"Oh she was crazy for sure, but you gotta admit she was cool." Amanda said as she sat on the old ratty couch in the abandoned yard. Eunoia groaned.

"Can you please stop talking about her? I'm tired." They spread out on a similarly rotting love seat that faced Amanda's. The last five minutes, they had been feeling the subtle prodding of a hallucination crawling along their back. They used a breathing exercise to ground them to the present and mellow the feeling, but it still sent shivers up their spine.

"Ok, ok, but just, this one thing." She leaned forward with a bright smile. "Even I couldn't tell she was there until she actually talked. Is that what magic can do? Make you invisible?"

"It can do anything." They groaned, closing their eyes and rubbing their forehead. "If your intent is clear enough and you do it right. But... ugh..."

"Are you ok?"

Eunoia had turned on their side and began breathing unsteadily. Their skin turned pale and clammy and Amanda stared at them with worry.

"Are you-"

"It's your birthday!" They heard Vogel shout, and looked up to see the boys attacking a man in swat gear.

"That would explain- urrgh..." they barely had time to crawl to the back of the love seat before they puked. They felt Amanda lightly touch their back.

"You ok? I should check on them." They glanced through the fence to see there was another Agent-looking man and a standoff was going down. Martin looked pissed.

"Go, I'll be fine. It's just anxiety. I'll join in a sec."

Amanda hesitated, unsure, but Eunoia waved her off.

"Go punch a secret agent or something."

She laughed and nodded as she raced around the fence to join with the Rowdy 3.

There was shouting, but it wasn't anything they didn't already expect from the boys. They were naturally loud. More bile worked its way up out of their nervous stomach and onto the ground behind the love seat, leaving their mouth with a sour taste.

The sudden silence is what worried them.

They heaved a sigh and looked up to see Amanda being held with a gun to her head, and struggled to get up. Once steady on their feet, they raced out to try their version of helping, cause Martin's certainly wasn't.

"Wait!" They cried, holding onto the brim of their hat to keep it from flying off as they ran. When they reached the group they hunched over and groaned, but held up a hand to signal they weren't done.

"Who are you?" Asked the older swat guy.

"W-wait. Let her go." They motioned to the younger man, and he only held Amanda tighter. She looked scared, sure, but mostly angry.

"Let us all go. If you do I'll tell you where to-mmmph!" Martin slammed a hand across their mouth and hissed.

"We promised her we wouldn't."

Eunoia smacked his hand away and glared up at him.

"I didn't promise her shit, and she broke all of hers. She gets what she deserves."

"Start talkin!" The younger man said, pressing his gun firmly against Amanda's temple. Eunoia turned quickly, making their hat flop in such a way that their face was shadowed.

"I can tell you where Project Nepenthe has been lurking."

The older man looked shocked, and the younger confused. He loosened his grip on his gun slightly.

"Wh-what do you know about Blackwing?" The older man asked.

"I'll tell you," they reached into their shirt pocket and hid whatever they had taken in both hands, holding their closed fists out towards him. "If you choose a hand."

"Choose- what are you playing at? Who are you?" He shouted.

"I'll tell you everything I understand, but only if you pick. A. Hand." They leaned back, towards Martin, and he leaned down slightly to hear them.

"Prepare to scatter. I've got a diversion that you will not like getting down wind of."

He grunted, looked perplexed, but backed off to tell the other boys. As the man studied them, trying to determine if he would play their game, they caught sight of Amanda nodding slowly at the boys behind them, so they assumed they had passed their message along somehow.

"Fine. I'll play. But you have to promise."

"Yes sir. Promise I'll tell you."

"Your left hand."

"Is that your final answer?"

He sighed. "Listen, don't play more games with me."

"Ok." They dropped their right hand, and opened their left hand, to show a small cloth bag. They held it up to the men, and the younger had hauled Amanda closer so he could get a look at what they held.

"What is it, sir? A weapon?"

"Smell it!" They responded with a smile.

"What?"

"Smell. I made it myself."

"Do it, Hugo."

The younger man leaned over and took a whiff of the bag.

"Cinnamon?"

"And rosemary, and lavender. It's a charms bag."

"Charms... you're a witch, like Nepenthe." The older man said.

"She taught me. And her hideouts are hard to find. She moves them often to keep you off her path."

"Where is she now?"

"I can't say. Last I could know, she was on summerset. Her building looks like an old worn down witch shop. But she may have already moved it again." They said, and looked at their right hand. "Don't you want to know what is in my other hand?"

"Does it matter?" The older man asked.

"I guess not. But that's all I know about her."

