arms came to close around Vivien, tugging the girl impossibly close as he muttered, “I’m never dropping you again, I promise.”

“And you haven’t since,” Vivien said with a proud smile. "At least, not on accident."

Riven chuckled as he rose from his seat and grabbed his songbook from his desk, “I wouldn’t break a promise like that.”

As her friend grabbed his acoustic guitar from its stand by his window, Vivien pushed herself up into a seated position and asked, “What’re you doing?”

Riven sent her his usual, lopsided grin as he tossed his songbook toward her and made himself comfortable on the mattress once more, “Practicing the music we said we were working on this weekend.”

Vivien was quick to examine the book, following her auburn-haired friend in sitting cross-legged as she looked over the lyrics they had worked on the weekend before. Riven’s chicken-scratch writing filled the page with hastily written notes and potential lyrics for their band, but of their band’s four members, Vivien was the only one who was able to decipher his atrocious handwriting. Smiling as Riven began strumming random chords on his guitar, Vivien held up the notebook and said, “Your handwriting is still just as shitty as it was when I met you.”

“Well, you’re the only one who reads it anymore, so it doesn’t really matter, does it?” Riven asked with a chuckle. 

Vivien rolled her eyes, but laughed, “Remember when Erica and Jade joined us for the first time and I just handed this to them?”

Riven snorted, “Poor JJ looked ready to cry when she couldn’t read it.”

“And Erica bought you a kid’s handwriting practice book for Christmas because she was sick of your shit,” Vivien added. As Riven laughed and began softly humming the lyrics to the song he was working on, Vivien wondered, “I still can’t believe that those two got together. They were so polar opposite when they first became friends.”

“Yeah, but they work well together,” Riven commented. “Do you remember when we first got them to join the band?”

Vivien smiled as she nodded, “Yeah. Erica joined us the same week I started dating Lexi.”

“And what a trainwreck that was,” Riven huffed. With a smirk, he added, “Both our first practice and the whole Lexi thing.”

“Yeah,” Vivien sighed. “Middle school me really should have thought things through first before jumping into a relationship.”

“Not to mention what a manipulative, emotionally abusive piece of shit she was,” Riven grumbled as his grip tightened on the neck of his guitar, the mere memory of Lexi’s treatment of Vivien igniting something in him that begged to throw hands with the girl who now lived a few hours away.

“She wasn’t always like that and you know it,” Vivien stated. “She was my friend.”

Riven’s gaze lifted from his guitar once more, finding Vivien’s eyes with a look of incredulity, “She threw a skate at your head. If that qualifies her as your friend, what does that make me?”

Vivien’s answer was quick, “My brother and faithful companion.” At Riven’s serious expression, she sighed, “Okay, I get it. My relationship with Lexi wasn’t great and I learned a lot from it, but I moved on a long time ago. Regardless, I love the relationship I have with Royce even though it’s only been a couple of months. I don’t see us breaking up any time soon.”

“Good,” Riven said with a nod. “You two seem really good for each other.”

“I think so too,” Vivien admitted, a fond smile tugging at her lips as she wondered just what her boyfriend was up to at that moment. Looking back up at Riven as she absentmindedly flipped through his book of songs, Vivien said, “You have to admit, though, the song Erica helped me write about Lexi was a banger.”

“Only because you two bashed the shit out of her,” Riven snorted. Reaching across the space between them to take Vivien’s hand, Riven pleaded, “Look, I know you say that you and Royce are in it for the long haul, but please, promise me you’ll never get into a stupid relationship like that again. I don’t think any of us would be able to handle it if you clammed up on us again.”

Squeezing Riven’s hand, Vivien took in a breath and smiled as she said, “Only if you promise to listen to me when I tell you something is off about the girls you go out with.”

Riven chuckled, nodding as he agreed, “Touché. How about we just promise not to date anymore shitty people? I think we’ve been through enough of those.”

Vivien laughed, “Tell me about it!”

Vivien had always been the type to have a few close friends but be friendly toward everyone around her. Many people at her school knew her as the social butterfly who flitted around the cafeteria and hallways, making sure everyone was doing well and that, if they weren’t, they knew she was there for them. She was an outgoing, enthusiastic girl who had a variety of interests so vast that everyone she came across seemed to have something in common with her.

Even at a young age, Vivien had a way of making those around her feel welcome in her presence. It didn’t matter if the people she interacted with were older or younger than her; she just liked making people feel loved the way her grandparents had taught her to. Spending time at her grandparents’ summer camp over the years had encouraged Vivien to welcome all she came across with a smile and an eagerness to befriend them.

If her bubbly yet calm personality wasn’t a magnet to random strangers, her passionate support of her friends and family members was. Vivien had never been one to silently show her love. Not only did she wear her heart on her sleeve more often than not, but she had a fierce sense of loyalty and love for the people she kept near and dear. Whether it was hurling harsh words at those who emotionally or physically hurt those she loved or the way she showed up to every game, recital, and performance, those around her knew they were cared for and loved by the warmhearted brunette.

Perhaps that was what attracted Alexis Warren to her in the first place. 

They had become friends when Lexi began skating at the same ice rink Vivien and her siblings attended. Offhanded compliments about the younger girl’s hair or outfits being accepted with brilliant smiles as they passed each other in the locker room. Over the course of her first year at the rink, Lexi found herself being inexplicably drawn in as seven-year-old Vivien stood up to one of the pre-teen girls who chose to pick on one of Lexi’s friends. Vivien didn’t even know the kid, but the rage in her emerald eyes glowed like hellfire as she verbally ripped the older girl a new asshole. Once the threat was gone and Vivien was alone with Lexi and her friend, Dakota, Lexi found the gravitational pull surrounding the younger brunette too strong to ignore.

Maybe it was her smile, her friendly reassurance, or her protective tendencies, but frankly, Lexi didn’t care what it was; all that mattered was that there was something there. Something now linked the two of them together - a string tied loosely around their wrists that tugged them closer than they had been before. From then on, Vivien was a part of Lexi’s life whether she liked it or not. Despite her initial eye rolls at the girl’s questions about her well-being and how her family was, Lexi found herself genuinely smiling at the younger brunette every time she sidled up beside her to pester her before practice. It only seemed to get worse when Lexi’s adoptive parents moved to Sanbornton for work before the next school year, forcing Lexi into the same school as Vivien since the older girl had been held back a year before being adopted.

Now that Vivien considered her a friend of sorts, Lexi found it to be damn near impossible not to see the brunette. Every morning, as their buses rounded the loop by the front door of their school, Vivien would run up to her new friend and take her by the arm, excitedly gabbing with Lexi as much as she could before entering the building and turning off at the library where Lexi continued onward. For longer than she cared to admit, Lexi would find herself thinking about Vivien every morning, wondering why the younger girl had taken such an interest in her. It wasn’t like she was special or anything. 

Before summer vacation that year, Vivien cornered Lexi on her way out of the gym, dragging her to the nearby bathroom before asking the older girl if she had any plans for the break. When Lexi hesitantly admitted that she wasn’t sure what they would be up to, Vivien reached into the pocket of her overalls and pulled out a clearly hastily folded paper, unfolding it before handing it to her friend. The page had clearly been printed from the school’s library computer - half of the ink was colorless while smudges of greens and blues streaked down the paper. However, Lexi could still make out the writing. Vivien quickly explained that her grandparents ran a local summer camp and that she wanted to extend the invitation to the camp to only her closest friends. Before Lexi could press her for more information, though, Vivien let her know the website was written on the back of the paper before pushing a glittering object into the pocket of Lexi’s hoodie and scurrying back into the hall to find the rest of her classmates.

Bewildered, Lexi stood in the bathroom for a while, looking between the paper in her hand and the handmade, beaded bracelet Vivien had given her. After a few minutes, the bell rang, and Lexi hurried to her next class, tucking the paper into her hoodie and pulling the bracelet onto her wrist just as she reached the door to her classroom. Later that day, when her family’s minivan pulled into the parking lot to pick her up after school, she handed her parents the paper and asked if she could go to spend the summer with her friends. By the end of the week, Lexi had her answer and had begun packing her belongings.

She had been welcomed into the camp’s makeshift family relatively quickly - Vivien’s grandparents and aunt making the transition feel like visiting family in another town instead of a summer-long stay away from home. Being in the same cabin as Vivien for the summer meant the pair grew closer than Lexi thought was possible, but neither seemed to complain as they spent their days attached at the hip, wandering around camp with their hands intertwined. For most, it was obvious that the two girls had become inseparable, but for others, the bond they shared was a bit more… blurred.

It wasn’t until the ending performance of The Wizard of Oz that anyone dared to voice their thoughts. Sitting together behind the scenes of the show, watching Vivien’s aunt, Hayley, and the woman’s girlfriend, Charlotte, keep everyone in line behind the stage, Lexi and Vivien laughed quietly among themselves as their friends from over the summer ran around like chickens with their heads cut off. Then, all at once, the laughter stopped as their cabin’s counselor, Ashley, and her two friends, Bella and Sarah, sauntered over. Thinking they were about to be reprimanded for laughing, the eleven-year-old and thirteen-year-old quieted, sending wary looks to each other before focusing their attention on the girls before them. 

Then, without hesitation, Ashley asked, “Are you two dating or something?”

“You’re always together,” Bella chimed in. “If you guys were just close or something, we wouldn’t ask, but where you two are practically inseparable and only ever spend time with the rest of the cabin if you have to, it sort of makes it seem like you’re dating.”

“Which is totally cool and all,” Sarah said with a gentle smile. “We just wanted to know if it was okay if we ship you two or not.”

Bella hummed, “It would be totally awkward if we shipped you two and you weren’t dating.”

Ashley nodded, her barely contained ponytail of curls bouncing precariously as she asked, “So, are you two a couple or what?”

Confused by the question, Vivien’s head tipped to the side like a confused pup, and Lexi watched with surprised eyes as time slowed around them before the younger girl turned toward her and asked, “Are we?”

As she took in Vivien’s genuine curiosity, Lexi felt as though a puzzle piece that had gone missing years ago finally slid into place, slotting itself right into the only spot left open in her mind. At that moment, she realized that the answer had been right in front of her for a long time. Hoping to appear as nonchalant as possible despite the blood rushing to her cheeks, Lexi shrugged as she replied, “We can be if you’d like to be.”

Vivien giggled - the magical sound that occasionally drove Lexi up a wall - and smiled up at the counselors before replying, “In that case, yeah, we’re dating!”

Then, as the lights from the stage flickered toward their spot backstage, Vivien’s metal-filled smile shone, and Lexi felt her resolve disappear altogether. She knew, right then and there, that she would do anything Vivien asked her to. That day - August 25th, 2017 - would be ingrained in her memory for years to come. That was the day she knew she’d been permanently changed by one Vivien Harley O’Brian.

People in Lexi’s immediate circles took the information far better than she initially expected them to. Liana and Nathan - she still wasn’t entirely ready to call them Mom and Dad - adoptive parents were accepting and supportive, telling her that they were simply glad she was happy. Her adoptive older siblings - Sean and Isla - showed their approval in their own ways; Isla took her out to the movies and on a girl’s day to make sure Lexi knew she had someone to turn to if she ever needed it, whereas Sean joked about being grateful he could finally talk about girls with someone relatively close to his own age before letting her know he was genuinely happy for her. Even the new foster kids in their family - the biologically orphaned siblings, Ian and Tessa - had taken the news well after Liana and Nathan explained the situation.

Vivien’s family, on the other hand, had only one problem - her mother, Chelsea. Despite the woman’s sister and Vivien’s biological mother being a proud lesbian who was dating a bisexual woman, it seemed that the idea of one of Chelsea’s children being anything other than straight was world-ending. Vivien’s dad, Damien, on the other hand, took his daughter out for ice cream to hear all about the girl’s relationship away from her mother’s influence, making sure his eldest child knew how loved she was before bringing her and her siblings to their grandparents’ home for the weekend.

Her father had returned to their home to gather some clothing for the weekend to find the house empty, but he brushed it off as her blowing off steam and returned to the cabin after calling Riven’s father to explain the situation and phoning his sister-in-law to see if she could stop by her parents’ house if she had the time. Of course, Hayley and her girlfriend took time off to spend the weekend with family at the Hill House, spending the majority of their time spoiling the crap out of the eleven-year-old girl who suddenly found herself having more in common with her aunt’s girlfriend than she thought would be possible.

That weekend, Lexi found herself on the phone with Vivien more often than ever before, using what little time they had left before the start of the next school year to spend conversing with each other as, for the next school year, Vivien would be in the middle school, and Lexi would be up in the junior high. They would be on different bus schedules, different class schedules, and lunches together would be nonexistent, making their time together slim to none. However, when school started a few days later, Lexi still fought to call Vivien after school, resulting in more than one uncomfortable talk with the girl’s mother until Vivien picked up the call in another room.

One thing that remained a constant in their otherwise frenzied lives was their time at Purple Finch. Despite Vivien’s training time with Riven and Lexi’s drill instructor coach keeping them on the ice at different times, there was still time in between lessons where they could talk to their hearts’ content. Whether their meetings were in the locker room or in the hallways or during ballet training with the old lady teacher who, according to some of the older skaters, looked like she had been using the line between life and death as a jump rope for the entirety of their time at the rink, Lexi and Vivien found time to sit around and talk.

Over the course of the next year, they hardly ever went on anything Lexi’s older siblings said could be considered dates. They would hang out at the local arcade, go see movies, or go out to eat at the diner with at least one of their parents present, but that was usually the extent of their time together outside of practice and hanging out at each other’s houses. Though Lexi knew by then that what her siblings were saying was true, she really didn’t want to believe them. Sure, her relationship with Vivien wasn’t anything like her brother’s flings with girls on the high school’s various sports teams or her sister’s relationship with the captain of the debate team, but whoever said that their relationship had to be like anyone else’s, clearly didn’t know them well.

So long as they enjoyed being together, that was all that mattered, right?

As the school year came and went, the chilly winter and early spring were soon replaced by the warmth of the summer sun, and Lexi found herself in the presence of Vivien’s close family once again. Despite being in a separate cabin from Vivien that year due to their relationship, Lexi enjoyed her stay. The pair ate meals together at a table in the far corner that always got a glaringly bright amount of sunlight every morning, and, despite their polar opposite thoughts on seeing the sun so early in the morning, Lexi put up with having to squint in order to see her plate every day to appease the excited girl she sat across from.

Her fourteenth birthday came and went, and as the camp season came to a close shortly after Vivien’s twelfth birthday, Lexi found herself actively dreading the upcoming school year. Although Vivien was now in seventh grade and would be joining her at the junior high, Lexi was conflicted. She had been reasonably overwhelmed by the amount of people flooding the halls of the regional junior-senior high school but liked to keep to herself and the small handful of people she knew from the previous year. Vivien, on the other hand, was a social butterfly whose mere presence attracted strangers like moths to the flame. Initially, she worried whether or not Vivien would still be able to find time for her with the younger girl’s influx of new friends from the surrounding towns. Not long into the school year, however, Lexi realized she didn’t have much to worry about as Vivien made sure she had enough gaps between classes to meet Lexi somewhere in the building.

However, good things seemed to only last so long in Lexi’s life, and it didn’t take long for her to realize just that. On a chilly afternoon in late November, her parents sat Lexi and her siblings down, telling them that they had recently received a call from her dad’s parents about his mother’s health failing. At first, Lexi was as worried about the woman she had only met a handful of times, but as Nathan explained that they would need to move to Maine to help take care of the elderly woman, a high-pitched buzzing filled her ears, and the rest of the conversation was drowned out. Her older siblings seemed to have issues with the idea of leaving behind their jobs, and their newly adopted siblings were upset about having to move only months after finally feeling like they had found a permanent home, but they all seemed to calm down significantly once their mother explained that it wouldn’t be for a couple of months and that the chances of them staying in the northern state for long were slim to none.

Lexi’s first instinct once she reached her bedroom was to call Vivien and tell her what had happened, but when the girl answered the phone, excitedly telling her girlfriend all about the Titanic project she had finally finished with the help of her biological mother, Lexi found herself sitting silently, unable to string together a simple sentence. Although she didn’t want to ruin Vivien’s excitement with the news of her family’s move, she knew the girl would have to find out eventually. Swallowing her emotions and plastering a smile on her face, she piped into Vivien’s excited ramble, asking her to tell her all about her project.

As December crept into the picture and stacks of zip-tied moving boxes began to take up space in the coat closet by the Warren family’s front door, Lexi tried multiple times to bring the topic of their move into a conversation with Vivien. However, her attempts were in vain. Whether it was just that she had no time to get the news out or if she couldn’t bring herself to drag Vivien’s mood down in the midst of her parents’ marital issues, Lexi just couldn’t find a way to bring the topic to light. It wasn’t until after Christmas, when her family had begun pushing her and her siblings to pack their belongings, that Lexi felt the urgency of the situation hit her like a brick wall.

Winter break had extended into the second week of January due to a particularly nasty blizzard, and with school out until the roads could be sufficiently cleared, Lexi found herself swimming in her thoughts. Despite her reluctance to pack, her parents had set a move-out date for the end of the month, forcing her to rip the bandage off far quicker than she had hoped. Her younger siblings had gotten over their initial upset about the move, raving to their friends about the new school they would be attending and making sure to share phone numbers before the end of the month. Even her older sister, Isla, had a boyfriend who was willing to wait for her - the same boy on the debate team that she’d gone out with since Lexi was ten.

On the other hand, her older brother failed in his mission of maintaining his relationship through the move. Sean’s girlfriend, Olivia, admitted she wasn’t up for the long-distance thing, and as she would be moving out of her parent’s place for college soon anyway, she had planned on letting him go gently. Although Lexi knew they had broken it off civilly, she had seen her brother sulking for long periods of time. Watching him trudge around the house had only made Lexi’s already high levels of stress skyrocket.

That Friday afternoon, Lexi managed to find time between her after-school dance practice and Vivien’s meeting with her coach to pull the younger brunette aside. Upon dragging her girlfriend into the locker room by the showers, Lexi urged her to sit on one of the wooden benches across from her and watched as Vivien’s leg bounced against the seat. As though the situation wasn’t already hard for her, Lexi could see the faraway look in Vivien’s eyes and watched as the girl’s brows furrowed, the inside of her cheek tugging into the gap between her teeth - all telltale signs that Vivien was already deep in thought about something that had begun worrying her.

Lexi tipped her head to the side and asked, “Are you alright?”

Vivien shrugged, her shoulders shuddering as she took in a breath. Her concerned, emerald gaze found Lexi as she sighed, “I’m just worried about Riven; that’s all.”

Riven? Lexi internally rolled her eyes. What could possibly be wrong with the daddy’s boy Vivien often referred to as her older brother? He had a nearly perfect life; why would Vivien need to be worried about him? Forcing herself to push her intentions aside and understand that Vivien had looked up to the boy - in more ways than just physically - for far longer than she, herself, had known either of them. Taking in a breath, she asked, “Why, what’s wrong with him?”

As though Lexi had just cursed her entire family, a wounded expression glazed over Vivien’s eyes as she asked, “Have you been listening at all when we talk at night?”

To be honest, Lexi hadn’t truly been paying attention since her parents sat her and her siblings down on Thanksgiving break. Everything since then had been a blurred mess consisting of her half-assed attempts to tell Vivien all that was going on in her mind, the whirlwind that was clearing her room of all her belongings, and the emotional rollercoaster she had been riding for the last month and a half. As much as she hated to admit it, Lexi found her gaze drifting to the floor as she realized she hadn’t exactly been the most attentive person in recent days.

“I’m sorry, Vivi,” Lexi apologized. “It’s been a rough few months.”

“For all of us,” Vivien huffed under her breath. Lexi glanced up, catching the tail end of Vivien’s eye roll as the girl continued, “Brooke is trying to get Riven away from me and the band. I mean, I get that she’s Riven’s girlfriend and deserves to have some of his attention, but it’s like no matter how hard we try to accept her or get her to hang out with us as a group, she throws a fit and won’t stop until he goes to spend time with her alone. I just don’t get what her deal is.”

Since when had Riven gotten a girlfriend? Lexi had honestly thought the guy was gay for quite some time since he never had a girl around, but Vivien’s statement made it pretty obvious that the older boy just had incredibly poor taste in women. With a nod, Lexi offered, “Maybe she’s just worried about him spending so much tim with a bunch of girls.”

“Maybe, but I doubt it,” Vivien sighed. “She was friends with Jade and Erica before she even started dating Riven, so I can’t help but feel like I’m somehow the issue here.” Vivien found Lexi’s eyes, a frown taking over her face before she looked away with another shake of her head. Lowering her voice to nothing more than a whisper, she added, “I just feel like there’s something more to this that I’m not seeing.”

Lexi waited for a moment, watching Vivien’s eyes flicker around the room as her mind raced with thoughts Lexi would never be able to follow. After a while of silence, she spoke, “Speaking of something more…”

Vivien sighed, sucking in a breath before finding Lexi’s eyes with a smile the older girl could tell wasn’t entirely genuine, “Right. You wanted to tell me something?”

Nodding, Lexi slowly spoke, “I’ve been struggling with this for a while, but I’m running out of time, so I figured now would be a good time to get it out in the open.”

“Alright,” Vivien breathed. “Shoot.”

Vivien’s quick response gave Lexi pause. Couldn’t she tell from Lexi’s tone that something was wrong? Clearing her throat, Lexi said, “My dad’s mom - you know, the one from Maine? - well, I guess she’s pretty sick.”

“Oh no,” Vivien muttered. “Do they have any idea what’s wrong?”

Lexi shrugged. Despite the multiple times her parents had discussed the issue, she hadn’t been fully paying attention, having been more caught up in her thoughts than anything. “I’m not sure, but I think my mom said it was MS or something.”

“That sucks,” Vivien said with a thoughtful nod. “My Nonna’s friend, Miss Cathy, has MS. Her daughter and son-in-law take care of her.”

Lexi nodded, “Well, my grandma’s health has gotten worse in the last couple of months, and her husband isn’t able to take care of her on his own, so my parents are planning on moving up there to take care of her.”

“Oh,” Vivien let out, realization flooding across her features.

“Yeah,” Lexi sighed. Vivien’s eyes drifted as she began to get lost in her thoughts once more, and in a desperate attempt to keep the girl’s attention on the topic at hand, Lexi began rambling, “Look, I’ve tried to tell you since I found out back in November, but you were always busy with school or family stuff or dealing with your parents being on the edge of divorce, and I didn’t want to make it worse, so I kept it to myself until I could find the right time to tell you.”

Vivien remained silent for far longer than Lexi would have liked. At first, she thought it was due to the girl’s need to process everything in her own time, but then, as Vivien’s gaze met her own, she realized the younger brunette was simply seething in her own emotions. Piercing jade eyes sent incredulous daggers at Lexi as Vivien huffed, “And you chose today, of all days?”

Lexi scanned through her mental calendar, making sure it wasn’t anyone’s birthday or a holiday before slowly asking, “What’s wrong about today?”

“I told you three weeks ago, Lex!” Vivien exclaimed, disbelief evident on her face. “It’s all I’ve been talking about since then!” When Lexi’s confusion refused to melt away, Vivien huffed a sigh, rolling her eyes as she explained, “Riven and I qualified to be in the Big Apple Skating Exhibition in New York this weekend. We’re leaving in a little bit to catch our seven o’clock flight.”

Realization and dread settled in Lexi’s stomach like lead. She could recall fragments of their late-night conversations, offhandedly listening to Vivien jabber on and on about some routine she and Riven had been perfecting. Hoping Vivien wouldn’t pick up on how little she actually knew about the event, Lexi plastered a small smile on her face and said, “I forgot that was today. You guys are doing Rolling in the Deep, right?”

Vivien’s head shook as her eyes scrunched shut, and a heavy sigh left her, “We talked about it last night, and no, we’re doing Skyfall.”

“Oh,” Lexi said, praying her uncomfortable cringe wasn’t as noticeable as it felt. 

Never one to mince words, Vivien met Lexi’s eyes once more and said, “You know, I’ve been talking with my dad a lot lately and I sort of came to realize that, since we left camp last summer, our communication has been in the toilet.”

“What does that even mean?” Lexi wondered aloud.

“You barely talk to me anymore, Lex,” Vivien acknowledged, pushing herself up from the bench and taking a step away. “And, when you do, you redirect all the questions onto me so that I do all the talking, but you hardly ever listen.”

“I listen!” Lexi argued.

“Do you?” Vivien pressed as she leaned against her locker. When Lexi nodded, Vivien crossed her arms tightly over her chest and asked, “Why did I call you last night?”

Lexi weighed her options before slowly offering, “You wanted to talk about the skating exhibit?” Vivien snorted, shaking her head faintly as she looked away, and Lexi felt something deep in her chest clench. If it had been so obvious that Lexi was hardly paying attention to their conversation the night before, why did Vivien bother asking? Did she want to be disappointed? “I’m sorry, okay? I’ve been really worked up about telling you about the move recently, so I wasn’t listening. What happened; did your puppy learn a new trick or something?”

Despite the mention of her new Saint Bernard, Loki, Vivien swallowed thickly, staring up at the fluorescent lights in a vain attempt at forcing her emotions down as she said, “My parents got into a nasty fight last night, I tried to break it up, and my mom screamed at me for intervening in ‘an adult conversation’ because I’m just a kid.”

As though she’d been slapped, Lexi winced before standing, “Sorry, Vivi. So, what happened?”

Vivien shrugged, her already crossed arms tightening around her middle in a sort of self-embrace, “My dad made her leave for the night to cool off, but she’s talking about divorce again. I think she’s staying with Nonna and Grandpa George until things blow over, but I know they aren’t happy with her either.”

“Well, shit,” Lexi breathed. 

“Yeah,” Vivien sighed.

The door to the locker room creaked open, and with a hand covering his eyes, Riven’s head poked in as he said, “I’m not looking, but is Vivien in here?”

“Yeah, Riv, I’m here,” Vivien replied. “What’s up?”

“Coach wants us to do a quick run of our routine before we leave,” Riven stated. “I tried pushing it further back, but we’ve only got the ice for the next fifteen minutes before Coach Knight needs it.”

Vivien sighed, glancing down at her outfit before bringing her gaze back to her teammate, “Alright. Tell him I’m getting dressed and I’ll be down in a few.”

Giving a mock salute to the girl, Riven ducked out of the room as he spoke, “Aye, aye, Captain.”

Once the door was closed once more, Vivien took in a deep breath before meeting Lexi’s gaze and sighing, “Lexi, I know this whole conversation has been a bit much to unpack before I leave but this whole lack of communication thing has been bugging me for the last two weeks.”

“I know, and I’m sorry,” Lexi tried, resting a hand on Vivien’s tightly crossed arms. “I was just trying to find a way to talk about the move. It’s a shitty excuse, I know, but it’s the truth. We can work on getting better once you get back.”

“That’s just it,” Vivien began, her eyes flitting back to the floor before lifting once again. “We had time to talk it over and figure things out, but you weren’t talking and I felt like I was getting stonewalled every time I tried to figure things out.”

“Yeah,” Lexi mumbled as she looked down at the rink’s logo on Vivien’s jacket. “Sorry.”

“Like I said earlier,” Vivien started, “I’ve been talking this over with my dad, my aunt, and Riven, and, while I know this probably isn’t what you want me to say right now, with everything that’s going on, I think it would be for the best if we go back to being just friends until everything settles and we can focus on our communication more.”

Almost as though she had been pushed into the nearest shower and blasted with cold water, ice flooded Lexi’s veins as the world slowed around her. Her head spun dizzily, swirling nonsense around her as her hands shook. Not trusting her voice, Lexi took a step back and softly asked, “What?” 

Vivien’s arms slowly uncrossed, her hands landing on her waist as she spoke, “Between your move and my parents fighting almost every either day now, I don’t think either one of us is in the right headspace to keep this going. We’re not focused on this relationship at all and, while I understand both of our reasonings, it’s not fair for either of us to keep this going if we’re not happy.”

“I am happy,” Lexi contested, placing her hands on Vivien’s shoulders. When Vivien refused to meet her gaze, Lexi felt her heart drop into her stomach. “Is this- are you not happy?”

Vivien was always direct and to the point, never one to hold back. Lexi had always liked that about her. However, as Vivien’s eyes met hers and she realized just how upset the girl before her was, she found herself hating Vivien’s blatant honesty. “No,” was the brunette’s simple reply.

Buzzing filled Lexi’s ears as Vivien continued speaking, and while she only found herself able to make out a few words, the ice flooding her system spread until it had blocked her emotions from taking control. Leveling her gaze on the emerald-eyed girl before her, Lexi removed her hands from Vivien’s shoulders, took a step back, and nodded. “If you want a break, then fine, we’ll take one, but there’s never a guarantee that we’ll get back together afterward.”

Vivien sighed, reaching a hand out to comfort her friend, “Lexi.”

“It’s fine,” Lexi spoke, stepping out of the girl’s reach and forcing herself to appear calm as hurt-fueled anger slipped through the cracks of her icy exterior. “With the move and everything, it’s only natural that we break up. Long-distance relationships don’t really work, right?”

“That’s not what I’m saying,” Vivien declared, a poorly concealed roll of her eyes joining her words in ripping a hole in Lexi’s chest. “I just think we need to work on our communication for a while.”

“So, instead of talking it over and working things through as a couple, you want to do it as, what?” Lexi asked rhetorically. “Friends? That will never work.”

“I literally just said we could stay friends for a while!” Vivien snapped, gesturing behind herself as though their relationship was already something she had put in the past. “It’s not like I’m saying we can’t come back to this at some point down the road. I just think we should work on ourselves for now and try again later.”

“And leave our relationship behind,” Lexi scoffed.

“For now, yeah,” Vivien nodded. “We’re just kids; who says that, when we’re older, we can’t come back and try again?”

Lexi shook her head, her disbelief apparent as her fierce brown eyes glared into Vivien’s soul, and she said, “We’re kids, yeah, but we’re in a long-term relationship. I’ve had nothing but love for you since we got together.”

“I know, but-”

“Did you ever even love me, Vivien?”

Vivien stilled, her aggravation dissipating ever so slightly as she breathed, “That’s not fair.”

“You never said it,” Lexi claimed. “Even when I told you time and time again that I loved you, you never once said it back.”

“I’ve told you that I don’t like to throw that around,” Vivien explained with a hurt look in her eyes. 

“We’ve been together for almost two years!” Lexi exclaimed. “If you can’t honestly tell me whether or not you’ve ever loved me, why were we even together in the first place?”

“It’s not easy for me to tell people that I love them and you know that,” Vivien said coldly. 

“Your commitment issues aren’t my fault,” Lexi barked, a scoff escaping her as she watched Vivien’s expression shift between disbelief, hurt, and anger. Good. Maybe she’d finally feel the way she made Lexi feel. “You should have outgrown them by now.” 

“My grandma died of a literal heart attack just two minutes after I told her I loved her!” Vivien hissed, shock and disbelief filling her tone. “How do you grow out of that, Lexi?”

“That happened years ago,” Lexi said with a roll of her eyes. “It’s not something you can use as an excuse to push love out of the picture.”

Vivien’s eyes narrowed as she glared at the older girl, strained silence filling the air like a cloud of thick smoke. Finally, Vivien swallowed thickly, shaking her head as she looked away and said, “I can’t believe I ever dated you.”

“Vivien-”

“No,” Vivien said simply. “I’m done.”

“Done?” Lexi repeated. “What do you mean, ‘done’?”

Vivien sucked in a slow breath and allowed herself to settle before speaking, “I’m done fighting about this.” Allowing her gaze to land on Lexi once more, she said, “You’re right. Us being friends in the meantime would never work.”

Lexi stilled, her gaze flicking between Vivien’s startlingly emotionless eyes as she hesitantly asked, “What do you mean?”

“You deserve someone who can actually love you the way that you need them to, and I deserve someone who is willing to work things through with me without barking down my ideas just because that’s not what they want,” Vivien stated calmly, her voice unnaturally cold as she stepped back. “We can stay friends, but I don’t think I’ll ever want to go back into a relationship with you.”

“Vivi,” Lexi began, taking a step forward that Vivien matched with another step back, “that’s not what I wanted. I want us to stay together.”

“And I already told you that I don’t,” Vivien replied sharply, her quick statement making Lexi’s outstretched hand flinch back. “We’re not good for each other and haven’t been for a few months. Like I said, I’m alright with us going back to being friends, but that’s as far as I’m willing to go.” Silence stilled the air briefly, and once she was sure Lexi wouldn’t speak again, Vivien said, “Now, I’m all for talking this through more once I get back, but I have to get going.”

Lexi took in a quick breath and schooled her expression before meeting Vivien’s eyes and nodding, “Okay.”

Vivien nodded, confirming to herself that the issue was over for now as she began making her way to the door. Turning back as she pushed the door to the hallway open, Vivien said, “I’ll see you when I get back on Monday.”

“Yeah,” Lexi muttered. “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Vivien replied before leaving the room.

The door shut, and once she was sure Vivien had gotten far enough from the room, Lexi slouched onto the bench behind her. Just like that, the fire that had kept her pushing through life had been blown out. Her fingers trembled as she realized that her bond with Vivien had crumbled like a stale cookie in her hands. Numbly reaching into her duffel bag and pulling out her skates, Lexi began to get ready for her private lesson. It wasn’t until she had pulled off her ballet shoes and set them aside that she realized her eyes had begun filling with tears.

Wiping the hot, salty tears from her face and forcing herself to swallow the thick lump of emotions in her throat, Lexi felt her anger building as she began unlacing her skates. The first one had come out with ease, but the laces on the other had knotted together at some point between her last practice and that morning, making Lexi’s frustration only build. As the thought of simply cutting the laces and asking for replacements crossed her mind, something within her snapped. With a screech of frustration, Lexi gripped the skate and stood, throwing it at the wall with as much force as she could muster.

It wasn’t until after the skate had begun its flight that she realized with a sickening jolt that she wasn’t alone in the room. As though fate was out to get her that day, the skate sailed into the wall, narrowly avoiding Vivien’s head as the girl jumped back with a shrill shriek, tripping over the trash can near the wall and slamming to the floor. Lexi moved as though she competed on the track team, kneeling beside Vivien and asking her if she was alright. However, Vivien was quick to push her away, her eyes glazed over with fear as she scrambled to her feet and rushed back to the rink without another word.

Lexi sat still for a while, staring at the door Vivien had left through with wide eyes, but she soon grabbed her skates and tugged them on before following Vivien to the rink. However, by the time she arrived, Vivien was in the middle of her routine with Riven, and her coach tugged her away before she could pull the younger brunette aside. By the time Lexi had a break, Vivien was being piled into the bus that was taking a handful of their skaters to the airport. With her time to talk now gone, Lexi tried texting the cellphone Vivien had gotten for Christmas from her aunt, explaining that it was an accident and that she thought Vivien wasn’t in the room when she threw her skate.

For the rest of the evening, Lexi’s messages went unanswered, something she had attributed to the flight and Vivien having to get settled into her hotel room, but when Vivien refused to reply for the rest of the weekend, she knew the girl wouldn’t be forgiving her anytime soon. When Monday came, Vivien refused to talk in person, making sure to keep a distance between herself and Lexi. After talking it over with her older brother, who had gone through a similar situation not long before, Lexi decided to give the younger girl space. A week went by with no conversation, then two. Then, before she could find the chance to talk to Vivien face-to-face, her family was packing their belongings into the back of the biggest U-Haul truck they could rent. Stepping aside after helping her younger brother carry his bureau outside, Lexi tried to call Vivien one last time, and although Vivien refused to answer, Lexi left her a voicemail, letting her know that she would be leaving that day and apologizing once more.

A few hours later, as her brother pulled into the first gas station they had come across since entering the state of Maine, their mother’s SUV and the moving truck pulled up to the pumps while he parked on the side of the building, Lexi’s phone dinged. Pulling the device from her pocket as her brother climbed out of the car to get some snacks, Lexi’s eyes widened. Unlocking her phone and eagerly opening her messages, she found a short paragraph from Vivien in her unread messages.

‘I hope you enjoy your new home. It’ll be hard at first, but you’ll be fine. You always are. I hope you make friends at your new arena. Try not to throw skates at anyone this time and you’ll have no problems! Thank you for the apologies, btw. I get it was an accident, but it’ll take me a while to work through everything before I can fully forgive you. Sorry.’

Lexi took in a breath, glancing up from her phone as she took in Vivien’s message. While most of Vivien’s message had been nothing but kind words, encouraging her to find something to be happy about, she couldn’t tear her mind away from the last few sentences. She had hoped that, after a few weeks of keeping quiet, Vivien would have worked through her issues and been ready to move on, but now she knew that wasn’t the case. With a roll of her eyes, Lexi huffed, slumping further in her seat as she tossed her phone onto the backpack by her feet. If Vivien wanted to be stubborn about things and go back to radio silence, fine! She’d find out sooner or later that Lexi could be just as bad, if not worse.

Meanwhile, in the basement of a small, two-bedroom house on a dead-end street in Laconia, Vivien’s eyebrows scrunched together in focus as her knuckles whitened over the drumsticks in her hands. Over the last year, Riven had been teaching her everything he knew about the drums his father had allowed them to use for their makeshift basement band. She was a quick learner, thankfully, and Riven had quickly shifted their lessons away from the basics and onto popular songs Vivien picked up relatively quickly. With the addition of Riven’s friends, Erica and Jade, their band had begun to improve and create songs of their own. 

Erica, their songwriter and bassist, had given them a couple of her samples to work on, encouraging them to try to find a good rhythm for their instruments before she began working on the sheet music she would be sending to Jade. Riven and Vivien had gotten through only two of the songs in the last hour, struggling to find a good beat that worked for both of them. Riven blamed himself in between breaks, stating that his lack of sleep the night before was dragging his attention span into the dirt. Vivien played along, of course, but the only thing was that her mind wasn’t entirely focused on the drum set before her either, something she knew Riven would pick up on far quicker than she could come up with an excuse.

Riven began strumming his guitar with a smile, and, without much hesitation, Vivien began thumping along on the drums, her anxiously bouncing foot pressing on the pedal for the bass drum and sending an unintentional thump bouncing around the basement walls. Vivien fought to keep her frustration to herself and quickly lowered her eyes to her drums as Riven glanced her way, a questioning look in his eyes as an eyebrow lifted toward his hair. She knew he was worried about her - he had been since she told him about her breakup with Lexi near the start of the month before - and while she was sure that if he knew what had happened that day, he’d be even more worried, she couldn’t bring herself to tell him.

Riven began singing the lyrics to keep himself in time, the fifteen-year-old’s voice sending a wave of serenity through Vivien as she hummed along. She had always found peace in Riven’s calm demeanor, but his voice had a way of making all the darkness in her mind disappear. She could be drowning in the middle of the Atlantic, and his voice would be her life preserver, keeping her afloat even in the roughest of conditions. Though she would never admit it to him, Vivien knew that Riven knew how much he had helped her over the years. After all, it went both ways.

Riven had admitted to her in one of their half-asleep confession sessions when they found themselves on the brink of sleep, muttering their deepest thoughts to each other until they passed out, that he had found her to be a sort of grounding force who kept him anchored to the earth. In the morning, when she had asked him what he meant, he sheepishly explained that, apart from his dad, she had been the only constant in his life since his mother’s passing and that he considered her to be a constant reminder that everything would be fine. Then, after a few minutes had passed, they went right back to teasing each other, with Riven threatening to annihilate Vivien on Rainbow Road as he opened Mario Kart on his Wii.

Despite the pair constantly picking on each other, messing around, and occasionally acting as though they couldn’t stand the other person, they were inseparable, and everyone close to them knew it. The two years and nine months between them in age did little to split them as they found many of their interests to be similar over the years. Over time, they told each other nearly everything, keeping very few secrets for the duration of their relationship. Maybe that was why it was so hard for Vivien to admit that she had withheld the truth about how her relationship with Lexi had ended.

Riven’s strumming stalled midway through the song, dragging Vivien out of her thoughts as she followed suit, allowing her cymbals to clash their way to silence as she lowered her sticks. Meeting his gaze, Vivien asked, “What’s up?”

Wary hazel eyes lifted from the frets on Riven’s guitar as he sucked in a breath and admitted, “I can’t take it anymore.”

Swallowing thickly, Vivien struggled to remain calm as her mind raced. Had he found out? Had someone told him? Maybe Lexi had texted him, asking him to get Vivien to forgive her. Pushing her frantic thoughts to the back of her mind, Vivien cleared her throat and asked, “What can’t you take?”

“I hate to admit it, but,” he cut himself off with a heavy sigh, shaking his head as he continued, “I’ve been keeping something from you for the last week or so.”

Grateful he wasn’t talking about her, Vivien let out the breath she’d held. Then, as his tone and the weight of his words hit her, she asked, “You have?”

Riven nodded as he pulled a folding chair over and dropped into the seat. “I know,” he huffed, “I’m sorry. We never keep secrets from each other - especially ones like this - but with the whole Lexi situation, I didn’t want to make you feel worse.”

“Worse?” Vivien echoed. When Riven nodded, she rhetorically asked, “What could possibly be worse than having a skate thrown at your head after a breakup?”

“Well, I mean, I didn’t want to add onto your stress or anything,” Riven began rambling, “especially when it’s not directly about you, but I-” Riven froze, Vivien’s admission echoing in his mind. Hazel eyes slowly widened as Riven finally found himself able to meet Vivien’s gaze, rage saturating his words as he asked, “I’m sorry, what?”

Finding herself unable to tear her eyes away from Riven’s piercing stare, Vivien asked, “What?”

“Back up a sec. She threw a skate at you?!” Riven bellowed, rising from his seat in shock. When Vivien silently nodded, her eyes wide as she swallowed thickly, Riven brought his hands into his hair, his mind racing as he began to pace the concrete floor. Sounding more hurt than angry, Riven asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Vivien allowed herself to shrug anxiously as she watched Riven walk back and forth in front of her drum set, “It wasn’t on purpose, and I didn’t want you to get upset while she was still here, so...”

Riven stilled, taking in a thoughtful breath as he found Vivien’s tentative yet observant eyes and finished her sentence, “So you waited until she was on the road.”

“She should be in Maine by now,” Vivien admitted softly, her voice little more than a whisper.

Watching with a frown as Vivien’s gaze faltered, Riven rounded the side of the drums and knelt on the floor beside her, placing her drumsticks on the top of her snare drum before taking her hands in his as he said, “I get it, Pip, I really do. You were just trying to protect your friend. But at the same time, that keeps me from being able to protect you. If she had actually meant to hurt you or tried to come at you again, it could have ended really badly.”

“I know,” Vivien sighed, squeezing Riven’s hands. “I just didn’t want you to get all pissy toward her when she would only be here until the end of the month.”

Riven let out a snort, bringing a smile to Vivien’s face as he admitted, “Alright, you got me there.” As Vivien let out a giggle, Riven smiled and said, “It’s almost like you know me.”

“I sure hope I do,” Vivien snickered.

“Oh, yeah?” Riven asked rhetorically. “And why would that be?”

