Lena's little hideaway was impressive, as little hideaways go. All the same...
"This is not safe." Ty stood by the steps with his arms crossed, positively fuming. "Your aunt let you live here by yourself?"
"She was never the protective type," said Lena flatly.
"I like the blacklight," Indy said with a smile before taking a journal out of his satchel.
"Webbigail tried to persuade her to stay at McDuck Manor," said Violet.
"Yeah, this beats living full-time in the world's biggest hotspot for magical craziness." Lena pulled an old magazine from under her bed and lied down to start reading. "Thanks for the ride."
"Nope," said Ty. "Absolutely not."
Lena looked up at him with a brow raised.
"Indy," he called to his husband, who was busy scribbling notes.
"Hm?"
"Are we just gonna let her stay here?"
Indy looked between him and Lena. "Oh, no," he said. "Honey, no. I thought we were clear on the drive over; you can't be all on your own."
"You should stay with us," said Ty. "At least for the time being."
Lena sat up and rolled her eyes. "I'm a corporeal being of magic," she said. "I survived months in the Shadow Realm. This is nothing."
"Lena," said Violet, and sat next to her on the bed. "I know we aren't particularly well-acquainted yet, but I, too, fear for your wellbeing in this environment."
Lena crossed her arms and looked away.
"It would certainly put Webby's mind at ease to know you were somewhere more secure."
Lena went quiet for a moment, then dragged her hands down her face and groaned. "Fine. Since you guys are so morbidly curious, I'll stay until you get sick of me." She glanced over at Indy, who closed his book and put it back in his satchel.
"Here," he said, opening the bag toward her. "Pack anything you need."
Lena took her other magazines from the pile under her bed and threw them in the bag carelessly. Indy fixed it as best he could and put his journal in next to them. Ty unplugged Lena's mini fridge and lava lamp before searching the room for anything else that was plugged in.
"We can come back for the bigger stuff later," he said. "There's more room in Indy's car."
"Excellent," said Violet. "I'll update Webbigail."
"Alright," Lena said anxiously. She crossed her arms, closing in on herself, and looked back over her shoulder as they started to leave.
Her diary was lying open on the floor by her vanity.
"Wait!"
She ran to grab it, and Indy took it from her and put it in his satchel before she could protest. She sighed and followed the other three up the stairs.
Violet didn't have her phone on speaker, but Webby screamed plenty loud enough.
"You're gonna be like sisters!" she squealed.
Lena looked out the window at the sun going down and pretended she hadn't heard. Ty had spent most of the drive stewing, but she could see him start to smile. She held her sleeping bag under her arm and she and Violet said goodbye to Webby as they pulled into the driveway.
"So," Lena said once they were in the front hall. "I'll take the couch?"
Ty and Indy both opened their mouths to answer, but Violet beat them to it.
"We'll share my bedroom," she said. "Think of it as a sleepover."
Ty smiled and tousled her hair. "Your dad and I'll go figure out dinner."
Indy reached into his satchel and gave Lena back her magazines and diary. "What's to figure out?" he said. "It's a sleepover; that means pizza!" He looked back and winked at the girls as he followed Ty into the kitchen.
Lena stayed at the table awhile after dinner. Violet had already started getting ready for bed, and Ty and Indy were probably off doing housework or answering emails or whatever normal adults did in the evening.
Ty, for his part, had just finished loading the dishwasher when he passed by the dining room and noticed Lena sitting and staring at the table.
"Everything okay?" he asked.
Lena jumped in her seat. "Oh! Uh, yeah, everything's fine." She forced a smile, but she could tell she wasn't totally selling it. "Just...wanted some quiet."
"Alright," he said. "Well, if you need anything -"
"Do you guys think I'm real?"
She hadn't planned on saying that. But it wasn't something she could very well backpedal on.
"Like, a real person? I mean, I wasn't born; I'm made out of weird shadow magic. I've gotten older, I've made it this far, but I don't know if I'm supposed to hold."
