Lily didn't sleep last night. Her mind kept churning over and over the memory of her shoulder being carved up like meat and the screams of her friends in the chaos. All she could associate the night with was pain - the day spent touring Tyrill with Niall and Jack was forgotten, the music in the jukebox silenced, and the kindness shown to her yesterday morning by Cay and her bandaging was a blur.

Yuric's claw had been removed but the cost to her soul was horrendous.

Lily trembled, curled up against the headboard. She couldn't sleep on either side - her left was throbbing with pain and her right arm was still paralysed. Lily's only way to sleep after crying for hours was to lean against the headboard and even that was a struggle. Her raw shoulder slipped while she slept and the cold wood jolted her awake with a hiss between her teeth.

Staring at her feet now, Lily couldn't stop thinking. She was grateful Yuric's claw was gone and the rogues had no way to track her...but she hadn't given them permission to take it out. Claire just sliced her up, carved her body like it meant nothing.

Lily wasn't vain; she didn't really think much about the way she looked. Her life was spent in the shadows of her amazing sisters but she never once felt inferior - they constantly praised her. She hadn't thought much about what people thought of her until her abilities began to fully surface. It was only then she started to notice what she looked like.

What would people see now when they saw her scars? The white lines of lightning on her right arm? The shackles of red around her wrists and ankles?

How would they react to her back charred and burned? How could anyone look at her scars and fall in love with them?

Lily looked at her hands, her left hand curling in on itself. Her right arm was still bound in the pristine sling and the slightest twitches in the fingertips were the only proof her arm's paralysis was temporary. Dried blood coated her arm like a second skin. She snapped her head sharply away, unable to look anymore.

Lily swung her legs over the bed and stood up, her body shaking at the effort. Her jeans were still twisted around her and her cut singlet crinkled with dried blood. Lily's lip wobbled, feeling disgusted with herself. She was a lamb after slaughter.

She grabbed a towel and some fresh clothes and left the empty bedroom. Without looking around much, the house was silent from what she could hear anyway, she went to the bathroom she'd been shown yesterday before Niall's tour of Tyrill. Lily quickly ran in, her shadowed gaze looking over the abundance of rainbow toothbrushes next to the sink and the half-used toothpaste lying at the bottom of the basin.

As Lily shut the door behind her, breathing a sigh of relief knowing no one saw her yet, her hand hovered over the handle in search for the lock. Her gaze wondered to the top of the door frame to see the bolt loose, ready to be pushed into place. Lily couldn't lift her arms that high - she'd have to leave it unlocked.

Lily stripped down and hopped into the shower, keeping her gaze low to avoid looking at her charred back in the mirror. She couldn't look at it yet - ever. She didn't know when she'd completely heal - would she be injured for the rest of her life? Carrying wounds people couldn't see and scars with a story impossible to tell?

She'd read a lot of text books in her life to know burns had to have hardened with new flesh beneath before they could be soaked. Lily remembered enough about last night to feel Jack's tendrils in her muscles, Haidan cauterising the top of her skin before Niall's air cooled and hardened the burn. She should be fine. Painless? Probably not, but she was getting in that shower.

Lily couldn't stand seeing blood on her for a minute longer.

The water rolled over her shivering body. She hissed, gasps of pain clogging her throat as the droplets kissed her fresh burns. Lily did her best washing her hair - it wasn't going to be perfect - and scrub the dried blood off her torso. She knew she missed places, she couldn't wash everything with one arm but it would do.

She shut off the water and rested her head against the tiled wall. The water dribbled down the curves of her body, following the path of her scars. Lily's eyes lined with tears as water tingled the fresh wounds - she couldn't remember the last time she wasn't in pain.

Lily kept her head down, flicking her thick hair over her head to dry her body as best she could. She managed to get her tangled red locks into a low bun but she couldn't dry it off completely with the violet towel she was using. Lily dressed as best she could - the leggings clung to her curvy thighs still damp from the shower. Getting her only bra on, still stained red, and the clean black singlet felt like playing a cruel version of Twister but she managed.

Throwing a long green button up over the top covered her new burns. No one would see through the thick material and Lily hesitantly looked up at the mirror.

She regretted it - she looked awful.

