He had become a routine in her dreams. It was lovely, like expecting a comfort to always be there when needed. He was her anchor in the waves or the net under her tightrope. She clung to the pillow instinctually in her sleep, whispering his name with a soft smile - Calcifer.

The dreams were always beautiful - until they ended. Then, his comfort vanished with it.

"Cal-" Gwenda widened her eyes, sitting up with a quivering breath. Her hands clutched the warm quilt, shivering as if it were an icy winter, yet the room was filled with humid air. She was sweating and breathing and shaking. How long had she been asleep? How long had she held onto her dream this time? How close had she gotten to him?

None of those questions were worth answering - the end result was still the same.

Gwenda pressed perspiring palms against her face, closing her eyes to reminisce the fleeting visions that came in and out of her mind. Calcifer was always a blur in the dreams. He said the same things and his presence was a familiar warmth until she begged herself to open her eyes, begged him to be revealed.

She was never so close as to actually, truly, see him.

Her chattering teeth sent shivers of disappointment throughout her body. Just once, Gwenda hoped to catch even a subtle glimpse of the man who captured her heart, the demon who made her remember the feeling of love.

The one who also forced her to question those feelings as of late.

She opened her eyes and pushed her hands on the bed, staring at the streams of sunlight basking against the bedroom door. It was already midday at least. Had she not stayed up into the midnight hours involved in one of Perseus' twisted games, she might have had the energy to help Kenta find a return home. She was groggy and exhausted, even with the extra hours of sleep. Staring at that door only persuaded her to return to sleep once more, hoping she could continue her fruitless imagination.

Wishing the dream to return did nothing but enter false hopes into her mind; even Gwenda knew that. Ogling the door didn't motivate her to get on with what was left of the day, but rather it brought on the remembrance of a strange appearance in the dream.

Calcifer was there, per usual, but something was different this time. This time, she saw doors.

Seven doors, to be exact. The same number of doors that Perseus had mentioned were behind the locked one in the basement. Somehow, focusing on the bedroom door reawakened such an insignificant piece of her dream. Having been so fixated on Calcifer and vying for his clear image, she nearly forget the mystery in the background.

No matter, she thought. It was simply a dream. Yet as Gwenda prepared for the day, her curiosity taunted her. It was strange enough that Lily had a secret passage with a crazy, labyrinth hallway leading to a bolted door. It was quite peculiar already that she had dozens of awkward hallways with rooms of varying eccentricities and downright creepiness. The seven additional doors were completely irrational and highly concerning.

Lily Angorian's house was full of obscure passages and many ways. What use would she have for such oddities?

Although, truthfully, Gwenda thought Lily was as odd as a person could be. She almost matched the idiosyncrasy of Martha Hatter.

Gwenda cringed at the thought. No, Lily was no Martha. No one was the Martha they knew. No one could ever be.

"Aunt Gwenda!" Her little niece swung the door open, an ecstatic smile plastered to her face. "Wake up, wake up!"

Gwenda clipped her suspenders firmly as she finishing dressing. "Good morning to you, too. You sound especially cheery today."

"That's because I got something." Wynne said, her voice bubbly.

"And what would that be?"

"A way into the basement." Gwenda looked down to her. Wynne's smile never faded. "Lily's still teaching at school, Dad's working on that spell, and Perseus' fire is low, so I think he's asleep. If we're quick, no one would even know we went down there."

Gwenda thought back to her dream and Perseus' game and her questions about Lily Angorian. Seven doors. Seven secrets. And two meddling minds that were far too similar.

Gwenda chuckled. "You definitely come from my side of the family, Wynnie."

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Wynne explained her master plan as they descended down the infinite hallway, now much easier to traverse after their first exploration. Though Kenta had not officially taught her the wood transformation spell, she remembered exactly how he cast it to create fake money. The materials were easy enough to find and though he barely whispered the spell during the festival, Wynne had an excellent sense of hearing. She simply followed along from her memory.

Gwenda nodded with approval. "I'm really impressed, Wynnie."

The little witch girl smiled back, clutching tightly to the wooden key in her grasp. "I put the wood inside of the keyhole and it made the key after I said the words. Sorry I came down here without you."

"At least you didn't go in there without me or your dad," Gwenda said. She frowned. "Somehow, I'm sure your father would have blamed me for that, too."

Wynne walked faster to catch up to her aunt's pace. "You and my dad have been fighting a lot since we got to Wales. I heard you both this morning really early. He's starting to yell more."

Gwenda dropped her shoulders. Children were such a nuisance, whether it was for the right reasons or not. They always heard everything and saw everything adults didn't want them to see or hear. They picked up on the littlest things, blowing them way out of proportion.

Yet she couldn't blame her niece this time - Wynne was right.

"You know kid, way before you were born, I used to be the one yelling at him." Gwenda said. "Maybe this is life turning its heels on me and giving me karma."

They came across the winding stairwell and began their descent, no longer fooled by the illusion. The steel frame door stood directly in front of them, firm in its intimidation. Only the small hint of light from the lantern above brightened the entrance.

Gwenda's heart raced. She couldn't tell if she was excited or nervous or terrified. Seven doors, but was that really all that could be down here? Would they be able to enter those doors once they got beyond this first one?

Again, she thought back to why Lily Angorian would have such doorways hidden away in the first place, and that was motivation enough to keep going.

