Then

“Alright, Sunshine, remember how I taught you to do this?” 

“Yes, sir!” Nicole said with a playful salute. 

“Then let’s see it, kiddo,” Dad said. 

Nicole hooked the worm onto her fishing line, and cast it out into the water. The north Atlantic dominated the horizon on all sides, navy blue beneath the clear summer sun. The Sunshower bobbed and dipped ever so slightly in the shifting tides, its pristine white paint job sparkling with water droplets amidst the rising dawn. 

Just Nicole and Dad out on the water- that was what she’d asked for on her eleventh birthday. It was a good distraction from all the things about herself that were starting to not make sense, and it was a good way to get out of the house and away from Zack. Nicole loved her little brother dearly, but his reaction to Nicole dressing up and playing dolls with Monica a few weeks back had made things awkward between them. He’d get over it- Nicole was his big brother… 

No, no that’s not true, Nicole thought through the memory, peering through the ages, wondering how she could have been so stupid as to not put it together. Neither of those things are true. Zack won’t get over it. He never will, you poor little girl.

Her father’s long white hair was bound back in a low ponytail, sunscreen not entirely spread across his middle-aged face. He always looked both older and younger when he was out here on the water, like he’d always been here, and like he was rejuvenated by the ocean’s power and vitality. He cast his own line out onto the water, and it broke through the glassy surface with a ‘plunk.’ “Now then, Sunshine, what’d I teach you? What are the three most important parts if you wanna wrangle a big one?”

Nicole took off her Boston Red Sox cap and blew her hay-colored bangs out of her eyes, then placed the cap back on her skull. “A good line is the first part: you can’t hope to catch anything if your equipment is faulty.”

“Good. What’s next?”

“The right bait,” Nicole said. “People think that one’s simple, but fish can smell the difference between what they like and what they don’t. You gotta have the right bait for the right fish.”

“Excellent, excellent lad.” The sweet words stung, and in the moment Nicole knew not why, and through the ages Nicole reached for her younger self and put a hand on her shoulder. It would be okay eventually. Dad would see her for who she was. It was just that Nicole didn’t see herself as she truly was yet, not at that time. “What’s the last thing you need?”

Nicole smiled. “Real estate.”

“Real estate?”

“Location, location, location,” Nicole said. “Right waters, right time of year, right time of day. Real estate.”

And just like that, something tugged her line, and Nicole reeled it in. 

The cod was enormous, and fed the whole family that night at dinner. And through the filter of memory, Nicole felt the joy she and her father had shared that day, the pride and the exhilaration. And the advice- advice Nicole knew how to put to use.

Now

Nicole channeled the pink light into an orb in her hands, watched it swirl and gyrate as a mesmerizing moving sphere. Sparks ran through her arms, veins of electricity connecting to her heart, to her mind, supercharging every scent of saltwater and fish and seaweed, every decibel of the shifting tide and the seagulls flying and squawking and boats motoring past them over the water, every touch of the fabric of her clothes against her skin and the wind through her hair and the droplets of water spraying onto her face. Lightning flashed inside her brain, like a massive tesla coil of raw, limitless restorative power. She needed to hold onto that, control it. 

“Whoa,” Matt said from ten feet away. They stood on an island out in the harbor, Cass sitting on a tree stump between the two of them. It was an overcast Saturday, cool and wet, and the three of them were the only people on the island. 

It had been difficult to sell Debbi and Father Gonzalez on this, but Nicole had worn her down. They needed the right waters, and they needed to establish a presence there.

Nicole held the pink energy in her hands, and then aimed it at Matt. It launched like a missile, and struck Matt in the chest, absorbing into him rapidly. 

“Well?” Nicole asked. “Feel anything?”

“Mostly a constant, nagging sense of paranoia wherever I go, constantly telling me to stay alert and look for threats because I never know where the next source of violence is gonna come from,” Matt said innocently. 

“That’s interesting,” Cass said, “I constantly feel that. It’s like wherever I go I expect people to challenge me to fights that I wonder if I even care to win anymore.” Cass blinked. “Uh-”

Nicole’s eyes narrowed and her voice flattened and her grin bloomed. “You two really are perfect for each other, ain’tcha?”

Cass glared at her. 

Nicole winced. She hadn’t meant to say that, but then, that was what being around Matt was like. “I meant that in a good way!”