Lily turned away quickly and grabbed her bloody clothes and opened the door. The steam from the bathroom rolled into the corridor as she slowly walked towards her room again. Her footfalls slapped against the wood, her feet not completely dry, but Lily kept her head low as she threw the dirty clothes back in her room in the general vicinity of her bag. She'd deal with them later.

Closing her door, the click of the latch echoing in the quiet house, Lily paused. Her skin felt raw but she felt infinitely better knowing she was clean and there was no blood on her body. Lily didn't want to see the state of her new scar - a part of her was grateful it was on her back where she couldn't see it - but Lily wasn't ready to look properly in a mirror yet.

Lily held her growling stomach, pushing the hunger pains aside as she grabbed the sling she'd received from Cay yesterday from her shirt pocket and walked to the kitchen. She was thinking about a new bandage for her limp arm, swinging carelessly at her side, when someone cleared their throat.

Lily jumped, registering the smell of soothing chocolate before seeing the white-haired nymph perched at the end of the kitchen bench. His feet swung in the air as his violet eyes danced over her. His hair was twisted and tangled like he'd just woken up but his smile was soft.

"Hey Lily," Niall said, waving a hand to a mug of steaming hot chocolate next to him. "There's a hot chocolate for you if you want?"

"Niall, hey." Lily swallowed her surprise. She thought she was alone in the house. What if he'd walked in while I was showering and saw my- "I'd love one, thanks." She cleared her hoarse throat, still scratchy from all the screaming she did yesterday.

Niall cocked his head to the side as he put his empty mug near the sink. "How are you feeling?" He asked. Lily hesitated before sipping the drink, her throat clogging at the thought of talking about last night. Her shoulder was sore but functioning, a part of her was relieved Yuric didn't have his claws in her anymore, but she didn't expect any of the night to go the way it did.

"Better," Lily admitted. "My shoulder doesn't feel as swollen."

"That's great!" Niall said. "I'm glad it worked, for a moment I didn't think it would."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Niall fidgeted, "Jack and the fairy, Claire I think? They were fighting quite harshly when they were trying to get the fragment out."

Lily lowered her hot chocolate, the tangled taste of salted caramel stinging against the emotion in her throat. "Oh." She said. Lily had heard their harsh words this morning as well - did she tell Jack she overheard everything? "Yeah I, I remember some of that."

For a heartbeat silence comforted her before Niall scooted closer on the bench, leaning in swiftly. "My sister Annie thinks you're magic." He grinned.

"Me?" Lily frowned. "Why? The storm was out of my control, not that I have any, and I'm sure Tyrill is utterly destroyed because of me. That's not very magical."

Niall shrugged. "Towns can be rebuilt, it's okay. Just some tipsy trees."

"Tipsy trees?"

"Yeah," Niall leaned over dramatically with a wide grin. "They're on the piss, get it? They're drunk so they're leaning over?"

The snort from Lily's nose surprised her, covering her face to quickly hide her grin. "I get it." She chuckled.

Niall was still smiling, violet eyes gleaming. "Annie was talking about the lightning last night though, in terms of magic."

"What made the lightning magical to her?" Lily asked.

"It was rainbow." Niall spread his arms theatrically. Lily's jaw dropped at the comment, her fingers interlocking out of habit.

"Wait, rainbow lightning?" Lily sipped more of her sweet drink. "But that's a result of atmosphere or distance, or like, dust, haze, moisture... right?"

"Dunno." Niall hopped off the counter, a hand still braced on the marble bench top. "But Annie thought it was magical - she liked the green ones the most, but the purple ones were a close second."

Lily paused hearing the serious tone of his voice. "Why are you telling me this?"

Niall's fingers drummed against the counter. He wasn't looking her way. "Last night was pretty brutal, I can't imagine what it was like for you, but I thought you'd like to know something good came out of it."

Lily was still staring at Niall as he turned to her, smiling softly yet again. "Annie had a fear of thunderstorms before last night - she didn't like how dark they were. Seeing how they could light up, be colourful like you showed? She's not scared of them anymore."

Lily's chest swelled with warmth, blushing furiously, as she set down her mug. She couldn't stop the smile tugging at her mouth or the tears lining her eyes. She hadn't met little Annie yet but Lily would be sure to thank her for making last night's agony worth it in some way.

