Whoo! Imma back! Welcome, new readers! Good to see you, old readers who, for some reason I can't comprehend, stick to this story! You're all the best!

Lotsa stuff has happened since I last left ya. Not only for the story (hit and surpassed the 50-review mark! Thank you guys so much!), but in real life too, which I feel compelled to tell you because…I want to. For instance…

1. I've always loved that one John Mayer song "Daughters", but there was this one lyric that still befuddles me. It goes, "…Girls become l-s, and turn into mothers, so fathers be good to your daughters, too…" For the longest time, I thought "l-s" was "lemons". Really. It still sounds like that, even when someone told me that it was "lovers" yesterday. Logical to the mind, sure. But logical to the ear? No lemoning way. Seriously, listen to it and hear that I speak the truth! Goddess, John Mayer, parle anglais s'il-tu plait!

2. Cross-Country started. I feel like I have a ferret gnawing on my hip, but really good despite that! Woo-hooooo!

3. I work at an ice cream shop for a summer job, and a lil while ago I saw a kid who, I swear, looked exactly like a little blonde Jay Leno. Adorable, but uncanny. Just thought I should tell ya:3 Because Jay Leno sightings are cool

4. Susan Collins' Mockingbird! Sorry, I do that all the time, I mean Mockingjay! Need I say more? I will. The Hunger Games series is one of the best on this blue-green earth, hands down.

5. For some reason, I dyed my hair pink with supposedly temporary dye. A big hunk in the front, then streaks and tips. It's all over the place, very topsy-turvy. I want to dye the remaining hair blue. Like cotton candy! Yummy scrumptious!

Loony: You look like Ronald McDonald…uh, but in a good way. I'll cut you off there before you say anything else stupid. Enjoy the next chapter!

"Hate him…Strongly dislike him….Hate him…..Strongly dislike him…" I plucked up another grinning dandelion, number thirteen, "…Hate him." Now number fourteen, which I had to stretch for, not wanting to get up off Wizard's comfy cloak. "…Strongly dislike…." Fifteen: "Hate." Sixteen: "Strongly dislike." Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty…all the way up to twenty-eight (which was 'super-strongly-stronger-than-Luna's-will dislike', which I'm starting to believe is a thinly-veiled 'Hate'), at which point I started to run out of dandelions around my station. When that happened, I flopped down on my back and stretched lazily.

"Hey~…Molly?"

"Yeah, Finny?" I yawned.

"Ummm~…" He sat down daintily on the bag of twenty-eight Goddess-darned dandelions. "Well, I was too entranced to ask while you were at it, but what exactly were you talking about?"

I studied the fluffy clouds good-naturedly. "You mean the whole 'hate/dislike' thing?" I smiled, "It was my own twist on the he-loves-me/he-loves-me-not thing lovelorn children do with flower petals." I tapped my chin, feigning deep thought. "Do I absolutely, out-right hate Chase Cooke? Or do I merely strongly dislike him? Hmmm…this world is a complex place…"

He considered this. "But…you're s'posed to pick forty-two." I rose my eyebrows at him as if to ask, 'so?' "And so… Yeah! That means that you'll end up with 'strongly dislike', since those are on even numbers, and forty-two is an even number, right?" He looked at me expectantly, positively drooling for affirmation and praise.

Good Goddess, he had quite a brain in that Beanie Baby head of his. "…You took all the fun out of it, silly." I sighed dramatically. "Well, you're the wiz, how many more flowers do I have to pick?" He didn't answer, just held a finger to his lips.

Sure enough, footsteps started falling on my ear. And then… "Molly? What are you doing…?"

I grumbled and sat up slowly, one reluctant vertebra at a time. "Who are you, and why are you waking me up from my nap time?"

"I'd say rise and shine, but it's nearly 4 o'clock in the evening. This isn't kindergarten, Molly."