Cass cringed. “Please. Stop. Blondie, I’m begging you to-”

“Hold up, hold up- I think I feel something,” Matt said, pacing back and forth across the beach. An azure glow hummed beneath his skin, and erupted with a navy pulse that slammed into both Nicole and Cass. 

A strange sense of clarity and purpose ran through Nicole at every level, as if there was no truth but the one walled up in her mind, and nothing for her to do besides break down the wall and set that truth free. Before she could stop herself, she rapidly said, “Sometimes when I look at myself in the mirror I see a pathetic impostor, a fake girl living a fake life in a fake world that doesn’t truly accept her, and that she doesn’t deserve anything real. Like I’m secretly in Hell, and I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. I have trouble believing people are sincere when they’re nice to me, especially people who claim to really like me. I still don’t one hundred percent believe my parents or my sister, and I still don’t believe Amy because when I look at her I see all the obnoxious rich kids who made my life miserable growing up and then had the gall to act surprised when I held that against them. And more than anything I’m worried that my bottled up doubt and resentment will inevitably poison all my relationships and I’ll die alone and I’ll deserve it.”

The other two both stared at her. Cass’ jaw was clenched as she sat cross-legged on the stump, while Matt stood before the water’s edge with his jaw dropped. “Wow,” he said. “That’s, um, that’s a lot. Are you ok-”

Then Cass’ dam broke open: “At first I didn’t like you at all, Nicole. I resented you for altering the status quo of our team. Sometimes, I still resent you- I worry about what you’re putting Amy through, and I worry you’re too fragile and too purehearted to do this job effectively. I’m concerned the emotional changes you’ve caused in us all, as well as your own moral cowardice, will get us all killed and leave the world without its protectors. And you constantly butt in on emotional matters that have nothing to do with you, because the pretty white lady needs everything and everyone to be perfect or she’ll start crying again.”

Nicole’s eyes went wide. 

So did Cass’.

Matt developed an incurable fascination with a horseshoe crab scuttling over the sand. 

Nicole felt tears coming, but she clenched her jaw and tried to avoid letting them out. 

Cass, for her part, just looked horrified.

“Oh,” Nicole said, then looked at the ground. 

“And that’s another- you don’t stand up for yourself, even when someone is insulting you to your face- how are you gonna be an effective superhero when you have no regard for your own person!” Cass kept going, looking like she was in physical pain as she said each word. 

“Cass, maybe stop talking now,” Matt said diplomatically. 

 She turned to face Matt. “Dios, you’re pretty. I just wanna tie you to my broom and-”

“I’m gonna take a lap around the island,” Matt said, and off he ran. 

Leaving Nicole and Cass alone together. 

Nicole blinked rapidly. It was as if someone inside her mind was juggling knives and slicing up the sides of her skull. 

Cass undid her hair bun, let the wind shake her charcoal curls loose, and raked her hand through her mane. 

“So,” Nicole said. 

“So.”

“Does it work like some sorta truth bomb?” Nicole asked. “Like, his energy pulse launches, and whoever is hit with it is forced to spill their innermost fears and secrets?”

“Doesn’t even need to ask a question, it just spills out,” Cass monotoned. 

“Interesting.”

“Wicked interesting.”

“...”

“...”

“... Is that really how you feel about me?” Nicole said. 

“... Sometimes, yeah.”

“Wow. That, uh, wow. You really don’t like me at all, do you?”

“No. I mean- it’s complicated,” Cass said, pinching the bridge of her nose. “When you first showed up, Amy was pissed. She didn’t like the idea of having a boy on the team, and she thought you were… Well, an annoying tradcon with outdated ideas about women, to be completely honest-”

“... Yeah, that sounds about right.”

“And I agreed with her because… Well, I didn’t wanna have to think for myself. Because I hate thinking for myself, and I’ve avoided it most of my life. I did what Juanita wanted me to, thought what she wanted me to. Then when I stopped listening to her, it was Bishop Roberts. And then it was Amy, because she was my first real friend. And then the whole… Trans thing came out about you, and I saw a side of Amy I didn’t much like, and I wanted to blame you for that. I was afraid you would be the death of our team, and I was afraid of the idea that my perfect big sister wasn’t perfect.”

“And now?”

