The two weeks that she thought would be full of nothing much were actually full of a whole lot.

"I was not prepared for this," she told Donner candidly. "And neither were you so you shouldn't have Jack to say about it."

Jack Torrent, the guy hired to tutor her on the importance of controlling her power, was doing everything but his job description. Not to mention the red flags his name threw up.

"How did my life come back to The Shining? You weren't even there for that. There's no way he doesn't know. He's a freak."

No ifs ands or buts about it the guy was the strangest person she'd ever met, counting Cædmon. He was far too interested in her and the things she could do.

"He's from the Sphere, no doubt about it," Donner told her. "They sent in someone to interact with you directly. The only one willing, I'm sure. After all the shit you've pulled, most of them know better."

"You think they've been watching me for a long time?"

"Yes. I wouldn't put anything past them."

All the way back to that crow in the backyard. "I told you that bird wasn't normal."

"I tend to think that was the vampire, but I see what you're saying and you do have a point."

He'd been agreeing with her way more than usual lately. One more thing to add to the list of trash that didn't make much sense. She thought it might be down to their newfound knowledge of the gods in their midst, but finding out about Father Time didn't change his attitude toward her.

No. She thought it was the fact that they both had suspicions regarding his true identity now. Also, he didn't want her tripping up in conversation with Jack. No way did he want that guy to know about what was going on inside her head. He'd already tried the mind arts on her and she knocked his ass out.

"That was a profoundly invasive and unethical tactic," Donner told her at the time, disturbed. "It's clear they're ready to break all the rules of Society in your case. Be careful."

She didn't know why she had to be careful, but while he was more agreeable of late, he was also jumpy and she didn't want to agitate him further. Thinking he knew his origin story and finding out he could be wrong rattled him. He had a whole lifetime of memories that might be a veneer laid atop a hidden identity.

"If he's breaking rules I'll break him. Jack, if that's his real name," she doubted it, "won't get anything out of me."

"No, it's better to leave him be. He's hot-headed and revealing more than he should. Like I said, no one else would take this job. They had to use who they could. At least we know they're watching. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

"What if I have no friends?"

"Doesn't matter, they're unnecessary."

Yeah, that was something he would say and at the end of the day, she thought he was right. What would Life do with friends? They were all going to die.

"You know, there are a lot of things about us that are too similar," she said. "I really think there's more to that." Snowman, Ink Pen, and the Fates put together had enough to say about the matter that she couldn't ignore it anymore, even though Donner was trying to.

Despite wanting to discuss it with him, she'd spent the days since her return from the Fates hideout being pursued by the dunce from the Sphere of Enigma and pushed to the limits of her patience. Not much progress was made on other, more important in her opinion, fronts.

Donner was keeping busy with a running index of titles and subjects for her to find as soon as she was able to get into the library, but that was pretty much the extent of his contact with her.

"Frustrating," she grumbled. She wanted to skip time again, but they didn't know how much would pass if she used the World Tree, and who knew how long his unattended body would hold steady? Neither of them wanted to take that chance.

With nothing else to do, she was waiting for the fury of Ji-hun to descend, but at this point, a few days had gone by and there was nothing from him. Did they not tell him?

"They're all acting off," she said to Donner. "No one but Jack is mentioning it anymore. I know I told them it was fine, but this is too much. Did Jack do something?"

"I wouldn't be surprised."

The World Tree was still there and she hadn't gone to see it since, but she thought someone would interrogate her about it. Jack tried and failed. Shouldn't they have sent in another teacher? To see if she would open up to someone else?

"It doesn't make sense for them not to care. I was gone for a week and they're like, 'Oh well'."

Classes would start the third week of September, so she'd soon be an official school child. She saw people moving things here and there, setting up wooden desks and chairs. There was cleaning going on, too.

"They can't be too busy to deal with it, though," she said. "Shouldn't a kid going missing for a week make them pay attention? Instead, they let me roam around wherever I want!"

"I imagine that's Jack's doing," Donner told her. "Whatever he's done is causing them to turn a blind eye to you. He's waiting for you to do something else."

