April 4th

Moonrise

Jack guided his human down the stairs, watching as lightness began to creep back into her form. "I can get the rest of my work done easy," she said, clasping his head and swinging them together. "And my parents have already checked in on me tonight, so I think I'll be safe on that front."

Jack thought about that, turning the concern over in his mind. "You won't get in any trouble for this, will you?"

Ivy, who'd eagerly grasped his arm, paused and darted her eyes away from him. "Like, for being here? I mean, it's not like they'll ever know, so…"

Hmmm. Odd. There was something off about her, Jack decided, something that didn't quite fit. He didn't know what, turning the matter over and stretching it out like taffy as he led them down the stairs, smiling absently at Ivy leaping down two steps at a time, leaning on him (trusting him) to support her as her feet left the ground.

Of course, he did so without hesitation. That part was always easy - figuring out what was going on inside another monster's head, far less so.

"Do you wish they could know?"

Ivy froze, nearly falling. Jack secured his grip on her, gently easing her down and trying to look encouraging in the face of disbelief his friend shot him.

"What the hell? What, my parents?"

"Anybody," he offered as he opened the door and ushered the shell-shocked human through. The night air was perfectly cool, the smell of pinecones strong on the breeze. "Would you want to tell them?"

Ivy's aura flared bright red, twisting around its host, and burning against Jack's arm. "What does it matter?" She spat, eyes fixed at the ground. "They won't, they can't, so what good does it do to think about it?"

Ah. Perhaps he should backpedal a tad. "Well, of course you can't say anything - this world really isn't built for humans - but you could talk to somebody, right?"

She looked up at him, one eyebrow raised rather critically. "What, just talk about my feelings? Kumbaya? Process it all?"

"Exactly!"

She huffed, tightening her grip on his arm, and stubbornly looking away. "Dream on, Jack."

"But -"

"C'mon, I thought we were scaring!" Her mood shifted again, brown eyes now wide with her version of pleading. "Please, Jack?"

Damn it all, he knew when to put a pin in things. "As you wish, love. Hang on now!"

Ivy nodded, taking her lip between her teeth, and closing her eyes tight. Jack laughed softly at that, waving his hand, and concentrating. Around the pair, the perfectly crinkled leaves of autumn began to shift in the growing wind until they were lifted completely. The Wind whipped around the skeleton and the human, creating a cyclone of leaves that obscured any sight to the world around them. Jack kept a calm aura about him, his free hand carefully concentrating until a crack in the world formed and he could step through, allowing the leaves to propel them forward.

Jack kept a firm grip on Ivy as he looked around the expanse of the passing Universe. The memory of the first time she'd tried to come back to Halloween through her own Gateway haunted him - the awful flickering of her form, the slow disintegration, the knowledge that if he didn't act now, she'd end up scattered across the cosmos. He'd been walking between the Veil for centuries, but the danger of traveling on a stardust ridden path was forever present, even for a trip as short as this one.

A forest would be good, he thought. Perhaps one near a tourist type town…they'd be bound to run into eager hikers there, as the late spring of Europe began to sing the first notes of wanderlust. Perhaps one not too far from Germany, either…. ah, yes. That one. Excellent.

He sidestepped, yanking his human cargo along until they came to a standstill on the dirt path of a dark forest, the trees closing in thick around them. There were no fireflies here (to be expected, he supposed) but a stream was nearby, frogs croaking to break up the silence. Ivy glitched beside him, unable to stabilize in the same way. With a sigh, Jack wrapped a piece of his aura around her, giving her stubborn soul a firm yank back to the physical plane.

Ivy stepped forward, arms instantly coming up to pinwheel as she tried to keep her balance. Jack stifled a laugh and caught her arms before she could pitch forward into the dirt. "Welcome to the Foresta Umbra, Miss Kunze!"

"Where's this?" Ivy asked in a hushed whisper, as though afraid to wake the spirits around them. "Half expected you to dump us in a town, to be honest."

"We'll get there, little scarer," Jack teased as he released her. "For now, though, we'll stick to the forests of Italy."

