Amanda returned home that night exhausted. Stepping through the front doors of the high roofed farmhouse she found their 15 year old son, Salem, sitting on the family computer playing some kind of game. It looked to be a horror game, a first person zombie shooter of some kind. Seeing it did not put Amanda in better spirits.

“Salem.”

“Huh?” It couldn’t have been a multiplayer one because the second she said his name he paused it and turned.

She nodded at the game. “Is that appropriate?”

He blinked blankly for a moment and then recognition filled his eyes. He glanced around checking for Lily and then in a whisper replied, “She doesn’t know what she is.”

Amanda sighed. She knew Salem didn’t mean anything by it. “Yeah...” she started, “But...”

He interrupted quickly, “I can play something else.” He turned around and exited the game. “I was just finishing up anyway.”

Amanda gave a tired smile. “Have you done your homework?”

“Um... yes...” He replied in a way that suggested he hadn’t at all.

Amanda gave another sigh and a knowing look but didn’t push him. “Do you know where Lily is?”

“Yeah she’s upstairs. She has some friends over. Katrina was teaching them how to do their hair and makeup.”

Upstairs 16-year old Katrina’s slender hands twisted Mary’s brunette hair into a long thick braid. “Perfect for fighting,” she remarked to the 10-year old. “But you’re supposed to put the eyeliner around your eyes not across your cheeks.”

“It’s the fashion,” Jojo told her.

“Yes, but Haute Couture is different from Little Rock fashion,” Katrina replied as she fit a pretty red bow on the end of Mary’s braid.

“Don’t bows get caught in things?” asked Mary as she strained around to see what Katrina had put in her hair. “Do you have any skull clips. I’d like something with skulls on it if you have anything. So my enemies will see it and be terrified.” She grinned gleefully.

Katrina frowned. She found this child very weird.

“Haute Co...what?” asked Perri in her quiet voice.

“I would like a bow,” declared Maddi, who had decided that Katrina was very pretty and had her long black hair so perfectly done that Maddi would follow all of her instructions if it meant she could look even half as grown up and beautiful as Katrina did.

Katrina looked a lot like her father and aunt with her dark hair and green eyes. She had the fairest skin in her family, lacking any blemish. She didn’t quite have their height but she wasn’t as short as her mother either. She adored her aunt Cat and somewhat, to her mother’s annoyance had initially followed her aunt’s example regarding clothes and makeup. Red lipsticks and short skirts that Amanda thought a tad too skimpy for a young teenage girl. But as Katrina had aged she’d dialed it back a little to a more refined classical collection, or at the very least had grown into the older look. Her mother still disapproved of the occasional bare midriff but she also believed in the children making their own choices, at least up to a point, and she had to admit Katrina did manage to look more stylish than anyone else in the family. Today Katrina had her dark hair lightly curled so it flowed in waves down over her shoulders. On her lips she wore a medium to dark brown colour that matched her black clothing. She hadn’t quite outgrown her love for black yet, something her older brother, Bobby, occasionally teased her for.

“I would like a bow in every colour,” Maddi asserted.

“You can’t wear all the colours,” Jojo insisted. “That would clash.”

Ally who had been paying attention to the entire conversation looked at Perri. “Haute Couture,” she began, answering the question no one else had yet, “Means high fashion, and it’s more art than fashion. It’s where designers get their inspiration for their ideas, which is why you could totally do every bow in Haute Couture, because it’s art and art is all about creativity, right Maddi?”

“Right!” Maddi agreed.

Jojo was about to open her mouth to object when Amanda poked her head around the corner of the door. “Hi girls.”

“Hi Mrs James.” replied the chorus of replies.

“Do your parents all know you’re here?” Amanda inquired.

“I phoned them all,” Katrina told her from where she sat cross-legged retying a new bow into Mary’s hair. “I assume it’s fine if they all stay the night? Their parents don’t mind.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. Don’t stay up too late.”

The girls all nodded.

Amanda watched them for a little while. They seemed so relaxed and happy. Then she left and went downstairs to find Sirius.

She found him with their 17-year old son Bobby in the lounge. Bobby was working on some homework and Sirius was making a poor attempt at giving him some help.

