I was on a hike with my mother, and we were almost to the top of the mountain. The sun was only just rising, but I was enjoying myself. I like waking up early, and so does she. Everything was calm and serene. Until I realized that I had no memory of getting there.

I started to look around and realize I had never been there before, and that we hadn't hiked up, we were just there.

It was a dream.

I started casting a spell to wake myself up, but someone else woke me up instead.

“Now isn't the time for naps,” my teacher said. The other kids were laughing, but that wasn't what was on my mind. My spell had been interrupted, and that meant bad things were coming. Bad things that I had to deal with every week.

I looked up at the analog clock on the wall above the whiteboard, and there were only five minutes left of class, so I figured I could wait that long. As soon as class ended, though, I gathered my things and quickly dashed through the halls.

I bumped into my friend.

“Again?” was all he said. I nodded and ran past him, eventually finding a bright purple portal. I ran through it and turned around, casting a spell and closing it behind me. I dropped my backpack onto the floor.

“Alright,” I said to myself, “what is it this time?”

I was in the school's pocket dimension. Many buildings, even houses, have one. I looked around in the vast, dark, empty space around me.

Pocket dimensions are weird. They're like these giant platforms, and anyone given control of them can basically construct an entire world to their liking. For the school, though, it was a relatively new pocket dimension, so it was little more than an oversized storage closet. It had twists and turns, like some kind of maze, but by now I knew its layout better than any of the faculty.

“Now, if I were a creature from the deepest reaches of Hell's monster scrapyard, where would I…”

Then I saw it. It had been behind me the whole time. We made eye contact. It was maybe twenty feet tall, towering with its gaping jaws and razor-sharp teeth. Each claw on its long, skeleton-like paw was as big as my torso, and its eyes were leaking blood as it stared intently.

“Um… good boy?” I said optimistically, but it began bounding towards me, releasing a grumbling roar the likes of which I had never heard before. I ducked down and cast a spell, making a bubble around me. The beast pounded on the protective casing, shaking the ground beneath me. I thought for a moment, being cut off by the barrier cracking more and more with each stomp.

I took note of how much damage its stomps were doing as well as the rhythm, waiting until just the right time. On its final pound, the barrier shattered like glass and I jumped out, narrowly avoiding the beast's hellish talons.

I realized I hadn't breathed the whole time, and I took a deep breath, then got ready to sprint full speed away. I cast a spell, giving myself a boost in speed and energy. I rounded a sharp turn and cast another spell behind myself, creating a brick-like wall of stardust between me and the hound.

“Alright, mama, let's see what you put in the bag of tricks today.” I dug through my backpack and found what I was looking for, a pouch containing items to help me defeat the creature. I unzipped it and looked inside and found the Winged Boots of Hermes, as well as the Chains of Cerberus. Perfect.

I put on the boots, and just as I finished with that, the wall behind me finally gave, and the hound came hauling after me. I quickly jumped up, using the boots to push myself off of the air, gaining enough height that the beast couldn't reach me. It jumped up, but I kept climbing up through the air until even when at the peak of its jump, I was barely out of reach. I grabbed the other item, chains strong enough to restrain the guardian of Hell itself, Cerberus, and I swung them around over my head like a lasso, watching, waiting.

The creature jumped up to me, and I quickly dropped to below its hind leg, flinging myself through the air around it and making a figure-eight around its back legs. It landed and tried to turn around to snap at me, but it fell down. I took the moment of shock where it stopped moving to jump over to its snout and chain it down in a muzzle shape. I was careful not to suffocate it.

Once it was fully bound and couldn't move, I landed in front of it. I stared it straight in its bleeding eyes as it snarled at me, wanting nothing more than to kill me. I shushed it softly, and it quieted down a little.

“Hey, buddy, what's got you all riled up, huh?”

It fully silenced, and it put its snout close to me. I gently put my hands on the side of it, then pressed my face against his.

