AN~ I know, I know. 'Curlscat you haven't updated anything in MONTHS and THIS is the story you come back with?' I'll update the ones y'all care about soon, promise. But I really like this fic, okay? Allie and Emma are fun to write. (If I didn't mention the fact that people are going upstate to train, tell me and I will clarify things.)

Guest: I'm glad you like it!


The hotel they stayed in that night was really, really fancy. Allie had wondered how Aunt Daphne could afford it until she saw just how empty it was. Then she decided they'd just cut their rates in hopes of getting any business at all.

Emma had no such worries about pricing, and she was just staring at everything- they had a suite, meaning Allie and Emma would get their own beds for the first time in nearly a month, even if they wouldn't have their own bedrooms. The walls were covered in white and gold wallpaper, a chandelier hung from the ceiling, there was a full kitchen (albeit a tiny one) across from the bathroom, and the chairs looked as comfortable as the ones in Aunt Daphne's living room.

"There's a window seat!" Emma squealed, shoving the curtains open. "Can we just stay here forever?"

"No," Aunt Daphne said, fiddling with something she'd pulled out of the ratty coat. "But we might be here a couple of days. I need to call a friend."

"What kind of friend?" Allie asked. "Like, a magic kind of friend?"

"Sort of," Aunt Daphne said. "You know her, actually. Or I think you do. Bunny, the mayor's mom."

"The blind lady?" Emma asked, wrinkling her nose. "What good'll she be?"

"Emma, that's really rude!" Allie said. "She's really smart, and you don't need to be able to see to be important!"

Emma shrugged. "It's not like could hear me."

"It's still mean."

"And," Aunt Daphne interrupted, "She used to be one of the most powerful witches on the planet."

"Used to be?" Allie asked, giving the jar full of eyes a slantwise look. "What happened?"

"She traded her eyes for Baba Yaga's help during the last war," Aunt Daphne said. "She probably saved all our lives."

Emma wrinkled her nose. "That's really gross."

"I know," Aunt Daphne said. "But it's a really big sacrifice on her part, and you should respect it. Plus she still knows a whole lot, and I need her help." She started dialing a number on her cell phone, going out onto the veranda (their hotel had personal verandas for every room, with little chairs and tables and plants) and closing the door behind her.

"Well then," Emma said.

"C'mon, she probably wants to be alone," Allie said. "Let her. I'm going down to the lobby to see if I can find a snack machine or something."

"Can I come?"

"No." Emma looked so crestfallen that Allie sighed and said, "Gimme a dollar and I'll get you oreos, okay? I need some space."

"Okay," Emma agreed, turning on the TV and rummaging around in her bag for some money.

Allie took the accepted cash, grabbed a key card, and left the room with a sigh. They'd been in really tight quarters the past few weeks, and the only alone time she'd gotten was when she was in the bathroom. It was time for a much needed break, now that she could probably promise Aunt Daphne that she hadn't gone anywhere dangerous. She wasn't planning on leaving the building, after all. She was just going to go to the computer lab she'd seen on the way in.

There was no need to be secretive. Really. Aunt Daphne never said she couldn't message Parker, after all. And the last time she'd talked to him was weeks ago. He might think she'd broken up with him again. So what if Aunt Daphne had acted like contacting people wasn't the best idea? She was talking to that Bunny witch lady! Allie was perfectly within her rights to email her boyfriend.

Besides, she missed him. Some people had social lives to keep up.

All right, that wasn't fair. Just because Emma didn't go out much didn't mean she didn't have friends. She was just... awkward. And young. Allie hadn't hung out with her friends all that often at eleven.

Allie swiped into the computer lab and headed for a hidden part of the room, where there were only a few other people. She followed the login directions and checked her email, which had, unsurprisingly, a ton of unread messages. Oh gosh, what must her phone look like? She could kill herself for forgetting her charger for something that was taking this long. She opened the first message she saw from Parker.

It was a little desperate. He thought she was... dead, or something, or mad at him. But he was mostly worried about one of the monsters having gotten her, and he wanted her to write him back as soon as possible. She did, sending him a letter that was as reassuring as possible without giving away anything about her family being super involved in the stuff. He might not know about her grandma.

Oh please lord let him not recognize her grandma.

Allie set about replying to her other emails, and sent ones out to her friends who hadn't sent her any, and checked facebook. Most of her friends seemed safe. That was good.