He was right about that.

Jack Torrent was indeed a member of the Sphere. The youngest and least suited to the task except for the fact that he was willing to take any risk, bar none. His life? Someone else's life? They were all worth it for The Science™. As a recent graduate of Arcane Arts himself, he felt he was the best choice for this job. No one agreed and he wouldn't have been the one here, except for the fact that the rest of them were too chicken to deal with Luna. After what happened to Ned and Robert, it wasn't a surprise that the rest were cautious, but someone had to do it.

He didn't make it to Nyx and Aether. Deemed too reckless for the high falutin institution, he had no qualms about spilling blood and barging into people's brains.

Getting to Luna's blood was going to be more difficult than he thought and her mind was off limits.

Still, he wasn't giving up. The spot for a specialized tutor was too important to hand off; it was a lucky break in the first place. They'd been trying to get into Arcane for weeks, but no one was budging. It didn't help that they couldn't divulge why they wanted a job, of course.

All of that was water under the bridge at this point, though he couldn't say his reports were particularly enlightening. The whole World Tree thing was a big deal but without further information, it stood as a useless event.

She wasn't talking, not to him at least. He'd observed that she did appear to have internal conversation, well, that or she was a space case but that didn't fit her personality. Whenever he could get her talking she was dry and often sarcastic. Not at all like a kid her age should be. They might be dealing with genius-level intelligence; none of them were well equipped to deal with that so he was on his own.

His reports were sparse on the intel, heavy on the commentary. His current self-appointed mission was to get access to her wand so he could look for a serial number. Older wands were without them, but the new class was likely to be cataloged, more so if they came from an established curator.

The deal with her father was something the guys back at base were looking into. His tale of living with her uncontrollable power was a farce that the administration bought like a designer handbag on a flash sale. The truth was easily found, but they wanted this kid within their walls so they went with it. She had potential they were loath to lose.

It didn't take more than a couple of hours to find out that she'd never lived with her father. They didn't think the man knew she existed until recently. That was the reason she was with the vampire in the first place, trying to get into contact presumably so she could enroll in Arcane.

There was all of that plus the issue of where she was between the death of her mother and now. Rob was convinced she'd been staying with family on her mother's side, but there was no documentation of it. However, the name he gave, Autumn Gold, did pull up a website and an obituary for her husband, Reginald. Still, they couldn't find proof that they were related to Luna, though he supposed it technically made sense.

Maybe that was the proof. She should be related to them. Her birth certificate existed. Her biological mother was dead, but her family was out there and yes, Autumn Gold was her sister. What was missing was a connection between that side of the family and Luna. They'd never met as far as he could tell.

Yet Rob insisted there was a whole plan to infiltrate the Gold's house and Ned was involved somehow and maybe that explained what happened to him because Ned wasn't right in the head anymore. Neither was Rob.

He put those musings into his soon-to-send report. Unfortunately, none of that helped with the problem of getting into Luna's head.

Or did it?

"So, about your aunt," he said during their scheduled meeting for the day that she grudgingly attended in obedience. "Don't you wonder how she's doing?"

"Who?"

She was either:

1. Not falling for it

2. Didn't know what he was talking about

"Autumn Gold. Your mother's sister."

She stared and slowly shook her head at him. "You're such a dummy."

His mind took a moment to catch up to his mouth.

Dammit.

Now she knew he was aware of her parentage, something he wouldn't know if he was a randomly hired tutor.

"Oh my god he's an idiot," she said to Donner. "I mean we knew what he was doing, but he didn't know that. Why would he give it away?"

"It wasn't on purpose, look at his face." He observed Jack through her eyes. "He's young. This may be his first mission."

"And his last."

"Unless no one else wants to take you on. As I said, his behavior is not ideal and they knew he wasn't really up to the task. If they could have sent someone else, I'm sure they would have."

"What do they know about me though?"

