[OP: "Switch"--Ashley Tisdale]

On the other side of the portal, bright sunlight greeted them as they all tumbled into their living room.

Baby hit the couch edge painfully, as he was dropped out at an angle.

Raven and Morph landed on their feet, and Zoey and Rumi managed to also this time, being more ready.

Mira, Abby, and Jinu were all tossed together, and Romance and Mystery both fell onto their shoulders instead of their feet.

"There has to be better way to aim through those," Romance groaned.

"Ow." Jinu tried to get up. "Abby, get off me."

"Trying," Abby said.

"That's my hair!" Mira cried as it got caught on their jackets.

Rumi and Zoey had to help untangle her before they could all get up.

Just as they'd finished doing this, and Baby had pulled himself off the couch and complained that he'd have a bruise now, Bobby came walking in.

He was only wearing pajama pants and a robe, as he'd not expected them to return at this moment.

Zoey screamed, Mira stared, and Rumi covered her eyes.

The boys didn't care, and Raven was far too used to this to bat an eyelash. She just looked at the girls like they were idiots.

"Oh, hi--" Bobby nearly dropped his coffee. "Wow...that was fast. I seriously wasn't ready for you."

"Bobby, for crying out loud, why are you dressed like that?" Rumi still had her eyes covered.

"He's got a robe on." Jinu didn't see why she was so embarrassed--this was more clothes than people wore on the streets in his era half the time.

"I thought you said you'd be gone a week or at least days," Bobby defended himself.

"How long has it been?" Morph asked the real question.

"It's...been like...one night, I think..." Bobby checked his phone. "Yeah, maybe 14 hours at most."

"Two hours for each day," Romance did the math. "That's amazingly closer than you said."

"Well, we told you it was unpredictable," Raven said, "and that it often works in our favor. This is lucky. Gwi-Ma will not even have noticed we're gone."

"And we have to tell Celine," Morph said. "Did she call, by the way?"

"She did," Bobby said. "But I told her you all were working." He clearly felt a little bad about this lie.

Though it wasn't really a lie; they had worked a whole lot.

"We promised her we'd talk to her soon," Rumi said. "So I guess...I should find my phone. I think I left it in my room. Oh, that's right, we have to get you all phones."

"Yes, Shine also said it was stupid for us not to before," Morph reflected.

"Bobby, for crying out loud, can you go change?" Zoey said.

Bobby left in a hurry.

"I don't know why you're embarrassed--you've seen us wearing less than that," Abby said.

"But he's, like...old enough to be our uncle..." Zoey said.

"That's pretty unfair," Morph said. "Heck, I'm old enough to be your father."

"We've never seen you dress like that," Mira said.

"Well, you've never actually seen my true form at all," Morph said.

"That isn't your true form?" Jinu asked.

Mystery put on his glasses, and then he said, "Oh...wow, that is so different from what I expected."

"Huh? Let me see." Zoey reached for the glasses.

"I don't think you want to see it," Mystery said, moving out of her reach.

"Now I'm really curious," Zoey said.

"You all are ridiculous," Raven said. "That is his form he's known by in his world. So what if his most natural form is a little different? He can stay in whatever shape he wants, unlike me."

"Because I'm more like clay than a chameleon," Morph said, "so it's mostly effortless. I'd have to be under way more stress than I usually am to revert totally to my clay form. It's basically a molecular break down, but you don't really want me to explain that, do you?"

"No." Jinu didn't.

"But does that mean you're not actually...wearing that right now?" Zoey asked.

"I guess I am," Morph said. "I mean, if you count wearing a whole form as wearing an outfit."

"I don't think I want to be in this conversation anymore." Mira put a hand to the bridge of her nose. "I'm going to go unpack."

"Same." Rumi was anxious to exit this conversation also.

So they did.

Everyone felt tired, just like they had the first day in the X-men world, and assumed it was the lag hitting them.

