By some miracle, everything around me settled. Fox had his usual energy and Abigail’s smile returned. A week went by, and there was nothing out of the ordinary to report. Everything was in place, like footsteps washed away by the waves.

The temperature inched lower, but not enough to hide inside. With little care about grass stains, Abigail was laying in the grass, hands clasped and resting on her stomach. Nia had a pen in her hand was doodling along her arm. I watched as rainbows and faces and suns and stars weaved themselves across her skin, guided by Nia’s listless pen.

“The three of us should hang,” Abigail started unprompted. Her gaze remained on the sky. “It’s been so long we all went out after school.”

“I’ve been busy.” Nia narrowed her eyes in sudden concentration. She was working on a complicated design now.

“Me and Cinder always find time, though.”

“Yeah, because you two live across the street from each other.”

“I’ll ask my parents to pick you up or something. Or you could tell us when you’re not busy after school.”

Abigail shooed Nia’s hand away, and she scowled, “I’m not done. Now you have a half finished wolf face on your arm.”

“A wolf…?” Leftover anxiety from my dream crashed into me. A residue I didn’t realize I’d missed.

When Nia turned to me, she looked like she’d almost forgotten I was there, so caught up in her artistic masterpieces. “You want something?”

“Yeah, whatever you want.” I offered my arm and she scooted over.

Abigail sat up, “You’re dodging my questions. When do you want to hang out?”

Taking my hand, Nia lifted her pen and I tried not to squirm at the ticklish sensation, “I’m not sure. I’ll ask Ma and see if she doesn’t need me for anything tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow then?”

“We’ll see.”

A pout crossed her face that Nia dutifully ignored. Her outright caginess brought a question to mind, “Your grandma, how is she?”

“Oh, right! She had to move in with you guys recently, yeah?” Nia scrunched her nose, but I swore for a second I saw a flicker of surprise. Abigail was so quick on the uptake, my attention was too divided to be sure of it.

Her thumb glided over the top of my hand where a sun was scribbled in the center, “It’s going well at home. Grams is fine.”

“If you need anything, you can tell us.” Nia nodded, but said nothing to Abigail’s statement. Quiet settled between us.

By the time lunch was over, Nia had given me an entire sleeve of doodles. Most of it were organic shapes, but the sun was the centerpiece of her creation. I admired it as the bell rang, rotating my arm to catch all the details.

“Pretty,” Abigail traced one of the lines up my arm, and I hummed in agreement.

When I glanced over at Nia though, she wasn’t looking at us. She gathered her things and her gaze was far away. I paused as I watched her, feeling like there was something I was missing. I couldn’t put it into words.

Even so, my tongue felt heavy, glued to the roof of my mouth. Abigail pulled me along, and the time to ask passed by. Nia’s gaze never changed. But none of us brought it up again.

//

It’d been a long time since I’d had to walk home alone. The shift in routine jarred me, especially since it hadn’t occurred the first time around. Abigail promised to make it up to me, voice like sugar in her please.

“I made plans with some friends and I totally forgot to tell you. I’m so sorry.”

Her eyes were doe-wide, and I found it impossible to be mad, “It’s fine, really! Go have fun.”

Inside, I felt ugly. I clamped down hard on my feelings and waved her off. She clutched at my hand, “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

“It’s really not a big deal.” It wasn’t. Yet, as she waved goodbye and merged with the hallway crowd, my stomach curled. It wasn’t like her to forget to tell me things like that. My hand stayed up for a moment, gaze focused on nothing. Kids passed me by as a creeping loneliness whispered up my spine. First it was Nia trying to avoid opening up to us and now it was Abigail leaving me behind.

“Cinder?” I jerked, spinning around to catch sight of Fox. He titled his head at me, a question in his eyes. “Your arm.”

I glanced down, noting the places where the ink had smudged. It was mostly preserved, with the sun being as crisp as when it was drawn on me. I turned my arm, knowing this wasn’t why Fox had approached.

My lips pressed together, “Is there something wrong?”

“Ah, no? I would have mentioned during class. It’s just—you seem out of it.”

“…Yeah?”