“Does this equation look right to you for this problem?” Bobby was asking as Amanda entered.

“Umm...” Sirius looked up as his wife entered. A look of relief covered his face. Evidently he wasn’t having a good time at solving high school math problems.

“Hey mum, can you have a look at this? I don’t think I’ve done it right. I keep getting a decimal for an answer but I’m pretty sure it should be a whole number.”

Amanda took the paper from him and had a look. A moment later she shook her head. “I don’t know, it was too long ago for me I think. Ask Gemma she will have done this last year.”

“She’s asleep at the moment. I’ll ask her tomorrow,” Bobby replied.

Gemma was Amanda and Sirius’s eldest daughter. She was still in her last year of high school but she’d also just given birth to her own child this year, a little girl named Kate. While Amanda and Sirius helped as much as they could, being a mother and a high-schooler still left one pretty tired.

Amanda nodded. She glanced at Sirius. He was giving her a curious look, sensing she’d come in here for a reason and wondering what it was.

Bobby was the one who had given up his room for Lily, offering to sleep on the couch while she was here. He’d been offered a spare pull-out mattress in Gemma’s large room but on account of the baby occasionally waking in the night he’d opted for the living room instead. He was their most reliable and level-headed child so his perspective and thoughts were often appreciated by his parents.

“Hey, Bobby, I wanted to ask you something, about Lily?” Amanda began.

Upstairs in Katrina’s room Maddi and Jojo were playing magical tug-of-war with the ribbons. Mary would summon one to her and then Jojo, who was telekinetic, would pull it back, intent on preventing Maddi from hogging all the bows.

“I told you it’s gonna clash if you use that many, and I need some.” Jojo pulled a yellow one so hard that it went flying past her and into the wall.

“What for? You’re hair’s so short you can’t possibly have any use for them all.” Maddie replied as the yellow ribbon appeared in her hand.

“Take a look at that.” Katrina told Mary as she handed her a mirror to see the new ribbon in her hair.

“Wow!, you tied it like a skull! How’d you do that?”

The others all clambered over to see except for Jojo and Maddi who were focused on the war of the bows.

“Do you think you could tie mine so it looks like a bunny?” asked Lily.

“I can try,” Katrina replied.

“Great!

Katrina did so while Perri, Ally, and Mary watched.

“You’re really good at this,” Mary observed as she watched the shape of a bunny being formed in tiny pink ribbons. Then she twisted around so she could see her own white skull shaped thicker ribbon.

“Honestly, I’m just making this up as I go,” Katrina told her.

“Well I think that makes it even more impressive,” Ally complimented. “Can you do mine next.”

“Sure, what do you want?”

“A rhinoceros,” Ally replied confidently.

“A rhinoceros?” Katrina paused wondering how she was going to pull that one off and why anyone would choose a rhinoceros. She never did figure it out, for a moment later there was a thump as Maddi fainted.

“Maddi?” Ally probed.

“Serves her right for trying to steal all the ribbons!” Jojo said stubbornly.

“What happened? Did she overuse her magic?” asked Mary.

“Lily go get my mum,” Katrina told her.

Lily nodded and sprang up from the floor.

Katrina crawled over to the unconscious Maddi and felt for a pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief once she confirmed that there was one and that the girl was still breathing. Even as Katrina watched, Maddi’s eyelids began to flutter and she began to come to.

“She probably did over-extend her magic and just needs some rest,” Katrina told the other girls, hoping it was true. “Why don’t you girls get ready for bed while Lily is getting my mum? Ally can you pass me that pillow?”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Lily took the steps two at a time, skipping the last three altogether. She ran around the corner and skidded in her socks almost right up to the lounge door. She was about to knock when she heard voices inside.

“There’s some teachers I know you could trust, there are also some you really can’t and any parent that finds out there’s a zombie at their school is going to cause an uproar.” It was Bobby who was speaking. Lily frowned and listened. A zombie? At school?

“Lily’s not a zombie yet, at least not as far as we know,” Amanda replied. “You don’t think there’s some teachers you could be sure would keep it a secret?”

