Chapter XLIV

As Lilly made her way up to the top floor of West Wilham High, she couldn’t help but to smile. As much as she was really enjoying being on the track team, she always found herself excited when practice finally ended and she could rush up to the clubroom to spend the last half hour before Eric and the others left school. There was a skip in her step that Alice had recently been teasing her about, though she knew it was all in good fun. The fact of the matter was that she was happier than she had ever been in her life.

She and Eric had now been dating for three months and the club remained peaceful ever since Vinny and Damien moved past their issues. The incident with Evan Wright and Rina Davens had happened in December and now, even though it was only April, it felt like an eternity ago. Each day since had been spent in bliss and Lilly realized she was smiling a lot more than she used to. Her time with the club was relaxing and part of her wished it would go on forever. She had feared that dating Eric would make their relationship awkward but, much to her own surprise, they fell into it all with ease and, even though they had yet to kiss, she knew she had grown closer to him than she had ever been with someone. He made her happy and she was sad it took her nearly six months with the club to realize what her feelings meant.

In addition, there hadn’t been any other incidents with the stone after her swap with Jay. Instead, they simply used it for fun, despite Damien still often urging them not to, yet he no longer seemed as nervous as he used to. The gem had simply become a part of their normal lives and it no longer seemed as foreign and scary as it once did.

She smiled, reaching the top floor of the building and turning to walk in the direction of the clubroom. She had changed back into her school uniform and considered dropping her bag of workout clothes off at her locker before opting not to. She didn’t want to waste time when she knew the others wouldn’t care if she just dumped her bag somewhere in the room.

As she walked, her mind continued to wander and she found herself suddenly thinking about the events of months earlier. There hadn’t been any new developments since. Evan Wright had returned to school at the beginning of February, but had kept his distance from everyone except the football team. Vinny and Damien had both been prepared for some form of retribution, but it seemed Evan had no intention of going anywhere near them again. As for Rina, she had kept her promise and had stayed away from Alice and the club and they had avoided her. Alice had talked about trying to extend an olive branch to her old friend but Lilly had suggested giving it more time. Considering all the pain that both sides had gone through, it seemed best just to have space for a while. Alice had eventually agreed, stating that it may be best to wait until Jay came back to approach Rina.

Jay…

Lilly’s thoughts briefly flashed to the boy and she felt a twinge of sadness. Even after all that time, he still hadn’t woken up, though the doctors said he was currently stable. Alice went to visit him fairly often and, on occasion, Lilly borrowed the stone and went with her so that they could use her body as a catalyst to talk. Lilly hadn’t spoken to him since before he jumped, though and that was because she never wanted Alice to lose a chance to talk to him. She figured she could just catch up with Jay when he finally woke up.

And he will wake up, she thought firmly. I know he will. He’s too strong to stay asleep forever. He’ll come back eventually.

She took a deep breath, not wanting to get emotional over him again, as she approached the closed door of the Magic Club. There was a time when she would have knocked before going inside but now, she casually pulled it open and walked inside.

“You shall be defeated, you blonde fiend!”

“You may tell yourself that, but you aren’t convincing anybody! You know you are the one who is doomed, Eric Reiner!”

The sound of Eric and Vinny’s shouting made her chuckle to herself as she glanced across the room to see them sitting face-to-face at a pair of desks, seemingly engaged in a game she couldn’t recall the name of, where each player had to get four pieces in a row on a checkered mat. They were so focused on the gameboard that neither noticed as she walked inside and set her clothes bag on a nearby desk. Instead, it was Liz who greeted her.

“Yo, Lilly,” she called out. “Welcome to the show. I’ll take your bets on who you think is gonna win.”

Lilly glanced over to see Liz sitting at a desk close to the boys, apparently acting as the sole audience to their game. Damien was typing away on his computer in the back table, probably working on homework, though he did spare a second to give her a wave of hello. She returned it before walking over to take a seat at the desk beside Liz.

“Alright, let’s see,” she muttered, taking a look at the current state of the board.