"Enough," he paused to think it over. It would be good to know what Jack knew, or thought he knew, but finding out would require entering his mind or letting him know that she knew he was lying. "Going into his mind is not advisable. If he is with Sphere, he's been trained in that much. He lacks tact but we don't know what traps have been laid. The next option is to get him talking."

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"He seems like he'd be chatty once he got going." Dumb and talkative.

"Perhaps. You can try at least. Don't give him any certainties. No real knowledge should be divulged."

Jack was muttering and whacking himself in the head for the slip-up as she tried to think of what to say. All they needed was to open the floodgates. If she could find the right thing, he might take off on a rant. Without dropping anything for him to use later on, what could she say?

She looked down at the book he was supposed to be helping her get through. It was full of morality and rules for the good of all. Tails of what could happen if one lost sight of the humanity within themselves.

"What if you never had any humanity to begin with?"

Her target was startled. "What?"

She held up the book and shook it at him. "What if someone doesn't care? This wouldn't do anything, for a person like that." She set it back down on the table and continued, "They're assuming the person reading can be made to care, but what if they can't? What do they do then? Roll over and die because they can't handle it?" She scoffed. "Reading this, it sounds like the world of wizards is handicapped. If everyone follows these laws, they won't be prepared for someone who isn't."

What was he supposed to say to her about that? Was she telling him something? Was this code?

He pulled out his notepad and started jotting down what she'd said.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Taking notes," he mumbled.

"For what?"

"So I can remember."

"You have a bad memory?"

"I don't think so, but to hear Rob tell it-" he stopped short. "Never mind," and kept writing.

In her head, she said, "Darn. Who's Rob?"

"How would I know? Someone he works with, I assume."

A different tactic then. "Who's Autumn Gold? I don't even remember my mother, how'd you know who she is?" But he was all clammed up. Lips purposely pressed together as he scribbled away until he yelped and dropped the small, flaming pad of paper. He looked at her, stunned, and she tapped the table. "I'll set you on fire if you don't start talking." She knew Donner was annoyed, but the guy wasn't going to open up otherwise. "I can even wipe your memory afterward, if you want plausible deniability."

She was forming a new plan now, though.

Perhaps he could be recruited.

The way he looked at her was vaguely reminiscent of Cædmon. A gaze of awe, but not as creepy because he hadn't looked at her like that from the first moment he saw her. She got the feeling he viewed her as more of a thing to put in a test tube than a sentient being, but that could work in her favor.

"Hey," she said, waving a hand in front of his face. "If you want to know something, let me in the library. I have stuff to find and you can look at it with me."

Donner, while he was okay with her goal, was not enthused with the way she was going about it. "Being with the Sphere, he's got a mind unlike most of the population. He'll be able to put the pieces together."

"If he does," she reasoned, "he can go a couple of ways. Number one, he might try to run off and tell everyone. Number two, he'll join my cult. Like in the super old days. You know, when people had rituals to certain gods."

"Are you telling me you want him to become a fanboy?" Disbelief.

"NO! I don't want that to happen, but you said you never had anyone on the inside and this is a golden opportunity! He's the best shot for miles." She wasn't wrong and he didn't try to convince her she was, so she knew for sure. "He's not going to answer any questions by accident, he's on guard after the fuckup. If he takes this bait we have a chance. If he tries to go and tell, I can knock him out and mess up his mind."

However, Jack defied expectations by saying nothing, getting up, and running away like the hounds of hell were on his heels.

"I guess there was a third option."

"So it would seem," Donner said. "He reverted to basic training. The simplest tactic. Run from danger."

"Oh, you mean basic as in from birth." She didn't think people had to be taught to get away from a predator and if they did, well, then natural selection would do the job.

But once more Jack broke the mold by returning just as quickly. She didn't have time to leave herself. She was getting to the door when he came flying toward her, holding out a piece of carved crystal with a look of triumph.

"Library key?"

He nodded enthusiastically but kept quiet.

"He's decided it's best to remain silent," Donner told her. "A smart decision on his part."

"Okay then Jack," she gestured into the hallway. "Let's get going."

