Warmth spread over Illius’ skin. He opened his eyes to see Hireth feeding white magic into his body as Eric stood behind her, watching.

“Good morning,” she said when she noticed him stir. “You should be feeling a bit better today.”

He reached up to his head, feeling a soft hat.

“You can leave it on or off,” Hireth told him. “Eric said you always had one on at the institution, and I thought you might feel more comfortable wearing it.”

Illius looked up at Eric, who was still watching him closely. The man simply shrugged. Did this mean Eric didn’t like his horns? Did they make him uncomfortable? It certainly made Illius more comfortable to cover the awful things. “Thank you,” Illius said, his gaze falling to his hands in his lap, where he noticed the black marks had indeed faded. His skin no longer shrank against his bones and his nails—actually, someone had trimmed his nails.

“Why?” He looked up at Hireth, blinking tears back. “Why help me?”

She paused for a moment and turned to regard him. “Why not?”

“You… I—” he looked away and whispered. “My horns.”

“What about them?” she asked.

“I’m… a therian.” He barely got the words out.

“You’re not the first therian I’ve met.” She shrugged. “In fact, you’re not even the first one with horns I’ve met. Being a therian doesn’t make you evil, strange, or a beast, despite what the church says.”

Illius went silent.

“Illius.” She stopped healing him for a moment. “I’m a witch. A woman who uses magic. Does that make me evil?”

He shook his head.

“You’re not evil either. The church… tells a lot of lies. They do it because they’re scared. All those people are terrified of us. The issue lies with them, not you. You were born with horns. I was born with magic. That’s it. No one is born evil.” She paused to look back at Eric. “Eric on the other hand…”

“Come on.” Eric rolled his eyes. “I’m an evil genius, and you’re just jealous.”

Illius glanced between them. “Are you siblings?”

“No, no, no. No. I am not claiming any kind of blood relation to that thing,” Hireth said at the same time Eric said, “She wishes.”

“Besides,” Hireth said. “I’m a young eighty-two, and this whippersnapper is, like… What, twelve?”

“Nineteen.” Eric glared at her.

“Eighty-two?” Illius asked Hireth, shoving the thought that he and Eric were close in age down in his mind.

“Don’t believe anything she says,” Eric said. “She’s, like, thirty or something.”

“Or something,” she said, a twinkle in her eye. “I’m a witch! I could be eighty-two and use glamour potions to keep myself young and beautiful!”

“Psssh.” Eric smirked. “If you used glamor potions to make that face, we’re in trouble.”

“Fuck you, Eric!” she exclaimed, throwing the nearest thing at him, which happened to be a towel draped over the nightstand.

He threw the towel back at her. She pulled it off her head, and her hair puffed up with static. Glancing up at her hair, she blew a piece out of her face.

“Thank you for making my hair look even worse today,” she told Eric.

“It’s fine.” He tried to pat down the top and instantly pulled his hand away. “Ow! Shocked me.”

Hireth had a little grin on her face as she turned back to Illius. “Sorry. We got distracted. Eric’s my nephew. I was married to his uncle in Noviad. He passed away some time ago. When I heard Eric and his brother were all alone, I decided to move here. Unfortunately, I got here too late to do anything about his brother getting taken by the institution. We’re both part of the… resistance? I don’t know… Some kind of group that tries to make sense of this stupid country and its stupid laws. Help who we can, change what we can, that sort of thing. Just a group of people trying to right a few wrongs.”

“It’s kind of amazing anyone agrees with Hireth,” Eric said.

“There’s always like-minded people,” Hireth said, ignoring his teasing. “Sometimes they’re hard to find, but there are always people trying to make the world a better place. So, yeah, we’re… rebels? At this point I think we just sit around and bitch about things.”

Eric smirked. “Really, she just keeps me around for free labor—and so she can force me to taste all her experimental food.”

“If that’s what you’re calling it now,” Hireth said.

Eric continued, “The church took my brother as one of the ‘chosen ones.’ We came up with this plan where I’d infiltrate their institutions to look for my brother. She helped me trick them into thinking I was ‘chosen,’ and that’s how I ran into you.”

“I didn’t really help you trick them,” Hireth said. “You are a ‘chosen one.’ Also, I was horribly against you going into the institution for any reason, but I was informed you were old enough to make stupid decisions.”

“Why?” Illius pulled his hat down tighter. “Why save me? What about your brother?”

Eric shrugged. “My brother wasn’t in the compound, and I thought they were going to kill you. I couldn’t just leave you there.”

“Aww!” Hireth cooed.

“Shut up.” Eric glared at her.

Illius looked down, his cheeks burning. “Thank you.”

“Hey, it’s no big deal,” Eric said, pointedly refusing to look at Hireth. “You should never have had to go through that. I—I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Illius started fidgeting with the tips of his nails. “You saved me. I don’t think I would’ve lived much longer there, to be honest.”

Hireth touched his hand. “You’re safe now though. You don’t have to worry about them anymore.”

Illius looked around the room, a bit apprehensively. Before, he hadn’t had time to take in the wood-paneled walls or the heaps of crocheted blankets in the corner. There were two chairs down here—one rocking chair and another that looked like someone had swiped it from a set of kitchen chairs. Stacks of flour sacks lined the wall, and burlap bags with clothes spilling out of them sat beside those. All in all, it looked half like a storage-room and half like a bedroom. “Where am I?”

“You’re in the basement of our home,” Hireth said. “I have runes running through this place that most people wouldn’t recognize. I activate them once I’m upstairs, and voilà, the basement’s gone!”

“Where does it go?” Illius’ eyes widened, thinking for a second he’d slipped into a different dimension or something.

“Well, it’s still here,” Hireth explained, “but the opening is gone, and nothing feels hollow anymore. That’s only if worse comes to worst. They came here already, looking for Eric. Searched the whole house. Didn’t find anything, of course, and I had a grand time cussing out my nephew.”

“Seriously, I feel like you had way too much fun with that.” Eric shot her a look.

“I doubt anyone will come by again, though.” Hireth shrugged.

“Why not?” Illius asked.

She sighed, hesitated, and then said, “We’re a long way from the compound. They’re no doubt looking closer—they probably don’t think you can get too far.”

Illius had a feeling she hadn’t told the full truth, but he didn’t push further.