"Ok, so that bit of parenting out the way, on to the next," said Sarah's mom. "What's your plan for the day? It's your last free Monday before class starts."

"Not much. Finn said he'll come by later. He's bringing me a drill for a project," said Sarah.

"Ooh, what project?" asked her mom.

"Oh, a chain or something. I don't think it'll turn out, but I've got some ideas," said Sarah.

"I'm excited to see it. Are you ever going to do anything with those bones you've been keeping?" Her mom gave a dramatic shudder and said, "The bracelet turned out really nice, but keeping a jar of bones in your room is kinda creepy."

"I'm not sure. They're a little too fragile to build something out of, but they might make for good decoration on something else," said Sarah.

"Like spikes on dangly earrings?"

"Yeah, like that," said Sarah, taking the last bite of her breakfast.

Her mom finished her coffee too, and asked, "So, is Finn going to be around long?"

"Dunno," said Sarah. "He's just dropping off the drill, but I think he'll want to watch me start. He's been kinda interested in it."

The two stood, each picking up their dishes to take to the sink. "Interested in the project, huh? I guess that's nothing new. If he sticks around, feel free to feed him lunch, just keep him out of your bedroom," said her mom with a raised eyebrow and a smirk in her voice.

"Mom!" Sarah blushed brightly.

"It's not that I don't trust you, we just don't want him getting the wrong idea."

"Mom!" Sarah clattered her bowl into the dishwasher and had to bend down to pick up her spoon after it missed the little slot for silverware.

"I mean, I could be wrong. If you do like him, and you want to, well, we've had the talk. Just use protection, ok?"

"Mom!" Sarah spun around and was speed walking out of the kitchen.

"Do you want to review anything?" her mom shouted as Sarah was taking the stairs two at a time.

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Sarah slammed the bathroom door behind her, shaking her head as she undressed to shower. She was shampooing furiously when she heard a knock at her door. "I'm leaving, call me if you need anything," her mom shouted through the door. "Don't forget you said you'd do some chores today too! Love you!"

By the time Sarah was done in the bathroom, the house was empty. She found a tank top and a pair of shorts and went back to the bathroom. She was tempted to just throw her wet hair in a ponytail, but then it would be damp all day long and would leave marks she'd have to either live with or flat iron out later. And she had plenty of time, so she blowdried her hair out, then combed it out with a part in the middle of her hair. She added just a little bit of product to help it stay out of her face and decided that was good enough.

Her mind kept drifting back to Finn, despite actively trying to go back to thinking about the names in the notebook. Was her mom right? No, he'd been just a friend all summer. He hadn't pushed at all for anything more since prom. They'd hung out, talking about powers and showing things off. He'd explained how putting the power into different shapes seemed to make different effects, and she'd discovered that she could put blue into only parts of a thing, rather than filling it all up evenly. Today's project was more of the same. Maybe she could get him to figure out a way to deal with all the fog types they'd been running into.

He'd been bugging her about the teeth he'd given her. He wanted her to make something out of them, something like Cuddles. Never mind that the bag of teeth was kinda gross, and Cuddles was pretty. Where Cuddles was a pure white, the teeth were yellowed, even brown in places. She'd done the peroxide soak, but it hadn't made much difference. Plus they were super irregular. Cuddle's vertebrae lined up and fit neatly into each other, forming an articulated chain that just looked nice. The teeth were lumpy, and she just couldn't see herself figuring out a way to make them look worth wearing. But Finn thought they'd be cool, so she was going to give it a try.

If nothing else, she could just string them together and call it a day. Maybe if she ever dressed full goth, they'd look all right as a sort of hip chain. Between her mom's old coat and the bracelet, she wasn't far off. She'd seen a lady selling little bird-skull earrings at a crafting fair, and she'd been tempted. She probably would have even bought them, except they'd been made with cheap brassy wire and had a bunch of brightly colored feathers hanging off them too. They just didn't fit anything, so Sarah figured if she was going to wear something like that, she'd make it herself to ensure it all worked.

Maybe she should figure out a way to get ahold of some horn to work with. She'd seen some pieces that polished really well, and they had a really pleasant black and yellow color that didn't look as stark as bone. Throwing a big loose t-shirt on over her tank top, she padded back downstairs to get the vacuum out. She got it plugged in, and watched for a moment to ensure it was navigating furniture well, then found her mom's stack of old catalogs.

She found an artsy one that they'd been getting in the mail ever since her mom had bought a sweater from the company, and she was paging through it looking at their jewelry and leather goods when the doorbell rang. She topped off the vacuum cleaner, it was on its way to the next room, and she went to answer the door.