EPISODE XV

Expunged

Amaris quite liked the very tall chairs at her therapist’s office. Supposedly, they were present so cats could sit on them and be of comparable eye level to humans. However, the chairs were padded and large enough to hold humans, so she always sat on them and kicked her legs back and forth the entire time.

Her therapist was a small brown cat by the name of Antonio Valente, who wore a simple collar and bow tie, the color and pattern of which changed regularly, though now that she had seen him enough times, Amaris had noticed he was starting to cycle through the ones he owned.

“So… you left it there, locked it beneath the school?”

“I mean, what else were we going to do with it?” Amaris asked with a shrug. “It’s secure there, nobody’s using the area, and it’s not like I want to try to move it anywhere. That just sounds like a recipe for disaster…” She tilted her head to the side. “Dad tried to figure out if he could section off the area, but it’s not even on the building’s floor plan so as far as the University is concerned it doesn’t exist, can’t be rented out, and all paperwork about it is a ‘glitch.’ Scarlet’s looking into the historical records for us to figure out where the basement came from. So far, no leads.”

Antonio was silent for a moment, and then he chuckled. “Well, that’s certainly a story. Which I do believe, not saying it’s not real.”

“Antonio, at this point I know you trust me, you don’t have to keep clarifying.”

“Force of habit, I do have many patients. You have a lot less self-doubt than most, which is a very good thing. You should be proud of how you’re able to carry yourself, Amaris.”

Amaris shrugged. “It really doesn’t feel all that special. I just… am, and all the bad stuff is part of me. The curse is also a gift and I wouldn’t be where I am today without it. Without me, for instance, that stone creature would probably be roaming around crushing people, but since it targeted me I was able to get it locked up where it’ll never hurt anyone again.” She smiled. “That’s what my life is for.”

“You are still free to define your life as you wish.”

“I’m not sure if that’s true, but I don’t care even if it is. I want to put this curse to use. So many nasty things have come out of the Strider, and there might even be a few things already here. I can find them just… by existing.”

“You have a noble heart, Amaris.”

“Thank you, but I’m not exactly sure I did anything to earn it.”

“Most wouldn’t, I’d say. Such things are a gift.”

“As are flaws, in a way.”

Antonio nodded. “Indeed they are, for they are what makes us… us.” He paused for a moment, and chuckled. “Sometimes I wonder if you’re the therapist in this relationship.”

“Well… you don’t have all the scary experiences living rent-free in the back of your mind.”

“True. All I have are accounts from other people of the things.”

“And I actually… have a question for you.” Amaris folded her arms. “…My teachers keep suggesting I should join the gymnastics team.”

Antonio took in a deep breath. “I see…”

“I… don’t think I can really explain to them what Toad did to me without being accused of lying. But they keep pushing.” Amaris shook her head. “Antonio, I really don’t want to be on a stage showing off… me ever again. But most everyone is convinced that I should want the glory and the fame… sure, they can’t force me to do it, but they can keep asking, keep mentioning it, keep offering to just have me ‘come watch’ and… eeeegh!” She crossed her legs and sat forward, frustration building up. “There’s no freaky magic evil here for me to run away from or figure out how to defeat, it’s just people being people, and some of them are really doing it because they think it would be good for me!”

Antonio nodded. “In cases like yours, I usually recommend keeping your abilities a secret so people don’t notice them, but given your tendency to encounter the strange and unusual, that may not be possible.”

“I also use it to avoid getting decked or embarrassed by bullies.” She frowned. “And still, Judit has it out for me anyway despite my best efforts…”

“Are you afraid of her?”

“No, I could take her and her entire posse, but they probably won’t resort to violence first and will just be annoying. I’m expecting a toilet-papered house, a rotten egg in the mailbox, awkward confrontations that I have to run away from…” she put her fingers to the sides of her head and started rubbing it around. “I wish it were possible to just ignore them. But fate has other plans.”

“It sounds as though the fantastical and extreme are comfortable to you, but the mundane challenges of everyday life are proving to be more difficult. You shouldn’t feel ashamed of this, just because you’ve gotten strong and experienced in one area doesn’t mean you are in others.”

“But these issues are so… so… small!”

“Perhaps in the grand scheme of things, yes, but so are our lives in general. However, they are not small to you. You really have experienced great horrors, and because of them you have good reason to not want to be put on display; but just because you’ve experienced these horrors and adapted to them does not mean you should be able to handle social situations you have not encountered before. Yes, these things are small, but you haven’t dealt with them before, why should you just be able to handle it?”

“You make a good point and I don’t like it.” Amaris rested her chin in her palms and let out an annoyed grunt.

Antonio flicked his ears. “As for practical advice, for the gymnastics you will probably just have to say that you do not feel comfortable doing any sort of public performance due to past experiences and if they doubt you, you can tell them your therapist agrees, and that you should not have to explain why to anyone.”

Amaris blinked. “I can use you as an excuse?”

“I’m not an excuse, it’s part of my job to help patients operate in the world, and if I think they shouldn’t have to do something I can give an official medical recommendation. If anyone ever tries to force you into it, call me immediately, I do have some authority in the matter.”

“Thank you!”

“Don’t mention it. The thing with the bullies is actually far more problematic, as I know how ineffective reporting bullies is.”

Amaris snorted. “Everyone who uses the system to report anyone gets all the bullies on them. Punish one, get seven more on you, and then the other one that was punished will return having learned nothing and start it all over again.” Amaris tapped her foot against the leg of the chair angrily. “It’s unjust, is what it is, the system needs to be better.”

“I agree. Sadly, school reform does not appear to be on the docket. However, you’ve dealt with grand monsters and immense evil. Surely you can put up with a bunch of annoying kids?”

“It’s not so much that I can’t put up with it that I think there should be a solution that just deals with it, but, egh, I guess it can’t just be that simple.”

“Unfortunately, no. But Amaris?”

“Hmm?” She looked up, sensing he was going to say something important.

“You can do this. I mean it. You are one of my more well-adjusted patients and your spirit is very, very strong; you have been through the flames and come out all the better for it. You can do this, no matter how annoying or complicated something gets, you can do it.”

“I think you might be pushing it a bit there. I did break down several times on my journey.”

“And do you think if you encountered any of the things you faced again that you’d break again?”

Amaris thought for a moment, running through her adventure. The doppelganger… the witch… the Predateor… even the Strider itself, if she were presented with them, she was pretty sure she’d keep her head. Even if she woke up with the suit on again, as she still had nightmares about, she would still be able to make it through, she was almost sure of it. Would she feel comfortable? No, of course not. But she’d face it.

