Claire Driscoll sat at the interview table alone, waiting for the agents to enter the room. As she looked around the room, taking in the lack of any decorations whatsoever, she started to wonder if prisons were called "correctional facilities" because that's what they sought to do, correct you of your mindsets and actions. And, if that's the case, what do you do when you incarcerate someone who doesn't think they did anything wrong? Sure, now on medication Claire could see her actions for what they were, monstrous, and yet..and yet a part of her still stood by them. She believed in a greater good, perhaps the greatest good. Nobody else saw it yet, that was the problem. Finally the door opened and Agent Siskel and Agent Tropper entered. She smiled at them as Tropper leaned against the wall and continued drinking his coffee while Siskel sat at the table, putting a manila folder down in front of her.

"Good afternoon," Claire said, "How are you guys doing today?"

"We're fine, thanks," Agent Siskel replied, "Claire, before we get into anything serious, I wanna ask you a question. What do you think people come to Vegas for?"

Claire was taken by surprise. Certainly this was not the kind of discussion she had been expecting, but she decided she'd play along. She thought about it for a moment, chewing on her cheek.

"Uh, gambling, probably, right? Debauchery. The kind of things you can only get away with here. Entertainment being a close second. Everyone always says that, right? 'Let's go take in a show!' or whatever. There's a lot of stuff you can only see in Vegas. High class strippers, call girls, nude poetry readings."

"That's a thing?" Agent Tropper asked, raising an eyebrow.

"They're not as fun as they sound," Agent Siskel replied.

"How do you know??" he asked, now even more curious.

"Why? Why are you asking me these things? Look, my compound was on the outskirts of the city, I was as far removed from Vegas as one could be while still technically living in it. I came into the city for work, groceries, shit like that. Why are you-"

"You never came into the city to see, maybe, a magic show?" Agent Siskel asked, and Claire's eyes widened.

"...I don't think so," she said, laughing, "I don't go to stuff like that. I hate crowds."

"You ran a cult," Agent Tropper remarked.

"Yeah, a crowd I could control," Claire replied, "Why are you asking me about magic shows?"

"Because apparently, a few days ago, you had a visitor come by, a magician named Allie Meers. Why'd she come to visit you? You guys weren't friends, right? You didn't run in the same social circles, so why would she come by and see you? She just a fan of your work?" Agent Siskel asked.

"I'm allowed to have fans, serial killers are some of the most revered people in the public eye now," Claire said, "What that says about the public is a whole other discussion, but hey, I'll take my wins where I can get 'em."

"Claire," Agent Siskel said, leaning forward and cupping her hands as she smiled, "how about we make a deal?"

Claire squinted, her brow furrowing.

"What kind of deal?" she asked.

                                                                             ***

"You ever design a funeral home?" Allie asked, as she and Molly were driving out towards the compound. Molly was sitting in the passenger seat, eating a jerky stick while Molly drove.

"I don't like funeral homes. I don't like death. I don't even like cemeteries," she replied, "I acknowledge that they're interesting buildings, certainly, and it might be a structurally challenging design, sure. But no, I've never designed a funeral home. Why?"

"Just curious, just seeing what you've done," Allie said, shrugging.

Molly scratched her forehead and pushed her hair from her eyes, sighing. She never, in a million years, would've expected her life to take the turn it had. On one hand, she wanted to be furious, she wanted to scream and claw Allie's eyes out for what she'd dragged her into. On the other hand, she was weirdly thankful that these people trusted her enough to include her. She supposed that's what happens to a person when they spend their life excluded, any inclusion, no matter what kind, becomes oddly endearing and welcome.

"Why are we meeting at the compound? Wouldn't the cops be keeping a close eye on this place?" Molly asked.

"Why would they? The leader's been arrested, everyone's disbanded for the time being, it's just sitting here. All the more damning would be if we showed up at her funeral home and left with a tomb. That'd be something somebody would notice. This place, as far as they're concerned, is just a big empty lot of land now," Allie said.

Molly shrugged. Allie had a point. If nobody would be here regularly, why bother watching it? She took another bite of her jerky stick and chewed, thinking about Zoe. The only reason Molly was the one coming along for this ride was because Zoe said she couldn't. Zoe had told them that she had some personal things to take care of regarding her family, and they respected that, especially Molly, after hearing just how rough her meeting with her parents had gone.

"Welp," Allie said, "Here it is."

They barreled down a dirt road and finally came to a large gate that encased the compound. After pulling up at the keypad and speaker, Allie rolled down her window and waited. Nothing happened. After a minute she glanced at Molly, who just shrugged, still chewing.

"You Allie?" a voice asked through the speaker, making them both jump and laugh nervously.

"Yeah, that's me," Allie replied back, "Claire sent us to retrieve the package."

"Pull in and park, then come to building C," the voice said, before the speaker crackled and went quiet. The gates unlocked automatically and began to slide open, allowing Allie to drive through. She looked at Molly and smirked.

"Fancy, I feel like royalty," she said.

"Might as well get used to this sort of thing," Molly said, "This is probably what prison will be like."

"If I can escape out of a locked box, what makes you think I couldn't escape from prison?" Allie asked.

                                                                           ***

Rachel St Sebastian was one of the very few people Claire trusted outside the compound. They'd met early on into Claire being in Vegas, and had become quick friends, in part thanks to Claire's weirdly morbid curiosity of her line of work. Rachel was a mortician. It was a family inherited trade, not something she necessarily chose to go to school for, but it was also something she never really minded outright. As she'd once told Claire, "I like working with the dead. At least the dead don't argue."

When she got the call from Claire in prison about the 'package', she knew she had to help. If there was one thing Rachel hated, it was the cops. She'd taken her friend, and now her life, from her and she'd do anything to fight back against them, even just a little. So when she was told to hold the package until Allie showed up, and then turn it over to her, she took the opportunity without thinking twice. She'd seen Allie Meers before, while being downtown. Never in person, just on billboards or on local commercials for the hotel, so she was sort of excited about meeting a pseudo celebrity.

And, best of all, she didn't care one bit about what Allie's participation in this situation was. If anything, she was even more sympathetic to Allie than she ever could've been to Claire.

                                                                              ***

"You'd think that with all this land, you'd at least get some horses," Molly said as Allie parked and they climbed down from the truck. Molly turned and looked at the truck and asked, "did you get a truck with a trailer so we could easily transport it?"

"It was either that or tying him to the roof like a mattress," Allie said, making Molly laugh.

They began to walk away from the truck and towards building C, as instructed. Just as they approached, the doors swung open, and a tall woman, her hair in a messy bun, dressed in a floral short sleeve shirt and khaki pants, strode out to meet them. She was smoking a cigarette, and tossed it on the ground as they approached, stomping it out with her boot.

"So," she said, looking between Allie and Molly, "didn't know you'd have help, but it makes sense."

"Well i can't do this myself," Allie said, "Should I pull the truck around or...?"

"No, I've got a dolly we can wheel him out on," Rachel replied.

"He's not a dresser," Molly said, making Allie chuckle.

"Come on, follow me," Rachel said, and the girls did as they were told. They entered a large room, clearly a medical pavilion of some kind for the people who had lived here, and continued through to another, smaller attached room where, on a metal slab, sat the tomb with a tarp wrapped around it. Allie stopped short, her breath caught in her chest. She hadn't seen the tomb since they'd buried it - well, besides on the news, but she meant more in person - and seeing it now, even if wrapped in something, it made her feel queasy.

"Why's there a tarp over it?" Molly asked.

"Because he's kinda ugly to look at," Rachel said, "he's decomposing for god sakes. You think I wanna see that every time I come in here? So you got a plan of what to do with him?"

"Yeah," Allie said softly as she approached and looked at the tarp covered tomb up close, "...I have a tiger."

                                                                              ***

"Why would a magician come to see you?" Agent Siskel asked, leaning back in her chair, crossing her legs, "I mean, you say she could be a fan, but maybe there's more to it than that, right?"

"Maybe she had the hots for me after seeing me on TV," Claire replied, shrugging, leaning back in her own chair and folding her arms, "Did you know that serial killers get more marriage proposals than anyone else in prison? What does that say about the mental state of the people in this country that they find violence romantically intriguing?"

"What'd you guys talk about?" Agent Siskel asked, still pushing.

"You said something about a deal," Claire said, "and, much as I'd love to take that offer, I have nothing to give in return for it. She came, we chatted about what I did, that was that, sorry to disappoint you, agents. Besides, why the sudden interest in this woman? I thought you guys were watching Sunny's sister?"

"We are," Agent Tropper said, "but that tomb had to come from somewhere, and we saw it up close, we know that it's a magician prop, so if a magician suddenly comes to see you, then it stands to reason that she might have been involved somehow. Claire, you have an opportunity here to gain some freedom. You could help us. All we wanna know is why she came to talk to you."

Claire hesitated, thinking it over. If she walked, would she have anything to walk back to? They'd disbanded her cult, they'd ruined her reputation, they'd taken everything from her. What really would she be returning to?

"You know, it's funny," Claire finally said, grinning slightly, "all I wanted to do was help people, you know? That's why I formed the 'cult', as you call it. I wanted to give people who didn't feel like they belonged a place they could belong to. A family, in a way. I didn't ask anything of them, I just wanted them to feel welcome and loved. Now, here I am, sitting in this prison, and none of them has come to see me."

"Well, considering what you wound up doing, did you expect them to?" Agent Tropper asked, "I mean, not to speak for anyone but, for me personally, if I found out the person I trusted most was arrested for keeping dead bodies in the walls, that'd probably sour my opinion of them."

"Fair," Claire said, "I acknowledge that, but it still stings, you feel me? Actually, that's not true, one person did come to see me. Rachel St Sebastian. She's my oldest friend, and she didn't abandon me, so that was nice."

"...why do I know that name?" Agent Siskel asked, looking at Agent Tropper, who shrugged.

"Because she's the mortician I suggested you use to extract Sunny from the tomb," Claire said, "She's great at what she does, she's highly recognized in her field. She came to see me, she's called a few times, she hasn't left me to rot, and for that, I appreciate her. You know, last time we talked, she told me a story about someone else in her line of work who somehow lost someone they were working on. Someone brought in a young man, someone who had fallen while hiking and had frozen to death, and this other mortician, god knows how they managed to do it, somehow lost the body in transit."

Agent Tropper and Agent Siskel exchanged a glance.

"Why...why are you telling us this?" Agent Tropper asked as Claire grinned.

"Because it's funny, isn't it? People just disappear all the time, even from the places you least expect, in a way almost like life and death itself, one moment they're here, the next they're not," Claire said, "almost like magic."

That's when it struck Agent Siskel. Her eyes widened, her jaw slacked. Claire leaned forward, smiling.

"Abracadabra," she whispered, as Agent Siskel quickly stood up and raced out of the room, a confused Agent Tropper following on her heels, as Claire lost it and started laughing hysterically.

                                                                            ***

Allie and Molly were driving home. Allie didn't want to think about Sunny being in the back of the truck, she just wanted to get home and get rid of him. Molly, almost as if feeling the unease that was suffocating them, sat in total silence as Allie unsuccessfully searched for a radio station, only to get static after static channel.

