AN~ This is not as popular a story as my others, which makes sense because it's not focusing on Puck and Sabrina or anything, but I do love it so I'm updating it.

ILOVESG: Thanks very much!


It took them far longer to get to Canada than it should have. In theory, they should have made it across the border in two days, max, and to Baba Yaga's in another three or so, easy driving. But Aunt Daphne got tired easily, and problems kept popping up like dragons, or destroyed roads, or getting lost. So, a week later, they were still on the road.

People had started to show back up in places around the fourth day, though they looked scared and there weren't as many as there should have been.

Right now, they were three of about twenty customers in the Applebee's, all of whom were probably traveling to get to relatives' houses, or to check on friends, the way they were. The TVs would normally have been playing sports highlights, but each and every one was turned to the news. All the people in the restaurant had their eyes glued to the screens.

The current news segment ended, and a voice over announced a special news bulletin about the current state of affairs.

"That's grandma!" Emma shrieked, pointing at the screen.

Alison shrank in her seat as a few people turned to stare at the really loud eleven-year-old who knew the woman on TV.

But yeah, it definitely was her grandmother.

Not that Veronica had never been on TV before. She was politically active, on the New York local station all the time campaigning for minority rights. But this was a national station. That was new.

"Hello," the anchorman said. "I'm here with Veronica Grimm today to talk about the strange phenomena that have been sweeping the world."

Veronica smiled at the anchor and the camera both.

"Now, Veronica, you're here because you know what's going on with these 'Everafters,' as they're calling themselves. What can you tell us about them?"

"They're not all evil, to start with," Veronica said. "Well, we're not all evil, I should say."

"We?" the anchorman asked. "You're one of them?"

Veronica nodded. "It was necessary, during the last war, to make my family into Everafters. We're still the same as we were, just with a slightly longer lifespan now."

"How long?" the anchorman asked. "I'm sure everyone in the audience would like to know exactly what it's like to be... well, not human."

"As long as I choose, unless someone kills me," Veronica said.

The conversation continued, and Allie could see the people in the diner being won over, bit by bit. That was the effect her grandmother had on people. She believed everything she said so much that people listening couldn't help but believe her, too. And if she said not all Everafters were evil, then anyone who watched this would start to agree with her. Or at least question what they'd thought before.

Allie knew most of what was being said already, but she was still interested. After all, this was about her, wasn't it? She was an Everafter.

And if certain people hadn't decided to keep that a secret from her, she'd already know most of this stuff.

Really, considering Aunt Daphne's stories, it was hugely hypocritical for Allie's mom to have done something like that. What was she thinking?

Allie started to burn with anger again, and she stopped paying attention to the news so much. She hadn't even heard from her parents in days. Aunt Daphne hadn't thought it was safe to call, just in case someone was magicking the phone lines or something.

She took a deep breath. This wasn't going to accomplish anything. And when she lost her cool, her body started doing weird fairy things without her permission. That was the last thing she needed. Especially not in public.

On the way out of the restaurant, Allie overheard people discussing what had been on the news. Aunt Daphne looked please, which was confusing, because half the people seemed to be saying that it had to be a bunch of crap.

Emma apparently thought so, too, because once they were outside she asked, "Why do you look so happy? It's not like what Grandma said made any difference."

"But they're talking about it," Aunt Daphne pointed out. "Which means they're thinking about it, which means some of them at least will start to question whether we're all evil."

"Which is... good?" Allie asked. It didn't seem like much to her.

Aunt Daphne smiled at her knowingly. "It's a first step, girls. We all have to start somewhere."


Another hotel, this time in Canada, finally, and Aunt Daphne was bustling them up to get packed and out, even though it was barely light out.

Emma rubbed her eyes and glared at her aunt and her sister, both of whom were up and about. Allie, at least, had the excuse of being one of those hideous morning people who woke up at five thirty in the morning to do things like shower and go for a run or whatever. Aunt Daphne, though, was just being a jerk, and didn't even have the excuse that she didn't like sleep (Emma had heard stories, and she and Allie had had a game, back when Allie was fun, to see who could wake Aunt Daphne up fastest). They hadn't stopped for the night until nearly midnight the day before, and Emma was tired.

"It's too early for this," she accused.

"You're just lazy," Allie sing-songed, the eternal mantra of those who don't understand people who like nights and not sunrises.

"Sorry, sweetie, but I want to get to Baba Yaga's as soon as possible," Aunt Daphne said. "We should have been there days ago, and I'm worried. I really wanted to be there last night."

Emma grumbled, but rolled out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom to brush away her morning breath.

They did stop for breakfast a little over an hour on the road, small consolation that it was, and Emma learned that in Canada, Canadian bacon was, in fact, just called bacon.

Allie didn't seem to find this nearly as interesting as Emma did, and Aunt Daphne was too buried in her coffee to pay much attention.

"Isn't that bad for babies?" Allie asked. "Caffeine?"

Aunt Daphne shrugged. "Getting into car accidents because their mommies fell asleep at the wheel is worse for babies."

Emma stopped eating to gape, wide-eyed, at her aunt. "Maybe I'll walk the rest of the way," she muttered.

"The coffee will keep that from happening," Aunt Daphne promised. "Besides, we'll be there before lunch. I can make it that long."

"Promise?" Emma asked warily.

Aunt Daphne laughed. "Yes, I promise."

"I still don't think you should have the caffeinated stuff," Allie muttered. "What if your baby gets brain damage or something?"

"I'll take the risk," Aunt Daphne said softly.

"Okay, but if your kids come out with anemia or something, don't blame me," Allie said.

"They debunked that," Aunt Daphne said, and she took a long drag of her coffee, effectively ending the conversation.

Allie didn't look too happy, but she dug into her french toast instead of muttering under her breath, which was pretty good as far as Emma was concerned. Allie could be a pain in the butt when she wanted to be. And any time she didn't want to be was a good time as far as Emma was concerned.

They headed back to the car for what was hopefully their final day of driving endlessly for a while, and began their journey.

The farther they got from Ottowa, the less livable the area looked. It wasn't just that they were in the wilderness (Emma was used to wilderness, living in a small town in upstate New York with more trees than people), but there was a lot of devastation. Trees were knocked over, the road was a mess, and it looked like there'd been a fire recently. As they drove, Aunt Daphne looked more and more tense, and Emma didn't think it was from the caffeine.

Finally, the machine on the dashboard made a beeping noise, and Aunt Daphne stopped the car at a section of burned-out trees.

"Your friend lives here?" Allie asked dubiously.

"It might not be as bad as it looks," Aunt Daphne said, hauling herself out of the car with an 'oohf.'

Emma was with Allie on this one, and personally didn't put much stock in Aunt Daphne's magic GPS, but either way she wasn't letting her very pregnant aunt walk through the wilderness alone. She trekked after her aunt, and Allie followed reluctantly.

After what felt like half an hour of stumbling over rocks and logs and roots, they arrived at a lopsided pile of bones that stretched out of sight in either direction.

Emma swallowed. "Are those... human bones? Real ones?"

"Probably," Aunt Daphne said breezily. "I never asked. But it means we're going the right way."

Emma and Allie both looked at their aunt, then traded dubious looks.

"I hate this magic stuff," Allie muttered.

Aunt Daphne gives Allie a fond look and says, "Your mom felt the same way growing up."

Emma wanted to press that comment further, but they'd gone through the bone pile, and the air felt oddly quiet. She felt like something was waiting, and she didn't want to wake it up, whatever it was. She followed her aunt in silence. Allie did the same.

Finally, after Aunt Daphne had started to wheeze from how far they'd been trekking through the woods, they reached a house.

Or, at least, Emma thought it was a house. That was the best word she could come up with. It was really more of a collection of things that were shaped vaguely like a house. It was filthy, with broken glass and shingles scattered all over the ground around it, and the boards were falling off their beams, hanging at crooked angles and showing the inside of the house, which was shadowy and not very friendly looking. The door was cracked open, hanging crooked off its hinges. What Emma could see of the inside looked just as messy and significantly more creepy. Were those... eyes on the floor?

"Oh no," Aunt Daphne said softly. "This is bad."

"So this is where we're supposed to be?" Emma asked.

Aunt Daphne nodded. "This is Baba Yaga's house. Or it was." She headed into the house.

Emma looked at her sister, a question in her eyes. Allie shrugged in a way that said 'we made it this far' and stepped gingerly over the doorjamb. Emma looked around the forest, still feeling like there was someone else there, and hurried after her family. At least in the house she wouldn't be alone.

Once inside, she almost threw up, and ran straight back outside to take heaving breaths against the wall. Those things on the floor? They were definitely eyes. And they weren't all that was awful in the room.

"Emma?" Aunt Daphne said, poking her head out of the horrible, awful house. "You okay, sweetie?"

Emma swallowed and gasped out, "I- I'll be fine, I think, as long as I stay out here."

Aunt Daphne made some soothing noises and rubbed Emma's back. "I forgot you two haven't seen anything like this before, I'm sorry. If I'd known it would be that bad I'd have warned you. Do you want to go back to the car? Wait for us there?"

Emma thought about the oppressive feeling of the waste around the house, and about crossing the bone pile alone, and shook her head. "I'll just wait out here," she said faintly.

"All right," Aunt Daphne said, and she went back into the shack, leaving Emma alone with the trees.


The house was a wreck. Really, Allie could understand why Emma ran out all green like that. The only reason she didn't was because outside was just as creepy as inside.

It looked like a scene from some slasher movie, and it smelled just as bad as it looked. The contents of the room seemed to have been picked up and thrown about at random. There was a book hanging from a ceiling fan, and a pair of shoes in the sink. Everything was spattered with blood, and there were definitely body parts on the floor, including the eyeball Emma had almost stepped on that made her book it. If anyone lived here, they were probably dead, from what Allie could see.

Aunt Daphne came back into the room and said, "You're okay to stay? Do you want to go wait outside with your sister?"

Allie shook her head. "I'm okay. Let's just finish up here and leave as fast as possible." She didn't really want to leave Aunt Daphne alone in this place. Not when she was out of breath from just a walk in the woods.

"Go take a look in the next room, then," Aunt Daphne instructed.

Allie went to the next room, which was a tiny hideous bathroom that, while covered in mold, did not look like it belonged in a horror movie. She poked around for a few seconds to make sure there wasn't a body in one of the cabinets and left again, closing the door behind her. When she turned back to the main room, Aunt Daphne was collecting the eyes into a jar.

"What are you doing?" Allie asked, wrinkling her nose. She wasn't even wearing gloves!

"We're going to need these," Aunt Daphne said.

"Why?"

"A witch's magic and her knowledge are stored in her eyes," Aunt Daphne said. "Baba Yaga only took them from the greatest witches. We're going to need that knowledge. And that power."

Allie made a face. "That's disgusting."

"You'll get used to it," Aunt Daphne said.

Allie swallowed, then reached down to help pick up the eyes. They were slimy and kind of squishy, but she didn't throw up, which was a plus, even if she did throw up in her mouth a little bit. Aunt Daphne stood up straight with a groan, leaving Allie to the eyes.

By the time Allie had finished with the eyes, Aunt Daphne seemed to have finished with the house. Allie hadn't paid too close attention to what she'd been up to. She'd been too busy fighting her gag reflex and lifting eyes, which were really hard to pick up, as they kept shooting out of her hands.

"I don't think she died here," Aunt Daphne said.

"That's good, right?" Allie said, holding the eye jar up.

Aunt Daphne didn't take the jar, but she nodded. "It begs the question, though: where is she?"

"Hiding?" Allie suggested.

Aunt Daphne shook her head. "She wouldn't leave her house unless she absolutely had to. And her guardians are missing. So's the barrier spell. Someone obviously attacked her."

She bustled around the main room, picking things up and handing them to Allie. "Carry these to the car, will you? I'm going to leave her a note just in case she comes back."

Allie nodded around her teetering pile and headed outside.

"You were in there a long time," Emma said accusingly.

"Sorry," Allie said without meaning it very much. "Gimme a hand with these, will you?"

Emma took a few things from Allie's pile, grimacing at them. "What is all this stuff?"

Allie shrugged. "Aunt Daphne wanted it."

"Is this a coat?" Emma asked, picking the filthy thing up with her fingertips.

Aunt Daphne appeared in the doorway and said, "It is. It's your great uncle's. Lots of useful things in there."

Emma and Allie blinked at each other, but followed their aunt back the way they'd come. She was already heading off towards the car.

"Where are we going now?" Emma asked.

"Somewhere safe," Aunt Daphne said shortly. "It's time to find some allies."