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Viv didn’t want to tell them, didn’t want them to be embarrassed by her own weakness. She wanted to push through, just manage somehow, but—

But she had to. They were all going to fight together, and she’d only endanger everyone if she didn’t admit the truth.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped, struggling against the pounding headache, the nausea, the sense of the dim light being too bright, the noises of the crowd too loud, the scents of the food too overwhelming. “I’ve never… managed to acclimatize to the Otherworld…”

Thys’s delicate hands caught Viv’s shoulders, pulling her down off Varsha’s back. Viv made an unhappy face in the general vicinity of the white blur that must be Thys’s face, embarrassed.

And then Thys was kissing her. 

This kiss wasn’t soft or tender or tentative. It was a possessive kiss, hard, almost biting, that strange, slender tongue curling in Viv’s mouth. Viv let out a muffled eep into Thys’s mouth, but she couldn’t help but kiss back, not while Thys was practically claiming her with it.

“Are you mine? Will you be mine, Vivian Dormer?” Thys whispered against Vivian’s mouth.

“Y-yes? Yes?” Vivian yelped, breath coming fast. 

And something… changed.

The throbbing in her head vanished—and though other parts were throbbing now instead, at least that wasn’t painful—and the background sights and sounds seemed dialed down to a reasonable range again, as if the volume on everything had been lowered. Even her hip and leg felt less painful, weirdly, and that had nothing to do with this place.

More to the point, the churning in Viv’s guts, the sense of her magic curdling, the shudders and chills wracking her as the energies of the Otherworld interacted with her own channels were… gone. 

Just gone.

“What did you do?” Vivian gasped, patting herself down as if expecting to feel something there beyond her own usually-traitorous body, her face, her torso, her stomach. “What happened? I feel… fine?”

“Yes, you should feel fine now,” Thys said reassuringly, patting Viv’s arm.

“But what—”

Thys smiled at Viv. It was a soft, precious smile, strangely shy and sweet. “We can acclimatize a human being to the Otherworld quickly. Because, you know, we can get ownership over them under certain circumstances, and spirit them away immediately, yes? It’s much as how demons can improve a witch’s ability through contract, if the rules mean that we can lay claim to you, we can take you home. Your body will ignore its usual needs and fit our needs instead. I thought it would be especially easy to do with you because we already have a channel.”

“So it’s not permanent?”

“Oh, it should be permanent,” Thys said. “If you follow rules to be freed, of course, you will no longer be mine, and that tends to have effects. But you unblocked your own magic earlier tonight without my help, so your magic is flowing now, where it wasn’t before. My stealing you away will just, I think, help show it how to flow down the channels correctly. And that is all that acclimatization is. I think it would be more strange if your body reverted entirely, after learning how to acclimatize. But, if it does revert, you know ways to accommodate now, yes?”

Vivian took stock, examining herself. It was true; the claiming, she assumed, was an effect on her, but things felt… unblocked. “I wonder why they were like this in the first place? Blocked. I have to assume it’s part of why I never acclimatized.”

Thys shrugged. “Sometimes, that is just how bodies are. Or perhaps you were cursed when young by someone who did not want you to be great. Or perhaps you simply had other needs for acclimatization than most people. Or perhaps we are soulmates and you simply needed to soulbond with me so that I could aid you when you needed it! If we are soulmates, perhaps everything is now just right!” 

In all fairness, Viv had never believed in soulmates. But Thys was practically sparkling at the thought, so Viv just just smiled. “Yeah, maybe.”

“I hate to interrupt your kisssssing in front of me,” Varsha said dryly, “but the Merry Gentry are over there.”

Viv pulled her gaze away from Thys’s face and looked around the bazaar. When she had come through before as part of moving to Branwin, it had been a blur of misery. Here, it looked… fun. Exciting. String lights and lanterns were wound up on strange, twisted trees, and booths made of a dark wood were set up all over the place. Monsters of all kinds browsed the wares at those booths, and she watched for a moment as a young headless boy was given a bit of unidentifiable fried meat on a stick; he nibbled on it, his head cradled in the nook of one arm, like a parent giving a baby a bottle.

“Ah, you’re right, over there,” Thys said, and pointed to indicate them before waving to Dandelion and his crew.

Gone were the usual glam rock looks. The band members were dressed in everything from a flowing white gown to a tunic to a thong speedo, and Dandelion…

Dandelion was dressed like a nobleman. His hair shone around his face, reflecting the lights, giving him an uncannily halo’d look. He wore a velvet tunic in dark green with gold trim and black leggings, with calf boots that sat to his thighs. 

The three of them hurried over to the band. “You have never been more conspicuous, m’lord,” Thys said, more dubiously than sarcastic.

