A familiar tug pulled Sora through the invisible threshold between Existence and Nihility. Only this time, their path through the dimensional layers was as smooth as an onion—not totally smooth, but smooth enough.

  Her breath hitched as a disorienting lurch made her stomach twist in on itself. There was an unnatural pressure, thick and suffocating that hadn’t been there before, like unseen hands were gripping the edges of their passage and pulling in different directions.

  Her tails bristled, the warmth of Wendy’s fingers tightening around her own as the void yawned open around them. Nilly was thrown off their joined hands, flipping around to land on nothing, ears pulled back and looking up.

  In the next instance, her senses stretched in too many directions at once—her vision inverted, the colors warping between vibrant crimson and endless black. The Blood Sea churned wildly above them, its violent currents casting shadows along its surface. Yet, something drastic had changed.

  “Wendy?” she whispered, a lump forming in her throat. “Was…it like that before?”

  Her sister’s puffy tail bristled against hers as her gaze lifted.

  “No… That can’t be good.”

  The endless glass holding back the turbulent blood sea…was fractured.

  “Yeah…”

  She could hear a distant, distorted hum vibrating through the sea of black thorns around them, soundless vibrations cutting through Null-Void like threads snapping one by one.

  Sora cleared her throat and cast her gaze around, the realization slamming into her chest before her feet even found the unsteady, shifting surface of their platform.

  “Maybe we should come back later?”

  “You think?”

  She stumbled, catching herself before thorns rose up and split around them, barely diverting as if not even realizing they were there. The black thorns were moving—not just growing, but writhing. They twisted and coiled in unpredictable patterns, like something was stirring beneath them.

  Wendy let out a sharp breath beside her as Nilly darted to her leg, pressing against it and looking around in panic.

  “Meow!”

  “Yeah, I don’t know,” Sora mumbled, ears flicking toward her. “Wendy?”

  Her sister wasn’t looking at her.

  She was staring at the sky again, or whatever constituted the sky here since directions weren’t really a thing. Well, at least to anyone who wasn’t like them.

  Sora followed her gaze, and her pulse staggered.

  “Is…the Blood Sea collapsing inward. That can’t be good.”

  “I mean, not like we have a good base, right?”

  “Fair point,” Sora returned with a forced laugh. “Something tells me we should come back later.”

  “Hah! As if we have a choice?” Wendy glanced back and the sea of twisting and distorting vines that writhed around them. “Uh, I don’t know about you but I’m not feeling a way back. You think…”

  “It’s a trap? Mmm. Should we say the Herald’s name to force her to come?” Sora offered, pressing closer to Wendy as Nilly swapped to her sister’s foot, peeking out between them. “Even the freaking mother of cats is freaking out.”

  Where once it had been an ocean suspended beyond a glass ceiling, a vast, unknowable expanse contained within Nihility, now it raged with instability, its tides pulling in opposing directions. The currents twisted into spirals, the veins of crimson stretching unnaturally, as if reality itself was being wrung out like a soaked cloth.

  Thin tendrils of mist coiled around pockets of what Sora could only describe as…gore on the other side of the glass. The cracks expanded, spilling rivulets of thick, glistening red into the black abyss below, staining the dark. The mist and gore were still contained on the inside.

  But, it was still leaking its bloody waters.

  And through that swirling, chaotic mass, she felt something.

  Something searching for a way inside.

  Nilly leaped up, her tiny body colliding with Wendy’s chest as she burrowed into her hoodie, trembling. Sora’s stomach tightened as a tremor rippled through her to the core.

  Aunt Rose… What is going on?

  Nilly was always erratic, playful, strangely omniscient in her way, but fear? Genuine, uncontrollable fear? That was new. Nilly was supposed to be the hero kitty of the Founders.

  A 1st Generation.

  Wendy’s arms instinctively curled around the kitten as she moved inside her hoodie front. Her head poked out and Wendy stroked between her small ears, trying to calm her.

  “What makes you scared, Nilly? Maybe we should call out someone’s name… What was that Fae Founder’s name? Where is Nilly looking?”

  Her wide, golden eyes—so ancient, so full of knowing—were fixed on the crimson mist and gore, curling behind the glass.

  Sora felt it, too. A shift, a pulse of something deeply wrong.

  “Like I’d know? Are those…organs, bodies? I don’t know, just…yikes. Do you…hear that?” The back of her mind itched, pressing with thoughts that weren’t her own.

