We reappear in the woods, straight into the path of an ugly, scarred, slavering red-eyed wolf. (Coincidentally, I instantly think of Lupe.)  Anzu screeches a warning as its massive jaws open wide, about to take a bite out of the Porter's backside, who screams a high-pitched scream when he notices it looming behind him.

Jack immediately leans out of the cart. "HEY!" He shouts at the lupine, banging his fist on the side of the wagon to attract its attention.

The wolf, evidently recognizing him from some previous near-death encounter, takes one look at the young man's giant hulking frame and yelps in terror, tucking its tail between its legs and running far away. Jack sits back down and pulls out a flask of water from underneath his bench, yanking out the stopper as he tilts his head back, calmly taking a sip.

Arissa claps her hands together gleefully. "That's my man! That's my Jack! Isn't he some absolutely wonderful husband material, papa?"

"Erm..."

"Oh, just think of how well he could protect me from, well, just about anything." Arissa adds slyly, her eyes narrowing as she watches her father squirm in discomfort. "..He'd be sure to keep me out of my usual mischief, even."

Lord Lumos immediately turns to Jack. "Please marry my daughter. Right this instant."

Jack spits out his mouthful of water and chokes.

"B-but, papa," Arissa flutters her hand over her mouth, obviously feigning shock again. "I thought that you said that we should wait to get mar-"

"-I CAN CHANGE MY MIND IF I WANT TO, GIRL!!!" He barks back at her, mopping at his brow with a sparkling golden handkerchief and wheezing under the mental strain of trying to keep up with his daughter.

Jack quickly vaults out of the wagon and makes his escape. "Uh, I'd like to get to know you folks better first, but maybe some other day. Um, see you soon, then. Bye!" He flees into his cottage and slams the door closed shut behind him. Dewdrop and Mina whinny after him in distress, straining at the reins until they finally snap. Then they, too, quickly retreat into their shed before somebody makes them do any more work.

"Oh, pooh, papa. Now look at what you've done. You've scared him off of me for something like two seconds." Arissa purses her lips at her father in anguish. "Your only hope for Lordly offspring, GONE!!!" Arissa screams her last word at him in an overly dramatic manner. "Don't you want to live long enough to become a grandfather?!! Or do you just want to live and die mostly alone, like Evvy will most definitely do here?!!"

"HEY!!!" I protest sharply.

"Yes, I'm savage, I know." Arissa declares proudly. "But at least I know how to act around boys."

"You act desperate." I sigh.

"And it works, now, doesn't it?!!"

"Your poor boy can't handle the pressure that you create for him."

"My darling Evvy, like I've mentioned to you before, my Jack is most clearly a man. He is a delicious, buff, beefy, succulent morsel of a man."

"You sound like you're planning a dinner menu." I scoff.

Arissa slowly licks her lips, her eyes giving off a slight predatory gleam in the night. "Oh, I already am. My wedding dinner." She cackles and rubs her dainty palms together in anticipation. "And oh, how I shall feast on that night." Her polished white teeth glow evilly in the swinging lamplight as it illuminates our silhouettes, making her appear even more diabolical than before.

"I'm having mixed feelings about this." Lord Lumos mutters. "I shouldn't have sent Mr. Jenkins home ahead of us. Oh, he can definitely handle you better." His lower lip trembles for an instant, and I wonder if now I'll have to deal with a sobbing man-child, on top of everything else. And nobody wants that, because believe me, Lord Lumos can be an ugly crier. (Don't ask me how I know. It's really quite a sad story.) Anzu chirps at him pityingly, then, his attention suddenly diverted elsewhere, snaps at a mosquito hovering nearby. His feathers immediately begin to crackle with electricity, and the tips of such begin to smolder, clearly incensed at the insect's sheer audacity at flying within a two-yard radius of his head.

Lord Lumos shrieks upon glancing over and noticing the griffin chick's suddenly flaming eyes. "NO!" He faints, and Arissa smirks as she waves her handkerchief at him for improved airflow.

"I think that he just noticed Anzu, as well." She comments unhelpfully.

The baby griffin hastily retracts his power, giving me a slightly guilty peep. I snicker and slip a hand underneath Anzu's rear end, lifting him off of my shoulder and placing him onto the bench beside me. He looks up at me in bewilderment, gives the bench a disdainful glance, then intently fixes his gaze back onto me again, bidding me to pick him up once more. Now. This instant. His deep golden gaze seems to say.

