Mrs. Tran got back an hour or so later. "Sorry I missed your call, sweetheart!" She said, walking in with five or so bags. I waved a hand at them, and they floated from her arms to the countertop. "Thank you. There are a few more in the car and…" She stopped, looking at my face, then at Karma beside me, then at me again. "Kylie…" Her voice was very calm, very quiet. "There's a thing next to you."

"It's a hellhound." I explained, keeping my hand on the back of her neck to rub it lightly. "Or, rather, a hell-puppy. Her name is Karma."

"I see." Mrs. Tran stared at Karma, not quite certain how to react. "Is it…"

"She." I told her. "Her name is Karma."

"Karma?" Mrs. Tran glanced at me. Karma hadn't moved a muscle since she had been noticed. "You've got a strange sense of humor, Kylie."

"I try." I motioned for Mrs. Tran to kneel down beside us, and watched as she did with the utmost caution. At her movements, Karma sat up, putting us head height with the dog. That little realization of us kneeling being the same height as her sitting made me fight to stifle a laugh for a moment. "Karma, this is Mrs. Tran." I whispered to the hound, rubbing that spot behind her ear she liked. "Be nice. Defendo."

I waved for Mrs. Tran to come closer, and guided her hand to where I was petting her. After a moment's hesitation, Mrs. Tran went along with it.

"So I'm guessing things went well with Crowley?" She asked, switching from looking at me to watching Karma.

"Sort of. It…" I shook my head. "It's a long story."

"Well, you're back now." She said. "And we have plenty of time for long stories. Do you want to talk about it?"

I nodded. "Let me get those bags for you." I offered.

"The neighbors might stare if they see a bunch of floating grocery bags." She pointed out.

"I was going to actually walk outside." I said, smiling a little. "Karma should behave around you fine, now. Just don't take your glasses off."

"What happens if I take my glasses off?"

"I… Eh…" I rubbed the back of my neck for a second. "I might've run all your glasses through holy fire. Only way to see hellhounds. So if you take them off…"

"Karma disappears." She finished. "You enchanted my glasses?"

"In case of an emergency!" I called, sprinting out the door. Once the rest of the grocery bags were inside, I set it so that they would put themselves away.

"You're really good at all of that, aren't you?" Mrs. Tran asked, taking a seat at the table. Karma had taken a liking to her, and was currently running about her feet. "What does she eat?"

"Preferably raw meat, but cooked works." I answered, sitting across from her. "And good at what?"

"The magic." Mrs. Tran pointed towards the kitchen. "The supernatural stuff. The hunting."

"I don't do that anymore." I stated. She stared pointedly from me to the kitchen. "I don't do all of that anymore."

"You did with Crowley."

"That was a favor."

"You got a hellhound out of it." I decided not to mention having homework done as well. "And something happened." She was intuitive. She knew.

"Lucifer is out." I explained. "And looking for a vessel. He's got something bad planned."

"How do you know?"

"It's Lucifer." I stated. "And Chuck just left again. I really don't think he'll be all hunky-dory with the world now that his absent father has once more abandoned him to run off with his aunt, who was torturing him for quite a long while."

"Fair enough." She conceded, standing up. Karma stood as well, sniffing at Mrs. Tran's legs one more time before walking to my side. "So what happened?"

I told her about the summoning, about how we'd failed to put him back in the cage. I told her about how we started tracking down the leads on what had last happened to the rock star.

I stopped before I could tell her about Castiel. She knew there was more, anyways.

"Kylie," she put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "What else aren't you telling me?"

"I…" I took a deep breath. "I saw Castiel."

"Oh."

Yeah. Oh.

"Crowley went with him, they're both looking for Rowena." I explained. "And on one hand, I wanted to go with them, but on the other hand…"

"You couldn't." She filled in. I nodded.

"I have a life here, and a good one." I stated. "I have a chance at a future, a normal one. A college degree. A job. A house. A good, normal life."

"Honey," Mrs. Tran said softly, covering my hands with hers. "There's a hellhound puppy you named Karma currently sitting under the table, and the groceries put themselves away." I looked over at her, seeing not cutting remarks but instead kindness. "I think we're long past normal at this point."

"What do you think I should do?" I asked. She shrugged.

"What do you want to do?" It was my turn to shrug, this time. "Well, how about this," she offered. "You've done college, and done pretty well so far. You've gone back to hunting, and I'm quite certain enjoyed that. At this point, you're torn between the two, and you've kind of got one foot on either side of the line, right?" I nodded. "Well, how's this. Do both, then."

I wasn't following, and told her as much.

"Do college, and keep hunting. Keep doing what makes you happy." She explained. "And once you hit the point where you're ready to make a choice, you'll know what choice to make, because you've been doing both."

"But we've sunk so much cash in college already," I started, but she cut me off.

"It's community college, Kylie!" She reminded me. "It's not like we're breaking the bank with one of those big private colleges. And they gave you a scholarship that covers the majority of tuition already. It's not going to be that big of a loss." She gave me a small smile. "And in all honesty, it's money we'd be continually wasting if it's not what you want most."

"But I don't know what I want."

"I think you do." She stated, nodding a little. "You just don't know how to tell yourself yet."

She got up, leaving me to think on that