The best cures were lots of calories and then sleep, both of which the girls were happy to apply, but they didn't get the chance to do more than start snacking before Bobby said that Celine had called again while they were unpacking.

"She is persistent," he said. "Should I tell her to call back again tomorrow?"

"The longer you wait, the more she's going to be angry," Raven said, leaning on the kitchen counter. "Just talk to her. Since you have to anyway."

"I'm not ready for that conversation yet." Rumi felt foggy. "My brain is not back in this dimension yet."

"We need a plan for dealing with Gwi-Ma now too," Jinu said. "The sooner the better. I'm tired of it hanging over our heads. Those gifts they gave us, will they help?"

"Help, sure, but I don't think they're going to be enough," Morph said. "Most of them were more to protect you from his tricks than to fight him, and plus, they told us they won't last long. Maybe three uses, for some of them, probably all of them."

"I wonder how that works," Mira said, a bit grumpy now.

"Objects don't hold spiritual power forever, perhaps?" Raven said. "At least, not ones like those. People are alive--perhaps that's why it's different for us. Your weapons don't last forever when you summon them. You have to charge them up every time."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." Zoey tapped her chopsticks together. "Wow, I should've known that myself. My brain is out of it too."

"Okay, so we have three tries before we run out of their help," Jinu said. "That's three chances to figure out how it works ourselves and use it here. The only way to do that is to fight Gwi-Ma and the other saja he's summoned. I hope it's only one still."

"How do we do that?" Romance asked. "Every time we tried to force it, it was a disaster."

"Well, that was before you were free," Jinu said. "Can we set a trap now?"

"Not a bad idea," Raven said. "But Shine and Wally said not to look for trouble. I suppose we could trick him, but it must be done carefully. You can't try to summon him here or anywhere else. But I guess you could bait the hook, and if he takes it, that's not the same thing."

"You all have to remember that anything we do to attract his attention in public means innocent people could get involved again," Abby pointed out.

Rumi was surprised he had pointed that out first.

"Can we do it in private?" Zoey asked.

"Well, it can't be in this tower--this is our safe haven," Morph said. "That's not happening again, no way. And the only other private place you'd have in Celine's house. That's too risky too."

"Yeah, it wouldn't work anyway. Those are sacred grounds; demons can't come there easily because of the trees and other stuff," Rumi said. "I guess we do have spiritual items here too... I didn't realize that must be the same thing."

"I didn't know that trees did anything," Raven said.

"I think it's limited though. I mean, I went there when I was all...like that," Rumi winced. "But then, I'm not fully...so...and it didn't stop you because you're not a demon. I wonder why she didn't think of that."

"If you could come there, I could too," Raven said. She didn't think that Celine saw the nuances in the situation the way they did.

"So, that's out." Jinu wanted to keep things on track. "Anything else we could try?"

"They didn't show up at the TV show," Romance said.

"It'd be too obvious," Mystery spoke up. "Gwi-Ma would expect us to be expecting him to show up at a performance. And maybe he's starting to think we're smarter enough to evade him and those other slaves of his if we know he's moving. They only ever attacked us at places we were trying to be unseen."

This was a good point, actually.

"So pick a place that he thinks you won't think he'd come to," Baby said. "Duh. Not a show."

"Would he expect that also?" Rumi asked.

"He's not the smartest thing in the world," Morph said. "He needs humans to plan stuff, so it's more a question of what the other sajas he's using will expect. They'd probably expect it to be a trap, but if you made it look like they could use it anyway, they'd do it, right, Jinu? I mean, that's what you did, with fan signings and the game show. You lured them in."

Jinu nodded. "Well, they'll have to risk meeting us at some point, since they won't want to wait till you've sealed the Honmoon again to strike. So if it looks like you'd be unprepared enough, they'll probably crawl out of hiding. But then what do we do? Kill them? Or try to take them down?"

"I think we all agreed we should try to get them to listen us first," Rumi said. "But how? I mean... I have no idea what they would want. Or if they would want it at all? I think...Shine was right--we can't just walk up to them and say, 'Do you want to be free from Gwi-Ma?"