“It's alright, I'm not gonna hurt you. Let's get you back where you came from, alright?”

It nodded, apparently fully understanding me.

“Do you have a name?”

It shook its head.

“Do you… want me to give you a name?”

It looked at me expectantly, not giving a direct response. I thought for a moment. It wasn't every day that you got to name a creature from Hell. Although, for me, it was a bit more often, I suppose.

“How about… Fenris?” I asked it. I picked the name from an Asgardian wolf who served under Hela's command. The wolf nodded its head softly. I smiled and pet it gently a bit more.

“Alright, Fenris, I'm gonna send you home now. I'll be sure to visit you, okay?”

The towering beast, still laying on its stomach, moved its front paw next to me ever so delicately. Suddenly, I felt a sense of trust.

See, animals aren't like people. Animals, even ones from Hell, will hurt you. They'll hurt you badly. But once you gain their trust, you've got that trust. But with people, they make you think you can trust them, only to turn around and use that to their advantage, hurting you in ways an animal never could.

I put my hand on its paw, petting it gently, despite the paw being at least ten times the size of my hand. I started walking a circle around the creature, slowly casting a spell to create a portal back to where it came from.

“Before you go, I should ask, since you can understand me so well, it feels rude to just call you ‘it,’ you know? Are you male?”

It shook its head.

“Female, then?”

It nodded.

“Alright,” I said, having completed the circle, “time for you to go home, Fenris.”

I gently removed the chains with a flick of my hand and she stood up, this time standing perfectly still. I finished the spell, and in a flash, she was gone.

I sighed, picking up the chains and taking off the boots. I gathered my things and began walking back to the portal. I was lucky, most days I fought creatures that were fresh out of someone's worst nightmare. In the end, I was glad it was gone. But today, I made a friend, someone who could understand me and who I could visit from time to time.

I cast another spell, reactivating the portal, and stepped through into the contrastingly bright fluorescent lights of the school hallway.

I looked at a clock on the hallway wall. I had been there for half an hour. It was less than usual, but I was still gonna be in trouble. I walked into the women's restroom, cleaning myself up so I didn't look like I had just fought in the trenches for the last half hour. Then, I went to my classroom.

I took a deep breath and opened the door. The teacher stopped talking and looked at me, and I felt two dozen pairs of eyes glaring at me, wondering where I had been for the millionth time. I flipped up my hood and kept my head down, walking over to my desk and sitting down. The teacher cleared her throat.

“What's your excuse this time?” she asked.

“Um… would you accept ‘saving the world,’ or would that be far-fetched?” I responded, trying to keep my voice steady and my face concealed. I couldn't let anyone know that I was crying.

My classmates laughed, which made me chuckle a bit, too. I wiped my face subtly, and the teacher quieted everyone down.

“Detention, my room, thirty minutes. Understood?”

“Yes, ma'am.”

The rest of the day dragged by, and at the end of the day, I went back to that classroom. I sat down, being the only one there aside from the teacher.

“We need to figure something out, hun,” she said softly, “you can't just keep disappearing like this. It doesn't help that you don't tell anyone where you're going during that time.”

I nodded.

“I mean, were you even on the school grounds still?”

I nodded again.

“Look, your mother has to be concerned about you. She hears about it every other time this happens at least. Today it was half an hour, but last Wednesday, it was forty-five minutes, and the Thursday before that, it was an hour and a half.”

I nodded a third time, still hiding my face. I could never stand being lectured, it overwhelmed me and made me cry. But it's not like I could tell her that. I was the one in the wrong here, right?

She sighed. “You know, there's a rumor going around the school between students that you're a Witch. Now, I know that isn't true, but this isn't helping. You want another reason to stop this and get to class on time? How about your reputation? You don't want people to hurt you because they think you're a Witch, right?”

I started to nod, but she cut me off. “Words, please.”