It's like I can hear his voice in my head. I laugh.

Wait, his eyes were definitely just a plain light yellow before.

..Weren't they?

He narrows his upturned eyes at me, intensifying the disapproving look. I chuckle and return him to his preferred resting place. I must've been mistaken. He's a baby griffin, after all. He couldn't possibly be my-

"Hey, Evvy? Hit my papa for me, would you? There's a good girl."

"I am not hitting a bona fide Lord!!!" I bark back. "Do it yourself. He's your father!"

"Aww, I was afraid you'd say that." Arissa inhales deeply, then winds back and punches her father in the cheek. She's a force to be reckoned with, you know?

He grunts awake. "WHO DARES-?!!"

Arissa immediately gestures behind us. "Uh, stray tree branch. It just happened to catch you right in the face, papa."

"There's a fist-shaped indent in his face." I mutter back. "It's all red! Explain that, genius."

"..It was a very knobby tree branch." My best friend corrects herself hastily. "Remarkably human-like in form, you know? Like a random arm or hand or something." She beams an innocent, radiant smile at her father, expertly flashing her childlike dimples at him as he stares back at her, slightly dazed. He adores her dimpled look. It's one of his weaknesses that she takes full advantage of at any time that things get hairy, I'm sure.

Her father blinks at her a few times, absolutely lost. "Mm-hmm, whatever you say, pumpkin." Arissa triumphantly wiggles her eyebrows at me and smirks.

I fling my arms up in defeat. "Ugh, however you say it happened, 'Rissa. It matters not to me anymore."

Anzu hisses viciously at his Lordship, and I quickly cup my hands around the tiny griffin before he can attack him and land me in the Lumos family dungeons. "Eh, hehe. Careful there, little fellow. We wouldn't want an incident here, now would we?" I pat him on the head a bit more roughly than needed, warning him off. The little eagle-lion hybrid heaves a heavy sigh and desists, though he still glares furiously at Lord Lumos and clacks his beak warningly at him. The Lord cringes back at him, suitably afraid.

"THIRTY SECONDS TO THE NEXT DESTINATION!!!" The Porter bellows.

"Oh, gosh. Better hold on tight, then." Arissa murmurs, gripping onto the sides of the cart, looking a little green.

"I do hope that you'll still be able to return this wagon to that lovely young man when we're done." Lord Lumos states, a question in the guise of a comment.

"I don't know, I'll probably be really tired by then..." The Porter answers slowly, rubbing his fingers together behind his back meaningfully, a shrewd look in his eyes. Lord Lumos huffs in annoyed understanding and pulls out another silver mark, tossing it down to the younger man, who expertly catches it between his thumb and forefinger, grinning. "Of course I can..!" The Porter exclaims exuberantly, twirling around with joy on his face as he kisses the coin. "Already a generous week's wages in a single night! Yes!" He cheers.

"I was already sure that you could do it. I never had any doubt about that." Lord Lumos mutters.

"Money really does drive the world." I comment. "How disappointing."

"FIVE SECONDS!!!"

"Ack!" Arissa covers her mouth with one hand, while the other's nails dig deep into the woodwork on the wagon.

Flash!

We reappear on the sprawling grounds of the Lumos estate, the regal, imposing structure of the mansion looming over us. The Porter, being wise to the ways of the world, hastens to the back and lowers the ramp, helping the great Lord down.

"Do take care of these two, my good Porter sir, or I will not hesitate to see that you are hanged for whatever harm may befall them."

"Papa!"

The Porter gulps and nods, all traces of his former cheek gone. "Yes, SIR!!! I will not fail you!"

"Good. See that you don't." Lord Lumos growls. "Or else, execution."

Arissa smirks at the Porter and teasingly makes a cutthroat gesture at him, to which he visibly pales. I tackle her out of sight. "Stop that!"

Arissa, naturally not being content with letting me have the last say, screams "FIRING SQUAD!" at the lanky man before she conveniently goes silent.

Lord Lumos turns around and stares judgingly at the Porter, his eyes narrowing. "Now there's an idea of last resort.."