Eric was playing as blue and Vinny was black. It was quickly apparent that Vinny had the upper hand as there were a few spots where he already had three in a row while Eric was struggling just to get to three. However, one look at her boyfriend’s composed features told her that he wasn’t as backed into a corner as he may have appeared.

“What are you betting Liz?”

The other girl smirked. “I’ve got five bucks on Vinny.”

Lilly nodded. “Alright, then I’ll put ten bucks on Eric.”

Liz looked at her in surprise, probably wondering if there was something she wasn’t seeing. Meanwhile, Lilly just barely noticed a slight smile curl on Eric’s lips and she knew her confidence in him had made him happy. Vinny, however, just laughed smugly.

“I understand wanting to support your boyfriend, dear Lilly,” he said, “but you must know that he’s as good as vanquished. I only need a few more moves and I’ll have him groveling before me!”

Lilly smirked as the blonde boy dropped one of his pieces onto the board. “I guess we’ll see, won’t we, Vin’?” she replied. “But I’ll just warn you that Eric isn’t so easily vanquished. I don't think the game’s as decided as you hope it is.”

“I’m with her,” Damien suddenly called from the back of the room. “I’ll put ten bucks on Eric as well.”

Lilly glanced back to see that Damien hadn’t even turned around. He was simply expecting Eric to pull some comeback from out of his ass, as Lilly was. She could see Liz looking nervous as she analyzed the board in search of a way Eric could possibly best Vinny. When Eric reached forward and set a piece down, Liz’s eyes went wide and Lilly had to suppress her own smug laughter. Both could now see what Eric had done. Even Vinny was staring down at it in horror.

“Oh, you’ve gotta be joking,” he grumbled.

“Told you,” Lilly teased.

Eric had managed to get three in a row but, something Vinny hadn’t realized until too late, there was an open slot on both sides of the row. Therefore, no matter if Vinny blocked him on the left or the right, Eric would win.

“You shouldn’t have let yourself get cocky, Vinny, my friend,” Eric said. “Arrogance can be a person’s greatest enemy and you were so focused on your own three’s that you didn’t pay attention to my twos and now, they shall be a great four the likes of which this realm is not prepared for!”

Vinny scowled, begrudgingly placing his piece in a random corner of the map as if not wanting to give Eric the satisfaction of trying to futilely block him. Eric merely formalized his victory and placed the winning piece down.

“I win,” he said.

“Wow,” Liz muttered. “Well, I guess I didn’t give Reiner enough credit. I thought for sure he was going to get his ass royally kicked.”

Vinny sighed. “Yeah, same honestly.”

“I had a feeling,” Damien called over. “Lilly sounded too confident so I figured there must be something you guys were missing.”

Well, I didn’t actually see what Eric was going for, but I was pretty sure he had something up his sleeve, she thought, though she made no move to correct Damien.

She and Eric exchanged amused glances before the boy got to his feet and stretched his arms up into the air. “Well,” he began, “seeing as Lilly’s here, we can begin! I will officially declare this the first meeting of the Magical and Other Anomalies Investigation Team for April of our junior year! Attendance is mandatory!”

He spared a look at Damien as he said that last sentence. Damien sighed, closed his laptop, and turned his chair around so he could face the others. Liz and Vinny both smiled and straightened up, leading Lilly to realize there was something she was missing.

“And why exactly did you need me here?” she inquired. “Is something going on that I wasn't told about?”

Eric grinned. “Well, we couldn’t exactly leave you out of this one! Official or not, you are a member of this club. As for the topic of this meeting, that would be the spring festival!”

Ah, right. That’s next week, isn’t it?

The spring festival was apparently a big deal for West Wilham High. Every year at the beginning of April, the school held a big, club-centered festival where the clubs of the school put together fun little attractions. It was open to the public so it was pretty beloved even outside of the school and it brought a lot of money in for funding. It spanned over three days, starting on a Wednesday and ending in a big, late-night celebration the following Friday. Lilly could tell that the school was hyped for it and even she found herself excited to see it all.

