A hand smacked across my face.

It hit me in the nose, and I instantly wrinkled it, opening my eyes to find painted nails inches away from them. The next thing that hit me was a snore.

Wait. Odette?

My face warmed, and I shot up, quickly looking around the room. Sure enough, she had passed out sprawled across my bed, with Dustin face first into his on the other side of the room. I watched them for a moment, then deflated with a sigh.

I guess we did get home really late.

Or maybe late was an understatement. Between how long it took to break into whatever that place was, not to mention getting back out, calling the police, and the hours-long ride home, the sun had been a lot more up than we were. By the time I'd stumbled back in the dorm, the only thing I really had had the energy for was bandaging Dustin's hand. Not even—

Oh shoot. Frantically, I started patting at my pocket, trying to find my phone. Sure enough, it was still in my back pocket, and with the tap of a finger, the case slid off the front, and I was pressing the phone to my ear.

It only took about two rings for a familiar voice to pick up. "Hello?"

I winced. She sounded so worn out, and at some point, I knew I ought to apologize to her, but first... "Gwen?" I took a deep breath, a smile splitting across my face. "We have him."

She froze, hesitant, like she was afraid that she might have misheard me. "What?"

"We found him. Dustin's back. He's sleeping right next to me, and he's safe." My eyes fell across the bandages again, and my lips grew tight. "Well, maybe a little beat up, but he's alive and he'll be okay."

"What?" Gwen's voice shouted over the receiver, and soon I could hear the sound of a door being flung open. "Blyke! Blyke! They found him. He's okay!"

"Dustin?" There was a pause on my end, but I could easily imagine her boyfriend grinning at her before he spoke again. "See? I told you they would."

"Yeah but—" There was the soft sound of crying, but this time, I knew they were happy tears. "It just took so long."

Another few seconds, and she seemed to piece herself together as she returned to talking to me, although her voice sounded a bit farther away. Maybe I was on speaker now. "Thank you, Crow. Did the police find him or...?"

Again, I was looking at Dustin, curled up in bed with bruises spattered across his forehead. I swallowed. "No. Me and Odette did, but it's a really long story. We only just got back this morning."

"Well... I don't know about Gwen, but I'd skip class for that," Blyke cut in. "Hell, I'll fly over there right now if you guys are okay with that."

"I don't care. I need to see him," Gwen said, and I could tell there was no saying no with how firm she was. "I don't care if it's at the dorm, or someplace nearby, or going back to Dad's for a bit if you don't want the company. I just... need to see that he's all right for myself."

"Uhhh..." Now I was looking at the state of the room. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, and I was quickly reminded of Odette giving it a makeover right before we headed out. "Yeah. I mean, I'm sure if I ask Dustin it'll be fine, and I definitely don't care."

"All right," Gwen muttered, most likely in thought. "Then is seven okay?"

I blinked. "Seven? You don't have to come that late, if you want to see him sooner."

"... Crow. Seven is the soonest I can get there if I leave now. Do you even know what time it is?"

Quite frankly, I did not, so imagine my surprise when I pulled the phone back to find that it was after five. In the afternoon.

I just stared at the clock. "Damn."

"My man," I could hear Blyke talking again. "Did you just wake up or somethin', because you sound out of it."

"Like I said, long story, and if you're coming over, I might as well just tell you when you get here." I sighed. "So I'll see you then."

"See you then," I could hear the both of them repeating, and with that, I ended the call.

The room grew quiet after that, my arm dropping to my side. Outside, I could make out the occasional conversion or patter of footsteps, but other than that, it was just me, and the fish on the wall until there was the rustling of sheets next to me.

Dustin sat up, his wrapped up hand rubbing at his face as he yawned. "What was that about?"

"Hm? Oh." I sat down on the bed again, giving him a look. "Well, I hope it's not too soon, but I wanted to let Gwen and Blyke know that we found you, and they are coming over in about two hours to check up on you. If that's okay."

"Really?" He slowly smiled, though he continued to stare off at some spot through his knees. "I'd love that. I... miss her a lot."

"I figured." I gave him a nod, and with a tilt of my head, I was staring at Odette, snoring at my side. "Now to wake her up so she can head back to her dorm, I guess."

"Nah. Let her sleep." Dustin shook his head, and he wobbled a bit as he began to push himself off the bed. "She needs it, and besides, if Gwen and Blyke are going to be here, then we can make it into a party of sorts."

