Author's note: Don't mind me! Just trying to get into a regular updating schedule! The town Motto and the mechanics of Citizenship belong to Aria of Life. Her idea. Don't forget to go read Tricked Out and join our discord server. Paste 5tT9dcE at the end of the usual discord link!

Chapter 48

Procrastination

Annalise was sure, absolutely sure, that the universe hated her. Or maybe just God did. She didn't know at this point.

For a while Anna wasn't sure if her cat would ask what she had learned from the witches. Was she alive or dead or somewhere in between? Did Lily really care either way?

"So? What's so special about me?" Lily asked.

Anna huffed. "She wasn't sure. You're alive, it seems. But she also said cats are strange, even by 'our' standards. She gave me a book to try practicing some spells with you."

"Interesting. I've never tried magick myself."

Anna further tucked the tome Zelda gave her under her arm, along with the journal she had started ages ago, and tried to squash away the nagging that came from growing up in a Christian household-the kind where churchgoers regularly complained about a palm reader business on the road to the church. Anna sometimes got in trouble for visiting there because the nice lady had great cookies and gave her interesting fantasy books. When she was alive, she never really cared what others thought, but she stopped going because it stressed her mom out.

Or, more accurately, she hid her trips better.

On one hand, she was loath to bring God into this. It felt wrong. It left a pit in whatever counted as her stomach that twisted and screamed of betrayal. She had never been afraid of God and the church before.

Why now? It didn't make sense in the slightest for her to be bothered about this now.

You know exactly why.

"No, I actually don't," she said to herself earning a, dare she say it, concerned look from Lily.

The little voice remained quiet, but it didn't stop the wordless thoughts and the memories of her parents that came up with Zelda saying she should learn some witchcraft to take advantage of her abilities and the fact she has a familiar. She hadn't even realized some memories were smudging until that moment, never mind it was the memories of few and far between sermons about, or rather against, witchcraft.

This was ridiculous. Look where she was? She was dead. She was surrounded by the supernatural. She was the supernatural. Magic coursed through her bones like the blood she used to have. What was the difference between her looking up to and being friends with witches like surrogate mothers and becoming a little of one herself? It was a stupid anxiety to split hairs on and she wondered if it was just her fear being a bitch.

Annalise walked around town, just thinking. Maybe over thinking. She had left her things hidden in the Library, where she still was squatting. She needed to head back to store her new "witchcraft textbook" and her journal. She couldn't be caught carrying it around or Jack would catch wind, that is if the actual Wind didn't tell him of the witches' actions anyway.

So she just walked.

I should get a job. I should go watch the children train even if I can't join without a teacher. I should do something productive instead of walking around worrying about whether I properly hate Jack enough.

But did she? The Creature's words from a few days before spun around in her head.

She was hurt. Hurt and angry at the unfairness of it all.

Not of the witchcraft. Of the witches kicking her out and all this mess with Jack.

Annalise kicked a little rock ahead of her and automatically greeted a few monsters she passed, ignoring how they whispered and hissed. Gossip was entertaining, she knew. She partially hoped it was Lily they were talking about as the cat quietly followed behind her, close to her ankles with the purpose in her steps of an animal with thought.

Anna eventually got up the courage to head toward the cauldron and its little pavilion.

She must have been staring at the water for who knows how long, not saying anything, before she saw another reflection stand beside hers.

"Leave me alone, Jack," she said.

"I can't do that."

"Why start caring about what I do now?" she retorted.

Jack didn't answer. He just stared at the ripples in the water that came from Anna's finger tapping on the rim.

"Is Miss Lily settling in?" he asked, turning a polite look toward the cat.

Anna nodded. "I'm still a little pissed you lied to me. Again."

Jack flinched. "A lapse in judgment."

"You seem to have those a lot."

"I'll admit they're perhaps more common with you involved," Jack said.

"Apparently."

Jack sighed and hung his head for a moment as he too leaned his hands on the cauldron. If he was going to stop lying to her, there was a particular matter at the forefront of his mind that needed addressing. "Annalise. You can't ever leave Halloween." He let the painful words hang in the air for a moment. "I need to be sure you understand that." His eyes held a hopeful softness to them, even as hers narrowed in a mix of reminder and disappointment.

"Oh this is news to me," Lily spoke up and jumped up on a nearby stand overlooking the cauldron. She ignored Jack looking at her curiously.

