Sheera and Madam Quillfern strolled through Washington Square Park on what was turning out to be a foggy night, with Luke and Arjun several paces behind. All of her questions were yet to be unanswered, as they'd immediately left the bar and piled into a taxi only to wind up here.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" said Sheera.

"Because I'm not sure you're ready for what comes next."

Sheera stopped mid-step. "If you don't explain what's happening, how am I supposed to be a part of it?"

Madam Quillfern gestured to a bench. "Let's have a seat over there."

Sheera reluctantly followed. "It's getting late," she noted, as her gaze caught sight of the dazzling full moon.

"You'll be home to your family soon," said Madam Quillfern. "And that's what I wanted to talk to you about."

Sheera sat down and nodded. "What about them?"

"I've seen how you are with them, how close you've become after the hardships you've endured."

Sheera looked at her strangely. "How have you seen any of that?"

"Don't concern yourself with my methods. I can tell that you're close. But...in order to aid us in our fight against the Shadowers...you will have to leave your home. And...I'm not sure when you'll be able to come back." Madam Quillfern hesitated before going on. "There is also the small chance you might not even make it back, a risk that befalls us all."

A few hours ago Sheera had been folding laundry. "This is all so surreal." She studied the cityscape around her. "And where would I even be going?"

"To Paris."

For the slightest moment Sheera felt a tinge of excitement. Paris? The land of wonderful pastries she'd gazed at in all those books? The place with such a rich history of arts and culture? When the moment was over she reminded herself the world was facing imminent destruction. "And what would I tell my family?"

"This is the tricky thing," she responded. "No one who isn't a Shadower or a Kindred can truly understand the battle between good and evil. They'd either laugh it off or consider it the ravings of a lunatic."

"Then show them some spells!"

"They're also incapable of witnessing the spells in real time. To them it all seems to happen in the moments between space and time. The dark matter, some call it."

"So what do I tell my family? I'm just going to leave them? I'm just going to stop supporting them when they need me?"

"We can figure out what to tell them, but whatever we say it cannot be the truth of our mission."

Sheera stared at the pavement as she took it all in. "And when is all this supposed to happen?"

"Four days from now."

Sheera gasped. "Four days? That's impossible! I can't just get on plane in four days. I have to get things in order...and explain things to my family...and give two weeks notice to the donut shop!"

Madam Quillfern shook her head. "I'm afraid that won't be possible; not if we hope to train you and get ourselves ready to put an end to the Shadowers."

"Four days, huh." It was starting to sink in and it was sounding a little crazy. "What do I even know about magic?...I make donuts."

Madam Quillfern sighed. "You are completely free to decline our invitation, but if you don't wish to join us, we'll have to remove your memory of the last two hours." Luke and Arjun approached her now, like they were readying to strike with a spell at any moment.

Sheera peered at them. Or through them. In either case she seemed confused. "So you're all actually glowing right now," struggling to process what she couldn't see. "Even me?"

Madam Quillfern smiled warmly. "Especially you."

Sheera rose from the bench with conviction. "Then don't erase my anything; I'll join you."

There were no hugs or handshakes or shows of excitement, just the sense of collective relief, with a mixture of hope that the Kindreds had found their final piece of the puzzle.

Madam Quillfern put Sheera in a taxi and handed her a card. "My hotel and my phone number. We'll need to meet soon to figure out how to tell your family."

Sheera carefully tucked the card into her purse. "Okay; but we're not telling them anything for at least two days. Not until we celebrate by birthday as a family."

***

When Sheera arrived home she quietly snuck up the fire escape where Maddie had left the window slightly ajar. She climbed inside and crawled straight into bed, but she wouldn't be falling asleep any time soon.

As she stared at the ceiling and considered how vastly her life was about to change, she heard Maddie clear her throat and roll over. "How was the date?"

"Date?"

"Uhh....the date you just came back from at two a.m.?"

"Oh that; it was...weird."

"Why did you meet him on Tinder?"

"I don't know what that is."

Maddie groaned and disappeared under her blanket. "You're hopeless..."

Sheera sighed. "Maybe"

"But you're also pretty alright," added Maddie.

Tears immediately formed in Sheera's eyes. "You're alright too."

***

Two days later at the donut shop, Sheera explained the story she and Madam Quillfern had decided on.

"I know it's sudden," said Sheera, as she stirred a huge batch of simple syrup, "but if I don't leave in two days this opportunity will be gone."

Dee was practically glaring. "But it doesn't even make any sense! You don't just decide something that huge. I mean who randomly leaves their life to run to Paris? And what kind of full-time employee doesn't bother to give two weeks notice? It's just...so unprofessional."

Few things stung harder for Sheera than being accused of unprofessional. The only way to make Dee understand was if she told her the truth; but wouldn't it all seem crazy if she could never show her the evidence to prove it was real?

"Dee..." Sheera took a long breath. "The real reason I have to leave so suddenly is..." Just as she started to gather her courage, a purple scarf landed against the window in the shape of an "x." It wasn't a subtle warning by any means.