There was no need for night vision to see the smile light up on her face. "Oh, wicked!"

"Indeed. Now, let's do some terrorizing, all right?"

"Woo-hoo!" Ivy punched the air and jumped, then immediately shushed herself and glanced around. "Are we -"

"Alone for now," he confirmed, still amused. She didn't seem to understand the safety she had being by his side, or that nothing in the dark was scarier than what was holding her hand, guiding her across tree roots.

…but then, he preferred it that way. A bit of human confusion was far better than the few times he'd seen genuine terror of him on the face of his former ward. They stuck in his skull, imprinted behind his sockets no matter how desperately he tried to forget.

"I don't mean to be a nag," Jack said, hoping that the conversation would shut up the voices in his skull, "but I do worry about you, you know."

Ivy's hand tightened in his own. "Jack, we talked about this, I'm handling it fine."

We did not talk, Jack thought to himself. Deceit won't work on me, Dolo. "I trust you to, as you say, 'handle' it. However - oh, watch your head there, make sure to keep your eyes focused - I worry that I won't be able to understand how best to help you."

Ivy avoided the branch, swiping at it with her free hand. "Look, Jack, I appreciate it, but I promise I don't need help. Yes, fine, school sucks right now, but that's, like, just how it is. School always sucks and my whole… thing doesn't change that. It'll get better, like you said."

"And your friends? Did you speak to them?"

A pause. Jack kept an eye on Ivy's aura, which darted in and out of his peripherals.

"...yeah. We did. I talked to them after school the other day. They said we could still hang out, so that's fun. I think it went pretty well, actually."

Her aura stayed neutral, but Jack didn't need to rely on the usage of her power to know she was lying. He held himself back from snapping, focusing on filing the information away. "And…what of everything else? We discussed your death, of course, but I never did get to ask you about Ciar-"

There was more than a pause, this time. Ivy stopped short and let her hand fall from his, at the same time catching her foot on a tree knot. She landed on the path with a thud, and Jack could hear her the bones of her knees smart at the impact. Question nearly forgotten, he whirled back around to see her staring at the path, still kneeling, her hands curling into the dirt and loose pine needles that littered the forest floor.

"Goodness! Are you alr-"

"I don't want to talk about it."

It was quiet, almost missed beneath the croaking of the now-distant frogs or the steady trickle of the creak, but it stopped Jack short. If he were human, he knew he wouldn't be able to see a thing as they stood before each other - well, him standing, towering a good 9 feet over her as she knelt there, hands now in her lap to poorly disguise the way that they shook. They were alone in the woods, wrapped in the darkness, an environment that Jack thrived in - and yet he had almost never felt as out of his depth as he did in that moment. He hated benign forced to watch as his human retreated inside her own mind, the one place he couldn't follow her to.

"Ivy, I understand, but - "

"You don't," she said sharply. She still hadn't moved, her form perfectly still. "You don't, and that's ok, because I'm ok. It's - it's whatever. I don't want to talk about it. I don't – I can't -"

"Alright," Jack soothed, dropping into a crouch, and holding his hands before her in surrender. "Alright, you don't have to. It's alright."

She nodded, finally lifting her gaze to meet his. Her eyes were clear but there was a strain to them that made Jack's chest ache. "I'm sorry," she whispered, her nails picking at the skin of her hands.

Gently, Jack took her hands in his own, forcing them to smooth out. "You're safe here. You know that, yes?"

Ivy laughed at that, small but genuine. "Feels stupid to say yes," she said, a glint of humor creeping back in as she glanced around them. "But…yeah, I know. Even in weird, creepy-ass forests. If you're here, I'm good."

"Precisely. Be that for your physical safety or otherwise. Though, you may prefer to discuss things not in this environment, so if you'd like to do that, I can certainly open a Gateway and…

"Look, Jack, it doesn't matter." She stood and brushed the dirt from her jeans, tossing her hair over her shoulder. He felt rather that saw her shove the moment of fragileness into a box, her body and energy resorting back to normal, and he knew that the moment was over. "Speaking of Gateways, why don't they work for me?"