  A voice, whispering, distant yet intimately near from all directions: “You are not Her. Yet you are made of Her. You do not belong to Existence. And still, you resist oblivion?”

  The pressure tightened, sinking into her lungs. Sora’s tails lashed, instinctively drawing on the defensive heat in her core, but she hesitated.

  Because this wasn’t Nihility itself speaking.

  It wasn’t Aunt Rose.

  This was something else.

  Something new.

  A dark chuckle vibrated through the space like cracking ice, and Sora’s fur bristled as a second presence layered over the first: “I tried to warn you. You stayed too long, Little Spark. They see you now. Not that it matters. It isn’t like they can do anything…yet.”

  A flicker of golden light illuminated the thorns ahead of them.

  Sora turned, her breathing evening out as the void-clothed woman emerged from the shifting thorns, her chains rattling against unseen forces.

  “Aunt Rose!”

  Wendy’s call was quieter. Questioning. “Aunt…Rose?”

  She looked…strained.

  Her body flickered, pieces of her dragged in opposing directions, as if two invisible forces were fighting over her presence.

  Their aunt’s golden, effulgent eyes met Sora’s with an amused tilt of her head, but the tension behind them was unmistakable. She was struggling.

  “Ah… You really didn’t get my warning last time.” She sighed. “You have the worst timing, girls, you know that?”

  Her lips curved into a lazy smirk, but her fingers twitched against the black thorns, betraying her effort to remain still. The chains binding her arms shuddered, red liquid bleeding from the cracks along their surface.

  Sora swallowed. “What’s happening?”

  “Oh, nothing much.” Rose tilted her head back in her suspended position, gaze flicking toward the roiling Blood Sea above them, watching as the waves coiled inward, colliding in crimson spirals with the fog and gore. “The Crimson Tide and the Ever-Shifting Mists have decided to join Fate and Destiny’s game. And it is getting quite…messy. The cage is holding, though…if barely.”

  Sora’s mind reeled, trying to piece together the implications. But, she soon abandoned that idea as Wendy nudged her forward, taking them closer.

  “Fate and Destiny?” she mumbled, following the chaos around them while shying away from the fluctuating thorns of Nihility. “Do we…need to know?”

  “No.” She strained a laugh and gave an almost bored stare at the colossal forces expanding and contracting above her true, event horizon body and glass. “Destiny is exerting her influence over Karma now, and so many little pieces that ripple bit by bit throughout the Blood Throne… Your little companion understands but it isn’t anything for you to be worried about. Me?”

  Rose tilted her head in a debating way. “Mmm, we shall see.”

  Wendy let go of her hand to give Nilly more attention, still pressed against her chest beneath her hoodie, her small body visibly shaking.

  “All I can tell is that two colossal factions are colliding? Right?” she mumbled. “Really powerful ones. And they want you… That’s what’s causing the instability? They’re looking for you?”

  Sora’s tail flicked as she glanced at her sister. I can’t tell any of that… All I’ve got is that we really shouldn’t be here.

  Rose hummed, thoughtful.

  “Oh, dear nieces, it’s much more than that, but you’re on the right track,” she chimed with pride that made Sora’s gut twist, as if she’d gotten the answer wrong. “The Blood Throne must be stabilized.”

  The thorns around them pulsed, a subtle tremor reverberating through the space.

  Rose let out a soft sigh, her smirk faltering just slightly.

  “Nothing you need be concerned about. Now, if my dear little brother were here and…himself, that would be a different story. But I won’t ruin his party with two lovely wives…whatever that means. I’m kind of jealous that he’s found something I don’t understand. Does that make me a…buzz kill? Hmm. Well, anyway, it will stabilize.”

  A pause. A flicker of something more solemn in her eyes, and a lonesome smile brightened her perfect, alabaster cheeks. “Worry not about my washing up on the shore, girls… My love is like a lagoon, thrilled at suddenly being discovered by you. I’m comfortably in pain, happily insane, and singing a lonely tune, my droplets of dew bouncing off the moon.”

  Instead of terror and confusion, heartache overtook the emotions as Sora pressed a hand against her chest at her words. “Comfortably in pain… Aunt Rose, as insane as you are, every time I see you, I want to save you… Then you tell us you’re super dangerous and are being watched… I don’t know what to feel about you!”

