Evelyn was playing with the edges of her phone, trying to get the mental strength to talk to her father. She knew what they promised to Walt, and it was better if they got this out now. It was Sunday afternoon, and she wanted to get this done before the evening.

She walked into the living room, where Walt was reading something on his phone. “Hey, dad.” Evelyn pulled up her texts to see if she needed to return anyone’s text. It was more to make sure she couldn’t look at her dad in the face. “Um, just thought I’d update you. Pippa, that succubus character you hate, she died last night in the campaign. So… she’s not coming back.”

Walt grunted, which made Evelyn spare a glance at him. He was still reading on the couch. Evelyn swallowed. “Alright, good chat.”

Evelyn hated acknowledging this, but it was getting harder to talk to her dad. It felt like walking on eggshells. Nick, too, was getting hard to talk to. Her brother spent whatever time he had in his room.

She felt like a hypocrite saying that, though, as she slipped into her room. She placed her phone against the corner of her chin as she thought about calling Tyler.

Before she could stop herself, she pressed his name and placed the phone against her ear. She heard it ringing, and she nervously tapped her fingers against her side.

“Hey, Evie!” Tyler said.

“Hey. Just… um…” God, what was she calling him for? “I… told my dad. That Pippa’s dead. Because… she is.”

“Ah. Yes, thank you. Did he, ah, seem like he needed me to confirm it?” Tyler asked.

“No, no. He just sorta… grunted.” Evelyn glanced at her door to make sure her dad wasn’t listening in. That would be insane if he did, but she wasn’t about to risk it, either.

“Alright, well, thanks Evie.”

“Yeah.”

She hung up the phone, then placed it against her forehead again. Were all their conversations going to be so awkward?

***

Derek teleported Milo to him before he even put in his keys in his car to drive to school on Monday. Milo appeared in the passenger seat, smiling.

“Hey! Long time no see,” Milo said.

Derek turned on the car. “Any updates?”

“I’ll have to do more experiments on you to check,” Milo said.

Derek raised an eyebrow. “What experiments, exactly?”

“Just…experiments with certain spells to see what they do to the marks.”

Derek crinkled his nose. “Not sure Tyler would agree with those.”

Milo sighed. “I figured. We’re toeing a careful line here, though. We’ve got to get rid of these marks, but I’m not sure I can do that without the two worlds colliding.”

“I’ll ask him once I call him up after school. Also, go easy on the experimental spells. Nothing that’ll hurt,” Derek said.

“Obviously not. Mostly healing spells. I’ve prepared cure wounds today to see what’ll do.”

“Yeah, that makes more sense.”

Milo raised an eyebrow. “What spell did you think I was going to do?”

Derek shrugged. “Sometimes science comes first for you, and you’ve spent a couple days away from Ezekiel, so I don’t quite know where your moral compass is.”

Milo chuckled. “You know I’d never drop my morals, even while pursuing science.”

Derek smiled as he pulled into the school parking lot. “I’m glad.”

They got out of the car like old times, walking to the school building. It was a reminder that Pippa was gone. Milo killed her all by himself.

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“I’m glad Pippa’s gone,” Derek said.

Milo shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “To be honest, I don’t think I could have won, except that you were in danger. I needed to be more afraid of losing you than my fears of her.” They were quiet for a beat. “And also Ezekiel’s protection against evil spell. That was… absolutely necessary.”

Derek chuckled as he opened the door. “Well, I still appreciate it.”

Milo waited until they got further into the school, nodding at Señora Florez who was walking the halls before slipping away into the lab again. Señora Florez was pretending to amble around the halls, but Derek knew why she was there. She tried to give Derek a semblance of privacy, but he also appreciated knowing someone was watching him to keep him safe.

Derek wore a longer sleeved shirt to cover his still tender wrists. They were getting better, but he also didn’t have a good story for if anyone asked him where he got them. They, unfortunately, looked too much like wounds one would get after being tied up for a few hours. He hoped they’d be gone by Wednesday. Thanksgiving was this week, and a ton of his family were coming over to his house to celebrate. He couldn’t keep secrets from his aunts, even if he tried. It would take a miracle to hide the fact that CCNC was actually a portal to a mythical world and he and his friends were hiding their characters. He was sure his aunts were immune to the mythical power that kept people from seeing what he saw. Especially if it involved juicy gossip.