I turned to teasingly glare at the owner of the sardonic voice. It reminded me very much of the subject of my dandelion game, except that it was higher pitched and the tone was more light-hearted than out-right snotty. It was a tone that only accompanied the voice because it had done so for so long that it just couldn't leave even when it wasn't needed. "Life is one big kindergarten class. We eat animal crackers, finger paint some artwork or paperwork, then go nappie-nap. It just so happens that I need my nappie-nap mat more than normal people."

"Well, you got one thing right," the small girl smiled wryly. The expression was incongruous with her cherubic face the first time I had seen it, but I had gotten used to it, "You can't be grouped with us normal people. Gilly, best put that into the Town Hall registry."

"Since when did I say you qualified as a normal person, Luna?" I smiled, just in case the joking tone didn't travel. If there was one thing I'd avoid at all costs, it'd be a pissed-off Luna Taylor.

Gill's face remained still (the boy had a poker face that'd put Lady Gaga's to shame), which made me think that he was still stinging over my complete refusal of him. Back before, back when he didn't insist on complicating our friendship, I would have at least procured a half-smile as he shook his head and questioned how he – the classy and well-groomed soon-to-be-Mayor – ended up hanging out with a vulgar farmer. Then I'd try to push him into a mud puddle, joking that if he scuffed those shiny shoes then he was no different than me. All humans could get dirt on their shoes because we walk the same earth.

But he merely stood there, shifting slowly from foot-to-foot. Ug, pride. Hubris. Something I truly admired about him, even though it annoyed me to death now.

"So what are you guys up to?" I asked amiably, hoping that he'd get over it like last time. I could wait, but not for too long.

Luna weaved her arm through Gill's. "We're on a date!"

He stared unblinkingly, blue eyes on the ground. I couldn't really make out his expression.

What was he up to? Trying for jealousy? Because if he was, he wasn't doing a good job of it – For that, you had to seem happy with the other girl, and he looked like he had a rain cloud hovering over him, ruining his silk vest and perfect blonde hair. But I didn't really peg him as that kind of guy anyway. Despite the rumors, he didn't really do manipulation, except when making business deals to ensure the well-being of the town, working with his father to strike deals with external businessmen. He tried to explain his latest meeting to me, but all those big words flitted into my brain, stayed just long enough for me to contemplate how he could just toss them out easily like I toss out 'yeah', 'you betcha', and 'huh?', then ran out to make room for the next whopper. Of the ones I'd heard about before, the only one I knew was 'taxes'. Cripes, do I hate taxes.

"Well, that's sweet!" I didn't have to act at all. I thought they really worked together, and that Luna had several qualities that he'd find endearing if he just got. His. Head. Out of. The. Gutter. "So, what're you doing?"

The color seemed to suck out of his face and soak into her cheeks. "Ohhh, nothing much! We're just walking around town, then he's taking me to dinner!" She gave him a dangerous look, "Right, Gilly?"

He grumbled. "For the last time, this is not a da-"

His sentence was cut off by Luna, who pinched his cheek and pulled it 'good-naturedly'. "Oooh, so silly! See, he has this little joke that he seems to think is hilarious or something, because he says it constantly." This last word passed through gritted teeth.

I couldn't help but laugh. Leave it to those two to make things as weird as possible. "Ahaha, yeah, well, that Gilly-kins…" He scowled, as if to say that this was the end of the world and therefore not a joking moment, and I giggled to tell him to lighten up like a light bulb.

"Anyway!" Luna started tugging at his crisp sleeve, "We've a busy date ahead of us! We might meet up with my sister and that weird dude she's weirdly dating." She stuck out her tongue as if the mere thought of Julius made her taste something unpalatable. "Gill! Come on!"

He followed, mumbling, and as he past my spot I could have sworn I heard the word 'baby-sitting'. But I didn't have much time to dissect this, because he froze and caught his eye on… "Hey, that jacket you're sitting on…It looks like…"

*** An interlude of the "other side" ***

This world is, to put into common words, weird.

I had followed the meager stream of people through drab, dark streets. It didn't take me long to notice that the sidewalks got gradually more congested, and the surroundings brightened at the same pace, getting more colorful.

And now, here I was.