"Beg pardon?"

"Y'know." She gestured widely at the air around her, as though that illustrated everything perfectly. "I can go through them fine, I can feel them around me, like, all the time, so why can't I make them like you can?" She shook her head a bit, forcing her shoulder back and refusing to look at him.

Jack nodded, allowing the topic to pass. "Well, love, it is a tricky art, creating one's own Gateway. Some part of it is, unfortunately, patience and practice."

Ivy huffed. "Well, that's boring."

Jack couldn't help but laugh at that, chucking her on the side of the chin until she gave her own reluctant smile. "It is, yes. But it sounds as if you've mastered the first part - sensing them at all!"

Her face flickered and Jack wondered if he'd somehow said the wrong thing. "Oh, yeah. No trouble there."

Hmm. Jack led them both forward, taking a new pride in how silent Ivy's footfalls were behind him. She couldn't hide her breathing or heart rate, but it somehow managed to slip into the overall background noise of the woods.

In the distance, a fire glowed, and Jack's instincts prickled with glee. Campers, no doubt. Easy victims, perhaps a bit below his level, but there was something so classical about the simple tricks needed to push already paranoid minds over the edge. They were still out of earshot for them, so he risked murmuring: "How often do you feel them?"

Ivy, picking up on his volume, lowered her own voice in response. "All the time, Bone Boy. It's kinda weird."

"Elaborate. And follow me."

He gave her time to think as they slunk closer to the campers, who were laughing in delight and huddled close in the slightly chilled early spring air. Jack couldn't see any bottles nor smell alcohol among them and was grateful - inebriated minds were always a bit more dangerous to provoke.

When they got close enough, Jack scuttled up a tree, lightly tapping and testing the weight of his bones on the thin branches. If he adjusted his body just so, he became no more than another branch, albeit one swaying a bit too smoothly in the breeze. When he'd gotten secured, he hooked his legs around the thin trunk and reached his hand down to Ivy, who's eyes grew wide.

Are you nuts? She mouthed at him, taking a step back. Jack didn't bother with the history that response would require, and instead continued to offer his hand, waiting.

He didn't have to wait long. Rolling her eyes, Ivy crept closer and grabbed both his hands, kicking her feet frantically as he pulled her into the air.

She settled on the branch beside him, instantly grasping his coat and tucking herself against his side in an effort not to fall. Jack, amused that she'd even consider it a possibility, slid one arm around her all the same. Pressed against the trunk of the tree, they peered down at the group of campers together before Jack nudged her slightly in the side, waiting.

"I dunno," she whispered after a moment, not taking her eyes off the group. "It's like - everywhere I go I can feel how unstable things are, right? Like if I close my eyes or if I don't focus, I'll just drift away. Sometimes I'll walk right next to one and it'll make me dizzy, but I can't go through it. So what's up with that?"

Jack gave it some thought, even as he stretched his skull forward to better see what they were up to. "I do have one theory," he mused, sockets locking onto the way one member of the group was carelessly snapping sticks and tossing them behind him.

Perhaps…

Ivy's elbow brought him back to reality. "Elaborate," she hissed mockingly, even as she gripped his coat impossibly tight.

"Wait here for me, and then we'll begin the scare."

"Not about that, Bone Boy!"

"Do this and I'll let you know my thoughts." He let go of her and crawled to the end of the branch, grinning at her gasp behind him.

"No, Jack, don't you dare leave -"

With a toss of his skull, Jack crawled in a lizard-like fashion down the trunk of the tree, laughing to himself as he heard his human swear and hug the tree for dear life.

She'd be fine, he assured himself. The Wind was just beginning to kiss the trees around them, so a safety net existed whether she knew it or not. He focused in on the campers, keeping low to the ground as he began to slowly collect the discarded sticks, widening his range of hearing until he could pick up their conversation.

"- nice to be back out, you know?" Stick Thrower was saying, using his fingernails to scrape the bark off his next victim. "Long as we don't step on any mines, we're good."