“Yes, ma'am,” I said, my voice breaking. I failed to conceal it and I started crying into my hoodie sleeve. She sat and waited until I regained my composure. I wiped the tears away and looked her in the eyes.

“I'm sorry, I know I'm in the wrong for this, I wish I could say something, but it's more complicated than you know. But I'll try harder.”

“Honey, you say that every time. When you say ‘complicated,’ what do you mean by that? Is it, you know, a drug thing? Is someone hurting you? I've seen you come to class late looking worse for wear on more than one occasion.”

“No, it's nothing like that, but my mother knows about it, but she won't tell you anything either.”

“Well, at least you won't get any trouble from her, but if you keep up like this, grade drops, attendance issues, you're gonna be expelled.”

I hated that word. Expelled. I had heard it so many times, and every day the threat grew. The thing is, I like school. If I get expelled, I don't have to worry about school anymore, since my mom knows about all of it, but I don't want to stop going to school. I like it, it's the one place where I can be around other people without worrying so much. In public, it's a mess, but in school, it's organized. I have a couple of friends, and I feel a sense of security.

“I understand,” I said solemnly. She just sighed, and we sat in silence, waiting for my detention to end. When it did, I didn't say anything to her, simply getting my things and leaving, beginning the walk home.

Today's been a bit hectic, as many days tend to be for me, but now I have time. I suppose I should introduce myself.

My name is Luna. And, in case you've been living under a rock or something, people hate Witches. In fact, it's perfectly legal to kill them.

Everyone has natural magic that flows through them, though Witches have several magnitudes more than the average person. Anyone can do a spell to open or close portals, and there are relics to make pocket dimensions and whatnot, but higher-level spells require more magic to cast, meaning only Witches can do that.

My mother and I are both Witches. My father died not long after I was born, so it's just us. I have to hide my identity every day. Witches are nocturnal, though, so it's a bit difficult to stay up all day. My mom and I hardly see each other because our sleep schedules are so different. But because of this, I often fall asleep in class, and whenever I fall asleep, I lucid dream. When that happens, I cast a spell in the dream to wake myself up. But sometimes, like today, it gets interrupted.

That's a problem.

Whenever my wake-up spell gets interrupted, it becomes a summoning spell. See, spells are weird, and sometimes the only thing separating ‘summon a creature from Hell’ and ‘wake up’ is a gesture or two. Spells work in gestures or images, meaning you can either think of the correct images or make the correct gestures with your hands. I prefer gestures, but images are quicker, so if I need to cast a spell quicker than I can with gestures, I use images. Either way, if it gets interrupted, the result can be different.

I have a rune that I keep with me for when that happens, and it makes it so that when a summoning spell happens, I get a bit of extra time to choose the location. It has to be nearby, though, so I always put it in the school's pocket dimension, that way it won't hurt anyone and I can still get to it. But if I leave it for the entire school day, a teacher or a janitor will probably enter. That's also why I have to close it from the inside, because the spell I use acts as a sort of lock, meaning it can only be opened from the same side the spell was casted on.

The issue is, I can't tell anyone I'm a Witch. If that happens, I'll be expelled, maybe even killed. But with the way things are going right now, I'll be expelled anyways, because I can't tell them why I disappear, but I can't just leave it alone or people will get hurt.

Only two people know my secret, and those are my best friends, Aster, who I bumped into earlier in the hall, and Starlight, who I've known since I was little. Her family and mine were close, despite us being Witches and them being humans. Starlight and I grew up together, so she helps keep my secret safe, even helping when she can sometimes.

I sighed and opened the door to my cottage. My mother was asleep, so I was quiet. I set my stuff down and went to my room, taking off my shoes and laying down in my bed, facing the ceiling.

My mother, every day, puts items in a bag for me. I like to call it her ‘bag of tricks,’ because somehow, she always puts exactly what I'll need for that day's monster if there is one. Without those items, I would surely be dead by now. If you think today's creature was bad, you should see some of the other things I've dealt with.

