The cell performs a quick first aid check on the four unconscious members of the Long Night cell and conclude they seem ok, so they exit the event hall so Veltis can exact his urine-based revenge. With his job completed, Josh focuses on his cellphone but finds no messages from anyone. This doesn't worry him; Merat-Su's cult suffered heavy damage in the attack, so their communications will likely be down for the rest of tonight and possibly tomorrow, while his text to the Smith's Daughter's pack is unread - but experience has taught him that the wolves don't bother checking if they don't currently have opposable thumbs. Dr. Ranjip trudges along behind them while Anita, Abby, Mick, and Polly can all tell the shadows have pulled back, but William and Leta both sense the presence of something else. Whatever it is, it drove the shadows back, and then Leta realizes it's not one thing, but three or four. She informs the others and William admits, "I didn't know there was more than one."

Josh looks up and asks, "Wait, there's something else?" Veltis rejoins them at this point and frowns as he can sense something too, but when asked he admits he isn't sure. Leta notices the good doctor is swaying and asks, "You ok, doc?" Dr. Ranjip offers an absent nod in reply, so the cell has a quick discussion about their next move. It's about 11:00 PM and everyone is exhausted, but the presences are likely between them and their cars. William favors just walking out, and Mick agrees. The others realize they don't have much choice, so they follow Mick as he strides upstairs, pushes open the main door, and walks out into the night.

The hunters immediately realize that the shadows are still present and are crackling angrily but seem to be held at bay by the presences. There is a section of Route 9 directly in front of the church that is somehow brighter than the rest of the street, although that might just be the lack of the shadows. Mick leads the cell into the middle of the road, but they stop when they feel the presences amidst them! Most of the hunters feel light pressure, as if someone is passing close enough to ruffle their clothing, but then something gently touches Anita on her right shoulder. In that moment of contact, Anita knows it wants to use her to communicate!

Anita looks directly at Abby; her fellow Sin-Eater can sense the presences like she can but seems clueless. Anita senses that this presence means her no harm, so she says softly, "One of them wants to talk." She then allows the presence in, and it flows inside her like warm honey. A surge of pink-tinged plasm erupts from her mouth, nostrils, ears, and tear ducts as it flows over her face, and the others immediately tense. She rasps, "It's okay, I gave it permission." At that moment, Anita realizes that this thing was once human and has passed from the mortal coil but doesn't seem to be a ghost in the traditional sense. She senses anger and desperation outweighed by a deep love, so she tries to remain calm as the presence starts using the plasm to shape a mask over her face.

Another presence touches Josh from behind and then wraps its 'arms' around him in a hug. Josh is startled, but asks, "Hello. This is awkward, and it will make walking difficult. Are you ok? Do you need a piggyback ride?" He feels the presence lightly swat him but feels a deep sense of love and gratitude at seeing him again. Josh awkwardly pats it but is surprised to feel a faint resistance. He declares, "Whatever it is, it seems happy to see us."

Leta feels a third presence off to her left, as if hesitant to come closer. Then Veltis hisses in pain and leaps up and backwards! In midair he transforms back into a hooded rat and a very startled Polly catches him! He immediately vibrates for comfort and starts burrowing into her armpit. Leta stares blankly at Polly, who is equally lost until Veltis demands, "There's three of them here. Armpit or boobs, your choice." Polly grumbles but allows him access to her armpit. She twitches as his paws scamper over sensitive skin as he gets settled, and then he demands, "Now move back two feet. Or more." Polly grudgingly complies as Leta demands, "Are you ok?" Veltis growls in a barely human tone, "Nope."

Leta turns back to the left and demands, "Why are you breaking my rat?" She the shudders as she realizes it knew it would hurt Veltis which is why it held back initially. Veltis offers a muffled, "Can you back up a little more?" Polly sighs but complies, so Leta calls out sarcastically, "C'mon, whosits." The presence then shifts position in physical reality and hugs her fiercely, with one hand around her and the other cradling the back of her head. Leta feels overwhelming affection and demands, "What the fuck are you?"