“Specifically,” Eric went on, “we need to discuss what we are going to be doing for our club attraction this year! Unfortunately, Mr. Lowe has informed me that we can’t do our usual one this time.”

Damien snorted. “Gee, I wonder why.”

Lilly frowned. “I’ve actually been meaning to ask, but what did you guys do last year? And, for that matter, why can’t you do it again?”

“Ah, well, you see,” Eric grumbled. “Damien, I give you permission to explain it!”

Lilly cocked an eyebrow in suspicion and glanced back at Damien, who looked exasperated by Eric. “We did a dessert stand the last two years,” he explained. “Liz and I are both pretty good cooks so we always made brownies and cupcakes and, since nobody likes us, we usually had a good chunk of them left over afterwards to take home. It was a win-win. We satisfy the club requirement of festival participation and get desserts out of it.”

She nodded, understanding the logic behind it. “And? That seems perfectly harmless. Why can’t you do that again?”

“Well, simply put, we left Vinny alone with the portable oven we brought and he almost burnt the room down,” Liz said. “Lowe was pissed so I guess we’re banned from food this time.”

“In my defense,” Vinny interjected. “That oven was faulty! The buttons were way too sensitive so how was I supposed to know I put an extra zero on the timer?!”

“You use your damn eyes, dude!” Liz retorted. “Didn’t you think it was taking it suspiciously long to cook?!”

“Well—!”

“Anyway!” Damien interrupted before they wound up on one of their typical tangents. “That’s what happened, so, Eric, take the floor back please.”

Vinny reluctantly remained silent as everybody turned once again to look at the club’s leader. Seemingly pleased, Eric cleared his throat and continued. “Well, like I said, we need a new food-unrelated attraction. So? Everybody, let’s hear some ideas! What do we got for me?”

Vinny immediately raised his hand and Lilly couldn’t help but to think it was suspiciously fast. Part of her wanted to tell Eric to just decline him before hearing him out, but the blonde boy began talking before she could.

“An art exhibit!” he suggested.

Eric tilted his head in confusion. “Um...what?”

“An art exhibit!” Vinny repeated. “We can paint a bunch of pictures and hang them around the clubroom for everybody to see!”

Lilly frowned. “A-am I missing something? Do you guys actually know how to paint cause I sure don’t.”

“No, we don’t,” Liz growled. “In fact, it’s something almost all of us are terrible at. Damien’s pretty good but it’s not like we can just hoist all the work onto him.”

“I’m not saying we should,” Vinny corrected her. “In fact, I think our inabilities will be the defining feature of our exhibit! We can call it ‘The Shitiest Art Show You’ll Ever See!’ It’ll be amazing!”

“I refuse”

“Same.”

“Yup.”

Liz, Damien, and Lilly all agreed within seconds of each other, leaving Vinny to hang his head in his second defeat of the afternoon.

Eric smiled in sympathy for him. “Sorry, buddy, but you’re overruled by the majority. Unfortunately though, none of us really have talent so, with food off the table, we might be stuck with a terrible attraction no matter what we do.”

“He’s got a point,” Liz mused. “I mean, most clubs just do something that relates to their typical activities but, well, we don’t really have those. We couldn’t even do a magic show since none of us know sleight of hand.”

Vinny shrugged, his sly grin returning once more. “But we do have actual magic! Maybe we can charge a bunch of people to get the chance to swap bodies!”

Damien scowled. “Yeah, that’s not happening.”

“I know, I'm just joking,” Vinny replied. “Though, maybe we’re on the right track. We could always try something related to the supernatural. Maybe we make a scuffed up haunted house? Oh, or maybe we do a fortune telling booth! My sister has a crystal ball we could borrow!”

Lilly narrowed her eyes. “Why does your sister have a crystal ball?”

“Ah, that would be on me,” Eric said. “It was a gift to her for her birthday. Mia always liked it when I would talk about magic so I thought it could be fun to teach her the awesome power of foresight!”