"Really, isn't the answer obvious here?" Raven said. She gestured at the Saja Boys.

"What?" Zoey asked.

"Uh, ahem," Bobby surprised them all.

They all turned toward him.

"I know I'm new to all this and don't really know a lot," he said weakly. "But, uh, isn't Raven's point that...you have 5 people who you say you turned back human? If there are more of them like that, wouldn't they already be interested?"

They stared at him. Then Romance slapped his forehead. "Duh...that's so obvious."

"But they weren't before," Baby said. "The one who we saw didn't talk to us at all about it."

"Didn't you say that Gwi-Ma spies on you though?" Mira said.

"Yeah, so they would never say if they wanted a chance to be free. He'd suck them right back down to hell," Abby said. "They'd never have a chance to leave again."

"Wait, though, don't we have a solution?" Rumi reasoned, tapping her finger. "The jacket...it could stop it. Or maybe this stone?" She took the stone out of her pocket. "It might hide someone from Gwi-Ma's sight long enough for us to talk to them. And Raven and Morph, you can do barriers also, right?"

"But they don't last long. This would have to be fast, and none of the boys decided in one conversation," Morph said.

"I don't think this saja would either," Jinu said. "No one could throw off Gwi-Ma's control after one conversation of thinking about it--his hold on their mind is too strong... It would take days, at least, I think. Unless you have a method to shut him up?"

"Well, we might." Abby tapped the hat. "But would it work on them? Since they still have bound their souls to him?"

"That's debatable," Raven said. "It's best not to count on it. Those gifts are for you--you're free already. If they were used on anyone else, it probably would not be as effective. We need to have some tricks of our own. Still, the idea of baiting them is the only one we have. Either that, or kill them. You really have no other option."

This was true.

"Other than meeting you at a secret location for a date," Abby teased Jinu.

Jinu glared at her him. "Can you be serious?"

"If we had a song for it, maybe we could silence Gwi-Ma long enough for them to listen to us," Rumi said. "But none of the songs we've been working on would work for that."

Zoey raised her hand because she had food in her mouth, and then she swallowed hastily. "Oh, I know... Shine and I were working on those ideas last night... She said if we want to appeal to the lost people, we should consider not being as violent in our songs."

"That's like asking us not to breathe," Mira said. "My style won't work with it."

"It might," Abby said.

She cast him a strange look. "Huh?"

"I mean, you have tried another style," Abby said.

Mira realized he must mean the time in that medical room after the Morlock attack, and she flushed, since she hadn't thought he remembered any of that part.

Rumi and Zoey were confused about what Abby meant, not remembering that Mira had been alone with Shine when that happened, and Mira had not told them that she'd sung at all.

"I mean...it's a little weird, but it's worth trying, right?" Rumi looked at Mira. "Just for one song. We could still use our usual style for our other songs, for when we defeat Gwi-Ma and some real demons, but...to appeal to the human ones, we need a new approach. It's not like 'Take Down' would have motivated the Saja Boys to help us, so..."

"I hated that song," Romance said. "We heard it while the other ones we learning it. They never seemed to care though."

"It might be because they weren't humans," Jinu said. "They didn't need to care."

"Wait, so the regular demons don't feel anything, or just don't feel anything positive?" Zoey asked.

"I think it's the second one," Jinu said. "Sort of. They seem to feel happy when humans die or suffer, but they mostly just act afraid of Gwi-Ma."

"That one I pinned to the wall did seem to take a weird glee in trying to eat me," Rumi said. "And it didn't seem like it actually sensed that I had patterns. Only Gwi-Ma seemed to notice that."

"The regular demons are just extensions of his personality," Romance said. "From all I can tell." He shuddered. "And then he turns the human ones into it also. When you hear that voice for long enough, you think it's yours as well."

"But it was ours, sometimes," Zoey said.