Wynne held the wooden key in her grasp, scarlet eyes daring to look upon the strength of the steel. She fitted the key perfectly and twisted, the click of the lock shocking both Gwenda and Wynne.

With a turn of the knob, it opened.

Gwenda held Wynne's shoulders as they walked into the expansive space, trying to calm down her tense niece. For a young girl without a care in the world, she was highly frightened of the room once it was opened. Two modern light fixtures lit the space from both sides of the wall and illuminated the basement's main attraction.

Just as she expected, and exactly as Perseus had told her - seven doors stood in the room.

"More doors?" Wynne gaped, then dropped the key and her fear all at once. "I only had enough wood for one!"

Gwenda crept closer to the doors. As if Lily's mansion couldn't get any bigger, this room proved them wrong. The tiled floors went on and on into a black void, though no wall appeared at the end. She could see behind the doors, peer into the darkness that lay beyond, yet they were concentrated so stiffly like statues. They stood equally apart from each other, and they were all a different color - white, then blue, then green, then yellow, then orange, then red, then black.

Wynne had already cast a spell on the only piece of wood she brought; hopefully the other doors weren't locked as well.

"Only one way to find out." Gwenda started from the left side, the white door. Her fingers jittered as she reached for the handle, half afraid it wouldn't open and half afraid it would. Perseus never answered her final question about what was behind these doors, though he made it seem like whatever it could be was worth something to her.

The handle didn't budge - first door was a no go.

Gwenda tried the next one, the blue door. She had shaken her fear enough to push through and just turn the handle, whether it was locked or not. This was not the time to wait for a climactic moment, and they certainly didn't have any time to waste.

The blue door's handle turned all the way around.

Wynne grabbed Gwenda's waist and held her tightly. "It opened!"

"Wynnie, you're hurting me." She pushed the door as Wynne released her, both widening their eyes to the creaking sound and what lay beyond them.

These doors were magic, that much was absolute. But how far could magic take them?

"It's like fog." Wynne waved her hand through the door, her arm darkening by the thick clouds that encompassed the space. She waved both hands forward, then took gentle steps until the fog surrounded her. She looked like she could vanish at any minute.

"Wait-" Gwenda followed her closely, putting her hand on Wynne's shoulder again. She almost lost her niece once going through a strange doorway; she couldn't let that happen again.

Step by step, their descent into darkness echoed in the vacuum. The fog was a strange blanket of safety and unease. Gwenda still hadn't made up her mind if this was worth it or not, but nevertheless she pressed forward. Yet the farther they progressed into the unknown, the more that uneasiness overflowed.

Eventually, both squinted from a single gleaming light. Gwenda took the lead, guiding Wynne beyond the radiating glow. The closer they walked, the brighter the light shone and they needed to forego their eyesight in order to press on. Gwenda's steps became more forceful, more determined to end the journey and arrive at their destination at last. For once, she wanted to know what was on the other side of someone's secrets.

For once, she wanted to be ahead of the game.

"Aunt Gwenda, we're-" Before Wynne could continue, Gwenda tripped on a hard surface and fell flat on the ground. Wynne rapidly tapped her aunt's back to help her arise, but the little witch girl couldn't help but stare at the world around her. "Aunt Gwenda, we're home!"

"What?" Gwenda pushed herself up from a wooden porch - no, not a porch. It was a dock. The wood grains streamed in perfect unison until they ended over a lake the size of the moon. The moon's own reflection completely encompassed the dark waters that surrounded them.

Gwenda knew this lake. She had been here with Calcifer and the others when that witch, Noe, stole her from them. She had been here many more times with Calcifer as a human. This was Star Lake.

Star Lake was in the Wastes - which was in Ingary.

Which really meant they were home.

"We did it!" Wynne shouted for joy, grabbed her aunt into an embrace, and she danced around the dock. Finally, they were free from that horrid world people named after a giant fish. Finally, she could sleep in her own bed and fight with her brothers and kiss her baby sister and hug her mother.

But Gwenda stood still. She did not join in Wynne's celebrations nor feel the relief of their homeland. Something was different; this was home, yet not really their home. It was like a mirage or a false version of Ingary. While she couldn't put her finger on it, something inside screamed caution.

A woman appeared on the far side of the lake, just far enough for Gwenda to catch a glance. She covered Wynne's mouth, muting her triumphant sounds, and begged her to be silent.

"We're not alone."

Gwenda stared at the woman, though it was too dark to truly see her features. She was young, that much was clear. Much younger than Gwenda herself. Her long, blonde hair flowed like a cloak of sunlight. Her hands were outstretched toward the darkness above, as if she were communicating with the sky.

No, Gwenda thought. She was communicating with the stars.

Gwenda released her grip on Wynne and walked forward, almost in a hypnotic state. She remembered a woman explaining this very story to her about the days of her own youth. She recanted her life, back in her prime with powers unimagined by the human mind. She was gifted, truly gifted, yet she yearned for more than what her magic could offer.

She required the power of a fallen star.

From the height of the galaxies above, Gwenda stared at the stars that stayed cemented in their clusters. Her eyes watered as she counted the millions and millions of glowing lights, wondering which was his and where he stood. She wondered if he could see her, if he knew her, but that last part couldn't have been true.

It couldn't have been true at this time.

Because as numerous stars began their descent to Star Lake, as the woman on the other side greedily grabbed the first one she saw, Calcifer was decades away from his own descent.