I stood stationary in the middle of the huge square, looking at everything I could absorb as people continually walked around me, like a brook's current around a stable stone. A few accidently bumped into me, as is inevitable in a place with so many people and things. Even if I felt the need to apologize to them or vise versa, they were gone before I could even breathe, replaced by hundreds of others.

But it wasn't the people I was most interested in. I stared up at the deluge of colors, banners, lights. Flashing signs blinked hurriedly, colorful tubes bent into pictures and words, light-bulbs lit up intermittently to show seemingly moving patterns. All were plastered to mountainous buildings that scraped the sky. A huge flat surface on the one I faced now showed a clear, moving picture of red and white bubbles with a funny-looking bottle. It suddenly struck me as a huge television screen, or something like.

Everything begged attention. All clamored to be the brightest, the most vibrantly obnoxious, all to get my primeval attention.

All it did was give me a headache.

So this was how people made up for being devoid of magic. What a waste of resources…

I pulled out a copy of the three things I needed to find here, studying them for the twenty-eighth time. I wish that I could say I knew where I could find them. But the truth was, I hadn't a clue what they even were.

"A child's talent-inducing food with one green coin." The sketch next to that showed a circular object with three layers of…something.

"The eye of a jolly yellow bear, hewn from a wheeled booth." This picture was exactly what it promised, an eye. It was not grotesque as the angle it was draw in only showed the front, sparing the reader any gore. It was also small and beady with a few white sparkles in it. I wasn't too keen on fighting a bear, jolly or not, as I sincerely doubted that it would give up its eye without at least trying to gut me.

I wrinkled my nose in disgust. What a lovely thought.

My fingers were just unfolding the last ingredient when something body-slammed me from behind.

***0.0***

I looked up, eyes as big as that time when the boy in front of me almost caught Wizard out on the beach. My heartbeat thudded in my ears, heavy as lead, hurried with adrenaline.

Gill paused, eyes puzzled, mouth firmly shut with his loose fist pressed to his lips, obviously in deep thought.

My mouth started to get super, uh, moist. And that only happened when one of two things happened: 1, I got super-duper I'm-gonna-die-right-here-right-now-oh-there-I-go nervous or 2, I was about to up-chuck all my latest meals. And for the first time in my life, I wished it was the latter, because nothing could distract a body more efficiently that that kind of mess on their shoes, especially if they were a major neat-freak (*cough* Gill *cough*).

But of course, I couldn't barf on cue. So I just sat there, staring up as one of my best buds cranked the dark jack-in-the-box. I didn't hear the tinkling of 'Pop! Goes the Weasel'; it sounded more like a funeral dirge. If he was allowed to continue, Wizard was going to pop out, and not to childish screams of delight and rewarded anticipation.

I couldn't let that happen.

Looking at Finn for help, I noticed him gesturing at Luna, who was slowly walking away, expecting him to follow. Bingo. "Gill, you're b-being a terrible babysitter. Your charge is slipping away."

He frowned, and I wasn't sure if it was because he was still thinking or because I reminded him of his fate. But as he started to walk after her, he flashed me one quick smile, instinctually appreciating that I'd heard him when he denied its value as a 'date'. Then he seemed to remember that he was put-out with me, because the smile turned sour.

I watched as they disappeared down the street. Finn buzzed in front of my vision. "That was so stupid! What're you thinking, having his cloak out in public?"

"P-please, you didn't see anything wrong with it before Gill noticed." I chewed on the inside of my left cheek worriedly. "But you're right, that was pretty air-headed of me." I hung my head and played with the warm fabric below me. "My stupid pining is clouding my reasoning. I…I'm so s-stupid…"

"Ah…ah, wait, I didn't say that. Please don't be sad Mollyyyyyyy!"

I looked up sharply, my head accidently knocking him two feet up from where he hovered before. "N-no. Now I know!" I caught him in my palm as he drifted down, "I have no time to be sad. His return is up to himself, independent of whether or not I worry the (admittedly very worthy of worrying) days away. So until he comes back," (I did my best to not think 'if…') "I'll do my best to help!"