"We do become one with our sin if we do it long enough." Raven looked at her hands now. "Gwi-Ma's real power is through sin--we know that now. They told us that too. You should probably check when you write the song that it doesn't reference anything that might be a sin."

"Is anger a sin?" Zoey asked.

"Don't think it is, but acting on it can be," Morph said. "Not sure I'm the one to ask here, but... well, what did you and Shine talk about when you were writing that song?"

"Well, it wasn't supposed to be a full song, just lyrics," Zoey said. "And she didn't think I need to use them for real. They were just fun ideas."

"I thought you couldn't write songs because of your headaches," Baby said rudely.

"I didn't have one," Zoey said.

"None at all?" Rumi hadn't been told that when Mira had.

"Nope." Zoey shrugged.

"So are you cured then?" Mystery asked hopefully.

"I'm not sure. I guess I wasn't stressed working on songs with her." Zoey had no idea how that statement hurt Rumi and Mira to hear.

Rumi more, since Mira was aware of the pressure, and she could take it less personally.

But Rumi thought that she'd pushed her friends too hard, and this felt like confirming it.

She looked down guiltily.

"But you can't use them?" Romance said.

"They weren't full ideas," Zoey said. "Just about putting love, hope, and encouragement more in our music. And softer? I have thought that Rumi's voice would sound great doing some softer singing."

"I would agree with that," Jinu said. "The song we came up with spontaneously was much softer than your other songs."

"Hmm." Rumi looked up now. "And...you didn't hear Gwi-Ma's voice for a second after that...and it was more positive and encouraging..."

"Are you saying that, yet again, Shine just told you what you already should have known?" Raven said, face palming.

"That should have been clear from the start though," Romance said. "If it literally worked on Jinu first... I'm starting to wonder if you ever think about things after they happen, Rumi."

Rumi somewhat deserved that remark, though it was not the most patient thing he could have said.

"Hey, she had a lot on her mind," Jinu defended her. "And I didn't think of it either."

"But you had Gwi-Ma influencing you," Romance said. 

"Blaming her isn't going to help anyway," Abby reminded him. "The point is, now we know. So you just write a song that's appealing to lost souls and hit them with it when they show up. If it works, then we can use the other songs to take down Gwi-Ma when we break his control off them. Easy."

"No way it's that easy," Baby said.

"I have to agree with him for once," Raven said. "There would be a catch somewhere."

"While it is a basic plan, it's not totally bad," Jinu said. "I mean...the song could work. But I think it would be better not to perform it in front of your fans. They won't understand it. But what will you make the song about without knowing the people?"

"We know they'll have shame," Raven said. "So that's close enough."

"I guess that's true. That's our common ground." Zoey tapped her finger on the table. "And what event can we do without it being a straight up performance?"

They all looked at Bobby now, who'd been silent in this conversation after his one good point.

"Oh, uh...well, plenty of people want you to visit their events," he said. "But...if you want no people around, that's hard to pull off."

"At least less people, then," Jinu said.

Raven snapped her fingers. "Rich people."

"Huh?" Zoey said.

"Venues that rich people are at are less crowded because they like their privacy," Raven said. "It wouldn't be perfect, but they also have security and their own cars, so if you needed them to leave, it'd be easier than a crowd of your usual fans."

"There are events like that all year long," Bobby said.

"Too late for a Christmas event," Rumi said. "Or New Year's... What else can we do?"

"Rich, exclusive," Mira said. "But not a party--that's too many people still."

"I don't know if this would work," Romance said, "but when we were pops stars, the most rich people exclusive events were benefits or other charity events. We never got invited to them, but The Sunlight Sisters were."

"Oh, in America that's pretty common," Zoey said.

"America..." Morph said. "Wait, you said that more demons attack people around here, right? Gwi-Ma is right under Korea...for some reason."

"I think it's because it's where the hunters usually are, and he likes to keep tabs on us," Rumi said.

"But he can send his servants out to anywhere, right?" Raven said.

"Right," Jinu said.

