"You weren't kidding about the festival," I muttered.

Lavi walked ahead of me, trotting lightly in the bright New England sun. I was having trouble keeping up in my skirts. Dear Lord, I'd never realized how liberating pants had been. I was going to drown in tulle and muslin at this rate, if the sweat didn't drag me to the street first. A carriage suddenly flashed past, and the entire bottom half of my dress was spattered with water. I felt my shoulders slump.

"Well, there goes half my check to the cleaners," I sighed, and Lavi finally looked back.

He hurried to lead me through the fray of people. It was a weekend, and the streets were full. I was having trouble weaving in and out of the crush, and the smells of humanity were beginning to make me a little queasy. The delicious aroma of brine and rotting seaweed didn't help either.

"Don't worry. The tavern's just another block. There's someone I want to meet there, an old sailor who used to work for Suzanna and Agatha," Lavi stated excitedly.

I nodded listlessly, feeling awfully hot. I was about to cook under all of these layers. Who knew being a Southern Belle could be such a practical nightmare? The skirt by itself probably weighed a good fifteen to twenty pounds! No wonder those society women were so skinny.

"Yeah, that's fantastic. Ugh. I hope they have water. Or even whiskey. I'll take anything at this rate," I gasped, relieved to see a hanging sign that stated The Flying Fish.

Lavi gave me a look and he said, "I thought you said you didn't drink."

Had I said that? I couldn't recall. I had taken a vow against all strong spirits, but hey, a girl's gotta bend a little. You couldn't make an omelet without cracking a few eggs. Of course, at the rate I usually go, I'd end up smashing entire cartons.

"I don't," I groaned emphatically, and Lavi laughed.

The tavern was dark and warm inside, much as I'd expected. I'd worked several stints as a waitress in a couple of different drinking establishments, some of them less savory than others. This one appeared to be rather quaint, with fish netting on the walls and several taxidermed fish specimens looking down at us like the disapproving portraits I always see in imposing houses. We took our seats at a table, and I noticed I was the only lady here. This was becoming the norm, apparently – Mag, the woman who treads where no female dares step foot. That included bars in the early morning, apparently.

"Did you arrange to meet him, or is he a regular?" I asked, fanning myself with a single hand.

I'd switched to a corset again, and I was noticing that I was getting lightheaded. Goodness gracious, Lavi must've been a sailor in another life because he'd tied these knots extraordinarily tight. Thankfully, a man asked us for our order, and we both put down water.

"He's arranged to meet us. He noticed I was awfully interested in the Terrible Two up the way, and he said he had some dirt on them that he thought I might find useful. I didn't have the time to talk to him yesterday, so he's meeting us today," he explained, leaning back in his chair.

Today, he was wearing just a loose, button-up shirt with a pair of dark, cotton pants. My own attire was a little less casual – a very done-up dress with so many layers, I felt like an onion. It was a miracle I even managed to fit in the chair.

The truth was, this wasn't my dress. It was Claire's. She was convinced that I was missing out on the best that marriage had to offer (of which she'd made sure I became very aware), so she'd connived Nora into helping her snatch me earlier today so they could pay dress-up with me as their life-sized doll. I hadn't really minded (my own sisters used to ambush me with make-up pallet and brush), but the dress was a little much. Claire had insisted that I wear it for the day, and I'd obliged. If I'd known I'd be tramping all over God's green earth to meet a drunk at noon in a tavern, I would've declined as vehemently as possible. Everything is clearer in hindsight, though.

Lavi had laughed the minute I'd tramped up the path. I couldn't blame him. I felt like a walking tent.

"Hey, you okay? You're looking kind of pale," Lavi asked.

I gave him a pleading look as I smashed my head into the wooden table. I hadn't had the chance to even scarf down breakfast. I was too busy being primped, pinched, poked, prodded, and 'pampered'. There was so much powder on my face it was practically a second (flaking) skin. I looked like one of the stupid china dolls in the closet at our cottage.

"That's the powder. They laid it on a little thick," I moaned into the wood, and the man came back with our drinks.

I sucked it down as fast as my throat could manage, and Lavi only watched in amazement. The glass was empty in about two breaths.

"Mag, you do know that you're supposed to drink water, not inhale it, right?" he asked as I pushed the glass away from me.

