2. Them!

When Lucy woke up the next morning she felt something cold weighing down her left eyebrow.

When she opened her eyes she saw a blue blur that with a few blinks turned into Nova holding an ice pack on her eye.

When she saw Lucy had awoken she let go of the ice pack with one of her small hands to wave. Lucy saw a cluster of stars gathered on her palm.

"Good morning, Nova," she said and sat up, supporting the ice pack with her own hand.

"What a day we had yesterday, huh?" She heard something rattling on the floor as she shifted her weight. It was a towel that had been resting on her midriff, stuffed with ice cubes. Nova zipped to the floor in a hurry and picked up one of the ice cubes and placed it back on the towel. She went to get a second one and dropped it with less finesse than the first one, then aggressively rubbed her hands together and blew air on them with a pained expression on her face.

"That's so nice of you!" Lucy exclaimed. "You shouldn't have." She put the ice pack on her nightstand and felt her eye. It didn't feel swollen anymore. She would have to get up and move around to check how her ribs felt, but the bruising from the night before had significantly lessened. She wondered if she healed faster than normal people; she was the body of a witch, and it didn't seem that far-fetched to her that Marlucy would have enchanted herself to be stronger than a non-magical person.

Nova went for her third attempt to pick up an ice cube but Lucy quickly stopped her. "It's alright! I think I'm okay now. And I don't want you to freeze your hands off." Nova looked relieved.

Lucy swung her legs over the edge of the bed and looked around. I really need to make this place look more like a home, she thought to herself. The apartment had nothing in it aside from the bare essentials. Now that everyone inside of Old Town was alive again maybe the shops would open again, Lucy thought. She didn't have any recollection of them ever being open, as she technically didn't exist before Marlucy died, but being Marlucy's body had given her some knowledge that just "made sense" to her.

Kids go to school, adults go to work, in your free time you relax or spend time with friends... Her stomach growled. You go to the shops to get food. Another place where you can find food is the fridge, Lucy knew.

But the one in her apartment was empty. Zombies didn't eat normal human food. They got food from the inhabitants of the next town over, who were all monsters. Lucy wondered if they'd ever thanked them for that.

What was it that they gave them to eat anyway? As she sat there thinking Nova cleaned up the ice cubes by folding them into the towel and emptying the towel into the sink.

"Are you hungry?" Lucy asked from the bedroom. Nova rubbed her belly and nodded bashfully.

"Do you want to see if the monsters are there, with the food carts?"

Nova shook her head and frantically flailed her arms, crossing them several times; she most definitely did not want to do that.

Lucy got up from the bed and walked over to her. "It's that bad? I can't remember what it tastes like at all. I don't think I was really thinking when I ate anyway." Nova pointed at Lucy, then at her mouth, and then made another cross sign. Lucy frowned.

"I shouldn't eat it either? Why not?"

Nova rolled up her eyes and stretched her arms in front of her, her hands dangling limply. Lucy gathered she was doing a zombie impression. Then she pretended to eat something. Then she pointed at her head.

She pointed more animatedly at her head when Lucy just gave her a blank stare. Then it hit her. "THEY WERE BRAINS!"

Nova nodded.

"Of course they were brains," Lucy continued. She held her hand in front of her mouth in horror, though she didn't sound horror struck. After all, it just made sense. Zombies ate brains. She found it a disgusting thought now, but before she didn't care. It was just food. Anything else would not sustain her, she knew. Gosh, she hoped that had changed now. If not, she might just use her Pretty Cure magic to try and change it, she thought to herself.

"Where did they get them? They weren't human, were they…?" Nova shrugged. How could she know, after all, she'd been locked up inside her cage all the time Lucy had existed.

Lucy figured she could ask when she next met the monster merchants in town. If they were hostile, she could just turn into Cure Cortex and frighten them away...She hoped.

Her stomach grumbled again. "Let's go find some shops," she said to Nova, and they headed out.

To their surprise and delight some of the shops were open. The owners had retaken their professions quickly after being returned to normal, and in some ways it was hard to tell Old Town had been a ghost town just a day ago.

Lucy and Nova loaded up on whatever looked good. Most of the things available were instant goods and preserved foods, as there were no vegetables, fruits, bread or dairy available yet.