"So if you want to lure them out but be where there were less demons to begin with, and Gwi-Ma would have a harder time watching you, why not fly to America or some other Western country for an event?" Morph said.

"I think he can still send a bunch to other places," Mira said. "There was that incident in Tokyo two years ago."

"And before that, the one in Paris," Zoey said.

"Though, in the past world tours we usually didn't see demons anywhere but our planes or sometimes backstage," Rumi said. "But yeah, they don't crawl out of the gutters and walls as often."

"So, doesn't that plan make more sense?" Raven said.

"Well, there is a big charity event in Hawaii this month." Bobby had his phone out. "Should be easy to get you an invite. Though they may want you to perform."

"If we have to perform, we'll use a different song," Rumi said. "Jinu is right, we shouldn't show our hand right away. I mean...don't want it to feel staged. I don't think that would work."

"Then you've learned something about how people work at least," Morph noted.

"What do you mean?" Rumi asked, warily.

"Nothing, just that your approach when we first got here was a bit showy and performative," Morph said. "And that's coming from me, of all people, but...uh, that's a complaint I got a lot, that I didn't act natural with folks. They don't like feeling like you're just trying to reel them in by acting big and showy."

"Some people are stupid enough to fall for it," Raven said, flatly. "But that's not really the foundation for changing their hearts, which I suppose is the goal, not that we're capable of that...but if you want to attempt it at all, sincerity is necessary. Why are you offended? He said you were right."

Rumi still wanted to get mad at him, since she didn't like being told she had been wrong in the past, especially about her work, but she swallowed it, since she was pretty sure Morph had actually been trying to praise her.

So at least she had learned so much in the last week or two.

Jinu could see she was trying not to get mad and thought it was funny but also relatable.

"So," he changed the subject hastily, "until that's all set up, should we just focus on the songs, or...do we rest?"

"I say we train," Raven said. "See how your strategies you worked on in my world will work here. We need to see if you can unlock those gifts they also said you had."

"Not a bad idea, but you throwing us around some more isn't my idea of a good time," Abby said.

"Are you scared?" Raven asked.

Abby was not so far removed from the macho man stuff that he wanted to admit that right to her face.

"Uh...well, no," he said weakly. "Just...usually try to avoid broken bones."

That was a lot darker of a thing to say in the context of his accident, but he didn't see that till after he said it.

Raven realized it and looked uneasy.

"No broken bones," Morph said. "We'll make sure to use mats and stuff."

"Uh...well, I guess I could get those cell phones," Rumi was anxious for something to do, though she was tired and lagged.

"If you're leaving the tower, we'd better go with you," Morph said.

He felt less tired. His body recovered much faster from the jump, and by now his mind was getting used to it.

Raven was much more inclined to be lagged mentally if not physically, but she didn't anticipate getting much more rest if she hung around the chaotic other boys here, so she agreed to accompany them also.

It wouldn't be a very long errand, Rumi figured, but she said she'd text Mira and Zoey if they got delayed, just in case demons showed up.

* * *

While they were gone, Baby went to take a nap. The lag hit him harder.

Mystery and Zoey settled on the couch to watch a movie. She picked Finding Nemo.

Maybe just because it had a talking sea turtle in it. [To be fair to Zoey, that was always my favorite part of the movie.]

Mystery was crying by the time the first five minutes of the film were over, though it was hard to notice with him.

Romance didn't want to watch something depressing, so he took one of the books that Shine had recommended to them and went to the balcony, where Sussy and Derpy appeared to be hanging out.

Bobby got his stuff and left, telling Mira he'd check in tomorrow.

"Uh, and you all are okay?" he said awkwardly. "I mean...what exactly happened while you were gone?"

"Well..." Mira wasn't sure how to answer that. "It was...a wild trip. But we learned a lot."

"And only two of us almost died," Abby said cheerfully.

"What?!" Bobby cried.

"Oh, don't worry, she wasn't one of the two," Abby said. "I'm not sure Rumi actually almost died, but..."

