Birds sang as early as 4 in the morning and didn't stop until 7, so loud she would wonder if they were in the room with her. Garofița lazed in bed while listening to them, until the Sun's warm rays traversed over her face and she opened her eyes. She could see her spider's shadow on her blanket, then over Buddy's still closed eyes as it renovated its web. Garo watched it weave for a while with the green forest behind it, swaying in the gentle wind. She saw her crow fly by too, wing feathers long and elegant.

She stretched and got up with a smile. "Good morning, everyone!"

They ate a classic breakfast of peanut butter spread on bread, then canned fruit with syruppy juice. Garofița already felt full, but she forced herself to eat another circle of pineapple. After the shock in the bathroom at the hotel, she decided her next goal was to gain weight.

She looked over at Buddy, his belly dangling as he sat down. How did he gain weight so fast? Garofița lightly shoved him to the ground and petted his belly while his tail thunked on the floor. "Fatty. Fat. Fatass."

Walker finished eating his portion, but still sniffed at the empty can. She frowned as she looked at his bare face. What on earth happened? Could it fall off like that? Garofița reached over and brushed his forehead, pushing the skin off like a hoodie. Walker hissed, loud and quick, and rushed to pull it back over his dome. He looked like a red hairless cat without ears and lips.

Garo was startled from this thought when Walker suddenly swiped his claw at her, making her jump and fall backwards and making Buddy yelp. It was lightning fast, even faster. In a second she saw the off-white claw before her face and in another second it was gone.

"What the hell?!" Garofița cried out, the flash of fear quickly replaced by indignation. She stomped to her backpack and pulled out the old bottle of iodine tincture, all dried up, but he didn't need to know that. Walker expeditiously behaved himself, hiding his bad leg beneath himself. "That's what I thought." She scoffed, looking down her nose. "Ugly-ass boy."

Order restored, Buddy rejoined Garofița's side. Bezea was busy giving herself a bath. Garo decided to remove the tarpaulin off the windows, since it was getting hot outside. She nailed them to the old walls and she kind of dreaded taking out all the nails, so she picked up a pair of scissors and cut them up in the middle. She had ribbons from the thrift store and within moments she had plastic curtains gathered with blue bows.

"It's cute, ain't it?" She asked her peanut audience, her accent turning inexplicably Southern. She tied a bow around the actual curtain she draped over the main doorframe, in the middle, making two passages.

House refreshed, Garofița and Buddy went to fetch water from the spring. A chubby bumblebee inspected her shirt and blackbirds searched for worms. Buddy paused his trot to look somewhere between the trees. Garo followed where his snout pointed and she saw the matted figure of the shepherd dog. Its ears perked up in recognition at the same time Garofița waved. Then got an idea. "Did you see Aurora?" She called out. He didn't answer and just kept walking, doing whatever business he had in the forest. Oh, well.

Garo picked still yellow dandelions and grape-like clusters of linden flowers to keep eating. Most flowers were edible according to her foraging guide, but results varied in satisfaction.

As they got closer to the spring, she came across a truly decadent delicacy: a small, pale-purple lilac bush, nestled between trees and weeds. She picked a cluster and cautiously tried a tiny flower. It didn't taste like much, but its lovely perfume was there. She felt like a fairy, then she wondered how Smaranda's pregnancy was going. Then she felt romantic. The witch of the woods who smells like lilacs! Miss Garofița of Ferești and her fruity familiars!

One hand holding the empty bottle and the other holding her new snack, she reached the spring. You could tell by the sound it was blissfully cold. As she waited for the bottle to fill up, she watched Buddy lap at the puddle on the ground. There were weird footmarks in the mud again, like the ones she saw during winter. Feet bent at weird angles, long toes and sharp heels. If it was Aurora, were her feet fucked up?

Buddy suddenly sprinted into the bushes. Before she could react, she heard the sounds of somebody coming up the path. She turned around and locked eyes with Adrian.

"Oh, it's you." He said, startled to see someone there.

"Hello." Garofița said, not fully turning her body to face him.

"What, uh, what are you doing here?" He asked.

"Fetching water." She said, pointing to the bottle under the tap. "You?"

