"Max, let's talk about what happened today."

"What do you mean?" Max didn't' meet Nash's eyes.

"Cafe's empty. Let's sit."

Max groaned and sat at the table. He stirred his cold tea and kept his eyes lowered.

"You told Darcy about Avalon and the conflict between you and Tara."

Max sipped his tea, grimaced, and set the cup down.

"Want a hot cup?"

"No, thanks, it's almost time for dinner." He pushed the cup away and looked at Nash. "She saw me and Willow and read a bit of the book. The illusion didn't work on her. She got, she got some magic from that pendant. I thought I ought to find out where and how." He glanced at Nash as guilelessly as he could and tapped the spoon on the cup.

"It wasn't the pendant. You took the magic from that before I sold it."

Max nodded. "Except for a tiny residue that costs more magic to take so you'd end with less than you started with."

Nash nodded. He well knew how magic hunting worked after twenty-seven years of marriage to a hunter. "Funny. I thought Joan put more magic in that pendant than you pulled out. I know there's still one more great cache of magic that we have to find. You'll need it to challenge Olga."

"Don't I know it. Did Aunt Joan leave a message or a map or anything?"

"We used all she left that I know about." Nash paused before saying, "After the pendant, she had a stroke, lost her ability to speak. She died a few months later, without recovering." He closed his eyes as memories flooded his mind. "So soon. Too soon. We didn't have time to talk about magic caches." He opened his eyes. "Back to Darcy. I don't think she'll talk about us, our origins."

"Who'd believe her? The mean kids at school think she talks to herself after today. They'll throw shade."

"Kids. Tomorrow you'll have to talk to her about the need for secrecy."

Max nodded. "I'll do that."

"Or we'll have to put a stronger spell on her. Last thing. It's time you dropped the illusion, so others see you. Save the magic."

Max looked at his uncle, worried now by his urgency to save magic.

"People will start remembering you were there all along," said Nash. "You're registered at school for homeschooling, so you can continue your studies."

"OK," Max said, his eyes lighting up. "I know it's only till the equinox, but it's been hard, hiding in plain sight."

"I know, son, I know."

Max wriggled, trying to ease the ache in his back.

"Back hurting again?" Max nodded. "Do you want to put your brace on?"

"Yeah. After I shower...Uncle."

Nash looked at the teenager, almost but not yet an adult, who must contend with events that would decide the future of Avalon. He wasn't the only youth who would have to fight for peace, and Nash knew Max accepted he would battle alone for the future of Avalon, and certainly for his life.

"I showed her the path."

"The mirror?"

"Yeah." Max waited for Nash to jump all over him, reprimanding him for breaking a primary rule of Avalonians living in the Ordinary.

Nash warmed with pride for Max, who was growing up, trying adult experiences, and would forfeit everything here when he returned to Avalon. He also worried about the boy, his last relative but for Olga. He patted the boy's hand. "Do you like her?"

A tiny nod was Max's response. 

"That much, hunh?"

Max shrugged. "It's just, when she said she could see me. It was a relief almost to talk with someone. I was so frightened Olga sent her; I ran away to think what to do. Then I couldn't find my book."

"Sometimes it happens that way, son. The thunderbolt. Joan and me." He relaxed as a happier memory came to mind. "Tell her she's welcome here any time."

Max brightened and nodded.

"What do you want for dinner?"

"I thought we had some salmon in the freezer."

"We do. I'll put it out to thaw while you shower and put your brace on. Just have a care what you tell her and show her. Olga might send someone after her, too."

"Sure thing. I don't want Olga's lackeys here or to put anyone in danger." He said quietly. "I just liked talking to a--someone and she seemed to be ok with me." Nash chuckled. "She seemed to understand me, somehow. Until the equinox, it'll be good to have a friend. Of sorts."

The gold bell hanging over the door jangled a few times as customers arrived. "Hello, Nash. Rainy day, isn't it?" said a man accompanied by two small, dripping children in yellow raincoats and slick, black boots.

"Sure enough," said Nash. "Be right with you."

"Need a few minutes. The kids want to look for some books."

Nash nodded. "I'll close after they leave." He took the drink cups to the return table.

"I'm going to check for a dispatch," Max said. Max went to the bookshelf and called Willow. The lizard ran down to him and clung to his arm. The boy went behind the counter to the stairs and up to their apartment on the third floor. 

He laid on his bed, and Willow crawled on the pillow. "Willow, tomorrow I will be seen at school. Not you, you'll stay in the book. I can relax some. It's hard staying unseen."

He opened the book and found a new dispatch.