Lily’s breath caught in her throat. Her? She was the zombie? Or was going to be a zombie? She didn’t understand. She thought of the zombies in movies or the ones in the computer game she’d seen Salem playing. But she wasn’t like them? She didn’t understand. She knew zombies were real. She had memories of her parents or other adults talking about zombie attacks in other towns. But she didn’t know where the zombies came from or how they got there. She imagined them crawling out of graves.

“I don’t know. One or two, not enough,” Bobby replied.

“Enough to help keep an eye on her?” Amanda spoke again.

She heard Sirius’s voice. “All it takes is for one to speak to the wrong person about it.”

“Maybe we’ll leave it for now, although I think it’s worth having one teacher who knows. Just someone at the school so there’s an adult.”

“An adult with some zombie stopping powers,” Bobby suggested.

Lily listened but no one replied out loud. She felt sick. She didn’t know what to make of this but she was also supposed to be getting help for Maddi. She didn’t want them to know she’d been eavesdropping. She backed up a few paces and then ran at the door and opened it without knocking. Acting as if she’d only just run the whole way down she blurted out, “Maddi’s fainted, help!”

Amanda was by her side in seconds and she followed Lily as she ran back upstairs.

Amanda agreed with Katrina’s assessment that Maddi just needed to rest and be a bit more careful with her power usage next time. She also agreed that it was about time they all got ready for bed.

As an infuser Katrina could sense what powers a person had and place them into an item for later use. All night she’d been a little fascinated by Ally. Mindwalkers were rare and Katrina was dying to try out a wider variety of powers, especially ones like that. As the girls left for bedtime she asked, “Ally, could you be a dear and help me put the things away please?”

Ally paused in the doorway. She eyed Katrina with a look that was far too clever for a 10 year old and Katrina suspected her motives were known. That was fine by her. Ally could choose.

After a moment’s hesitation Ally nodded. “Sure.”

“You know I was wondering...” Katrina started as they began to put the ribbons and bows and makeup away.

“You want to know if you can borrow some of my magic?” Ally replied.

“For infusing yes.” Katrina kept her voice low. Her mother would not approve of her taking some of the mindwalking powers from a 10-year old. Technically it wasn’t taking as it was Katrina’s energy that it would use and it would cost Ally nothing. Ally would just be a channel, like a recipe. There were spells that could turn that against someone, use their specific brand of magic to craft a spell that would target or hurt them in some way, but that wasn’t what Katrina had in mind and Ally knew this.

Ally seemed to think on it.

“It’s just for practice?” Ally asked.

Katrina nodded. “Yes, I want to learn how to control it. I won’t use it for evil I swear.”

Ally giggled. “But maybe for mischief?”

Katrina couldn’t help herself. She had imagined the fun pranks she could play on her siblings although she hadn’t really intended to do it, had she? She’d just figured she’d practice first and then once she got the hang of it... She met Ally’s eyes again. The girl was smart.

Ally pursed her lips. “You have to be careful. If you read a mind worng you can damage it. Or even worse if you try to alter things...” She looked worried.

“I won’t,” Katrina promised. She meant it.

“Even animals,” Ally added with a knowing look.

Katrina gulped, yes the girl was smart. “It’s less risk, if I just tested it on a mouse isn’t it?”

Ally shook her head. “There are other problems with that, for you.”

Katrina thought about it. That wasn’t such an issue. She would be careful. She’d learnt some hard lessons from borrowing her Aunt’s dreamwalking powers. She’d gotten much better at that one now. Mindwalking must be similar. If Ally didn’t want to though that was okay. She didn’t want the girl to feel responsible if something did go wrong. She’d find another mindwalker one day. It was tempting though but Katrina knew this had to be up to Ally.

“How do you do it?” Ally asked after a bit.

Katrina looked up at her as she put the nail polish back where it belonged.

“When you take the powers, how do you do it? Does it hurt?”

Katrina shook her head and smiled. “No, it’s simple, I just touch your hands and then I focus and I put it into a ring or necklace or something. You won’t even notice.”

Ally nodded. “Okay, you can borrow some, but you have to promise not to spend too long in anyone’s mind, including animals, and not to manipulate or change anyone’s mind or memories or anything like that.”