"What happened to Rumi?" Bobby said. "Is she hurt? Should we take her to the doctor?"

"We went to the doctor." Mira gave Abby a warning look. "She's totally fine. It was...a virus, but it was over in 24 Horus."

"Oh...but she nearly died?" Bobby said.

"No, she was okay." Mira didn't want to explain--wasn't sure how she'd be able to anyway. "We all were okay. They did a lot of training with us and stuff, but mostly we just talked, played games, and had a party."

She downplayed the danger by a lot there, but Bobby was ready to freak out over any slight threat, so it seemed wisest.

Abby got the picture here.

"Yeah, it wasn't too bad," he said.

Bobby didn't know whether to assume Abby had been exaggerating before or that he was now downplaying it also.

"Well...okay," he said. "So did you find out how to fix the problem?"

"They gave us steps, so I guess we just have to follow them." Mira didn't want to admit to Bobby how little they really still knew about what they were going to do to fix it.

Bobby was satisfied.

"Okay then. Well, let me know. Should have that event sent up by tomorrow..."

He left.

Mira let out a sigh. "Oh, we're so screwed..."

"Why? I thought that was a very productive meeting," Abby said. "And it's nice to actually feel like we have something to contribute to it instead of just being the problem itself."

"Yeah, but what are we even doing?" Mira threw her hands up. "It seemed...easier, while we were in that other world...and I can't believe that's a sentence that came out of my mouth. But now here? If all this is going to even work, or if we'll figure it out in time." She folded her arms to her chest, looking down. "Or what all those instructions even meant. Raven and Morph seem confident we've got it locked in, but, we've thought that before..."

"I think you guys are gonna figure it out," Abby said. "And we're here to help, as much as we can... I guess all of us can't do anything else till this is over anyway."

"Yeah..." Mira wondered what that meant. "What else would you do, if you could?"

"I have no idea," Abby admitted openly. "I guess I always followed Romance's lead in the past, but he's not leading anymore. Not sure he has any idea what he wants to do... Really only good at one thing anyway."

Mira wondered if the guys would resent that they'd have to be living on the girls' charity for all this time.

That was a negative thought, but she was tired and more inclined to be negative.

"What would you do once this is over?" Abby turned the tables. "Just keep being Huntrix but without the demon slaying part?"

"I think Shine's right--there're always going to be demons." Mira was getting more sure of this the longer she thought about it. "But maybe not as many, maybe not as dangerous either, if the idea works. I never really had any other goals or dreams beyond this. This wasn't even a dream, it just happened."

"I've been wondering, did you all see demons before you knew about Huntrix?"

"Yeah." Mira nodded. "Sometimes, usually not up close. Zoey always said she thought she just saw wrong, or her mind played tricks on her because of all the cartoons she watched. I always thought I just caught them in the light wrong. They never came close to us, I guess since our souls are stronger, harder to steal. We saw patterns on people sometimes but didn't know what they meant. But yeah, it all clicked once Celine found us. Rumi always knew what they were though. Maybe that's why she's so serious. She probably saw them every time she went anywhere off Celine's property."

"That must have been hard to grow up with." Abby winced at the idea. "So that's why she's so tightly wound. And Celine made her feel bad about those patterns... I'm surprised she's not more intense...or did you two soften things for her?"

"I guess when we met, she was a lot more stiff, but she did mellow out. What you're seeing now is way better than she was 6 years ago." Mira smirked dryly at the memory. "She couldn't take a joke at all back then."

Rumi did not noticeably have the ability to take jokes now, but Abby didn't say so.

"So you think the Celine talk will...work?" he asked.

"I'd rather not talk about her." Mira was dreading that conversation, and, moreover, she was still mad at Celine.

"Right..." Abby reflected that this was a bad subject.

He'd had his worries that, back home, when things looked different, Mira might have second thoughts about what they'd decided in that other world.