He giggled to himself at that, and despite everything, air snorted out of my nose as I watched him light up. It was odd, through the bruising and the bags under his eyes, but somehow, he was still excited over such a simple thing, enough to limp eagerly over to the door. "Just give me a bit. I'm going to shower, but I'll be back before they get here, okay?" He shot me a grin over his shoulder, hand on the knob. "Don't start anything without me."

I snorted, giving him a smirk of my own to match. "We won't."

We won't.

☾☆☽

"So!" Odette had asked after I shook her roughly thirty times to get her awake. Not that she'd been all that happy about it, but once I gave her the general rundown about having guests, and she'd gone to the bathroom real quick to touch up her makeup, her general demeanor seemed to improve a lot. "Your sister and her boyfriend, huh? What are they like?"

"Mm," Dustin hummed slightly from the other end of the dorm, where he poured himself out a cup of coffee. Then he stopped, smiling to himself. "Gwen tends to be tough, and a lot of people hate her guts but she's actually really nice, I swear. As for Blyke..."

"He's a crackhead," I filled in.

Odette immediately perked up. "Ooh! Sounds like my type of people. When are they going to be here, then?"

I checked my phone for the umpteenth time. "The funny thing is they should have been here like a half hour ago."

"Do you think they hit traffic?" Dustin asked, making his way back to his bed with a mug in hand. It shook a bit in his grasp, each tremble making me want to take it from him. But he eventually got there, taking a seat.

So I just shook my head. "Doubtful. I'm sure Blyke is taking his broom, and once you're up there, even if there were ten other Witches, there's no traffic or anything."

"True." His lip twitched into the smallest of frowns, and he quickly took a sip of the drink. "It's definitely the best method of travel. No traffic, feeling the wind on your face, surrounded by clouds..." He trailed off, that gentle, longing look reaching his eyes once again.

That craving for magik.

I twitched. "You sound like a tourist. Trust me, at the end of the day, it's just a ride. You got a car, I got a broom, and that's just how it is."

"But you could drive a car too," he pointed out. "One's a lot more... freeing, I guess."

"Dustin," I warned. "The only reason I didn't pick a car was because it's cheaper." My fingers drummed at my legs. "You don't want to use magik if you don't have to. It's dangerous."

Suddenly, there were fingers tightly pinching my cheeks, almost painfully so, and I glared into the space in front of me as Odette continued to grab my face. "Aww... is the little Witch grumpy? Are you a grumpy Witch? Are you gonna tell Dustin that if he has a little fun that's we're all gonna die?" She leaned over my shoulder, sending me a fake, pouty lip.

"Stop!" I shoved her off. "I'm just being realistic. Besides, he can't ride a broom without me giving him a potion anyway, so there's no point in sitting there just wishing."

"Oh! Great idea!" She turned around, shooting Dustin a wicked grin. "Wanna raid his potion cabinet later? I'll teach ya how to ride with just your knees. Or surfing style. That one's my fave."

Dustin hesitated, eyes glancing back and forth between her and me. "Um, maybe another time?"

"Another time?" I sputtered. "No. Absolutely not!"

"Why not?" Odette asked. "Seems a little unfair to not even let him try."

"Because he could fall?" I pointed out. "Forget that using your knees is illegal. He could slip off and fall hundreds of feet and d—"

I was cut off by the sound of a doorbell.

"Ayo." Pouding echoed through the dorm as Blyke started knocking on the door. Or maybe he was kicking it with how heavy the bangs were. "Someone want to let us in? Our hands are kinda full."

"Did you even check if this was the right room first?" his voice was followed by a second, more exasperated one.

"I mean, I think it is."

"You think? So we could be bothering complete strangers right now."

I licked my lips, shooting another look at Dustin, and finally Odette. That conversation could wait. Or maybe be done in private. After all, Dustin didn't need any of that after what he went through, and it was awkward explaining that to Odette with him right there. So I shot her an angry look, then pushed myself up, heading over to the door. "No, it's the right one," I told them, raising my voice enough so they hear me. "I'll be there in a second."

Sure enough, I opened the door, and they were there, Blyke with his usual bomber jacket and backwards, red baseball cap, and Gwen in a simple green blouse. That I'd been expecting. However, I was not expecting for both their arms to be laden with snacks, from frozen boxes of party food, to chips, dips, and drinks. I frowned at it before tilting my head all the way back to meet Blyke's dark eyes. "What's all this?"

"Well, we're celebrating aren't we?" he asked, a small chuckle escaping him. "Can't have a party without food." Then he leaned to look past me, pushing his way further into the dorm. "Ey Dustin! Your sister said your taste buds are kinda all over the place, so I settled for the salt and vinegar kind. That okay?"