“I know it,” Dandelion said, with a grin. “But nobody will ever mistake me for anything but one of the daoine sidhe. I should be fine as long as I don’t cross the border, so don’t worry about me. You’re at more risk right now, frankly, aren’t you?”

Thys shrugged. They looked more uncanny too, Viv noted, than they had been on earth, in ways that she couldn’t quite put words to. Fingers and limbs a little too long, movements a little too graceful. “I suppose I have accepted that. But I did not dress up.”

“You didn’t. Varsha, good to see you, as always.” He leaned in and kissed both her cheeks, then took Viv’s hands and did the same to her. “You too, Vivian. I haven’t introduced you to my band yet, have I?”

Viv shook her head. “Sorry, no. I’m Vivian, but call me Viv, hi—” She held out a hand to whichever bandmate wanted to take it first.

Perhaps predictably, that was the satyr, half-man, half-goat. He wore a leather tunic that came to his thighs and, she was pretty sure, nothing beneath. He took the offered hand, kissed it, then grinned. “Adrien, ma’am. Glad to be of service, let me know if I can help with anything else.” He gave her a lusty wink.

“She is married,” Thys put in, a little loudly.

“Aw, well, nobody’s perfect.”

Viv laughed a little awkwardly and reclaimed her hand. “We’re just glad to have your help, seriously. And you?” She offered it to the woman in white this time.

“Caoimhe,” the woman said, with a smile. She bowed; the dress at her back was loose where her back was hollow. “An elverpigen, also known as ‘women in white’. Thys and I sometimes have movie nights; you’re welcome to join, you know.”

“I am absolutely going to take you up on that,” Viv said fervently. “But is it weird that I can’t even imagine what life is going to be like tomorrow?”

“Perhaps it’s too early to judge. And…” Caoimhe sighed. “Let me introduce you to—”

The nixie was the one who was wearing just a speedo; Viv figured she should have expected as much, as water spirits infamously spurned clothes whenever they could. He was a beautiful young man with wild eyes, long hair like a horse’s mane cascading down his back, and a blueish-green cast to his skin. “My most recent registered name is Son, That Ain’t Right.”

Viv kind of froze mid-handshake. Weird enough that the guy was practically naked, but— “Sorry, what?”

“I race, so I pretty much go by whatever my rider calls me. Race horse names are wild.” The nixie with the unbelievable name laughed. “What, you don’t think we’d give out our actual names, do you?”

“We call him Star,” Caoimhe said.

“Well, it’s lovely to meet you all,” Viv said wryly. “I heard you were looking for news of the shapeshifter?”

Dandelion nodded. “Between all of us, we got enough brief sightings to form a picture. It looks like ‘Thys’ is headed right for the fae border rather than skipping between realms; they stopped and asked for directions. If we want to lay chase, we might be able to catch up since we probably know this land better than they do, but since we’re following behind we might not catch up until close to the fae border unless something holds them up.”

“Or not until past it, if something holds us up,” Thys pointed out.

“True. Now, if we want to skip through a bordering land, we might be able to angle over and cut them off before they’re too close to fae lands. However, the best realm to do that would be, well.”

He gestured to a passing demon.

“Hell?” Viv squeaked.

“Abyssal territory, at any rate, yes. Abyssal lands run close to the fae, of course, since we’re neutral to them.” Dandelion sighed. “I’m sure either option will be fine. Thoughts?”

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“It might be nice to get Yasmin if we could,” Viv said, “just because she seemed somewhat aware of the lanternfish? But I don’t think she’d be interested since I only talked to her once, so unless she’s really bored with food delivery, not going to happen. I don’t know if Varsha will want to or not, but it may be worth asking her just for her sensory abilities? Theoretically the lanternfish could be anyone. We can tell her to ditch us in case of a fight. Other than that? I… don’t know. I think Dandelion is both willing and able, but you’re the one who’s worried he’ll accompany us too far so I’ll leave that to you.”

Thys nodded. “All right,” they said placidly. “I’ll make some calls, do what I can. You focus on studying.”

“Thanks,” Viv said. She hesitated only a moment, then leaned over and kissed Thys on the cheek.

Thys’s eyes went huge and they raised a hand to touch that cheek, smiling a little. “Oh. For luck?”

“Just ’cause,” Viv mumbled. Blushing, she headed next door to her own apartment to dig up some books before she totally lost her nerve.

Viv had to shuffle some boxes around before she could find the one for her spellbooks—it wasn’t kept where her divination books were, because those were practical, while her spellbooks had been so much dead weight for her for so many years. But she’d never had the guts to get rid of them, let alone the heart to—her family would never have forgiven her for giving up.

She wondered, briefly, what they’d make of this development. Would they be pleased that she was at least able to do magic now? Or disappointed, because ultimately, she wasn’t accessing her magic because of herself but because some fae power had greased the tracks, however long it even lasted?