"I assure you that these fine ladies will be quite safe with me, my Lord." The Porter squeaks out. "Please don't execute me."

"Hmm, we'll see how well you do your job, first."

The Porter makes a big show of carefully closing the rear of the wagon, checking it over, and then ensuring that we're both seated with the utmost comfort and safety in mind. Lord Lumos quickly winks at his daughter as she pops back up. Arissa giggles and waves goodbye at him as we disappear in another flash.

We pop into view, just a few paces off from my cottage. Arissa claps and cheers at the Porter's excellent accuracy, whilst he looks distinctly nervous to be even this close to the gravedigger's house. Apparently, he's one of the many people who think that my father's going to come out with some kind of big magical reveal one day, saying that he was the death mage all along.

..Which is a completely ridiculous superstition, by the way. It's the ghosts that you have to be afraid of, not the gravedigger.

I sigh. I don't even understand people anymore, but, to be fair, they don't usually understand me, either.

Twitching and hopping from foot to foot, the Porter makes as if to leave. "W- well, seeing as how you're both fine, I think that I'll just-"

Arissa gives him her best disapproving look, activating her full status as her Ladyship. (I knew that she had it in there somewhere.) "-It's a cutthroat world out there, you know?" She comments innocently. The Porter's face silently goes through nearly the whole spectrum of green, and he begins to look rather sick to his stomach. "..I mean, if one doesn't execute their job well, to the fullest extent of their abilities, are they really even fit to live in this world, I wonder?" She waves her hand across her face dismissively, watching him convulse in a wordless fit of fear and looking quite satisfied with herself, indeed. "Ah, I suppose that I'll just have to tell my papa all about this, then. I'm sure that he'll be quite eager to hear my thoughts on the matter, and then we can discuss the subject at great length. Why, at an even greater length than a spear or an arrow could reach, I should think."

The Porter clutches his stomach delicately, no doubt imagining the effect that such a weapon would have on the incredibly vital function of his innards. Then he steadies himself with a sob. "Excuse me for my needless haste to disappear on you, my Lady. How thoughtless of me." He unlatches the back ramp and leads her off of it. Then he tries to do the same for me, but I glare at him and hiss until he lets me walk off it by myself. He seems relieved, to which I then realize that I must look like an awful mess right about now, what with the griffin attack and everything else that's happened tonight. It's strange that Lupe never once commented on how ridiculous I must've eventually looked. Did he not notice?

Arissa glances snootily at the Porter. "I suppose that I may allow you to make your exit now, my dear Voyeur sir." She jabs out a hand imperiously, pointing at the cart when the man attempts to dart away. "And don't forget to return this wagon at once, or else..!" She threatens darkly. "Death by misadventure." She violently tears off a sad little leaf from the ivy on the front of our iron gate, miming snapping its neck. (Gardening Gregory must have missed that one.)

"How do you even know these terms?!!" The Porter cries out sullenly, then obeys her with a frightened little hiccup, man and cart both suddenly vanishing without a trace.

Anzu emits a startled screech, fires up, and then clings to the front of what's left of my dress, nearly setting it alight. (Again.) I quickly attempt to lift him off as tiny sparks and dangerous bolts of electricity fizzle off of him, but he defiantly digs his talons deeper into the fabric, effectively locking himself onto my midriff as he throws his head back and shrieks loud enough to wake the dead.

Then the front door of my cottage is thrown open with a sharp bang and mother rushes out, flinging her arms around me with a muffled sort of a gasp. Anzu squeals in shock as he's squished between the two of us, then ceases his hellish yowling and settles down with a loud rumbling purr, still gripping onto me for dear life as he rubs his head against my stomach with evident delight. Mother silently grips me tighter, and I gasp in alarm as Anzu's claws accidentally rip a rather worrying sized tear in my garment.

Arissa pretends not to notice anything, loudly beginning a thorough running commentary of the front garden plants, talking to no one in particular.

"Oh goody, Evelyn's back!" Great-grandfather Jakob rapidly floats through the stone wall, presumably also coming to inspect the source of the hubbub. Mother stands back as he levitates over to me, then grabs onto my arms as he examines my person, stretching onto his tiptoes to blow out a still-smoldering strand of my hair. (Also Anzu's fault.) "Ooh, what happened to you?" He gasps, then begins cackling evilly upon observing my sorry state. "Your mother will kill you..!" He then rubs his hands together gleefully, making annoying and overexcited ghostly noises. I now want to punch him in the face, in addition to everything else. "You'll be joining me tonight, once and for all! Heeheehee! We'll have such fun together, you and I!"