Lilly couldn’t help but laugh, knowing that was a very Eric-like thing to do and, if Mia Mickelson was anything like her brother then she probably really enjoyed the gift. It really did baffle her sometimes with how Eric came up with some of his ideas.

Wait a moment… Lilly sat up straighter, drawing the attention from the others in the room. Vinny might actually have come up with something good! Yeah, what were they thinking? Of course they have a talent!

“You know what?” she began, “I think we should do a fortune telling booth.”

Damien, Liz, and even Vinny all looked at her in surprise, but she noticed the intrigued expression on Eric’s face.

“Wait, really?” Vinny asked. “I was just throwing shit at the wall.”

Damien nodded. “Yeah, I’m confused. Why is that a good idea?”

“Because,” she replied, “you guys do have a talent and that’s coming up with a bunch of bullshit on the spot. You’re impressive as hell at improvising! So, you set up a fortune telling booth and, if anybody actually shows up, you can just BS some future for them and move on! It’ll be easy!”

“Wait, she’s got a point,” Liz said. “And apparently we already have a crystal ball, so…”

Vinny grinned, seeming satisfied that his idea might actually work. “And honestly? I think it could be actually kinda fun to make up futures for people.”

“As long as you’re not telling them anything rude,” Damien added.

Vinny causally brushed his comment aside, seemingly already lost in thought about what sort of things he could say. Lilly glanced at Damien and Liz, who both looked like they were on board with the idea as well. So, satisfied that she had convinced them, she glanced at Eric for him to finalize the decision.

The boy smiled cheerfully. “Alright then! It’s been decided! For this year’s spring festival, the Magical and Other Anomalies Investigation Team will become fortune tellers!”

***

It was around five-thirty when everybody left the clubroom and began making their way home. Eric had been satisfied with having an idea for the festival and had decided that they could talk more in depth about what they would do on the following day. For the time being, he wanted Vinny to make sure his sister was okay with lending them the crystal ball as well as actually running the idea by Mr. Lowe so that they could get their idea accepted. So, since Lilly had babysitting to do that night, she bid them all goodbye and hurried home to change out of her uniform and into more comfortable clothes. She talked briefly with her parents then headed down to the building’s second floor where the Hills lived. She hadn’t seen Natalie in a few weeks so she had been excited when Renee had called her the previous day, asking if she could come by after school. Lilly smiled as she walked up to their apartment’s front door and knocked a few times. Renee answered moments later.

“Lilly, thank you for coming,” the woman greeted, motioning for her to come inside.

“Of course,” Lilly replied, following her into the apartment’s main room. “You know I love hanging out with Natalie. I’m always happy to help out.”

Renee smiled tiredly. She seemed more exhausted than usual and Lilly wondered if her job was getting stressful again. However, since she wasn’t one to pry into other people’s business, she didn’t say anything about it.

“And we really appreciate that,” Renee said. “Natalie always looks forward to your visits, too. I think she gets lonely being cooped up inside most of the time. You’ve become like a big sister to her and I think that’s really helping her.”

Renee’s words made Lilly’s smile widen. She was happy to know that her friendship was helping the little girl. Since she was homeschooled and blind, Natalie didn’t have a lot of opportunities to make friends. Renee took her places on weekends but, since her schedule was always so busy, it wasn’t much. Natalie was a strong kid but she was still a kid nonetheless and so, it wasn’t surprising that she got lonely. Lilly wished there was something more she could do for her but, since her visits were about all she was capable of, she was thrilled to know they made a difference.

“Oh, and by the way,” Renee continued, “are you free this Sunday afternoon?”

Lilly thought for a moment, recalled that she had the weekend free, and nodded. “Yeah, I’m free. You need me to come by and watch her again?”

Renee shook her head. “Actually, no. This Sunday is Natalie’s birthday and I’m having a little celebration for her. I just thought she’d want you to be there.”

“Oh, I’ll absolutely be there,” she said excitedly. “I wouldn’t miss Natalie’s birthday for the world. Just let me know what she wants so I can get her something. Can’t come to a birthday without a gift, yeah?”