What would she do if it wasn’t permanent? Her heart ached at the thought. When Thys was fully well, the connection would end—that had been part of Isaac’s spell, after all, and she had only been able to mimic what she’d seen done. Once that connection had been gone long enough, would she dry up again? Shut down?

That was a future problem, she reminded herself firmly, before her tears could start to well up, and took deep breaths until their threat went away. Right now they had a very real, different problem ahead of them.

She unpacked the books, putting them on the kitchen island, and then, after a moment’s consideration, texted Thys that she’d practice in her own apartment. It only made sense; Thys was going to be calling people, and it’d be easier to memorize quickly if she were by herself. The cats were at Thys’ too, so she wouldn’t accidentally set any of them on fire if she triggered anything even in practice mode. 

Viv sat on her couch with her books and focused.

The next few hours passed in a blur. She knew most witches had to use something as a focus for their casting, whether stones or thread or whatever else, but what she knew best was fortune telling. Embedding spells was harder to learn than live-casting, so she decided not to pick up cards, and instead used her pendant, swinging it in circles while doing the recommended gestures, letting the familiar guiding weight of it guide her magic. She could feel it working, knew that this would be a good outlet for her.

She practiced light magic—hopefully Isaac’s acquaintances would have already pre-prepared a spell anyone could use, but if not, she needed to do something herself. First, she attempted to do it by will alone, as she’d managed earlier, with no success. Perhaps it had been just her desperation that had let her do it earlier, she thought glumly, like a grandma lifting a car off a toddler—though she hoped not. She hoped there was some inner power in her that nobody else had. 

But there was no point in it being that or nothing, so she studied some spells to turn the lights on and off, and did so successfully this time, her pendant whistling through the air as she did the patterns, let them spell out the silent incantation. 

From there, she moved from controlling those existing lights to a spell that let her create it, managing to place several orbs around the apartment that glowed, burning on the fuel of her magic. She thought that if she tried, she might be able to make a big orb, maybe enough to do the job, but she didn’t practice it because it was likely to burn enough magic that she’d be tired after.

No point totally wearing herself out before the big showdown.

Then she studied a basic shielding spell—no point in anything specific when she didn’t know what the lanternfish could do—and some attack magic. That she couldn’t practice to completion, not inside the house, but most spells prepared a mnemonic for the final section of a spell so that people could learn it regardless. She decided not to overprepare—simple attack spells that somehow utilized light seemed best; it fit the theme, and would hopefully help cut off the lanternfish’s line of escape if it caused shadows to move erratically. So she went for a simple lightning spell—deadly and efficient.

And then she just grabbed her backpack and shoved some of the smaller books into it. If there was something she needed on the way that wasn’t as time-sensitive as an actual witchfight would be, she could always try casting from the book. Besides, theoretically she could do bibliomancy with spell text as well. Hopefully, it wouldn’t cause any new spells to appear in there. She could handle thinking that maybe she’d just forgotten a quote that was in there or pretend it was by someone she didn’t know. She wasn’t sure she could handle actual magic text altering for her.

Viv shoved some painkillers into the backpack as well, and a bottle of water in next to it. That done, she limped back to Thys’s apartment. She felt… calm. Not ready, perhaps, because she wasn’t sure she’d ever feel ready, but as if she’d done everything she could for now. 

Varsha was inside Thys’s apartment when Viv got back, wearing a She-Ra sweater, and gave Viv a wave. “Hi,” she said. “I don’t know how much good I will be, but I don’t sssee any harm in accompanying you to play sssniffer.”

Viv gave her a helpless smile. “I promise we appreciate it,” she said, and turned to Thys, who was now wearing white jeans and a brown, flowing blouse, open nearly to their sternum. “Wait, should I change my outfit too?”

“No,” Thys said. “I am trying to wear the least mystical thing I could think of, so I seem less. Cool. Powerful.”

Biting back a laugh, Viv said, “Oh. Gotcha. I’m not sure it worked but, uh, I’ll just stick with what I have on. Anyone else joining us?”

“Dandelion and his band will meet us just inside the gate. He is strong with glamours and commands, and his band is good in a skirmish, he said—the satyr is a brawler, the elverpigen is capable of casting light that lures people and so may be able to interfere with the lanternfish, and the nixie is also a shapeshifter, as well as able to reinforce other people’s abilities with his music.”

“Well,” Viv said. “I mean, that’s a good set of skills, I think, as long as they know the risk and are careful. They’ve already gone for the gate…?”

Thys nodded. “He wanted to go through to see if he could get any news of what direction the lanternfish is going, since we know its ultimate destination, but if we want to cut it off exactly, we may need to hear what people have seen. We may wish to ambush it, find a way to track it efficiently enough to do a surprise attack.” Thys tucked some of their hair behind one finely-pointed ear. “That is it. I was not able to get hold of Yasmin; OmegaEats does not give out employee information, the skate park has no phone, and… well. I cannot imagine a stranger helping us anyway.”