Suddenly, a grizzled man took a chair at our table and sat down. I resisted the urge to back my chair away. This man wasn't exactly the posterchild for 'friendly'. Or 'hygienic.' Or 'sane'.

He spat on the floor, a great establishment of character, before he stated, "Yer the feller who wanted to know about the witches of Yewmoor, am I right?"

Lavi and I looked at each other.

"Yeah. This is my… wife, Margaret, and I'm Louie. She's a writer, and she's had me running around looking for good 'inspiration'," Lavi explained, playing the slightly hen-pecked, newlywed husband.

I rolled my eyes at the implied air quotes around 'inspiration'. Because it was every husband's duty to 'support' his wife's lifestyle, even if it was, heaven forbid, writing.

"I apologize if this is rather sudden. I knew Louie here had something good whenever he told me about you," I said.

"Aye, but what ye're gonna hear ain't no ghost story. 'S true and plain as the nose on yer faces. I seen these things with me own two eyes, and these eyes ain't never wrong. I can see a barnacle on a dinghy from fifty leagues away without even squintin'," the man contested, picking his teeth with a single sliver of wood.

The habit picked at my already frayed nerves. I was considering taking it out of his fingers and jabbing it into his eye.

"I'm sure you can," I stated. "Please, do start."

The man contemplated for a bit, and for a moment I was afraid he'd fallen asleep with his eyes open.

"Used to be, I worked fer them witches at yonder lot o' land. Had me as a gard'ner, like. Thought they were mighty normal, 'cept they been in the town for nigh on as long as the town's existed. Suzanna and Agatha ain't never changed neither, not in the twenty years I worked for 'em. And every five years, one of them couples go missin', like clockwork. Convalescence, bah. Family death, my liver. Business issues, pff. All of it was poppycock," the man stated, leaning forwards.

Lavi was taking everything in with that recorder of a brain. I could see it in the way his eye had gone glassy again, reflecting everything around him. He was taking absolutely everything in.

"Then, I saw 'em. I heard of 'em me entire life, them devils o' the waters. Most says they're the demons Christ threw into the lake who'd fled from the pigs straight into the fish and infected 'em with their taint. Others say they're some sorta animal from before man. Nevermind what they were, they're sea monsters, and them witches commune with 'em like they're dogs," the man growled, slamming his fist into the table.

Our glasses rattled, but the two of us remained unfazed. I was so used to strange outbursts that it no longer even registered.

"Go on," I said, dead serious.

"Them women… I dunno how they get rid o' the bodies, but they murder them couples. Each pair, always, goes without a trace. I know, cuz I see who goes in and who goes out, and none o' the missin' married ones every went my way or passed by me li'l wayhouse. I could hear them witches talkin' to the water demons, but I never seen 'em do it. I only ever saw them devils leave out the bay," the man stated gruffly.

He was quiet for a while longer, and Lavi and I looked to each other. That one glance said a lot.

"Ye don't believe me, do ye? No one does," the man grumbled.

Lavi suddenly patted the man's arm, and he said, "We believe more than you think. We've been sent to investigate Suzanna and Agatha's doings. We figured that we needed some outside information. You've been a great help."

The man looked up with a twinkle in his eye, and part of his mouth stretched into something like a smile.

"Aye… ye don't say? If ye ever need me help, ye just give me a call," the grizzled sea man stated, and he got up.

He started towards the bar, and it was just the two of us again.

"What do you think?" I asked.

I knew a good bit of what must be on his mind, but I wanted confirmation before I started jumping to conclusions.

"Well, why don't you tell me your thoughts first? If you were me, what would you think?" Lavi asked, leaning back.

Oh, great, he was going to turn this into a training exercise. So much for 'this is a vacation!' and 'we get to relax!'. I straightened up, feeling my corset creak like an old chair abused by a particularly overweight occupant.

"He's got a chip on his shoulder, probably, because he was most likely fired from his post. The two old ladies could just be that, two old ladies, but considering the bug we found in our room it's starting to look like there are magical influences at play. I'm not sure if Akuma are involved yet. It's a little too methodical for that, so his story might hold water. As for the sea monsters…" I shrugged my shoulders.

Lavi laced his fingers over his stomach, leaning back.

"And? What would these ladies want if the story did, in fact, have a grain of truth?" Lavi asked, his eye glinting.

He loved it when I got things right on my own. But, he also loved stringing me along. I wasn't sure what he was hoping for this time around.

