Liam looked at the small pile he made on his bed. There were the two books he was supposed to be studying, a toothbrush, his drawing pad with a pencil tucked into the binding, and a glow in the dark star that he pulled from the ceiling. He picked up the star and stuck it into the book he borrowed from Arthur. He put the books and toothbrush in his hoodie pocket, giving it a couple pats before heading to the door. 

Holding the door knob, he stopped to look over his room one last time. He didn’t know when the next time he would return to his room was, or if he even would. It may not have been the fanciest place but it was still his home. They spent most of his life in this apartment and now he was leaving it behind. It was a little bittersweet. He let out a small sigh as he closed the door behind him.

“Got everything?” she asked, holding no more than what could fit in her purse. 

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Okay, you lead the way then. You know where we are going. Don’t forget, keep your magic as hidden as you can. I’m going to keep a small vail over you just in case but I won’t be able to hide you if your powers lash out too much,” she warned. She really didn’t think she could cover up his powers if he let them out. Thankfully, she felt his powers recede while he was asleep. She didn’t know how and she couldn’t trust that they would stay stable for long. Two days really was too short for him to be doing so well, it made her uneasy.

It was late in the morning by the time they approached the house. Liam paused before the clearing, worried that the house would look worn down again. 

“It’s going to be okay,” his mother soothed, rubbing his back. “Just relax and trust yourself. Come on, let’s go.”

Liam took a deep breath before heading into the clearing. He didn’t let it out until he saw that the house had been restored. Thank God, if it was run down again, I was going to lose it. 

“It looks exactly the same,” Heather breathed out. She walked through the yard, running her hand over the hood of the car as she passed it. “Everything looks the same.” She headed towards the house, pausing once her hand reached the cast iron door handle. The familiar feel of the twisted iron under her skin, the smell of the wood from the heavy door, everything came back to her, memory after memory. She rested her forehead on the door, hand still gripping the handle, too overwhelmed to enter. 

“You okay, Mom?” Liam asked as he approached her. 

“Yeah, just give me a minute. It’s just, the last time I was here…”

“I know, you don’t have to tell me. Take your time.”

Heather stood another moment before she pressed down the heavy thumb lever and silently entered the house. Home. She was finally home. The memories of her mother and father reading her stories by the fire. Of baking cookies in the kitchen. The little burn mark on the kitchen ceiling from when she mistook a plant for another, making a potion. She traced her fingers along the smooth granite top of the kitchen counter. Everything was exactly the same as when she left. 

She headed down the hallway to her old room. This too, was almost exactly the same. Only, the moss had grown to quite the size in her absence. “Wow, it’s so pretty,” she exclaimed, sitting next to the patch of moss. She leaned close to look at the detail of the flowers. “I didn’t know this could bloom. It really is lovely.” She was about to get up when she noticed that a small piece was missing. 

“That’s weird,” she said as she touched the missing spot on the plant. “It looks like someone took a piece from here.

Liam’s heart sank. He never imagined this situation would play out in a million years. There’s no way he could tell her about Arthur. Even he didn’t know who or what he was yet. He could tell that he was no harm to the Gold Eyes family, but there’s no way she would believe that. She would ban him from ever leaving the house if she found out!

“That was me. I come here a lot. This plant showed up for me not long ago and I really liked it, so I took a piece.”

“It was you? What did you do with it? This plant is incredibly rare and a very important ingredient in some very dangerous recipes.”

Liam’s heart sank even further. How could he have known? What a fool he had been. But, Arthur wouldn’t do something like that, would he? No, he didn’t seem like he had a bad bone in his body. He was going to have to ask him when he saw him next. 

“I put it in my pocket. I was planning to take it home and plant it but I washed the jeans by accident. When I remembered, I looked for it but it was too late already.” 

“Hmmm… okay. I don’t think they could have survived that. It’s a pretty fragile plant. From now on, don’t go touching plants until you know what they are. What if someone else had gotten ahold of it? It could be really dangerous, you know?”

