I was back in a classroom at my old school. Freshman English. I'd had it first period, before everything imploded. I remembered the book cover posters on the wall and the clock above the white board. There was a projector overhead at the center of the ceiling.

I sat on top of my old desk instead of the chair. Across from me was where Ethan had been assigned to sit. We'd shared this and our second period together, Algebra.

I would probably feel more nostalgic for this room, if just outside the door hadn't been the event that set everything in the past year and a half in motion. And the class being boring didn't help.

There was a puzzle on the board. An unfinished game of Hangman. The little gallows with a circle for the head of the poor stick figure. There were lines indicating an eight-letter word. In the upper corner of the board were the letters, 'R' 'U' and 'N'.

The thin window of the door began to glow. A familiar dark green light pulsing and humming like the fluorescents above. There was thunderous crack and the ground split open, ripping the room in half, me on one side, Ethan's desk on the other. The fissure radiated more dark green light.

I woke with a gasp.

Red curtains, dark oak wood, shelf with my Focus.

Still in Dragon Tower. I checked the curse mark, no green smudges. I let myself lay in bed for a little bit, try to calm my heart and just breathe. I was here, nowhere else. I would be okay.

The second day of Mom's visit. Yesterday hadn't been so bad. Deep breaths. I could do this.

Okay. Let's get this done.

I opened the door and the first sound I heard was the unmistakable sound of my mother laughing.

She was early.

Mom was terrible at being early. Unless she wanted something.

"Mom," I greeted flatly.

She was sitting on the coffee table in front of the fireplace. Scraps was resting in her lap and Jarec was sitting across from her with his mother next to him.

Mom's grin screamed of trouble.

"You're early," I observed, waiting for her to explain while I stepped down to where they were.

"Ruby's an early riser," she said. Both of us knowing full well that wasn't the whole story. Scraps hopped off her lap and left to go settle on Jarec's shoulders.

I could see Ruby roll her good eye, "She means, 'I asked for a chance to speak. Just us Hearths for a bit before the others arrived.' Old habit of your mothers, she tends to leave things unsaid."

"Oh, I know. We've just barely scratched the surface of what she hasn't told me," I sat down on a separate couch from Jarec and Ruby.

Mom started on her dramatics instantly, recoiling like our words were stones being thrown at her.

Both her and Jarec seemed to be having fun. Scraps started wagging his tail like a dog. Jarec patted him while grinning widely.

"So…rocks?" Jarec asked.

I blinked once slowly. An instinctive urge to defend my interest that I had to swallow down. I crossed my arms and shrunk inwards a little.

"Uncut stones," I corrected quickly and quietly. "And crystals."

Jarec didn't seem to have a noticeable reaction. He was still grinning. "I feel like I should have guessed. Celica told me how excited you got over geodes in Alchemy."

I relaxed a little, "Geodes are cool."

"And she's so smart Ruby! You should see it, if I had been that smart at her age we'd never have been caught." I was pretty sure Mom was deliberately changing the topic to limit awkwardness. I was grateful.

"I don't think that would have been a good thing," Ruby responded.

Mom laughed. "Maybe. Wouldn't have met the others if we never got caught. And that's a timeline I know I don't want. Who knows who might not have been born in that scenario."

Then Ruby turned to her son, "Don't do anything because you think getting detention is a good way to make friends."

"But it's okay to do things for other reasons, right?" Jarec said with a wink at me. Like I was some kind of co-conspirator.

"Don't rope me into things, I want plausible deniability at all times."

"See Ruby? She'd fit right in at the manor," Mom's smile was wistful.

Ruby looked kind of smug. "You raised her, of course she has Hearth traits."

"She does have the temper. It's better than mine at that age, but…"

"I would hope so. If it had been us written about that way in the school paper you'd have burned the room down."

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Mom got that look in her eyes.

"Don't burn anything down please," I said. "I'm the one who'd have to live with the consequences."

Mom pouted, like she was a child denied a trip to the candy store.

"I told Mother that Victor was a good balance for you, look at how good of an influence he's been on your daughter."

"Exactly!" Mom exclaimed, all hints of disappointment gone. "He's like the other half of my soul, I would be incomplete without him. And Serafina would be dreadfully out of balance."

"But if you're going to burn stuff, let me know so I keep my boyfriend out of danger," Jarec commented.

"Ooh, Serafina never mentioned a boyfriend," Mom shifted to full gossip mode.

Jarec gave me a look, like he was trying to read something but wasn't finding anything. Scraps was also staring at me.

"Look, I didn't think it was my place to comment on anyone's love life. I won't be mad if you tell her nothing or everything," I told him.

"You told me you were flirting with a boy, when did you start dating?" Ruby asked.

"We made it official last week."

"He's so grown-up Ruby!"

"Yours is older."

"Shh. No, I refuse."

I heard the click of the door opening, Vivian was here. She took one look at Mom sitting there and sighed. "Why are you early?"

Mom pouted again, but it was just for show this time. "Why does everyone think I'm up to no good?"

"How honestly do you want me to answer that question?" I responded as soon as she finished.

"I thought it would so nice for all of us to clear the air, since we're going to be so busy today and everything." I might have believed her, if her voice wasn't overflowing with the fakest innocence I had ever heard.

"And what did you want to talk about?" Vivian either didn't notice it was fake or was seeing something in Mom's posture that I wasn't.

Mom shifted to be sitting up completely straight, all traces of her feigned expressions and games gone. "I think we need to discuss the possibility that combating the curse might require we go to the source."

What?

"I was worried you might say that," Vivian sighed.

Jarec sent a panicked look at his mother, who gave him a calm nod in response. He relaxed. Scraps scuttled off somewhere out of sight.