I guess I wasn't quiet enough, because my mom peaked in through the open door.

“Are you awake, Loony?”

“Yeah, I'm awake, mama.”

“Monsters today?”

“Just one.”

“How bad was it?”

“I named her Fenris,” I said, chuckling. She was caught off-guard by it and laughed, too.

“So, what happened?”

“Well, I became a beast tamer, and I have a new friend. She's a hellhound, but hey, I'm a Witch, so I guess we're both a little quirky.”

“That's my girl, always making things positive.”

I smiled.

“I just gotta make it two more years without getting expelled…”

“Oh, Loony, I'm sure everything will be alright. Half the time, expulsion is just an empty threat.”

I looked at her, and despite her reassurance, she looked as worried as I felt, which was pretty damn worried. I looked back at the ceiling.

“Yeah, I sure hope so.”

“I'm gonna make something to eat, do you want anything?”

“Something with duck. I like duck.”

She chuckled. “You got it.”

She left, and suddenly, I was all alone all over again. I sighed quietly, and cast a simple spell to float something over to me. It was a plush black cat, and it was a comfort item. It may seem silly for a sixteen-year-old girl to have a plush, but when I held her, somehow everything felt okay. I hugged it tightly.

Her name was Panther, and my grandmother made her for me when I was small. I've often wondered if she used magic to make Panther as comforting as she was, but I always dismissed it. Not because I thought it wasn't true, but because it didn't matter one way or another. All that matters is that she makes me happy.

I set her down and hovered into the kitchen, where my mom was chipperly dicing vegetables. I sniffed the air, and immediately I was pleasantly kicked in the face with the smell of duck and broth. I smiled in spite of my woes.

“Stew?” I asked.

“Stew!” she said back, grinning goofily over her shoulder. I chuckled. My mother has always been silly, and I loved her for it. She somehow always cheered me up on the days I had to deal with these accidental summons.

I was a bit restless, but stew always calmed my nerves and made me sleepy, so I wasn't concerned. Worst case scenario, I could cast a spell to help me sleep. It's not as natural, but it works.

The summons usually happen twice a week at most, and today was Tuesday, so I had at most one more summon to deal with this week. I could always take comfort in the final days of the week, as it meant I wouldn't have to deal with much more until the two-day break.

My mother finished cooking the stew, and I ate it, going to sleep without the help of a spell. She was an amazing cook, and she really enjoyed making things, especially for others, and even more so for me.

But for now, all I have to think about is me and Panther, sleeping on the comfortable mattress.

Goodnight, world.

Today was Friday.

I thought I might have only had one summon to deal with this week, but unfortunately for me, I was wrong.

There was a new student today, which was the first time I had seen a student that hadn't been there longer than I had. Her name was Stella. It seemed like she was looking at me a bit more than others, but it could have just been me.

I fell asleep during the last class of the day, and I dreamt that I was on a boat. The sun was setting, and I was relaxing alone on the water. But I realized the water didn't have a reflection, and tried to quickly cast the spell before I could be interrupted. My teacher called me out once again.

“Miss Luna, would you care to join us?”

I realized the spell was interrupted and resisted the urge to slam my head into the desk. Apparently it was obvious, though, because Starlight noticed and gave me a worried look.

“Sorry.”

The teacher shook his head and continued talking.

“Luckily for you, class is over, so you're not in trouble. Anyways, homework is pages one-sixty-eight through one-seventy in your textbooks, I'll see you all on Monday.”

I grabbed my backpack and walked as quickly as I could out of the room, and Starlight followed me.

“Hey, Loons, got a summon?”

I turned to look at her. Star is tan-skinned and tall, with a slim build and mid-length, curly light-brown hair. She has these piercing green eyes that seem to light up when she's excited, and when she walks or runs she's always a bit bouncy, almost always seeming to be in a good mood. It was hard to be upset around her. Like me, she usually wore leggings and a hoodie.