  Wendy nodded, still comforting the Cat Mother, still hiding. “That was…really poetic. You’re not a creature of Existence, like you said to us before. But it really feels like you want to be, like our dad is. Are you actually giving us hints that…you need help?” she asked, glancing around at the crazy shift in the prison she was held in. “I…can feel you’re drawn to us. I really need a teacher… I’m just saying.”

  Rose’s lips fell with her gaze, drifting to the cracked shackles holding her in place. “How cruelly lovely… My heart is a crustacean that you’ve come along and cracked open. I should be wearing a caution sign for how hazardous I am to you two…and you are to me.”

  After those words, she smiled, that pure, innocent smile that mirrored insanity. “My mouth is like an open wound, the words are bleeding out, every secret is a stain upon my tongue…” she paused, turning away and distorted frame trembling in gentle, forlorn amusement.

  Sora blinked. “What?”

  “Nothing… In the meantime,” she added, showing a dry smile, “you two shouldn’t be worried about the prison wardens, as The Herald was before. They are…busy, as you can tell.”

  Wendy’s grip on Nilly tightened while adjusting her to not tickle her cheek.

  “No, I want to know,” she demanded. “You’re my aunt, right? I want to learn the full story about how you’re here. Right, Sora?”

  “I mean, sure…but should we be worried? We came here for you, Wendy.”

  Rose gave them a pointed look, her golden eyes glinting. “It is astonishing you two are my little brother’s children… I tell you one thing and you blatantly ignore it. Very unusual for our kind, but…compelling. I suppose that is your mother’s influence. One day, I’d like to meet my sister-in-laws… What an odd word.”

  “…Aunt Rose?” Sora prompted as she went off topic.

  She turned her gaze upward to the colliding forces with a short, dismissive chuckle, the distortion and pain in her voice evident. “In short, two Eldritch factions have collided. Vast, terrifying amalgamation of that which lies between Nihility and Existence. The Blood Throne’s guardians are a tad busy with that, you think they have time to monitor one, insignificant prisoner? Well, maybe insignificant is a bit reductive,” she wryly mused.

  Sora didn’t like how easily she said that.

  She also didn’t like the implications.

  The Blood Sea was destabilizing. The Maelstrom, or whatever she’d called it, was being altered by titanic forces that had even Nilly the Heroine trembling.

  But…Rose was right, what could they do?

  Wendy exhaled slowly, as if processing the weight of those words. Her eyes flickered toward Rose’s fracturing chains. “Does that mean you’ll be free if they find you…or just a different prison and warden?” she carefully asked.

  A sharp laugh bubbled from Rose’s lips, but there was no humor in it. “Oh, Wendy, you naive child… To worry about one such as I? Freedom is such a complicated thing…and freedom for me would be a calamity in any scenario… Mmm. Almost any scenario,” she corrected with a wistful twist to her mouth.

  The mist curled deeper, and for the first time, Sora swore she saw something moving within it—something more vast than she could comprehend.

  Not Rose.

  Not them.

  A network stretching into eternity.

  Sora tried to ignore the creeping pressure pressing against her skin, but the deeper she focused on Rose, the more she could feel it—an unnatural pull, something dragging the space around them in two opposing directions.

  The chains that bound Rose trembled, their golden glow flickering like a failing candle. They weren’t simply restraining her. They were being tested. But Rose thought they’d hold.

  Sora swallowed hard, gaze flicking between the wavering chains and Rose’s too-casual smirk. “You're acting like this isn't a big deal,” she muttered. “Like you're not—”

  “—Being yanked in two different directions?” Rose finished smoothly, her brilliant eyes half-lidded, voice layered with amusement and something far more fatigued beneath it.

  Sora’s tails bristled. “Yeah. That.”

  Rose rolled her wrists against the black thorns, the black ink leaking out where the chains cut into her. She exhaled, as if debating how much to actually say. Then, she raised a hand—or tried to. The moment she did, the chains convulsed violently, snapping her back with a cruel jolt, bloody mist spraying outward.

  Wendy took an instinctive step forward, but Rose only laughed softly, shaking her head.

  “No, Wendy. Don’t mind that,” she lightly instructed, as if she weren’t literally bound by forces beyond their understanding. “It’s just the usual game. A tug-of-war between forces that have existed far longer than even Nilly there.”

  Sora’s stomach twisted. “You mean Fate and Destiny? You talked about them before.”