Renee laughed softly. “Thank you, Lilly, but I’m not really sure. Every time I ask her, she tells me that she doesn’t want anything. I know she’s just saying that since we don’t have a lot of money, but I can’t not get her something. Maybe you could get her to tell you?”

Yeah, that sounds like her.

Even though the little girl had never explicitly stated it, Lilly always got the feeling that she considered herself a burden on her mother. Renee spent much of her time working from home and Lilly knew she didn’t get off until real late most nights. Then, when she did, she spent her time homeschooling her daughter. As far as she knew, Renee rarely ever got time to relax and she always looked utterly exhausted whenever she saw her. Natalie was a very observant kid and it must’ve been obvious to her that her mother worked as hard as she did for her. Lilly could only imagine how that affected her.

“I’ll do my best,” Lilly replied. “I’m sure I can figure something out.”

Renee gave a sigh of relief. “Thank you. Now, I’ve gotta get going. I’ll be back around nine, but I’ll give you a call if anything comes up.”

“Okay, perfect,” Lilly said. “I’ll keep my phone close. Take care, Renee.”

“You, too, sweetheart.”

The woman grabbed her purse from the kitchen counter and rushed out the door, leaving Lilly standing in the main room alone. Since she hadn’t seen Natalie anywhere nearby, Lilly figured she must be in her bedroom, so she turned and headed down the hall in the back of the room, before coming to stand in front of one of the closed doors. She knocked a few times and called out.

“Natalie, I’m here.”

“Come in.”

The girl’s reply wasn’t as enthusiastic as usual and Lilly immediately worried that something was wrong. She quickly opened the door and stepped inside. The room was just as vibrant as she remembered. The walls were painted a soft pink and the bed was covered in all sorts of stuffed animals. The desk across from her had papers strewn about it, probably all assignments that Renee left for Natalie to work on. Currently, she was sitting on her bed with her back to the door, leaning her arms against the windowsill. Her hair was rustling a bit from the breeze blowing inside and Lily figured she was just enjoying the cool touch. Natalie had told her a few times that the breeze calmed her down.

“Hey, Nat’,” she greeted. “How’s it going? It’s been a little while, hasn’t it?”

Natalie shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so”

What’s the matter with her? She’s usually so energetic. Did something happen? I mean, I imagine Renee would have told me, so...is it something even she doesn’t know about?

“Your mom told me your birthday’s next Sunday,” Lilly said, hoping to start a conversation. “Are you excited? You’re turning eleven, right?”

“Yeah, I’ll be eleven,” she mumbled. “I guess that’s cool.”

Lilly sighed, deciding that she might as well just be direct and see where that gets her.

“Natalie, what’s wrong?” she asked. “Did something happen? You seem so kinda sad.”

For a moment, Natalie was silent and she didn’t move. Lilly was about to speak again when the little girl turned her head slightly, and said something so softly that she couldn’t make out a single word.

“What was that?” she replied, taking a few more steps into the room to close part of the gap between them.

“Why...did I have to be born blind?” Natalie repeated. “Why me? Did I do something wrong?”

Lilly could hardly contain her shock and for a moment, she just stared at the girl, dumbfounded. She had no idea how she was supposed to respond to that but she knew that, for Natalie’s sake, she couldn’t just stand there in silence. So she hurriedly shook off her surprise and responded as firmly as she could.

“Of course you didn’t! You did nothing wrong, Natalie. Don’t talk like that. You’re an amazing person. You just…wound up a little different from everybody else, but there’s nothing wrong with that.”

But despite her words, Natalie’s pained expression didn’t fade. In fact, it almost seemed as if what Lilly said only caused her more pain. “B-but...then why?” she whispered. “Why can’t I see, Lilly? Everybody else gets to. I want to see the world, too. Mom reads me a lot of books and it’s full of pretty descriptions, but I never know what to imagine. I’ve never seen color. I don’t know the difference between red and blue. They’re just words to me.”