Niall watched Lily's hand tuck a lock of red hair behind her ear, their silence sparkling with unspoken words before he cleared his throat, pointing at her arm. "Do you need another sling, by the way?" He asked, twisting around the counter.

"Just a bandage actually, if there is one?" Lily said, her good hand gently lifting the paralysed arm onto the counter top.

Niall frowned, staring at the box in his medicine cupboard. "Um, Mum usually puts multiples of everything in here..."

Lily stood, her dead arm dragging on the counter as she watched him put his hands on his hips and turn to her with a shrug. "Downside is, I'm blind, so I have no idea what it looks like."

Lily flushed. "Sorry," she said. How could she forget he was blind? Niall was just so confident with himself, unafraid of what made him different, it was always a surprise to see him held back. "I'll just use the sling in the meantime."

Niall closed the cupboards, walking back around the counter to her side, his fingers trailing the marble. "Do you need a hand? I have two spare."

Lily was still blushing as she held up yesterday's sling. Niall gently grasped it, their fingers brushed, and his cool touch sending goosebumps over her arm. Lily sat back in her chair and waited, holding her dead arm up. Her dark eyes lowered to the white lines of scars over her limb, practically glowing against her pale skin, before the sling covered her vision.

She watched Niall's nimble fingers wrap around her paralysed arm with so much care Lily held her breath. The material gently brushed her upper arm as he drew the sling over her clothes, it clinging to her ample chest, before his fingers coupled at the base of her neck.

Goosebumps tickled her nape and over her shoulders as Niall muttered under his breath. "I think knots go something like this?" He joked as he swiftly and gently tied it in place. His fingers trailed over her neck for a moment longer. When Lily turned her head to see what he was doing, Niall jumped back, blushing. "Just checking if your hair was caught!"

Lily smiled, standing to face him as she tugged at her sling with her other hand. "All secure," she said. "Thank you Niall."

"No problem." The nymph grinned, his violet eyes catching in the light of the window.

"And for the hot chocolate too."

"Oh, well, that was my uncle, but I'll take the credit for him." Niall chuckled, his hands curled into his trouser pockets. He dipped his head, looking to the floor for a moment, before he flicked his gaze up. Lily watched his white hair fly off his face as he smiled at her. "Did you want to meet him?"

Lily's heart thudded. "Is he here? I thought it was just us?"

"It is," Niall quickly clarified, "but they're all down setting up the bonfire again for tonight. Apparently some of it was damaged during the storm, so they're all helping. Did you want to go?"

"I'm not going to be much help with a slung arm and a healing shoulder." Lily admitted.

"Neither am I - I'm blind." Niall shrugged. "But it's just fun to yell at them to put their backs into it. It really winds up Nick - and that brings me so much joy."

Lily laughed. "Okay, I'll go."

"Great, grab your things, I'll grab my things." Niall's feet shuffled against each other as he silently walked to the stairwell. "Meet by the door in 82 seconds!"

"82 seconds?" Lily cocked her head to the side. "Why so specific?"

"That's 78 seconds now!"

Lily shook her head at his antics as he scurried up the stairs to his room. Lily walked back to her own and slipped some thick socks on, covering the red band of scars around her ankles quickly before shoving her feet in trainers. She didn't have the hands to tie her laces so she wedged them into the sides.

It took a minute to slip her good arm in her warm jacket and hurl the other side over her slung arm. Her phone fell into her pocket, Lily didn't see the light flashing to signify notifications, and Lily's eyes fell on the bloody clothes at her feet.

Hearing Niall begin to slide down the banister, she shoved them under the lid of her suitcase and scampered out to meet him. When he landed at the front door first, leaning against it with a grin, Lily shook her head. "I was on time, I promise."

"Uh huh, I think that was at least 90 seconds Lily." Niall teased, his hand trailing the door for the handle. He opened it with a huff, the heavy door unlocking to welcome the icy temperature. Niall fidgeted with his jumper and wafted a hand to the awaiting Tyrill. "Ladies first."

