The car exited Ferești and sped up the road towards Văleni, to the intersection that would lead to Lăutari.

Mr Robert owned the most well-known car shop in town. One of his favourite hobbies was buying random shitboxes off of facebook marketplace and trying to either resurrect them or pick them for parts. That particular day he drove an off-white 2004 Toyota Corolla, which Robert loved like one loves the crusty white family dog that's always shaking and coughing.

As their town's forest peppered out, a plain of young green grass stretched to the horizon, miniatures of Văleni's hills up ahead under clouds like egg-whites foam. Garofița watched the green, brown and chartreuse fields through the backseat window.

"Sheep!" She smiled.

"Where?" Robert took his eyes off the road.

"Dude!!" Melinda glared from the passenger seat.

There was a flock of sheep in the distance, white coats and black snouts, with a few lambs and a couple goats. The shepherd was lying down on a blanket and a dog was lazily circling the perimeter.

Along the edges of the road there were weeds with white flowers with spiky dark green leaves and bright red tulips. They passed a small iron crucifix with a plastic wreath stained by rain, indicating where somebody died in an accident.

"A guy I used to know died in a car crash around here too." Robert said. "Some bitch rammed right into him. Died instantly."

"Can we please not talk about that while on the road?" Melinda said, bouncing her leg.

Garofița wore her fuzzy shirt and a nicer pair of blue jeans she thrifted together with Vitalis. Mr Robert wore a t-shirt that said "White Boy Of The Year". Melinda had her pale mauve coat on. At Garo's side was her own coat and scarf, her bag and Melinda's bag, and snacks from Mr Gliga. Garofița also packed some pyjamas from Denisa and every pair of underwear she owned.

"Girl, it's only one day!" Melinda said, bewildered. "You think you'll shit yourself every hour?"

"Y-You never know!" Garofița said.

"One time in Călimari," Robert began to say, "I went to this food place I never heard of before, called Salumia's Snack Shack Crackalack, and I ordered a pizza with pickled jalapenos, pickled watermelon rind, sheep cheese, corn, shrimp and a medium Pepsi. Let's just say I was blasting out of both ends."

"... You think that's where the cult resurrected the undead girl?" Melinda said.

"Maybe!"

"I do want to eat shrimp again at some point again." Robert mused as the green fields and blue skies rolled around them. "Shrimp with tomato sauce..."

"I prefer fish to shrimp." Melinda said, fixing the coat around her shoulders. "I like tuna and sardines the most. I can spread them on bread like butter."

"I like salmon!" Garofița said, thinking about a can of tinned salmon with lemon pepper olive oil she ate with Melinda once, as well as nigiri salmon sushi with glossy teriyaki sauce.

"Man, I'm getting hungry..." Robert laughed.

As they approached the border of Văleni, they passed a deep blue road sign with writing in white letters. Văleni up ahead; Sânmartin, Topa and Lăutari to the left; twice as far away the counties of Bihor and Arad.

"There is a town in Bihor that used to be a village called, Săcuieni." Robert said. "There used to be a renowned chef over there, but he died before I got to eat..."

As Garo listened to him, her eyes opened wide and she scrambled to put on her face mask. Outside of Văleni there were policemen in neon-green vests, stopping cars.

"Robert..." Melinda frowned and hid her purse at her feet.

"It's fine." He said softly, driving to a halt towards the side of the road. "Bălașa isn't home, they'll be on their best behavior."

"Car registration and ID, plea-" The cop, a middle aged man with sunglasses, began to say when he took a closer look at the passengers. "Eyyy, Robeeert!"

"What's up, old fart?" Robert leaned out the window to shake his hand. "Busy first thing in the morning?"

"Just some routine stuff." He said and then turned to another policeman standing by their car. "Flavius! It's Robert! Simo's brother!"

Officer Flavius Bundar pretended not to hear and refused to turn around.

"Alright, get outta here!" The cop chortled and moved out of the way.

They went down the road towards Lăutari and "Dance Monkey" started to play on the radio. Melinda's hand shot to change the station.