Finn stared up at me incredulously, probably thinking that I had a serious case of bipolarness or multiple-personalities. "Uh, yeah…yeah…YEAH!" He jumped up and swirled around me, a continual ribbon of joyful golden shine. (Maybe I wasn't the only bipolar one…Naw, this is Finn after all).

I stood up, hands on hips, a determined smile where once sat a grimace. "We can do it!"

"You betcha!" Finn pumped his fist. "And we'll start with the last fourteen dandelions!"

…Crap.

*** An interlude of the "other side" ***

My breath left in one hurried 'whoof' when something rammed into me like a raging bull. This took me off-guard, but I still managed to somersault out before the bull pinned me down. I whirled around, hands raised to brace myself for whatever my attacker was plotting. That's when I saw the person splayed face-down. Had my attacker hurt a bystander? I pushed through the crowd – which was glancing at the falling person briefly before obtusely walking away – to assess the damage, casting glances everywhere for another blow.

A soon as I reached the person, she looked up hurriedly, eyes gliding everywhere before settling up on me. My mind was already preoccupied and shocked with so many other things, but I noted that her eyes were unsettlingly familiar. "Whoa! That really stunned me! Hey, mister, are you okay? You're the one I ran into, aren't you? God, I'm so sorry, I'm just in such a hurry to get to…" She glanced at her wrist, which harbored a beaten up old watch whose band was almost completely covered in sticky black tape. "Work! Oh God, I'm late!" She jumped up and inserted herself into the stream, pushing to rush ahead of the slightly disgruntled crowd. "Soooorry, mister!" She called back faintly.

"…" I shook my head and started walking again.

***T.T'***

"I'm dooooooooone!" I burst into the bar, holding up my 'kill' in the baggie. "All forty-freaking-two of them! And guess what, Chase, I only really really dislike you!" I heard the distinct sounds of retching and finally opened my eyes to see the scene before me. "Ah…"

Chase looked over angrily from his position over the sink, face half-covered by his hunched shoulder. "What?"

I blinked. "…Um…" I blinked again. Again.

"WAHHHH!" Maya ran up to me, hugging me with the strength of twenty hysterical gorillas. "Molly-Molly-Molly-Mollyyyyyyyy!"

"Gragagrphaaaaa!" I hissed. So this is what it felt to wear…a Victorian era…corset…No wonder…women often died…back then…

"Idiot!" Suddenly, the pressure crushing my body in was released, and I fell forward gasping for oxygen. How did she do that? I can't move! "You almost killed her! Like you practically killed me!" I slumped there on all threes, down on my knees and my now-sore chin. Exceedingly uncomfortable, but I hadn't the energy to move a muscle.

"But Chaaaaaaase! I only wanted you to try my new recipe because I think it's good but you're so awesome at cooking so I thought I could get your opinion but you're SO MEAN YOU MEANIE!"

"~What's…What's ~ goin' ~ on…?~" I whispered meekly below them, still not recovered from Maya's Arms of Death. They didn't even hear me.

"Well, you certainly have improved in one respect." Maya's eyes sparkled in anticipation at the compliment until he hacked twice, as if something small was caught in his throat that refused to get expelled. "I didn't recognize that slime for what it was," he huffed out, voice guttural. "You did a good job of disguising it as a PB&J sandwich. Still, I can't believe I fell for it, it's not like you're usually smart enough to fool me or anything…"

She gasped, tears flash flooding. "You jerk you meanie you rude rude rude person why do I try huh why do I even try?" She broke down crying, slumping near my crumbled form.

"Cough. Aw, M-Maya…" I tried sitting up, but I was still battered. She crossed her arms and her legs and bawled like a spanked toddler. "C'mon…" When I realized that she couldn't hear or see my attempts at condolences, I looked up at the cook's sour face. "Will you ever st-stop being such a butt-face?"

It was then that the bar's door opened up loudly, banging on the wall with a literal crash. "Uh, oops. Sorry 'bout that old picture...Hey, 's Kathy he-" The low-voiced speaker broke off, obviously noticing me. Duh, who wouldn't? I mentally slapped myself for not noticing before. Not noticing that I was facing the back of the room. Which meant that I didn't notice my butt was facing the door. "…What do we have here…?" I froze, though that was the worst thing to do right now.