Liam nodded his head. I’m going to have to sneak out of here tonight and go see him. I have so much I need to talk to him about. I haven’t been able to read a page of anything this whole time. 

“Great. You can have my old room then, I’ll take my parent’s. You go ahead and get settled. I’m going to look through the house and see what’s survived. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to bring any food so we will have to figure that out later, but we should be okay for tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll go out and gather some things for us in secret. Let me know if there is anything you need.” With that, she left and closed the door behind her. 

Liam pulled out his meager belongings, stacking them neatly on the engraved table. He didn’t bring much, but then again, he didn’t really feel like he was missing anything. He pulled the glow in the dark star out of the top book, flipping it over to make sure the sticky tack was still on the back. Standing on the bed, he affixed the star above where his head would lay. “There, now everything is in order.” 

He sat down on the bed and looked out the window. I wonder how long we can live here before someone finds us. I know this place is a lot safer than those shitty apartments, but I’m still nervous. My grandparents died close to here. He was about to lay down when his mother opened the door.

“Hey, we need to go reinforce that sigil. This will be a good lesson for you. Come on and help find it.”

“I know where that is too…”

“Oh, well, that makes my job easy. Would you show me, please?”

Liam got off the bed and headed outside, his mother not far behind him. “It was somewhere around the car, if I’m not mistaken,” Liam recalled as he circled it, looking for the blue characters on the ground. “Ah, here it is.”

“Perfect,” Heather exclaimed as she knelt to inspect it. “It’s still in really good condition. I want you to watch closely. You need to focus your energy and infuse it with the sigil,” she said as she started to gather her energy.

“Wait,” Liam responded, quickly. She doesn’t have that much energy to begin with. She plans to go out tomorrow and get us supplies. What if she gets attacked?

“What is it?”

“Can I try? I was there when grandma did it so I think I can do it.”

“Ah, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot. We are already pretty much hidden in here so I don’t see why not. Go ahead then, let’s see it,” she agreed, gesturing to the sigil in front of them while getting out of the way.

Liam took a deep breath. He thought back to Cheryl and how she felt when she desperately wanted to protect her daughter. The swell of emotion and power throughout her body, the way it gathered and flowed from her palms into the sigil, giving it life. He thought about what he wanted to protect. His mother, who spent her life in hiding, while scared and lonely. Himself, who had so much more to learn and Arthur, who he wanted to learn more about. He let his feelings run wild, boiling at the seams, before guiding the surge of power towards his hands. He placed both hands directly on the sigil and transferred the energy to it, becoming one.

Heather stood there in awe, watching as the power within her son effortlessly fused with the sigil, causing the air to whip around them. Never did she think he would get it on the first try. The more she saw of his power, the more worried she became. His energy seemed to have no bounds, and he learned at a blistering pace. Power like that was frequently sought after. How long before someone wanted that power for themselves?

Liam sat down after he finished to catch his breath. He poured his heart and soul into that, maybe even a little too much. He did his best to hide the fact, lest he worry his mother. “There, did I do it right?”

“You did very well, Liam. I don’t think anyone will be able to find this place easily. That was quite the force you put out there. How are you feeling?”

Liam smiled brightly at his mother, doing his best to hide the exhaustion. “I’m feeling really good. That was incredible! Is this what you did for our apartment? “

“It’s similar, but mine covered a much smaller area. Since there were others living around us, I made sure to only include the apartment we lived in.” She looked up at the pink and orange sky, time seemed to be flying. “Let’s get back inside and rest. Tomorrow is a busy day for both of us. I need to run to town and you need to study.” 

Perfect, Liam thought to himself. After she goes to bed, I can slip out to Arthur’s house. He stood up to follow his mother inside. “Sure, today was a long day. Do you think you could pick me up some candy tomorrow?”
“Candy? I guess I can. Those honey bits okay?” she asked as they entered the house.