Anna had been in the closet for so long that I had begun to wonder if she would ever come out again.

"We live together, Anna. It seems like it's a little late for you to start worrying about me seeing you change." I called out to her from where I sat on the edge of the bed.

Stranger things had happened.

I had seen the sky fall to the ground in great shards of what looked like broken glass. I had come face to cloud with a gaseous god that was presiding over a confusing mass of people that had been very happy to be with one another. Long ago, I had opened my eyes to see a lich appearing out of a swirl of black mist on the ceiling of a bathroom on the mortal plane.

Chaos was strange, and it was not unthinkable to think that she had stepped into the closet and wound up somewhere that was worlds away.

"It's not about that, dummy. Did you put on what I laid out for you?" She answered me finally and cast away all of my imaginary worries.

I threw myself onto my feet and took a look at myself in the bathroom mirror. "Yes."

"Do you like it?" She called through the door.

After weeks spent wearing almost nothing but my uniform, seeing myself in something besides blue made my reflection seem so new. I had not put Ire on yet, but when I did, her pitch black hair would match the buttoned shirt and skirt that I was wearing.

"It's very, black," I said, not minding the darkness that swirled around me as I spun on my heels. "And I tucked the shirt into the skirt like you said, but it just feels like a dress with extra steps."

I tugged at the tight fighting collar that ran all the way up to the bottom of my jaw. "And I don't really like the feeling of being slowly choked to death by my clothes."

"Haven't you heard that beauty is pain? My necklace has stabbed me so many times, I've started to think that there are worms in my chest." Anna laughed through the door.

I thought about what she said, imagined what it would look like, and decided that I had never hated anything more.

A shiver ran down my spine at the rotten vision. "Ewww. Anna, that's gross. Why would you make me think that?"

She laughed harder. "Is that all it would take? My body starts to rot and you suddenly don't think I'm pretty anymore?"

I turned away from the mirror and stomped over to the closet. "Anna. Stop it."

"You didn't tell me about the wolf that's definitely here to hurt you, so now you have to listen to me talk about dying. It's only fair." Anna said, ignoring the seriousness that I knew she heard in my voice and pointedly not stopping.

I shook my head even though I knew she could not see it. "How is that fair?"

"It's not, but Arthur isn't here so I have to pick on someone," She said as the closet door swung open and she stepped out. "I'll change if you want, but it has to be black."

"If that's why you are being like this, then I'm going to go and steal-" I began, but my words failed me.

Anna had no worms in her chest.

She had tied her hair into a perfect bun that rested on the crown of her head. Two of her dark locks hung down and framed her face in perfect lines.

The skull that hung at the base of her neck was not pecking away at her flesh.

The black dress she wore fit her tightly to her waist before it flared out and draped down off her hips.

She was not dead or rotting.

I had never seen anyone look so alive.

She sighed and looked down at what she was wearing. "Should I change? I was going to wear earrings, but I need to get them pierced again first."

"No!" I shouted and stepped between her and the closet.

"Are you sure? I'll probably wear something like this to my funeral, I could save it until then." She looked at me with the same expression as she did when she was asking me what I wanted to eat.

My brows furrowed. "What is that?"

"Right," She nodded through a long exhale. "I guess there aren't a lot of those when most of you are considered kids until you are thirty."

"A lot of what?" I asked again.

"When you are where I am from, and somebody dies, most of the time, there is a gathering where you say goodbye to the person and everyone talks about how much they loved them. It's very sweet." Anna explained.

I took one of her hands and smacked the top of it.

"I don't care how sweet it is. Stop talking about it." I commanded her, wishing Arthur had been there for her to torment instead of me.

She scrunched her nose and ignored my command.

"Think about it though. I'm dressed like this, my hair is all grey like Ma's," She brought my hand up and touched the tips of my fingers to her temples. "I've got crows feet and wrinkles, but I look like I'm asleep. No more nightmares, just a good long sleep."

There was something wrong with her forefinger. The nail was dark with a bruise, but I did not have the chance to ask her about it.

She brought my hand back down and stepped closer to me, her voice little more than a whisper. "And you'll be there, standing next to my casket, looking just like you do now. No wrinkles, no grey hair, no sign of age even though you have already outlived me."

I pushed her.

It was gentle or playful.

I pushed her hard enough that she went falling back on the bed and I spoke with anger as I loomed over her. "Why would you make me think about that? Do you want to make me cry?"

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"No, I was-" She paused, evidently noticing the tears brimming in my eyes. Without a moment passing, she threw herself back off the bed and wrapped her arms around me. "I'm sorry, I was joking around, but I took it too far."

I did not hug her back, but I didn't push her away either.

"It's never going to happen." I growled, fighting the urge to push her again.

"I mean, it will one day." Anna said softly, and I could tell that she was no longer trying to pick on me.

She meant what she said. I could see it in her eyes.

She was wrong.

I thought about The Warden and all the things he had said about his beloved not being done with him.

Whatever Anna was talking about, and why ever she had felt the need to talk about it, I would not let it happen.

"It won't. As long as I live, so will you," I gave her my best scowl to show her how serious I was. "I don't know how, but I know it can be done."

After a long moment spent watching color fill her cheeks, she smiled and scrunched her nose. "You're gonna keep me all young and pretty?"

"Young, yes. You don't need me for the other part," I smiled back. "Dummy."

Anna's jaw dropped as she blushed bright red. "Did you just flirt with me? That was good! Who are you and what have you done with Autumn?"