Crap! Regaining use of my sore muscles and crushed lungs, I started achingly but quickly trying to sit up, trying to ignore the pains. But before I could, something slapped my butt so hard that I fell down again, this time on my side. "Ow! Ow! Hey-"

"What the hell, Owen?" Chase barged forward and yanked me up by the wrist. I stumbled from the pain and jumped when he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me to his side. He looked down at me intensely. "You okay, Molly?"

"Uh, um, I-I'm…uh, y-yeah…?"

"Good." He turned to Owen. "What's your problem? You get off slapping defenseless girls or something?"

Owen's eyebrows practically rose to his red hairline.

"…No."

But his glinting eyes said 'yes.' His miniscule half-smile rejoiced 'I live for it!'

I trembled. If I felt helpless before, well, now it was a whole new level of bitter fear. Because now Wizard wasn't here to throw him back into the forest.

"Well, knock it off!" Chase growled. "It's just wrong. You don't touch her. You don't touch anyone. You have a girlfriend now, dammit. Start acting like a man." I looked up at him, heart beating fast at the dangerous expression I saw there. His jaw was set, and his eyes were far more fiery than I'd ever seen before. He looked like he wanted to rip Owen's face off and deep-fat-fry it.

…Maybe he wasn't as horrible as I thought.

The smith snorted me out of my reverie. "Like I'd take masculinity advice from the Boy of Hair Accessori- Whoa, whoa, dude, I'm just joshing ya, go back to your girlfriend and un-clench your fists." He crossed his huge arms. "Man."

"W-wait." Maya looked up, big watery eyes flickering between us like a puppy's when its owners are about to leave it alone for a looooong while. "You, you're dating? As in going out? As in as in as in as in as in boyfriend-slash-girlfriend?"

I held up a shaky hand, "Aha, n-"

"Yep!" Chase hugged me tightly, hand over my open mouth. He removed it and mussed my hair. "Just started last night!"

"Oho, last night, eh?" Owen chuckled. I felt Chase's arms tighten when he spoke.

"Ah, n-no." I reached out to Maya, "No, it's n-not what you thi-"

She slapped my hand away and ran past Owen. "Molly you meanie I can't believe I trusted you! Kathy was right!" I flinched as the much-abused door slammed behind her.

"Someone call mah name?"

Owen beamed and walked past us, giving us a wide berth. "Hey beautiful, I was just looking for ya."

Kathy giggled and kissed his nose. "Oh, yer so sweet." She looked around, frowning. "Was that Maya back there cryin'?"

Owen sighed. "Well, you know, Chase…" He glared right at the cook, who glared back with far more real anger.

"Ah, say no mo', so no mo'." She instantly brightened up. "Well now, where to, hon?"

"You'll see." This was said with a chuckle. To her, it probably sounded warm and loving. To me, it just sounded ominous. Just before they closed the door behind them, Kathy looked back and frowned at us. I smiled sheepishly, still wanting her to like me.

She looked surprised, then scowled and stuck out her tongue. Eh, no dice I guess.

Chase let go of me as soon as the knob clicked. "Gee, G-man never lies."

"Lies? W-what d'you mean?"

He shrugged and took the bag of dandelions from me, which I'd completely forgotten was still clenched in my hand. "Well, most of us guys know he's bad news. But the girls and adults don't really believe us because he's got such a good – …uh, whacha call it… – façade. Doesn't hurt that he's so stinking tall and 'handsome' as the chicks put it, sickeningly often might I add. You try to tell them he's a sick bastard, they call you jealous." He ground his teeth audibly. "It drives me crazy."

I pulled out the closest chair and sat down, ignoring the ache I got when I did so. It always made me sad to see how – despite all the fairy tales and fables and children's stories promoting looking inside a person – we still only judged skin-deep.