“Now I know that’s not true,” Cass said, kicking a rock and then catching it with her telekinesis before it hit the water. She floated it back to herself, then chucked it into the water, then stopped it and floated it back over to herself. “You’ve been good for our team. You’ve helped us out of a lot of scrapes that I don’t know that we’d have survived without you. And you’re selfless, to an extent that baffles me sometimes. But I’ll admit I do still worry about that- I’m afraid you’re gonna get yourself killed, and then we’ll be down a teammate, and… And a friend.”

“Friends?”

“Yeah,” Cass said, smiling reluctantly. “If you like. I’d like to be friends. I know I’m not perfect-”

“Same.”

“And I know I’ve had some serious fuck-ups-”

“Same.”

“But I do wanna be friends.”

Nicole smiled. “Same.”

She walked up to Cass and extended a hand. They shook.

“Feel better?” Nicole asked. 

Cass re-tied her hair into a looser ponytail. “Yeah, honestly. I mean, I still feel like an asshole, but I guess that was necessary to clear the air. How do you feel?”

“I… Look, that was a lot to hear, but I don’t think you’re entirely wrong about some of that stuff,” Nicole admitted, kicking a new rock. Cass stopped it before it hit the water and brought it back over to them, and they resumed the cycle. “I… I’ve always had trouble standing up for myself. Defending what I want. I didn’t come out until God basically forced me to, I didn’t tell my parents so much as my hand was forced, I… There’s other stuff there, childhood stuff I don’t really like to talk about.”

“I mean, same,” Cass said with a smirk. 

“I bet.”

“And, uh, I just have to ask,” Cass said. 

“Go ahead, we’re already facing uncomfortable truths today.”

“You and Amy.”

“What about us?”

 “Do you really not believe her?”

Nicole sighed. “I… Not entirely, no. And I hate myself for that- she’s proven a dozen times over that she’s changed, that she sees me as a woman, that she’s repented.”

“I mean, what would it take-”

“That’s just it! It shouldn’t take anything more! She shouldn’t have to keep proving herself to me, and yet there’s this part of me that thinks she should, like I’m owed constant validation and affirmation and I… Gosh, I feel disgusted even thinking about it. It shouldn’t take anything more, and I should be able to fully forgive her and… And…”

“And?”

“And be with her already,” Nicole said. The rock didn’t stop this time, it simply hit the silvery surface of the water and sank below.  

Cass sighed. “Debbi would probably be a better person to talk to about this than me… I’ve never really had trouble attracting people- short, stacked, and daddy issues tends to drive ‘em wild in my experience- but actually being in a relationship, which is what you guys seem to be considering, that’s outside my wheelhouse. BUT. As someone who knows Amy very well… I don’t usually see her as happy as she is when she’s around you. For whatever that’s worth.”

Nicole smiled. “That’s worth a lot. Thank you.”

“You two good?” Matt called as he rounded the island’s bend and sauntered back over to them.

“Yeah, we gucci,” Cass said. “Hey, um, that comment I made about-”

“Don’t worry about it,” Matt said with a wave of his hand. “Maybe we should head out, though? I’m not loving those clouds.”

“Me neither,” Nicole said, looking up at the gray cloudscape pushed and pulled by the rising wind. “Let’s get back to the Chapel- there’s something I wanna talk to the whole team about.”

“Something serious?” Matt asked. 

“Oh, just a proverbial fishing trip I’ve been planning,” Nicole said, her wry grin returning with a vengeance.

Nicole and Cass transformed, Matt got on the back of Cass’ broom, and the three of them flew over the water and back to shore. 

As the town came into view, as campus came into view wreathed in black and orange and silver and crimson, as Ditko Hall appeared plastered from top to bottom in signage advertising their upcoming Devil’s Eve party, an idea flowered inside Nicole’s mind. 

The right waters, she thought. The right hook. And the right bait.

THEN

Wind swept over the lush green landscape, shaking morning dew loose from the foliage. Hills and valleys rose and fell, and the rivers burst with energetic water, threatening to flood the forests. Everything looked smaller from the sky above, but then, for them, everything in the world was small.

“What do you see, child?” her father asked. 

“I see God’s Green Earth, Abba,” Winona answered. 

Samyaza smiled with all five of his faces. “Very good, Winona. And what is our role in your Grandfather’s Creation?”

“We’re guardians, Abba. Watchers. We make sure the humans are okay.”

