Little Moon. The Tower. Moonrise.

Ellie paces back and forth across Leah's pastel palace. Steeling herself for what she has to do.

I'll stay here for as long as I can. Then I have to do it.

Storm clouds gather at the horizon. The kids seek shelter where they can.

Inside the baby cries. Ellie picks her up, trying to hold back her tears.

I'm so sorry, baby. I'm so sorry.

Up in the air.

The kid three rows behind her has not stopped crying since the plane left the airport.

The man next to her is 50 pounds overweight, smelly, and stares at her luridly while he pretends to be sleeping.

The movie was horrible. They should never try to do magical things on screen. They just don't have a clue.

It doesn't matter. As the plane circles London she's almost happy. She loves looking down on people from above. She loves the beautifully mad mosiacs that the humans create in their quiet desperation. Without trying, without even knowing their lives are a work of art. At times like this, she becomes envious of them. Their reality, their creativity, their souls.

And she remembers days long past, when she looked down on earth and its creations every day.

And then the plane lands and she's on her way.

Ready or not, Tim Hunter, here I come.

Ravenknoll Estate hadn't changed a bit. The place where she met Tim. Where she first kissed him. She was just playing a part them. Martyn, her master, was trying to get his hooks into his mind and she was the bait. It might have worked if Martyn hadn't gotten himself Ginsued. (Was THAT a bloody mess or what?) With Martyn out of the way, Leah came out to Tim about her situation, asked him if he wanted to become her master.

Between his father getting fried, his girlfriend chewing him out, and his whole world falling apart, he took the news rather well. She still remembers what he said, every word.

Alleatha. I command you never to read my diary again. Ever.

Leah tried to protest, but Tim kept going.

I also command you not to obey anyone from now on, including me. Especially me in fact.

She couldn't understand what he was telling her.

Do what you want to for God's sake. You're thousands of years old. Go and have some fun for a change.

But that was then, this is now. Leah walks the dingy, cracked streets where this happen. She marvels how nothing has changed. Same grime, same creepy silence. Everything. The same.

Except for the fact that Tim's house had been grounded into dust. That was different.

Hmph. There goes Plan A.

Tim had never taken her to his lot. He told her about it later.

Hello? Wobbly? Awn the Blink? Anybody? Hello?

It's just the dump it always was. Trash and overgrown grass and some half dead tree in the middle. You would never be able to tell that the lot held the imaginary beings of the most powerful opener in ages.

Hey! Little wood guys? Uh... Gnarlies! Is that right? Geez, is anyone here?

This wasn't right. Magic comes, magic goes but the feeling was all off. It's as if the magic was erased from all history, none of it had happened. There are no echoes, not even a trace.

If Tim's magic places aren't magic anymore, what does that mean for Tim?

At the school, she wore the form of a social worker. She found out that he hadn't been registered in over a year. Transferred to someplace called Bardsey, they said.

At Bardsey, she snuck a look at the files. He hadn't stayed there long, did he? Just long enough to get written up for "problematic behavior" a half dozen times.

At the cemetary, she got a better idea at what had happened.

Oh, God, Tim. You poor thing you.

Leah knew Tim had visited his mother's grave whenever he needed someone to talk to. Sweet. Odd as hell, but sweet.

When Leah found Mary Hunter's grave site, she noticed the additions.

Mary Hunter. Then Bill Hunter. Then Holly Ransome Hunter. Three headstones when before there was only one.

Shit, Tim. I'm so sorry. I wish I could have...

What? Had him cry on her shoulder? Handed him kleenexes? What? She was built for seduction, not grieving. Besides, he had Molly for-

Molly! Of course! She would know what happened to him.

Knock Knock!

The door opens wide and the person behind it gawks in astonishment.

Molly! Hi! I was wondering, see... I've been trying to find Tim. I've looked all over but he's-

Narrowed eyes, crinkled brow. Molly MAD.

The door slams shut. Not even a word.

Molly? Hello?

She knocks on the door for another half of a minute before she decides that Molly isn't talking.

EMPTYHEAD, EMPTYHEAD!!! WHO'S LOOKING FOR EMPTYHEAD NOW?

It was a crack on the pavement that was talking to Leah now. Two eyes, nose, mouth, all drawn of cracks in the ground.

WHICH EMPTYHEAD? WHICH FATHER? WHICH MOTHER? WHICH TEACHER? WHICH HUNTER?

If you mean Tim Hunter, then yeah, I wanna find him.

HA! EMPTYHEAD CAN BE FOUND... FOR A PRICE!

You could just, like, make it easy on yourself, you know?

I KNOW! I'M IN-THE-NO. I KNOW WHAT YOU DON'T. WHAT WOULD YOU BRING FOR ME?

Obviously, he had never had dealings with demons before.

She has her claws into his cracks before he can move and she's pulling this way and that. In-The-No screams.

Listen, guy. I don't care how much you know. No matter how far down you can get, I can get lower. I still have friends in low places, you know.

RRAAAAHH!!! LET ME GO!!

You tell me where Tim Hunter is, or else get used to being paved, buddy.

Well that was fun.