“No changing got it, only listen for short times.”

Ally nodded. She took a deep breath and held out her hands. “You could practice on me a little first too if you want, because I know how to rebut it, sort of. I think that would be useful practice, if I could figure out how to steel myself against other mindwalkers. Maybe I can come visit Lily more with the others and then I can practice with you some more?”

Katrina nodded. “Yeah we could do that. Hang on.” She darted to the door and pushed it closed. “Okay.” She returned to Ally and grasped the girl’s hands. In her left hand she grabbed a red pendant that hung on a long gold chain. She was excited. Mindwalking was one of the most useful powers one could have and here she was about to get a taste of it. She focused her mind and felt the power shift through her, from Ally and into the pendant. She had gotten a good feel over the years for how much she could fit in an item, and how much she could safely take.

It didn’t take long and once she was done she put the pendant back in the drawer of her bedside table and then opened her own door. No one else seemed to have noticed.

“Thank you Ally,” she told the girl. “Best get ready for bed. I can tidy up the last of the stuff here.”

Ally nodded and left to go join the others.

An hour went by and the house was silent. Katrina sat on her bed toying with the red pendant that now held a slither of mindwalking powers. To start with she just felt the power, caressed it until she got to know it’s shape, it’s form, how to push it, pull it, weave it, how to make it her own. Amanda and Sirius were downstairs somewhere, maybe helping Bobby with homework. The younger girls were all asleep. She’d heard Salem go into his room around the same time. She wasn’t sure if he was awake still but she heard no sounds from the room next to hers.

As she sat she heard feet padding along outside and further down the hallway. She put the pendant down and stuck her head out. Her youngest sister, 14-year old Sasha was creeping along near the top of the stairs. Perhaps sensing eyes on her she looked up and met Katrina’s green eyes with her pale blue ones.

“I was just getting some water,” Sasha whispered. Then she turned and trotted quietly down the stairs.

Katrina returned to her bed. Hearing a knock on the front door a moment later she peered out the window but she could see nothing except a car parked in the long dirt driveway. Whomever it was, was hidden by the porch roof. Wondering if Sasha had invited friends over, but not really believing it because Sasha was far too goody good for that, she left her room to go and investigate.

She stopped on the landing half way down the stairs where she had a view of the front door. Sasha had indeed opened it but at the door was obviously no friend of hers. There a large man stood with an angry expression on his face. The timid little Sasha was clutching at the door frame obviously a little afraid and having regretted opening the door.

“Where’s my daughter?” the man barked.

Katrina was about to come to Sasha’s rescue when Sirius appeared from the back of the house.

The man in the door had his face bearing down on Sasha who had put more of the door between herself and this scary stranger.

“What’s this all about?” Sirius asked as he swept in between the two of them. Sasha darted behind her father.

The man looked up for Sirius was quite a bit taller than him. For a moment he seemed to be rethinking things.

“I’m here for my daughter. My wife said she’s here.” The man’s growl had softened somewhat in the face of someone bigger than him.

“What’s your daughter’s name?” Sirius asked calmly.

“Perri,” replied the man, and for a moment it seemed things were going along civilly but then he seemed to work up some courage and he pushed past Sirius. “Where is she?” He saw the stairs and headed for them.

“Her mother said it was fine if she stayed over,” Sirius told him, surprised at the man’s boldness. And confused at his anger.

“Yes, well she was wrong,” came the reply. “Perri needs her sleep and she won’t get it surrounded by a whole group of talkative girls.”

The man started up the stairs just as Amanda arrived in the main hall. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“He’s here for Perri,” Sirius told her as they both made to follow the man.

Katrina pressed herself against the back stair wall as the man came past. He gave her barely a side glance. As her parents followed her mum gave her a reassuring look and light touch on the shoulder.

Bobby then appeared in the main hall and noticing Sasha standing alone and looking scared he went to comfort her. Katrina followed her parents upstairs.

“There’s no need to wake the entire house,” she heard her mother saying.