“You’re my brother, you ass,” Vivien retorted, pulling a hand from Riven’s and shoving his shoulder with a smirk. “If I don’t know you well enough by now, some rando will take my place, and we can’t have that.”

Riven shook his head and smiled, “We both know that nobody could take your place.”

“Not even Brooke?” Vivien teased, a hint of genuine curiosity in her tone despite her attempt to play her question off as a joke.

With a sigh, Riven’s face fell as he admitted, “Actually, that’s sort of what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Curiously, Vivien’s eyebrow lifted toward her bangs as she nudged her glasses further up her nose bridge and asked, “Okay, what’s up?”

“We broke up.”

Vivien stalled for a moment as her brain struggled to process the simple sentence her best friend laid out before her. Then, as her expression settled into one of confusion, she shook her head, believing she had misheard him as she asked, “I’m sorry, what?”

Riven let out a breath of a laugh and began, “You know how you told me that I should do whatever it takes to make things work because I was happy with her?”

“Yeah,” Vivien agreed slowly, nodding as she recalled their conversation. “I told you to make sure your communication was good and that you should give her what she wants if you want to make her happy.”

“Well, while that was good advice, and I thank you for it,” Riven started, earning a nod of gratitude from Vivien, “what she wanted, was for me to stop hanging out with you. She was jealous that I was spending so much time with you between band practices, skating, and hanging out after school.”

Again, Vivien felt as though her brain had short-circuited as she let out a laugh, “Seriously?” Riven nodded. “That’s ridiculous; you’re my brother!”

“I know.”

Warily, Vivien asked, “What did you tell her?”

“Exactly that,” Riven stated. “I told her that we’re longtime friends - which she didn’t exactly take kindly to - and after trying to talk it over and getting nowhere with her, I told her that she wasn’t worth leaving my little sister over.”

Vivien thought for a moment before slowly saying, “But I thought you were happy with her.”

With a shrug, Riven claimed, “And I’ll be happier with someone else. I don’t need to be with someone who can’t stand the fact that I like spending time with other people.”

Sensing Riven had already moved on a bit from the relationship, Vivien let out a soft chuckle and said, “I can’t believe she saw me as a threat.”

“I know, right!” Riven laughed. “You’re about as threatening as a bunny, half-pint.”

“Wrong name,” Vivien scolded lightly, a frown tugging her brows together. “And, for the record, I am very threatening.”

With a roll of his eyes, Riven pushed himself from the floor and snickered, “Sure you are, pip.”

“I am!”

As he folded his chair back up and returned to his guitar with a smirk, Riven teased, “You and your noodle arms are about as fearsome as that girl from Sky High who turns into a hamster.”

“First of all, she was a guinea pig, not a hamster,” Vivien fired back as she picked up her drumsticks and pointed one at Riven accusatorily. “And, second, I may have noodle arms, but I’d still kick your ass.”

Riven let out a bark of laughter as he adjusted his guitar strap over his shoulder, “I’ll believe that when I see it.”

Vivien snorted as Riven’s fingers stilled, allowing the gentle acoustics to settle into a comfortable silence, “You know, I could still beat your ass.”

“You could, but you won’t,” Riven stated knowingly as he wrote out a few notes for Erica. Despite having moved on from the song they were supposed to have been practicing and allowing his fingers to drift between songs he knew well enough to play without notes, he had a short stack of mental notes he wanted to scribble out. Looking up from his notebook, Riven grinned as Vivien huffed, blowing her bangs away from her eyes. “You love me too much for that.”

“Sometimes I wonder why,” Vivien muttered. Riven nudged her with his foot, and with a roll of her eyes, Vivien relented with a smile, “Yeah, okay, you’re right, but that doesn’t change the fact that I could potentially kick your ass if I needed to.”

Amused yet bewildered, Riven laughed as he asked, “When on earth would you need to kick my ass?”

“If you did something stupid,” Vivien shrugged. “Y’know, like jump off a bridge, join a cult, shave off your eyebrows, or, I don’t know, try to find another skating partner, or something.”

Riven scoffed, setting his guitar against one of his pillows as he said, “That’ll never happen.”

“Never say never.”

“Don’t quote Just A Beaver.”

Appearing mockingly scandalized, Vivien pressed a hand to her heart and gasped, “Don’t disrespect Justin Beiber in this house.”

“It’s my house!” Riven retorted. Taking the overstuffed, patchwork pillow Vivien had made for him years prior during her embroidery and sewing phase, Riven half-heartedly tossed it toward her head and quickly pushed himself off his bed while Vivien attempted to look offended by his attack. With a snort, Riven shoved her shoulder and said, “But, seriously, you don’t have to worry about me ever finding another partner.”

“I know,” she replied with a grin.

“Good,” Riven spoke, pressing a kiss to Vivien’s forehead on his way toward the disorganized chaos that was his bookshelf. “You’re my one and only, Pippi Longstocking.”

Vivien snorted, shaking her head at the play on his nickname for her as she pulled her cell phone from her pocket. Meanwhile, Riven scanned over the shelf with keen eyes, his hazel irises flicking past his collection of books and video games that littered the IKEA stand he and Vivien had painted one summer. Searching through his stacks of movies, his eyes scanned over some that he had recently bought from the discount tech and entertainment shop his dad frequented.

Peering over his shoulder at his friend, who was smiling giddily at her phone, Riven abandoned his initial question and asked, “What’re you so happy about?”

Glancing up from her phone, Vivien turned the device’s screen toward Riven and said, “Miles just sent me a bunch of pictures of Royce and Bentley. I guess their school was let out early, so they’re spending the day on the beach with some friends.”

Riven looked over the photo, scanning through vaguely familiar faces before pointing toward one and asking, “Who’s the guy who looks blitzed out of his mind?”

Vivien turned the phone back and laughed, “That’s Ethan Dombrowski; he’s Miles’ resident stoner friend.”

With a chuckle, Riven said, “He looks like he sounds like either Shaggy from Scooby Doo or Fillmore from Cars.”

Snorting, Vivien laughed, “Sadly, although Mick says he’s always on her last nerve, she said he sounds like any other guy, but more stoned.”

“For some reason, I don’t doubt that, but he looks like the classic hippie,” Riven claimed with a smile. Preparing his best impression of the aforementioned hippie bus, Riven cleared his throat and quoted, “‘Respect the classics, man!’” When Vivien began laughing at her friend’s poor attempt at mimicking not only Fillmore but also Ethan, Riven teased, “See, you’re laughing, so I must be right!”

Fighting to catch her breath in order to argue, Vivien coughed and shook her head adamantly, “No, no, no!”

“Yes, yes, yes,” Riven beamed. Allowing Vivien to catch her breath, Riven let the topic go and instead turned back to his DVD collection and offered, “Now, while we’re on the topic of hippies, I just got a stack of old movies from Tom’s, if you’d like to watch something with me. There was a huge stack of them for twenty-five cents apiece, so I got a few hippie classics and some of those beach movies that elderly people go crazy over.”

Riven could practically see the excitement on Vivien’s face as she replied, “I love those old beach movies.”

Never one to back down when he saw the possibility of teasing his pseudo-sister, Riven smirked, “That’s understandable since you’re old and crazy.”

The bed creaked as Vivien rose from it, “What does that make you, then? An antique?”

“Precisely,” Riven agreed, turning back to Vivien as he pulled some movies down. “Where are you off to?”

Turning back to her friend as she neared the doorway of his room, Vivien gestured to the hall and said, “Making popcorn, moron. Heh, that rhymed!”

With a fond shake of his head, Riven gestured to his collection and said, “Well, I’ve got Beach Party, Ride the Wild Surf, Pajama Party, and then some. Is there anything in particular you’d like to see?”

“Not really,” Vivien shrugged. “Surprise me, I guess.”

“Alright,” Riven shrugged. “Could you please add-”

“Enough butter to sink the Titanic and so much nacho cheese flavored seasoning that the whole bucket turns a radioactive shade of orange?” Vivien cut in with a proud grin. “When don’t I?”

As Vivien turned on her heel and left the room, Riven called out a thanks before chuckling and turning back toward his movies. Vivien had known his popcorn methods for years, and though he knew she would still make it the same way they always did when they had movie marathons, he still liked to ask as it would be rude of him not to. Smiling to himself, Riven pulled his new collection from its shelf and brought them over to his TV, his dad’s old Blu-Ray player perched on the edge of his dresser beside the Atari console he had rescued from a tag sale over the summer. Flipping through the cases, he discovered a blank case with a sleeve of white paper tucked inside. Written on the front was the title of the movie, the year it came out, and a small flower that had, from the look of it, been hand-drawn.

The DVD on the inside of the case was white and had the name written on it in the same handwriting from the paper tucked into the plastic on the outside of the case, but after a quick search on his phone, Riven found himself scrolling through the cast list for the old movie. Despite most, if not all, of the actors’ pictures appearing more recent and elderly, the names of the characters still sent a wave of deja vu through Riven. He couldn’t quite place where he had heard the names before, as some of them were bizarre, but others were fairly common, and he brushed those off with ease. Switching tabs, he found the trailer and began watching it, his smile from the initial moments of the video beginning to fade as he took in the familiar faces on his screen.

Pausing the video midway, Riven glanced at the cell phone Vivien had left on his bed before looking toward the hallway. He was never one to look at other people’s phones - an invasion of privacy he felt was a breach of trust in any kind of relationship - but as he turned Vivien’s screen on, he realized the face on his phone matched the girl’s lock screen. Riven stared between the images until Vivien’s phone screen turned black once more, taking in the pictures before him with scrutiny.

How was that possible? Could the boy Vivien was so fond of actually be the same person as the character in the beach movie? While it wasn’t likely, Riven went back to his Google search and found Royce’s name in the character list above the actor’s name. Scanning through the list once more, he found the names of Royce’s brothers, Mick’s fiancé, and a few vaguely familiar names he had heard from Vivien over time. He quickly selected the tab with Royce’s name and was brought to a screen dedicated to the actor, letting Riven see just how the man over his time in the spotlight. Sure enough, a photograph of the same young, curly-haired, freckle-faced teenager he knew appeared. Though the actor could have been a distant relative of the boy, a quick search through the actor’s page told him that the man had passed away at only twenty-two while serving his country. The chances of him being a grandparent or great-grandparent to the boy Riven knew were practically nonexistent.

Riven jolted, nearly dropping his phone as Vivien called out to him from the entrance of the hallway, “Do you want a drink?”

Hoping his voice didn’t sound nearly as started as he felt, Riven rose from his seat and called back, “Yeah, please.”

As Riven scrambled to close his searches and send his tabs to his desktop, Vivien responded with another question, “Dr Pepper or Sunkist?” 

“Dr Pepper, please!” he called back quickly. Hoping to hide his discovery until he could find solid evidence one way or another, Riven closed the DVD case and brought it over to his desk, tucking it between the notebooks he had left out before hastily slipping them into his dresser underneath some of his T-shirts. Wanting to appear as normal as possible before Vivien returned, he pulled a random disk from the pile of DVDs and slipped it into his Blu-Ray player before setting the rest aside. 

Moving his guitar back onto its stand by the window, Riven tossed his songwriting notebook onto his nightstand and snatched his remote before climbing back onto his bed and laying on his stomach with a huff. He knew he would have a lot of research to do once Vivien clocked out that night, but for now, he had to push his thoughts aside and focus on spending time with his best friend. Vivien was the closest thing he had to a little sister, and he didn’t want her to know that he was looking into something that she might not have known herself. He trusted that she would tell him if her boyfriend was, in fact, some time-traveling teenager from a sixties beach movie, but at the same time, if it was true and she knew about it, would he have believed her if she told him? It would be quite a bizarre claim, and she knew that Riven liked to know as much about a topic as possible, getting all of the facts he could find before coming to a conclusion on his own time. 

Would he have believed her initially if she had come right out and told him the truth? Riven thought for a moment before mentally shaking his head. Sadly, he probably wouldn’t have believed her initially, but he would have wanted to. He had a deep trust and belief in Vivien, trusting her to tell him what she believed was truth, regardless of facts. But, if she had come to him with something so outlandishly wild as time travel or alternate realities, he probably would have had to fend off a bark of laughter before diving into it with willing curiosity.

Screeching his train of thought to a halt as Vivien entered the room with a few bags of popcorn and some bottles of soda, Riven plastered a smile on his face and took his things from her with a quick thanks. As Vivien climbed onto the bed, mindlessly blabbering about how his dad should invest in a microwave that wasn’t some dial-operated, Panasonic nightmare from the 80s, Riven chuckled. Just like that, he was back to worrying about burnt popcorn and shaken sodas as Vivien clicked the play button on the DVD’s main screen, the sixteen-year-old teasing him for picking Elvis Presley’s 1967 movie, Clambake, when Frankie Avalon was clearly the “It Man” of 60s beach movies.

However, as the movie started and Vivien quickly grew absorbed in the film, Riven found himself lost in thought. The plot of the movie was lost on him as his mind dragged him back to the information on his phone. How would he find out whether or not they were the same people without telling Vivien? It wasn’t like he could confront the boy or his brothers; the whole family was in Florida, and he didn’t have their numbers. Besides, even if they were time-traveling people from the sixties, would they tell him the truth or just brush him off? It wasn’t like he knew them all that well. He had only met Bentley a handful of times since he and Vivien met the boy on Halloween, Royce had become a constant topic in his conversations with Vivien since around the same time, and Riven sort of knew Miles from the summers he would spend at the Birch family’s house over the last few years, but they weren’t exactly close. The chances of them honestly telling him whether or not his findings were true, were slim.

What would he even do if he found out it was true? It wasn’t like he could bring himself to prevent Vivien from dating Royce. After all, the boy made her happier than he had seen in years, and it seemed as though they had a bond nobody could break. She adored not only Royce but also his brothers and friends, and she had been invited to spend her upcoming vacation in April with them in Florida. It was all she could talk about since the invitation had been extended to her, and Riven had heard all about the things she wanted to do and see over the nine days she had in the tropical state. Riven couldn’t ruin any of that for Vivien - not when he knew it would break her heart if she didn’t already know.

Sparing a glance at the brunette as she tossed a handful of popcorn into her mouth and leaned her head against his shoulder, Riven found himself pushing aside his thoughts of time travel and sci-fi-esque, otherworldly exploration and allowing himself to focus on the movie once more, hoping the old movie would keep his curiosity at bay until he had the time to think things over. After all, she didn’t need to know until he was sure he had figured everything out. If her boyfriend and his family were from an old film, so be it, but he was going to make sure he did his research. So long as Vivien was happy, he didn’t care what the outcome was, but for now, he was content with relaxing and watching the movie alongside his best friend.

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

It's finally done! After a month of writing resulting in 52 pages that I still have yet to edit, I'm almost certain it was worth exacerbating the potential carpal tunnel in my dominant wrist lmao! Honestly, though, 52 pages for a one-shot feels like some sort of fever dream, and I feel like I'll wake up in the morning to see that I still have another nine pages to write this morning. It feels ridiculous, in a way, considering I've done more in a shorter span, but I've taken a lot of time to think this out and make sure I had everything lined up in my timeline of events and that everything felt as realistic as possible, so I'm not worried about it all that much. I also took the chance to relax and play games in some of my down time, which I definitely needed. However, when I look at the now-finished beast of a one-shot, I very much feel like Mrs Doubtfire when she flips off that guy from the window. Like, yeah, I'll get to it eventually, but not now! I already wrote four pages this morning and I'm mentally exhausted already. For now, I'm going to relax and watch some 60s sitcoms for my next project (something I sort of hint at in this one-shot 😉). I'll probably have the one-shot done and up by the end of the week, so keep an eye out! But until then, I'll leave you with a few little notes I have for what's to come in this one-shot!

This particular song. And this one. But I can't forget about this specific version of this song either! (Side note: I've loved the last guy's channel for years and have cried more than once since his faithful companion, Maple, passed away, but his rendition of this song was too good not to use!)

Tumblr keeps having issues with the links, but Isabella Flores' TikTok (isabella.flores_) is exactly how I imagine a certain someone's TikTok would look - the video below especially! However, this has little to do with the actual story; it's just a fun idea that came to me in my endless scrolling while taking a break from writing.

This video, on the other hand, does have something to do with the story despite not showing the full product.

This scene is definitely important, for what may or may not be obvious reasons based on things I’ve mentioned offhandedly in other stories 👀

Finally, I give you a few words that tie into the story that will make sense later on, I promise: Nicknames, solitude, secrets, a cornered animal, forgiveness, and discoveries.

I'm pretty sure this has given you a myriad of ideas, but what do you think this one-shot will entail? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

Naomi's Basic Info

Name: Naomi Seika Sato

Now, I know Naomi has only appeared maybe three times in my writing (the winter stories from 2022), but I have plans on adding her to some of my future stories, so I figured I might as well make a board for her. Again, this was surprisingly easy, and the only one I had any difficulty finding was an actress from the 60s as there weren't a ton of well-known Asian actresses. Anyway, in the 60s, we have Irene Tsu (How To Stuff a Wild Bikini); the 80s, Cherie Chung (An Autumn's Tale); the 90s, Nicole Bilderback (Bring It On); and now, Momona Tamada (Avatar: The Last Airbender).

Nicknames: Mimi, NayNay (by very few people), and Koneko (a Japanese term of endearment that means "kitten". Only her grandparents call her that, and it's mostly her grandfather)

Age: 17

Date of Birth: September 29

Zodiac: Libra

Birthstone: Sapphire

Nationality: Asian-American

Sexuality: Asexual, but don't tell her grandmother that. The woman desperately wants grandbabies, and Naomi has no interest in ever giving her any. Her parents and grandfather know and don't care so long as she's happy, but they all know better than to tell her grandma.

Birthplace: St. John's Riverside Hospital, Yonkers, New York

Current Residence: Park Street, Rockland, Maine

Occupation: High school junior, professional figure skater, junior medical assistant at her parent’s office

Talents/Skills: Acting (mostly in high school or town productions), making flip books, animating short videos

Birth order: Only 

Parents: Kyoya Jin Sato and Hina Mai Suoh

Signature:

Height: 5’1”

Race: Japanese-American

Eye Color: Dark brown, almost black

Hair Color: Brown

Glasses or contact lenses: Glasses for reading, contacts for fun

Distinguishing features: A birthmark on her hip that looks almost like a cherry blossom, a scar on her inner right calf from a skating incident, and a single dimple on her left cheek

Mannerisms: Bopping her head to music, mumbling to herself while working on projects, and keeping the tip of her tongue between her lips when she’s deep in thought

Health: Chronic migraines, Type-1 Diabetes, and POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome)

Hobbies: Gardening, baking, watching anime and Chinese historical dramas, playing cozy games, scrolling Pinterest, writing fanfictions, and cosplaying 

Greatest flaw (in their opinion): How everyone still sees her as a child/childish. As the only child/grandchild in her family, Naomi is often babied by her family members. Her father was an only child, and her mother was the only daughter of four kids and was the golden child, leading to Naomi feeling more like a toddler as anyone who came to visit would treat her like a little doll. She appreciates their love and care, but all she really wants is for her family to see her as the near-adult she is, not some naive little girl in need of shelter from the outside world. In a way, that was the reason she and Lexi became friends. She needed someone in her life who treated her like an actual person, not a child.

Best quality (in their opinion): Her determination to succeed in everything she does. While she doesn’t fear failure or disappointing her family, she strives to be the best version of herself she can be. Whether it’s working hard at her family’s practice, learning new skating skills, or trying out a new recipe, Naomi puts her whole heart into all she does. She is a very determined individual, but that doesn’t stop her from taking breaks now and then or spending time caring for herself. 

Biggest fear: Losing her sense of self for the sake of others. Naomi is fairly confident in who she is as a person - an intelligent, pink-loving, figure skater who wants nothing more than to help her parents run their practice. However, she fears that someday, if she were to find herself looking for a different job or maybe falling in love, those people would try to change who she is for the sake of professionalism and maturity. She has taken the time to grow into who she is and finally loves herself just as she is; the last thing she wants is for someone to try to change her to meet their needs. If they can’t love her for who she is, Naomi knows it isn’t worth it, but she knows she wants love sometime down the road, and the thought of giving up her style and personality for someone to see her as a mature human being is something that deeply terrifies her. Real life is nothing like the books or movies she loves so deeply, after all, and she knows this. That is why she keeps many potential friendships/relationships at a distance until she knows they won’t try to change her.

Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw

Favorite ice cream: Strawberry mochi

Favorite color: Pastel pink

Favorite number: 2, as the number represents balance and harmony in Japanese culture

Favorite songs: ballad of a homeschooled girl by Olivia Rodrigo, ALICE by PEGGY, and Platonic Love Song #1 by Lauren Bird

A place they want to visit: Forbidden City, China, or Bunkyo City, Japan

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

Lexi's Basic Info

Name: Alexis Amara Warren

Of all the faceclaims I've had to do over time, I think Lexi's was one of the easiest I've ever done. For the 60s, we have Leslie Uggams (I Spy); the 80s, Michelle Thomas (The Cosby Show); the 90s, Tatyana Ali (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air); and now, Whitney Peak (Gossip Girl).

Nicknames: Lexi, Alex, Lex Luthor (a DC comics supervillain; the nickname is only used by her brothers, and Lexi acts like she hates it, but she actually finds it kind of funny)

Age: 18

Date of Birth: July 4

Zodiac: Cancer

Birthstone: Ruby

Nationality: Canadian-American

Sexuality: Lesbian

Birthplace: Yarmouth Regional Hospital, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia

Current Residence: Mountain Street, Camden, Maine

Occupation: High school senior, semi-professional figure skater

Talents/Skills: Talking her way out of situations, sarcasm, reading lips, and flying (she has her private pilot’s license and only flies her dad’s plane)

Birth order: (biological) younger of two, (adoptive) middle of five adopted kids

Biological siblings: Micah Edward King

Adoptive siblings: Sean Colton (22), Isla Blair (20), Ian Wyatt (15), and Tessa Hadley (12)

Parents: Nathan Robert Warren and Liana Eden Moore

Biological parents: Isaac Jordan Bergeron and Heather Abigail King

Signature:

Height: 5’4”

Race: Bi-racial (African-American and White)

Eye Color: Brown

Hair Color: Black

Glasses or contact lenses: None

Distinguishing features: Scar on right shoulder from surgery

Mannerisms: Clicking her nails together and bouncing her leg when she’s anxious or thinking, licking her lips subconsciously, and constantly tugging her hair when she has the chance

Health: Weak left leg after breaking it, untreated anger issues, and lupus

Hobbies: Collecting crystals and plants, rewatching 90s-00s anime/cartoons (Avatar, Ouran High School Host Club, Sailor Moon, etc.), reading tarot, making sarcastic comments, buying books even though her to-be-read stack is a mile long

Greatest flaw (in their opinion): How long she can hold a grudge. Regardless of whether or not the person has apologized, if Lexi thinks she’s been wronged in any way, she will absolutely hold some sort of animosity toward that person for a long time. While she isn’t always aggressive in showing her hatred or distrust of a person, she makes it very obvious that she doesn’t appreciate them being around. 

Best quality (in their opinion): Probably how protective she is. Lexi is the type to act first and think later, leading her into some dangerous situations as she forsakes her own safety to protect the people she cares about. Whether it’s a family member, friend, or even a stray animal, she goes out of her way to ensure their safety. She has a great sense of loyalty, which could eventually be her downfall.

Biggest fear: Abandonment. When she was seven, she overheard her group home’s leader telling a potential adoptive family that she had been given up by her parents due to her not being the same race as them. She knew well enough what that meant, but it wasn’t until her biological parents reached out to her at the age of ten, asking her to get tested to see if she would be a donor match for the kidney her brother needed, that she realized how deep it went. They stayed in contact during her testing, but as soon as they realized she wasn’t a match, they ditched her once again. She tried reaching out many times, but they eventually sent her a letter, telling her to stop as they no longer considered her their daughter. Although she has since grown from that and is now quite content in her adoptive family, the thought of anyone leaving her, sends her spiraling.

Hogwarts House: Slytherin

Favorite ice cream: Caramel swirl

Favorite color: Sage green

Favorite number: 9, how old she was when she was finally adopted out of foster care

Favorite songs: all-american bitch by Olivia Rodrigo, girls like me don’t cry by thuy, and The Archer by Taylor Swift

A place they want to visit: The Hollywood Sign, Los Angeles, California

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

I know I said a while ago that I wanted to write some of my thoughts on the New Percy Jackson show out, but as time went on, I found myself having less time to actually sit down and watch it. However, now, I have finally finished the show (perhaps more than once, lmao), and I have a lot to share about it! Far more than I originally thought I would, to be honest. Honestly, I spent a couple of days watching everything over again and ended up starting and ending my first embroidery project since the pandemic started, which felt pretty good as it helped me absorb a lot more information as I worked. And, while I would love nothing more than to just word vomit everything out of my brain, I find myself physically incapable of leaving everything out of order now that I’ve had the time to properly think things over (certainly not due to the fact that I’ve been plotting story ideas for the last few weeks and can’t think of leaving anything disorganized right now). Instead of nonsensical paragraphs, I figured I would take things in four separate sections - my opinions on the characters, the castings I hope we get in the future, my favorite quotes, and a small snippet of how I would see things going down if I were to write this AU.

So, without further ado, I’m going to start off strong with…

My Character Takes:

Right off the bat, I adored Percy (Walker Scobell). I may be biased as I chose Walker as my sort of faceclaim for Bentley, but this child has Percy’s personality to a tee. I knew from watching him act alongside Ryan Reynolds in The Adam Project that he would be perfect not only for Bentley, but also for Percy and, when I finally got to see him as Percy, I knew I was right. From the iconic first line to the final moment of the series, he had me hooked. Though I missed the absolutely iconic “This is a pen!” quote from the movie, I feel like they got pretty much everything right for Percy. So many of his one-liners made me pause to laugh because I wouldn't have heard anything that was said afterward if I hadn’t, but he also has the right amount of seriousness and professionalism in certain scenes to make Percy come to life. I doubt Rick Riordan could have found a better Percy if they tried, and I can’t wait to see him in season 2. 

Now, for Percy’s parents, Sally and Poseidon. Sally (Virginia Kull) was brilliant, and her interactions with Percy felt perfectly motherly and sweet while also having a vivid personality all her own. Watching back over the show after seeing it through the first time, I picked up on a lot more subtle hints at her mental struggle as a “single” mother of a demigod (she did remarry, and I’ll touch on that in a moment). I feel like watching it back over sort of gave me the full picture and I love that little touch. Now, Poseidon (Toby Stephens, Dame Maggie Smith’s son) was also incredible. I feel like, although we didn’t see much of Poseidon initially, the way he acted was very telling of his situation (being unable to see or interact with Percy without Zeus’ permission for fear of starting another huge war), and it felt like there was a definite desire and regret that he couldn’t have stuck around for his son (if not for Sally as well). 

As for Percy’s stepfather, Gabe Ugliano (Timm Sharp), I feel like they may have tamed him a bit from the book as a way to avoid triggering anybody who grew up in an abusive household, but they still kept him on the despicable side. I always hated him, but I do feel like they could have made him worse. Instead of the bigoted, poker-playing asshole we meet in the books, we get a bit more of an idiot who wastes his money on online poker and sits around all day. I like that they kept his ending the way it was, but I sort of wish it played a bigger role in Sally's story going forward. Who knows; maybe it will in the future, but I wish they delved more into his character being genuinely a disgusting human being rather than just a loser.

Now, even though I don’t want to go too into detail on them because I don’t want to spoil anything in case you care to watch this show later on (highly recommended as there’s no need to read the books to see what’s going on), I want to touch on some of the campers and Percy’s friends. Ironically, I’ll be starting with Clarisse LaRue (Dior Goodjohn). Clarisse is the take-no-shit-and-start-shit daughter of Ares, the god of war, and is also the counselor of his cabin (Cabin 5). She’s very combative, competitive, and aggressive, which we find out is because she wants her dad to favor her despite her being a girl and all his “favorites” being boys. As stated in the show, he doesn’t even really like his kids, but that doesn’t stop her from trying to gain favor. Dior was a great choice for Clarisse, and I have to say, I think she did her great justice. The actor they had in the movies (well, movie as she was only in one despite her character being in more of the books) was good, but she wasn’t nearly as aggressive, feisty, and tough as Dior’s. Honestly, 10/10.

Luke Castellan is one character I couldn’t wait to see come to life, and Charlie Bushnell did an amazing job with him. He is the son of Hermes, the god of messengers, travelers, and thieves, and Luke is, like Clarisse, the head of his cabin (Cabin 11). Luke is one of the best, multi-faceted characters in not only the books, but in this show as well. Though he doesn’t appear in many episodes, I feel as though his character is one we’ll definitely be watching closely as time goes by. Regardless, Charlie did amazing in his portrayal of Luke, and I think he handled everything really well!

I know a lot of people weren’t thrilled when Leah Sava Jeffries was cast as Annabeth Chase (daughter of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy - Cabin 6), but I trusted Rick’s choice in casting her as he said he knew she was the best choice for Annabeth. I have to say, he was right; she was incredible! Her interactions with everyone, the subtle ways she showed that she knew more than she was letting on, and her acting overall was great for Annabeth. I love that they included her Yankees cap as well, something I wish they had in the movies. Leah was amazing, Annabeth truly came to life, and I’m very excited to see how everything pans out!

Speaking of pans, we have Grover Underwood, a hopeful searcher for Pan, the god of the wild, satyrs, and folk music. While Grover is not related to Pan, his goal is to become a searcher so that he can follow his family’s legacy of searching for the missing god of the wild. Now, I actually loved the way the movies made Grover, but I think they did pretty well with him in the show as well. There is a certain scene I wish they had kept from the movie, but with how they made Gabe Ugliano in the show, I’m not entirely surprised they took it out. It would have been hilarious, though! I do have to say that Aryan Simhadri did an amazing job and that I was very pleased with his performance overall!

For the Greek gods that we met this season, I want to start off with the now-passed Lance Reddick, who played Zeus, the god of the sky, thunder, lightning, kingship, honor, and justice (Cabin 1). It’s sad that he never was able to watch his character come to life on screen, but he did a pretty great job in the one episode he was in. The looming threat of his presence throughout the episodes was a very effective build-up to actually meeting him in the end. He was a good choice for Zeus and, while I’m upset he won’t be in any future seasons, his acting was great. I’m sure they’ll find someone to do him good justice in the future, but those will be big shoes to fill as far as the rest of the cast will be concerned, I’m sure.

As I’ve already touched on Poseidon, I’m going to skip over to Hephaestus, the god of fire, forges, sculpture, metalworking, stone masonry, carpenters, technology, artisans, and volcanoes (Cabin 9). Hephaestus is pretty much an outsider from the Olympian family as he doesn’t really bother with the drama of Olympus, and Timothy Omudson does a great job of showing this in his simplistic, yet interesting approach. I found myself wanting to sit and talk with him - get his take on everything, in a way. Unlike some of the other gods we hear about/meet, he seems to think fairly reasonably and is pretty sympathetic, something I really liked about this portrayal of Hephaestus.

Ares is next on my list and, while I was never a huge fan of the character as the Greek myth was originally labelled as a protector of mistreated women and this version Ares was just an asshole, I feel like Adam Copeland made me like him. The first time I watched the episode we meet him in, I just sat there laughing at his personality, but the second time around, I had to wonder how on earth I found myself genuinely sort of enjoying watching him. Though I’m still not big on him overall, as his treatment of his own children is pretty shit, I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy seeing him. Also, when he talked about different wars in the diner, it felt like I was listening to my dad in history class all over again, and I kind of enjoyed that. Anyway, he was chaotic and crazy, but he has great taste in motorcycles, and I actually enjoyed him overall. Adam Copeland did a great job not making me fully hate him.

Finally, I want to talk about Hermes, who was played by none other than Lin-Manuel Miranda. When I saw that he was on the cast list, my immediate thought was Apollo, but I ended up loving him as Hermes. I wish we had seen more of him, but honestly, that’s just my Hamilton brain screeching to be let out, as I know he wasn’t supposed to be in many, if any, of the episodes this season because they were following the books. Honestly, though, Lin was incredible, Hermes was incredible, and I hope we see more of him going forward!

Future Castings:

Firstly, I want to say that my biggest hope is to see Sam Claflin as Apollo! His personality in The Hunger Games was all I needed to see, honestly. He would be perfect for Apollo, and I hope that’s who we get, but if not, I’ll just have to trust the process.

My top pick for Thalia Grace (and a semi-popular one I’ve seen floating around) is Momona Tamada.

I could see Zoë Saldaña, Tessa Thompson, or Danai Gurira as Athena. I don’t have a solid choice, but I could see them working really well as they have to play Annabeth’s mom, and they all could pull that off pretty well.

For Aphrodite, I have a variety of ideas. Gemma Chan could be pretty good, but so could Florence Pugh, Elizabeth Olsen, or Indya Moore. I feel like there are so many ways they could pull it off, but regardless of who they choose, I’m sure it’ll be great. (There is no official artwork for her, so I’m using the picture from Rick Riordan’s website, but she is known to change her appearance as she pleases)

One character I’m sure we won't see for a while, but I’d still enjoy, would be either Sadie Sink or Erin Kellyman for Rachel Elizabeth Dare. I doubt either actress will end up being chosen, as it’ll probably be a while before we get to season 3, but they were my top choices for her.

Now, I don’t have many ideas for anyone else, but I’m sure the cast will be amazing no matter what.

Quotes:

I had a lot of quotes from the show that I absolutely loved, but I forgot to write down which episodes they came from as I wrote more in the second time around and they got a bit jumbled on paper. I remember who said most of them and I was originally going to write that in as well, but I think I could use some of them later on, so I’ll just leave them nameless for now. Some of them, you can tell who could be part of the conversation if you pay attention to the names mentioned, but others are up in the air. Besides, the quotes alone are great, in my book. The different formats symbolize different people talking, as I couldn’t figure out a better way in the larger conversation points, but the ones where there’s only one person are just plain text.

--

“She fought valiantly, and she met a hero's fate.”

“She met a pinecone's fate.”

--

“So you're not a monster, what are you then?”

“A survivor.”

--

“It's not here.”

“We know. Yeah, glory's fine. Revenge is more fun.”

--

“Why is there half a goat in your pants?”

“Oh, it's... Oh! Oh, boy, she didn't tell you about... You didn't tell him about me?”

“You're early.”

“So the important thing is not to panic.”

--

“Look, this is a bad idea. They will see this as impertinent.”

“I am impertinent.”

--

“Not everyone who looks like a hero is a hero, and not everyone who looks like a monster is a monster.”

--

“He was a god.”

“You fell in love with God? Like Jesus?”

--

“I want him to know who he is before your family tries to tell him who they want him to be. He is better than that. He has better things in him than that.”

--

“This is Percy Jackson.”

“Yeah, Grover, I heard him the first time.”

“But did you?”

--

“It was your father who warned me to stay away. Said it was awful watching you struggle and feel powerless to stop it. But that sometimes… that’s what parenting is.”

--

“Are you stalking me, Annabeth?”

*shrugs* “Yes.”

--

“Look, I get that Nancy has issues, I’m just getting tired of her taking them out on me. I feel like… maybe it’s time to do something about it.”

“You could make an appointment to see Mr. Kane. He’s really good at talking-”

“I was thinking more like shoving Nancy in the nearest dumpster.”

“Oh.”

--

“I have a job!”

“Losing at imaginary poker?”

--

“Give me a second, I’m just starting a fight on Twitter.”

--

“I warned you, if you're not careful, you'll find out who I am.”

--

“Poseidon has ignored me my entire life.”

“You are his son!”

“I am Sally Jackson’s son!”

--

“Two things you never wanna be are small and scary at the same time. Things that are small and scary...get squished.”

--

“So, do we have a deal, or am I killing all three of you so I can eat in peace?”

“Ok.”

“Great!”

--

“Do you know what that feels like? To be so close to someone you love, knowing neither of you has any choice but to keep hurting each other?”

--

“I’m gonna kill him.”

“I knew I was gonna like you.”

--

“Is there a Greek god of disappointment? Maybe someone should ask him if he’s missing a kid.”

--

“This thing, Zeus's master bolt, we need to get it back, right?”

“Yes.”

“And it's gonna be hard to get, yes?”

“Extraordinarily.”

“And if the mission required someone to push me down a flight of stairs for it to succeed... you'd want someone who won't hesitate when they do it.”

--

“He isn’t here. My father, he just… didn’t show. I mean, ignoring me is one thing, but he doesn’t get to ignore you. I’m gonna make him come down here. I’m gonna make him see me. I’m gonna make him see us both.”

--

“No one comes ba~ack.”

“Dude! Don't make me come back out there!”

--

“You really don’t want the bolt?”

“Why would I want that?”

“To start a war between your brothers.”

“Why would I want that?!”

“Jealousy!”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s all candy canes and rainbows down here. I don’t really do jealous.”

--

“Take your victory. Just spare my son.”

--

“Obedience doesn’t come naturally to you, does it?”

“No… sir.”

“I must take some of the blame, I suppose. The sea does not like to be restrained.”

--

“Ares is a moron. Perhaps you noticed?”

AU Idea:

I know I've said before that I didn't have much of an idea of what I'd write if I did this AU, but I think watching the books come to life a bit has altered that. I've gone through some of the books again and sort of figured out what I would want to see happen, so I figured I would put it all out here while I'm at it. Some things in my original post have changed, such as their parents, but I also have a basic timeline down as well. I feel like the vibes would be very similar to that of Camp Wanamaker as I plan on keeping things mostly around the camp at first, but there will be some big exploration further down the road as I develop an actual storyline. I do plan on going more in-depth on topics that haven't been brought up in the show/movies as I figure that would make it easier not just for me, but also for you. I have a lot of ideas, but I'll try to work it down to the first couple of chapter ideas as I haven't gone through the whole story's plot yet.

For starters, I think I would have Royce be the new kid at camp - an almost sixteen-year-old who was brought to camp by an adult demigod who rescued him from a monster on a field trip (Butchy, son of Zeus). He's pushed head-first into camp activities, and soon finds himself getting stalked by a pair of younger demigods who have been at camp for some time and have already been claimed (Bentley, son of Apollo, and Kona, daughter of Iris). The kids eventually corner him outside the Unclaimed Child portion of the Hermes cabin (where he'll reside until his godly parent claims him) and encourage him to try different cabins until he finds a good fit. Despite claiming the whole thing is nothing but a dream he'll eventually wake up from, Royce allows the pair to drag him around, starting from the top and working his way down.

Zeus, Hera, and Poseidon's cabins are all quickly dismissed, but before he can get much further, things at camp slow to a stop as the Hunters of Artemis arrive, having been told to stay at camp until the return of their leader and goddess, Artemis. Kona is quick to tail the Hunters, trying her hardest to find acceptance within the female-only group while some others stray to their original cabins to visit their former siblings. Upon asking why the Hunters seem to be a group of relatively young girls, Bentley brings Royce to his older half-brother Miles (head counselor of Apollo's cabin) who explains that the Hunters are maidens (which can be human, god, demigod, or nymph) who have sworn loyalty to the maiden goddess Artemis. They reject love for as long as they live and, in return, gain eternal youth and semi-immortality as long as they don't break their vows, or are slain in battle. There are some who leave if they fall in love, but very few do.

Not long after, the campers and Hunters are pushed into a game of rather brutal game of Capture the Flag, where Royce encounters a small group of Hunters who take pity on him as the new kid, a tall brunette girl with a silver circlet on her head giving him a hand up when the others in her group leave the area (Vivien, Hunter of Artemis and daughter of Hecate, goddess of magic, crossroads, necromancy, and the night). During dinner that night, Royce meets her at the fire as he puts in an offering to his still unknown parent and asks the girl some questions, trading names and finding out her previous cabin before she suggests he not push his luck befriending any of the hunters as they won't be around for long, and heads back to her table, leaving him more than a little intrigued.

I do have a bit more written out, but for now, I'm going to keep it there. However, I'm still going to show some of the parental changes I've made since my last post about this idea. There are only three, but they're there. I also have some plans to add in some of my other characters that I don't write as much, if at all, but they'll come in later on as I haven't quite decided where to put them.

Kona has gone from the daughter of Poseidon to the daughter of Iris (goddess of the Rainbow and messenger of the gods). I changed this because, although I love the idea of Kona just railing people with water when they do stupid stuff, the thought of her being this artsy, hippie-esque little girl who habitually makes friendship bracelets for new campers, who enjoys going around scaring people by turning the world black-and-white or momentarily blinding them with sunbeams. It's also known that children of Iris are great with art/creativity and have a strong connection with pegasi, so I can just picture her trying to use paint or something to give each of the pegasi cutie marks like in My Little Pony or giving them dyed manes/tails.

Vivien has a change of pace as well, going from the daughter of Athena to the daughter of Hecate and a Hunter of Artemis. The Hunter part is a relatively big plot point in the story as, like I said, they give up love in favor of aiding with the Hunt. However, I'll dive into that when I write the story. For now, I'll focus on the Hecate part. Hecate is the goddess of magic, as I've said before, and where Vivien is a collector of crystals in every universe and is great with magic in my Hocus Pocus AU, I feel it's a great fit. Another thing nudging me toward this is the idea that Hecate can be a tough parent, and her children must prove their worth and study hard to master their skills in magic. I feel like Vivien's already established, rocky relationship with her mom in my other stories would come into play in this as well, perhaps playing a role in her decision to become a Hunter.

Another change that I didn't mention in the snippet above was Mick. Mick was originally the daughter of Hephaestus, but I've since changed that as I feel it makes more sense in the way I've fixed it. Now, she is the Roman descendant (otherwise known as a legacy) of Minerva (Athena's counterpart) and Vulcan (Hephaestus' counterpart). Her mother, Mack, was the daughter of Minerva, and her father, Brady, was the grandson of Vulcan. This means that Mick is not at Camp Half-Blood in New York (the camp for the children of Greek gods), but at Camp Jupiter in California (the camp for the descendants of Roman gods), something I feel suits her fairly well and gives her a deeper storyline with not only Butchy, but also her usual friends.

Final notes:

Now, in case you haven’t noticed, I adored this show as a whole! One of my nephews who hasn’t read the books, finally had the chance to watch it, and loved it nearly as much as I did, which is pretty telling. I love that even people who haven’t had an interest/read the books, are loving this show. It’s just great! I have to say, the show is pretty good at explaining everything as they go and making everything feel as though it’s flowing properly. As if it weren’t obvious by now, I highly recommend watching the first season! It’s a great show overall, everything felt realistic, and it gave me a lot of ideas for the future (which, as you can probably tell, might include a Percy Jackson AU of some kind). Anyway, I loved it and plan on going back to rewatch it more as time goes by, but for now, I’m going to end my ramblings and go back to my little one-off story that I haven’t touched in what feels like forever!

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

Melaka Mystica Deleted Scenes

I know I said I would take a break, and believe me, I have, but I wanted to post these before the desire to write something else came into my head. Now that this has been posted, however, I'm going to go play some Detroit Become Human and try like hell to not start writing out ideas for that as an AU lmao!