"Well?" said Dee impatiently. "What is it then?"

"The real reason is...I've dreamed of going to Paris for my whole life." Sheera's selfish reasoning was an excruciating lie but she had to see it through. "So if I have this chance I have to put myself first and take it."

Dee rolled her eyes and stormed off. "Well don't expect a reference letter!"

In a few short minutes, Sheera had ruined not only an amazing working relationship, but what she'd also considered a longstanding friendship too. If things had already gone so badly with Dee, she could only imagine how badly it would go with her family...

***

The evening of Sheera's birthday party had arrived, and it was a distinctly family affair. Sheera had been welcome to invite any one of her friends from high school, but not only were all of them busy in their first week of college, more importantly they had never been all that close with Sheera at all. They stayed in touch with Sheera occasionally over e-mail—annoying as they found it as Sheera's cell phone was a twelve-year-old model that didn't have any apps—but mostly they'd been friendships of convenience and proximity. What Sheera was left with was a party of two siblings and foster parents she could call her own, and she wouldn't have had it any other way.

The family sat at the table around a ten-dollar birthday cake from Kroger's, the kind with sprinkles and whipped cream icing that wasn't overwhelmingly sweet.

"I'm surprised Dee didn't send you home with a box of her special birthday donuts," said Aunt Ruth.

"Yeah," said Ethan, annoyed that for once Sheera hadn't brought home the usual leftover haul.

Sheera shrugged. "I see donuts every day."

"That's true," Aunt Ruth admitted, before lighting eighteen candles for this coming-of-age-day.

Uncle Neil patted Sheera on the shoulder. "Now take a deep breath, and make eighteen wishes that count." He winked before getting up to turn out the lights. "That's your cue!"

Sheera closed her eyes and made a single wish, a wish that the world wouldn't succumb to evil on its way to total destruction. If only they knew. She blew out the candles and hoped she had made it count.

Later that evening, after indulging in two large pizzas and an entire birthday cake, Maddie and Ethan were sprawled out on the couch in positions that accommodated their overstuffed bellies.

Sheera watched Ethan and Maddie from a tattered chair that was positioned across from the couch. Uncle Neil had bought it a garage sale after Sheera had moved in, and she'd spend countless nights there reading a book or playing charades with the family. As she considered how strange it would be to leave it all behind for some unknown quest, she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She looked up to find Aunt Ruth holding a small gift-wrapped box.

Sheera sat up straighter and shook her head. "You know we don't do presents."

"But it's your eighteenth birthday," she said. "And it's something very special."

When Sheera unwrapped the present she saw that it was a jewellery box, which given the family budget made no sense at all. Until she opened it. Inside was a silver pendant, in the shape of a bird with wings out-stretched. It was the exact same pendant her mother had worn every day. When Sheera had asked her about it, she'd explained how it reminded her of being everywhere and seeing everything. When Sheera had seen her mother without it at the hospital before she died, she'd simply assumed she'd lost it.

"Is it really the same one?" Sheera marveled as she carefully removed it from the box.

"Your mother asked us to give this to you on your eighteenth birthday." Aunt Ruth explained. She pecked Sheera on the forehead and gave her a hug. "Maybe that means she's here with us right now."

Since Sheera had learned that souls were real she knew that might be true. And if she really was watching over her...she hoped that her mother would give her the strength to break the news to her family in the morning, without destroying everything she'd gained since she'd lost her.

***

The next morning arrived in no time at all, and Sheera's big news rolled around in her mouth like mothballs. She was dying to get it out, but all she could do was eat her cereal, each bite pushing the lie she had to tell further down.

No else seemed to pick up on her stressful energy, with Aunt Ruth treating herself to some heavily buttered toast and Uncle Neil catching up on old newspapers.

"I was thinking we could go the flea market today," Aunt Ruth said happily. She looked over when Sheera didn't answer. "Hello? Newest adult on the block?"

Sheera managed to swallow the soggy cereal bite. "Huh?"

"The flea market. Maybe we can find a new chair to replace your old one over there...hmm?"

"Your aunt is right," Uncle Neil chimed in. "You're an adult now; you need better back support." He chuckled to himself.

"I can't go to the flea market and you shouldn't get a new chair because I'm leaving for Paris tomorrow!" she spattered. In the stunned silence that followed, Sheera let out a long breath; had she really blurted it out in one sentence?

Impossibly, Aunt Ruth and Uncle Neil's stunned expressions morphed into belly-shaking laughter. Sheera dropped her spoon into the bowl and it made a splash. It took a full fifteen seconds for the laughter to die down, long enough for Ethan and Maddie to emerge from their sleepy teenage lair.

"What's going on?" said Ethan, rubbing his eyes.

"Well as it turns out..." Uncle Neil started mockingly, "Sheera just told us that she's uhh...what was it? Leaving for Paris? Tomorrow?" He looked over at Sheera. "You mean the one in France, right? Not some restaurant downtown?"

"Neil, stop!" cried Aunt Ruth, laughing uncontrollably once again.

