The Summer weather had officially come and gone, and by the week of Thanksgiving, there were highs in the 40's and nightly lows below freezing. There was a freezing drizzle that covered the grounds of Ilvermorny with frost, along with a thick fog that rolled in each evening, lasting through the night and early morning, but was usually gone by the afternoon. There was only some snow, but not yet enough to stick. Evergreen was grateful for that. He had never been a fan of cold weather.

Ilvermorny classes were not to be held during the week of Thanksgiving. The school was a boarding school, sure, but students had the option of going home for holidays during the week of Thanksgiving, the two weeks around Christmas and New Year's, and the week of spring break at the tail end of March. Evergreen looked forward to traveling home, to see how Dad was. No one should spend the holidays alone ー even though Dad had Grandma and Grandpa, Evergreen still thought he deserved to have his son with him.

It was the Saturday before all the homebound students would depart and Evergreen found himself surrounded by his little circle of friends, Link, Diva, Glade, and Andie. They were sitting in an alcove in one of the corner towers playing a game to keep warm in the crisp castle air. Sure, the enchantments in the castle did a good job at keeping the freezing temperature from getting in, but the castle's stone walls were still, well, stone. Seta was off on the stairs keeping watch "because you never know when someone could come up behind you on the stairs". The game was called Firework, and the four of them were engaged in passing around a small orb of sparks with their wands. If the orb spent too much time with an individual, it would burst, and the game would start over again.

"So, Evergreen. Do you wanna talk about the monkey?" Diva asked, hesitantly.

Evergreen had been pretty silent about the whole thing with the flying monkey for the first few weeks of November. He had had several dreams since then about flying monkeys in dark forests, with fire coming at him from who-knew-where, and a hooded figure, probably Dad, sometimes coming in to save the day. Could his dreams be bleeding into reality? Did magic work like that? He wasn't sure, but he knew that he needed to tell his friends everything soon. He couldn't do all this on his own.

He had told Dad through the pocket watch about the chimp attack. He figured that he would know what that was about. According to Dad, Elphie, the Wicked Witch, often carried out her dirty work through the use of flying monkeys which were native to Western Oz.

"Guys –" he began, "You know how s-since the start of t-the year I have had s-some odd experiences, right? Even by magical s-standards."

"Odd? I think the word you're looking for is 'weird'." Link followed up.

"Yeah," Diva added. "First you get tossed from a friggin' hot air balloon, then you save me from embarrassment that there's no coming back from, nearly getting punished for it, then a flying monkey almost gets you?"

"True," interjected Andie, "You've had too many close calls in too short of a time. And didn't you say that you and your dad almost got blown up in a car crash earlier this year?"

"I'm not sure that's part of it." Evergreen countered.

"How can you be sure?" Andie asked.

"He can't be sure. So, we can't rule anything out." Glade said.

They all sat there for a moment, listening to the wind whistling outside of the window and the sound of the tree that was beating against the outside wall. The ball of sparks was at Evergreen's wand tip for just a moment too long, bursting in a mini explosion that wasn't hot enough to burn or blister, but hot enough to wake you up if you were feeling distracted by something. Evergreen reconjured another ball of sparks and spoke up.

"I'm pretty sure the s-source of all of this is Mr. Capital."

"That's a pretty serious claim." Link said. "I mean, I don't like him much either, but there's more, isn't there?"

"Yeah. There is. I'm gonna trust you all with s-something that I need to swear you to secrecy about."

His voice went into his slightly lower register and that was a new thing for him. Puberty seemed to have begun to hit him faster than most other guys in his year. Having both a stutter and a changing voice was kind of a drag, so he did his best to keep his voice fairly low and even to avoid any squeaky sounds. When Dad talked to Evergreen about puberty many months ago, he sai,d "Any guy knows the squeak struggle, and it is fresh hell indeed." When Evergreen spoke in a quiet voice, naturally, his friends all leaned slightly forward with wide eyes, nodding their assent.

"My mom was Glinda Quadling, also known as the Good Witch of South Oz."

They were all silent for a moment, Evergreen's friends waiting for him to continue.

"Swab was interested in her back when they b-both went to s-school here, but she went off and m-married my No-Maj Dad. When she and her f-friend Elphie went off to Oz, they had a falling out. Not l-long after that, my mom was lost trying to s-save me. My dad kept me from knowing about all of this magic until this year. There is a d-darkness coming from Oz that wants to get to me, and I think Elphie may have somehow s-sent Swab to get to me here. He was probably an easy mark b-because of their history. My bunny, Seta, was sent from Oz to help me prepare for what's coming."

It was at that moment that Evergreen heard Seta making the alarm signal with his sword off in the direction of the stairs. Everyone shut up quickly and looked toward the bottom of the stairs and that was when Maggie made her appearance. They all relaxed at this, as it was agreed amongst their grade that Maggie was one of the cooler witches there.

