Evelyn walked into her backyard, tired and exhausted. Clarissa was there with Hraktar, pushing a stick into the fire as they talked.

Clarissa’s eyes brightened. “Oh, hey Evelyn. Happy birthday.”

Evelyn sat down, covering her face. She couldn’t lie in front of Clarissa, but she wasn’t about to admit everything that had happened today. She wasn’t even sure she was ready to unpack how she felt about Tyler getting a girlfriend.

“Are you okay?” Clarissa asked.

Evelyn groaned. “Have you ever had everything physically you could ever want, and yet it doesn’t make up for the emotional things you need, but you feel ungrateful for complaining about the physical things, because they’re actually really nice, but you feel like such a hypocrite because someone else has it worse?” The words vomited out of her. “I mean, all this stuff is nice, right? Everyone always assumes I’m materialistic, and… I totally am. But there’s always the intent behind the gift, you know? Like a simple card means so much more for me if I know they’re giving it sincerely. Yes, I’m happy with the car. I should, right? Obviously, yes. It’s a car. I love it. God, I don’t know.”

Clarissa and Hraktar stared at her, then glanced at each other. Evelyn kept her elbows on her knees, her fingers in her hair as she sank into the patio furniture.

“I… should go,” Hraktar said.

Clarissa placed a hand on his arm. “You don’t need to go, my friend. You’re not a burden.”

Hraktar didn’t look at anyone. “This isn’t something I understand.”

Evelyn massaged her face. “I don’t need someone to understand it. I just need someone to say, ‘Wow, Evelyn. That’s hard. You’re totally justified in how you feel, and I agree, it sucks.’”

Hraktar hesitated, then opened his mouth. “Wow, Evelyn. That’s hard. You’re totally justified in how you feel, and I agree, that sucks.” He winced, bracing himself for Evelyn’s reaction.

Evelyn couldn’t help it and snorted. “Thanks, Hraktar.”

The fighter didn’t relax until he saw Evelyn smiling. She broke a twig and tossed it into the fire. “I didn’t mean to interrupt what you were talking about. I just couldn’t stay in there any longer.”

“Understandable.” Clarissa glanced at the door and sighed. “I’m not equipped to give advice, either. Except that when your parents are searching for a missing book, suggest that you be the one to gather a party together to fetch it. But on your way to retrieve it, it might be a wild adventure that makes you question your tradition in sight of the greater good. And you end up running away from home as you pursue more adventure with your little found family.”

Evelyn chuckled as she reminisced about their first few sessions all those years ago. “I’ll think about that the next time my parents send me on an errand.”

Clarissa smiled as she sipped her water from the mug. She glanced at the door again, her eyes brightening as it opened. “Hello, handsome.”

Evelyn turned to see Ezekiel walk through.

“Hello, beautiful,” Ezekiel said.

The cleric did not look handsome. It almost made Evelyn wince as Ezekiel walked outside with a blanket around his head to help shade him from the setting sun. Milo followed him out.

“Where were you two?” Hraktar asked.

“We ended up at Rafael and Alejandra’s house, since it’s quieter. I wanted to study the effects of the sleeping potion on Ezekiel there.”

Evelyn frowned, glancing at them. “Sleeping potion?”

“We were all dead to the world.” Milo relaxed in the chair next to Evelyn. “Princess Clarissa did not wake up for eight hours,” Milo added, glancing at the druid.

“It was awful. I don’t know how you all feel about wasting so much time sleeping.”

“We need it for our survival.” Hraktar sipped from his own mug.

“Wait, sleep?” Evelyn frowned, sitting up straighter in her chair. “I was asleep. Dead to the world, too.” Milo glanced at her, unsure. “I’m serious. I didn’t even wake up to do my nighttime skin routine.”

Clarissa slowly lowered her mug, alarmed. “Milo, check her.”

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The mana fusor was still confused, but brought out his magnifying glass. “Sleeping potions shouldn’t affect people of earth.”

Clarissa pointed at Evelyn. “Check. Her.”

Evelyn wasn’t sure what to expect. Milo muttered something and shook his hand with the magnifying glass, and it started to glow. When Milo placed his hand on her forehead and tilted it back, she didn’t fight. He looked into her eyes with the glowing magnifying glass, then into her mouth. “Yeah.” Milo’s shoulders slumped. “Yeah, that’s residual sleep potion alright.”

Evelyn stared at him, wide eyed. “But I’m from earth. It’s not supposed to work on me. What happened last night?”

“No idea.” Milo slipped the magnifying glass back into his inventory. “We’ve checked over everything, but nothing was stolen.”

Ezekiel rubbed his chin. “It couldn’t have been Akshi. I doubt he’s the person to kill us in our sleep. Maybe he would have killed Grizzizzik in his sleep, but not us.”

Evelyn glanced around at the four characters. “Where is Grizzizzik, anyway?”

“Sulking. As usual,” Milo said.