“Yeah, I thought I'd be able to only have one this week, but it looks like I wasn't so lucky. At least it was the last class of the day so I won't get in trouble.”

“I'm coming with you.”

“Star…” I usually tried to tell her she shouldn't help because she would get in trouble, but school was officially out for the day, so I couldn't say anything.

“You do this on your own every day. Not today, though.”

I smiled and hugged her. “Thanks, Star.”

“Of course.”

We ran into the pocket dimension and I locked the portal behind us. Starlight faceplanted.

“I always forget there's a drop here,” she said. I was about to laugh, but I was cut off by a deafening shriek from above. We both covered our ears and she stood up, looking into what would be the sky back outside of the pocket dimension.

We saw a bunch of large, black birds in the sky. One of my many hobbies was birdwatching, so I recognized them as being corvids, likely either crows or ravens.

“Alright, this isn't so bad,” Starlight said.

“Oh, Star, never ever say that.”

Every time I've ever said something wouldn't be so bad, or even thought it too strongly, it ended up being the most difficult, painstaking monster to defeat.

Sure enough, we heard another shriek. It was closer, and even covering our ears didn't seem to do anything.

“Look out!” Starlight said to me, pointing. I looked, and one of them was swooping towards me. I tried to duck out of the way, but it ran its claws across my cheek, drawing blood. I felt the streams of it run down my face.

“Well, upon closer inspection, they're definitely ravens…” I joked quietly.

“Well, what's so special about them?”

I was thinking hard. “Well, let's see, they're ravens. They fly around. But unlike regular ravens, they're trying to attack us. No, not attack. When birds attack, they grab. This scratched. It drew blood, though. The shrieks don't seem to be made any better by plugging our ears, which means…” I gasped. “Star, they're…”

Another shriek cut me off, and another one swooped down and struck Starlight, drawing blood on her as well. The shriek stopped.

“What? They're what?”

“Psychic Ravens!” I shouted. “They have a low-level psychic field which they use to plant that scream in your head, thus lowering your defenses so they can put a psychic link in your blood, which they use to give you vivid hallucinations!”

“Oh, well, that can't be…”

Then the first hallucination hit. In a dream, you can live out an entire life of a whole different person in mere hours. Dreams can seem incredibly real. Well, these hallucinations were more vivid than any dream. They were somehow even more realistic than real life.

Suddenly, I woke up in my bed, sweating. My husband was laying next to me.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

“Just… had a really weird nightmare,” I responded. I was so confused.

“Well, hey, you know what always helps me with nightmares?”

“What?”

“Going outside and relaxing under the Starlight.”

My head ached so incredibly much. A shriek blared in my head all over again.

“What?” I asked.

The first time I came out of a hallucination for a few seconds, that shriek filled my head again. I saw Starlight, hearing her scream in pain. We were both laying on the ground. That was a short hallucination. They were gonna get much longer, though.

Suddenly, I woke up in my bed, sweating. I started crying out, and my mom came into my room.

“Jenny, darling, it's okay, it was just a bad dream,” she said. I realized I couldn't communicate my thoughts, and thought about that dream. I was a Witch? It was weird… but Starlight.

Seeing her in that much pain. It hurt me so incredibly much. Dream or not, I didn't want to see it anymore. So, I reminded myself of the spell to block a psychic connection. It was only a dozen gestures.

“Well, gosh, you suddenly got awful quiet,” my mom said. I cooed and waved my arms at her. I felt my integrity slipping.

She set me back in my cot and began singing to me, and I fell back asleep. In the morning, when I woke up, we were in the car.

Where are we going? I thought.

“Oh, you're awake, Jenny! We're going to see grandma and grandpa, so we're gonna be in the car for a couple of hours, alright?”

I babbled and waved my arms. She giggled and got into the passenger seat. My dad started driving us.

I watched for hours as we drove alongside the rising sun, passing through neighborhoods, cities, towns, forests, waterfalls. It was all so beautiful, and I wanted nothing more to express it to somebody.