"Yeah, same..." He glanced down at his hands that held no bottle. Garo's eyes shot to them too, then tensely back up at his face. "Uhhh, do you need help?" He asked.

"No, I'm good." She replied.

"Okay, okay... How, uh, how was Lăutari? Did everything go okay?"

"I think so." Garofița shrugged. "Gabi will be moved to a psych ward."

"So I've heard... It's kinda crazy, isn't it? They can just... make things happen."

"Yeah..." She said, pensively. Then she ate another lilac flower, picking it directly with her teeth. Adrian looked taken aback, and she was glad. "They're kind of ridiculous too."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, like... the way they all act."

"The people from Amante?"

"Not just them... Adults in general. They're not that scary once you know them."

"Yeah..." He laughed softly. "I guess it's like that with a lot of things."

Garofița took another bite of her lilac, baring her teeth slightly as she had to tug at the stem. "Did anything interesting happen here while we were away?"

"Uhhh, no, no, not much. Just the usual, y'know. Yeah."

Garofița stared at Adrian while chewing. "Okay."

"Okay..." Adrian nodded. "Well, I, uh, I'll leave you be. I'm gonna head to work."

"You don't want water?"

"I-I'll just buy a bottle. Have a good day!" He walked away. As he was surrounded by foliage, he pulled out his phone. God damn it, Aurora, answer already! Where are you?!

Garo didn't reciprocate the greeting, just watched him go with a baffled expression. What a weirdo. Buddy came back, his face peeking from between leaves.

As she headed back home, she heard rustling behind the two of them again. She and Buddy both turned around casually, not expecting much.

It was the deer.

The one she saw on the roadtrip. The one with bulging eyes and wrong bones.

It followed her all the way to Ferești?!

Garo snatched up Buddy and held him like the heavy bottle, hauling ass back towards her house.

Walker and Bezea were spooked by her sudden return and the thud of the bottle. Thankfully, it was plastic. Garofița spun her head left and right, then undid the bows for the window curtains. Aaagh, she needed curtains for the window with glass too!

On one hand, the deer was friendly in her dream at the hotel. On another hand, why and how in the fuck did it follow her all the way home? Did it follow Mr Robert's car?

Mr Robert! Everyone!

"Okay, okay, guys!" Garofița addressed her pets. "I'm gonna run into town real quick! There's a, uh, deer... thing. It was friendly so far with me, but dunno how it will be y'all. So, uh, uhh, just stay here! Okay?"

"Okay" Walker parroted.

"Good enough!" She said and quickly bent to kiss Buddy's head, then bolted out the front door.

She made it to the encampment in record time and, thank the Heavens, Roxi and Mihai were there. Catching her breath gave them and the others time to welcome Garofița back.

"Morniiing!" Denisa ran up to her.

"Welcome back!" Mr Eduard waved from where he was sitting down.

"H-Hi! Hello!" Garo straightened up.

"How are you? Is, uh, stuff okay around your house? Around the woods?" Denisa asked.

"Y-Yeah? Why?"

"Just asking! No reason!"

"How was Lăutari?" Ștefan and Laura asked almost at the same time.

"It was alright."

"Is Gabi really going to a mental hospital?" Filip asked.

"Only for a few months!" Roxi replied.

"R-Roxi! Mihai!" Garofița tried to whisper, stepping closer to them.

"Did he figure out what Aurora is?" Laura asked.

"Yes, but Mr Ozsvar said we should keep it secret!" Roxi said. "Aurora is kinda stalking us and it may cause her an existential meltdown if she found out."

"...the fuck?"

"Yeah, so the plan is to make contact first, then 'ease' her into it."

"Guys...!" Garo whispered again.

"What's up?" Mihai responded first, leaning down.

"It followed me...!"

"Who followed you?" Roxi's head whipped towards her.

"T-The deer!"

"The deer?" Mihai raised his eyebrows.

"The what?" Roxi asked again.

"A-A deer! I, uh, I saw it in Sânmartin, t-then it appeared in a dream when I was at the hotel..."

"Don't tell me you came back with another freaking pet!" Vitalis said as she came out of her tent, groaning like an old person.