There were still probably things out in the world that would get to her, horrific things that could drive her mad… but if she had to go through the entire journey again, she could do it.

“Huh… thank you, Antonio,” Amaris said, brightening considerably. “I hadn’t thought about it like that before.”

“Just doing my job.”

“I’m glad my parents found you. I needed someone who would just… believe me.”

“There are many people who see strange things. Some of them are insane, some are not, but all of them need an ear that will at least give them the time of day. I am ashamed to say that most of my colleagues are not able to give that ear.”

“You should consider training some new people.”

“You offering?”

Amaris chuckled. “Thanks, but no thanks. After all, I still have this gift of mine to use.”

“Figured I’d ask.”

“Though if I find anyone who I think would be interested, I’ll let you know. Who knows? It might be interesting if I did!”

~~~

Later that day, Amaris hopped into the car with her parents and Irene. The car was a very ordinary, blue car with an overall square shape. It was late afternoon on Saturday, which meant it was time to go to the local Sanctuary for meditation service.

Scarlet waved at them as they left the house. “Have a good time!”

Amaris’ dad rolled down the car window. “You’re always welcome to join us, Scarlet.”

Scarlet shook her head. “You know I’m not going to take you up on that offer.”

“I’m going to keep offering until you do.”

“Then you’ll be offering for eternity, and this game we play will go on for… well, ever.”

“Or until one of us moves,” Amaris’ mom added.

Scarlet nodded. “That too. By the way, Amaris, still no updates on the basement beneath the school.”

“Not exactly surprised,” Amaris said. “Anything on the stone creature?”

“A handful of red splatters on the ground that might have been caused by it, but they only go back about a week or two, so probably just another beast from the Strider.”

“Oh well, thanks anyway.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“Have a good evening,” Amaris’ dad wished Scarlet.

“I will, got great plans for sitting alone in my basement tonight!”

“We’ll be going out with the family after meditation.”

“Sounds fun, hope the food’s as good as Irene’s.”

Irene, who had been silent until this point, flushed. “Y-you don’t have to compliment my cooking every time, you know…”

“I will ask how it was later. Anyway, you all get going, you don’t want to be late.” She waved them on, and Amaris’ dad listened to her advice and drove off. Soon, they were out of the suburb and in the city of Nuk proper.

Nuk was not a large city, but it was clearly a city complete with several suburbs, multiple farms on the outskirts, a downtown area with some buildings that approached the definition of a skyscraper without being large enough to definitely deserve the moniker, and of course now it had the Strider, which, while it was very tall, actually only had enough space to hold about half of Nuk’s population, and it currently held much less.

In between downtown and the suburbs, however, there were places that weren’t fully either. Lines of stores, malls, and restaurants fighting over customers that drove by on the highway, and several places with lesser traffic that held the “hidden gems” of the City. They would be going down one of those lesser-used streets later that night, but for now they were headed down a very active road that led to the Sanctuary of Keeper Harold. Had they been going in the morning, there would have been a traffic jam here since that was by far the more popular time for meditation service.

Amaris’ parents had grown tired of getting stuck in traffic, so they went to the late afternoon session. The Sanctuary was large enough that it had public services every day of the week at multiple times for everyone to come and sit in silence together for a time, as was tradition for the Aware, as they called themselves. There was generally a short message as well, though that was rarely intersting to Amaris.

Upon arrival, they pulled into the parking lot next to two cars Amaris recognized—a beat-up old pickup that looked like it was ready to fall apart at any moment and a sleek convertible with pixelated flames painted on the side. The two people these vehicles belonged to were standing on the sidewalk, talking to each other.

The owner of the pickup was Grandpa Kelvin, Amaris’ grandfather on her dad’s side, a man with a truly massive white mustache, huge circular glasses, a floppy black hat, and a sweater. He always wore sweaters, and seemed to have one of every color; today’s was a pleasant forest green.

The owner of the convertible was Auntie Nina, the older sister of Amaris’ mom. Despite being older, Auntie Nina had more youthful energy about her, wearing bright clothing such as a long t-shirt with a stylized logo of a video game controller and earrings that looked like health potions.

Amaris only caught the tail-end of the conversation when her dad cut the car’s gas. Auntie Nina was talking. “…and I am being serious, Old Man! I think you’d really enjoy the exploration of the game! You always talk about how when you were a kid you’d just hike into the forest and see what you wanted to see… well you can still do that in a game!”

“Hmm… I don’t think it would be the same, Nina, but you are quite insistent…”

“So you’ll give it a shot?”

“Eh, sure.”

“Are you letting her indoctrinate you, Old Man?” Amaris’ mom said, stepping out of the car while shaking her head.

Grandpa Kelvin grinned. “It’s not like she’s trying to get me to do anything crazy.”

“Next thing I know both of you will be acting like children…”

“Is that such a bad thing?” Amaris asked as she gave her greeting hugs to Grandpa Kelvin and Auntie Nina. “Nina’s been a lot more fun since I came back.”

“And proud of it!” Nina declared, putting her hands on her hips. “By the way, you owe me a rematch at Duel Slimes.”

“After the meditation, you’re on.”

“Didn’t forget to charge your GameBrick this time, did you?”

“Nope!”

“That’s my girl.”

Amaris’ mom put her hand behind her back. “You know, Dmitri, sometimes I like the new hobby my sister’s found… and sometimes I think it’s just embarrassing how much she hangs around the rowdy young crowd.”

“Gamers are hardly drug-crazed partiers,” Amaris’ dad added.

“You’d be surprised,” Auntie Nina said.

“Nina, I’m trying to help you here.”

“While I appreciate the effort, I don’t need any help and making my sister uncertain is one of my favorite pastimes.” She slapped her sister on the back, grinning. “Isn’t that right?”

“Well it certainly isn’t left,” her sister said.

“But what did we leave behind?”

“Our butts, hopefully.”

As the two sisters devolved into friendly nonsense banter, Amaris turned to Grandpa Kelvin. “So… you sure nothing strange has been happening to you?”

Grandpa Kelvin shook his head. “Nope, life’s been normal as normal.”

“It’s just that… I worry sometimes.” She glanced at Nina. “I wasn’t even here and her life suddenly got more interesting. Not that I’m complaining, she’s a much more involved person now, it’s just… I can’t help but feel it wasn’t her choice but my curse that forced it on her, and I worry about you.”

“I still live alone in that house, spending the day writing down tales of my exploits that’ll never be published.” Grandpa Kelvin shrugged. “Same as it has been for the last ten years.”

“Just… let me know, okay?”

“Amaris, you will be the first to know if I can get your mom to hand you the phone.”

“Or if you can find me, for all you know I’ll be in an alternate dimension at the time.”

“Touche. Oh! I’ve got something for you…” He glanced to her parents and quickly slipped her a handful of gummy candies.

“You know they know you do this.”

“Of course, but they don’t know how much I give you and it’ll stay that way.”

Amaris giggled, shoving the candies into her mouth. They were quite delicious, though not anything special. With that, Grandpa Kelvin and Amaris rejoined the rest of the conversation.

“So, Irene,” Auntie Nina was saying. “I have two coupons for a free treatment at the spa. I was thinking you might wanna join me?”

“You? A spa treatment?” Irene raised her eyebrows incredulously.

“Ah, you got me!” Nina put her hands over her chest as though she had been shot. “Sniped!” She slapped her leg. “Yeah, all the fancy froo-froo stuff may not be my thing, but I know it’s yours, and I do have these coupons. C’mon, I know you’ll enjoy it.”

“I mean… I will…” Irene nervously tapped her fingers together. “I don’t know, going for a full treatment…”

“I’ll be there to do all the talking and get you exactly what you need. I grew up with the artist over there, I know the exact thing to order.”

“I choose to take that as a compliment,” Amaris’ mom said.

“Don’t.”

“Death of the author.”

“I’m still kicking, ain’t I?”

“That foot of yours is firmly planted in the ground.”

Amaris’ dad chuckled and shook his head. “I love this family.”

“And mister sentimental returns!” Nina declared, grinning.

“Why wouldn’t I be? We’re all here, together, having… the best time.” He adjusted his glasses. “I thank Dia every day that the dark times are over, and that we can all be here together and just… live.” He turned to Irene. “Yes, even you.”

“M-m-me?” Irene stammered.

“You’re part of this now whether you like it or not!” Grandpa Kelvin laughed. “Try not to get overwhelmed by the smiles. …I can see your smile growing, threatening to tear your face in half, I told you not to be overwhelmed.”

“I’m… I’m s-sorry, it’s just…” Irene quickly turned away, trying to subtly wipe her eyes, but she didn’t fool anyone. “I didn’t realize… th-thank you.”

“So…” Nina put her arm around Irene. “About that spa visit…”

“Y-yes, I’ll go. It’s… thank you.” She bowed slightly to them.

“Heartwarming as this all is, we should probably go inside so we aren’t late,” Amaris said. “It’s starting soon.”

“Oh, right!” Auntie Nina clapped her hands together. “To meditation!”

“If you can sit still,” Amaris’ mom ribbed.

“Never going to let me live that down? Good. Good. You’ve learned well.”

The Sanctuary itself was a large structure painted bright white with Dia’s triangle plastered all over it in its full glittering glory. When she was young, Amaris had never questioned why the Sanctuary was so big when the room they entered was only large enough for a few hundred people, but after her adventures, she understood—the rest of the structure was for the Keepers to live their lives.

They found their seats, sat down, and waited for it to start. Keeper Harold, a human with a thick brown beard in white robes, was currently in the center of the room, waiting for all the people to shuffle in so he could begin. He checked his watch regularly, waiting for the exact time. When it arrived, he cleared his throat.

“Fellows Aware of the Truth, we are gathered here today…”