Deleted scenes:

Unlike many of my previous AUs, there aren’t a lot of scenes that didn’t make the cut as I followed my original plotlines pretty closely, but there are a few that I mentioned offhandedly that were never fully explained or fleshed out, so I figured I would post segments of my original scribblings just to show where my head was when I wrote certain lines.

(Part 1) This is a little explanation I wrote for myself when I started figuring out the plot so that everything flowed together well and it would feel like time had passed, but not a ton. I wanted it to feel like the genuine passage of time, but I only brought some of these to fruition and I’m pretty sure you can tell which ones!

"The kids have been practicing magic under the watchful eyes of Mick, Miles, and Carrie, who, despite not possessing magic, have worked in the magic shop for long enough to know the basics. The kids have sworn only to use their magic for good, and while they try to help everyone, it’s not always easy. Royce has spent most of his allowance on spell books - most of which don’t work as they aren’t legitimate spell books - and has gone a bit overboard trying to figure out every aspect of their powers. Kona has been practically glued to Bentley, pestering him about why he and the others have been acting strangely, but he refuses to tell her anything until they’re all on board for telling her. Vivien has tried everything in her power to give Mick some semblance of magic and heal her magical ties, but nothing seems to work."

So, yeah, I ended up only mentioning a few of them, but this is a little background to give off some more information on what’s happened since the last story.

(Part 2) Initially, Mick’s bond with everyone - especially the kids and particularly Vivien - hadn’t been affected at all. My original idea was that everything had just returned to normal and that everything was fine. The only time the whole possession thing would have bothered her would have been when the kids chose to give up their magic, making her freak out for seemingly no reason as, until that point, she hadn’t said much of anything about it. However, I realized that it made no sense and, if this had been a legit scenario, I would have wanted to seclude myself for a while in order to protect the people I loved in case something like that were to happen again. In the long run, I changed things around and made it feel like she had taken a lot from it - trauma especially.

(Part 2) Kona’s magical realization would have been a lot more fleshed out if I had followed my original ideas. It was supposed to have a full scene on its own, but I’ll let you read the bit I had written before I explain myself.

"Not long before Serena knocks at the door, Kona comes in, pressing them for answers as they haven't been answering their phones. They push her away because they don’t want her to get hurt if Serena comes, but she’s adamant. Ultimately, she storms off but runs into Dorothea, who sits her down, and they talk for a while, getting to the root of the issue and revealing Kona has abilities as well as she nearly sets the kitchen table on fire when she thumps her fist against it."

Now, if you’re anything like my niece who sort of told me off for getting rid of this, I bet you’re sort of wishing I had stuck it out and written this, but I have a few reasons as to why I hadn’t. First of all, I realized as I was writing that, if I were to break up the tension of Serena’s visit any more than I already had with Kona showing up, it would have brought more focus to Kona and less on the stress of Serena’s entire ending scene. It would have made it less impactful as your attention - or mine, at the very least lmao - would have been more focused on Kona’s abilities and how they suddenly came about. It would have been a jarring shift to go from this scene of Kona finding out she has magic, to Serena and the group’s plan to stop her. Second, I wanted Kona’s entrance in the third chapter to be subtle, yet mildly surprising. I didn’t want to go in-depth on her magic or explain her family’s magical history when the story didn’t need it. Still, I wanted her showing up in the woods to link back to her having a conversation with Mrs. Murphy where she, ultimately, discovered her magic in the first place. And, finally, I also cut this out because I was already a lot further along than I thought I would be and I sort of wanted to just get through Serena’s part and call it at that. However, the facts still stand, and I don’t really regret taking this part out as I feel it all worked out in the end.

(Part 3) Now, this is the part that I think I changed the most, but the first thing that comes to mind is this segment:

"After they ask some questions, Mrs. Murphy explains that, during an eclipse, the power transfer is most powerful and will give the vessel - sometimes a magic-less human - powers of their own as they permanently drain the powers from the witches." 

While not a lot has changed there, I’m sure the word “permanently” caught your eye. Yes, the transfer thing was going to be permanent, and in a way, I wonder what it would have been like if I had kept it this way. It would have killed me to write, but it would have hit everyone - me included - really hard. The three kids who had only had magic for two weeks, sacrificed all of it to save someone who wasn’t even truly a friend to them… I mean, wow, it would have really hurt and it would have been painful for the older group as well, as they knew they now had the kids’ magic with no way of returning it to its rightful owners. I kept going back and forth as to whether it was a goodidea to keep the kids as mages, but in the long run, what’s done is done… right?

(Part 3) Directly following the last part, we have this: 

"With that knowledge, we jump to them sitting around in Miles’ room, coming up with a plan. Vivien decides that Carrie, Miles, and Mick will keep crystals with them for protection - Malachite for protection from toxic energy, Smithsonite for bringing them back down to reality and granting the clarity they need to make tough decisions, and white Moonstone for full moon power."

As you can probably tell, I took this section and moved it to the second part as it felt more realistic that Vivien would have them take crystals from the shop. It also gave that sliver of friendship between Vivien and Mick, hinting that both of them want things to go back to how they were. Having it here sort of left things between them feeling flat and unnecessarily stiff whereas it felt more genuine putting it in an earlier section.

(Part 3) Something I don’t have any notes for, but remember writing down, was the idea of Serena taking Kona hostage after the scene in the woods goes south. I got rid of it early on as I felt Kona wouldn’t stand for that kind of thing and would be the most obnoxious hostage ever, pushing Serena to dispose of her when she’s driven her too far up the wall. Kona would be the biggest pain in the ass if she were ever kidnapped, and I love her for that.

(Part 3) When I started writing out the fight scene in the commons, a lot changed, but here is where I think things changed the most:

"As Serena makes her appearance, Kona turns herself invisible and begins taunting her, using her newfound abilities to keep the redhead at bay. It works for a while, but as the transfer nears completion, Serena gets desperate and sends a burst of magic around, knocking Kona to the ground. Royce opens his eyes as he hears the fight ending and looks at Carrie with wide eyes before telling her, “Behind you!” Unified by magic, the older trio turns their magic on Serena and, as the transfer completes, they lift into the sky and begin to fight her. In the middle of the fight, Miles sees the kids still stunned by their new abilities and gets Viv’s attention, telling her to get them out of there. Weakened, the young trio find Kona, stumble down the street to the safety of the nearby cemetery (Howard Street Cemetery), and surround themselves with heavy salt rings before collapsing in exhaustion."

Now, there are several parts of this that I broke off and worked on differently - Kona getting knocked out, Miles joining the fight immediately instead of checking on the kids, and the kids going to the cemetery instead of the Murphy family’s home. Kona getting knocked out changed when I realized that she could still work with the others as a distraction, a rune-maker, and someone who could help complete the circle for the exorcism/draining scene. She became more of a foreground character for that, and I like how it panned out. My decision to change Miles’ reaction to the kids was an easy one as I highly doubt he would have just up and left them to fight - he loves them far too much to do that. As for the cemetery thing, it was mainly going to be a callback to the Hocus Pocus movie, but I realized it would be much easier for them to run from the commons entrance to the already salt-protected house on Forrester Street than it would be for them to cross one of the busiest streets in Salem to get to a cemetery for the sake of hallowed ground.

(Part 3) Finally, the last thing I changed here was, well, this:

"When the kids awaken in the morning, they find themselves on air mattresses on the Murphy family’s living room floor. Serena, while grateful to finally have her mind back in order and no longer be possessed, is quick to leave, heading home after making sure to thank everyone for helping her and telling the others that she’d see them at school."

While I loved the idea of Serena knowing she had been possessed and admitting to it, my mom brought up the idea of her keeping it to herself as she didn’t want to sound like she’d lost her mind, and, honestly, I loved that even more. It is entirely up to you to decide whether or not she remembers everything as I made her brush it off as a bad dream and get kind of snippy and evasive over it, but that just felt like something Serena would do. It felt more like her to keep it inside for her own sake rather than admit she needed help and got it from the people she had abandoned for “greener pastures” with the popular squad. It would probably make her think a lot about whether or not she could actually consider the people she now kept close, “friends.” Also, just the idea of her having this internal, existential crisis over being possessed and everything she experienced while trapped inside her mind just made me laugh. 

Actual scenes that were inspired by movies/shows (spoilers, just in case):

Something about Vivien’s interaction with Carrie in the first part was inspired by George Weasley in this scene.

The part in the woods where they’re trying to drain Serena is inspired by this scene from WandaVision.

This scene from Avengers: Infinity War was what drove me to write the interactions in the commons the way I did. Initially, the transfer would have gone almost exactly like this, with everything falling apart around them and the older group having to fight while everything else was going on. It changed a bit, but I was very close to keeping things identical to this. I guess you could say I wanted them to suffer.

Again, I take a scene from WandaVision to show what I originally wanted the fight to end with. This would have been very different, obviously, but it would have caused a chain reaction that I wasn’t prepared for in the slightest, and I just didn’t go with it in the long run. (Kona would have taken on Wanda/Scarlet Witch’s lines and everything while Serena was Agatha Harkness)

Everyone's powers explained:

I know I went over it a little, but I wanted to sort of explain them a bit. The primary ones - Royce, Bentley, and Vivien - are the easiest to explain as they are the moon, sun, and stars respectively. Like in Magicae Maxima, their powers correspond with a color and, again, they are blue, yellow, and purple respectively. However, for the others, I figured I would explain a bit more as I didn’t go into it much in the story.

For starters, I always sort of imagined Kona as a comet - fiery and ready to blaze a trail, but still connected to the cosmos like the other kids. Her colors are a combination of pink and blue, the colors flowing from one to the other like a lava lamp as the heat comes and goes. The easiest to explain are Carrie, Mick, and Miles, who are fire, water, and lightning. Their magic sort of corresponds to the kids’ powers as well, just not the ones they took from. Carrie’s magic reminds me of the solar flares that arc off the sun, tying her abilities to Bentley. Miles’ lightning is quick and hot, like Vivien’s shooting stars, not to mention it flickers purple from time to time. Then, there’s Mick’s water-based magic, which is a direct representation of Royce’s moon abilities. The moon has a gravitational pull that affects the tide, linking her magic to his. As physical representations of the earth, the older trio have a direct link to each of the kids and their respective abilities, showing that the remnants of magic that remain in them after everything is done with the transfer, still have a connection to their origins.

As for the ones I touched on the least, Dorothea, Brady, and Tommy. As I already stated, Brady is a phoenix, Dorothea is a pegasus, and Tommy is a Cetus or a sea dragon. Again, their magic corresponds with the others, but their magic is different. As representations of mythical creatures, they have powers higher than the kids. Dorothea’s aura-reading, clairvoyance, and overall light magic give her a connection with Vivien and Miles; Brady’s heat, light, and fire generation powers give him tie-ins to Carrie, Bentley, and even Kona; and, even though we don’t see him, Tommy’s water manipulation and weather control abilities are a direct link to Royce and Mick. I sort of see this as an Avatar: The Last Airbender type of deal, where there are multiple facets of a person’s abilities, and they just have to find it in themselves to make things happen. The possibilities are endless, really; they just have to find that out for themselves.

Quotes:

(Mick)

*to Carrie or Miles, probably* "I used to think of myself one way. But, after this… I’m something else. I'm still me, I think. But... but that's not what everyone else sees."

“I know I'm here, but I still feel dead inside. I'm just- they-  even the people who say they care about me- I feel like I'm just a pinned butterfly to them now. They just want to put me under a microscope and learn about all my trauma.”

"Every night, the same dream, and every morning, the same nightmare."

“You may have ruined my past, but I won’t let you ruin my future.”

“I know what I’m like… and maybe that’s the issue here.”

“It will get better - maybe not today, maybe not in a week or so, but it will get better. I promise.”

(Serena)

*upon kidnapping Kona to see what she knew* “These are runes, and in a given space, only the witch that cast the runes can use her magic. Your powers are useless here."

"You break the rules of the universe and become the hero, but when I do it, I become the enemy.” *scoff* “That doesn't seem fair, does it?"

“You’re just a pawn - another way for me to get what I want. You’re disposable, kid; get used to it.”

*after being freed* “I want to thank you guys, but at the same time, I want to scream.” *sigh* “It’s been a long night.”

“I still feel it there, in the back of my mind. It’s like a part of me is back to being whatever I was before, but there’s this part of my brain that wants nothing more than to plunge a knife into your chest… I don’t feel like a good person anymore.”

(Kona)

“I’m a bad bitch, you can’t kill me!”

*after Serena divulges her plan to her like Doofenshmirtz to Perry the Platypus* “Look, I have an attention span the size of a Goldfish cracker, and your voice is obnoxious, so I tuned you out, like, ages ago.”

“Everyone’s pretty tired of your shit, Serena, and if I had to guess, you’d probably say the same if you weren’t possessed by such a dramatic bitch of a demon.”

“Remember how you described me as a pawn? Well, this is checkmate. This is it. This is the end. I suggest you resign while you still have the choice.”

(Royce)

“When is she not a total bitch?”

“Why do I feel like we’ve just opened Pandora’s box or something?”

“It feels like there's a hole where my magic used to be. It's like its been ripped out of my chest, and now I'm just left here, bleeding out... It's too warm.”

“After everything we’ve been through… it can’t be for nothing, can it?”

(Vivien)

“You’re not evil, you’re just a little fucked up in the head still, and that’s fine. I still love you.”

“If I had a nickel for every time I’ve seen a demon possess someone this year, I’d have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice, right?”

“If the demon learned how to drive in two weeks, I’m sure it could learn to parallel park if it actually gave a fuck.”

*typing in Google* “How to get a demon to teach you how to drive.” “Vivien, no!” “Well, if you won’t teach me, it will!”

(Bentley)

“How on earth did she eat the cafeteria food if she’s got dark magic in her? That stuff’s saltier than the ocean.”

“Maybe we can therapize her!” “Therapize?” “We can be her therapist.” “You want to play therapist for a literal demon?” *sigh* “I really need to start thinking things through before I say them, don’t I?”

“Can’t we just pour salt in her mouth or something?” (horrified looks from everyone in the room) “What? It’s a genuine question!”

(Misc.)

“She was your meat puppet, I just cut her strings.”

“Not my mother, you bitch!”

“The thing is, you're using words... but the thing about this world is that the only universal language is violence. And I know we've both spoken that language before.”

“You want to be the hero? Then die like one!”

“Please? For me?” “You can’t just say that. You know I’d give you the world if you asked for it.”

“You used me as a weapon. That's all I was to you. Not a friend, just a weapon for you to use and throw away when you’re sick of it. Well, guess what?! I'm choosing what I fight for now!”

Songs:

No Body, No Crime by Taylor Swift

I Know The End by Phoebe Bridgers

Everybody Wants to Rule the World

Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) by Nancy Sinatra

Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd

Burn The Witch by Shawn James

I know it's not a lot, and I'm very sorry I didn't have more; however, I really stuck close to my original ideas this time. I wish I had more to offer you, but I do hope that you enjoyed these little crumbs of ideas! I think, for a little while, I'm going to work on some one-shots to expand my characters' backgrounds a bit, but for now, I think I'm just going to play some games, maybe a little Minecraft or DBH, and then scroll mindlessly through Pinterest or TikTok for ideas. For now, however, I hope you have a great day and that everything is going well for you across the ocean! All the love!

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

Melaka Mystica (Part 3/3)

January 18, 2024

Notes - I wanted so badly for this to be finished for Mles' birthday on the 14th, but alas, it was only finished today, and although I'm so incredibly grateful that this story is now officially finished, I still sort of wish it had been done on time. Anyway, I believe this may actually be the longest individual chapter I've ever written - coming in at the halfway mark on the 59th page. I'm immensely proud of all that went into this project and, although this may wrap everything up, I can't wait to start something new! I know I should take a break - and I promise I will - but I'm excited to work on some shorter projects for the time being. I just have far too many ideas to not take the time to work on some of them 😂 Now, without further ado, here is the insanely long final chapter that I've been working on for what feels like forever!

We are out of time.

As soon as the door closed behind Royce, the talking began. However, as soon as the sixteen-year-old uttered, “She’s definitely possessed,” Mick found herself sitting on the center cushion of the window seat, contemplating everything that had transpired. Two weeks ago, she had been possessed by ancient dark magic, and if Serena’s possession was anything like her own, they would need something big to take care of it. The only thing was, she had no idea how they would fix things for her.

When it happened to Mick, they had the help of her ancestors due to lighting the black flame candle, but now they didn’t have that wisdom. They didn’t have help, they didn’t have old, magical wisdom, and they certainly didn’t have an emerald candle. All they had was a book full of ancient recipes with no definite ingredients to make a candle and a spell book that would be rendered useless without said candle. After her possession on Halloween, Mick had gone through nearly all of the books in the basement library, hoping to find a recipe for the candle that cured her in order to rid herself of her headaches and the leftover side effects of the dark magic that had holed itself within her skin. However, to her dismay, there was nothing apart from an old book with a half-torn recipe. While Mick had been quite upset at the time, she had eventually gotten over it and forced herself to power through, but the lack of a finished recipe also meant they had no way to drain the dark magic from Serena.

With all the salt in the house used up for protection, they had no way of trapping her. And, if the ease with which she shattered the crystal was anything to go by, she was a force to be reckoned with. Had Mick been that bad when she was possessed? To be honest, most days, she couldn’t remember most of all that happened. There were bits and pieces of clarity - fragments of memories that haunted her most at night - but they were fleeting at best. More often than not, all she could recall was pacing in the woods, flying above the town commons, and the faintest moment of lucidity fueled by pride when Bentley threw salt at her possessed form. She couldn’t have been prouder of his quick thinking than she was in that fleeting memory.

There were other times when she could recall the entire night. Though she knew everyone involved knew all too well what had gone down and had filled her in on most of it, she only truly dealt with the full force of her memories at night. She wasn’t entirely sure whether it was due to her repressing the memories of that night or the fact that most of the events happened at night. All she knew was that it was damn near impossible to sleep when everything came flooding in all at once. Worst, by far, were the memories of being trapped inside her own skin. Like the opposite of an out-of-body experience, she was forced to watch herself move with no control, watching herself actively try to hurt those she loved most. Looking around at those before her, she wondered how on earth she had managed not to hurt any of them. At least not physically, that is.

Mouths moved, but no sound came from them as Mick looked around the living room of the Murphy residence. She was almost sure they were talking, but she couldn’t hear anything over the static-filled buzzing in her ears. Since her possession only weeks before, she had dealt with tinnitus and felt as though her head would explode if she moved too quickly. However, this was not her typical tinnitus. This sound was far from the high-pitched ringing that filled one ear and prevented her from thinking straight until its eventual dissipation. She felt like she was sitting in front of an old television set without an antenna while her ears were stuffed with cotton. While she could still register those around her talking, she couldn’t determine what was being said.

Were they discussing how to handle Serena? If they were, Mick was sure the conversation was going nowhere. She had already come to the conclusion that they had little, if anything, to work with. They had a plethora of books in the shop basement that would be of little help, crystals that only worked for a small amount of time if the shards of onyx in the Murphy’s trash bin were anything to go by, and the power of friendship which, unless they were from the same universe as My Little Pony, would do them no good. They were up against a seemingly undefeatable, ancient magic, and the only three that had magic at all were a group of teenagers who only received their abilities two weeks prior. Their chances of winning were slim to none, but she highly doubted the others had come to that conclusion yet. 

Mick watched Miles pinch the bridge of his nose as Vivien offered something, and the oldest of the Murphy brothers muttered something Mick couldn’t make out as Bentley rolled his eyes with an inaudible huff. Looking around in confusion, Mick allowed her eyes to slide shut before slowly taking a breath and willing her hearing to return. Once she could make out the frustrated tones of their voices, Mick opened her eyes and forced herself to stand from the window seat. She listened for a while to the jumbled voices that tangled into an unintelligible mess before Vivien’s voice cut through, “Why don’t we just use the emerald candle again? It worked on Mick.”

“We can’t,” Mick spoke as she crossed her arms tightly over her chest.

As though the energy in the room had died, Mick felt the eyes of the others on her as Bentley asked, “Why not?”

Taking a slow breath, Mick admitted, “The candle we used on me was the last one.”

“Maybe, if we find the book, we can make more,” Carrie suggested.

With a definite shake of her head, Mick said, “It’s pointless. I looked for the recipe after everything went down, but the page is ripped. There’s no way to make a new candle. We’ll have to find a different way to drain the magic from Serena.”

“Is there even another way to do it?” Vivien wondered.

While the others murmured their agreement, Royce’s eyes began to gleam as a fresh idea blossomed in his mind. “There might be.”

Noting the look in his brother’s eyes, Miles asked, “What do you have, RJ?”

Taking a few steps back toward the stairs, Royce smiled and said, “Just hang on a sec.”

As Royce bounded up the staircase, Bentley turned to the other living room occupants and asked, “Is anybody else confused or is it just me?”

“It’s definitely not just you,” Carrie sighed, glancing at the top of the staircase with a raised brow before smiling back at Bentley.

“It’s probably something in one of those books he’s gotten recently,” Miles mused with a shrug.

“Books?” Mick asked.

Miles nodded, “He’s been using some of the money he’s saved to buy books on magic and supernatural abilities. When he’s not getting caught reading at two in the morning by Mom, he’s spouting off things he’s discovered.”

“So that’s why he’s been looking so tired lately,” Vivien breathed thoughtfully. It made sense why he was suddenly on the verge of collapsing in class or falling asleep despite the noise of the cafeteria. Despite his insistence that all was well, she felt as though it was very unlike him - normal for Bentley or Miles, sure, but never for Royce. It made sense that the reasoning behind his uncharacteristic fatigue was his late-night reading sessions. 

Miles nodded in confirmation, but before he could say anything, Royce’s hurried footsteps could be heard, and everyone turned their attention to the stairs as Royce descended them two at a time, a thick book grasped tightly in one hand while the other held the railing. Jumping the last few steps, Royce quickly flipped open the book and made his way to his friends, flicking a few pages until he found what he was looking for. Beaming proudly, Royce’s gaze flickered between those present as he explained, “I borrowed this from the library last week for a bit of light reading.”

“Light?” Bentley scoffed. “That thing could have been used as a cannonball.”

Rolling his eyes, Royce brushed off Bentley’s claim and turned the book toward them as he continued, “It’s all about how people believe covens worked throughout history. While it talks about the hivemind kind of communication stuff like what Carrie found earlier, it also talks about coven draining. It says that coven members could drain a witch of their powers if they tried to learn dark magic or got possessed by it.”

“Do you really think something like that could work if Serena isn’t a part of our coven?” Vivien asked. 

“There’s no telling,” Royce said as he shifted the book back toward himself. “It only says that covens could do it, but it’s worth a shot, right?”

Cutting in, Miles shook his head, “And if it doesn’t work, that would put all three of you in danger. We’re not risking your lives for a theory.”

“But if it works, then we could save Serena and go back to normal,” Vivien argued.

“And if it doesn’t, you could die,” Mick interrupted.

Despite Vivien’s evident eye roll, Carrie was the one to speak next, “We can find another way.”

Before things could escalate, Bentley stepped up and asked, “Why don’t we just ask Mom if she knows anything about it?” With everyone’s attention on him, he said, “Think about it; she’s a witch and has been since before any of us were even born. If anyone knows anything about coven stuff, wouldn’t it be her?”

Silence permeated for a moment until Miles spoke, “He’s not wrong.”

“I’m smart when I want to be,” Bentley claimed before turning on his heel and heading for the kitchen. 

Not wanting to be left behind while Bentley discussed matters with Dorothea, the others quickly trailed behind, Royce holding the book’s pages in place to ensure he had the right information for the woman. Looking up from her embroidery hoop with a smile as the children entered the kitchen, Dorothea paused the music playing from her cell phone and asked, “How did things go with your friend?”

“That’s actually what we were hoping to talk with you about,” Mick stated.

Leaning against the wall, Vivien stated, “She’s possessed by dark magic and we need advice on how to fix things.”

Folding her hands together on the table, Dorothea said, “Well, the easiest way to stop a possession would be with an exorcism, but where this has magical ties and we don’t have any legitimate shamans in the area, I would say your best bet would be to try an emerald flame candle, if you can find one.”

“You don’t have the recipe?” Miles asked.

With a heavy sigh, Dorothea shook her head, “No, that was one thing I never learned.”

Stepping up to the table with his borrowed book, Royce set the hardcover down on the table and pointed to the pages as he asked, “What about coven draining? Would that work even though Serena’s not in our coven?”

Without so much as looking at the pages before her, Dorothea answered, “There are many ways that it would work, but I have some concerns.”

“Like what?” Carrie asked.

Glancing around at the children before her, the woman replied, “You see, many years ago, I was asked by one of my old coven mates to perform the ritual and it was extremely difficult.” 

“Would salt help?” Bentley asked, digging into the pocket of his jeans for a packet he had taken home from school. 

With a chuckle and a fond smile, Dorothea shook her head, “It would dampen the powers of the one being drained, but in this case, no. My friend had sworn off magic and, despite still being one of my closest friends, the process was excruciating on everyone involved. He was in pain for months afterward and I couldn’t be near him without crying. While Serena isn’t in your coven, she is still someone you personally share a bond with in some way. In my opinion, it would be exceedingly difficult for you three to even handle being in school with her after the fact.”

Disappointment was evident on everyone’s faces as Royce gathered the book again and sighed, “I guess we’ll just have to figure out another way, then.”

While the children moved to leave the kitchen, Dorothea stood and spoke, “There are other ways to drain or exchange powers.”

Turning back toward the woman, Vivien asked, “Like what?”

Holding up a finger, Dorothea silently asked them to wait as she stepped over to the pantry. Pulling a book from inside her hidden cabinet, Dorothea made her way back to the kitchen and opened the book, finding the right page as she explained, “There is a way for witches to send their powers into empty vessels.”

“Empty vessels?” Miles repeated. “Like what; a jar?”

“Not quite,” Dorothea said with a shake of her head. “In this case, an empty vessel would be a person without magic as it will give the person performing it some powers of their own as they drain the magic from the witches. The incantation would have to be read by the person without magic and, to anyone watching who isn’t involved, it would look the same as a coven draining.”

“That could work,” Mick muttered, earning nods from Carrie and Bentley.

“We could use that,” Miles agreed. “If we transferred the magic to ourselves, we could drain Serena and then give the magic back after it’s over.”

Turning to his mother, Royce asked, “Can we write down the incantation?”

With a stiff nod, Dorothea laid the book on the table and watched as Royce pulled a pen from his pocket and scribbled out the information on a napkin. As Royce wrote, Vivien’s gaze landed on Dorothea. It seemed too good to be true. If this whole idea of giving their magic to someone else to protect themselves was an option, why hadn’t it been offered to them when Mick was possessed? Though she wanted nothing more than to trust Mrs Murphy with everything she had, Vivien couldn’t help but feel skeptical. For once, she wished she had Bentley’s unyielding optimism. The smile on his face was enough to tell Vivien that he hadn’t even given his mother’s offer a second thought.

Royce finished writing far quicker than Vivien would have liked, but as she held an arm out to stop him from going any further, she crossed her arms and met Mrs Murphy’s eyes as she asked, “What’s the catch?” 

“Catch?” the woman wondered.

Despite Mick’s hand on her shoulder silently asking her to stop before she could begin running her mouth, Vivien spoke, “There has to be something you aren’t telling us about this.”

Taking a deep breath as she sat back down at the table, Dorothea explained, “There are only certain times when magical beings can give up their powers. Special moments. Tonight isn’t just any night, after all.”

A pause of silence filled the room before Royce recalled, “Tonight’s the lunar eclipse.” 

“Exactly,” Dorothea nodded. “The full moon is one thing - a sign of new beginnings - but an eclipse is something else entirely. It is something very special. During an eclipse, the transfer is most powerful.”

“Powerful how?” Carrie pressed.

Dorothea closed the book she had brought out and tucked it under her arms as she folded her hands atop its surface, “Though it would be the safest option and would allow you to go about life normally, the power of the eclipse could make the transfer permanent.”

“Permanent?” Miles breathed, shock lining his voice as his eyes widened.

Bentley’s golden hair flowed like a halo of fluffy waves as he quickly shook his head, “No way! We haven’t gone through everything we have just to throw it all away.”

Dorothea held up a hand to placate the children before her as she spoke, “I understand, but without your magic, you’re of no use to whatever is possessing Serena, are you?”

Silence hung in the air like a weighted blanket - heavy and immovable. While the woman’s words were undeniably true, none of them knew quite how to respond. Bentley’s steel-toned eyes glanced between Royce and Vivien, wondering how they were so quiet. Did they have no concerns to voice, or were they overthinking as they always did? Taking Vivien’s hand in his, Bentley watched as her emerald eyes found his, and a silent question fell between them - were they truly willing to give up their magic so easily? When Vivien’s eyebrows knitted together, and she forced herself to turn away, Bentley knew he had his answer. Vivien turned to Royce and took his hand, following the same process with him. By the time Royce had found Bentley’s gaze, he knew they had all come to the same conclusion.

In a voice too quiet to be her own, Vivien muttered, “She’s right.”

Despite her surprise at how easily the normally fiery Vivien stepped down, Carrie looked ready to fight as she asked, “What?”

Royce shrugged as he finally looked up, the golden glow in his caramel eyes now dull as he defeatedly admitted, “We don’t really have a choice.”

Before any of the older children could argue, Dorothea spoke from her seat at the table, “I wouldn’t have suggested it on any other night, and although I feel it should only be used as a last resort, it might be your only chance.”

“We’ll have to try the coven thing first,” Bentley spoke, determination fuelling his tone as he turned back toward the others. “If that doesn’t work and she gets to be too much for us, we’ll back down and give up our powers.”

Taking a sharp breath, Mick drew the attention of those present as she admitted, “After everything that’s happened, I don’t know if I could handle that.”

“You could,” Vivien spoke confidently, offering the older girl a small smile. “You’re one of the strongest people I know.”

With a hum of confirmation, Royce said, “Even if it comes down to us having to give up our magic, you won’t be alone in it.”

Bentley nodded, “You’ll have all of us to support you.”

“We’re in this together,” Vivien added, patting the older girl on the arm. “Now, come on. We’ve got a demon to chase.”

Dead leaves crunched underfoot, and Carrie’s teeth chattered as another icy November wind sent a chill down her spine. Why couldn’t they have just left her in the car? She understood that Mick wanted to check the woods on foot, but the car’s headlights were a hell of a lot brighter than the flimsy flashlights on their cell phones. She could have at least followed them along the treeline with the car, shining the lights into the woods as best as she could. It made no sense for them to wander aimlessly through the woods with what little lighting they had, but then again, she understood where they were coming from. 

Seeing as Mick had been possessed recently, she would know better than any of them where to look. Her first instinct led them straight toward the woods where the kids had always done their Halloween ritual, and although Carrie could sense the thick layer of unease in the air, she knew as well as they all did that Mick was only doing what she felt was right. Mick had told her time and time again about how often the fleeting memories of the woods would come to mind. Maybe it was something to do with the magic being nearly as old as Salem itself and not knowing how to handle the noisy city it now inhabited. Carrie couldn’t be sure, but if Mick felt relatively confident, the blonde wasn’t about to argue with her.

Glancing toward where the kids were huddled together, their flashlights forming a unified beacon as they talked quietly amongst themselves, Carrie wondered what was going on in their heads. Were they worried or upset with the idea that Serena’s possessed body could be lurking in the canopy of the woods they felt at home in? Were they worried about the idea of sacrificing their magic to save a girl they could just barely consider a friend? Had they even considered the idea of being normal humans again? Or were they more focused on getting things taken care of so they could return to their normal lives? Carrie had given it much thought, and from the look on his face, so had Miles. Though she couldn’t tell what was going through Mick’s head as she walked ahead of them in a sort of daze, Carrie had a feeling that the younger brunette was just as worried about the concept of the kids losing their magic as she and Miles were. 

It was only natural for them to worry, Carrie supposed. Mick had been the only older sister type of figure in Vivien’s life since the girl was tiny, and Miles’ younger brothers were practically attached to his hips when they weren’t busy with school. They were older siblings in their own rights, and despite Carrie only having been close to the kids since she had begun working at Coven’s Cottage, she was just as worried for them. However, it didn’t seem as though the children were nearly as worried as they were.

They were relatively quiet - and had been for quite some time - but Carrie could see the faintest hint of a smile on Royce’s face as Vivien elbowed him in the arm, and Bentley let out a snort of laughter. Carrie grinned; they were cute together, whether they knew it or not. The only thing missing was their trusty sidekick, Kona. The little Hawaiian had grown increasingly close to them since her family moved to Salem when Kona and Bentley were entering fourth grade. It was only natural, seeing as how Bentley was her tour guide at school, and they were practically inseparable during the first few months of school. Nowadays, it was unusual to see the trio without the blonde, but after all that had happened in the last two weeks, the sight was becoming more common than anyone would have cared to admit.

Carrie took in a breath and focused her attention back on the treeline, forcing herself to focus on the task at hand. Grateful she had invested in a pair of fuzzy earmuffs and a packet of reheating hand warmers, Carrie pried her now warmed hand from her pocket and switched her phone into it before tucking her empty hand into her pocket. Oh, how she hated the cold! Though she was grateful to have stuck around Salem after graduating high school as, otherwise, she wouldn’t have grown close to Miles and his close-knit group of friends and family, a part of her wished they had met somewhere a bit warmer. Though she highly doubted she would be able to convince him to move somewhere warmer as he was a family man through and through, she hoped at least a few of their future winter vacations could be spent in one of the warmer states. Somewhere far from the snow and ice and whipping winds - Florida or California, perhaps? She’d heard stories of the luxurious beaches and seemingly endless summers, and, boy, did that sound good right about now!

As another wind stirred leaves into the air and blew a chill throughout the group, Carrie shivered and turned to Miles as she asked, “Do you see anything?”

With a sigh and a shake of his head, Miles asked, “No, do you?”

“I wish,” Carrie huffed. “Do you think Serena’s even here?”

“I don’t know,” Miles muttered, “but Mick seems pretty sure this is where it brought her, and if she’s right, Serena could be where the kids do their ritual.”

Carrie slowly nodded to herself before asking, “Do you know how to get there?”

Again, Miles shook his head, “I haven’t had to walk them out there in years. I think it’s marked off by fallen tree limbs, but I could be wrong.”

Carrie hummed thoughtfully, glancing back toward the trees they had already bypassed before shrugging. The important thing was that the kids knew how to get there. So long as they were reliable tour guides, she had nothing to worry about. Not much further down the edge of the woods, the kids stopped, turning back toward their older companions with matching expressions. However, of the three, it was Bentley who chose to speak first, “The path starts just up here and it doesn’t take long to get to the spot.”

“You guys should probably stay a good distance behind us just to be safe,” Royce recommended. 

Before anyone could argue, Vivien dug into her jacket pocket and pulled out a handful of assorted crystals as she spoke, “I took these from the store earlier and I think we should probably divide them up now in case she’s in there.”

“What did you bring?” Mick questioned, tucking her hands into her coat pockets as Vivien stepped forward. 

“For you guys, I brought malachite to repel toxic energy,” the young brunette explained as she began handing out portions of the swirled green crystal. “For all of us, I have small pieces of smithsonite that will help to ground us all and will hopefully make it easier for us to make tough decisions. Then, for just the three of us, I have some shards of white moonstone to help us harness the power of the moon and stars.”

“Do you think they’ll help?” Carrie asked as she examined the two stones in her palm.

“You never know,” Royce said with a small shrug.

“It’s better to have it and not end up needing it than to need it and not have it,” Vivien explained simply. 

“You’re nothing if not over-prepared,” Bentley teased, grinning cheekily at Vivien, who merely rolled her eyes in return.

“Call me paranoid all you want,” she resigned, “but if we’re going up against a demon without the help of some ancient witches, I want to make sure I’ve covered every possible base.”

“It’s smart,” Mick mused, gaining a grateful smile from the young brunette.

“Thanks,” Vivien said. 

With a fond smile, Royce tore his gaze away from Vivien and cleared his throat before saying, “We know the pathway like the back of our hands, so all you guys will have to do is follow us.”

“If she’s there, there’s a fallen tree you guys can hide behind,” Bentley stated. 

“Are you three sure this is what you want to do?” Miles pressed. 

“What other choice do we have?” Vivien replied rhetorically. “The sooner we find her and end this, the better off we’ll all be.”

With a hum of agreement from Royce and a quick nod from Bentley, the trio allowed the children to lead the way, their flashlights turning off as the moon guided them along the path. Despite the darkness of the forest, they maneuvered through the leaf-covered ground with practiced ease. Royce led the way over a fallen tree, waiting for Vivien and Bentley to join him on the other side before continuing onward. Turning toward his friends, Royce lowered his voice before asking, “Do you think we have a chance of ending this?”

“One way or another,” Bentley sighed softly.

“If it comes down to it, are you ready to give up our powers?” Royce asked.

“What other choice do we have?” Vivien asked in reply. “Without a candle and the help of other witches, we’re sorta out of options.”

Royce sucked in a breath and sighed, “Just as I was getting used to it.”

“Try to stay positive,” Bentley offered as he stepped over a small log. “We might not need to give them up.”

“And if we do?” Vivien wondered aloud.

Stepping between his brother and their longtime best friend, Bentley slid his hands into theirs and smiled, saying, “Then we’ll do it together like we always do.”

Vivien took in Bentley’s smile and offered a strained one in return while Royce peered over Bentley’s head at her, sending her a worried look that she dismissed with an encouraging smile. How she could be so calm about the matter, he would never know, but once Bentley’s glimmering, hope-filled eyes fell on him, Royce couldn’t help the grin that tugged at his lips, determined to make sure Bentley couldn’t see just how much the thought of losing their magic was affecting him. For the most part, the rest of their trip into the woods was silent, but Bentley’s soft humming made the mood feel at least minutely calmer.

All thought of conversation left them as they approached their ritual spot, tucking themselves behind the thick trunk of a fallen tree. In the clearing where their black flame candle had once burned, bringing them magic on Vivien’s sixteenth birthday, was Serena. Despite there being a few feet of space between the redhead and the mossy ground, she was sitting cross-legged, her hair floating in midair as her mouth moved wordlessly. Was she talking to herself? As the others silently joined them, Vivien took Bentley and Royce’s hands and muttered a quick silencing charm that the boys soon repeated. 

Once the charm had fallen around them, effectively preventing Serena from hearing them, Vivien said, “We should be fine now.”

Peering over the top of the fallen tree, Mick mused, “This feels familiar.”

“How so?” Carrie asked.

“I wandered in the woods a lot when I was possessed,” Mick explained as she moved to sit on the leaf-covered grass. “I don’t remember levitating at all, but there’s a lot from that night that I don’t remember, so…”

“How are you holding up?” Miles asked. “I know it can’t be easy.”

The older brunette shrugged with a heavy sigh, “It feels as though my head’s about to explode, but I’m managing.”

“Will you be okay?” Bentley asked.

“I’ll be fine,” Mick brushed off with a small smile. “Now, what’s the plan?”

Vivien and Bentley turned their attention to Royce, the only one in their group who actually liked to devise plans without blindly running into things. Swallowing thickly, Royce spared a glance over the tree before speaking, “I think, if we attack from different angles, we’ll have the element of surprise.”

Nodding in understanding, Vivien said, “You and I could go on either side of her while Bentley stays close to the tree. That way, these guys can keep him safe if anything happens and we can distract her if we have to.”

“That would probably be the best,” Royce agreed.

Despite wanting to prove that he could handle himself in any given scenario, Bentley resigned with a nod, understanding that neither Royce and Vivien nor the group of young adults that had joined them would be willing to let him put himself in harm’s way. He couldn’t blame them. If the roles had been reversed and he was the older sibling of the group, he’d want them safe as well. “Do you have the spell?” he asked instead.

Royce dug into his pocket briefly and pulled out the piece of paper he had written everything down on. Folding the paper in half, he held it out for the others to read before saying, “It’s relatively short, so it should be pretty easy, but it said to keep reciting it until the magic is gone.”

Nodding, Vivien looked up and met Royce’s gaze with a grin, “If you lead, we’ll follow.”

“Alright,” Royce breathed. “Now, divide and conquer.”

Stepping out of the bubble created by the silencing charm, Bentley watched as Royce and Vivien split off, quietly moving through the darkness of the forest as he rounded the edge of the fallen tree. Remaining as hidden as possible, Bentley only stepped into the light of the clearing once he was sure Royce and Vivien were ready to begin the chant. Quietly, Vivien moved her hands in a figure eight and softly muttered, “Post tergum ligabis.”

In an instant, Serena’s eyes, which had previously been closed, snapped open, revealing nothing but black, soulless voids where her usual hazel irises would be as her arms jerked behind her back, and she dropped to her knees on the ground. Looking around wildly, she whipped her head from one side to the other, hissing something incoherently as she glared inky daggers at the trio surrounding her. “So clever,” she hissed as her gaze flitted between Royce and Bentley, “yet so, so stupid!” With a cackling laugh, she found Vivien and taunted, “Do you truly think me so pathetic as to not be able to break free from my bonds?”

“You have no protective runes in place or we wouldn’t be able to perform any kind of magic,” Vivien explained calmly. “If you wanted to break free, you would.”

Serena’s silent glare told them all they needed to know. As much as they wanted to believe that Serena was fighting the possession, the dark, murderous gleam in her eyes told them otherwise. Maybe the part of herself that was tucked away, locked deep inside the possessed form before them, was keeping the demonic spirit at bay just enough to keep them from harm. “Perhaps I am merely curious as to what powers you believe to have over me.”

As Serena let out another dark chuckle, Bentley nodded to his brother and friend, signaling that he was ready if they were. Taking a moment to recall the words he had read from their mother’s book, Royce spoke, “Serena Sullivan, you have betrayed your coven.”

“Serena is no longer with us, I’m afraid,” the redhead hissed.

“Maybe not,” Bentley began, “but you’re still in her body, and she was a part of our coven for years before you came around.”

Continuing his speech, Royce stated, “You have stolen knowledge above your age and station, and have practiced the darkest of magic.”

“Therefore,” Vivien started with a smile, “it is only fair that, as your coven, we punish you as we see fit.”

Stunned into silence, Serena’s eyes flickered between the trio, watching as Bentley joined them in raising his arm, his palm aimed directly toward Serena as Vivien’s and Royce’s were. 

Royce waited until Bentley and Vivien were focused on him before he took in a deep breath, settling his glare on Serena as he slowly began the chant that Bentley and Vivien quickly joined, “Darkness now be gone from thee, banished and bound, we set you free, under the light of this pure moon, hearken to our witches rune, magicae nostrae tenebras purgat.”

“Wait,” Serena breathed, glancing around with widened eyes. As they began reciting the chant a second time, Serena’s eyes began to shift to a shade of dark crimson as she gasped, “No! No, I cannot control it!”