“Yes, child, precisely. And tell me: do they look okay to you?”

Winona flew through the sky, and saw the world. She saw the humans making war with each other, killing over precious scraps of food, stealing that which did not belong to them, and some… Some committing acts even more unspeakable than those.

“No, Abba,” Winona said, “They don’t.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Samyaza said as they descended towards Mount Hermon. The other Watchers waited for them there. Only Samyaza brought his child, however. None of the other Nephilim came. They were busy adding to the destruction and ruin of Grandfather’s Green Earth. “So you see then why we must do what we do? Why we must intervene? God will not- He wishes not to violate the sanctity of Free Will. And that is noble. But these humans are savages. Without the gifts we shall give them, they will perish. Do you see, sweet child?”

“I do, Abba.”

“Very good. Then let’s get to work.”

And so the Watchers plotted atop Mount Hermon, while the Earth turned and the eyes of the Lord stared down at them.

NOW

“Hi, Abba,” Winona spoke into her cell phone. Her voice came out the other end- a cell phone without an owner sitting on the farside of the couch, by her sleeping Hellhound Milton. Tears filled her eyes as she imagined Abba’s voice, his comforting words, his immense wisdom. “I just… I needed to talk to you, Abba.”

Whatever is it, my sweet daughter? She imagined him saying.

“I’m so scared, Abba.”

Of what?

“That I might never be able to see you again. That the closest I’ll come is… Is the flashes I get in my nightmares, of your corpse looming over me beneath the Floodwater. That I’ll be alone forever.”

You’re not alone, Winona. 

“But I am. Cyrus is back in the Floodwater, and Aidan is in a coma, and my human followers have both been put out of commission. All that’s left is Aidan’s mother.”

She is a valuable ally.

“I know she is, I know. And I… This would all be so much easier if you were here. We could take over Hell and work on rebuilding it- we could keep all the people here on Earth safe.”

These are noble goals, my child.

“Of course they are! It’s why I don’t understand why they’re resisting! Why she’s resisting! Why all of them are! It doesn’t make sense- can’t they see I’m trying to help them!”

People often resist change, even change that will benefit them. Sometimes it must be forced on them. And sometimes… Sometimes they must be tricked into accepting it.

A smile flowered on Winona’s face. “Heh. You’re absolutely right.” 

A knock-knock-knock ruptured the exterior of her door. “I’ll have to call you back, Abba. I love you.”

I love you too, sugar plumb.

She hung up the phone and answered the door. On the other side stood a woman wearing a wooden devil’s mask painted red. 

“Hey there, Sin-Eater,” Winona said, shepherding her inside. “How’s it going? Eat any good sins lately?”

“Yes, actually, I got a good taste of a woman who hates her daughter with all her heart and soul just last night,” the Sin-Eater replied. 

“How’d it taste?”

“Like whale-meat.”

“Is that good?”

“Not really. Whale meat tastes terrible.”

“Oh. Well I’m sorry then.”

“Eh, it’s fine. Girl’s gotta eat. Besides, it was nutritious.”

Winona cleared some of the mess off her kitchen table and sat down. The Sin-Eater took a seat across from her at the rectangular white plastic table. “How are you holding up?” Winona asked. 

“I’ve been better,” the Sin-Eater replied, shoulders slumped, palms flat on the table. “What about you? I know how you feel about my boy.”

The empty spot inside Winona echoed with the pain of loneliness. “I keep expecting him to wake up next to me, like it was all just a bad dream. And then I remember that this is real, that that… That bitch did this to him.”

“The tranny, you mean?”

“Yeah,” Winona said, her fingernails digging canals into the plastic table.

“I sympathize,” the Sin-Eater said, putting a hand on Winona’s. “My husband and I have been kept apart for most of our time together. It’s trying, but I know we’re strong enough to get through it. And so are you and Aidan. My boy loves you. A mother knows these things.”

Winona gulped. She’d never known her own mother- apparently giving birth a nephilim wasn’t generally something you survived, at least not back then. “Thank you.”

“So, what did you want to talk about today?” the Sin-Eater said. Even behind the mask, Winona could see her smiling. 

“The enemy has one of our skulls,” Winona said. 

“I’m aware,” the Sin-Eater said. “I warned the boy about not taking it into a fight, but he didn’t listen. For all the good it did him.”