As Anita's mask is still taking shape, Josh feels the presence disengage from him and gently pat him on the back. It then shifts its position in reality, to be right in front of William! Josh calls out, "Incoming warm fuzzies, granddad!" The presence then hugs William fiercely, and lays its 'head' in just the right spot. William freezes as he realizes the truth - this is Wendy Troy, or some part of her. He says hoarsely, "What are you now?" Josh looks at him blankly, but Leta realizes that there is exactly one person in all of this or any reality that would cause William this much hope and distress, and crabs, "This doesn't make any sense! I don't have anyone who cares about me that much… oh fuck!" as she realizes the truth: this is her father, Raymond Mackenzie! She cries out, "No! You moved on! Are you ok?"

Anita turns to them, her plasm-mask now complete - and it forms Kanchana Ranjip's face! Using Anita's body, she replies, "He has. So has she. They came back with me," in a voice that blends both their voices and respective accents! Anita still retains some control, but she allows Kanchana to proceed without interference. Anita/Kanchana turn to Dr. Ranjip and start speaking rapid-fire Punjabi, although Anita doesn't know what she's actually saying. Dr. Ranjip stares at them, completely unmoving, and the hunters realize something is terribly wrong. His eyes are completely veiled in shadow, and his stock-still posture is so antithetical to his normal body language, as the doctor constantly moves his body and flexes his fingers, an unconscious habit many doctors practice to keep them limber in the event of an emergency.

With sickening horror, the hunters realize the good doctor is somehow on the verge of falling completely and becoming a True Fae, which likely means he'll drag them all into the depths of Arcadia! The only trace of humanity he has left is he is reaching form Anita/Kanchana! Frustrated at the relative slowness of occupying a body that doesn't naturally speak Punjabi, Kanchana switches to English and steps towards him, insisting, "Your name is Aamr Ranjip. We were married in November 1910. You were born 12 December 1888. You came back for me-"

Her plea is cut off as Josh realizes drastic measures need to be taken, so he pulls out his gun and shoots himself in his left foot! The gunshot causes both Amara and Kanchana to lurch and for her to scream, "What the fuck?" before she starts swearing heavily in Punjabi! William watches his grandson fall to the street and tells Wendy, "He gets that from his mother."

Shadows suddenly pour out of Amar Ranjip's eyes as he lunges forward, snarling a potent Punjabi curse that Anita mentally translates as "You goat-fucking idiot!" thanks to her deepening connection to Kanchana, who is also aggressively muttering the same thing.¹⁾ She mumbles incredulously, "Wait, did that actually work?" Mick steps forward and announces, "I'm going to… get out of the way!" as he scrambles out of Dr. Ranjip's path. Amar drops besides Josh and forcibly jams a yellow goblin fruit into the gunshot wound while William heaves a deep sigh and retrieves Josh's gun. Leta can feel her father's stance shift as Raymond does his equivalent of, "What the fuck?" Leta tells him, "That's Josh, he's trying to help." She gets the impression he's shaking his head sadly before he resumes their embrace.

Abby stands numbly in the middle of the road, staring helplessly down as Dr. Ranjip reverts to traditional medical assistance on Josh's foot. Kanchana Ranjip asks Anita incredulously, "Does he do this often?" Anita shrugs and replies, "He was trying to help. Just go with it." Dr. Ranjip then scrambles as Josh murmurs as the pain fades, replaced by this feeling of floating - because he's actually floating! Amar grabs his right ankle as Josh rises vertically off Route 9 before handing Josh off to William, stating firmly, "This is your problem now." William grumbles, clearly not thrilled about this.

Amar collapses suddenly, and Anita/Kanchana immediately dives in to help. They cradle Amar and see the absolute horror in his eyes. Kanchana starts talking to him in Punjabi, but then she hesitates as her instincts want to draw him closer. Anita tells her, "Just do what you need to do," so Kanchana leans in and kisses her husband deeply - and with tongue. Everyone looks away and Anita feels horribly voyeuristic but remains determined to help Kanchana. Kanchana pulls back suddenly, as she intended to get more physical but belatedly remembered she isn't in her body. Anita is silently grateful but The Witch muses, "Eh, he cute." She shushes her geist verbally as Mick looks around carefully and mutters, "Did… did nobody hear that shot?"

