Anne and Luz were able to watch a few more episodes of 'The Endless Wagon' before Anne had to go home.

''Thanks for inviting me'' Anne began. ''When I get home, or a bit later, I'll send you Marcy's contact.''

''You're welcome'' Luz replied. ''Thank you so much for introducing me to Marcy and wanting us to be friends. I haven't had any real friends before and that means a lot to me.''

''You're welcome, pal. The others are missing out on a lot, you're a very cool and funny person.'' Anne smiled at her. ''Remember, if there's anything or you just want to talk to someone, feel free to text or call me. And now I have to go. See you next time!''

After the girls said their goodbyes, Anne walked towards her house and put on her headphones to pass the time faster. The girl remembered that she would soon need to buy some notebooks for school because seventh grade was starting in a few weeks. Anne couldn't remember ever being a fan of school. Her grades were slightly below average and she wasn't the most exemplary student. She sometimes skipped classes because of Sasha, and she almost always took the blame. She couldn't stand her mother's disappointed look on her face every time she left the principal's office. However, if she stopped listening to Sasha and stopped doing whatever she told her, she would probably get mad at her or not want them to be friends. Sometimes Sasha's control got to her a little too much, but at the same time, Anne knew she wasn't the best at making choices and was somehow comfortable having someone choose for her. Anne always wished she could make everyone happy, but it hadn't worked out for her so far. She always had to choose between being a disappointment to her parents or to Sasha. This year she was going to change that. She was going to study more to get better grades and talk to Sasha about running out of classes. This time it wasn't going to be a disappointment for everyone.

Anne sighed. She had two and a half more weeks, she had time to prepare. Time passed quickly and by the time Anne came to her senses she was already in front of her house. She took out her keys and unlocked the door. Her cat Domino greeted her as he began to nuzzle against her legs. A small smile appeared on Anne's face. The kid assumed her parents were out by the store because the lights were off and they didn't greet her. The girl petted her cat and headed up the stairs to her room. She opened the door and laid down on her bed. What am I going to do this school year? So far I've taken the easy route because it's... easy, but I don't want to disappoint my parents again. I need to change something. Anne was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of a message coming from her phone. It was from her dad.

Dad: ''We'll be home by 8, we'll be a bit late. You can make something with the stuff in the fridge or you can warm up leftover food from yesterday if you're hungry''

Anne remembered that she should send Marcy Luz's number so they could talk. Anne was really glad that someone finally understood Marcy's interests. Anne let Marcy talk to her all the time about the video games she was playing or the books she was reading, but the conversation was somewhat one-sided because Anne understood almost nothing. That didn't stop her from trying to make her friend happy though. She liked it when Marcy talked to her, her voice was cheerful and full of excitement when she talked about her interests. Anne made a group chat with her, Marcy and Luz.

annabanana added mar-mar and Luzura to the group

mar-mar: eyy, girls, how r u doin

Luzura: I'm good. Turns out I have a cousin and she's going to live with us for a while. She seems nice, but she said I won't see her often because she'll be studying or somewhere. I honestly didn't know my family was that big.

annabanana: you learn something new every day ig

Luzura: Anyway. Marcy, would you like to see me soon so I can give you the Azura books? Will you be available on Monday?

mar-mar: yes, monday is fine, what time?

mar-mar: WAIT

mar-mar: WANT ME TO GIVE YOU MY FAVORITE BOOK? I THINK YOU'LL LIKE IT! CYNTIA COVEN

Luzura: I've heard of the series, but haven't read it. We'll swap books, btw is 2:30pm okay for you?

mar-mar: Perfect :DDD

Luzura: :DD

Luzura: Anne, do you want to come too, we can go for Boba again or something.

annabanana: sorry girls I won't be able to, I'll be working at my parents' restaurant

Luzura: ok, no problem, by the way can we come? I want to try the food.

annabanana: sure why not

Luzura: Thanks :)

And with that Anne turned off her phone and turned her attention to Domino, who nearly fell off the bookshelf. Anne chuckled at that. The girl heard something outside. She looked out the window and saw a woman with silver hair with a small brown owl in it running away from people who looked like the guards of the nearby museum. This was unusual, the crime rate in this area of town was pretty low, but she'd probably see the woman on the news tonight. Anne decided that she would go to bed early today because there wasn't much to do and she was exhausted. She went to the kitchen for dinner. There was some leftover Kai Yat Sai made by her mother. It would be enough for her. After Anne had dinner, she headed to her room and looked at the clock. 7:57. Her parents would be home soon. Anne decided to waste some time searching for the perfect meme to send to the group chat. There were 54 new messages in the chat with Marcy and Luz that consisted of theories about Vagabondia Chronicles 3. Nerds. Anne heard the front door unlock and went downstairs to meet her parents. Her mother opened the door and her father who was carrying several bags of groceries came in dropping an orange on the ground.