With the second chant coming to a close, the young trio watched as their hands began to glow. Over the violet light emitting from her palms, Vivien could see traces of gold to her right and orange across from her. However, as they began a third chant, she spotted a glimmer of pale pink to her left, dragging her attention from the task at hand as the glow of the moon from above illuminated a head of blonde hair that appeared at the edge of the tree line. Despite her shock at Kona’s sudden appearance, Vivien forced herself to focus as she took note of the blonde reciting the chant along with them. Turning her gaze back on Serena, Vivien watched as a series of glowing, iridescent shapes began to appear above Serena’s body. The first took on the form of a tilted X, followed by a backward and elongated Z, and finally, a capital Y with the center line dragged upwards through the meeting point.

Though she had no understanding of what the shapes meant or why they had appeared, Vivien allowed herself to continue the chant as she watched Serena’s form writhe in some sort of invisible pain. She forced herself to watch as silent tears began to roll down the redhead’s cheeks, and the dark hues in her eyes dissolved to reveal the natural hazel underneath it all. None of them were entirely sure whether or not it was a true representation of the girl’s clarity, but as a gasp left her, they were fairly sure it was.

Allowing the chant to begin again, the now quartet watched in surprise as colorful beams of light shot out from their hands, attaching them to Serena like an invisible cord. As though she had been shot, Serena let out an ear-piercing scream, a pained cry leaving her as she caught her breath before releasing another scream. This time, as Serena screeched, a dark, reddened glow began to burn under her skin, flooding upwards from her chest to her throat. Then, as the ominous glow reached her temples, her eyes began to void themselves of any color, and a dark, crimson glow began to spread outward from her through the magical tethers connecting her to the four mages.

With wide eyes and panic thick in his voice, Royce yelled, “Let go!”

However, he wasn’t quick enough, and just as the words left Royce’s mouth, a pulse of dark magic slammed through the connection, flinging them away from her and leaving them minutely grateful they hadn’t hit any trees. At once, the magical ties connecting them to the redhead dissolved, and the runes preventing Serena’s magic from spreading flickered away into the night sky as she broke free of her magical bonds. Without so much as a noise, Serena rose shakily from her spot on the ground and, with a flourish of the cape wrapped tightly around her shoulders, she disappeared, leaving nothing more than a faintly charred circle of dead leaves and four magic-wielding teenagers struggling to push themselves from the forest floor.

With the only imminent threat now gone, Miles pushed himself to climb out from his hiding place, finding Bentley first as he loudly asked, “Are you all alright?”

As Vivien pushed herself to sit on her knees, she pushed her hair from her face and snarkily asked, “Does it look like we’re alright?”

Making her way to Vivien as Miles left Bentley in Carrie’s care to check on Royce, Mick asked, “Are you hurt?”

“I’m not dead,” Vivien claimed. “I think I’ll count that as a victory.”

“That’s not exactly what I meant,” Mick said as she helped Vivien to stand. Following the girl to where Kona had appeared from between a set of birch trees, she gestured to the girl and added, “And when did you get here?”

Brushing traces of dead leaves and dirt from her clothes, Kona grinned as she admitted, “I was here before you guys were.”

Allowing the blonde to lead the way to where the others had gathered in the clearing, Vivien asked, “When did you find out you had magic?”

“When I was talking to Ben and Royce’s mom,” Kona explained. “She sort of helped me understand that Bentley was telling me the truth about you guys having magic, but when I started getting frustrated, the table shook and she told me I probably had it too.”

“How did you know to find us here?” Bentley asked as Miles and Royce pulled him to his feet.

“I didn’t,” Kona said. “I had just left your house to go home and contemplate my existence when I saw Serena acting weird at the end of the driveway.”

Raising a curious brow, Royce questioned, “How did you follow her on foot?”

“Technically, I was on wheels at first,” Kona chuckled. “I had my skates, so I followed her as best as I could. She left her car by the commons and walked here, so I followed her.”

“And you managed to go undetected by a demon?” Mick asked.

Kona hummed, “It wasn’t as hard as you think.” Holding up a hand, Kona took in a deep breath and concentrated for a moment, leaving the others watching in stunned silence as her fingers began disappearing from sight. Thoroughly proud of herself, Kona beamed, “When you’re a ghost, nobody pays any attention to you.”

Taking what remained of Kona’s hand in hers, Carrie laughed as she felt the girl’s invisible fingers wiggling in her grasp, “I didn’t know you guys could do that.”

“I don’t think any of us did,” Royce muttered, glancing pointedly toward Vivien and Bentley who quickly shook their heads.

“I discovered it on accident, but hey, the more you know,” Kona smiled, taking her hand back and willing her fingers to appear again. After a moment, her expression turned serious as she claimed, “I heard Serena talking to herself about you guys having, like, cosmic powers or something. She wants the magic for herself.”

Bentley glanced around at the others as he asked, “That’s what it wanted last time, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Mick answered with a nod.

“Last time?” Kona wondered as she glanced from Mick to Bentley. “She really was possessed?” 

“I wasn’t lying to you,” Bentley stated with a hint of a grin.

Finding Kona’s gaze again, Mick asked, “Did you hear anything else?”

“Just her talking about wanting to take over,” Kona shrugged. “For the most part, she was talking to herself. It was like she was arguing with someone who wasn’t there.”

“Makes sense,” Miles mused. Taking a slow breath, he glanced around at the children before him and asked, “So, what’s the plan?”

Royce sighed, “We need to lure her to us and try to take her down again.”

“Are you insane?” Kona questioned. “She could have killed us!”

With a nod, Bentley agreed, “Yeah, I don’t think we’re strong enough to handle her on our own.”

“Maybe not,” Vivien began, “but she might be a bit weaker now that we’ve tried draining her once.”

“Exactly,” Royce said. “If we can get her to come to us with the idea of getting our magic, we can try it again.”

“Well,” Carrie began thoughtfully, “I highly doubt we’ll be able to convince her to come back here.”

Vivien sighed, “I think that’ll be the hardest part - finding a place.”

Taking in a deep breath as the others began offering suggestions, Mick cleared her throat and looked around as she spoke, “How about the commons?”

“You hate going to the commons nowadays,” Miles said.

“I don’t hate it,” Mick insisted with a sigh, “but regardless of my feelings toward the commons, it’s a nice, open space where they could work together to take Serena down. Besides, it’s a lot easier to donate funds to the town in order to replace torched bushes than it would be to pay off a handful of charred, antique church pews.”

Miles took a good look at the rest of the group, taking in their varied expressions as he sucked in a slow breath. Then, with a decisive sigh, he nodded, “Alright, I guess we’ll head to the commons then. But,” he began, looking pointedly at the group of four before him, “you four need to stay with us. No wandering off - we need you alive.”

After giving their forms of agreement, the teenagers turned on their flashlights and began the walk back to the edge of the woods. Once they were back on the path and sure the others were following them, Royce lowered his voice and asked, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Vivien swallowed thickly and asked in response, “What; that we might have to give up our powers?”

Sparing a glance over his shoulder as Miles accused Mick of intentionally smacking him in the face with a twig, Bentley sighed, “As much as I don’t want to give the magic up, I think it might be our only option.”

“What do you mean?” Kona pressed. “I just got mine, I don’t want to give them up.”

“And, thankfully, Serena doesn’t know that,” Royce claimed. “Besides, we only have three vessels.”

“Vessels?”

“People without magic that can take ours,” Vivien explained. “Mick, Miles, and Carrie can take ours, but we don’t have anyone to take yours.”

As Kona made a noise of agreement, Bentley spoke up, “Maybe we can use that to our advantage.”

“How so?” Royce asked as he pushed a stray branch out of his path.

Slowly piecing together his plan, Bentley spoke, “Kona can turn invisible. If she attacks Serena to keep her busy while we transfer our magic, she’ll be even weaker than she is and will be easier for them to take down.”

“Okay, that sounds great and all, but you guys aren’t seriously giving up your magic, are you?” Kona asked. “Like, this is just a temporary thing, right?”

“Our mom said that the power of the eclipse could make it permanent,” Royce admitted.

“Could,” Vivien emphasized. “If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to get them back.”

Hesitantly glancing between the three as they neared the edge of the woods, Kona asked in a hushed voice, “What if you can’t get them back? What happens then?”

Royce heaved a sigh as he admitted, “I haven’t thought that far ahead yet.”

Stepping past the treeline, Vivien said, “I think we’ll just have to sit back and help everyone else strengthen their magic.”

“It’s only fair,” Bentley acknowledged. “They’ve helped us a lot in the last two weeks and I think helping them figure things out is the least we can do to repay them.”

“How do they feel about you guys giving them your magic?” Kona asked as she followed them toward where Miles and Mick had left their vehicles.

Silence filled the crisp autumn air as the magically-bound trio slowed their steps, their thoughts now riddled with scenarios and potential outcomes of the conversation to come. The idea of having to tell the people they loved most that they were giving up the magic - the magic that they had all worked so hard to improve and strengthen together - was terrifying. Especially when they realized that would entail telling the already mentally drained Mick that she would have to push aside her reservations to help them. Turning back toward the now-stopped group, Kona set them a worried look before pointedly glancing past them to where Miles and Mick had roped Carrie into singing an old TV show theme song with them as they walked.

Quickly righting themselves, the trio headed for the cars, Vivien tugging Kona along with her to Mick’s bus as she explained under her breath, “What they don’t know, they’ll help us figure out.”

As Kona climbed over the bench seat into the back of the beat-up hippie bus, she asked, “What happens when they find out?”

Heaving a sigh, Vivien slid into the passenger’s seat and watched Mick as she parted ways with her fellow oblivious friends. Vivien forced a smile onto her face as Mick made her way toward them, but as she glanced in the rear-view mirror at Kona, she admitted, “I have no idea.”

The door yanked open, and Mick laughed as she climbed into her seat. She slammed the door behind herself and tugged her keys from her coat pocket. “Are you guys ready?” she asked as she shoved her car key into the ignition.

“We are,” Vivien said before Kona could claim otherwise. “What were you guys talking about?”

“Not much,” Mick shrugged, putting the vehicle in gear before following closely behind Miles’ Jeep. “Miles said something about how Serena’s ponytail reminded him of the little girl on The Flintstones.”

“Pebbles?” Kona snickered curiously.

“Yeah,” Mick nodded as she met the girl’s gaze in the mirror. She slowed to a stop where the dirt roads met the gravel streets and watched as a few cars passed by. “So, we started singing the theme song and he convinced Carrie to sing with us even though we all know he would much rather just listen to her all day.”

Vivien chuckled, “Who wouldn’t? She’s a great singer.”

“Yeah, but he’s also a lovesick idiot,” Kona chimed in. With a roll of her eyes, she claimed, “I’m pretty sure she could start a wildfire or something and he would be singing her praises.”

“She could kill him and he would haunt her just to say ‘thank you,’” Vivien snickered.

Mick laughed, “You’re not wrong.”

Once they were back on the road, the rumble of the old vehicle’s engine overpowered any chance of a conversation, and Kona took the opportunity at a stop sign to stretch over the bench-style back of her seat and turn the radio volume up. While the radio flitted between static nonsense, advertisements for local businesses, and the fleeting notes of a Christmas song that had been cycling the radio waves since the day after Halloween, Vivien found herself trying to prevent her leg from bouncing anxiously as they grew closer to the commons. 

Though she wasn’t exactly thrilled with the concept of giving up her newfound abilities, that wasn’t the thing that was bothering her most. Her mind was more focused on how badly she was sure Mick would react. Whether she would admit it aloud or not, Vivien was terrified of having to deal with a hysterical Mick. Despite how far Mick had come since everything went down on Halloween, she was sure Mick would refuse to allow them to give up their powers, especially if she knew to whom Vivien intended to give her powers.

Glancing at the older girl beside her, Vivien forced herself to smile as Mick peered over with a grin and offered Vivien a hand over the cushion between them. Mouthing along to Mariah Carey’s infamous Christmas song, Vivien slipped her hand into Mick’s and sucked in a deep breath as she began praying to whatever deity would listen that things would go better than she expected them to. A part of her wished that this was all a dream and that she would wake up in bed or on the Murphy’s couch, but she knew that was practically impossible at this point. Things had gone far too off the rails for her to be dreaming.

As they drove past the hospital toward the center of town, Vivien found herself scanning the surrounding area for any sign of Serena. Although she hadn’t found anything, she couldn’t brush off the feeling that someone, somewhere, was watching them as Mick rolled to a stop behind Miles’ Jeep, their parking spots within walking distance of the street the Murphy family lived on. With no opportunity to call everything off and the looming threat of Serena’s possession still tugging at the far edges of her brain, Vivien cleared her throat and sighed as she looked around, grateful that very few people appeared to be away from home at that hour. Nobody else needed to see what was about to go down.

Taking a deep breath as she turned off the engine, Mick twisted in her seat so that she could see both Vivien and Kona as she asked, “Are you two ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Vivien sighed.

With a resigned nod, Kona agreed as she climbed over the back of the seat to sit between the two brunettes, “I’m just ready to use my new magic.”

“You’ll do great, Kona,” Mick reassured, brushing a stray hair from the girl’s face with a smile. “If you’re anything like Vivien and the boys, you’ll pick up on things in no time at all.”

Kona smiled and nodded before turning to Vivien with a wary look as Mick shoved open her door. Swallowing thickly, Vivien pushed her door open and allowed Kona to climb out behind her, letting the blonde tug her aside after the door was closed once more. In a hushed voice, Kona asked, “Are you sure about this? Ben and I were talking on Discord and he says he’s worried. I tried to reassure him, but I’m nervous too and I’m not the one giving up my magic.”

Vivien placed a hand on Kona’s shoulder and started walking around the car with her as she replied, “As I said, it might not be permanent.”

Digging her heels into the edge of the sidewalk, Kona urged Vivien to stop as she pressed, “What if it is?”

“So be it,” Vivien shrugged in response. “If we can get our powers back - great! If not, life can go back to normal, and we can help the others learn how to use them.”

“Are Royce and Bentley okay with that?” Kona asked.

“Why else would they go through with it?” Vivien asked in return.

“Because you’re okay with it,” Kona stated. When the brunette before her sent her a confused look, Kona huffed, “Royce will do anything you want him to - sort of like Miles and Carrie. You say jump, he asks how high.”

“I don’t think-”

“It doesn’t matter what you think, Viv. It’s the truth,” Kona interrupted. “As for Bentley, the only reason I’m sure he’s going through with it - apart from the fact that Royce is, and he’s always up his brothers’ asses - is because you are the closest thing to a sister that he’s ever had and he feels the need to impress you.”

“He doesn’t need to do that,” Vivien claimed. “He knows I adore him.”

“I’m sure he does,” Kona agreed as she began walking again. “But that changes nothing. What I’m trying to say is that they’re doing this for you. Did you even bother asking if they wanted to give up their powers?”

“I know they don’t,” Vivien sighed. “None of us do. It’s just the only thing left that could keep us safe from Serena.”

“And you’re sure about this?”

“Does it look like we have a choice?”

Kona glanced at her tall friend and sighed, “I guess not, no.” Taking hold of Vivien’s hand as they entered the commons, Kona muttered, “At least promise me that you guys will stay safe while I confuse the shit out of Serena.”

“I promise we’ll try,” Vivien offered with a hesitant smile.

“Good enough,” Kona shrugged as they made up the distance between themselves and where the others had gathered. Vivien sucked in a deep breath as she looked around at the group. Miles and Carrie were talking with Mick about something the boys had talked about in the car while they set out some of the crystals they had brought. While Royce worked on laying out a blanket for them to kneel on during the transfer, Bentley had chosen to lay on a nearby bench, staring blankly at the sky overhead. Though nobody else seemed to think this was anything odd for the young blond, Vivien felt a pang in her chest at the idea that he was observing what would remain of the magic they now possessed.

Giving Kona’s hand a small squeeze, Vivien suggested, “Why don’t you help Bentley with his existential crisis?”

“Is that what he’s doing?” Kona wondered with a raised brow.

“That would be my guess,” Vivien sighed. “I can’t say I blame him.”

“Me neither,” Kona agreed. As she headed toward the bench, she turned back to Vivien and said, “Good luck.”

With a grateful nod, Vivien made her way to where Royce had begun brushing dirt and grass from the blanket he’d laid out. Kneeling on the old, flannel picnic blanket, she softly asked, “How are you holding up?”

Barely glancing in Vivien’s direction, Royce replied, “Better than Bentley.”

Nodding more to herself than anyone else, Vivien sighed, “Yeah.”

Shifting to sit cross-legged, Royce met Vivien’s gaze and asked, “What about you? How are you doing with all of this?”

“Not great, but not horrible,” Vivien resigned. “I’m not thrilled with the idea that this could be permanent, but at the same time, I’m trying to remain positive.”

Royce hummed, picking at the blades of grass that just barely clung to life on the border of the blanket as he spoke “Ultimately, what choice do we have?”

“It’s not the end of the world if we give them our magic,” Vivien stated, tugging her jacket close as the wind picked up. “We’ve lived without it before.”

“Yeah,” Royce sighed, “I just wish we had more time with it.”

“So that’s it?” a voice hissed, the person’s wounded tone jolting Royce and Vivien from their conversation. As they turned to find Mick’s pained, chestnut eyes looking between them, hoping to see something else in their eyes, Vivien pushed herself to her feet. However, before she could explain the conversation, Mick asked, “You guys are seriously giving up? Just like that?”

“Mick,” Miles began as he neared them, “what are you talking about?”

Tilting her head but not tearing her gaze from the children before her, Mick claimed, “They’re giving up their magic.”

“What?” Miles breathed.

Stepping up to the group, Carrie asked, “Are you sure you didn’t just hear wrong, Mickie?”

Before Mick could clarify what she had heard, Bentley spoke as he stood from the bench he had perched himself on, “She didn’t hear wrong; it’s the truth.”

“You’re really thinking about going through with it?” Carrie pressed, her gaze flicking worriedly between Bentley, Royce, and Vivien.

“We’re not thinking about it,” Royce claimed as he stood. “We’re doing it.”

“Why are you guys so ready to give that up?” Miles asked. “You love your magic.”

Vivien sighed, “We do, but if her goal is to take our magic, we need to get rid of it before she can grow stronger.”

“And we don’t get any say in the matter,” Mick said with a shake of her head as her eyes drifted toward the ground. With a huff, she fixed her gaze on Vivien and breathed, “You can’t do this to us, to me.”

“We don’t have a choice, Mickie,” Bentley said as he and Kona joined the group. 

Taking in a shuddering breath, Mick muttered, “There’s always a choice.”

“Normally, yeah,” Vivien nodded, “but this time, there really isn’t another option.”

“If we don’t give up our magic, Serena will take it from us,” Royce stated. “Like Mom said earlier, this is our last resort.”

“What happened to trying the coven drain again?” Miles offered as Mick took a few steps away from them. “I thought that was the plan.”

Royce took in a slow breath and shook his head, “It would have been if we thought we could handle it. After what she did to us last time, we don’t think it would be smart for us to try fighting her off again, regardless of her being weaker too.”

Nodding understandingly, Carrie asked, “Was she trying to take your magic in the woods?”

“Whether or not she realized it, I think she was.” Glancing around at her fellow mages, Vivien said, “I don’t know about you guys, but when she was trying to fight us off and her magic was colliding with ours, it felt like she was draining the life out of me.”

“Yeah,” Kona nodded. “I felt weak.”

“We all did,” Bentley claimed. 

Royce nodded, glancing between Miles and Carrie as he spoke, “That’s why I think it would be better if we gave up our powers now. Kona can use her magic to lure Serena here, and once you guys have our magic, you can help her drain Serena.”

After a silent pause fell among them, Vivien added, “And, after it’s done, we can try to reverse it, if you really want that.”

Miles turned to Carrie, his worried steel-colored eyes finding hers as a silent question passed between them. Were they ready for this? After only two weeks of helping the kids strengthen their abilities and watching them grow more sure of themselves, were they ready to trade places? If this was permanent, were they really ready for their normal lives to be a thing of the past? As Carrie nodded and Miles took in a breath, they realized that it didn’t matter so long as the kids they cared so much for were safe. 

Turning toward Mick, Miles softly asked, “What do you say, Mickie?”

Though nobody could see her face, it was obvious the brunette was crying, her shoulders shuddering as she sucked in a shaky breath, “I’m not strong enough for this.”

“Yes, you are,” Vivien argued gently.

“I’m not,” Mick said with a firm shake of her head. “I know you think I am, but I’m not. I had magic for one night and almost killed all of you; what makes you think I could handle it now?”

“That was different and you know it,” Vivien said as she approached her oldest friend.

Sounding nearly as broken as she looked, Mick swiped a hand under her eyes and turned as she scoffed out a simple question, “How?” 

“You were given dark magic before.” Gesturing behind herself, Vivien chuckled, “You’ve seen us use our magic for the dumbest shit, you know the magic we have isn’t dark.”

“And before you try to say that it could become dark because of you,” Royce began, “think again. You’re one of the nicest people I know.”

Bentley nodded, his pearlescent smile practically glowing as he spoke, “Who else - apart from Miles and our parents - would put up with our nonsense on a daily basis and still want to do it again the next day?”

Despite the choked laugh she let out, Mick shook her head, but Vivien was quick to stop her from saying anything as she took the older girl’s arms and tugged her back toward the group, “I know you don’t think you’re strong enough, but we know you are.”

“Besides, you aren’t alone this time,” Royce claimed. “You’ll have Carrie and Miles with you, and the three of us will be there to help you if you need us.”

“Four of us,” Kona chimed in with a smile.

Mick glanced her way with a hint of a smile, but Vivien’s grip on her arms pulled her attention back to the girl before her. “Look, I know this is going to be hard for you, but if she gets our powers, all of Salem - if not the whole world - will be in danger.”

With a shaky breath, Mick met Vivien’s eyes once more and asked, “What happens if I can’t do it?” 

“You can,” Vivien claimed confidently. “I know you can. You have to.” -she slowly kneels on the ground, holding Mick’s hand out above her- 

“Guys, I hate to interrupt this,” Kona said, drawing everyone’s attention to her as she stared up at the sky, “but if we’re going to do this during the eclipse, we’re running out of time.” 

Sure enough, as their gazes lifted toward the starry sky above, they realized the moon had begun to glow a dark, bloody red. With time now effectively ticking away, Vivien’s hands slid down Mick’s arms to the older girl’s as she knelt on the blanket Royce had laid out for them not long before. Tearing his gaze from the sky, Miles watched Vivien kneel on the old blanket they typically used for cold nights at the drive-in and softly asked, “What are you doing, kiddo?”

Despite everything in her body telling her not to turn her gaze from the sky, Mick’s tawny eyes fell from the glowing light above as Vivien began to speak, “I know it’s not fair, Mick, but nothing ever is.” Holding the older girl’s right hand in both of hers, Vivien moved it so that Mick’s fingers were mere inches from her forehead as she met the older girl’s eyes and said, “It shouldn’t have to be you three, but it is and I’m sorry that it has to be this way.” 

Tapping Bentley on the arm, Royce nodded toward where Vivien had knelt, a silent gesture telling his younger brother to find a place to stay as he nudged Bentley closer to Miles. Despite his curiosity, Bentley wordlessly complied, kneeling to Viven’s left as Royce took up the spot on the brunette’s right. Peering up at his oldest brother, Bentley held out a pleading hand that Miles quickly latched onto as he crouched in front of his youngest sibling. Running a hand over Bentley’s hair in what he hoped would keep both of them calm, Miles pressed a quick kiss to his brother’s forehead before asking, “Are you sure about this?”

Without a moment of hesitation, Bentley nodded, “You guys could never hurt us.”

Looking at her two coworkers and friends, Carrie found herself, for the first time in a long time, at a loss for words as her gaze fell on Royce. Meeting the boy’s eerily calm, caramel gaze with her own, apologetically burning sapphire, Carrie sniffled back the growing lump in her throat and breathed, “I’m sorry.” As Royce’s eyebrow lifted - a trait Carrie typically only associated with Miles - she felt the need to explain further, “I know you’d probably rather be with Miles or Mick, but you got saddled with me instead.”

“I would have felt more comfortable, yeah,” Royce agreed with a breathy chuckle, “but for once, I actually picked you.”

“You did?” Carrie wondered. At Royce’s nod, she asked, “Why?”

“Believe it or not,” Royce began, offering the older girl a hint of a grin, “I trust you, Carrie.”

Unable to fight the burning sting of salty tears in her eyes, Carrie let out a wet, choked laugh at the timing of the sixteen-year-old’s statement. After trying for so long to have some semblance of a connection with the middle Murphy brother, this was what brought them together? Though she certainly wasn’t going to protest the slivered hint of a relationship, she wished it had formed under better circumstances. Royce’s chilled fingers tugged Carrie’s gloves from her hand, startling the blonde from her thoughts as she allowed him to tuck the gloves into her coat pocket and lift her palm toward his forehead.

With a nod to the blonde, Royce retracted his hands and said, “You’ve got this.”

“If you say so,” Carrie muttered in a breath.

Digging into the pocket of his jeans, Royce pulled out the napkin with the incantation on it and held it out for Carrie to take with her free hand. “Read this three times, part by part, and allow them to follow your lead while Kona starts sending out burst of magic for Serena to follow. Don’t read the next part until they say what you have.”

Looking over the makeshift note in her friend’s hand, Mick asked, “Are you sure about this?”

“Positive,” Vivien quickly agreed, refusing to allow anyone the chance to back out.

As he stood to his full height and held his hand in front of Bentley’s head, Miles asked, “Any advice before we start?”

“Imagine the magic flowing through you like a river,” Bentley said. “It makes everything easier.”

“Make sure you’re standing properly so that you don’t get thrown back.” Vivien offered. “I almost slammed through my bedroom wall when I first tried a new spell.”

As the others shuffled to find proper grounding, Royce said, “My only advice is to not give up. No matter what happens and how bizarre it feels, you can’t let it get to you. You’re a coven now. Your strength is in the magic that ties you together.”

Sucking in a deep breath, Mick glanced between Miles and Carrie before nodding at the blonde to her left. “I’m ready when you are.”

Once Miles had nodded in agreement, Kona took off in a run, making her way to the pavilion and launching a burst of magic into the air as Carrie held up the paper and began slowly reading, “Come moon of cold hours, between dusk and dawn, drain a witch of all powers, to render magic gone, potentias exhauri, malefica impotens.”

As the first of three incantations came to a close, Carrie gasped as she looked at the young brunet before her. Glowing veins had appeared just underneath Royce’s skin, drawing luminous, cerulean lines closer to the surface. His eyes had scrunched shut - due to pain or fear, she wasn’t quite sure - but slowly peeled open at the silence that filled the air. Once chestnut eyes now glowed a glorious navy, almost as though the moon had nestled itself in the boy’s soul. Glancing over at Vivien and Bentley, Carrie found her friends staring at the children before them in a similar state of wonder - and with good reason. Though the violet glow under Vivien’s skin was harder to spot due to the girl’s tan skin, Bentley’s golden hue was impossible to miss.

Carrie jumped as Royce’s icy fingers wrapped around her wrist, but as she found his gaze, she realized why he had done so. “You need to keep going,” Royce’s echoing voice reminded her without the teenager so much as opening his mouth. Glancing pointedly at the paper in the hand he held captive, he spoke once more, “Serena will be here soon; you need to finish this before she gets here.”

Still mildly in shock at how Royce had managed to communicate with her without verbally saying anything, Carrie nodded and swallowed thickly, wetting her lips before looking back down at the paper and beginning the incantation again. This time, as they began reciting the spell once more and Kona sent another magical flare into the air above the commons, the three young adults had to fight the instinct to help the teenagers before them as they let out a simultaneous noise of pain. Looking down, it was clear to see that the transfer had begun. Strands of colorful magic surged out from the young trio, arching into the palms of those who stood before them.

Golden rays of light that emitted from Bentley wove around Miles’ fingers like he had stuck his hand into a ray of sunlight that peered in through a window, the golden hue dissolving into a shade of almost too-bright white before jolting up his arm in jagged arches of neon blues and purples. Beside him, Mick watched as Vivien’s violet constellations flurried like snowflakes into her palm, the faint stars disappearing on contact as the colorful swirls of magic rolled around her hand and up her arm. Violet turned to teal and white as something akin to a wave swirled up the sleeve of her jacket and disappeared into her skin, but Mick forced herself to pay it little attention as she focused on the task at hand. Meanwhile, as Carrie read off the last line on the page, she watched shades of Royce’s lunar glow beam through her fingers, the light shifting from sapphire to slate before flickering into a blazing inferno that flared up her arm in an array of reds and oranges.

Just as Miles and Mick had finished repeating the final part of the spell, the standing trio jumped as an invisible Kona yelled out, “She’s here! I’ll keep her busy!”

Opening her eyes just enough to see a streak of pink and blue launch into the sky toward a hovering Serena, Vivien let out a breath and reached out a hand to Bentley, grasping his hand wordlessly before doing the same for Royce. Despite how ready she was just minutes prior, the knowledge that the magic she adored so much would now be gone had finally sunken in. With a shaky breath, Vivien watched as Kona’s bursts of colorful magic slammed Serena toward a nearby tree. She would miss having magic; it tethered her to her best friends in a way she had never thought possible before. However, so long as she got to help the others strengthen their own abilities and still had her friends by her side, she would find a way to grow used to it.

As the third and final reciting began, Kona let out a noise of surprise and ducked under a crimson wave of magic Serena sent in the direction Kona had dashed from. Fighting the urge to cuss out the dark witch mid-fight, the young blonde spared a glance at her friends before sending out a burst of light she hoped would at least temporarily stun the redhead and sending a few beacons of light toward the corners of the commons in the hopes of forming a protective barrier around the open area. Making a break for the other side of the commons as Serena screeched in pain, Kona tried to remember all that Bentley and Royce’s mom had taught her in their brief discussion. There wasn’t much to go on as their chat had been relatively brief, but as she sent another burst of light toward the old playground on the far side of the commons, she hoped what she had been taught would stick. Forcing herself to become visible to those around her once more, Kona attempted to catch her breath as Serena rubbed furiously at her eyes.

Once the redhead’s vision cleared and she began looking around the commons for the invisible assailant, Kona shouted, “Hey, Strawberry Shortcake!” Hoping she didn’t look nearly as weirded out by Serena’s glowing, blood-red eyes as she felt once the girl whirled around toward her, Kona grinned and yelled, “Come get me!” However, much to Kona’s dismay, the hovering witch’s head tipped to the side with a smirk before her gaze snapped toward the group of six now locked in the final recitement of the incantation. “No,” Kona breathed, using her magic to propel her faster as she rushed to catch up with the dark witch. “No, no, no!”

Faster than Kona could recall ever moving, she reached out, a tether of light extending from her hand and wrapping around Serena’s ankle, dragging the redhead to the ground as Kona ran to catch up. Kona’s grip on the tether tightened as Serena’s darkened, nearly-black fingers wrapped around the other end, turning the once cotton-candy-colored light a dark, violent red in her grasp. Serena’s cackling laugh pierced the air as she yanked on the magic tying herself to the small blonde, “Did you really think you - of all witches - would be powerful enough to stop me?”

Digging her heels into the ground, Kona looked past the redhead before meeting her eyes with a cocky smirk, “Maybe not, but I make one hell of a distraction, don’t I?”

Confusion flooded Serena’s ruby irises for a fleeting moment before realization kicked in. Whirling around, Serena snarled at the vivid array of colors on the other side of the field. With a roll of her eyes, the redhead let out a screech of frustration and sent a surge of scarlet magic toward Kona, flinging the blonde aside as the connection tying them together snapped, disappearing into a flurry of colorful sparks. Scrambling to her feet, Serena used another burst of energy to propel her into the air, cackling furiously as she aimed for the group surrounded by colorful energy.

Tired caramel eyes peeled open as the last surge of magic left Royce’s body and, glancing into the night sky, Royce met Carrie’s unnaturally orange eyes and shouted, “Behind you!” 

As though the magic they now shared had made it possible for them to move in unison, Carrie, Mick, and Miles turned toward Serena with extended hands, their newfound powers bursting outward in a full display. Lightning jolted outward from Miles’ fist, meeting Carrie’s crackling line of fire and Mick’s rushing wave as their magic slammed into Serena, knocking her out of the sky with a shout of surprise. Glancing at each other with wide, astonished eyes, Mick and Carrie nodded to each other before rocketing into the sky, leaving Miles on the ground as he turned his attention to the children now watching the battle from the grass.

Kneeling before them, Miles wordlessly checked on his brothers and pseudo-sister before glancing back at the girls now locked in a fight with Serena. After checking to make sure they were alright physically, he turned his focus back on the teenagers before him as he spoke, “You guys should stay somewhere safe until this is over.”

The only one to pay him any attention was Vivien, whose teary emerald eyes silently found Miles’. Swallowing thickly, she asked, “Where would we go?”

Feeling his chest clench at the heartbroken tone in the girl’s voice, Miles reached out and swiped his thumbs under the rim of Vivien’s glasses, brushing away her silent tears as he said, “Go back to our house and tell Mom what’s happening. Maybe she’ll know of a spell to end this.”

Nodding more for herself than anything, Vivien allowed Miles to help her to her feet before moving so that he could help Royce while she handled Bentley. Once he was standing, Bentley asked, “What about Kona?”

Miles glanced over his shoulder to where Kona was using herself as a distraction whilst Mick and Carrie struggled through the learning curve that was their newfound abilities. With a ghost of a smile, he turned back to his brothers and Vivien and said, “We’ll keep an eye on her. For now, focus on yourselves. We’ll cover you.”

Vivien stepped back as Bentley slammed into Miles, keeping herself at a distance as Royce joined the embrace. Not wanting to interrupt their moment, she watched Mick attempt to put out an accidental fire Carrie had created in her fiery tirade against Serena. They would be able to hold things off until Mrs. Murphy found a solution; she never doubted that they could. Royce and Bentley stepped away from their brother, and Vivien sucked in a breath, attempting to appear calm and hoping her small smile would be seen as comforting as they turned toward her.

“Ready?” she asked.

Though they didn’t answer verbally, both of her friends nodded and began to walk in her direction as Vivien caught Miles’ gaze between them. The two eldest siblings shared a nod, some kind of silent solidarity passing between them as Vivien heard Miles’ voice in her head, telling her to take care of not just the boys before he turned and took off, joining the fight without another word. Taking a final look at the fight, Vivien took her former coven mates by the hands and began pulling them in the direction of their home. Though she wanted nothing more than to help in the fight against Serena - it was their battle, after all -  Vivien knew they would be of no use to their friends if they had stuck around. If anything, they would be nothing more than distractions - pawns for Serena to use against the people they loved.

Despite Royce’s inability to run long distances without needing a break, he managed to make it to the end of their driveway without falling far behind, something he took a faint pride in as Vivien tugged him closer to the front door. Bentley was pushed inside first, followed closely by Royce as Vivien tried to look down the street at the commons in the distance. Sighing at how little she could see through the thickly settled neighborhood, Vivien stepped into the house and quickly locked the door behind herself before looking around. Royce had slumped against the back of the armchair their mom preferred to crochet in, his arms wrapped around himself in a kind of hug as his shoulders shuddered with each breath he took, whereas Bentley had disappeared, most likely searching the house for their mother.

Stepping up to her friend, Vivien brought her arms around Royce, rubbing a hand up and down his back as his arms closed in around her waist, grabbing fistfuls of her jacket to keep her as close as possible. Royce’s forehead dropped onto Vivien’s shoulder, and, for a moment, she worried if he was ill. His skin burned against hers, but as he muttered a soft, “It’s too warm now,” she realized that the lunar magic he once possessed was no longer there to keep him cool.

“I know,” she breathed over his shoulder, fighting to keep herself in check as Royce’s resolve crumbled around her. Before she could utter an apology, a flash of light in the kitchen caught her attention. The once warm-toned room glowed a bright white like a camera had gone off before dissolving into the room’s natural golden hue. “What was that?” she wondered aloud.

“What?” Royce asked as he leaned back, reaching up and drying his eyes as he tried to follow Vivien’s gaze.

Without allowing Vivien to explain what she had seen, Bentley entered the room with a small smile and said, “Mom just left. She said to try to eat something and rest on the couch until they get back.”

“They?” Royce wondered.

“Is she planning on joining the fight?” Vivien asked. 

With a frustrated sigh, Royce said, “She shouldn’t go in alone like that; it’s dangerous.”

Closing the gap between them, Bentley’s grin broadened, and Royce and Vivien shared a confused look as Bentley said, “Who said she was alone?”

A shrill squeal tore from Kona’s throat as she ducked behind a tree, narrowly escaping one of Miles’ rogue lightning bolts. For the greater part of however long they had been battling Serena, she had been forced to dodge Mick’s uncontrollable tidal waves and Carrie’s great balls of fire, and she was beginning to grow tired of being unable to so much as breathe without fearing for her life. Peering around the tree, she wondered how on earth they would begin to repair the charred remnants of the city’s commons, but as a burning branch cracked and fell in a shower of sparks at her feet, she didn’t bother to think further on just how screwed they would be come morning.

Pulling the neck of her fleece-lined hoodie over her nose, she scurried through the ashen remnants of a tree, hoping to send a burst of energy toward the soaked redhead just a few mere yards away once she was in the open. However, her plans were quickly dashed as she found herself unknowingly caught in one of Mick’s, quite literally, surfable waves. Kona sucked in a deep breath as the water dragged her under, sloshing her toward the invisible barrier she had formed earlier in the night. Waiting until the water ebbed away enough for her to breathe again,  Kona peeled herself off the muddy ground with a huff of exhaustion.

Feeling more like a drowned rat than a human, Kona groaned as her feet squelched in her shoes. With a huff, she pulled herself to her feet, the blonde firing off a lazy burst of cyan energy before slipping in her waterlogged shoes and colliding with the ground once more. Mentally pleading for some sort of reprieve from the chaos that was the battle she was suffering through, Kona heaved an exasperated breath and squished and squashed her way to the closest bench she could find, tugging off the boots she would, no doubt, be throwing in the nearest trash can once everything was over, and dumping out the absurd amount of water in them as Carrie fired off another round of blazing flames.

Hoping that the help Miles had told them would be there, would be arriving soon, Kona tugged her squelching boots back on with a grimace. Oh, how she hated the feeling of wet, squishy socks in fur-lined boots! With a sharp gasp, Kona forced herself to focus as she heard the telltale sound of a group of people laughing nearby. Hoping her protective shield around the commons still prevented regular citizens from seeing the chaos within, she looked around for any sign of where the group had gone, but her attention was quickly drawn to a radiant white light that shone over her shoulder. 

Turning back toward the fight, Kona’s eyes widened as a blindingly bright figure wrapped in pearlescent ivory sent a beacon of magic directly into the red witch Miles had just sent colliding with the ground. Serena’s limp form bounced across the soaked commons, rolling to a stop against a tree as the figure in white lowered themself to the ground. Touching the grass far more gracefully than Kona had in her few hours of possessing magic, the young blonde watched as the light surrounding the person dimmed, revealing none other than the woman who had helped her figure out she had powers in the first place - Mrs. Dorothea Witt-Murphy.

The woman’s cascading chocolate curls were the only thing about her that looked the same as how Kona remembered her appearing hours prior. The blindingly white clothing she wore was surprising as the woman was almost always covered in splotches of paint, but that was nothing compared to the opals that had formed in her once-brown irises. With wide eyes and her mouth agape, Kona stepped forward, watching the older woman’s amused smirk grow as the youngest of those in the commons neared her.

“Mrs Bentley’s Mom,” Kona breathed in astonishment, “is that you?!”

“It is,” Dorothea replied, a chuckle falling from her lips as her gaze flickered between the young blonde and her son, who steadily inched closer. Smiling knowingly at the newly magical young adults who crossed the grass between them, the woman said, “I heard you kids could use some help, but I didn’t know just how much.”

“Thanks for coming, Mama,” Miles said, the relief in his voice evident as he brought his arms around his mother’s shoulders and pulled her close.

Rubbing circles on her son’s back out of habit, Dorothea smiled into Miles’ shoulder as she said, “Of course, mon cœur. Anything for my babies.”

“Please help,” Mick begged as she and Carrie watched Miles embrace his mother. “We’re practically useless.”

“Speak for yourselves,” Kona piped up with a roll of her eyes. “I was epic, you three were useless.”

“We’re not useless,” Carrie said. Looking around at the charred, waterlogged commons, she added, “I think we’ve effectively learned how to barbecue and surf at the same time.”

Mick scoffed out a laugh, “We’re just helping the Parks Department get a head start on the winter renovations.”

“Exactly,” Carrie snickered, earning a sincere laugh from the brunette.

Smiling fondly at the girls as her son stepped back, Dorothea said, “Well, now that the remodeling is over, I think it’s time to address the task at hand.”

Turning back toward where Serena was slumped against the base of a half-charred, smoldering tree, Kona sighed, “What do we do with her?”

Checking the watch on her wrist, Dorothea answered, “Let’s bring her into the open air for now. Once the others get here, we’ll work on draining her.”

“Did you ask the kids to come back?” Miles asked. “I told them to stay home where it’s safe.”

“And they are,” Dorothea claimed. “At least, they should be.”

“Then, if it’s not them,” Mick began slowly, “who else is coming?” 

Dorothea smiled, a secretive, knowing smile that told those present she wouldn’t be sharing the information until the time was right. Before she could say a word, however, the silence of the commons was interrupted by the sound of a car door slamming, followed soon after by another. Looking around the otherwise empty commons, the group of four searched for any source of the sound, but found it nearly impossible to locate as the remaining bushes lining the commons gate hid most of the parking spots bordering the area. However, as Carrie turned toward the old playground that was in desperate need of repair, she spotted some familiar faces rounding the gate.

Tapping a hand on Mick’s arm, she asked, “Aren’t those your parents?”

Quickly turning, Mick’s eyes widened as she muttered, “What are they doing here?”

With his typical, mischievous grin, Brady headed not for his daughter, but for Dorothea, bringing an arm around the woman’s shoulders as he spoke, “Thanks for getting us out of there. I don’t know how much more awkward small talk I could handle.”

“Not to mention how horribly small the meals were,” Mack agreed, filling the space her husband left as he turned toward the children before him.

Finally finding herself able to voice her question properly, Mick wondered, “What are you guys doing here?”

“Thea called me at the restaurant and said you kids needed some help,” Brady said proudly. Turning back toward Dorothea, he added, “Sorry we weren’t here sooner. Someone had a hard time getting out of Walgreens.”

Ready to defend herself, Mack crossed her arms, a couple of plastic bags with the aforementioned store’s name plastered on the front tucked tightly in her elbow as she claimed, “This is my first time doing anything magic-related; excuse me for not knowing which type of salt would be strongest.”

Dorothea chuckled, placing a hand on Mack’s folded ones as she said, “Believe me, almost anything would work.”

Returning the woman’s smile, Mack unfolded her arms and dug into the bag she held, pulling out four containers of varying salts. Holding them out for inspection, she said, “Well, I got every kind they had, apart from bath salts. I hope that’s enough.”

“More than,” Dorothea agreed as she took the salts. “Did you find a box to put the spirit in?”