He heard footsteps coming toward him, and he jerked his head over to see Emma walking up to him. Derek held his breath, remaining calm. Pippa was dead. Akshi was probably still dead. Akshi no longer had the hat of disguises. If he did have a spare, Emma right now was not wearing a hat. Akshi might have recruited another person who knew the disguise self spell, but he wasn’t sure how fast Akshi could have come back to life before finding—

Derek closed his eyes, forcing himself to take a deep breath, then let it out before he opened his eyes again. “Hello, Emma.”

Emma folded her arms, looking weirded out. “I had… the strangest dream about us last weekend.”

“Oh?” Derek forced himself to act distant.

“Super strange. Pieces of the past month also make little sense,” Emma said.

“Weird.”

Emma shook her head. “And I get the distinct impression that the less time I spend around you, the more things will slip away from my memory. That should terrify me, right? Yet it doesn’t. I’m actually more drawn to that. I… don’t think I want to remember.”

Derek tried to smile. “I agree. I don’t want you to remember.”

Emma nodded, not looking at him. “I don’t want you to take offense at this, Derek, but I don’t want to be around you for a while.”

Derek felt the tension in his shoulders release. He would love to never see Emma again, and so much of his stress was trying to get rid of her.

“I wish you the best, Emma.” It surprised him to realize he meant it. Emma nodded, walking away. Derek got to his locker, trying to think of other things, but he couldn’t help it. Tryouts for Beauty and the Beast were two weeks away. Everyone knew Emma would try out for, and most likely get, Belle. Despite everything, everyone also assumed Derek would get the part of Beast. He realized, right then, that he couldn’t let that happen. They both needed space from each other, and Derek had a bad feeling that if he spent time around Emma, if he kissed her again, she’d remember. Emma had something that Derek himself envied. The ability to forget Saturday.

That was that. He could not try out for the beast. It would be Gaston or a smaller male part. He needed to dazzle in his tryouts for Gaston, so Mr. Jensen wasn’t even tempted to place him anywhere else.

Derek unloaded his backpack from the weekend into his locker. He heard another set of footprints coming toward him and saw Evelyn. She smiled at him, her fingers twirling around her hair, already showing the sign that Derek needed to know she was who she had presented herself to be.

“Hey,” Derek said.

“Hey,” Evelyn said. There was something reserved about her actions. Derek marked it off as this whole thing shaking everyone up. Evelyn must have noticed Señora Florez, because she waved at her before focusing back on Derek. “Just wanted to check in on you. How are you?”

“I’m, um… time. Time will be a great healer,” Derek said, zipping up his backpack.

“It is.” Evelyn patted him on the back. “Believe me, it is.”

“Yeah.” Derek swung his backpack over his shoulder as he closed his locker. His gaze drifted away, the memories of that day coming back to him.

“I saw Emma talking to you. Are you two okay?” Evelyn asked.

“I can now say with certainty that we’ve broken up.” Derek glanced behind him in the direction Emma went. “Apparently, the less time she spends around me, the more she’ll forget about Pippa and Akshi. And… Saturday.”

“Oh, good,” Evelyn said.

“Yeah.”

There must have been something in his tone, because Evelyn began studying his face. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Derek let out a sigh. “I don’t know. There’s nothing more to do except make sure it never happens again.”

Evelyn folded her arms, leaning against the lockers. “Yeah. And to make sure you know we’ve got your back.”

“Thanks,” Derek said.

“Because as odd as it is, I get it.” Evelyn started absently playing with her hair. “Having someone you consider a friend lure you out of your house before turning into a monster and stealing you away to hurt you before you’re left reeling with what happened. Doing your best to forget it, but knowing you never can.” Derek swallowed, glancing at Evelyn. She gave him a small smile. “It gets better, Derek. Believe me.”

She started to walk away. Derek froze, a question he had on his mind ever since the truth of what happened between Evelyn and Rafael came out. He had spent an entire weekend kicking himself for being an asshole. For not talking to Emma like an adult, and here was an opportunity to talk to someone else he knew he hurt. It would be painful, but he had to prove to himself he learned to be better.