I fell asleep again, and had a dream that I couldn't find my mom or dad, and it scared me. I started crying out loud again, waking myself up, and we were there. It was dark out, and my mom took me out of my booster seat.

“It's okay, Jenny, we're here, see?”

I looked into the sky and my cries faded.

“You like that? You like the Starlight?”

What?

Then I was back in the school's pocket dimension. I remembered the spell and started making gestures. It took me a second to gain my composure, but I made the first gesture, then the second…

Suddenly, I woke up in my bed, sweating. I heard the sound of rushing water, and I looked around my bed and realized I was in a river, the rapids raging, my bed keeping me afloat.

“Help!” I shouted. “Help me! I'm in the river! Somebody help!”

I saw the end of the river, leading into a waterfall. I had maybe another minute before I went over. How ironic was it that the river I lived next to every day of my life was gonna be what killed me?

But then, someone started shouting at me.

“I'm here! I'm coming!” she shouted. She climbed up a nearby tree a bit, going out onto a hanging branch and dangling from it by her legs. I reached up when I passed by her and grabbed her arms. She pulled me up and helped me get down to safety.

“How can I ever thank you?” I asked her.

“Don't mention it, I'm sure you would have done the same for me.”

“Um, I'm sorry, have we met?”

She chuckled. “I'm not surprised you don't remember me. Most people don't, I'm never here for long. The name's Charlie.”

“Oh! I remember you. You were on the crew of Libra 4, right?”

“Actually, I'm planning to get my own ship soon!”

“Oh, really? You got a name for it?”

“Yeah, I'm gonna call it the Nexus.”

“That's a pretty name!”

“Well, thanks! It's short for Charlotte.”

We both laughed. Then I realized I was soaking wet in my pajamas. I groaned with embarrassment.

“Sorry you had to see me like this, Charlie, I don't know what happened…”

“Well, I hate you break it to you, but I think your house burned down, Miranda.”

I felt my eyes widen in terror. My house, the one I've lived in all my life, burned down? I couldn't believe it.

“Where am I gonna live now?”

“You can stay with me for a bit, I've got room, and I can introduce you to my neighbor, Saphie!”

I thought for a bit. “Yeah, I'd like that.”

She took my hand, leading me to her car where she drove me back to her house. I saw a girl waiting for her in the yard.

“Charlie! What happened?”

“There was a house fire, everyone made it out okay, but this girl here is gonna have to stay with me for a bit.”

“Oh, alright. Hey there, I'm Sapphire, but you can call me Saphie! I'm so sorry to hear about your house.”

“It's alright,” I responded, “I'll get over it. I was never the sentimental type, I guess. My name's Miranda.”

We chatted for a while, but it was late, so Charlie and I went into her house. I got accustomed to living with her, and before I knew it, a week had passed.

We were laying outside, in her yard, looking at the sky.

“So, I hear you found a place to stay,” she said.

“Yeah, I did. Not massive, but it's plenty for just me.”

“About that, you really don't have any family or anything?”

“No, all dead. I'm the last survivor,” I joked. She didn't laugh, and instead thought for a moment.

“Well, if you ever wanna talk or anything, you have my number. Keep in touch, alright? And, hey, when I have my own ship, you're welcome to join us!”

I smiled. “No, I think I'd rather stay on Earth. Thanks, though.”

“Alright, that's fine. Just figured I'd offer.”

We continued staring at the sky, looking at constellations and whatnot.

“The Stars sure are pretty out tonight, right?” she asked.

“Huh?”

I screamed, quickly making more gestures. I looked at Starlight, and she was still writhing and screaming. I winced, facing the floor to try and hopefully break the psychic connection a bit more. I got out another four gestures, halfway through the spell.

Suddenly, I woke up in my bed, sweating. I looked at my hands, questioning if I was really awake. I wondered which life I lived was real, but then I stopped. I was sure this was it.