“No,” Viv said. “I think that ship has sailed. Did Isaac get back to you?”

Thys held out a small baggie, inside which was what looked like a small breakfast bar. “It seems that Isaac’s neighbour is a bakery witch who recently joined the counsel. He sent this. If you put it in your mouth, the area all around you will light up. It was hurried since I asked for it tonight rather than tomorrow as planned, he said, so there may be side effects.”

“Side effects. Great.” Nevertheless, Viv took it, putting it in the pocket of her backpack. “Well, then. Shall we?”

The three of them headed off, walking downhill toward the gate. At first, they were moving a little slowly out of deference to Viv’s injury, though she was trying to ignore it; then Varsha seemed to cave and offered Viv a piggy-back ride. Somewhat embarrassed—not least because Varsha was beautiful and her betrothed was right there—Viv accepted.

They moved much faster with Viv mounted on Varsha, though she had to cling on and get used to the weird swaying movement of her long form. The buildings became more magical, lots of witchcraft parlours and hexeries cropping up near the main road—mystical energies flowed more strongly near the gate—and fewer and fewer humans were seen this far, more and more monsters of various forms.

And then they were at the gate. It was an unremarkable thing which stood in a park at the lowest point of the valley; on the other side, the hill began sloping upward again. It was a simple archway, but mists swirled within it, thick and crackling.

Viv knew that the gate itself would be there with or without the gateway itself—people had often built up those things just to feel better about its presence, feel like they were sure it was contained and not leaking—but nevertheless, she eyed the stone structure as if it was ominous and weighty in itself.

“Onward, then,” Thys said, as if this was going to be easy, and Viv didn’t protest, just let Varsha carry her through.

Pain and nausea struck as the crackling fog washed over her. She did her best not to let it show, but she couldn’t keep herself from tightening her grip on Varsha slightly. She kept her eyes closed, breathing shallowly. She knew what was on the other side of this from having so recently passed through it to move in here—an inverted version of the park, dark in an eternal night, with a monstrous bazaar around it. The park would be full of booths, full of monsters of all ages and types browsing and eating fancy foods. And she could hear it already, people calling out to each other in a variety of languages, buying and selling goods, favors, souls. Smell the meats and stranger things.

It hurt. It hurt it hurt it hurt.

“Viv?” Thys said. They’d noticed, somehow they’d noticed; Viv opened her eyes and saw Thys reaching out to her. She didn’t want them knowing, didn’t want them wasting their energy trying to fix something nobody had ever been able to do anything about. “What’s wrong?”

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“I… I think you might be right,” Viv said. It was weird; she supposed she did feel somewhat different, in that she’d never felt powerful before, never felt this awareness of power in her body, but… 

She felt like herself, just more powerful and less messed up. Not like some weird conglomeration of magics was all mixed up in her. Would she even be able to tell if that had happened?

I”I sensed you dying,” Viv said, uncertainly. “I can’t do that, so I think that implies that you’re right, some of your powers came to me. It could have been our magical connection, I suppose, but it felt like it stopped working before that. There might be other things too, just… I’m just so overwhelmed.” She took a deep breath. “I should probably run some tests before we go rushing into a fight, right? Try to see what my magic is capable of. Try to figure out what’s changed. But…”

Thys shuffled closer, taking up Viv’s hands and chafing them between their own. “But?”

“Do we have time?” Viv found she was abruptly close to tears, overwhelmed, afraid. “I feel like I have to do that before we have a chance to win. Even just a little. If I speed through my practice, do you think we can beat it? I want to keep it from getting through the gate at all. We could call Dandelion to meet us halfway with his band, and I could try to study more magic on the go…”

Thys’s fingers were tracing Viv’s, one at a time. “I genuinely doubt think we can beat it there,” they said frankly. “My abilities are not in manipulating space, or I would have had a much easier time escaping. The lanternfish, though, Lithway implied could move through shadows. It’s night. The gate might not be right outside, but it’s close enough that I do not see how we could outrun the lanternfish. We could try, of course, but I think it might be wasted time and energy. Unless you think you can alter space right now?”

Well, she did have to experiment. She focused on the far corner of her apartment, imagining herself appearing there, trying to pour power into it.

Nothing happened. She remained anchored on the sofa, Thys’s hand in hers. “I… I don’t know. It didn’t feel like something I could do. I guess even if I’m sharing your power, if you can’t do it, I couldn’t either.”