"We're trying to get a thing going with the next town over, since we won't have any fresh crops ourselves for a while," the shop owner explained. "Zombies aren't exactly renown for their farming skills. That'll be 23.50, if you please."

Lucy instinctively tapped her pockets, which she found were flat, and then panicked. "I don't have any money," she exclaimed, and looked at Nova for help. "Do you?"

Nova made an angry chattering noise and mimed the size of a coin, roughly the size of her head, and then tapped her hips, where pockets might have been if her dress had any.

"I'll take that as a no," Lucy said.

The owner smiled at them. "That's alright Miss. I think you've done this town enough of a service to warrant you free groceries for at least a year. Maybe a lifetime." Lucy gaped at him.

"Really? Thanks mister!"

It hadn't really been her who had fixed the town, that had been Marlucy's doing, but to the shop owner that didn't make any difference. Lucy had vowed to protect the town, and that was enough payment for him.

"Maybe I could invite Gwen and Jimmy over and we could make them food, to thank them for helping us."

Nova made a wide gesture with her arms accompanied by whooshing noises.

"If I set the kitchen on fire I will undo it with my magic," Lucy laughed.

When they made it back to Lucy's apartment, they found Gwen and Jimmy in front of the building, waiting for them.

"We thought we'd come visit you now that everything's back to normal, but then you weren't home," Jimmy explained. Lucy held up the bag of groceries by way of explanation.

"We got you something!" Gwen said. She held out a box. Inside of it was a phone. It had some small scratches on the screen and sides, but it worked fine.

"It's my old phone," Gwen explained. "We thought it would be good for you to have one, so you can contact us more easily. It's already got our numbers in it! Do you know how to use it?"

Lucy effortlessly navigated to the phonebook, and saw Gwen and Jimmy were her only contacts, aside from "Mum".

"I guess I do," she said with raised eyebrows. Marlucy must have known how to use a phone, she supposed.

"Seems like everyone's picking their normal life up again pretty fast," Jimmy said after they'd gone inside. He was munching on a toaster strudel in Lucy's kitchen. He wasn't particularly hungry, especially not for a baked good that would survive a direct hit from a nuke, but Lucy had been so excited at the first thing she ever "cooked" he didn't have the heart to refuse.

"Shops are open and I saw people going into the school. I think they're trying to get that back up and running as soon as possible, though I didn't see any kids go in yet."

Gwen scoffed. "I mean, would you go back to school if you had an excuse not to? Just say you're still adjusting to being alive again and bam, you've got yourself an extra holiday." She happily accepted another toasted good Lucy offered her.

"I don't know," Jimmy said. "I think it'd be nice to go, if they would have us. We're always surrounded by werewolves at home and we're the only people of our age there. It'd be nice to be around peers more, and different people. And you could stand to expand your knowledge." He playfully punched Gwen's shoulder.

"Do you want to go," Gwen asked Lucy. Lucy turned around, holding a spoonful of honey in one hand. It was meant for Nova, and she was about to place it on a plate, but now she was stopped in her thoughts. Nova tried to catch the honey that was falling off the spoon with mixed success.

"I really don't know," Lucy concluded. "I think I need some time to think about that."

"Well," Gwen slapped her hands on her outstretched legs. "I'll base my decision on whatever you'll do. I'll go if you go."

"What if the vampires go? They've got some school aged people amongst them," Jimmy asked.

"If Griff goes I'll definitely go," Gwen said grinning.

After breakfast they went out again. Quite a lot of houses had their doors open and they had to avoid ladders here and there; people were cleaning up their houses which had fallen into disrepair during their time as zombies.

Nothing looked quite as bad as the school did, though. It had been a magnificent building at one point in time, with a large garden and sports fields around it behind a beautiful art-nouveau-esque gate protecting it all, but now it looked like a tornado had gone through it.

Most of the windows were smashed, someone had crudely spray painted a face on the front door and the large windows above it, and one half of the gates had been torn off its hinges.

The roof of the building was covered in large holes, like something had crashed into (or out of) it.

Jimmy shook his head as they walked onto the grounds and took in the damage. The hoops on the basketball field were stuffed with sports equipment. One of the boards was broken. There was a giant splash of something dark brown dried in the middle of the concrete.

"Vampires," Jimmy said through gritted teeth. "No doubt about it."

"Why would they do this?" Lucy looked at the stain in the middle of the court with some discomfort.