Mack nodded as she held out the other bag for Dorothea to look inside, “All they had were a couple of those plastic, Caboodles cases like the girls used to use for dance class, and a few metal train cases for makeup, but I found this and figured it would be the best as it has a lock and could be burned later on.”

Peering into the bag, Dorothea nodded and smiled graciously at her friend, “Perfect.” Turning toward the children, she said, “Now, why don’t you work on bringing her over closer to the pavilion and we’ll make a ring of salt around her to keep her from using her magic.”

Miles was the first to react, nodding to his mother and turning toward the others as he said, “Come on, guys.”

Wordlessly, Kona tugged the older girls by their coats until they fell into step beside her and the oldest of the group, making sure they followed as Miles led the way to the tree. As they watched the children gather around their unconscious friend, Brady turned to Dorothea and asked, “Does this feel as bizarre to you as it does to me?” Dorothea’s head tipped to the side as her eyebrow lifted, urging Brady to continue. “Well, a while ago, that was us.”

Dorothea hummed thoughtfully, her lips tugging into a smile as she reached into the pocket of her pants. Holding a glimmering, Mexican fire opal out between herself and her longtime friend, she offered, “It could still be us, you know.”

Placing his hand over the woman’s open palm, Brady smiled as he lowered them together, “I know.”

Smiling at the pair, Mack said, “I think he would take you up on it if he wasn’t worried about hurting our baby girl.”

“There’s nothing to worry about in that department, actually,” Dorothea said, drawing Brady’s attention back to her. “Just as I thought, she takes after her mother.”

“Does that mean she’s not…” Brady cut himself off, his gaze flicking back to his daughter as she and her friends helped haul Serena across the muddy grass. “She isn’t like me?”

“She won’t be burning half the town down because she got grounded, no,” Dorothea chuckled. “If anything, the only thing we would have to worry about would be her trying to catch a wave in the river.”

Smiling victoriously, Mack teased her husband, “I told you from the beginning, she’s a water baby.”

Brady shook his head as he chuckled, “I should have known better than to argue with a mother’s intuition.”

Before the women could do more than snicker at the man, Kona’s voice cut through the interaction, “What do we do now?”

Crossing the gap between them, Dorothea handed out the salt and instructed the children to make rings around Serena with each type as she told them, “You can never be too safe with these things.”

As the salt rings began to form, Mack pulled out the wooden lock box she bought at the store, handing it to Brady, who quickly opened it and pocketed the lock and key before setting it on the grass near the salt rings. Once the containers of salt were empty and tossed back into the bag they came in, Carrie asked, “Now what?”

“Now,” Dorothea began, “You four are going to sit in the four cardinal points - north, south, east, and west. One of you will sit by her head, another by her feet, and the other two on either side of her, but all of you will be on the outside of the salt rings.”

Brady nodded as he watched the kids figure out where they wanted to sit, “This sort of seals her inside and prevents her from using magic as you form protective runes around yourselves.”

Kona’s eyes glittered with pride from her spot near Serena’s head as she exclaimed, “I made some of those earlier!”

“And you did a great job, Kona,” Dorothea said with a smile. “Yours, however, were illusionary in order to keep unwanted visitors out of the bubble you made around the commons. These runes are protective and you need to make sure your intention shows that.”

“In a given space,” Brady began, “only the witch who casts the runes, can use their magic. This means that, once you four create runes around her, you’ll completely prevent her from her own magic in case she wakes up mid-spell.”

Dorothea said, “From what I know of Mick’s previous possession, two of you have done this sort of thing before. It will be fairly similar, but the only differences will be that we plan on using a different method and, once this is over, we will lock and burn the box containing the spirit.”

Piping up with a raised hand, Mack asked, “How are you going to burn it without the spirit escaping?”

Before Brady could answer, Dorothea smiled and said, “My pottery kiln, I believe. It’s far stronger than any simple campfire or barbecue.”

“And it has a lock,” Miles mused from his seat on the ground.

“Precisely,” his mother agreed.

“Now,” Brady began with a clap of his hands, “are you ready?”

Kona and Carrie were quick to nod, but as Miles turned a wary gaze onto Mick, they awaited her response. Taking in a slow, deep breath, Mick nodded, “As I’ll ever be.”

Placing a hand on her daughter’s back, Mack smiled and offered, “You’ve got this, baby girl.”

With a grateful nod to her mother, Mick turned her gaze to her father and his friend, waiting eagerly for them to tell her what to do. Ready to move forward, Dorothea said, “First thing’s first, you need to make sure your thoughts are focused solely on the protection aspect of this. It doesn’t matter how you get there, just focus on the end result.”

Brady nodded his agreement before speaking, “If you have to, imagine the people in your life you need to protect from this evil. It could be your family, your friends, a pet - anyone. Just so long as your mind and soul are focused on protection, that’s all that matters.”

“Then, you’re going to slow your breathing and hold out a hand toward the person opposite you,” Dorothea claimed, watching with a small grin as the group collectively took in a deep breath and worked on keeping their breathing even. “This will form a border between you. After a moment, your magic will flow and create a rune of your own. It may not be visible to everyone as your magic is still new, but that’s fine.”

Hands raised over Serena’s unconscious form, the magical group watched as a vibrant, multicolored line began to form in the air between them. Sprouting from the top and bottom of the line were thin, short, parallel lines that glowed glittering shades of red and pink and stopped just inches after their starting points. Astonished by the display, they silently watched as a triangle sprouted out from the center of the line, blues and purples melting together fluidly as the rune rose higher above their spot on the ground. As it rose, a light emitted from the ground, a solid circle of glimmering sparks rising out of the salt circles until it collided with the bottom tip of the rune.

The rune stilled as the magical shield touched it, encouraging Brady to say, “Good job, guys. That’s perfect!”

“Now, recite the spell after me,” Dorothea instructed, tugging the page of a spell book out of her pocket. Unfolding it, she began to read aloud the same spell she’d had the kids read earlier in the afternoon, “Darkness now be gone from thee, banished and bound, we set you free, under the light of this pure moon, hearken to our witches rune, magicae nostrae tenebras purgat.”

As they finished the first recitement of the spell they were told, the group gathered on the grass and watched as Serena’s crimson eyes snapped open, searching the area for whoever dared to cast a spell on her. Cackling, she hissed, “We’re back here now, are we? Could you not think of anything better?”

“Try again,” Brady said, dragging the girl’s attention to him as Dorothea started the spell again.

Sitting up despite the obvious pain her body should be in after being tossed around by everyone else’s magic, Serena barked, “This will not stop anything. I cannot be killed.”

“Maybe not outright,” Mack spoke, a smirk tugging at her lips, “but you can be burned, can’t you?”

“You would not kill this child,” Serena spoke as she looked around at those sitting around her, a twinge of panic nipping at the edges of her tone as she took note of the crimson ripples of magic leaving her body. “She is your friend.”

“Debatable,” Kona shrugged as the second chant came to a close. “Out of all people to possess, you picked the asshole cheerleader.”

With a smirk, Mick began, “Guess you royally screwed yourself this time, didn’t you?”

As Dorothea started the final recitement of the spell and those on the ground echoed it a final time, Serena let out a shrill scream, piercing the air in the hopes of tuning out the spell as it echoed around her. Magic flooded out from Serena’s skin like fresh wounds, flooding outward from her skin and into the air pocket the rune had created. As the spell neared completion, her screams turned into nothing more than hushed gasps as her voice squeaked out of existence. The redhead’s hands slid into her hair as she cried, nails digging into her scalp as ruby waves of magic pulsed furiously inside the shielded bubble.

All at once, the group finished the spell, and Serena slumped forward onto the muddy ground, her strength now nothing more than a thing of the past as the last threads of possession were cut free from her skin. Watching with bated breath, the group waited for a sign that something was awry as Mack brought the wooden box close to the circle. Dorothea and Brady stepped closer, urging Carrie or Miles to take the box with their free hand and slide it into the protective bubble while they still had it.

“Alright,” Dorothea began as Carrie slid the box into the circle, “now, I want you all to focus on shrinking the rune. Make it small enough to fit into the box.”

“It’ll take some time,” Brady warned them, “but you just need to keep the box inside the bubble no matter what.”

Standing from her spot beside her daughter as they began working on the project they had been given, Mack said, “I’ll try to pull Serena out as it gets smaller. That way, there’s no chance of it possessing her again.”

“It can’t, but that’s a good idea,” Dorothea said with a nod. “The spell prevents it from entering the same person twice.”

“Good,” Mick breathed as she inched closer to the box alongside Kona.

Maneuvering onto her knees for a better angle, Kona felt the protective bubble pushing back against her hand as though the magic itself was begging for freedom. As the others neared the box, Miles held the lid of the box open, making sure there was no way for the crimson mist to go anywhere else. Once the blood-red magic had honed in on the box, it was like a drain had unclogged as the magic flowed freely into the box without hesitation. Slamming the lid shut, Miles held it down with one hand and pulled it out of the salt circle so that Brady could lock it. With the box no longer under its protection, the rune glowed brightly before disappearing into the air, the shield it created melting back into the ground at once.

As the children relaxed, their energy fields returning to them as the shield dissolved into the soggy remnants of the salt rings, Dorothea took the now-shaking wooden box from Brady. As she placed her hands on the bottom and lid, white light emitted from her hands and her mouth moved wordlessly. Whether it was a spell or not, the four on the ground couldn’t tell at first, but as Brady stepped up and placed his hands on the sides of the box, a fiery light flowing into the box from his hands as his lips started moving in tandem with Dorothea’s, they figured it had to be. The box stopped moving as the pair stopped speaking, but neither opened their eyes until their mouths stilled.

With a bewildered expression, Mick found herself being the first to speak, “I thought you said you gave up your magic, Dad?”

Turning to his daughter with a chuckle, Brady nodded, “I did, sweetheart, but that doesn’t mean I can’t use it when I need to.”

Pushing himself from the ground, Miles helped Carrie up before asking, “Does that mean the kids can have their magic back if they want it?”

Dorothea sighed, “I’m afraid it might not be that simple.”

“Why not?” Carrie pressed. “If Mr Birch can have his when he wants it, can’t they?”

Tugging a glowing opal from his pocket, Brady spoke, “When I gave up my powers, it was a new moon.”

“And, because of that, we used a different spell.” Dorothea gestured to the fire opal in Brady’s hand as she added, “I tied his magic to this opal, not to a person.”

“That meant that, once I gave them up, so long as I had the object that held my magic, I could use them freely,” Brady explained. “If I didn’t, I was just an average person.”

“But because the kids gave their powers to us instead of some inanimate object,” Mick began slowly, “they can’t get them back.”

“Technically,” Mack began, “you have different abilities than the kids. That must mean something, right?”

“It does,” Dorothea acknowledged, “but for now, I suggest we put this conversation aside for the time being.”

“Why?” Kona asked, frustration evident in her voice. “What if we want to talk about it now?”

“Kona,” Miles reprimanded gently.

“What?” she replied. “I want to know how to give them their magic back. You can’t honestly say that you don’t want the same.”

Before Miles could reply, his mother spoke, “I understand the frustration, but apart from the fact that we need to get this box to my house and burn it, I think it would be wise if we get everyone dried off so that nobody gets sick.”

Carrie spoke up, hoping to dispel Kona’s urge to rage as she gestured toward Serena, “What about Sleeping Beauty over here?”

Brady was quick to respond, “We’ll take her back to the house so we can talk it over with her when she wakes up.”

“There is a high probability that she won’t remember anything as she doesn’t have any magical ties,” Dorothea claimed, “but in the off-chance that she does, we want to be there to help.”

“We can put her in my bus,” Mick offered. “With the bench in the back, it would probably be easier.”

With a nod, Miles said, “I’ll carry her over if one of you can get the door.”

Mick nodded, digging into her coat pocket for her keys as Miles lowered himself to the ground to pick up Serena. As Mick jogged toward the exit, leaving Miles and Carrie trailing behind, Kona looked around the commons with a sigh before turning to the adults and asking, “What are we going to do about all of the damage we did?”

“Damage?” Brady repeated curiously.

“What damage?” Mack asked with a grin.

Kona turned toward the open park, gesturing with her hand to the empty grass before her head jolted back in surprise. In place of the charred trees and demolished benches she knew had been there when she last looked, Kona found herself staring at the empty commons in confusion. Everything appeared as it had before their arrival, the wet ground the only evidence of them being there in the first place. “What?” she breathed. “How?”

Mack chuckled as Brady answered, “You kids have a lot to learn about magic.”

Dorothea hummed, “And, thankfully, many years to perfect it.”

Whirling back toward the adults who had already begun heading toward the exit, Kona’s mouth opened and closed like a confused goldfish. Quickly shaking herself free of her confusion, Kona scurried after the adults, rapid-fire questions falling off her lips like water as she hurried to catch up to them. Laughing at the child’s questions, the adults urged Kona to take a ride with one of her friends before piling into the Birch’s car and leading the way to the Murphy residence. Exasperated by the lack of answers she had been given, Kona chose to ride with Miles, keeping him company by pestering him with her unanswered questions. Despite knowing Carrie had gone with Mick to keep an eye on Serena, Miles began to wish he had begged her to ride with him as the only two-minute drive to his home began to feel like it was taking an hour.

Once they pulled into the driveway and Miles parked his Jeep just outside the garage, he was glad to find that Kona’s questions had stopped in favor of her jumping out and rushing to the front door, eager to tell her friends all that had happened. He made his way to Mick’s bus and helped his girlfriend shift Serena toward the sliding door before hauling her into his arms and following Carrie toward the door. Miles assumed he would hear excited chatter as Carrie held the door open for him; however, as he stepped inside, Miles found Kona perched cautiously on the edge of the coffee table with a finger pressed to her lips, silently telling all those who entered that the trio on the couch were fast asleep.

Placing Serena on the recliner and bringing the leg rest up to bring the girl some form of comfort, Miles turned toward the couch and sighed as he took in the trio resting peacefully there. Bentley was curled up between the back of the couch and Royce’s side while Vivien was slumped in Royce’s grasp, her head perched on his shoulder while his breath shifted her hair ever so slightly. As Kona took the three empty bowls from the coffee table to the kitchen, Miles took the blanket his mother had made years prior off of the back of the couch and draped it over the slumbering trio before joining the others in the kitchen. 

At Dorothea’s insistence, Kona took a bowl of food to the living room and found a video on her phone to watch so that the others could talk in some semblance of privacy in the other room. Once she was sure Kona had made herself comfortable on the floor, wedged between the couch and coffee table with her earbuds tucked in her ears, Dorothea turned her focus onto the group surrounding her dining table. Bracing herself on the backrest of her usual chair, she began, “I’m sure you must all have questions.”

“That’s putting it lightly,” Miles sighed as he leaned back in his seat.

Carrie let out a scoffed laugh, a ghost of a grin tugging at her lips as she mused, “I think this whole day has just consisted of us having a million questions and not receiving a single answer.”

Mick hummed in agreement as her eyes traced the old grooves in the wooden dinner table, “It’s been a long day.”

“It has,” Mack agreed, “and I promise you’ll get some answers tonight.”

“Not all of them,” Brady quickly added, “but at least some.”

“Something is better than nothing,” Miles shrugged.

“But first,” Dorothea began as she took a step back from the table, “you kids need to eat something. Do you girls want anything to drink?”

“I have my water bottle,” Mick said softly with a shake of her head as Carrie nodded graciously.

As his mom headed for the counter where the Crockpot’s light glowed on the highest setting, Miles spoke, “I don’t think we’re all that hungry, Mom.”

“Speak for yourself,” Mick snorted.

Turning back toward her son as she grabbed bowls from the cupboard, Dorothea said, “Now, I know this has been a long, stressful day for all of you, but I also know for a fact that none of you eat properly at work. If you aren’t hungry now, you will be once this is in front of you.”

Resigning to his fate, Miles relaxed back into his chair once more with a nod as Carrie said, “I think all I had were those Twizzlers you got me earlier. I definitely won’t argue if your mom wants to give me some of her incredible food.”

Before Miles could say a word, Dorothea smiled and placed three bowls on the end of the table, instructing him to pass them down before sitting down and saying, “Thank you, Carrie. Now, Miles, why don’t you get yourself and your girlfriend a drink and we’ll start answering any questions you may have.”

Startled by the woman’s wording, Mick coughed on her water as she turned to her two friends with wide eyes, watching as the knowledge that their “secret relationship” hadn’t been, well… much of a secret, sank in. Carrie was the first to recover, her training as an aspiring actress kicking in as she turned to Dorothea with a hesitant smile, “Girlfriend?” 

“Mhm,” Dorothea hummed. “Why? Is that not what he calls you?”

Floundering for the right words, Miles’ mouth opened and closed noiselessly before he snapped it shut, his eyes wrenching shut as he sucked in a deep breath. Slowly letting the breath back out, Miles leveled his gaze on his mother as she smirked into the cup of tea she lifted to her lips, asking her, “How long have you known we’re a couple?”

“I’m a mom and a witch,” Dorothea stated plainly, sending her son a knowing look as she set her cup back on the table. “Not only does that mean that I have eyes in the back of my head, but it means I also have magical wards surrounding the house that tell me when someone sneaks out the back door before my feet have even hit the floor.”

With a hand over her mouth, Mick struggled to keep herself from laughing as her friends struggled to find the right words to say, their faces glowing a brighter shade of red than the lights on a firetruck. Discretely, Carrie slapped Mick’s stomach with the back of her hand, furthering the brunette’s struggle to remain as collected as possible. A tap to her shin brought Mick’s attention to her mother, the woman’s expression forcing her into silence as Miles sheepishly apologized to his mother for keeping the relationship from her.

Instead of appearing upset, Dorothea brushed Miles off with a wave of her hand, “Oh, please. Though I am curious as to why you felt the need to keep this from me for so long, it’s nothing to apologize for. So long as you both are happy, that’s all I care about.”

Miles took a moment to take in his mother’s words before softly asking, “Really?”

“Of course.” Reaching out to her son, Dorothea brushed a hand over his hair, pushing a few strands away from his eyes before cupping his cheek as she said, “You’re my baby boy - all I want is your happiness.” Allowing her gaze to drift onto Carrie as her hand returned to the table, she said, “As for you, my dear, you’ve been a part of this family since long before the first time you two went on a date. Goodness, that was - what - a year-and-a-half ago now?”

“We were just friends at that point,” Carrie said with a smile and a shake of her head.

“Are you sure about that?” Dorothea questioned, a knowing glimmer shining in her caramel eyes. “I could have sworn there was something between you back then.”

Before either Miles or Carrie could respond, Brady sent his childhood friend a smirk and sighed, “Dora.”

“What?” Dorothea replied, feigning innocent curiosity. “I’m just saying.”

Mack snickered, “It’s nice to see the meddling older sister is still in business.”

“Hey,” Dorothea began, “I told everyone from the start that you two would be together and, as everyone can see, I was right.”

“You said the same thing about Tommy and Celine,” Brady said with a grin.

“That’s another story entirely,” Dorothea said with a wave of her hand. 

“Now,” Mack began, scanning the faces of the young adults surrounding the table, “how about we answer a few questions while you eat so that you can get to bed?”

As her friends nodded in agreement, Mick spoke, “I think the first question I want answered is how on earth Dad has magic when he said he didn’t?”

Clearing his throat, Brady said, “Well, after I nearly burned Salem to the ground, we performed the coven ritual. At the time, our coven was only me, Dora, and Tommy.”

“Uncle Tommy has magic too?” Miles wondered aloud as he found his mother’s eyes. “Since when?”

“Since always,” his mother replied. “The point is, when Brady felt he couldn’t handle it, we drained his magic into a crystal that was capable of holding it.”

Pulling the crystal from his pocket, Brady explained, “If I wanted to, I could absorb my magic in full, but seeing as I don’t feel confident in harnessing my full powers at all times, they stay here. When I need to use them, all I need is to keep this with me.”

“For the most part, it stays with me,” Dorothea stated, “but Brady keeps it safe in the winter to keep those around him warm.”

Thinking back to the various camping trips they had taken over the years when nobody felt the need to start a fire despite the temperature saying they should, Mick muttered, “That makes a lot of sense.”

“What is your magic called?” Carrie asked as she set her spoon down. “The kids have the sun, moon, stars, and - what is Kona? A comet?”

“I think so,” Miles nodded.

With a nod, Carrie continued, “And we have nature magic. What are you guys?”

“We represent mythical creatures,” Brady claimed.

Dorothea smiled, “Brady is a phoenix - a mythical bird born of the ashes of its predecessors, I am a pegasus - a winged horse that represents light, freedom, and imagination, and Tommy is what the Greek call a cetus - a sea dragon.”

“What about you, Mom?�� Mick asked.

Mack took in a breath and , “Sadly, I was born without magic. That, combined with your father giving up his magic, made it that much harder for you to have any abilities by the time your sixteenth birthday rolled around.”

“Is that why we didn’t get magic on our sixteenth birthdays?” Miles asked. 

Once the adults nodded, Mick asked, “How come the kids got theirs, then?”

“And how can we give them some magic back?” Carrie added. “Vivi was searching for weeks to find a way to give Mick some and hadn’t found anything.”

“I’m afraid those are questions we’ll have to find out the answer for in the morning,” Dorothea claimed. “We’ll have to do research tomorrow.”

“For now,” Mack began, “you kids need to eat.”

“What about you guys?” Mick asked. “I thought you said you’d still be hungry after that dinner.”

“We ate our way through a basket of that fancy bread,” Brady chuckled. 

Mack nodded as she pushed herself from her chair, “They had the same oil dip as the Greek restaurant by Market Basket, so we filled up on that.”

With a nod, Mick returned to the bowl of pizza casserole before her as her parents and Miles’ mother stood, pushing in their chairs and grabbing the box from the counter before heading out through the garage. Closing the door to the house behind her friends, Dorothea let out a long, slow breath and made her way to the side of the garage she had cordoned off as a safe space for arts and crafts. At one point in her marriage, the area had been a gift from her now ex-husband, Allen - a way for her to express her creativity and encourage their children to do the same. Nowadays, however, the space was mostly used by Bentley for his seemingly endless art projects and Miles for the paintings he would never allow to be seen by the public despite his mother’s insistence that they were better than he thought.

Looking around at the seemingly endless supplies in the area, Mack wondered, “How on earth did you get all of this stuff?”

“Most of it was a gift from Allen,” Dorothea explained as she unlocked and opened the pottery kiln. “Once I found out he was cheating, he tried to buy my love. Of course, it didn’t work, but he let me keep everything in the divorce because the boys begged him to.”

“I thought he said he never had money,” Brady commented from his perch on a stool.

“He didn’t,” Dorothea said, setting the box inside the kiln before turning to Brady and Mack, “it was his girlfriend’s father’s money.”

With a scoff, Mack said, “I still can’t believe he was dating someone only a few years older than Miles.”

“To be completely honest, I doubt he knew how old she was at the time,” Dorothea shrugged as she closed the kiln and turned it on. “Her father was his company’s owner and the money was what he wanted more than anything. Although I wish them the best, chances are that, once he has the money he wants, he’ll weasel his way out and find a new target.”

“Ridiculous,” Brady breathed as he watched the kiln whir to life.

“It doesn’t really bother me all that much anymore,” Dorothea explained. “It hurt to know how much it affected the boys at first, but they don’t seem bothered by it, so why should I?”

“That’s true,” Mack mused.

“So,” Brady began, “how long does it take to heat up?”

Dorothea dragged a rolling stool over and sat as she sighed, “Maybe eight to ten minutes. By then, the kids should be done eating.”

“Would you like us to bring the girls home?” Mack asked.

Brady chuckled as he and Dorothea shared a look, “I doubt they’ll let us.”

With a raised brow, his wife asked, “Why not?”

“When a coven is first formed, the desire to stay close to the other members is strong,” Dorothea explained. “Normally, a coven starts within a family, so it isn’t unusual for them to be close or want to spend time together. However, when it either starts or grows to include a group of friends, it results in sleepovers or the desire to get a job at the same location.”

“Is that why they all got a job at the Cottage?” Mack questioned, realization gleaming in her dark, umber eyes. “Or why the kids spend so much time together?

“Most likely,” Brady nodded with a grin. “To them, wanting to spend time together probably feels normal by now.”

Dorothea hummed, “It won’t be easy for them to willingly pull away. At least, not for a few days.”

“So, what do we do?” Mack asked as she looked between her husband and friend.

“Knowing Miles, he’ll either offer the girls his room or bring the air mattress up from the basement,” Dorothea claimed. “He won’t let them sleep on the floor.”

“What happened to the spare room?” Brady asked.

“Well, I was going to offer it to you two,” Dorothea stated. “I figured you would want to see how things go down in the morning.”

Brady turned his gaze to Mack, a silent question in his hopeful expression. With a smile and fond roll of her eyes, Mack nodded before turning her gaze onto the curly-haired brunette across from her, “We would appreciate that, thank you.”

“Of course,” Dorothea replied.

Taking in a breath, Mack sighed, “Well, in that case, I’m going to swing by the house and pick up some essentials for the night.”

“I can go,” Brady offered, rising from his seat.

Mack smiled, lightly shaking her head as she said, “You two said that, when a coven grows, you all become clingy. Stay here and watch over the kids; I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” Dorothea asked.

“Positive,” Mack replied, pulling her car keys from her pocket. “I’ll be back in a little bit.”

Brady and Dorothea shared a look as Mack opened the garage door and headed out onto the driveway, but shrugged as the woman climbed into the family car and took off down the road. Smiling at her longtime friend, Dorothea said, “You should probably check on the kids.”

“Probably,” Brady replied with a nod. Digging into his pocket, he produced the fire opal he had slipped from Dorothea’s hand earlier in the day. Holding it out to her, he said, “You know, as much as I love feeling like just a normal guy, I sort of missed the feeling of fire in my veins.”

“You always do,” Dorothea chuckled as she pocketed the crystal. “You know, with Carrie also having fire-based magic, I might require you to step in and teach them.”

“And, when the time comes, I’ll gladly step up to the plate,” Brady said with a smile. 

Nodding to her friend, Dorothea watched him head for the door before turning her attention back to the kiln, watching as the temperature gauge slowly rose closer to the highest setting. As opposed to the silence that normally came from the pottery kiln when she or Bentley had it in use, Dorothea fought the urge to jump as the wooden box within began crackling under the intense heat. Humming to herself as the wooden box crackled and popped in the tabletop kiln, Dorothea wheeled her stool over to the rack of paintings that had been left to dry by various members of her household. Looking through the different artworks left mostly by her sons, she chuckled as she tugged one of Miles’ many portraits of his girlfriend from the rack. 

Though he had used a smaller canvas, Miles had tucked the painting between two larger frames in the hopes of keeping it from any prying eyes. However, his efforts were in vain. Distantly, Dorothea wondered how her eldest son believed she hadn’t known about his relationship with the blonde when he left such masterpieces around the house in plain view. For a fleeting moment, she wondered if he had ever given his artwork to Carrie, but then brushed off the question as she knew how secretive Miles tended to be when it came to portraits he created. Maybe, someday, he would feel confident enough to give his girlfriend one of the many gifts he had made, but for now, his artwork would remain within the confines of their home, locked away until he felt ready.

As Dorothea tucked Miles’ artwork back onto the rack where he had left it, she heard the telltale beep from the kiln, its temperature gauge letting her know that it reached its highest temperature. With a sigh, she rose from her seat and rolled it back under the counter before making her way to the kiln and setting a timer that would end early the next morning. Once the machine beeped to show the timer had been set, the woman smiled to herself and turned toward the door that led inside, pulling her hair into a half-hearted ponytail before she reached for the knob. 

Stepping into the kitchen, Dorothea looked around the nearly empty room curiously before her gaze settled on Brady as he worked on washing the dishes in the sink. Announcing her presence, Dorothea smiled, saying, “We have a dishwasher, you know.”

With a chuckle, Brady placed a bowl in the strainer to dry and replied, “I’m aware, thank you.”

Leaning against the counter, Dorothea asked, “Where are the kids?”

“The living room,” he replied. “Mack is helping them set up the air mattress.”

“I didn’t even hear the car pull up,” she mused. A thoughtful silence fell over the room after Brady hummed in understanding, but as she took in a breath, Dorothea asked, “How do you think they’re dealing with all of this?”

“Better than we did,” Brady snickered. Dorothea snorted; that wasn’t exactly hard. “Remember when you nearly blinded our history teacher the morning after we got our magic?”

“All too well,” Dorothea sighed. “I think that’s why she tried to fail me that year.”

Chuckling as he turned off the water and set the last dish into the strainer, Brady dried his hands off on the tea towel before nudging his friend, “I think it was more due to the fact that you kept telling her off for getting her facts wrong.”

Rolling her eyes as she headed toward the living room, Dorothea grinned as she said, “If she didn’t want me to correct her, she should have done her research.”

Following behind his childhood best friend, Brady let out a breath of a laugh, “She should have.”

As the pair stepped into the living room, they found Mack gesturing for them to keep their voices down as she approached them. “They just laid down,” the short woman said in a hushed tone.

Nodding, the pair silenced themselves before allowing the shorter brunette to guide them toward the stairs. Once they were upstairs and far enough from the kids that they didn’t feel the need to keep their voices hushed, they wished each other a good night and retired to their respective rooms for the night. Before retiring to her room for the night, Dorothea crept down the stairs just far enough to see the slumbering group gathered on the living room floor, making sure they were resting as peacefully as possible before returning to her bedroom with a smile.

Gradually, the night crawled closer to day, and as golden rays peered through the Venetian blinds that had been installed over the bay windows, Royce groaned at the brightness burning through his fluttering eyelashes. His arms had gone numb in his sleep, and as he looked down, he realized he didn’t quite mind it. Bentley had passed out facing the back of the couch while holding Royce’s arm captive, and his other arm was wrapped snugly around Vivien’s shoulders, locking the girl in place with her head on his shoulder.

He didn’t have the heart to move out from under her - not that he wanted to in the first place - but as he moved his hand from her back, he worried she might fall if he didn’t at least nudge her further onto the cushions. However, as he tried to figure out a way to move her without waking her, Vivien let out a noise of discontent and tucked herself impossibly closer to Royce, her face squished into his shoulder as she grabbed a fistful of the hoodie he still wore from the night before. Despite the urge to snicker at the brunette’s smushed face, Royce used his free hand to brush Vivien’s hair away from her mouth before resting it on the back of her head.

Just as Royce took in a deep breath and allowed his head to hit the pillow he had shoved against the armrest, a soft voice reached his ear, “Are you awake, Rolls?”

Lifting his head just enough to find Vivien’s hazy, sleep-riddled eyes peering up at him, Royce smiled, “Nah, I’m just a figment of your imagination.”

Shrugging as she minutely nodded to herself, Vivien’s head tucked back into place as she muttered, “I like this figment; it’s comfy.”

Royce let out a breathy chuckle as he replied, “Usually, we do this the other way around.”

“I like those,” Vivien whispered, her breath sending goosebumps fluttering across Royce’s skin, “but I just like being with you.”

Taking in a breath in the hopes of stalling the horde of insects fluttering around in his stomach, Royce admitted, “Not nearly as much as I like being with you, I’m sure.”

“Debatable,” Vivien retorted softly.

Royce tried to think of a way to respond that wouldn’t completely destroy the bond he had carefully formed with Vivien over the years, but his train of thought was sent off the rails as Bentley’s fingernails dug crescents into his forearm and his younger brother exhaustedly huffed, “Can you two go confess your love for each other somewhere else? Some of us are trying to sleep here.”

Squeezing his brother as both an apology and a way to get him to shut his mouth, Royce said, “We aren’t confessing our love, Ben.”

“Who says I wasn’t?” Vivien asked groggily as she pushed herself onto the one elbow that wouldn’t dig into Royce’s ribcage. Bewildered umber eyes searched Vivien’s face as the girl fought her way through a yawn, but as her emerald eyes found his, Royce found nothing but bleary honesty in them. When Royce still hadn’t found the words to express his rapidly changing thoughts, Vivien spoke once again, “Look, these last twenty-four hours have been nothing but chaos, but I did a lot of thinking last night when I couldn't get to sleep, and I decided that I’m not going to deny that I’ve liked you for a long time now.”

Finding the ability to string together a partially coherent sentence, Royce’s mouth fluttered for a moment before he asked, “You- I- I’m sorry, you what?”

Before Vivien could reply, Bentley rolled over with a glare, the disgruntled look plastered on his face making him look more than mildly upset despite his messy blonde locks and the marks from Royce’s hoodie on his face making him appear as nothing more than a child unwillingly roused from deep slumber. With a huff, he said, “She likes you and everyone knows you like her back. Now, either ask her on a date or shut up so I can go back to sleep.”

Royce’s gaze drifted back to Vivien, but before he could think of anything to say on the topic at hand, a voice chimed in with a chuckle, “I think it’s a little late for sleep, sunshine. If you don’t get up soon, you’ll miss school.”

Vivien was the first to move as she found Dorothea’s smirking face peering down at her from over the back of the couch, pushing herself off the couch as though she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Now wide awake and well aware of what she had said, Vivien’s face burned as she forced a grin onto her face and said, “Good morning.”

Rounding the couch as Royce sat up, leaving Bentley to flop against the cushions, Dorothea took the brunette’s face in her hands and pressed a kiss to Vivien’s forehead before speaking, “Good morning, my sweet girl. How do you feel this morning?”

“Tired,” Vivien muttered. “Yesterday was… it was a lot.”

“It was,” Dorothea agreed. With a somewhat remorseful smile, the woman squeezed Vivien’s shoulders before releasing her, “I’m going to start breakfast. If you kids don’t mind, could you help wake the others?”

“Sure, Mama,” Royce said around a yawn. 

“Thank you, baby,” Dorothea said, leaning over so that she could press a kiss on the top of her son’s head. Moving to Bentley, she brushed his hair from his face and kissed his forehead before saying, “Time to get up, sunshine.”

“Don’t wanna,” Bentley grumbled as he forced himself to sit up.

“Too bad.” Dorothea turned on her heel and headed for the kitchen as she said, “You kids have that meeting today with that club Riven helped start. If you don’t feel like missing it, you need to get up and get changed.”

“Must we?” Vivien asked as she stretched.

Leaning against the archway that separated the living room from the kitchen, Dorothea smiled as she nodded, “Unless you feel like explaining to everyone why you’re wearing yesterday’s clothes, I’m afraid you must.”

With a sigh of defeat, Vivien relented, allowing Dorothea to return to the task at hand while the kids started their morning. However, before the brunette could move to where Kona had curled up by the fireplace, a hand closed around her wrist, keeping her in place. Turning back toward the couch, Vivien traced the hand on her arm up to Royce’s face, finding his nervous, caramel gaze already on her. 

Taking a tentative breath as he released Vivien’s arm, Royce asked, “Can we talk about that?”

“About what?” Vivien offered in return as she took her glasses from the coffee table, hoping the topic could be dropped now that she had the wherewithal to recall what she had said.

Royce fought the urge to sigh at her resistance as he asked, “Were you just messing around or do you really like me?”

“Of course I like you,” Vivien replied simply, stepping aside so that Bentley could make his way past her to where Kona was sleeping.

“Like, a genuine relationship thing, not just as a friend?” Royce pressed.

Vivien sucked in a breath and sighed, dropping any pretenses she might have had as she admitted, “I already told you I did.”

“So,” Royce began slowly, “you were serious?”

“I wouldn’t lie about something like that, even when I'm half asleep,” Vivien stated. “But if you don’t feel the same, I get it. You just have to say so and I’ll-”

“No!” Royce exclaimed, shaking his head. “No, no, no!”

“Damn, man, I get it,” Vivien scoffed as she turned away from him, smirking to herself as she heard Royce let out a startled noise. As she rounded the coffee table and headed for the air mattress to wake the others, she continued, “You could’ve just left it at one, but four? Gosh, am I that undateable?”

“That’s not what I meant, Viv, I swear,” Royce tried as he followed Vivien to the other side of the room. “You’re dateable - I’d date you. I-I want to go out with you and I have for a long time, but I didn’t want to say anything ’cause, well, I didn’t think you’d see me that way.”

Vivien pivoted, a smile tugging at her lips as she found Royce’s hesitant yet hopeful eyes and asked, “How’s Saturday sound?”

“Saturday?” Royce echoed in bewilderment.

With a nod, Vivien said, “We can go to that comic book store you’ve been wanting to check out, spend some time playing with the animals at the shelter across the street, then have something to eat at IHOP, and spend our afternoon harassing Riven at work.”

“So, a typical Saturday, then?” Royce offered with a breathy chuckle.

Vivien snorted, “Well, yeah, but this time it will be just us.”

“And whatever unfortunate soul has to put up with you two the whole day,” Miles grumbled as he forced himself to sit up. 

Smirking with the knowledge that her conversation with Royce had roused those still sleeping on the floor, Vivien cooed, “Aw, thanks for volunteering, Miley!”

Miles’ exhausted, halfhearted glare at the nickname she had thrown his way only made the girl’s smile brighter as he snipped, “Are you always this obnoxious in the morning?”

Vivien snorted as she lightly kicked Miles' shin, “Says the whiny, vampire bitch boy who hisses at the sun.”

“I’m not one of those stupid, sparkly things, you little shit,” Miles said with a roll of his eyes as Mick and Carrie got up from the air mattress with matching, exasperated expressions.

Vivien began counting on her fingers as she listed, “You hiss at the sun, you hardly socialize with anyone outside of your little friend group, and you act like a ninety-year-old man sometimes. Hate to break it to you, dickhead, but I’m pretty sure that makes you a vampire.”

Before the early-morning argument could go any further, Mick spoke up from her perch on the couch, “Enough, you two. It’s too early for any of us to put up with your shit.”

“Shithead,” Miles quipped as he pushed himself off of the floor.

“Asshat,” Vivien smirked fondly.

Relenting, Miles brought an arm around Vivien’s shoulders before pulling Royce into his free side and deciding, “I wouldn’t mind driving you two around this weekend. Just tell me when.”

“Thanks, Miles,” Royce said graciously as he brought an arm behind Miles’ back.

“Yeah, yeah,” Miles replied, running a hand through his hair as he stepped away. “You kids know I’d do anything for you.”

“We do,” Vivien nodded, “and we take advantage of that often.”

“I know,” Miles said with a grin as he joined his girlfriend and best friend on the couch.

Vivien smiled at the taller man before meeting Royce’s gaze and shaking her head with a smile. Royce joined her with a chuckle before taking a step back and turning his attention to the recliner where Serena slept. Gesturing to the slumbering redhead, he asked, “What do we do with her?”

Before anyone else could respond, a woman’s voice from the stairs answered, “With any luck, she won’t remember a thing.”

Turning toward the stairs as her parents descended them, Mick said, “I remember when it happened to me.”

“I know,” Brady nodded, “and we’re prepared for that outcome as well, but for now, we just need to assume she won’t recall a thing since she has no magical upbringing.”

“And, if she does remember what happened,” Mack continued, “she knows she can go to you all if she needs help.”

“How would she know that if she’s been unconscious the whole time?” Kona asked as she and Bentley worked on starting a fire in the hearth.

Vivien sighed, “There were moments where Serena broke through and talked to us. She asked us for help more than once.”

“Then why didn’t we just bring her home and let her talk with us when she’s ready?” Kona asked.

“Because she’ll need support,” Mick replied. “When I woke up from it, all I wanted was comfort from the people around me, but I was too scared I would hurt someone to ask for it.”

Mack hummed her agreement, “And, if Serena realizes from the start that it’s alright to ask for help, she might find it easier to do so.”

As the adults left the room, heading to the kitchen to help with breakfast, Carrie spoke up, “So, who feels up to waking her?”

Without much hesitation, Vivien stepped up, “I’ll do it.”

“Just don’t waterboard her like you did me,” Mick said with a pointed look at the young brunette.

Vivien smirked, “No promises.”

“Yes, promises,” Carrie insisted.

“Fine,” Vivien sighed dejectedly. “Maybe promises.”

“Good girl,” Carrie said with a tired grin.

Taking in a deep breath, Vivien stepped up to the recliner and slowly pulled the lever to drop to leg rest, allowing it to settle back under the seat of the chair before reaching up and gently shaking the redhead until she stirred. “Serena,” she started, “it’s time to get up.”

The exhausted redhead blinked tiredly up at the brunette before her, a yawn tugging from her lips as she slowly sat up. Looking around at the other occupants of the room, she asked, “What happened?”

Kona scoffed as she and Bentley rose from the floor, “You seriously don’t remember?”

“Not really,” Serena muttered, pressing a hand to the side of her head with a wince. “My head’s still pounding from that bizarre dream I had.”

“Dream?” Royce echoed. “What dream?”

“Just some stupid dream,” Serena scoffed. “Why do you even care?”

“You’re our friend,” Royce stated. At the redhead’s raised brow, he tacked on, “Well, sort of.”

Glancing between the group she used to consider her closest friends, Serena rolled her eyes and sighed, “It was just one of those out-of-body nightmare things, that’s all. Now, why am I here, of all places?”

Without allowing anyone else to control the narrative, Vivien let out a breath of a laugh, leaned against the armrest of the couch, and said, “We aren’t really sure what happened, but my guess would be that you got blackout drunk at your ‘bestie’s party.”

Despite her hazel glare not holding nearly as much aggression as it used to when aimed at someone who had offended her close friends, Serena’s piercing gaze still felt like a threatening knife held to their throats as she hissed, “Why the hell would that be your first guess?”

Attempting to appear unfazed by the girl’s stare, Royce said, “We found you passed out on a bench in the commons, all alone; that’s pretty telling, if you ask me.”

“Violet wouldn’t let me get that wasted,” Serena claimed despite the tentative look in her eyes telling everyone otherwise. “We look out for each other.”

“Yeah, well, regardless,” Vivien sighed, “we brought you back here to get you out of the cold and you fell asleep there before we could get you to move onto the air mattress.”

Stepping up toward where the group had gathered, Bentley said, “We couldn’t find your car, but your keys are on the table by the door.”

“Great,” Serena sighed to herself as she shakily rose from the recliner. Making her way toward the door, the redhead turned back to the group and swallowed thickly before saying, “I’m sorry for the trouble I may or may not have caused, but…  genuinely, thank you.”

“It’s nothing you wouldn’t do for us,” Vivien brushed off with a shrug.

Serena contemplated the statement momentarily, her gaze flitting around the room as she took a deep breath and allowed Vivien’s words to sink in. Whilst she was sure that, in some deep part of herself that she rarely ever investigated, she would agree with Vivien’s simple statement, Serena couldn’t bring herself to voice her thoughts. It did, however, give her something else to contemplate. Could she say the same about her so-called “bestie”? And, in turn, could Violet say the same about her?

Clearing her throat as she met Vivien’s emerald eyes, Serena muttered, “Still. Thanks.”

Vivien nodded as Royce and Bentley accepted the redhead’s statement. Not wanting to stay any longer than she already had, Serena jerked her head in a final, singular nod before turning on her heel, just barely snagging her keys by the initial keychain her mother had given her before scurrying out the door to find wherever she had left her car. Once the door was closed and Vivien was sure the redhead was far enough from the door that she wouldn’t hear her, she asked, “Did you guys really not see her car anywhere?”

