Ratface sat in her room with her eternal roommates. They both had their own rooms, and had used them the night before when she’d feigned exhaustion, but today they had slunk back in.

  Halmir was relaxed and happy. The rat boy hadn’t had to do much these past few days. Unlike Tiffany and Albert, who seemed like they needed to be moving around. He was quite happy to lounge about. Ratface was almost worried he was back in his coma if it wasn’t for the fact he kept forcing their human members to take him to different snacks.

  At the moment he was lying the bed between Ratface and Kryssa. He hadn’t bothered switching back into his rat form and the two of them were treated to the rare sight of the small boy curled up between them.

  Ratface wiped away a bit of fluff he’d gotten stuck in his fur. It was nice to see him like this. A reminder that for all their troubles, they could still have moments of peace. Her thought lingered on the lightning that she’d been gifted. The witch had been surprised when she’d brought it back. Particularly when she’d brought it back uninjured.

  She’d kicked them all out after that, stopping long enough to give Kryssa the core with instructions to practice.

  Ratface couldn’t help wondering if Fulgora would have given her the gift if she’d known she was a goblin. An unkind though, but not one she fully disagreed with. The fact she’d hidden when she was eating said as much.

  A huff made her look away from the rat boy. Kryssa was staring intently at the core. She’d clearly just failed given the frown on her face.

  It was the first time Ratface had seen the glamour look properly tired. Sure she’d seen her damaged after fighting the goblin glamour, but this was just the exhaustion of working hard. A quick glance into the mana surrounding the glamour showed her it was stretched between her and the serpent’s core.

  “It’s rude to stare,” said Kryssa. Ratface shrugged and the glamour leaned back with a sigh.

  “So, are you going to tell me what the witch had to say?”

  “Oh, are we telling each other secrets now?” asked Kryssa. Ratface paused.

  “You know,” she said. The glamour gave her an offended look.

  “You went to be early and insisted on being alone. You didn’t even do that after the fight against the elf. Seeing you looks so tired today all but confirmed it.”

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  So, the glamour didn’t know everything then. She was staring at Ratface now and the goblin knew she had to give the girl something.

  “I had some information that confirmed a goblin here,” she said.

  “The papers,” Kryssa guessed. Ratface didn’t correct her, though it hurt to do so. She wished it was as easy as telling the glamour but a part of her whispered that if she did, the goblin here might never get out.

  “It led me to meeting with someone, but they insisted on meeting alone. I knew if anyone heard they’d try to come with me. I shouldn’t have kept it a secret but the risk.” Ratface faltered. A little of the panic of dealing with that glamour peaked through. Of the dread of the magic, he’d used.

  Kryssa eyed her with her head tilted, then sighed.

  “The witch told me I’m not bound to the core you gave me. Called me a thing of magic. She wants me to be in the core for your armour.”

  Ratface’s eyes narrowed in confusion.

  “But that’s trapping you in there,” she said.

  “I would be in both places. I don’t have to be restricted to one body.” Kryssa looked in frustration at the core in front of her. “But I can’t do it. I’m too stuck like this.”

  “It’s been one day,” said Ratface.

  “But we don’t have time to waste. A glamour should be able to do this.” Kryssa clenched the core tightly. The water surrounding it lapped against her fingers. Ratface reached out and grabbed her arm lightly to get her to relax. She shuffled around Halmir until she was next to Kryssa. The rat boy adjusted himself in his sleep to drape across them. Ratface chose her words carefully.

  “You started as a jellyfish,” she started. The glamour gave her an annoyed look but she kept going. “First you were a jellyfish I stole. Then you spent years trapped in my head, where you made an entire city just out of memories. You fought an old glamour and pushed him back,” she talked about it with pride. Kryssa was her own person, but she was the person that Ratface had helped make. It was difficult not to take some pride the glamour had come so far so quickly.

  “I don’t think this is beyond you, but I do think that trying to be in both forms is at the moment. Take a baby step, not everything has to be done in crisis.” Ratface gestured at Halmir. “Take him for example. I bet one day he’ll be able to blink wherever he wants, but for now he needs his friends or his vision as anchors. He’ll work it out in time. Start small.”

  “What’s small?” asked Kryssa. Ratface looked at the mana curling between her and the core. It was thick, like she was trying to duplicate herself.

  “Well for starters, why not just try putting your mind in there? like when you were in mine or Halmir’s.”

  The glamour looked at her in surprise, then stared at the core. Her body slumped and Ratface caught it and the core as it tried to roll away. Just gripping the core, she could feel the glamour in there. A moment later the glamour slipped out and her body jerked up. She looked annoyed.

  “I’ve been trying all day to do something like this, but you get me to do it in one sentence,” she complained.

  “I guess I’m a better teacher than the witch,” Ratface said. She tilted her head up haughtily just in an imitation of Kryssa. It earned her an amused noise. Ratface would call it a snort, but not to Kryssa’s face.

  A little while later and Kryssa fell asleep too and Ratface was left trapped between the two. She leaned into their warmth and smiled to herself.

  It didn’t completely get rid of her worry about the goblin glamours ability, the one she shared.

  But it was difficult to hate it too much, when it had given her such a friend.