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In the end, not checking the answering machine had been a mistake.

The girls settled in remarkably quickly, though by that evening the house still looked as though a bomb had hit it and both of their rooms had clothes strewn around willy-nilly -- Jacoba was a boy unpacker, she simply took everything out of the suitcases and tried to stuff it back in drawers whether it fitted there or not. Wisp sat in the middle of her floor and sorted everything into colour-coded piles, as happy as she could be, little prisms of yellow twinkling near her hands and her head as she sang to herself. Her voice rang out the house -- Beatrix could hear it even from the other side of the apartment -- and it seemed to be an extremely schizophrenic Sesame Street medley.

" -- we all live in a capital I, in the middle of the desert in the center of the sky -- "

As she flicked through the messages, Thwomp was doing somersaults on her shoulder. It was his way of showing affection, showing off, trying to get her to absently pat his little points as he flopped around gracelessly in endless circles. He knew immediately when she tensed up, stopping the movement and launching himself up near her face, hovering around and worried.

" -- as we work we sing a lively tune, it is great to be so happy on a busy afternoon -- "

There was no great need to hear the rest of the messages after that one, the message from the school, which filled her with great ice-cold gloom and a passing sensation of regret. Regret for the waste, if anything, as she was not a hypocrite: and she was a mother now, too, and at the very least a human being, though had she been twenty years younger she would have tossed her head and said a lot of things about karma and Darwinism. She was not so cruel now.

" -- with today's only chore, we go into the I and we close the door -- "

When Jace looked up and saw her mother standing in the doorway, a little like a lost soul, she immediately startled and dropped the pile of laundry that she had been holding. "Jesus," she said, "okay, okay, I'm cleaning -- "

"Jacoba," said her mother formally, "would you like to meet me in the office?"

"M.B.?" Her daughter's eyes were bewildered, suspicious.

"Please."

" -- lower case n," her sister was singing in the next room, "standing on a hiiii~iiill, the wind is very stiii~iiill -- do you want me to come too, Mommy?"

"You're exempt," said Beatrix. "Come on."

The office was a little dark, the curtains not having been touched by Wisp's hands, and as the sun had long since set only the desk lamp threw anything into relief. All torn t-shirt and suspicion and those big dark-rimmed orange eyes, Jace threw herself down into one of the office chairs and started spinning. She only stopped when her mother shut the door behind her and shut out the rest of the world and Wisp's high, thin singing and looked up: her mother said, "Rosal de Jericó," and she knew something was up that wasn't her in trouble.

"Chill out, M.B.," she said. "Just spit it."

Her mother spat it.

For long moments after Jace just sat there, confused, blank, trying to parse what had just left her mother's lips -- the chair still, her hands still, absolutely confused. Then the confusion swiftly changed to anger, a swift irritation: "No way -- "

"I'm sorry," said Beatrix, and to her own surprise, she quite meant it. "I'm sorry, Jace. I know you and he liked to spend time together sometimes."

"You're kidding." The anger was still there. "That's stupid. That's the stupidest thing I ever heard of. He wouldn't -- how -- I mean, that's -- "

"Sometimes life is unfair and sometimes young people die," said Beatrix, and she felt exhausted. "Of course it's stupid; it's ridiculous, it's not right."

"You're wrong."

"I'm simply sorry you missed the memorial service," continued her mother, "it would have provided closure -- "

"You're wrong," screamed Jace. "You're wrong!"

Both of them were silent in the wake of the sudden outburst, with the redhead knuckling up her fists until they were white. Despite the door being closed, they could still hear Wisp singing: Jacoba yelled quite a lot, so it wasn't as though she saw any reason to stop her noise. " -- on a rocketship high in the air; yes I'd like to visit the moon --"

Presently, her mother said, "Was he really your friend?"

"He's a retard," her daughter shot back. What she did not say could have filled a book as her heart hammered, furious and frantic: he called me Jacie and he was a jerk, and he talked a lot, and he was going to give me music and now he never will, and he hated Antony, and he had plans and a smartass mouth. When she realised that she was already mentally putting him in past tense her mouth took on an ugly look to it, a dark and thunderous scowl, and she was breathing hard and she didn't know why.