"Um… the sea monsters must be controlled somehow, but what would you want them for? Wait… unless… you don't think…?" I looked at him sidelong, wondering what was going on in that head of his.

He closed his eye, smiling and nodding.

"The Spanish galleon. Most of those ships were part of a treasure fleet, meaning there's a good amount of gold somewhere out there at the bottom of the ocean. I don't know how the couples play into this, though," Lavi said. Yeah, that was final piece missing. Where did a married couple fit into our new framework?

"If they were getting gold from that galleon using the sea monsters, maybe it would show up in their expenses. Perhaps we can ask Komui to start a tax investigation," I muttered, fingering my chin.

I tried to take a deep breath, and I regretted it. The 'security' of a corset was suddenly becoming more stifling than secure. I couldn't wait to get this thing off.

"I'll call Komui and ask. For now, let's just stroll around a bit and enjoy the festivities, ne?" Lavi suggested, and I restrained a groan.

Yesterday, I'd been gallivanting through the forest in nothing but a sundress, a bathing suit, and a sunhat. But hey, I might actually get to have some fun now. I had money to burn, after all, and most festivals had an assortment of different goods for sale. I might be able to buy a thing or two for Lily and Ava and the twins and Violet…

However, it only took twenty minutes back out into the sun to quickly disillusion me. I was about to drop dead on the pavement. This hoop skirt was literally going to be the death of me. I was never going to let anyone dress me up as their personal toy again.

"Can we go back now?" I groaned, hanging on to Lavi's hand for dear life.

The crowd was oppressively thick. I wasn't aware that such a small town could hold such a populace. This place wouldn't have fitted on a dinner plate, but the sheer volume of people could take up half a city. Lavi hung on tightly, and he said, "Sure. I only wanted to check out some of the better shirts, and I heard there were supposed to be dancers."

Good luck to the dancers – it looked like they'd have to make due with tapping their feet on people's heads. I couldn't imagine there being enough space here for a stage.

Suddenly, something caught my eye. I halted in front of a stall full of books, one of them an incredibly old, loose-leaf bound tome that looked like it hadn't been cracked open for over two centuries. The script was written in extremely outdated English, but I could understand it perfectly well. There were even illuminated pictures, and I picked it up.

"'At's the legends 'a Yewmoor. Lots a history o' that place, even fer here. That thing's s'posedly from the first people e'er come here, near Newfoundland, bout four hundred years ago," the shop owner stated, and I flipped through it.

What the heck was this thing doing at a festival stand? This was… incredible. And, what did you know, there was a story about witches…

"How much?"

After several minutes of haggling, I managed to beat it down to a price that didn't look like it'd break my bank, and I struggled to pick up the book without spilling pages into the street. Lavi stood behind me with a hand hovering near my back on the off chance that my skirts might overbalance me and send me toppling.

"Nice catch," he stated with an amused smile, looking at the pictures.

I scratched my hair, which was painstakingly curled into ringlets and set in a high ponytail. Claire had said it made me look coy. I thought it made me look ten.

"Thanks. Oh!"

One of the pages suddenly flew out, and I reached for it. The wind snatched it away, and I immediately started after it. Briefly, the sun shone through the pages, showing the illumination –

Two sea dragons intertwined in water near cliffs.

No! I needed that page!

I shoved the book into Lavi's arms and immediately went after it. If there was one thing I'd learned about translation, it was that without the entire picture you would end up with a very, very, very convoluted sequence of events, something that could be potentially disastrous. This was no different.

"Excuse me, pardon me, woops, coming through, make way, big lady with a big skirt, move it!"

Most of my pleas were met with either indifference or anger, but I didn't care. I rounded a corner and trotted as fast as I could after the wayward page, which was floating down a street. Lavi must've been fighting to keep up with me, but I didn't have time to wait. I fit as well as I could through an alley, just barely fitting my wide hoop skirt. The hem was soiled, and I made a note to apologize to Claire later.

I reached for the page again, but it fluttered out of reach, heading down yet another bystreet. I was heaving now, my chest just barely managing to do its job. My stomach twisted as I watched the page waver over a busy street, and I groaned as I suddenly plunged into traffic. I ended up dodging two cars, a horse-drawn carriage, and three bicycles, along with several hand gestures I hoped Ava would never learn.