I moan in despair. "Please, no. Anything but that!"

Mother growls at him quietly. "Not if there's a good reason, I won't kill her for it. Nobody should have to suffer in the Afterlife with you for any longer than necessary, you disrespectful little old twit of a ghost." She retorts, flicking a finger at his nose.

Jakob spits at the ground and adopts a sniveling tone with her. "Ooh, just spoil all of my fun, would you? Well, my dear daughter-in-law, let me tell you something." He says, jabbing a shriveled and transparent finger her way. "You're older than your daughter, so if anyone's going to die first, it'll be you." He cackles triumphantly as he waits eagerly for her response. "Ha! Beat that, you sorry middle-aged cow!"

Mother stares him down. Her right fist is starting to smoke, and one of her fingers gives a small involuntary twitch as she beholds her idiotic relative-through-marriage, clear disgust written all over her beautiful features. "Do you really want me joining you first?"

Great-grandfather Jakob's eyes bulge out as the realization dawns inside of his tiny spectral brain that this would be a very bad idea. "Ah, ooh, uh.. Oh, no!"

"I thought not." Mother grumbles, sweeping past him. "Come inside, children. We have much to discuss." Mother orders, marching towards the receiving room with me in tow.

Arissa leaves off her plant-poking to slowly make her way towards us. "Ooh, biscuits!"

"Not everything's about food, 'Rissa!" I holler. "I need to tell you something serious, alright?!"

Mother looks back at me suspiciously. "It had better not be what I think it is." She growls warningly.

I cringe back at her. "It is."

Mother groans as we step inside the cottage. "There goes my peace and quiet born of blissful ignorance."

Arissa bounces up to us. "What are you two talking about?"

Mother gestures wearily at our couch, holding a tired hand against her lovely forehead. "I think that it's best you sit down for this news, your Ladyship."

"Alrighty, then." Arissa, though confused, immediately obeys her. Out of respect or hunger, I can never tell which.

"We won't be a moment, my dear Lady. Please make yourself comfortable." Mother then grabs me by my arm and tugs me into the kitchen, her expression suddenly fierce as she tightens her grip on my wrist, turning it white in seconds. "Did you reveal yourself?" She hisses, murder written clearly in her eyes. Nox, even as her daughter, I don't feel even remotely safe right now.

I gasp at her ferocious strength and sob wretchedly, dialing up the drama for my own benefit as a sort of last-ditch survival strategy. "I didn't have a choice, mother! There was this annoying good-looking guy, and the bloodthirsty griffin, and the magic man, and then the griffin somehow changed into this tiny thing." Here, I gesture at Anzu, who peeps fetchingly and blinks his big eyelashes at her. She tilts her head back at him, instantly taken in by his charm, if only for but a moment. "..And then I knew that it was only a matter of time before people would start to ask questions about the destruction of Ball Hall, so I thought that I had better leave before anyone might trace it all back to us, but I couldn't leave without Arissa finally knowing the truth, and the whole reason as to why." I inhale deeply, out of breath for the moment.

Mother contemplates me, her grip unexpectedly relaxing. "I had a friend that I would do anything for once, as well." She muses, glancing at my bloodless hand. "Oh, I'm sorry about that, Evelyn dear. I forget my own strength at times. It's the power of motherhood, you see."

I rub my wrist and wince as the numbness starts to recede, letting the pain flow back in. "Don't worry about it, mother." I grit my teeth in annoyance at the sharp feeling in my fingers, flexing them and moaning. "It was my fault for letting things get out of hand in the first place, but I couldn't just kill Anzu."

"Who's Anzu?"

I point exhaustedly at the griffin chick. "He is. He's very sweet when he isn't attempting to fry people to death or eat them."

"Ah." She scratches him underneath his chin, and he emits a pleased purr.

An unwelcome ghost floats in and pokes me in the ribs. "You look horrible." Jakob comments as he looms over me and looks me over more thoroughly, bug-eyed. "Like a mule chewed you up and spit you out again, dragged you through some prickly bushes and maybe harassed y-"

Mother marches up to him and jabs a finger at the front door. "OUT!!!"