"It's complicated…" Anna said to her cat. "I'll explain later…"

"It doesn't have anything to do with all the demons that were running around our old town does it?"

Jack frowned as Annalise stiffened. "What did she say?"

"She knows that there were a lot of demons in my hometown. Waiting for me, I think."

"It seems that way," Lily confirmed.

The chill air whipped around the both of them as they stood side by side, the mostly still water of the cauldron reflecting a pavilion ceiling and the gray sky broken by their silhouettes.

"You can't try that again, Annalise," Jack said, a patient sternness in his voice. "You can't go back to your family's home. Moreover, you cannot leave Halloween."

Annalise took in a short breath, purposely trying to catch a scent of the day. Someone was cooking nearby. She didn't know what it was, but it certainly smelled good. Over that, she caught the whiff of Thanksgiving still set into her clothes and the faint tinge of human that somehow was still sunk into the ground. It was faint, yet fresh, and it irritated the hell out of her. Where was bleach when you needed it?

"Yep," she said, popping the "p."

"Do you understand why?" Jack asked. He didn't look at her, choosing to stare at the empty green tinted water with her.

"Because demons want these bones," she said, leaning back to gesture at herself with a little hip waggle.

"Annalise, look at me."

Anna found herself compelled to glance at him, though it still quickly turned into a cold stare.

Jack stared at her for a moment. After a bit of searching her face for something his shoulders sagged a bit. It wasn't quite him relaxing. It was like a spring letting a little bit of pressure go. "It hasn't happened to you yet, I gather."

She glared at him. She seemed to be doing that a lot.

"What hasn't?" she hissed, already upset to have yet something else she didn't know. It was disheartening to remember how very little she knew of Halloween all because no one really took the agency to teach her. The witches sure told her things, but they weren't intentional with it. They answered her questions, but they weren't expected to fill her in on things. A month in Halloween and she wasn't much more knowledgeable than when she first arrived. Having Jack look her in the eye and comment about something else she didn't know was…irritating!

"What hasn't happened?" she asked again. "Have I seen you sell me to a demon? Because we sure as hell are past that point."

Jack frowned at the disgust in her voice. "Nothing necessarily negative. I don't think. But something happened to you, in my past and it…influenced… some of your…" he trailed off, looking confused as he tried to drag up memories that weren't quite clear.

"What?" Anna said, pressing for answers.

Jack looked back at the water. "You met someone, I believe. My memories are a bit faded I admit, but I do remember you, so long ago. I called you Taibhse."

Anna froze. She looked away from him stiffly. "That's not the word I heard." She frowned. "Wait…it…it was…I know that word. Spirit?"

Jack nodded. "Or simply 'ghost'. I wasn't being very creative." He chuckled at himself a little and folded his hands behind his back..

Annalise pressed her lips together. "Did I magically learn Irish or something?"

"Gaelic. Or Celtic. Evidently. I certainly didn't know English those early days."

Annalise shifted, looking at his reflection in the water. She pressed her fingers against the edge of the cauldron and leaned. Her whole hands curled over the edge and she let her appendages brush against the water, sending ripples across their images. "I thought they were just visions. Dreams, then nightmares, then visions. Nothing more." She grimaced and let go of the cauldron to rub her arms. "Felt real enough." Annalise shuddered at the phantom memory of exposed nerves and charred skin. Her spine tingled at the memory of pain.

"It was," Jack said, an odd expression on his skull as he stared off at nothing. "You were there, existing as you are before I ever even spoke a word to that demon."

"If you're about to say something about fate or you never having a choice, I'm going to slap you."

Jack laughed. Actually laughed. The water in front of them rippled again.

Anna's glare at him deepened with a vicious glint.

Lily was actually impressed at the animosity.

Jack didn't seem to care. His giggles eventually faded and he eyed Annalise in amusement.

"Don't think I won't," she warned.

"You're such a rude child, you know that?"

"I'm justified."

"That you are," Jack agreed. He suddenly glanced down toward her arm and frowned. He took her wrist and brought her arm up while she tried to yank away.

There was a gentleness in his hold, but he looked at what caught his interest and didn't let go.

"When did this happened?" he asked, and Annalise wanted to cringe at the concern in his voice. But she looked, nevertheless.

A thin crack snaked down one of the bones in her arm. It seemed to have a tinge of red inside.

"I dunno. It doesn't hurt," she answered hesitantly, realizing that her arm did feel a bit sore. She hadn't noticed it before.