He wasn't normally this insecure about people liking him, but, if having been turned into a demoniac wasn't bad enough, seeing their memories had taken a toll on his confidence...and  that hadn't been great to begin with.

He liked Mira, and she did have an inspiring effect on him, but that made it more scary that she might change her mind.

Maybe, also, he was hanging onto the idea of something being better, since a lot of stuff seemed to have gotten worse or just not improved at all lately.

Mira's current mood didn't seem promising, but...it was just that she was tired and stressed about getting back to work on things, right?

Or maybe he should do what Wally said and try to be helpful.

"So...anything you want to do?" he tried aloud.

"Sleep maybe." Mira didn't pick up on the hint.

Well, that didn't work.

"Oh...well, you should do that then." Abby thought that was a dumb thing to say but blanked on any other response.

Mira thought he was acting a little off.

"Is something bothering you?" she said, narrowing her eyes.

"What? Me? No..." Abby fumbled. "You seem upset."

"Upset? I'm not..." Mira trailed off.

Was she?

"It's...just...I guess it's all sinking in now that we're back." She gestured around. "That's all. And the lag...it's brutal. My brain feels scrambled."

"Hm, at least for you that only happens when you're tired. Some of us have that happen all the time."

Abby was clearly joking but Mira didn't laugh, since Gwi-ma had done that to their brains.

"You shouldn't make jokes about that," she said, looking to the side. "All that wasn't funny. What he did..."

"He? Oh...no, that was about being stupid, not about that."

"Well, don't joke about that either," Mira said, a bit firmly. "Remember? No negative talk."

"Okay okay... but that goes both ways, you should stop saying you're difficult all the time." Abby countered.

 Mira shrugged. "Well, that's the truth."

"It's not."

"You're the only one who thinks that. Isn't that bull anyway? I literally make things harder for you on purpose."

"That was on purpose?"

"Sometimes."

"I thought you were just being shy."

"I dunno...sometimes it's not."

"So you're trying to make me not like you?"

"No..." Mira rubbed her face. "I don't know. I mean, it's not working, so... But aren't you at all worried about this?"

"About what?"

"Nothing." Mira walked into the hallway.

But Abby followed. "Worried about what?" He was confused.

And nervous now.

But Mira's reason wasn't the one he was worried about.

"It's so real," she said, "the danger, the demons and all...  I guess they talked to about that at the mansion, but didn't you ever stop to think maybe you don't really want to risk it?"

"Oh, you mean because it's dangerous?" Abby said. "No... I guess I didn't think it was an option to get outta that part anyway. Wait, that's what you're worried about?"

"I guess we signed up for this, but all of you didn't."

"Well, all of us did make a deal with Gwi-Ma."

"I guess, but it's not the same thing. And we do have special abilities... It's like I told Shine, how could we ask anyone else to take these kinds of risks? And for what?"

"Uh...protecting the world from Gwi-Ma?"

"That doesn't seem fair. You don't really get a choice then."

"What do you think we'd choose if we had a choice?" Abby was confused. 

"Wouldn't most people choose to stay out of it?" Mira shrugged.

Abby gave her a look. "Well, Bobby didn't choose that. And he's got even less reason to be involved than we do."

"I'm still surprised about that..."

"It would be a pretty jerk-ish thing to do, wouldn't it? You girls all risked a lot to help us. Even Baby wouldn't just ditch you after that, even if he says he would...but clearly he's not actually that good at letting people go...and that's him. The rest of us wouldn't do that. I mean, we're not totally selfish anymore, Mira. We have feelings, like gratitude."

"You don't have to owe us, though," Mira said in a lower voice. "What we did we would have done for anyone, and we didn't even want to do it, except maybe for Rumi. That's all Raven and Morph."

"I remember it a little differently than that. You took a lot of damage helping us."

"Well, all in the line of duty."

"Then it's our duty to help you after that. If we can."

"Well, you did already. I think we're even."

"Is that what matters?"

Mira was silent.

[Fair question.]