One day I'll go back and edit all the parts that I've gotten wrong or reconsidered but for now, we push on, full steam ahead! I FINALLY finished Season 2 and I absolutely loved it, though it left me with a lot of feelings.

Thank you for the continued reviews, I really appreciate it! The story's really picking up, apologies if you think it's moving too fast, but I am so very excited to get into the next few chapters. Also, I'm about to post a story for Pride Month called Cary's Flag which is set in 2014, about two years after the current canon of the fic.

Cary quickly hid under a pile of junk as Eda's mysterious sister stormed in.

"Lilith, so good to see you, thanks for dropping by, can I get you something for the road?" Eda attempted to block Lilith from coming any further.

"I know you're harboring a fugitive, Edalyn," Lilith said sharply, looking around and eyeing a suspicious pile that appeared to be breathing.

Eda laughed, "Now why in my right mind would I risk a visit from the Emperor's Coven for some fugitive?"

"I don't know. But I do know that you're not in your right mind. If you give the kid up I won't have to take you in."

"You know I won't let you take me in, Lily."

"But you can spare the fight if you just surrender your houseguest, Edalyn. Come on, work with me here. Why can't things be easy for once?"

Eda drew her staff as Cary watched from the pile, "They just can't."

Lilith wielded her own staff defensively, "Why are you defending a common criminal? She isn't worth putting your life in danger!"

"Why are you arresting an innocent child?"

"He knows she's an invader from the human realm and he wants her dealt with."

"The emperor is a prick," Eda scowled.

"So are you," Lily shot back, the fight growing more heated as their magic flew back and forth, turning Eda's already cluttered living room into a complete disaster area. In the end, it looked like Lily had the upper hand and that Eda was about to lose-

"Wait!" Cary tumbled out of the pile and held up her hands.

"If you promise not to hurt Eda then I'll go back to the human realm. That's what you want, right? For your problem to disappear?"

"I won't hurt Edalyn, but I can't just let you walk free. The emperor has plans for you."

Eda looked at her sister in horror, "Lily, no, you can't take her."

"Give me one good reason, Edalyn," Lily snapped.

"She's my daughter."

Now Lily stepped back and studied her. The resemblance was obvious if you were paying a lick of attention.

"You have a daughter?! Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know! I was in the human realm, I had a fling with her father, I guess I turned into the owl beast and laid a Cary-sized egg. By the time I got back to the Boiling Isles, I had no recollection of anything except stealing her dad's car."

Lily shook her head, "Unbelievable. And yet so like you. Not remembering you have a child, abandoning your family."

"Hey! Everything I've done is to protect our family. I don't want anyone else getting hurt on account of me, and now that includes Cary."

"Why's she even here, if you left her with her human dad?"

"She's here for answers. She's apparently been having visions and believes that the curse will manifest in her."

Lily frowned deeply, worried for her sister and her new niece. She turned to speak to Cary for the first time.

"Is that true?"

"Yes. Eda said she could help me."

"Well, I doubt that. But perhaps the Emperor could…"

"No. You're not taking her to that creep, end of discussion."

"You never let anyone help you!" Lilith snapped.

"Because your brand of help could get my daughter petrified! Don't think I don't know what the emperor does with the misfits in the conformatorium."

"The emperor doesn't want to hurt anyone, Eda."

"That's what he wants us to think."

"Cary, I could help you. Do you trust me?"

"Before I left Oregon my father gave me some very important advice. He told me, 'Cary, stay true to your heart. And never ever trust cops.'"

Eda laughed, "Bye, bye, Lily."

"I am not a cop! I am part of the Emperor's Coven and I am not messing around."

"Oh, fuck off, Lily," Cary said.

"What did you just say to me?" Lilith demanded.

"It's human for 'Get out of my house,'" Eda explained with a smirk.

"She's just as much my niece as she is your daughter! If you don't let me help her I'm going to have to take drastic measures."

Eda's eyes narrowed, "You wouldn't."

"I would and I will."