"Did it happen during the fight?" Jack asked, studying the apparent injury with a pinched brow as he turned her arm to look at the extent of the damage. Did his spellwork harm her?

"Probably," Annalise said, rolling her eyes a bit. She blinked and frowned. "Hm. Maybe it was the other day. I got stabbed and fell out of bed."

Jack glanced at her, confused.

"The witches' apprentice came back. Rosie?"

"Little Rosie? Oh, yes I knew. That's excellent. Is everything alright? She's very early. We weren't expecting her back until about two-hundred-and-thirty days before next Halloween but I haven't a moment to ask how her travels went."

"Uh…" Annalise shrugged, giving up on the math needed to count the days. "She didn't look hurt."

"I'll have to ask the ladies what the matter's about." He started speaking distractedly as he talked and looked over her arm at the same time. "Rosie was adamant she was ready to go by herself. It took a fair amount of convincing Helgamine, but I believe Ivy and few others expressed their confidence. I do hope nothing went wrong."

"Who's Ivy?" Anna asked quickly, before the question slipped out of her mind again. The name had popped up several times already and the way Jack's face softened when it did confused her a little.

"Someone I suspect …dread…that you'd get along very well with," Jack deadpanned, suddenly looking none too amused. After a second, a small smile cracked that seemed both delighted and horribly exasperated. "She gave me just as much trouble as you do, though for different reasons."

He had such an odd expression that Annalise was more interested in that than this "Ivy" person.

"What trouble?" Annalise spat.

"A similarity. You are a petulant, spiteful, young lady who is increasingly rude and makes ill informed decisions," Jack said without missing a beat.

Annalise cracked a grin despite the insult. "Must be hereditary." She stiffened after she said that and felt his grip tighten just slightly in shock.

She and Jack sunk into an awkward silence as she stared at him defiantly.

Jack sighed and let go of her arm but he sounded more amused than angry. "Come along. Let's get that arm taken care of. There's another matter I need to discuss with you as well. You and Miss Lily." He made a small nod at the cat.

"I'll just dip it in the fountain," she argued, but fell in step behind him so he couldn't just ignore her answer.

Lily hopped off her stand to chase after them.

Jack huffed and folded his hands behind his back as he gave her a look she couldn't quite decipher. "You will do no such thing."

She blinked a bit at the harshness, confused.

"It's asking for ill fortune later on if you don't know how to take care of a simple crack," he lectured, getting animated as he did. "What happens if the fountain runs out of magic and the witches aren't around to refill it?" He waved one hand as if miming something being thrown away and Annalise was too confused by his behavior to watch where she was walking.

She tripped on a cobblestone but quickly righted herself before she face planted into the road. "I wasn't aware it could run out of…healing." She hopped a bit to straighten out her shoe as she followed.

"The spell isn't a bottomless well," Jack said. "Volunteers donate a fair bit of power to it to keep the healing properties running, but the witches maintain it."

"It's useful."

Jack chuckled, "Especially for the children who get a little enthusiastic with their scares. Why, just the other day Angus…"

"I heard he was trying to impress the other kids with a flip and crashed into the bell tower."

"Was that what happened?"

"That's what Harlequin said," Anna shrugged and followed behind as Jack chattered about other going-ons.

In their short walk she learned that there was someone living in the fountain, that it connected to the lake and the sewer, and that there were apartment-like chambers under the streets within the sewers for monsters that needed that kind of environment. She figured they weren't the most pleasant smelling company, but then again she didn't think the waste she was thinking of was exactly the contents of a town like Halloween.

In Skellington Manor, Anna sat uncomfortably on a couch in the parlor while Jack went to get whatever he needed to fix her arm. She stared at fire that had sprung up at their arrival and amused herself with flickering it to purple hues, petting Lily with her free hand as the cat hung over her lap, comfortable with the warmth from the fire.

The cat's comfort didn't last.

"Arf!"

Lily freaked out and hissed,and scrambled up the couch to the top of the backrest to get away from the dog, who looked more than happy to play with her.

Annalise snapped her eye sockets open, not realizing that they had even closed. "Oh hey, Zero."

The ghost tilted his head and nudged her, a hopeful look on his face. He jumped up on the couch and licked her face.

Lily hissed as Zero tried to playfully nip at her. She couldn't exactly get away from the floating dog.

Anna squinted at him. "Did Jasper tell you?"