"G-Good morning!" Garofița bounced on her heels.

"Morning, kid!" She came over and hugged Garofița from the side. It surprised her, but she immediately hugged Vitalis back. "Gabi is going to a psych ward, after all?"

"The one in Călimari!"

"In the town where this all started?"

"Yep!"

"What a shit-show." She groaned, then turned to Garofița. "What did you say? A deer?"

"Guys, can you help me for a second?" Mrs Heredea called out from the other side of the encampment.

"Get back to work!" Eduard jokingly ordered.

"We'll be right back!" Roxi told Garo. The others dispersed too, leaving just the two of the near the gate.

"Yes, uh, a deer that can join your dreams." She answered Vitalis.

"God damn." Vitalis pulled out her first cigarette of the day. "First the spider, now this. You really are a supernatural magnet."

Garofița went quiet for a long moment, kneading at her own hands while Vitalis savoured the first drag. "I, uh..."

"Hmm?"

"N-Nothing..."

"You can tell me." Vitalis encouraged.

"I..." Garofița swallowed thickly. She wouldn't be able to speak if she looked up, so she did it while staring at the ground. "I've... I've been lying to you..."

"About what?"

"M-My pets... My dogs are... not... dogs..."

Vitalis took another drag. Garofița cautiously glanced up. She looked perfectly calm.

"What are they, then?"

"Uhh..." Garo stammered, not having planned to make it this far. "Buh-Buddy is a cryptid, a common cryptid, you know, small and white-"

"You have a pet cryptid?"

"Y-Yeah..."

"Like the hairdresser's boy?"

"Yeah!" Garofița said, hopeful, raising her eyes.

"Honestly, that explains why you're so cool with so much supernatural nonsense." Vitalis said, blowing a thin blue line.

"Yeah, I guess I got desensitised, kinda."

"That's one 'dog'. What about the other?"

Garofița's smile fell.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"... please don't get mad at me..."

Vitalis clicked her tongue. "Girl, when am I ever mad at you? What, you got a pet skin-walker or something?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Fuck off."

Garofița appeared in the doorframe of her house, startling her pets again.

"L-Listen!! Everybody behave themselves!" She gasped for air.

Buddy came up to her, and she pushed him back into the room.

"You, especially!" She said through her teeth at Walker.

Walker hissed back at her, but stayed put.

Garofița ran back outside, where Vitalis was waiting for her, a hand in her taupe coat's pocket. She looked tense, but not mad. "Can I come in?" She asked.

"Y-Y-Yeah!" She said and turned back around. Vitalis followed her through the gap in the fence. The tarpaulin curtains were visible from outside.

Garo opened the front door and revealed the empty hallway, a door with a gathered up lace curtain to the side.

"Buddy! Come here!"

Vitalis had seen small cryptids in passing, on the edges of the forest or along roads while in a car. She jumped a little despite herself when Buddy walked up to Garofița, something like a dog with deer legs and no ears. She couldn't decide if he was cute or ugly.

"This is Buddy...!" Garofița said, nervous but a little excited too.

"Huh." Vitalis said, cocking her head to the side. "Why is it so fat?"

"I, uh, I've been feeding him." She giggled.

"You feed him better than you feed yourself!" She leaned over to pet him on the head. Buddy stayed pressed next to Garo, but his tail was wagging. He kind of looked like an English bull terrier.

Vitalis turned her head to the side to look into the main room. She saw Garofița's bed, Bezea who started to look like an adult cat, and the spider in the window. She also saw Walker.

He looked like a grown-ass man, sitting down against the wall with old clothes and matted hair. She thought she could see the glint of an eye through the hair and shuddered. She also saw his leg, its knee pressed to his chest. Vitalis didn't know a lot about skin-walkers, but was pretty sure their legs aren't supposed to look like that. It had an awful scar along the shin, like a crater, and even while sitting down it was bowing inwards.

"That's..." Vitalis said, then coughed and adjusted the cigarette on her lips. "That's...uhh... him?"

"Y-Yeah! Yeah!" Garofița said, going up to Walker. He seemed to ease up with her between him and Vitalis by the door. "Don't freak out..." She petted Walker's head, making Vitalis feel faint, urging him to turn his face upwards. He had no face. The skin he stole had no face anymore, and his real face was on display.