The walk was less uncomfortable than she thought it would be, despite the glances he kept sending her way.

In his mind, Jack was trying to balance this latest dumb decision with what he might gain information-wise. There was no denying that Luna Rysing was more than the child she appeared. The prophecy alone was grounds enough to give him some leeway and her demonstration with the thing she called a World Tree had been nagging at him since he saw it. He wasn't there for its spring to life, but he'd examined it up close daily and couldn't make heads or tails of it. If she was offering to let him know, even the smallest thing, how could he turn her down?

Even so, his mind was wavering. She had more power than anyone knew what to do with. Was he falling into a trap or getting on her good side? She knew more than she was letting on. Whether or not she was really planning on letting him in on anything remained to be seen. This could end with him as drooling as Ned, but Jack was nothing if not a risk taker.

What was she?

He was honestly questioning that now. The little he'd experienced of her power made him believe there was more to her than met the eye, yet no matter how much time he spent around her, she wasn't dropping any hints.

Unlike himself.

Well, there was no use crying over spilled secrets. He learned early on that he couldn't get inside her mind so his error would remain.

Why was she willing to let him in on this?

Maybe it wasn't that important to her.

Maybe it was so important she had to enlist help.

He unlocked the door to the Library of Arcane Arts, a room bigger on the inside full from bottom to top with shelves and stacks of scrolls, hardcovers, and paperbacks. Small desks, long wooden tables, and chairs were strategically placed throughout. Several fireplaces stood unlit. This room was the most artifact-heavy in the school. To keep the collection safe, incredible amounts of money were spent on a continuous supply of power. There were locked doors to other spaces not open to students.

"We'll take what we can get for now," Donner said. "The oldest documents are under strict protection and will take time to get to, even if Jack is willing to help."

Within the library, she took hold of all the books Donner demanded, hauling an armful to a table where Jack was also bringing as many tomes as he could. Donner was limiting their scope to things that may be about her as Life today. He wasn't willing to gamble with his own presence becoming known just yet.

"Once he's in my cult," Luna said, "it'll be less dangerous for him to find out. He won't do anything to make me upset."

"You are overly confident in your abilities," Donner argued blandly. "Regardless, focus on one thing at a time. For now, you are looking for information about the primordial gods. I believe you will find yourself most in line with Phanes."

"Look up stuff about the old gods, the primordial ones," she instructed Jack, who thus far kept his vow of silence. "If you won't talk, write down if you find out anything about a god or goddess of life."

His mouth remained shut, but his mind was a whirl of turning gears. This was implying something he didn't think anyone believed possible. The Sphere of Enigma was more up-to-date than anybody on the subject of the old ways and were the only ones who paid attention to the ideas anymore. That said, even they weren't taking it seriously. They'd moved on to science, mathematics, and engineering. Getting the rest of Society on board was a consuming challenge in and of itself. Nuclear power and warheads were a thing for the world at large and here they were struggling to keep the lights of a candle going through the night.

But what if that wasn't the height of their problems? What if they were focused on the wrong things?

Of course, it wasn't like they'd had evidence to push them in the direction of deities. If they were real, they were uninvolved. No one was building temples to Nyx, though the single school did remain and it was once such a place. Much of that history was lost to the doldrums, held in a back storage room within the Sphere that no one ever pursued. When was the last time someone went in there for anything other than a periodic checking of the boxes? It was a room similar to this school library. Larger than it actually could be and shelved from floor to ceiling.

But they didn't do anything with that stuff. It sat there collecting dust.

All those thoughts moved through his mind at lightning speed as he pretended to read the book before him. He saw the shapes of the letters, but the words weren't making an impression.

"He's been looking at the same page for about ten minutes," Luna told Donner.

"What we're witnessing here is a mental reshuffling," he surmised. "He's coming to terms with what you told him to look for and what it might mean. I don't know that he'll become a devotee. You'll have to wait on that."

"It was a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off for me."

Payoff or not, he wasn't sure what he could do with Jack Torrent. He supposed he could use Luna as a go-between, but he didn't want anyone to ever know he had a connection with her. It would raise boundless questions and concerns that no one was prepared for.

Through her eyes, he looked at the pages of the books she pulled forward. Even here, they were finding nothing but general information. This was all available to students and thus of no consequence. While the spy was on a mission of enlightenment, he had her pursue a record of Arcane itself, in hopes of finding a record of the school's past dealings with worship. It wasn't a promising line of thinking, but he knew there was a level of cultic activity in the early days. Whether or not those records were out in the open remained to be seen. He hoped the hidden-in-plain-sight idiom would apply. Centuries had passed and maybe something slipped through the cracks, accidentally available for anyone with an interest in the history of the school to find.

"Wait," he ordered. "Go back a page."

She glanced at Jack, but he was in his own world. Still stuck on one page and now his head was swaying from side to side. "Oh, I wonder if-"

He did.

Face first he hit the table.

"All the better, leave him," Donner said. "Look at the images."

They were a series of illustrations. Of the school from the entrance gate, a walkway, a building somewhere in the back, and then something else. Something that didn't fit the motif.

"Underground?" Luna asked as she examined the picture. A gigantic double doorway at the base of a staircase cut from stone. A dent in the middle of the doorline, too small for her to be sure what it was. The caption beneath the rectangle didn't provide much context, but it was the kind of thing Donner wanted to find.

The Sanctum of Life and Death

"Oh shit," she said. "Is this it? Is this what we're looking for?"

"Don't get excited," he warned. "Read on to see if it says anything."

The next page was of no interest, containing only general information about the school's architectural history. The drawings represented what they considered the height of the planning in the past, things that remained.

"Did you ever hear of the Sanctum when you were a student?"

"Certainly not."

"The book talks like it's common knowledge, but it must not be."

Paper rustled as she flipped to find a folded piece of paper. "Someone left their notes," she said as she opened it and read. "Uh…"

"Don't fucking tell me," he groaned. "There is no possible way-" he stopped himself. "No. There is. It's utter bullshit, but there is."

"Well, that and the prophecy apparently. Whatever that is."

Dear me of the future and the past all at once, it read. I made that shit up. Jack Torrent is on a wild goose chase when it comes to me. Or he was. He's about to start cooking with gas, so be ready for that. Or leave it alone. Whatever you want. Don't let me influence you.

He thinks this means something, they all do, but the truth is I felt bad for Cædmon.

You don't know how vampires can exist yet.

Neither does Donner.

Except he does.

A rising moon, sets the sun.

Takes the place of rivers run.

The brightest shine of blackest night,

Will take its place in the death of light.

I guess it's not really a lie after all, but it's not about me. It's about Ink Pen and his deal with Death. He gets along better than I do with the Ink. I think Death is on his side more than mine; it isn't fair if you ask me.

I don't know how this will end. I'm not there yet and I haven't found anything from a me of the future to tell you about.

Somehow, I think the end is always closer than we realize.

All of us.

But I'm pretty sure we'll do it again.

It's never really over when you can't help but live forever.

Outside, thunder crashed and lightning flashed. Luna jumped. She hadn't realized how darkness fell upon the library. Jack remained unconscious.

"If I was a different person," she said finally. "This would throw me into an existential crisis." As it was, she was talking about Death like a person, too. "I didn't mention the picture."

"No, but it must have been in this spot for a reason." Donner was, once again, trying not to think too deeply about the things Luna was capable of. Meeting herself, writing letters to herself, it was par for the course but still unnerving, more so because the thoughts he wanted to keep at bay were a rising tide.

Death.

Who was Death?

"Donner, you don't think," but she was interrupted by another boom from the sky outside.

She wasn't sure what she thought about it, but he couldn't ignore it anymore. They were going to have to talk.

For now, it was better to leave it unsaid, finding the Sanctum was their best bet and the other stuff could wait.

He picked up that thought and went with it. Anything to keep the nagging in his own mind at bay because no, it didn't make sense but he needed to let it stand. "Follow it from the start. The gate, the path, the building. We'll go from there."