She was trying so hard to sit still and just, and just be still, that she did not react when her mother reached out and put her arms around her. She did not push her away but she did not reciprocate -- didn't do anything, didn't burst into tears, didn't howl, just had a little tremor underneath her skin that she couldn't stop. Eventually her mother drew away from her and said, "Keep sitting here, Jericó, I'll get you some black tea," and left the room with Jace silent behind her.

The whole house seemed too quiet, weird, unreal: and Wisp's voice drifted out into the corridor still, lilting, slightly off-key.

" -- though I'd like to look down on the earth fom above
I would miss all the places and people I love
so although I might like it for one afternoon,
I don't want to live on the moon."

"So, Jacie, wanna be my girlfriend?"

It rang in her head and she didn't know why, even if he'd been taking the piss out of her: simply because even though he hadn't really wanted her for a girlfriend and she didn't want to be anyone's girlfriend she would never accuse him of dating Riley again, never accuse him of dating Manuela, and now he'd never be anybody's boyfriend ever because he was ********," she said.

The night was quiet and muffled, all except Wisp, who was not aware that the world was anything but perfect and that flowers did not pick themselves. Her head was all white noise and blankness and the dark, her heart too loud in her own ears. And she was angry: angry at her body for behaving that way, angry for her dry mouth, angry for her anger.

So although I may go, I'll be coming home soon:
'cause I don't want to live on the moon.

The camping trip had left Jace a little rattled; she would have rather died than admit it, too, but the first night back she'd slept with the light on, and she kept on looking suspiciously at dark corners. Her mother didn't hold with superstition. Neither did Jace, not one damn bit, but it didn't change the fact that she'd been scared out of her mind and so had Irelia.

She bummed around when she wasn't with Rel; trained, trained a whole lot, cracked her books open and drearily did the study rap when people weren't around to see. She hung out at the mall, too, to grab a soda and walk around listening to the muzak. Usually those visits were fairly unprofitable, just chilling out: but when she saw a familiar paleblue head in a store as she peered at the window displays, she knew she had cracked the jackpot.

Jace dropped her soda in the bin, crumpling the can absently, and sauntered into the store. As she watched her target pore over the -- oh jesus christ, models? -- she couldn't help herself: she started to laugh.

"If you want me to keep your dirty little secret," she said, "start naming prices, Pervo. How the mighty have fallen."

He turned, giving her a sunny grin that seemed off center on his face. "Oh, hello--" There was a pause. "Irelia!" he said finally, sounding as if he were proud to have remembered her name. "Do you not like models? They're so interesting, especially these--"

He paused. "Homoerotic pieces," he said, as if repeating what he had been told.

"d**k," said Jace, thinking she knew Antony too well and that he was being sarcastic. "Irelia's just my best friend, okay? She's not even here today with me, jerkwad. You seriously need a girlfriend if you're looking at those Japanese cartoon things."

He blinked. "Yes, of course I knew that," he said. "Um... well..." He looked so confused now, looking from the models to the girl with the metal legs and back. "Oh, that must have hurt," he said. "How did you lose your--Oh, of course you don't like to talk about the war."

He looked SO serious when he said that, too. "So are you looking for something?" he asked.

Okay. Although Antony had the ability to be sarcastic, this was going into downright weird. "Why would I be looking for something in here?" she said. "It's a freakin' toy store. I don't know why you're in here. Your dad's gonna disown you."

His eyes narrowed slightly and a tiny smirk pulled at his lips, reminiscent of his old self (ironically enough). "You think so?" he asked. "That's fascinating. How well do you know Sha--my Father?" he asked, putting the box he had been holding down.

"Uh, he's Uncle Jack's gay boyfriend," said Jace, folding her arms. "And pretty much the dad I should have gotten, which I've told you a million times. You need to go see M.B.; wish I'd had the idea to move out before Jack's parents came, she's been trying to dust the toilet."