The young man, Hugo, shuffled anxiously.

"I-I want to know Mr. Riggins, sir, it may be dangerous."

"How dangerous could something that small be?" Riggins snapped.

"You won't know, if you don't want to see." Riggins stared at them for a moment, then sighed. Eunoia reached up to scratch their nose, but glanced at Amanda, who was staring at them with anticipation. They covered their nose as they scratched it, winked at her, and sniffed.

"You wanna see? Who knows, it may be a clue to Nepenthe."

Riggins looked resigned. "Fine."

Eunoia opened their hand to show a small vile with a pale lump of something that may have been a root, and some liquid.

"What is that?"

They grinned, brought the Charm bag close to their face, and threw the vial on the ground, smashing it completely.

"Scatter!" They yelled, as a putrid smell escaped from the broken glass. Riggins and Hugo, being the only ones not prepared, stumbled back and choked on the smell. Hugo let go of Amanda in favor of rubbing his eyes as they watered, and she ran around the corner. Eunoia stood in the middle of it, breathing through the charm bag so they weren't affected, until the others had gotten away, and then ran around the opposite corner that Amanda had gone around. Riggins and his lackey were left coughing and gagging on the noxious smell they had unleashed.

They ran to the next block, then stopped to rest. They knew Martin, at least, had gotten away in the van, but if all of the Rowdy 3 had joined him was a mystery. They didn't have another stink bomb like that on them, so they'd have to stay low to avoid any unwanted attention until they could find the boys or Amanda again.

They sniffed their shirt and immediately put their Charm bag back over their nose. The smell of the Asafoetida plant was certainly a terrible one. Like a dumpster left out in the sun too long, with a bit of sulfur to finish the blow to your nose.

A wild laugh brought their attention away from their clothes, though. They looked up to see Vogel waving and running towards them with a wide grin spread across his face. They relaxed at the sight of him.

"Dude! That was awesome! I smell terrible!" He exclaimed as he approached. He seemed to be vibrating from excitement. "You were all!" He made a throwing motion. "And the glass went everywhere, and Riggins started crying! I've never seen him cry before!"

"Well it wasn't real crying, the smell made his eyes water." They explained with a laugh. Vogel grabbed their shoulders and shook them.

"But you were great! What was that? Oh man, Martin's gonna be psyched!" He jumped around for a bit and Eunoia laughed at his antics. They didn't think what they did was all that great, the plant did most of the work, but they liked being appreciated.

"Where is everyone else?"

Vogel stopped and thought for a moment, and Eunoia waited patiently. They knew how hard it could be to organize thoughts when they got too fast to handle.

"'Manda's probably going back to the apartment, she went that direction. Martin's in the van, will probably be circling around the neighborhoods to pick us all up. Cross either jumped in the back of the van or bolted down the street with Gripps."

"Should we stay in one place or try to find Martin?"

"Hmm..." he tapped his chin as he thought. "We could go to 'Manda's, Martin will wind up there at some point. And she has a shower."

"Oh, the smell won't come out with a shower."

"What?"

They took the Charm bag away from their nose again and smirked.

"Either you wait for it to fade, which takes a week, or you use a similarly charmed scent. Asafoetida smells horrid, but my stink bombs are hexed to make it way more potent."

"You've got more of that?!" He asked giddily.

"Of course." They smirked. "But seriously, I need to get back to the van. The stuff for taking away this smell is in my box."

"Let's go to a main road, Martin will find us more likely there, then you can get your stuff and we can bring some to Amanda."

They smiled at him and nodded. "Sounds good to me."

People on the street avoided them like the plague. It made sense, since the smell permeated every inch of them, even the Charm bag had begun to seep with the sulfuric stench. Vogel didn't care about how he smelled, he was too busy bounding in front of people and relishing in their looks of disgust when they caught wind of him.

They waited on the busy street in front of a little red brick bookstore. There was an old memorial bench on the sidewalk that Eunoia sat on as they watched Vogel have his fun.

The screeching of tires and a loud bass made them look up from Vogel harassing a businessman. Martin had done a terrible job of parking, but didn't seem to care as he jumped out of the van, along with Gripps and Cross. Eunoia stood to greet them, but didn't expect the hug.

Martin had all but ran to them and wrapped them up in a strong hug and lifted, making them leave the ground completely. Their face was pressed into his vest, and got a terrible nose full of Asafoetida. Martin was laughing and howling.

"Alright, I, uh, can see you're happy, but-ugh." They coughed. "I need to get you guys smelling better." They wiggled out of his grasp and ducked under Gripps and Cross when they tried to bring them into hugs of their own. They made their way to the van and pulled their trunk of stuff, newly retrieved from Nepenthe, out from under one of the seats.