"Must be too far from the stations," Molly said quietly.

"Do you wanna get something to eat?" Allie asked, "I...I need to eat."

"I could eat," Molly said, "all I've done is full up on gas station jerky, so."

"...I didn't think I'd feel like this. Feel this...bad, you know?" Allie asked, "I think I feel guilty not because I did it, but because he...he wasn't a bad person, and that's what hurts the most. If he'd been an asshole, this all would've been so much easier to defend. But aside from potentially trying to get Zoe hooked, because he was a business man and that's what they do, he wasn't a bad guy. We hung out here and there, he was almost a friend. I just...seeing the tomb again after all this time, it made me wanna vomit."

"Well there goes my appetite," Molly mumbled, making Allie chuckle softly.

"Sorry," Allie said, "it's just all so fucked up. I did what I did to protect Zoe. I didn't know what it would lead to. I just knew that I had to do something to protect her. Look at what happened to me, look at what show business does to a person. She doesn't deserve that. She deserves to be successful, happy, healthy. She's a better person than me."

Molly watched Allie for a moment as she wiped her eyes on her sweatshirt sleeve.

"...I don't think you're a bad person either, Allie," Molly finally said, "I think you were backed into a corner, and you did what you had to."

"Thanks," Allie said, smiling weakly, "I appreciate that."

They didn't talk again until they were in the diner booth, ordering.

                                                                             ***

Agent Siskel pulled up into the parking lot violently, quickly unlatching her seatbelt and climbing out of her car, Agent Tropper right behind her from the passenger side. He was shouting at her, but she didn't take a second to hear him or wait. She barreled right through the doors, only to see Rachel St Sebastian filling out some paperwork at her desk. She looked up when the agents entered, and adjusted her reading glasses.

"Hello," she said calmly.

"Where is he?" Agent Siskel asked.

"...I have some unfortunate news," Rachel said, cupping her hands, "We had a robbery this morning."

Agent Siskel screamed, yanking at her hair as she walked into the coffin showroom, leaning against a nice coffin and crying. All the work, all the effort, and it'd all been undone in a matter of seconds. She couldn't help herself, she was sobbing. She felt a hand on her back and heard Agent Tropper talking to her as he stood beside her, rubbing her shoulder.

"We'll get back on track, alright? We'll make it work," he said, "It's okay, it's just a small setback."

"I was so close, Roger, I was so fucking close," Agent Siskel said, "I was...I was there. I had it. I had it all figured out, locked in, dead to rights. It was over, and she took it from me. That fucking woman, I'm going to kill her, I'm going to do to her what she did to all those people and shove her corpse in a wall."

"Well, that's a little ridiculous," Agent Tropper said, "I understand you're upset, but we'll get it back, alright? Let's just focus."

She wouldn't listen, she couldn't. She just needed to mourn for a moment. Agent Tropper just stayed there, rubbing her back.

"It's fine," he said softly, "Take as long as you need. It's okay."

And she would. Rebecca Siskel had always made a promise to herself, so as not to lose herself in her emotions in regards to her work. She'd let herself be mad or upset, she'd let herself feel for a bit, and then she'd get back to work and she'd solve the case, just like always. She couldn't ignore her disappointment, she knew that was outright unhealthy, but she also knew she couldn't allow herself to wallow in it either, as they got her nowhere. After a bit, she'd regain her composure, she'd get back to work, and she'd do whatever it took to catch Allie Meers.

No matter what.

"There's certainly an argument to be had for the beauty of love," Polaris said, leaning against the counter while Xorlack read a book and Chelsea walked around the shop, doing inventory; he turned a page in the magazine he was reading and added, "I mean, here's a couple who stuck by eachother after a horrific accident, and yet love one another just as much now as they did before."

"Was the accident being in this magazine?" Chelsea asked as she walked past, not even looking up from her clipboard, making Xorlack chuckle.

"Mr and Mrs Belorguxelnox were your fairy tale standard, high school sweethearts who had grown up on the same block, it seemed they were destined to be together, and their wedding only further acknowledge this fact, but when-" Polaris started reading, until Xorlack interrupted.

"Their last name is Belorguxelnox?" Xorlack asked, "Jeez, imagine having to write that on a check."

"I'll inform them of your disapproval of their name, XORLACK," Polaris said, making Chelsea laugh from a whole different aisle; Polaris continued, "Anyway, they were on their way home from their honeymoon when they wound up in a horrific car accident, and Mrs Belorguxelnox's face was decimated in the crash, so her husband gave her half his face and now they love one another even more."

"Sounds like he loves himself," Xorlack said.

Chelsea approached the counter and sighed as she dropped the clipboard down and sat on the stool behind the counter, laying face first on its top. Xorlack put down her book and leaned in, looking closely at Chelsea.

"Are you okay? You seem glum," Xorlack asked.

"I don't know," Chelsea replied, "I spent some time with my parents this past weekend, and all they did was argue, and it just made me sad to hear this story and think 'why can't my parents be like that?', you know what I mean?"

"What, sharing a face?" Polaris asked.

"No," Chelsea replied, annoyed, "you know what I mean. Willing to be that giving and appreciative of one another. It makes me wonder if there's something wrong with me personally, like, am I gonna wind up like that? Am I gonna be downright impossible to love, or unable to love someone else?"

Xorlack patted her hand and smiled, her skinsuit sagging a bit as she did so, but only momentarily before snapping back into place.

"Trust me, you're not unlovable, and you're certainly good at loving others," Xorlack said, "I can attest to that."

"Awww," Polaris said, "I think I'm gonna cry."

Just then the bell over the door rang, and they all turned to see a man, or what appeared to be a man anyway, enter the store. It was hard to tell if he was human or not, only because he was so very very ancient, covered in wrinkles and dust, but well dressed at least. He had on a nice suit and tie, and an old fedora. He walked further into the store, and disappeared down an aisle.

"Chelsea, take it from me," Polaris started, "love is nice, but what's better is being able to love yourself. Now I'm not saying that until you love yourself nobody else will, because that's an outright untrue, not to mention damaging belief, but I will say that while it's great to love someone else and get love from someone else, it's even greater to acknowledge you don't require it because you love yourself enough, and you're fine on your own."

"I think Polaris here is just angry because he doesn't have someone willing to give him half a face," Xorlack said, making Chelsea laugh.

"I don't need a face to know I'm handsome. I'm an adonis, a greek god, thank you," Polaris said, running his long slender fingers up the entirety of his featureless face, making the girls simultaneously chuckle and shiver at the sight. After a few minutes, the seemingly old man finally approached the counter and spoke, his voice sounding like it would crumble into dust at any second.

"Excuse me," he asked, "You sell bouquets here, right?"

"Yes we do," Chelsea said, "Over in the back right is a whole little flower department."

"Thank you," he replied, wandering slowly off again in that direction.

"God...I can't picture myself being old," Chelsea said once he was gone, "it just seems...not natural to me. I don't know that I'd enjoy it. Not that that means I'm going to throw myself off a bridge or anything when the time comes to avoid it, I just...I don't see myself as an old person."

"With age comes wisdom," Polaris said, "Or, at least, that's what people want you to believe. Age doesn't actually dictate anything, truth be told. You can be wise beyond your years at any age. Trust me, I've met plenty of stupid old people. It just depends on how cultured, how enlightened you allow yourself to become."

Finally the old man came back to the counter and sighed, looking sad, as he spoke quietly.

"Would someone please help me pick something out?" he asked, and Chelsea and Xorlack both agreed, while Polaris stayed behind and continued to read his magazine. As the girls escorted the old man back to the flower section, they couldn't help but notice that he was much older than they initially thought. He looked...almost ancient, like a relic from an entirely different era.

"So, uh, what exactly are you looking for?" Chelsea asked.

"That's just it, I don't really know," he said, his voice creaky, "I...I can't remember the kind of flower...it...it was white, with a bell shape, and...oh goodness, my memory is just worse and worse with each passing day."

"I believe what you want is a Cornish Bell Flower," Xorlack said.

"How do you know about flowers?" Chelsea asked, sounding surprised.

"My mom has a huge garden," Xorlack said, approaching the flowers, "When I was little, I used to help her out a lot in it, and I still do from time to time. I love horticulture. Here's what you want, I think."

Xorlack pulled a bouquet of flowers from the rack and handed them to the old man, who happily took them.

"Oh, oh thank you so much," he said, almost sounding like he was about to cry as he breathed them in, "oh...oh I haven't smelled this in a stars age. They still smell the same as they used to. Back when she was still with me, why, she used to have them around the house just for the smell alone. The whole house would wind up smelling like them, and in turn, so would she...I miss that smell. Smelling these now is like smelling her again."

Chelsea and Xorlack exchanged a sad glance, as the man sighed and ran his old fingers through the petals gently.

"That's the thing you don't realize, is that what you'll wind up missing most of all is the things you never think about...the smells, the sounds...those little quirks that at some points you find annoying but suddenly become endearing once they're gone," he said, "don't take anything for granted, young ladies, because if you do, you'll never really appreciate it."

"Are these for someone?" Xorlack asked.

"My wife," the old man said, "Died over a century ago, but my feelings are still as strong today as they were when we met. She's been gone so long that I'm finally starting to forget things, but the one thing time cannot take is how much I love her. It can take my body, it can take my mind, but it cannot take my love."

Chelsea wanted to cry. The way he spoke of his wife, she wished her own parents could be that close. She looked at Xorlack, who was already crying softly, but smiling too. Chelsea reached over and held Xorlack's hand, and squeezed it gently, making her blush.

"When she died, I felt like my world was over, but the thing is...she was a Lunar," the old man said, "so her soul was returned to the moon, from whence she came from. So, even if she's no longer in my life, at least every time I go look up at the moon, I know she's still there. I can see her every night, even if she isn't with me."

"When you're ready to check out, I'll be up front," Chelsea said, excusing herself, wiping at her eyes as she headed back towards the counter, leaving Xorlack alone with the old man. As Chelsea arrived, she found Polaris exactly where they'd left him.

"You know," Polaris said, "I've never really been one to order something from a magazine, but perhaps there's a first time for everything. Hey, you okay?"

Chelsea wiped her eyes again and sniffled a few times, nodding, then shrugging.

"I...don't know, man," she replied, "everything just feels so...empty. I worry that I don't care about people the way others care about people, especially romantic, and then I'm punched in the face emotionally by this old man who came in to buy his wifes favorite flowers centuries after she's died, after hearing a story about a man who gave his wife half his face. Seems like I'll never understand that level of closeness. Am I bad person for that?"

Polaris looked at her, lowering his magazine and checking the cufflinks on his shirt sleeve.

"No, you're not. Some people just aren't built for that sort of thing, and there's nothing wrong with it. Closeness requires opening up, and opening up isn't for some people, not to mention the dangers it brings. And not to knock those who manage to find it, who manage to open themselves up, but in my experience, it isn't worth it. I too find no real worth in connections of a romantic kind anymore. So, you're not alone, at least."

Chelsea smiled weakly.