I bowled over two ladies having a nice lemonade as my target flew over a café. I leapt on top of the tables in hopes of catching it, but no luck. With my eyes on the prize, I hardly noticed the fact that I was beginning to run out of running surfaces.

THWAP. Right on my face into the pavement. I looked up abruptly, aware that the page was now drifting towards the quay. I pushed myself up and forced myself to keep running. It was going to eat me if I didn't have that page. That thing was more than likely the bit of paper that held our theory together, and I wasn't about to let the water have it. Just as it came within reach of my fingers, I bowled over a newsboy, and we both toppled over the quay wall.

As always, I had a few moments to realize just how deep I'd dug my own hole as water rushed up to greet us both. I had enough time to at least close my mouth and my eyes. The splash wasn't as big as I'd expected it to be. The dress absorbed most of the impact.

I popped out of the water in time to see the page lift into the air and begin to float down. I snatched it out of the air as the newspaper boy spluttered to the surface and started to spout words I doubt his twelve year old mind actually comprehended.

"Oh, shut your trap. You're just a little wet. You'll live, trust me," I grumbled as I began to wade back towards the shore.

Lavi stood over the quay wall with a mix of awe, hilarity, and maybe a bit of worry. I struggled up to the wall, and he helped me over as a veritable crowd of people gathered around.

"Man, if every one of us Exorcists chased Akuma like you do paper, we wouldn't have to worry about the buggers getting away from us," Lavi laughed as I squeezed out the water from my hair.

My make-up was running, my dress was so soaked it felt like it weighed a hundred pounds, and my lungs were on fire, but I had the page, and that was all that mattered. I held it up.

"Well, I got it," I stated, handing it to him. He examined it, and his look turned from one of interest to pity. I frowned.

"What? What's the matter?" I asked, panting.

Little black dots were beginning to perform badly done imitation of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake in front of my eyes. Lavi held up the page for me to see, and my face fell slack.

The illumination had been just that –an illumination. The picture was like the ending artwork of a book, part of the last, decorative pages. It held absolutely no informative worth whatsoever. I'd just run across half the town, knocked over untold tens of civilians, ruined a (very expensive) dress, for a useless piece of paper.

I'd had enough. I fainted.


My surroundings were warm and light. The first thing I noticed was that I could actually breathe without feeling like someone dropped an elephant on my chest, and I scrunched my eyes as I sat up in bed. Lavi's back was to me, bent over the stove. Either I had the innate ability to teleport to the place I happened to like the least, or Lavi had carried me back.

I noticed I was wearing a simple white shirt, probably one of his. Underneath, I was aware of my lack of corset and gain of brassiere. My face was free of make-up. My hair was no longer trapped in a hair tie, screaming for release from imprisonment via curls. I was also suspiciously murk free of sea water. The implications hit me like a dead marlin to the face.

Someone had done the work of un- and redressing me.

I glanced at the man cooking in the kitchenette, and I winced. Oh, please no. I'd already humiliated myself enough. I didn't need that on my mind either. Groaning, I flopped back on the bed, flinging an arm over my eyes. Maybe if I just squeezed my eyes shut, clicked my heels, and sang Kumbaya a dozen times, I might end up at home, realizing that none of this had ever happened.

"Ah, you're up. Hungry?" Lavi asked.

I peered at him with one eye, and I croaked, "A little."

Whatever it was, it smelled amazing. I added "cooking" to the checklist of skills he somehow possessed.

"I talked to Komui over the phone, and it looks like the tax search may have to hold off for a while. Along with an army of property lawyers, they've got an entire infantry division dedicated to taxes. These ladies sure know how to build up a legal following. Still, the Tax Revenue Service is awfully interested in them, seeing as it appears they've been dodging their taxes for almost half a century," Lavi said, pouring some sort of stir fry into two plates.

I sat up and cracked my back, feeling the satisfying pop of vertebrae being tortured.

Taking a deep breath, I asked, "Uh, who…?"

I gestured to my general person, and Lavi looked confused for a minute. Suddenly, he caught on and laughed, and I felt my stomach hit rock bottom.

"No, no, no, no, I didn't clean you up. If I had, you wouldn't be wearing anything anyways," he quipped.

I glared, none too pleased.

He coughed politely and continued, "Nora came by after seeing me haul your sorry carcass half a mile. She said she felt bad for dragging you into dressing up with, uh… 'that mess named Claire'. She's the one who took care of you while I've been doing this."