Kanchana is at war with herself, and for a split-second Anita sees her entire life: her fear at marrying Amar initially as it was arranged by their respective families, her deep love as she found him a decent, intelligent man, and her pride and anxiety when they moved to London so he could continue his medical training. That became ongoing terror as Amar was conscripted by the British army when the Great War broke out, and then that fateful, horrible day when the soldier in dress uniform gave her the crushing news: Amar was lost, presumed killed in action in Verdun as his unit - one of the handful of British units to actually reach Verdun from the Somme - was lost in the shelling. Anita then sees her move to America and become involved in the suffragette movement in the early 1920s after the war.

A lifetime of activism - which included physical attacks - sadly led to Kanchana losing it all due to dementia, and her long, interminable stay in the nursing home, broken in later years by repeated visits from someone who looked vaguely familiar, claiming he was her cousin from back home. With a sickening feeling, Anita realizes Kanchana only recognized her visitor was her husband after she died. At that point, Kanchana separates from Anita, leaving her body before temptation pushes her into something inappropriate.

Thanks to his deep connection to Wendy, William actually hears her when she snaps, "You were supposed to raise him better!" Unable to resist, William jokes, "I did. Look, he's raised!" as he gestures to his floating grandson. Everyone groans but Anita snaps, "A pun? Now? Really?" William shrugs, unrepentant, but then the hunters see a flash of gold as Kanchana, Raymond, and Wendy depart.²⁾ There is a moment of confused and deep silence until Leta asks Amar, "How are you doing, doc?" Still cradled in Anita's arms, Amar replies hoarsely, "Like I nearly lost my soul… you know." Leta nods somberly but Anita says firmly, "The True Fae can't take you until after Thanksgiving!" Amar flips her off but gets shakily to his feet.

Josh remains floating, now five feet of the ground, and he falls asleep. Abby takes him from William and mutters, "Why am I having flashbacks to the Big E?" Being the only one who didn't grow up - or spend decades after his escape from Arcadia - in the greater Springfield area, Leta has no idea what Abby is talking about, but sees everyone else nod.

The hunters look around and realize the unnatural shadows are gone, and there seems to be a symbol of some sort burned into the pavement beneath them.³⁾ Leta then senses they're being watched a split-second before Josh - still fast asleep - waves to something down East Street. The hunters turn and see golden eyes watching them from about dire-wolf height. With a start, the hunters realize there is another werewolf pack in the greater Northampton area, and then they hear a series of sharp barks that most of them manage to translate as, "Do we want to deal with whatever this is? No? Great, let's get the fuck out of here." Four dire-wolves turn and lope away, but the hunters sense something profoundly wrong about them.

As Anita helps Doctor Ranjip get to his feet and regain his dignity, Mick frets that there's been no reactions to the gunshot while Josh suddenly starts doing the backstroke. Abby grumbles but Josh starts babbling, revealing to the others that 'New Friend' is apparently here, in Josh's dreams. He scolds her and sends her packing, still fast asleep, and Anita declares, "We're just not going to discuss this now." Still leaning heavily on her, Doctor Ranjip cracks, "What? So, you're just going to William Troy this?" That gets a few chuckles, but William retorts, "You say that with such negative connotations." Anita snorts and then starts pulling the dried plasm off her face.

The hunters take a moment to regroup silently.⁴⁾ Anita realizes she and Dr. Ranjip are still pretty discombobulated, and she offers quietly, "Sorry about that." Polly returns Veltis to Leta; he thanks her softly, which startles Polly. Leta can tell he's absolutely exhausted, and Mick announces, "Well, I've got nothing." Dr. Ranjip sighs deeply and then offers to host them for the night. Anita demurs, as she's got shit to deal with at home, while Leta, Abby, and Veltis accept, as that was the plan in the first place. Mick and Polly decide to take Dr. Ranjip up on the offer and William decides it's best to leave Josh with them as well, in case of further medical emergencies. Dr. Ranjip agrees without quibble.