Lily turned to Cary and gave her a sympathetic smile, "I'm sorry you feel like you can't trust me, Cary. Grifters like my sister tend to be mistrustful and I don't blame you for being unsure. I truly mean you no harm and I hope that in the future you'll be more open to asking for help than she is. Do me one favor and be just as careful trusting my sister, alright?"

With that, Lilith swept out of the house, staff in tow.

"What's she gonna do?" Cary asked nervously.

"I'm not exactly sure. She knows I can protect you from the Emperor's Coven. I'm afraid she's going to try something even more underhanded than that."

"Should I be worried?" Cary asked.

"Oh, what? Of course not. You're clearly a smart kid and I'm skilled in wild magic. I think we can handle ourselves. Now look, it's late. Let me set you up a spot to sleep and we'll begin testing your magic tomorrow."

"I might have another vision in my sleep," Cary warned.

"That's fine, it happens to the best of us."

"It's just… I sleepwalk when I have visions. And this place seems pretty dangerous." After the conformatorium and the run-in with Lilith, who was scary even if she meant well, Cary was really beginning to worry about her own safety.

"Ah, well…" Eda frowned deeply, "I have a suggestion, but you're not gonna like it."

Which was how Cary ended up sleeping with one leg chained to a pipe. Eda was right, she didn't like it. But it was better than wandering out into an unknown world that wanted to eat her alive. She wondered what was going on at home right now, and if her family was okay. She wondered if she had any other family here that she needed to worry about.

Eda knew that the answer was yes. She was reasonably afraid that Lily would take the news of Cary and tell their mother. Gwen was a doting mother but sometimes that doting could be overbearing, especially when she was trying to cure Eda's curse. And if Cary had inherited that curse… Eda could only imagine the lengths Gwen would go to cure her granddaughter.

But Eda couldn't worry about that now. Her first task was trying to figure out the extent of Cary's magical abilities. She slipped out to visit the night market and when she returned she had the necklace she had promised Cary.

Eda had barely made it back the next morning when Cary woke up.

"Hey, kiddo. Sleep well?"

"Not really," Cary said, rubbing her ankle.

"Ah, me neither. But it's fine. Got you a thing." Eda tossed Cary the necklace. Fortunately, Cary was able to catch it.

"Good catch," Eda mumbled tiredly, preparing a mug of apple blood and slumping onto the sofa.

"Dad made me play tee-ball when I was a kid."

"What the hell is tee-bell?" Eda asked, not adding that Cary was still a kid.

"It's like baseball but for young children."

"Oh."

"You don't know what baseball is either, do you?"

"Not really."

"Well, it's not important. When I got older the girls broke off and did softball and the guys did baseball and I was no longer interested in sports. I do know how to fight though. Another thing dad made me do."

"Is he pretty hard on you?" Eda asked, a little concerned.

"What? No. He just wants what's best for me. He'd never actually force me to do something that made me miserable unless it was for my own good. I think he'd let me skip school forever if I wanted to. Fortunately, I don't want to. I think he just didn't always know how to raise a daughter so I got to do some of the stuff that "boys" do. Wendy's the same way, her family's basically all boys other than her."

"Well, like I said, gender is made up. As long as you're happy, right?"

"Right. So, uh, what do I do? How do I turn the magic on?" Cary had looped the necklace around her neck and was staring at it. It hadn't begun to glow but it hadn't turned black either.

"Hm. It was glowing when I tried it on… Let me see." Eda took the necklace back and once again it glowed in her presence. A glow that immediately died out when Cary held it.

"Maybe… Maybe it's defective," Eda suggested, though she didn't truly believe it.

"Or maybe I am," Cary said sullenly, staring at the stone in her palm and willing it to work. Willing it to prove she was here for a reason.

"Maybe I'm not magical after all."

"Ah, well, it happens." Eda moved to take the necklace away from Cary but Cary grabbed her wrist.

"Don't. I still want it, even if it doesn't work for me."

"Are you sure? Won't it just be a reminder that you don't possess magic?"

"No, it'll be a reminder that you took the time and effort to get me something. Even if I'm not special, the necklace is. I want to keep it."

