Judith:

Myself, Jezreel, and Sarah sat in the back seat of Allen's car, Kyle in the front. Jessica had been injected with tissue rebuilding formula... only time would tell how well she would recover from what she did. Still, from what I saw of her being loaded into one of the cars... she was awake at least.

Jezreel and I found a deck of cards and played together. Sarah wanted to join, but really I was just interested in my REAL friend. We did ask Kyle, but... yeah that was the first time he even spoke since we left. "Just leave me alone," he said, continuing to look out the passenger window.

Jezreel and I finished our second round of go fish and I sat back. I thought back on everything we had accomplished with the gargoyles and smiled. I listened to the rain tapping the car as we traveled away.

"So... we all really going with that thing we said?" Jezreel said. "I mean, if we tell the Pharaohs what happened, those gargoyles will be hunted down, we won't have to worry about any of them ever again... I just think that if we-"

"If you keep talking- just... yes, at least I meant it," Kyle said.

"I had no choice," she said. "I did not want to see my people massacred and the gargoyles held the upper hand. You think because I see things differently than you that I want to see blood?"

"But Jezreel, you saw everything I did," I said, incredulously. "The gargoyles didn't hurt us, Kyle talked down their leaders, one of them risked her life for us... I do not understand."

"No one said gargoyles are stupid. Their numbers are low, so they play victims to keep us from cutting them down. Tis all a ruse, our teachers, our parents, they were not all lying. Our ancestors did NOT take part in genocide!"

"But... after everything..."

Jezreel bit her lip. "Judith... maybe you are right and I am wrong but... I can not change so soon. I can not accept this... so, what does that mean for our friendship?"

"Jezreel we've disagreed on things before, but this, this is really big. For now... I think we can still be friends." She sighed in obvious relief hearing me. "But the day might come... I will not stand down next time."

I sat back, thinking over what had happened with us. I smiled. "Still, even if we were not all on the same page, we were so awesome." I beamed up at the roof of the car.

Allen chuckled. "Well, I will say this. What you kids did, I couldn't be more proud. Putting it all on the line to stop us like that, that was brave."

"Jezreel was scared!" I pointed out.

"Like you were not!" Jezreel shouted back. I stuck out my tongue and she smirked.

I sighed. "Not like we all did not make mistakes. My own beliefs on gargoyles changed. Anyone else?"

"I now know they exist..." Sarah said.

"Not really... maybe I have a little more hope," Allen said.

"Hope?" I asked. "Allen, surely you see. After this, the war is over."

He blew out the air in his stomach. "No, not even close girls. We can't share what happened remember? Enough people know already. This can't get back to the Pharaohs." He looked over at Kyle. "Speaking of which, I'm gonna guess your silence is at least related to thinking about what you're going to do when your people arrive in a few days right?" If Kyle responded physically, I could not tell, but he did not talk. "So, you just gonna say nothing about this to them, go with the flow?"

"If a large contingent of pharaohs starts following me around..." Kyle spoke, then was quiet, then spoke again, "not gonna go well with a secret like this. Too big of a chance."

"So... I never told you what I would do. Kyle, it's not easy to-" Allen paused... Kyle must have waved him off.

"Allen, I'm your elder. If I say I know what I'm going to do and want to leave it at that, will you respect it?"

"Of course," Allen said.

I shifted in my seat. "But wait... we did not end the war?" I asked. "But... all that stuff we did... did it not mean anything? I mean- gargoyles and everyone else are just going to keep fighting?"

"Essentially yes, I'm also guessing Jezreel isn't the only person with her views on what happened," Allen said.

"Then what was the point?!" I almost shouted.

"Judith, the point of fighting for what you believe in isn't always to win some kind of ultimate victory," Allen replied. "Sometimes you just take what you can get I guess. Out there, you kids stopped a fight between hundreds of people, saving so many lives. You learned a good number of lessons and I'm sure you grew a little as a result... really that sounds like you all accomplished a lot. Your beliefs changed and you stood up for them. You didn't get everything you wanted, but you can still be proud that you stood."

"Sooo..." Sarah began. "I um... you're taking us all home right?"

"Yep, sure your parents will be happy. I'll have to make up a cover story." Allen replied.

"What were you guys gonna do about me remembering Raymie?" Sarah asked.

"If there's no record of someone, they don't exist Sarah... so you know we covered up his death?"

"Xao explained a little bit... really feel sorry for Jaden. Xao said you guys can't get rid of all loose ends, but you can hide pretty much anything, even a whole person."