"Thanks, I needed to hear that," she said, "I spent the weekend with my parents, and the entire time, when they weren't arguing, I felt like they were judging me for not having found someone for myself, and whenever asked, I would just think to myself 'why would I want that after seeing what it becomes?'. I know not all relationships become that, obviously, but still."

Xorlack approached the counter again, breathing somewhat heavily, like she'd been crying with the old man.

"Is he still there?" Chelsea asked.

"He wanted a moment alone," Xorlack said.

"For what it's worth," Polaris said, "even in spite of how I feel or what I said, I do find it sweet that he would still love someone that deeply after being alone for so long now. I wish I could have that level of closeness, but I recognize it isn't worth it for me, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth it for you."

Xorlack and Chelsea looked at him, then back at one another.

"Just something to think about," Polaris said, buttoning his coat and paying for the magazine, "I'll be off."

With that he turned and headed out the exit. After a moment, Xorlack and Chelsea looked at one another again and giggled awkwardly. Xorlack finally looked at Chelsea plainly and took a long, deep breath.

"Tell me," she said, "would you like me without the skin suit?"

"Of course," Chelsea said, "I don't care. I like who you are, not what you look like. I guess I can find that sort of solace with you, if nobody else. I think...I think part of what makes us work is how different we are from everyone else. You don't fit in from where you're from, and I don't fit in where I'm from, but when we're together, we fit in with eachother, and maybe that's what love actually is, you know?"

Xorlack took a moment, blinked, then inhaled through her nose.

"Are you saying you love me?"

"...yeah, I am," Chelsea said, "I do."

Xorlack smiled, giggling, almost crying again when the old man suddenly approached from behind.

"Would you ladies care to step outside with me and see the moon?" he asked, plopping the bouquet down on the counter, "I understand if not, but I figured I'd ask, since you did so much to help me."

"...that sounds nice," Xorlack said, "but I think you shouldn't let others intrude on whats important to you. Be with her, alone. Appreciate that time."

"You know," the old man said as he paid for the flowers and picked them back up, "I know not everyone lives as long as my species does, and that I'm close to being on my way out as well, and so perhaps to other short lived species they don't see the wealth that comes in finding someone that completes you in some way. They might see interpersonal connections as a waste of what's already a fast ticking clock counting down to nonexistence, but I think the world is a better place when you see it with someone, rather than alone, even if they leave first."

Xorlack and Chelsea smiled at him, nodding in agreement as they held hands on the counter.

"I'll tell her you said hi," he said, "She'll be happy to know I made some friends."

The old man tipped his hat, then turned and dawdled slowly out of the store. Chelsea checked her watch and sighed, tapping her nails on the counter as she contemplated what to do next. She knew her shift was coming to an end, but she didn't really wanna go home, be alone. She looked at Xorlack, who was now packing her bag on the counter.

"Do you wanna go do something? I'm getting off work any minute," Chelsea asked.

"Sure," Xorlack said, "Got anything specific in mind?"

"Not really, just as long as we're together," Chelsea said, the both of them blushing.

"Sounds like a good time then," Xorlack replied.

Xorlack finished packing as Chelsea changed from her uniform back into her regular clothes, and she locked up, knowing the day shift employee would have a key. Together they walked outside, hand in hand, into the unknown, but into the unknown together. As they walked down the street bathed in moonlight, heading somewhere to get something to eat, they couldn't help but feel like perhaps the old mans wife overhead was smiling at them, proud of recognizing that even if they didn't need someone else, it was still fun to have someone else.

People, and monsters, are weird like that.

Molly Hatchet had never really had many friends.

She'd had one serious boyfriend when she was in school, and one close friend, and that was about it. Otherwise she kept to herself or hung out with her parents, who encouraged her love for architecture and pushed her to do something with it for a career. In fact, it wasn't until she met Zoe Fitch and Allie Meers that she finally had people she could consider 'friends', in the typical sense of the word, which was why it hurt them so much that they had lied to her so much and roped her into something so horrible, and why they felt they had to finally set that right. Sitting at the very same minigolf course they'd taken her to the year prior in order to enlist her, Allie and Zoe felt sick, but now for very different reasons. Molly ate her cheese sticks and sipped her drink, nobody saying a thing until she was done and set her cup down, looking up at them and smiling.

"So," she asked, "What did you guys wanna talk to me about?"

"uh," they said in unison, exchanging a glance.

"Is it...bad?" she asked, pushing some hair behind her ear and furrowing a brow.

"Well," Allie said, "That really depends on your definition of 'bad', I guess. Um, Molly, we've...we've taken total advantage of you, and it's time we set that record straight."

"Is this about Zoe staying with me? I told you that's fine," Molly said, looking at Zoe and smiling.

"No, it's about the guy we had you secretly help us bury," Allie said quietly.

Now that caught Molly's attention.

"...the WHAT?" she asked sternly.

                                                                           ***

James Harper opened the door to see Molly standing on his parents porch, soaked in the rain from outside, shivering, crying. He stepped aside so let her in, and once she was inside and he'd shut the door, she turned around and hugged him as tight as possible. Surprised by not just her sudden arrival but also her surprising affection, James hugged her back, and just let her stay there momentarily while she cried against him.

"Is everything okay?" James asked, as Molly stepped back and wiped her eyes on her soaking wet sweater sleeve.

"He..." she started, then stopped, biting her lip, "...he hurt me."

"What?"

But when she made eye contact, that told him all he had to know without saying anything at all. He immediately understood what she meant, and he pulled her back in for another hug, which she graciously accepted. James had always been there for her, and now more than ever she needed a friend. Molly was never very good at making friends, but when she did, she trusted them more than life itself, which is why the betrayal Allie and Zoe hit her with that afternoon hit so hard.

                                                                          ***

"how could you?" Molly whispered, whispering, sitting slumped in the booth.

"It wasn't planned, Molly," Allie said, "and we...we didn't really know you when we made the plan. Once we started knowing you, Zoe even questioned it, but we didn't have a choice, Molly, and we've tried to shield you from it this entire time because we didn't want you involved. But...it's gotten to the point where that's simply not an option anymore."

"They found him," Zoe said, "You saw it on the news. That tomb they pulled out was ours. He was a drug dealer, Molly, he was...he was interested in getting me involved in drugs. Allie saved me. She saw what would've happened, the same thing that happened to her, and she-"

"They're not the same," Molly said sternly, surprising them as she leaned forward, arms folded, "her drug problem wasn't because of him. It was because she was mauled. She was already addicted. He fed that addiction, sure, and that's shitty, sure, but it wasn't because of him. They're not the same, don't say they are."

Allie sighed and nodded as she leaned back, Zoe looking surprised at this sudden admission.

"She's not wrong, actually," Allie said, "but still, Molly, we're sorry. We really are, genuinely, and we love you, you're our best friend. We're not saying these things to trick you or anything, this is all true. Please don't hate Zoe, she...she's just a bystander, honestly. I'm the one to blame."

"You're goddamn right," Molly said, sounding angry but restrained, before sighing and shaking her head, "but...I can't say I blame you. When I was in high school, I had this boyfriend. I thought he was cool, and for the most part he was, but he...he didn't wanna wait for me. He took advantage of me. If given the option, I too would've killed him. But, being a woman, the country is adamantly against me defending myself, so that's not an option. I would've been the one held under a judicial microscope instead of the man attempting sexual assault. I did out him for it though. I put up flyers everywhere before I graduated, explaining what a monster he was, simply so no other girl would go through that."

"Damn," Allie whispered.

"I know what it's like to want to protect those around you," Molly said, "so I can't say I blame you, even if what you did was despicable and backhanded and sneaky. Then again, this is Vegas, so perhaps it was naive of me to think any other sort of behavior would exist here, even in the people you trust most."

"I deserve that, sure," Allie said.

The girls sat there for a moment and for a brief second, nobody said a thing. Nobody would even look at one another, honestly, and hell, who could blame them. This was a major shift in dynamic for their relationship. After a few minutes, Molly cleared her throat and tossed her hair and looked across the table again.

"So...what do we do now?" she asked, "You wouldn't be telling me if you didn't need something."

Allie and Zoe exchanged a glance and chuckled nervously.

"Yeeeah," Allie said, "uh, about that. So, you remember that cult leader that was arrested? Well..."

                                                                          ***

"This is hopeless," Agent Siskel said, throwing her plastic fork down into her chinese food box and sighing, running her hand through her hair as she leaned back in her chair, "she's never going to slip up. She's too careful. Too perfect. We're not getting anything from this."

Agent Tropper sipped his drink and then slipped it back into the cupholder before laughing softly.

"I know it seems hopeless, but this is what a lot of our job is. It isn't all chasing down leads and kicking in doors. Sometimes it's simply sitting somewhere and waiting for someone to make the first move. It's a lot like chess, in a way."

"You play chess?"

"I was actually an extremely talented chess player when I was a teenager, even did it semi professionally for a while," Agent Tropper replied, making Agent Siskel roll her eyes.

"Nerd," she whispered, the both of them laughing.

Siskel and Tropper sat there, Tropper continuing to wrap noodles around his fork and lifting them to his mouth as Siskel picked up the binoculars again and watched Nicole's apartment. She could see her up there, with a man her age, drinking on the balcony and chatting, probably on a date. This job had eaten Siskel's social life, and the only man she really saw on a regular basis was Tropper now. She sighed and lowered the binoculars again, running a hand through her hair.

"...so I dropped off the tomb with that mortician," Agent Siskel said, "if anyone can get that guy out of that thing and clean him up, it'll be her, and once she does that, we'll get the tomb back and we can really look into it for clues. I don't think she put her stepbrother there, for what it's worth, and why would she own a magician prop anyway?"

"Fair assessment," Agent Tropper said, wiping his mouth and checking his watch, "you wanna go get the tomb or should I? If I'm gonna do it, you'll have to tell me what time."

"Do you ever..." Agent Siskel started, then stopped, "...do you ever think about what you'd be doing if you hadn't become this? You know? I used to be a kid in this city and I used to think that it'd be so neat to be, like, a jazz singer or something. In a smoky club somewhere, crooning into a microphone about heartbreak, making all the men feel for me, yearn for me."

"I think I would've stuck with chess," Agent Tropper replied, shrugging, "I didn't have many hobbies."

Agent Siskel laughed, which made Agent Tropper laugh. It was a slow going job, but at least they had eachother.

"When this job's over," Agent Siskel said, "Let's get your wife and we'll go do something fun."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Maybe take in a magic show," Agent Siskel said, smirking.

"You're sick," Agent Tropper said quietly, the both of them laughing again.

                                                                           ***

Molly and Zoe arrived back at Molly's house that evening, Allie going home to the casino, and Molly hadn't said a thing since they left the minigolf park. As they entered the house, Molly walked immediately to the fridge and poured herself a large glass of wine, then downed the entire thing in one sitting before filling it up again and turning to see Zoe standing in the kitchen doorway, looking anxious, rubbing her hands together.

"Something on your mind?" Molly asked, leaning against the counter, now sipping her glass cautiously.

