As far as I knew, eleven people in all of reality had known what I looked like before that moment; My mother, The Mothers, and the guard I had charmed to escape.

I had made it twelve and letting my glamor fade away had left me feeling more naked than when I had first met Anna.

I had been wearing nothing but the Mother's seal over my navel, then, but it hadn't felt anything like what I had just done. No part of me wanted to make a habit of exposing myself to others, but I would do it a thousand more times to a thousand different people if it meant I could shield myself from the vulnerability I felt in my soul.

Cold fear shot through my bones every time I saw one of my loose hairs brighten from muddy brown to my copper red, I started again. "My name is Autumn Aubrey. I am a Maiden of Zenithcidel. Daughter of Idensyn Aubrey. Thief and possessor of The Well. Debtor to The Circle of the Nine Mothers."

Even with my aura coursing through my words, my voice quavered.

I couldn't see my own face. My ears could not hear my words as if they were not my own. All I had to measure what I had done was Anna and Sam.

Sam, his back turned to me, maintained an unbreakable gaze through the window glass.

Anna's eyes were wide. Her jaw hadn't dropped, but her lips had parted just enough that I noticed it.

Neither of us spoke.

Neither of us moved.

I needed to know what she was thinking. Child. How could I be so impulsive?. Why did I do that? I’m a fucking child.

Anna was friends with Dani. She had allowed me to take advantage of her mother because she liked Dani. She had clothed and fed me because she liked Dani. She had been able to stomach the fact that whatever her concept of the limits of reality were had been irrefutably and completely wrong because she had trusted Dani.

Dani wasn’t real.

"I'm sorry. . ." I started, feeling another tear working its way down to my chin.

Anna held up a hand to silence me.

"If you want me to. . ." I began again.

"Shut up." Anna said, taking a slow step towards me.

She's going to hit you. I thought. You deserve it.

"I'm sorry. . ." I tried once again.

"Autumn." Anna said.

After so much time, it felt strange to hear my real name. It felt even stranger to hear it come from Anna's mouth. It felt good, too good. To have her look into my eyes and watch her lips open and close over my name, I. . .

Am a fucking mess.

Anna raised her hand. I forced the instincts telling me to brace for the blow that was sure to come out of my mind.

I deserved what was coming to me.

She touched her fingers to my cheek and ran them down the curve of my jaw lightly.

"You're beautiful." Anna said.

I didn't understand. "What?

Anna smiled. "Your eyes are freaky."

I covered them with my hand like I was shading it from the sun. "I'm sorry, I can change them."

"Shit, I didn't mean it like that! I've just never seen anything like them before." Anna said.

What did she say? The conflict between what I had expected and what had actually happened slowed my mind down to a halt.

"Why aren't you upset with me?" I said, simply not understanding.

"Autumn," If I hadn't been caught in a whirl of fear and confusion, I would have smiled. "This is what I wanted. Why would I be mad?"

"I've lied to you. I've stolen from your mother. I've put you into mortal danger. I can think of more reasons you should be mad with me than reasons you shouldn't." I muttered.

"Hey, I don't care. If i did, I wouldn't be here, would I? If I cared, you wouldn't be here."

"You should. How is it that I can wrong you in so many ways and you do not want to collect on my debt? I do not understand." I said, wishing the cold pit in my stomach would go away.

Anna laughed. "How do you not walk around crying all of the time? You have been here for what, like two months? You've said more heartbreakingly sad shit in two months than I have heard in my whole life," Anna looked deeply into my eyes. "You don't owe me anything. Unless that fucking thing comes back, you have to protect me if that happens. But, stop over thinking it dummy," She used the hand that wasn't on my shoulder to give me a small shove. "I've told you before, I like you. It's that simple."

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A warm spot bloomed in my stomach. I believed her. She wasn't forced to be around me because of some magical binding like Sam was. She wasn't bound to me by the responsibility of my birth like my mother was. She didn't have a vested interest in me because of the irreplaceable construct that I carried inside my mind like the Mothers.

The warm spread within me like a morning glory blossom being met with the sun of a new day.

"I like you too." I said to Anna, feeling myself beginning to smile.

Are you doing that on purpose?” Anna asked quietly.

“What do you mean?” I asked, not realizing I was doing anything but sharing the very small distance between Anna and I. My fears cast out and my vulnerability taken in and shielded by her words, I found myself wishing that distance would grow smaller.

“I don’t mean to keep bringing them up, but your eyes. . . they, uhm, changed.”

“What?”

“They turned red,” Anna said. The way she had been looking at me changed. "And are glowing."

A memory I had viewed appeared in my mind. Whose had it been? Leane, maybe? I couldn't remember. She had been with her friend, the one who had awakened her color when their teacher had shown up as a monster to scare them. Ola? No, Asha? Yes, her name had been Asha. The way she had looked at her friend, whoever's memory I had been viewing, was exactly the way Anna was looking at me.