"I say we've hidden more than a few persons, we've hidden whole worlds," Allen said. "Not sure how I feel about that sometimes."

"So," she paused. "So I kinda learned with your kids, even if it seems hopeless, trying to do something to stop bad things... maybe you should try anyway."

"Sometimes it's worth a shot," Allen replied.

"So can you... not take me to my home?"

I looked at her, taken very off guard. I felt the car slow to a stop as Allen pulled over. "Why would you ask that?" Allen asked.

"Because home is a bad place."

"What do you mean?" he asked back.

Sarah pulled her knees to her chest. "Dad he... he... and mom she... " Allen got out of the car and walked around. He opened Sarah's door.

"C'mon, let's go talk, just you and me."

(***)

Eventually, they returned to the car. You could feel a sense of weight in the vehicle. "What's going on?" I asked.

"Not really something you three need details about," Allen said. "Sarah's parents are... not very nice people." He sighed and thought for a moment. "I'm going to drop her off with a family here in Seattle I know. Sarah Huckston is essentially going to disappear. I'm sorry, even if I did have faith in the official system to help her, her sudden courage to speak up will raise a lot of questions, especially with reference to where she went. We've had enough problems with police in our neighborhood as is. I'm not bringing her back to her home, but this is all I can think of for now." He tapped the dashboard a few times. "Guess she'll become what's often known as a "familiar". Normal humans living in our societies. You guys will learn about them in school someday. You should all say your goodbyes, most likely, none of you will see her again."

Well, that sunk in. I really barely knew Sarah, I didn't take the time to get to know her. Really, I kinda judged her as not worth it because I thought she was racist. Come to think of it though... had she really done anything that bad to me?

Sarah sat next to me hugging her knees to her chest. I put a hand on her shoulder. "Sarah, you know we are not so much friends, yes?" She nodded, starting to cry. "It is not anything you have actually done, it is just... we are from different places I think. I assumed you thoughtless of me and people like me because you use words like "darkie" and... a certain word that starts with "n" that I would rather not repeat."

"You mean ni-"

"Do not ruin the moment," I said quickly. "I suppose... maybe you are just used to those words. Now that I think of it, at no point did you exclude any of us... actually, we excluded you." I took back my hand. "In the future, do not refer to black people in ways you would not refer to other white people, it just is not nice. I guess now... now I regret not getting to know you. You seem like an okay girl. Good luck."

"Yeah, good luck!" Jezreel said.

A part of me wished I could feel differently about Sarah. She was not so bad, really, but she did treat me different... that continued to affect how I felt even now. Was I being unfair? I did not know. It was just how I felt. Even if I did feel different about her than others, I still did hope for the best for her.

We drove for a short time and came to a small groups of apartments. Allen went into the complex. After what seemed like a VERY long time, he came out with two adults, a man, and a woman. I blinked. They were banshees like me. So much for what I thought race meant. Sarah crawled out of the car.

Suddenly, Kyle, who had been quiet the whole time, threw open his door. "That does it! At least one of us has to do this!" he went up to her and pulled on her shirt until he pulled her down to his height. He then hugged her tightly. Sarah started sobbing and hugged him back, holding so tight she actually picked him up. He slowly let go of her and she, him. Her new father picked her up. The two new parents carried her into their home.

When Allen got back into the car, I had to ask him. "Did I do something wrong? I mean, I never tried to be her friend... I actually tried to avoid her... then I just didn't do anything..."

"You can't be friends with everyone Judith. Did she treat you differently?"

I nodded. "Well not incredibly, but a little..."

"Well, remember how that made you feel, and don't do it to others. Sarah made mistakes around you I'm guessing. I don't see how it's your fault you judged her by her actions, that's what you're supposed to do. Just now... understand, sometimes there's more to someone's story than what you see at first. I think after what we've all been through, you get that there isn't always a bad guy right? No one in this car really treated her wrong- well I assume, you weren't directly mean to her were you?"

"Not so much, but we did not think very nice things about her... well I did not anyway."

"Did you try to hurt her?"

"I just did not want her around."

"Because of how she acted right?" I nodded. I looked down, so many thoughts going through my head. "I know this is all a lot to take in. Why don't you just think it all through as we drive?"

"I-"

"No. Just sit and think for a while. It's a lot to process. I'd say worthy of a good hour. Ask questions later... I know I have a lot of thinking to do too. Not sure how I feel about my own actions."

Allen turned the car back on and we drove off.