Dragon Tower being cold felt wrong in a way that I couldn't fully understand or articulate. Not helping was the lingering sound of Red telling me that it wasn't the Tower that was cold.

My jacket hadn't helped.

I hadn't even noticed how tired I was until I was sitting on a couch near the fire.

It was the weekend. If there was ever a time for naps…but that would require both getting up and going up the stairs to my room. Too far away and too much work.

I closed my eyes for a few minutes and after letting out a sigh I stood up and turned off the fireplace.

Even standing was making the room spin a little.

Definitely nap time.

The trudge up to my room felt slower than crystal growth.

I fell face first onto my bed with all the grace and tenderness of a landslide.

And of course right as I closed my eyes was when I heard the mirror demand my attention in the form of a song released in nineteen eighty-five.

"Hi Dad," I mumbled while barely looking up from my pillow.

"I see my timing is impeccable."

I groaned loudly. Mostly for effect. "I'm just exhausted."

"That school keeping you that busy?"

"I had training today with Vivian Hearth. I think we're getting somewhere. Probably."

"Such confidence. It's good to see you doing well."

"Hmm."

The look on his face was a soft fondness. "What's bothering you?"

"How do you always know?" I asked.

"Mothers aren't the only ones with intuition."

I realized then that I had no way to explain exactly what it was that was wrong. There was no way to tell him that Red's very pointed question was still churning in my mind. If I wanted to talk about it, I'd have to obscure parts of the story.

It wasn't something I was used to doing with my father.

I sat up and tucked my knees to my chest and let out a sigh. To let him know I was thinking. After a few seconds I managed to ask him my own version of Red's question. "Do you ever wish you could tell Uncle Roy about Mom?"

Dad's green eyes blinked at me from behind his glasses. He let out his own 'I'm thinking' sigh. "Sometimes. At first the thought of keeping secrets form my twin was more foreign than the yellow flames that Lucinda makes."

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I hugged my knees to my chest tighter.

"This is about Ethan Archer, isn't it?"

I rested my forehead against my knees and nodded. I don't know if he could actually see the movement from his angle but I think he got the message anyway.

"That's fair," he said after a few seconds.

"It's stupid."

"Not really. Keeping secrets is hard. I've always known that asking you to keep them wasn't entirely fair."

"But what were our options?" I asked. "Like realistically. I couldn't cast. Still can't. Not really. What were you and Mom supposed to do? Send a five-year-old far away and hope she handles having people expect things of her she physically couldn't do? Even if you were allowed on Maginisi, which is horseshit by the way, then what? I grow up being belittled and bullied for being defective?"

"But you didn't fare any better here."

"True. But you couldn't have known that. I mean… Mom's terrible at fortune telling. And even if she did ask someone else to see the future for her, I don't think she'd have gotten a better answer from them."

"Hmm."

"Hmm indeed," I agreed.

"What happened at your last school wasn't your fault."

"I don't think Mrs. Archer or Principal Giles would agree with you on that."

"Frankly I don't care what either of them think."

"I still probably could have handled it better."

"And then what? You spend the rest of your high school days having notes saying terrible things about you spilling out of your locker?"

I shrugged, "Better than being challenged to a duel I physically can't win."

"He attacked you. You defended yourself."

"We're probably lucky it didn't escalate. Can you imagine if it had been that instead of the spider attack that woke up my magic? We'd have had no idea what was happening."

"Silver linings."

I sighed for what must have been the tenth time during this conversation. "I miss you."

"You're coming home on the third, right?"

I nodded, "December third."

"And Lucinda is going to the parent weekend thing on November third. I'm sure you'll find some good uses for your time until then."

I laughed, "Yeah that's…going to be a very interesting weekend."

"I'd say 'go easy on your mother' but we both know she won't do the same."

I chuckled, "Considering my towermates are the kids of her old friend group I don't know if the school will still be standing after that."

"Isn't that what magic is for? Or have I misunderstood something again?"

I shrugged, "I'm taking a magic class and I still don't really get it."

"The more Lucinda tries to explain magic to me the less I understand it."

"Which considering she used to teach the class I'm taking that's probably not a good sign."

"I'm suddenly very, very glad that grades don't mean anything over there compared to here."

"Not having nightly homework and seven projects due all at the same time is so strange. I can actually get stuff done now. It's amazing. I mean, I have a paper in History that I have to do but that's pretty much it right now."

"School boards all over America would be crying at the thought if they knew."

"And I'm not convinced any of them remember how many hours there are in a day."

"Well I'm glad you've exchanged having homework for having friends. Project week was always terrible for you."

"I don't do stress well. But it's been weird having to keep track of so many people. How does everyone else manage?"

"But at least you get the chance to figure it out. Which is more than you had before."

"Tomorrow's going to be fun though. Celica has challenged me to a mountain climbing race and I am so excited."

"Oh? And why did she do that?"

"She wants me to go to the dance thing coming up. I told her over my dead body and instead of letting it grow into a big fight we've decided to settle things with a wager like the responsible almost adults we're supposed to be."

"By the tone of your voice I'm guessing she doesn't know I've been taking you on hikes since you were three?"

"She doesn't."

"Don't get too overconfident. She may have experience too."

"I doubt the girl who gets up an hour early and clones herself to do her hair goes hiking and climbing. She's also been bugging me about fixing my nails."

"Just don't be too smug when you win."

"I won't."

I would try at least.

I gave him a smile, "Thanks for calling."

"Try to not give your professors too many grey hairs."

"I make no promises."

We both laughed and then I waved goodbye at him before his face was replaced by my reflection.

Okay universe, now I'm taking my nap.

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