"Ah, who says you're not special? You've been here two days and you've already been arrested. You're probably on a wanted poster by now. That's pretty special to me."

Cary beamed, "Thanks, mom. Er, can I call you mom?"

"Well, I am your mom, so I don't see why you wouldn't." It felt weird, but Eda was trying to embrace it.

"Do you think there's any way for me to learn magic without already having it within me?"

"Well, you must have some of it within you, if you're truly having visions. But that oracle stuff is hard to nurture and control, and that seems to be all you've got."

"So I'm hopeless," Cary said dejectedly.

"No, not hopeless. Just difficult."

"That's not better."

"Sure it is! It just means it will take a little longer for us to figure this out. And we have all summer, right?"

"Right…" Cary was silent for a minute, staring at the necklace that she'd put back on.

"Are you sure your sister can't help us?"

"I love Lily, but she chose to serve the Emperor, and there's no way I'm trusting that guy."

"Right, okay. Then we'd better get to work!"

And work they did, fairly tirelessly for the next two months. Eda taught Cary everything she could, showed her potions and spells, and allowed Cary to attempt them. Cary was keeping fastidious notes but that was about all she could do. Aside from Cary's alleged prophetic dreams, there didn't seem to be an ounce of magic in her. Eda began to believe that there was no way the curse could have affected Cary either. Cary didn't seem so sure, but she hadn't had one of her dreams since she got here.

Between the magic lessons, Eda continued to sell her wares and evade the Emperor's Coven. They made several more attempts to capture Eda and/or Cary, but the two of them worked well together and were always able to avoid being brought in. Cary was much more suited to being a rogue than a witch, but she still had a place in Eda's Bad Girl Coven.

And while she worked to find her place there, Cary also worked to find out more about Eda's mysterious past.

What interested her the most was Eda's former fling.

"Tell me more about Raine. Please?"

"Can't blame you for wanting to know about the most badass witch I've ever met. How to start, even? Everything about them is incredible."

"Well, you could tell me how you met."

"We met when we were kids, about half a year before I got cursed and we were inseparable for a long time. They were already so gifted, and, well, so was I, but I had such a hard time channeling that. They were always meant to be a bard but I didn't like only being able to study one type of magic. I caused chaos and Raine was happily my partner in crime, since the day we met."

"What happened the day you met?"

"We were at some boring academic event to make our schools look good, Raine went to a different school at the time, and Raine is the only thing that made that event tolerable. And the only thing that reined me in and kept me from burning the place to the ground. They balanced me out."

"That's so cute," Cary gushed.

"Is that what Wendy is like for you?"

"Hm… Yeah. We get each other into and out of trouble. She's my best friend."

"Yeah. Raine was my best friend. Outside of Lily, at least."

Cary didn't say it, but from what she'd heard from her mom and her dad, it seemed like growing up just meant losing your family and friends.

"How'd you lose them?"

Eda cringed, "I was scared the curse would hurt them so I shut Raine out."

Cary couldn't help but worry that she would be the next person Eda shut out. She wished her dreams hadn't abruptly stopped, she'd give anything to be able to predict what would happen next.

If she had been having prophetic dreams she might have known about Gwen before Gwen showed up at the end of the summer.

"Edalyn! Edalyn, dear, Lilith told me all about your daughter! Where is she?"

Edalyn gritted her teeth, "I knew it would come to this…" Eda and Cary had been preparing for Cary to go home, Eda had been hoping that Cary would make it out without meeting Gwendolyn.

"Now don't be so dramatic, witchlet! I am simply here to help my daughter and granddaughter. You must let me meet her."

"I don't think so." But Cary had already slipped past Eda and was eyeing the gray-haired woman warily. It was no doubt she and Eda were related but was this really her grandmother?

"Hi, ma'am. I'm Caryn, but I go by Cary."

"Oh, dear, it is so good to meet you! I had no idea I had a granddaughter, but that's so like Edalyn, to go around keeping secrets. She's been hiding things from me ever since she got cursed. I'm only here to help, witchlet."

