She heard a crack as her fingers curled around the sink, and she knew she had broken the stone, but Jenny couldn't bring herself to care. Not now.

She closed her eyes, head hung low above the basin, and focused on her breathing. Her lungs screamed for air, and her stomach roiled rebelliously.

Jasper was alive.

Over and over again, like a record caught in a groove, her mind returned to that singular thought. Jasper was alive. She should be happy - she was happy - but she was so much more. A cocktail of emotions flowed through her, so jumbled she could barely distinguish from the other.. Happiness that he had survived. Sorrow for the years they'd lost. Confusion as to how and why she'd been lied to. And above all else, anger. Anger at herself for failing to search for him, and anger at her father for…

A loud crack echoed through the bathroom as she snapped the marble overhang clean off and, losing her grip, smacked her head into the mirror. The glass shattered at the blow, grazing her forehead, and the pain brought her back to herself. Damn it. What do I even do?

A knock pounded on her door, and the anger throbbed again. "Go away, Dad. I'm not ready to talk to you." Don't know if I'll ever be.

She ignored the door as the pounding continued and walked into the kitchen. Fortunately, she hadn't broken that sink yet. Ice cold water, the sort you can only get when you live in the mountains, bubbled out of the tap and she ducked her head beneath it, carefully brushing the shards of glass out of the wound on her forehead. When she was sure the glass was all out, she turned the tap off and straightened up, fingers curled in a spell. Mend. As usual, her skin itched as the spell stitched it back together, but at least the pain had disappeared. She huffed a sigh and leaned against the counter. "I just…I don't even know what to think," she muttered to herself.

"You know, I've always found that a good fight helps when I'm feeling upset."

Jenny nearly fell on her ass as she spun around to face the intruder. "What-" The spell she'd started to cast fizzled out as she recognized the woman's face. It was the woman who'd been talking to her dad. The woman who had turned her life upside down. "How did you even get in here? The door was locked."

The woman chuckled. "I'm a goddess. You think a door is going to stop me?"

"Just…" Jenny bit back the harsh words that sprang to her tongue. She wanted to tell the woman to get the hell out, but she was a goddess, so a certain amount of caution was called for. "I'm sorry, my lady," she replied through gritted teeth, "but I'd like to be alone now."

"Yes, I gathered that when you ran away." The woman walked toward her and paused in front of their cabinets. "Got anything good to drink here?"

Jenny sighed. "There's liquor on the shelf above the stove." She watched in annoyance as the goddess snagged a bottle of whisky from the shelf and took a drag straight from the bottle.

"Eugh, is this the best you got?" she complained.

"We don't get a lot of shipments from the mortals."

"Mortals?" The woman raised a disapproving brow. "Is that really how you refer to them? Last I checked, your people are mortal too."

"I…" Blushing, Jenny brushed the hair out of her eyes. "It's just how people speak here. We don't interact much with the…people of Adammû," she corrected herself.

"Hmmh." The goddess hummed noncommittally and took another swig from the bottle.

Working up her courage, Jenny tried again to get rid of her. "Why are you here, my lady? If you need a place to stay, I'm sure my father's servants can help you."

"Stop wasting my time," Barbartu replied harshly. "We both know the only reason I'm here is to talk to you. I'm sorry if you don't feel like talking right now but, frankly, I have better things to do than wait around for you to be in the mood. So, sit," she gestured imperiously at the kitchen table.

"Fine." Jenny walked over to the table numbly and slumped into a chair. "What do you want to know?"

"Oh, many, many things." The goddess smiled broadly, revealing a row of slightly too sharp teeth. "But let's start with the obvious. Do you want to see Jasper again?"

"Of course I do." She rolled her eyes at the stupid question. "If I had known he was alive-"

"You would have - what?" Barbartu cut her off.

"I would have looked for him, obviously."

"No, you wouldn't," the goddess replied bluntly. "Because if you'd truly cared, you would have already searched for him. Jasper was trapped in the 'mortal' world, as you so disparagingly called it. He wouldn't have been hard to find if you had bothered to try. I mean, you already had everything you could want at your disposal - money, power, and most importantly, magic. And yet, you didn't even try to look into his death."

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"You know what I think?" Barbartu leaned forward with a nasty grin. "I think you didn't want things to go back to the way they were. I've seen Jasper's memories. The small, rundown house. The shared bedroom. A mother who flitted in and out of your lives."

Jenny's breath hitched, and she dug her nails into her palms as she tried to rein in her anger.

"I think you liked being special," the goddess continued. "The luxury, the training, the magic. Being the only one 'daddy' loved," she sneered. "You see, Jasper had no way to look for you, but you?"

"Get out." Jenny shot to her feet, fists clenched to her side. Dimly, she was aware she was shouting at a goddess, but she couldn't think clearly through the waves of anger washing over her. Anger and…guilt?

"You didn't want to," Barbartu ignored.