"Cool." Vitalis said with a strangled voice.

"Yeah..." Garofița laughed nervously. Walker's head was about the level of her stomach and he just sat there quietly, almost leaning against her. "Say hello!"

"Hello" He repeated in her voice.

Vitalis inhaled sharply, raising her eyes to the ceiling and taking a step back. "So, uhhhh, you, uh, you okay with him? Here?"

"Yeah, I am, honestly." Garo said. "It's kind of like... having a guard dog, you know? So it's not scary living here alone. If anybody tried to walk in-"

"Yeah, yeah, got it. And he just... listens to you?"

"He does! I mean, sometimes he doesn't, sometimes he's got an attitude. But looking after his leg and giving him food warmed him up to me. And, heh, he kind of needs me." She t apped his bad leg with the tip of her shoe, making him glare up at her. Vitalis almost felt sorry for him.

"Alright... Alright." She said, nodding slowly. "Got it."

"A-Are you mad at me?" Garofița asked, taking her hand away from Walker.

"No... Just a little shocked. God damn it, girl."

Garofița's lips twitched up in an awkward smile, then her eyes pointed down to the floor again. Buddy bumped Vitalis' leg with his snout. She jumped again, then she petted him.

"I need a drink right now." Vitalis suddenly said, heading outside. Garo followed, petting Buddy as well when she passed him.

She closed the door and joined Vitalis who was waiting for her in the street despite her trepidation.

"...Is that the deer?" Vitalis pointed with her cigarette to the forest line, a tone of utter exhaustion in her voice.

"Uhhh, yeah." Garofița looked and confirmed. It was grazing on the grass, politely chewing and looking around. Garo felt stupid for feeling so scared earlier.

"Okay..." Vitalis started walking away.

"Are you sure you're not mad...?" She mumbled.

"I'm not, stop asking!" Vitalis said, then sighed. "I need, like, a minute to process."

Garo nodded, lips tight.

"Damn it, kid!" She said again, laughing. "You look like a calm little soul, meanwhile you were setting up a zoo!"

Garofița burst out giggling. "It's not that bad...! I only have..." She quickly counted in her head. "...six!"

They both quietly laughed as they headed towards Amante. Sometimes a situation is so strange all you can do is laugh.

"... I... I was scared you would tell me to get rid of them." She eventually said, nervous again.

"Why would I do that?" Vitalis asked.

"I-I don't know..."

"I'm not your boss." She shrugged. "And it's worked out for you so far, you seem to know what you're doing. If it's crazy and it works, then it's not crazy."

"You don't think I'm being stupid...?"

"What do I know? There's so much weird shit around here, I'm used to it. Things can still surprise me, obviously, like today, but... I know you and I trust you, kid."

"...don't you want to judge me at least a little bit?"

"Okay, fine!" She smiled down at her. "Out of all the weirdos in this town, you're the best one!"

Garofița smiled too, heart lighter, and hugged her again.

"Mr Eduard has a skin-walker too." She said.

"Yeah, so I've heard." She said. Then she narrowed her eyes. "Am I the last one to find out about yours?"

"N-No! I didn't tell Roxi. Neither Mihai, b-but he probably does."

"Yeah, he probably sensed it. Oh, wait, Mihai told you about himself?"

"Yeah, yeah, at the hotel."

"Okay, cool."

"Yeah."

"Keep everybody on the same page."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Good, good."

Whenever Adrian had a break from work, he paced around the town, stressed out of his mind. Where was she, for God's sake? The morning hours were passing so quickly, and Aurora still made no sign of introducing herself to the Amante staff. She wouldn't answer any of his messages and, when she did, she was monosyllabic. How many times did he have to apologise?!

Oh God, what if she will tell them he knows about her and that he asked her to keep quiet about it?! He's gonna lose his damn apartment!

He was woken up from his panicking march when he passed by Amante and heard Roxi's voice. "You have a WHAT?" She squaked.

"I did smell something, to be honest..." Mihai's quieter voice could be heard.

Adrian shook his head and texted Aurora again. He felt so pathetic.