"That guy, Flavius, is married. He cheated on his wife with Simo." Robert very non-challantly said.

"W-Why did Miss Simo do it?" Garo asked.

"So he'd be on his best behaviour." He smirked. "Same is with the mayor of Ferești, except she doesn't need to do it anymore since she caught him with one of his employees, Paula. That's his wife's biggest rival since high school, Simona can't deal that much damage alone."

"Other than blackmail material, do y'all gain anything out of this?" Melinda asked.

"We got a nice house in a deal he made with Mirabela! And once a month we go all out for dinner at Furnica." It was one of the nicer restaurants in Ferești. "This month we had this cool thing where it was like sarmale, but instead of cabbage leaves the meat and rice was wrapped in onion scales! And it was cooked in this spicy-sweet tomato sauce that was thiiick, like honey."

"I'm getting hungry too now..." Melinda said.

"Did you two eat this morning?" He asked.

"Just some coffee." Melinda replied.

"Just tea from Mr Gliga." Garofița said.

"We're going to eat at this place I know in Sânmartin!" Robert smiled and hopped in his seat.

Until they could arrive to the road to Sânmartin, they passed by fields of rapiță (it sounds better in Romanian than English). The fresh green gave way to bright yellow flowers, climbing up the thin stalks like snapdragons do, and radiant under the clear sky. In between the endless yellow there were square patches of darker green wheat and barley, just growing out of the soil, looking soft like moss and bending in the wind like ocean waves.

"Aren't there a lot of Romani people in Sânmartin?" Melinda asked.

Garofița stopped her admiration of nature's beauty to furrow her eyebrows, concerned as to where this conversation might go.

"Yeah, I think it's majority Roma." Robert said. "I know the owner of the restaurant is."

"Back when I lived in Lăutari, one of my neighbours was an older Romani lady, Olguța. She was an angel, and she made the meanest ciorbă de perișoare. God, I miss her."

Garofița relaxed. "Black or White" by Michael Jackson awkwardly started playing on the radio. Now that she thought of it, she hadn't seen a lot of Romani people in Ferești, at least not as many as in her old home.

"There aren't a lot of Romani people in Ferești, are there?" She asked out loud.

"Nah, they're like Native Americans." Melinda answered. "They know to stay away from supernatural bullshit. Can you blame them, when you see the bullshit coming from our forest?"

Garo sneakily smiled. She liked her bullshit pets. A lot of cryptids were kind of bullshit creations of nature. She wondered what Melinda would think about them.

Then she wondered how far her immortal spider could travel. She thought about Gleep, Blonker, G.A.D., Dog, Cat, all of them, while watching her sleeves intently.

In her house, Buddy turned his head to watch the spider weaving a new web in the window with the glass panel. It was Pickle at the moment, with a contented happy face on its butt, when it abruptly stopped midair as if shocked. It started shaking, shooting left and right and in circles on its own web, its skin turning brown and yellow and white and countless colours, stretched and compressed but still stuck in its own web. Then it stopped, stood frozen, then resumed its work, trembling legs slowly getting back in their rhythm.

Buddy stared at the scene with baffled beady eyes, then hurried back to the front door, resuming the wait for Garofița.

I guess I'm too far away, Garo thought when her spider wouldn't appear. Maybe it was land-locked to Ferești?

Robert suddenly slowed down the car. Up ahead, on one side of the road was the rapiță fields and on the other, a small patch of trees. From the yellow flowers soared a deer, crossing the street in two weightless leaps and disappearing in the trees. Garofița gasped in joy.

"Careful, there might be others!" Melinda said.

"Eh, it wouldn't be the first time this bad boy hit a deer." Robert said.

"Don't hit them!!" Garo cried out.

But no other deer came out.

A white sign with black letters pointed the way to Sânmartin, a narrow road shooting off to the side of the main one. The wheels of the car produced a crunchy, garbled sound.