“Yep!” He motioned around us and I finally noticed the halls had emptied out.

Heat spilled into my chest, “Sorry! I thought I was over things, but I guess not. I think I’ve been off since the reset started.”

“Aren’t you always like this?” Protests stuttered from my lips, which Fox only laughed off. “You know, if it helps we could—”

His eyes snapped to attention, words lost as he focused in on something beyond me. I started to turn, wondering what had grabbed him, but I felt it before I saw it. A bitter bite of magic.

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My body took a step forward, as if compelled, “…I’ve felt this before.”

“Are you going to go?” He remained still, eyes zeroed in on where the source was.

His reaction told me if I went to investigate I was on my own. He wasn’t allowed to interfere wit the story, after all. Even still, I swallowed, “Will you walk with me? Until you really have to go?”

“If you’re sure.” I nodded. Whatever magic this was, the person it was coming from felt like the raging pits of hell. The anger choked me, so desperate it forced trembles through my fingers. Fox appeared unaffected as he took the lead, movement self assured in a way I couldn’t emulate.

The ground tinged with red the farther we walked. I wasn’t surprised when we were led back to the club room at the back of the school. Fox halted at the start of the hall, both of us transfixed on the door. Red bled through the cracks, sinking into my ribs.

“Hey—” One second Fox was there and then I blinked and he was gone. Words died on my throat and I spun, searching for the cause of his disappearance. There was little surprise on my end when I saw Justin, but both of his eyebrows shot up.

I kept my expression carefully neutral, “Well well, I found a lost little lamb. What are you doing here? Your arm looks neat by way, do it yourself?”

“N-no, it was my friend. And I…I was looking for you.” It was impossible to keep my gaze on him when the overflow of magic was pulling at my skin. Still, I angled myself so I was facing away from the door.

Justin’s expression settled, “Is that so? Did Abigail get in the way of everything you wanted to ask last week?”

This was going to count as another betrayal towards her. But I couldn’t say why I was really here. I had no trust in the boy in front of me, “N-no, I wouldn’t say that but…”

“She’s there today, you know. I was going to go pop in just to annoy her.” I whipped my head back around to look at the door. The red was still there, lining the edges.

My fingers curled into fists, “Abigail would have told me…”

“Really? Then maybe I saw another girl with long black hair laughing beside Ava. We can always walk in to find out and make sure.”

“No…!” I shook my head, taking a few steps back. He watched me, expression easing into something blank. If it had been the club, she would have told me. There was no reason for her not to. Maybe to her, it hadn’t been like she was lying. She was with friends. She just hadn’t given the whole truth.

He waved a hand in front of my face, forcing my attention back to him, “Come to the library with me. I need to grab some things actually, and you can ask everything you want.”

I didn’t want to spend more time with him than I had to, “No, it’s fine. I really don’t care.”

“Bullshit.” He said it under his breath, but in the silence of the hall it was hard to miss. Pins and needles curled through my chest, and there was a heavy dose of pity in his gaze now. “Suit yourself.”

When he turned, I thought of Fox and how he disappeared the moment Justin appeared. A confirmation he had something to do with this tale. In the last one, Abigail had been largely uninvolved, but if she was going to be a centerpiece in this, I couldn’t run. If only my only avenue for answers currently wasn’t her ex of all people.

After a moment, I chased after him, “W-wait.”

“Changed your mind?” There was no hint of surprise in his voice. He didn’t even glance towards me as I fell into step beside him.

“Well, I’m going this way anyway.”

A hint of a grin, “You’re the kind of person who isn’t honest with themselves, huh?”

“Well I…don’t trust you…” My voice got quieter with every word.

But my admission only made his grin come back in full, “Fair enough. What did it? My past with Abigail or the mysterious USB drive.”

“…You approaching me first.” He laughed, but it was the truth. I couldn’t fathom why he’d bothered to take note of me in the first place. All I could think of was that he was guided in some way by whatever forces made these stories happen in the first place. “I’m serious! You never even looked at me when you and Abigail were dating. I’m surprised you even remembered my name.”

He tilted his head, “Of course I knew you. Abigail talked about you and Nia a lot back then.”