''Hi Anne!" her father said cheerfully. ''Can you hand me the orange? How was your day?''

Anne bent down and picked up the fruit. ''It was fine, I was out with Marcy and Luz, a girl I met yesterday.''

''Oooh you got a new friend?" her mother asked. ''Where's she from?''

''Hmmm, actually I don't know. I just know she's going to be here at her aunt's for a while'' Anne replied. ''Otherwise she's pretty cool, she's nice and funny, she's also a big nerd like Marcy and gets along with her pretty well, but we're still getting to know each other and I don't know much about her. I also plan on going to bed early tonight, I feel exhausted. I had dinner a little while ago.''

Oum looked a little worried. ''Are you alright Anne, you usually stay up late?

''Yes, I'm fine.'' replied Anne. ''I'm just exhausted tonight. Good night!''

''Good night!''

Anne took a shower and went back to her room. She put on her pajamas and flopped on her back on her bed. She felt her body and mind exhausted, but she didn't know why, she didn't have tennis practice today and just hung out with Luz and Marcy for a few hours. Anne laid there for about an hour, tossing and turning in her bed trying to sleep, but her brain seemed to refuse. It must have been one of those nights. When you're tired but can't fall asleep and instead of waking up refreshed you feel like a bag of shit. Tomorrow will be no fun. Anne looked at her phone for any new messages from Sasha. Anne didn't see Sasha that often over the summer break because she was staying with her father who lived in Canada. Anne liked hanging out with Marcy, but she missed Sasha, she didn't feel somehow, complete without her. True she had to do what she told her, but isn't that what friends are for.

No new messeges.

Anne sighed and buried her head in her pillow. It was going to be a long night.

Anne woke up tired the same way she had since she went to bed. She tried to go back to sleep, but to no avail. She looked at the time. 7:43. Anne had wondered for a relatively long time why some nights she slept like a stump and others she had particular difficulty falling asleep and woke up every few hours. She had heard that some people suffer from insomnia, but didn't they have difficulty falling asleep every night? I'll have to do a little research sometime... She stood up too quickly and black spots clouded her vision and she darted to the sill of the open window. Anne grabbed the ledge to keep from falling and her hand felt something. Once her vision cleared, she looked to see what she had touched. Under her palm was a black, soft feather, with a slight shine from the sunlight hitting it. That was strange, Anne hadn't heard of cases where birds entered people's homes through open windows. The feather was black, so it must belong to an American crow or raven. Ravens are rare in LA, so it was probably an American crow. Anne left the feather on her desk and went downstairs to see if her parents were awake.

Anne walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, she didn't hear her parents' voices or see them in the kitchen. They are probably still sleeping. She opened the fridge to see what ingredients she had. Eggs, milk, cheese and vegetables. There was flour in one of the cupboards so Anne decided to make some pancakes. Her father loved pancakes. Anne successfully made the pancakes, this time almost not turning the whole kitchen inside out. Almost. Her father came into the kitchen while Anne was serving pancakes.

''Whoa, kiddo, what are you doing here?" her father said, surprised. ''You usually don't get up this early, is everything alright? Oh, are those pancakes?'' He picked up his favorite coffee cup.

''I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep,'' Anne said as she put the last pancake on one of the plates. ''I decided to make pancakes because you love them and I couldn't think of anything else to make.''

Mr. Boonchuy ruffled her hair. ''Thank you, sweetie. I'm going to get your mom.''

After a little while, Mrs. Boonchuy came over as well and everyone started to have breakfast. They exchanged a couple of words before Anne ate her pancakes and climbed back into her room. She was planning on buying things for school today because all her notebooks had run out. She decided to ask in the group chat if anyone wanted to come with her.

Annabanana: hey, I'm going to go get school supplies, does anyone want to come with me?

Luzura: I'm free! My aunt and cousin went somewhere. Want to meet at the park in 15 minutes? At that place with the picnic table.

annabanana: yeah, that's cool.

