I was an hour or so into training and found I was already regretting my decision to help, immensely. I stared at the piece of paper in front of me, trying to memorize the spell I needed to call on the lunar source for protection. My pronunciation apparently left much to be desired, so Maayan was sitting with me, trying to coach me. At some point, they decided to teach me a trick to jump-start my lunar powers, a simple spell to give me night vision. This was to help channel some of the lunar power before the more complex spell. I wasn't doing much better at this spell. My nervousness about having to recite the more complex spell tomorrow night wasn't helping either, as even the easier spells required a substantial amount of concentration.

After another failed attempt to summon my night vision, I let out a groan, leaning back in my chair on the deck.

"Don't worry, soon it will be like second nature, you won't even have to think about it," Maayan cheered.

"If you say so," I replied, feeling tired already.

"Do you want to go back to practicing your pronunciation?" Maayan asked, pushing my cheat sheet toward me.

"Just lie to me and tell me it sounds great," I moaned.

"It's getting better!"

I stared down at the sheet, re-reading the spell in English.

I pray to the moon for protection against my enemies.

Watch over this home as you watch over me.

Goddess, hear me and know my heart is pure, protect my family, and grant me peace.

Let your power flow through me.

After reading this, I was supposed to raise my arms and let the power flow through me before touching the talisman. I glanced down at the Terrarish version of the spell, cringing openly as I looked at the foreign words. I was suddenly nostalgic for my French class, which I was also awful at.

Wom meya tsě lu kefepputa ku morsioch ifik wach woupoms.

Ngouttou af wuw row yu tum api af wach.

Fat loutsa wach tsě tsěm wach lewap utki, morsi wong mersi, tu wach ngitwep.

Ngil tip kisu muchep ipuwiyoch wach.

"Look, the order in which you say things is a lot like English, just different words!" Maayan said cheerfully. "Just make sure not to mix up your pronouns."

"This is hard," I admitted. "How did you learn English so fast?"

"Oh, I've had many years to practice," the fairy admitted. "I still have trouble understanding things."

"Yeah, but if you mess up in English, it's not like you'll make something explode by accident."

"This is true," Maayan sighed. "At least you aren't learning fire magic!"

"Why is it harder?"

"It's more volatile, that's for sure."

"Praise to the gods," I responded, parroting back the phrase Maayan taught me first.

"In Terrarish?"

"Youtwat met Fat!"

"Fati!" Maayan corrected. "Gods are plural."

I lay my head down on the table to groan audibly. There was a small thunk as my grandfather placed a peculiar-looking gnome statue on the patio table. I looked up at his stern but adorable face, complete with a silver beard, and found myself amused.

"Aw, this is so cute," I cooed, sitting up so I could examine it better.

"This one is your talisman," Grandpa announced with a smile on his face.

"W-what? He made them look like garden gnomes?"

"I wanted them to blend in with the scenery," Grandpa said, looking down at the statue. I stared into the gnome's face, finding it oddly familiar.

"Well, I don't know about blending in, but," I said, squinting slightly, "It kinda looks like you, Grandpa."

"What?"

Maayan leaned in, turning the gnome to face themselves. "Oh, it really does!"

"You think so?" Grandpa Enki murmured, his brow furrowed. When he made that face, he looked even more like the statue.

"Yes," Maayan and I said in unison.

"I bet he thinks he is being funny again," Grandpa muttered tersely, pulling on his beard.

"Who's being funny?" I asked.

"Ihsan," he said flatly. "He likes to play jokes on people."

"Oh," I replied, poking at the gnome's nose. The similarities were uncanny; this Ishan was quite the artist. "And this is your friend, right?"

Grandpa rolled his eyes as he turned to walk away. "Ishan is... Ishan."

"Wow, descriptive," I snickered, looking over at Maayan.

"Don't let him fool you, they're close," they whispered, grinning at me. "Now let's get back to work."

"Yes, teacher," I sniffed.

We practiced until dinnertime, ordering a pizza before returning to work. Grandpa, Casimir, and Azar were gathering all the ingredients and finding the best places to set up the gnomes late into the evening. I was finally growing more confident in my pronunciation when Maayan and Azar had to leave. They needed to return to their dorm rooms so they could begin their double lives as Royal Queen Academy students in the morning. As they left, I promised Maayan I would keep practicing until I fell asleep.

That night, before I lay in bed, I turned off all the lights in my room. I even switched off my twinkling fairy lights just so I could rest in total darkness. I tried to concentrate on my spell, but my thoughts kept jumping around, worrying about school, the Dark King, and talismans. This, along with the details I had just learned about Casimir's and my fractured souls, was sending my brain into overload. I was currently stuck on Azar and wondering if he had gotten over Calliope's betrayal when the words she uttered to Casimir on the rooftop replayed in my mind.

"Is your broken soul clean, assassin?"

"Do you even realize what you have left behind?"

I sat up in my bed, groping blindly for my cell phone. I wanted to text myself a message, a reminder to ask Casimir about this assassin talk. After a fruitless few minutes of searching, I groaned at the idea of getting up and out of my warm bed.

If ever I needed night vision, this would be the time, I wished. I closed my eyes, sighing as I imagined the possibilities. There was a small rush of drowsiness, like when you catch yourself falling asleep in class. My head jerked down and then up, my eyes opening wide.

I could see everything. For a moment, I thought someone had turned on the lights, but I knew that couldn't be true. There was a strange buzzing in my head, similar to when I used my moonlight wraith purifying powers.

Oh my gosh, I'm doing it! I glanced around my room, excited at all I could see. I spied my phone teetering on the edge of my nightstand, not in its usual spot. I grabbed it, leaping from my bed to further examine my room with my new ability. I ran over to the window to stare outside. I could see both the pond and the forest as clearly as if it were daytime.

"Heck yes!" I exclaimed, to no one but myself. I turned to face my door, wanting to explore the house at night. My toe caught the edge of the rug, and I tripped, throwing my phone across the room as I landed on my knees painfully. I cursed to myself, my eyes clenched in pain. When I opened them again, the room was black, and the night vision was gone. I hobbled back to my bed, clicking on the light on my nightstand to check if I had scraped my knees. There was no blood, thankfully, but I was betting there would be bruising tomorrow. I gathered my fallen phone, quickly texting myself my note before crawling back into bed. I was so excited to tell Maayan what I had accomplished that I lay there smiling to myself for several minutes. As my eyelids grew heavy and I fell fast asleep, ready to face the day ahead.