The guilty look gave him away.

Annalise glanced around to make sure Jack wasn't nearby, but still lowered her voice. "No. I'm not staying. Jack's just taking care of my arm. I got hurt."

Zero pouted.

"Sorry. I'm not moving in," she said, scolding the dog a bit. "I'll bet Jack doesn't want me anywhere near him for an extended period of time and I don't want to stay with him."

The pouting got worse.

"You and Sally are the best. I wouldn't mind that. But you know what happened. You don't think it's weird to be forced to live with the man responsible for my being here. That doesn't sound wrong to you?"

Zero didn't seem to know what to say, though he did look upset. But he didn't press and settled for curling up in her lap, stealing Lily's spot.

Annalise leaned her head back and sighed through her nose holes, ignoring Lily beside her head glaring at the son of a bitch. "Don't tell Jack I'm…" She huffed again. "Homeless?"

Zero lifted his head to give her a very unimpressed look.

"Hey, I'll figure something else out," she insisted.

Zero rolled his eyes and tucked himself up again, letting out a forced sigh that held all the irritation the dog could muster.

"Stubborn," he muttered, and Annalise squinted at his little "wordless" growl when Lily snorted. She glanced at the cat, but Lily settled for curling up beside her head atop the couch, eying the dog instead of revealing anything.

Jack came back balancing a small pile of cans and a jar in his hands, almost dropping a few once or twice.

"Right. Here we go," he said as he set down some supplies on the coffee table and sat beside her.

Annalise cracked open one eye and straightened up.

Zero ignored their movement and kept pretending to sleep on Anna's lap.

"Your arm, Annalise?"

She held it out, wincing at the crack. It seemed worse if she actually looked at it. Was that marrow leaking out?

Jack opened up a little jar filled with a grainy, creamy substance that smelled of ground up fingernails.

"Teeth powder," he said.

She was thinking of toothpaste. The idea of using toothpaste like antibiotic ointment made her smile.

"Made from the finest ground deer teeth in Halloween."

Annalise blinked then let out a sharp laugh.

Jack squinted at her, clearly confused what she thought was funny about powdered teeth. He smeared the material into her arm, rubbing it into the cracks. "You have to make sure it fills in. Annalise, are you paying attention?"

"Yeah. Yeah. I am," she assured.

"It's more serious than I would like because it's deep enough to reach marrow. But it's still thin enough to manage," he wiped his fingers off on a rag and wrapped her ulna tightly with a thin cloth and then a layer of white medical tape.

"It should be healed up in a couple nights, but don't peek until four have passed."

She nodded, taking her arm back as he finished and rubbed the tape down. It was almost the same shade as her bones.

She watched as he put the supplies away. How many times did he get hurt before he figured out how to take care of himself as a skeleton?

"…Thanks," she managed to mutter out, moving to stand.

"Ah ah. Hold on a moment. That wasn't the only reason I asked you here. I was out looking for you for something important." He offered a hand to help her up, which she pushed away as she stood up on her own, letting Zero drop through her. "Would you come to my office please? You and Lily."

The white and gray cat stretched before hopping off the couch to the floor, glaring at Zero who perked up at her movement.

"Zero, stay boy," Jack told the dog.

Zero whined a little, but more on the principal. He snuggled back into the couch.

Jack considered telling him to go to his dog bed but sighed and ignored it for the moment.

Annalise always appreciated a good spiral staircase. She quietly followed Jack up to his home office because the witches told her a bit about what this was.

"Jack needs to give you citizenship, dearie."

"Wait she doesn't—!?" Rosie had interjected, alarmed.

Zeldaborne kept talking. "It's very important you listen to him and accept it, otherwise you can't stay here. You're on borrowed time as it is."

"You already kicked me out," Anna reminded.

"No," Zelda said sternly. "Skelly listen to me. Pay attention. You can not stay in Halloween Town without being a Citizen. No one's brought it up with you because it's a serious and private affair between you, Jack, and Halloween itself. But we all assumed Jack had taken care of it when we weren't looking. I see now that he had reasons for not explaining this to you. But it can't be put off for much longer. Certainly not for you. And he shouldn't be bringing this up with your familiar before you."

"You…you can't separate a witch and familiar…" Rosie murmured, still a little shocked over the news.

Anna didn't really ask if she was really a witch. Witch was a kind of monster in Halloween wasn't it? It wasn't like she could just be a witch right? Something she needed to clarify later.

