"…the geishas were so mild, so soft spoken! That crass brute who owned them, though, disgusted me. After we traded the silk, I drove him to distraction and stole the ladies away!"

Being in Valentine's presence was comparable to falling under a spell. As the old car rattled through back streets towards The Glow, Shilo could only stare stupidly at the entrancing man- she was sitting behind Scarlett, and therefore had a great view. Blue, being relatively used to her uncle by now, kept shooting Shilo amused glances.

Valentine swept a nonexistent piece of hair away from his forehead and propped an elbow on his crossed knee.

"Sooooo, Jack- how old are you?"

Shilo jumped and hurriedly closed her mouth in embarrassment. She was having some trouble concentrating- how did Valentine fit himself in the car?

"Um…"

"A halfwit," Valentine said sadly. "And what a shame…such an attractive boy!"

"I'm seventeen, sir," Shilo said.

"Mmm, I thought you looked young. With such delicate features, light countenance, I'd have guessed even fifteen. Careful Blueberry, I might just snatch him away," Valentine said lasciviously.

Shilo laughed nervously as Blue grasped her hand.

"No chance, Uncle V- he's all mine."

She said this matter-of-factly, and Shilo was once again seized by that warm sensation in her gut. It was so nice to feel wanted. But then she remembered the last time someone had really wanted her, and pulled her hand away from Blue's. They drove into The Glow's garage, and Shilo felt immensely relieved.

"There's new laundry detergent in the kitchen, Jack," Scarlett said breathlessly as she tried to lug one of Valentine's large suitcases.

Shilo nodded- an excuse to hurry away! She generally cleaned the rooms in late afternoon, just as the girls were waking up. She didn't want to disturb their rest- or their work, so she'd developed a system that put her in an almost perfect space of time.

"Wonderful!" Valentine clapped his hands together once. "I'm sure my room could use some refreshing." He gestured to Shilo, who knew she'd cleaned that room only an hour before but didn't want to argue. Blue tried to whisper something in her ear, but Valentine quickly wrapped an arm around Shilo's shoulders and swept her up the stairs.

"My eyes hurt."

"Don't think about it."

"But you told me to concentrate!"

Graverobber sighed and lowered his tweezers. "Is it bothering me you enjoy so much, or the actual act of whining? Because if it's the latter you can go stand in a corner and bitch at the spiders."

Demetri shuddered. "Even you're preferable to that."

"You're scared of spiders." Graverobber snorted.

"No. I just think they're disgusting. It's not the same thing." Demetri pointedly looked at Graverobber.

"Right," he laughed, holding up the vial again. "Now let's concentrate."

Demetri sighed-concentrating was not his strong suit.

Even old Zydrate glowed pretty bright, especially if you had to stare directly at it for full minutes. Clumps of the drug that had faded to white and congealed floated in the bright blue, reminding Demetri of the remains of old pizza, or semen. Graverobber was carefully plucking out pieces with tweezers and dropping them into a bowl.

"Be careful not to touch the fresher Z. It can absorb into the skin and cause irritation, or even kill cells."

"I know all of this. What's the point?"

"Discipline."

Demetri repressed the urge to continue grumbling. He didn't want to be poked in the pressure point of his neck again.

"I call the white stuff 'cheese'. It dries in the sun after about three hours. Leave it out too long and it's useless. The cheese can be smoked or inhaled- I just figured this out a few weeks ago. Here, you try."

Demetri took the Zydrate vial from Graverobber's white hand and successfully plucked out the flapping strand of cheese. He dropped it into the bowl and grinned.

"See, not that hard!"

The smile quickly fell as he noticed a patch of wet on his glove.

"Oh shit! OH SHIT!"

Demetri jumped up and looked around madly. The closest thing to him was someone's cereal from a breakfast some time earlier in the week. He dunked his hand in and looked desperately at Graverobber. It was then that Demetri noticed the man was holding a half empty water bottle in his hand and laughing uproariously.

"Cute," Demetri said, yanking his hand from the bowl and shaking drops of sour milk and Fruit Loops at Graverobber's general direction. "Really cute."

Graverobber's deep laughs subsided. "It's the hair."

He stood up and stretched, glancing at a battered digital clock.

"They should be back soon, and our guest has something for me. Let's go check."

"Guest?"

Graverobber eyed Demetri's seraphic face and, once again, burst into hearty laughter. Demetri shook his head. Sometimes, the man was just plain weird.

"Mmm, Italy. My favorite place to travel."