"...please don't hate me," Zoe said, "you guys are the only friends I've ever had and-"

"I don't hate you, you didn't really have a say. She did it in your name, then she lied to me. Allie's the cause. As for the friends thing, I feel the same way, so don't worry. I had one friend in high school, and that was it. I've never been a very sociable person. But you're not to blame here, Zoe, trust me. I've done my research on Allie. Everything that's happened to her...I can't deny some of it was simply unfortunate, but it was also somewhat just...her own stupidity and brazenness. I mean, who works with a tiger, really? You can't control a wild animal. She should've expected that. And then, instead of really trying to get help, she continues to feed her addiction for years, dragging her career down into the toilet. It wasn't until you that she seemed to finally get her things together."

"...and even then, I think just because she needs to be needed," Zoe said, surprising Molly; Zoe sat down in a chair at the table and sighed, "I love her, but I can't deny that she's sick. She's selfish. I'm nothing but a replacement for her cousin that she used to do magic with. She can't stand losing someone again, so she's going to extreme ends to ensure that doesn't happen."

Molly walked to the table and sat down, crossing her legs and looking at Zoe, who was now looking at the floor.

"You know," Molly said, rubbing her nose, "there's...there's gonna come a day where we each will have to face the question of whether she's worth it. Is she worth throwing your own life away for. Frankly, despite not having many friends throughout my life, I don't know that I'd risk it myself, but that's just me. But at some point, Zoe, something terrible is going to happen, and we're gonna have to ask if she's worth going down for."

Molly picked up her wine glass, stood up and started to exit, before stopping in the doorframe and looking back, Zoe now looking back at her.

"I just...I hope we each make the right decision," Molly added, before heading to her home office.

                                                                            ***

Allie came into the penthouse to something that smelled delicious filling the loft. She put her things down and followed the scent into the kitchen, only to find Nick and Jenny there, making dinner. They both smiled and waved at her as she entered and sat on a barstool on the opposite side of them.

"What're you doing here?" Allie asked, making Jenny blush.

"Well, Nick wanted to do something special for you, and I happen to be a culinary artist, so," she said, "he called in my expertise. It's nice. Working at the zoo, I rarely have the energy to cook when I get home, so I'm always itching to stretch my muscles. Hope that's okay..."

"Yeah, whatever, the more the merrier," Allie said, shrugging, "Can I have a beer?"

"You sure can, baby," Nick said, leaning back towards the fridge and pulling one out, tossing it to her, grinning as she caught it, popped the top and started drinking; Nick returned to the stove and, while stirring, asked, "So, you girls have a nice time?"

"...you could say that," Allie mumbled, "so what's for dinner?"

Allie hadn't seen Jenny in a while, really since they'd said goodbye to Domino. She knew Nick and Jenny went back a ways, and their friendship had always somewhat bothered Allie, because she always felt like Jenny was a better fit for him, but she couldn't tell if either one was remotely romantically interested in the other. As Jenny exited the room, heading to the bathroom to wash her hands, Allie slipped away and followed her. She stopped in the doorway, looking in as Jenny pumped soap onto her hands and dipped them under the faucet.

"So, can I ask you a question?" Allie asked.

"Of course!"

"...that private seller who took Domino," Allie said, "uh...you know who it is?"

Jenny wiped her hands on a small towel and looked at Allie.

"...I do," she said.

"I need to see the tiger."

Jenny stared Allie down for a moment, then sighed.

"If I do this for you, you can't tell anyone. I could get fired for giving out client information," she said, and Allie nodded.

"Don't worry," Allie said, "It's gonna be a one time thing."

                                                                           ***

Rebecca Siskel just wanted to forget about the case.

When Agent Tropper dropped her off that night, she wanted to just relax. She went inside, she took a long warm bath, she did her nails, then she pulled out a small pint of ice cream from the freezer and cuddled up in a big quilt on her couch. She sighed as she started to spoon into the pint, flipping channel to channel, looking for anything to watch. Seemed like all she did was work, she felt like she never took any time for herself, and she hated that. She was starting to feel overwhelmed and burnt out, especially now that this case in particular had appeared to have hit such a brick wall, because until Nicole made a move of one kind or another, they had nothing else to go on. Rebecca adjusted herself and accidentally unmuted the television with her elbow, a commercial now loudly filling the room.

"God dammit," she muttered, reaching for the remote, which had fallen off the couch. She set her pint down on the coffee table and climbed down onto her knees, looking around while the TV blared behind her.

"It's the most beautiful casino in Vegas, and it's the only one with such great acts as Effie Brahams, the funniest women in comedy in the city, a 5 star buffet right next to the casino floor and of course, everyones favorite local legend, magician Allie Meers!"

Something clicked in Rebecca's brain, and she turned, looking over the table at the television, watching intently now as she saw a clip of Allie and Zoe in their costumes, doing their act. She turned slowly more, now completely immersed.

"Come on down and see the pair that's sold out regularly! Who knows, you might even catch Allie doing the trick that made her famous, the Tomb of Doom!" the voice said, now showing a clip of Allie performing the trick with a tomb that looked incredibly similar to the one they'd found Sunny in. Rebecca's joy caught in her chest, and she cracked a smile. A man now came on screen, standing in front of an overhead shot of the cityscape.

"I'm Tony Ephram, and I'm the owner of The Card Shark, so come on down, the fish are always bitin'," Tony said, grinning and finger gunning the audience. The channel then cut to a different commercial, but the noise no longer bothered Agent Rebecca Siskel. She'd cracked it, and now she had a lead once again. She couldn't believe her eyes.

"Abracafuckindabra," she whispered.

Chelsea couldn't make heads or tails of the gum in the shop.

Since working here, she'd tried almost every single one, except "Death Plague" because, well, the reason was obvious really, and she still had yet to understand the flavors of them all and the nuances between them. Personally, she was a fan of Garlic Thunder, two things she never would think could go well together or could be put together, but somehow someone here had found a way. She finally pulled the wad of gum from her mouth and wrapped it back up in the foil, putting the tiny ball into a little container with all the others as she sighed and looked at Polaris.

"I've got to admit," he said, "I'm tempted to try Death Plague, if only to say I did."

"It's not like you get a t-shirt that says you survived it," Chelsea remarked.

"It's not about recognition, Chelsea, it's about the acknowledgement from yourself. It's like going on a rollercoaster. You don't do it because you think it'll impress others, you do it because you'll be proud of yourself for having faced a fear," he replied, taking his own gum wad from his featureless face and wrapping it back up in foil, adding it to the pile.

"How do you chew without a mouth?" Chelsea asked, leaning on the counter.

"Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to," he said.

Chelsea chuckled, then looked at all the stuff on the counter along with the gum. There were cans of mints, airline sized bottles of alcohol and magazines. All the normal kinds of things you'd find in any regular convenience store, except here the magazines were written in a language nobody human would understand, the bottles of booze would liquify her insides and the mints were actually alive until you bit into them, unleashing their inner freshness. All in all, terrifying, quite frankly. She looked back at Polaris, who had lit his pipe and begun smoking.

"I was told I could eat or drink anything in the shop that I want, but I can't tell what's safe for me to consume, honestly," Chelsea said, "I don't wanna leave and go looking for food either, cause I don't know what's safe out there, food or otherwise."

"You should just start bringing a bag lunch," Polaris said.

"I can do that?"

"Sure, why not," Polaris said, "bring a sandwich and a piece of fruit and a drink in a paper bag. Nobody's gonna stop you, and at least you know it won't kill you outright."

"Unless I choke on it," Chelsea said under her breath.

"Yeah but that's your fault," he replied, making her laugh.

"Excuse me?" a voice asked, as what appeared to be a young woman with the head of a cow skull approached the counter, "I think I need assistance."

"What can I do for you?" Chelsea asked, straightening up, ready to work.

"Well," the woman said, "I got this sandwich out of the deli aisle, and there's something living inside of it."

She plopped a saran wrapped sandwich down on the counter, and for a moment, as everyone leaned in to look, nothing could be seen. Then suddenly, and without warning, a small baby faced creature poked its head out from the innards of the sandwich and pressed its adorable face against the wrap, cooing at them. Chelsea and Polaris exchanged a glance, before looking back at the woman.

"Well, you didn't buy it, so I can't refund you," Chelsea said, "What can I do?"

"...I think we need to raise it," the woman said.

"...what?" Chelsea asked flatly.

Polaris leaned down closer, examining the sandwich, and after a moment he stood back up, seemingly satisfied with his findings.

"What we have here, ladies, is what's known as a Squatter," he said, "They're tiny creatures that take refuge in places they shouldn't so they get raised by someone other than those that gave birth to them. They're not dangerous, and they're relatively easy to bring up, given that they age at about 5 times the normal rate of anything else. In an hour this thing will be a kid, in 2 hours a teenager and in 3 hours a full grown adult. I'd say you have your work cut out for you, but when the workload is such a short time span, I don't think that saying really applies."

Chelsea leaned down again and looked at the creature. It was bald and yellow, with blue swirling galaxies for eyes a little nubby teeth. It smiled up at her, and she felt her heart warm. Guess it was time to be a mother.

                                                                            ***

"It's a good thing this place at least has coloring books," Chelsea said as she watched the Squatter, whom they'd named Enos, sit on the counter and color. The cow skull woman, whom Chelsea had since learned was named Aegis, was leaning against the counter coloring with them.

"Coloring books are the best way to develop hand eye coordination for youngsters," Aegis said, "It also teaches them to be more creative. They learn that they can do things with their hands, and if they enjoy doing so, make a career out of it."

"Are you in a creative field?" Chelsea asked.

"Yes, I design dresses," Aegis said, "What about you?"

"I mean, I work here, so," Chelsea said, shrugging.

"You don't do anything outside of this?"

"I'm in college elsewhere, but I'm not really sure what it is exactly I wanna do just yet," Chelsea replied, "I guess I could do something creative, I mean, I used to like making stuff with clay when I was a kid, so maybe sculpting or something would be up my alley."

"Look!" Enos said, holding up the page and showing Chelsea a horse that was colored completely black with glaring red eyes, like it was sent directly from the deepest depths of hell itself; he looked so proud though, and Chelsea couldn't help but pat him on the head and smile.

"That's beautiful, good job!" she said.

If nothing else, she figured, she could be more encouraging than her own parents had ever been.

                                                                           ***

By the following hour, Enos was a teenager. Turns out Polaris had been right after all, and their growth rate was way faster. Despite being a teenager, however, Enos wasn't surly or withdrawn, like most teenagers Chelsea had known in her youth. He was still the inquisitive, sensitive little guy he had been the previous hour, just bigger now, and more capable of verbally expressing himself. As Chelsea watched Aegis teach Enos how to prepare his own food, she heard the bell over the door ring, and saw Xorlack enter. She smiled as she approached the counter.

"What's going on?" Xorlack asked, almost laughing at the absurdity she'd walked in on.

"This customer found a Squatter living in the sandwich she was gonna buy, and now we're raising it until it grows up," Chelsea said, "Should only be another few hours."

"You had a child with someone else? I'm hurt," Xorlack said, making Chelsea laugh.

"Don't worry, she means nothing to me," Chelsea replied, both of them laughing now as Xorlack leaned in and kissed her on the cheek; Chelsea blushed then asked, "What are you doing here anyway? You just come by to see me?"