They were surrounded by a thin forest with deciduous trees that one could see through all the way to the other side. With the speed of the car, the trunks and their leaves looked like a green, blurred picket fence. Garo wondered if she would see the deer, or figures between the trees, but there were no shapes that may trick her mind.

The Sânmartin village appeared between the trees instead, cream and pink brick houses with reddish roofs and forged iron gates. The road was flanked by canals for water, and geese hissed at them as they passed. Some fences had t-shirts and pants and coats hung up to dry over them. There were rose and lilac bushes as tall as trees. Grannies with colourful headscarves sat by their gates on old wooden benches, like sentinels. They stared at their car, either glaring like the geese or just squinting in the sun.

"Storks!" Garo said, pointing to a nest high up top of a telephone pole, with its homeowners currently present.

"Aww, they got a baby!" Robert said, as excited as her. "That's a good luck omen!"

The restaurant Robert talked about doubled as a corner store, with chairs and tables set up outside with large umbrellas that advertised beer. The back of it was pushed against the forest. Locals stared at the strange car pulling up and hitting a curb as it parked.

"We could get a discount if we say you're Romani." Robert giggled.

"What do you mean?" Garofița said.

"You know... You both got black hair, dark eyes..."

"And?"

"Just saying!"

"That's a weird thing to say..." Garo mumbled as she got out of the car with them.

As they sat down, a little girl around Garo's age passed by on a bicycle. Her dark hair was braided and she had a fat, copper-coloured dog in front of her like a passanger, paws on the handles. The dog seemed perfectly fine with it. Robert whispered to Melinda to quickly braid Garofița's hair and she, Garo, swatted both of them away.

"Hi! I'm Laura! What would you like to eat?" A pretty lady with dark skin, a pink blouse and low-rise jeans came up to them, tapping a pen against a notepad.

"We were looking for breakfast." Robert smiled. "We got a long way ahead."

"Yeah? Where are you headed?"

"To Lăutari. This village is such a breath of fresh air compared to it, though."

"Is it?" She smiled.

"Yeah! It feels like home." Melinda played along. "It's, uh, good to be around your own!"

Laura paused. "Y'all are Roma too?"

"Oh, me? No, no." Robert said, aware of his blue eyes, blonde buzzcut and t-shirt. "I'm just the driver. These ladies are."

Garo tried to discreetly shake her head 'no' while looking at Laura.

The waitress narrowed her eyes. "...this lady here might be Roma. I'm not entirely sure, could be she just needs a tan. But this little girl is a h'white child. That's a caucasian from the mountains of Caucasus. That's a Dacian child. Her skin is the hue of cheese, the shade of freshly washed linens. I would've believed you if you said she's a vampire or something."

"Okay, okay, you got us!" Robert raised his hands in surrender.

They were brought a big platter with 4 kinds of sausage slices, 4 kinds of cheeses, 3 boiled eggs, sliced radishes, cherry tomatoes, a bowl of cooked eggplant to spread on bread, a small jar of strawberry jam, and a loaf of hot white bread, cut up in big fluffy slices. An older lady who looked like Laura brought a mug with hot milk to Garofița, who picked up a fork and tried to look at her reflection in it. Was she really that pale? Laura stayed by the door of the store, giving a group of boys bags of Chio chips and smacking one of them over the head in a sisterly way. Swallows, blackbirds and doves sang in the trees from people's yards and the sun was bright.

"Laura!" A male voice called out from behind the store.

"What?" She called back.

"Where you at!"

"Here, where freaking else?"

An old man came from the side of the building, in a white dress-shirt and with a frankly impressive moustache. "Go home and bring holy water and wormwood, 'kay? There's a weird-ass deer."

"Uncle, I'm at work!" Laura replied.

"We're here, dod gamn it! It's a five minute walk, come on!"

Laura groaned, tipping her head back, and made her way across the street.

"When some spooky bullshit is going on, it's always a deer!" Laura's uncle sat down at the table with them like they were old friends. "As if they aren't freaky enough as is."