~~~

“Go forth to your homes, remembering what Dia has done for us in all that is, was, and will be. Wherever we go, She is with us, guiding us through our Choice.”

With that, the Kelvins left the Sanctuary.

“You know, Keeper Harold… is kind of boring,” Amaris said.

“I agree…” Nina said with a yawn. “He only talked for like five minutes at the end there, how did he manage to make it feel luke such a drag?”

“Don’t get me wrong, he says good things, it’s just… there’s not any feeling behind it, it’s almost like he’s reading it from a piece of paper.”

“Isn’t that how all Keepers are?” Amaris’ mom said. “The message is not meant to excite, but to grow wisdom.”

“Keeper Ashton was much better. He felt more… alive.”

“Keeper Ashton was a missionary,” Grandpa Kelvin said. “It takes a very unusual and driven sort of person to go out into the frontiers and set up a Sanctuary. I’ve seen a few in my time, and Amaris is right, they generally do feel more inspiring to just be around. However… Amaris, you have to remember, most Keepers are just normal people. Harold’s not some amazing adventuring mystic, he’s just a guy.”

“Hmm.” Amaris put a finger to her chin. “I hadn’t thought about it like that before.”

“So give him a little break, he’s still devoting himself to Dia, just in his own way that’s not quite as flashy or impressive.”

“Got it. It’s not like the short message was the purpose anyway. That would be the meditation itself, our collective thoughts, together and yet personal.”

Grandpa Kelvin turned to his son and grinned. “This girl of yours is becoming a little theologian.”

“You always said that we often learn more through experiences.”

“And I was right!”

Auntie Nina whipped out her GameBrick. “Amaris, remember that duel?”

“Oh yeah!” Amaris turned to Irene. “Irene, can you drive? Nina and I need to have a duel on our way to the restaurant.”

“M-m-me? Drive… th-that?” Irene shakily pointed a finger at Nina’s fancy convertible.

“She drives like a dream, you’ll love her,” Nina said.

“B-but what if I crash!?”

“You won’t!”

“…I do not have that level of confidence…”

“A good way to gain that level of confidence is to do it anyway!” Nina all but shoved Irene into the driver’s seat. “Step on it, sister!”

Irene proceeded to do all the pre-drive safety checks that almost nobody ever did. At least it gave Amaris and Nina time to get into the backseat and link their GameBricks together for a duel.