"Get the hell out of here now!" Jenny smashed her fists against the table with an angry howl. As the glass shattered, slicing her hand open, she came back to herself. "I-" she gaped.

With a smirk, Barbartu brushed the broken glass off her lap and stood up. Her hand wrapped around Jenny's chin, her fingernails digging in, as she forced Jenny to meet her eyes. "Glad to see you have a little fire in you. I can work with that. But don't forget your place again," her voice lowered menacingly. "Capiche?"

Jenny nodded frantically, and the claws around her jaw unfurled. "Good, now sit." Her heart was racing as she sat down beside the broken table. She'd lost her temper at a goddess. A goddess with a well-deserved reputation. I am so screwed.

But as Barbartu sat down, she didn't appear angry. Instead, she smiled again, much more pleasantly this time, and crossed her legs.

"You don't need to tell me if I was right - I already know. I can feel the guilt oozing from you. But there's more there, isn't there?" She cocked her to the side thoughtfully. "So I'll ask you again - do you actually want to see Jasper, or would you prefer to stay here. Don't answer out of guilt, don't answer to spite your father-" she leaned forward. "What do you want?"

Jenny opened her mouth to speak, but Barbartu raised a finger. "Ah, ah, ah - take a moment to think first."

Her jaw snapped shut. Of course I do. Don't I? She was nearly overwhelmed as the competing emotions washed over her once again. Anger and sorrow and, now - thanks to the bloody goddess' needling words - a crapton of guilt. But she forced herself to sift through them.

Barbartu's words had been cruel, hyperbolic, unnecessary…but there was a kernel of truth there, she realized. For as much as she'd mourned his supposed death, she'd taken to life at Birat-Aḫis̆ like a duck to water.

Everything had been so magical, both figuratively and literally. She'd gone from being crammed in a tiny room she'd shared with her brother to having a whole suite to herself. She'd had maids to make her bed, meals crafted by chefs, the finest clothes money could buy. But best of all, she'd unlocked her magic, much to the pride of her doting father.

She hadn't wanted to go back to the way things were. She didn't want to go back and yet…

There were other memories, too. When Jasper saved every penny of his allowance for a year to buy her an American Girl doll. When he'd beaten up a kid who'd been bullying her. When she'd returned the favor, scaring away his girlfriend who'd been cheating on him. The Christmases, the concerts, their trip to Disneyland.

She blinked away the tears that threatened to spill as she allowed herself to think about the past for the first time in years. The hole that she'd covered up with cardboard and paint.

"I want to see him again, even if that means I have to leave here."

"Good." Barbartu smiled smugly. "I'm sure he'll be glad to hear it once you figure out how to get there."

"You mean came all this way just to tell me I can't see him?" she asked incredulously.

"Truthfully?" Barbartu tapped her fingers against the chair, her claws destroying the aged oak as easily as if it were made of putty. "I only came looking for you on behalf of another goddess - your brother's patron, who wouldn't take no for an answer," she added wryly.

"But once I report back on your location to her, I'll have fulfilled my obligation. I'm sure she'll try to find some way to bring you over, but I have to warn you, kid," she suddenly grew serious. "You shouldn't go unless you're prepared to be there for a while. There's only two known ways to travel between our worlds currently: a handful of portals that are guarded by the most powerful mages in their world, or by direct divine intervention - and miracles like that don't come cheaply. I was stuck there for years before I managed to get back home."

"That's…" Jenny was slow to respond. "I want to see him, but I don't know if I want to be stuck there. Couldn't he come to me?"

Barbartu shook her head. "He has a standing offer from me to bring him back to our world, but even if he crossed over, your father will never let him in."

"He wouldn't dare refuse, now that I know the truth."

The goddess smirked. "Oh, I think he would. I'm not sure what he has against your brother, but I can promise you he has no intention of ever letting him set foot in this city. Nor, for that matter, do I think he'll let you leave."

"Then…what? What was the point of all this?"

"Like I said," Barbartu shrugged. "If you're willing to wait a bit, I'm sure Kas̆dael will find a way to ferry you over. Unless…"

Jenny leaned forward as the goddess trailed off. "Unless what?"

"There might be another way. If you're willing to help me with a small task."

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "How small of a task?"

"Okay, maybe I lied - it's not that small of a task," Barbartu grinned, "but it would prove beneficial for both of us. A win-win, as you mortals would say."

"What task?" She ground out.

"What if I said we could control a portal of our own? You could see your brother and come back home whenever you felt like it."

"I'd say it sounds too good to be true," Jenny replied instantly.

"But it isn't. There's a defunct portal in my uncle's capital. It will take some doing, but we could get it working again."

"And in exchange? What do you get out of it?"

Barbartu showed her teeth. "Let's just say I still have a few grudges to repay. But those are your options, kid. Wait for Kas̆dael to send you a one-way ticket, or help me out. Deal?" she asked, offering her hand.

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