“Did she…” I hadn’t considered her talking about me to other’s before. For me, I felt like I ceased to exist the minute I was outside her sight. Sometimes, even when I was right in front of her.

“Anyway, I didn’t have a reason to talk to you.” He paused. “And outside of Abigail I didn’t know you. I just knew about you.”

“Right.”

“But it was the same for you with me. You hate me as her ex not as ‘Justin.’” He was right. The plainness in which he spoke was what struck me. Unsure how to respond to such a matter of fact statement, I went quiet. He didn’t seem to mind.

I finally got my brain to configure, if not well after a response was necessary, “It’s not that I hate you, it’s just…”

I shouldn’t talk to him, because it broke some unspoken code between me and Abigail. But I didn’t want to talk about her anymore. My statement drifted off into the space between us.

Justin understood, even without the clarification, “It doesn’t matter to me. it’s not like we ever need to talk to each other again, right?”

“Yeah.” It was just for now. A temporary need that would vanish once I got the information I needed. It’s what pushed me to go on. “Um, speaking of, were you being serious about Ava just…pretending to be Abigail’s friend?”

“Ava’s whole thing is pretending. I’m sure Abigail knows too because she’s pretty good at acting herself. If you’re worried about her, she’ll be fine. If there’s anything you gotta worry about yourself it’s you. I didn’t say this before, but since you know about Cyrus and Everett’s fight that puts a target on your back if you ever go back.”

“W-well, it was an accident. I just happened to see it…”

“Bad luck on your part. At least you have no connection to the club outside of your friend. They’ll never know.”

All the warnings paired with my own anxiety made me swallow, “…I know you say they suck, but what exactly would they do to me?”

He paused, thinking, “Depends on who you’re talking about. They all go about making people miserable in their own unique ways.”

We came to stop in front of the library. I hadn’t gotten anything more from our exchange, other than unease. I turned towards him, motioning vaguely down the hall, “Well, then, give me an example. Who’s the worst?”

“Everett, I’d think. He responds to things he doesn’t like with violence. Doesn’t matter if you’re a girl. Not that I’ve seen him hit anyone who wasn’t a boy, but I wouldn’t be surprised.” I tried to imagine getting hit or hitting back. I existed in the shadows, so I’d never aggravated anyone to that point.

Without thinking, I rubbed at my cheek, “It…it’ll be fine. I’m not going to say a word.”

Justin only had a distant look of concern on his face. Not in the way that he didn’t believe me, but in the way he noted my feelings and was expressing pity. I looked away from him, trying to pretend it wasn’t there. The cool feeling of the ring Fox had given me was enough to push it all out of my head.

“Anyway, are you going to confront Abigail about the club?” An obvious change in subject that I didn’t mind.

“I’m not sure. It isn’t really that big of a deal, is it?” I couldn’t imagine how that conversation would go. Our friendship had already hit a lot of bumps so far, and I wasn’t keen on hitting another. It would just end up in the pile of secrets that seemed to be growing between us.

“Probably not. No doubt, she’s protecting you in her own way.”

“Shouldn’t she protect herself…?” I mouthed the words more than said them. I couldn’t allow her to get hurt. If I saw bruises on her body again I think I’d die of a heart attack. If there was a way to dissuade her from going to the club without confronting her about her lies, I’d be fine. If only Abigail would listen to me or my warnings at all.

“She’s very much a do as I say, not as I do person. A hypocrite—don’t give me that look, you know it’s true.”

It didn’t matter if it was true or not. Hearing him mention any of her faults jabbed at my annoyance, “I just—I don’t want to hear you say that. And besides, I should probably go.”

He only gave a half grin at my need to flee, “I’ll catch you later, then?”

“…Maybe.” He laughed at my hesitance, but said nothing more. I watched him slip through the doors. As he left, I focused on the halls and the air around me. There was no longer any magic whining in the distance. Everything was quiet. My mind still wouldn’t calm.

It felt wrong to leave, knowing where Abigail was. I was leaving her to the wolves. But it would be fine. She knew what she was doing. With one last look at the library doors, I convinced myself to head home.