“It’s possible that you could learn a spell to transpose yourself through space, I suppose, if that falls within your sphere of learning,” Thys said dubiously. “But that would take too much time to learn for it to be relevant here. I agree that we should go fairly quickly so we stop it before it gets too far, but I don’t think we can plan on stopping it before it gets there.” They gave Viv an encouraging smile. “So let’s take a little time to eat, drink, perhaps let you take some painkillers for that limp. And help you learn your new abilities. And then go in a couple of hours?”

Viv’s stomach clenched. “Is that safe for you?” she asked. “Will going at all put you at risk of discovery?”

“Oh. No, not really,” Thys said, lips quirking in a wry smile. “There aren’t hunts on for me or anything like that. I’m safest out here, since court business stays in court territory, mostly. But in the Otherworld, away from fae realms, is pretty safe also. And fae realms that are not mine are… okay. And even in mine, I might not get caught, it’s just much riskier. Even Dandelion could come with us if we’re not entering the fae realms. He could not go as far as we, though, and I do not want him to catch on about our concerns, as I said. He is… loyal.”

“That’s good,” Viv said. She knew she should mention her own problems with the gate, but… if it was a choice between catching the lanternfish before it got there, but entirely unprepared, or preparing even a little and having to go through, then there really was no choice. She needed to know what she was capable of, so she was going through. She’d just have to suck it up. “So… studying, I guess. If I’ve absorbed some of your power, I wonder what else I have. You said you could sense disasters?”

“Our people can. Yes,” Thys said. They steepled their fingers, making some sort of roof- or bridge-like structure, then folded them in, miming a collapse. “If we are in the general vicinity of where a disaster might occur, we may be able to sense it. I suppose our powers really do align in some ways, then, because it’s a form of divination, I suppose.”

Viv nodded, and was about to continue, when a thought occurred. “Wait. Are you the mothman?!”

“I… I am not the mothman,” Thys said dubiously. “I suppose I am… a mothman? Or the mothman was… an us?”

“Holy shit, I’m dating the mothman.”

“Engaged,” Thys corrected primly.

“I’m gonna marry the mothman,” Viv corrected, and let out a nervous giggle. She was letting herself get distracted. “What’s fae magic usually like? I just pushed all my power out at once to make the lights go on, but I don’t know if that’s how it works.”

“Fae magic is primarily about… perceptions,” Thys said. “Illusion, but also… it’s hard to explain. Glamour is belief. There are many things we can do—binding, and changing someone’s age, and so on, that you may not think have to with perception, but it’s because people usually think of illusion as seeing or hearing something that isn’t there. But glamour is about making something be there by altering the perception of it.”

“Isn’t that just… altering reality?” Viv asked weakly.

Thys puffed their cheeks out. “You may have to be able to think as a fae does in order to use it. I do not know if you can, just as I do not know if I could… think as a human. Humans are unfettered, but fae have so many rules. We come with terms and conditions in a way that humans don’t. Human magic usually does, but it does in the form of spells, in the forms of the things humans do, not what they are. So even if we’re connected, I’m not sure you can do fae magics.”

Viv sighed. “So you don’t think the lights were that?”

Another moment of consideration, but Thys shook their head. “‘Shoving Power At Something’ sounds pretty different.”

“I mean. If you put it like that,” Viv said, with another nervous giggle. She drew a deep breath, bracing herself against the pain in her leg, and rose. “Okay. Quote book.”

With deep confusion, Thys asked, “You want me to quote which book? Why?”

“No, I’m going to get my quote book,” Viv said. She found it on the floor behind the couch, and could only assume it got flung there by one of the cats. Or maybe by herself in her terrified rampage in the dark. She decided not to think about that, because even remembering it was bringing back her fear and grief and rage. She sat down with the book. “I want to see if my powers of prediction are going to work any differently.”

Thys sat attentively. “Go on.”

Viv flipped open the book and put her finger on the page.

“Those tyrants who rule by lies are the worst tyrants of all, for not only will they send their hopeful citizens to die, they send them to die believing that they are doing the thing that is right for their country.”
– Sophia Animus

“This one… doesn’t involve much interpretation,” she said, then frowned. Not only did it not involve interpretation, she wasn’t sure that she’d ever seen this quote in the book before. She’d never heard of Sophia Animus either. “And it’s got some pretty ominous implications.”

“I am… more worried than previously,” Thys admitted.

Viv drew a deep breath. “All right,” she said. “Painkillers. Some kind of food or drink that’ll really pump us up. Can we get energy drinks delivered? That’s a joke,” she added wryly. “I’m going to go next door and quickly unpack my spellbooks. Once I’m back, I’ll do some studying, so while I do that, can you call people for me? Call Isaac to see if he did get the spell prepared already at the counsel or not, maybe, but otherwise…”

“I can do that,” Thys said. They rose, lanky and elegant even just while hunting for their phone in the couch cushions. “Otherwise, then, who should I call and what should I tell them? Varsha will be off work soon, Dandelion will be around, but… should we bring them? Who else, if anyone, and how soon should we tell them we must move?”