Great-grandfather Jakob sobs in defeat. "Alright, alright, I know when I'm not wanted." He sniffles sadly and slowly floats towards the door, dramatically creating a ghostly air of melancholy in the surrounding area. A classic attention-seeking move, but one which us trained women both ignore with ease. That, and we're used to his idiotic behavior by now.

"It's about time that you finally figured that out." Mother rumbles in a low, threatening tone, completely unaffected by his measures to stir up some guilt in her.

Jakob spins around, gaping at us from the other side of the threshold, the effects of his other-magic immediately dissipating. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, IT'S ABOUT TIME THAT I-" Mother smugly waves her hand, and the door slams shut in his face.

Satisfied, she clasps her hands together and faces me. "Now, tell me everything. And it had better be good." She threatens, reentering the living room with me skulking along behind her, feeling thoroughly chastised.

"Evvy danced with a man!" Arissa announces proudly, practically screaming out this juicy tidbit of news.

Mother's eyes widen. "Impossible! A real man?!! Did you hire him?"

"No, I didn't, that's the funny thing. ..I was skeptical that it would ever happen, too, but they really danced together! He asked her! I had to force her to go through with it, but she actually did it!"

"ARISSA!!!" I scream.

"Oh, was he handsome?" Mother asks, the glimmer of a lost hope reawakening in her eyes.

"He was! He was tall, dark, handsome, and-"

"ARISSA!!!" I bark again. "Stop that!"

"-How handsome?" Mother interrupts, speaking over me.

"Ooh, very!" Arissa replies, stamping her foot on the floor for emphasis.

The two of them squeal together triumphantly, completely ignoring my embarrassment.

"I had my own set of problems, you know!" Arissa counters suddenly, noticing my discomfort at last. "That stupid sleazy Earl was trying to stalk me again earlier, Evvy. Lumos's ghost, I thought that I'd never shake him! Do you know what I had to do just to get him away from me?!!" She mimes spitting out of the side of her mouth with as much heathen spirit as she can muster. "And that was just the beginning of the end." Arissa exclaims, flopping down beside me onto the couch and finally making me realize that the entire front of her evening gown is covered in an extravagant amount of.. Something.

She notices me subtly leaning away from her and chuckles, slapping her stomach in amusement. Some of the substance gets transferred onto the palms of her hands, and she stares at them for a moment before shrugging and wiping them onto the sides of her dress, where it's a little cleaner.

"Oh, relax, Ev!" She exclaims, giving voice to an unladylike snort. "It's only mud, not that!" She giggles and grabs a cushion, shoving it my way.

I snatch it and hug it tightly against my body. "Well, go on, then!" Arissa rests her head on her elbows, then leans her chin on my cushion. Not all at once, mind you. She keeps inching it forwards in miniscule increments. As if I wouldn't notice her bouncing her skull up my pillow.

"Off! You're filthy!" I shoo her a safe distance away (mainly, to the other side of the couch) and settle down as she recounts the rest of the night's events. "Now explain yourself, your Ladyship."

"Alright. You know how the Earl of Enveera has apparently made it his personal mission to harrass me whenever I show up in public?" Mother and I both nod understandingly, so Arissa continues. "Well, he had finally found me at the ball, just as you were doing your thing, Evvy." Here, she winks knowingly at me. Ah, Lupe. That was right before the insane griffin incident, then. "So there he is, about to grab me by my arm like the rude little git that he is, so I call out loudly for my dear future husband Jack." She cups her hands around her mouth and hollers out. "Oh, Hottie! ..Like that."

"My dear Lady Arissa, have you finally found the One?" Mother asks, pleased.

Arissa blinks back at her solemnly. "Indeed I have, Mrs. Mortis. Indeed I have."

"How delightful! Then that only leaves you, daughter dearest." Mother states, glancing pityingly at me. I frown at her. How rude! Mother sighs and walks to the kitchen to fetch a plate of biscuits as Arissa gives her an approving look.