Lilly opened her mouth to reply and was once again stuck speechless. Natalie was always so upbeat and positive that this was throwing her off. She sounded so serious that Lilly couldn’t formulate a response.

“I want to see the world,” Natalie continued meekly. “I want to be like everybody else. I know you and Mom both say that it’s not something to be ashamed of or to worry about, but…I just wish I didn’t have to be the different one.”

Her words only confirmed the suspicions Lilly had always had, yet that didn’t mean she was prepared to face them. The suddenness of it all made her certain that something must have happened in the recent days to cause Natalie to suddenly start talking like this.

“W-what brought this on all of a sudden?” Lilly managed to ask.

Natalie shrugged once again. “I dunno. It’s just that...Mom sometimes puts shows on for me to listen to and the other day, there was this episode about a girl having a birthday party. I got all excited because mine was coming up, but...the girl in the show started talking about all the friends she was inviting over and how they were going to go to the beach and celebrate. I kept thinking that I really wanted that, but...I don’t go to school so I don’t have any friends. And the characters kept talking about the pretty sunset over the ocean at the end and...I’ve never seen the sunset or even the ocean. I…”

She went silent and lowered her head, sounding as if she had choked on her words. Lilly understood what was going through her mind. She was hearing all about how much fun others were having on TV and it made her realize what she didn’t have. It was true that her lack of sight kept her from experiencing a lot of things that seeing people did, but Lilly hated the thought that it was affecting Natalie the way it was.

“Hey,” Lilly said. “Listen to me, Nat’. Sure, maybe you can’t see the ocean or the sunset, but...I don’t want you thinking that’s a bad thing. You’re unique. You’re special.”

Natalie shook her head. “I know, but sometimes I don’t want to be unique.”

“But…”

Lilly went silent, not knowing how to respond. She cursed herself for her inability to figure out what to say, knowing full well that the rest of the club would have known what to do.

“I’m excited for my birthday,” Natalie said, “but, I just keep thinking how it means I’m getting older and I’m missing out on so much. I’m gonna be a middle schooler soon and...I’ll still be stuck here. All the fun experiences I hear about and read about are things I want, but...I know it’s never gonna happen. I just want to see the world like everybody else, even if its only for a little while. That’s all I want.”

As Natalie said those last few words, a thought flashed through Lilly’s mind. It wasn’t the first time she’d come up with the idea, but in the past she had always decided against it, not wanting to get the poor girl caught up in the odd life of the Magic Club. However, at that moment, she couldn’t help but genuinely consider it. After all, she had the power to give Natalie what she wanted. There was no way she could give her sight full time, but there was a way to grant her wish of seeing a sunset at the ocean.

And it’s not like Eric would say no. If I asked him to, he’d go through with it without a second thought. All I’d have to do was ask, and I could give Natalie something truly special for her birthday.

“Hey, Nat’,” she began, knowing that she was going to do it whether it was right or not. “Have you ever been to the Wilham Pier?”

***

Alexa Harper stared up at the ceiling of her bedroom, lost in thought. Her sister still wasn’t home from her babysitting job so she had the room to herself. It was silent with the exception of the distant sound of her parents watching television in the main room. Part of her considered joining them, but the other part was happier just sitting alone and thinking. She had been giving Lilly a lot of thought lately, though since it was obvious that she didn’t want to be bothered, Alexa had been refraining from bringing any of it up. However, part of her still wondered if she was being a bad sister by doing so. So many changes were taking place in her little sister’s life and so, Alexa couldn’t help but be worried about her.

But I guess I should stop being so scared, she berated herself. Lilly at least looks happy these days so I guess that’s something good. It’s just…

Alexa had been thrown off by her sister’s actions time and time again since the two of them moved to West Wilham High. First, her sudden association with the outcasts of the school, the Magic Club, was so unlike her. Lilly had always avoided people and especially strange or annoying people. The club should have been something she kept her distance from but, instead, they became her best friends. Then there was the debacle with that Alice Mendez girl during Christmas and the rumors circulating that the club got Evan Wright arrested, a claim that the football player had done nothing to confirm or dispute since his return to school. Lilly avoided the subject quite often so Alexa still wasn’t sure what the truth was.

