You're not ready yet. Grab a blanket and get cosy with a cuppa, this chapter's a long one!

~

Lily left her phone charging on her bed when Jack stormed back in to get her for the party. Her leg had been bouncing ever since Jack went for her walk, and it seemed neither of them were calm for Cody's party. Lily tried talking with her friend but Jack was focused on something else - she didn't even blink when Lily told her Karen had messaged wondering where Claire was, if she'd left Tyrill yet or stopped off by her dad's place to pick up some clothes for Karen first before going to the hospital.

Jack just kept scowling at any form of laughter around her, and each time Lily heard the voices from the bonfire getting louder on approach, her pulse spiked higher.

"Jack I don't know if I can do this-" Lily started, grinding herself to a halt.

"Oh no you don't," Jack whirled, grasping Lily's clammy hand tightly. "We're in this together, Lily Morgan. It's going to be simple - you and I are going to edge around the party and go straight for the food, and eat everything before it goes. When it does go, we leave, and we don't need to say a word to anyone."

Lily's heart rate rose higher with the determined look of Jack's eyes. "B-But what about Niall or-"

"I'm going to shove a pie in your mouth every time you utter a boy's name." Jack threatened. "If there's no pies, I'll use cakes. And if there's no cakes, then we're leaving, because a party with no cakes isn't a party at all."

"Jack-" Lily started, digging the heels of her feet in so fiercely her flat shoes creaked under the strain.

Jack then saw how pale she was, how sweaty her forehead had become - beads of water had formed by her temples, the stray red hairs curling under the panicked perspiration. The witch sighed, looking down the alleyway where the glow of the bonfire beckoned them, the noise of the party shrill in their ears, and back to Lily's wide, alarmed doe eyes.

"Look," Jack said calmly. "Do you need a moment to breathe?"

Lily nodded immediately, swallowing the lump in her throat.

"Okay, I'll go to the party and grab some food, and come back for you in a few minutes. That way you're walking in with your mouth full and you don't have to talk to anyone." Jack strategised. "How's that for a plan?"

Lily nodded again but the lump in her throat wasn't budging. The witch nodded, squeezing her hand one more time before she walked towards the noise now clanging in Lily's head.

I can do this. I can do this... I can't do this - what are you doing Lily? Lily pinched the bridge of her nose tightly, leaning against the wall of the lit alley. She felt nauseous. A snake twisted in her stomach spouting panic all through her belly. The phantom weight on her chest grew.

What she really wanted to do was walk back to the Guthrie house, make a hot chocolate, and hide in her room until she felt better.

She didn't like crowds. She didn't like attention. Since was twelve, Lily had everyone's pitiful eyes and cooing voices on her like she couldn't stand up for herself and she'd crumble at any moment. She hated it as much as she hated cars.

Luckily they were close enough to the bonfire to walk instead of drive, Lily thought dryly, or she'd be twice as anxious as she was now.

Lily pressed her sweating hand against the cool brick behind her, flinching when she touched a left over stream of cold water running from the roof above. Must have been from the rain earlier today, Lily realised, taking a few deep breaths with the water running over her red-banded wrists, kissing her rapid pulse.

She began the breathing exercises Aunt Ollie had taught her while envisioning a calm picture in her mind that always reminded her of peace. Lily always thought to the waterfall in Marlin's Bay her family would visit when she was little, the picnics they'd have - egg and watercress sandwiches, a smoothie to wash it all down with, and mini pies. Her father and Rio loved the pies, and when Mum wasn't looking, Lily and Delta would grab the mini sponge cakes.

Lily's heart rate slowly eased, the churning in her stomach calming like there was no moon to raise the sea, until she heard the music from the party grind to a halt. Lily frowned, hearing raised voices suddenly echo through the alleyway - she'd recognise Jack's fierce tone anywhere.

Her panic shifted to her friend, her feet following the shouts as she left the alley and came across the party. Lily immediately saw the slow burning bonfire in the middle of a ring of people staring at two women on either side of the flame. She missed the string of fairy lights around her, the smell of pies and other finger food wafting past her nose, and instead focused on Jack and Cody staring each other down.