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Viv froze, torn.

On the one hand, she felt that Dandelion deserved honesty. That he had the right to know and make his own decisions. Dandelion had been nothing but honest with her—to be fair, as far as she knew, that was a trait of the fae. But he had cancelled his gig, he had walked them home, he had warded their homes, and had worried about them. He’d even given up some kind of favor so they could get information from Lithway—without which they’d probably still be floundering in the dark. 

But Thys also had the right to control this information, to decide who knew and who didn’t. And she didn’t want Dandelion to know this.

“Vivian? Viv, are you in trouble? Hang on, I’ll come back to your place—”

Either way, she couldn’t hang out on the phone saying nothing. “No! No, it’s fine, sorry. We’re fine. I just needed to tell you, uh…”

Thys was no longer arguing, just looking at her. They looked calm, but that was just an illusion from their solid black eyes; Viv could tell that Thys was willing Viv not to say something, could feel it. She only wished she could tell if Thys was just genuinely worried that Dandelion would do something self-sacrificing, or they were using it as an excuse so they didn’t have to think about going back to something they hated in order to protect their people from whatever the lanternfish was planning.

“Viv?” Dandelion prompted.

Fine. She’d split the difference. She’d tell everything she could except what they’d theorized about what the lanternfish wanted. Dandelion didn’t know the things Lithway had told them, after all. It would be harder for him to jump to conclusions. And then, if Thys changed their mind, they could still let him in on this. “We really are fine,” she said. “We did run into the, uh, the perp though.”

He sucked in a breath. “What happened?”

“It did the thing with the power while I was showering and we got separated,” Vivian said. She reached out and took Thys’s hand. Thys hesitated on taking it back, clearly not sure whether or not Viv was going to tell Dandelion, but ended up twining their fingers with Viv’s. “It lured Thys out into the elevator and attacked, but this time we’re pretty sure thinks Thys is dead so we think, for now, they’re safe.”

Dandelion paused consideringly. “How did Thys fake their death?”

“By almost dying for real,” Viv said. “It was not deliberate. It was like last time but way worse because they didn’t actually escape, just… a tiny part of them wasn’t dead yet when the perp attacked. I managed to heal them.”

“I thought you couldn’t…?”

“Yeah I thought I couldn’t either!” Viv said, a little loudly. “Believe me, I’m trying to get that figured out right now too. Even if someone’s got witchy powers, you can’t just use them without spells, but somehow I did and then I did a spell from memory of having watched Isaac do it and healed them, I am freaking out here! But that’s not the point of this call.”

Dandelion let out a rough breath. “Okay. So you wanted to let me know to help fake Thys’s death so the perp doesn’t catch on?”

“Sort of. Maybe. It’s… the attacker is a kind of shapeshifter,” Viv said. “I ran into it in the lobby as it left. It looked like Thys and was pretending to be them. I fooled it, I think, so it doesn’t know I know that it isn’t the real Thys. I believe it’s—” Don’t say trying to take over their life, she reminded herself. “I think you just need to be careful if you run into Thys and they’re not with me right now.”

Dandelion said, in a voice like he was prepared to commit a murder or two, “I see.”

“It might come to eliminate loose ends so it can do whatever it’s planning to do with Thys’s form, but I don’t know that it knows you were working with us. It might, if it had been following us, but I feel like at least one of you two might have noticed, right?” She was babbling a little, trying to keep talking while figuring out what to say. It was important to get accurate information to Dandelion, but Thys had said not to theorize about the lanternfish taking advantage of their rank.

Abruptly, she recalled that Dandelion didn’t know that Thys was noble. He’d outright told her that. It sounded like he suspected they might be, but he’d said the two of them didn’t talk about that sort of thing. Which also meant, even if he thought they were a noble, he wouldn’t know if they’d left willingly or were exiled like he was. 

So, giving him the basic information would still be fine as long as she kept her theorizing to herself. “The thing is, while pretending to be Thys, it said it was going home. I assume that’s true—it probably wanted me to tell people so nobody would wonder why Thys was suddenly gone. So although there’s some possibility it might be planning to take out witnesses first, I think it’s probably heading straight for the gate.”

Dandelion was silent for a moment, the faint, unnaturally slow rhythm of his breath all Viv heard. “That’s odd,” he said finally. “I suppose it decided it needed to be a fae of some sort, and not one of the fae host.” Not those common fae that people saw around everywhere, he meant. “Why do you think it would do that…?”

“I don’t know,” she said, which was true—she only had theories. “We’re gonna discuss it and figure out what to do. In the meantime, you absolutely should not go to the gate to try to intercept it or anything! Thys is safe while it thinks they’re dead, so the absolute best action to take right now is to not clue it in to the fact that it failed a second time. And not put any loose ends like you in its way!”