Ty furrowed his brow and took a seat across from her.
"I just feel like I'm not...stable," she said, throwing her hands up and slumping down in her seat. "Like I could collapse any second, and I -" She groaned and put a hand over her eyes. "Sorry. I don't know why I'm telling you all of this. Forget it."
Ty took a breath. "I don't know how 'weird shadow magic' works," he said. "That's more my husband's department."
Lena scoffed. "Must've been a real educational day for him."
"And neither of us can possibly know what it's like to be you. But what you just described to me is how almost every person alive feels all the time."
Lena took her hand off of her face.
"Just look at me," he continued, an amused smile forming on his face. "Every time I think I'm used to this town, harpies crash through my window and try to steal my photo albums, or my car gets hit by one of Zeus' stray lightning bolts, or I go to pick up my daughter from a sleepover and come home with a second one!" He cleared his throat. "A foster daughter, anyway."
She looked up at him curiously.
"It's not easy," he said. "But it's normal."
She sat up straight.
"Vi likes to turn in early most nights," said Ty. "But Indy and I were gonna watch a movie in a bit, if you want to join us?"
"Nah," she said. "I'm probably gonna go to bed soon, too."
"Sounds like a plan," he said as he stood up. "Sleep tight."
That's a dumb saying, she thought, but oddly didn't want to tell him so.
On her way to Violet's dresser to borrow a pajama shirt, Lena tripped over something in the dark and yelped as she fell to the floor and landed on her arm.
"Apologies," said Violet, who she could now see lying in a sleeping bag. "I inferred that you're more comfortable having your own space, and I thought you might like to take the bed to yourself, it being your first night here."
"Cool," Lena grunted, rubbing her arm. "Thanks."
She changed into an oversized t-shirt and lied down in the middle of the bed. Her diary was in the little bookshelf in Violet's headboard, and, knowing she wasn't falling asleep anytime soon, Lena pulled it out and grabbed a pen from the nightstand to doodle.
She looked for the first blank page and found something she didn't remember writing:
HARPIES:
- AGGRESSIVE
- STEAL PRIZED POSSESSIONS - HOW DO THEY KNOW WHICH ONES?
- REPAIR AND/OR REPLACE WEDDING CHINA, TELL TY HARPIES TRIED TO GET IT AND YOU DEFINITELY DIDN'T BREAK IT DURING THE MOVE
This wasn't hers.
She jumped out of bed in a panic, realized Violet was already asleep and tiptoed around her to open the door.
Indy was on the other side, one hand on the doorknob, the other holding a book.
"Hey, sweetie," he whispered. "I wasn't sure if you were still up. I think this is yours."
He handed her the diary, and she gave him his journal, still open to the same page.
"I noticed it wasn't my handwriting," he said. "I didn't actually read anything in it, I promise."
"I kinda read some of yours," she confessed. "Got some good stuff on freaky sentient shadows?"
Indy flipped to the last marked page and held it out to show her. "This is all I got so far."
- HALLOWEENY
- LOTS OF PURPLE OR MAYBE THAT'S JUST THE BLACKLIGHT
- PROBABLY BOTH
- SKULLS
- DARK COLORS, NEED WINDOWS
Lena smirked. "Is it the list of codewords you're gonna use to wake up your sleeper agents?"
"It's some things I noticed about your old place," said Indy. "I thought this might help us make you more comfortable here. If you girls don't want to share long-term, we're gonna try and redo a spare room for you." He nodded toward Violet's bed.
Lena's face softened.
"We can figure all that out in the morning," he said. "Goodnight." He started down the hall, and Lena closed the door.
She looked down and noticed her rescuer and gracious host shifting uncomfortably in her sleep.
Infinitely thankful that it was dark and there was no one awake to see the tears in her eyes, Lena stretched out a hand in Violet's direction. It started to glow, and she levitated Violet off of the floor and onto one side of the bed. She settled into the other side, and within a few minutes they were both fast asleep.