Adrian wanted to tear his hair out.

Garofița watched him pass by through the window at the library. He was walking fast, not quite running, and he was smoking a cigarette. He was starting to look like Vitalis, but more fidgety.

She turned back to the computer and the sandwich Mrs Heredea packed her. Her birthday was coming up fast and Roxi said they would order sushi! She had given Garo her vinted account login, so she could browse and pick some cute vintage stuff. Roxi decided it was best she chose her own gift. Garo asked to know what Aurora was, but they all said 'no'. Didn't she prove she's great at keeping secrets? Ugh.

Garofița couldn't remember how exactly in the train of thoughts, but she was reminded of ao3. Glancing over her shoulder, she looked it up and searched for her own secret account. She made it on a school computer in her home town, along with a secret email address she only accessed on that school computer. She could not leave any trace with her parents, no matter how innocent, especially after the pinterest debacle. God forbid the child looks up advice on how to deal with their bullshit. God forbid you point out somebody who rolled around in shit smelled bad. Garofița groaned out loud.

No, don't think about them. She hadn't thought about them in months - it was bliss. Waiting for her birthday without dreading she would spend it upset was bliss.

She hadn't logged back in since she ran away almost a year ago. Oh Lord, soon it will be a year... As she longingly looked at her own writing, she wondered if she could recuperate her account. She couldn't remember her password. Could she remember her secret email's?

She could.

She opened gmail, her heart thumping in her chest. There it was! There were hundreds of unread ao3 updates and kudos, neopets announcements, pinterest emails about removed pins, printrecărți and târgulcărții book sales, long over, tumblr terms and services updates. Ohhh, she used to have so many life hacks saved on there too!

She went back to ao3 and requested a password reset for "eternalcarnation".

ASDHFGJKSHDFG THERE IT WAS!!

Garofița was smiling from ear to ear under her mask as she logged in, as if re-entering a digital childhood home full of happy memories.

She hadn't thought of those stories in months with everything going on, but they all came back instantly. If she weren't in the public library, she would have gotten up and hopped around in circles from overflowing joy.

Garofița first discovered manga through panels on pinterest. One obscure author, Katomika-san, drew a whole bunch of things, but every one shot and series she ever made was basically the same plot in a different genre: a young girl finds herself in a strange house or city or job or boarding school or adoptive family, gets one or two supernatural sidekicks, then they go on weird little adventures. Lottie who grows up with her clairvoyant grandma in a house full of ghosts; Courtney who has an assassin older sister and a zombie dog who can talk, Lilo & Stitch style; Lavinia who has a pet Black Shuck that saved her uncle when he was injured in WWII; Princess Chrysantheme who has a demonic jester advisor - that last one was Garo's favourite. It was a solid 6/10, suffering from too many things going on that nobody could feasably keep track of, but she loved it, God damn it. She read all 2 fanfics about it and started writing her own out of desperation.

Also through pinterest panels she discovered more popular manga, for which she wouldn't run out of content any time soon. She still had niche-r interests, though, hidden in private bookmarks. MADK, Satsuriku Morph, Pumpkin Night - she wasn't weird about them or anything, she just liked the artstyle, yeah - and one fanfic about Anton Chigurh. She tried to write one herself, but she couldn't get his demeanor right. She also had a hard time imagining him picking up a stray hitchhiker, let alone being in a relationship of any kind.

Rereading her last fic, unintentionally put on hiatus due to her only slightly unplanned escape, Garofița felt herself gently kissed on the forehead by a muse. Her story was a collection of vignettes loosely tied by the passage of time in a school year. She could, technically, just write whatever she wanted and hop right back in.

Not even 5 minutes later she got a comment.

Are you serious?

Sorryyyy
I'll go tomorrow, I mean it!

DO YOU WANT TO DRIVE ME TO
A PSYCH WARD TOO?

No, I'll call you a taxi

"What are you doing?" Garofița's voice rang out behind him.

"H-Hey..." Adrian said, standing up.

"What are you looking for?" She asked, her cat balancing on her shoulders.

"Huh? What?"

"I've seen you walking around the forest. Are you searching for something?" She said.

