The building loomed dark up ahead now. A manor with outbuildings, gated and hidden behind a high brick wall. Pine trees grew higher than the school and bushes were trimmed to varying heights. Deep green. The smell of it all was new to her. Though many of the motels she’d lived in were largely surrounded by trees, they smelled like gasoline and discarded plastic.

“It's Arcane.”

“Is that the name of the school?”

“Pinewood School of the Arcane Arts. I attended in my youth.”

“You went to kindergarten here?”

“No, not that young. I believe I was seven when I arrived and it wasn’t easy to get here. This school is unregistered yet well known.”

“If everyone knows about it, why isn’t it registered?”

“Because they don’t want anyone else involved in the curriculum or standards. No oversight by bureaucrats. What they teach here is not what one will find at Nyx, not anymore. Long ago the schools were closely aligned. The falling away happened swiftly though, as the old ways lost favor. All it took was one politician to end midnight rituals and bloodletting.”

Luna wasn’t sure that was a bad thing.

“Could they have simply changed the rules to make participation more voluntary? Yes. Did they? No. One disagreed and had to ruin it for everyone. Build up your own school, teach to your own standards, but no. Of course not. Would be dictators who believe they know best. Busybodies are what they are and fools keep placing them in positions of power and here we are now, waving sticks around and falling further and further behind in terms of technology. Not even Arcane is up to par there, far from it. Floating candles may be romantic, but they are not a solar-powered lightbulb.”

“But you need the sun for solar power, if it’s cloudy you're out of luck,” Luna pointed out. “And we can lose electricity.” That had happened before. It was during a storm and the light went out in the bathroom, so she went to sleep. It was back when she woke up on the small couch in the room.

“While there are inconveniences, the ones associated with the candles are greater. They require a constant source of magic to keep them up and burning. As such, it's rare to see them. Rather, they remain candlesticks on the wall, lit the way any ordinary candle would be. If they have the money, they will employ someone to stay up all night to keep them burning with magic.”

“What’s the point of magic if it's that hard to use it?” she asked.

“I told you before, they take pride in their hardship. Beyond that, there is plenty of point to magic, they are simply choosing to use it obtusely. That is less of an issue here at Arcane and I’m sure there are other institutions of the same vein, unfortunately, they have also forgotten much of the past and many of their rituals are rooted in simple imitation. I doubt there’s been a true mage in centuries, not one of any fame at least. In fact, they would be smarter to hide and have no doubt done so. I was on that path before-” he broke off.

“Before you died?”

He scowled. “You have no tact, but yes.”

She could see students now, through the windows. They wore uniforms here, paired with the long cloaks described to her by Donner. Most were black, a few wore bright red.

“The ones in red are at the top of their respective class overall. It is a distinction.”

“If you went to school here,” she said, “then I want to go too.”

“You’re too young now and neither your aunt nor uncle are aware of Society. You have no one to enroll you.”

That wasn’t going to stop her. She could wait awhile, until she was old enough, and that would give her time to find someone to do paperwork.

“Fine.” He didn’t believe her, she could tell. “In the meantime, go back to the office. We’ve been gone far too long already. I don’t even know what time it is now. You need a watch.”

“That’s easy.” One blink later and she was back, standing in front of the couch. Since she’d seen the school it would be simple to return later, too. “It hasn’t been that long. A couple of hours.”

“And your uncle didn’t even realize you weren’t here. Wonderful.” Sarcastic. “Now you’ll think it’s fine to do these things all the time.”

“Because it is.”

She said that out loud and it called Ungle’s attention. He looked at her, at the time, and said, “Oh, Luna, I’m sorry.” He did appear so; his tone was contrite. “I tend to get absorbed once I start working.”

“That’s okay,” she said. “But I'm hungry and I don’t want another doughnut. I don’t want vegetables either. I want meat!”

He smiled a little at that. “If you can keep a secret, though we shouldn’t do that often, then we can go out to eat.”

“Yay!” She thought of a restaurant she’d seen as they left the office. “I want to go to the Chinese buffet!”

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He looked confused and asked, “Did we pass one on the way here this morning?”

“Um, no.” Donner was berating her for her carelessness. “But I’ve never been to one before and I've seen them on TV so I want to try one. I think there’s one in every city.”

Her explanation was accepted and they left the building on foot after informing his office mates, most of whom were eating pizza. She’d had that before and it was okay. Then again, she supposed hers must have come from gas stations because that was where Pink shopped. Luna didn’t think she’d ever ordered food over the phone.

“Pink never took me somewhere to eat, I don't think,” she told Ungle as he buckled her in the car seat.

He wasn't sure how to respond except to say, “That’s too bad.”

“I think she was afraid to.”

“Maybe so.”

“He doesn’t want you to talk about her,” Donner said. “It’s uncomfortable for him.”

“I wasn’t going to say anymore,” she told him. “I was making conversation. You’re supposed to do that.”

“Not about your dead mother, Luna.”

What else was there to talk about?

“So, the weather, huh?” She could feel Donner facepalming and Ungle didn’t answer at all except to look at her in the rearview mirror with a confused expression. “I’ve heard the airline food is as good as hospital food.”

“Luna, stop it.”

But Ungle laughed.

“See? He gets it.”

“No, he doesn’t. You’re a child and therefore most things you say will be chalked up to your age. He thinks you’re generally silly. Your jokes aren’t even jokes.”

“Riddles?”

“No.”

She waited a moment.

“Puns?”

“No, Luna! They aren’t puns either. You’re just saying words.”

It took longer to get to the buffet than she thought it would because city parking was a monster of its own. In the end, they did find a spot in the small lot belonging to the restaurant because someone happened to be pulling out as they circled back in for another look. Ungle wasn’t shocked by the time it took, though, so she thought it must be normal. There were cars everywhere and a lot of people. The restaurant was crowded, too, but smelled so good that she didn’t care even a tiny bit.

Savory smells.

It was all decorated in red and gold. Massive paintings of tall mountains and water and forests with tigers and dragons were on the walls. There were booths and freestanding tables and they were led to a booth. She ordered a root beer and Ungle got one, too. Once their drinks were at the table, along with a brown plastic booster seat for Luna, he took her to the start of the line, got both of them plates and he let her choose whatever she wanted even if it was going to be spicy.

As it turned out, she liked spicy food.

Also, she wasn’t a picky eater. Green or red she didn’t care. Fried rice, white rice, golden noodles, or snow peas. Lobster, fake or real, made no difference to her. Chicken and pork. Dumplings and dim sum.

Her stomach must be huge on the inside; she never knew that she could eat so much.

Or drink so much.

“I have to go to the bathroom.”

Ungle took her down the carpeted hallway to the door with a stick figure woman and told her he would wait right outside.

Inside the stall though, she encountered a problem. The dress selected by Ant was long, long enough that it was in danger of soaking up toilet water, and Donner was no help because he studiously checked out every time she went to the bathroom. He was determined to do it again, until the appearance of a hand beneath the doorway, a hand that was obviously Luna's own, offering a gray cord. The Luna outside the toilet remained silent, but the one inside said, “Thanks!”

“This is not possible.” Donner wasn’t having any of it. “No. That did not happen. I don’t care who or what you are, that isn’t something you can do. Not now and for the good of the world, not ever.”

She didn’t bother arguing with him, he was in one of his moods again, and she had to wash her hands. The other Luna was already gone, which was a pity because she couldn’t reach the soap dispenser. She hoped water alone would do the trick.

Feeling a bit sentimental about the cord, it was the first present she’d ever given herself, she placed it beneath the sink, in the back corner of the cabinet containing extra toilet paper and paper towels, rather than throwing it away. Perhaps it would be of use to someone else someday. Or it might go unnoticed for decades.

Out of the bathroom, she returned to the table with Ungle and she thought that their lunchtime had been rather nice. He was a funny guy and she was a funny girl. They didn’t look anything alike, but people assumed she must be his daughter and some had said so. They said she was pretty and polite. She’d never heard that about herself before.

“That’s because they’re mistaken. You’re the furthest thing from polite, but their interactions with you are so short they can’t tell the difference.”

Whatever. There was food! Better food than she’d ever had before and all the root beer she could drink.

She would be coming back here for sure.

Luna didn’t think she’d ever been happier in her entire life. Even leaving the buffet was good because the Asian ladies gave them extra fortune cookies and a sugar cookie, too, for the road.

“You know,” Donner said, considering the features of the women critically. “I think you may be Asian.”

“What?”

“Not through your mother. You don’t know anything about your father though and no one else seems to, either. I think he was Asian. You don't look at reflective surfaces often, so I'm not sure.”

"What do I look like to you? You see me in my head all the time."

"Blurred," he told her. "It's your perception of yourself."

"How about when I'm dead?"

He frowned. "Now that I think of it, you're still blurry. I'm not sure why that is. I hadn't noticed."

Well, she did have very black hair.

“It’s not your hair, fool! It’s- Forget it. It doesn’t matter.” But actually, it might, and he was going to think about it in his own corner of her mind.

Luna found that Donner could go away for a while. She knew he was there, somewhere, but couldn’t hear him, which was what he wanted; it was the next best thing to being out altogether. She could find him if she tried but normally didn’t bother. He wasn’t gone, rather sitting somewhere far off.

He was back right away, however, as Ungle fell to the ground, bleeding, in the parking garage.