“It seems kind of odd, doesn’t it?” Hraktar’s voice dropped. “Grizzizzik was asleep longer than us. Don’t you think he did it, then drugged himself to hide the evidence?”

“What would be the purpose of Grizzizzik drugging us all?” Milo asked. “There is nothing missing from our inventory. He didn’t steal from any of us. There’s no way he would have left to attack Akshi without us, because he’s still alive. Why would he have done it?”

Hraktar grunted, but rubbed his chin. “I don’t trust that snake.”

“I doubt you ever will. But we need proof before we throw around accusations,” Ezekiel said.

“I still have some leftover sleeping potion,” Milo said, glancing at Evelyn. “I’d like to test if you really can fall asleep to the sleeping potion, or if this is something else entirely.” He pulled out a small vial of deep blue liquid and handed it to her. “If you do fall asleep again, Hraktar, Clarissa, and I will take turns watching your window so you’re not in danger.”

Evelyn reached out to take the potion, but her fingers slipped right through it. Milo, instead of looking disappointed, looked downright delighted. “How fascinating! How did you fall asleep? You can’t even touch this potion.”

Clarissa shook her head. “This is a strange mystery.”

“I’ll see if Nick slept through the night. Or… any information in general.” Evelyn rubbed her face. She really needed to start her nighttime skin care routine if she hoped to counter sleeping with her makeup on last night. Milo looked like he was positively itching to do experiments on her, and Evelyn wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

Milo’s gaze was far too excited for her to ignore. “Just… I’ll tell you when to stop if you get too… invasive,” Evelyn said.

Clarissa smiled as Milo jumped up, magnifying glass in hand as he started to study her face again.

“I will make sure he stops,” Clarissa said as she rubbed Ezekiel’s back. Ezekiel was on the ground, leaning against the druid’s legs. He still had the blanket around his head.

“Give me the brick first, Milo,” Ezekiel said.

Milo did not break his gaze as he pulled out the brick of silver and handed it to Ezekiel. The cleric stared at the silver, then reached forward with a hand covered in fur with his nails thick and sharp. “Princess.” He glanced up at Clarissa.

The druid still had her hand on the small of his back. “Yes?”

Those two were a good distraction from Milo studying her, so Evelyn kept her gaze on them.

“I’ve… been praying and meditating. About this situation with the silver. This world doesn’t have deities that freely walk the world.”

“No. They don’t,” Clarissa said.

Ezekiel handed the silver bar over to her. Clarissa took it, a questioning look on her face. “Moonsparkle is a celestial being, is she not?” Ezekiel asked.

“She… is.”

Ezekiel nodded, looking relaxed yet exhausted. “It is the closest thing I can think of to fulfilling this portion of the cure.”

Clarissa blinked, staring down at the bar of silver. “Ezekiel, my love. I… I am no deity.”

“You are to me,” Ezekiel said.

Evelyn frowned, even as her eyebrows shot up in surprise. Clarissa tore her gaze from the silver bar to look at Ezekiel. “No. This is too important to leave to something like this.”

“If you asked me to lie down and worship you, I would,” Ezekiel said.

“Do not insult the Great Lady.”

“I would, because I know you’d never ask me to give up the Great Lady for you. But I have worshiped you in a way. Loved you, treated you kindly, sought what was best for you. And in return, you calm my fears. Ease the nightmares. You fight the wererat mentally alongside me. You have found value in my life and amplified it to a degree where I can spend an eternity thanking you, and it will never be enough.” Tears pricked Clarissa’s eyes as Ezekiel placed his cheek against her knee. “I need a deity who would fight tooth and nail to save my soul from the lycanthropy, and I have found her. I need your celestial being to grind this silver into powder, or I can never recover. This is how we cure the lycanthropy, I feel it.”

“What… what if….” Clarissa’s voice wavered.

“It will work. I have found the substitute deity. The loophole in the suggestion. We are running out of time,” Ezekiel said.

Clarissa’s fingers tightened over the bar of silver as she looked at Ezekiel. He raised his head from her knee, giving her a soft smile. She placed the bar of silver in her lap before lifting his head, kissing him.

Milo, his face inches from Evelyn’s, dropped his gaze for a moment to stifle a groan before shaking his head. It was clear by his face that he didn’t believe this would cure Ezekiel at all. Evelyn agreed it was rather foolhardy. But if they didn’t try it, they had nothing. Ezekiel was right. Deities did not walk the earth as freely as in the Shrouded Domain. To go empty-handed was almost worse than trying this.

Her phone vibrated, and she pulled it out, seeing one of her other friends texting her a happy birthday. It reminded her of Tyler’s text. She glanced again at Ezekiel and Clarissa, who were still softly kissing each other. For a moment, her mind flitted to the possibility of her and… but it was too weird. Way too weird. Tyler would never kiss her. She was sixteen years old. She knew for a fact she did not want Tyler kissing her. He should not be attracted to her in that way at all.

She replied a quick text to her friend, thanking her. Then she let out a soft sigh, opened Tyler’s text, and gave a quick Thanks! in return.