"Isn't contacting Merripen really dangerous? For everyone?" I asked.

"Trust me, there is no one who understands the risks better than I do. That's why I want this to be a group conversation."

"The fact you're even considering this makes me have to ask what aspect of the curse is worrying you that much. You don't care that much about her not casting at her peer's level," Ruby leaned forward in her seat.

"You've done research on Mana Fatigue, what would you say are the worst risks?" Mom turned to her sister.

Ruby frowned, "Lethargy, short term memory loss, weakened immune system, in the most extreme cases; heart problems."

Mom didn't look surprised by the list. While she had never told me about this, I could guess by the name. Probably caused by lack of magic in one's system.

I could see Jarec thinking.

There was a case for me to have one of those symptoms already.

Mom pinched the bridge of her nose and scowled, "Serafina, has anyone told you about Magic Poisoning?"

"No," I told her.

She sighed, and then the scowl softened, before looking at me normally. "Do you remember when you learned about blood typing? And how some types don't play well with others?"

I was following. Putting blood of the wrong type in someone could have disastrous effects. The cells treated like an attacking invasion force. I nodded.

"Magic works in similar ways, the long-term presence of magical energy that isn't your own can lead to spontaneous internal bleeding, sudden organ failures, and death," Mom explained.

"Milder symptoms are bruising and bits of discoloration of lips and extremities," Ruby added.

Welp, I was thoroughly horrified.

"Mother, I need to know the truth," Mom said. "Exactly what are the full effects of the curse?"

"She's getting stronger, it's been slow progress but it's feeding off of her strength. As she grows so does it. She's shown early-stage symptoms of fatigue, none of poisoning."

Mom relaxed a little bit at that.

"It reacts violently to any outside interference and every time it lashes outwards it drains her immensely. I suspect the fatigue symptoms will continue to get worse until the curse is broken."

I scratched at my left wrist. Jarec and I met eyes.

"It also starts to itch and burn depending on my emotional state," I informed the room.

"Must be an effect of it feeding off of her magic," Mom commented. "Likely a reaction to increased magic production in times of emotional distress."

I took a deep breath, "It's annoying, but I don't think it's dangerous. At least, not dangerous enough for us to do anything drastic."

Jarec frowned, "I have a question. What does it do with all that energy it devours?"

"I don't know," Vivian admitted. "I've kept an eye on the situation but without any way to safely probe her mana veins and its energy, we'll likely never know."

"Unless we ask the person who made the curse," Mom pointed out. "But we can't ask those questions without risking revealing Serafina's existence to him. And if he comes after her, she won't be the only one in danger."

Jarec and I looked at each other again. Right. When he came after Mom he also endangered everyone nearby.

"He let loose a wraith on campus just as a distraction, risking every life there. We all know he has no issues killing people and hurting kids to get what he wants." Mom was somber and mostly still. Occasionally looking over at Ruby.

There was a chance he'd do to me or Jarec what he did to Ruby.

"I don't want to drag anyone else into this, but the reality is I don't think there's a way to get rid of this without risks," Mom looked down at her hands.

"Mother, you know the most about the curse in this room. What do you think the risk of not contacting him is? Both for Serafina and anyone nearby." I was glad that Ruby was able to stay calm. This would be harder to discuss if anyone here was freaking out.

Vivian sighed, "There is some risk. I don't know if it's riskier or safer than getting Merripen involved. But that risk is easier to manage and predict."

"Jarec? What do you think?" Ruby asked.

He looked more panicked than I was used to. "I…I don't know. I haven't interacted with the curse. I've just seen what it does to Serafina."

"What have you noticed?" Mom asked. "Don't be nervous. We're just trying to get a full picture before we make any choices."

"The headaches mostly. And glowing eyes even when not casting which was kind of weird at first and I don't think is healthy," Jarec told her.

"Headaches?" Mom turned to me.

"Only when someone or something gets through the curse. Like telepathy or seeing my future."

Mom let out a slow breath, "When do your eyes glow?"

"Whenever I bleed. When my eyes are glowing I can cast and use runes, which I can't do any other time."

"Is it just injury bleeding?" Mom asked.

"No," I told her. A burst of mild discomfort from hoping I wouldn't have to elaborate.

If Jarec pieced it together I couldn't see it in his face.

Mom must have been satisfied enough with my answer though. "Heightened emotions might feed into it."

"Not impossible. What do you want to do Lucinda?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know. I want my daughter safe, but I don't think there's an option where that's possible. I'll have to settle on the option where's she's safest. No matter how much you work with her Mother, I don't think she's capable of defending herself. Not against Merripen if we bring his wrath upon her."

"I don't want other people in danger," I told them. "Not because of me."

"It wouldn't be your fault," Mom tried to soothe.

"No. If I'd be his motive for hurting others and we give him a reason to do that then I would absolutely share some of the blame for whatever he ended up doing. Whoever he ends up hurting."

Or worse.

"And if the curse kills you?" Mom asked.

"There's no evidence that it is, right? That's what we all just went over. I don't want people's lives on the line because I'm susceptible to cold and feel tired sometimes."

Mom smiled, though it was a grim one. "Definitely our daughter." She took a long and slow inhale, "Okay. Well, she does have a point. No need for drastic measures at this time. But Mother I want you to still keep me updated should the situation worsen."

"Of course," Vivian vowed.

She turned to me, "And you, keep not doing things I would do."

I shrugged at her.

"Good enough," Mom shrugged. "Welp, I think that's enough serious coven talk for one day. Who here wants to hear an embarrassing story about Serafina as a toddler?"

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