"Because they're dicks," Jimmy helpfully explained.

"They get bored a lot," Gwen said. "And when they get bored they go out and destroy things, or harrass people. I guess they got bored of bothering zombies, and they generally leave the other monsters alone, so… The school became their new target."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Jimmy said as he noticed Lucy's eyes were glued to the spot on the court. "They don't kill people. They get blood from the monsters, just like the zombies used to get their food from them. I guess one of them dropped his bottle. Or they did it on purpose, who knows. Point is, they're dicks, as I said."

Lucy felt a little relieved, but Jimmy also reminded her of something she had worried about earlier. "Where do the monsters get their food from?"

Jimmy scratched his cheek. "They have a lot of cattle. They don't really use the blood or the brains, so they uh… They "gift" that to others. It helps keep the peace."

"Yeah, we get our meat from them," Gwen chimed in. "We're the only ones who pay for it I think. They'd offered to just give it to us but Mum thought that wasn't fair."

Jimmy nodded. "It doesn't feel right to just get things from them and give them nothing in return. They're keeping half the country sane, they should be paid for their efforts."

The more Lucy and Gwen talked about the monsters, the more Lucy wanted to meet them. They seemed like absolutely lovely people. She wanted to do something for them, give them something back for all the kindness they'd shown her and everyone else.

A man hurried towards them. He looked neat with his shirt tucked in proper and his deep blue tie; but it was slightly thrown off by his messy dark hair and the broken lens in his glasses.

"Excuse me," he began. He was out of breath. "You are Lucy, correct? Sorry to intrude like this." He looked to be in his early to mid-twenties. Jimmy recognised him as one of the zombies who used to walk around the gate of the school, but decided not to mention this.

Lucy nodded. "Is something wrong?"

"Better ask what's not wrong," he sighed, then apologized again. "You fixed the town yesterday, right? Made us all go back to normal?"

Lucy shook her head apologetically. "That wasn't really me, sorry. But I can do a bit of magic, just not as big as what I did… What she did yesterday."

"Oh," the man said. "Well, I think this isn't too big, at least I hope so. We were wondering if you could help us with the school."

He held out his hand. "How rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself. Ervin Turan. I'm a teacher here, and we want to resume lessons asap for the students, but the school is in quite a state."

"We noticed," Jimmy said.

"Will you take werewolves?" Gwen asked out of nowhere. Mr. Turan looked at her for a moment.

"I don't think we used to," he said carefully. "I'm not in charge of making that decision, I'm sorry. The headmistress is out front, you could discuss it with her."

"I'll help you with the school if you'll teach monsters!"

Everyone gaped at Lucy. "I think that's fair payment," she explained.

Mr. Turan mumbled a reiteration that he didn't have the authority to make that decision. He led them to the front of the building. Outside were a few other adults, Lucy assumed they were also teachers. They looked quite lost.

"I don't know how to transform," Lucy admitted to her friends. Nova looked very surprised, and said something.

"It just happened yesterday, I don't know how I did it," Lucy said to her. "But now I feel like I have to say something first… I just don't know what it is."

"You became a Cure yesterday?" Gwen asked. Lucy explained what had happened the day before in the alley. Gwen and Jimmy were a little worried, though Jimmy tried to hide it. He didn't think feeling scared would help Lucy with becoming Cure Cortex again.

"What if you concentrate on what you want to do," he proposed.

"Oh, yeah, maybe," Lucy said. She looked at the school and took in the damage. I want to fix this, she thought. I want Old Town to go back to how it used to be when it was alive. Even if I don't know what that looked like.

"Luc-" Gwen began when she spotted something glowing brightly on Lucy's throat, but Nova stopped her by putting her hands on Gwen's lips. Lucy needed to concentrate. The choker with the pink, heart-shaped gem materialized, and suddenly Lucy knew what to say.

"Mirabilis Cerebrum! Kaibutsu!" She was briefly enveloped in a pink light that seemed to swirl around her like a fire, and when it dissipated Cure Cortex stood in her place.

"I'll take a bite out of anyone who gets in my way! Cure Cortex!"

"Wow, that's pretty threatening," Gwen said after she was done gaping.

"You look amazing," Jimmy said. Nova clapped again.

Everyone else stared at Cortex in excitement, anxious about what she would do next. Cortex conjured her wand.