“He hasn’t paid attention during his lessons, has he?” Winona said. 

“No, he hasn’t,” the Sin-Eater said. “You have the other skull?”

“Yeah, it’s in a lock-box under my bed,” Winona said. “It’s at capacity, too. So the question is- do we use it to heal our troops, get Aidan back, fix up Archie and Veronica. It would set us back by months, and I’m not sure we can afford to do that now that Astaroth is in town. But at the same time… I couldn’t bring myself to keep a mother separate from her child when there’s something I can do about it. So I wanted to ask you for your input.”

Behind the mask, the Sin-Eater’s eyes watered. “Thank you. That means a lot to me. But honestly… Aidan wouldn’t like it if we shot ourselves in the foot for his benefit.”

Winona gave a quiet sigh and a sad smile. “Yes. You’re right about that. So what about splitting the difference?”

The Sin-Eater leaned forward. “I’m listening.”

“Something big. Bigger than anything we’ve attempted so far. Something that will serve as a distraction while we go get that other skull back, and use it to heal Aidan and Archie and Veronica.”

The Sin-Eater took off her mask so Winona could see her smile. “Did you have something specific in mind?”

***

Heather lept from her broomstick into the open maw of a demonic ferret. It was gallivanting down the cobblestone paths of Acorn Street, biting and clawing at everyone it came across. No dead so far, and Heather intended to keep it that way. 

The ferret was the size of a submarine, down on all fours, fangs and claws the same shimmering silver as the clouded-over sky. A dampness clung to the air, to the buildings, to Heather, and to the ferret as it tried to dig up the cobblestones and bury people and street signs and garbage cans in the holes. It screeched as Heather lept into its mouth and used all her considerable might to keep its jaw pried open. Heather grinned: this was more like it. A problem she knew how to solve. She was half-tempted to kiss her biceps as she effortlessly kept the ferret’s mouth open despite its shaking and thrashing. 

She channeled Holy light, and the beast’s teeth were burnt, but the smoke didn’t rush from it. It flailed about some more, kicking out a shop window with its hind-leg. Heather was shaken loose and landed on the cobblestone ground. 

“Fucking shit,” she muttered. 

She noticed a speck in the sky above, gradually getting lower. 

Fine then. 

Heather ran up to the ferret and punched it, knocking it over. She grabbed it by the scruff and heaved it into the sky with all her might, while Amy hurdled downwards and delivered a Holy Light kick to its skull. The black demonic smoke exploded out from the ferret, and when it cleared, a normal and honestly quite adorable white and gray ferret was left in its place. 

Heather grabbed it by the scruff and held it away from her face as it tried in vain to scratch her. “Yeah, that’s right! Take that!” Heather sneered.

“... You good?” Amy asked. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

“Why do you ask?”

“You’re glaring real hard at that rodent.”

“... Actually, it’s a mustelid, not a rodent.”

“Heather,” Amy said, eyes narrow. 

Heather sighed and got on her broom, then gestured for Amy to follow her. 

They took flight, Heather still clutching the ferret in her hands. It stopped thrashing, and was mostly just holding onto her for dear life. They flew just above the buildings, drinking in the sights of pumpkins and jack o’lanterns, of spider-webs in windows and fake graves and bones decorating the outside of brownstones and houses, of orange and black lights lining doors and fake blood splattered across the faces of homes. A veritable cornucopia of the macabre, all assembled and sprawled out in preparation for the season of the witch.  

“Hey, I wanna ask you something,” Heather said. May as well do this now. Haven’t had a chance to talk to Amy one-on-one in ages. 

“Yeah? What’s up?” Amy asked, the pointy tip of her yellow hat bending in the wind. 

“So you’re pretty religious, yeah?”

“What gave it away?” Amy said, eyes narrowing, brows rising. “The cross necklace? The fact that I was in the church choir growing up? The part where I pray to God every night begging him to make me less of a fucking bitch-”

“Jesus, Amy!”

“But yeah, I’m pretty religious. Why, what’s up?”

Heather sighed. The ferret had passed out on her shoulder, presumably out of sheer terror. “Well, as you’ve noticed, I’ve been having some-”

“Performance issues?” Amy smirked. 

“Goddammit, you’re worse than your sister!”

“Heh heh heh,” Amy laughed. 