"As if there'd be mines this far south," another one scoffed, holding her fingers before the fire. The man next to her grinned and leaned in, one large hand gesturing to the woods around them.

"You never know, Cind. Old country, who knows how many wars have been fought here…"

None on this soil, Jack could tell, but there was no harm in letting them believe it. Sticks collected, he made his first toss, aimed perfectly at the back of the first man's head.

The man started, ever so slightly, and rubbed at the back of his head.

Jack grinned to himself, waiting a few minutes (and suffering through small talk about some sport) before throwing the next stick.

Again, the man pitched forward, this time glancing over his shoulder for a moment.

"What is it?" The woman asked, tilting her head.

"Aw, nothing," the man dismissed, waving his head. "I think some bugs must be hittin' my head or something."

Perfect.

Sticks in hand, Jack turned back towards the tree, where Ivy (still with one arm stubbornly clinging to the trunk) was staring at him, looking thoroughly unimpressed. He snuck along the forest floor and swiftly climbed the tree to re-join her, brushing off his jacket.

"Seriously?" She hissed, one eyebrow raised. "The Master of Fright just throws sticks at people?"

Jack gave a long, weary sigh. "The best scares," he said, in a tone that perhaps bordered on lecturing, "are not grand, flashy productions. What is the first foundation of scaring?"

Ivy blinked, clearly recalling her first Scare class in Halloween. "Uh, atmosphere, right?"

"Correct. Most of the environment is creating that, but any way we can help it along enhances the experience. Without atmosphere, there is nothing."

Ivy studied the campers, some of the disdain leaving her expression. "So…the environment is the woods?"

"Partly so. Did you see what he was doing with the sticks?"

"Tossin' em?"

"Indeed." Jack unfurled his palm, tipping some of the sticks into Ivy's hand. "These are the very same. A few more hits, carefully timed, and he'll be on edge without realizing why. What do you think might happen when he sees they're the same ones?"

"He'll realize that something's been there the whole time that's throwing stuff back at him!" Ivy's eyes lit up. "That's the second tier, right? Story?"

Jack grinned until he felt his cheekbones ache. "Precisely! A scare within a vacuum is cheap, unfitting for Scarers such as us."

Ivy bit her lip and glanced down at herself, a new awe in her eyes. "OK, cool. I'm down with this. You wanna toss a few more and then I'll trade off?"

Rather than a verbal answer, Jack let himself fall backwards out of the tree, catching himself on the lowest branch at the last moment and rolling onto the forest floor. It made a soft but alarming rattle, similar to the sound of a snake's coils. Above him, Ivy swore reflexively.

"Did you guys hear that?" the woman asked, her voice pitched just a tad higher than it had been.

"Cindy, it's like you're trying to have a First Girl moment," the man next to her deadpanned.

"Screw you, jerk. Not wanting to get bit in the ass is a fair thing to be freaked about."

"You know what, Cind, if a snake manages to find it, I'll pay the hospital bills."

"Oh, you can just go -"

The ensuing argument provided the perfect cover for Jack to slink closer, angling himself so that his shadow looked like nothing more than another branch in the firelight. This scare was mostly to show Ivy the basics, yes, but that didn't mean he couldn't have a little fun.

Stretching one hand towards the fire, Jack began to curl his fingers up and down, following the fire's natural rhythm. Slowly, once he was familiar with the energy pattern of the flames, he began to sway his hand, pulling the fire alongside it through the air.

Cindy noticed instantly; he could tell. Her eyes dropped to the flames as though trying to track them. Her mouth opened, hesitant, before snapping shut once more, as though determined to ignore it. What a wonderful group they'd found!

First, the man who'd made the snide comment to her - no way to talk to a lady, not if Jack could help it, so he decided to repay the favor. With a quick snap of his fingers, the fire popped loudly, a spark shooting from the coals and landing directly on the seat of the man's pants.