"I wasn't hiding her, Gwendolyn, I didn't know I had a daughter either. She's not exactly from around here."

Gwendolyn studied Cary now with a more critical eye, "She isn't… Oh, Edalyn please tell me she isn't human."

"Fine, I won't tell you that."

"What's so bad about being human?" Cary asked, now feeling more out of place.

"Well, humans can't do magic of course. Which means they don't understand individuals that do. They're witch hunters. Which is why the human realm is dangerous and it breaks my heart to hear that Edalyn keeps galavanting around over there."

"I'm not galavanting, mother, I'm conducting business."

"And Cary's father, he was part of your business?"

Eda burned red, "This isn't important! Just try to cure me and go."

Gwendolyn frowned, "It hurts that you don't want your mother to get to know your daughter."

"Well, maybe I don't want my daughter getting hurt because of one of your crazy cures."

"I would never do anything to harm Cary."

"Just me, then."

"Edalyn! I've never hurt you."

"What hurts is having a mother that can't accept that the curse is a part of me, whether I like it or not! I don't want to be cursed either, but my energy is better spent trying to manage the curse than trying to, I don't know, cut it out of me."

Gwendolyn paused, looking at the ground.

"Well, if that's how you feel, I won't try to help you right now. But one day I will find a cure for your curse. I swear to it."

Then she turned toward Cary, "It was lovely to meet you, Caryn. I believe you will turn out to be an excellent witch despite your background and your mother's recklessness."

And with that, Gwendolyn was gone as abruptly as she arrived.

"I'm reckless? She's reckless," Eda grumbled to herself, frustrated by her mother's visit.

"I wanted to get to know her," Cary said quietly, more than a little bummed.

"Trust me, you don't. She's gone crazy trying to figure out how to put an end to my so-called suffering."

"It sounds like she really loves you. My dad's parents kicked him out when he was a teenager. At least yours still want to look after you."

"Yeah, well…"

"You don't like accepting help, do you?"

"I just know how to handle my curse better than she does. It is my curse after all."

"It's not just that. We haven't been able to figure out my dreams or whether or not I'm cursed or any of that and we don't have a lot of time left! Gwendolyn could have helped us find answers, Lilith could have helped us find answers. But you just won't ask for help. Not from your family, not from the covens, not even from Raine."

Eda flinched.

"Cary, listen. I've been doing my best to help you get answers! I've been doing my best to protect you, as well. Trust me when I say my family and the coven system are some of the things I need to protect you from."

"But what if they're right? What if one of them unlocks the key to my magic? This isn't just about you anymore, Eda."

For two months, Cary had been calling her mom. Now hearing her say "Eda" stung.

"My mother was right about one thing, Cary. Humans can't do magic. I don't think you're ever going to unlock your abilities, I don't think you have abilities. And I don't think the Boiling Isles is safe for you. Summer is over and you need to go home."

Cary stood there in shock. She'd known summer was coming to a close but this seemed like a much colder goodbye than she deserved…

"Eda? Mom?"

"I understand that my mother cares about me and just wants to keep me from harm. Please understand that I feel the same about you. Pack your bag, I'll open the portal when you're ready."

Wordlessly, Cary shoved her belongings back into her backpack. She put on her dad's jacket and hugged Wendy's flannel before packing it. She left behind the ankle chain and, accidentally, one of her stuffed animals.

"I promise I care about you, kiddo. But I can't keep you safe on my own and you just don't have powers."

"You could have asked for help," Cary said, her voice trembling with anger.

Eda looked away, trembling, and opened the portal.

"I'll miss having you around, Cary. But it's safer for you to remain in the human realm."

"Goodbye, Boiling Isles. Goodbye, Eda."

"Bye, kiddo. Stay safe out there." There seemed to be an unspoken agreement that Cary couldn't come back to the Boiling Isles, not anytime soon, at least. But after the summer she spent here, learning about magic and learning how little she knew about herself and her mother, she knew part of her would always be back in the owl house.