"What are you doing?" Emma's voice startled her.

Allie jumped. "Nothing! What are you doing here?"

"You were taking way longer than you should've," Emma said. "So I came to find out where my oreos were. What are you doing?"

"Emailing Parker," Allie admitted.

"Why're you making it a secret?" Emma asked. "Aunt Daphne won't mind."

"You sure?" Allie asked dubiously. "She hasn't let me call him or anything yet."

"Well she's calling plenty of people," Emma pointed out. "It'd be kind of hypocritical of her to not let you talk to anyone."

Allie rolled her eyes. "That's not all there is to it. You're such a kid."

Emma made a face at Allie and said, "Fine, be that way. I was just trying to help." She stomped off, leaving Allie alone.

Allie wouldn't have paid any attention, but she hadn't noticed that Emma had taken the key card to the room with her. Muttering fiercely under her breath, she logged off the computer as fast as possible and stormed back to their room.

"Emma!" she shouted, banging on the door. "Let me in!"

The door opened, but Aunt Daphne was behind it instead of Emma.

"So do you two want to explain what you're fighting about?" she asked, looking from Allie to Emma with raised eyebrows.

"Allie's a jerk is what we're fighting about," Emma muttered.

Aunt Daphne just stared at them.

"It's not a big deal, really," Allie tried to assure her.

"I should have expected something sooner," Aunt Daphne said with a sigh, sitting on the bed as Allie closed the door behind her. "I mean, you've been cooped up together for so long... But we need to hash this out, girls. Before Bunny shows up."

"Allie was emailing Parker," Emma started, and before Allie could chastise her sister for tattling, she continued, "And I told her you wouldn't mind 'cause you were talking to people, and she was all mean and nasty to me just 'cause I'm not a grown-up or whatever. Not like she's a grown-up."

Aunt Daphne raised her eyebrows and turned to Allie. "And what's your side of the story?"

"I didn't think you'd let me talk to Parker, so I was sneaking," Allie muttered. "And she caught me and now you're gonna get upset and I just-"

"Why didn't you talk to me about it?" Aunt Daphne asked.

"Told you," Emma said.

Allie made a face at her sister.

"I didn't think you'd let me," Allie confessed. If they were getting everything out on the table, she might as well. It wasn't like she'd be able to get in more trouble. "But like I miss him so much and I just- I didn't care if it was bad."

Aunt Daphne didn't look angry. She just looked sad. "I'm sorry," she said, sitting down on the bed next to Allie. "I know this is hard on you girls." She gestured for Emma to come sit next to her.

Emma came, and Aunt Daphne put an arm around both of the girls. This was so different than how either of their parents would have reacted that Allie was thrown off her footing.

"You've both just kind of been shoved into a life you had no idea existed," Aunt Daphne continued. "And I'm not saying anything about your parents' decision to keep things a secret- it's their choice- but I know it's not easy. In fact, I'm surprised you're handling it nearly as well as you are. So I want us to make a promise to each other, okay?" She paused, looking them both in the eye in turn. "We talk to each other. I'd have let you talk to Parker, Allie. But I'd have liked it if I could make sure nobody could trace the email to find us. So next time, ask me, and as long as I can make something you want happen safely, I will."

"Okay," Emma said quickly.

Allie parroted her, more slowly. This seemed a little too good to be true. She wasn't even in trouble?

"Your safety comes first, though, so if I say no about something, I want you to understand that that's why," Aunt Daphne added. She clapped her hands together and stood up, turning to them. "I am sorry things are gonna be hard for a while longer, but do we understand each other?"

Both girls nodded.

"Good," Aunt Daphne said. "Now, Bunny should be here tomorrow. In the meantime, let's have some fun, shall we? I think we're all about due."

Emma let out a whoop before Allie could say anything and shrieked, "I get to pick the game!"

Allie found that she didn't really mind.


Bunny arrived, dog in tow, at exactly eleven o'clock the next day. Emma wasn't really surprised, because Bunny was always punctual. Scarily so. Allie was in the shower, so Emma took the opportunity to sit close to the grown-ups and listen to everything that was happening.

When she saw what was going on, though, she wrinkled her nose in disgust and wished she'd sat a little farther away. Aunt Daphne was handing Bunny a pair of eyes.

"I know you can't put them back in," she was saying, "but I thought you might be able to use them?"

Bunny nodded, fingering the eyeballs thoughtfully. "They're still intact."

Emma almost puked.

"Can you find her?" Aunt Daphne asked.

"Maybe," Bunny said. "It'll take time."

Allie came out of the bathroom, then, hair still damp but dressed in clean clothes and looking much happier and more awake than she had before the shower. She sat down next to Emma and asked, "What did I miss?"

Emma nodded at Bunny's handful of eyes and whispered, "They're talking about finding Baba Yaga."

Allie made a face at the eyes and stood up, heading back for the bathroom. "I'll come back when those are away," she said.

Emma didn't blame her sister, but she was too curious about what was going to happen to let whatever it was go on with her somewhere else. She'd seen very little magic since discovering it was real, and she wasn't about to let an opportunity to see more pass her by.

What she did see wasn't very exciting, though. Bunny held the eyes in one hand, the leash of her seeing eye do in the other, and Daphne held both her wrists. They stood still without saying anything, eyes closed.

Emma sat, waiting, getting more and more impatient. Nothing was happening.

Then the dog let out a whine, and Emma noticed.

It wasn't anything showy, but Aunt Daphne and Bunny looked a little more defined than everything else in the room. And there was this- buzzing, like a cross between a ringing in her ears and a bug flying just out of her line of sight. It had grown so slowly that Emma hadn't picked up on it at first.

"Magic," Emma breathed.

Magic, happening right in front of her, and not scary, dangerous, people-are-going-to-die magic. The real thing, the kind of thing she'd been hoping for when Allie got wings.

How cool was that?

... Except, she could do without the ear itch that came with it. She wondered if there was a spell to keep that from happening. Or if, like, earplugs would work.

All at once, Aunt Daphne let go of Bunny's wrists, the buzzing stopped, and the two women stopped looking like they were any more there than anything else in the room.

Emma pushed back a bit of disappointment that nothing more exciting had happened. Magic, real magic, was cool enough that she could deal with it not being, like, bright lights and colors and loud noises. She could make enough of those herself, if she had to.

"Well?" Emma asked.

"She's alive," Aunt Daphne said, sounding relieved.

Bunny nodded, and Emma knew her well enough that, even behind the sunglasses, she could see that the woman was perplexed. "It's a bit odd, though," she said, proving Emma right (Hah, Allie, calling her unobservant!). "We can't pinpoint her location."

"Should you be able to?" Emma asked, feeling like she should know this already and repeating the words of her third grade teacher ("there's no such thing as a stupid question; asking isn't embarrassing; it just means you want to learn; it's brave to admit you don't know") over in her head until the voice in her head that sounded a lot like Allie and a lot like the know-it-all who sat next to her in class (stupid Alesha Gonzalez with her pretty black braids and shiny straight teeth and the way she always knew everything); the voice that was calling her dumb and oblivious.

All Bunny did, though, was nod. "We're coven," she explained. "Your aunt and Baba Yaga and I. We should be able to work off that to find each other."

"Coven?" Emma asked, emboldened by the fact that Bunny wasn't treating her like an idiot for not knowing things.

"Three witches who are bonded. It makes our magic stronger," Aunt Daphne explained.

"I was doubtful that ours would still work, but it seems fine," Bunny said. "You're still an innocent, Daphne, and I'm apparently still a witch."

"I told you," Aunt Daphne said, sounding just this side of smug.

"Are the eyes still out there?" Allie called through the bathroom door.

Bunny tucked them in her pocket. "Sorry, Allie! It's safe to come out now!"

Allie came out of the bathroom cautiously and asked, "So?"

Aunt Daphne explained, then continued, "We got a general idea of where she is. So someone's going to have to go look for her."

"Us?" Allie asked, her voice betraying no emotion.

Aunt Daphne shook her head. "I think that might be a little dangerous for you two, with no experience. I'm gonna make some calls."

"I could go," Bunny said mildly.

Aunt Daphne looked Bunny up and down. "Are you... are you sure? I mean, you can't- no offense, but you're blind, and it could be dangerous."

"Everywhere's dangerous, these days," Bunny said. "And now I have my magic back." She moved the hand in her pocket subtly, and Emma knew she was fingering the eyes.

"And no free hands," Aunt Daphne said pointedly.

"I can find her much more easily than anyone else."

Aunt Daphne apparently didn't have an argument for this, because she said, "I just... I'd rather you didn't go alone. I worry."

Bunny reached out and put her hand on Aunt Daphne's stomach, patting the obvious bulge there. "I do too."

Aunt Daphne grabbed Bunny's wrist and just held it for a second.

"I will take someone with me, if it makes you feel better," Bunny said. "William's been under Snow's feet recently, he'd probably like to do something active."

Aunt Daphne smiled. "That sounds reasonable."

"Good," Bunny said. "Now that that's settled, I believe it's lunchtime."

"Food!" Emma shrieked, jumping up off the bed and heading for the door, grabbing the room key on her way out.

Aunt Daphne and Bunny followed with a laugh.


Bunny was gone by midafternoon, and Allie figured they'd be heading out soon after, but Aunt Daphne didn't make any move to leave as the day wore on. She didn't even tell them where they were heading now. Before, after all, they'd had a clear destination. Now, if they had one, Allie didn't know what it was. They were just sitting in their hotel room, watching the news.

They're replaying the interview with Grandma, interspersing it with 'new information' about Everafters. It's stuff Allie's picked up, for the most part, traveling with Aunt Daphne, but she can always learn more, and it's informative to look at a different perspective on it.

People are scared. Apparently, a lot of them are going to travel to Ferryport Landing to learn how to defend themselves or to be defended. Equal numbers are setting up survivalist bunkers or rioting. Allie understands all those reactions. But the riots- the world's messy enough.

And it really is the world. The Scarlet Hand is taking over everywhere. Allie's pretty scared too, when she lets herself think about it. Russia's overrun with something called Snow Lions, Brazil is being terrorized by giant birds that breath fire, Australia hasn't been heard from since a pack of Bunyips crawled into Melbourne, and there are dragons and ogres and spirit jackals everywhere- and that's just the things Allie remembers.

Aunt Daphne turns off the TV with an air of someone making an executive decision for the good of everyone, and Allie guesses that her fear was showing on her face until she notices that Emma is- Emma is shaking.

"Time for dinner," Aunt Daphne says definitively. "We all need something new to think about, yeah?"

"Yeah," Emma says, voice quavering.

Allie is stuck by guilt. She hasn't been thinking about Emma too much in all of this mess. She's been thinking about her parents, who are maybe fighting monsters, and definitely training other people to fight monsters. She's been thinking about Parker, who hasn't answered her email yet. She's been thinking about all the big scary things happening in the world. But her little sister is right next to her, and she's scared, and Allie didn't notice.

Allie's never been the best big sister (she's heard stories about her mom growing up, from her mom and from other people, and she knows that she definitely doesn't measure up to that level of big sisterhood- and her mom hasn't been trying to show she was good. It just sort of shows through in the way she talks about Aunt Daphne and Uncle Basil, in what she says, just casually, she gave up for them), but she thought she was better than this.

"Hey," she says, bumping her shoulder against her sister as they walk to the car. "You okay?"

Emma gives her a confused look and says. "Yeah. Fine."

Wow, Allie must've been doing a really awful job sistering.

Before Allie can beat herself up too bad, though, Aunt Daphne hunches over with a wheeze.

Both girls rush to their aunt, who's bent double and who appears to have just peed herself, wetness leaking down the inside of her maternity jeans.

"Are you okay?" Emma asks, trying to hold the dark woman up as she stumbles and almost falls.

Allie pushes up on Aunt Daphne's other side as realization dawns on her. That's not pee. That's-

"My water broke," Aunt Daphne says. "Change of plans, girls. Dinner's gonna have to wait 'til after I have babies."

Oh gosh oh lord oh no Aunt Daphne's going into labor Allie is not ready for this nobody is ready for this Allie's gonna be a cousin oh no where are the grownups this is-

"Breathe, Allie," Aunt Daphne is saying, voice calm and rational. "I need you to hold it together until I get to the hospital. I need you to drive."

Oh. Allie's hyperventilating.

She breathes- in, out, in out, steady, slow- until she feels the hitching in her chest go away. Emma's giving her a terrified look, and Aunt Daphne is staring, obviously in pain, waiting.

She nods reassuringly.

Aunt Daphne nods back, and they get in the car.

Allie takes a deep breath in the driver's seat. She can do this.

In theory.

But she can't afford to think like that. She has to do this.

They all need her to.