Since that day, wherever she went, Nikki wore a necklace with a set of amethyst stones clipped onto it. It bounced against her chest as she climbed through the forest, following Joe on his latest trip for supplies. They weren't totally self-sufficient yet, but they were getting close. Very soon, these trips would be totally unnecessary.

  She was looking forward to it, since she couldn't safely leave the confines of their home. As far as they were aware, Nikki was still on quite a few watch lists related to Rallsburg. Joe, it seemed, felt otherwise.

  "I just feel like I'm gonna be the useless one around camp," he explained.

  "How are you gonna be useless? You're still strong as shit, and you can do the crop growth spell okay."

  Joe set down his bundle and leaned against the nearest tree. "Compared to the only person who can do Knowledge magic in the whole fuckin' world?"

  Nikki shrugged. "I got lucky." She glanced around. "Don't forget though, we're supposed to keep that secret. Never say it outside the boundary."

  "Yeah, yeah." Joe rubbed his face with his hands, then started stretching out. "Isn't that like, hypocritical though?"

  "Huh?"

  "Cinza's whole new schtick about being open and sharing everything. If we're sharing everything now, why wouldn't we tell people we can do Knowledge magic again?"

  "Well, I still have no clue what I'm doing," Nikki pointed out. "It's only been a week."

  "It has? Felt like way longer. You keep talking in your sleep."

  "I do?"

  "Yeah. Driving me nuts."

  She frowned. "What do I talk about?"

  "Fuck if I know. I can't understand a word of it."

  "Sorry I'm being such a burden."

  Joe's eyes widened. "Shit, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. It's not really a big deal."

  "No, really, if I'm making you uncomfortable, I'm happy to find another place to sleep. I wouldn't want to make your life difficult."

  "Nikki…" Joe started. Before he could continue, a splash of water flew between them, circling around Joe and coming back to rest in Makoto's palm. "The fuck?"

  "Show-off," Nikki added, smirking. Makoto's lip twitched, but Nikki still couldn't get him to actually laugh. He'd been standing by a tree a dozen feet away, watching them bicker. "When are you gonna teach me how to sneak up on people like that?"

  "Later." Makoto looked over his shoulder. "Rufus will be done soon."

  "The new security shit?" Joe asked.

  "Yes."

  "So we should hurry back?"

  "Probably."

  "Sounds good to me. Let's get going, then. You coming with?" Nikki asked.

  "I have one more section to do." He bowed slightly to her. "See you later."

  He walked past them and back into the forest. Joe watched him go, scratching his head. "The fuck is up with that guy?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "I don't get his priorities at all." He hoisted up his bundle with a grunt and started walking again. Nikki joined him, carrying a smaller bundle. "He's gotta be burning up in there."

  "Huh?"

  "Guy needs to get laid, is what I'm saying."

  She barked out a laugh. "Not everyone's as obsessed with sex as you, you know. Besides, where the hell's he gonna get laid out here? Everyone's pretty paired up, or not his type at all. Unless you're offering?" she added pointedly, nudging him in the elbow.

  "Nuh-uh. He doesn't want me. He's got a massive crush on Ruby."

  Nikki was genuinely surprised. "For real?"

  "You didn't know? Shit, maybe I wasn't supposed to say."

  "How do you know?"

  "...I was listening in through the window."

  Nikki elbowed him in the side hard. He stumbled and nearly dropped his bundle. "You dick."

  "Hey, I didn't mean to! I was just hanging out with Scrappy by the furnace. That cat needs love."

  She rolled her eyes. "Okay, fair. Keep talking though."

  "So Ruby goes out to the garden and leaves Cinza in bed. This is back when she was still falling apart after the ritual, right?"

  "After we got home and she collapsed?"

  "Nah, like a week later."

  "Okay, go on."

  "So Ruby sends Makoto in to check on her. They get to talking and Cinza asks why Makoto hasn't talked to Ruby yet about his big fucking crush."

  Nikki shook her head. "In so many words."

  "You know how she talks. I don't remember her flowery bullshit very well."

  "Call it bullshit again and we'll see how well you remember this conversation."

  "Sorry, sorry. But yeah. Makoto is crushing on Ruby hard. And I guess Cinza's okay with it?" Joe shrugged. "I don't get them."

  "'Course you don't, you're a guy." Nikki frowned. "Makoto isn't confident enough to ask Ruby out. That'll never take off."

  "Not confident enough? The guy is fucking built of confidence. He's solid grade-A confident."

  "Self-assured and confident aren't the same things," Nikki said patiently. "You're confident, but you aren't self-assured for shit."

  "Huh?"

  "I'm saying you suck at believing in what you're good at."

  "Wow, don't mince words on me at all," Joe grumbled.