  Rose smirked. “Not quite, Little Spark,” she murmured, tilting her head back toward the storm above. “The Eldritch, Fate, Destiny, Karma…and many more factions that seek me out are but barking dogs at the foot of the Blood Throne after She fell… Fate’s strings have snapped. The Lunar Hare kicked it and woke up a little girl, who was thoroughly confused as to where she was at. At least…until she heard The Song out of Magthera.”

  The weird words hung between them, sinking into the marrow of Sora’s bones like an unavoidable truth that she couldn’t understand.

  “Again… What?”

  Rose’s gaze didn’t waver. “Didn’t I say you needn’t know? This isn’t even why you are here, nieces.” She lifted a deliberate hand, gesturing toward the swirling black thorns behind her. “Enough about your tragic predator of an aunt. Why not create a seat for your sister and cat friend, Wendy, so we can have our real chat?”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Wendy inhaled sharply, glancing around once more. “I guess…it’s not as scary as I thought it was…and I do need help. What do you want me to do?”

  Sora shrugged beside her. She’d been lost since the start but she was sure much of this was critically important in the grand scheme of things.

  “No need to think. You can do it.” Rose tilted her head. “Shape the Null-Void as Sora shapes Existence. Just like you did your body. Only…” She paused, her golden gaze flickering. “Don’t place your consciousness into it or it might become…awkward.”

  Wendy hesitated, glancing at Sora, a short giggle passing through them, as if universes weren’t being torn apart around them. No, probably something much bigger than universes.

  “Yeah,” Sora mumbled, “becoming a chair sounds rough.”

  “All those farts,” Wendy laughed. “Now I’m thinking about life as a chair…”

  Sora exhaled, feeling the weight of the environment being swept away by Rose’s casual attitude, downplaying everything. This was the kind of help Wendy needed. Whatever was happening to Rose wasn’t on their level and probably wouldn’t be there for a long time, considering Nilly’s reaction.

  Her sister squared her shoulders, pushing down the hesitation as she carefully extracted Nilly from her hoodie to hand to her.

  “Meow!”

  “I know it’s scary… Just—”

  “Nilly?”

  One blink and the cat had vanished from their hands.

  A jingle of a bell.

  And an adult Nekomata was standing in front of them, linked earrings dangling down her ears. One hand was on her hips, creasing her bloomers, her other held loosely at her side as she glanced around. Her split, ignited tails were long, weaving lightly behind her.

  “Nilly?” Sora tentatively asked as the cat’s head tilted up toward the suspended event horizon. “You okay?”

  “Not in the least, Sora.” Mature voice tickling Sora’s ears, the Cat Mother released a low hiss. “What a mess. No wonder we don’t leave our Existence often. Wendy…”

  Wendy jumped to attention as the beautiful cat woman turned her head, bells chiming as she showed a confidence and radiance that reflected the teen girl, only on a divine level.

  “Hmm?”

  “The restlessness in me is only growing… I can feel your hunger growing. Thank you for letting me into and giving me a piece of your heart. I tore myself apart, and you kept me out of oblivion.”

  “Cat Mother…”

  Long black hair swaying behind her, Nilly turned her bright eyes toward the suspended woman. “The Black Rose of Nihility… It is your lucky day,” she cooed, flexing her clawed fingers. “As it so happens, I have a little kitten within that Red Sea.”

  Sora’s tail was as tense as Wendy’s as the two women stared each other down.

  Rose’s melancholy smile returned. “…You’re picture-perfect blue, sunbathing under the moon, stars shining as your bones illuminate. You walk on fire and play it so sweet with that innocent disguise, being as shackled as I. And just like me…you never wish to be set free. You best get going before the one holding your leash tugs it.”

  Nilly’s leashed?

  “Oh, shush, shush, you!” The curvy cat shifted her weight to the opposite hip as the black thorns rolled around them, her sharp-fanged smile lifting. “Don’t pretend not to be excited. Take your time… Your nieces have earned it. I’ve got a new chew toy, so don’t fret.”

  A flash of green fire, and Nilly was gone, leaving them in silence.

  Sora blinked as a flash of emerald blanketed the heavens. Eyes going big, Wendy followed her gaze to the shattered glass…now whole. Green flames bathed everything before flickering out, the turbulent Blood Sea returning to its previous state, the cracks along Rose’s chains repairing.

  “What…”

  “Was that about?” Wendy finished. “We went from, ‘Hey, Wendy, make a chair,” to…Adult Nilly taking out the Eldritch?”