"We'll get to that." Arissa snickers knowingly. "Moving on: So, Jack flies through the door and grabs me, I grab a platter with those little rolls that I like, because I was getting pretty hungry again by that point, and he actually carries me back out the door, bridal style." I choke on air, and Arissa sighs dreamily, obviously enjoying remembering this part of the evening. "The Earl tries to do whatever that sniveling little fool tries to do, and Jack blows up. Um, not literally, but oh, he gets mad. He's getting all protective and holding me tightly to him, and I'm just there-"

"-Eating." I comment blithely, snickering. "In his arms."

"Dying inside." She corrects, her eyes sparkling with good humor. "But yes, I was snacking in the meantime."

"Naturally."

"Dancing makes me hungry, Ev. Everyone knows that." She says, accepting mother's proffered platter of biscuits with profusely grateful thanks. "Now where was I? Oh, yes. Jack carried me out of there in a hurry, so we ran around the Hall a few times, trying to wear that blasted Earl out. For someone so miserable and fat, he's a frightfully good runner. Anyway, we sort of slipped in some mud, and that's why my gown looks like this, Evvy, just so you know. Then we had a good giggle at the Earl, violently threw some mud at him, (ah, the many perils of farmyard life) watched him storm off in a huff, and then we went back to the stables to enjoy each other's company. That is, until you showed up screaming bloody murder." She lifts her head towards me enthusiastically, like an eager little puppy. "Now for your news, and just you try to top that, Evvy!"

I swallow hard. This is it. The very moment that could decide the fate of our friendship. I'd better not mess this up. "The Night Hunters have recruited me, so I'll be going off for a bit on an epic journey of self-discovery and all that." I blurt out quickly. Yes! Nailed it.

Arissa falls off of the couch in shock. "WHAT?!!" She looks up at me in confusion. "But, Evvy, do you even have any, you know.. Magic, to speak of?"

I emit an awkward chuckle, while my mother rapidly shakes her head no at me, trying to warn me off and glaring at me aggressively the whole time that I'm speaking. "Um, well, that's the thing. I might've actually had magic all my life, haha." I awkwardly slide my gaze elsewhere, to look anywhere but at her.

Arissa stares at me for a moment longer, and then her eyes clear, changing first to understanding, and then to a sort of calm wonderment. "You're really.. A necromancer, aren't you?" Mother makes a strange gurgling sound in the back of her throat, like she's dying, but I try to ignore her as best as I can.

Now it's my turn to nearly fall off of the couch in astonishment. "What?!! How'd you guess that so easily?!!"

"It's a kind of magic that you couldn't even tell your best friend about, and you certainly could never mention having it to anyone else. What other kind is there, then? I'm not stupid, you know. Give me some credit please, Ev." She taps her finger against her chin, thinking back. "It would certainly explain all of the weird little chills that I kept experiencing every time I was here, not to mention that strange vase nearly conking me on the head a small while ago. And then there's the rocking chair rocking even when no one's on it. And-"

"-Alright, so we've got a lot of ghosts." I glare accusingly at great-grandfather Jakob's silhouette peeking in through the window at us. He gasps silently through the glass when he realizes that I'm watching him, then hastily dashes away. "I'm just glad that you're not jealous of me or anything." I finish dryly.

"Oh, heck no! They sound like a hassle."

"They are, far more than you will ever know." I grumble.

Arissa compassionately pats me on my back, mumbling comforting things to me. "We'll see each other again one day soon, right? You're not just going to vanish without a trace and leave me to deal with my life all alone from here on out, are you?" She cries out, flinging her arms around me and sniffling loudly. "Where would I be without my ace Earl embarrasser?!!" She sobs into my shoulder, her eyes and nose red. "I need you, Evvy! You're like the gloomy big sister that I never had!"

I laugh with a confidence that I can no longer feel. "Haha! Of course we will meet again on one glorious day! Just see if you can stop me! I shall return home triumphant, bringing you all many fine spoils of war!" I boom out, my voice thrumming with as much power as I can muster.

"Evelyn Mortis, stop acting ridiculous or I'll lock you into a closet with your great-grandfather for a week." Mother's words have an unusually harsh edge to them, and I recoil from her quickly, shivering. "We really need to talk, you and I."

Arissa snorts. "And that's my very obvious cue to go. I'll come back in the morning. Bye!" And without further ado, she flounces off to- "Wait, how will she get home?" I ask my mother rather concernedly.