The man swore so loudly an owl woke up, hooting irritably as it flew about, causing the rest of the group to startle twice. The man jumped to his feet and patted himself down, Cindy shouted from where he'd knocked her, and the Stick Thrower fell into a fit of hysterics.

"Shut the hell up, Jacq!"

"What, didn't like a pop in the ass?"

"I'll pop you in the ass if you don't -"

He lifted his foot and drove it at the fire in a fit of frustration. Jack lowered his palm, pulling the fire low with him as though reacting to the kick. But rather than let it creep back up, Jack kept his palm low, slowly diminishing the fire's light until the laughter died down.

"Uh, guys?" Cindy said hesitantly, trying to interrupt the two men. "I think you messed up the fire."

"Dude," Stick Thrower said, his face ashy, "if you killed the fire, I might have to kill you."

"Oh, don't be so dramatic, we've got -" a long, dangerous pause. "Which one of you assholes moved the matches."

"Why would we do that?"

The fire ticked down another level.

"They were right friggin' here! So either one of you moved them or -"

"Ok, calm down, man, let's just look around for them -"

"With what light are we gonna look for them with?"

Jack slid the box of matches into his pocket. Czech matches, if the writing on the box was accurate. He'd been running low on his own supply, anyway.

"Ok, fine, whatever, we'll just throw some more sticks onto the fire - the hell?"

Jack looked up, surprised. Stick Thrower was rubbing the back of his head, looking behind and up. The human couldn't see anything, but Jack's vision revealed Ivy balancing nervously on the branch, loading up her next round of ammo.

Not bad timing, he though reluctantly. The suspense was high. The argument had started, the humans were making a story for themselves. The final moment, the last core foundation, was right before them.

"Payoff," Jack heard Ivy whisper, just has she released the final stick, the Wind guiding it to land right in front of Stick Thrower. Jack relinquished his control of the fire, allowing it to roar upwards. The trio screamed and Jack savored the thrill of adrenaline that shot through him, the sound of their screams scratching the itch deep within him. Despite the dullness of Town, this was proper, he knew, this was him fulfilling what his form was made for. Waving a hand to Ivy, she tipped back her head and let out a scream of her own. It started human, at first, the high-pitched type of her kind, but then it slowly grew and cracked until he could hear the banshee underneath that hinted to her other nature. The trio spun around and fled, trying to pinpoint where the unnatural scream was coming from. Ivy's scream broke off into peals of laughter, still too maniacal to be fully human.

The humans bolted into the dark, one of them shouting about calling the police. Ivy leaned against a tree, giggling to herself as Jack waved his hands over the fire once more, smothering it. No need to cause a forest fire, after all.

"Ready for the last step?" he called up, pulling Ivy from her laughter.

"Wh – what? They left, didn't they?" Ivy hung onto the branch with one hand, leaning over and gazing down at him. There was a healthy flush to her cheeks, the stress of the past few hours nearly dissipated.

"They did," Jack said, "and now it's our turn. So come on down."

Ivy nodded, stepping further out onto the branch and releasing her death grip, her arms pinwheeling. Jack readied himself, stomach tightening as she swayed in the Wind. Then, with a new light on her face, Ivy took a deep breath and leapt off the branch.

Jack's mouth fell open in a shout, but the Wind was quicker, racing to fill the gap between the human and the ground. She laughed again as she floated to the earth, her decent slowed considerably as she hovered in front of Jack, hair whipping around her head.

"Your face!" She laughed, doing a backflip in midair. Jack huffed, rolling his sockets and reaching to pull her out of the air. Graceful though the movement was, it reminder him far too much of a different form of hers. The memory of her pale, see-through figure drifting helplessly in the Winds wasn't one he cared to revisit. Thankfully, the Wind relinquished its hold on the human, letting her weight fall fully into Jack's arms. He held her for just a moment before letting her go, hands flying to her hair and trying to untangle the knots there. Ivy batted his hands away, looking over her shoulder.

"You look ridiculous," Jack moaned, putting his hands on his hips.