  Rose’s smirk didn’t shift, but her golden gaze darkened slightly. “Not exactly, dearies. Just watch…”

  Sora drew in her lips, watching the sea of jade flames slowly disappearing into the depths of the Red Sea, where the mist and gore had retreated. Rose’s voice was soft, the distortion dissipating with each word she spoke.

  “The unsung hero of the Founders… The Mother of Cats: we were born alone, and we die alone. No, oh, oh. What a way to go. Now, we are on our own, but we’re not sorry, no…

  “Look at us go. Look at us, high and low… Look at us, picking ourselves back up from the underground, oh. We’ve died a few times before, we know what it’s like when we can’t see the light. We find a light of our own. Shine like a diamond…like a lonely diamond.

  “We were born alone…and we die alone. No, no, no no no. What a way to go. Now we’re on our own…but I’m not sorry. No.”

  When the distortions faded, Rose held a hand against her chest, the thorns and black hole above now stable as she gave Wendy a gentle smile. “Once again, you have done more than you can fathom.”

  Sora gulped, glancing between her bewildered sister and aunt. “Wendy…saved you? I thought nothing could be done. I’m so confused!”

  “As am I,” Rose chortled behind her melancholy stare. “Isn’t that wonderful? But what this means is that we have the time to discuss something I should have been more clear on… Things have changed.”

  “I…can guess that,” Wendy mumbled. She lifted her hands, the fabric of Null-Void rippling with her movements that made Sora step back. “I can feel it better now… The shape.”

  And it bent to her will.

  Sora inhaled sharply as black filaments wove together in an instant, forming something smooth, stable—crafted with precision.

  A chair.

  Wendy stared at it.

  Then, slowly, she smiled. “It’s so easy!”

  Sora swallowed. “Is that good? This is spooky Null-Void—eh…”

  She trailed off upon seeing Wendy’s face.

  She’s…never looked so empowered. But this stuff can swallow and consume Existence itself. I mean, my desire magic is one thing, but this is…total annihilation. The Herald did warn us about her and Null-Void. But…Nilly seemed friendly with her. That’s Adult Nilly, though, which is a whole different ball game.

  She wasn’t sure if that scared her or reassured her.

  But, whatever the direction it tilted, this was a dangerous game.

  She finally exhaled, voice coming out quieter than she intended. “You…were calling out to us because you were warning us, right?”

  “Called? My messages never reached you.”

  Sora stiffened.

  “What? But you said…”

  Rose’s expression became unreadable. “Just because they were sent, doesn’t mean they were received.”

  The air grew still as Wendy created another chair and they took their seats, looking at one another. This had certainly taken a turn they hadn’t expected.

  “What…have we been seeing then?” Wendy mumbled. “It felt like you, sort of…but maybe not? Your pendant…” Wendy’s hands trembled as her seven-pointed necklace floated out of the void behind Sora to circle in front of her sister. “How did it get here?”

  Rose’s emotionless expression broke as if it took too much energy to maintain. She sighed and gestured for it to stop in front of Wendy. “It followed you… How do you suppose it got past Sora’s wards and found you at night? It has… I have been trying to throw it off your trail.”

  Wendy’s hands tightened on the seven-pointed pendant before hesitantly putting it on. Its faint glow pulsed against her chest like a second heartbeat. The air around them seemed to thicken, pressing in, warping slightly at the edges of perception.

  “You weren’t wearing it… No wonder you didn’t receive my messages.”

  Rose’s voice was smooth—too smooth. The teasing lilt she often carried was gone, replaced by something low and edged with scrutiny. Her effulgent eyes didn’t flicker with amusement this time.

  They pierced straight through Wendy, making Sora shiver with her sister.

  Sora’s ears flicked up at the shift in tone. The chains binding Rose shuddered violently, rattling against the unseen pull of forces beyond their understanding. A strange tension coiled in the atmosphere—like a hand poised above a chessboard, waiting to make the next move.

  She shifted uneasily beside her brunette sister. “Are we talking about the sleepwalking incident?”

  Wendy exhaled sharply, struggling to steady her voice. “Did…you know why I was sleepwalking to get it? No, you said it followed me. Why was I watching Sora because that’s freaky? If it wasn’t you, then who was it? You said it was something…within Nihility. Was it a family member?”

  A quiet, considering pause stretched between them.