  They emerged into their home. Rufus waved at them from the wire he was setting up around the line of trees that made up their outer border. At a glance, it appeared to be totally natural growth, but if she looked closely Nikki could see how they'd been arranged and designed very deliberately, smoothed over by a supernatural touch.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "It's a goddamn compliment. You are good at shit, you just need to remember it and stop moping about when you're thinking about it."

  "So how is that different from confidence?"

  "Fine, social confidence is what I meant. You've got that."

  "It helps that I stopped following Ryan around like an asshole," Joe added.

  "Don't remind me."

  "You hated him too?"

  "Fuck no, I barely ever talked to him." She sighed exaggeratedly. "I don't want to be reminded of how inhumanly handsome he was. A specimen like that didn't belong in a town our size."

  "Inhumanly handsome?" Joe repeated sarcastically.

  "Again, you're a straight guy. You're never gonna get it." Nikki started talking in a faux-dreamy voice. "He was just so tall and strong. With those deep blue eyes, like the ocean on a lazy summer afternoon. And his perfect blonde hair. Mmmmmmm…"

  Joe tossed his bundle onto a bench. He turned and put his arms around Nikki, shocking her into silence. He leaned forward and planted a kiss right on her lips. She didn't know how to react for a moment, but finally settled for melting into it, letting her own bundle fall to the ground and leaning into it.

  When they broke apart, Joe grinned. "Who were we talking about again?"

  Nikki shrugged. "No clue." She glanced over her shoulder to their cabin. "Maybe you could remind me later."

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

  Nikki sat in the corner of the room on a blanket, knitting herself a scarf from the materials Ruby had provided. Brittany was doing the same in her chair. Ruby had offered to make one with magic, but Nikki wanted something to occupy her mind. She thought it might help her concentrate better while she practiced her magic. Today, though, it was actually because she wanted a scarf, and because she wanted to keep Brittany company for a while.

  "So what's it like?" Brittany asked, setting aside her needles for a moment. "Finding out things with magic."

  Nikki sighed. "Not you too."

  She smiled. "Everyone's been asking?"

  "You're the seventh. Just Matt and Makoto left to ask."

  "It's exciting, though, isn't it? Being able to do something no one else can do."

  "Yeah, but we all know that." Nikki shrugged. "You found a Scrap all on your own, didn't you? Back in Tacoma?"

  "Matt found it, actually. I was at work." Brittany winced as she adjusted herself in her chair. She picked up the bottle of pills on her end-table and downed a pair before continuing. "We had it all to ourselves for a month before Rachel reached out."

  Nikki finished off the scarf with a satisfying final stitch. She tied it off and snipped the extra thread, before holding it up to show off. It looked perfect, neat and clean with a simple pattern of flowers she'd gotten off the internet.

  "Come on then, toss it over. Get ready to be judged." Reluctantly, Nikki threw it across the room to Brittany, who deftly caught it. She looked it over painstakingly, while Nikki waited with baited breath. "Hmm…" Without warning, Brittany tossed it around her neck and pulled it snug. "Very nice. I think I'll hang onto this."

  "Hey!" Nikki jumped to her feet, indignant.

  Brittany held up her hands in surrender, her eyes wide and fearful. "You wouldn't take a scarf from a one-legged woman, would you?"

  Nikki faltered halfway across the room. She wasn't sure if Brittany was serious. A second later, Brittany's face narrowed wickedly. She pulled off the scarf with a flourish. It flew across the room and snapped like a whip in midair, smacking her across the shoulder.

  "Don't give up so easily just because I'm stuck in this chair," Brittany scolded. She held the scarf in midair hovering above Nikki's head. "Go on, grab it."

  Nikki leapt for it, but it simply hovered further out of reach. She started looking around for a chair to boost herself. As she reached for the stool in the corner, Brittany's eyes flicked across the room. The chair suddenly tumbled over backwards away from her just as Nikki closed on it.

  "What are you doing?" Nikki asked, exasperated.

  "Reminding you what you can do." Her grin got wider. The scarf fluttered over Nikki's head, tapping her on the ear and rushing away as soon as she lunged for it.

  "I can't though. I suck at Movement magic, and it's your affinity." Nikki shook her head. "I can't beat you."

  "Do you remember that night?"

  "...Yes."

  "Are they gonna be worried about what affinity you might or might not have?" Brittany smacked across the head lightly with the scarf again. "Get the scarf, Nicole."

  Nikki hated her full name. With a snarl of rage, she flung out her mind at the scarf floating tantalizingly just out of reach. As the mental thrust of her willpower reached it, she hit a brick wall. Brittany's own projection of will, as strong as steel, totally unyielding. Nikki forced herself to slow down, and started feeling around the edges of her mental grasp, trying to find anywhere she might be weak. She'd heard Cinza talking about such a technique, and thought she might be able to use it to win this little bout.