The record squeaked a bit, and a strong operatic voice filled the room. Shilo was on her hands and knees, scrubbing under a dresser. For the past hour Valentine had pleasantly commanded her to clean areas in the room that required her to either stand on a ladder or bend over. It was starting to worry Shilo, especially now that he was lighting candles and playing romantic music. She sat up nervously.

"I'm sure you heard about that wonderful performer that died- Blind Mag. Such a shame. Such a scandal. A tragedy!"

Shilo quickly turned her face away. "I heard."

Not only was Valentine's agile step reminiscent of a cat but so, apparently, was his silence. Shilo hadn't heard him move but there he was, kneeling behind her.

"Such a sweet, sensitive soul. Don't be upset, darling."

Lips grazed down her neck, then up again, finally resting on and nibbling her ear. Heart thudding painfully, Shilo tried to think of a subtle way she could extract herself from the situation, but her mind had gone curiously blank. She sucked in what was meant to be a calming breath, which only served to confuse her further; the smell of sweat and honey filled her nose.

"I'll make it all better…"

Shilo gasped. Valentine's hardness was shoved against her pants. He moaned. Teeth bit into her neck and she felt paralyzed. All so much! A small part of her whispered how happy she was that he hadn't kissed her lips, because she didn't want that taken by this…

Valentine shoved a hand down her pants, and froze.

"You're a girl."

Shilo wanted desperately now to escape the terrifying silence, but Valentine held her tightly, nuzzling her hair.

"Well, well…I'd like to hear your story. I'm sure it's very interesting, love. But first-"

The door flew open. At the sight of Graverobber's flaming eyes Shilo realized that her own had filled with tears, and had been for some time. Valentine let go of her waist and stood up slowly.

"When my sister decided to house train you, I didn't realize she'd neglected a lesson on manners. More specifically- knocking."

"Jack?" Graverobber stared directly at Shilo, and she ran to the door.

"I'll be here when you want me, Jack," Valentine called mockingly as they moved down the hallway. "And you will want me!"

The door slammed, thankfully cutting off Valentine's raucous cackling. Shilo stared stoically ahead, ignoring the girls who were curiously peeking out of their bedrooms. She was also, for some reason, scared to meet Graverobber's eyes. He was silent as well until they turned the corner and stopped before the basement steps.

"Are you all right?" he asked. Shilo didn't understand his voice. It was so…cold.

"Yes. Thank you," she whispered, ashamed of the horse croak. Shilo forced herself to look at Graverobber. She instantly regretted it. His face was livid, filled with terrible fury.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, shrinking against the wall.

"What?" Graverobber boomed. Shilo jumped. "You're sorry? Why? Why would you be sorry?"

"Because…"

Shilo realized suddenly that she didn't know why she was sorry, and had in fact no reason to be apologetic. She stood straight once again.

"That's better.

Graverobber's voice turned surprisingly soft, and he tilted up Shilo's chin. Looking her squarely in the eye, he said, "Have some dignity."

Just as quick the moment ended, and he dropped his hand. "I'll be back."

Shilo's opened the door with a trembling hand- no longer from fear. What was she feeling? There was too much going on inside all at once to know for sure. Now that she was alone she let the tears flow freely. The coolness of the basement was reassuring.

"Are you crying?"

Shilo jumped, and instantly annoyed. Why was she always being startled? Demetri was sitting cross-legged on a wooden crate, throwing a ball back and forth between his hands.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it once I found out you were here."

Demetri whistled and threw the ball to her. Much to his obvious surprise she caught it.

"Don't you have better things to be doing?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Don't you?"

"I just finished my shift. Unlike some people, I have a normal job."

Demetri laughed and leaned forward. "Honey, nothing around here is normal."

For lack of anything better to say or do, Shilo threw him the ball back. After a few awkward, silent moments of playing catch Demetri cleared his throat.

"Really though. Why were you crying?

Shilo shrugged. "There's just a lot going on." She expected Demetri to mock her again, but instead he mumbled,

"I know what you mean." He sighed. "Here."

Instead of the ball, he threw her a half eaten candy bar. She almost dropped it in surprise.

"Thanks."

Demetri was spared having to respond by Graverobber's reappearance. He still looked put out, but the cold fury was gone.

"Go take a nap, kid. In another couple of hours we're headed out."

Demetri saluted and hopped up the stairs. Shilo frowned.

"I want to go too."

Instead of denying her right out, Graverobber studied her face for a few moments before finally nodding.

"Okay."

And that was it. Without further explanation for his change of mind, Graverobber turned on his heel and followed Demetri. Shilo stared at the wall, feeling completely stunned and way, way out of her depth.

"But like he said," she mumbled, crawling into bed, "what's normal around here?"