“Nope,” Carrie claimed.

Miles chuckled, “I didn’t even look.”

“Chances are it’s at her house,” Mick claimed with a tired snicker.

Kona let out a snort as she began searching for the backpack she had chosen to use as a pillow during the night, “Wouldn’t be the first time she did something like that.”

Vivien hummed as she dragged herself over to the window seat she always claimed in the morning, searching for the shoes she knew she had ditched there at some point during their stay. She could remember a couple of different times when Serena’s car had “gone missing.” Despite only having the vehicle since her birthday back in May, Serena had forgotten where she had parked it more than once, resulting in her stepfather calling in some of his police friends to help search for it. More often than not, it was found within minutes, left in a parking spot she claimed she would never have used or in their garage as the redhead had forgotten she had gotten a ride with a friend, but there were a few times when the car had actually been towed away, and her family had to pay for its release from car jail.

With an amused smirk tugging at her lips, Vivien looked up as Kona called her name, “Yeah?”

“I slept on your dice last night,” Kona said from her spot on the floor, her backpack sitting open in her lap as she held a small, crushed velvet bag out for Vivien to see.

The pouch that Riven gave Vivien for her birthday a few years back had been passed around through their friend group as everyone took turns using the fancy dice within for different Dungeons and Dragons projects. Kona almost always used the dice for creating maps or, when she felt like it, a way to randomize her character creations for different games. Vivien's collection of dice was like a library to Kona - something for her to explore and borrow to her heart's content. However, the fact that the young blonde had slept on a myriad of pointy, oddly-shaped dice was something Vivien had to wonder if she had done before.

With a chuckle, Vivien shook her head and picked her shoes up from the floor as she stood, “Why am I not surprised?”

Watching the brunette place her shoes by the door and head back toward the window, Kona said, “Here, catch!”

Whirling around as the bag soared through the air, Vivien watched as the strings loosened, sending a couple of the crystalline dice tumbling out from their holster. With a gasp, she dropped her shoes and reached for the glittering dice, only to watch them come to a stop just above the hardwood floors. Peering up at her friend from her spot on the floor, Kona’s widened eyes found Vivien’s as they realized that the dice were now levitating a few inches above the floor, a hazy, amethyst glow shimmering around each individual die. Vivien glanced around at her friends, who had since turned from their conversations to see what had happened. Seeing as none of them had been watching, she realized that none of them could have been the one preventing her dice from hitting the floor.

Looking from the still-floating dice to Kona, Vivien softly asked, “Is that you?”

Slowly, Kona shook her head, “No, is it you?”

“How could it be me?” Vivien asked in return. “I don’t have magic anymore.”

“Well, if it’s not me,” Kona began, slowly shifting her gaze onto the other occupants of the room as she gestured to them, “and it wasn’t any of them, it has to be you.”

Vivien’s gaze shifted as she scanned over her friends, watching as their eyes slowly turned from Kona to the dice and, finally, onto her. Amazed confusion lined their faces, and while a part of her understood why, she wanted nothing more than for one of them to step up and help or, at the very least, admit that they were the one to use their magic to keep her dice from the hardwood. As she found his eyes, Vivien noticed that Bentley looked ready to step up and take the dice to keep her from worrying, but as Mick stood from the couch, he held himself back, leaving Vivien standing stock-still in an attempt to keep herself together. 

Hesitantly, Mick said, “Try putting them back in the bag without touching anything.”

Vivien’s head shook as her eyes widened, her fingers twitching anxiously at the thought of completing the challenge, “I don’t think I want to.”

Mick chuckled, “Yes, you do.”

Swallowing the growing pressure in her throat, Vivien shook her head once more, “If I drop these, not only will they break, but I’m pretty sure I will too, so no, I really don’t want to move them.”

Despite the smile on her face, Mick let out a sigh and shook her head before shifting her gaze onto the two boys who lingered just behind the couch. Gesturing for them to come over with a nod of her head, Mick took a step back as Royce and Bentley breezed by her to stand on either side of Vivien. Kona scrambled off the floor to join them, assuring Vivien she would only be there to step in if they needed her to before taking up the space Mick vacated.

Bentley placed a hand on Vivien’s arm with a smile, “You’ve got this Viv.”

“Just remember to breathe,” Royce added.

Vivien nodded slowly, taking in a breath before asking, “Together?”

“Always,” Kona agreed.

As ridiculous as it felt to be so concerned about dropping a handful of glow-in-the-dark resin dice, Vivien couldn’t help but feel as though she would pass out if the violet haze around the dice disappeared. Slowly, she forced herself to focus on the task at hand, watching as shades of gold, flickers of pink, and shimmers of blue melded together to form a galactic array of colors around each of the dice. Allowing her attention to split off from the dice, Kona jerked her wrist toward the floating bag and brought it closer to the group, a pink and blue nebula keeping the pouch open as rings of honey yellow, navy blue, and plum purple dropped the dice into their original confines. 

Once the dice had been returned to the small bag, Bentley snagged the bag out of the air and smiled as his eyes scanned over those present. “We did it,” he declared softly as the others rose from the couch to commend them.

“We did,” Royce echoed with a breathy laugh.

“But-” Vivien cut herself off with a disbelieving chuckle. “But how? I thought we gave up our magic.” 

As though a lightbulb had flickered on inside her head, Kona’s eyes lit up and she pushed her way through the gathering group, beelining for the kitchen. Bentley was quick to follow, weaseling his way past Miles and ducking under Carrie’s incoming hug with a quick apology as Kona stepped into the kitchen. Sharing a look and a simple shrug, Royce and Vivien were quick to follow, the older group following close behind and just entering the kitchen as Kona stated, “You guys lied about them giving up their magic, didn't you?”

Though the way the small blonde had worded her statement gave the adults very little room to argue, Dorothea found an easy way to avoid the topic as she smiled and said, “Well, good morning to you too, Kona.”

“Don’t dodge the question,” Kona huffed with a roll of her eyes. “You told them to give their magic to Carrie, Mick, and Miles, but they have magic this morning. Why did you say they were giving up all their magic?”

“Technically,” Dorothea began, “I didn’t.”

“You said the eclipse could make it permanent,” Vivien argued. "That was a big factor as to why you said to try other means first."

“But she never said it would be permanent,” Brady countered. “She only said it was a possibility.”

Mack smiled as she set her cup of tea down on the table, “It wasn't a full exchange of magic, therefore, you were never in any true danger of giving up your powers.”

Glancing down at his hands as though they were suddenly no longer his own, Miles peered at the girls on either side of him and softly asked, “Does that mean we don’t have magic anymore?”

“Oh, no,” Brady said with a shake of his head, taking a sip of his morning coffee. “You three should have your full powers just the same as the kids will after a few more hours.”

“But that doesn’t make sense,” Carrie claimed. “If the spell was for the kids to give their powers to us, shouldn’t only some of us have magic?”

“Only for twelve hours,” Dorothea claimed, setting the coffee pot back on the crochet pot holder she had made a few months back.

“Give or take,” Mack added.

“I'm lost,” Bentley muttered as he rubbed remnants of sleep from the corner of his eye.

“Yeah,” Mick began, confusion looping its way around her words. “We thought it was potentially permanent.”

“But it wasn’t,” Brady said. “Like when I gave away my magic, the spell wasn’t a one-and-done, permanent thing. I’m able to take it or leave it as I wish, and last night, you kids did something similar. The only difference is that your new magic should be permanent.”

“But what about us?” Royce pressed as he gestured to Vivien and Bentley. "I'm pretty sure we all can vividly remember the feeling of our magic leaving us, but now it's back. How does that make any sense?"

Dorothea pushed out her chair and stood as she explained, “During a lunar eclipse, magic can be drawn into a vessel for twelve hours. Normally, the vessel is an inanimate object and the magic will force its way back to the holder in full by the time the twelve hours have passed.”

“However,” Brady began, “since she gave you the spell to transfer your magic to another human being, the transfer left traces of magic inside of them, granting them just as much magic as you have, even after your magic returns to you.”

“Well,” Mack started, “as soon as the spell wears off, that is.”

Dorothea found herself smiling calmly as the eyes of her children and their friends landed on her. However, she couldn’t help the pang of hurt in her heart as Vivien softly asked, “Why didn’t you tell us that?”

Stepping forward with a gentle smile, Dorothea tried to placate the group as she stated, “I knew from experience that, if you truly believed that you would never have magic again, it would make those who inherited it from you feel as though they had to fight twice as hard to win the battle.”

Carrie scoffed a laugh as she recalled just how incinerated the commons looked after their fight with Serena had started, “It certainly worked.” 

“And, another thing,” Brady tacked on as he poured some creamer into his coffee, “if you believed your powers were gone forever, so would Serena.”

Dorothea nodded, shifting her gaze from Brady to the children before her as she spoke, “That meant she wouldn’t go after any of you and would only target her attack on the ones she believed had magic.”

“It saved you three from any potential danger,” Mack claimed.

As incredulous looks were shared and relieved sighs fell through exhausted lips, comments of disbelief flooded the kitchen as everyone attempted to force themselves into some form of normalcy. As Miles began pulling cups and plates from the cupboards for the others to take and Vivien muttered something about having a love-hate relationship with evil witches under her breath, Kona said, “I can’t believe we didn’t piece all of this together earlier.”

With a snicker he shared with his wife and childhood friend, Brady sipped his coffee and said, “As we said last night, you kids have a lot to learn.”

Dorothea nodded, a proud smile filling her features as she observed the group and said, "And we will be there to teach you."

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

Okay, so I know I haven't really said or done anything in ages, but I just wanted to say that I've been working on this next part of Melaka Mystica a lot and, although I still have a bit to do to finish it off, I am 40 pages in and feel pretty good about everything so far! I am close to the end, but as I have to go back and edit everything, it might take me a while to finish. I am finally back to full health and have taken the opportunity to relax and watch the Percy Jackson show in full (what episodes are there, at least). I have a lot to say about that, but that’s for another time. For now, just know that I'm trying to finish things up as soon as possible! I was only 18 pages in before Christmas, so I'd say I'm cranking along quite nicely, all things considered!

I was, just three days ago, slightly concussed by a rogue freezer door at my personal care job, which set me back a little bit with the usual suspects - nausea, headache, disorientation, and dizziness. I'm much better now and only have a small scab in my hairline, but that was a fun ride, let me tell you!

Also, quick rant; to the weatherman who covers my area who was all like, "We haven't gotten any snow this year, but there's still time for it to come in the new year," and all that shit before Christmas, fuck you! I am wholeheartedly blaming you for the bullshit outside my window that is still coming. I was enjoying my 30-40 degree, t-shirt/maybe hoodie weather, you absolute dickhead! Apparently, we’re supposed to get another 8 inches on top of the 4½ we already have, and I don't even get time off of work for this nonsense! I still have to go to work because I'm a PCA; I don't get snow days like a normal job. You know, I wouldn't be half as upset if I had studded tires, but now that those are illegal due to people forgetting to take them off and letting them tear up roads, that's off the table. I’ve only seen the neighbor’s Jeep make it up our hill of a driveway in the hour or so I’ve been up, so that’s pretty telling, I guess.

Anyway, pray for my sanity because Lord knows I need it today! Also, I promise, I will get this final chapter done as soon as I can! All the love! 😘💕

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

Nothing like going on winter break and catching a cold a week before Christmas! I’m finally almost back to normal, but I swear, this whole foggy-brained, stuffy-nose thing had better be gone before Christmas or else I will commit various unspeakable crimes throughout the rest of my vacation! I am - somewhat literally - so sick of this and it’s only been two days. I just want to curl up with hot chocolate and write, but here I am, moping on the couch, watching the new Percy Jackson show, pounding back a bottle of Coke, and eating my way through a box of oyster crackers because they are the only things that don’t disappoint me at the moment 🥲

Honestly, though, I’m a lot better today than I was yesterday, so that’s great, but please, keep me in your thoughts/prayers as I struggle breathe properly or think in coherent sentences. I just want to be able to enjoy the holidays with my family. Hope you’re faring better than I am! All the love 🧡🥰

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

Melaka Mystica (Part 2/3)

November 27, 2023

Notes - This month has been pretty dang good as I got a car, marched in a parade, made Thanksgiving dinner on my own for the first time (and didn't burn anything other than my energy and my mom's only remaining brain cells 😂), but then my uncle's cat, Budweiser (Buddy) who was 17 and I loved as my own, passed away after getting his final fill of turkey. He was an amazing old boy and I'll miss him dearly, but at least he's with the rest of my family, getting all the attention he could ever want! Honestly, though, I'm proud of myself for getting this done before the end of the month with all that happened around me! This is pretty much just 33 pages of me going off the rails at 3am and typing until my hands hurt, but it's worth it in the end! Anyway, I might need to invest in a wrist brace for carpal tunnel at this point 🙈😂

You all are clearly in over your pretty, little heads.

Metal dragged across old bricks, scraping a pile of leaves into a growing heap by the side of the road. As much as Mick hated being relegated to raking the sidewalk outside of her family’s shop, it got her away from the overbearing smell of incense packets and burning sage. Ever since the incident on Halloween, she had been suffering through her days at work. Things at the store had never been difficult for her before Halloween, but if the books Miles had been sending her excerpts of were anything to go by, all of her new problems were partly due to the possession she’d faced. Whatever had possessed her that day had left lingering traces of itself in her, making it damn near impossible for her to get through a workday. Whatever it had been, must have hated sage and incense, which, if she thought about it, made sense as negativity was supposed to be pushed out with a sage cleansing.

Regardless of how often she stepped out to breathe, her headaches only increased when someone would pull an incense stick from the wicker basket by the shop door to see how it smelled. She had tried to use one of the aromatherapy inhalers Carrie had bought her - something the blonde said she used to keep her sinuses clear during the winter if she had a show to perform in - but those only helped so much in the little shop. With customers pulling incense sticks from their packages to smell them properly, teens opening candles or essential oils, and groups of kids on field trips being obnoxious during Carrie’s performances, Mick was ready to down a bottle of Tylenol and pass out.

Thankfully, business had slowed down a considerable amount once Halloween passed. However, there were still the odd tourists coming and going in search of souvenirs and regulars looking for new crystals or a refill of their favorite incense. Once the local schools let out, they would get swarms of children and teenagers alike, pushing and shoving their way into the small store for cheap drinks or snacks. Some days were better than others, where they would get mostly older people coming in for replacement items or wanting a tarot reading. However, there were days when there would be an ignorant, middle-aged person looking to speak with the manager or owner - someone other than some “twenty-something little shit,” as most of them put it. On days like those, Mick wondered why her parents would give her the store if she had to deal with people like that all day. 

Then again, they weren’t entirely retired, and people who knew and loved her parents would sometimes come in asking specifically for them. Mick never minded stepping into the back room and quickly calling either of her parents, asking them to stop by. After Halloween, however, the stress of everything had been too overwhelming. More often than not, Mick wanted nothing more than to call up her parents and give the shop back to them, telling them that she just couldn’t handle it. However, she had managed to fight through the first week of November without having to call her parents for anything more than a friendly visit and felt as though things would get better over time.

Then came the eleventh. Due to Veteran’s Day, the schools were closed, and the city’s parade was set to go through the streets, honoring those who had served in any branch of the military - alive or dead. Parade days meant busy business, and, to her dismay, many of those who had marched through the streets had come to the Coven’s Cottage for a hot cider and some of Mrs Murphy’s homemade cider donuts. With so many different emotions coming at her from everyone who stepped in the door, Mick got overwhelmed quickly. After a sobbing woman and her children came inside, Mick realized she was shaking like a leaf. After sending the girl to the back to calm down, Miles and Carrie were left to fend for themselves while an overwhelmed Mick hid in the break room to cry through the pain of a slaughtering migraine. Once things had calmed down and Mick was able to think properly, Miles convinced the brunette to wave her white flag, and she asked her parents for help. 

Later that night, Mick had Miles and Carrie go home with her as witnesses so that her parents would see that she wasn’t just talking out of her ass. With his previous knowledge of magic, Brady was, understandably, concerned for his daughter’s health and mental well-being and began pacing - showing an anxious, overthinking side of the man that none of the young adults had seen before. On the other hand, while Mack had no magical ties of her own, the woman was determined to find a way to help her only child, looking into books and articles that could help cleanse Mick of any lasting effects from her possession. After sitting the older couple down once more and having them take the time to read over some of the things Miles and Carrie had found in their research for Mick, Mack and Brady agreed to put their daughter on lighter duty at their family shop, resuming their original positions as co-owners.

While the slightly lesser traffic in the shop and her parents helping out made things a bit easier on Mick’s headaches, she still felt physically drained just sitting in her family’s shop. Unlike Vivien or Royce, she didn’t have the ability to say her lungs were tight when someone tried to light sage or incense or claim her blood pressure was acting out whenever she got dizzy sitting at the register. In reality, with her parents and friends hovering almost every day, she was forced to get out and walk around town more frequently, giving her some fresh air. However, on days when the air outside was sitting in the forties, and the wind was like a cruel slap to the face, Mick despised being sent outside. She knew that, all too soon, the air would be too cold to breathe without a scarf over her face, and the ice on the ground would make it too difficult to make it from one place to another without slamming into the sidewalk, but that didn’t make her appreciate the moderately chilly autumn. 

Heaving a huff of frustration as a nearby car barrelled down the street to beat a changing traffic light, the icy breeze dragging off of the vehicle and scattering her hard work into the wind, and Mick rolled her eyes. She was sick of raking meaningless piles of leaves, sick of being pushed aside and asked to do menial tasks just because she had a hard time sitting around in the shop. She could have been doing so much more to help out around the shop! She could organize the storage room, put new stock out on the shelves, or help give aura readings or something - anything! She was so tired of being useless to everyone she cared about.

With a shake of her head, Mick sucked in a breath and sighed before turning back toward the shop. The bell above the door chimed - a replacement for the cackling witch sound they had put up for Halloween - and Mick leaned the rake against the wall by the door before tugging her gloves and hat off and shoving them into the pockets of the maroon, fleece-lined coat her parents had bought her years ago. The pocket zippers had been melted open after she had unceremoniously tossed the coat in front of the heater once, the faux fur lining around the hood was slightly matted after having used it for so many frigid winters, and the elastics in the cuffs of the sleeves had lost their grip a long time ago, but the coat kept her warm and, to Mick, that was all that mattered.

The smell of burning sage filled the small shop, and although Mick would have usually taken a big whiff of it to calm herself, she refrained as a woman with a bag of incense sticks stepped around her to leave. As Mick ditched her coat on the rack behind the counter, she stepped up behind her mom and pressed a kiss to the woman’s cheek before taking a caramel from the dish on the counter and making her way to the back room to see if Miles and Carrie were on their breaks yet. Instead of finding the pair curled up on the couch, talking through the entirety of their break, Mick found her dad sitting in her usual chair, a cup of something in one hand and his phone in the other.

Smiling to herself as she decided to make her presence known, Mick asked, “What happened to doing a tarot reading for Mrs Anderson?”

Looking up from his device with a grin, Brady replied, “She got what she wanted and left already.”

“Let me guess,” Mick began as she perched herself on the armrest of her dad’s chair, “she thought her husband was cheating again and wanted to see if it was her sister or the new neighbor?”

“Almost,” Brady chuckled, placing his phone on his leg as he handed Mick his drink for her to try. “She thought it could be the mailman.”

Grateful she hadn’t taken a sip of her father’s drink, Mick let out a bark of laughter, “She thought Mr Anderson - the pastor of their church - was having an affair with her husband?”

Brady hummed, nodding in confirmation as he rhetorically asked, “Who doesn’t she accuse her husband of cheating with?” 

Mick snickered as she handed her father his drink, “Ironic from the woman who has been divorced five times because of her cheating.”

With a shrug, Brady said, “It’s not our place to judge.”

“True.”

After taking a sip of his drink, Brady said, “Your mom and I are heading out early to meet with some friends from school who are back in town for the week. Do you think you, Miles, Carrie, and the kids can handle the shop until closing?”

Nodding, Mick smiled at the idea as she said, “Yeah, of course. We handled it for months on our own before.”

Groaning at the twinge of pain that had grown familiar in his lower back, Brady regretted all of the reckless things he had done in his teen years as he pushed himself out of his chair. Despite only recently turning forty, his body felt as though it belonged to someone nearing eighty. Brady suppressed a grimace as he stretched before turning to his daughter and saying, “That was before you were possessed by ancient magic.”

Taking in a deep breath, Mick slowly nodded in understanding. Regardless of how much she despised how easily that was everyone’s excuse for giving her lighter tasks, Mick understood where they were coming from. If what happened to her had happened to anybody else in her immediate circle, she would have acted the same. Offering her dad a slight grin, Mick allowed him to lean down and press a kiss to her forehead before saying, “I get it, but honestly, I’m doing pretty well today.”

“Good,” Brady mused. “Try to keep it that way.”

“I will,” Mick claimed as the door to the basement opened, allowing Miles and Carrie to come in.

Brady hummed appreciatively before turning toward the young couple with a smile, “Did you two find that book I told you about?”

“We did,” Carrie said, offering the man her signature smile as Miles held up the thick hardcover book. “Do you really think it’ll help the kids?”

“It should,” Brady stated. “I didn’t get much use out of it, as you know, but it’s been in the family for many generations. If it helped them, why not let the kids use it?”

Miles nodded as he examined the book. The leather bindings were worn and peeling, the spine flexible yet delicate, and it smelled of an old library book that had been left on the shelves for a couple hundred years, but the pages were still crisp, and the ancient calligraphy was very clearly legible. While on the outside, the book certainly looked aged and well-loved, the pages still read as clear as day, making Miles question if it had some sort of protection charm that stood the test of time. Grinning to himself, Miles fleetingly wondered if the book in his hands was the origin of people saying not to judge books by their covers.

Lifting his gaze to meet Brady’s, Miles spoke, “Thanks again, Mr Birch. I know the kids would be interested in diving into actual spells and potions.”

Brady waved him off, “It’s not like I’m getting any use out of it, Miles. However, I do suggest asking your mother to help them with anything involving baking.”

“She is one of the best bakers in Salem,” Mick mused. 

Before Brady could say anything more, the back room opened, and his wife’s head poked inside. “I hate to interrupt,” Mack began, “but it’s almost two, Brady.”

Heaving a sigh, Brady clapped his hands and said, “Well, duty calls, kids.”

As her husband gathered his belongings, Mack asked, “Mick, honey, are you going over to Miles’ house after work?”

“I was thinking about it,” Mick shrugged. “The kids wanted to work on some beginner-level potions.”

“Are you staying for dinner?” Brady asked.

“She’d better,” Miles said before Mick could answer. “My mom said she’s making pizza casserole.”

Mick snickered, “I guess I’m staying for dinner then.”

“Alright,” Mack said with a smile, “well, we’ll be back home around six or seven to watch the eclipse if your father can get his butt in gear.”

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Brady claimed as he pulled his coat around his shoulders. Leaning down, Brady kissed the top of his daughter’s head before whispering to her, “Bring me back some of that casserole.”

“I will,” Mick said with a grin.

“You don’t need any casserole, Brady,” Mack claimed with a hint of a smirk tugging at her lips. “We’re going out to Hanna Devine’s.”

Brady’s expression said it all. Unlike most of the little bistros and restaurants in the city, Hanna Devine’s was a large building on the corner of a busy street that charged prices through the roof for a portion barely significant enough to qualify as a meal. Between the hassle of finding a parking spot and the extensive waitlist for a single table, the restaurant was usually only inhabited by insane people who didn’t mind paying forty dollars for a small piece of steak or twenty-five bucks for a side order of steamed vegetables. Despite attempting to get his point across with a pleading look, Brady found his wife’s piercing gaze and quickly schooled his expression as he sighed, “Yes, ma’am.”

Rolling her eyes with a smile, Mick turned her gaze back to her daughter and said, “If there’s enough, bring us both back some. Chances are, we’ll still be hungry when we leave.”

Making his way to the door of the room, Brady beamed, “This is why I love you.”

“Because I let you get leftovers?” Mack questioned as Brady kissed her cheek. “What about when we got married or when I had to endure nine months of Mick’s punches to my bladder?”

“Of course I loved you then,” Brady stated. “It’s just that I really wanted that casserole.”

“And because I let you have it,” Mack slowly stated, “that’s your primary reason for loving me now?”

As Brady floundered, scouring his mind for something to say, Mick snickered, “Way to word things, Dad.”

“Good luck getting out of that one,” Carrie chuckled.

“There’s a store you can stop at on the way to Hanna’s that sells shovels since you seem to be in a hurry to dig your own grave, Mr Birch,” Miles said with a grin.

“None of you are helping!” Brady exclaimed, looking around at the three young adults with a gleam in his eyes that begged for them to shut up.

Choosing to end her husband’s struggle, Mack snickered, patting him on the arm fondly, “I’m just screwing with you. Now, come on, let’s get on the road before school gets out, and we’re stuck behind eight different buses.”

With a sigh of relief, Brady relaxed, turning back toward the kids with a small smile as he said, “Be good, remember to lock up the shop, and please, for the love of all things holy, remember to bring us back some casserole if there’s any left.”

As Mick gave her dad a mock salute, Miles chuckled, “We’ve got everything under control.”

“Enjoy your dinner with friends,” Carrie said, offering the older couple a wave as they left the room. Once the door was closed, the blonde turned to Mick with a smile and asked, “How’re you feeling?”

“I’m fine, for once,” the brunette replied. “I haven’t had any headaches since this morning when the trash truck came, and I’ve gotten through most of the day without needing to step out.”

“That’s good,” Miles said thoughtfully as he set the book for the kids on the couch. “Do you feel up to taking the register until closing?”

Eager to feel useful again, Mick quickly nodded as she said, “Yeah, of course. Are you going to restock or are you going to pick up the kids?”

Checking his watch, Miles said, “I’ll probably pick them up. If I get there early and find their bikes, I’ll put them on the rack before the bell rings.”

Leading the way to the main room of the shop, Mick mused, “Soon, they’ll be needing a ride every day.”

“Especially since it snowed two nights ago,” Miles sighed as he rounded the counter.

“Don’t mention that word,” Carrie said with a shiver. “I was hoping it would hold off until Christmas or something and then never come back.”

“Wishful thinking,” Mick snorted.

Carrie sighed as she slumped against the counter, resting her chin in the palm of her hand, “At least we’re not supposed to get any more for a while.”

“When did you hear that?” Mick wondered.

Tugging her phone from her pocket and unlocking it, Carrie swiped around for a moment before showing her friend her weather app. “My phone says the next week or so is clear.”

Mick examined the weather listing before tapping on the screen, “We’ve got rain on Saturday and Wednesday, though. That can become snow if it gets cooler out.”

“But the app says it’s just rain,” Carrie said hopefully.

“It’s New England,” Miles chuckled as he zipped up his jacket. “The forecast lies.”

Carrie let out a resigned sigh, “I know, but I’m staying as optimistic as possible.”

“Good luck with that,” Miles muttered, his breath brushing across Carrie’s cheek as he leaned in for a kiss. “Do you guys want anything while I’m out?”

“A million dollars,” Mick joked.

“Weathermen who won't lie,” Carrie added.

“A will to live.” 

“Magical powers.”

Glancing between the pair, Miles sighed and rolled his eyes, “I meant things I can pick up from the gas station.”

“Ah,” Carrie breathed. “In that case, I’ll take some cherry Twizzlers.”

“I guess I’ll take some cheesy popcorn,” Mick said with a grin.

“Puffcorn or Smartfood?” Miles asked.

“Smartfood,” Mick said before thanking her friend.

“Weirdos,” Miles mused as he typed in their requests on his phone, knowing the pair would be sharing snacks in no time.

“Proud of it,” the two girls said in startling unison before turning to each other and laughing.

With a shake of his head and a fond smile, Miles pulled his keys out of his pocket and headed out the door, passing the shop’s picture windows on his way to his Jeep. Smiling to herself, Mick turned her attention to the music playing over the store’s speakers, switching the radio station to one she knew both she and Carrie enjoyed. As something other than smooth jazz filled the shop, Carrie bopped her head to the beat with a smile before turning her gaze to Mick once more. 

The last two weeks had felt like an eternity. She had watched Mick struggle the first couple of days - the brunette unable to pull herself out of her thoughts. Carrie had spent some time talking things over with Mick during that time, listening to her ramble nonsensically about all that had happened to her and all the struggles she faced. The first two days, Mick had been in a daze, operating on a repetitive cycle out of habit more than anything. Carrie spent a lot of time helping at the register as Mick would often stare off into space or lock herself away in the back room due to headaches. The first few days were difficult as Mick asked people to give her time to think and process, but it seemed to everyone that she had closed herself off from everything and everyone. 

Mick’s relationships with everyone who was there that night had grown strained in that time - the only ones not suffering being Butchy and Lela, as they were only there for the aftermath. Whilst saying they hadn’t always gotten along well in school was an understatement, Carrie and Mick had grown close after Miles started dating the blonde. Over time, a bond had formed, but after Mick’s possession, Carrie could feel the distance between them growing once more. Everyone could. Though the brunette never outright pushed anybody away, they all knew she had come close to it more than once.

Carrie had never seen Mick so despondent and detached as she was in those first days. It took Miles climbing the tree in the Birch family’s backyard and climbing in through Mick’s window for her to begin talking to anyone who had been there. Understandably, Miles was the first person she opened up to as they had always been inexplicably close, but then she opened up to Carrie, and the blonde got to see more of the girl’s inner thoughts laid out before her like a jigsaw puzzle.

The strain Mick felt was palpable. Her hurt was nearly insurmountable, the stress was overwhelming, and the pain she felt whilst reliving and retelling her side of things was evident in her eyes. It took just shy of a week before Mick felt comfortable having the kids around her again. The thought that whatever was left in her might come back to hurt the kids had plagued her night and day, but after hearing that Vivien blamed herself for the older girl being distant, Mick forced herself to meet with them in the Common. They sat on opposite sides of the pavilion Saturday night, Mick asking Miles to tie her to the table with a scarf to keep her from hurting anybody, and that was the first time Carrie felt like crying about Mick’s situation. The thought that the bubbly, doting brunette was so afraid of hurting the kids made Carrie saddened and sick at the same time. Mick didn’t deserve to be scared of every move she made.

By the end of their conversation that night, things had begun to heal, but anyone who knew them could still feel the remnants of strain between Mick and Vivien. Things were slowly getting better between them, but Carrie quickly took note of the wistful glimpses Vivien would sneak of the older girl. Though Carrie, like everyone else, was sure things would return to normal - or some semblance of it, at the very least - she knew it would take time. 

Listening to Mick hum along to the radio, Carrie glanced around to guarantee the shop was empty of customers before clearing her throat and asking, “Speaking of magical powers, I heard that Vivien was trying to find a way to give you some the other day.”

Brown eyes lifted from Mick’s phone and fleetingly met Carrie’s azure gaze before Mick shrugged and returned her focus to her phone, “She was, yeah.”

“I think it’s sweet that she’s trying so hard.”

To Carrie’s chagrin, Mick only shrugged again, “I guess so, but I wish she wouldn’t.”

“What do you mean?” Carrie questioned. “I thought you wanted powers like theirs?”

“That was before I was possessed,” Mick admitted, meeting Carrie’s gaze once more. “I would have done anything for some magic back then.”

“But now?”

“Now I’m scared to even think about having magic.”

Carrie’s smile faltered at the weight of Mick’s statement. In a way, she should have expected that to be Mick’s answer, but in reality, she hadn’t thought about it from the brunette’s perspective. Vivien had gone to Carrie looking for help researching how to give someone magic, and although the pair had spent hours scouring through old books filled with runes and spells and potions, they hadn’t found anything that would allow Vivien to do what she wanted to.

Attempting to appear unfazed, Carrie asked, “How come? With your family’s long, magical bloodline, I would’ve throught you’d want to follow them.”

“I did,” Mick sighed, setting her phone aside in favor of the conversation at hand. “I wanted it more than anything. But now that I know how dangerous I could be if I let power get to my head, I’m sort of glad my dad cut off the line when he did.”

Taking in a slow breath, Carrie asked, “That really bothered you, huh?”

Mick hummed with a nod, “It’s hard to act as though it doesn’t, but I’m trying. I just-” Mick cut herself off with a sigh, “I wish I never read that damn book.”

“What-?”

Before Carrie could get anything more out, Mick cut her off, “If I’d never read that book, I wouldn’t have to live with constant headaches or people looking at me like I’m made of glass or everyone acting as though they need to walk on fucking eggshells around me!” Stopping to take in a breath, Mick ran her hands over her hair before sighing, “What hurts the most is living with the fact that all of this is my fault.”

Though Carrie didn’t want to push her luck with Mick, she couldn’t stop herself from asking, “How on earth is any of this your fault?”

“If I hadn’t tried to weasel my way into magic,” Mick began slowly, meeting the blonde’s gaze with nothing but sincerity in her caramel eyes, “we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“It wasn’t like you read the book on purpose,” Carrie offered. “Even Butchy said that Casper knocked it over and you just read the first page you came across.”

“He’s right,” Mick confirmed, “but that doesn’t change the fact that, if I hadn’t made the black flame candle or been so determined to give myself magic, none of this would have happened.”

Carrie sighed, placing a hand on Mick’s arm in the hope that it offered the girl some semblance of comfort, “You don’t know that for a fact.”

“That’s just it,” Mick said, a dry, humorless chuckle falling from her lips as her exhausted brown eyes found Carrie’s vibrant blue, “I do.”

“Have a great night,” Royce said as he handed a paper bag to the last customer of the day. He didn’t know how Miles and the girls could handle working there all day, dealing with people in various moods, and handling children being generally obnoxious; he could only handle it for a few hours without wanting to leave. He didn’t mind most of the people who came and went, but there were a select few who were just pure negativity. While Mondays were usually slow in the shop, Royce was surprised to find the clock already ticking over to five as he looked up at the clock. Maybe the time had flown because he, Bentley, and Vivien had the chance to get their homework done between customers for once. Or, as Miles had teasingly suggested, it was due to the fact that he kept watching Vivien help people find crystals.

Royce discretely rolled his eyes at the thought - of course, Miles would tease him for something so small. It was payback for when Royce teased the shit out of Miles when he got with Carrie. Although Miles kept his relationship with Carrie under wraps from their mom, he hadn’t been so lucky when it came to his brothers. At first, his relationship with Carrie was nonexistent, but after a little over a year of them being together and seeing their mom gradually grow to enjoy having the blonde around, Royce found himself not minding Carrie nearly as much as he had initially. Now that he got along alright with Carrie, it was easier to tease Miles about the relationship, ironically giving Miles the right to tease him about Vivien in return.

It wasn’t like Miles and Bentley hadn’t teased him about his fondness for Vivien long before Carrie came into the picture, but it seemed as though Miles felt the situation evened out the playing field. It made sense in a way. Not only was Vivien one of his best friends, but everyone around them knew he had a thing for her. It wasn’t exactly a secret. In a way, he was sure Vivien knew as well, but he couldn’t tell how she felt on the matter. She never pushed him away - it wasn’t in her nature to anyway - but she also never acted upon what was going on. If she felt anything toward him, she never said, but then again, he never really did either. All he knew was that he adored her and, regardless of her feelings toward him, he would care about her until she told him to do otherwise.

Tearing his gaze away from Vivien once more as the door clicked shut, the bells tinkling a final farewell, Royce took in a deep breath and looked around the store for his younger brother. Almost on cue, Bentley pushed himself from his seat on the floor where he’d been reading comic books and scurried to the door, flipping the lock into place with a smile. Turning back to his brother and Vivien, the blond excitedly asked, “Is it potion time now?”

Chuckling as Royce tugged the cash register drawer from its confines, Vivien nodded, “I think it is.”

Setting the drawer on the shelf under the register, Royce leaned against the counter and asked, “Why don’t you go back and tell them that the lady finally left and that we can leave?”

Sending his brother a mock salute, Bentley beamed and set his comic book on the counter before saying, “Sir, yes, sir,” and taking off for the back room, the door swinging back and forth upon his departure. Royce shook his head, sighing as Bentley disappeared. For the greater part of the last week, he’d been subjected to Bentley’s ramblings on potions and which ones he was willing to make. While Royce was glad his younger brother was excited, he sort of wished it wasn’t the only thing they talked about when nobody else was around.

Vivien chuckled, leaning against the counter with a smile, “You know, I think it’s pretty cool that he’s so interested in all this witchy stuff.”

“Yeah, it is,” Royce agreed with a nod. Taking in a breath, Royce began sorting the money from the cash register as Vivien picked up the logbook and started writing down how many of each bill they had. As he finished with the twenties and set them aside, Royce turned to Vivien and asked, “Wait, didn’t you say something earlier about a magic thing you needed to talk about?”

Penciling in the number of bills Royce had counted, Vivien glanced up and nodded, “I did, but let’s finish this first and we’ll talk with the others about it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Mhm.”

Despite his visible skepticism, Royce gave the brunette a slight nod and said, “Alright, if you’re sure.”

Vivien nodded her confirmation before urging Royce to continue counting. By the time they were done and the money was put into the safe under the register, the shop’s speakers had been turned off, and the streetlamps outside were on, moths fluttering around them and casting shadows on the sidewalk. Closing the safe and locking it, Vivien followed Royce to the back room where Mick and Miles were debating whether the herbs they had received in the latest shipment should be placed with the hanging herbs or ground and placed with the jars of herbs while Bentley talked Carrie’s ear off on the couch. As Royce latched the swinging door to keep it from moving, Mick paused in her tirade, glancing over at the young pair as they entered the room.

Sensing Mick’s gaze as the conversations in the room stalled, Vivien slowly turned in the older girl’s direction, raising a hand in a wave as she spoke, “Hey.”

“Hey,” Mick returned as Miles dropped the issue in favor of observing the interaction. Vivien and Mick hadn’t talked often since Halloween, and although Miles had encouraged both of them to step up and put in the effort, his advice seemed to go in one ear and out the other as the two danced on eggshells around each other. After Miles nudged his longtime friend, encouraging her to put in a bit more effort, Mick smiled and said, “I like your hoodie.”

Vivien glanced down and allowed herself to grin. Her blue and yellow hoodie had been bought off of Etsy and was embroidered with a subtle nod toward the most recent Five Nights at Freddy’s game - a small logo for the Security Breach’s daycare declaring Vivien as a staff member. She had bought more than just the one hoodie from the Etsy shop, blasting her way through most of her first official paycheck as she bought one of each of her favorite characters’ fleece hoodies and matching sweatpants. Despite her love of the game, Vivien had chosen to take the more discreet route in choosing her outfit for the day, keeping things moderately simple to avoid unnecessary attention. Although her hair had covered the design for most of the day, she had pulled her hair back while counting the money, so it seemed only fitting that the one person who had gotten her interested in the franchise was also the one to notice the detail. 

Lifting her head, Vivien smiled and began indirectly quoting the game, “I figured we could finger paint, tell some stories, maybe drink some Fizzy Fazz until our heads explode, and then stay up all night.”

“As fun as that sounds,” Carrie began, “I would much rather we keep our heads intact, thank you very much.”

Sighing as she theatrically rolled her eyes, Vivien huffed, “You’re no fun!”

Mick let out a slight snicker, “As long as we keep the lights on, I doubt any of us will lose our heads.”

As Vivien snorted, dissolving into giggles at Mick’s hinted joke, Carrie glanced between the pair and said, “I’m just going to assume that’s something from the game.”

“It is,” Bentley confirmed.

“And you’re not missing much,” Miles added as he crossed the room to gather his belongings.

“Just a murderous animatronic daycare attendant who hunts you down and kills you if you turn the lights off,” Royce finished with a smirk aimed at the blonde, “that’s all.”

“That’s all?” Carrie echoed, mildly concerned that they had all found an interest in such a game. Attempting to process the thought as both Royce and Bentley nodded in confirmation, Carrie’s eyes widened slightly before closing as she shook her head and sighed, “I don’t know how you can find that entertaining.”

“You would if you played it,” Vivien chuckled. 

“Doubtful.”

Choosing to steer the conversation away from the topic at hand, Miles leaned against the armrest of the couch and tucked his hands into his pockets as he said, “Anyway, does anyone need to grab anything before we go?”

Despite the others shaking their heads, Royce said, “Viv said she wanted to talk about something after closing.”

Though she hated the feeling of having everyone’s eyes on her, Vivien was surprisingly calm as she nodded, “I did, yeah.”

“What’s up?” Bentley asked as he moved to sit criss-cross on the couch.

Taking a deep breath as Mick pulled a chair out from the table they usually ate lunch at on weekends and sat down, Vivien thought back to her time at school as she said, “I was on my way to the vending machine at school and I ran into Serena.”

“How is she doing now that she and that other girl have gone their separate ways?” Carrie asked.

“Yeah,” Mick began, “are they leaving you guys alone now?”

“I mean, yeah, but that’s not the point,” Vivien said. “The point is, when I went to walk around her, she grabbed my arm and it was like the whole school lost color.”

Curiously, Miles’ head tipped to the side as he asked, “Like the lights went out?” 

“I didn’t notice anything,” Bentley mentioned.

“No, not like that,” Vivien sighed. Taking a moment to think of something to compare it to, Vivien gestured to the group as she spoke, “Okay, do you guys remember that scene from Harry Potter where Harry meets Dumbledore in the limbo version of the train station and there’s that creepy Voldemort thing under the bench?”

As everyone began nodding, Mick asked, “After Voldemort tried killing him in the forest?”

Vivien nodded, “Exactly. Serena held my arm and the whole school looked like that. Then, when I looked back at her, she was standing in some kind of glass case, banging on the walls and screaming.”

As though Vivien had unplugged a hidden speaker, the room grew silent. Carrie’s sapphire eyes flickered to Mick before landing back on Vivien as Mick’s chocolate eyes flitted down to the floor. Miles took in the seriousness and sincerity in Vivien’s face before moving his gaze onto Mick, wondering to himself if what Vivien described was something she had seen two weeks prior. As Bentley searched Vivien’s face for any sign that she was joking, Royce took a seat beside his younger brother. 

Looking up at Vivien, the middle Murphy brother asked, “Is that why you looked so pale when I found you?”

“That’s part of it,” Vivien nodded. “My blood pressure was low anyway, but the whole Serena thing didn’t exactly help.”

Miles uncrossed his arms as he asked, “How are you now?”

“I’m fine, but that’s not what matters right now,” Vivien sighed. “After Serena let me go, everything around us went back to normal, but there was something about her that just felt off to me.”

Cautiously, Carrie asked, “Like what?”

“Like she wasn’t herself,” Vivien explained. 

“She’s always kind of snarky and rude,” Royce mused with a roll of his eyes.

Vivien nodded, “Well, yeah, but there was this sort of direct, emotionless, borderline-cold tone under it all. It was kind of like - well, I don’t know, actually. It’s hard to describe.”

For the first time since Vivien explained what her interaction with Serena was like, Mick spoke, her tone soft but tense as she asked, “Sort of like she was in the car, but someone else was at the wheel?”