Another brief silence, and then a reluctant chuckle. “That’s fair enough. All right. Thank you for letting me know, Viv, I appreciate it.”

Viv drew a deep breath. This seemed to be working. “Now. While Thys might be safe for now, I’m not sure letting it do whatever it’s planning is a good thing, you know? We talked before about maybe getting a posse together, and if you’re willing to try to think up anyone who might be interested in getting in on whatever we do… It’s no longer a question of Thys being hunted so much as us maybe doing the hunting. Unless we decide to just let it go, of course.”

“Of course,” Dandelion said. “I’ve already talked to my band, and they want to help. If you’re able to cast spells now—and I have no idea why that might have changed—you might want to look up some attack magic.”

“I don’t really like maleficia—” Viv began.

“Sure. Most people don’t like guns, either. But, you know, that’s what hunters use.”

Viv made a face. “True. Okay, I don’t want to wake you up if I call later, but we have a lot of talking to do still over here ’cause I called you as soon as Thys was safe. What times should I avoid calling?”

“It’s fine. I don’t sleep much.”

“Dandelion—”

“I mean it,” he said. “Call me whenever. Give Thys my love, Viv. Tell them to rest.”

Viv supposed he thought Thys was still low energy, as they had been after the first attack. She didn’t bother to correct him. “Thanks. Talk to you soon.”

“Well?” Thys asked, when Viv hung up.

“I don’t think he figured anything out,” Viv said. She lifted Thys’s hand and kissed the knuckles. “Is that okay? Did I do fine?”

Thys seemed to consider, then also kissed Viv‘s knuckles. “Yes. You did what I asked. You want to gather a posse? Although I’m safe now?”

“I understand how you feel,” she said. “I think we should explore the possibility. We can talk to Varsha—”

“Who is working now.”

“Well, last night she was off fairly early. We can do it in an hour or two. It’d be ideal if we stopped the lanternfish from getting to the gate, but…”

Thys’s eyelids lowered partially; it looked as if their gaze was downcast. “We would have to leave now, if so, not wait an hour or two to gather companions. If you wish to do that, we can explore that option, but I don’t know if we are prepared to take it on.  Otherwise, although distance between realms of the Otherworld is more abstracted than it is in physical reality, moving from the entry point of Branwin Valley to the entry point for the fae realms is not immediate. And moving from the entry point from the fae realms to my fae realm is not immediate. And, if necessary to let it get that far, it getting instated as ‘me’ and having the time to do anything with that power would certainly not be immediate. So. We have time and can arrange an attack at any of those points, if we do not wish to just… let it go, as you said. Which… I admit I’m drawn to. But you are right that, if its goal was to do something with my face and identity, then it is… risky, in its own way.”

“So I have time to learn an attack spell or two,” Viv said. “Find a book and study it.” She smiled weakly. “Dandelion suggested I do that. I don’t… understand how I can do these things. I’ve never been able to do these things. Did you… do something?”

Thys considered, then leaned on Viv abruptly, pillowing their head on Viv’s shoulder. “Not deliberately,” they said. “However, there was a connection between us. I thought it was one-way, sending your energy to me alone, but if it was not… perhaps some of my glamour has been mingling in your magical channels, and that might have altered how it… behaves in your body. Do you have any indications that might have been the case?”

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For a second, staring down at that tiny, dying moth, all Viv could think was: Sugar water?

She almost cursed herself out for the thought. She didn’t have time to go make sugar water, let alone make Thys drink without drowning them at this size! While probably unconscious!!

And then she paused in her self-recrimination.

Sugar water was a metaphor. Had already been a metaphor. Last time, Thys wanted Viv’s energy in lieu of sugar water, explicitly took it because Viv had already promised sugar water to them. So perhaps this was the same. 

She needed to reestablish the connection despite the fact that Isaac wasn’t here.

But—she’d seen Isaac cast it twice, in two different situations. And while she’d never been able to cast anything before, never had a spell that didn’t fail, perhaps now she’d be able to.

She was afraid. She was terrified. If she was still as broken, as much of a fuck-up as she always thought she was, then Thys would die.

But she had to try. With shaking hands, she began doing the same gestures, outlining the same circle that she had seen Isaac do in the past, making shapes with her hands and arms over that tiny form. She put aside her self-doubt because there was no room for it any more, and focused on the energy inside her, that raging storm of power and loss and grief and fear that felt like it was boiling out of every pore she had. She imagined drawing light into the gestures she was making, a pattern that would make a circuit that would build a connection between them.

And then she pushed it into Thys.

Power poured through her. She felt electric, electrified, electrocuted, as if there was no difference between being the source and being the conduit and being the receiver. The moth twitched on the counter, and Viv felt a confused, alien touch on her heart again.