Cody put her hands on her hips, the golden silk dress hugging her waist and draping over her chest and legs like a regal goddess. Her hair was unbound, wild and free in its fluffy, long afro curls - the streaks of silver and gold in her black locks like veins in marble.

If Cody looked like a goddess, then Jack had the ferocity of one in her bright gaze, narrowed on the host of the party.

"Jack, sweetie," Cody said delicately. "I was just saying how Lily always seems so small, so not confident in who she is. It's hard to believe she's the granddaughter of someone as great as Nerry. What's your problem?"

Jack clenched her fists. "You have no idea what Lily has been through, and you have no idea how strong she is." She said through clenched teeth. "Nerida Haven, on the other hand, isn't as great as you seem to believe."

Cody stilled. "You have no idea the strength of that woman. She's like a mother to me."

"Funny, Nerida's not that great with family, so I wouldn't hold her too tightly." Jack hissed. "She'll drop you as soon as she finds out you can toboggan down the Great Wall of China, and then she won't return for a decade."

Cody's glare simmered. Lily held her breath feeling their anger rise, a thick tension like a river about to swell in a flash flood. "You watch your tone when talking about her." Cody said quietly.

"Watch yours when you're talking about Lily." Jack held her chin high, holding her arms up. "At least she's there for her family and for her friends - where's Nerida been for the past eight years of Lily's life? Hiking?! She's gone through so much she should have freaking medals and statues for her bravery and strength, not this, this, lack of respect!"

"I didn't disrespect her-!"

"You called her 'a small and weak little girl'!" Jack interrupted, pointed a finger at the now wide-eyed Cody. "She's far from it - and I won't hear you talk about her behind her back. At least give her the respect to say it to her face, so she can shut you down herself!"

Cody stepped forward, her eyes no longer trained on the wrathful gaze of Jack, but on the finger she'd pointed at her. "Those..." Some colour left her cheeks. "Those are Andromeda's rings."

Lily's heart sunk in her belly when the whispers around the bonfire began about the infamous Witch of the Night. Lily wondered just how much the Tyrill people knew - how many people here knew of the supernatural? And if so, how much had Cody told them? By the sudden steps they took away from Jack, Lily realised she'd told them whatever she wanted - there had been no higher power to stop her here.

Her stomach twisted at the mention of the old supernova, the title she now bore, and where this conversation would end up. "Jack," Lily said quietly, hoping to get her attention but she was lost in the whispers around her.

"You know your history," was all Jack said, putting her ring-clad hands on her hips for the people to see. Her chin was still held up high, unafraid of her lineage and unafraid of the whispers.

"They were passed onto Freida, the psychic supernova." Cody blinked in horror, piecing it together after she voiced the question aloud. "How'd you get them?"

"I'm her daughter. "Jack smiled. "The Witch Who Can Heal."

"You can't give yourself a title." Cody laughed nervously. "Just because your mother and grandmother had titles doesn't mean you can have one too, you have to earn them."

"Actually, I was given a title." Jack sneered in delight. "The old supernova gave it to me, as prophecised by his predecessor, you know, my own mother."

"Jack," Lily said a little louder, her tone dragged out in warning.

"The old supernova?" Who's the new one?" Cody narrowed her eyes, tilting her head to the side where, unbeknownst to Lily, she'd heard her whispers of warning.

Jack stretched out her hands, the rings of her grandmother gleaming in the light of the bonfire. "How'd you know you're not looking at her?" She taunted.

"Because you would have said so by now," Cody said, her mouth opening in realisation as she looked at Lily, standing between them a few metres away, far from the crowd around the campfire. "Oh my goodness, it's you, isn't it?"

Lily swallowed as the crowd looked to her; their eyes roaming - Lily realised with dread her flats and dress didn't cover the band of red scarring over her ankles and wrists, nor the starlit veins of her right arm.

"You're the new Supernova?" Cody said breathlessly. "You?"

Lily couldn't breathe as Cody's dark gaze honed on her like a predator chasing a deer realising it was a stag in its prime. "I heard the Supernova created a storm so powerful it wiped out a pack of rogues."

