Effie was beyond relieved and thrilled to have her skin back in her own possession. Her face held a look of pure joy as she took turns hugging the three of them and thanking them with every bit of her breath.

"I don't know how to thank you all enough for helping me," she said, wiping tears from her eyes.

"We're just happy we were able to get it back for you," Flora told her, bringing the selkie in for yet another hug.

"Now that you have your skin back, what are you going to do?" Alexei asked her from where he stood, glued to Kleo's side. Kleo knew that after last night, it would take some time for Alexei to stop hovering. He wasn't really complaining though. He understood why Alexei was so concerned and Kleo felt the same especially when it came to Nox. The events of the previous night would not leave them as quickly as they would like. The bruises around Kleo's neck were proof enough of that.

"Well, I should be headed back to try and meet up with my family. Once I'm in the water again, it shouldn't take me long to catch up to them," she explained, Kleo and the others giving some sort of affirmation before Kleo paused, a realization coming over him.

"The closest body of water with access to the ocean is quite a ways away," he said and immediately a large smile took over Flora's lips as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Look's like we're taking a little road trip."

***

"I still can't believe that you don't know how to drive!" Flora said from the front seat of her car, shaking her head as she looked at Kleo through the rearview mirror. She had a smirk on her lips and Kleo tried to ignore her, looking over at Effie who sat beside him in the back seat. Her face was glued to the window as she watched the dense forest lining the road they were on. They had been on the road for a few hours by this point and Kleo could tell she was getting more and more excited the closer they got to their destination. "Did Dr. Sean not try to teach him? I feel like Dr. Sean would have made him at least try or something?" She asked Alexei this time. Alexei chuckled from the passenger seat, shooting Kleo a glance before looking to Flora.

"Oh he did, many times. I think part of the reason Sean is graying is from trying to teach Kleo how to drive." The two of them laughed at the thought and Kleo frowned.

"Come on, I wasn't that bad," Kleo felt he need to defend himself, causing Alexei and Flora to only laugh harder.

"You nearly drove his car into a ditch!" Alexei crowed and Flora laughed harder.

"Where did you even find a ditch in Viriginia?" Flora asked, holding a hand to her stomach as she focused on the road.

"There was some construction going on near the lot where Sean would take him to practice." Alexei explained and she simply shook her head. "After that, I think he just gave up."

"Hey, it's not like I need a car. Literally everything we need is in town, and if I need to go elsewhere I can just take a bus or the train," Kleo tried to build his case but he knew it fell on deaf ears when the two simply choked on more laughter. Kleo rolled his eyes and leaned back against his seat.

"Fortunately, buses and trained aside, I have my license so him not having one hasn't really been a problem," Alexei explained.

"Still, you might want to look into getting your license at some point Kleo. You never know when it'll be helpful," she advised him, looking at him again through her rearview mirror.

"Maybe when I've got a breather," Kleo simply says.

"Your car's really nice by the way. You know, I almost got a civic when I was looking at cars but decided against it," Alexei says.

"Yeah? My parents helped me get it sort of as a graduation gift. I saved up to put money down on it for like a good year." She explained and Alexei hummed in acknowledgement.

"How do your parent's feel about you being so far from home? Or I guess, how do you feel? My parent's are so close, I haven't really thought about what it would be like to be so far from them," Alexei asked and Kleo tuned into the conversation, curious as well since he already knew Flora's mom was the one who told her about the Apothecary to begin with.

"I mean, they miss me," Flora started as she gave some more thought to her answer. "I know I miss them, and my friends from back home for sure. Honestly the biggest thing for me personally is the culture difference here when it comes to magic."

"What do you mean?" Alexei questioned, resting his head against the headrest as he listened.

"Well, I don't know if Kleo told you but the Quarter is home to so many magical creatures that live sort of alongside humans. Those who are born and raised there know about magic even if they can't use it and know its something precious. I mean yeah we have our fair share of assholes who aren't really fans of our kind but for the most part, you can be pretty open. We're careful around tourists but for the most part its all fine and dandy. Here is so different. From what my mom told me about the Apothecary and how Arina was, I guess I sort of foolishly assumed it would be similar to home in a way."

Kleo watched Flora as she explained, taking it all in. He never thought of how different it must be for her. She's always so proud of he magic and her abilities that he never thought of how she must feel to not have been so open about it, especially during the summer when Kleo didn't even know magic existed. With his own power growing and the nexus over Safehaven with it, he wondered how soon a time would come that Safehaven would become a similar place for witches and magical creatures alike. He'd like to see it get to that point one day but he wasn't so sure. That sort of thing certainly took time and it would probably take generations for Safehaven to become a place equal to New Orleans, specifically the French Quarter.

It wasn't long before the trees started to disperse, a sandy beach coming into view in the distance. Effie stood straight up in her seat as she stared and Kleo patted her shoulder. She looked at him with joy in her eyes and he gave her a smile of his own. They were really getting her home.

"Thank you all again for what you have done for me," Effie said to them, hugging them each one last time as they stood on a strip of deserted beach.

"You be safe out there," Alexei told her and she nodded. They watched as she made her way closer to the water, the waves rushing up to tickle her feet. She turned to them and smiled, waving goodbye again before walking deeper into the water. Her body began to glow so brightly that Kleo felt the need to cover his eyes. He squinted, trying to keep an eye on her as she dove fully into the water and swam off to find her own home.

"Do you think she'll be okay out there?" Flora asked, lowering her own hand from shielding her eyes.

"We can only hope," Alexei said, crossing arms as they all watched the water. Kleo reached out to rub his back, a smile forming on his lips as he somehow suddenly felt assured.

"Something tells me she'll be just fine."

***

Andre drove the truck up the gravel driveway, parking in front of the large stone white house. He always thought the big houses out in the Garden District looked as creepy at night as they were beautiful during the day and Basil's had to be the worst of it. Maybe it was because the man himself held an air of arrogance and power that caused the area surrounding him to have a similar foreboding effect. Andre felt it especially now as he stared up at the large white columns of the house, dimly illuminated in the darkness of the night. He sighed and cut the engine. He could see Raphael fidgeting with his seatbelt out of the corner of his eye, obviously just as nervous as he was. They got a message from Basil saying he'd be back in town early before the two of them had even made it back to the Quarter themselves. Andre didn't respond. He didn't know how to tell him that they had failed so monumentally and he didn't like what Basil's reaction was bound to be. His grip on his keys tightened and golden eyes flashed in his mind and he choked on his breath.

"Dre! Dre, are you good?" Raph turned to him and Andre immediately threw his hands off of him.

"I'm fine!" he said, catching his breath. He cursed to himself, running a tired hand through his hair.

"You know, maybe Basil will be in a good mood? Maybe if we explain what happened, maybe he'll understand or something?"

"What? You mean explain to him that we lost his selkie skin and the damn fish to some kids? Oh, I'm sure Basil will totally understand. Hell, he'll probably just give us a slap on the wrist with a, 'do better next time.' Fuck no!" Andre suddenly yelled, banging his hand against the steering wheel.

"Well," Raph began, voice softer this time. "I mean, if you tell him what happened with that witch-"

"I don't even know how to explain that," Andre cut him off with a groan. "That kid wasn't normal. I've never seen someone change like that other than..." His voice trailed off as something began to click together in his brain. He sat there for a moment, quiet as ideas and revelations swarmed within his mind. "You know what, I think you're right," he said, breaking the silence.

"You do?" Raph asked, almost surprised until Andre started to remove his seatbelt and step out of the truck. Raph hurried out, trying to catch up with him.

"I think Basil might actually find some interest in what we got to say," Andre grinned before he walked up to the front door and knocked.