Jack gestured at the chair on the other side of his desk. He waited until Lily jumped up on Anna's seated lap to speak.

"There's something I've neglected to do since you arrived, Annalise."

"You don't say?"

Jack stared at her for a moment, his lips in a thin line. "How much do you know?"

"I could just be talking about how you kept the nature of my death from me and all that." Anna waved her hand flippantly with a deceptively easy tone.

Jack did something akin to a facepalm as he sighed, dragging his hand down. "Annalise please. I am…immeasurably sorry about what I did and didn't do and I am prepared to spend the rest of eternity apologizing. But this concerns Halloween specifically, not your rightfully earned hate of me."

She really did hear the pain in his voice as he pushed through it to the official matters, or tried to, at least.

I don't hate you. The thought popped up without any prompting but Annalise shoved it down.

"I failed one of my duties as King," Jack said seriously when it appeared Anna wasn't going to quip again. "Upon a new arrival's appearance, I am to escort them here, explain what Halloween is, and offer them Citizenship while explaining all the pitfalls and protections that come with." He stood up and paced a moment before coming back to open a large register book sitting on the desk between them. It didn't have the same layer of dust as everything else so Anna suspected he had pulled it off the bookshelf before going to look for her and Lily.

"Souls are brought here, and Halloween will take them as its own, but it's a choice for the soul to stay nonetheless," Jack said. "Accepting Citizenship is more than…" he tapped the book and Anna leaned forward to see many many names scrawled on its pages. She caught a glimpse of a pawprint. Several.

"More than paperwork. More than a moniker. Do you understand?"

"I'm following," Anna said, staring at him with a small frown before dipping her eyes to glance over the names.

Jack's silence pulled her gaze to look at him again.

He searched her sockets before continuing. "Citizenship is binding your soul to Halloween." He grasped a fist of air close to himself. "Tying oneself to the duty of upholding Halloween and it's stories. Protecting the sanctity of fear and the change that comes with it." He paused, deflating from the grandiose words a bit as the seriousness crept back into his voice.. "Swearing allegiance to me as the King of Halloween."

"Until someone ousts you," Anna cut in with a joking dip in her voice.

Jack chuckled a little dryly. "Yes, though I will say if someone defeats me I dearly hope it's only because I've grown incredibly cruel and morally undeserving. At that point, put me out of my misery."

Anna raised her brow bones somewhat alarmed. "Someone would have to kill you?"

"It's a little more complicated, but essentially, yes unless the challenger is feeling merciful. I assure you, I refuse to go down without a fight and a few tricks. Where was I?"

"Swearing allegiance to you?" Anna prompted.

"Ah yes. And perhaps most important, allegiance to your kin here in Halloween. Should anyone take my offer of Citizenship, the vow is…" Jack unnecessarily cleared his throat to recite. "'I swear to uphold and defend the honor and Spirit of All Hallows' Eve. To frighten and awe-for tricks & treats alike, from the first shadow to the last ray of moonlight, and remember that Timore coniungit nos'."

"Fear unites us," Anna said, having looked up the Latin herself from a dictionary in the witches' shop after hearing the phrase repeated more than once in passing.

"Very good." Jack seemed genuinely pleased she was familiar with the town motto already.

No thanks to him.

"Well there's a few more details. Like signing the book." He tapped said book. "And a few rituals regarding your future and seeing visions of your potential."

Well that concerned Annalise a bit.

"It all ends with a Mark of Citizenship appearing somewhere on your body," Jack said.

"A tattoo?"

Jack chuckled. "Essentially. Although it's rarely differentiable from, say, a birthmark or scar."

Anna looked up after a moment's thought. "What do you do with those that refuse?"

"Nothing," Jack said, but there was a sad note to his voice as he sat down and closed the book. "I take them to the gates or the edge of the Hinterlands and wish them the best of luck. There are those who do not want the community and wish to fend for themselves, unbound by a code or honor or community. The reasons can vary."

If Anna had skin, she got the sense it would crawl. Who knows what eyes were watching her the few times she had wandered the Hinterlands.

"We call them Rogues or Outlanders," Jack explained, "The term 'Lost' floats around but I don't encourage it. They are still an important part of Halloween, but they maintain the darker parts of us that promise less than honor or entertainment for the fright."

"Not...human friendly I guess?"