"I didn't kill anyone." Lily choked, taking a step back towards the alleyway which she came. There were too many eyes on her, too much emotion in their faces that she read with ease; fear, awe, delight, terror, shock...

"But you did create a storm?" Cody pressed, smirking. "What did they do, threaten to cut your hair?"

"Hey, that's enough." Jack snapped, eyes blazing with fury. "They tried to kill her, Cody."

"Jack-" Lily tried to speak but Cody's voice was louder.

"We've all been almost killed, it's nothing new." Cody waved her hand in dismissal. "People are in accidents all the time! People slip in showers, some choke on broccoli, but we all survive and live on!"

"Not like this." Jack said quietly. Cody stilled at her lowered tone, the tight expression on Jack's face as she relived the day she realised she could warp flesh like flora. "The rogues hunted her down like a dog, and when they realised they couldn't go at her with force, she was too strong for that, they went after her heart. They kidnapped a werewolf and forced Lily to trade places.

"The rogues tied her up to a metal pole and left her hanging there for hours waiting for the storm that had blanketed Trawalla for weeks to strike and kill her." Jack trembled, the crackling of the fire matching the prickling anger beneath her skin. "Have you had your abilities used against you like that? Had to try and suppress your own self knowing it would be the death of you?"

Jack threw a pointed finger at Lily, shouting. "She had no one there with her, Cody! She was alone; I searched with our friends for hours but we didn't know where she was! Her family weren't there for her either - Nerida left her eight years ago and the rest of her family are dead! Lily had to fend for herself and she did-"

"That's enough." A voice thundered over Jack's rant, silence cracking around them. Jack twisted to glare at Nerida, dressed in a black pantsuit with gold woven through, as she stepped through the crowd. Her eyes weren't on the two witches but locked on her granddaughter.

Lily knew what they all saw when they looked her way. She struggled to keep her head held high, like her sisters always did. Her dark, watering gaze looked over the crowd no longer looking at her in fear, but utter horror. The whispers started up slowly. Orphan. Bound. Frozen. Kidnapped.

When she saw the Guthrie family by the food table, she stopped. Cay had a hand over her mouth and Annie trembled behind her sister's leg at the shouting, her own anxiety twisting in her chest like the tight ringlets on her head. Nick had half a pie in his hand, the smoke still steaming but he made no move to eat it - his horrified gaze locked on Lily. Rodger's expression was frozen but he kept both his hand firmly on Niall's trembling shoulders.

Lily didn't even take in Nick's out-of-place attire - she only saw the shocked look on Niall's face and flinched, turning her head away. Her hair fell from her shoulder and the fresh scars glistened in light of the fire.

She stepped back when the crowd gasped. She saw Nerida take a step forward but Lily took another step back, her lips wobbling as emotion drowned out any strength remaining. She turned to walk - or run - back through the alley when Cody's broke the silence.

"How'd you escape that?" She said, her voice tight with guilt. When Lily looked her in the eye, Cody had the sense to flinch at the pain in her expression, the nightmare she was still living beneath the surface.

Lily said the truth. "They didn't know I was immune to lightning." She forced out, hating how hollow her voice sounded. Lily couldn't look at them anymore, couldn't stay a moment longer at her party.

As she made her way up to the alleyway, she heard Jack speak again. "She didn't know either." She said, and Lily heard her begin to march up to see her, when Jack suddenly stopped, yelling for someone to get their hand off them.

"Lily is the type of girl that needs space when she's emotional." Her grandmother advised. Lily pressed a hand at the familiar brick wall, her fingers searching for the stream of water she found before but it had dried already. It provided no comfort for the cleaving pain in her chest.

Lily couldn't listen to the rest and headed back to the one place she knew, the only comfort she found in this mountain town.

She kept her head down as she made her way to Niall's house, letting her tears quietly run between the freckles on her cheeks. Lily walked quickly and hoped no one saw her. It took less than a minute at her fast pace to leave the alley, cross the tarmac of the road beginning to glisten with a sudden, drizzling light rain, and seek shelter under the porch of Niall's home.