Somehow the laughter empowered Sheera to rise from her chair, run into her room, and run back out with a pamphlet. "It's an internship at the Louvre that I applied to a long time ago," she declared.

The pamphlet was glossy and official looking, with pictures of the museum plastered across the front. It was also conveniently written in French which no one in her family could comprehend. The idea of the "internship" and the convenient pamphlet of evidence was the handiwork of one Eve Quillfern. She'd explained the cover story to Sheera in great detail, to ensure she would deliver every lie in a convincing way.

"Where...h-h-how...." Aunt Ruth's laughter had now transformed into a stutter.

"I found the application in the library a few months ago," Sheera explained as nonchalantly as possible.

That part was an allowable lie.

"And what does this internship pay?"

"It's actually...unpaid."

That part was unfortunately true, as the life's work of a Kindred always went unpaid. It was also something Sheera was forced to admit, as one of Madam Quillfern's rules about lies was that they couldn't be based around money, since these superficial falsehoods had an eroding effect on the soul.

Uncle Neil's eyes widened as he did the quick math. "You're paying to cross the ocean for a job that pays...nothing?"

"And why do you have to leave tomorrow?" Aunt Ruth added in disbelief.

"Well it's a very important program," said Sheera quietly, now unable to look them in the eyes.

"And who's going to pay for you to stay in Paris?" Uncle Neil said with narrowed eyes.

"I have a student placement with a local historian."

This might have been considered a "financially rooted" and thus forbidden lie, but in fact Madam Quillfern was quite the historian, and her home was the current headquarters for the Kindreds.

"How long will you be gone for?" Maddie's groggy state had been replaced with an accusatory tone.

"At least a few months," Sheera uttered. "And if it goes well...longer."

The reality was quite the opposite, because if Sheera had to stay in Paris indefinitely, it meant that the Shadowers were still on the loose and the Kindreds hadn't accomplished their mission. If she didn't come back at all...that was a different story entirely.

Maddie grabbed the pamphlet and studied it with disgust. "We talk every night and you couldn't even tell me you were planning this?!" She stomped off.

"Maddie wait!" Sheera called out.

The bathroom door slammed leaving the rest of them in an awkward silence.

"So no more donuts?" said Ethan.

***

As the reality set in that Sheera's escape to Paris was neither lie nor fantasy, the casual Saturday mood in the apartment had evaporated.

Aunt Ruth and Uncle Neil whispered to each other at the kitchen table, exchanging concerned glances one after the next. Ethan meanwhile was lying on the couch, Googling all he could about Paris. "It's a beautiful city...but it can be dangerous. It says to beware of pickpockets on the métro." He looked up. "Is that a subway?"

"Ethan!" Aunt Ruth was clearly exasperated by the constant interruptions.

"What? You guys should be taking notes on all this so you can send her off with a travel guide; like I'm Googling it so it's free!"

"Send her off..." Aunt Ruth said shaking her head. "You make it sound as if she's really somehow leaving us tomorrow..."

Sheera might not have been Aunt Ruth's daughter, but she'd always been a good friend of her mother's, and in the last five years of taking her in she'd been nothing less than one of her own. Maybe she would've always left around this age, Aunt Ruth realized, but leaving for college to earn a degree to secure her future was vastly different than this strange and impulsive trip.

"Go to your room," Auth Ruth said firmly to Ethan, tightening her fists as if suddenly determined by some unknown thing.

"But mom there's still a lot more facts you need to hear! Did you know that coffee in the tourist areas costs two euros more than in other neighborhoods? She should know that!"

Uncle Neil gestured to the narrow hallway. "Don't argue with your mother, she and I need to talk."

Ethan sighed and trudged off towards his room, but stopped in front of the door when he heard the sound of muffled arguing. He hid in a darkened corner nearby and listened.

Inside Maddie towered over Sheera who sat on the corner of her small bed.

"It just doesn't make sense that you'd keep it a secret," declared Maddie.

Sheera shrugged in an attempt to remain unfazed. "I don't tell you guys a lot of things."

"Yeah, you don't tell us about the dorky books you're always reading—thank god—but not about huge life things, and things that affect the financial state of the family."

Sheera started to see the bigger picture. "Look I know; that paycheck I get has been a part of how things run here, but—""

"But you don't owe us that," Maddie finished.

Sheera frowned. "I've been happy to help out, believe me."

"And they appreciate it," said Maddie. "But when it's gone without any backup plan...I mean it's just not like you to ditch responsibilities..." She lowered her head. "Or to ditch people."

"Maddie I'm sorry," Sheera repeated for what was now the fourth time. "I've been so lucky to get close to you, and I wish I didn't have to leave like this."

"But we're not close," countered Maddie, as she made her way towards the door. "If we were, I would at least know a single thing that was going on inside your head."

She left Sheera alone to pack, but instead of using the time to get organized, she buried her face in her pillow, wondering what she'd gotten herself into, and completely unsure if it would wind up being worth the cost...

[The mission is almost in flight! Hope you enjoyed the read, the next chapter will be posted on Tues evening EST time!]