EPISODE TWENTY

The days and weeks passed in a blur for Katie, until all of a sudden it was Winter 9th. The past few weeks had been just like one day for her; blending into burned Cakes, spilled Herb Tea, and long talks with Carl when the café was closed and everything was quiet.

Carl had become more tolerant of her mistakes; she'd caught him smiling ever so slightly at her a few days ago when she'd spilled a particularly hot cup of Milk into the lap of a woman. He'd quickly wiped the smile off his face, of course, and handed the woman several napkins, apologizing over and over again, saying that, "the floors were wet," and "the waitress slipped---an accident, of course," and, "so sorry about that, Liz, but I hope this won't stop you from coming again," while Katie stood off to the side, looking sheepish because she knew the real reason why she'd spilled the Hot Milk: she'd been staring at Carl again…

She'd gathered up enough courage to confess to Carl a week ago that she'd just turned eighteen, and that she'd lied on the day she'd first arrived. He'd just smiled at her and patted her shoulder. "That's all right," he had said. "I'm glad you told me."

Neither of them had ever brought up what happened that day in the kitchen when the villagers had barged in. Carl had somehow smoothed things over like he always did, and things calmed down and the mob finally emptied out of the café. But he never finished what he had been telling her, and Katie never asked. She was perfectly fine baking Cakes with Carl, as long as she could stay by his side…

She felt her cheeks redden at the thought of this, but looked up as the café door opened and Maria entered.

"Hey, Maria," she said cheerfully, smiling at her. She saw that for once, Maria hadn't brought Nina with her. Lately the pink haired girl had been following Maria like a shadow and always blushed and apologized when she saw Katie. It had gotten tiring, and so she was a little relieved that Maria was alone.

"Hey," Maria said, sitting down at the counter.

"You want anything?" Katie asked, and Maria shook her head.

"Nope."

There was silence, and Katie finally spoke again.

"So, what's up?"

---

It was Winter 9th already, and it still hadn't snowed.

Kurt really didn't know what to think of this. It was nine days into the Winter season, but the ground remained cold and hard and bare, despite the fact that the temperature had dipped below freezing a few times.

The villagers were suspicious, of course, and blamed the Harvest Goddess' disappearance for the lack of snow. The two that they had suspected, the librarian and the new waitress at the Calloway Café, were suddenly forgotten, seeing as how they couldn't really blame them for the weather. However, Kurt could see that that didn't stop them from throwing the two girls dirty looks and talking about them behind their backs.

But he was more worried about Dia nowadays than what was going on in the village. She had refused to talk to him, or even look at him. Recently she'd taken to pretending to be asleep, but when Kurt closed the door to descend down the stairs, he could hear Dia and Jamie whispering.

He couldn't hear what they were saying, but he already had an idea of what was going on between them, especially since he'd read that book at the Library…

But it all seemed crazy. Too crazy. At first, he hadn't even been sure of the Harvest Goddess' existence, and now Dia and Jamie were planning on…No. It couldn't be possible.

That's what Kurt told himself when he'd opened the door to Dia and Jamie's room on Winter 9th, Dia's birthday, gift in hand with a smile on his face until he found the beds empty and neatly made. That's what he kept saying over and over again under his breath as he ripped the layers of sheets and blankets away, searching for a trace of Dia. Not possible. Totally, completely, not possible. Of course. But when he found nothing, and sank to his knees beside her bed, his heart pounding, he knew that it was.

---

Dia barely remembered sneaking out of the Sanatorium with Jamie. It was like she had been in a trance, and finally awoken, finding herself clasping hands with Jamie, both panting and sweating despite the cold.

It was foggy, but she was starting to remember. She and Jamie had planned this, and now it was finally happening, on the day of her birthday…

She pushed these thoughts away; thinking of her birthday reminded her of Kurt, and that was too hard to deal with.

Neither girl spoke; it took enough energy just to focus on moving their feet forward, towards their destination.

Soon they came upon the forest, and it felt like just another dream of Dia's, and that it would end exactly the same. She could feel her eyes start to slide closed, but she forced them open again. No, she told herself firmly. This is not another dream.

They stumbled on tree roots and undergrowth until they finally arrived at the Harvest Goddess Spring, bruised and feeling completely exhausted.

They leaned on each other for support, looking across the Spring at the statue. It was worse than Dia had imagined; the once smooth face was now smashed until she could barely see it; one arm was severed, and the entire thing was covered in a spider web pattern of cracks, chunks of the stone missing here and there.