“But yes, performance issues. I’ve been thinking maybe it’s because I’ve never been super religious. My powers are definitely working better than they were two weeks ago, but I still haven’t been able to fully exorcize a demon since I went up against Cyrus. I can wound them, but that’s about it. It always takes someone else to finish the job. I just… I don’t know what to do. I thought believing in myself, and in me and Debbi, was the answer, but… I don’t know if it’s enough. I don’t know… If I’m enough.”

“Hm,” Amy said, “Well that’s bullshit.”

“... What?!”

“Heather, it’s not about belief. It’s about faith. Faith that you’re doing the right thing, faith that your actions matter, that you’re helping people,” Amy said. “Look, I don’t want this to sound condescending-”

“What, you? Never.”

“Fuck off,” Amy rolled her eyes. “But before Nicole, you were the new kid on the block. And we were in a lull for most of your first year on the job. We dealt with a monster a week at most, and as far as I know we kept almost everyone from dying. It’s not that you don’t have faith. It’s that it hasn’t been tested.”

“... Until now?” Heather said. 

Amy snapped her fingers. “Exactly. This is your crucible- the first step to surviving it is believing that you can.”

“So I do need to believe in myself?” Heather asked, scratching the side of her head. 

“You need to believe you can get through this, and that it’s worth getting through, and that you’re worthy of getting through it. Trust me, I struggle with that last part a lot, so I know it’s easier said than done, but it is possible.”

“Okay, but how do I do that? Prayer?” Heather asked. 

“If that’s what works for you, then yeah,” Amy said. “If not, then you’ll find something else. What’s something you love doing, something that gives you immeasurable joy? And don’t say sex- that’s too easy.”

“...”

“You were gonna say sex, weren’t you?” Amy asked.

“Maybe.”

Amy stared blankly. 

“Yes,” Heather said. 

“Look, it… It can’t be another person,” Amy said. “You can’t just live for other people. Trust me, I’ve tried. It’s a slippery slope, at the bottom of which is crippling codependency.”

“Fuck,” Heather spat. 

“You don’t have to know the answer right away,” Amy said as Saint Joseph’s came into view on the horizon. “Just think about it- we can talk about this some more in a day or two. Okay?”

Heather sighed, then breathed in through her nose and tried her best to smile. “Okay.”

They arrived at the church while a wall of fog blew past them, wetting Heather’s skin and making the ferret squirm.

The rest of the team was already assembled inside the church. Nicole and Debbi both ran over to them. Nicole grabbed Amy’s hands, while Debbi eyed the ferret in Heather’s grip. 

“Did you get me a present?” Debbi said, letting the ferret sniff her hand. It licked her. 

“I don’t think you’re allowed to keep a ferret in your dorm,” Heather said wryly. 

“Ah, but he’s so cute- I think I’ll call him Jonathan.”

“Why Jonathan?”

“He just looks like a Jonathan.”

They sat down next to each other in a pew, cooing over the squirming ferret as it desperately tried to escape. Eventually, Heather started scratching it under its chin until it began groaning happily, then the thing fell asleep on Heather’s lap. Apparently we have a ferret now.

“Anything of note?” Debbi asked.

“Nobody died,” Amy said proudly. 

“Well that’s good at least. What about you, research squad?”

“I can make people spill their innermost secrets with zero prompting,” Matt said. 

“Ooh, any hot goss to share about these two?” Debbi said, gesturing to Nicole and Cass. 

Nicole sighed. Cass gave Debbi the middle finger. 

“Cassandra, please, you’re in God’s House,” Father Gonzalez said as he and Sister Quinn swept behind the altar. Bishop Marcus was busy polishing all the metals, while Abe dusted the stained glass windows.

Cass didn’t fight this time, didn’t protest, simply nodded and dropped the finger. 

“I’ve been thinking,” Nicole said, standing up in the pew across the aisle. 

“Impossible,” Amy smirked, sitting next to her on the end nearest to the aisle. “Too blonde. Doesn’t compute.”

Nicole put her hand on the side of Amy’s head and gave a playful shove. “Quiet, you.”

“Ugh, yes ma’am,” Amy rolled her eyes. 

Heather balked. She didn’t know what conversation these two had had, but clearly they’d worked some stuff out. Good for them. 

