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I made my way back to the front desk – or what I assumed was the front desk. The barest space with a chair behind it.

“Hello?”

“You found something? A treasure?”

“A teapot, for my friend.” I held the teapot up.

“A silver piece will do for that.”

I snorted. “Half a silver piece at best. It’s chipped!”

I pointed out the chip on the base.

“Fine!” the voice answered, though I still couldn’t see a face. “Three quarters of a piece.”

I put the teapot down. “Come on, Bandit, let’s go.”

His eyes were wide, and I shook my head at him. We were almost to the door when the voice called out.

“Wait! Half a silver piece then. You don’t negotiate like the others from the school.”

I plopped the silver piece on the counter and cut it in half with a quick rune that mercifully worked on the first go. “I’m too old to be stupid about negotiating.”

I picked up the teapot and held it tight as I slipped out the door.

“Hey, we gotta hurry, dinner bell!” Bandit yelled and then he was bounding away from me toward the gates of Neverthorn.

I ignored him, turning back to the shops.

I still had more than enough coins left to find a few more items .

.. there were, after all, five others in my dorm, and a real gift for Phyllis.

Did we agree not to do gifts? Sure, but after all we’d been through .

.. we deserved a little joy and abundance.

Though I was looking forward to giving something to each of my friends the next day, the night had been like every other for me. Restless, struggling to sleep, sweating at intervals when my mind raced too hot. Counting my breaths.

Itemizing things in the room.

Fighting to keep the anxiety at bay.

In spite of that, I was still excited to take my present to Opie, first thing.

“Don’t take it off, and, if you’re ever lost, I’ll always be able to find you.”

“It’s beautiful! Thank you!” She lifted her hair so I could put it on for her. “But once my magic really kicks in, I won’t need it. I’ll always be able to find my way to you too!”

I cleared my throat and nodded. “And ... I got you these too.” I held out a second package that held a Unicorna statue that glowed at night, and a set of watercolors. Her squeal was enough for me.

“You did such a great job with my presents! Here, I made this for you.” Opie pressed her gift for me into my hands.

A small package. I opened it up to find a bracelet made of all sorts of items. Pebbles, wood, bone, glass.

“I made it myself, found all the little pieces. See this one, it reminds me of your eyes. And this one for that time you took me to the beach and the sunset was all purple and orange ...” her words slid over me.

A bracelet made up of her memories and her view of me.

It was beautiful, more so because she didn’t have a single dark piece in the lot, not one black chunk of stone to mar it.

I shoved back the rush of guilt as I thought of all my ill-gotten gifts ...

“I love it,” I whispered around a rather tight throat as I put the bracelet on. I hugged her tight to me, longer than she wanted, if her squirming was any indication.

“I’ll see you at breakfast, okay? Me and my friends are exchanging gifts soon.” She grinned up at me, gathering up her stuff.

Bandit followed me as I made my way back to my dorm. “How did it go?”

“Good. But I worry about her ...”

He sniffed. “Because she doesn’t have any magic.”

I choked on what I was going to say. “Shush your mouth.”

“It’s the truth. I can’t smell a lick of it on her. I mean, I guess someone could have muted her too, but she’d have a little magic smell even then, wouldn’t she?”

“Bandit,” I growled his name.

He shrugged. “You’re trying to protect her. That’s good. She’s lucky you love her so much.”

I was trying to protect Fable too, and was looking forward to giving her the knives, but when I went back to the House of Phoenix dorm, it was empty.

I was about to turn around and leave but caught sight of a tiny box on my bed.

It wasn’t wrapped, just bound shut with a gold string.

No name, no card. I turned it over, hearing something rattle softly inside of it.

Bandit grabbed it from me and sniffed it all over, finally licking an edge. “Smells like Typhon.”

I pulled the string loose and the box fell open. A round, yellowish piece of glass sat inside, set in an ornate gold frame. Like a mini picture frame, only there was no picture inside of it. I rolled the piece in my hand. It fit nicely in my palm.

A piece of paper fell out. Directions?

Hold the glass over a spell book.

I pulled the spell book out from under my bed that I’d brought back from the library weeks ago and had never returned.

Holding the piece of glass over the first line, I couldn’t help the gasp.

The words under the yellow glow of the glass ... made sense .

“It’s ... is this for real?”

I scanned the first page, and the words not only made sense, I retained them.

My heart was beating stupidly fast for a gift that was as nerdy as they came. A gift that meant Typhon had been paying attention to me and my struggles. I put a hand over my eyes, pinching the corners. I would not cry, damn it.

But I couldn’t help but think ... when was the last time a gift had been given to me that had meant someone was actually seeing me, the real me?

I wasn’t sure I’d ever received one.

“Hey, are you coming down for breakfast?” Fable stepped into the room, her voice pulling me out of the emotions that were threatening to choke me.

I wiped at my face and nodded. “Yeah, I ... I wanted to get your gift for you.”

Fable grinned. “Ha! So much for not getting each other anything! I have something for you, too!”

She handed me a soft package. I tore the paper and found a pair of hand-knit gloves. “I left the fingertips open, so you could still cast runes,” she said, her cheeks pink.

“I love them.” I pulled the gloves on. They fit like ... well like a pair of gloves meant for me. The material was very thin, and I could feel the magic woven into them. “What else is in them?”

Fable winked. “You’ll have to find out.”

I laughed. “I like a good surprise. Now you open yours.” I pushed the smaller box into her hands.