He blinked. "He's cheerful?" he asked finally. "I'm sorry, give me a minute," he said, turning away from her abruptly. His expression darkened, then lightened again as he turned back to her. "Okay, Delilah--"

"So, look," said Jace, leaning against the shelving, one red eyebrow raised. "Calling me other chicks' names isn't a good way to start, especially Delilah's -- "

What the hell was wrong with him? None of his mannerisms were Antony, his moves, it was like a bad shadow. It was Antony. Precise Antony. He'd never take a joke this far. He'd never call her Delilah. Irelia, sure, okay, if he was being messed-up, but it wasn't like anyone had told him she'd kissed Irelia, and then there were the gay jokes. Maybe he was delirious. You had to check if people were delirious. He could have meningitis or some s**t. She surrepticiously tried to see if he had a fever.

" -- and you know Harper'll be totally pissed if you do that," she added, "considering your hot relationship."

"Oh, I should have thought of th--" He stopped, his expression going blank. "I'm sorry, I don't believe in dating dead people... unless they're very cute, that is," he added with a sunny smile. "So ah... You're not Delilah?"

There was a panicked look on his face for a moment. "Hey! Let's go shopping together!" he said finally, so obviously wanting to distract her.

"You really want to go shopping with me?"

Jace leant in, eyes half-closed, aggressively moving into his personal space, taking one casual step towards him and running a hand through her hair. She looked entranced. "You're asking me," she said, "to go shopping with you? You really wanna spend some... alone time with me, A? Just us?"

He looked her straight in the eyes. "You know, you're extremely cute in a tomboyish way. It's a pity you're so much younger than I am." He gave her a crooked, flirty smile. "But I would love to spend some quality time with you."

Jace leant forward, as though still entranced; she chucked Antony under the chin lightly, and then leant back, looking satisfied. "You really, really think I'm cute?" she said, in a slightly syrupy, starry voice a little reminiscent of Wisp's. "You're not just saying that, A?"

"Why would I just say something like that?" he asked with an innocent smile. "I believe every pretty girl should be told she's pretty, don't you?"

He was starting to wonder what the real Antony was laughing his a** off about, though. All he had said was that she didn't seem to mind the flirting!

Jace ducked her head down as if blushing. Then she reared her fist back, and slugged him in the shoulder, mainly as a warning shot than anything else.

"The day that you ever hit on me," she said, "will be the day that the planet collides with the sun and blows things up, small fires bursting out for no real reason, cats and dogs living together, yadda yadda yadda. You'd rather eat your own tongue than call me 'cute' or 'pretty'. You'd eat your foot before doing anything with me alone. Get my drift? So; you're sick, or like, you're high as hell on something, or worse, 'cause at least Antony high or sick would know not to fake calling me cute -- and if you go near Relia at this point I'll make blood come out your tear ducts. And Antony's my rival, okay, but he's mine, so I'm gonna figure out what the hell is wrong with you."

"Whoa, whoa, calm down!" he said, reaching up to rub his shoulder. "You don't have to hit me! And I don't know what you're talking about. I'm Antony." He looked to the right slightly, and down, obviously lying through his teeth.

"If you're Antony," she challenged, "then what were you, me and Iggy searching for back when we were still kids?"

He looked at her blankly, obviously thinking something. "Um... our asses with both hands?" he asked. Even he didn't seem to think that sounded right, but he said it anyway.

She laughed out loud; it wasn't quite a nice laugh, or a oh you have proven yourself! laugh. Jace pushed her hair out of her face. "Guess you never found yours," she said. "So, I meant what I said about Rel: I'll play nice with you, no beat-the-s**t-out-of-you, but don't go near Irelia. Got it? Got it."

His eyes started to glow, an eerie green that SO didn't go with his body's natural aura. "I would suggest you keep this to yourself, little girl," he said coldly. "It is neither your, nor your... friend Rel's business."

"Yeah, you don't make it Rel's business either, a*****e," said Jace, unconcerned; or at least, trying to look as cool and unconcerned as possible. At least Antony'd shown his true colours. "I don't want her crappy powers mixed up with whatever... you're doing."

His eyes stopped glowing. "Then we are agreed," he said, turning his back on her and walking away.