As they looked through the vials and herbs, trying to limit the exposure to the Asafoetida smell, they heard one of the four get back into the van with them.

Martin crouched beside them and watched their nimble fingers trace the symbols and lettering of each packet of herbs. They found a small vial, similar to the one they smashed, and pocketed it.

"Always keep one of those on me, when I can." They glanced at Martin and he smirked.

"You saved Amanda."

"Of course. She had a gun to her head."

"That's not something Nepenthe would have taught ya."

"I think." They paused to read the small writing on a vial, "that we've made it clear that I am... I'm... uh, not Nepenthe." They put the vial back and picked up another one, and turned to him. "So what are you really trying to say?"

He was quiet as they uncorked the vial, sniffed it, and screwed a new top onto it.

"That was genius."

"What?"

"The Rowdy 3 don't do things that needs a lot of brain power. We smash stuff, scare people, we even howl at the moon. We've got all the muscle we could need, but we could use more brain. Amanda's smart, don't get me wrong, but we could also use someone with something magic in mind."

Eunoia stared at him and twisted the vial in their hands in a nervous tick. He looked over his glasses and smirked at them.

"Plus I've never seen Riggins keel over crying before. You did a lot more damage than we did, it seems."

"He wasn't crying, it was the smell." They sighed in annoyance.

"Doesn't matter. It got you a place with the Rowdys, if you want it."

"But it was all the plant- wait, what?" They stared at him and he snorted. "I thought..."

"We were gonna let you go after we talked with Nepenthe? I considered it."

Vogel ran up to the van and crawled in, Gripps and Cross following him close behind. They looked up to see Martin looking serious and Eunoia with shock written across their face. The three looked at each other and shrugged before heading farther back into the van.

"You could leave, we ain't gonna force ya. But we'll miss ya from the pile at night."

They laughed and ran a hand through their darker hair, and shook their head with a disbelieving smile. Martin started to get up but they grabbed his hand and he paused.

"H-hold on." They chuckled, "you still smell horrid. Shut your mouth."

"Wait, wha-" they held the vial in front of his face and pressed down on the spray-top they had switched the cork out with. Martin got a mouthful of rose-scented spray.

He stood, spluttering, and the three behind them howled with laughter. Martin gave them a disgruntled look and climbed into the front seat.

"Alright, who's next?" Eunoia asked and went to the back to spray down the other three. They learned from their leader, and kept their mouths shut.

When they were done and the van didn't smell like garbage, Eunoia went up to the front of the van.

"Amanda's gonna need this too, the smell was hexed, so only this will take it off, unless she wants to wait a week."

Martin nodded, then realized exactly what they said.

"Riggins is gonna be like that for a week?"

"Yep. Unless he has a witch who knows exactly what spell I cast."

Martin howled, making the three pick it up as well. Eunoia found it funny, how dog-like they were.

"Alright, Little Witch, you're not just smart, you're evil, too." Martin grinned, and stepped on the gas. Eunoia held tight to the back of the passenger seat to keep from flying backwards.

They made their way carefully back to the seats and fell back to lay on the one across from Vogel and Gripps. Their head touched Cross's leg, and he scooted them up to rest in his lap, just so he could take their hat off and run his fingers through their hair.

They closed their eyes with a smile. The rosey smell permeating the van would fade in a few days, but they doubted their place in this group would go with it. They felt more at home than they had in actual years, despite only knowing these guys for a day.

They were shaken awake when they had arrived at the apartment Amanda was staying in. They went to their box, and pulled out their smaller box to take up to Amanda.

"Amanda got caught in the brunt of it." They explained as Gripps and Vogel hovered over them curiously. "And she didn't have a charm bag like me, so she's gonna be a lot worse off than you guys. I'm gonna have to make a stronger mix for her." They continued to carefully place several vials of liquid and herbs into the smaller box, then stood.

"Are you coming up with me?" They asked when none of them really moved to get out of the van.

"We don't want Riggins to see us hanging around one place too much. We're dropping you off and then we'll make sure no one's been following us." Cross said.

"Oh." They moved the box into a more comfortable position and put their hat back on their head. "Which room is she?"

"Third floor, broken door." Gripps said. "You can walk right in."

"We broke the door!" Vogel chipped in.

"Oh...Kay? Well, I'll see you guys." They jumped out of the van, the door slid shut behind them, and they sped off. They were left on the sidewalk in front of a building that gave their weird anxious nerves the heebie-jeebies, with nothing more than a box of herbs and single stink bomb in their pocket.