Amaris lost.

~~~

This week, for dinner, they were trying a new restaurant, opened recently by one of the previous inhabitants of the Strider, a gari by the name of Joraan. His plastic was a deep purple and he had opened Joraan’s Cravings only a few weeks after the Strider had been defeated. Amaris’ family had been nervous about coming to somewhere run by people from the Strider, but Scarlet had reviewed the restaurant herself recently and said that not only was it fine, but they had a sizable customer base that was native to Nuk.

The restaurant specialized in what Nuk would consider “exotic food” and what the people of the Strider would consider local cuisine. The menu was chosen very specifically to include things that smelled good to humans and cats, so the more noxious or disgusting aspects of the Strider were simply not present. There was, notably, not a single plant in the restaurant, a deliberate choice, allowing the mixed metal, stone, and plastic ornaments to give a very weak impression of what the Strider had been before Coleus overran it with greenery.

Despite the theming and the food, it operated much like a normal restaurant. When the six of them entered, a neko server took them to their table and gave them a bunch of menus. It was clearly obvious that most of the restaurant’s staff were nekos, and happy ones at that, who really seemed to love their jobs.

“How nice of Joraan to employ them,” Amaris’ mother said as she opened the menu. “If there’s been one good thing about this Strider business, it’s that the nekos are finally being given proper work.”

“They had proper work before,” Grandpa Kelvin said.

“No restaurant in town would have hired a neko by choice as a server.”

“Well, no, you have to think of the impression a place leaves, though. True or not, nekos are generally thought of as thieves, if you hire one as a server you shoot your business into the ground.”

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“Seems to be working here,” Amaris said.

Grandpa Kelvin sat back. “Take a look around at the customers, Amaris.”

Amaris had already done so and knew immediately what her grandpa was referring to. About half of the patrons were inhabitants of the Strider, and most of the other half were nekos themselves. This was not to say there were no humans and cats in here, there were quite a few, most of whom looked like locals, but they were in the minority. Amaris sighed. “This place only works because it’s generally for people not like us, I know…”

“I do find it strange that such an image of nekos is so prevalent…” Irene said. “We didn’t even have them where I came from. …We had just humans in Unrust, actually, but I can’t imagine a neko being given any more distrust than a normal outsider.”

Amaris raised an eyebrow. “The general vibe I got from the places around Unrust was that outsiders were driven out of town regularly just for looking at people strangely.”

“W-well… yes.”

“That’s not a very high bar to cross.”

“M-maybe not…” Irene started twiddling her thumbs.

“Y’know, if I hadn’t joined the gaming scene, I’d still be nervous around them,” Nina said, sitting back. “But they’ve got some of the best close-knit tournament groups, and they don’t call me Old Lady and laugh at me when I try to join the tournaments, so…”

“The dynamics between the three races has always been a complicated one,” Amaris’ dad said, looking up from his menu. “I personally think it’s only gotten worse since the Strider came back. I originally thought that the nekos would become more integrated with the rest of us since there is something we could consider an enemy sitting right outside our borders… but that doesn’t seem to have happened. If anything, they’ve gotten angrier.”

Amaris frowned. “Dad, the nekos are just tired of being treated like they are.”

“And why are they treated that way?”

“They’re not actually sneaks, Dad.”

“Even your friends are, Amaris. Rin and Suuk are both great people and I’m glad you know them, but you have to admit, they are what could be described as ‘sneaks.’ Just like cats are curious and humans are stubborn.”

“You got stubborn right,” Amaris muttered under her breath.

“Perhaps we shouldn’t be talking about this so openly in a restaurant filled with nekos, hmm?” Amaris’ mom suggested. “Might not be the… smartest decision.”

Irene let out an eep and started looking around like any one of the patrons might murder her at any moment. Fortunately, it didn’t look like anyone had been listening to them.

At this point, a waitress came to them, a neko; naturally. “Hello! My name is Namiwa and I will be your server this evening.” She flicked her tail and smiled warmly. “Have you decided what to order?”

Grandpa Kelvin chuckled. “I’m sorry miss, looks like we managed to distract ourselves with questionable conversation. We’ll need a few more minutes.”

“Okay! Take your time, I’ll be back in a few.” She winked at them and made a friendly gesture with her hand before walking off and attending another table.

“She doesn’t seem sneaky to me…” Amaris muttered under her breath. She knew her mother heard her, but she said nothing and started talking instead about a new art piece she was working on involving the Mandelbrot set.

~~~

The thoughts of the awkward conversation were soon left behind and everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves over plates of highly unusual, yet delicious, food. Amaris herself was eating some kind of fruit that sure looked and kind of felt like pink plastic, but melted in her mouth to produce a flavor that was sweet, sour, and unlike any fruit she had ever eaten yet nonetheless was definitely fruity. She had considered trying to sneak a few pieces of it to Pitch, but she couldn’t be sure his digestion would accept it, and plus, people might see her and if Pitch was revealed that might not go well.

She did find that quite annoying, now that she was back home what was “socially acceptable” mattered a lot more. Pitch couldn’t just be taken out randomly. She had to eat properly and not like a slob—she did find it annoying that Irene had been completely right about that. She was still a kid, so people permitted her a lot of leeway just for being young, but she knew that wouldn’t last forever.

At least it was easy to eat the weird plastic-fruit properly without making a mess.

Amaris took a drink of her fizzy pink liquid—she had forgotten what it was called—and then realized that she needed to use the bathroom.

“I gotta go,” she told her mom, standing up. “Be right back.”

For a moment, Amaris caught her mom’s eyes dart across the various patrons of the restaurant, paying special attention to the nekos—not even the actual monstrous-looking people there, just the nekos. Amaris’ heart sank as she saw this, but there was a glimmer of hope as her mother forcibly suppressed the desire to do anything about it and just said “hurry back, Amaris.”

Amaris hoisted her backpack onto her shoulders and went to the women’s restroom. By the time she had sat down on the toilet, she was deep in thought.

What was it with adults? Why couldn’t they just… see things differently? She remembered back when she had met Suuk, she didn’t trust her at all… and then… she did? What exactly happened to do that? Suuk had saved her life, yes, but there hadn’t been any discussion or talk or anything, it had just… happened.

How could she show something to her parents she wasn’t even entirely sure how she had seen in the first place?

She sighed, not able to find the answer. The best she had was just to keep exposing them to Rin, maybe she would eventually win them over, though Amaris’ dad was right, she was a bit of a sneak. Not to mention also arrogant and full of herself just because her family was rich. Of course, if Suuk was still around, that would be even worse, the girl had made a career out of sneaking in and out of places she wasn’t supposed to be as an agent for Sarah.

That didn’t mean every neko deserved to be distrusted…

But why not? She kind of just… knew it to be true, but the different races she had encountered really did seem to have differences about them and certain ways they tended to be. Gari were generally more emotional, qorvids were loud, and humans sure did have a stubborn streak. …Or did they? She did know several humans who were pushovers…

She started grumbling to herself about how all of this wasn’t logical and it was all just people feeling things without thinking about them and she eventually went on an internal mental rant that went nowhere. Deciding that it would be best not to come back to the table with a sour look on her face, she pushed the thoughts out of her mind and finished her business.

It was only then she noticed that there was a strange blackness around one of the tiles in the floor. She stared at it. The darkness had creeped around the edges, growing almost like little vines, surrounding the edges of the tile. As she stared at it, the darkness seemed to twitch, and she was sure it was growing, but the tile didn’t get any more or less dark than it had been previously. Was it even moving at all? She couldn’t really be sure.