"Yeah, and to get some snacks for movie night. Me and the girls are having a night in and watching a lot of romantic comedies, and I was sent to get the snacks. Well, more that I volunteered, cause I knew I'd get to see you," she replied.

"You are a romantic comedy," Chelsea remarked.

Xorlack went about her business, grabbing a basket and dropping items into it while Chelsea watched Aegis and Enos finish their food preparation and then eat. She suddenly found that she couldn't help but smile. In fact, she'd been smiling this entire night since Enos had been discovered, and she didn't really understand why.

"It's maternal," Polaris said, making her scream a little.

"Stop doing that!" she shouted.

"Sorry, I was in the bathroom, I just got back," he said, "anyway what you're feeling is maternal. You wanna do for him what your own folks didn't do for you. You wanna prove to yourself that you're better than they were. It's the same thing as the gum or the rollercoaster. Your own judgement is what really matters. Sure, it'd be easy to point and say 'see, I'm doing this to show up my parents! make them proud of me!' but really you're doing it for you, and for that little guy I guess."

"I've never once wanted children," Chelsea said, "why would I care so much now?"

Polaris lit a cigar and exhaled smoke, then sighed.

"I think it's this place, this shop, this dimension, it brings out the best in us," he said, "When I was human-"

"Wait, WHAT?" Chelsea asked, jarred by this admission, but he merely ignored her and continued on.

"-I never once cared about anything. I was like you. Drifting and aimless. Feeling not just forgotten but let down by the world as a whole, and those who inhabited it. Once I came here, and once I came here for good, I really found myself. Really found who I was and who I should be, who I COULD be. Suddenly all the things I never cared about doing meant the most to me. Suddenly I saw myself doing things I never would've imagined, because now I could do them, and now they mattered."

Chelsea looked away from him back to Aegis and Enos. Aegis was laughing at something Enos had said, before looking back at the counter and waving politely, Polaris and Chelsea returning the wave. Chelsea sighed and scratched her forehead.

"My parents aren't bad," she said, "They just...aren't anything. They're barely there."

"And now so are you," Polaris remarked.

He had a point, Chelsea thought. Maybe Enos wasn't the only one rapidly growing up.

                                                                          ***

"What does an adult do?" Enos asked, now an adult himself, following Chelsea around the store as she did inventory while Aegis read a magazine at the counter, giving herself a break. Chelsea shrugged and shook her head as she marked something down on a clipboard.

"Frankly, I have no earthly idea. Whatever they want, I guess, so long as it doesn't hurt others," Chelsea said, "That's what I always believed anyway. So pick what you like best, and then try and help others with it. Art is a great example. You can make art, and art can help others."

"But...but what if nobody likes what I make?" Enos asked, and Chelsea stopped dead in her tracks, then turned and knelt, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Sweetheart, you make it for you, first and foremost. If it helps others, that's great, but you do what you do for yourself. Some may call that selfish, but you're the one you most need to look out for, because almost nobody else will. I'll always be here, and you can always come see me, but in the end, you need to create your own happiness. If that happiness spills out and splashes onto those around you, then you've done something spectacular without even trying, and that's the best way of all to do so."

Chelsea almost couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth. She'd never once been told these sorts of things, so why was she saying them as if they were gospel? Perhaps Polaris was right. Perhaps it was simply innate to being here, in this place, in this shop. Enos seemed to accept her answer, and hugged her tightly. She felt herself starting to cry, and squeezed him back. Within the next hour or so, Enos had gathered his things and left the shop, on his way to make his own in the world outside. Watching him go, Chelsea couldn't help but feel like a part of herself now lived here...and she couldn't be happier for that.

                                                                             ***

"Well," Aegis said, "I suppose I should dawdle off as well."

"It's been a long night," Chelsea said as Aegis put her things on the counter to pay for them, but Chelsea waved her away, "No no, it's...you're fine. Free of charge. You did enough."

"...you think he'll be okay?" Aegis asked.

"I don't know. I can hope so. I think that's all any parent can really do, right? Is hope their kid will find a way to be alright in the world," Chelsea said, "I think he'll be alright. He's got a good head on his shoulders, and he had two smart ladies to help him through it."

Aegis smirked. This was the last thing she had expected to be doing tonight. All she'd wanted was a sandwich.

"Well, thanks for the help," Aegis said, "It's nice to know this place is in good hands."

"Anytime, and thanks for shopping with us, we hope to see you again," Chelsea said.

Aegis gathered her items in her bag and headed out the door. As she left, Chelsea finally relaxed, laying her face against the counter. After a moment, she got up and headed across the store to the rack that had magnets on it and plucked one off. She then walked back behind the counter and, turning to face the metal shelving behind her, put up the black devil horse that Enos had colored in for her. She stood back, hands on her hips, and admired his handiwork.

"They grow up so fast," Polaris said, approaching the counter with a candy bar.

"Shut up," Chelsea said, snickering.

"You know, you'd make a good mom," Polaris added.

"...eh, been there, done that," she replied, glancing back at the picture, "it was a great experience, but I think once was enough. I don't think I could ever love another the way I loved him. He's my son, after all."

Nicole Sykes's morning was going rather slow for a change, and she was appreciative. Usually her mornings were rushed; coffee grabbed on the go, into the office by 9, barely enough time to shower and find a good suit and do her makeup. But not this morning. This morning was just right...even if for all the wrong reasons. As she sipped her coffee sitting at her bar in the apartment, the newspaper open in front of her, she couldn't have any less urgency if she tried. And then someone knocked at her door. Nicole sighed, set her mug down and stood up, wrapping her silken robe tightly around her and sinching it shut. She opened the front door and saw a man and a woman in suits standing there in the hall.

"...can I help you?" she asked.

"Nicole Sykes?" Agent Tropper asked, "I'm Agent Tropper, this is Agent Siskel. We're with the local FBI chapter of the Vegas PD. Do you have a moment?"

Nicole stepped aside cautiously, letting them enter. As they walked inside, Agent Tropper whistled, looking around her place.

"Nice digs, man," he said.

"Thank you," Nicole replied, smiling, brushing her hair from her eyes, "Do you mind if I have my breakfast while we talk?"

"No, please, go ahead," Agent Siskel said.

Nicole seated herself back at the bar, the agents pulling up stools on the opposite side, facing her. They stayed silent for a bit, letting Nicole drink her coffee and eat her toaster strudels, giving her a moment of peace. After a bit, Agent Siskel cleared her throat and Nicole looked up.

"So," she asked, "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

"We found your brother," Agent Siskel said.

"I saw," Nicole said, "Stepbrother, but, close enough. Thank you for finding him. His absence has been hurting me for so long. I couldn't believe he was actually gone, and now that he's really gone, I almost can't seem to parse that reality. When you have someone around you for so long, you know, it's just...it's weird."

"We wanted to ask if maybe your brother had any enemies, or perhaps if you knew of his drug dealings and, as such, any of his clients," Agent Tropper asked.

"I knew he was involved in some shady things, but no, we didn't really discuss that," Nicole said, "We were close, but we almost made a sincere effort to keep our private lives private. As for enemies, not since grade school, hah. None that I'm aware of, anyway."

"We're sorry for your loss," Agent Tropper said, "We know it must be difficult."

"He was my best friend. Being adopted got me a lot of shit growing up, every kid was always trying to make me feel bad about it, but Spencer was always there to make me feel better," Nicole said, sighing and shaking her head, "he was always just so comforting and-"

"Spencer?" Agent Siskel asked, confused.

"Sunny wasn't his actual name," Nicole said, "His birth name was Spencer. Sunny was just something he started calling himself in college. I don't know, I guess with his lifestyle, the name 'Spencer' doesn't exactly invoke feelings of awe and respect."

"Fair enough, I think I beat up a kid named Spencer once, so I'd agree with that," Agent Tropper said, making the girls chuckle.

"I have to be getting into the office soon," Nicole said, checking her watch, "Can we meet again later or tomorrow?"

"Anytime, just give us a call," Agent Siskel said.

Nicole thanked the agents, then escorted them out of the apartment. Standing in the hall, Agent Siskel looked at Agent Tropper, who just nodded at her.

"Yeah," he said, "You're right. She's involved. No question. She was so...prepared. There was no sense of shock or anything. So what do we do now?"

"We wait for her to slip up," Agent Siskel said, "they always do."

                                                                          ***

Claire was led down the hall, her hands cuffed, towards the meeting room. As they entered the room - a room with metal picnic tables where others were having visitations - Claire was pointed to a table in the far back corner, where she saw a woman sitting, waiting for her. Claire walked past everyone else and sat down at the table, tossing her hair and smiling at the woman.

"Do I know you?" she asked.

"No," Allie said, "I'm Allie Meers."

"A fan?"

"Let's say that, sure," Allie said.

"Surprised. I don't get many visitors," Claire said, "...actually, I haven't gotten a single visitor. Not a single person from my compound has come to see me. That's actually been rather upsetting, considering all I did for them."

"What'd you do for them?" Allie asked, her brow furrowed.

"You know, led them to enlightenment, helped them find a higher calling," Claire said, "...all that bullshit."

"So you don't believe in it yourself?"

"I wouldn't say that," Claire replied, "I'll just say that being off medication makes you believe some whack ass shit. They've got me back on it now, apparently prisons have great health insurance, so I'm starting to see how weird everything I did was...so why are you here exactly?"

"I'm here about Sunny," Allie said, "the news said he was somewhat attached to your happenings."

"Did they now? Well, you know what they say, no press is bad press," Claire said.

"...I'm gonna level with you, I need help," Allie said, "and...and I can repay you if you help me. I need to know where they took his body. The tomb he was found in."

"Why?" Claire asked, sounding curious but interested.

"...because it's my mine," Allie said.

                                                                             ***

Effie and Zoe were walking through the crowded restaurant, heading to the outdoor section, Effie holding tight to Zoe's hand as Zoe breathed heavily. She was nervous, but she didn't want to be. It had just been a while since she'd talked to, let alone seen her parents, and she didn't know how this afternoon was going to go over. As they reached the doors leading out, Zoe pointed at them and Effie nodded, then turned to face her.

"You sure you wanna do this?" Effie asked, "You don't have to, you know that, right?"

"I have to," Zoe said, "I need to stop running away from them. I need to stop needing their approval, and that starts with being openly myself, about my career...about you."

Effie smiled and stroked Zoe's cheek, then took her hand again and headed through the doors. As they approached the table, Thea scooted her chair out and stood up, hugging Zoe tightly, rubbing her back. After that hug broke, she shook Effie's hand, while Zoe hugged her parents, and then Effie shook their hands before they all took their seats again.

"Well," Richard, Zoe and Thea's father, said, "we're glad you were able to find time to see us. You look great."

"Thanks dad," Zoe said, her voice meek and shaky, "I've been really busy with work, and other stuff with my work partner, so it's been hard to find time to do anything else, but yeah, she had to do something today, so I had some time off."

"Well thank you for using it to come see us," their mother, Ginny, said, "and thank you for bringing her, since she's not staying with Thea right now," she added, looking at Effie and smiling politely.