“So I was thinking my Smart Blonde ™ thoughts and realized there’s a very simple and very effective way to draw out Winona and get the drop on her, and to get her to spill her guts without even realizing it,” Nicole said. “Devil’s Eve is on Friday, and Ditko Hall is having a party for it. We haven’t seen or heard from Winona in two weeks, outside of the odd monster battle. Now, Winona is lots of things, and a party girl is absolutely one of them. She’ll be there. I’m ninety-nine percent sure I first met Winona at one of Ditko Hall’s ragers, when she was hanging off of my old roommate. She loves that place- it’s literally a non-stop kegger. They’re throwing an even bigger party than usual? She’ll be there. Especially if we’re all there. Especially if Amy and I are there. We’ve got unfinished business. We corner her there and we draw her away from the crowd, and use Matt’s truth bomb on her to figure out her plans and how to stop her.”

“Not bad,” Debbi said, stroking her chin. “But what if she goes after civilians?”

“She won’t- that’d ruin the party,” Amy said. “Trust me on that- there have been several times over the years she could’ve tried something like that at a party we both attended. She didn’t because she was too busy trying to get me to dance with her.”

“That’s true, but still, it seems like a dice-roll,” Heather said. “She could try to unleash her demons, or try to possess the party-goers.”

“I did think of that,” Nicole said, “But. There’s something I’ve been cooking up- our powers are amplified around each other, and then exponentially more so when I share my powers with you. What if we use that with our Holy Light, send out a wave of anti-possession, as it were?”

“We would have to practice at it, but the concept is sound,” Cass offered. 

“Plus, if all six of us are there, my healing powers will be amplified anyway,” Nicole pointed out. “We draw Winona out, get her away from the party, disarm her with our powers, get the truth out of her, and then, here’s the kicker- we get her out onto the water for our final fight. She’s always on edge when she’s over the ocean- we work that to our advantage.” 

“... And then what?” Heather asked. 

Nicole blinked. 

“Nicole, have you given any thought to how that fight ends?” Heather said. “Winona isn’t a demon- we can’t just exorcize her and be done with it. We might have to-”

Nicole sat down. “We might be able to get her to see reason.”

Heather suppressed a groan. Nicole couldn’t possibly be that naive, could she? “That seems like a tall ask. She’s… Well she’s kind of a complete psycho, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“We do have one thing on her,” Amy pointed out. “She’s running out of allies and has enemies everywhere. Astra, for one thing, plus all the other factions trying to conquer Hell.”

“Amy,” Debbi said, leaning forward and staring at her sister, “You of all people can’t possibly be suggesting-”

“That we take someone who’s been ruining all of our lives and aim them like a weapon against someone way worse?” Amy said. “Yeah, actually I am suggesting it.”

“Still feels like a longshot,” Heather said. 

 “Maybe we should vote,” Cass suggested. 

Heather and Debbi both side, while the ferret rolled over onto his back. “Okay,” Debbi said. “Let’s vote. All in favor of Nicole’s mildly insane plan?”

Nicole, Amy, Cass, and Matt all agreed to it. 

Dammit, Heather thought, This won’t work. There is no way this will work. 

She squeezed Debbi’s hand, perhaps too tight, and put the other in a protective position over her new pet. This was going to be an ordeal, she could already tell. And she didn’t know which was worse- the fact that Nicole and the others seemed convinced this was a great idea, or the fact that Heather was convinced it was a terrible one. Or maybe the fact that that’s the only thing I have any faith in, she thought. 

***

“So, have you thought about what you’re gonna wear?” Amy asked. 

“Hm?” Nicole asked, “what do you mean?”

They stood together in the kitchen, Amy supervising while Nicole chopped up vegetables to grill on the balcony alongside their salmon. Fog painted the windows, while their fireplace crackled with a pyre. “To the party, is what I mean.”

“Um, aren’t we gonna be working?” Nicole said. 

“Did you not go to the Ditko Hall Devil’s Eve party last year?” Amy asked.

“No, I cannot say I did,” Nicole said. “Also, I’ve never been super big on the whole dressing up for Halloween thing.”

“They won’t even let you in the door without a costume,” Amy said. 

“Oh,” Nicole said as she finished chopping. “Well that’s annoying.”

“Yeah, but… Well, last year and the years before, you were… Not yourself yet. Getting dressed up on Halloween is way more fun when you’re a girl.”

“But we’re not doing this to have fun, we’re doing it to save the world,” Nicole said. 