  Then, finally—so softly it was barely above a whisper—Rose spoke.

  “It is best not to discuss it in subject or abstract, Wendy.”

  Sora’s blood turned to ice at that warning.

  The silence that followed was deafening.

  For the first time, Rose refused to answer.

  Sora’s tails bristled, her unease mounting. “Is it really that scary? We’re in Existence, though. It can’t get to us. No, is your pendant the thing allowing it to reach us?”

  Rose exhaled, slowly, as if measuring her words.

  Wendy slowly shook her head, holding up the necklace as if receiving instructions from it. “No, the reason it makes me feel…at home is because of Aunt Rose’s protection in it. I think I get it. I’m…vulnerable.”

  “Indeed,” Rose confirmed, her melancholy expression returning. “Due to how strongly you are attached to Nihility, you are far more susceptible to those who dwell within it than Sora. Sadly, you’ve become even more unstable since, which has changed my opinion.”

  Sora could practically feel Wendy’s stomach drop.

  The pendant in her grasp pulsed again—once, twice—before dimming.

  Sora’s expression darkened. “What does that mean?”

  Rose tilted her head slightly, her gaze flicking toward the ever-shifting darkness beyond them. “It means there are hungry things in the void… And Wendy is a gateway that allows them to see the endless food she basks in. Think of it as the most impoverished, starving person who is forced to watch a person with unlimited resources enact their wealth…without a voice to speak.”

  A distant rumble vibrated through the black abyss. The crimson mist along the horizon coiled inward again, only to be repealed by the dwindling emerald fires, shifting in unnatural spirals back into the crimson veil.

  “Not like my brother or I,” Rose continued, voice still soft but carrying an unmistakable weight. “I suppose you could consider them creatures less…structured. Aligning more along the Eldritch lines. With the Ever-Shifting Mists and the Crimson Tide colliding, it allows…smaller factions within Nihility to act in their wake. Luckily, Nilly is causing chaos right now…for everyone,” she giggled.

  Sora’s ears flattened but she couldn’t help a smile. “She is a pretty naughty kitty… Eh, smaller factions, though? Won’t the Three Pillars act if they feel Nihilty creatures sneaking into our Existence?”

  Rose smirked, but there was little amusement in it and more sorrow.

  “Yes, which is why we must change course.”

  “How much of a shift?” Wendy hesitantly mumbled, scooting back to run her fingers along her chair. “I just…felt like I could do something. Now you want to take it away from me? That…sucks.”

  “Wendy…” Sora couldn’t help but feel tears coming to her own eyes at the riddled, restrained emotion in her sister’s face. “No, your pendant! Right, Aunt Rose?”

  “Hmm. My pendant will indeed shield all things in Existence if you are influenced…” she confirmed in a cryptic tone, the bright circles in her eyes drifting to the side in thought before moving to her. “That was what happened before. Yet…Sora is another matter.”

  “No! You’re saying I’m the problem?” Sora growled, running her fingers through her hair in frustration and wanting to slap herself at the single tear that fell down Wendy’s cheek. One she was desperately trying to hold back and be tough. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she cried, reeling from the accusting arrows now pointing all around her.

  “Isn’t it obvious? I can hide things of Existence using Null-Void… You, however…”

  The words and implication hit like a physical force.

  Sora’s breath stalled, confusion twisting through her thoughts. “I…have a Null-Void outline? Is that what you’re saying? They’re blind to Existence, so I stick out like a sore thumb…which is why Wendy was in my room, looking at me.”

  Wendy’s fur redoubled its bristling. “Okay, no! We aren’t going to have creepy Nihility spirit things possessing me and trying to kidnap you, or whatever! How do we stop this? Why didn’t we talk about this before? What?! Am I just supposed to let it influence me and stalk my sister randomly? Not interested!”

  How am I ruining everything for Wendy? First it was this messed up family adoption ritual—she lost her flipping body! Then I’m making her feel isolated by her not being able to use magic and now I’m in danger for her feeling like she can accomplish stuff on her own? Give my sister a break!

  Rose only chuckled, though it carried a note of something far too knowing.

  “Perhaps I’m explaining things backward,” she smoothly interjected. “I am going to change things to…shift the balance. There will be some…growing pains, but I’m sure you will more than welcome them. They won’t be able to hurt or find you so long as you isolate your Null-Void. An inversion.”