The air in my little third story room felt charged, like the air before a lightning storm. My aura pulsed within me, filling me to the brim. It drew me forward, compelling me to share it with Anna. Was she blushing or was it just the light of my eyes playing across her face? Nothing else mattered, not Sam, the seal, The Well, or The Mothers. We were caught in some unexplainable place that would not end until one of us acted.

“I don’t know what I’m doing.” Anna whispered, her face alight with my glow.

“Neither do I.” I whispered back, feeling that warm bloom redden my face.

Just before the distance between us closed completely and we found out what we were doing, Sam’s deep voice drowned the static in the air and left the room cold. “Enough! The tall one approaches.”

Not a second later, three heavy knocks banged from the other side of my door.

“Anna, Ma wants you."

“Arthur.” We sighed in unison.

The red glow from my eyes no longer stained Anna's cheeks. Later.

“Let him in,” I said, focusing my aura and returning my glamor. I had been able to be Autumn for a moment and unless I was seriously misjudging the result, it had been worth it. I could take being Dani again if it was necessary. "Is our previous arrangement still sufficient?"

Sam turned away from the window for the first time since Anna had returned. "It is."

"Take a good look, I don't know when you will get the opportunity to gaze upon your master's true face again.

Sam spoke in a dismissive tone. “Your glamors are much too simplistic to prevent me from seeing through them.”

I cocked my head, confused. “You could see through my glamor?”

“Completely.” Sam stated.

Anna opened the door after a glance back at me to see if Dani had returned and Arthur walked in with the vigor of a prisoner who had been set to be executed but had suddenly found himself free. He breezed past his sister and then turned to slip between me and the dresser. He spoke in a quick succession. "Ma wants you. Hey Dani, do you feel better? There you are, buddy!"

Arthur scooped up Sam in one hand and raised him straight up, being tall enough that the little blue kitten nearly touched the ceiling.

My familiar responded with a single, all too low, "Meow."

Arthur, keeping his arm locked at its elbow, angled it enough that Sam pawed down it like a tightrope. When the little blue kitten reached Arthur's shoulder, he arched his back and threw it against Arthur's cheek, purring.

Excuse me?

I stepped out from the gap between the bed and the dresser, I didn't want to interrupt. I knew that if I ever did anything to Sam remotely similar to what Arthur had just done, My face would be decoratetd with thousands of bleeding claw marks.

"We'll talk later, okay?" Anna said, stepping out of my room.

I didn't want to talk later. I wanted to talk to her then. There wasn't a world where I wanted her to leave, but I didn't tell her those things. "Later." I said.

She gave me a quick smile and went down the stairs.

Not a second later, Arthur asked me. "Are you ready? I wanted to go over the weekend, but I had to go to the city with my Ma and then you got sick."

"Ready for what?" I asked, my mind still struggling to regain its quickness.

The tall man had adorned his black haired head with Sam, his little legs spread out like a crown. Arthur beamed. "To go ghost hunting! You said you'd go with again when Anna wasn't around."

He had me. I had said that. He had used the words non believer instead of his sister's name when I had agreed. Which was just the kind of technicality I could use to absolve myself of the obligation relatively guilt free. "It's just past noon, shouldn't we wait until night falls?"

"Ahhh," Arthur said as if I had just stumbled upon the penultimate question of some great mystery that's answer would inevitably lead me to the right conclusion. He tapped his forehead with his forefinger. "That's my idea. When I got lost as a kid, I went into the woods when the sun was still up. We need to recreate the circumstances as closely as we can to maximize the chance we see it."

Arthur's enthusiasm was infectious and while I didn't know if there was a ghost behind the boarding house, I did know there was a spirit. "Let me get changed and I'll meet you out back?"

What could it hurt? I was in high spirits for some unknowable reason and fresh air sounded nice after being in my head for three days.

"Deal, I'll go get our gear,” He said and reached up to pull his kitten crown off his head. "Alright buddy, I'll see you later."

Sam sunk his tiny claws into Arthurs scalp, refusing to let go.

"Shit," Arthur chuckled. "I think he wants to go with us. Isn't that right buddy?"

Sam relaxed and purred again.

I glared at my familiar. If there was ever a time for a link that allowed me to speak into Sam’s mind to form, it was then.

"I, uhm, I don't know if that is wise." I said rubbing my arm. What the fuck are you doing? I screamed in my mind at the little blue kitten.

"Please? He can help us look, Cats are spooky like that, you know? Supernaturally sensitive." Arthur begged and flashed his wide smile at me.

The high spirits I found myself in for absolutely no reason got the better of me.

"If you think it will help."