“Yeah, but,” Amy started, “How do I put this? We still need to have things in life that we enjoy, ya know?”

“‘Ya know,’” Nicole repeated, with a slight smile. 

Amy blushed. “You’re rubbing off on me.”

“Phrasing.”

“STAHP!” Amy groaned. “Look, what I’m trying to say is, there’s this whole part of being a girl you haven’t gotten to experience yet, and yeah, we’re working, we’re fighting the good fight, but like, we still should hold onto the things that make us want to fight the good fight. We should still do the things we enjoy, even if we only get to enjoy them for a few minutes before everything goes crazy like it usually does. Otherwise, it’s all crazy all the time, and that’ll make you-”

“Crazy?” Nicole said as she slid the vegetables from the cutting board onto a plate and carried them outside to the roaring grill. Amy grabbed the plate with the marinated salmon and brought it with them. 

“I mean, yeah,” Amy said as they stepped out into the cold, damp autumnal evening air. “You’re a physical therapist in training- you know you have to give yourself a good reason to keep pushing yourself.”

“Pushing yourself is the right thing to do, like saving the world. Whether or not I enjoy doing it is irrelevant,” Nicole said as she put the veggies on the grill and painted them with lemon juice. 

“Yeah…,” Amy said, “But you can’t do that all the time- you’ll get exhausted. Burnt out. Okay, please trust me on this- I’ve been a superhero longer than you and there’s been times I’ve… Done what I think you’re doing and it made me depressed and miserable. Same with Cass. Probably same with Heather- given a conversation I had with her today, I think she’s dealing with some of that right now.” 

Nicole watched the vegetables cook on the grill, the aroma drifting up into the foggy air and seasoning the sky. Amy was worried about her, truly worried for her well-being. She couldn’t really blame her for that, especially given how Nicole had been a week ago. “I… I see your point. I still don’t have anything to wear though.”

“I can help with that,” Amy said with a wave of her hand, flipping some of the vegetables with a pair of metal tongs. “I have a few extra-”

“Amy I’m five inches taller and two cup sizes smaller than you- how is that gonna work?” Nicole said with a raised eyebrow. “Unless this was all an excuse to get me into a tight outfit-”

Amy gave that adorable, nervous giggle of hers, the one that she did when she thought she’d been caught with her hand in the proverbial cookie jar. “Mmmmaybe. But if you’re not up for that, we can always buy you something.”

“I don’t have the money.”

“I do.”

“Amy, I’m already living here rent-free,” Nicole pointed out. 

“Then you can pay me back- it’s a Halloween costume. This is the Bay State, and it’s October- they’re not gonna be out yet. C’mon- there’s gotta be something you’ve always wanted to dress up as, something you’ve been denying wanting to look like since you were a little girl.”

“... There is one thing,” Nicole said.

“What?” Amy asked as she used the tongs to remove the veggies from the grill. 

Nicole placed the fish atop the grill and wafted the scent- ahhh, salmon. “You’re gonna laugh.”

“I won’t laugh- I promise!”

“... The Little Mermaid.”

Amy went silent while Nicole stared at the fish. 

“Well?” Nicole asked. “Anything to add?”

Amy bit her lower lip. 

Nicole’s eyes narrowed. “You’re making fun of me.”

“Actually, I’m picturing you in the sea shells,” Amy smiled. 

“Blue Blazes, what am I gonna do with you,” Nicole rolled her eyes. “I actually meant the pink dress she wears at the first dinner.”

“Oh! Yeah, that works too! I’m sure we can find something before the week is out.”

“Okay, fine, I will get dressed up before we lure in and trap a lunatic nephilim,” Nicole monotoned. “But what about you? What are you gonna wear?”

“Oh, I always just wear my old cheerleading uniform,” Amy shrugged. “Still fits, so why not?”

That was when Nicole bit her lower lip.

“Something to add?”

“Oh, nothing at all,” Nicole smiled. 

They finished cooking their meal, and retired inside for the evening, putting a certain aquatic cartoon film on the television while they ate. They cleared the dishes, ran the dishwasher, and when the time came for them both to go to bed, they parted ways and went to their respective rooms only with great reluctance. 

Nicole looked up at the ceiling as sleep slowly came for her. Things that I like, she thought. Things that make me want to keep going, keep fighting the good fight. I think I’ve got something like that.