A memory conjured forward in Lily's mind of when Rio and Delta fought to leave the house first. "Age before beauty." Lily joked, repeating one of Delta's quips, and extended her own hand to the door. Niall blinked in surprise.

"Hey I'm not that old." Niall waved his hand again. "Jester before King!"

Lily raised an eyebrow - she hadn't heard that one before. "Crap before shovel!"

"Wow!" Niall dragged out, flying through the front door. "I see how it is, Lily!"

Lily laughed, following suit before closing his door behind them. "Sorry, I couldn't help the last one."

"Nah, no harm done." Niall dramatically clutched his chest. "Only to my dignity, pride, ego, happiness, and good looks."

"You're starting to sound like Nick." Lily pointed out.

"You take that back," Niall looked to her in shock. "My brother doesn't have any dignity after the events of '09."

"What happened in '09?"

"He asked out his first crush at the primary school disco." Niall grinned. "He'd been watching her for years."

"That's...kind of creepy?"

"Well he wasn't watching her close enough to see her hearing aids." Niall began to chuckle. "He asked her out seven times, thinking his 'Sweet Caroline' couldn't hear him over the music so he was yelling it, when he saw that she'd switched off her hearing aids while the music was playing."

"Oh no," Lily's eyes widened. "Oh no."

"Oh yes!" Niall rubbed his hands in glee as he began leading her down his driveway. "Nick realised that while Caroline couldn't hear him, the rest of the school could."

Lily's cheeks burned in embarrassment. "Oh no, that's really humiliating."

"For Nick, yeah, but it happened almost ten years ago." Niall smiled. "It's only funny now. Cay, Annie, and I still tease him about finding his 'Sweet Caroline'."

Lily snorted, covering her face to hide her rapid blush, and when she brought her hand down the laughter died in her belly. Horror washed through her as she finally reached the end of Niall's driveway and saw the damage that had stormed through Tyrill.

I did this. Lily's dark eyes swept over the fallen trees, her heart twisting seeing people already chopping them down and repairing the carnage she accidentally summoned. "I...I caused at lot of damage." She whispered.

Niall followed her gaze. He wasn't completely blind but he still glimpsed the horizon of his town no longer looking quite as jagged - a lot of trees had been brought down. "It's okay - we have a witch here that can help replant trees."

"I'm sure Jack will help." Lily said quietly.

Niall was quiet for a little longer, Lily looking his way to see the scattered gaze. "Yep... Jack... Shall we head to the bonfire?"

"You weren't talking about Jack?"

"Nah, I totally was-"

"There's another witch in Tyrill." Lily realised. "The two other supernaturals Tyrill's hiding - one of them is a witch?"

Niall's mouth hung open, hesitation dancing over his expression before he sighed, giving in to Lily's determined stare. He wasn't blind to the feeling of her watching him, those pin pricks washing over his porcelain skin. "Yes," Niall groaned. "One's a witch."

"You're not hiding them anymore?" Lily blinked.

"There's no point." Niall waved to a row of houses in front of them, Lily spotted a pathway between two jagged fences. "They're joining us at the bonfire tonight - my uncle got word from them that they were coming back early."

"Here? Tonight? Coming back from where?" Lily asked, panic racing over her bones like static. Where did the two supernaturals go? Did they coincidentally leave just before Jack and herself arrived? Did they see the rogues? Were they with the rogues?

"They went hunting for a few days." Niall admitted, holding out his hand. Lily gently grasped it so he had someone to guide him out the way of obstacles he couldn't see. Niall's cool, soft hand squeezed hers as he began leading her towards the path. "Come on, you'll like them!"

"Are...will they like me?"

"I don't see why they wouldn't," Niall smiled. "You're awesome."

Lily flushed, telling herself to stop blushing even though he couldn't see it. Did he notice her hands getting clammy? Or her rapid pulse beneath his fingers? Stop thinking, calm down, come on Lily get it together-

The pathway crunched under her shoes, the rickety stones forcing them to walk slowly, despite Niall's excitement dragging them along. The path opened up to a large clearing with a large, towering stack of fallen branches and sticks - Lily realised they'd been retrieved from the toppled trees this morning. "Wow." She breathed, her eyes roaming the logs around the wood pile - it was a gigantic campfire big enough to house all the residents of Tyrill.