My name is Ashley, and I am a nurse. I live with my girlfriend, Jamie, and I am late for work.

Wait. I'm late for work!

I rushed to get my stuff ready and get into my scrubs. I grabbed my purse.

“Wallet, keys, phone…” I muttered to myself.

“Ash?” Jamie called out, rubbing her eyes.

“Sorry, Jamie, I'm late for work! I'll see you tonight, okay?”

I kissed her forehead. She wrapped her arms around me.

“I love you, and hey, keep those doctors in line, alright?”

I laughed, nodding and blowing her one final kiss before leaving the apartment. I ran out to my car and turned the key in the ignition. I drove all the way to the hospital and clocked in just in time for my shift. I sighed with relief.

“Cutting it close, Ash, what's goin' on? Did you have a ‘late night’ with Jamie last night?” my coworker, Doctor Harte teased.

“Pff, shut up, Larry.”

“I'm serious! What happened? You're always so punctual!”

“I'm on time, aren't I?”

“Barely…”

“I just, well, I had a nightmare, that's all.”

“You wanna talk about it? I'm a doctor, you know,” he joked, elbowing me playfully. I rolled my eyes and walked further into the hospital, where I saw him.

The patient.

He was a father of four, had a wife, two parents alive on both sides… and he was terminally ill.

There were things we could do to try and stop it, but it was gonna be difficult. I was scared, though, that if he died, it would be on us.

For the next few weeks, we tried our best to keep him alive, we really did. We did surgeries, we did medication, we kept him monitored at all times…

But in the end, he wasn't able to pull through. And, of course, of all the people to break the news to the family.

“Your husband didn't make it, I'm so sorry, he passed overnight. If there's anything we can do to help, let me know, okay?” I told his wife. She was sobbing, and the children were all there. The youngest saw his mother crying, and he started crying, too. The oldest, who looked to be about fifteen, comforted him. I hugged the wife, now widow, and I went home.

I hadn't been a nurse for very long, and I hadn't lost a patient before. It was a rough loss for me. I started drinking, not excessively, but I was out of the house almost constantly, and when I was home, I was sleeping. Eventually, I went home one day, after about a month had passed from all that drama with the nightmares.

Jamie was sitting on the couch, waiting patiently for me.

“Oh. Hey, Jamie.”

“Don't you ‘hey Jamie’ me, Ashley. This is ridiculous. You're never home, you never want me around…”

“I'm sorry, I really am, I just-”

“You're depressed, I know, you said it about a million times this week. All because some guy that you'd never met died. You work in a hospital, that happens to everyone! You should have expected it.”

“You don't understand. I held the sobbing widow in my arms. Do you know what that does to you?” I said, raising my voice more than I meant to. Jamie took a deep breath.

“Look. I'm sorry, but I'm leaving. I already packed my stuff, you won't have to see me again. Goodbye, Ash.”

I stood silently as she waited for a response, eventually sighing and grabbing her suitcase, pushing past me and out the door. I flopped onto the couch, defeated. I texted the only person I thought would care.

“Hey, Larry,” I typed out, “Jamie broke up with me. I'm really feeling like shit. Can you tell me one of your jokes or something?”

I sent it.

Five minutes, no response.

Ten minutes, nothing.

Eventually, an hour had passed. He had read it almost instantly after I sent it, but still no response. For a moment, I even considered something drastic, something horrible that I promised myself I would never, ever do.

But then there was a knock on the door. I drudged over to it, opening it and seeing Larry standing there, grocery bag in hand.

“I know it's not exactly a bouquet of flowers or a box of chocolates,” he said, “but I got mint chocolate chip!”

I looked through the see-through plastic bag, seeing both his and my favorite candies, as well as mint chocolate chip ice cream. My favorite. I started crying and hugged him tightly, and he gave back a one-handed hug. We went to the couch, shutting the door behind us, and started watching TV together while eating candy and ice cream.