Her praise felt so good, that I couldn't help but clap my hands. "Really? You liked that?"

"Yes, dummy. Come on, you've got a curfew, remember?" She said as she snapped the lights out and started out the door.

I put on my mask of Ire, and left our quarters, taking Anna's hand in mine as she closed the door behind us. "What happened to your finger?"

I pointed to the dried black blood under her nail

"Oh, I don't know. I must have mashed it with a book or something." She said, apparently having not noticed it before I pointed it out.

I pressed down on it. "Does it hurt?"

"No," She snatched her hand away from me. "But it could have."

Her eyes shifted from me to something behind me, and I heard Alexei come to what could have only been an intentionally loud stop.

My white haired guard was dressed just the same as Anna and I were. Not in dresses or skirts, but solid black robes that made him look like a shadow made animate.

I was not pleased with the notion of him following along behind us on our date, but I knew that no amount of arguing would keep him away.

"Is there a reason we all match or was it an accident?" I asked, taking note that there was only one sword hanging off his hip instead of his usual two.

Anna ignored Alexei's arrival and continued down the hall towards the singing stairs. "We're going to a play, but I'm not telling you anything else. I want it to be a surprise."

I took several quick steps to catch up with her and pushed my pointed fingers into her side. "What are we playing? Points? Is there a tournament like the ones at Seven Columns?"

"No, we aren't going to play. We are going to a play." She laughed.

"Oh," I said as we started up the stairs. Each note of Caerulus's lullaby reminded me just how long it had been since I had spoken. When we had climbed far enough up the spiral that I could see the towering doors of Lun's entrance, I finally let myself speak. "What is a play?"

"I told you, I'm not telling you anything else. All you get to decide is if you want to eat before or after." Anna said as she tried to push the door open.

With my help, and then Alexei's, it swung on its hand sized hinges and permitted us to leave the walls of gray stone around us. I took one look out at the snowy courtyard, and pulled the door back shut.

There was someone out there, someone that I very much did not wish to see.

Anna recognized something was wrong immediately, but of course she did.

"Hey, what's wrong? Who was that?" She asked, her voice quiet and her arm pulling the closed door towards us to keep it shut.

There was no use in trying to hide from the truth. "Ali. The Mother in Purple. She has come for me."

The memory of learning that she would be the fourth Mother to give me my punishment came quick to my mind. It had been the night that I had been admitted to Lun in full, the night that Azza had not been herself and The Mothers had gathered in the drawing room.

Anna tried to keep her expression calm, but I saw the veins in her arms stand against her skin as her whole body clenched.

"We don't know that. Maybe she's just here to pay Mother Nami a visit, or to get rid of the ghost in the library." Anna said, taking on the tone she used when I needed to be calmed.

That made me more sure that something was wrong than anything else did.

"It is a spirit, not a ghost." Alexei corrected Anna.

Anna made a nasty face at him. "Do you spend every day in the library? Wait. No, you don't. I meant what I said."

"There is no ghost." Alexei insisted.

Anna waved him off. "Change your hair. Make it red or blue or white or something."

"Do you think that will work?" I looked up at her, desperate for anything that could make the panic in my chest go away.

"No." Alexei said simply

I did it anyway, turning Ire's black hair into someone's that I didn't know, and hoping my disguise's disguise would be enough for me to hide.

"I was thinking one or the other, but all three is fine. She'll be so distracted by all the colors that she won't even notice it's you," Anna said with a forced smile. "Just hold onto me and keep walking."

She hooked her arm in mine and knocked her shoulder against the door.

It swung open.

Mother Ali stood just outside of its towering range.

"Oh, Hello! Excuse us. You should hurry inside, it is very cold, you might get sick. I hear the soup in the dining hall is very good today. Have a nice day!" Anna said as we passed into the courtyard. We moved so fast that all I managed to see of The Mother was a single lavender curl.

For a brief moment, all that could be heard was the sound of our boots crunching in the snow and I thought that Anna's plan had worked.

Then, a third set of steps joined ours.

"If I didn't say anything, how long would you two keep this up?" Mother Ali asked us, her voice thick with the smoke that had found its way into my nose.

"Run! To where we used to live! I'll distract her." Anna shouted suddenly as she spun on her heels and bunched the hem of her dress in her hands.

I knew what Anna's idea of a distraction was, and I could not let her do it for nothing.

I caught her wrists just before she gave Ali, Alexei, and whoever else was watching a full frontal flash.

"Stop. I'm okay," I said, looking at Ali as I spoke. "You are here for my punishment aren't you?"

She took a long inhale of her burner and nodded. "I am."

"Hey," I turned back to Anna. "I will be okay, it will be over before you-"

She snatched her wrists free from my grasp and her words came out in cold misty plumes.

"No. This happens every time we try to go on a date! I don't care that you think she deserves to be punished. I don't care what you have planned for her. I don't care who you are, she's not going with you." Anna shouted at Ali, her angry echoes filling the courtyard so fully that I thought they would rattle the windows of Zizicoltain's hall.

Mother Ali raised an eyebrow and tried to speak. "I-"

Anna cut her off.

"No. No. No. I don't care what you have to say," The raven haired girl ranted as she marched over to The Mother in Purple. She lowered herself to the frozen ground, and wrapped her arms and legs around one of Ali's legs. "I will not move unless it is to let you leave. You'll have to kill me if you want to take her."

Ali looked from me, to Alexei, down to Anna, back to me, and down at Anna again before she spoke.

"Alright."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.