She opened it and gasped when she saw the knives. “Harlow! Where did you get these? They’re amazing.”

“They’re handmade, with Fae magic. Think of them as back-up should anyone ever try to dull your magic again. You strap them to your forearms, and I’ll teach you how to throw them.”

Her hug shouldn’t have caught me off guard, and yet it did. I squeezed her back. “May only abundance flow to you, Fable.”

“And to you, Harlow.”

Breakfast was a mess of food, people were happy, lighthearted, and there were none of the shadows that had been lingering.

I had found small gifts for everyone in House Phoenix with the last of the coins I’d taken from Misty.

A teacup for Phyllis. A new journal for Caterina etched with a dark forest, little fireflies littering the cover.

For Ellie I’d tracked down a tiny first-aid kit that I’d shrunk with my nicking notions.

Marina got a book about the history of Runecoats.

Gary had a thing for puzzles, and I’d gone back to the blacksmith and had him fashion a puzzle made of iron rings that needed to be separated.

And Ross ... I couldn’t resist a pair of sleeping pants patterned with trees.

He held them up. “Sick of seeing me in my holey boxers, I guess?”

I pointed a finger at him. “You got it.”

“You didn’t have to get us anything,” Caterina said. “You’ve done so much for us already.”

I ducked my head and shrugged, my throat tighter than I would have liked. It had started with the exchange with Opie, then Fable and now this.

“We each made a little something for you.” Ross grinned.

Made. They’d made something for me? I looked around but it was Phyllis who caught my eye. She smiled and nodded. “We look to you, Harlow.”

My heart was beating way too hard as each of the others came up to me and pressed something into my palm. Stones. Smooth flat stones, all of different colors.

“They’re worry stones,” Ellie said. “We each cast a rune into the back, with our initials.”

“And I suggested we put a sword on the front,” Gary added. “You know, swearing fealty to you, with our swords.”

“We made one for Zeed too,” Fable said, handing me a second stone. “He can imbue it with a rune and his aura signature when he gets back.”

“And,” Marina said, “we made sure that they wouldn’t make noise. A little rune on the velvet bag and voilà. Silent!”

I shook my head. “No, I can’t, you don’t want to swear –”

Fable closed my fingers around the stones. “We do. We are in this fight together and these stones, they are connected to each of us.”

They’d done the same thing that I’d done for Opie. So I could find her anywhere.

And now I could find them too.

I looked at the matron of the group who gave me a wobbly smile. I took note that she hadn’t given me a stone. “Why?”

Ross ran a hand over his head, ruffling his thick hair. “Because. From the beginning you’ve fought for us. You’re the leader. The big cheese. The man. The boss. We wouldn’t have gotten this far without you.”

Caterina pulled out a black velvet bag and held it under my fingers. Each of the stones fell from my palm, one at a time. No sound came from the clink of stone on stone. She smiled up at me. “Friends to the end.”

The group descended on me in a hug to end all hugs. There might have been tears, I don’t know. I just know that my friends were turning into something far more to me.

They were turning into family.

Love and joy seemed to have dispelled the worries about Nocta from everyone’s minds.

Well, not everyone’s . . .

Fable grabbed at my hand, dragging me from breakfast. “Come on, we have a full free day, and with the gift you got from your secret admirer, you can really help me dig into the Dwimmer books.”

I rolled my eyes but didn’t protest. As I stood to leave with Fable, I caught Typhon’s eye.

There was no gift from me to him, which made me feel like a sheet. Worse, he gave me a nod like he knew there would be nothing left for him on his bed from me.

As we reached the library I put a hand on Fable’s arm. “Wait, I have to do one thing first. I forgot a gift.”

I turned and bolted back toward our dorm before she could protest. Skidding into the room, I dug under my bed for the only other thing I had to give.

The teapot I’d smuggled Opie’s necklace out with.

I ran a hand over it, and then took it back with me to the library.

Fable’s eyes went wide. “Um. What is that for?”

“A last-minute gift,” I muttered. “Now help me find a spell on transposing liquids that I can make work.”

Fable tipped her head back and laughed. “Freaking genius. Okay, it’ll be over here.”

It took us less than fifteen minutes to find the rune combination that would turn water into wine. Only I didn’t want wine, I wanted it to be whiskey.

Adjusting the runes in my head, I glanced back at the page, able to see how they should look at least. Not shorthand, just ... meshing the two runes together. That wouldn’t hurt the weave. Would it?

I was banking on not.

“If I turn my hand that way, and then give it an extra flick there, that should do it,” I muttered. I put my hands on the teapot, tracing the runes directly into the fine bone china.

“That’s a good idea. I bet my brother would have loved it,” Fable said softly and then her eyes started to well up, tears sliding down her cheeks.

The runes settled into the teapot, fading from my fingers with a warm amber glow, not unlike the color of whiskey.

“I’m so sorry about your brother.” I turned to face her, feeling slightly nauseous. “I wish I could fix it for you. I wish I could bring him back.”

“It’s not your fault.” Fable’s tears were streaming now. “It’s Nocta’s fault. And you are helping. We’re going to stop him. Me and you.”

I felt the truth bubbling up in me and knew that it was time.

“I hate Nocta too. For what he did to my family. To my mom.”

She nodded. “I know.”

I sucked in a breath. “But also, because a girl wants her dad to be her hero, and not a monster waiting to kill her and her friends.”

She stared at me for a long moment, and then her eyes widened.

“Fable ... Nocta is my father.”