And then there was that boy’s suicide attempt…

In January, a junior that Lilly was apparently close to tried to kill himself and he only barely survived, though Alexa had heard that he was still in a comatose state. When it happened, Lilly had been utterly distraught but, when Alexa tried to talk to her, she refused to open up. Days later, she went to a sudden sleepover with Mendez and when she came back, she seemed as cheerful as ever. After that, she heard from some of her friends that Lilly had begun dating Eric Reiner. Eric had dropped by the house a few times for dinner and it was immediately apparent that the eccentric boy made Lilly really happy.

And I’m glad she’s happy. I really am. I just...feel like I don’t know my sister anymore. She feels like she’s a completely different person now. She’s more upbeat, energetic, and social. She’s everything I always urged her to be, but...it feels like this has only put a distance between us. And...I can’t help but feel like she’s hiding something. I don’t know what, though.

Alexa sighed just as she heard the sound of somebody knocking on the bedroom door. She looked up and frowned. “Yeah? Come in.”

When the door opened, her father poked his balding, bespectacled face into the room, smiling with his normal, laid-back grin. “Hey, sweetie,” he greeted. “Mom and I were thinking about having some ice cream tonight. You want any?”

Alexa smiled back, realizing that a bowl of ice cream was probably exactly what she needed. “You know what? I think I will. Thanks, Daddy.”

The man winked. “No problem. I thought it’d be a nice treat.”

He went to turn and head back into the hall, but Alexa suddenly spoke again, causing him to glance back at her.

“Hey, Dad?”

“Yes, ‘Lexi?” he replied.

Alexa hesitated, having called out to him on a whim. She wasn’t even certain it was something she should ask him, but, knowing he wouldn’t accept a “nevermind”, she reluctantly continued. “What do you think about how Lilly’s been acting recently? I mean, like, how suddenly social she’s been?”

Her father grinned and shrugged. “I think it’s good for her. She was always a bit of a loner and I was worried that would affect her so I’m happy to see that she’s making friends and, well, while I’m hesitant to allow either of my little girls to date, Mr. Reiner at least seems to care about her and she seems much more cheerful when he’s around. So, can I really complain?”

“I guess so,” she muttered. “I just...think it was a little sudden, is all. It kinda came out of the blue.”

“Well, I think that’s to be expected,” he replied. “After all, maybe all Lilly needed was a change of scenery. The move might have been good for her.”

“But...I mean, you’ve met Eric,” Alexa pressed. “He doesn't seem like the type of person she could have ever gotten close with, let alone date. I mean, every time he’s come over, he’s rambled on about magic or...something like that.”

Her father chuckled. “Well, he’s certainly strange, I’ll admit that. However, you can’t deny that he’s an oddly charming young man. Perhaps Lilly simply appreciates his good qualities.”

Alexa sighed again, understanding what her dad was saying, but still feeling like there was a piece of the puzzle they were both overlooking. There was a reason that Lilly got caught up with the club and she couldn’t help but worry that it might have been something bad. Plus, her sudden good mood just days after her friend almost died seemed weird, not to mention all the rumors surrounding the club and Evan Wright. There were so many strange occurrences that part of Alexa just wanted to finally try to solve the riddle of that club. Who were they really? And what actually happened between them and Evan Wright? How much of it was Lilly involved in?

“Well, thanks, Dad,” Alexa murmured. “I guess you’re right.”

He nodded. “Of course I am. Your father is always right!”

Debatable, but sure, let’s go with that, she thought.

“And don’t worry about your sister,” he added. “I think Lilly is just fine. I’ve never seen her as happy as she is now. It’s something we should embrace.”

Alexa frowned, unable to push away that nagging feeling in the back of her mind.

“S-sure. I suppose so.”