"What? Yeah!" His face lit up, and he quickly stood, moving to the pathetic alcove that was barely a kitchen. "I'll go grab a bowl for them."

"Oh no you don't."

My back bumped into Dustin's desk behind me as Gwen hastily shoved her way past. I don't know when she'd handed off all of her things to me, but suddenly I was the one with bags upon bags of groceries all while she burst into the room. Then her hands were holding Dustin's and she was staring into his face, eyes locked onto the bandage patching up the cut beneath his scruffy bangs.

Her shoulders fell, and she swallowed hard. "Dustin," she whispered. "What happened to you?"

"Um, well." He reached behind his hood to scratch at the back of his neck. "It's a long story, and I'm not sure anyone really needs to know so—"

"Yes I do." There was no hesitation in those words, and Gwen drew herself back, arms crossing. "I want to know exactly what they did. Every little stupid detail so I can figure out exactly who put their hands on you."

He paused, looking at her, then Blyke, Odette, and finally me. Eventually, his gaze fell to the floor, as he nodded. "All right, but can I at least get some of the chips first?"

Gwen gave him a deadened look, but eventually she stepped to the side. "Fine."

With that, he grabbed the bowl of chips, sitting the entire thing in his lap. Then he proceeded to grab a handful, and immediately start eating, most likely to avoid talking. It only lasted a few seconds though before Gwen began tapping her foot, and he swallowed.

"Well, I guess it's not that long of a story," he finally said, staring not at us, but a space right through. "Crow and I had a disagreement, and I left the apartment. I didn't go far, just walking through the streets a bit, and..." His lips grew tight, thinking. "There was this car. It was blue, with tinted windows, but other than that, it seemed normal. But it kept following me, slowly. So I went to text Crow, but after the first message something hit the back of my head, and I fell. After that..."

He took a deep breath. "Crow can explain the building to you, but there were these cells, and workers? I don't know. I was blindfolded most of the time, and strapped to a chair. Usually I just felt things. Cutting, stitching, cutting again. I-I don't know why." His hands shook slightly, and he dipped them back into the bowl. "But, Crow and Odette saved me, so it's all good now." He gave his sister a reassuring smile. "I survived."

But, as much as he said that, when I looked at Gwen, her face was bright red in anger, hands clenching and unclenching. Not that I could blame her. I was the exact same way. Unlike me, however, she seemed to eventually relax, stance deflating as she turned to the girl sitting next to me. "And I'm assuming you're Odette?"

"That'd be me." She gave her a two-fingered wave.

"God, I—" Gwen just stared at her, then me, then her, and her eyes twitched, starting to water. "Thank you. I don't know how to ever repay you."

"Uhh..." She gave her a shrug. "I take hugs?"

Gwen immediately stepped back, blinking. "Hugs? We just met."

"Yeah, but I give really good ones. C'mere!"

I snorted as Odette lunged forward, throwing an arm around a quickly panicking Gwen. Immediately, she went to jerk away, but Blyke only caught her shoulder, dragging her back.

"Nope. You gotta repay her. For Dustin, remember?" he chimed in, giving her a sly look.

"Hugs are not an accepted currency!" She screamed, her one arm reaching out to me as Odette continued to try and tackle her from behind. Her blond hair whipped about, grey eyes glaring at me as she looked about ready to commit murder. "You!" she yelled, pointing at my face. "You got me into this!"

I just nose-breathed harder, giving her a sneer. "Sounds like a you problem."

"Well, now it's about to be an us problem."

I don't know when Dustin had grabbed me from behind, but suddenly I became the target as the purple arms of a jacket began yanking me towards the chaos that was quickly unfolding on the dorm floor.

"What? Why am I a part of this?" I asked, also trying to pull back. But now Gwen was holding onto my one wrist, Blyke at my other, and Dustin still pushing at my back until I was scrunched up next to Odette to become one giant mess.

"Because you didn't save me," Gwen spat. "Enjoy your own medicine, bitch."

Odette had that maniacal cackle to her voice again, and my hope for escape quickly dwindled as everything grew tight and warm around me.

"And... gotcha!"

A flash went off, making me blink, and as everyone slowly backed up, I could see Odette proudly smiling, waving her phone in the air.

"Oh, a picture?" Dustin asked, looking over her shoulder, and even with her platform boots, it was probably the first time he met someone short enough for him to actually do so. "How did it come out?"