He handed me a plate, and one whiff nearly sent me reeling. I could probably grow fat on the smell alone.

After chowing through half the plate in little under a minute, I asked, mouth half-full, "Anything else? Or did Komui not deign to give us any more pearls of wisdom?"

Lavi had eaten faster than I had. His plate was completely clean.

"He did say that seeing as it didn't appear that Akuma were involved, we could choose whether or not we wanted to stay on the investigation or leave it to the Finder team Komui's put together," Lavi said. "I was going to ask you whether you wanted to stay or not. It's all the same to me."

He leaned back in the chair, crossing his arms behind his head as he waited for my answer.

I seriously contemplated the proposition. So far I'd been humiliated, primped, dragged over half of town, and unexpectedly thrown into more situations than I could count on my hands. Yet, at the same time, I couldn't help but think there was something sinister going on here, especially with those two old biddies. People were dying, and I felt like we were on the brink of figuring out what was going on here. We just needed more evidence.

"I think we'll stay. If I don't, I'll never know what happened. The others told me that this was their first time here, but maybe Maria and Santi might know something. They seem like the two who know the most about this place," I suggested, and Lavi gave a secret grin.

"I had a feeling you might say that."

Suddenly, my golem rang from inside of my bag, and I cautiously got out of bed, very aware that I had no pants. Nora, if you were going to dress me, why did you have to do it halfway? Luckily, the shirt was massive, considering Lavi was a giant in comparison, so it drifted around my knees. Nevertheless, I felt very vulnerable.

The wolf whistle didn't help. He got a shoe to the face for his troubles.

"Hello?" I asked, hooking the golem up to the phone.

The little thing sat on the table, too lazy to flutter. The line crinkled, and Erastus suddenly asked, "Mag? That you?"

I sighed longingly. I hadn't realized that I'd missed the twins this much. Of course, with all the shenanigans Lavi gets up to, he more than made up for the lack of pranks and teasing.

"Yeah, it's me. What's going on? You don't usually call unless-"

My blood froze in my veins.

"Mag… you might want to sit down," Erastus suggested.

He sounded uncharacteristically calm. Out of the two, Erastus was the much bouncier, extroverted twin who always seemed to be quietly bubbling like a pot with the heat set low.

I swallowed, cautiously reaching for a wicker chair. I sat down, and I asked, "What happened?"

Lavi came over to sit by me, and his face showed concern. He gave me a questioning glance, and I shook my head and held up a finger.

"Vi's in jail, and Sebastian's lost an eye."

I felt all the air go out of me. It took several moments for it to really sink in, at which point my hands started to shake, and I began hyperventilating. If I'd been standing I would've toppled over like a rotten tree. Erastus knew me pretty darn well, it seemed. I didn't know how he could be so calm, though. Of course, he probably had quite a bit of time to let it digest. I was getting hit with it like someone had dropped a net full of boulders on my head.

"How… did…?" I asked, my voice coming out as a half-croak, half-squeak.

I pushed my hair back, feeling tears start to well up as I thought about Sebastian and Violet. Jail was not a fun place to be if you were a girl, and I knew that firsthand. Losing an eye… I bit my lip, trying to get a hold on my emotions. I couldn't just fall apart. More than anything, my family was going to need me.

"Well, Sebastian and I were patrolling with Lenalee, and we caught a Level Three. We just barely managed to get rid of it, but Sebastian ended up in a building collapse. He was fine, up until he got hit in the face with an I-beam. Violet's in jail for something else entirely. She stole two gold necklaces, and she claims she has no idea how they ended up in her pocket," Erastus explained succinctly, and he sounded strangely detached.

"Can we bail her out?" I asked.

"Yeah. It'll take a bit of legal wiggling and quite a pretty penny, but we think we can get her out and have the charges dropped," Erastus stated, sounding more like himself as he sighed.

I let out a shuddering breath.

"And Sebastian? Can they get his sight back?" I asked. Erastus paused.

"Mag, his eye is gone. The I-beam smashed his head so hard that it crushed the socket, so they removed it. We don't even know if he'll live through the night," he said, finally sounding distraught.

A tear welled up in my eye and spilled over, and Lavi handed me a hankie. I waved it away.

"Will you tell me if anything else happens?" I asked, surprised I managed to keep my voice level.