"Tell us about it!" Robert said.

"Where y'all from?"

"Ferești."

"My condolences."

"Garo, let's go to the bathroom." Melinda said after wiping her mouth with a tissue.

"It's by the water-cooler, can't miss it!" Laura's presumed mom said.

Garofița did her business as quickly as she could, avoiding the wet floor and an annoying fly buzzing around.

"Wait for me outside, okay?" Melinda told her through the stall's door.

"Okay!" She said, thinking about the fact she took her purse with her. Garo shook her head and kept walking. No way she'd use in a random bathroom, right? Then again, Vitalis smoked and drank whenever and wherever. How do you even 'do' meth?

She stood in front of the door and saw Robert talking with Laura's family, both of them seated with him now. Curiosity tugged at Garo like spider silk and her head turned to that corner where the uncle came from. After checking if they were looking in her direction, which they were not, she tip-toed towards it, covered in the shadow of the trees.

Garofița knew from the moment she looked at the deer that it was a cryptid, or a supernatural creature of some kind.

It looked like a regular doe, but its eyes were huge and bulging out of their sockets, like in cartoons when a character is bonked on the head, how old and sick pugs have them. There was a pale sheen over the orbs, tinted purple from the blood vessels underneath.

All that could be still natural. Maybe it was just a very sick animal. But its mannerism reminded Garo too much of her Walker. How frozen it stood, barely moving as it breathed, how her skin prickled on her arms from being intently watched. Was it a skin-walker? Its skin wasn't sagging anywhere. Garofița sniffed the air, surprising herself with her own gesture. It didn't smell like death. It smelled like damp earth and grass and car exhaust smoke. And the deer looked so frail.

Garo checked over her shoulder, then quietly ran back inside the store. She came back with a paper cup from the water cooler.

"Uhm, hello!" She told the deer.

It didn't react.

"Are you thirsty?"

Getting as close as she dared, Garofița bent forward and stretched out her arm, tilting the cup and accidentally losing a couple drops. The deer stepped forward as if that necessitated all of its strength. Aside from the eyes, it was kind of cute. Its snout looked like Buddy's, but thinner. It drank the whole cup, pushing its nose inside between Garo's fingers.

She smiled, relieved it didn't bite her or something, and reached out her other hand to pet it. The deer moved away, though not suddenly, and she didn't insist. When Melinda came out of the bathroom too, Garo was at the table as if nothing happened.

The bill totaled at 35 lei, with a 5 lei gadjo tax and an additional 10 lei bad liar tax.

When they boarded the car, the motor made a sound nobody liked at all.

"Uh-oh." Robert said.

"What do you mean 'uh-oh' ?" Melinda riled up.

"Not sure, yet."

"I know a half-decent mechanic in Codru." Laura's uncle said. "Should survive until you get there."

"Where's Codru?" Garofița asked.

"Way back South!" Melinda replied.

"It's fine! We'll make a little detour." Robert said. "Better it stops working there than in the middle of the road." He added more quietly.

"Won't we run late?" Garofița asked.

"Naaah! They can wait!"

He honked a couple times as a 'good-bye' and went back the way they came. The grannies were all in their stations, unmoving.

"There was an old shortcut around heeere..." He said, craning his neck to look out his side-window.

There was a flock of sheep between the trees, white with black spots, with a few lambs and a donkey. The dog was lying down on a blanket and a shepherd was lazily circling the perimeter.

"There it is!" Robert said and swerved into a road that had not been maintained since the times of Osman Pazvantoglu. The car rocked left and right like it was dancing, throwing around its passengers.

"Are you trying to kill it for good?!" Melinda asked.

Robert took to driving in a zig-zag pattern to avoid the potholes and uneven ground as much as he could. Along the edges of the road were very big trees with many branches, almost all covered in crow nests. They hung up close to each-other, like a too-busy Christmas tree, and the cawing birds flew back and forth between them and the ground.

"It's a whole freaking city!" Robert said, hitting another hole.