Whatever it was and whatever it was doing, it was clearly unnatural, clearly not intended. The darkness reminded her vaguely of what she had seen in Ashton’s Sanctuary and the depths of the Strider.

“…I’m going to have to deal with this…” Amaris sighed. Rather than deal with it immediately, she left the bathroom and walked back to her family. Irene was looking directly at her plate, talking under her breath. Everyone else at the table looked decidedly amused.

“Orville, you have to stop coming to me in public, people are going to think I’m a schizophrenic…” She paused, and her expression became decidedly annoyed. “Oh ha-ha quite fu—and he’s gone.”

“That ghost of yours is a riot,” Grandpa Kelvin chuckled.

“He sure is…”

Amaris walked up to the table but didn’t sit down. “So, Orville’s not here any longer?”

“Um… no?” Irene asked. “…Something’s happened.”

“Yeah. Weird dark tile in the bathroom. I’m going to have to check it out, it’s probably dangerous if left alone. It’d be better if we could grab Jenny but I don’t know where she is right now, and we can’t just wait for Orville to come back. So… Irene, you’re with me, rest of you, sit tight while we hopefully deal with this thing.”

Amaris’ dad frowned. “Amaris…”

“Dad, we talked about this. If the opportunity presents itself I will use my gift. You agreed, remember?”

He folded his hands. “You… are correct. I still have my trepidations.”

Auntie Nina stood up. “I can watch her and provide some of my own protection.”

Amaris raised an eyebrow. “This isn’t going to be like a video game Auntie Nina. …Probably, anyway, it looks like dark demon stuff, but I could be wrong.”

“Well, then it’ll be exciting!”

Amaris looked her up and down. “I guess I can’t stop you if you want to come… we shouldn’t spend time arguing, I’d suggest you stay here but…” she shook her head. “We’ve wasted enough time, come on.” Amaris set out with Irene fast at her heels and Nina a short way behind. The patrons gave them a few odd glances as the group of three entered the bathroom and made their way to the tile.

“Yep. That’s darkness all right,” Auntie Nina said, letting out a low whistle.

Amaris frowned, leaning down to investigate it without touching it. “I have this feeling that it’s gotten darker than what it was before… but I can’t prove it? Maybe it’s just moved?”

“Maybe it messes with your head.” Irene pointed her palm at the tile, and nothing happened.

“Then it’s mindless, whatever it is,” Amaris concluded.

“Good!” Auntie Nina pulled out a tape measure and started poking the tile with it. It gave way, falling into a hole in the ground.

“…For the record, mindless does not mean harmless,” Amaris said, looking over the tape measure. “It doesn’t appear to have done anything to that, though.”

“Sometimes you just gotta do something,” Auntie Nina said, hands on her hips and standing proud. “Now, what’s down there?”

Amaris pulled a flashlight out from her backpack and shone it down the hole. Suddenly, six piercing yellow eyes opened up from the darkness, looking up at the three of them. “You have awoken me from my nap.”

Auntie Nina froze. Amaris and Irene took up a defensive stance, though Irene was shivering in fear—but she was holding out her hand.

“I should probably eat you. But I find myself more curious as to how you found me.”

“A-aren’t we l-l-lucky that you aren’t murderous right now!” Irene stammered.

“In a surprisingly good mood, actually. Quite lucky.”

Yeah, that’s totally luck, buddy… Amaris took a breath. “Your darkness was… growing? On one of the bathroom tiles.”

“Fascinating. I must have rolled over in my sleep a bit too aggressively. Shame, that, I was hoping to wait a bit longer before revealing myself.”

“We could cover you back up,” Amaris suggested.

“And let you report me? I can see it in your eyes, child, you have some inkling of what I am and have no desire to let me run free. If I wish for a suitable sacrifice for my Lady, it will have to be soon. It does not have to be immediately, however… I sense one of the greater curses on you. Tell me, what sort is it?”

“May your life be interesting.”

“Oooh, such a devious one!” The monstrosity let out a laugh that grated against their ears like glass shards scraping a chalkboard. “Unfortunate for me as it has led to you discovering me, no doubt, but your life… oh, what fun you must be. Such a shame that I have to kill you, really.”

“You know you just removed any inclination I had to help you, right?” Amaris asked.

“Eh. Doesn’t really bother me for some reason.”

“Can I convince you to give us a head start to make this chase more of a game?”

“…Hmm. Sure. I’m in a charitable mood and I want to see my prey squirm. Twenty seconds, starting now.”

Amaris booked it, grabbing Auntie Nina by the hand and dragging her along since she was still quite frozen. Irene needed no such assistance to run, she scrambled and scrambled far faster than Amaris.

“Hahahahahaha! This will be fun!”

Amaris, Irene, and Auntie Nina burst out of the bathroom. “Everyone run now!” Amaris shouted.

The patrons of the diner all looked at her in confused disbelief, making no move to actually listen to her command as she ran past them.

“Are you all nuts!?” Grandpa Kelvin shouted, standing up. “That’s not the shout of someone playing a prank, that’s the shout of someone who’s serious! Run!” With that, he stood up and followed her instructions. Her parents followed suit, getting over their shock and running.

Several of the patrons decided that, maybe, this was serious. They began to flee, while roughly half just remained sitting and looked at everyone else like they were crazy. This was to be the undoing for many.

A massive black claw barged through the bathroom door, shattering it into a dozen pieces. A second claw emerged, falling down on the three people sitting closest to the door, absorbing them into the dark sludge in one swift motion. The two claws pulled on the ground, cutting massive gashes through the tiling, pulling a black sphere larger than a human head through the opening. This head contained six yellow eyes that cycled around the surface as though they were boats on a sea of void. Two other claws launched from behind the sphere, attacking two other tables.

“Pretty sure that wasn’t twenty seconds!” Amaris called back.

“I know!” the monstrosity declared. “I just recognized how fun it would be to go back on the deal… and now this entire restaurant will burn to please our Lady!” It lashed out in every direction, caring not if it completely absorbed people or simply absorbed part of them, leaving bloody chunks behind of every shape and size. A few of the patrons tried to fight back, but even the larger or more magical creatures could do nothing to the darkness.

At this point, Amaris and her family ran out the front doors with a flood of other patrons. Amaris, Irene, and Auntie Nina were in the middle of the crowd, but since Grandpa Kelvin had acted so quickly, he and Amaris’ parents were near the front. They had chosen to go to Nina’s car for obvious reasons—it had the highest top speed.