"A little less than perfect." She gave him a confident grin, holding the screen up. Sure enough, everyone was there, most of us smiling, save for Gwen giving me a glare and me stuck mid eye-roll. But there was the smallest hint of a smirk on my face, and if I looked closer at Gwen, her eyes were sparkling in self-contained laughter. "But—" Odette continued, slipping it back in her pocket. "That's how I like my friends anyway."

"Well, if that's the case, and you plan on sticking around, then expect a lot more where that came from." Blyke laughed.

"Good. That's what I was hoping for. But enough about me." She grabbed Dustin's shoulders to shake him, and he let himself be awkwardly flopped back and forth. "It's this boy's welcome home party, so let's start celebrating already!"

In the hours after that, I mostly learned that I was right. Odette and Blyke got along perfectly, almost too perfectly with how loudly their voices constantly echoed around the dorm, even as it started to grow later and later. More than several times I had to pause a conversation with Gwen just to shush the two for the millionth time, or tell them to turn down whatever meme video the one of them wanted to pull out. At least I'd managed to avoid most of their shenanigans, just sitting on my bed with a couple of heated up mozzarella sticks and talking. That was more at my pace.

"-so of course I gotta build him a gun, right? Because there was no way he was gonna throw enough of those things fast enough to take down an entire cult. So I'm like, 'oh hey. What if I went to the store and got a bunch of pvc pipe and an air compressor?' Then I got home and—"

"Oh my gods! You built the gun?" I nearly jumped out of my seat as Odette practically screamed each word. "You're the gun builder!"

"Odette! For the last time!" My head snapped to the side, finding both of them sprawled out across my dorm floor, Blyke with his fingers spread as Odette moved what looked like a tiny brush across his nails. I paused, my original train of thought proceeding to derail off of the cliff of thought and into the ocean of thought before it eventually sunk to the bottom. "I... are you painting his nails?"

"Yeah? I always keep a bunch of colors in my bag." She looked at me, like this was the most normal thing on the planet.

Blyke sat up next to her, holding them up for me to see. "Don't they look great?"

"I..." My eyes flicked down to the red polish before I turned back to Odette. "Yeah. Fantastic. Just don't get it on the floor."

"Will do!" She gave me a small salute before waving Blyke back. "And you're done. Gwen? Want a turn?"

"Hm?" She perked up only to give the two of them about the same look I did. "Nope. Not my thing."

"Suit yourself." Odette shrugged, popping the cap back on the bottle of red before hunting around in her little black satchel. "What about you, Dustin? Want a go at it?"

"Sure!" He got up, eagerly sitting down next on his stomach next to her. His feet awkwardly swung in the air behind him and he tipped his head at her bag. "What do I have to do?"

"Easy. Just put your hands down flat and pick out a color." She waved her hand at the array of bottles next to her.

"Oh. Okay." He glanced at them, mulling the choices over. "What about two colors?"

"Pfft. It's your hands. Who am I to say no?"

"In that case..." He grabbed for the light blue and purple bottles. "I'll take these."

She nodded at them, an idea seeming to hit her as she unscrewed the first. "All right. Now close your eyes. I'm going to do something fun with them."

"Okay," he said again, closing his eyes.

She promptly stuck the brush in the center of his forehead, doting it blue.

"H-hey!" He instantly snapped to attention, but she was already cackling and reaching for a wet wipe.

"All right. Now for reals this time."

Next to me, I could hear Gwen sighing, reaching her hand into my plate of mozz sticks. Not that she seemed to care as she bit into it, facing me. "Well. She's quite the character."

"You're telling me," I replied with a shake of my head. "You should have seen her when we tried to break into that base."

"I would have liked to, but someone forgot to invite us."

The pointed tone of her voice made me stiffen, and I winced, trying to meet her face, as pissed as it was. "Gwen, it's like that. I told you as soon as I could."

"But I could've helped!" she cried. "This wasn't him getting lost or something. If someone hit him in the back of the head and brought him somewhere... I could've broken him out. I could have gone after those people. Something."

She took a deep breath, trying to lower her voice as she spoke to me, and me alone. "They tortured him. They tortured my brother, and all I was allowed to do was wait by a phone and pray the police would call me back." Her fingers started playing with her hair, plucking at the blond and lavender strands as if untangling them would do the same thing to her thoughts. "That's all you let me do. And I appreciate you getting him back, I really, really do but..."

My mouth opened and closed, but I finally found the words, my hand scrubbing at my face as I tried my best to explain. "It wasn't my plan. It was Odette's. She was the one that pushed to get him back. I wasn't any better. Just laying around, waiting for things to turn out better. And even when we did leave... I guess I didn't want to get your hopes up."