"Yeah. Violet's beating herself up pretty hard over this. She really wants to be here…. Maggie, I'm scared. I don't want him to die," Erastus said, and I could finally feel the tears in his voice.

I bit my lip, squeezing my eyes shut. I'd learned as an impromptu parent that sometimes little white lies were okay and, a few times, necessary.

"He's going to be okay, Rusty. You just stay there with him, so that the first thing he sees when he wakes up is your ugly mug," I joked weakly, and he laughed, a sound like breaking glass.

"Have you called anyone else?" I asked.

He answered, "No, just you. I'm about to call Lily. She's close by, so we're all going to stay at the hospital here in Munich. I'll call you when something comes up, okay?"

"Alright."

The line clicked dead, and the golem fluttered off the phone cord, gently snuggling into my hand like it wanted to comfort me. I leaned my head back on the chair, and I took a deep breath.

"What's the matter?" Lavi asked, though I had an idea he'd already got the gist of it.

"Violet's in jail for theft, and Sebastian had an accident in a building collapse. He might not last through the night," I said, sniffling.

I needed to put on some pants. I stood up and walked over to my bag, digging through it. My hands suddenly bumped into my pocket watch, and I pulled it out to get a better idea of where my pajamas were. It dropped on the floor, popping open, and I stared at the faces in photograph on the inside.

I completely dissolved into tears.

I don't remember him coming over and embracing me, or me hanging on for dear life, but I somehow ended up sobbing into his shoulder like the world was going to end. In a way, it was. I felt like a chunk of my world was disappearing, as if Europe or Greenland was slowly sinking into the sea. I couldn't imagine life without my little brother. I couldn't imagine life without any of my siblings. If he died… if he… died…

"Shhh, he'll be alright. Exorcists are the lucky ones, remember?" Lavi sighed, and I pulled away.

"If he were lucky, he wouldn't be in this mess in the first place," I stuttered, trying to make coherent words through my sobbing.

I wiped my face, aware that I was dirtying his shirt, both of them.

"Maggie-"

"I'm fine, Lavi. I just need a shower, and I'll be good," I sniffled, grabbing what accounted for my pajamas (a shirt and a pair of petticoats).

I had to get out of my own head a while. There was every chance that he'd survive.

But the fact that he might not still rung around in my head.

Lavi left me to my own devices, and I found him asleep on the bed by the time I got out of the shower. I glanced him over, noting just how tired he looked, even asleep. There was this strain on him that originated from some source inside that seemed to sap him of most of his energy, and it was only on the brink of or in sleep that I usually managed to catch a glimpse of just how weary he was. He'd fallen asleep with his shoes on and the sheets underneath, so I carefully pulled off his boots and pulled the sheets over, suddenly remembering all the times I'd done the same for the Terrible Trio when they came home before I did. Almost unconsciously, I moved the hair out of his face, going through the motions of an old routine I'd practiced with family.

I took up my post next to the phone, and I waited the rest of the night out.


I woke up in a flurry of sheets.

"What – how- who-?" I gasped, trying to make sense of how I'd ended up in bed.

The last time I'd been awake, I'd been sitting next to the phone. Lavi got up from his chair next to the table with the phone, and I realized that he must've taken my place.

"I woke up around three, and you were asleep, so I thought I'd put you to bed," Lavi stated cheerfully, and I rubbed my eyes.

Wait, if I'd been asleep that entire time…

"Did he -?"

Lavi shook his head.

"No one's called back yet. You want coffee? I made some," Lavi asked, and I put my head in my hands.

I'd had weird dreams, most of which I didn't remember. Taking a deep breath, I nodded. Maybe if I drank enough coffee, I might be able to jumpstart my system for the rest of the day. Heaven knows I felt like I needed a battery to take the place of my heart.

As I got dressed in the bathroom, he knocked on the door while holding a coffee mug, and I let him in. He set the mug down on the sink while I tied my hair in a complicated bun, and I asked through a mouth full of bobby pins, "How are you so domesticated? I've tried to teach the twins how to cook and clean, and the most they can do is fling water at each other and boil noodles."

"Domesticated! You make me sound like some sort of housecat," Lavi said, pretending to look wounded.

I nudged his arm with my elbow, and he rubbed it in exaggerated pain.

"Bookman trained me from early on how to take care of myself and keep things tidy. If I hadn't, he would've beaten me up the side of the head. He's an amazing cook, actually, seeing as he's collected recipes from all over the world. The only thing I can't seem to keep clean is my collection of books. They almost always end up scattered everywhere," Lavi confessed, brushing back the hair from his forehead so it was sticking straight up.

He let it flop down over his eyes, and he grabbed my hairbrush.

"I was wondering why there was red hair on that thing," I mumbled through my bobby pins.

I suddenly sobered as I recalled the twins fighting over who was going to brush Tip. Not only did I miss them, I missed my dog too. I even felt a tug on my heartstrings thinking about Parley and his highly inappropriate and expansive lexicon.

"Still worried?" Lavi asked, leaning against the bathroom counter.

I glanced at him, and that was all I had to do.

"You never stop worrying, where kids are involved," I grumbled.

If that wasn't the truth. I'd never realized just how accurate that phrase was until I was elevated to replacement parent. I put my last pin in place, and my hair was now tightly bound into a bun about the size of a baseball. It wasn't coming out any time soon, at least not if I could help it.

I caught Lavi staring at me through the mirror.

"What?" I asked, turning to him with my arms crossed over my chest.

"I don't know how you do it. Keep together, I mean," he stated bluntly, and I blinked.

That was definitely not what I'd thought he'd say. Maybe something like 'your hair looks nice' or 'that dress makes you look fat' or 'you've got a hair sticking out of your head'. 'I don't know how you do it' was not high on the list of probable phrases.

"What do you mean?" I said warily.

I took the coffee mug on the counter, and I wrapped my hands around it.

Lavi shrugged and walked out of the bathroom, saying, "It just seems like that sort of attachment seems so inconvenient, painful even. I'm just getting used to the idea of 'friends'. I can't imagine what it would be like to have your own flesh and blood on the line."

I wandered out of the bathroom after him, and I sat on the bed.

"Your point?" I said, drawing my knees to my chest.

He sat down by me, and he shrugged.

"My point is, it has to hurt when anyone in your family is hurt. Yet, you all help each other and share that pain. It's hard for me to wrap my head around. For most of my life, I've seen the absolute worst in human beings. For the first time, I'm seeing… something else. Your attachment strengthens you," Lavi explained.

I rested my chin on me knees. I hadn't thought of it quite like that. We did hold each other accountable. Violet had browbeaten me over drinking, and Ava had immediately stated (well, signed) her displeasure towards Lily's first jaunt of smoking. We kept each other in check.

"And another thing is… you accept more people into your family. You treat them like family," Lavi said, looking at me sidelong out of the corner of his eye.

That single green eye held a strange emotion, though I'm not sure what it was. It could've been amusement. Or maybe it was bemusement instead.

"Examples?" I wryly asked.

"Me," he said quietly.

I blinked.

"You didn't know me at all, but you still chose to trust me, even against your better judgment – I saw it on your face in Phuket. You were willing to admit you were wrong about Crowley, and now Ava treats him like another big brother. Allen and Lenalee have fallen in with the twins and Violet so much that most people associate them with each other, and they all act like they've known each other their whole lives. The minute Lily sees Noise, she runs up to him and starts asking about his day. You take in the people you like, and you take care of them," Lavi said, almost sadly.

I didn't know what to say. It was how we'd always acted. Even when we were dirt poor and down on our luck, our friends were our family, and we treated them that way.

"The Exorcists were one big family to begin with," I added. "You all look after your own."

Lavi gave a humorless chuckle.

"Yeah, but it's nothing like what you guys have. You've got… you've got a life together. Something that you'll hang on to after you leave the war," he said, almost inaudibly. "Even with Allen and the others, I'm not going to be allowed that. I'll go to the next war."

I tilted my head to the side, staring at him sadly. Hesitantly, I squeezed his arm, and he patted it back, not meeting my gaze.

"We were all we had when we had nothing. God says that every person is our sister or our brother. And that goes for you, no matter where you'll be," I told him, and he finally looked at me.

His crooked smile was sad.

"I wish it could be like that all the time, then. The world might be a happier place," he said, and it suddenly hit me.

Lavi had seen thousands, if not millions, of families torn apart because of war. He'd only told me a couple of stories about the places he'd been, most of them just little funny anecdotes, but underneath them I could sense the tinge of jadedness that came with viewing carnage over and over.

He was worried we'd be just another tally.

"Maybe not happier. Definitely fuller, though," I said with conviction.