"Hey guys. Woods has been looking for you all. She wanted to make an announcement to our grade before the Thanksgiving break."

They then all stopped their game, dusted themselves off and followed Maggie down the corridor toward the opposite tower. Seta was seated comfortably upon Evergreen's shoulder and was giving Maggie an intense side-eye. Evergreen wasn't nervous though. Maggie probably hadn't heard anything and, even if she had, the Habitatio family didn't appear to have much love for Swab Capital, if he had correctly interpreted the interactions that he had observed.

The next morning, everyone was up practically at the crack of dawn, it seemed, in order to get a light breakfast and to send a few of the students home for Thanksgiving. Evergreen and Link stayed together for most of the morning. They didn't want to be separated in the mighty throng. Evergreen only packed a small bag because of all his things that he still had at home. He was sure to bring his robes, to change into on the way back. He also brought the pocket watch, his wand, and his first-year spell book, Chadwick's Charms. He was wearing his cloak over his No-Maj clothing because of the weather, which was in the high 30's, and there was a chilling mist covering everything on and around the train platform. The sky was dark gray overhead, slowly brightening as the sun came up.

"We should get together over the holiday." Link said, as they and Andie sat down in their compartment within the Pacific boxcar.

"I would like that, but we can't use magic at home." Evergreen asked.

"We kids can't, but my mom and dad can." Link replied, simply.

Their travel back to the West Coast was almost as exciting as their travel the previous August, only, the boxcars weren't crashing together, but pulling apart. Some magic must have been involved in the travel because what had taken all day last time only took a few hours on the way back, the landscape rapidly changing outside of their compartment's window.

They finally pulled into Union Station at around 8:00 am, local time. When Evergreen saw the familiar western sky, he noticed that it was also very dark, just as it had been atop Mount Greylock. It was marginally warmer though, with better visibility and ー thankfully ー it was bone dry. Leaving the boxcar, Evergreen, Seta, and Link saw Dad and Mrs. Blackguard waiting on the platform wearing light jackets. Dad's face lit up when he and Evergreen locked eyes.

"Hey E.E." Dad said, "You wanna get some breakfast?"

"I had breakfast about four hours ago, b-but I could definitely do the Hobbit thing and go f-for a second breakfast!"

"I'm not sure what you mean, but let's go. Nice talking with you, Lynette." Dad said, extending his hand to the pleasant witch.

They shook hands and the boys exchanged some messages of farewell. Evergreen wasn't sure how the Blackguards would be getting back to the coast, considering how automobiles were a No-Maj invention that the magical community didn't really use. However, he didn't give this a lot of thought as they passed back through the brick wall, and he climbed up into Dad's truck.

The second breakfast was held at an old favorite diner of the Quandary clan. Evergreen got the French toast with sausage, eggs, hash browns, and a side of strawberries. French toast done right was indeed an act of divine intervention, Evergreen thought. On their way back home, they chatted quite a bit about their family's plans for Thanksgiving.

"So, your aunt and uncle down in Woodburn are hosting again this year." Dad explained, "Your grandma and grandpa will both be there too."

"Will Uncle Ian and Aunt Hannah be there?"

Evergreen asked this because he felt closest to Hannah than anyone else in their family, other than Dad, of course. They also lived up past Seattle, halfway to the Canadian border, so it was a bit of a drive. Evergreen knew this because he and Dad had taken the drive themselves earlier that year.

"They will be. How are things, Seta?" Dad asked the rabbit in the small seat between them.

"Nothing too newsworthy," replied the bunny, his nose twitching rapidly, "assuming Evergreen already told you about the flying monkey and about the hot air balloons."

"I heard about that. It seems like the darkness is already here."

"Yeah, but I have been s-studying so hard and have been involved with some extra-curriculars for the sake of my magic."

"Good man."

Thanksgiving was a wonderful affair as was typical of the Quandary clan. All of Evergreen's cousins were in attendance. Evergreen and Dad had brought homemade cinnamon bread pudding, courtesy of Dad, and a homemade chocolate pie, courtesy of Evergreen. It was peculiar that both of Dad's sisters had married men named Ian. Aunt Hannah's Ian was African American and from the Florida Panhandle. He didn't say much in general, but cooked delicious food and would occasionally pipe up in the conversation with great gusto. Aunt Bonnie's Ian was a real southern soul. He loved country rock music, and they actually had some horses on their property.

It was always nice to be surrounded with family, but Evergreen often wondered what it would be like if mom had been there with them and what it would be like if he had a sibling too. These were all nice what-ifs, so he did his best not to dwell on such things. He knew more than many that the moment one began playing the game of "what if," they could fall into some deep rabbit holes.