She looked at Jamie, and they both nodded at each other in unison. "Ready," Jamie said between breaths. Dia nodded again.

"Ready."

---

Maria didn't respond at first, and Katie found her eyes wandering back over to Carl, who was currently taking the order of an elderly woman.

She almost didn't hear Maria when she finally answered, and blinked, quickly looking back over at her.

"Are you guys together now?" Maria repeated, and Katie could see a small hint of amusement on Maria's face, despite the seriousness in her voice. Katie's face flushed and she looked down.

"Uh, not really," Katie said, unable to look Maria in the eye as she wondered just what "not really" meant. Were they together? But before she could think too deeply about this, Maria was talking again.

"I see. Well, I just wanted to stop by to see how you were doing."

"Fine. We're---we're doing fine," Katie said, saying "we" before she could stop herself. She saw a small smirk play across Maria's face.

"So, what do you think is going on? You know…with everything," Maria said after a moment. "The villagers. The weather. The Harvest Goddess."

Katie knew what Maria meant. "Uh…yeah, well, they haven't been bugging me. The villagers, I mean. And as for the weather…are you saying it's related?"

Maria shrugged. "I dunno. Anything's possible." Just then, the door opened again, and Katie tried not to groan at the sight of a star patterned bandana.

"Hey, Katie," Joe said in a low voice, taking a quick glance over his shoulder as he walked over to the counter. Maria raised an eyebrow, and then looked over at Katie.

"Well, I've gotta go meet Nina and Lyla at the Library. See you, Katie," she said, hopping down from the stool and waving a little before leaving the café.

"Bye," Katie called after her. She had already told Maria everything that had happened with Joe and Gwen, and she knew Maria didn't want to get too involved.

"So what can I get for you?" Katie asked Joe, trying to not sound impatient.

"Yeah," he said absent-mindedly, looking over her shoulder again. "Yeah. Katie. We need to talk."

"Oh, yeah, right," Katie said. "You're not supposed to be here, right? Your girlfriend's gonna kill you."

"Actually, we broke up," Joe said, his voice just above a whisper. "That's what I came to talk to you about."

"Oh…well, I'm sorry, Joe." She had to admit she wasn't too surprised; Gwen was the type to get bored with things easily, and Joe was obviously no exception.

"Don't be," he said, and suddenly he had this sheepish grin on his face that made Katie's stomach twist. It didn't help that she could see Carl clearing off a table right behind Joe, in earshot of the entire conversation.

"Um," Katie said, and then suddenly Joe was grabbing her hands, just as Carl looked up to smile at her.

"Don't be," he said again. "Because I came here to say that I...I like you."

---

Kurt bounded down the stairs, nearly knocking down Gina on the way down. He didn't apologize, however, and just continued on towards the door. Suddenly he was jerked back by his arm, and he twisted around to face Alex who had a firm grip on his arm.

"What has gotten into you, Kurt?"

Kurt didn't answer at first but instead looked around the room for Martha, who he was sure would help him out of this. But to his dismay, only Alex and a bewildered Gina were in the Sanatorium that day.

"Dia, Jamie, gone, need to go, now," he said all in one breath, trying to pull away.

"No," Alex said firmly, tightening his grasp. "I won't allow you to until you explain what's going on."

"No!" Kurt shouted, and shoved Alex away, sending him sprawling back onto the floor as he released Kurt's arm. Kurt stared at him for a moment, feeling horrified with himself, before turning and running from the Sanatorium, ignoring Gina's shrieks and cries of, "Have you gone insane, Kurt!"

---

Dia and Jamie both edged around the Spring, never letting go of each other's hands. It seemed like an eternity had passed until they finally reached the statue. They looked at each other again, and then at the statue, and then suddenly, Dia began to cry.

The tears were overflowing out of her eyes, so much that there was no point in trying to hide it or stop it. She just stood there with Jamie, sobbing and hiccupping and sniffling, all the emotions that she'd stripped herself of over the past weeks coming back down on her tenfold as she thought of Kurt.

Jamie stayed silent the entire time, and finally, just as Dia began to calm down, there was a loud crashing sound as someone pushed through the nearby bushes.

"Dia!" a familiar voice shouted, and Dia and Jamie both turned to look. "Dia, no, you don't have to do this!"

Dia saw it was Kurt and tugged a little on Jamie's hand. "Now," she said quietly. "Let's do it now."

Jamie looked a little hesitant but gave a small nod and turned with Dia back to the statue, both girls ignoring Kurt as they placed their hands on the statue.

---