“Hope you’re able to drive!” Amaris called.

“Y-yes, I…” Auntie Nina gasped for air as she was dragged along. “I know how to drive like a hog being chased like a branding iron.”

“…I think that means fast, so I’ll take it.”

There were not enough seats in the convertible for everyone, but at the moment things like traffic safety laws were very low on their list of concerns. Nina jumped into the driver’s seat and quickly turned on the engine. Grandpa Kelvin took the passenger’s seat, while Amaris, her parents, and Irene crammed into the back seat in a haphazard pile. Seatbelts were forgotten.

Auntie Nina floored it. The sound of screeching tires and the scent of burnt rubber filled their senses and the pixel-flame convertible took off at blazing speed, smoke trailing behind it. A few other patrons had managed to get into their cars and were doing much the same. The first wave of cars had easy access to the low-traffic roads, but the rest of them created their own traffic jam.

Amaris could hear the sound of cars crashing into each other. For a brief moment, she wondered if she had been the one to cause their suffering. That if she had left it well enough alone…

No, that demon was looking for a sacrifice, this way at least some of them get to survive.

That said, she did force herself to watch. She twisted herself around and leaned over the back of the convertible, watching as flames started to rise from the parking around the restaurant. One of the demon’s dark hands emerged from the building’s roof, and it pulled itself out to have a look around.

“Look at all those fancy cars, running away… remember this day well, those who survive! For at any moment, one of my kin could come from you from anywhere and at any time! Nowhere is safe! No-“

“Target Acquired.”

The voice was clearly synthetic. It didn’t come from any particular direction, but rather just appeared in the minds of everyone present—they could hear it clearly through the screams, the shouts, and the exploding cars. And yet, it wasn’t loud; quieter than most people would talk. Direct. To the point.

“Who in the—?”

There was suddenly an immense beam of light that surrounded the entire restaurant. The light was only there for half a second, but it was enough to blind people near it, and for those as far away as Amaris it felt like staring at the sun, forcing her eyes to water.

Then, the light was gone. And so was the restaurant. And a full ten meters of ground beneath it, completely gone, vaporized into a circular hole. Floating above the hole was a white… thing. Amaris had a hard time focusing on it. The center was roughly spherical, but she could never quite pin down the entire shape at once. What vaguely appeared to be wings made out of glowing white glass shimmered around the sphere, constantly changing shape and form.

Had it not been for the definitely synthetic-sounding voice, Amaris might have believed she was looking at an angel. As it was, she was judging it for overkill in taking care of the dark monster, but was ultimately thankful for its presence.

This attitude changed immediately when the “angel” spoke next.

“Target Eliminated. Turning to witnesses.” A much smaller beam of light dropped from the sky and vaporized a nearby car with a family of nekos inside. “Eliminated. Next target.”

“Irene, try to calm it down!” Amaris shouted.

“I can’t… see it…?” Irene shook her head, letting out a groan. “No, I can, just… fuzzy…” She held out her hand “Everything in that general direction, just, happy!”

“Attack identified,” the “angel” said, suddenly stopping its assault on the cars near the restaurant. It flew toward them.

“It’s gaining!” Amaris shouted. “Auntie…”

“I don’t even know what it is and I don’t care!” Auntie Nina said with a deranged laugh. “You should know this girl has turbo!”

“Nina!” Amaris’ mom shouted. “That’s not street legal!”

“Bet you’re glad I’ve rediscovered my rebellious phase, then!” Nina pressed a button and suddenly the speed of the car increased immensely.

But the “angel” was still faster, though it was gaining on them at a slower rate. Amaris had no idea how far its range for those beams of light was, but she sure hoped it wasn’t very big.

“W-we can’t do anything to that thing!” Irene shouted. “W-we need Jenny!”

Yes, where is Jenny? Amaris wondered. The commotion should have grabbed her attention by now…

~~~

Jenny was currently dragging a very large sack along the sidewalk in the middle of the night. Every now and then, the sack would twitch or let out a growl, and Jenny would kick it.

“Oh no, mister crocogator, you won’t be ruining Amaris’ family dinner tonight! For I, Jenny, saw you and beat you up! You’ll be another addition to our collection under the school! Isn’t that right?”

The “crocogator” let out a whine.

“Sure are wimpy for a creature made out of haunted blood… but you still would have ruined the night. But now you won’t! Ha!”

Jenny heard an explosion from somewhere behind her. If she listened closely, she could hear screams.

She let out a sigh. “Apparently someone else is going to ruin the night…” She tied the bag to a nearby street lamp so the “crocogator” wouldn’t get away. “If you run, I will kill you instead of capturing you, got it, crocogator?”

The beast could not understand her, but it was already beaten so badly that it could barely do anything more than growl and whimper.

Jenny kicked it once more for good measure.

~~~

The “angel” was gaining, and Auntie Nina couldn’t do anything else about it. “The turbo’s about to run dry!”

“I’m working on it!” Amaris called back as she dug through her backpack. In school, she wasn’t allowed to have a weapon, but while out in public she sure was, but it didn’t do to have it in an obvious place. Since she never used it, she stuck it near the bottom of her backpack, which was using up valuable time right now. Where had it gone?

Pitch hissed, flicking at a brown handle that was on the other side of the backpack from where it should have been. Amaris grabbed it and yanked it out—a miniature crossbow, loaded with a single anti-magic arrow.

“Irene, hold me steady!” Amaris called. Irene did as asked, holding Amaris’ legs as she stepped out of the back seat and stood on the back of a speeding car. “No sharp turns, Auntie!”

“I’ll try!”

Amaris lifted the crossbow and pointed it at the “angel.” It was… impossible to tell exactly where the shifting shimmering thing was, only its general direction. She pointed at where she thought its center was and released.

The arrow sailed true and hit exactly where Amaris was aiming. It just didn’t hit the “angel.” Did it dodge? Or was it not actually where it looked like it was?

It didn’t matter. Amaris pulled out another anti-magic arrow. I’m not going to be getting these ones back, am I? …How many do I have left? She wasn’t entirely sure, but it was less than ten, for sure, and some of those were not converted to the crossbow’s size and were instead still designed for her actual bow, which she was far more comfortable using, it was just too large to carry around in public.

She took aim at the “angel” and fired again. There was no obvious sign of contact, but she heard something, like a claw scraping against glass. Maybe she grazed it?

Nina had to swerve to avoid something, making Amaris slide—but Irene held tight, keeping her from flying off. “Auntie!”