Ivy huffed. "C'mon, Jack, let's find a Gateway and get out of here. One of those guys said something about a gun."

Well, that did complicate things. Jack took her hand and started to run, pulling her next to him and thriving off the energy of her aura.

"So, what's your theory?" Ivy asked behind him as they sped over the dirt. Her hand was small and warm in his, and Jack wondered if he ran fast enough whether she might float along on the Wind.

"About what?" Throwing out his aura, Jack began the hunt for nearby Gateways - preferably ones close to Germany, to get her home faster.

"About the Gateways, dummy." She knocked herself against his shoulder, pointing into a nearby thicket. "There's one over there, by the way."

She was right - it was small, and not quite as powerful as he would've liked, but it would do for now. Bending down, he and the human crept through the bushes until they came before a spot where the branches curved unnaturally into a circle, the sight just unnatural enough for a human to laugh and find another path.

"Let me see you try to use this one," he said instead, gesturing her forwards. "You were able to do so in Halloween, yes?"

"Yeah," she huffed, looking none too pleased, "but they're always so much stronger in Halloween. Human World one's suck."

"You'll get better, I have no doubt," Jack assured. "But for now…" he held out his hand, smiling gently when she grasped it tight, unconsciously tucking herself closer to him. Then, when he'd focused his mind on their end goal, he pulled them both through the Gateway.

Just as before, the world warped and shimmered around them. Jack glanced down to see Ivy's form flickering and vibrating violently, each molecule in her body going haywire until she barely retained her human shape. Jack didn't envy her - early Gateway trips took quite the toll on one's body; no doubt trying to go through one while living was a painful experience. For now, however, he had a goal of his own: destination firmly fixed, he began to bend and guide the shadows around them until the path beneath their feet stretched endlessly before them, a faint glimmer of streetlight giving way to their end destination.

Smoothly, with the practice that came from centuries, Jack stepped through the Gateway back into the Human World, frowning and giving Ivy a firm yank to pull her through. It was difficult, her body and soul stretching like taffy before breaching the gap.

The human landed with an ungraceful splat on the street, coughing and shaking her head while Jack waited, hands folded neatly behind his back. "Y'know what? Maybe I'm good not being an expert on Gateways, Jack."

Jack laughed at that, closed-mouthed and quick. She hauled herself to her feet as he dusted off his jacket, small traces of stardust flaking onto the dirt road. "I believe I've gotten you fairly close, yes?"

The pair were under a large bridge, the graffiti decorating it at least informing Jack they were in the right country. Overhead, a large bus rattled by, briefly shaking the bridge before all went still and quiet once more. If he strained his hearing, Jack thought he could hear laughs and shouts from the next village over, the lights of which were barely visible through the thick expanse of trees lining the road.

"Dude, where are we?" Ivy said, squinting her eyes up to read the writing on the street sign. "I swear, if you've - oh."

"Oh?" Jack tried (and failed) to keep the smugness from his tone.

Ivy huffed, shooting him an irritated glare that somehow made Jack's heart warm all the same. "You're the worst."

A grin crept across his face. "In the same village, am I?"

"One over," she admitted, pointing her finger at him warningly. "I'll have to take a bus back, but - ok, fine, I'll give you this one."

Pressing one hand to his chest, Jack swept out his coat and gave a deep, mocking bow that finally dragged out the laugh hiding behind his human's scowl. "Always glad to be of service, Ambassador Ivy."

She spread her own arms out and gave an equally ridiculous bow in return, giggling all the while. "The pleasure is all mine, King Jack."

Ivy's watch beeped, ending the moment.

"Nice!" She cheered, straightening up and pumping one fist into the sky. "I've got a half hour to spare!"

"How long is your bus ride?"

The fist in the froze but didn't collapse. "Uh…ok, I've still got time." She shook herself out, glancing over her shoulder. "Bus station's not too far; I'll just book it."

Disappointment settled into Jack's chest, his ribs clenching. No matter how often they had to do this, it never got easier to see her leave, the quiet and routine of it all settling in once more. "Alright, then. I'm glad you were able to stop by."