Codru was, despite its name, located in a patch of bare plains, a few minutes away from all woodland. The trees in the distance looked like the walls of a garden, but instead of flowers the fields were dotted by lone shrubs and very, very old wells for farm animals to drink from.

The mechanic was easy to find, as he had a rusty Dacia turned into an elaborate frame for flower pots in the front yard. They were greeted by three dogs who came running and barking up a storm. One of them only had three working legs, yet it was the most ferocious one, almost jumping in the way of the wheels.

Their owner was a man in a grey tank top, with a big beard and a big belly, and a cap that said "I fear fish". He and Robert were bound to get along. He shoo'ed the dogs away so the girls could come out and went into his house to bring a picnic blanket.

"Rest here while I figure out what's the booboo." He said, lying it down under the shade of a chestnut tree.

"He's really nice!" Garofița said as she sat down.

"Of course, he wants clients." Melinda sat down with a huff.

Bees buzzed around a small garden of red and pink geraniums, and the leaves rustled above their heads under a cool breeze. Somewhere behind the house and the garage, from an inner yard, they could hear a rooster crowing.

Back in Ferești, Adrian was on lunch break and on his 5th cigarette of the day. The only person he could talk to about what was going on was the same person who got him into this mess, so Aurora let him blacken his lungs for a bit before talking.

"I'm so fucked..." Adrian said again.

"No, you're not!" She rolled her eyes.

"Easy for you to fucking say!" He snapped, letting out a cloud. She waved it away. "You're already dead!"

"Yeah, I know."

"You don't give a fuck what happens anymore!"

"That's not entirely true."

"No, as long as you got what you wanted! Now I'm gonna lose this fucking job and house!!"

"You won't! Let's think, okay? What's the best thing that could happen?"

"I dunno... They don't realise I was involved at all."

"And what's the worst that could happen?"

"I'm chased out of town."

"Jesus, you're dramatic! Anyway, now that you have the best outcome and the worst outcome in mind, what in reality is most likely to happen is something somewhere in between. Not perfect, but not the absolute worst either."

"That's not making me feel better."

Aurora groaned. "Fine, be miserable for a whole day. Fuck you."

Adrian groaned too.

Garofița and Melinda lay down on the picnic blanket, dozing off while the men tinkered and periodically cursed out. Neither fell asleep completely, but it was so peaceful and quiet, and the noon sun was so warm.

The trio of dogs started barking again and Garofița raised her head, but only opened one eye half-way. There was nobody there beyond the open gate. The green plains were empty as ever.

Her face turned upwards as if dragged down by the weight of her own hair, and she gasped. The chestnut tree was full of crows, a dozen of them.

An old woman came out of the house. Her white hair was cut very short and she wore a tank top as well, her big chest hanging low over her stomach. Her skin was covered in blotchy freckles from the sun. She put her hands on her hips and squinted at the crows. "What's the matter? What did y'all see?"

One crow cawed and flew away.

"Is it them?" The woman nodded towards the guests on the blanket.

"U-Us?!" Garo anxiously got up.

"Huuuhrgh?" Melinda opened her eyes with difficulty.

"Don't mind 'em crows!" The mechanic said, coming out of the garage. "They freak out if somebody farts too loud."

The woman, who introduced herself as Viorica, invited them inside to eat despite Robert and Garo's protests. Their kitchen was full of white doilies and Mother Mary icons, and a bundle of dry basil hung over the door. A pot bubbled on the terracotta stove with a design like a chocolate bar.

Garofița ate pasta noodles with poppy seeds and vanilla milk sauce while the adults talked about the car and Ferești and Codru. Back during communism, when they were forcefully buying out villagers' lands, a bunch of families hid away there. The isolation came in handy during the pandemic too. Viorica pet Garo's head and praised Melinda for her daughter's beauty. They and Robert silently agreed through glances not to correct her.