“Sorry!”

Amaris pushed her annoyance behind her and took aim once more. If I grazed it… try a little… lower… The arrow flew true.

It definitely struck something this time. There was the sound of glass shattering and a section of the wings suddenly started fragmenting into multiple pieces, though those pieces continually changed position. The “angel” itself was clearly diverted off course significantly—just in time, too, for a beam of light struck the road right next to the car, having only been knocked off target by Amaris’ arrow.

That was close.

But the “angel” was not down, it had merely been struck. It was moving slightly slower—but at that moment the turbo gave out and they were suddenly much slower than it.

Amaris now knew how close it had to be to summon those beams of light, and they had all of three seconds. There was nothing else she could do, it would take longer than that for her to load the crossbow.

“Take this you sparkly hunk of junk!”

Jenny jumped from the roof of a nearby building, fist brimming with the power of darkness. She was enveloped in the light of the “angel”—but she still struck something, and hit a lot harder than Amaris had. Every single wing shard shattered into several pieces, each one shattering further and further, every break re-arranging the apparent position of the shards, until they were too small to be seen.

What remained was the core, which was sent crashing into the ground. It lost its white glow, revealing it to be a physical object. A glass sphere with some kind of clockwork mechanism inside that was no longer moving.

“Stop the car, Jenny’s here!” Amaris called.

Auntie Nina stopped the car. Had Irene not been holding onto Amaris, she would have been thrown over the front of the car onto the road. Instead, she and Irene just flopped forward and ended up in between the driver’s seat and the passenger seat.

“Ow.” Amaris muttered.

“Um. You said stop it…” Auntie Nina said.

“Yeah, I did, that is my bad,” Amaris grunted. “Get us back to Jenny at a normal, leisurely pace. Please.”

Auntie Nina did as requested, and they rolled back to where Jenny was. She had hefted up the glass sphere in her gloved hands and was investigating it. While Jenny herself showed no signs of damage—she never did—the arm she had used to punch the “angel” was devoid of any clothing save her glove, and the shoulder of her current shirt was burned to nonexistence. Had she been anyone else she would be down an arm right now.

The glass orb itself was heavily cracked from the punch, and a few of the gears within had been bent so as to make them impossible to turn. Amaris couldn’t tell what material the gears were made out of—it was white, whatever it was, and looked vaguely like marble but wasn’t quite of the right luster.

“Weird,” Jenny said, turning the ball over in her hands. “Welp, another addition for our collection, Amaris!”

Amaris hopped out of the car and walked over to her. “Yeah. Seen anything like this before?”

“Well, probably.”

“Ah.” Amaris tapped the glass with her finger. It felt normal. “What took you so long?”

“There was a crocogator looking like he wanted to eat you, was taking care of him. Speaking of, I left him tied up in a bag several blocks away, I should go make sure he hasn’t gone anywhere.” She hefted the glass sphere in her arms and gave Amaris a friendly salute. “I’ll get both of these things to the school, don’t you worry.”

Amaris nodded. “Got it.” With that, Jenny scampered off… and Amaris turned to her family.

Her mom and dad were holding each other tightly, simply staring at the sky. Grandpa Kelvin looked unusually tired. Auntie Nina had not left the car and still had her hands planted firmly on the wheel.

Irene was standing nearby, tapping her foot. “Oh no, that… that wasn’t good for them, oh no…”

Amaris sighed. “I think we should all go home.”

~~~

Jenny slammed the door on the crocogator, locking it. “And now we have both a crocogator and a… stone ball thing.” She glanced at the door the stone ball thing was behind. “I need to come up with a better name for you. Rollpocalypse?”

The stone monster did not slam against the door in response. Which usually happened. It rarely got riled up enough to do that anymore.

“Right, so now… you.” Jenny turned to glance at the cracked glass orb. “I… I want to put you on a pedestal. I don’t have one. So…” She dragged one of the chairs they had set up in the school basement and placed it against a wall, resting the glass sphere on top of the chair. “You get the best seat in the house.”

The broken sphere made no response.

“Right, well…”

Orville sat on top of the sphere. “Hey, Jenny, Amaris told me to check in on you.”

“Eh? Why?” Jenny tilted her head. “I was just fine when I left.”

“She seemed… very confused.”

Jenny tilted her head. “What’s there to be confused about? She was being chased by some white monster of unholy geometry, I smashed it, and its remnants are here.”

Orville raised his eyebrow. “White monster of unholy geometry?”

“Yeah, you’re sitting on its remains right now.”

Orville looked down. “How strange… Amaris didn’t mention it. Hold on, let me go check something…” And he was gone.

“Weird,” Jenny said. Deciding she had done enough tidying up of the basement, she went to the stairs and entered the school proper. Walking at a leisurely pace, she made plans to go back to Amaris’ house to keep a closer eye on her. They might need to get some more friends to watch her if two things happened at once again, like they had tonight.

“Jenny, this is important.”

Jenny recognized the urgency in Orville’s eyes. “Has a third thing happened?”

“What are the two things you think happened tonight?”

“Well, there was a crocogator, and then a… a…” Jenny frowned. “There were screams for some reason…”

“Jenny, something’s messing with your memory.” Orville gestured back to the door to the basement. “You don’t remember the conversation we just had down there, do you?”

“I…” Jenny smacked herself in the head. “I remember you were there…?”

“But not what we talked about.”

“Something… about Amaris wanting to check up on me? Which… um…” Jenny shook her head. “Okay, my memory may be bad but it isn’t this bad.”

“Exactly. Do you remember what I was sitting on?”

“You were sitting?”

Orville took in a deep breath. “I can’t even go back to that moment through your memory, it’s so jumbled. But… I want to try something, come down the stairs, see if your memory comes back.”

Jenny did as asked, descending the stairs. She saw the glass sphere. And immediately remembered everything.

“That’s creepy,” Jenny said, pointing at the sphere. “That’s very creepy.”

“You should leave the basement so you can remember what I say,” Orville said.

“No arguments here…” Jenny left the basement, with a smile on her face and a spring in her step.

“You don’t remember the sphere,” Orville said.

Jenny blinked. “Um… what?”

“Do you remember the conversation we had before you entered the basement?”

“Yeah! You asked me to go down for an experiment and… and… then I came back up?” Jenny paused. “Okay, um…”

“There is a sphere down there that erases itself from your memory the moment you stop being aware of it, apparently. You don’t remember it right now, Amaris doesn’t remember the beast it came from, nobody does. It’s a self-keeping secret… except for when you’re looking at it, then you can remember everything.”

“…Am I allowed to remember you talking about it?”

“Hmm. I am not sure… let’s try.” Orville was gone. Jenny felt a little lost as to what to do, but she certainly remembered him leaving this time. She kicked the tiling on the floor, glancing uncertainly at the door that led to the basement.

Orville was back.

“I still remember talking about the sphere,” Jenny said.

“That’s good, you can at least remember that there is something that wipes your memory. It does not appear to be able to affect me, I need to know everything you do about it.”

Jenny took in a deep breath. “All right, here we go…”

She descended the stairs once more, jumbling her already spotty memory like spaghetti. Orville took careful notes—and then suggested that they write it all down.

