A statement awaited her the next morning, from Dweorg Bank, informing that her deposit was successfully received and of her new balance which she didn’t even know how to say.

“Do I still need to do the artifact thing or can I go with this?”

“You are officially nouveau riche, however, there are further benefits to the business. While you need not worry about money right now, you may require contacts in the future.”

“And you won’t give me yours so I guess I have to get my own.” He was stingy about that and she didn’t understand it. “So I still need stuff to sell.”

“There were items within the hoard that could be used. You’ll have to go to your vault and see about it. Some of it is worth more in its current form, but other pieces can be sold once you’ve given them power, which you’ve failed to practice so that should be the next step.”

According to Donner, it was possible to break an object by giving it more than it could handle, which would ruin its value.

“I feel like I’m not even part of this family anymore,” she said, not sadly but not happily either, as she deserted for another day. “Was I ever?”

“Yes, for all you lack a family is not something you must search for. Granted, you aren’t close to them emotionally, but when you are here they acknowledge you and your Aunt cares for you. Which, I might add, is something fewer people have than you realize.”

“So what you’re saying is, it’s my fault we’re not close?”

“That is not what I said, but you aren’t wrong.”

She figured as much. How could Life have a family anyway? That didn’t sound possible.

Being Life... She still wasn't sure she believed it. Donner was ride or die on the whole theory now, but she wasn’t on board because it made no sense.

“Oh, and Father Time on the bridge of death does?” he asked as she walked to Toad Road. “It fits together pieces that refuse to do so otherwise. Until there is a better explanation I will hold to this one.” Inside the bank, he instructed, “You do not need an escort. Go the way you were led the first time. To the lift and then follow the numbers. Remember you will need to use blood.”

She’d brought a pin and it allowed her to access the moving platform. “More than once, I see,” she commented. “That makes it pretty safe I guess.”

“There are other precautions that aren’t so obvious. While they don’t participate much in Society, the dweorg have their pride and whoever banks here is assured of the safety of their assets.”

“Why don’t more magic users come here then?”

“Prejudice mostly, unconscious bias. The dweorg, however, are practical enough not to care. They do not rely on the ways of Society for anything and even I do not know why they’ve chosen to integrate in this way. They have no need. I wouldn’t be surprised if they do it to keep an eye on things.”

They were soon inside her vault and picking through the found valuables. Chalices were set aside for filling with power and coins were reserved for spending. Not everything was gold, silver dotted the landscape, and, “Is this room bigger than before?”

“I’m sure it is. The influx of items necessitated it. If your balance drops it will contract.”

“So if someone’s got coins but not many they’ll have a smaller vault on the inside?”

“Yes, another security measure. There’s no way to tell which vaults have more within them. This is not unique to Dweorg Bank, it’s a standard precaution. Robberies of magical banks are rare.”

There were gems, too. Big emeralds for eyes in a golden statue, the armor upon the icon rubies and diamonds.

“Take the rocks. Those are easy to use and more difficult to break because they are fully natural substances. They’re easy sellers.”

The brief practice she had stuffing products with power was somewhat successful. She was prone to put less in than more, which all things considered was the better problem to have. More could be added, but taking it back wasn’t possible without breaking the item. Cracks and dents, wear and tear, made the value plummet.

“And stop picking your nose.”

“Why? It’s not like I’m gonna shake hands with anybody.”

“Luna, it is disgusting. Stop it.”

“No way! My nose is all full, look at that!” She pulled out green. “It’s like a sheet of snot! I bet I have a cold.”

“For god’s sake don’t examine it!”

She wiped it on the craggy rock wall. “Do you think I could use that instead of blood? My DNAs in there, right?”

“No.”

“You don’t want me to have any fun.”

“Start filling them up,” he wanted to end the conversation and change her focus. Sometimes, he forgot her age and that was disturbing in and of itself, but it also presented another dilemma. The questions he had regarding her deity were thus far all unanswered. Presumably, while she was presenting as a six-year-old, that was not her true age. It was some kind of self-delusion and it was well done because while things slipped through, while she could not uphold the disguise perfectly, moments like these reminded him of who she was attempting to be, and that reminded him of the apparent truth.

She was an actual god.

He was within the mind of the delusional goddess of life and that was frightening, though he would never let her know that if he could help it. He’d supposed himself unafraid of everything, except death, for decades now. And death was conquered so for a while there he was not afraid of anything at all.

But how could he remain so?

That was his personal project and he’d lately taken to abandoning her in the night to rationalize the new world realities as they were presented. The fact was, the world had not changed, it was his perception of it that shifted. No gods stepped in during his quiet rise to power before and they hadn’t so far either, except perhaps to send him into Luna’s mind upon his ill-fated death. If that was the case, they were on his side. Or one of them was.

Father Time, for example, had nothing much to say to him directly and was concerned with Luna. Whatever he said during his own years of self-delusion were open to question. The talk of knowing one like himself was possibly nothing more than an attempt to further relate to her.

“The same thing you are doing pretending to be Luna and that you are doing pretending to be Helios. For a while, I did something else.”

He tsked in her mind. The implications were daunting, but he could not think that he was in any way similar to Luna. It wasn’t possible and he wouldn’t worry about something so absurd. Who knew what sort of jokes the gods played?

As for Father Time’s words about Luna, those could be believed. The evidence was in her mind. The locked doors, what escaped when Ink Pen arrived in human disguise… Her role was clear in his opinion. Well, almost clear. Some things failed to connect, like her ability to kill the man who shot her uncle, but that may be attributed to her magical attributes.

Which raised more questions than it answered, of course, because what if the things Father Time said, when he was Snowman, about alternate dimensions of life were true? What happened once Ink Pen ate the cosmos? He accused her of trying too hard, essentially. That she would start life over again for all the ones he consumed.

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What did that mean for him? Was this another lifetime, begun by Luna when she was not six and fully aware of her deity in an attempt to preserve what she first began? And who knew how long ago that was! When did Life begin? Did she come before or after Time and did it matter?

It was thoughts like that, that he tried not to think. They were not productive as they had no answer. He didn't know what it meant for Luna to be Life and neither did she. He didn't know why he existed at all, let alone why he was trapped inside her mind. And above all, he didn't know if any of it mattered so he would live as though what he wanted was all that mattered, the same as he did before because there was nothing else to do, and if the whole of everything was going to collapse in on itself then dammit all he was going to be the ruler of this worthless waterlogged rock when it happened!

“You’re being real quiet,” Luna said.

“And you’ve still got your finger in your nose, so unless you want me to explain to you exactly how infantile and Georgia-like your behavior is, you’d better remove it.”

Which worked because she was not a baby and she was nothing like Georgia. Her cousin was more tolerable than she used to be, which was because of the more mature company she was forced to keep, but Georgie, a nickname that made her angry, was still an eyesore on the canvas of the countryside. Very annoying with her superiority complex and nothing Luna said to her made a difference.

“She’s not smart enough to understand you because she is a normal child with normal child concerns. Despite your aunt’s best efforts, it doesn’t seem you two will ever see one another in a different light, such is the way of the world, get on with the power transfer.”

“Gee, you’re crabby today.” But she did it anyhow because that was what they were there to do and she wanted more shiny. For some reason, it was a good motivator. She didn’t know what to spend it on, but she liked having it.

Moving energy was another one of those things that Donner wanted to argue about, but stopped before he could get going because the answer was that she was Life and had extra abilities as a god. Or goddess. She tried not to think too hard about it all. Parts of her brain got uppity when she started considering it. They tightened and she could feel it contracting to lock down even harder, which was fine with her since she didn’t want to know anyway. Whatever she did to be Luna was done and she wasn’t Life, she was Luna. Daughter of Pink. Niece of Ant and Ungle. Landlord of Donner. Girl getting ready to go to school.

“Who knew it would cost so much to get an education.”

“It doesn’t have to, but we’re not in it for the instruction. You’re going to Arcane Arts to find out what you can about the gods and to get me back into my own body.”

Items full as she was going to safely get them, they left the underground and she squinted at the light of day. “This is going to be a problem, huh?”

“It’s the price you pay for security. The regular wizarding banks are lacking in ways they don’t even consider.”

“You’d think there’d be curses and stuff all over the place. Traps. Dragons.”

“You want them to capture and hold a massive, majestic creature like a dragon in a bank?”

“Well, no! I’m saying, you’d think they’d keep their shit safe.”

“Curses require power and time and often don't work effectively unless one holds a belief in them to begin with. Many don’t truly hold to those ways at this point.”

“You said that nurse lady cursed herself though. I bet she didn’t believe in magic.”

“Time and power can substitute for belief. Whether she knew it or not, and I’m sure she did not, she spent years dedicated to cursing herself. It finally came to pass and as I said then, she has no idea she did it and will continue to curse her own life because of it.”

“But her curse didn’t affect her alone. Didn’t some kid die?”

“Yes. Unintended consequences are a side effect of curses, even purposefully created ones. You will learn something about the art of the curse at Arcane, though not nearly all there is to it.”

Her treasure hunting haul brought in more coins which were directly sent to her account and she now had rapport with Halstone’s. So, those were the two things she meant to do, done.

“What’s next?”

This was the part he didn’t want to deal with, yet couldn’t think of any way around it. She could not walk herself into Arcane for an entrance packet. Once they had it, she could fill in all the necessary information herself, but an adult was needed to get her in the door. Confounding her aunt again carried with it too many risks to attempt and she didn’t know anyone else who might be of use. The mailman, with whom he suspected her aunt of having a relationship, was not an ideal candidate and Luna wouldn’t want to use him. He was too closely related to everyday life in any case.

“You must find someone to pass as your guardian. Ideally,” he paused. This was the best outcome, but also the most difficult to achieve. “Ideally, you will find your father. Otherwise, you will have to take someone off the street who looks somewhat like you.”

“My father? Do I even have one of those?”

“There is no earthly way that you do not.”

“Pink never said anything about a father.”

“He is listed on your birth certificate.”

“He is?”

“Yes, though the name, I suspect, is a false one. Go and sit down somewhere.”

She chose the stoop of an abandoned building. She’d never thought she had a father somewhere. “Why do you think it’s a fake name?”

“Because I have suspicions about who he may be. Before you were outed as being Life itself, I thought this man might be your father. The timeline adds up well enough to pursue the lead, at least.”

“He’s someone you know?”

“I haven’t heard from him since before you were born, but not by long. If it is him, then he was with your mother and he disappeared not long after you were conceived.”

She knew how babies were made and it was nasty. Way worse than nose-picking. “So, my dad’s a deadbeat?”

“Not exactly. He certainly isn’t a model citizen, but you won’t find him haunting the likes of Dark Alley either. He was something like me.”

“A power-hungry tyrant?”

“While I don’t appreciate the title, yes.”

“A rival?”

“No. While he liked to have power over others, he was never interested in taking it to a large scale. He worked for me, in a position above the rest. I suspected him of ulterior motives, though none that would impact me. I did not have any interest in the private lives of those who followed me so I don’t have much information about him.”

“Do you at least know his real name? And what makes you think he’s my dad?”

“Your ability and disregard for life, despite actually being Life. He was like you. Absurdly talented and he had no sympathy for anyone he decided to use. He would be the same toward you, in fact, and while it would make it much easier for your acceptance process, I’m not sure we should search him out.”

“I wouldn’t let him use me,” she said, stoutly. “He left my mother and never cared about me.”

“I doubt he knows you exist,” Donner said drily. “Otherwise he would have come for you. He would certainly see some value in a child, dependent on himself for survival.”

“He’s a real freak, isn’t he?”

“Suffice it to say it is better that he didn’t know about you.”

“Well that’s great. If he’s like that then I don’t want to find him. I don’t even want to know his name. I’m gonna hire some guy to go get my paperwork instead.”

“It isn’t that simple. Not that it can’t be done, but that’s because of your absurd abilities. No one else could get away with it and I’m not sure we have the time to figure out what all needs to be done for it to work.”

“So I have to go find this weirdo father of mine? Won’t he take me away from Ant?”

“Not immediately. He was methodical. In fact,” he considered the man in his memory. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to take the role of your father more traditionally.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean he would try to marry your aunt. Yes, when I think of it that is exactly what he would do. He would gain power over you and two others as well. Your aunt, though she tries her best, is not the definition of a strong, independent woman. You haven’t noticed much, but I'm almost positive she is involved with the mailman and she doesn’t like being on her own this way.”

“I did see a dating website on her laptop before,” Luna conceded. “But do you think she’s that desperate? If she already likes someone, would she break up with him because my dad showed up?”

“He is a master manipulator,” Donner affirmed. “I have no doubt he can maneuver himself into whatever position he wants to take. One needed to have the strongest of minds to resist him. That was why I employed him in the first place. Ji-hun Rysing. American-born and raised, but his mother was from South Korea. I believe he faced some level of discrimination due to his parentage. It's been so long since I last thought of him that your shared surname escaped me.”

“So, he turned into a psychopath? Lots of people get hate and don’t go crazy.”

“It was in his genes. From what I remember he wasn't raised in abuse or neglect. It was an inborn trait. Regardless of the cause, you must be careful of him. He was an attractive man, both physically and personality-wise. That was how he made his wealth.”

“He’s rich?!”

“Very.”

“Well shit.”

“It made it easier for him to gain influence, which was all he seemed to desire. I don’t know his origin story, as you might call it, but the point is that he became who he became and he has never faced a consequence so negative that he could not recover from it. He has no proclivity to change and no reason to. If you find him, he will attempt to use you, too and if you do not prove usable with his usual methods, he will use other ones.”

“He can’t hurt me any.”

“No, but he could hurt your aunt and cousin.”

“He would do that?”

“In a heartbeat.”