It was no night out with Jamie, and it wasn't perfect… but it was special. I realized then that Larry cared about me more than I realized. I wondered if he saw me as a friend or more than that, but for now, all I cared about was watching the screen.

The characters were being so dramatic. It was a bad soap opera that we were watching to make fun of. It was working.

“Bernadette, I love you!”

“But, Marcus, our love is forbidden!” she said, giving a dramatic sigh.

“But your beauty exceeds that of the Stars themselves!”

Oh, god. None of it was real. I prepared myself. This time, I was ready.

The spell was halfway done. I did the last six gestures, screaming.

“This is over!” I yelled, blocking the psychic link. The shrieks almost completely disappeared, but Starlight was still screaming. I urgently ran over to her, making the gestures and blocking the psychic link for her, too. The ravens make you scream until your lungs rupture and your corpse rots, then feed on the rotten flesh and bones. I couldn't let that happen.

She stopped screaming, breathing heavily. She was crying.

“…Luna?” she asked, shakily. I crouched down with her, holding her tightly, gently running my fingers through her hair.

“It's okay, Star, you're okay… you're okay…”

After she regained her composure, we stood up, preparing to face the ravens again.

“Now what?” she asked.

“Now, we see what's in the good ol' bag of tricks.” I dug through the bag, unzipped it, and there was only one item. But one was all I needed. It was a Lightning Bolt, one of many of Zeus'. I picked it up, looking into the empty void above us, counting the ravens to make sure I didn't miss any.

I threw it, striking the first one down. Then I threw it again, then again, until I struck down all the ravens. I made a portal and tossed them all through, waiting for the last one. I kicked its stunned body. It was the one that had clawed my face. I recognized it as the biggest one.

“Luna, easy,” Starlight said. I huffed and tossed it in with the others, then closed the portal behind them.

“I swear, if I ever, ever see another psychic raven, I'm just gonna leave. I can't do that all over again.”

“I can't say I blame you. But now you'll remember them easier, that way you can cast the spell before they hit you, right?”

“Yeah, right.”

We both sighed deeply, then I opened the portal back to the school, and we went through it. The halls were empty, and the clock showed we had been in there for four hours.

“Oh, jeez, I'm glad this happened when it did. Any other day and I would have had search and rescue called,” I said.

“Yeah, no kidding. My parents will be a bit worried, but they'll understand when I tell them about this.”

We left the building, but paused before heading to our separate homes.

“What, um… what did you see?” I asked.

“Well, uh, first I was a shark, then I was a human again, but I was a video game character. That was weird. Then I was homeless, and that ended when I got ran over. The last one, though, was the most normal. I was a housewife, with a husband and two kids. It was nice.”

“Do you, y'know, wish you could go back to any of them?”

She looked at me and took my hand in hers.

“Loons, as soon as I was back here, with you, I was happier than I was in any of those visions. You're my best friend, and I could never be as happy in a life without you.”

I smiled and hugged her. She asked what my visions were, and I explained them, being fairly vague. Then I went home and talked to my mom for a few minutes.

“So, I take it you had a summon today?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“What was it?”

“Psychic. Ravens.” I said, dropping my head onto the dining room table. She groaned.

“I hate those things! I'm so sorry you had to deal with them. Nobody got hurt, right? Star's parents called, so I assume she was with you.”

“Yeah, she was. But she didn't get hurt. If she did, those ravens would be a lot more than unconscious.”

“You know your only responsibility is to remove them, right? You don't have to keep them alive.”

“That's my choice. It feels wrong to kill things.”

She nodded, and we talked for a couple more minutes. Today, I wasn't hungry. I just went straight to bed, clutching Panther close to me. I couldn't take my mind off of everyone. Someone's husband, Jenny's parents, Charlie and Saphie, Jamie and Larry…

But then I thought about what Starlight said, and I agreed. A life with friends as good as her would always be a life worth living.

I can't wait for the weekend.