Franklin took her down to the kitchen, which was hidden away on the first floor in one of the restricted areas. Normally there was a velvet rope that blocked off the area, and plus he had the only key to the doors on that side. He poured her a tea, set out leftovers from the party and then started putting out food for himself. Most of it was rotten meat, but he did pull out a little bag of blood that he was going to suck on.

She knew this was how he got real sustenance, that all the regular food he ate didn't actually taste good. He just pretended he remembered what things tasted like.

He took one sip of his blood and then said: "Every wonder how a magical town gets supplies?"

"I'm guessing you have to trade?"

Franklin nodded. "I do." Kelly winced at him because she knew exactly what it was Lydia wanted from him. Something on Franklin's face changed. For the first time she could see real despair there. "I hate it. I do. But I have to, she's always given me no choice."

"That really sucks. She's really obsessed with you."

"Yes. I suppose she is."

"Can't imagine why," Kelly said shooting him a playful smirk.

Franklin snorted at her. "I know right?"

"Well... I think that's noble of you," she said taking a long sip of her tea. When she looked up that despair was gone, a little bit of hope was there instead. "It's a shit situation, and I feel for you. But you're doing it for the town. There are not a lot of people who would do that, you know?"

He nodded at her. "Thank you for understand..."

"Would like to know why she hates me so much. It can't just be because I'm breaking curses... I mean... she threw me into a wall, Franklin. Like, there's an actual hole in the wall."

"Yeah and how exactly is it that you're okay? I mean, I'm grateful, I am, but how?"

"In a minute," she said waving him off. "Why is she so mad at me that she wants to kill me?"

"She's also quite... possessive," he admitted. Yeah, that would have been good to know before all of this. "How did you survive Kelly?"

He was staring at her in a strange way. Like he was trying to decode her, like she had just shown him a new special power and he was starting to worry that she was more like Sylvia and Lydia then he thought.

Instead she pulled out the necklace that Sylvia had given her that she always had on her. That night she had tucked it into her bra, and it had saved her.

After her friends had pulled her out of the wall Lydia had put her in, once they had checked her over and Kelly had wiped her gaudy face make up off, she had put it around her neck again. Then she had decided, fuck it, she was going to wait for Franklin to come back and figure out what the hell was going on.

She deserved answers and she was going to force him to give them to her.

She held up the necklace, it was a teardrop opal with flecks of iridescent blue and pink speckling it. It was hanging off of a silver chain.

"Sylvia gave it to me," she said. "It's a protection charm. I'm guessing that's what saved me."

That was very fortuitous. "Yeah, don't take that off anymore."

Kelly took a big heavy sigh and then really thought about the new realities of her situation. Franklin was a great person, she could see that now. He was great, and he was handsome, and he did weird things to her heart, but he was dangerous. Dangerous to that same heart he had cartwheeling in her chest, and now he was dangerous to her physically.

"Looks like you're thinking hard," Franklin said around a hunk of meat he was chewing up.

She always tried not to look at him when he ate that sort of stuff, but this time she turned up to watch him.

"You're great, you know that?" she asked and his eyebrows furrowed in surprise. "You're just this great guy who looks out for everyone, and yeah, we got off on the wrong foot, but I can see it now. How much you care about everyone."

"There's a but in there somewhere."

"Yep," she said. "But you have a crazy witch throwing around curses and trying to kill people who get too close to you... so uh... I like you, you're a great friend, I love being your assistant, literally best job ever, but I don't think I should be spending that much time with you, Franklin."

That sadness was back in his eyes, she saw it right before he lowered his eyes away from her. "Yeah, that sounds smart actually. Don't want Lydia to get it in her mind to try again, you know?"

"No, I don't."

The truth was, she needed that space. She needed to not fall any farther for Franklin, especially with a homicidal witch obsessed with him. She didn't want something to happen to her, leaving Sammy all by himself.

"I'm sorry."

Franklin still wouldn't look at her though. He did shake his head though. "Not your fault, is it? Should have been more honest. So, I guess I'm sorry. Uh... it's late, you have to pick up Sammy anyway, did you want to stay in one of our guest rooms?"

He glanced up, saw the trepidation on her face and then added: "It'll be the last time before we... yeah. If you want..."

Her stupid traitorous heart skipped a beat. One last time being besties before everything changed.

"That'd be nice. Thanks."

"I'll set you up with a set of my PJs, and uh... let me show you where you'll be..."

Kelly thanked him again and then followed him back up the stairs to the second floor and then up one more floor to where his person quarters were.

She hated that everything was going to change in the morning, hated that she had gotten her hopes and her heart tangled up in this guy.

She should have known better.