As Katrina reached the top of the stairs she saw the man holding a sleepy eyed Perri by the arm, looking like he’d just dragged her from her bed. “We’ll be going now,” he said to Sirius and Amanda, who at the moment stood between him and his exit.

Katrina backed away from the stairs in the direction of Salem’s door so she wasn’t also between the man and the top of the stairs. Salem’s door opened a crack and a droopy headed Salem poked his head out. “What’s going on?” he asked Katrina.

“There was no need to barge up here like this. We could have talked downstairs. Perri was already asleep, along with most of the rest of the this house. If you were so worried about her sleep why did you feel the need to wake her?” Amanda asked him in a fierce whisper, obviously trying not to wake anyone else.

“If you don’t get out of my way woman...” The man made a move towards her.

Sirius stepped between then and the man paused. Then Sirius stepped to the side, pulling Amanda behind him, and letting the man past.

The man went on his way, dragging Perri after him, who almost stumbled over in her hurry to keep up.

Amanda made a move as if to follow them. Katrina saw the look of anger on her face and decided she was glad that she wasn’t the target of it. But Sirius held Amanda back with his arm. “Not here,” he said with a shake of his head and a glance back at the group of young faces all watching from the girl’s room. From further down the hall a baby started to cry.

“Are you girls alright?” Amanda asked the group as she headed towards Gemma’s room.

There was a collection of nods. Then Gemma’s door opened before Amanda could reach for the handle. Gemma had her mother’s red hair but her father’s height. She opened the door while rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “What on the Devil’s earth is going on out here? Do you know how long it takes to get her to sleep?”

“You go back to bed, I can take her,” Amanda offered.

“No,” Gemma shook her head. “It’s okay, I can do it.” She turned back into her room. Amanda followed.

Katrina watched as her father returned downstairs to check on Sasha and Bobby. The girls had mostly returned back into their shared room. At least that’s what Katrina thought but when she walked into her own room she was surprised to find Ally kneeling on the bed watching Perri and her father leave out the window.

Katrina knelt beside her and watched the red headlights turn the corner at the end of the drive and disappear into the night.

Ally turned to Katrina and seemed to be trying to decide something. A moment passed and then speaking low she said, “He’s a brute you know.” She nodded out at the darkness. “He hits her, and her sisters.”

Katrina looked down at Ally and tried to judge if she was making it up, but she looked deadly serious.

Ally met her eyes and then turned back to the window. “Her other sister died last week. From a fall.”

The way Ally said it made it sound like she didn’t think it was from a fall at all.

Katrina opened her mouth to ask something but Ally interrupted her, speaking in a hurry. “You can’t tell anyone.”

“Why not?” Katrina asked.

Ally didn’t answer. She just stared out the window. Finally she replied. “You just can’t. Promise?”

“I can’t promise something like that Ally.”

Ally met her eyes again and gave a sigh. An action that made her seem far older than her 10 years and for a moment Katrina felt like she was the child, helpless, small, and unknowing.

“Someone told on him once before, told the police, but they didn’t do anything. And then he got really angry. And then they moved here. And no one knew. And no one cares.”

“I care,” Katrina replied. “My mum would care, and my dad.”

“They can’t do anything. They don’t have proof, not enough of it.”

“That...”

“That was just him being a little rough. That wasn’t anything,” Ally replied referring to what had just happened.

“But you know? You read her mind right? That’s how you know?”

“I also know mindwalkers don’t count as evidence. My mum’s a lawyer. She works in the Emerald city.”

“I see.”

“Just promise you won’t tell.”

Katrina hesitated but before she could reply Amanda stuck her head in. “Bedtime Ally,” she said.

Ally nodded and hopped down from the bed. She looked back at Katrina with fierce look.

In her head Katrina thought ‘Okay.’ Seeing Ally’s shoulders relax she knew the kid had heard her.

Once Ally had gone back to her room Amanda turned to Katrina. “Are you okay?” she asked.

The question pulled Katrina from her thoughts. Her mum was studying her with a worried expression. “Yeah, I’m fine,” Katrina replied trying her best to mean it. But her mum’s frown didn’t disappear.

Amanda studied her middle child for a moment before leaving the room, wondering what she was hiding.