"Alright." They whispered. "Alright." They nodded to themselves, put on a strong face, and walked up the steps of the apartment complex.

The apartment building was a bit run down and drab, but it was better than the streets. The wallpaper was tan, the carpeting was crusty, and when they reached the third floor, they didn't have to guess about which door was broken, because they could smell the Asafoetida the moment they stepped into the hallway.

It seeped under the crack of a very beat up white door, and Eunoia carefully pushed it open as they rechecked their box for all of their ingredients.

A click brought their attention away from their baggy of dried rose petals.

A very pretty woman with great hair was pointing a very deadly looking gun at them. The gun itself wasn't any more deadly looking than any other gun, it was just the fact that they were standing on the wrong end, and could stare down the barrel of it. The gun was at a very deadly angle, is what they meant.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" The woman asked calmly. She had the privilege of being calm cause she was seeing the gun at one of its good, not deadly angles, Eunoia thought.

"Um."

"What. Are you doing. Here?" She asked, more pronounced, as if Eunoia had not heard her, and wasn't staring down the barrel of a gun.

"Is... Amanda here?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"She... she smells bad?"

The woman took a step back and lowered the gun slightly.

"You're telling me. She's taken five showers and a tomato juice bath and it won't go away." She sighed, then looked at them again. "Did you do that to her?"

"It... was a dire situation. The CIA was there... had a gun on her head... I did what I could."

"You made her smell bad. Because the CIA was holding a gun to her head?"

"Yes?"

"Farah? Who are you talking to?" Amanda called from the shower.

"The Asafoetida was hexed, Amanda, showering isn't gonna help." They replied.

"... Eunoia?"

The sound of running water stopped, and a moment later, Amanda walked out of the bathroom in new clothes and wet hair. She looked around and frowned.

"Where are the others?"

"They uh... making sure we weren't followed."

She nodded, then caught sight of Farah, still pointing the gun at Eunoia, even if it was less seriously than before.

"Put the gun down, Farah, they're a friend."

She looked between the two of them then sighed and put the safety back on and set it on the table.

"So, how do I stop smelling like this? You don't smell like it. Or does that just come with being a witch?"

"Witch?" Farah muttered, but went ignored as Eunoia set their box on the counter, next to several broken plates. They tried to ignore how broken the whole apartment was.

They took out their rose petals, lavender, and thistle, and then vials of home-squeezed apple juice, moon water, and Arabic gum powder.

Once all the ingredients were laid out, they brought out their mortar and pestle from the box, and turned to Amanda.

"Do you want to smell more like rose or lavender? The boys smell like rose, but I didn't give them a choice."

Amanda snorted at the image of the anarchist vampires smelling like flowers. "I'm fine with either, as long as I don't smell like garbage."

"Lavender it is then. Harmony is all well and good but too much rose might give me a headache."

They poured two dried rose petals into the pestle, along with several stems of lavender and the small, Bright purple stem-like petals of the thistle, then started grinding it all into a pulp. Amanda sat next to them to watch, and Farah moved to the other side of the counter to get a better look. She seemed very confused by all of this, but also relieved at the pleasant smells that Eunoia's grinding was producing.

They poured a few drops of the apple juice into the mix, but the lavender easily overpowered the fruit scent. The smell of lavender seemed to grow stronger as they ground it, even.

When they uncorked the vial of water, Farah spoke up.

"You know, we've got water, you didn't need to bring your own."

Eunoia raised their eyebrow at her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize that the apartment ran water that has been electrically charged and blessed by the moon through its pipes." They responded, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"What?" Farah just looked lost.

"Regular water doesn't cut it for this magic, I'm sorry to say." They poured a fourth of the vial into the mix and re-corked it. "It was a nice offer, but I know what I'm doing." They went back to mixing and the paste slowly began to dissolve into the water.

When the solution was mostly dissolved and made the water a greenish color, Eunoia added the Arabic gum powder. As it dissolved, the solution foamed.

"Woah, I thought all that bubbling cauldron stuff was an exaggeration!" Amanda said as the foam began to die down.

"Arabic gum is actually one of the reasons why you get a reaction from Diet Coke and mentos. I'm pretty sure if you know how to do it right, you can make a spell from that explosion."

"We are so figuring out how to do that." Amanda said with a nod, and Eunoia laughed.

"Alright, I just gotta bottle this and drop a rune in, and then we'll be set." They took an empty vial from the box and carefully poured the light green concoction into it, then held it out to Farah.

"Could you hold that?"

"Sure..." she hesitantly took it and held it like it would burn her if she held too tight.