"Oh, I'm not, I'm... just walking. To clear my head."

She did not believe him one bit.

"H-How are you?" He changed the subject. "All good?"

"Yeah...!" She said, eating her dandelion stem like a rabbit. "Things have been pretty good lately."

"I'm glad for you. It will be your birthday soon, right?"

"Yeah, on May 31st."

"What gift do you want?" He smiled.

"Uhm, nothing fancy." She shrugged. "I don't really want anything, to be honest. I already got them."

Adrian suddenly froze. "Oh God, it's that thing again!"

Garofița turned around and saw the deer quietly passing by. It turned its deformed head to her and twitched in a way that almost looked like nodding.

"It's nice, don't worry." Garofița replied, waving towards it. It hasn't appeared in her dreams again, so it was probably an aspect of the hotel. The deer settled into their forest like it was always its home. Garo even saw it on strolls with the shepherd dog. She wondered if they were smooching.

"I, uh, I'm gonna go now." He said.

"Okay." She said, watching him leave. Weirdo, they both thought about the other.

Garofița headed to the encampment and was greeted even more warmly than usual. "You're gonna be like a princess for a week." Vitalis laughed softly.

"I like it." Garo giggled like a gremlin.

"What do you want for your birthday, by the way?" Roxi asked, fists against her cheeks.

"I-I already ordered the pendants and brooches."

"That's your own gift! Mine is separate! Hypothetically, speaking..." She pouted. "What size are you now for pants?"

"XS." She replied.

"Nah, you're an S by now." Mihai said.

"Am I?"

"Yeah, girl, you're been putting on weight." Vitalis said.

"I have?" Garo asked, eyes sparkling.

"Yeah, it's a good thing. You looked like a cryptid yourself."

"It wasn't that bad!" Roxi said, scoldingly tapping Vitalis' shoulder.

"Yeah, stay quiet about people's looks!" Gigi hollered from another corner of the encampment.

"Stop eavesdropping!" Vitalis retorted. "And fix your curls, they look like spaghetti!"

"Girl, you're literally yellow!"

Vitalis made a sound of confusion, then looked at her own hands. "Am I?"

"A little..." Roxi said.

"No, I'm just tanned!" She put her arm next to Garofița's for comparison, who was translucently pale. "Yeah, we need to get you tanned too." She changed the subject.

"I don't tan, I just get burned!" Garo frowned.

Roxi's phone started ringing and she pulled it out of her jeans pocket. Garofița wanted to put on enough weight to look good like her, even though Roxi always whined that she didn't look good enough. "Hello, Boss?"

"Hey! Is Garofița nearby?"

"Yeah, hold on." She put it on speaker.

"Hi, birthday giiirl!"

"Uh, hi!" Garofița said.

"What do you want for your birthdaaaay?"

"I-I don't know..."

Vitalis was making faces and Garofița narrowly held back a giggle. Roxi and Mihai were elbowing her to stop.

"Hypothetically speaking... Are you allergic to any perfumes? Or body mists?"

"Not as far as I know."

"How do you feel about gourmands?"

"W-What's that?"

"Perfumes that smell like food." Vitalis answered.

"How does, hold on..." there was a thunk, "...black currant, tangerine, strawberry, caramel and gardenia sound?"

"It sounds amazing!" She said.

"Alright! See you on Sunday! Byeee!"

"The hell are you gonna do with a perfume?" Vitalis scoffed. "I swear, this woman..."

"I could put the bottle on a shelf like a pretty trinket!" Garofița smiled.

"I used to have a body mist that smelled like caramel and cinnamon!" Denisa said from behind them. Laura and Iulian were with her too.

"Jesus, girl! We gotta put a bell on you!" Vitalis almost dropped her cigarette.

"Sorry!" She snickered. "Garo, hypothetically, what do you want for your birthday?"

"Please don't spend money on me!" She replied.

"Would you like some lightly used manga?" Laura asked, pulling Iulian by the sleeve.

"What kind of manga?"

"Ever heard of Tank Chair?" Iulian asked.

"I don't think so."

"It's so fucking good." He said, more emotive than usual. "I think you'd like it."