Robert needed to use the bathroom and Melinda had a coffee to finish, so Garofița stepped back outside, fishing poppy seeds from between her teeth with her tongue. There were only three crows left, peering at something beyond the gate. Garo looked at the dogs and they were huddled under the chestnut tree. It was a very stupid curiosity, but she went with caution to where the crows' beaks were pointing. Her pets desensitized her, for better or for worse.

It was the deer. It was crouched low to the ground, its limbs and spine folding more like a cat's rather than a deer's.

Then it raised itself up and came closer, taking tip-toed (tip-hooved??) steps towards her in an exaggerated mimicry of sneaking around.

Garofița stood frozen in place, too shocked by what she was seeing to react. She had seen scary creatures before, but not like this. As strangely as it moved, it still looked like a blind deer. It wasn't something disguised with a deer skin, writhing underneath the fur, or a bad copy of a deer. It must be a deer like her immortal spider, was what she thought of all things in that moment, but that didn't feel right either.

The deer stopped a couple meters in front of Garofița and raised up its snout, nostrils flared. It sniffed her back.

"Garo! Ready to go?" Robert called out.

The deer shot back to a crouching position close to the ground, then scuttled backwards to the other side of the house.

"Y-Y-Yeah! I'm coming!" She said.

There was a flock of sheep beyond the crow apartments, black and brown, with a few dogs. The lambs were lying down on a blanket and a shepherd was lying face-down on the grass.

They drove in comfortable silence for a while, listening to the radio playing Imagine Dragons, then Cold Play, then Ed Sheeran. Beyond the road to Sânmartin, the rapiță was replaced by an orchard with short trees painted white halfway up their thin trunks.

"I have bad news." Melinda said.

"What's up?" Robert said.

"I need to pee."

"Are you willing to pee in nature?"

"I've done worse."

Robert parked on the side of the orchard. Melinda looked around for a big enough bush to conceal herself, then headed through the trees not that much taller than her.

"Garo, what did Mr Gliga pack for us?" Robert asked, leaning back in his seat.

"Eggy bread!" She replied.

"Hell yeah!"

They each ate one golden-brown goodness, oil dripping down their fingers with each bite. A small falcon elegantly flew over the sky.

"Our country is so pretty!" He said.

"Yeah!" Garofița smiled. "I'm glad I went out today."

"You weren't too excited about it at first, huh?"

"No..."

"It'll be dealt with quickly, don't worry."

"I like my forest-, I mean, uhm, the forest in Ferești the most. Even if it's spooky."

"The spookiness is what makes it cool!"

"Yeah! I... I do like Ferești, even if things get, uh, crazy sometimes."

"Yeaaah..." Robert sighed. "Ferești is full of messed up people. People who have been through bad shit gravitate towards it. Or being there causes more bad shit to happen to you, who knows."

"Have you ever thought of leaving?"

"Ehhh... it's like 'this is hell, but it's OUR hell', you know? Simo and I lived in Văleni for a few weeks because Mirabela wanted us to spy on someone, and one time I stayed in Lăutari for 3 months. I'll take Ferești any day."

"Is it really that bad?" She giggled.

"Lăutari has a shit-ton more crime and Văleni is enemy territory. Above all that, though, they are just boring! I was so bored!"

"I'm really glad I came to Ferești. The people I met have been pretty nice."

"There's a saying, isn't it? Misery loves company. And yeah, it's easier to handle misery when you've got other people with you."

Garofița wasn't sure that was what the saying meant. "Have you been miserable in Ferești, Mr Robert?"

"Oh, plenty of times! When I was 11 and Simo was 2, we became orphans. Our dad fucked off a long time ago, before my sister was born. Our mom..." He pursed his lips as he thought it over. "... she just walked out the house one day and never came back. We never figured out what happened."

"I'm sorry..."

"If it weren't for Marius and Eddy, I may have gone mad." He laughed. "The fuck did I know about looking after a toddler? For a year Simo subsisted on mashed potatoes and tea. I started working for Mirabela so she could go to school, I didn't give a damn about myself."

"Miss Simo is very smart." Garofița smiled. "And... kind of scary."