"It's not gonna hurt you, I made it with good intent." Eunoia laughed, but Farah didn't relax much. "It'll just be a moment, hold on."

They grabbed a thin sheet of paper and quickly drew a symbol on a corner, then carefully tore that corner off and dropped it into the vial. As it sat in the liquid, it began to disintegrate.

"If it can melt paper, I think it's pretty deadly, pal." Farah said.

"It's rice paper. Made to be eaten, and it dissolves easily. Hand it back now."

They took the vial, popped a spray top onto it, and shook it to get the rice paper to dissolve completely. They turned to Amanda with a smile.

"Ok, close your eyes and your mouth, Amanda."

She complied and Eunoia sprayed her three times before letting her open her eyes again.

"That should clear it up in a few minutes. If not..." they reached into the bottom of their box and pulled out a thin wallet and checked how much cash they had. "I'm going to the store."

They got up, but Amanda stopped them before they could get to the door.

"Why? What do you need?"

"I was looking through my stuff earlier and I'm missing some ingredients. Ginger, peppermint oil, not to mention some clothes, maybe."

"I'll come with you."

"Amanda, are you sure?" Farah asked. "What if you-"

"I'll be fine, Farah. Eunoia has a similar thing, they know what it's like, and can deal with it. I have my meds."

Farah nodded and let them go. In the hallway, Eunoia frowned.

"You know my hallucinations aren't like yours, Amanda. And I can't do what the boys do."

"It'll be fine, I just didn't want her on my case. Farah is awesome, and totally hot, but she's also a little off. She's a great presence for my brother to have in his life, though."

"You have a brother?"

"Yeah, he's kind of an asshole, but he takes care of me. He means well."

"Must be nice."

They made their way down the stairs and out of the building, and Eunoia breathed a sigh of relief. They had barely noticed their rising anxiety until it settled down with the cleaner air.

"Do you have any siblings?"

They were silent for a moment as they thought, and Amanda looked at them curiously.

"The coven was like a family, when I was in it. Everyone was each other's sibling, kind of. Except for the girls who dated. But once you're out they aren't your family anymore. I... guess I have a real older sister, though."

"You guess?"

"I haven't talked to her in years. She's a few years older than me and was everything my parents wanted from a kid. Independent, goal-oriented, neat freak like you couldn't imagine." They counted on their fingers as they listed traits. "Everything that she was, I wasn't. Sure, I was creative, but there's no way that could bring in an income for me." They sneered, then sighed. "Sorry, didn't mean to rant."

"No, it's ok, sounds like that was building up for a while."

"You have no idea."

"I get what you mean, though. Todd is a jerk, but, well, he overcame his illness. He used to have pararibulitus too. Knowing he got over it helps me get up in the morning, but it's also like, what if I never do what he did? It would be so nice to live without worrying, or having people worry for me. And I'm sure you know how terrifying that shit can get." She nudged them with her shoulder as they walked, but they only grimaced.

"Amanda, I keep telling you that mine aren't like that. You've gotta believe me."

Air puffed out of her lungs in a semblance of a laugh.

"Yeah, they don't hurt as bad as mine, they aren't caused by nerve damage. I get that."

"No, I don't hurt. At all. Maybe occasionally I'll get a prick of pain. But for the most part? The sensation ones feel like there are things digging around inside of my body, while I'm numb. Jeez, I-I was hallucinating when you were talking to me before the whole CIA thing happened."

"Wait, what? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I-I don't want to trouble you."

"Eunoia, you can't just hide that from me, from us. Were you masking your emotions so the 3 wouldn't tell?"

"No, I wouldn't have had such bad anxiety if I had. I've just gotten used to it. It's... it's really not like yours."

Amanda sighed and was quiet for a bit as they made their way through the supermarket parking lot. They passed through the doors and Eunoia headed straight for the produce isle.

It wasn't until they were picking through the ginger roots, searching for the perfect one, that Amanda spoke again.

"I'm sorry if I made you feel like I didn't understand how it is for you. I mean, I don't know. But you shouldn't feel bad about explaining it to anyone. Especially me."

"Thanks..."

"And I don't know about the boys, but I do feel like you could totally be a part of our little team."

A small smile graced Eunoia's lips as they remembered the conversation from earlier that day.

"Martin offered me a place in the group. Although I'm not sure if the Rowdy 6 has quite the same ring to it."

"Better than 5, cause now we can just have two groups of three."

"Rowdy two groups of three?"

Amanda laughed and they chuckled back, and suddenly the tension that had been building up in them after their outburst earlier had faded away.