Returning to the place called home, Luna cleaned herself up before leaving the upstairs bathroom. She’d left the water running, in case Ant woke up and came looking for her. At least it would sound like she was washing her hands or trying to hide the sound of poop hitting the toilet water.

Some people were obsessed with that kind of stuff. She saw it on a television series.

“Meanwhile you continually think of new ways to die,” Donner wasn’t impressed with her knowledge of odd fixations.

She didn’t answer. He was going to be surly no matter what she said or did and she understood it to a point. He was stuck in a place he didn’t want to be. Still, it wasn’t like it was her fault.

“Somehow, I’m sure it is and one day we’ll know and I will place all the blame on you like it deserves to be.”

Back downstairs, with no trace of blood on her neck and the knife hidden inside the toilet tank, she found Ant vigorously scrubbing down the kitchen counters.

“Ant?”

“Oh, Luna!” The display of affection, a big hug and squeeze, was foreign and she wasn’t sure she liked it but had no chance to comment. “Honey, I must have scared you when I got back. I’m so sorry. You’re a smart girl, I know you are, and I’m sure you can tell what happened.”

She nodded slowly. Ant was at her level, kneeling on the hard floor. Hands on her shoulders.

It made her sad again. She thought she was done being sad for a while, but now she felt it all over. It was vegan Ant here. Ungle couldn’t take her back to the Chinese Buffet.

She didn’t want to cry again, but here she was.

“I’m so sorry, Luna,” Ant spoke softly and held her the way Snowman did. Petting her head. “I’m so sorry you had to see all that. First with Arizona and now with Reg. That’s too much for anybody. But you know what? We’re going to be okay sweetie. We will be okay. Aunt Autumn has a plan for us. It’s you, me, and Georgia now and we’ll be okay.”

That night, Ant ordered pizza with pepperoni and she let Luna eat two whole slices while Georgia was limited to one and a half. Which was reasonable and Georgia, dumb as a brick, didn’t even notice the disparity. She got soda too, orange.

So, that was good. The phoenix wasn’t vegan and more into moderation, something Luna appreciated because she was pretty sure cows and pigs deserved to be eaten. They were bad people in their past lives and being a widely consumed animal was a reset.

“Why in the world would that be the case?” Donner didn’t believe her.

“I don’t know. I feel like it’s true though.”

“Yes, and sometimes people feel like their significant other cheated on them, even though they didn’t, and key their car and slash their tires for revenge.”

“Geez. Did some girl do that to you? That was oddly specific.”

“As a matter of fact, yes. The point is, your feelings are simple feelings most of the time and they will pass. Don’t act on them or make emotional decisions.”

“Only most of the time?”

“Because you can make use of the magical properties of the universe, yes, and almost everyone has some level of ability on this front. If you feel endangered, it would be wisest to proceed with caution. However, things like envy and suspicion that are driving you to violence are worthless.”

“What happened to the girl who messed up your car?”

“Nothing,” he said, bitterly.

“Not even a fine?! What the heck!”

“I didn’t want to deal with her anymore and she got herself out of trouble. I left.”

“Justice is not equal,” she said and Ant looked at her so she asked, “Is it fair if a girl does something and doesn’t get in trouble like a boy would? If a boy slashed tires he’d get in big trouble, right? But what if a girl does it and doesn’t get in trouble at all?”

“I guess you would say that’s unfair,” she answered slowly. “But there can be circumstances... ”

“What circumstances?” Luna scoffed. “She thought her boyfriend was cheating on her. He wasn’t even!”

“Sometimes people get emotional-”

“That’s no excuse!”

Donner interrupted her incoming tirade. “Drop it. Your aunt knows nothing about the situation and it doesn’t matter.”

“But I’m offended on your behalf!”

“Don’t drag your aunt into it! I shouldn’t have said anything about it!”

“Anyway,” she said. “It was a long time ago.”

A slow nod. “Right.”

Dinner continued without further interruption except for a phone call that took Ant out of the room; with her gone Luna considered telling Georgia the bad news, but Donner wouldn’t let her. “Let her mother deal with it. Try to remember that Georgia is a normal child.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“She can’t be normal. If that’s normal then what the hell am I supposed to do when I have to go to school?”

“Deal with it.”

“I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do. I have magic.”

She could feel his irritation and dismissed herself from the table to go to bed as soon as Ant returned to the room.

Tucked in and Georgia loitering around the door, waiting for her mother’s attention, Luna didn’t try to delay Ant’s leaving for the night. She and Donner had things to discuss.

Like his ex-girlfriend and her trifling hoe ways.

“It’s not an experience I want to relive, Luna. Drop it.”

No. She couldn’t do that. He had to work through this now or he’d never ever get over it.

“That is not true at all.”

“You’re not over it yet or you wouldn’t have thought about it earlier.”

“It wasn’t traumatizing, it was irritating. I suppose the situation we’re in now is the same at the end of things.”

“Whatever, tell me what happened!”

The room had a single massive window, overlooking a frozen wasteland. A castle of stone and a roaring fire. He doubted he would ever see what was beyond the door; Luna would forget this place like all the rest.

Except for that cramped police interrogation closet and the imitation war room, she still thought of them sometimes.

“I had no affection for her and I doubt she had any for me, though she may have fooled herself into thinking she did. I used her for the façade of normalcy. That’s it.”

“Why’d you have to pretend to be normal?”

He scoffed and said, “So I could take over the world.”

“Hm,” she nodded and scrunched her nose. “Seems legit. But that’s boring. The world’s a mess. Who’d want to be in charge of it?”

“I was being sarcastic. I wasn’t seeking world domination. I was looking for immortality.”

“Oh, well, I guess you kind of have that. Your body must be dead, but you’re still here. Your soul or whatever.” She tried to connect a girlfriend to the quest. “But what did your ex have to do with that?”

“She was for appearance's sake, from an influential, wealthy family. The youngest daughter with no great expectations placed upon her.”

“How’d you get her to date you? Was she pretty?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t think much of her looks, but as a matter of fact, she wasn’t. I believe she was rather desperate. She quickly became more trouble than she was worth. Clingy. She tried to behave as her older, prettier sisters did but it came off as ridiculous. On top of that, she was jealous for my time and attention. It was a miscalculation on my part.”

The setting sun upon the white cold was blinding. He didn’t understand why some of the places within her mind were so real and others hardly passable as a child’s scribbles.

She didn’t know why either, why the world outside the window was true.

“Why’d she think you were cheating on her?”

“I have no idea. She quickly grew suspicious of all the time we spent apart.”

“In the end, she took revenge on your car?” It didn’t seem like a good choice.

“She wasn’t the brightest, either.”

“Not like the snow,” she said.

“No, not like the snow.”

How long they stared to the world beyond, real or imagined, neither knew, but when Luna woke it was to the sounds of packing tape being ripped and Ant was in the hallway wrapping hung pictures and placing them in boxes.

“I think the rising phoenix is having side effects,” she thought.

“It was bound to,” he reminded her drily.

What was happening, as it turned out, was the sale of this house and the purchase of another. The memories of Ungle were going to be too much for Ant, it seemed, and she’d decided in the wee hours of the morning to have a mid-life crisis-level transformation. The woman was on a mission and didn’t notice Luna creep past her and down the stairs.

In the kitchen sat an open laptop and the browser betrayed Ant’s plans. On the screen was the website of a local realtor, who wasn’t open yet, or no doubt Ant would have been on the phone, and another tab showed a farmhouse outside the suburbs.

She sucked air in through her teeth. “Oops.”

“Actions have consequences. Enjoy the country life, Luna.” He was mocking. “And look there, she’s started a blog, too. What a wonderful life you will soon be living.”

“Why does she have so many comments?”

“Most of them are spam, but you’re right, there are a fair few. Who can tell what will set the internet ablaze?”

“That’s sarcasm, right?”

“Yes.” He rolled his eyes.

Sort of.

Anyway, she wasn’t sure what to do about this.

“It appears your aunt will be taking you and Georgia and living a simpler life. I suppose it makes sense. After the incident with your uncle, no doubt in keeping with city crime statistics, she is opting for a safer route. Congratulations, your jaunt into her mind was successful. She isn’t broken into pieces, rocking in a corner and slamming her fists into her head. Instead, she has made a logical, if extreme, choice directly related to the initial incident.”

“Was that the prize I signed up for?”

“Probably not, but it is the prize you won.”

Ant was a whirlwind all day. On the phone, off the phone, waiting for calls, packing boxes, and ordering packing bubbles.

And chickens and a coop.

The house would sell for more than she and Ungle bought it and fast, if the half-conversation Luna was privy to was any indication. The area was in high demand, popular with young professional families; she heard the woman say so on speaker.

Flowers and an arrangement of fruits arrived with condolence cards in the afternoon before Georgia got home from school and when she did, she was more confused than Luna had ever seen her.

“Where’s Daddy?”

Having not seen the man in over a day it was time for the conversation but as she wasn’t interested, Luna didn’t stick around to hear the explanation. No doubt it would be depressing.

“When can I go to magic school?”

“They won’t take you until you’re at least school-aged. If you show enough aptitude, they may admit you at the lowest level if you’re seven.”

“That’s how old you were!” Accusatory.

“Yes, and I was the youngest ever admitted.”

“I bet I’m better than you were,” she bragged.

“They consider more than ability. You must fit their profile or you will not be accepted.”

“What do you mean profile?”

“They won’t take infants, Luna. They aren’t in the business of raising children. You will not be babied and no one will wait for you to catch up. If one fails to demonstrate a deep sense of personal responsibility and pride they will not be going to Arcane Arts.”

“How old am I again?”

“Four.”

“Oh my gosh, this is going to take forever! Georgia will be eight by then!”

“I’m sure life on the farm will make the days go by quickly.” He was perhaps as far from enthused as it was possible to be.

And so was she.