"I like Junji Itou and Golden Kamuy." Garofița beamed. "And, uh, some old manga. Kikuhime to Dokeshi, if you've heard of it."

"I like Jojo's Bizarre Adventure!" Denisa said. "Have you read it? Or watched it?"

"No, what's it about?" Garofița lied.

"It's... hm. I need to give a lot of context, actually."

"Is there a lot to catch up?" Garo asked, holding down a smile.

"Sorta, kinda! But it's not unbelievably long."

"I watched the first 5 parts in, like, two weeks." Iulian said. "I don't have Netflix for the rest that came out, though."

"I like manga better than anime." Garofița said. It was easier to consume covertly.

"Part 1 and 2 are really good." Iulian continued. "Part 3 is alright, then everything after is meh."

"Literally shut the fuck up." Denisa said.

"What's your favourite part, then?"

"4!"

"They turned my boy into a cheater!"

"Are you really that shocked?"

"I did read a really good fanfic about part 4 once, I'll give you that." He mused.

"Ooh, I know a really cute fanfic about Josuke and Okuyasu! Even if you don't know Jojos, it's still super cute!"

"Can I read it?" Garofița smiled and scooted closer.

"Yeah! Let me show you!" Denisa opened the browser on her phone and searched through a dozen tabs. She picked one of the ao3 links. Garofița's blood froze in her veins and she stood as still as a statue, completely rigid as to not give away the explosions, shattered windows, falling metal pipes and war sirens going off in her head.

"It's really silly and sappy!" Denisa continued to enthusiastically explain. "There's one chapter where they take a nap together and it's so cozy and, like, safe. Dunno how to explain. The author really fucking hates Rohan, though."

"I don't blame them." Iulian said.

Garofița had not moved an inch. It was questionable if she was breathing. Her eyes managed to move higher up to Denisa's username. gutterliberace.

"I always had a crush on Suzie Q, I'm not gonna lie." Denisa said.

"Young or old?" Iulian asked.

"Old. Oh, yeah."

Garofița looked around the encampment for the hidden camera and prank show producers. "I'm, uh, buh, I gotta go home real quick, yeah."

"Say hi to your guys!" Roxi grinned.

"To who?" Denisa asked.

"Don't worry about it." Four people said at once.

Garofița went home in silence, opened the door, closed it, walked over to Buddy, sat down in front of him, pressed her face to his stomach and screeched. He and Walker looked at each-other, befuddled. Bezea pounced on her back with no sympathy.

By Saturday she had calmed down and was at the library again. She posted chapter 10 and sure enough, the gutter Liberace commented praise and offers of marriage. Garo wondered if she should hold back in her replies, now that she knew someone she knew knew about her fic, even if not knowing it was her.

She sighed and continued scrolling, going back down memory lane. The manga about Princess Chrysantheme and her jester was Katomika's last published work. Now that it was back to the front of Garo's mind, she thought about how strange that story was. So different from Katomika-san's other works, more mature and melancholic. The manga as a whole was odd: in the first chapter 50 years of Chrysantheme's reign are promised, but the story suddenly ends barely 10 years in, at chapter 32. The final author's note took the form of Katomika's little cat persona begging God for forgiveness, Canterbury Tales-style. Garofița guessed that it got axed.

She looked up the manga. She tried another site. Another. Come on. There it is! She reread chapter 32 and yeah, it just kind of abruptly ends in the middle of a scene, not even an important one. Weird.

She looked up Katomika-san. Her wikipedia page was very tiny, but she was supposedly still alive. No death date was mentioned. Garofița learned that the Princess Chrysantheme manga got Katomika-san in trouble, because she was accused of plagiarism by an English publishing house, Foole Press, and an author called Elizabeth Jovial. Katomika-san disappeared from public view after that. The link on Elizabeth's name was red, as was Foole Press. Garo tried to look up both of them online, but google said no results whatsoever. Really freaking weird.

She was reminded of another manga she felt completely normal about, Kamisama Kisama wo Koroshitai, whose author literally disappeared and people were speculating it was because of the yakuza. Oh God, did they assassinate Katomika too? The manga business is ruthless.