Anne put some money in her wallet, took her phone, house keys, and black feather in her backpack to show Luz, and came down the stairs a little more excitedly than before. When she came down she almost ran into her mother.

''Where are you rushing to?" asked Oum in surprise.

Anne turned to her mother. ''I'm going to get supplies for school. After all, the school year is starting soon.''

Her mother looked at her a little confused. ''Are you excited for school? Anne, are you feeling alright?''

''Yes, mom.'' Anne sighed. ''It's just that the girl I told you about yesterday is coming with me because she needs to buy some things too and I don't want to be late. After all, I don't want to give the impression that I'm that friend who's always late.''

Oum chuckled. ''Alright sweetie, have fun and get home before dark!'' she said, but then she thought of something. ''And Anne, be careful, yesterday some lady stole some old jewelry from the museum, the police haven't caught her yet.''

Anne remembered what she saw yesterday. They'll probably catch her soon.

And so Anne started walking to the park. At one point while she was walking she felt that someone was watching her. A shiver ran down her back and she sharply turned around. She saw no one behind her. She only got a few strange looks from the people around her. Anne quickened her pace, she could hear her pulse quickening. She sped up her pace even more. She didn't know if anyone was watching her at all anymore, but she had a strange feeling, like she was falling but she was on the ground. The noise of the cars, birds, and surroundings seemed muffled, like when she wore headphones. As it came, so it went. Suddenly everything became normal, as if nothing had happened. She no longer felt like she was falling, she could hear the surrounding sounds clearly again. Her heartbeat calmed down, she no longer felt like her heart was going to skip a beat. Anne paused for a moment, panting. What the hell was that? Anne looked around again, saw nothing. She took off again at a hurried walk to the park. Everything is normal, I just didn't get enough sleep.

As soon as Anne arrived Luz was already there, waiting for her. She looked happy and excited and couldn't seem to stay in one place. However, her expression changed when she saw Anne's face.

''Whoa Anne, did you sleep well tonight?" asked Luz anxiously. '' You have bags under your eyes and did something happen? You look shaken, like you saw a ghost.''

Anne looked around again. ''Yeah, I'm fine. I just didn't sleep very well and I've been hearing things... Where are we going? I know a few bookstores, but we could go to the mall. Better the small bookstores because it's Sunday and the mall is probably crowded.''

Anne began to lead Luz to the nearest bookstore to where they were. Luz noticed that the other girl seemed nervous and looked around from time to time, her shoulders were tense. Luz tried a few times to strike up a conversation with her, but Anne kept responding with 'yes', 'no', or 'maybe'. The short haired girl stopped trying and buried her gaze in the ground. Anne noticed this and felt like a jerk. She knew Luz just wanted to talk to her.

''Hey Luz, I'm sorry for acting like that.'' Am sighed. ''I wanted someone to come with me for company, not to isolate them. I'm sorry again.'' her shoulders relaxed a little.

''It's okay, I see something's bothering you.'' Luz replied. ''Do you want to tell me what's up?

''It's nothing much.'' the bushy haired girl looked to the side. ''While I was walking to the park, I felt like someone was watching me and I don't know, like I'm falling? It's probably nothing, I'm just imagining things from lack of sleep.''

''Yeah, it's probably that.'' Luz agreed. ''When I was on the flight to here, I imagined a raven flying next to the plane.''

''Wait a minute.'' thought Anne, taking off her backpack and started rummaging through it. She pulled out the black feather she had found on the windowsill earlier this morning. ''When I woke up, I found this feather on the sill of the open window in my room. I think it is that of an American crow, because ravens are not often seen here.''

Luz picked up the feather and examined it. It shone a little from the sunlight. ''I have no idea, it might be of something else, what bird has black feathers and is found in LA?'' the girl handed the feather back to Anne.

''I don't know, a blackbird? Anne put the feather back into one of the pockets of her backpack. ''I'll look it up on the internet if I think of it.''

''Wait a second.'' Luz said. ''Isn't it dangerous to carry or touch a bird feather? Don't they carry diseases?''

''Uhh, I'll think about it later!'' replied Anne.

It wasn't long before the girls got to one of the bookshops and bought the things they needed. Anne finally relaxed and no longer looked around constantly, but told dumb jokes to Luz, who laughed at every one of them.

''You have a terrible humour taste!'' Luz shrugged Anne into her hand.

''You too since you laugh.'' Anne said between giggles. ''Alright I'll stop with that. Are you ready for the school year? Because I'm definitely not. I told myself I'd try to get better grades so I wouldn't disappoint my parents. Again.''

''That's enough, you're not going to disappoint them, they should be proud of the daughter they have!" said Luz in an attempt to cheer Anne up. ''And you're not a troublesome student. Right?''

Anne looked away. ''Not really. Sometimes I run away from classes because of Sasha or do stupid things with her. I always take the blame. But this year that will change, I'll talk to her and study more.''

''I feel more confident this time. For the first time I will have friends at school. Or friends in general. I won't be here for that long, but I'll aim to get good grades and do well in front of the teachers,'' Luz said. ''At my home school, most of the teachers hate me. I accidentally let snakes into the school once, I don't actually know how I got away with just visiting the principal.''

''We once hacked the speakers in the school and played music. Or rather, Marcy hacked them. And on top of that we let dogs into the school. It was Sasha's idea.''

Luz and Anne talked some more then Anne sent Luz to her aunt's house. Anne walked home with a bag of notebooks in her hand feeling better this time. Luz was so energetic and cheerful that she seemed to be passing on her energy. Maybe she just needed someone to talk to. Anne was almost convinced that this school year would be better than the others. She already had a new friend she could trust.

''Are you smelling something Vee?''

Tara and Vee were in the forest again. Tara had decided that it would be a good idea to take Vee with her, after all she was a creature from another world who could sniff magic. Tara heard about the woman who had stolen something from the museum on the news. She probably wouldn't have paid her much attention if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes. Or more specifically, the way she escaped. She just walked behind a billboard and disappeared with a light. She definitely wasn't human. Her suspicions were confirmed when she asked Vee about her. The woman was a witch who sold human junk in some Demon World and they called her 'The Owl Lady'. She has a portal she can use to travel to the human world and back. Vee has passed through the portal to come here. Tara made it her mission to find the Owl Lady and talk to her. Maybe she would give her the answers to her questions. Maybe she could read the strange runes Tara had found. Or where the prophecy Kurt had told her about had come from. Speaking of her raven, she wondered where the hell it had disappeared to. He'd been gone since this morning and hadn't responded to her whistles. She knew he wasn't exactly a normal raven and he could handle himself or protect himself just fine, but that didn't stop her from worrying about him.

''I think I smell something...'' Vee muttered.

Vee shifted her gaze to a normal looking snack bag and picked it up.

''Yeah I know, people need to learn not to throw their trash everywhere.'' sighed Tara.

''No! Look!'' Vee turned the package towards Tara. Hex Mix. ''This is a snack from the demon world. The owl lady has been here. Also, can I eat it? My magic is running out.''

''Go ahead, it's all yours.'' Tara looked around. ''Do you smell anything else? Any traces?''

Vee sniffed the air. ''Nope. I think a the portal opened somewhere around here.''

Tara sighed again. She had lost the trail again. ''Alright kid. Good job and thanks for helping. Do you want us to look for more magic items for you to eat? Those cards will run out soon, and you said that they don't give you that much magic.''

''I think we'll have a better chance of finding something in places where there's been recent thefts or places where she disappears.'' said Vee.

''We already walked behind that billboard and I haven't seen her before. I haven't heard of any thefts, it's a safe part of the neighborhood and thefts will spread quickly.''

''One moment.'' Vee started sniffing the air again. ''I think I sense something.''

Vee walked in the direction they came from followed by Tara. Tara heard a familiar gurgling croak and Kurt appeared on her shoulder.

''Where the hell were you?" said Tara angrily to him. ''I was worried about you, what have you been doing all day?

Kurt pretended like he hadn't heard her.

''There it is!'' Vee pointed to a cracked crystal ball that glowed with a purple light on the ground. ''Oooh this will last me for quite a while.''

''Uhh kiddo, how are you going to eat this?" asked Tara in confusion.

''Just watch.'' Vee stood up and started sucking the magic out of the crystal ball. As soon as she finished, the ball took on a gray color and no longer glowed.

''I didn't know you could do that.'' Tara said in surprise. ''Okay, I think we can go home now.'' The raven on her shoulder squawked approvingly. ''And you tell me where you were. Please don't tell me you've been spying on random people while undercover again. You know the effects it has on them, we're lucky no one has been sent to a mental hospital so far.!'

The group walked towards the car while Tara continued to scold her Raven.