"Oh, girl, I know. Back when she was keeping boyfriends I always warned them from the start. I was like: listen, kid. This girl does not respect men. You will be psychologically tormented in ways you did not know possible."

Garofița giggled.

"I had nothing to do with it!" He raised his palms. "She was born a misandrist."

"Does she hate on you too?"

"No, not really. I don't think she sees me as a man, if that makes sense. It happens to me too, I forget she's a grown-ass woman." Robert paused for a moment. "Sometimes I get spooked when I look at her, like 'oh, she's an adult, actually'. I guess in my head she's still my baby."

Melinda came back with a handful of green plums. Garofița half-expected to see the deer appear again, so she made a point not to look at the orchard as they drove away.

"For a while I thought she might be gay, and she did try to date a woman once, but nah. She's evil with them too. Simo is better off not dating anyone. Ever." Robert said.

Melinda was bouncing her leg again and rubbing at her eyes.

"You good?" He asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine." She said. "One of my boyfriends was kinda gay."

"Kinda?" Garo laughed.

"He had both ears pierced and spiky bleached hair in the 90s." She huffed. "He also claimed to be a psychic."

"Like, a legit one or...?" Robert asked.

"He said he had a vision from the 'Demiurge' that we were destined to be together."

"Oh, nooo..."

"In my defense," she cringed, "it was my very first relationship at 17."

"He was pulling moves like that at highschool?"

"Oh, no, he was 25 when I was 17."

Robert took his eyes off the road to look at her in horror.

"Yup." She nodded. "And then he was the one who broke up with me. Just one L after the other. Do the kids still say that?"

"Uh, I guess." Garofița said.

"In his defense, I also lied about being 20."

"It was still fucked up of him to do that!" Robert said.

"Yeah, well, it could have been worse." She sighed.

"I never understood this shit." He continued. "Why do grown-ass men go after little girls? Roxi, for example, I've known since she was 15 and she still looks like a child to me."

"I know why I went for him."

"The psychic rizz?" He laughed. "Do kids still say that?"

"Dunno." Garo responded.

"Honestly, anything was better than being at home with my creepy fucking stepdad." Melinda said, staring out the window with her usual stone face. "Psychic dude at least listened when I told him to back off."

"Was he the guy who showed you meth? I think you mentioned it at one point." Robert asked and Garo's ears perked up.

"No, no, that was another guy. Or, well, I guess he did, indirectly. A lot of his friends became my friends, and through them I got into drugs. The meth guy was my second boyfriend."

"Wild."

"Yeah." She sighed again. "Garo, stay away from drugs."

"I will." She said.

"And don't lie about stupid shit."

"I try to." She said and glanced at Mr Robert, who caught it in the rear-view mirror.

"Little white lies don't hurt anybody!" He said.

"Lying about ethnicities for food is weird, I think." Garofița insisted.

"Ah, kids these days." He chuckled. "Do you never lie, Garo?"

All the time. "S-Sometimes I did, but if I got caught I'd get hell for it."

"At your old home?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Has anybody given you hell since you ran away?"

"No..."

"See? Relax! You're in Unreliable Central with us! For all we know, Garofița isn't even your real name and we'd all be cool with it."

That got a giggle out of her.

There was a flock of sheep in the distance, white, with a few lambs. They and the shepherd and the dog were staring at the car as it rolled past.

"Don't look, okay?" Robert calmly said.

"I'm not." Garofița replied, having slid down the backseat.

As the road sign of Lăutari came into view, Robert's phone started ringing. Melinda answered it for him so he could focus on driving.

"Hellooo!" He said.

"Where y'all at?" Marius asked.

"We're entering Lăutari soon! We had some car trouble, but we adapt!"

"You're bringing the rain with you?" Mirabela laughed softly.

"Seems like it!" He glanced up at the grey clouds rolling over the horizon, the spikes of Lăutari's buildings distorting the smooth line.

"Okay, drive carefully. We'll meet at the hotel."

"Gotcha!"