When Lily jostled the front door, however, she realised her error - it was locked. The keys must have been in Rodger's pockets, and there was no chance of her returning to that party.

A haggard breath drew into her lungs, her lips and chin wobbling as she rested her forehead against the locked door. Lily drew another breath. Another. Until her body stopped shaking and her eyes weren't burning with tears.

Lily walked around to the side of the house, passing Jack's car in the driveway, and went through the side gate to the back garden. The glass doors emerged. Lily could see the living room she'd been in this morning playing Snap with Annie, and the kitchen where Niall (probably Rodger) had made her another hot salted caramel chocolate.

With the rain now a light mist over her, Lily couldn't find the strength to put her hand on the glass doors. She knew they'd be locked too. Instead she watched her reflection; seeing a girl whose red hair was twisting thanks to the moisture of the mist, and the solemn expression on her face.

Lily sighed, walking back into the middle of the garden. Unafraid of the mist now falling gently on her skin, she sat down on the grass, lying back softly to not jar the new scars on her back, and looked up at the stars.

Hair like the rare blood moon. Eyes like the brightest of stars. Lily remembered the description Andrew's grandfather gave Nerida in her youth, matched with the words her predecessor Jacob spoke to her the day before she left for Widderin at her family's grave. They are afraid of you.

Before she delved into a mental hole of people telling her what she could do, who would fear her, and how powerful she was, Lily instead took a leaf from Jack's book. She cleared her mind, put all the emotion from the party aside to evaporate like water, and focused on the stars above her.

Jacob once told her that Tyrill was known as the Roof of the Sky, and seeing the small clouds letting loose a quiet rain, Lily understood why. The clouds were smears on the window of the universe; the stars mere droplets of rain on the glistening pane, revealing that there was always something more, something brighter, and something fiercely beautiful about the unknown.

A gust brushed her bare legs, swiping the smudges of clouds on the star-lit window of the sky, and suddenly one speck of white fell towards her. Lily blinked in surprise seeing a white-haired nymph surf the currents above before landing in his garden, immediately lying down next to her.

Lily flushed when their shoulders touched for a moment. Niall adjusted so he didn't knock her still-paralysed joint and sighed watching the stars, to him a blur of light and dark.

"Hey." Niall said.

"Hey," Lily whispered, smiling slightly before remembering he'd heard everything Jack and Cody had shouted at the party. "So..."

"So." Niall's violet gaze was still on the stars. "Sky's pretty tonight."

"Yep." Lily cursed herself for how her voice squeaked, fiddling with her fingers. Was she imagining this awkwardness or could Niall feel it too? The unspoken words between them, the elephant in the room, when was he going to bring up how her family was gone? How she was the Supernova? How the scars on her body were formed?

"I was born flying." Niall interrupted Lily's thoughts, grinding them to a halt.

"What?"

"Not kidding." Niall smiled, eyes lighting up at the story. "My mum gave birth to me and I shot off the bed and hovered in the air. Made a bloody mess of everything apparently! A nurse fainted, and my dad was outside with Nick and thought something bad had happened."

Lily turned to look at him, watching the profile of his pale face, how he swallowed before continuing the story of his beginning. "Apparently there's a story of my ancestors having land hear fairies back in Ireland, a story woven of magic there, but when Mum held a floating baby in her hands, well, apparently it woke them up to the reality of the supernatural." Niall joked. "If that wouldn't, what would, you know?"

Lily didn't know what to say, utterly captivated by his tale. "What was your childhood like?" She gently asked.

"Perfectly ordinary." Niall grinned. "Nah, it was distant. My parents had to raise a child that could float out the cot, could float in general, and had to keep me bundled up fiercely whenever they went outside. My albinism was obvious - the eyes and hair give it away - but I quickly gave up wearing glasses as a kid."

"You can wear glasses?" Lily quickly chimed in. "I assumed your vision was too bad."

"I can, technically, but when I realised I could fly," Niall stretched a hand to the clouds above them hiding the stars, the mist of rain dancing over them both with the gentle drafts swaying the tops of the trees. "It's too risky wearing glasses when flying up there; it restricts how fast you can go 'cause the lenses can pop out and contacts can roll behind your eyes. I also wasn't going to let anything stop me from being free like I can be up there."