  Sora clenched her fists. “An inversion? How? Her whole body is flippin’ Null-Void! Are you saying she’ll be able to get a real body again?”

  Wendy’s eyes lit up…only to be crushed.

  “Not exactly. That cannot happen, at least, not in full, but there is a sort of…medium. Eventually, the same will happen to you, Sora. I am certain, but…in my humble opinion, we are far more preferred than the…fleshy mess that you are, Sora.”

  Sora’s ears pulled back. “Thanks? I’ll unpack that later because damn, that makes me want to just lay down and die. No offense, Wendy!”

  “None taken! I’m still coming to terms with me being a freaking brooch!”

  “I bet! So, if you’re trying to reverse Wendy’s Null-Void, then does that mean…”

  Rose smiled again—something between amusement and inevitability.

  “It means it is better for her to lean toward her mother’s powers… Not your father’s.”

  The statement hung like a blade suspended by a thread.

  Wendy’s fingers twitched. “My mom’s power… I get to,” she cut off, breathing erratically as a smile bloomed, “I get to learn from my mom? She can teach me—spend time with me—help me w-with homework and stuff?!”

  Sora’s emotions immediately took a 180. “That’s amazing! Why didn’t we try this… Because you wanted us to stay connected?” she asked with a slightly accusatory glare.

  Rose let out a quiet breath, her voice gentle. “You wouldn’t understand, Sora… Wendy is a pretty little rose, with thorns that will make you bleed. At least, that’s how I see her with my vision, and she’s…magnificent. Stunning. What my brother created between you two is something extraordinary. Of course I’d want to further watch her blossom, but not at the expense of her or you. And that is why you should wear the pendant, Wendy,” she softly finished.

  Wendy sucked in air, trying to ground herself, her fingers still clutching the chain around her neck. “That’s…a lot to take in. So, you’re already doing this, aren’t you? Recalibrating it so I don’t use my Null-Void. But…I’m totally fine with that if it means I get to have…”

  She cut off, smiling again, her cheeks turning rosy with just the thought. “I can’t wait for our break when I can surprise Mom.”

  Heart pricked, Sora reached over to squeeze her hand, tail now wagging in unison with hers. “We’ll get to really practice magic. I’ve got a good head start on you and was always better at school!”

  “Only because I was too busy drooling over pretending to be a magical—nevermind,” she grumbled, glancing away and making her giggle. “I was poor and was distracted every time we were together because I was living a fantasy. Okay?”

  “So you’re saying I spoiled you too much?”

  “Uh, yeah. Yeah. Maybe that is one thing my mom—Jane was right about…”

  Rose’s lips curled, a dry chuckle escaping. “I can taste the venom for this Jane creature.”

  “Creature’s a good word for her,” Wendy grumbled. “She has teeth that she sharpens with beer bottles… Ahem. So, I’m really going to become more of a tanuki or squirrel? I can sense and practice magic with Sora?”

  Their thorny aunt turned her gaze upward toward the storm raging through the glass above as the green fire continued to dwindle away. “Unfortunately, so. I must let your budding flower lay dormant until there is a better solution…perhaps with my younger brother. We shall see. Hmm. It isn’t every day you get to see two colossal, opposing Eldritch factions collide… With an anomaly like Nilly causing trouble for everyone.”

  Sora’s tail twitched. “So what now?”

  Rose’s smirk widened, but there was no amusement in it. “Just let it happen?” She let out a small hum of thought. “Nilly allowed the Blood Throne to restore its hold. The slightest distraction, which…is extraordinary, considering the strength and diversity of the assault she was under. But, as she said, she has a little adopted kitten within that storm.”

  Wendy ran a hand through her hair. “Well, that’s…comforting, I guess,” she muttered. “I bet she’ll be meowing for some milk and acting all proud when we get back.”

  Rose’s golden eyes darkened slightly. “A warning with Nilly… You should be more concerned about what happens when the Cat Mother stops winning.”

  Sora and Wendy both stiffened.

  Yet Rose just changed the subject, turning her gaze to Wendy, her smirk softening into something almost…fond. “But enough about the Cat of Nowhere.”

  She studied Wendy, eyes flickering toward the pendant still clutched in her hands.

  “Remember…” she murmured, her voice softer now, quieter. “Wearing the pendant at all times is necessary, Wendy.” A slow pause. Then, a look of longing and sadness creased her perfect face. “It appears we are out of time. A shame, but even Nilly can’t hold out forever.”