"Oh, sure, it was no problem!" Effie said, opening her menu and reading through, "Honestly, I was more than happy to do so. Especially once I got invited. Can't turn down a free meal."

Zoe giggled, which made Thea smile, as their parents smiled weakly.

"She's a comedian, please forgive her," Zoe said, "She works at the same casino I work at, that's how we met. She was a friend of my partner."

"So work is going well?" Ginny asked, making Zoe grimace, hiding it best she could.

Was work going well? Sure, they were doing gangbusters in ticket sales, and they were selling out constantly, and Zoe was making more money than she'd ever seen in her entire life, but now with Sunny's body having been found and Allie visiting a cult leader serial killer in prison for advice...was work going well? Well, Zoe had learned, had become a somewhat relative term. She nodded, reassuring her parents, that work was in fact going well, even if she didn't really believe it. Though, really, work was going well. It was life that wasn't.

"So where are you staying?" Richard asked, sipping his glass of water.

"With a friend," Zoe said, "A woman who designed the casino we work in. I'm staying with her."

"Oh, I just figured you were staying with her since she drove you," Richard said.

"No, she's not," Effie said, "Even though I offered. But, you know, she didn't feel comfortable."

"Why not? Your place not big enough?" Ginny asked.

Zoe and Effie exchanged a nervous glance, and Zoe exhaled.

"The reason I even came to lunch today was tell you guys something," Zoe said, squeezing Effie's hand under the table, "it's about me, and...about her," she added, motioning to Effie. The truth was something Zoe had to face, rather than run from. She needed to gain strength and personhood, instead of letting others live for her, and the first step was accepting herself in front of her parents, whether they accepted her or not.

                                                                            ***

"That's a hell of a story," Claire said, smirking as Allie leaned back in her chair, exhausted emotionally; Claire chewed her lip, then leaned in and lowered her voice, "in my compound, there's a woman who works there who works with the dead. She's the best mortician in the city. She was partially how I managed to get away with storing bodies the way I did for so long without getting caught. If anyone is going to get Sunny back for you, it's gonna be here. They're gonna need a professional to remove him from that tomb, and I can't think of anyone I'd recommend to them more than her."

"And you're telling me that this woman would help me?" Allie asked, as Claire nodded.

"Indeed she will," Claire said, "I'll recommend her to the agents, and they'll give her the tomb to pull his body from and do some work on so he can be buried for the family's sense of closure. When she has him, she can turn him over to you. You got a pen?"

Allie fumbled around a bit, before finally pulling a pen from her purse. Claire took it, best she could being in cuffs, and uncapped it with her teeth. Then she took Allie's wrist and began writing directions up her arm.

"This is how you get to the compound, she's there taking care of it for me while I'm here," Claire said, "Tell her I sent you, tell her what I told you. Once she gets the call from the agents, she'll know you're not bullshitting her. Besides, she'll recognize my handwriting here."

Allie couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe she might actually get a chance to set things right, or at the very least, throw them off her and Zoe's trail for a while longer so they could think of something else. After Claire finished her directions, she capped the pen again and slid it across the table to Allie.

"Thank you so much," Allie whispered.

"We all screw up," Claire said sullenly, "Some of us worse than others, but there's no reason both of us should go down for this. Sunny wasn't a bad guy, but he was helping keep bad habits alive, and I can't forgive that. Get rid of him again, once and for all, and make sure nobody knows where he goes."

"Oh don't worry," Allie said, looking at her hand, "Nobody will ever find him."

"You got a plan?"

Allie grinned.

"I have a tiger," she said.

                                                                            ***

Driving home in the light rain, Effie couldn't help but feel like something was wrong. After Zoe's admittance of her sexuality to her folks, the lunch had taken a...less fun turn. Things hadn't become outright hostile, but their demeanor certainly changed into more solemn than they had been before, and that brought everyone else down. Effie glanced over at Zoe, looking down at her hands as the heater blew her hair back gently.

"You wanna talk about it?" Effie asked.

"No."

"Parents suck, man, don't worry too much about it," Effie said.

"...I will never be my sister," Zoe whispered, catching Effie off guard.

"What's that now?"

"I will never be my sister," Zoe repeated, "She's the good kid. She's the one who does well, she's the one who got her life together. She's not the one who idolizes a magician and is gay. She's the one I'll always be held up against as an example and I will always fall short."

"Yeah but that's on them, not on you. Your expectations of yourself aren't based on how well you compare to her, right? Only theirs are. That's the difference. You know your self worth," Effie said, "and if they can't see past that to see what you're actually capable of, then fuck 'em."

Zoe smiled and reached over, putting her hand on Effie's leg. It had been an uncomfortable afternoon, as she'd expected. but at least she had someone to comfort her. And when they arrived back at Molly's, they found dinner was already made. In a way, Zoe thought, Effie was right. Who ultimately cared how her parents felt. She knew how great she was, and she had better people in her life now anyway. People who didn't care about that aspect of her one iota. People who were just simply happy to know her at all. That had to count for something. Zoe had left her parents a frightened and uncertain young woman, but she was quickly finding out that she was so much more than their perception of how she used to be.

And she owed it all to those around her.

                                                                            ***

Nicole Sykes's evening wasn't as uneventful as her morning had been, and she was annoyed by it.

She had planned to go to dinner with some girlfriends, and then go home and do some domestic chores. Get some laundry done, do some cleaning, but after the visit from the agents that morning, all Nicole could think of was calling The Benefactor. She knew she had to give them a heads up, in case they started to head their way, but she was afraid of doing so. Goddamn Sunny, she thought, everything was fine until he got himself killed. She knew this would eventually happen, and she thankfully had a contingency plan in place, but still, she'd hoped she'd never have to actually use it. Sitting in her car after work, she opened her phone and dialed. After a few rings, they answered.

"It's Nicole," she said, "You probably know, I think you have caller ID. Anyway, some agents came to see me this morning about Sunny. Yeah, well, I figured you should know. They didn't have anything to say to me other than extend their sympathies and ask me if I knew of his illicit activities, to which I acknowledged but also said I wasn't involved in. I don't know, I'm not sure if they believed me or not. You want to meet? Talk about this in person, or should we keep our distance for a while?"

A pause, and Nicole nodded and sighed.

"Alright, you're right. Yeah, I'll just go home and unwind. I'm very tense," she said, "Call me if you find anything else out, or you just wanna discuss it further. Thanks. Yeah. Goodbye."

She hung up and tossed her phone on the passenger seat. She was going to need to find whoever had killed her brother before the agents did, that's all it boiled down to, because if they were remotely related to the business, it could bring the whole operation down. She sighed and pulled out of her parking space, then headed onto the road. She'd seen the news, she'd seen the photos, he'd been found in a magicians prop. She should be looking into magicians, she figured, but this was Vegas, there were so many goddamned casinos and magicians, where do you start?

It didn't matter, she'd find them. She'd find them...

...and she'd do to them what they'd done to her stepbrother, or even worse.

Chelsea was leaning on the counter, reading a magazine article titled, "Blorgs! How To Use Them!", none of which she understood a word of, when the bell over the door rang. She looked up and saw a group of three young women enter. On one hand, she was appreciative. These were just plain ordinary human looking girls about her age. On the other hand, because of where they existed, they didn't have any skin. The girls meandered a bit, looking for something until they finally gave up and approached the counter.

"Excuse me," the girl in front said, "Hi, we're looking for some sunscreen. You have sunscreen for people without skin, right?"

Chelsea stared for a moment, until she sighed and shut the magazine.

"Let me help you," she said flatly.

Chelsea came around from the back of the counter and headed to the aisle where they kept supplies like that. She knelt down and started sifting through a select few items grouped together on the shelf, muttering the names to herself as she did, while the other girls stood behind her, watching.

"We've already looked through here," the lead said again.

"I'm aware, I saw you do it. I'm just doing it too because sometimes customers miss things that are plain as day," Chelsea replied, "Seeing as I'm not one who's too keen on skincare routines to begin with, however, maybe I'm not exactly the best person to be helping you with such a request."

"Well is there anyone else even here?" the second girl of the three asked.

"No, I'm the only employee, and I was only recently hired," Chelsea replied, "So not only am I not super familiar with the products we carry, I also am not from this place, nor have I been here that long. You're working with diminishing returns here, is what I'm saying."

The third girl laughed a little, which made her friends glare at her.

"Look, we can't be out in the sun for too long without some sort of protection," the first girl said, putting her hands on her hips, "if we're exposed to the UV rays for that long, it'll flat out cook us, and that would be, well, kinda unpleasant I'd suspect. So how do we proceed?"

"Well, I suppose you could just...burn up and die in a glorious blaze?" Chelsea asked, smiling cheerfully, none of the girls except the third laughing; after a moment, Chelsea added, "...that...that was a joke. I don't know what to-"

The bell over the door rang and they all turned to see who had entered. After a few seconds, and the sound of nice shoes clacking on the floor, they saw the man Chelsea had come to know as Polaris standing at the endcap of the aisle, looking at the sunglasses. Chelsea knew if anyone could help her, it'd be him, even if Luna had told her to be careful interacting with him.

"I'll be right back," she said to the girls, heading down the aisle as she watched Polaris put a pair of sunglasses on his featureless face. Approaching him, she smiled and asked, "why do you need sunglasses? You don't even have eyes."

"It's a little thing called fashion, sweetheart," he said, making her chuckle as he added, "So, how's your night going?"

"It's...going," Chelsea said, scratching the back of her head, "Actually, could you maybe help me with these customers? They're skinless, but they're looking for some kind of sunscreen they can use to protect themselves."

"You get a lot of ironic customers, do you?" Polaris asked, making Chelsea chuckle again.

For the life of her, Chelsea couldn't understand Luna's disapproval of Polaris. He seemed fairly nice and polite and willing to help. But, she had to remind herself, this was not her dimension, and she hadn't been here that long. She was unsure of everyone's relationship to one another. Chelsea folded her arms and tossed her hair back behind her.

"Can you help me, please?" she asked.

"I can, but I would like something in return," Polaris said, checking his finely manicured nails.

"What? Something evil? I can't give you something evil."

"I just wanted a slurpy," Polaris said.

"Oh, well, that we can do," Chelsea said, laughing.

Polaris followed Chelsea back down the aisle, until they finally got to the girls, two of which were yammering about the lack of assistance and product, while the third remained ever quiet. Polaris stopped, leaned against the shelf and, presumably, checked his nails.

"So ladies, what appears to be the problem? Having a slight issue finding something to keep you safe?" he asked.

"Yeah," the first girl replied, "this store doesn't have anything that'll protect muscle and sinew, just skin proper. Not only is that sort of discriminatory - though I doubt intentionally - it also puts a hamper on our plans cause we can't go somewhere else now. This was our last hope for the day."

"I think I can help you find what you're looking for," Polaris said, as he took Chelsea by the arm and added, "wait right here" before dragging her off. Once he and Chelsea were out of earshot, he looked back at the girls, then faced Chelsea, who had a quizzical appearance on her face.

"So what's your solution?" she asked, folding her arms.

"Todd still work here?" Polaris asked, surprising her.

"You know about Todd?" she asked.