Ivy, who'd been fiddling with her bag, stilled, and glanced up at him. Contrary to her budding supernatural abilities, it was rare for Ivy to be able to hide something from him, but the look in her eyes was one he didn't recognize.

"What?" He said, wondering if he should feel nervous.

She glanced over her shoulder once more, then dove forward and hugged him around the middle, pressing her face against his rib cage. Jack, confused but eager, returned the embrace as best he could, letting one bony hand settle atop her hair.

"Thanks, Jack," he heard her mutter into his waistcoat, a slight squeeze accompanying it. "I think I needed this."

"Anytime, love." He released her, watching as she shook off the strange, clouded expression and prepare to run. She turned to go when a thought struck him.

"Wait a moment!"

"What?" She said, glancing back at him, concerned. "You ok?"

"My theory," Jack said, distantly aware of the strange countdown they were under but needing to keep her close for just a moment more. "For why you're having difficulties with the Gateways."

"Yeah?"

"Where can Gateways be found?"

Ivy furrowed her brow but answered. "Uh, liminal spaces, right? Where the fabric of reality just isn't right?"

"Yes, but what causes that instability between worlds?"

The question seemed to throw her, but Jack was patient. "Uh…how weird they are? I dunno, Jack, every Gateway I've found just seems like a place I don't want to be."

Jack gestured to the woods around them, where nature just met the first signs of human society. "Gateways get their power from that precipice - something new, that transition stage, which isn't fully formed. It's the potential of that place, no matter the discomfort. Anything could happen in the transformation, so anything does."

Ivy blinked. "What does that have to do with me?"

Ah, humans. For beings who managed to fly themselves among the stars, it was startling how little they truly realized about the world they'd created for themselves. "You, love, are in a liminal space, as a person."

Another blink, but not quite as confused this time. "Because I'm a Citizen now?"

"Partially." Jack spread his hands, gesturing between them. "You're growing up. The person you were before last Halloween is not the same one before me, nor will you be the same by this Halloween. You're changing, you have potential." He smiled at her, struck - not for the first time - how bizarre it was to have a friend so young, to see with simultaneous clarity and uncertainty the path before them. Please understand, he pleaded in his mind. Hear what I am telling you. "Is it any real surprise, then, that you'd be attracted to the same?"

She glanced down at that, one arm coming up to rub at her bicep, where Jack knew her Citizen's Mark lay. She was quiet, yes, but Jack knew her well enough by now - she'd listened. She'd just need time.

"Have a good night, love," he said, extending one arm to ruffle her hair before pulling the shadows around him. The prospects of the Universe were all around him, millions of possibilities for humans and monsters alike. It was wonderful and awe-inspiring, but he couldn't help but wonder…

Was the strange life he'd crafted for his human taking away what she could have had?

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

It had been a while since she'd been outside after dark, so Ivy took the time to relish in the cool evening air. The bus ride had been fairly quick, nearly empty, and before long she was walking down her street, humming softly to herself, creating the only sound in the still air. The air still had a bit of bite to it, and she pulled her jacket close to her, wondering if other Citizens had fire powers to keep them warm. She really should talk to Jack about her…whatever it was, she decided, even if considering the weird slimy nature of them made her stomach turn. Jack would know what to do, either way. He wouldn't be the type to judge, right?

Ivy was so deep in her thoughts that she failed to register, coming up her driveway, that a car was there.

Leaning against her door, Ivy fumbled for her keys, humming one of Jack's favorite songs under her breath. She swore Jack knew how to split his voice or something; it never sounded the same even when she copied the notes exactly. Whatever, music wasn't her thing much either, so she was happy to let Jack keep his –

The door swung open without the aid of her keys and Ivy's instincts went haywire. Dry mouthed and suddenly dizzy, she stared up into the eyes of a furious Selena Kunze.

Scheiße.


See you all on Saturday for whatever Frau Kunze has in store!

(Also, special thanks to the Beetlejuice soundtrack for sponsoring this chapter.)

-Aria