She latched onto it, grabbed it with her energy, and poured back along it. 

That touch became a thin string between them, and she widened that too. She felt like she could widen it indefinitely if she wanted: make it a ribbon, make it a path, make it a road, a river, a lake to drown in. But after a moment’s consideration, she left it a ribbon tied to them both.

The moth’s wings fluttered, and abruptly it expanded, no longer small, no longer a moth: Thys’s long lanky form draped over the kitchen island, shoving a mug off onto the floor where it shattered. Viv’s cats scattered.

Thys sat up, rubbing their face, and said, with a tone of awe, “I nearly died.”

When Viv grabbed Thys, she honestly didn’t know what she meant to do. Hug them. Shake them. Cry on them.

She settled for a mix of all three and kissed them on top of it, her lips trembling as she mushed her mouth to Thys’s, her cheeks abruptly wet, heart pounding in her chest as she squeezed Thys tight.

Thys made a soft sound into the kiss and then kissed back, mouth moving, strange insect-like tongue flickering against Viv’s lips. The contact tingled, and for a moment Viv was worried it was some kind of magical backlash, or maybe some sort of strange faerie venom, but then her knees just went weak and she thought,

Oh.

She pressed Thys back against the counter hard, kissing and kissing like she couldn’t bear to stop, and thought she felt Thys’s own relief and pleasure radiate through that connection. Thys’s hands came up, tugging at Viv’s sweater, and Viv broke the kiss with a gasp.

“Are you okay?” Viv demanded, her voice high and tight. “Are you all right? It’s not draining you again secretly, right?”

“I don’t… think so,” Thys said, breathless, black eyes wide. “I’ve had a connection with you both when it was and when it wasn’t, and it feels like when it wasn’t. I think it hasn’t kept a connection to me.”

“Thank fuck. Maybe the lanternfish thought it had killed you this time since it didn’t see you get away, so it didn’t leave a hook in.” Fuck, she hoped so. Everything was hitting at once; the room was almost spinning, and she limped over to Thys’s couch and sank down on it, putting her head on her knees. “Oh my God.”

Thys slid off the kitchen island. “Viv…?”

“Holy shit, I did magic. You almost died. We’re connected again and—” It was the third time; that occurred to her it was significant somehow, a magic number with the faerie, and if Thys had gotten engaged with her over the first time, what would this mean? Viv didn’t let herself think about that, not yet. “Are you sure you’re okay? Last time you were shaky for a while after.” 

“I shouldn’t want to do anything too strenuous,” Thys said, “but I am…” They tilted their head, drawing a deep breath as if assessing. “I am good. I am reshaped by you, remade by you…” Their expression grew a little heated. “I feel you fill all the spots of me that were eaten up by the lanternfish’s needle sharp teeth…”

Viv went red and rubbed her face. She wanted to take Thys up on that, but… “Shit. We have to call Dandelion. Have to let him know—” She pulled herself over to the table next to the couch where she’d left her phone when she went to go shower, such a short time ago.

“Oh! Oh, you’re right,” Thys said, startled out of the mood. “After all, it is wandering the city in my form, is it not? I don’t know much of what happened after it took me out…”

“I… I don’t think it is,” Viv said. “It might be but it was saying it was going home. It told me that I think to cover for your ‘disappearance’.” She tapped Dandelion’s contact. “I think it’s… I think it might want to take over your old life.”

Thys seemed startled. “My… old life? So it tried to kill me so there would be no risk of them thinking it was not me, when it went to the court in my stead?”

The phone was ringing. “Yeah. You’re an isolated fae noble, right? You have lands. Followers, and vassals and all that; you already said you’d be welcomed back with few questions asked. If it wanted power of that kind, wouldn’t this be a great opportunity? You seem like a perfect pick for a predator who can take over another person’s life…!”

“But that’s a good thing,” Thys said blankly. “If they think I’m there, there will be no pressure for me to return, nobody sent here to try to fetch me. I will be free, if it takes over my life there! I can just live with no worries! Can we not celebrate instead?”

Viv shook her head furiously. “You don’t know what it wants to do with your face, Thys! What it would do with that power! Even if you don’t care about the courts, do your people deserve that?”

“Hang up! Or don’t tell Dandelion that part,” Thys said.

The thought of hiding this important detail from Dandelion made Viv angry, but she swallowed it. She could tell Thys, at least, was concerned. Even so, she protested it, sure that telling him would be the right thing. “He deserves to know! He’s your friend! And he’s a potential loose end that the lanternfish might want to eliminate before it—” 

The ringer clicked off as Dandelion picked up and Viv stopped talking immediately. “Hello?” he asked. “Vivian? Did something happen?”

“But if you tell him, he will want to go back and help despite his exile,” Thys said softly. “He will think he must.”

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