He snapped his fingers and they started heading to the back area of the store, through the double doors into the halls where Todd's "office" was located. Polaris's long legs allowed him to stride down the hall with ease, with Chelsea having a tough time keeping up.

"How do you know about Todd?" she asked.

"I know a lot about this store," he said, "So what you're gonna do is go in there and get three skinsuits from him. I'll bet Luna told you he only makes clothing, but that's not at all the case. He can make anything. You just have to ask him."

"...can't you do it?"

"What, your job?"

"I just...I don't really wanna see skinsuits be made, that sounds...gross," Chelsea said.

"Jeez, I can't believe she hired you," Polaris said, rubbing his forehead, "Alright, wait here, I'll be back in a moment."

Polaris entered Todd's office, leaving Chelsea hanging out in the halls. She leaned against the wall and blew her bangs out of her face, sighing. Why couldn't she have gotten a job at a fast food restaurant or maybe a...a video rental store. Those still existed, right? They had to somewhere. But no. Nobody else would call her back, nobody else would even give her the slightest hope or chance, and now she worked here of all places. In this bizarre multidimensional little shop of horrors. She heard the large double doors open and she turned her head to see the third girl of the group, the quiet one, approaching slowly.

"Ma'am, you shouldn't be back here, we'll be right out soon enough and-"

"I'm so sorry," the girl said, catching Chelsea by surprise, considering she hadn't spoken all night.

"Sorry?"

"For my friends, or...I guess they're my friends, I don't know," she continued, "We've been friends so long it'd be weird not to be, you know? But they're rude and selfish and I just feel like I have constantly have to apologize to minimum wage workers whenever I can on their behalf, so I'm sorry. I'm sorry they're jerks and that they've talked to you the way that they have. I think you do a fine job."

Chelsea wanted to hug this weird skinless girl, thank her for her kindness, but she didn't. Instead she just smiled, taking her words to heart.

"Thanks, I appreciate that. They aren't that bad, for what it's worth," Chelsea said, "I mean, sure, they'd kinda mean, but like, last week, I had this guy come in - I think he was a guy, I can't tell with monsters - and he was the biggest jerk. He was just a giant mouth and said he wanted chewing tobacco and I asked him 'do you want a funnel with that?' and he lost his temper. Like, okay perhaps what I said was rude but I figured humor would lighten the situation."

The girl was giggling now, which made Chelsea feel better. This was the first actually normal interaction she'd had outside of Polaris - and she questioned whether those were considered normal or not - in the store, and she welcomed it.

"It's hard out here," the girl said, leaning on the wall beside her and looking at her hands, "everyone is always so scared of eachother, so angry at one another. Then you have the outside world calling us monsters, granted they don't really know we exist proper, but still."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't use the term monster."

"I don't care, but yeah, others might," the girl replied, "I just want you to know that I think you're doing a pretty good job at keeping your cool for a human stuck in this sort of situation. Considering the things you've seen and the people you've helped, it must be warping your world view just a bit."

"Oh, a smidgen maybe," Chelsea said, grinning, both girls laughing. Suddenly the doors opened back up and Polaris stepped back out, holding three skinsuits, complete with faux bathing suits attached. He waved through the door as it shut.

"It was nice seeing you too, Todd, tell the wife and kids hi for me!" he said.

"Todd has a wife and kids?" Chelsea asked as Polaris approached.

"Of course he does. Todd's a catch," Polaris said, before turning to the skinless girl, "Now, you, uh..."

"Xorlack," she said.

"Xorlack, which of these do you want?" Polaris asked, holding the skinsuits out in full for her to choose from. After a moment of consideration, Xorlack chose one and Polaris handed it to her before heading back out to see which ones the other girls wanted, leaving Chelsea and Xorlack alone once again. Xorlack started to pull the skinsuit up around herself, like it was a dress, while Chelsea waited and watched. As she got it fully on, fitting perfectly, she turned and looked at Chelsea, who smiled at her.

"How do I look?" she asked.

"You look great, actually," Chelsea said, "Now let's go get some sunscreen for you."

Once Polaris had given the other girls their suits, and Chelsea had helped them find a sunscreen that would best fit them, she helped them check out. As they left, Xorlack grabbed Chelsea's wrist and wrote her phone number on her hand before smiling at her and leaving giddily. Chelsea looked at her palm and felt an odd flutter in her stomach. Polaris lit a cigar and leaned against the counter, sighing.

"Always feels good to help the customer find what they need," he said.

"I...I've never gotten someone's phone number before," Chelsea mumbled, blushing.

"She seemed nice," Polaris said, "You gonna call her?"

"I...I don't know, maybe, I just...this job is so weird, man," Chelsea said, "Half the time I feel like I don't know what I'm doing, and the other half I feel like this is exactly where I belong. I mean, it's not like I fit in super great in my own dimension, you know? I don't really have friends, and I'm sort of an embarrassment to my family, and I don't really care for socializing at college. I actually find myself looking forward to working now, because this place feels more welcoming than anywhere I can go."

"Yeah, that's the beauty of this place," Polaris said.

"I mean this dimension just seems so much more-"

"Oh, I don't mean the dimension, I mean this store, this place, Last Shop on the Left," Polaris interrupted, looking around the shop as he blew cigar smoke into the air and added, "it's got this magical otherworldly quality to it that's missing from the dimension its set in. It feels like a space place, like somewhere you can belong even if you belong nowhere else. Luna has a habit of hiring people who don't fit in anywhere, which is maybe why they fit in so well here."

"...how do you know so much about the store, and Luna?" Chelsea asked, leaning on the counter.

"Eh, another time perhaps I'll tell you, for now I think I'll just take my snacks and go home," he said, waiting as Chelsea rang him up; he leaned on the counter as well and said, "I think you should call her, for what it's worth. You say you can't make friends where you are, then make friends here. Monsters are the better people anyway."

"Yeah, I'm starting to realize that," Chelsea said as she finished his check out. Polaris tipped his hat at her as he took his bag and exited the store. Chelsea, now finally alone again, stood behind the counter and looked at the number on her hand once more, now noticing Xorlack had even put a little heart next to her name. Chelsea felt flushed. She'd always assumed she liked girls as much as she liked boys, but she'd never really taken the time to know for sure. Well, now, it seemed, she knew for sure.

Come the next night, Chelsea found herself back in the dimension, though not for work. She and Xorlack had made plans to do something, and she was beginning to see what Polaris meant. The store had brought her employment, self worth and now friendship. What had the 'real world' ever given her, honestly, besides grief and isolation? Maybe, just maybe, Chelsea could be a monster for a while too.

At least, unlike other humans, she could admit she was.

God, what Molly would give to wake up and not need help from caffeine. She'd given up coffee a while ago, and she felt better than ever, but sometimes she really missed the boost it gave her. As she stood in her kitchen, cooking scrambled eggs, she heard Zoe plod into the kitchen and seat herself at the kitchen table. She rested her face on her hands on the table, her eyes still closed. Molly smiled and picked up the coffee pot, pulled a mug from the cabinet and walked them to the table. She set them down and poured her a cup. Zoe reached out and picked up the mug, pulling it towards her.

"Thank you," she said, groggily.

"My pleasure," Molly said, heading back to the stove to finish cooking her eggs; she glanced over her shoulder and asked, "So, what do you have to do today?"

"I know I should probably see my parents at some point," Zoe said, rubbing her eyes and yawning, "but, god, I'm just not ready. I think we have practice today, so I guess I'll head over to the casino."

"Oh, that might not be a good idea," Molly said, walking to the table with two plates of scrambled eggs and sitting down, sliding one of the plates across the table to Zoe, adding, "there's a bunch of cops and stuff there. These workers looking for a busted pipe found some dead guy buried underground."

Zoe stopped in her tracks, mouth full of eggs. She slowly looked up at Molly, her eyes wide.

"...what?" she asked.

                                                                           ***

Zoe pulled up in her car in the parking lot to find Allie already there, leaning against the car, smoking a cigarette which she immediately stomped out as Zoe climbed out of the car. Neither woman looked particularly well dressed or prepared for the day; hell, Zoe hadn't even changed out of her pajamas. The parking lot they'd met in was the one of the old casino, because there'd be no activity there, so they figured it was the best spot to go.

"...you heard?" Zoe asked.

"Of course I heard, it's the only thing on all the local channels!" Allie said loudly, before lowering her voice, "we need to make a plan."

"You told me they wouldn't find him," Zoe said, "you told me that this would be eternal. That there'd be no reason for anyone to ever come across him."

"Yeah well, I didn't expect pipes to be put in that area!" Allie replied, her ire clear, "and even then, what're the odds that they'd break and lead someone to him? Don't worry, we'll be alright. I have some ideas of how to deal with this."

"Every idea you've had has only made things worse," Zoe said.

"I did this for you," Allie replied.

"Stop putting that in front of me," Zoe replied, "I didn't ask you to do anything. You did it of your own accord, and likely because you're afraid of being alone, certainly not for my well being."

A moment passed as a few cars slowly passed by, looking for a parking spot. The women took a moment to calm down, Zoe pacing as Allie rubbed her forehead. She pulled another cigarette from the carton in her shirt pocket and lit it, inhaling then exhaling, blowing smoke into the cool morning air. After a few minutes she finally took a long deep breath and looked back at Zoe.

"We can go to his apartment," Allie said, "I know where he lived. If we go to his apartment we can remove any instances of my knowing him."

"You think you can get in?"

"I have a key. He asked me to watch his place when he went on vacation once."

"What makes you think his apartment is even still around?"

"...because I've stopped by it," Allie mumbled.

"EXCUSE me?" Zoe asked loudly, "You what?! Why would you do that?!"

"Maybe because of a little thing called guilt, Zoe, you ever hear of it?" Allie asked sternly, "it's this thing normal people have when they feel bad about something they did. How's it work on your planet?"

"Oh right, you're the prime example of a 'normal person'," Zoe said, using air quotes.

"Get in the fucking car," Allie said, and instead of arguing, Zoe did what she was told. She walked around to the passenger side, climbed inside and strapped her seatbelt as Allie started the car up and pulled back out of the space, exiting the lot. She didn't want to tell Zoe she'd been by Sunny's place, but it was true. She had stopped by on numerous occasions. She'd never gone inside, she'd just stopped by and looked at the apartment from her car, feeling remorseful about what she'd done.

But she knew she'd done it for the right reason. He was going to target Zoe. He was going to get her addicted, and she didn't deserve that. Allie hated using that as leverage, but it was the reason she'd done what she'd done. Okay, to be fair, she didn't mean to kill him. It was an accident. But she'd defended Zoe's personhood against him, and that had led to his demise. Well, maybe, Allie thought, going by his place would finally give her a sense of closure. But, as she'd soon learn...

...there's no closure to be had in this type of situation.

                                                                            ***

"You sure we should be here?" Agent Tropper asked as he shut the car door, looking over the roof at Agent Siskel exiting the drivers side. She adjusted her glasses and nodded.

"I mean, they seem to have found our man, so yes, I'd say we should be here," Agent Siskel replied, "Come on. I'll buy you lunch afterwards, alright? It'll be worth it."