Tim! Ohmigoditsfinallyyouhowgreatitistofinallyseeyou-

When she finally sees Tim she loses herself. She rushes over and gives him a big hug. She's so overjoyed, she never even asks herself why he was wearing that ridiculous leather jacket or those dumb sunglasses.

But it sinks in, though. She's not dumb.

You're not him.

Oh, Sweet Damnation, baby. I'll be whoever you friggin' want me to be.

Same face. Same body. Same everything but its not even close. This isn't Tim but his Other.

I'mreallysorrybutIthoughtyouweresomeoneelseI'lljustbegoing-

Wait a minute. Hold on, sweetie. You just don't come up to me and -

Let go of me!

No. C'mon. Stop struggling and we can have a nice party-

Leah panics. Her body disappates into energy, with the Other trying to hold on to her all the while, a smile on his face more wicked than her Tim could ever muster. He might not be Tim, but he sure is powerful.

They struggle. To the bystander, it might appear that a man is trying to have a wrestling match with a cloud of smoke. The struggle lasts only seconds, but it's a violent and bruising affair. Leah manages to slip away.

Bloody hell. That must have been a succubus. Bloody Tim Hunter was boffing a succubus. How lucky could one bloke be?

A ways away, Leah collects herself.

That was too close. If he had known going in who I was, I wouldn't have stood a chance. Shit.

He could have kept me, enslaved me... stuffed me in a bloody box, again.

I have to be more careful.

Little Moon.

The baby cries. She's been crying for hours. There's no one to hear her but the fish.

The fish swim about in ever more eccentric patterns. The water begins to splash, higher and higher.

The moon arcs across the sky. The reflective light streams into the room, a beam making its way across the room, until it rests, for the first time, on the baby.

London.

Leah goes back on the hunt.

It'd definitely be safer to be someone else at this point. I don't want to run into that creep again.

Blonde hair turns brown, green eyes turn brown, pale skin becomes tanned. Teenage slimness becomes the fullness of a woman.

Hopefully, Ellie won't mind me borrowing her look.

There weren't many more places to search. The bookstore, Camden market, the ice cream store. The real Tim wasn't in any of them. She was just about to give up when...

Look, lady. I might not have my magic anymore, but I can still tell when I'm being followed.

Uh... Tim? Where are you?

Never mind. Listen, wherever I've gone I saw you... Your aura, magic signature. Whatever you're looking for, I don't have it anymore. I gave it up, so leave me alone, alright?

Tim. Listen to me-

Whoever sent you, I'm not interested. Goodbye.

And then he's gone.

That was him. That was really him.

He doesn't remember me, doesn't even care, does he?

Shit.

The ideas can't reconcile themselves in Leah's brain. She transforms from flesh to energy and disappears.

The red SUV tears its way again across the desert sands, the moon shining down brightly enough to light the desert floor.

I'm sorry Ellie... I couldn't find him. He was... No. that's not it. Cripes. Maybe I shouldn't go back. I said soon but heck. Decades are 'soon'. Centuries are 'soon'...

Of course she had to go back. That's what sisters are for. Maybe she can't help Ellie find peace and security, but at least she deserved to be told to her face why.

As the tower reaches the horizon, Leah immediately knows something is wrong. The sky turns from the perfect indigo into odd and threatening shades of green and red. Noise, movement, light. Wrong, all wrong.

The monsters are loose. Bug-eyed, tentacled, sharptoothed, big as mountains. They thrash about, tear into each other, into the ground, into the air. The terrified campers struggle in the grips of the monsters.

Leah's role is to feed the fish, to keep the forces of change and entropy in balance. When she does her job, the monsters stay in their holes. When she doesn't....

Furious, she pulls up and pushes open the door of the SUV.

HEY! HEY! STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!

DROP THE KIDS AND DO IT GENTLY. THAT'S RIGHT.

IT'S ME! REMEMBER? NOW GO BACK TO YOUR LITTLE HIDEY HOLES OR
I.. ..WILL.. STUFF YOU THERE MYSELF, OK?

The monsters, being somewhat intelligent entities, fade from this plane again.

I can't believe it. What a slacker. What was she thinking?

The campers, groggy and confused, don't notice Leah as she storms past them and into the tower.

CHANTINELLE! What are you up to? I ask you to do one simple thing... feed the friggin fish and... Ellie?

Back in the Pastel Palace, there's no sign of Ellie. She's been long gone.

The gurgles of a baby's cry catch Leah's attention. In the corner, in a child's car seat, Ellie's baby remains.

Oh, shit. No way. She wouldn't....

She reads the note attached to the baby's blanket.

Leah- I'm sorry to do this to you but I just can't have a baby with me at this point. I knew she'd be safe with you...

Something about running to the far realms, more apologies, some instructions.

She knew I wouldn't be able... That I couldn't... You gotta be... What am I supposed to do with a kid?

The baby cries. Leah picks her up and holds her.

It is a beautiful kid, everything in place. Ten fingers, five on each hand, a tail...

A TAIL?

She unwraps the kid to get a better look. Below her waist, instead of legs, there's a mermaid's tail. Was that how she always was? Was that why Ellie came to me?

The kid twists away from her grasp and thrashes her tail about. She glides effortlessly about the room, moving up, then down, and all about.

Shit.

I HATE being a big sister.