~~~

“…And that’s all Jenny knows about it,” Orville finished explaining to Amaris as Auntie Nina pulled into their driveway.

Amaris nodded. “I’ll need to go look at the sphere myself, see what I can remember… later, though. Right now…” She glanced at her family. “I don’t know.”

“…They’re not used to this, Amaris, this experience has shaken them. You need to be there for them.”

Amaris took in a deep breath. “Right.”

Auntie Nina and Grandpa Kelvin did not drive off in the car back to their homes—they entered the house with everyone else. Wordlessly, the family sat down in the living room, everyone but Amaris and Irene staring blankly into space. Amaris patiently waited for the rest to take a moment to process what had happened.

Suddenly, Amaris’ mom stood up. Wordlessly, she walked over to the kitchen and opened the fridge, grabbing a jar of pickles. Amaris knew exactly what she was doing—stress eating. Usually she’d do it with pieces of fresh fruit or vegetables, so the pickles were slightly odd, but the behavior wasn’t unheard of. She sat back down next to her husband and made it through an entire pickle in seconds. Then another. Then another.

Amaris wasn’t sure when her mom had started crying, but she certainly was now. Her husband reached his arm around her, a gesture which she accepted—for a few seconds. Almost without warning, she suddenly let out a howl and stood up, smashing the pickle jar on the ground and making quite the mess.

“A-ana!” Auntie Nina stammered.

Amaris’ mom ignored her sister and rushed over to Amaris, pulling her into a tight hug. “My sweet baby girl… you… you’ve suffered so much…” Amaris felt like she was being bruised, the hug was so tight, so desperate, but she refused to complain about it. “I couldn’t… I couldn’t understand. How…” She had no words, she couldn’t fully describe the feelings.

“It’s okay,” Amaris said. “I’m okay. You… you’re the one who we’re not sure about.”

“How did you do it?” she asked. “How… how could you just…”

“…I didn’t. It took months of this to get to where I am.” Amaris looked down, her own eyes watering. “It’s… amazing what you can do when you have no choice.”

“Amaris…”

“I wish I could protect you,” Amaris said. “But this… this is attached to me. It’s essentially what I am. Wherever I go, strange, dangerous, and often horrifying things will follow. I… can’t say you’ll never see it.”

“Amaris… we know.”

“But now… you know.”

Her mother slowly released Amaris from her grip, a faraway look in her eyes. “We know…” she repeated, breathlessly.

“Yeah,” her father said, hand to his forehead. He was glancing from his wife to his daughter, unable to figure out who he should be more concerned about in this moment. “Amaris, I know what you’re thinking. And I want you to stop.”

Amaris’ heart caught in her throat. “D-dad?”

“We’re not going to abandon you.”

“Y-you wouldn’t be abandoning me. I can survive on my own, I can take Jenny and we can…” Amaris stopped herself. “No, you’re right Dad…” She forced a smile. “I should stop thinking about that.”

“When you came back, you told us all about this. We accepted it.” He approached her and kneeled until he was at her level, taking her hands into his. “Just because we’re scared beyond belief doesn’t mean we aren’t going to stay with you. We want you here, Amaris. Our lives… were so empty with you gone. Even if occasional terror comes with it… it is worth it.”

Her mother nodded in agreement, though words were not forthcoming.

“You’re a good kid—a really good kid, Amaris,” Auntie Nina said. “I’d hate to see you forced to live without a home.”

Grandpa Kelvin smiled. “And I’m old, I could use a few more scares to liven up my life.”

Amaris put her hands on her hips. “Grandpa, that’s not the reason and you know it.”

“But it introduces some levity, doesn’t it?”

“It…” Amaris couldn’t help but smile. “It does.”

“We’re a family, Amaris,” Grandpa Kelvin said. “And part of being a family is dealing with all the crazy trouble everyone gets into, no matter what it is.” He chuckled. “Why, in your case it isn’t even your fault! Your father here…”

“Oh here we go…” Amaris’ dad said.

“What? You were quite the troublesome rascal! Both of you were!” He chuckled. “You thought it was a good idea to egg Ivan McCallister’s house and steal his garden gnomes! Both of you!”

“We… were young.”

“You were older than Amaris is now!”

Amaris’ dad couldn’t help but chuckle at the memory. “Yes, it was…. A bad idea.”

“He deserved it though,” Amairs’ mom added.

“…But were the consequences worth it?”

“Well. No.”

“I haven’t heard this story before…” Amaris said, perking up. “You’ve told a lot, but…”

“You weren’t old enough to hear it!” Auntie Nina said with a snort. “Oh, this is good, see, those two somehow managed to be sweethearts starting… oh, a little older than you. They did everything together, and they were the smartest kids in school. And hot gravy on a pancake, were they arrogant. Thought they could get away with everything just because of how much of a gift their brains were to society…”

“I do believe that’s an exaggeration…” Amaris’ mom said.

“It isn’t,” both Grandpa Kelvin and Amaris’ dad said at the same time.

Amaris’ mom considered this for a moment. Then, with a red, tear-stained face, she broke out into a grin. “You know what, you’re right. We were a couple pieces of work, weren’t we?”

“I do believe we’ve been distracted from the story,” Irene said. “Lawn gnomes?”

“W-well…” Amaris’ mom was clearly embarrassed by the story. “See, Ivan McCallister was… well he was a jerk and a pervert but perhaps more importantly to the story he was rich and the son of the current Mayor…”

Amaris sat down and listened to the tale of her parents’ past exploits. It was certainly less interesting than the things she had gone through… but it was a part of them she’d never heard about before, a part that forced the family into a bit of a dire strait due to their own arrogance. But they made it through…

…and the best part was that they were laughing about it now.

Just like she could laugh with Coleus about the Predateor, or Irene about the monsters on ice cream mountain, or any of her other adventures.

In that moment, she felt more assured than ever that they could make it through this, whatever the world threw at them.