Agent Siskel and Agent Tropper walked through the crowd, past firefighters and cops, until they found a stout, semi balding man in a suit standing there in a hawaiian shirt and grey slacks. He pulled his sunglassess of his face and ran his hand down his face, groaning loudly as they agents stopped beside him.

"Rough morning?" Agent Siskel asked.

"You have no idea," Tony said, "...who are you guys?"

"Special agents Rebecca Siskel and Roger Tropper. We're here about the guy," Agent Siskel replied, nodding at the dig site, "you guys manage to pull him out yet?"

"Yeah," Tony said, "they got him out of there about ten minutes ago, he's being held over there while these guys do some minor detailing on how to patch up this whole mess."

"...sir, did you know the deceased?" Agent Siskel asked, "His name was Sunny Sykes, he was a governors son. He's been missing for over half a year."

"No?" Tony asked, shaking his head, "I run a casino, not a drug den. What makes you think I'd have any interactions with a man like that?"

"Because we have reason to believe he was laundering money through casinos, helping the owners cheat taxes," Agent Tropper said, sticking his hands in his pockets, "seeing as he wound up under yours, we just thought we'd ask. I'm gonna go check on the guy."

"He can't get any deader," Tony said, making Agent Siskel laugh as they watched Agent Tropper walk away; after a moment, Tony looked back at Agent Siskel and asked, "so...so wait, someone buried this guy here while we were building my casino, or?"

"We don't know yet," Agent Siskel said, "but we're gonna find out, okay? Just be patient, and we'll find the people responsible, and clear your casino of any ill will. I'm sorry you've been inadvertently included in this horrific incident."

Agent Siskel then excused herself to join her partner, leaving Tony there to think. As Agent Siskel approached Agent Tropper, she furrowed her brow as she noticed what it was Sunny was placed inside. Agent Tropper knocked on the tomb, realizing it was made of plastic.

"This is a magicians prop," Agent Siskel said, "weird final resting place."

"You think if we open this he'll unleash a plague of curses on us?" Agent Tropper asked, making Agent Siskel throw her head back, laughing loudly, which made Agent Tropper smile. He appreciated, if nothing else, being paired with someone whom he could get along with. Through all their time together on cases, Siskel and Tropper had become genuine friends and not just coworkers.

"So," Agent Tropper asked, "...how do we find out who owned it?"

                                                                             ***

The door to Sunny's apartment opened and Allie and Zoe slunk inside quietly. Allie turned on some small lights, so as not to draw any attention to the fact that this place suddenly had visitors. Zoe shut the door behind them and made sure to lock it, for some reason. Paranoia, she figured. As she looked at Allie, she noticed Allie was looking at the photos on the entertainment stand Sunny's TV and other equipment and devices were on.

"...Allie, I'm sorry," Zoe finally said.

"No, don't...don't apologize, I'm sorry. You're right. I shouldn't continue to hold that over you, it's slimy. I didn't do it for leverage. I did it because I care about you. Because you're my friend and I didn't wanna see you go down the same road I did. I'm a mess, Zoe, but you don't have to be."

Zoe sat on the couch and sighed, looking at her shoes.

"My family's in town," Zoe finally said, almost whispering.

"What? Really?"

"Mhm. I'm hiding out at Molly's," Zoe said.

"Afraid to face them since you started working with me, or is it because of what you did as a kid?" Allie asked, "Cause I mean, they know it was an accident, they can't hold that against you forever. Hell, maybe they're here to make things right. You never know."

"I am scared to face them, but not because of those reasons," Zoe said, now getting Allie's attention as she turned to look at her; Zoe sniffled and wiped her eyes on her pajama shirt sleeve and added, "I just...I'm scared for them to know I'm in a relationship. Until I came here to work with you, until I met Effie, I never...I never had feelings for another girl, really. Or, if I did, I repressed it to the point of not realizing it. I'm scared they'll judge me on that. And now with this on top of that, I just..."

Allie walked to the couch and sat down beside Zoe, rubbing her back gently.

"I'm sorry," Allie said, "but you have nothing to be ashamed of. And if they don't accept you, you know we all do. We don't care if you're gay or not. We're just happy you're happy. We're your family too, Zoe. Molly and Effie and Nick and I. We all love you and accept you for who you are. You're a good person, Zoe, and you have the biggest heart and a conscience and if they can't see the good past this one thing, then they don't deserve to know you at your best."

Zoe smiled and leaned against Allie, letting her hold her. The two sat there in silence for a bit, just soaking in the moment.

"When my cousin decided to stop doing magic with me, it destroyed me. I thought we were a team, you know? So to have someone again, to trust someone again that deeply...you mean a lot to me, Zoe. That's why I did what I did. I can't..." Allie bit her lip, starting to cry, "...I can't lose you too."

Zoe smiled, blushing, as she hugged Allie, not realizing that as she leaned in, she turned the TV on with the remote that was on the couch. The girls laughed as the screen flickered to life, and then Allie got up and continued looking around for any evidence of her attachment to Sunny.

"God, it's weird being here," Allie said, "I really didn't-"

"Allie," Zoe said softly, pointing at the TV, making Allie look and seeing the news. Zoe turned it up.

"If you're just joining us, our top story today is a local drug dealer, a governors son who's been missing for half a year, has been found dead underneath a new casino. His body was buried inside what appears to be a magicians prop tomb. Agents working on the scene have informed us that there's a distinct possibility that he is tied closely to the cult leader recently arrested, Claire Driscoll. Cause of death has yet to be-"

Zoe muted the TV and looked at Allie.

"...I guess I'm going to prison," Allie said.

"They haven't figured anything substantial out yet, there's still time to-"

"No, not go to prison for good" Allie said, "go to prison to meet Claire."

                                                                         ***

Claire Driscoll was sitting in her cell, reading a book when she heard the door open and saw Agents Siskel and Tropper enter. She put the book down and, blowing her bangs from her face, looked at them, her eyes clearer than they had been in weeks.

"More questions?" Claire asked.

"We found him," Agent Siskel said, "we found Sunny. Now, we can't get you off the charges, but we might be able to lighten them considering how you helped us. Don't think we would've found this guy without your help, honestly."

"Is he...is he..."

"Yeah, he is," Agent Tropper chimed in, "but he'll be back in his dads arms and they can put him to rest, so you did a good thing, Claire. Inadvertently, perhaps, but still a good thing nonetheless. But we are somewhat curious how well you knew this guy. Were you closer to him than you said? Did he ever talk about other clients, or family or anything?"

Claire shook her head, then thought and he eyes lit up.

"Actually he mentioned a sister," Claire said, snapping his fingers, "I unsuccessfully tried to recruit her, but he did mention a sister a number of times. After I tried recruiting her he threatened me to stay away, so I did. Why?"

"We found these photos in his apartment," Agent Siskel said, handing Claire the framed photo and the one that was with the files, "is that the woman? Is that his sister? We could easily confirm this with his father but we don't butt in on his grieving right now, and it'd held to have third party corroboration."

"Yeah, that's her," Claire said, "You have to tell her, don't you?"

Agent Siskel and Agent Tropper thanked her for her help, then exited. Standing in the hall outside her room now, they exhaled and as Agent Siskel looked at the photos, Agent Tropper pulled some gum from his coat pocket and popped a few pieces into his mouth, chewing.

"So, when do we tell her?" Agent Tropper asked.

"We don't," Agent Siskel said, "Because I've already done some research into his sister."

"...what?" Agent Tropper asked.

"She's an accountant, Roger," Agent Siskel said, "she's the one who was helping him. And I have a sneaking suspicion that their father isn't as innocent as we thought. This could be an entire family operation we've stumbled onto. Claire Driscoll may actually be some kind of hero, in some warped way."

"So what do we do now?" Agent Tropper asked as they headed down the hall.

"We find out who owns that tomb," Agent Siskel replied.

                                                                         ***

Allie dropped Zoe off at Molly's, said their goodbyes and said they'd meet in a day or so for practice. Despite everything, they still had to work. They had to maintain a sense of a life, otherwise others may grow curious. As Zoe entered the house, she found Molly sitting with Effie in the living room, each drinking tea and laughing. Taken aback by this sudden appearance of Effie, Zoe turned red and went quiet.

"She's been here for like an hour," Molly said, getting up, "I'll leave you guys alone."

Molly exited the room as Zoe walked and sat down in the chair Molly had been seated in. Effie set her mug down on the side table, folding her legs.

"Where you been?" Effie asked, "I haven't heard from you in days, it feels like. Now you're staying with her? I mean, I'm just...concerned and confused I guess. Is everything okay between us?"

"I didn't wanna bother you," Zoe mumbled, "I...I felt weird, asking if I could stay with you, seeing as we're just dating and, I don't know, things are complicated. Not between us, god no, but just in general. Things with Allie are tense, and my family is in town for some reason and-"

Effie stood up and walked over to the chair Zoe sat in and sat on an ottoman in front of her, taking her hands in hers and smiling.

"I don't really mind, I just...I guess I was worried you were avoiding me or something," Effie said, "I'm glad that's not the case, but you could've stayed with me. It's alright."

"I didn't wanna pressure you. I've never really been in a serious relationship," Zoe said.

"I understand," Effie said, "but Zoe, I...I love you. I do. I know that's, like, a serious faux paus to make only half a year into something, but I do, and I care about you and I wanna help keep you happy. Just, please try and include me in your life. I've had nothing but crappy relationships, so this thing with you is...weird cause it's not crappy, and I don't really know how to approach that. I just know that I-"

Zoe leaned in and kissed Effie, while Molly, watching from the kitchen doorway, smiled. She loved seeing people happy together, and wished she could have that for herself.

"I love you too," Zoe whispered, "Can we go to dinner? I need normalcy."

"Yeah, you got it, anywhere you want," Effie replied, grinning, their foreheads touching.

                                                                             ***

       A FEW YEARS AGO

Sunny sighed, leaning against the railing of his sisters high rise balcony. He sipped his scotch as she walked out, still in her tight black dress and her bright red high heels. Her long blonde hair, wavy behind her, flowed in the night breeze. Sunny smiled as she leaned against the railing beside him and sighed, sipping her own scotch.

"Who says crime doesn't pay?" Sunny asked, making her laugh.

"You know, we're playing with fire here," Nicole said, "but then again I guess we're used to it, seeing as we've been doing it our whole lives."

"Thanks for the help, I really do appreciate it," Sunny said, "we're gonna get dad elected, and we're gonna run this whole fucking place."

Nicole smirked as she downed the rest of her drink then walked back past the sliding glass doors, unzipping her dress as she went in and letting it fall to the floor. She casually glanced over her shoulder at Sunny, smirking and winking. He grinned, put his glass down on the outdoor balcony table and walked inside after her. As Nicole fell onto the couch, pulling her brother on top of her, kissing him, she could've believe her life. She'd been adopted into a wealthy family, with a father who had the possibility of becoming a governor, and a brother who loved her more than he should've. She had gone to the finest college, she had gotten a good paying job, and now she was about to own all of Vegas with the help of her family. As she felt Sunny's lips biting her neck, she shut her eyes and moaned, grinning. Nothing was going to stop her.

Nothing except a magician.