Vivien’s head turned, slowly finding Mick’s form as the brunette’s head lifted, her dark eyes finding Vivien’s with relative ease. Taking in the older girl’s expression, Vivien took in a breath and slowly nodded as she muttered, “Yeah.”

Although the room had grown tense, Carrie scooted to the edge of her seat and attempted to smile as she suggested, “That doesn’t mean Serena’s possessed. She could be having trouble at home or something; that can change someone’s behavior.” 

“But what about the vision Viv saw?” Bentley asked.

Before Carrie could answer, Mick spoke again, “From what I remember, I never gave anybody visions.”

“You didn’t,” Miles confirmed with a slight shake of his head, “but that doesn’t rule it out entirely.”

Trying to offer something other than the worst possible scenario, Carrie stood from the couch and made her way to the growing pile of books the kids had left by the bookshelf as she said, “What if it’s something different entirely?”

“Like what?” Royce asked sarcastically. “It sounds a lot like Serena is possessed.”

“And maybe she is,” Carrie said as she began pulling books from the pile and setting them aside. Taking a book from the stack with a smile, Carrie held it up for the others to see as she asked, “But what if there’s a different way to go about this? That way, we don’t have to go about doing another exorcism.”

“What do you have in mind?” Mick asked as Carrie began flipping through the old, worn book.

“My first thought was astral projections,” Carrie confessed. “I’ve been looking through some of these books to see if I could figure out how the kids’ abilities could branch into other forms of magic over time and training, but the only one to offer any help was this one.”

Peering over the blonde’s shoulder as the pages flicked by, Vivien asked, “What did you find?”

Carrie hummed until she found the proper page, pointing to an extensive paragraph as she began reading aloud, “‘Astral projection, also known as astral travel or out-of-body experience, is the practice of separating one’s consciousness from their physical body and traveling to the astral realm. The astral realm is said to be a non-physical realm that exists parallel to the physical world, where energy and consciousness exist in a different form. In this realm, one can explore different planes of existence, communicate with spirits and other entities, and gain a deeper understanding of themselves and the universe. Some records in history suggest that witches as far back as medeival times used these projections to communicate with others possessing the same abilities. One of the most infamous records of astral projection was written by a supposed witch who was later hung for witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. The document speaks of witches talking to one another on another plane of existence, warning other accused witches of what was to come.’”

Following along as best as she could over Carrie’s shoulder, Vivien said, “That could be what happened.”

“It sounds like it,” Bentley mused.

“I would prefer that over having to deal with another possessed person roaming through Salem,” Mick piped up.

“Hang on,” Royce began as he stood from his seat. “What if it’s both?”

“Both?” Miles asked.

Royce nodded, “What if the real Serena is possessed, but she’s projecting to Vivien as a way of asking for help?”

After a moment of silence passed over the room, Mick said, “That makes sense. When I was possessed, it felt like I was trapped inside myself. The real Serena being trapped inside a glass box is sort of fitting.”

“So,” Bentley drawled as he glanced around at everybody, “what do we do about it?”

“We could lure her to the church,” Miles offered.

“No, we can’t,” Mick sighed. “Most of the churches in the area are either having meetings for Thanksgiving food donations or hosting events tonight.”

“How did you find that out?” Royce asked with a raised eyebrow.

“My parents were going to use one of the dining halls for their school reunion,” Mick shrugged.

“Alright,” Vivien breathed. “Where else could we take her?”

“What about a cemetery?” Carrie suggested. “Those are hallowed ground, right?”

“Yeah, because nothing screams serial killer quite like luring someone to a cemetary after dark,” Royce snipped, earning himself a nudge to the ribs from Bentley.

“How about we lure her to our house?” Miles offered.

“Are you insane?” Bentley asked as everyone else began arguing over the thought. “Not only would it be stupid to bring a possessed witch to our house, but Mom’s home tonight. If Serena tries to fight us, we can’t fight back in front of her.”

“Hear me out,” Miles began. Once the room was quiet once more, he continued, “Because mom bakes a lot, she’s got a ton of salt in the pantry. If we go around the house and put up a salt ring to protect ourselves inside the house, Serena can’t touch us.”

“Her magic would bounce off,” Mick said thoughtfully. 

Miles nodded, “Exactly.”

Once the concept had settled within everyone’s minds, Royce spoke up, “How are we going to get her there?”

Before Miles could come up with anything, Carrie gestured between Vivien and Royce as she asked, “Do either of you share a class with her that has a test coming up; something that would require a lot of notes for?”

Vivien shook her head, “We both have science with her, but we don’t have any tests until next Friday.”

“I have geography with her,” Royce sighed. “We’ve got a test on Thursday for the semester’s closing grades.”

“Well,” Carrie began, a devilish smile tugging at her glossy lips, “you could text her and say that you have a bunch of notes for the test that she can use if she needs them.”

“How would that draw her in?” Miles wondered.

“Normally, it wouldn’t,” Vivien explained, “but if she is possessed, whatever it is won’t know that.”

“Exactly,” Carrie agreed, beaming proudly at the brunette.

Royce thought for a moment before slowly speaking, “So I lure her to the house with geography notes - that much I get - but what do we do after that?”

“We’ll figure it out as we go,” Mick said as she rose from her seat. “For now, let’s gather some protection crystals and get going before we lose our opportunity.”

“What do you suggest?” Carrie asked.

Instead of answering directly, Mick turned to Vivien on her way to the front of the shop and asked, “Vivien?”

“What?” the young brunette asked as she followed Mick to the shop.

With a proud smile, Mick held the door open for the others as she explained, “This is your area of expertise, gremlin; what do you think?”

As a surge of pride coursed through Vivien’s veins, she beamed. Reining herself in, Vivien glanced over the round tables covered in baskets of crystals before humming, “Maybe some black obsidian or malachite to keep toxic energy away, and moldavite for some good luck?”

Royce and Bentley descended on the tables, pulling crystals from their containers and tucking them in their pockets before making their way back to where Vivien and Mick stood. “Anything else?” Bentley asked.

“What about fluorite or citrine?” Royce asked. “You said those are pretty lucky.”

“They are,” Vivien agreed, “but more for personal luck than anything.”

“I think we should be good with what we’ve got,” Mick said. “I have some sage in my car that we can leave on the front steps to ward off any evil intentions.”

“And we’ll have enough salt to keep her out just in case,” Miles agreed as he fished his keys from his pocket.

Clapping her hands together, Carrie smiled as she said, “In that case, let’s hit the road before it gets much darker out.”

Though the others followed Carrie and Miles to the back room to lock up, Vivien stared at the crystals before her, wondering if she had made the right call. Glancing back over her shoulder at the group, Vivien sighed and took a step forward, shoving a small slab of black onyx, a few pieces of smithsonite, and a couple of shards of moonstone into her pocket before turning and following the others out, slipping the lock into place behind her. Trailing behind the others, Vivien picked up the pace, pulling the already locked door closed after grabbing her coat and backpack from the hooks on the back wall and rushing to catch up with the others who had already begun rounding the building. As she tugged on her coat, Vivien allowed Bentley to hold the gate open for her, thanking him as she slung her backpack strap onto her shoulder.

Miles unlocked his Jeep and opened the passenger side doors for his brothers and girlfriend as Mick made her way to the beat-up Volkswagen she had bought from one of the older guys who frequented the shop. Before Viviuen could climb inside the Jeep, Miles closed the door behind Bentley. “Not so fast, kid.”

Looking up at her pseudo-older brother, Vivien raised an eyebrow and asked, “What; are you planning on shoving me in the trunk?”

“Not after last time,” Miles said with a snort. “Look, Ethan left his junk in the back seat this morning and I barely have enough room for the boys as it is.”

Noticing the way Miles refused to look her in the eyes, Vivien sighed, “You just want me to ride with Mick, don’t you?”

Apologetic, icy blue eyes flickered up to meet Vivien’s as the brunette crossed her arms over her chest. “Sorry, mon étoile, but I think she needs you now.”

Slowly tearing her gaze away from Miles and letting her eyes drift onto the older brunette who appeared to be struggling to open her old bus’ driver’s door, Vivien let out a deep sigh, “Fine, but you owe me.”

“I know,” Miles said with a gracious smile, bringing an arm around the girl as he walked her to the back of the Jeep. “Thank you, kiddo.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Vivien brushed off, leaning her head against Miles for a moment before moving out from his hold and making her way to the old Volkswagen just a few parking spaces down. Upon approaching the vehicle, Vivien called out, “Did you lock yourself out again or something?”

Jumping at the sudden voice, Mick looked up and laughed, “For once, no. The doors have been sticking lately because of the cold. Do you think you could climb in through the passenger side and kick it open?”

“Why not just climb in before me and we can go?” Vivien asked, gesturing to the car as Miles started his Jeep.

“I have the door partially open and it won’t stop dinging unless I close it, but how come you’re riding with me?” Mick asked as she let go of the latch. “I thought you’d be riding with Miles and Carrie.”

Vivien shrugged in an attempt to act nonchalant as she rounded the large vehicle and yanked the passenger door open, “Ethan left a bunch of shit in the car, so there’s no room, but I also just wanted to ride with you anyway.”

“You do?” Mick asked as she stepped away from the door, her voice muffled by the thick metal and glass of the car.

“Well, yeah,” Vivien said as she dropped into the driver’s seat and began kicking the door. Once the heavy door popped open, she leaned out to Mick and said, “I feel like we haven’t really hung out since Halloween and I miss you.”

Hoping the younger girl couldn’t see the pain in her eyes as she took her spot in the driver’s seat, Mick spoke softly, “I miss you too, gremlin.”

As the old bus’ engine roared to life and the clunky radio sputtered through static to the first available station, Vivien tugged her seatbelt on and offered the girl to her left a smile as she said, “I’m sort of glad you missed me.”

“You are?” Mick asked as she pulled onto the streets behind Miles’ Jeep. “How come?”

“It felt like you were shutting me out after everything that happened,” Vivien admitted as she watched the shop’s storefront disappear in the rearview mirror.

“I’m sorry,” Mick muttered. “Things have been hard since Halloween.”

“I get it,” Vivien nodded, looking over to the older girl. “Believe me, after almost setting our kitchen on fire the other night, I get it.”

Despite offering the younger girl a laugh, Mick shook her head, “Somehow, I don’t think it’s quite the same.”

Vivien chuckled but took in a deep breath as she admitted, “I get what you mean, though. Things just aren’t the same anymore.”

“They aren’t.”

For a while, the only noise in the car was the radio between them, the sound of Harry Styles’ voice coming through the faint static of the scratchy speakers as his song As It Was began playing just loud enough to be heard over the engine. Vivien tried not to scoff at the irony of the situation, choosing to take in a slow, deep breath as she softly admitted, “Sometimes, I wish we never got magic in the first place.”

Pulling to a stop at a red light, Mick’s dark eyes flitted over to her young friend as she asked, “Why on earth would you want that?”

A ghost of a grin tugged at Vivien’s lips as she turned to Mick and admitted, “If we never got our magic, things never would have changed. The boys and I wouldn’t have to keep secrets from everyone we care about, we would all be able to live normal lives, you never would have been possessed…” taking in a deep breath, Vivien allowed her words to drift off and looked away as she finished, “you and I would still be close.”

“We can be close again,” Mick reminded her as she reached over and took hold of Vivien’s hand. “We can go back to our mall trips and sleepovers and stuff. It’ll just take some time getting there again.”

“I know,” Vivien breathed, squeezing Mick’s hand as she turned back toward the older girl. “It’s just… there are times when I miss just being a normal girl - worrying about prom and grades and friendships instead of having to worry about setting fire to my chemistry lab or summoning some ancient demon because I read a spell wrong.”

Sending the girl a wary look as the light turned green, Mick asked, “You didn’t actually do those things, did you?”

“No,” Vivien laughed as Mick pulled away from the traffic light. “I’m just saying that things were easier before and I sort of miss having that simplicity.”

Nodding in understanding, Mick took in a deep breath and said, “Well, if it means anything to you, I think you guys are doing amazingly. You’ve really come into your powers.”

“Thanks,” Vivien said with a smile. “I just wish I could give you some of it.”

Sending the girl a quick smile as she turned onto Forrester Street, Mick said, “I know you do, gremlin, but I guess some things just aren’t meant to be.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Mick said as she pulled into the driveway behind Miles. “I’ve sort of come to terms with it all.”

“That’s good, I guess,” Vivien offered.

“It is.” As Mick pushed her door open and released Vivien’s hand, she said, “Just know that I’m grateful to be able to watch you and the boys grow into your magic.”

“Thanks, Mickie,” Vivien said with a smile.

Mick nodded before siding out from her side of the car and slamming the door shut, making her way to the front of the vehicle, where Vivien met up with her. Following the others inside through the garage, Royce said, “I texted Serena, and she said she would be over after having something for dinner.”

“That should give us more than enough time to salt the house,” Miles said. 

Bentley hurried up the steps to the door leading inside the house as he said, “I’ll distract Mom if you guys want to start grabbing salt.”

Stepping inside the kitchen, however, the group was surprised to find Dorothea tending to the crock pot on the kitchen counter. The older woman turned to her children and their gaggle of friends with a smile as she spoke, “You’re late.”

“Sorry, Mama,” the Murphy brothers replied on instinct.

Dorothea brushed them off with a slight wave before urging them into the kitchen, “Come get a bowl. I think we’ll eat in the living room tonight. We can watch a movie if you’d like.”

Cautiously stepping up to fulfill his role, Bentley said, “That sounds great, Mama, but can we set aside some food for Mick’s parents first? They’re going to something at Hanna Devine’s, and they said they’d still be hungry later.”

“That’s fine,” Dorothea claimed, glancing over Bentley at the girl in question. “You should know I always make enough for leftovers.”

“Thanks,” Mick said with a smile. 

As soon as the woman turned to pull bowls from the cabinet, Miles grabbed Royce by the wrist and pulled toward the pantry. However, before they could do more than open the door, Dorothea’s voice stopped them, “Not so fast, boys.” Stilling against the door, Miles and Royce shared a startled look before leaning back to see their mother slowly turn back toward them with a knowing look on her face. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Grabbing popcorn for movie night?” Royce offered tentatively.

“No need, I already got it out,” the older woman said, gesturing to the box of microwavable popcorn bags on the counter. “What were you looking for this time? More salt?”

Miles tried to appear as nonchalant as possible as he stammered, “Wh-What? What are you- what do you mean?”

“Don’t think I didn’t notice all of my salt going missing on Halloween,” Dorothea said with a shake of her head. “Or Royce’s laundry not needing to be done at all in the last two weeks, or the cookies in the jar never moving despite the crumbs all over the counter, or Bentley’s chocolate milk magically refilling every morning when I’m not looking.”

Stunned by the woman’s intuition, Bentley’s eyes widened as he slowly turned back toward his mom and asked, “You saw that?”

“I’m not blind, mon âme,” Dorothea told Bentley, a glimmer of something knowingly mischievous in her eyes as she smiled at her youngest. “Even without my own magic, I would be able to figure it out eventually.”

“Your own magic?” Carrie repeated curiously.

“You have magic?” Mick asked.

“That I do, lutin d’eau,” Dorothea said with a nod. “How else would my children have their abilities?”

“My parents don’t have magic,” Vivien said with a shrug.

Sending the young girl a look that made her begin doubting herself, the woman asked, “Are you sure about that?”

Vivien opened her mouth to reply but found the words dying off in her throat as she slowly admitted, “Not anymore.”

“So, wait,” Miles began, “Mom, you’re a witch?”

Dorothea nodded, “Have been since I was about sixteen, yes.”

“And you knew we had magic?” Royce asked.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out,” Dorothea chuckled. “Most people who have had their magic for a while can tell when another magical person is around. The energy is different.”

“What are your powers?” Bentley asked.

Gesturing to the food on the counter, Dorothea claimed, “Most of the time, I use magic in my foods. Before you leave the house, I make breakfast with protection charms or herbs. Before bed, you have some of my special cookies to make you sleep peacefully. I make sure that, no matter what, you are protected and happy while eating the things you like.”

Although every other person looked reasonably impressed with the matriarch’s claim, Miles was the first to ask, “How did we not know?”

“Because it’s all you’ve ever known from me,” Dorothea shrugged as she leaned against the counter. “I wasn’t always a master chef or baker.”

With his jaw practically on the floor, Royce grinned as he asked, “Have you ever spelled us without us knowing?”

“Of course,” the woman replied. “Why do you think I always offered you goodies when you thought you would be in trouble?”

“Those were magic brownies?” Vivien asked, stepping up to the woman and rifling through one of the overhead cabinets before pulling down a glass jar of cookies and brownies. Setting the jar on the counter and pulling a brownie from the jar, she asked, “Can I have one? What will it make me do?”

Curious to see the outcome, Dorothea smirked and gestured for the girl to eat the baked treat, “Why don’t you tell me?”

Vivien eyed the brownie for a moment before quickly taking a bite, keeping anyone from stopping her. As Carrie gasped and Mick and Miles stepped closer, Dorothea raised a hand and shook her head with an amused smile, making them stop in their tracks as Vivien hummed around the brownie, “You always make the best brownies.”

“Thank you,” Dorothea chuckled. 

“No, like, seriously,” Vivien muttered as she swallowed. “I swear, if I ever get married, I would want a giant tray of just your brownies instead of a cake.”

“I’ll be sure to write that down,” the woman said with a smile. “Now, do me a favor and turn toward your friends.”

Not one to disobey the woman, Vivien turned, fluttering the fingers of her free hand in greeting as she took another bite of her brownie, “Now what?”

“Tell me what you think of each of them.”

Glancing curiously at the older woman, Vivien shrugged and swallowed the food in her mouth before allowing her gaze to land on Miles as she spoke, “Miles is the older brother I always wanted but never got. I can always call him if I need help with anything, and he’s supportive of everything I do. If it weren’t for him and Riven, I would be overworking myself constantly and struggling with a lot of mental health issues.”

Despite appearing minutely worried for Vivien as she took a final bite of her brownie, Miles’ expression softened as he asked, “Really?”

“Yeah,” Vivien said, clapping her hands together to rid them of crumbs. “I have a tendency to throw myself into things without any regard for my own well-being, but you always make me step back and think first. Riven helps when he can, but you’re always there for me, sort of like the big brother I always pictured in my head, but never got in real life.”

Before Miles could say anything more, Dorothea nudged the girl and asked, “What about Mick, Carrie, or the boys?”

“Well,” Vivien began, “Mick has known me since I was a baby and has been looking out for me like a sister for as long as I can remember. We used to hang out a lot, but since she was possessed on Halloween, she’s been distant.” Mick’s gaze fell to the old, creaky planks of wood beneath her feet, but she didn’t get much time to think as Vivien said, “I don’t know how to approach her most of the time, but I love her no matter what.” 

Carrie placed a hand on Mick’s arm, sending the brunette a smile as her gaze snapped up to Vivien once more. “We’ll work on it together,” Mick offered.

“I know,” Vivien said. “Anyway, as for Carrie, I wasn’t sure what to think of you growing up because Mick said you were stuck up and prissy, but Miles liked you because you because you got along really well when you worked together on a project. Also, when the town was doing The Wizard of Oz a few years back, I wanted to be Dorothy, but you got the role instead because I was way too young, and I didn’t like that at the time which made me not like you until we started working on the show together and you were actually pretty cool with me. I really like you now and think that you’re a great addition to our little group.”

Despite the evident confusion on Vivien’s face as she finished speaking, Carrie’s signature smile appeared as she thanked the younger girl. Before giving Vivien the chance to ask questions, Dorothea cut in, “What about Bentley? How do you feel about him?”

As though a rubber band had snapped her back into place, Vivien’s gaze landed on Bentley, and she began, “Bentley is a lot like Oliver, and I would protect him with my life if I had to. He’s like this little golden retriever puppy that just showed up in my life one day, and I decided to keep him out of love. Even though he plays it off like no big deal, he’s very talented and is very emotionally intelligent. He knows when someone isn’t feeling right and will go out of his way to help them. He’s been family to me practically my whole life, and I think that, if platonic soulmates are a thing, he’s definitely one of mine.”

Deciding to wrap everything up instead of talking about what Vivien had said, Bentley looked to Royce and gestured to him as he asked, “What about Rolls?”

“Actually,” Dorothea interrupted, placing a hand over Vivien’s mouth before the girl could give more information than she wanted to, “I think that’s enough for now.”

As the woman slowly released Vivien and handed her the glass of water she had been sipping out of while making dinner, Vivien asked, “What was in that thing?”

“That was one of my truth-seeking brownies,” Dorothea claimed. “With a small dose of a potion mixed in the chocolate, one bite would make the one eating it tell the truth until the magic wore off with time or, in this case, water. Anytime the boys would get into trouble growing up, I would give them something like this to make sure I knew what had actually happened.”

“So that’s how you got me to tell you about the broken vase!” Bentley exclaimed accusatorily. Although Bentley hadn’t been the one to break their mother’s newly made, handmade vase - Royce had - he hadn’t been able to keep things under wraps long enough to fix the vase himself. His mom had given him a fresh-from-the-oven cookie, and he found himself spilling the beans without hesitation. He hadn’t thought much of it at the time as he had a tendency to ramble things without thinking, but now that his mother had made it clear that she was the reason, it all made sense.

“That’s right,” Dorothea said with a nod. “We can speak more about it later. For now, who would like to tell me why you feel the need to sneak into the pantry?”

Before giving anyone else a chance to speak, Vivien blurted, “One of our friends from school might be possessed by dark magic, and she’s coming here to get notes from Royce, so we planned on making a salt ring around the house to keep her from coming in.”

With a raised eyebrow, Carrie asked, “I thought you said water was supposed to get rid of the truth potion?”

“It takes a few minutes to work through,” Dorothea explained as she patted Vivien on the shoulder sympathetically.

“Oh, yay,” Vivien sighed sarcastically.

“Anyway,” Dorothea began as she turned toward the rest of her children and their friends, “since what she says is true, we’ll need to work fast. Miles, Carrie, and Mick, you three stay with me. I have some sage and other herbs we can hang by the doorway to ward off dark magic. Royce, Vivien, and Bentley, you three take the salt and follow each other around the house with it. The thicker the salt, the better. Just make sure it isn’t too obvious and keep the line as close to the front door as possible.”

As Vivien followed Bentley and Royce to the pantry to retrieve the salt, Dorothea turned the slow cooker onto low heat and waited for the kids to run outside through the back door before heading into the pantry and sliding open a panel on the back wall. Inside was a rotating, lazy-Susan-style shelving unit filled with bottles that contained either liquids, jars of various ground items, or herbs, and a rack of wrapped herbs dangling from above.

Examining the hidden unit, Miles asked, “When was that built?” 

“Not long after your father left,” Dorothea answered as she began pulling things from the shelves. Holding out a bundle of wrapped sage, she said, “Now, split this evenly between you three and go smudge the doorways and windows while I make up a quick potion to drizzle over the salt circle. By the time the kids are done and the potion is ready, the girl should be on her way over.”

Without any argument, Miles took the sage from his mother and began unwrapping it, heading into the kitchen to grab a lighter from near the stove before handing out sage to Mick and Carrie. Watching her son and his friends move toward the front of the house, Dorothea took in a deep breath and pulled out her cell phone, tapping a few different things before bringing up the group chat she had with Mick’s parents, letting them know their daughter had arrived safely, and they would set aside some food for them. After receiving a message from Mack in return, thanking her for letting them know, Dorothea pocketed her phone once more and silently prayed that she would be able to protect the children in her care as she closed the pantry once more.

Before she could make her way to the living room, though, the door leading to the garage opened, and a faint surge of fiery power coursed through her. Curious, Dorothea turned and watched as a head of shoulder-length blonde hair pulled into a pair of half-up space buns stepped into the house, ditching a messenger backpack on the floor next to the door as it closed. Kona was quick to tug her detachable roller skates from her sneakers and shove them into her backpack as Dorothea smiled at her. Pushing her bangs from her face with a smile, Kona said, “Hey, Mrs Bentley’s Mom.”

“Kona,” Dorothea began, examining the shades of pink and teal that flooded the energy surrounding the girl, “I didn’t know you were coming over. We’re just about to eat; would you care to join us?”

“I can’t, actually,” Kona said with a sigh as she grabbed a cookie from the counter. “Dad’s making a traditional hawaiian dinner for Mom tonight, but I wanted to come over to talk with Ben, Royce, and Vivi.”

“They’re out back at the moment, but they should be in soon,” Dorothea said. “Is it something for school?”

“No, just friendship stuff,” Kona shrugged before taking a bite of her cookie. “Ben and I argued a bit this morning, but I talked it over with Zack and Gus after school and figured we could work things out tonight as a group.”

Nodding in understanding, Dorothea gestured to the dining table and said, “In the meantime, would you like to talk with me about it? I might offer an unbiased opinion.”

“I don’t know if I’m really supposed to say anything,” Kona began as she tugged one of the chairs out from the table, “but I assume that, if what he was saying is real, then you’d know about it too.”

“Most likely,” Dorothea agreed with a hum as she sat in Miles’ usual spot at the table. Sending the girl a comforting smile, she gestured with her hand and said, “The floor is yours.”

Sucking in a deep breath, Kona glanced around for any trace of Bentley before allowing herself to ramble, something she had always found relatively easy in the woman’s presence. She started her retelling of the morning - how her cat had woken her up by smothering her, her younger sister had refused to put clothes on before daycare, and her first attempt at waffles had made a disaster of the kitchen counters - then, she brought the story into the beginning of her school day. Quickly, she got into Bentley’s story and how he had pulled her aside like it was some big secret before telling her about all that had happened on Halloween. 

Nodding along as though she hadn’t already surmised what happened that fateful day, Dorothea listened as Kona told her side of the conversation before asking a single question, “And you don’t believe him?”

Kona heaved a sigh, “It’s not like I don’t want to believe him - I do - it’s just really hard to. He sounded nervous, but that also made it sound like he was lying through his teeth.”

“I understand,” Dorothea nodded. “But, if you were in his shoes and you had to tell him that you possessed magic in some way, wouldn’t you be nervous as well?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Kona breathed. “I just didn’t think about it at the time.”

“Again, that’s understandable,” Dorothea said with a smile as she watched the array of colors around the girl swirl and shift with every thought that ran through her head. “So, what did Zack and August have to offer?”

“They sort of pointed out that Bentley’s a terrible liar and that I should maybe try sitting down and talking with him more to get the whole story,” Kona admitted. With a faintly nervous chuckle, she said, “So, here I am, ready to try a bit harder.”

“And you want Royce and Vivien there to verify everything?” Dorothea surmised. 

Kona nodded, but before she could say anything, the front door opened, and like a herd of elephants, Bentley, Royce, and Vivien hurried into the house. As he led the way, Bentley called out, “Mama, we finished the salt circle. What do we do now?” 

Upon finding Kona sitting across from his mother, Bentley’s voice faded into silence. While Bentley scrambled to find something to say and Royce’s eyes widened, Vivien offered a hesitant smile as she said, “Kona, what are you doing here?”

“We need to talk,” the blonde said as she pushed herself out of her seat. “Bentley told me about this whole witch business this morning and I want to have an actual conversation about it.”

“We can’t right now,” Royce stated apologetically as he checked the time on his phone. Serena would be there any minute; they didn’t have time for this!

“Why not?” Kona wondered, crossing her arms over her chest. Nodding toward Mrs Murphy, she said, “She let me talk with her. Why can’t we talk now?”

Before anyone could think of an answer, Carrie’s voice came from the stairs as she, Miles, and Mick came down from the upper floor, “We finished smudging the house.”

“Yeah,” Miles continued as they entered the kitchen. “What do we do now-” As his eyes landed on Kona, he asked, “What’s she doing here?”

“Looking for answers,” Kona replied. “What are you guys doing?” 

Faintly feeling the effects of the brownie she had eaten earlier, Vivien replied, “Smudging and making salt circles to protect against dark magic.”

Sensing the growing frustration boiling within Kona’s small frame, Dorothea stood from her spot at the table and placed a placating hand on the girl’s shoulder. “I’ll explain in a moment. For now, you all need to keep an eye out for Serena. Go sit in the living room and do whatever you think is necessary before she gets here. I’ll handle this.”

Despite Royce and Vivien allowing Carrie and Mick to guide them into the living room, Bentley swallowed thickly as Miles tried guiding him away, muttering a soft, “I’m sorry, Kone,” as he turned back toward her for a fleeting moment.

Once Bentley was out of sight, Kona turned to Dorothea and asked, “What’s going on?”

“As I said, I’ll explain everything,” Dorothea said softly, gently guiding Kona back to her seat. “But first, I need you to sit. This will be a lot to take in all at once.”

“What do you mean, you told her?” Miles asked.

“I told her about us,” Bentley explained. “We talked about telling her the other day, so I figures it would be fine.”

“Well, there’s no backing out now,” Carrie claimed from her spot near the picture window. “She knows and, in the long haul, I think it’s for the best.”

Pulling his notebook for geography out of his backpack, Royce said, “I actually agree.”

Slapping a hand to her friend’s forehead, Vivien smirked as she asked, “Are you sick or something? I could’ve sworn I heard you say you agree with Carrie.”

“Oh, ha ha,” Royce deadpanned as he pried Vivien’s hand from his face. “I just think that Kona was bound to know eventually.”

“True,” Mick said from her perch on the coffee table.

Vivien hummed in agreement as she took the notebook from Royce and pulled the thin slab of black onyx from her pocket, tucking it inside the notebook before handing it back to him. Opening the notebook to the hidden crystal, Royce asked, “What’s that for?”

“It’s black onyx,” Vivien explained. “It’s supposed to draw out negative energy. I figured it might help Serena if we give it to her in a way that she won’t notice it.”

Closing the notebook again and feeling just how flat the book still felt, Royce grinned, “Sneaky.”

“Just one of the many reasons you love me,” Vivien claimed proudly. Before allowing him to respond, she said, “I figured it’s flat enough that she won’t realize it’s there, and if she does, you can always claim it’s a pencil or something.”

“Smart,” Mick mused with a smile as she watched over the young pair.

“Don’t sound so surprised,” Vivien taunted, shoving the girl’s knee with a smile. “I think those years of spending every afternoon in the shop with you have paid off.”

“I suppose they have,” Mick chuckled.

Moving away from the window, Carrie pointed toward the outside as she exclaimed, “She’s coming up the driveway!”

“Alright,” Miles said, patting Royce on the back as his younger brother stood. Holding the brunet by his shoulders, he asked, “You know what to do?”

With a nod, Royce began counting on his fingers as he listed, “Act normal, talk about the test, offer to let her in, give her the notebook either way, and once she leaves, we decide what to do next.”

“Good,” Miles said, running a hand over Royce’s chocolate curls before pressing a quick kiss to his forehead. “Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Royce muttered.

Squeezing his brother’s shoulders, Miles reassured him, “You’ve got this, RJ. Remember, it’s just Serena; she’s your friend.”

“She’s just possessed, that’s all,” Royce huffed as the doorbell rang.

“Be nice,” Miles reminded him, sending a meaningful glance in Mick’s direction despite the girl not being able to hear their hushed conversation. “Your friend is still in there somewhere.”

Nodding more for Miles’ sake than his own, Royce turned toward the door and sucked in a deep breath as he crossed the gap between himself and the heavy, oaken frame. Forcing a small smile onto his face, Royce let out the breath he’d been holding and tugged the door open, allowing the chilled autumn air to brush calmingly across his face as he found Serena leaning against the column at the edge of the porch. “Hey, Serena.”

“Royce,” the redhead greeted in return, a sort of grin tugging at her lips. “Thanks again for letting me borrow your notes.”

“Yeah, of course, anytime,” Royce replied. Stepping to the side and gesturing to the inside of the house, he asked, “Do you want to come in? It’s kind of cold outside.”

Royce took note of how the girl’s hazel eyes flickered to the old, wooden beams that made up the porch, her gaze minutely trailing the thin line of salt trailing into the coarse artificial grass of the doormat. Although Royce knew the moment only lasted a second or so, time felt slower as Serena’s gaze landed back on him. Forcing his smile to remain plastered across his face, Royce watched as she shook her head with a somewhat distant smile and replied, “I would, but I have babysitting duty.”

If there was one thing Royce remembered about Serena, it was her hatred of babysitting. After years of being made to watch the young kids of her church and being forced to sit at the kid’s table every year, the last thing Serena would ever want was to babysit. He could vaguely recall hearing her have a shouting match with her mother in the school parking lot about having to babysit a kid that wasn’t hers - presumably in reference to her younger half-sibling, Sawyer. If Serena was willingly babysitting Sawyer, something had to be up.

“Oh, well, that’s okay,” Royce brushed off despite his mental notes saying otherwise. Instead, he held the notebook out with a smile and replied, “Maybe next time, then.”

“Yeah, sure,” Serena replied with a quick roll of her eyes that Royce supposed he wasn’t meant to see. However, as Serena latched onto the book and brought it close to her chest, he watched as her eyes flickered rapidly, the color in them gradually shifting from hazel to crimson as they moved from one side to the other faster than Royce could register. Then, all at once, it stopped as Serena’s eyes dissolved back to fear-filled hazel. “Royce?” she questioned breathlessly.

“Serena?” Royce asked slowly in return. “What’s going-”

“How did you make it stop?” Serena interrupted, her eyes wide and glossy with unshed tears of relief. Though Royce had begun to open his mouth in response, Serena quickly shook her head and said, “Actually, nevermind; it’s not important right now.” Reaching out and taking Royce’s arm, she found his eyes and pleaded, “You have to help me. I don’t know what happened, but I’ve been stuck in my own body for weeks now and I can’t get out.”

“What do you remember?” Royce pressed.

“Halloween,” Serena claimed, swiping under her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater. “You guys came to the church to look for something and I left, but then I came back and you all were gone, so I cleaned the mess you left and then I-” Serena choked on a breath, shaking her head as she breathed, “the next thing I know, it’s like I’m trapped in my head and nobody hears me screaming for help.”

Taking in as much information as he could from the rambling girl, Royce nodded, “I know Vivien talked to you.”

“It wasn’t much, but I tried,” Serena agreed. “I can’t hold her off for long.”

“Her?” 

Serena nodded, releasing Royce’s arm to wipe the streaks of tears from her face as she replied, “The other me. She’s strong and powerful and I know it has something to do with magic.”

“Magic? Like ancient magic?” Royce restated. When Serena shrugged with a hum of confirmation, he asked, “How do we help you out of this?”

“I don’t know,” Serena muttered, her voice shaking with every heave of her shoulders. “You, Vivien, and Bentley were always the ones to know everything about magic, not me. That was never my strong suit. All I know is that she can’t touch salt and-”

As Serena’s words died in her throat, Royce took a step back, watching her eyes begin flickering once more. “And what?” Frustratingly, Serena’s mouth moved despite no sound coming from her lips, and Royce gripped the door frame with wide eyes as her eyes clenched shut, and he heard a dull cracking sound come from the book in her hands. Royce sucked in a breath as he realized the crystal tucked inside the notebook had broken.

Like a rubber band, Serena’s eyes snapped open, and a dark, ruby glare settled within her gaze. Despite both of them knowing she couldn’t do anything to hurt him because of the rings of salt around the house, Royce still felt his fight-or-flight instincts screaming at him to do something to preserve himself, and the people he knew were watching from the window. Serena took a half-step back, the blood-red hue of her eyes diminishing gradually the further she got from the doorway. Tilting her head to the side with an almost demonic smile, Serena let out a dark cackle of laughter before speaking, “Just because you and your little friends defeated me once does not mean I will let it happen again.”

“Says you,” Royce hissed.

“Precisely,” Serena spoke. Stepping down from the porch, Serena’s smile turned eerie as she waved a hand toward the window, sparks of fire flitting from her fingertips. Turning back to Royce, she said, “Watch yourselves, children. Your magic may be cosmic, but mine is ancient. I will take it from you eventually.”

Not wishing to anger the woman further, Royce chose to keep his mouth shut, watching as Serena’s figure turned and stalked off toward the end of the driveway. As she neared the edge, she dug into the notebook, pulled out the broken shards of the onyx slab, and held them up for them to see before holding her fist over the wheeled trash can Bentley hadn’t yet brought back into the garage and crushing the shards in her fist. Dumping the shattered remnants of the crystal into the empty trash can, Serena gave a final, dramatic bow before releasing a cackled laugh, slipping into the driver's seat of her violet-wrapped Audi, and pulling away from the house with a squeal of her tires and a deep growl from the engine.

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

Melaka Mystica (Part 1/3)

November 14, 2023

Notes - Now, while I know I've talked about this for a little while, going back and forth on whether I would write it or not, I just couldn't keep myself from it, so here we are! I've been so excited to post this as I've had it finished since the 10th, but I wanted to post the first part on the day it actually takes place. I thought it was sort of fun haha. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this despite the spooky season being over!

You didn’t think this was over, did you?

Faint crackling from the fireplace and soft scratches of pencil on paper were the only sounds in the Murphy family’s living room. Normally a hub of excitement as the family gathered all of their friends, the quiet room was home to only one occupant - a green-eyed girl with her glasses pushed as far up her nose bridge as possible as she scribbled her thoughts in the journal perched on her knees. Warm, golden walls danced with light as Vivien deftly flicked her wrist toward the fireplace once more, stirring the ashes without a second thought. Over the scent of the burning fire, the smell of cinnamon and melted chocolate still clung to the walls after the previous night’s baking session, only adding to the cozy atmosphere the girl adored so much. 

Vivien adored the quiet, peaceful mornings at the Murphy family’s residence. At her house, things were never quiet in the mornings. She and her siblings always had early practices for one sport or another, making everyone get up at the crack of dawn to get them where they needed to go. Mondays during the school year were typically the worst as her mother would leave early for work, leaving her dad scrambling to rush Vivien to Salem University’s skating rink, take Abby to either soccer or swimming, and fly to the other side of the city for Oliver’s hockey training or football practice. On days like that, Vivien was happy to have spent the night at the Murphy’s.

For once, she had no early morning practice - Riven having called it off due to feeling ill - and relished having the time to relax and write in her practically empty journal. She hardly ever had the patience to journal as it took her mind a while to work through the jumbled letters that usually occurred when she wrote, but with the peace and quiet the morning had brought so far, she felt at ease writing down her thoughts. Flipping to the last page she had used, Vivien realized that she hadn’t written anything after Halloween. Had it really taken her fourteen days to process everything that had happened? 

In a way, she understood her own hesitance. Everything had happened so quickly and, with how busy she had been the last two weeks, it made sense that she hadn’t taken much time to think. Between practices, her parents’ near-constant arguing, the endless amounts of school work, helping out at The Coven’s Cottage, and practicing magic after work with the others, she barely had the time to eat and sleep. Maybe that was why she found it so easy to relax in the silence of the Murphy’s home. It was calm, peaceful, and cozy - a reminder to take a break when the pressure of everyday life was bearing down on her. Vivien glanced around the room, wondering how such a brightly-colored, vibrant house could feel so relaxing. Then again, she always preferred the eclectic, lived-in comfort that the Murphy family home provided to the loud craziness of being at her own house. 

The colorful walls, uniquely patterned furniture, and miscellaneous décor made the once monochromatic house on Forrester Street feel more like a home. She wished she could convince her parents to take a page from the Murphys’ book, but that would also mean getting divorced, and although she knew they would eventually get there with how much they fought lately, she wasn’t quite ready to spend her time bouncing between her home on Savona Street and wherever her other parent chose to reside. Then again, Miles, Royce, and Bentley never had to bounce back and forth after their parents divorced. They simply decided to stay with their mom, and their father never once tried to fight for custody. It was a significant change for everyone involved - especially Bentley, who didn’t quite understand what was happening at the time - but Dorothea had handled everything with the grace of a woman who knew she would be okay with or without a husband.

Come to think of it, a lot had changed since Dorothea and Allen divorced, but Vivien commended Mrs. Murphy for not letting his leaving drive a wedge between herself and her sons. Since the man took off to be with some woman from work three years prior, Dorothea had chosen to better herself and her kids, providing them with everything they could possibly need to be productive members of society. It took them a while to get to where they were now - a strongly-knit family with more than enough love to go around - but Vivien had found it interesting to watch them grow closer together despite the trials they faced.

An exasperated huff fell from dry lips as the old streetlight at the end of the driveway flickered once more. Looking up from her journal as her only source of steady light faded and blinked pathetically, Vivien’s green eyes glared at the struggling lantern as though she was willing it to stay on. The old bulb had been on its way out for years as the city refused to fix it unless it was an emergency - something about preserving the area's antiquity. However, she knew that was just a cop-out, as the city had recently repaved all of the main streets and done some much-needed landscaping along the park pathways. Glancing up and down the street as the light outside fluttered, Vivien hoped nobody else was awake as she pointed to the light, muttering a soft spell under her breath. Purple light surrounded the old lantern, urging it back to life before dissipating as Vivien lowered her hand.

According to the date at the top of her journal entry, it had been exactly two weeks since they had first gained their magic, and since then, the three of them had been taking lessons under the watchful eyes of Mick, Miles, and Carrie. Despite the older three not possessing any abilities of their own, they had spent enough time learning about magic in the shop to teach them some basics. The collection of magical tomes and scrolls Mick and her family kept helped them quite a bit more than some of the knock-off books they sold in The Coven’s Cottage, but the thought that the older group of friends would step up to mentor them was comforting, to say the least. However, while they had sworn to only use their powers for good - as any proper superhero would - there were some loopholes that Vivien liked to exploit when she needed to. She knew for a fact that Royce and Bentley did the same, but her attempts at magic were always a bit riskier than theirs. Bentley used his to clean his side of the room, and Royce used his to find things he’d lost without having to search high and low for them, but Vivien had other uses for her abilities. She used a silencing charm on her room to make things quiet when her parents were arguing, and used a memory spell to help her with the French test she otherwise would have failed, and, despite knowing that Mick, Miles, and Carrie would probably say otherwise, Vivien felt there was nothing wrong with using a little magic for simple, innocent things like stoking the fire or giving herself just a bit more light.

Once she was sure that the light would stay on for the time being, Vivien grinned to herself and shifted on the window seat, making herself comfortable once more before returning to her writing. Much like winter, dawn was just around the corner, and she could have easily moved to sit by the already crackling fireplace, but she had always preferred the cozy cushions of the family’s bay window to the cool wooden floors the Murphy’s had tried to keep warm with throw rugs. Thankfully, the heat from the fireplace was enough to heat a majority of the old building, and, with her seat being so close to the hearth, Vivien wasn’t exactly cold.

Despite the thick glass separating her from the outside, Vivien could hear the howl of wind as she glanced outside. The cool, New England air had chased off the majority of the critters that clung to the frays of summer heat, much like the elderly people who took off for some of the southernmost states any time the weather dipped below fifty degrees. Sighing at the thought of having to brave those whipping winds on the way to school in just a few short hours, Vivien went back to her writing, hoping to get some more thoughts down before Royce got out of bed.