"Okay, I've only done this once before and that was a completely different situation, so I don't know if this'll work," Cortex warned them. She held out her wand in front of her. The tip glowed faintly. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She concentrated on her wish.

"Pretty Cure! Lux Stellae Praesens! Fix the school!" A glint of light passed over the school and its grounds, and then vanished. Initially it looked like nothing happened, but then it seemed like the school came to life. The windows reformed and the holes in the roof were filled up by shingles and wooden boards that regrew from their shattered remains.

The sports gear went back to its rightful place in the gym and the stain evaporated. The gate repaired itself with a loud clang which startled the gaggle of teachers.

Judging from the noises coming from inside the building, which consisted mainly of loud dragging noises of chairs on the wooden floors, the inside of the building was putting itself right as well.

The crude graffiti face melted off the front entrance, as did any other graffiti on the premises.

When everything looked right, the lights surrounding the school flickered on. So did the ones inside. The building now looked perfectly clean and whole, and looked welcoming.

"That was amazing!" One of the teachers declared.

Cortex detransformed. "I'm glad I could help," Lucy said.

"Did you see? Those zombies in Old Town, they're human again."

The dungeon was cold and dank, as always. They had tried to make it feel less like a prison, it's original purpose; it was tastefully decorated and well-lit, and the furniture was of high quality, but to Child it all felt like wasted effort. A dungeon would always be a dungeon, with no windows and that ever perseverant dampness.

Child hated the dampness the most. It made his limbs feel heavy, not to mention his head. He was prone to hunching over regardless of the level of moisture in the air but the fact he had to put in actual effort to keep his head up actively irritated him. The bugs that lived in his extremities and behind his eyes didn't seem to mind the mugginess much. If anything it seemed it made them multiply. That was yet another reason to hate it down here.

He picked at a stitch on the side of his index finger until it came loose.

"Come on, out," he said to his hand as he shook it near the floor. Dozens of pill bugs scurried out as fast as they could and fell to the floor, faking their demise as was their accustomed way of defense.

"That's disgusting, Child," someone chastised him. He looked up, still looking thoroughly irritated. "If I don't do that they'll burst out on their own eventually. You really want to see bugs crawling out of my eyes, Griff?" He smirked. Griff pulled a face of disgust.

"Where's your Lady anyway," Child asked as he sewed up his finger.

Everybody knew Griff wasn't of the same status they were. He was just a butler of sorts to a mysterious vampire duchess named Lady Lune, who apparently deemed herself too important to show up in person. She always sent Griff in her stead. It seemed this time was no different. "My Lady is preoccupied with other business," Griff explained. Child turned away from him. A creature in the shadows scoffed, and the final person in the room rolled her eyes, accompanied with a very loud "ugh".

"She has, like, no respect for us whatsoever, does she?" the eyeroller said. Her skin was purple, her hair half pink and half blue and she had three arms. She was braiding her hair with two of her arms, while the third one rested uselessly on her lap. Her knees were covered in colourful bandages. She wasn't wounded, she just liked how they looked. And people gave her sad looks when they saw the bandages, which she also liked. She'd recently started putting them on her cheeks, but this had had differing reactions.

She wasn't from this world, and didn't have a name. Her peers had become accustomed to referring to her as Coral, which she accepted begrudgingly. The person who named her said she reminded her of coral, which was a creature found in the oceans of this world, because of her horns. Coral had never seen this organism before, and she was sure she'd be very upset when confronted with it regardless of what it looked like, because the inhabitants of this planet seemed to be adept at upsetting her. She'd left her home planet in hopes of finding a more compassionate species elsewhere but clearly this place had been a mistake. She wasn't going to leave again though, oh no. She'd teach them to respect her.

"Lady Lune is preoccupied," Griff repeated.

Before Coral could object, the person who had spoken first moved out of the shadows. She moved with lightning speed despite her large body, which made a "thump" noise as she hit the floor when she dropped down from the ceiling, making Coral shriek. Child and Griff stayed stationary, though Griff did look unnerved.

Magdalene lifted her cowl, her many eyes flickering over each occupant in the room adjusting her eight legs methodically with every small motion. She was the reason they were down here. A dungeon was an ideal living space for a giant crowned orb weaver such as herself. "I asked if you noticed the changes in Old Town."

Coral said nothing.

"Nope," said Child.

"I did," Griff spoke up, his voice steel. "My Lady was rather unhappy with it."

"I don't doubt that," Magdalene said. "Lady Rosabell didn't take it very well."

Magdalene didn't ever leave the dungeon, but her eyes could see through the eyes of any spider in the land.

Griff knew, however, that she couldn't see anything Rosabell didn't want her to see. Magdalene was a powerful creature, perhaps the most powerful one in the room, but nobody was as mighty as Rosabell.

Magdalene laughed her small, feminine giggle. Rosabell would burn the dungeon with her inside if she ever saw she was being ridiculed by a member of her court, Griff knew. But he only briefed her on the important things of their meetings. Magdalene would be safe from his Lady's wrath.

They'd all sing a different tune if they knew Lady Lune was actually Rosabell, he knew. He didn't quite get her strategy of keeping her identity from her court, but alas. He might be the closest companion Rosabell had, but she still kept a lot to herself. It was just how she was, he knew. Unlike Marlucy, who seemed to share everything with her familiar; that little blue fairy.

"So she's reset the playing board," Child said. He tilted his head back. "God I hate this dungeon," he groaned to himself.

"I think we've got a bigger problem than the humans being back," Griff said.

"Marlucy died but her body zombified, and it's still walking around." He looked at Magdalene. "I'm sure you saw." She gave him a small nod. "It calls itself Lucy now, and it wasn't much of a problem initially."

"Yes, Griff, we all know how you stalked your werewolf buddies to "monitor Lucy"," Child said, a grin forming on his face.

Griff disregarded his comment and continued. "Yesterday Marlucy turned the zombies back into humans and bestowed powers onto Lucy. She calls herself Cure Cortex now. She's in search for four more people to give Cure powers to."

"What a cheater! Typical witch," Coral said.

"You know Lady Rosabell is a witch too, right?" Child said, the grin still on his face.

"Shut up, you stupid bag of sand!" Coral screeched. Magdalene threw her a disdainful look. Coral was all cheer and sunshine until someone called her out on something. It made her into an awful conversational partner, and none of the other courtiers liked her much. Coral knew this, but she told herself she didn't care.

"You're a stupid bag of sand," she repeated, "you don't know what it's like to have your home taken from you like I do. I was gonna make this my paradise and then those two showed up."

"And Lady Rosabell was ever so gracious to offer you a place in her court," Griff said quickly before Coral said something truly foolish. Coral threw him a look full of hatred, tears burning in the corners of her eyes, but she shut up.

"I am a stupid bag of sand," Child said. Griff could tell he was about to set Coral off, but he couldn't interfere fast enough. "And the fact that I'm aware of it is the only difference between the two of us!"

"You're the worst! You guys, he's the worst, isn't he? I can't believe you let him treat me like this!" Coral cried.

"I don't care!" Child shouted. He loved riling Coral up. Griff didn't like that about him; there was no challenge in it, Coral could be set off in the blink of an eye if you knew what to say. And there were a lot of things you could say to set her off.

"Enough!" Magdalene bellowed. She got up on her hind legs, towering over everyone else in the room, four of her legs pointed menacingly at the others. "I'm the least human person in this room and I'm the most well mannered, this is preposterous," she hissed.

"I'm sorry," Griff said. Child pulled at one of the stitched on the corners of his mouth. Coral cried.

"Thank you, Griff," Magdalene said. She got back down on eight legs. She was bitterly disappointed that the only person who apologised was the one who did nothing wrong in the first place.

Why Rosabell had appointed these two to her court she'd never understand. She knew Child was her very creation, as he was a voodoo doll she brought to life during an experiment. Magdalene knew the witches liked to experiment. Coral was made into a courtier to placate her. She'd been very upset to find she wouldn't be able to mold the planet she landed on into her personal paradise thanks to the two witches. Magdalene doubted she posed any true danger, however.

It seemed to her they'd be a lot more efficient if it was just her and Griff. Or Lady Lune, if she could ever bother to actually show up herself.

"My Lady informed me Rosabell has a plan for the werewolves Cortex hangs out with. It should stop her from recruiting any more Cures, as she's got no other acquaintances."

To Griff's relief everybody was now listening.

"She's going to create an eternal full moon. Either the werewolves will be locked up in their home as is their custom, or they will go berserk and the monsters will have to… deal with them."

"Oh, I like that," said Child.

"So what do we do?" Coral asked. She didn't seem to particularly care much about the plan with the werewolves. Or the whole Cure business.

"We wait, for now." Griff said.

"Oh, I love waiting," Child said. "Are we done now? I can't wait to get out of this dank prison."

Cortex and her friends spent the rest of the day exploring Old Town. Every now and then someone would run up to them and ask Cortex if she could use some of her magic to help them out with mainly very trivial problems.

Cortex happily obliged each time, until someone asked her to clear up the spots on his face and Nova took her wand off her.

"What's wrong?" Cortex asked, still transformed. Nova shook her head and chattered.

"Maybe she's saying not to use your magic for things like this?" Jimmy guessed.

"Things like what? This is a pretty serious matter, school's gonna start again soon and I wanna look good!" the spotty faced boy protested. Nova threw him an annoyed look.

"Is there a limit to my magic?" Cortex offered. She had a feeling this might be it. Nova pointed at her and nodded energetically. She handed the wand back to Cortex and tapped on it. Cortex inspected the wand, and for the first time she noticed there was a pattern engraved in it. It glowed faintly at the base but faded out to nothing as it went up. She remember how brightly the wand had shone when Marlucy had used it. Maybe it reflected how much magic she had left?

"I better save it for something important," Cortex said to herself. She de-transformed.

"Aw man," the spotty boy whined. He walked off, loudly complaining to himself.

Gwen pulled Jimmy's sleeve.

"It's getting dark, Jim. We should make our way home." She pointed at the sky.

"Already? It feels like the last one was just a week ago," he protested. "Sorry Lucy, it's that time again. We'll see you again soon."

Lucy nodded. "Please be careful," she said.

Full moon meant that Jimmy and Gwen's home, the Volta mansion, would go on what they called 'lockdown'. The entire Volta family consisted of werewolves, though most of them weren't related by blood, and were brought together by a matriarch who went by Governess who took anyone who was afflicted by the werewolf curse under her wing. Jimmy and Gwen simply referred to her as 'mum'.

Lockdown meant that the mansion would be closed off completely, no one would be allowed in, and none of the family would be allowed out. It meant the house would get ripped up badly for as long as the full moon was in the sky, and so did the family members who were prone to attacking each other, but it was the safest option they had now. The werewolves lost their human mind when they transformed and they would be a danger to anyone that would cross their path while they were in that form.

At least with them all locked up inside their house everyone would be safe, and they were strong enough to deal with each others bites and scratches. Gwen and Jimmy were covered in scars, as was most of the family. They laughed it off though, saying it was more like wolf cubs playing with each other and not an actual attempt on each others lives.

"Wait!" Lucy said as they walked off. "I want to give you something." She rummaged in her pocket and took out one of the gems, an orange one, that was glowing quite brightly.

"It's one of the Cure gems," she said, holding it in her open palm. "It glows whenever you guys are near me, so I think that means you should have it. Maybe we can be Cures together."

Her eyes sparkles a little as she said the last bit.

So did Gwen's. Jimmy was excited too, but thought for a moment and then shook his head. "No, we shouldn't do this now," he said.

"Why not?" Gwen and Lucy said in unison.

"Think about it," Jimmy said. "Gwen and I are about to lose our minds. Is now really the best time to give us the ability to do magic?"

"Aw," Gwen pouted. She stomped her foot. "I know you're right but that still really sucks. I want to be a Pretty Cure with Lucy!"

"Don't worry," Lucy said as she put the gem back in her pocket. "I'll give it to you after the lockdown is over. It won't be long!"

Gwen pumped her fists in front of her. "It'll be so cool! I can't wait. I'll think of a catch phrase in the meantime."

Lucy heard her practice phrases as her and Jimmy walked off, with incredulous responses from Jimmy. She looked at the sky and hoped time would pass fast.

On her way back home four more people came up to her to ask her for a favour. Each one of them responded more disappointed than the last when she turned them down. "You could at least fix that green skin of yours," the last man grumbled after Lucy apologised for not wanting to fix his picket fence. "You look like a creep."

Nova shook her tiny fists at him and uttered some choice words Lucy had never heard her say before, but Lucy herself didn't respond and kept walking home.