  It was useless. The moment she found a weakness, Brittany closed it up. "You're too obvious, Nicole."

  Brittany spun the scarf in a circle, then suddenly pulled it taut. The fibers were starting to stretch.

  "Get the scarf."

  Fuck it. Nikki hurled her mind at Brittany's grip with abandon. She could feel breaks beginning to form, as she sapped away Brittany's energy. A few more moments and she might have it.

  "No." Brittany's grip suddenly doubled over. It seemed to pulse, and the mental shockwave shattered Nikki's concentration entirely. Pain pierced through her brain, like a single burst of migraine that instantly subsided.

  I'm not losing to you, crippled or not. Nikki reached out mentally for the cold metal laying against her skin underneath her shirt. She kept her eyes focused on the scarf, trying to distract Brittany from what she was doing. You didn't know I had this on.

  With the sudden burst of energy from the citrine stone she'd added to her necklace, Nikki threw a massive wave of force at the scarf. In an instant, she'd buckled through Brittany's grip. Brittany's eyes went wide. The scarf began to flutter down, suddenly freed from its invisible hand, before Nikki grabbed it again.

  Brittany wasn't giving up so easily either. Nikki had released the energy from the stone, not wanting to waste any more of it, and Brittany took the opportunity to blindside her. Nikki had expected a hit from the side, bracing herself against the surprise attack she knew was coming, but Brittany was one step ahead of her.

  A pillow jumped off the armchair and smacked Nikki in the face.

  She lost sight of the scarf entirely, and with it, her concentration. In a moment, it was fluttering back into the air. An instant later, the threads smacked her ear again.

  "Fuck you, I had that," Nikki shouted, getting to her feet.

  "Did you?" Brittany asked calmly.

  "That wasn't fair and you know it."

  "We never set any rules. I'm trying to help you out here, Nikki. Pay attention."

  "I'm not your fucking kid, Brittany," Nikki snapped.

  Instantly, while blood rushed to her face and her heart pounded in her chest, she knew she'd gone too far. Brittany's face froze. The mischievous mood from moments earlier was already a distant memory.

  Nikki shook her head emphatically. "I'm so sorry."

  Brittany shook her head, very slowly. "I know you aren't Jake."

  "I…" Nikki trailed off. What was she supposed to say after bringing that up? "I should go."

  "Yes, you should." Brittany dropped the scarf on Nikki's lap. She reached over awkwardly to the blanket sitting beside her chair, wrapping herself up. Nikki picked up the scarf and her bundle of possessions, and practically sprinted out of the cabin.

  She nearly ran Matthew over as she did, returning from a day working in the farm. The door swung shut behind her as she tried to find a way around him.

  "What's the matter?" he asked, setting down his basket of food.

  "Nothing. I gotta go."

  "Nikki, slow it down. What happened?"

  "I—" Nikki tried to dart around him, but he held out an arm to stop her.

  "Nikki, please. Are you moving out?" He glanced at the bundle under her arm, which amounted to every single personal possession she had left. "Did we do something wrong?"

  "No, nothing. Please, I have to go."

  Matthew shook his head. "Nah. You'll hate yourself more if you do. Tell me what happened."

  Maybe it was the fresh air, or maybe it was his patient voice, but Nikki gave up trying to escape. Both the Wilkinses had been so good to her. She didn't want to just run away, especially when she really had nowhere to run to. The furthest she could move away was about six hundred feet.

  "I brought up Jake."

  Matthew's face fell. "Oh… I see."

  "I'm so sorry. I know it's still—"

  "It's all right." Matthew sat down on the bench attached to their porch. It had a section carved out to make it easier for Brittany to get in and out, and Matthew took the opposite side. Nikki remained where she always ended up, awkwardly in the way and never knowing where she was supposed to be. "It hit us both pretty hard you know."

  "But you don't—"

  "Because I know I'm going to see him again one day."

  Nikki hesitated. As far as she knew, they weren't particularly religious. "You mean like… in heaven?"

  "No, I mean here. We'll find a way." He smiled. "She'll show us a way."

  Nikki couldn't help it. She frowned. "You really think you can bring him back with magic? That sounds really out there."

  "You sound like Brittany." Matthew sighed. "I know I seem crazy. But look at everything we can do. Is it really so hard to believe it might be possible?" He looked at her thoughtfully. "Maybe you'll be the one to figure it out. With your new gift."

  She shook her head. "It doesn't really work like that."

  "Ah."

  The silence dragged on uncomfortably. He was staring out across the clearing without a word. Nikki wasn't sure if she should leave or stay. Matthew didn't seem to mind, but she doubted Brittany would be quite so fast to forgive. Finally, she gave in. She knew she wasn't welcome in that cabin anymore. Another one struck off her list.

  "Bye, then."

  Nikki turned and walked away, wondering where she was going to sleep for the night.