Author's Note: Well hello there. :) Here is chapter 10. Lots of stuff happens in this chapter. I hope you enjoy it! :3

Chapter 10

Molly's PoV

I was warm and cozy when I finally returned to my senses, although my brain still seemed to be floating around somewhere otherworldly. My muscles were stiff and sore, and I got the impression I had been asleep for a long time. The back of my head was pounding painfully and making it hard to focus on opening my eyes, but I still sighed happily and rolled over, pulling the soft blanket up to my chin. I opened my eyes slowly and stared at the ceiling, not recognizing it. It was grey and covered in varying shades of yellowed paper, and they all showed the same thing: sketches upon sketches of constellations and phases of the moon. I did not have such things tacked to my ceiling.

I shot bolt upright, groping the unfamiliar navy duvet and frantically tried to remember what happened before my world went black. I already knew where I was: Wizard's, duh. Who else can draw the night sky so accurately? But why and how did I get here, and where were the magic man and my Sprite? What day was it? How was my farm? How were Bellie and my three new little chicks, Peep, Cheep and Meep? What about Tilly, my new lamb, or -

The bedroom door creaked open and Wizard poked his head in. His one visible eye widened at the sight of me sitting awake and alert, but the rest of his face remained just as infuriatingly stoic as ever. "You're...awake," he said, coming into the room all the way and closing the door behind him. "That took much...longer than I...thought it would. How...are you feeling?"

I totally ignored his questions and demanded, "What happened to me? Why am I in your bed? What happened to my farm? Where's Finn? How -"

Wizard held up one palm, and I shut up. His wintergreen eye twinkled for a moment with mirth before the laughter disappeared. I missed it immediately. He pulled up a creaky wooden chair next to the bed and sat down beside me, pressing his palms together. "I...brought you here to...recover. Do you...remember going to the...inn with me...to get my crystal ball from Jake?" I nodded. "Alright...If you really don't remember...what happened afterward...he injured you rather badly...and I had to heal your...wounds. You have a...nasty scar now on...your neck, but you...seem to have recovered from...the concussion." My eyes widened and I opened my mouth to interrupt, but Wizard shot me an impressive glare, and I closed it again, properly abashed. "That was...six days ago. It's now...fall thirteenth." I wanted to interrupt again, but Wizard plowed on before I got the chance. "Julius...and Toby are watching your...farm. From...what I've heard, they've done...a mediocre job."

I whistled lowly and sat back, folding my arms. Six days, huh? I was knocked out for almost a week. I shook my head and smiled; at least my farm was in somewhat-capable hands. But then I thought of something; why was I in his house?

"Why am I in your house? Your bed, for that matter?" I asked, voicing my thoughts.

Wizard scoffed at my question, and I raised an eyebrow at his attitude. "What...was I supposed to do? It...would not be right...for me to have...you sleeping on my...couch. And you are here because...I could take proper care...of you. I did not...want to have to...hike all the way up to...your farm every day to make...sure you were in stable condition." He stopped and inspected me, taking in my extremely ruffled hair (which was in dire need of a good washing), wrinkly clothes and probably the worst case of morning breath in the history of the world.

Ignoring his staring, something about his statement struck me as just the sweetest thing ever. He didn't dump me on his couch, but let me steal his bed for almost a whole week straight, AND he let me actually stay in his house. What's there not to be called sweet? Who knew the Wizard, Mr. I'm-so-silent-and-moody-leave-me-alone-humans, the magic man, the guy who seriously needed to learn how to talk normally, had it in him to be so considerate and gentlemanly? It made me want to give him a big hug.

"Awwww, Wizarrrrrrrd~," I cooed, swinging my legs over the side of the bed and sitting to look him straight in the face. His green eye widened. "That's sooo sweet of you! You coulda put me on the couch; I wouldn't have cared." I smiled widely and sat cross-legged on the bed. "I didn't know you could be sucha gentlemen. Thank you!" It was then I noticed Wizard's cheeks were slowly starting to get darker. His eye was wide and his mouth was firmly closed.

Whoa. Did...Did I just make him blush? Wizard was blushing?

The more I stared at his face, the darker it got. He started fidgeting in his chair and clearing his throat and looking around the room, anywhere but at me. I watched in fascination. I had flustered the Wizard! I felt accomplished.

We sat in awkward silence for quite a while before I decided I had overstayed my welcome. "Well," I said as I stood. My knees shook a little, but otherwise I could walk okay. "I guess I'll go and relieve Toby and Julius from watching the farm. Where's Finn at?"

Wizard took a moment to gather his thoughts, judging by the way his face looked. "He...left a few hours ago...to visit Ce - the goddess." I nodded and turned towards the door and started to hobble towards it. But Wizard called me back. "Er...Molly..." he trailed off when I looked his direction and smiled. He shuffled his feet and stared at his black socks.

"Hmmm?"

"I...I mean, Julius and...Toby might...Well, they perhaps...may say...Er, you know what? Never...mind. Just...disregard whatever they might...say about me and...the Moon Viewing festival."

I stared at him quizzically. Right now was one of those extraordinarily rare, almost-nonexistent moments when his face was about as easy to read as an open book. He tugged on his braid nervously under my scrutiny, and I waited for him to say what was really on his mind. Obviously, he wasn't telling me something that Julius would have no trouble declaring from the rooftops. And despite what Wizard said, it was all true.

When he didn't say anything further, my annoyance sparked and my stare turned to a glare (ha, that rhymed!). I got up and stalked over to him, placing my hands on my hips threateningly. "Just spit it out," I demanded. He flinched. "It can't be that bad." It was Wizard's turn to glare, and something made me think that in his mind, this was about as horrible as going out with me. In case you haven't noticed, Wizard could only take so much of my chatter; going on a date with me had to be higher up on his blacklist than burning coffee on purpose.

Wizard was still keeping it a secret. So, as motivation, I stepped out of his bedroom and walked down a narrow hallway towards his kitchen, which was weirdly upstairs. I stomped through the narrow archway, hands clenched at my sides, with the magic man following close behind. "What...are you doing?" he demanded when I opened one of his cabinets. Before he could snap his fingers and stop me, I lunged for as many bags of coffee beans as I could carry and sprinted for a nearby window. By the time poor Wizard realized what was going on, I had the window open and rich-smelling bags dangling precariously out over the ocean. He could probably stop me if he wanted to, but I was banking on his desperation to save his precious coffee marring his judgment a little.

He froze, did a double-take (which moved his hair around so both his gorgeous eyes were visible), and glared so scarily at me I almost dropped them out the window out of sheer fright. I managed to keep a hold of my anger, though, and met his glare with one of my own. It was silent for a long time as we stared each other down. Finally, he spoke. "You wouldn't...dare."

That statement would be much more threatening if he could speak without pausing, but his furious eyes made up for it.

"Try me," I shot back. I narrowed my titian eyes at him. "All you gotta do is tell me what Julius is 'lying' about. Then your beloved coffee will go unharmed."

Wizard smirked, and before I could react, all the coffee beans vanished, leaving little clouds of white smoke in their wake. I stared at my empty hands for a moment in disbelief before turning to his smug face. He crossed his arms over his chest and smirked wider. "Do not...touch my coffee."

"You JERK!" I shrieked, and lunged for his cloak to try and tackle him to the ground. I know it was stupid to get so worked up over something so small, but I had always had a short fuse that tended to rear its ugly head at the most unpredictable times. Wizard danced out of the way and chuckled as I whirled to face him. He retreated out of the room slowly, still sporting that stupid smirk.

"Call it...what you will, but...I was merely protecting...my possessions."

I jumped at him again, but he nimbly side-stepped me and turned, sprinting back down the hallway. Still screeching wordlessly, I dashed after him, intent on pinning him down and beating it out of him. He was fast, though, much faster than me with those freakishly long legs of his and was already half-way down the stairs by the time I reached the top. "GET BACK HERE!" I yelled, and he laughed. Actually laughed. I didn't pause to wonder about it, though, 'cause I was still too mad at him. "WHAT DOES JULIUS KNOW THAT I DON'T? !" (A/N - there has to be a space for both the ! and ? to show up. FF doesn't like them both together for some reason.)

My shouted question made Wizard pause for just a fraction of a second. Still, it was enough. With a triumphant yell and smirk, I tackled him to the ground. He landed with a deep "Oof!", and I scrambled up, sat on his stomach, and pinned his arms above his head so quickly you would have missed it if you blinked. "HA!" I shouted, and Wizard glared at me from his position on the floor. "Not so tough now, are ya?"

"Get...off, Molly."

"Not until you -" I was cut off when Wizard's front door suddenly blew open, and Julius himself flounced in, still as gay-looking as ever. I froze, Wizard froze, and Julius froze when he saw us on the floor. I blushed to the roots of my hair, and Wizard's face was suddenly three shades darker than usual.

Julius broke into an eye-crinkling grin when the silence stretched on and on. "Well, well," he purred, smirking as he planted his hands on his hips. He walked over and leaned down over us. "I came to see if there were going to be any readings today, but it seems I've stumbled upon something much more interesting." He grinned roguishly and addressed Wizard. "I must say, I thought you were bluffing last week. It pains me to see I've been proved wrong." Wizard's face got impossibly darker, and his mouth opened and closed repeatedly, as he was unable to come up with any rebuttal. I glanced back and forth between the two men. What happened last week that I was unaware of?

Wizard was glaring so hard at Julius that it made our little spat over the coffee seem like nothing. The fashionista backed up a few steps and twittered nervously. "What's going on here?" I questioned, eyeing the purple-haired man. I wouldn't have to pry to get it out of him. "Why would you think Wizard was bluffing? And why are you 'pained' that he proved you wrong?"

Julius rolled his unsettling red eyes and inspected his manicured fingers. "Dearie, last week, Wizard there decided to break the news to us that you had accepted his invitation to go to the Moon Viewing festival tomorrow." My eyes widened as they flickered to Wizard's face. He could not have just said what I think he did. I opened my mouth to correct him, sure there had to be some mistake, but there was suddenly another hand clamped over my mouth. I glared at Wizard, who had managed to work his arm free when I was distracted. I realized we hadn't stood up yet.

"That's...enough, Julius," Wizard warned from the floor, and the man skittered back a few more steps at the look the magician was giving him. "There...are no...readings today. Goodbye." I scowled at him even harder at his rudeness, but the coffee-skinned man wasn't paying any attention. Julius huffed and stuck his nose in the air, not moving. I fought the urge to bite Wizard's hand to ask the question that was on the tip of my tongue: What was going on? Why on earth had Wizard faked asking me out to a romantic festival, of all things, and why was Julius 'pained' over it? I glared at both men, way beyond frustrated with the two.

Julius still hadn't left. "I wanted to ask her," he huffed, and everything clicked right there. "It's not fair that I never even got the chance. What if Molly's changed her mind?" He turned to me and flipped his long hair over his shoulder. "What do you say, Darling? Would you like to accompany me to the Moon Viewing festival?"

Hoo, boy. Not good.

I had no interest whatsoever in the cross-dressing fashionista. In fact, he gave me the heebie-jeebies sometimes. Wizard removed his hand from my mouth, narrowing his bi-colored eyes at me as he did so. I glared back at him, unsure of how I felt about this whole situation. They had both just put me on the spot. Well, Julius more so than Wizard. Apparently, the magic man hadn't had the decency to even TELL me we were going together.

That's when I realized it. I...I want to go with Wizard, I thought to myself. I subconsciously glanced down at him, but found he was still burning a hole in the side of Julius's head. Another thought suddenly occurred to me: Was Wizard...

Jealous?

Nuh-uh. No way. I seriously doubted the guy even knew what jealousy was, much less have any reason to feel it over me and someone like Julius. Who, by the way, was staring at me expectantly. I swallowed heavily and tried to word this as best I could; I wanted to let him down easy. "Umm...Actually Julius, I...I mean, I don't...you know, like you that way." I felt horrible as I watched his face fall. "I'm really sorry!" Goodness, I was awful at this.

Wizard looked smug, and I fought the urge to smack him. What was up with him? This was not the regular Wizard I knew that read books, stared at stars all night and drank so much caffeine it was unhealthy and bordering on obsessive. This man...he looked...I dunno, but he definitely was not acting normal. I puzzled over it for a moment before Julius spoke. I promised to come back to this problem later.

"Hmph," he grumbled as he turned on his heel. "I see. Have fun with your wizard, then." And he slammed the door. I winced and stared at it, feeling despicable. Although Julius wasn't really a great friend of mine and often creeped me out by his questionable orientation, I didn't want to hurt him at all. That scenario had never happened to me before in my entire life, and I definitely could have gone about it a different way. I sighed and rubbed my temples, finally getting off of Wizard and slumping against the back of the couch.

"Why?" I asked when I finally managed to collect my thoughts. Wizard glanced up guiltily from his book, knowing exactly what I was talking about. "Why would you do that? If you wanted to go, all you had to do was ask. You didn't have to voluntell me to go with you."

"I am not...'voluntelling' you to do...anything," he answered quietly. "You still have...a choice. Toby was more than...willing to ask...you, as well." He ignored my gasp of surprise. "I...don't know what I...was thinking at the...time." He stopped and continued his book. My shoulders slumped; so he actually didn't want to go with me. I shoulda known.

"Well, we kind of have to go now, after that little performance," I muttered. Then, so quietly I'm not even sure he heard it, I said, "But I still would have gone with you if you asked."

If Wizard heard, he chose not to acknowledge my last statement. I deflated further. "I suppose," he mused. "We do not...have to go into...town. We can stay here...and watch from the...roof." He turned to look at me, something similar to excitement glimmering in his one visible green eye. "I could...teach you about stars...if you like."

I wanted to smile widely and accept readily, something that puzzled me, because I hadn't ever really given thought to Wizard and me together like that. But, I decided to make things hard on him by arguing after all he'd done and put me through. Confusing me, telling people without my knowledge that we were going to a romantic festival, confusing me even more, what with how he looked at and talked to Julius. I fought back a smirk and remained properly annoyed as I said, "But I thought this was a Moon Viewing festival."

"We...can have a...Star Viewing festival."

"Isn't that what Starry Night's for?"

Wizard turned to glare at me. "...Molly?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

Author's Note (again): HorseGirl784 had Molly use her own special word, "voluntell". It's interesting, and I'm trying not to change the story too much, so I kept it. :3