My head turned back to them, at Dustin opening his eyes to admire whatever Odette had painted on them. She put her hands on her hips, explaining it proudly, and whatever she said, I couldn't hear, but Dustin was smiling at her. I watched them, saying nothing for a while, but finally, I continued. "I'm sorry."

It took her a while to answer, but eventually her head dipped. "It's all right. I know this wasn't easy on you either. Just..." She lifted her chin, watching Dustin with me. "Just because we're still in New Jersey doesn't mean we don't want to be a part of your lives anymore. Even if this is over for now, even if it's just for hanging out... let us know. We're here for you, okay?"

I took a deep breath, holding it in my chest, feeling how heavy it felt. Then I let it go. "Okay."

That seemed to be a good enough answer for her, and she dropped the subject, instead focusing on Dustin, running up to me excitedly.

"Crow, look." He held his hands up in front of his face, and I could see they were purple coated in little white and blue stars, not unlike the drop of blue still dotting the center of his forehead.

I squinted at him. "I see. Why didn't you get it off your head first?"

He shrugged. "I decided I liked it. Now come on." His hand grabbed mine, and he attempted to pull me to my feet. "Your turn."

"What? No," I told him flatly, staying right where I was.

"Come on," he repeated, his grey eyes practically sparkling with mischief. "All the guys are doing it."

"Except they aren't, because I'm a guy, and I'm still sitting on this bed."

"Not for long you aren't."

He was only teasing, pulling at my hand gently, and honestly, if I continued to put my foot down, Dustin probably would have dropped it. But for some reason, when I looked at his face, all smiles even with the patch under his hair...

"All right, fine." I rolled my eyes, but I let myself be pulled up and led to what was now apparently my dorm's pop-up salon. "But no pinks or reds, got it?"

"Oh don't worry. That wasn't the plan anyway," he explained, and I was sat down on the hardwood floor, with him on one end and me on the other. Then he held out a single hand to Odette to take one of the bottles from her, and he was opening it.

I gave her a confused look. "Weren't you the one doing all this?"

"Meh. He said he wanted a go at it."

Well, whatever. I just spread my fingers, a cold, wet-yet-dry feeling hitting my top of my nails as he dragged the brush over the top. My eyes flicked back up to his face, oddly focused with his tongue ever so slightly stuck between his teeth. Still, his lips were caught up in a smile that continued to last. I copied it. At least he's happy.

That was all that really mattered, after all. Already, my mind was trailing back to only a little while before, as he'd sat there, hands shaking as he explained everything those people had done to him. The smallest flicker of anger coursed through me, and it was a struggle to keep my fingers straight as Dustin continued to paint. Magitech Industries. I hoped they got what was coming to them, with the police on their tail now. But, as for our end? If all I had to do to make things up was get a little nailpolish on me... well, I'd live.

"And... done!" he announced, drawing the brush back and popping it back into the bottle. He gave me one last lookover, from my hands to my face, and he seemed proud, face slightly flushed and the same, soft look as ever. "Well? What do you think?"

"Hm?" I looked down, finding them just black. Nothing else to them, but it was neatly done, and simple enough. It actually kind of matched with my clothes, now that I was thinking about it, and I bent them over my palm, inspecting them. "It looks nice."

"Honestly, yeah." I could feel Blyke hovering over my shoulder, a bit too close for my liking, but I let him be. "It suits you."

"I agree!" Odette nodded, arms crossed. "You should do it more often."

"More often?" I raised my eyebrows. That sounded like more effort than it was worth.

"Yeah. I'm telling you, it's totally your thing," Odette continued, and she reached a hand into her bag again, finally reaching in front of me to hand me the bottle. "Here. Keep it."

I stared at it. "Uh, yeah no. I couldn't. It's yours, after all."

"Puh-lease. You think I don't have a million of these?" She scoffed, shoving it back in my hand. "Keep it, or find out which space in your dorm I decide to hide it every day after I break in with the entrance code you gave me." A smirk flashed across her face. "Either way, it's yours now."

"I—" I looked down, staring at the sleek, little container in my hand. And then I looked around me. Not just at Odette, but all of them. Gwen shaking her head with a smile in one end of the room, Blyke laughing over my shoulder, and in front of me, Dustin, looking happier than I'd seen him in... a while. A long while.

Then again, it's been a long time since we hung out like this. Probably close to a year, now that I was thinking about it, and the feeling in my chest softened, until I smiled back at them. At everyone, together.

"Thank you."