Niall turned his head to lock eyes with her. "Being different," he licked his lips in thought, "it's not a bad thing. Everyone's got their quirks and their weird facts. Being supernatural is just another quirk of ours - some people don't understand, some won't ever, but," Niall shrugged with a playful grin creasing his cheeks. "I don't wish to be any different."

Lily swallowed. "There's a difference in being different and being the most different of them all."

"How different are you from us? From Jack, Haidan or me?" Niall shook his head. "We can all do some cool things, you can just do some cooler things. I can't summon a storm, I can't get rid of claw fragments, I can't heal quickly."

"I can't fly." Lily said, looking up at the stars. "I can't lose myself up there like you can."

Niall kept watching Lily. He was close enough to her to see the profile of her face, the slope of her nose and the way her lip pouted when she sighed. "I'm sorry about your family." He said quietly, a clang echoing in his chest when Lily shut her eyes at the phrase. "I'm sorry we found out about your life that way. The party was meant to be celebrating you, not hearing your story like that."

"I know." Lily opened her eyes again, Niall glimpsed their shine in the corners. "Jack got lost in the heat of the moment standing up to Cody, I understand. I was just overwhelmed by everyone - all I wanted to do tonight was dance."

"If it any thought," Niall's gaze drifted over her face, wishing he could see her clearly. "I'm sorry you were alone, you know, before. With the rogues. And I'm sorry that fear and pain followed you every step - hopefully there's been some good for you."

When Lily blinked at his words, turning to face him, their breath mixed together under the misted rain. She, for a moment, was lost in the intensity of his eyes. "There's been some good." Lily said quietly.

Niall smiled, Lily smiling too and turning away when her cheeks flushed. The fluttering in her chest began anew but not because she was afraid. Her fingers twisted together and she blinked in surprise when Niall suddenly hauled himself to his feet and held out a hand for her.

"Let's dance." He said, brushing his white hair away. It was sticking to his forehead with the light rain.

Lily blinked again. "What?"

"Come on," Niall grinned. "It's your party, and you want to dance, so let's dance!"

"There's no music though?" Lily sat up but still didn't move from the grass.

"Pretend there is, have a little imagination Lily." Niall kept his hand in front of her. "Let me show you what being free feels like."

"What does that even mean?" Lily asked, skeptical.

"Stop thinking, just dance with me."

Lily chuckled, grasping his hand tightly with her left hand and stood up. "You know, Jack thinks the thing you have to do at parties is eat all the food while everyone's dancing and chatting." She was all too aware they were still holding hands.

Niall laughed. "That sounds like her. Haidan and her would probably commentate on the sidelines until, like, YMCA comes on."

"Then they'd use the distraction to ransack the food again." Lily joked and waited for Niall to stop laughing before looking between them. "So, how does one dance?"

"You've never danced before?" Niall asked, moving her hands while he spoke. "Well, you just kind of go with it. No one's gonna look at you, no one's gonna judge, because everyone dances differently."

Lily was grateful for Niall's poor vision for a moment because he wouldn't have known she'd gone as red as her hair. He'd placed her hands on his shoulders and his hands were on her waist. "How do you dance?" She said a little breathlessly as he swayed side to side, and she began following his steps.

"Like an aunt when her favourite song comes on and she's more than tipsy." Niall said immediately.

Lily instantly thought of Aunt Ollie, the description almost accurate to how she'd imagine her at a party. "Dancing with a drink in hand?" Lily added, knowing Ollie would have a chardonnay in each and shimmy onto the dance floor.

"Sometimes." Niall grinned, and gently grasped Lily's star-veined hand and spun her around, before dancing around his garden again. "Depends on the song."

"What song warrants a kind-of-crazy dance for you?" Lily asked, trying to ignore how the fluttering in her chest was her own tempo, and how natural it felt to be in Niall's arms dancing with the light rain pouring.

"Oh," Niall snorted. "That's easy. Bohemian Rhapsody, I have a whole choreographed routine for that song."

Lily smiled. "And what song warrants a dance like this?"

Niall grinned, spinning her around again, leading her around the garden once more. "For this? I can only think of one." He said, stopping the dance for a moment to get his phone out of his pocket, telling Siri to play something.

When the soft tune echoed in the speakers, he slid it back into his pocket and put his hands back on Lily's waist like they'd always belonged there, and began slowly dancing once more.

Lily couldn't look away from his eyes. "What song is this?" She whispered.

"Truly, Madly, Deeply by Savage Garden." Niall whispered back. Lily wasn't blind to the sudden blush of his cheeks and neck. "It's one of my mum's favourites."

Lily blushed hearing the soft tune of the song echo in the garden. The two of them swayed with the trees, the grass tickling their feet as they moved in time with each other. With the misted rain swirling around them, Lily blushed fiercely hearing the lyrics.

I want to stand with you on a mountain.
I want to bathe with you in the sea.
I want to lay like this forever.
Until the sky falls down on me.

It was a love song, Lily realised when Niall spun her around yet again, before they softly swayed. The wind brushed their ankles, the rain danced over their hair, but they couldn't look away from each other. Lily saw Niall hesitate for a moment, then reached out and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, his fingers brushing over the curve of them.

Lily shivered, then froze when his fingers trailed down her neck to Yuric's scars on her shoulder. Niall blinked as he softly brushed the raised scar tissue, counting the five grooves and the sixth charred burn crossing them all.

The highest powers
In lonely hours
The tears devour you

Niall swallowed, a flicker of anger in his violet gaze before flickering to Lily, who'd shut her eyes tightly unable to see if he was disgusted. "Hey," Niall whispered. "Are you okay?"

"I-I'm sorry." Lily blurted, not looking at him still as she opened her eyes and stared at her red-banded wrists, lightning-kissed arm, and pulled her damp red hair over her branded shoulder. "I know they're not, not beautiful, I usually hide them-"

"Hang on," Niall drew away. "What are you talking about? Why are you apologising?"

"W-What?" Lily said, frowning when Niall suddenly flew to the back of the garden.

"From here," he shouted, the music a faint tune to her ears. "I think you're beautiful." Niall flew to the glass doors of his home, his feet skidding on the wet stairs. "And from here!" He jumped to a few metres from Lily. "From here, too!"

When Niall took a few steps forward, Lily couldn't move as he stepped even closer. He dipped his head so their noses almost brushed, and Lily was captivated by how his violet gaze focused on every detail on her face like he could finally see them - from the light scar on her cheekbone from the school lock down only weeks ago, to the freckles over her cheeks and nose, and finally to her dark brown eyes. "And from here, where I can finally see you clearly Lily Morgan." He whispered.

I want to stand with you on a mountain.
I want to bathe with you in the sea.
I want to live like this forever.
Until the sky falls down on me.

Lily leaned in and lightly kissed him before she could over-think it. When she quickly pulled away from the peck, seeing Niall's wide-eyed gaze, she spoke before she could think. "I-I'm so sorry, sorry, I didn't think - I was just caught up in what you said, and I must have misread that, sorry! It's just the nicest thing someone's said to me, and I - um - I, I can't stop rambling-"

Niall brushed the loose strand of red hair behind her ear yet again and stopped her rambling with a kiss. Lily's eyes shut automatically when his lips brushed hers, her fluttering chest blooming with warmth. Her eyes flashed silver under her lashes as Niall rested his other hand on her waist and drew her closer, the song reaching its final chorus playing a cacophony of delicate strings.

When he pulled away as the song ended, Lily took a deep breath to soothe her warmth pooling in her chest before opening her eyes, to find Niall smiling. His bright gaze was dancing around her until his brows rose in shock.

"Is it snowing?" Niall asked, stretching out a hand to feel the misted rain had hardened to the delicate snow now falling on his palm. "It is snowing!"

Lily looked up to find the dark smears of clouds were no longer filled with rain, but snow that began to tumble over them. Niall laughed, bouncing around with eyes burning pearly pink as his gusts twisted the snow around them in joy.

Lily beamed watching the nymph twirl snowflakes with the flick of his wrists, thinking how there was some good she'd received - him.