"Don't worry about me, I have my ways!" Arissa screams out, as if she's just read my thoughts. "Carry on!" She yells, enthusiastically mouthing whoosh as she leaps out through the door with both feet. "Heehee! Bye!"

Mother stares after her, clearly worried. "I know that she's your friend, dear, but she's even stranger than you yourself are." She sighs in disappointment and distractedly inspects the hem of her dress, plucking off a stray strand of thread and flicking it to the floor with her fingertip. "Your father can clear that up when he comes home." She decides.

I puff out my cheeks, insulted. "Really, mother. I'm not that strange. I'm just: Different." Anzu squawks harshly (possibly in a bout of insane laughter) and promptly falls off of me at long last, fast asleep and utterly exhausted due to tonight's stress. I quickly move him out of the way so that we can continue our discussion undisturbed. So there he now sits on the side table, looking exactly like a softly glowing stuffed duck. "..Like I said, mother: Different."

Mother snorts. "I'll say. Sometimes, I'm completely and wholeheartedly ashamed of you."

I gasp in horror and hold a hand over my heart. "Of me? How could anyone be ashamed of me, of all people?!"

She waves her hand at me. "Just look at you! You look even more homeless than usual, pardon my saying."

"I dress for comfort, and it's not my fault that my dress got so torn up! Blame the crazy griffin and the unstable invisible spellcaster! Oh, and also that terribly handsome, well-chiseled man! He was the worst part of it all, and I hope never to see him, nor his insanely deep, soulful, and beautifully perfect chocolate brown eyes ever again! Blech! How terrible my night was!" I make a disgusted retching noise and start grumbling annoyed nonsense underneath my breath to console myself.

Mother largely ignores me as she bends woefully over what remains of my garment. "All of that work for naught!" She cries, snatching up one of the least damaged areas of my gown and waving it in my face. "Look at what you've done to your dress!" Another piece of my garment disintegrates at her touch, and I quickly cover myself with my hands before some shameful part of it vanishes off of me next.

"Can I please change now?" I beg.

"Not until you explain yourself." She growls, scrunching the fabric even tighter. Another shred crumbles to ashes in her crushing grip, and I squeak in fright and slap my hands over my chest in a kind of protective X, trying to preserve what little modesty I have left.

I groan in anguish and quickly explain everything that happened in the ball, mainly skimming over Lupe's few heroic bits and overexaggerating my own awesome part in it, trying to win back the majority of my mother's favor. "..And that is when, after I had nearly died for the second time this evening, I decided that I'd better level my own magic up some more, and what better place to do that than in a secret organization that I know next to nothing about? But at least I have a tiny griffin baby to keep me company, so that's a plus! Isn't that right, Anzu?" Anzu burps in response to his name, then sleepily smacks his beak and tilts off of the side table in slow motion, falling into the couch crevice and setting it on fire. I gasp and quickly set him back onto the table, immediately putting out the flames with a cushion. I grin weakly at mother and close my eyes, waiting for her inevitable explosion of the most epic magnitude possible.

..But it doesn't come.

I slowly and cautiously flutter my eyelashes open again, catching my mother's suspiciously understanding nod. "Hmm." She says, sounding suddenly quite relaxed about the matter. "Well, if it's the Hunters, then I suppose that I can let you go. Perhaps that nice Vidalia fellow is still with them, he seemed to be a rather ambitious type. He's probably been made a Commander by now, you know."

My jaw drops to the floor in complete shock. "Pardon?"

Mother turns to me and holds my cheeks in both her hands, probably making note of my face in case I lose it in the time to come. "So, they've finally found out about you, have they?" She sighs a deep sigh of regret. "Well, I can't say that I'm unduly surprised. They always did have their ways of knowing things. I'm just pleased with myself that it's taken them two and a half decades this time." Unexpectedly, she chuckles, then bursts into peals of hearty laughter, startling me. "I was a Night Hunter myself, once upon a time." She confesses, gasping desperately for breath. "It didn't last long after some incidents occurred, but like mother, like daughter, I suppose."

I blink at her, genuinely stunned into silence. "Y-you were also..?"

She nods slowly, a small tear silently trickling down her cheek as she lovingly holds my hands in hers. "This was a short time before I met your father, of course. I'm not sure if even he knows about my past, we've never really talked about it together much before."