"That was really mean," she said after Nova finished her tirade. "I would've helped if I had more magic. But it being limited isn't my fault..." Nova petter her cheek.

When they got home Nova opened the fridge with much effort and tried to get out ingredients, but Lucy just sat down on her bed and stared out the window.

When Nova went to check on her she apologised. "I'm not hungry, sorry. I can open the honey for you, if you need me to."

Nova zipped back and forth between the kitchen and the bedroom and brought the jar of honey and a spoon. Lucy opened the jar and put a spoonful on the lid, which she placed open-faced in the window.

"At least you don't ask me to use my magic for silly things," she sighed. She sounded a little sad. Nova looked up at her questioningly, her face full of honey.

"I'll be okay," Lucy smiled insincerely. She looked at the moon which was now brightly shining in the sky. "But I do admit, even though I've only been alone for a few minutes I feel lonely already. It seems everyone outside of you and Jimmy and Gwen just wants me to do something for them. And..." She fumbled with her nails. "...I do wish I could talk to you. I know you know what I'm saying, but it's tough when I can't tell what you're saying." Nova nodded. She wiped her hands on her dress, got up, and flew out of the bedroom. Lucy heard her dragging something from the living room.

"Do you need a hand?" she asked. Nova reappeared in the door, near the ground, dragging a thick book that was at least twice her size across the floor.

"What's this?" Lucy picked up the book, Nova sat down on her shoulder and gestured at the it.

The cover was beautifully illustrated with flowers and stars. Marlucy's name was engraved on it in curly script. "A spellbook," Lucy mused. She sat down and rifled through it. "Did Marlucy write all this?"

Nova nodded.

"This is gonna take a while to get through," Lucy said. "Can I learn how to talk to you from this?" Nova shrugged.

"Maybe, huh," Lucy concluded.

She ended up falling asleep with the book in her lap, Nova still on her shoulder. The book was mighty interesting, with many entries on different monster species and individuals and spells for remedies and incantations, but nothing so far about Nova or her language.

She woke up again several hours later. She started when she looked at the clock. I slept nearly ten hours! I must've been really tired. Nova was dozing on the floor. She was kind of happy she slept so long, it would mean she would get hang out with her friends again faster.

The days drug by, and somehow a week had passed but the full moon was still hanging high in the air. "That's strange," Lucy said to herself. "I'm pretty sure it's never been out for that long."

She had been counting down the days, only going out to get groceries as every time she set foot outside people would bother her to ask her for favors. Lucy wasn't one to anger quickly, but she was growing irritable now.

She also felt extremely alone. Clearly the other citizens of Old Town did not consider her one of them, and nobody seemed to sincerely ask her "how are you" without following it up with a request right after. And she still hadn't found anything about Nova's language.

She had, however, found a summoning ritual labeled "for summoning a friend". It looked rather eerie and required Lucy to draw an intricate circular pattern on the floor, but with every passing day she felt more tempted to try it.

Nova had heavily protested when, after a week, Lucy had drawn the pattern on the floor. "Don't worry, I just wanted to see if I can replicate it," Lucy assured her.

Nova had hidden away the remaining salt when Lucy had drawn a circle with it around the pattern three days after that, but Lucy had already completed the circle before she could. "It's for good luck, actually," Lucy explained to her.

Another week passed, and Nova tried to close Marlucy's spellbook when Lucy had placed it in the middle of the pattern, open on the page with the summoning ritual on it, but the book was too heavy for her.

She yelled when Lucy pricked her finger and dripped some of her blood on the book. "It's just to check if I have the guts for it," Lucy lied.

Nova pounded her tiny fists on Lucy's head, which felt like a regular sized person was gently tapping her cranium with two fingers.

She spoke the incantation loud and clearly, sitting on her knees in front of the circle. The last word came out as a yelp however, as Nova had started pulling her hair and that had startled her.

But it was too late to stop the ritual now. The circle was empty one second, then engulfed in flames that reached the ceiling the next, like someone had poured hot oil on an open flame. Nova let go of Lucy's hair.

A figure appeared within the wall of flames, a shape with glowing yellow eyes and enormous curled horns on either side of its head. "Marlucy," it growled in a deep voice.

"Actually, it's just Lucy!" Lucy said and smiled. "Nice to meet you."