"No. Not at all. We've…" Jack leaned back a bit as he thought of years past. "We've lost human souls...and lives...to the Hinterlands."

That sunk a pit to Anna's stomach. There were stories behind those words and she wasn't sure she wanted to hear them. But still there was a part of her that wondered.

"You wish for me to accept, don't you?" she asked quietly.

"Yes. Dearly so."

Anna listened to the earnest lack of hesitation in Jack's voice. "Why?"

Jack didn't answer for a moment. It was his turn to let the silence stretch. He leaned forward again, pressing the tips of his fingers together as he carefully crafted his words.

Annalise waited, petting Lily as the cat pretended to sleep, despite how the explanation was directed to her too.

"Why" was a complicated question.

"I can't protect you outside the walls," he said, eventually settling on a simplistic truth.

Anna felt that pain settle where her gut used to be and swallowed the pressure in her throat. "Be honest," she said. "If I decided to strike out as a 'Rogue'' as you put it, do you think I could survive?"

Jack to his credit, gave himself a moment to consider the question. He got up from his chair, Anna suddenly feeling very small and very young as she eyed him. He paced for a moment, his gaze laying outside through the grime of his window.

"Perhaps…"

That wasn't an answer she was expecting.

"You're incredibly powerful, Annalise," Jack said softly, watching her reflection in the glass before him. "Are you aware of that?"

Anna looked down but Jack continued. "That demon…" he prompted. "Do you remem—?"

"I remember screaming," Anna whispered. "I didn't care who I hurt, so long as my brother and sister were okay. Even that wasn't…" she glanced up at Jack, but he hadn't turned around. "I just…I just wanted it…out of him."

"Do you know how you did that?"

Anna shook her head.

"Do you feel like you could do it again? Control it?"

"I don't even know what 'it' was," Anna said with a snip in her tone.

Jack nodded and left Anna waiting an insufferably long time before he spoke again. She heard some bones creak as he straightened as if taking a breath. "I'm being honest when I say…maybe. Maybe you could take care of yourself out in the Hinterlands." His tone turned sad. "It's a lonely existence for the souls that choose that," he told her before laughing a little. "You're a very social sort so I don't think you'd enjoy yourself."

He turned sideways to look at her. "However, safety wise? You are incredibly powerful, but you have no knowledge or control to temper that power." He let a frown through the even, if slightly depressed, countenance. "That worries me deeply and I want to keep you close and safe regardless of any 'Maybe,' if you'll forgive the sentiment. I don't trust that you're equipped to take complete care of yourself."

Now it was Anna's turn to think.

"Will you try to stop me again if I try to leave? This time?"

Anna saw the pain flash behind his sockets as he set himself up to speak.

"No. If…that is what you truly wish, then I won't stop you."

Anna wasn't sure if that was a lie or not.

Anna sunk back into the chair, pressing the edges of her shoulder blades into the upholstery with a small wiggle as she slouched, thinking.

"Give me time," she said.

Jack blinked. "Pardon?"

"Can you give me time to think?"

Jack crossed his arms with a thoughtful hum. "No. Not usually. I need an answer before I let you leave."

"You've waited a month to drop this on me," Anna pointed out. "You can wait one more day."

Anna was immediately startled by the smile Jack let crack his features, genuine amusement in his eyes.

"An excellent point," he said through that weirdly proud smile. "Very well. Tomorrow at midnight I expect you back here with an answer from the two of you. Is that acceptable?"

Anna nodded, furrowing her bony brow as she stood up, letting Lily jump down. "Okay...well. I'm going to leave now. To...uh...think."

Jack nodded, coming around the desk to walk her outside with a polite but awkward farewell on his tongue.

He followed her down the stairwell, where Zero was waiting at the bottom while chewing on a suspicious looking bone.

"Good day, Annalise." Jack said with politeness after she had collected her things from the parlor.

"See you soon I suppose," she answered.

"Please take our deadline seriously. I've already stretched the rules as it is." Jack shifted as he held the door open for her. "You are welcome to ask me questions, if that will help you sort your thoughts."

"Yeah okay," Anna said, picking Lily up as she headed down the steps. "I'll be back."

Jack stayed by the door as he watched her leave out his front gate.

"What's one day more. Clever," he said to himself as she walked down the street. He snorted. "Petulant young lady, indeed. Third times a charm, but I do hope I keep my hauntings by teenage girls limited to two." Speaking of, he had a call to make. Now where was his scrying glass…?