"To be fair, he's usually burying a body in most of his waking hours." I quip.

She laughs. "He's always looked after me since then. Your father's a good man, but he may yet be completely clueless about that aspect of my life."

"But why didn't you ever tell me? Even when you realized that I was also a ghost-gifted?" I put my hands on my hips and scowl menacingly at her. "That seems pretty unfair, you know."

"It's only because I wanted it to fully be your decision, instead of making you feel pressured into doing it simply because I was also a member long ago. Your will is your own, Evelyn, not mine. Also, I've heard some shocking reports about recent betrayals there, and I was worried about your safety."

"That sounds.. Safe." I bit my lip anxiously. "Was this really a good idea that I agreed to?!"

She shrugs unhelpfully, quietly glancing at me. "I just hope that you don't have to deal with the same kind of problems that I had to face when I was there. Many people were deeply suspicious of necromancy when I was young, and I doubt that they've changed that much in only a quarter of a century."

"Thank you for the warning, mother. I'll be sure to obliterate any and all of the haters." I light up my hand a bit and cackle evilly for show.

Mother rolls her eyes heavenward. "Arissa's rubbing off on you too much. It'll do you good to meet some other people, Evelyn. I hereby approve of your 'epic journey.'"

I pout back at her and extinguish my fingers. "Alright, I see your point. I'll go willingly."

"Excellent." She tilts her head at me, thinking. "I'd give you a parting gift, but you already have one of the single most powerful weapons ever created, so you probably don't need anything else. Not really."

"..Huh?"

"Your hunting dagger, Evelyn! The one that we gave to you on your sixteenth birthday! It's the legendary sword of our ancestor! It was used by the great Eva Necros herself to slay her foes in the long-ago days of the first Kings and Queens!"

I take out my dagger and stare at it, then back at her, unconvinced. "Uh-huh.. I learned some history a few years back, so I thought that she was the enemy of the entire empire. Also, that seems highly unlikely." Eva. Now that name sounds vaguely familiar.

"Oh, perhaps I forgot to tell you about all that." Mother's lips purse together tightly, bidding me silent until she replies. "Though they changed history to suit the story the way that they wanted it told..." Her expression goes dark, but then she suddenly brightens, changing the subject slightly and making me think that maybe I imagined it after all.

"I'll give you the condensed version." She says, seeming to reach a quick decision. "..That woman was a hero, Evelyn. One of the greatest female warriors to ever walk the earth, and they betrayed her."

"You never tell me who they are, though." I lift an eyebrow at her, suitably irritated. Finally, I'm starting to be able to fit together some of the pieces of a long-lost puzzle, but my own mother won't let me know anything that's really important. There's something that she hasn't told me yet, and I will find out what it is one day! I clench my fists together tightly, silently willing her to give me some more answers, but she doesn't budge.

She ignores me and my obvious steely determination, gently taking the dagger from my hand and drawing a finger over it, coaxing it to grow underneath her hand with her own magic as she continues. "..That's why, with her last dying breath, she uttered a single powerful spell that would keep the blade's true identity and power dormant, unless wielded by those pure of heart, and preferably of her bloodline. She was quite picky in that way." She hands the sword to me, and I give it an experimental swing before it shrinks back and sheathes itself into its small leather holster once more. "This blade. Use it well, use it wisely, and with my blessing, dear child. I know that you will make us all proud." She frowns at me. "And do try not to die an easily avoidable death, because I don't want to waste my energy on summoning you every day just to speak with you whenever I feel like it."

"Mother.." I tear up as she takes me into her arms and hugs me, fondly kissing me on my forehead before pulling back and letting me go.

She glances at the grandfather clock in the corner and smiles triumphantly. "There, I managed to complete the entire explaining ordeal in under a minute. I think that I just barely beat my mother's speed record. Now go, or you'll be late to bed. I expect that they'll come for you sometime tomorrow, if memory serves."

I wipe at my eyes with my tattered sleeve cuff and quickly head to my bedroom door before she changes her mind. I can then faintly hear her mutter one more thing very quietly under her breath before I step inside. "I just hope that it activates for you..."

Word count: 6588

A.N: Whew!  It's about time that I finally finished up this chapter.  I'm too excited for you all to meet the Hunters for me to let this chapter languish any longer!