  A pulse reverberated through the air, making Sora’s ears fly up. “Wait! What about the Herald?! I haven’t seen her in like, forever. Isn’t she supposed to be here guarding this place or something…or defending me?”

  A pressure, like being pulled through a small tube dragged at her tail as Rose brought up a hand to point above. “Pandora? Oh, she’s taking advantage of the chaos as much as Nilly and other shadowy factions. It’s not every day you have such potent artifacts and opportunities like this…or every Existence. I would know…I’ve consumed many.”

  And suddenly—

  Everything collapsed.

  Sora gasped sharply, her body jerking as her senses snapped back into reality, her tail feeling as if it had been pulled to twice its length.

  They were back.

  The familiar weight of her bed was beneath her. The scent of Avalon’s air—clean, laced with magic—filled her lungs.

  Her hands felt empty.

  Her pulse too fast.

  Wendy let out a quiet breath, sitting up slowly beside her. Her hands still clutched the pendant, her expression blank—but her shoulders were tense.

  Sora’s ears flicked, scanning the room.

  The thorns were gone.

  But the pendant’s glow had changed.

  A new rune had appeared on its surface—one they hadn’t seen before—a scratchy mark of a poorly drawn y.

  “Wendy…”

  “Yeah.”

  “You’re going to use magic.”

  “Yeah!”

  Lurching in unison, Sora embraced her sister, laughing as tears fell down their cheeks.

  “Meow!”

  They jumped, spotting Nilly at the foot of the bed, licking several light cuts along her body. Sora’s tail instinctively flashed with blue flames, and Nilly smacked tails together—like a high-five—spreading the fire along her body and mending the wounds. It was shockingly easy, considering who the cat had been fighting.

  “Umm. You okay, Nilly?” Wendy asked, picking up the cat to examine her once the fire was extinguished. “No broken bones?”

  “Meow.”

  Nilly shook her head and curled tightly into Wendy’s lap, her small body now rumbling with purrs.

  Sora looked at Wendy.

  Wendy looked back.

  And they both smiled, no doubt thinking the same thing.

  Nilly’s Nilly. Sardin Armada slaying heroine.

  Sora exhaled slowly, running a hand through her hair again to puff it out before jumping up and flipping around to grin down at her. “Okay, who is ready to get in some real training and see how fast Aunt Rose’s promise holds true?”

  Wendy pointed down at the cat in her lap. “I mean, I’m being held hostage here.”

  “Huh? By who?” Both of them tilted their heads to the side with a small smile as 16-year-old Nilly stood, checking herself in the closet mirror. “Mmm. Do you think I should go with a skirt today or shorts? Eyia told me I need to learn to fight in a skirt ‘cause sometimes a plateskirt is all you’ve got. Thoughts?”

  “Eyia Eyia,” Sora snickered. “We’re going to be practicing magic. You with us to test out your own magic, Cat Mom?”

  “Stop!” Nilly blushed, tail curling around her legs as she gave them the stink-eye. “Don’t make me feel old and wrinkly. I’ll have you know I don’t have a single kitten at this point in time—of my time…that was when this was…however old I am. What am I, are we… Don’t confuse me! Meanies,” she grumbled, ears pulling back as she returned to the closet. “I’ll go with shorts and a tank if we’re practicing magic…”

  Wendy called out. “Oh, bring a double pair! Maybe triple.”

  “Why?” Sora snorted, left ear folding down as she looked at her mischievous sister.

  “Why? Because you’ll probably burn our clothes off with your fire!”

  “Wha—I have control!”

  “Mmm. I remember someone having a little, ahem, bathroom skirt incident she told me about,” Wendy mumbled, scratching her cheek and looking to the side. “Walking all the way home with her butt hanging out.”

  “I had illusions!”

  “Uh-huh. Sure…”

  “Okay, maybe I will burn someone’s tail!”

  Sora laughed and joked with Wendy and Nilly as they got a duffle bag full of items ready. Not a few minutes later they were on their way out, debating if they should go to a training field or her personal realm. Wendy brought up a good point in asking for permission.

  So, their first stop was the head of the Academy’s office to see if they could snag an appointment with someone important. Note likely, but might as well try. Maybe staff did work on the weekends in Avalon.

  In any case, there was one thing still nagging at the back of her mind—Ember’s personality change. She had to see if she could at least get answers to that oddity.

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