He stopped short and crossed his arms, still frowning. "Sorry for the rant. To answer your question, I just never thought he'd choose you to attack. The only people he used to were Selena and Candace. But he never risked anything worse than verbal and major invading-of-space. And he knows he'll never get caught, because Selena's too proud to tell, and Candace is too meek and scared. Why he'd risk his cover with a new girl, whose reaction might be loud, I have no clue." The lines on his forehead deepened. "And to slap you with Maya right there, even if she was deaf and blind to the world at the time…he's getting sloppy."

"…Is that g-good or b-bad?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. Good, I suppose, if he gets caught. All I really know is, your fiancé told me to protect you."

I narrowed my eyes slightly, giving what I hoped was a scrutinizing effect. I probably just looked far-sighted. "Is that why you told them we were dating? Because I didn't quite appreciate that. As you just said, I do have a fiancé." The word sent a small ray of warmth through me. It wasn't unpleasant at all.

There was that smirk again. "Well, I suppose that I had a couple reasons. Wiz said to protect you, and Owen might back-off if you had a man-" I opened my mouth to say that I'd 'had a man' for a while now, but he cut me off and shut me up with "-in the public eye." He cocked his head at me, still smirking. "But mainly, I need a break from Maya."

I rolled my eyes. "So you sic 'er on me. Figures. You know, she was one of the few people who didn't hate me."

He shook his head. "What are you insinuating?" I looked at him. "…I got that word from Book-Worm-Wizard. Anyway, the general consensus is you're a little quiet and weird, but the only ones that really can't stand you are Kathy and your rooster." Yeah, well, the feeling was quite mutual when it came to that stupid bird. "Maya never truly stays angry with anyone. Why do you think she keeps coming back to me?"

"What about Sele-?"

"Selena couldn't care less about anything besides her dancing and Luke."

Huh. "And how do you know this? Or are you just making it up to make me shut up?"

"Well, shutting up would be helpful." This was said half-heartedly, but it stung me a little nonetheless. "But it is true. Every once in a while, G-man flits through the minds of all the townspeople, just to check if anything problematic has happened. I hear tid-bits of what he gets if I watch. Some of the randomest stuff ever. And I mean ever." He stared off into space, remembering. "Did you know that Bo's parents used to dress him up as a girl as a child? Especially Tinker Bell. Heh. No wonder he fled to Dale as soon as he got a working permit."

I couldn't help but giggle at that. I mean, I absolutely love Bo, but…pfffttt!

"Irene and Pascal have a thing, a like-dislike relationship. She thinks he's too wishy-washy – pun intended. And they each think the other's nose is weird. But I wouldn't be surprised if they get close."

Well, I didn't need a crystal ball for that. Pascal often mentioned the midwife on our trip here. "Eh, okay."

"In his prime, Mayer Hamilton was a model for some brand called, um, 'Klein Calvin?'"

"Whoa! You j-just crossed the l-line! You cr-crossed it and threw crap all ov-ver i-i-i-i-i-i-i-t!" I broke down laughing, tears of mirth pouring down my cheeks.

Chase just watched, perplexed. He obviously didn't know what Calvin Klein usually used its models for. And I wasn't about to tell him.

Grrrr, I was having difficulties with this site, so excuse me if something went wrong with it. Me and Mr. Document Manager were having a minor dispute on what was italicized and what was bolded and where lines went and whether or not to repeat script ten thousand times over and over and over...

Do I sound a little annoyed? Cuz I am. Anyway, I showed Mr. Document Manager who's boss and now he's nursing a grudge and a bucket of Haagen Daas somewhere on the Internet. So there. Anyway...

One week til school for me an' Loony! What about you guys? Anyone excited? Scared? Couldn't care less? I was ecstatic until I got my schedule. Now I'm scared to death. But my first class of my sophomore year is art, so that's a good omen if anything! I get to end the day with Gym (blech) and Trig (do I hafta pay attention this year?). But yay! Fwiends! Everyone gets a nice big bear hug!

One problem with this, though. I don't know how long it'll take me to update when the year starts. I won't abandon it though, pinky swear, cross my heart and hope to die stick a needle in my eye eat a horse manure pie!