Luck had it her birthday that year landed on a Sunday, so she boarded Mr Marius's car and they headed for the Hidiș Sunday Market. Roxi and Mihai were busy placing the order for sushi. Mr Eduard tagged along because he hadn't been to the market in a while. Garofița was bouncing in her seat, the sunny weather inviting her to go explore.

"How does it feel to be 14?" Marius asked, his smile turning his moustache upwards.

"The same, so far!" She said.

"I remember being 14." Eduard said. "Worst year of my God damned life."

"W-Why?" She asked.

"Just one bullshit after the other." He replied lightly. "It got better eventually, though."

"Everythin' passes eventually." Marius nodded.

"Yeah..." Garo said, smiling wistfully.

They headed straight for Mr Chereji's stall. They were met with Mr Ozsvar and Gabi, the latter giving Garofița a big hug.

"Happy birthdaaay! Sorry I can't join y'all, being in Hidiș is already pushing it." He said and pointed to the ankle monitor cuffing his leg. The ward gave permission for a 2 hour excursion.

They found Mr Chereji lying down on a makeshift divan. He smiled and waved, a blue cannula and a bandage on his wrist.

"Are you okay, Sir?" Garofița asked.

"Yes, yes, don't worry!" He said, petting her hair. "Just some maintenance."

"That's a creepy as hell way to put it." Marius said.

"Hello to you too, Mari." He smiled gently. "And happy birthday to you, dear!"

Garofița smiled from ear to ear. "Thank you!"

"Close your eyes for a second."

She did and felt something press on the top of her head.

"You can keep it for today." Mr Chereji said. "Please be careful, though. Those are real gems and I may get in trouble if they go missing, hahah."

"Thank you!! Y-You shouldn't have!"

"Of course I do! You're like our little apprentice. We'll see later which 'domain' you will go forward with."

"Hmm, what bribe should Amante give, then?" Mr Ozsvar asked Marius and Eduard. "A crown is hard to top."

"True." Marius pondered it over. "Garo, you want a gun?"

Garofița was set free to look around his endless curiosities while the men chatted. As she was looking at the books, she got an idea and went back to Mr Chereji. "Sir, have you ever heard of Foole Press?"

Mr Chereji turned as white as a sheet. "Why do you ask?"

She explained the situation with Katomika-san and the wikipedia article. He eased up the more she talked. "No, I can't say I have heard of it. I agree it sounds peculiar."

"Why are so many books so damn weird?" Eduard asked.

"There is something indeed very potent about artefacts in the form of books." Mr Ozsvar said. "Take The King in Yellow for example."

Marius groaned. "No thanks."

"Wait here a moment..." Mr Chereji said and went between the bookshelves.

"Didn't the cultists say they read The King in Yellow?" Marius asked.

"It's a little more complicated than that." Gabi said, rubbing his squeezed ankle with his other foot. "From what I understood, there has been something of a schism among them. Some got their hands on a copy and read it, while others refused."

"I see. Fuckin' creeps. Did Aurora read it too? The first one, I mean."

Garo's ears perked up.

"Probably not." Mr Ozsvar replied. "Her actions are too lucid and deliberate. A person who read it would act way more erratic. You would remember somebody who read it."

"What? The first one?" Garo muttered, hoping they'd slip and say more. What could Aurora be that it would send her spiraling to find out? What kind of freaking cognitohazard was she?

"Garofița, dear, is this it?" Mr Chereji came back, still playing dumb and holding a very old book. It looked like a mockup that a manuscript would get before its final design would be decided and sent for printing, plain black and white.

She read the first paragraphs and gasped so hard she almost choked. It was the Princess Chrysantheme and her jester manga, but in novel form! And it was written so beautifully!

"You can read some of it here before you head home." Mr Chereji smiled, watching her sit down on the divan.

"I remember Mirabela had one of those at one point." Marius said. "She sold it since then, though."

"I should pay Mirabela a visit sometime soon."

Garo grumbled under her breath.

"What's that?" Marius asked.

"Nothing, I just... don't... really like her..."

"Ah." He chuckled a little. "Don't blame you. I'm biased, though."

"Why is she so... like... bad vibes?"

"I could tell you the whole story, if you want."

Bonus Illustration, later that day: