A small stuffed animal from the fair swung from my rear view mirror as we left the dense forest behind. Katrina’s head lightly bobbed with the rhythm of the road. It was the first time I had seen her sleep in a week. Francis and Angelique sat in the back enjoying my ‘Best of Bikini Kill’ playlist. Wally, of course, sat between them in his tank.

We left with as little on our backs as we could handle. At first, I thought leaving would be an overreaction, but I got hit with a heavy dose of reality. The town was in shock, and they needed someone to blame. I thought after seeing Red, and seeing us fight him, we would get the benefit of the doubt. I was wrong. We were all that was left and the townspeople were more focused on the fact that we were attacking their now-missing daughters.

Even more unfortunately, William was more than happy to identify us to the authorities. So with my tortoise, Katrinas music box, some clothes and what was left of Francis’s mech, we started heading for the next state over.

The Monroe sisters gave us a place to meet up. They were from a different small town in Oklahoma, where the news of the chaos had not spread yet. They told their parents they were going on a pre-college road trip with some friends from another town over. They agreed to it, as long as we came over and they could meet us.

It was a pretty standard white siding house, with a nice little red brick patio and a porch swing. They made us dinner and luckily didn’t ask us too many questions about any of our parents. The only kind of uncomfortable part was that their big dog kept trying to stick her nose into Wally’s tank. I don’t think she wanted to eat him though. Dolly just seemed like an overly curious dog. That night, me and Katrina sat on the porch while everyone slept. She held her music box in her arms.

“So, we seem to have a lot more to figure out than we thought,” I said.

“I didn’t think I could even have more questions,” Katrina said. She opened her music box. It chimed the tune to “Think of Me” from Phantom of the Opera. Inside were a few pictures and trinkets. “But at least I have more than when I started.”

“You consider this having more?” I ask jokingly.

“Somehow, yes. I may not have a home, or a job, or a high school diploma, but I think for the first time I might actually have a family,” she said. She picked up a clipped picture of a smiling blond woman, standing in front of a castle in some European country.

“Of course,” I say. “Is that your mom?”

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“It is. She was a singer and an actress. She performed all over Europe. She was at Blackwell Castle here. It’s a mysterious community that only opens its gates once a year to the outside world. She said it was one of the most magical places she had ever been to.”

“Well, maybe we should go there. We could use a little bit of magic right about now,” I chuckle. “Why is it cut in half?”

“She cut out someone she didn’t want in the photo. She always said she would tell me about it when I was older. I always wondered if maybe it was my dad.”

“Maybe. Hey didn’t you say that you were supposedly born with your powers?”

“Supposedly, Red told me it was genetic or something. Why?”

“If we find your dad, he might be able to tell us more about what’s going on.”

“Yeah, but we don’t even know if he’s alive. Where would we even start? And is this even the best place to start with what’s next?”

“I don’t know. It’s just a thought.” I take the photo, “I’m still gonna look into this place though. Weird communities do fit Red’s M.O. so it can’t hurt.”

“Fair. It’s something at least.” Katrina leaned back on her elbows, “Do you think we are actually doing any good here? Or are we just injecting chaos into the natural order of things?”

“To be honest, I have no idea, but if the natural order involves demons overtaking entire towns, maybe it needs a little chaos.”

“Haha, I guess. Just remind me never to leave you alone in a fight again. I didn’t know you were so prone to getting your ass kicked.”

“Yeah neither did I. That was rough,” I said, trailing off.

“You’re thinking about Jess huh?” Katrina asked.

“I mean, yeah. She is gonna be in a lot of trouble. I don’t think she knows what kind of forces she’s messing with.”

“She probably doesn’t, but she certainly will find out.”

“Maybe we should have told her what was going on. If we included her in this, if we didn’t end up just shutting her out, she might not have taken her anger against us to such extremes.”

Katrina sighed, “I don’t know. I don’t know if telling her was the answer. I also don’t think you should feel bad for not wanting to be around her. She constantly wanted to cross boundaries with you without asking. She made a lot of assumptions on how you wanted to be treated without ever asking.”

“Even so, she was trying to be our friend. She was trying too hard, but she was lonely.”

“Her reaction to you not liking her is not your fault, Athena.”

“I don’t think it’s exactly that black and white. I just hope we can bring her back at the end of all this.”

“Me too, but we aren’t going to be able to do it without sleep.” Katrina stood and offered me her hand. I grab it.

“What, you didn’t get enough in the car?”

“Hush, come one.”