Vivien paused before her pencil could touch the paper. What, exactly, was her relationship with Royce now? They had known each other since they were little - meeting only because Mick and Miles were friends and chose to bring them to the same playground after school. However, after spending so much time together and growing closer over time, it felt like this unseen force was drawing them to something else. Something more than what their friendship once was. While her relationship with Bentley stayed strong and consistent, her relationship with Royce felt deeper and more meaningful. That wasn’t to say she didn’t love Bentley because, let’s face it, who didn’t love Bentley? It was just that she and Royce had some sort of bond that they didn’t share with anyone else.

At least, that’s how she felt. For a while, she had felt as though they were something more than just friends. Royce was someone who genuinely liked her for who she was and vice versa. She trusted him with everything in her and knew he trusted her just the same. For the first time since her parents’ gradual split began, she felt as though she found a safe space and, for some reason, that safe space was Royce. Even though they were still young, the relationship they formed over the years was something she relied on - something she needed. They were true best friends and companions through life, something like actual soulmates. Whether it was platonic or not, she didn’t care so long as they were together. 

Whether soulmates were real or not, she didn’t really care, but it still felt like destiny that the two of them - three, if you add Bentley - were so incredibly close despite living on opposite sides of the city. In a way, though, the universe did sort of tie them together, making the three of them a permanent trio through magical ties. Unlike many others - both sets of their parents included - they had been incredibly lucky to find someone they could be so compatible with. In the end, did it really matter what their relationship was classified as? So long as they had each other, that was all that mattered, right?

Taking a deep breath, Vivien forced herself to clear her mind before finally beginning to write again. The old Kit-Cat clock on the kitchen wall ticked faintly in the distance - its metronomic eyes and tail keeping in time with the soft scratches of Vivien’s pencil as it dragged across her paper. All too soon, the sun would rise, and they would be making their way to school. Though her house was significantly closer - a ten-minute bike ride compared to the forty-five-minute ride they would have to endure all too soon - she was grateful to be away from home for at least a little while. With her siblings spending the weekend at their friends’ houses, she would have been left to suffer through her mother’s empty threats of leaving and her dad’s promises to keep the house and children with him in the divorce they talked so much about lately.

Sighing to herself, Vivien shifted, closing her journal and setting it aside before grabbing the cup of coffee she’d allowed to grow cold and quietly padding to the archway that led into the kitchen. Grateful that the Kuerig was pretty silent, she downed the last drops of her coffee and placed her cup under the spout before starting up the device again. As she pulled a bottle of Resse’s flavored creamer from the fridge, the smell of Dunkin’s coffee filled the kitchen. Though it didn’t quite smell like she had just walked into the coffee shop, Vivien knew it would be well worth waiting for the water to boil in the back of the Keurig.

Yawning, Vivien pulled her cup from under the spout and pushed herself to sit on one of the barstools before taking a slow sip. Setting her cup on the counter and wrapping her chilled fingers around the steaming mug, Vivien fought back another yawn as a faint creak gained her attention, a whisper of a cuss following soon after. She smirked; there was only one person who didn’t know to avoid the corner step, and, to her knowledge, this person wasn’t supposed to be staying the night. Glancing toward the archway, Vivien waited until the faint glow of the microwave’s clock illuminated Carrie’s face before picking up her mug and drawling, “Morning.”

Jolting, Carrie whirled around, blue eyes scanning the dark abyss that was the kitchen until she spotted Vivien sipping her coffee. With a hand pressed to her heart, Carrie let out a breath and softly asked, “What the hell, Vivi?”

“I take it you had a good night,” Vivien remarked, pointing lazily to the pair of shoes clutched in the older girl’s grasp.

Peering at her shoes, Carrie sighed, “Never mind that; what are you doing up?”

“I’m always up early,” Vivien shrugged. “What’s your excuse?”

“I think you know,” Carrie muttered. With a shake of her head, Carrie asked, “Look, you can’t tell Mrs Murphy.”

Vivien met Carrie’s eyes and sighed into her cup, “I take it you guys still haven’t told her?”

Again, the blonde shook her head, asking, “Are you going to keep this between us?” 

Setting her cup on the counter again, Vivien grinned, “Depends.” 

Carrie sighed, rolling her eyes as she dug a hand into her purse, “How much this time?” 

Vivien shrugged, “Doesn’t matter. Do you feel like buying me lunch or a coffee?”

“I think you’ll have more than enough coffee before you leave for school,” Carrie scoffed, sliding the girl a twenty.

“I know you graduated a while ago,” Vivien said as she examined the bill, “but lunch is still only three bucks.”

“I’m aware,” Carrie said with a smile. “Treat yourself and the boys to something better than those shitty, microwaved pizzas.”

Knowing better than to refuse the older girl, Vivien smiled and tucked the money into her pajama pants pocket, “In that case, it’s been a pleasure doing business with you.”

Despite her smile, Carrie huffed, “At this rate, I’ll be broke by the end of the week.” 

Vivien chuckled, wrapping her hands around her coffee cup again, “Why don’t you two just tell Mom you’re dating? She won’t kill you.”

“Maybe not,” Carrie resigned, “But I’m sure that I’m not the type of girl she wants Miles to be with.”

“Why not?” Vivien asked. “You’re not nearly as self-centered as you were in high school, and she likes having you around."

"Gee, thanks," Carrie scoffed, an only mildly offended look in her eyes. Vivien had never been the type to mince words, often coming across as rude or harsh to unsuspecting victims. However, Carrie had learned over many months of working together on the city's theatre troop's performance of Heathers that the teen would apologize quickly if she felt her words could be taken in a way she hadn't intended. It had taken a while for Carrie to adjust to the girl's open-mouth-insert-foot way of speaking, but now that she knew better, the blonde found herself appreciating the lack of filter between Vivien's brain and her mouth.

As though the emerald-eyed girl had read her mind, Carrie watched as Vivien rolled her eyes, "You know what I mean. I just think that, if you two had started dating in school, she might have had an issue with it, but now that things have changed a bit, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

“Says you,” Carrie said, nudging the girl with a free hand. “She adores you.”

“But she invited you over for movie night on Sunday and made you your Halloween costume,” Vivien reminded the blonde, “that has to mean something, right?”

“I want it to, but I don’t know, honestly,” Carrie sighed. With a shake of her head and a mildly forced smile, she placed her hand over Vivien’s wrist and said, “I’ll talk with Miles about it sooner or later.” 

It wasn’t much, and Vivien was sure Carrie was only saying it to placate her, but the brunette offered her a smile all the same, “Just know that you’ve got me on your team, if nobody else is.”

“Thank you, Vivi,” Carrie said as she brought her arms around Vivien’s shoulders. “It really does mean a lot to me that you’re so supportive of us.”

“Always.” Vivien’s smile became squished between Carrie’s plush, sherpa sweater and the blonde’s cheek, but she found that she didn’t mind in the slightest as she brought an arm around the older girl’s back. Once Carrie leaned away, Vivien said, “Just so you know, the back door is locked and has a camera above it. Your best bet would be to use the door leading out of the back of the garage.”

Quirking an eyebrow at the young brunette, Carrie mused, “You’ve snuck out of here before, haven’t you?”

Mischief evident in her glimmering green eyes, Vivien pretended to look offended as she remarked, “Me? Never!”

“Mhm,” Carrie hummed knowingly. “Well, either way, thank you. I’ll see you after school.”

Saying a final goodbye to the blonde, Vivien watched as Carrie ducked around the kitchen table to the garage, raising her mug in salute as Carrie slowly closed the door behind herself. Rising from her stool, Vivien made her way back to the living room window and made herself comfortable as she watched Carrie’s dimly lit frame scurry across the side yard to the street. Chuckling to herself, Vivien briefly wondered if the blonde had walked to the Murphy residence, but remembered the girl’s self-proclaimed hatred of the crisp weather that had been rolling through the area and grew more confident that Carrie would be sitting in her fancy little convertible with her hands in front of the heater vents in no time. 

Before she could think much further, though, the sound of footsteps drew Vivien’s attention to the stairs. Appearing as though he had just rolled out of bed - which he probably had - Royce stumbled into the living room with confusion evident in his eyes. As a yawn overtook him, Vivien spoke softly, “Good morning, Rolls.”

“Morning,” he yawned. Making his way to the window Vivien had perched herself in once again, Royce brought his arms around her and rested his head on her shoulder as he asked, “I heard you come down a minute ago; why didn’t you wake me up? I would’ve joined you.”

Reaching a hand up to Royce’s mess of curls, Vivien leaned her head against his as she replied, “You needed the sleep. You’ve been workling yourself stupid with all the research you’ve been doing.”

“We,” he corrected, leaning back just enough to meet her gaze. “The three of us are in this together, Viv.”

“I know.”

“Then give yourself a break, too,” Royce ordered gently as he took a step back, his arms falling back by his side. “This magic stuff has been draining for all of us, not just me or Bentley.”

Nodding more to put Royce’s mind at ease than anything else, Vivien shifted until her back hit the wall before lifting the edge of her blanket in invitation. Royce didn’t need much convincing, slipping under the flimsy throw blanket and resting his head against Vivien’s stomach as he tucked his arms behind her back. Vivien rubbed a hand along Royce’s arm to warm him and brought her other hand back to his curls, amusement coursing through her veins as Royce curled further into her like a cat, searching for the perfect resting spot. 

Despite his efforts to keep his chilled fingers bunched in the back of Vivien’s hoodie, Royce’s icy fingers brushed the small of Vivien’s back, making her jump slightly as she asked, “How are you so cold?”

“Benny stole the blankets,” he muttered into her sweatshirt.

“Of course, he did,” Vivien sighed. As they always did when Vivien stayed overnight, Royce had given up his bed for her and forced Bentley to share with him. More often than not, Bentley would steal blankets, Royce would take pillows hostage, and both parties would end up with bruises. Despite her many offers to take the couch or sleep on one of the boys’ bean bag chairs, Vivien was always given Royce’s bed. By this point, she wasn’t even surprised with the outcome. With a shake of her head, Vivien allowed silence to fill the air for a while before she asked, “Are you feeling alright?”

Royce nodded against her before glancing up at her and asking, “Why?”

Vivien shrugged, “You’ve been awful snuggly with me lately.”

Lifting his head to see her more clearly, Royce’s hesitation was clear as he spoke, “I’m sorry, Viv. Do you want me to move?”

With a shake of her head, Vivien eased his head back down before saying, “That’s not what I meant. I was just worried about you, that’s all.”

“Okay,” Royce hummed, staring out the window as the first rays of light peered over the horizon. “If it makes you feel any better, I feel fine. I just like being with you; it’s comforting.” Peeking up at Vivien, he asked, “Is that weird?”

“I don’t think so,” Vivien said, hoping he couldn’t hear the butterflies storming in her stomach. “I feel the same way about being with you. It’s sort of like the world doesn’t exist and we can just relax.”

With a nod, Royce relaxed again, a smile tugging at his lips as he took in a deep breath and slowly released it. Grateful his statement hadn’t made things between them awkward, Royce’s grip on Vivien tightened for a moment before releasing as her nails lightly scratched his scalp. Relaxed in the comfort of each other’s presence, the pair remained in the windowsill, watching the sun rise beyond the rooftops of buildings until Royce’s mom, Dorothea, came downstairs to make breakfast.

Following the older woman to the kitchen, the pair found themselves wrapped in the gentle warmth that was Dorothea Witt-Murphy. The woman's gentle perfume wafted through the air as she walked through the kitchen, pulling items from shelves and cupboards, her slippered feet barely making a sound as she practically floated around her favorite environment. As the woman always did, she stopped to embrace both her middle son and surrogate daughter - the latter of which earning herself a kiss on the cheek after complimenting the woman's newly finished winter robe.

"Kiss up," Royce taunted as he pulled a box of pancake mix from the pantry shelf.

"At least I got a kiss," Vivien teased in return, taking a mixing bowl from Dorothea and setting it aside as the woman sent her son a knowing grin.

"And unless Vivien feels like giving you one," Dorothea began, holding a carton of eggs out to her son, "you won't be getting any, young man."

Royce chuckled, holding his hands up in surrender and pressing a quick kiss to his mother's cheek before saying, "I was only joking, Mama."

"Mhm," the woman hummed skeptically. "Now, you two get to work on the pancakes while I make the bacon."

"I can make the bacon," Vivien offered as she stepped around the older woman to stand between her and Royce.

Dorothea let out a quick laugh and gestured between the two with a spatula as she sent them a stern yet teasing look that only a proper parent could give, "If either of you thinks that I'm letting you anywhere near the stove after you and Bentley nearly set the house on fire when you tried making that abomination you called ramen, you've got another thing coming."

A dramatic sigh left the duo as they resigned to making pancake mix, offering a unisoned "Yes, ma'am," as they got to work on breakfast. Honestly, the woman's quick dismissal of Vivien's offer was understandable. Their first - and frankly, only - attempt at making ramen from scratch hadn't gone as well as they wanted. The noodles Vivien made had ended up in a giant clump, the broth was so spicy it sent Royce into a coughing fit, and when they tried to add some extra oil to the pan of meat they were cooking, the flames nearly singed Bentley's eyebrows off. All in all, they understood Dorothea's request to stay as far from the stove as possible.

As the young duo helped the older woman cook, the scent of bacon and pancake mix wafted through the air, the smell drifting upstairs like a beacon and calling the only other residents of the house to make their way downstairs. Bentley was the first to stumble his way downstairs, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he stretched. Stepping up to his mother, the young blond received his first hug of the day and a kiss to the top of his head as Dorothea fawned over him in her native tongue. After being instructed to get himself a drink and sit down, Bentley greeted his brother and long-time friend with a yawn before grabbing the milk and a bottle of strawberry syrup, taking a spoon from the silverware drawer, and dropping into his seat at the table to mix his sugary morning drink.

Miles was next to tumble out of bed, making his way downstairs while talking softly on the phone. Vivien poked her head around the archway of the kitchen to see what was keeping him from entering the room, but as she found him sitting on the stairs with a concerned look on his face, talking in hushed whispers to the cell phone he kept pressed close to his ear, she smirked, knowing exactly who he must have been talking with. Slipping a fresh pod into the coffee maker and tucking Miles' Darth Vader mug under the spout, Vivien told the others that she could have sworn she heard him leave his room.

Miles must have tried to wrap up his conversation with Carrie as quickly as he could, stepping into the kitchen and greeting his family just as Vivien took his mug of coffee from under the spout of the Keurig. Handing Miles his fresh cup of coffee, Vivien sent him a knowing wiggle of her eyebrows, promptly turning his face scarlet as he quickly ducked around her and took his regular seat at the table. Setting the plate of pancakes on the table, Vivien helped Royce hand out silverware to those at the table before joining them. Not long after, they were all seated at their normal spots around the kitchen table, pulling pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs onto their plates.

As Bentley dug a piece of pancake from under a mountain of maple syrup, Dorothea looked around at the children and asked, “Are you three going to the shop after school?”

As the others nodded, Royce said, “We were planning on it. Is that okay?”

With a smile, Dorothea agreed, “Of course.” Turning her gaze onto Vivien, she asked, “Did you ask your parents?”

“Can’t I just ask you?” the young girl tried hopefully. “You’re practically my mom at this point.”

“Nice try,” the woman chuckled. “As much as I would love to let you roam all over creation, your parents have primary authority until you turn eighteen." When Vivien let out a dramatically dejected sigh, Dorothea sighed, "At least ask your dad before you leave school.”

“Okay,” Vivien sighed, gaining a smile from Dorothea. Quickly dismissing the woman's request, Vivien glanced across the circular table at Miles and asked, “Are you bringing us to school?”

“Wish I could, kiddo,” Miles said before tipping back the last of his coffee. “I have to bring Ethan to the dentist this morning, drop him off at home without his wisdom teeth, and then get back to the shop before the ten o’clock delivery.”

With amusement glimmering in his azure eyes, Bentley asked, “Is he going to be high like in those videos on TikTok?”

“When isn’t Ethan high?” Royce asked rhetorically, a nod of agreement coming from Vivien. While Royce and Bentley had known Ethan almost as long as they had known Miles and had watched him grow more interested in a certain smokable plant, Vivien had only known him as Miles’ pothead friend who would come over and steal brownies from the fridge before disappearing into Miles' room or the backyard. Practically everyone in their circles had experienced one of the pint-sized pothead’s munchie episodes, watching him search the Murphy family’s pantry for baked goods or bags of junk food, but his best moment by far was when he offered to cover Miles’ shift at the Coven’s cottage. It was only once - presumably due to the fact that Mick wasn’t exactly fond of him or his smell - but boy, was it memorable! Originally there to accept a delivery from a nearby organics shop, Ethan was later discovered by Mick and Carrie, passed out on the storage room floor, cradling one of the many empty, homemade fudge containers he had surrounded himself with.

Needless to say, that did nothing to gain him any favor in Mick’s books.

Ignoring his brother’s remark, Miles nodded, “Yeah, he’s getting the good stuff.”

“Let me guess,” Vivien began, “he wants you to record it?”

“How’d you know?” Miles asked sarcastically.

Vivien snorted, “Just a hunch.”

Once breakfast had been cleared away, everyone had gotten ready for the day, and Miles had taken his Jeep to the trailer park on the edge of town to pick up his stoner friend, Royce, Bentley, and Vivien said their goodbyes to Dorothea before grabbing their bikes from the garage and hitting the streets. Their ride past the commons, where they had their fight with the possessed Mick just two weeks earlier, was silent, as always. It felt surreal to think about every time they passed the playground, basketball court, and bandstand. To everyone else, it was a place to have picnics and birthday parties in the summer - a place where everyone gathered on Christmas and New Year's for concerts and fireworks - but to them, it felt more special.

They had spent time fighting for their lives there, but it was also where they first realized their magical abilities. While the commons held memories of fighting with one of the people they looked up to most, it also made them feel more connected to their powers. Since that night, they had gone back to the commons at night to experiment with their magic under the night sky. It was one of the few places in the city where one could see the night sky in all its beauty, something they realized would only heighten their magic the more they worked on it. With the help of Mick, Carrie, and Miles, they had grown into some of their magic far more than they would have without them, but working in the common - in such a public place - was risky. More often than not, however, they couldn’t bring themselves to care.

Shaking the memories of magic-filled nights from their heads, the group pedaled on, turning down Hawthorne Boulevard before making a right onto Derby Street. As music pumped through the wireless speaker stuffed into the water bottle holder on the side of Bentley’s backpack, they followed traffic on the main streets until they reached the hospital, cutting through the parking lot and a few back roads until the giant sign for the school came into view. Docking their bikes in the racks by the front doors, the trio was soon intercepted by the fourth member of their usual gang - a half-pint blonde with handmade friendship bracelets lining her wrists.

“You’re late,” Kona reprimanded as she shoved her phone into the pocket of her coveralls. 

“Traffic,” Bentley huffed as he hefted his bag higher on his shoulders.

Kona sighed but accepted the claim as she said, “You missed a good show.”

“Was it Mr. Bennett telling off the color guard for bringing their rifles again?” Royce asked. Only days prior, the whole school was buzzing about how the antique Social Sciences teacher had dragged nearly half of the color guard crew to the office to get them suspended for bringing weapons to school. However, since the rifles were, in fact, part of their routine and not weapons in the slightest, the group was let go without anything more, and the older man was politely asked to get his eyes checked before returning to work after the weekend.

“Nope,” Kona snickered, emphasizing the ‘p’ in her denial. “Miss Wolanin yelled at Jade and Erica for making out in the parking lot, and Erica fought back saying that it was just a kiss.”

“Wolanin has always been a homophobic bitch,” Vivien scoffed, thanking Royce as he held the front door for her.

“Well, yeah, no shit,” Kona laughed, “but it gets better.”

“Oh yeah?” Bentley asked.

“What happened?” Vivien pressed.

“Your dad came outside to see what was going on,” Kona replied. “I guess this wasn’t the first time she pulled something like this.”

“Did he fire her?” Royce asked.

“Don’t know,” Kona sighed. “All I know is that he stopped the fight and asked her to wait in his office while he talked with Erica and Jade in the meeting room.”

“In that case,” Vivien began, “I think we’ll hear all about it by the end of the day.”

“If not by lunch,” Bentley agreed with a chuckle.

As the group split off - Royce and Vivien headed for the high school as Bentley and Kona trailed off to where they would be spending the rest of eighth grade in the junior high wing - Kona glanced around at the near-empty halls and sighed, "I think we need to talk, Ben."

Curious, Bentley's eyebrow lifted into his golden halo of hair as he asked, "What about? Did Bellatrix tear apart your homework again?"

Despite allowing a small grin to tug at her lips at the thought of her four-month-old kitten, Kona was quick to shake her head. "No, not this time."

"Alright," Bentley spoke, stepping around one of the school's old Elkay water fountains that needed desperately to be replaced. Hefting his bag further onto his shoulders, he asked, "So what's up?"

Choosing to simply rip off the bandaid, Kona let out a huffed sigh, and said, “Look, Bentley, I didn’t want to say this, but I know you guys have been avoiding me.” 

Glancing at his longtime friend, Bentley asked, “What?”

"You, Vivien, and Royce," Kona clarified. "Ever since Halloween, you guys have been avoiding me like the plague."

"No, we haven't," Bentley tried to gently argue.

Sending Bentley a look, Kona said, “I said that I was sorry I missed the ritual thing for Viv’s birthday, and she said we were cool ‘cause she knew I had to babysit, but even though I lit a candle and said the ritual spell like we did last year, it doesn’t feel like any of you have forgiven me. for missing it.”

“What do you mean?” Bentley wondered.

“Since Halloween, you guys have been attached at the hip,” Kona claimed as she led the way to their lockers near the chemistry lab. “I asked you to work on the history project with me on the weekend after Halloween, and you couldn’t because Vivien and Royce wanted to help out at the magic shop.”

“I’m sorry,” Bentley apologized. “Mick texted Viv that they were getting a few new shipments of new crystals and Mom says I can't go anywhere without Royce or Vivien unless Miles is there to keep me from wandering off like a toddler.”

“No, that’s cool, I get it,” Kona brushed off with a wave of her hand. “Crystals are Vivien’s thing and I don't want you getting grounded 'cause you broke your mom's rules. That’s not the point. Last Tuesday, you said you were going to sit with me, Zack, and Gus for lunch so we could talk about joining the Dungeons and Dragons club when they open slots, but you sat with them instead.”

“Royce said Vivien was having issues with her parents and needed our help,” Bentley explained apologetically.

“Again, I get it,” Kona said. “She’s going through a lot right now, and I would have joined you guys if there was room at the table. But, anyway, when I asked you guys to come over to watch the comets on Saturday, and you guys couldn’t even come up with a good excuse, I couldn’t help but feel like I was being pushed out.”

Tugging the lock off his locker and allowing his backpack to fall from his shoulder, Bentley said, “We’re not trying to push you out, Kona.”

“Then, do me a favor and tell me what the problem is so that I can fix it,” Kona pleaded as she popped her locker open, dodging the tin foil butterfly she had made of scraps in art class as it tumbled from its confines. “It feels like you guys are forming your own little group, and I’m getting Serena’d.”

Remembering how it felt when Serena and Vivien had their massive fight, and Serena got exiled from their gatherings, Bentley wondered how much stress the thought was putting on Kona. He didn’t want her feeling pushed away like Serena had pushed them aside ages ago. She had been one of his closest friends since her family’s arrival in Salem at the start of third grade, and since then, Kona had become an integral part of his close friend groups. She was a brilliant girl, making it easy for her to see when things just weren’t adding up. Normally, Bentley took pride in her quick wit and fierce personality, but he never liked it when her take-no-shit attitude was aimed at him.

Closing his locker enough to place a hand on Kona’s shoulder, Bentley smiled her way before saying, “I promise that’s not going to happen to you.”

“Good,” Kona said, shoving her art project back into her locker before pulling her math workbook and a notebook out from underneath the disorganized chaos she had piled into the metal box. “So, what’s going on?”

Bentley chuckled, “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Oh yeah?” Kona scoffs. “Try me.”

Though they had talked about telling Kona as she was a part of their normal group, Bentley wasn’t too sure about telling her in the middle of the hallway where anybody could potentially overhear them. Heaving a sigh, Bentley grabbed the things he needed for his first period before hanging his backpack on the hook inside his locker and closing it, slipping the lock back into place. Taking Kona by the wrist, he pulled her down the hall to the computer lab and made sure nobody else was there before closing the door. Turning back toward his friend, Bentley found her leaning against one of the desks with her arms crossed. 

“Look,” he began, “we wanted to tell you when it first happened, but things were kind of crazy, and we needed time to figure everything out.”

Curious, Kona’s arms slowly unfolded as she said, “Okay. What happened?”

“You know how we do Vivien’s ritual every year, right?” At Kona’s nod, he continued, “And you know how we need a candle for it, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Kona said slowly. “What does this have to do with-”

Hoping to get everything out before the lab’s normal occupants would begin filing in, Bentley cut her off, “I’m getting there, I promise.” With a resigned wave of her hand, Kona allowed him to continue. “So, for Viv’s birthday, Mick gave her a candle for the ritual, and since our normal candle was getting low on wax, we used the new one.”

“Okay,” Kona nodded, following Bentley’s story as best as she could.

Nodding more to himself than anything, Bentley lowered his voice and said, “Well, we soon found out it was a black flame candle.”

Unable to decipher whether Kona’s expression was one of understanding or skepticism, Bentley listened as she asked, “A black flame candle?” When Bentley nodded, she asked, “Like the Sanderson sister’s thing?”

“Yeah,” Bentley confirmed, “but instead of bringing back the Sandersons, it brought back Mick’s dead ancestor and her coven.”

“Okay,” Kona drawled, clearly confused by the statement.

“Anyway, long story short,” Bentley began, “Mick got possessed by evil magic, Vivien, Royce, and I found out we have magic powers, and we saved Salem from being taken over by Demon Mick on Halloween.”

When Bentley finally looked back at Kona, he found it nearly impossible to see what was going on in her head. With her expression blank, Bentley asked her to say something, but all she did was stare back in his direction. Eventually, she couldn’t take the silence and said, “I don’t get it.”

“What don’t you get?” Bentley asked. “I can go over it again.”

“No,” she said with a quick shake of her head. “I don’t get why you feel the need to lie about what's going on.”

“Lie?” Bentley echoed. “I’m not lying, Kona. It really happened; I can prove it!”

“How?” Kona questioned. “Are you going to put a spell on me or something?”

“Not at school,” Bentley quickly said. “Mick said we shouldn’t use magic at school, just in case someone sees.”

“Of course,” Kona huffed, her eyes rolling at his statement. When she finally leveled her gaze on him again, she asked, “Are you going to tell me the truth? Because if you’re just going to tell me the same bullshit, you should save it for someone who will believe you.”

Before Bentley could try to convince her that he had told her the truth, the door to the lab opened, and two familiar faces entered. “I told you I saw them come in here," Zack said as he stepped inside, holding the door open enough for August to slip inside before letting it go. Glancing between Kona and Bentley, he asked, "What are you guys doing in here?”

“Yeah,” August began, “this is where the comp-sci geeks spend their free periods.”

“We were just talking in private,” Bentley said. Turning to Kona, he added, “Right, Kone?”

Green eyes flickered up from the floor to meet Bentley’s, a sort of fire burning in them as she agreed, “We were.”

“What about?” August asked.

Before Bentley could come up with something, Kona said, “Bentley was just telling me some bullshit story from Halloween.”

Unable to hide the wounded look in his eyes, Bentley spoke, “It’s not-”

Kona was quick to cut him off as she headed for the door, “I’d better get to class before Mrs Belanger locks me out again.” Turning back toward the boys, she found Bentley’s gaze and said, “Next time you feel like kicking me to the curb, just tell me. That way, you don’t have to make up some lame-ass story.”

As Kona slammed the door behind herself and took off down the hall, Zack and August turned to Bentley with wide, confused eyes. Taking in the kicked-puppy expression on Bentley’s face, August reached out, placing a hand on Bentley’s arm as Zack asked, “What the hell was that all about?”

Swallowing thickly, Bentley slowly shrugged, minutely shaking his head as he admitted, “I… I don’t know. I told her the truth, but she didn’t believe me.”

“Maybe she just needs time to process it,” August offered, bringing an arm around Bentley’s shoulders.

“Or maybe one of the planets is in the microwave again,” Zack suggested as the ten-minute warning bell rang. “Girls in this school go batshit crazy when the planets do normal planet things.”

Allowing his friends to pull him out to the hallway, Bentley looked around for any sign of Kona before letting out a relenting sigh, “Yeah, maybe.”

The class after lunch was always the worst, if you asked Vivien. Nobody paid attention to what was being taught unless it was a test or quiz day, the myriad of smells from everyone’s lunches made people nauseous, and because they were so close to the end of the first trimester, people were scrambling to find ways to raise their grades before the progress reports would be sent out. Vivien didn’t have much to worry about as her only grade outside of her normal A’s and B’s was her French - a voluntary grade that wouldn’t matter in the long run due to her extensive list of extracurriculars. However, she still wanted to raise her grade by the end of the month. 

As her after-lunch schedule varied from one day to the next, Vivien relished in her Mondays as they were the one day a week that she got a free hour to do as she pleased after lunch, giving her a breather from the usual after-lunch nausea she got during the rest of the week. Using her after-lunch free period to work on her French, Vivien sat in the library's silence with one of the laptops the school provided and brought up her classwork, working through some of the assignments that would give her higher points. The only reason she took the class was to impress Mrs. Murphy with her ability to speak French, but the old woman who taught the class also taught the senior math class and would often get tricked into thinking that the class she was teaching in Vivien’s block was math instead of French, leaving her floundering during tests and incapable of speaking much French. Rolling her eyes as she opened another informal versus formal conversation assignment, she wondered if she could convince her dad to let them use Duolingo to get through the class since the teacher was practically useless.

After a while of working, her eyes grew tired of seeing the same thing over and over, and after returning the school laptop to the librarian, Vivien made her way down the hall to the bathroom. Hoping to splash her face with some water and get a drink from the vending machine just down the hall, she began humming a song to herself as she passed a few other students on their way to one class or another. Ever since a pair of idiots chose to fight in the elevator and broke it, the only way to get to the upper-floor classrooms was to take the stairs, and if you wanted to make it to class on time, you had to hope you had the stamina and time to push and shove your way up the stairwell. Grateful she was one of the lucky few who only had a class or two on a different floor, Vivien waved to one of her friends from the yearbook committee before ducking into the bathroom and closing the door. 

She pulled a few paper towels out of the dispenser and ran one under some cold water before pulling her glasses off and placing the damp towel over her eyelids. After a few minutes of slow breathing and rolling her eyes around to relax them as her optometrist told her to, Vivien dried her face and examined herself in the mirror before tossing out the paper towels and pulling the bathroom door open. Jumping as she almost walked into someone, Vivien chuckled as she found herself face-to-face with none other than Serena Sullivan.

After everything that had happened on Halloween, Vivien had noticed Serena acting different to, well, everyone. At first, she figured the girl was being cordial to her, Royce, and Bentley because of the talk they’d had at the church, but it seemed as though Serena was genuinely putting in the effort and trying to turn a new leaf. The redhead had been shockingly polite to her stepfather during the morning drop-off on the third, had complimented one of the girls she and Violet Hilton used to tease mercilessly on the ninth, and had even signed up to help in the cafeteria during lunch one day. As if that wasn’t enough, nearly everyone who knew Serena was shocked to hear her and Violet having a massive blow-out in the parking lot after the Friday night football game. It was no surprise to anyone that, over the weekend, Violet posted a thinly veiled rant on her Instagram story about fake people with Bella Poarch’s song Villain playing in the background.

Offering the redhead a small smile, Vivien said, “Hey, Sully.”

“O’Brian,” Serena offered in exchange, a ghost of a smile tugging at the girl’s lips.

Moving to step around the girl, Vivien held the door open enough for both of them to fit through, but as she moved into the hallway, Vivien was stopped by a hand on her arm. Turning back toward Serena, Vivien found the walls around them turning an unnatural shade of white. The halls burned bright, and for a moment, Vivien wondered if she had died and was having some sort of otherworldly experience like Harry Potter did in The Deathly Hallows. However, as she turned back toward Serena, she realized this wasn’t the case. A red-tinted glass box surrounded Serena, keeping the two apart, but Serena’s wide, hazel eyes told Vivien this wasn’t some wild hallucination or an out-of-body experience. If it had been, why would Serena be there?

The redhead pounded on the wall separating them and screamed, pleading for help. The sound was dull and muffled, as though Serena was a mile away despite being right in front of Vivien. Pressing a bewildered hand to the glass and thumping a fist against it, Vivien asked, “What’s going on?”

Serena’s voice, muffled by the thick glass, was just barely audible as she yelled, “I’m trapped!”

“I see that, but-”

“I don’t know what happened, but I can’t get out!” Serena interrupted. “I’ve tried for weeks, but it’s not letting me out!”

“What’s not?” Vivien asked, pressing her hand over the place Serena had hers, hoping the action would calm the girl enough for her to give a comprehensible answer.

However, before Serena could do more than suck in a quick breath, the redhead let out a piercing scream, and the walls around them dissolved at once, returning to their patriotic school colors. Vivien felt a steady pounding in her head as the world around them shifted, objects and colors coming back into focus. Finding Serena standing in the bathroom doorway, staring up at her with piercingly dark, hazel eyes, Vivien took a step back and pressed an unusually cold hand to her forehead, hoping the chill would help the sudden migraine.

“Are you alright?” Serena asked, barely a hint of emotion in her voice.

Something in Serena’s stormy eyes told Vivien not to say anything about what she had seen, and, choosing to trust her instincts as Mick had been telling her to, she nodded, “Yeah, I’m- I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” Serena pressed. “You look as though you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I think I just turned too quickly, that’s all,” Vivien said, chuckling nervously. “My blood pressure’s been pretty fucked lately.”

“Ah.” As Vivien offered the girl a small grin, she tried not to react as the girl’s eyes appeared to glow a faint red. Was she seeing things, or could it just be a reflection of one of the banners asking people to buy tickets to the upcoming winter formal? Before Vivien could give it much thought, the sheen of red disappeared and Serena smiled back at her as she said, “Maybe you should talk to the nurse about it. I’m sure she can give you something for it.”

“Yeah,” Vivien said before swallowing thickly, watching the red disappear from Serena’s vision once she had agreed. “Maybe you’re right.”

Serena hummed before stepping further into the bathroom, “See you later, Vivien.”

“See you,” Vivien said before pivoting and heading further down the hall. 

Though she aimed for the nurse’s office at the end of the corridor, as soon as she heard the bathroom door close, she ducked behind the edge of the vending machine she had planned to buy a snack from and poked her head around the edge, watching for any sign of Serena. Not long after she hid behind the machine, Vivien watched a burst of red light glow around the edges of the bathroom door. The glow was only faint, but in the dim lighting of the hallway, it was evident that something inside the room was a vibrant red. Checking the clock on the wall across from her, Vivien began to track how long the light remained, but once the class dismissal bell rang, the red flickered out of existence. Soon after, the door opened, and Serena made her way through the halls toward her next class, allowing Vivien to step out from behind the vending machine.

Staring after the redhead, Vivien sucked in a slow, deep breath. There could have been a perfectly logical explanation for the red in Serena's otherwise hazel eyes, but the glow around the bathroom door had no simple cause. Regardless of how hard she tried, Vivien's mind kept dragging her back to the same idea. Did Serena have magic? Vivien knew that when she and the boys used their magic, there was a color to represent each of them. Was red Serena’s color? Did all those years of doing rituals together also do something to her? And what was that vision thing about? Was it some sort of premonition? Vivien had unknowingly had premonitions before - some sort of deja vu, if not anything else - but none felt quite that strong or clear. Was it an actual vision? Were those possible? She wasn’t some sort of crystal ball, fortune-telling psychic; it shouldn't have been possible.

Before she could think much further, Vivien jumped, whirling around as a hand landed on her shoulder. Stepping back with his hands raised and a startled look on his face, Royce asked, “Are you okay, Viv?”

Struggling to find the words to describe how definitely not okay she was feeling, Vivien took in a breath and mumbled, “I don’t know.”

“What’s wrong?” Royce asked, slowly reaching out to take one of Vivien’s hands. “Do you need to sit down? You look pale.”

Slowly shaking her head, Vivien said, “I was just thinking.”

“Are you sure?” Royce questioned.

“Yeah,” Vivien nodded, trying to give Royce a small smile. 

Offering a somewhat skeptical nod, Royce asked, “What about?”

“I’ll explain it at the shop later.” Lowering her voice and wiggling her fingers, she said, “It’s a magic thing, y’know?”

“Okay,” Royce breathed, nodding in understanding. Quickly looking around, Royce made sure nobody had overheard Vivien’s statement before clearing his throat and asking, “Did your watch say your blood pressure is low again? Is that why you’re getting a snack?”

Vivien glanced at the vending machine before shaking her head, “I never checked, but I wanted a drink before heading to gym.”

“Alright,” Royce nodded. Digging into his pocket, Royce fished out a few quarters before slipping them into the machine. At Vivien’s curious look, he said, “It’s my treat.”

“Aww,” Vivien sang fondly, sending Royce a teasing grin, “you love me.”

Royce rolled his eyes, “I mean, yeah, but that’s beside the point. I just don’t want you passing out on me in History again.” 

Fighting the swarm of fluttering insects buzzing around in her stomach at Royce’s statement, Vivien heaved a sigh as she focused on picking a drink from the machine before her, “It’s the most boring class in this school. I mean, it was one thing when we were younger, and the teachers took a whole month to teach the Witch Trials or a week on the Titanic, but now that we’re stuck in Nolan’s class, everything sucks.”

“He’s so monotone,” Royce mused, a mimicry of the man's monotonous voice coming through despite amusement shimmering in the boy's amber eyes.

“And it’s all dates and events,” Vivien agreed. “I swear, he never makes it interesting! I only memorize enough to get me through the tests and then I just delete it from my mind.”

“So that’s why you were no help with the recap back in September,” Royce chuckled as Vivien fetched her drink from the vending machine.

Vivien nodded, “At least his class is at the end of the day. Once it’s done, we’re free.”

“Just two more hours, and we’ll be on our way to Magic one-oh-one with Miles, Mick, and Carrie,” Royce muttered as he began leading the way to the gymnasium.

With a nod, Vivien slipped her arm around Royce’s and sighed, “For now, let’s run the mile.”

“Never thought I would hear you say that,” Royce mused, a chuckle falling from his lips as Vivien took her place at his side. “You hate gym class as much as I do.”

“True,” Vivien agreed as she sent Royce an encouraging smile, “but the sooner we’re done, the sooner we can sit in the library and do more research before Nolan’s class.”

With a smile Vivien could only describe as pearlescent, Royce said, “Why didn’t you tell me that would be the prize I get for finishing the mile? I would have done it every day if I knew that!”

Vivien shook her head and laughed, nudging Royce with her elbow as she said, “Says the asthmatic.”

“You’ve never accused me of being the smartest person you know,” Royce chuckled.

Rolling her eyes, Vivien grinned as she leaned her head against Royce’s shoulder and sighed, “Idiot.”

“Yours truly.”

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

It's Veteran's Day here in the States, and although I'm attending the town's military parade later in honor of my family members who have passed, I don't want to feel sad today. I wanted to make something to keep me in good spirits, so I made a little video using this trend I've seen going around on booktok! It's not much, and it didn't take me very long to make, but I hope it makes you smile as much as it did me 😊

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

Oliver's Basic Info

Name: Oliver Chase O’Brian

Oliver's faceclaims were almost as easy as Abby's, so here we go! For the 60s, we have . For the 80s, we have River Phoenix. In the 90s, we have Johnathan Taylor Thomas. And, for the current day, we've got Jacob Tremblay.

Nicknames: Olly/Oli, Raccoon Boy (he brought home a raccoon as a kid, claiming it was a cat, and his dad let him keep it until their mom found out), and Bigfoot (for his love of cryptids)

Age: 14

Date of Birth: December 13

Zodiac: Sagittarius

Birthstone: Turquoise

Nationality: Native American, Irish, and French-Canadian

Sexuality: Gay

Birthplace: Elliot Hospital, Manchester, New Hampshire

Current Residence: Gray Road, Sanbornton, New Hampshire

Occupation: High school freshman, goalie for the high school hockey team, gaming livestreamer, and podcast creator

Talents/Skills: Researching things

Birth order: Youngest 

Siblings: Vivien (oldest) and Abigail (middle)

Parents: Damien Lucas O’Brian and Chelsea Alisha Mays

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Height: 5’8”

Race: White

Eye Color: Blue and brown hazel

Hair Color: Brown

Glasses or contact lenses: Practically blind without glasses, but usually wears contacts

Distinguishing features: Scar on his collarbone from a hockey accident, chewed-up lips, and he has a slit in his right eyebrow that he did during the pandemic and it never really grew back for some reason.

Mannerisms: Humming songs while he works, bouncing his leg almost all the time, doodling on any paper he can find, and unironic finger guns (a habit he can’t kick no matter how hard he tries).

Health: He’s fairly healthy, but he gets sick easily if he gets flu shots and he’s insanely accident-prone.

Hobbies: Ghost hunting, exploring abandoned buildings, researching UFOs/cryptids, running a weekly podcast with some of his school friends, and having crushes on cute guys he knows he has no chance with.

Greatest flaw (in their opinion): How unserious he’s perceived to be. Though Oliver does take loads of things seriously, his nonchalance, geeky interests, and overall chill demeanor make it nearly impossible for people to take him seriously. The only place where people even bother to pay him any mind is on his podcast where they can’t see him and have only his voice to rely on for information. In a way, he supposes it’s a sort of blessing in disguise; people tend to ignore him when talking about serious issues as they feel he either doesn’t care or won’t understand it. Oliver is great at acting as though he doesn’t care, but really, he’s the one paying the most attention to what’s going on.

Best quality (in their opinion): How much people trust him. The people Oliver’s closest with tend to go to him when they need help with things; whether it be in relationships, school, or even just little things. As the youngest of the family, he’s sort of brushed over in favor of the girls, but when people go to him for things, he can’t help the desire to puff out his chest and feel proud that someone is trusting him with something, even if it’s something inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

Biggest fear: Being forgotten. Oliver knows that his sisters are destined for great things and, while he couldn’t be more proud of them, he’s worried that, once they move out, he’ll just be cast aside as the youngest, lowest-achieving of the O’Brian children. He knows their dad will be there for him regardless, but he’s already sort of pushed aside by their mom. He just worries that, once Vivien and Abby go off to college, move out, and start living life, he’ll be left behind - the overshadowed sibling who wants nothing but the best for his sisters. No matter what they do, he’ll be proud of them, and he makes sure to tell them that when he can, but he hopes they remember him from whatever spotlights they eventually find themselves in.

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor 

Favorite ice cream: Pistachio

Favorite color: Green

Favorite number: 84, his hockey number

Favorite songs: Burn the House Down by AJR, Boys Don’t Cry by The Cure, and Ride by Twenty One Pilots

A place they want to visit: Boring, Oregon