Seta was kind of the star of the show because no one in the family really had pets, other than Hannah and Ian's horses, and they didn't really count. But it was true, a bunny in a waistcoat with a miniature sword was equal parts adorable and fascinating. Evergreen was grateful that his cousins had enough sense not to touch Seta, because it wasn't fair to subject the bunny to being manhandled by a dozen pairs of grubby human hands. May was Evergreen's only girl cousin, but she was much older and was the one who told all the boys to give Seta space. Both Seta and Evergreen appreciated her for that.

When Black Friday had come and gone, eggnog and Christmas carols came to the Quandary home. The Christmassy feeling was in the air and Evergreen almost forgot about the looming dangers that were definitely trying to get to him. For a moment, he allowed himself to pretend that he was a normal kid without a magical legacy that doubled as a curse and a blessing. He got together with Lynne over the break, as he and Bucky had had something of a falling out. They had gotten together once, but Bucky had gotten all mad that Evergreen had never called him back after calling his home so many times. Evergreen explained that there wasn't really a phone at his boarding school, so letter writing was the only way to go. Bucky didn't find this an acceptable answer.

They were both in very different worlds, Evergreen considered. It was only natural to drift apart. Anyway, on that day, Evergreen was lying on the couch fiddling with his iPod, playing a 'guess the song' game on it, when he heard a thumping sound against the front door.

He jumped up and crept toward the front door as silently as he possibly could. With carpet below and socks on his feet, it was pretty easy to be quiet. Once he got to the white, metal door, he carefully looked out of the window right next to the door. No one was in sight, but he gripped his wand behind his back as he opened the door. No one was nearby, but an envelope was there on the floor of the porch. Looking up, he saw a dark bird of prey flying off. It must have sent this letter there.

"That's not a good sign." He whispered to himself.

"What is it?" Seta asked, coming up from behind.

"Seta. Get me some chalk please, I need to put up some family sigils."

The bunny retrieved some chalk from the closet underneath the stairs and Evergreen got to work on setting his sigils in place. Because it was First People's magic, Evergreen kind of figured that the MACUSA department for underage magic probably wouldn't be able to track it. He hoped he was right. He set his family sigil on the driveway out front and on the concrete just outside of their backyard fence as well. Afterward, he began his chanting: "wanzi, nonpa, yamni, topa, zaptan."He didn't end up using the chalk, but he had brought it just in case he had trouble with the sigils forming automatically.

Once the sigils were in place, Evergreen picked up the letter. They were in the backyard standing on the grassy part that reached almost to the fence on either side. The sepia-toned envelope was blank except for his name. However, Seta stepped in at the last moment and stopped him.

"Evergreen, we need to be wiser about this." The bunny said, holding up a paw.

"What do you suggest?" Evergreen inquired, turning the envelope in his hands.

"Put the envelope up on the fence there and let me open it my way."

"If you're sure."

Doing exactly what Seta recommended, Evergreen placed the envelope on the top of the fence, propped up between slats of wood. The fence was old and should have been replaced a long time ago, but it was still standing so it was good to go. Once it was in place, Evergreen backed off, looking toward his bunny for further instruction. None was given, but Seta took out his steel short sword and covered one eye with one of his massive ears. Shortly after, the short sword was tossed in the air, flying forward like a dart at a tacky bar down south. It flew forward with a great hissing noise.

After a few seconds in the air, the sword impaled the envelope right on the upper right corner and it embedded itself into the old, porous wood of the fence. When that happened, a cloud of black smoke came out of the envelope and started toward Evergreen and Seta. The young wizard almost grabbed at his wand, but in the last moment, Seta uncorked a small vial with a neon-orange substance and tossed it at the cloud. Immediately, it burst into flame and disappeared altogether.

"What was that?" Evergreen asked him wide-eyed.

"Instant sunlight," Dad said, making his appearance on the deck. "It's strong enough to make midnight look like midday. What's going on?"

"I got a letter from someone, we don't know."

"Let me see." He said, walking down the stairs and pulling the sword and the letter from the fence.

He handed the sword back to Seta and slowly opened the letter. Nothing happened, so they assumed that the curse that came with it was a solitary one and meant as probably more of a warning than anything else. He unfolded it gingerly, like he was trying to diffuse an explosive. All seemed normal, so he gestured to Evergreen to come over to him so they could read the letter together.

Evergreen Quandary,

We have our eyes on you. It wasn't until Halloween that we realized it was you.

When you appeared to be a four-statue-student, we had our suspicions, but when the flying monkey went after you, it was clear.

You are the Good Witch Glinda's child.

Beware

They looked up from the letter, checking it a few times over to see if there were any hidden messages or other markings that could give them any more information. There was none. There were no names, besides the postscript 'beware', but Evergreen knew that it was Swab Capital. He said that 'we had our suspicions', so Evergreen's earlier thought held true. He was working for someone else. There was a mastermind behind these events. Considering the flying monkey and Evergreen's dreams involving them, he was pretty sure that he knew who was behind all of it. It was Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West.