EPISODE FIFTEEN

"I'm sorry Dia, but you know that you can't," Martha said, shaking her head. "It's too dangerous."

"…" Dia looked down. So she was going to have to do it the hard way: sneaking out. Oh well. She had already been planning to, anyway. "Okay, Martha."

Martha smiled comfortingly before walking out the door of the room, shutting it quietly behind her.

"The Library? Why would you want to go there?" Jamie sneered. Dia jumped again, not expecting her to speak.

"To research," Dia said, lying back down.

"You mean to find more stupid magic books?"

"No. I'm looking for a cure for us," Dia said simply, taking in a deep breath.

Jamie fell silent for a moment. "Why are you so desperate anyway?" she asked, her voice sharp.

"Because I want to live, Jamie. Don't you?"

Jamie only snorted and didn't say anything else. Dia sighed. Now, to think of exactly how she was supposed to make it from the second floor of the Sanatorium to the first floor without getting caught…

---

Katie felt very awkward around Carl now; it felt like somehow he'd betrayed her and now there was a gaping rift between them. But Carl obviously wasn't aware of this, because he was still his regular cheerful self, although he sometimes spaced out a little.

Or maybe this is the way he's always been, Katie thought. I just didn't see it before.

It was already late in the afternoon (Katie's watch said it was 4:37PM), and so things were slowing down in the café. Katie sat at one of the tables, her feet propped up on the table and the chair standing on two legs. But this daring act did not grab Carl's attention as he cleared dishes from a nearby table.

She wanted to ask him more about Ellen, things like 'How do you know her?', 'What's she like?', or 'Are you two really close?', but she was more afraid of the answers she'd get then actually asking them.

But the sound of the café door opening quickly interrupted her thoughts as she brought the chair back down onto all four legs, taking her own legs off the table as she switched into Happy Waitress mode, standing to greet the two customers.

But she froze as she recognized the pair, her brain trying to think of a logical reason of why those two were standing there. Together.

"What the heck? Joe? Gwen?" she accidentally said out loud. "You're still together?"

---

When it was just past 5:00PM, Dia was ready to go.

She'd been listening at the door, waiting for a chance to escape as Jamie watched her (although she pretended not to).

Alex had left to search for herbs, and Martha had left a while ago, probably on some errand. So it was just Gina.

"Oh! I need to go to the Blacksmith, I completely forgot," Dia heard the nurse say to herself. "It's already 5:00…I should go now…"

Dia held her breath, hoping that Gina wouldn't come upstairs to check on her and Jamie. And she didn't. She exhaled as soon as she heard the door of the Sanatorium shut. With one last look back at Jamie, Dia turned the knob of the door and started down the steps.

---

Gwen looked offended by what Katie had said, but Katie didn't apologize. "Yes, of course. Why wouldn't we be?" Joe looked a little uncomfortable, but still didn't say anything.

Katie tried to remember what happened last night at the Perch Inn. Joe had definitely seen them; even if they'd heard and saw him come into the kitchen there was no way they could detangle themselves that fast. She shuddered a little at the thought.

"Oh, no reason. So how's Bob?" Katie shot back, raising an eyebrow. Gwen turned bright red, from embarrassment and anger. "He---I---that---" she stammered.

"Gwen and I managed to work things out," Joe said, speaking for Gwen. "It was all just a misunderstanding."

"A…a…misunderstanding!" Katie cried in disbelief. How could he be so insane?

But Carl walked back out of the kitchen now, greeting Gwen and Joe with a smile. "Hello. Oh, aren't you a friend of Katie's?" he said, looking at Gwen.

"Ugh!" Gwen huffed. "I'm never coming here again! I thought that it'd be nice to stop in for a Cake, but…I can't believe you'd allow your waitresses to treat customers like that!" She grabbed Joe roughly by his hand and pulled him out of the café after her.

Katie stood there, fuming as Carl frowned, watching Gwen and Joe go.

"Katie, you shouldn't mistreat customers," he said when the door shut, as if he were scolding her. "It's really bad for business---we probably just lost two customers. At this rate, my café can never be successful."

Katie's jaw dropped in shock. He was blaming what happened on her? She tried to speak, but just made little croaking sounds. She finally managed to control herself, at least enough to be able to speak. "You…you think I…you think I did that! Is that all you care about? Your business? You don't even…you just…blame me without…"

"Katie," he said, in the same scolding, firm tone. "I'm not kidding. If you scare off customers, I will---"

"Scare?" Katie practically screeched. This couldn't be happening. There was just no way this could be happening. It's all that witch Ellen's fault, something in the back of her mind said, her temper rising again.

Carl seemed a little frightened, but Katie could only glare at him, her eyes wide, before she turned and stomped out of the café, unsure of where she was going but knowing that she had to get away from all the insanity.

---

Dia hurried across the room towards the stairs; it felt eerie being alone in the Sanatorium (besides Jamie, of course). She let out a loud sigh of relief as soon as she was out of the Sanatorium. But Gina or Doctor Alex or Martha could be coming any minute, so she wasn't safe yet.

She moved as quickly as she could, but even though she'd been resting to save energy for this trip, it hadn't occurred to her that she hadn't walked for a distance in a long time, so it was a difficult journey to the Library.

She stumbled inside the building, the girls looking up at her as she entered. She recognized them as the village gossipers, but she couldn't remember any of their names, and she wondered if they knew who she was…

She didn't say a word them but instead dragged herself off to the back of the Library so she'd be hidden in the shelves, shielded from their curious looks. After a long silence they were suddenly talking all at once in hushed voices, and Dia could hear her name come up several times. She ignored them, turning to the shelf and running her finger along the spines as she searched for something, anything on the Harvest Goddess that could give her more information about the Goddess' 'unhappiness'.

"That's her, isn't it? Dia?" Nina hissed to Lyla and Maria, who both nodded.

"But what's she doing here?"

"I thought she was sick, like Jamie?"

"Maybe she was cured."

"But she doesn't look cured."

"Yeah, she's really pale!"

"Shhh, keep your voice down…"

All three glanced to where the sickly girl had disappeared between the shelves.

"That's really weird."

"We should keep an eye on her."

"Yeah," Maria agreed, nodding. "Let's not jump to conclusions yet."

---

Katie only went as far as the beach. She sat down at the edge of the water, leaning back on her hands with her legs spread out in front of her. She played with a stick, drawing random shapes in the sand. She suddenly stood, flinging the stick as hard as she could.

"If there is a Harvest Goddess, and you can hear me right now…I hate you! This is your fault!" she shouted over the waves. It made her feel a little better, knowing that she could put the blame on someone else.

She smiled, satisfied and turned to go back to café. I should apologize to Carl, even if I didn't do anything on purpose, she thought. I did scare off Gwen and Joe, after all.

She suddenly bumped into something, and looked up.

"Oh…sorry…" she muttered, coming face to face a woman she didn't recognize. The woman's wavy blonde hair tied back with a purple ribbon, and she looked a little older than Katie was.

"You…you hate the Harvest Goddess?" the woman practically whispered, looking horrified.

---