"See you soon!" Garofița added.

"Meli, you coming too?" Robert asked. "Or where do you want me to drop you off?"

"Take me to the suburbs." She said, face and body growing stiffer the closer they got to the big town. Garo wanted to ask if she was okay, but stayed quiet. "You're staying at Hotel Leandru?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Perfect, it's not far from where my sister lives."

Unlike the forests, towns and villages Garo grew familiar with, Lăutari was more like her old hometown: all concrete and 4-5 floors tall apartment buildings, clamouring cars, green pharmacies and red casinos on every corner, a white and blue orthodox church in-between reddish brown brutalist boxes. Hundreds of pigeons perched atop buildings and balconies, puffing up their chests at the people below.

Garofița saw Hotel Leandru up ahead, but Robert's car swerved to the side, to where Melinda was directing them. The narrow streets, made even more narrow by people parking with no common sense, led to quieter areas with old houses and small gardens that survived communism.

"Here." Melinda said, almost breathless.

Melinda's sister's house was very cute, with a forged iron gate and colourful tulips growing in the front garden, a fat cat lounged between them. Across the street from it was a corner store.

"Let me get a pepsi real quick." Robert said and went outside.

Melinda nodded and stared at the house, hands holding her coat tight around herself.

"Melinda?" Garo asked.

"I'm fine. I'm fine..." She said, eyes watery. She took a deep breath and left the car. She stood next to it for a long moment, then crossed the street. Garofița watched her hesitate for another minute to tap on the buzzer by the gate. After she finally did, she pushed the unlocked handle and stepped into the yard.

A little boy with black hair and dark eyes, maybe 9, ran out of the house. Huh, they do look alike. Melinda's son had the biggest smile on his face. Her sister came out too, a blonde version of Melinda, and hugged her too, the boy between them. Melinda's head was low as she cried and they all went inside.

Garofița smiled while watching the scene, feeling herself become melancholic.

"I got a pepsi with lemoh-n." Robert unceremoniously said as he plopped himself back in the driver's seat.

Roxi was waiting for them in front of the hotel and waved excitedly as she saw their car. A concierge in a red suit took the keys (not without side-eyeing the car), while the three of them went through the golden doors, then entered an elevator. They were greeted by everyone else in a hallway with pristine white walls and an endless red rug.

"What took y'all so long?" Marius feigned being grumpy.

"One, two little detours." Robert playfully handed him the bags, almost throwing them at him.

Roxi was texting on her brand new phone, when a facetime call started.

"Hiii!" She smiled and waved at the camera. Marius shushed her since they were still in the hallways.

"Did they arrive well?" Vitalis' voice came out.

"We did!" Garo hopped to be in frame.

"Oh, hey there!" Vitalis smiled. She had a double-chin going on.

"You're going to love your and Roxi's room!" Mihai said.

"Where's Mirabela?" Garo asked, taking hold of the phone.

"Hidin' in her room from the sunlight." Marius said. "We'll all meet downstairs for dinner after it gets dark."

"We'll have nettle soup and roasted duck!" Roxi said as she twirled around a key card.

Garofița was shown how to open the door. It felt like she was opening the vault of a bank. The room inside was snow-white, with the cleanest sheets and walls she had ever seen, a medieval painting of a unicorn on the wall and a soft chocolate-brown carpet underneath. She had a huge TV in front of her own bed and even a little balcony.

"It's so cool!!" She said as she trotted around, holding the phone for Vitalis to see too.

"Check the little fridge!" Vitalis laughed, endeared by her joy. "Rack up Mirabela's bill, okay?"

The bathroom was sleek dark grey with golden speckles, like in beauty influencers' backgrounds, and she would have her own white bathrobe! Roxi had to use the toilet, so Garo took the chance to take off her raggedy shoes and jump on the bed, phone and Capi pear juice still in her hands.

"When's the last time you slept in a real bed?" Vitalis asked, watching her blurred smile.

"At the shelter, two days ago!" She giggled.

Bonus Illustration: