Kelsey was the last one left after the rest of them got picked up (or took the bus, in Steven's case).

  "I'm never gonna get into this," she groaned, while Quinn and Natalie continued their last game. Natalie had him on the ropes, trickling away cards and his general stuck in the aether. Either way, she'd probably win in just a few turns. He wouldn't have trouble resurrecting Ke'Lua, and he could still be annoying with the spirits he'd summoned, but Natalie's defense was entrenched and ready.

  "It's not that hard," said Natalie mildly, watching as Quinn's hand kept switching between his piles on his kingdom. "And it's so much fun to lure people into traps," she added, just as Quinn started to move towards one of her territories.

  "You're evil," he muttered.

  She smiled innocently, fiddling pointedly with Linnethea on her back row.

  You have him. He's got no escape. Move in.

  Not yet, she replied. He could still have a way out, if he plays it smart. And Quinn is super smart.

  "Oh man, I just got it," said Kelsey, leaning towards Natalie. She moved away as Kelsey got closer, but Kelsey didn't notice. "You turned yourself into her!" she exclaimed, pointing at the card.

  "...Kinda?" said Natalie. She ran her hand through her hair pointedly. "It wasn't on purpose, and it wasn't totally."

  "You did have the hair," said Quinn, laying out a card under his metal mine on his front row. Having a metal mine on your front's already weird, and playing cards directly to it? What's he doing?

  He's stalling. Don't fall for it. You have him.

  Natalie sighed. She double-checked the hallway, just in case, then—murmuring the spell under her breath—she flickered her hair back to the golden-blonde waves of the Huntress. Natalie held it there for a few seconds, annoyed by the extra effort, before letting it fade and uncurl to her normal straight brown.

  "Nah, you look better without it," said Kelsey firmly. "I like normal Jenny."

  "Normal Jenny?" she asked pointedly, while she moved Linnethea and her stack of elf warriors forward to her own front line forest, at the edge of her queendom.

  "Okay, new-and-improved badass Jenny." Kelsey grinned. "Your eyes are super pretty too. How'd you do that?"

  "There's stuff in your eyes," she started to explain. "It's what makes the colors—hang on," she murmured.

  "Huh?"

  "...I send my scout forward." As Quinn started to reach, Natalie kept going. "With Fleet of Foot, so she can go diagonal and skip the metal mine."

  The Elven Scout card stopped on the empty farm behind the mine. Quinn was playing a heavy economy deck, between his farms, mines and back line of markets, which let him buy and play a lot of nice cards — but also meant he was really prone to disruption, like she was about to do.

  "She pillages the farm. You can't use it next turn."

  Quinn groaned. He tossed down his cards. "You won."

  Natalie laughed. "I knew it."

  "...Wait, what? How'd you just win?" asked Kelsey, confused. She glanced between the two sides. "Doesn't he still have like two turns to bring his guy back?"

  "She'd win next turn," said Quinn. "I tried to get her to scout the mine for traps even though there's nothing there, 'cause I just put worthless stuff on it. I needed to use the farm. She realized she could just block me from playing anything next turn since I'm loaded with gold, but I couldn't play any cards without that farm open."

  "And with no cards to play, I can just walk right up to his castle and blow the whole place up with Linnethea," said Natalie. She started picking up her cards, very satisfied with herself.

  You should be. You did well. You saw the better path to victory.

  No thanks to you, she replied, annoyed.

  I can only advise. You must lead the way.

  "Okay, so I kinda get it," said Kelsey, still staring at the cards while they cleaned up each side. "I'd still rather play an MMO though."

  "I've never played one," said Natalie.

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  "They're okay," said Quinn. "I don't really like them much though. I like turn-based things."

  Kelsey shrugged. "It's kinda turn-based."

  "I guess."

  She shook her head. "Okay, spill the beans now that everybody's gone. You two living together — how'd that happen?"

  Natalie's face got red hot again. She looked away. "You already know how. I texted you that night, remember?"

  "You just told me you broke in."

  "I didn't break in," Natalie shot back, annoyed.

  "Okay, snuck in, whatever." Kelsey looked between them excitedly. "Whose idea was it?"

  "My parents," said Quinn firmly, shutting her down. Natalie had warned him what Kelsey could get like, and he knew when she was going too far, like now. "They're just looking out for her. Nothing else is going on."

  "Oh." Kelsey finally noticed how Natalie was refusing to look at her, and how embarrassed they both looked. "I'm sorry…"

  "It's okay!" Natalie said quickly, turning back to her. "Just, you know… it's not really for fun or anything. It's kinda… scary, actually."

  "Scary?"

  "Not living here," she added quickly, while Quinn smirked. "Everything else, you know?"

  "Oh… yeah." Kelsey nodded. The doorbell rang. "Well, that's probably Mom. Mama never rings doorbells." She got to her feet. "Just a heads up, Jenny… Blake's been saying some stuff at school."

  "Stuff like what?" she asked, surprised. She hadn't even thought about Blake or her sidekick in over a month now.

  "Gossippy crap." Kelsey shook her head. "Just ignore it, it's all dumb."

  Natalie nodded. "I don't care anyway. I've already got great friends, I don't care what the rest of the school says."

  Kelsey grinned. "Yeah you do. Besides, I bet nobody pays attention to her anyway. It's just her and her stupid little friend Lydia." She hurried to the door as the bell rang again. "See you tomorrow!"

----------------------------------------

  Natalie woke up in her new bed on Friday, and for the first time, she didn't panic about where she was. She finally remembered that she was supposed to be under this strange roof, in a scratchy but mostly comfortable bed — she was thinking about buying herself better sheets, but she didn't want to make Quinn's parents feel bad — with the faint sounds of someone making a real breakfast down the hall.

  It still didn't feel like home, and she doubted anything ever would until she went back to her real home, but she finally felt comfortable here. So comfortable, in fact, that she actually wore her pajamas out of her bedroom for once. All week, she'd carefully dressed for the day before taking a single step out, making sure she presented the best possible image of herself to Quinn's parents.

  Today, she wasn't going to be the weird one at the breakfast table.

  As expected, Quinn and Damian were both in pajamas too. Annette was halfway dressed for the day, though she didn't quite have her full professional courtroom attire on yet.

  "Unicorns. Very cool," said Damian, giving Natalie a nod. "I'm more of a pegasus guy, personally."

  "Dear, please," said Annette, sliding waffles onto his plate.

  "I'm going to school today," Natalie announced without preamble.

  Damian nodded. "Glad to hear it. Do you need a ride, or are you taking the bus with Q?"

  "...I can take the bus."

  "Don't let those waffles get cold, Jenny," said Annette, coming back around with a glass of orange juice. "The bus will be here in about thirty minutes, and you don't want to miss it. Damian's driving might make you sick, and then you'd have to wait all the way til Monday again."

  As Natalie and Quinn headed outside, school things in hand, her ears caught a snatch of their conversation down the hall before she closed the door.

  "...another hospital bill?"

  "It'll be fine. I can pick up extra shifts."

  "But what about our—"

  "We'll just have to put it off…"

  The door clicked shut. Quinn hadn't noticed her hesitate. He'd already gone downstairs to the street level, so she hurried to catch up.

  Riding the morning school bus was a whole new experience for her. The early city bus was a quiet affair, and even the slightest noise drew annoyed glares from everyone around. In stark contrast, the school bus was practically a party by comparison. In particular, the younger kids toward the front made a whole lot of noise. Natalie and Quinn were early in the route though, and she made it to the back row with only a few loud whispers and pointed fingers before the whole thing filled up. The whole ride would be a piece of cake, compared to packing into the tight city bus with the morning commute.

  So she assumed… until she saw who had just boarded just two stops after theirs.

  Blake Sinclair didn't notice her, already deep into a tirade over some sixth grader who'd strayed a bit too far into the aisle. Lydia Jennings, only a few steps behind, cackled mercilessly at her jokes. It was so typical of Blake, too — calling out her choice of clothes, her ragged backpack, her messy hair. Just surface-level things… but Natalie, whose eyes were now so much stronger than before, could see the girl's face in the wide mirror hanging just above the windshield.

  The other girl was crying.

  Why's she crying? They're just saying stupid things about nothing. I wouldn't care if they said stuff like that to me. Natalie had way scarier things to worry about than if Blake Sinclair thought her new pointy ears looked dumb. Which they totally don't. But still… that girl doesn't deserve that. She's just a kid compared to me. Blake's such a… b-word. Someone should say something.

  Natalie watched and waited… but nobody moved. The kids in the nearest rows kept chatting or goofing off as if they hadn't heard Blake and her friend. Even the boy sitting next to the girl in the same seat didn't move, or react in the slightest. Quinn, sitting across the aisle from Natalie in the very back row, didn't react either, though it was easily possible he hadn't noticed. Except… he was watching Blake, and his eyes narrowed slightly… and he didn't do anything.

  Nobody was helping her, even as they all saw Blake reduce her to tears in the middle of the bus with just a few words.

  What if I—

  No.

  But I could just—

  What would you do?

  Natalie frowned. The voice wouldn't let her budge. Blake deserves to be cut down a notch, doesn't she?

  You aren't involved. Stay secret. Keep to yourself.

  I can help her though.

  No one helped you.

  Natalie stayed where she was, and as the bus finally pulled into the school parking lot and the doors opened wide, she watched — along with the rest of the bus — as the girl bolted away and into the building, as fast as she possibly could.

  Nobody mentioned it.