The hunters head for the two cars, squeeze Josh inside William's Skylark as best they can, and then get in themselves. They drive in silence the eight miles back to Dr. Ranjip's home, and then pull up and offload. Anita and William drive away while Dr. Ranjip escorts his guests inside. He has three guest bedrooms, one larger than the other two, and Mick and Polly claim that one. Leta and Veltis get their own room, while Josh ands Abby share the last room. Once inside their bedroom, Abby releases Josh and he gently bonks his head on the ceiling. Polly and Mick immediately crash. Leta can tell Dr. Ranjip is deeply ashamed, so she sidles up to him and says quietly, "I'm not great with words, but I know what it's like to not be the person you thought. We can talk later if you like." Amar nods and murmurs, "Same to you, buddy." He then heads to his bedroom.

Josh suddenly yells, "Consent! We've talked about this, New Friend!" He starts arguing with her, whoever - or whatever - she is, and Leta and Veltis enter Abby's room. Josh is still floating, so Leta grabs a blanket from the closet and throws it over him. They try to get him horizontal, but every time he immediately flips back to vertical, his head always pointing up. Leta brightens as an idea occurs to her, and she opens the closet fully. It contains spare sheets, blankets, and towels, which Leta immediately moves to the floor. She then grabs extra pillows and puts them on the floor as well, and then maneuvers Josh into the closet!

Leta closes the door partially and turns back to Abby. Abby purses her lips but shrugs in acceptance. She declares, "Thank you, now get out of my room." Leta moves to comply, but Abby softens and asks gently, "How are you doing?" Leta shrugs and says, "Honestly? I haven't managed to process last time I met him." Abby nods and tells her, "I'm here if you need me." Leta bods in appreciation, and then brings Veltis into the bathroom to give him a good scrubbing. After that, she heads to bed.

William pulls into his driveway at 12:10 AM Thanksgiving morning and stumbles into the house. The total silence reminds him he is completely alone, and he doublechecks everything is locked before he heads upstairs. He stops to stare at the rumpled bedsheets, as if someone had been sleeping, and realizes the shape is exactly like Wendy's. He puts that out of his mind and quickly changes into his pajamas before climbing into bed. He settles in, but stares at the ceiling for several minutes before he feels a clawed hand on his shoulder! He freezes in fear, and then a sepulchral voice declares, "Rest, my servant." William falls asleep immediately, into a dreamless slumber.⁵⁾

Anita pulls into her driveway at 12:40 AM and notes that Del's light is still on. She walks into the darkened home and hears Abuela's hitched snoring. She takes a step forward and wrinkles her nose at the unexpected smell of clove cigarettes, and then steps on a can! It crunches under her weight and Anita curses at the noise, but Abuela continues snoring. Anita turns on the light, and then openly swears when she sees the state of the living room! It's an extra level of disheveled, and she sees both bottles of tequila on the floor, both bone dry. She picks up the good bottle and sees all the marks Abuela made in the side in the years she's had it, to mark the level of alcohol in the bottle.

Anita looks around in surprise and then realizes the can she crushed has eleven siblings, and they're all empty cans of beer! She gathers the cans and bottles and walks into the kitchen but stops again as she sees the empty wine bottle on the counter. Anita sighs, but rinses and recycles the bottles and cans, wondering what exactly happened here, and why does the first floor stink of clove cigarettes? She finishes cleaning up and clicks off the lights. She heads upstairs and then knocks on Del's door. A moment later Del throws the door open and stares at Anita with a challenging, "What do you want?" expression on her face. Anita recoils from the smell of booze and says darkly, "Looks like you and Abuela had a party." Del snorts and replies, "I had two beers, maybe three, and some of the wine. The rest was all her."

Anita sighs and asks, "And the cloves were yours?" Del shakes her head and retorts, "Nope, they were hers. They're older than we are, I think they date back to the 1970s. Still potent, though." Anita groans but asks, "I want to go for a walk. Care to join me?" Del frowns but agrees, "Yeah, that might be good to get fresh air. Well, as fresh as it ever is here in Springfield." Anita snorts and says, "You might want to brush your hair first." Del checks herself in the mirror and mutters, "Yeah, I should." Anita heads downstairs and waits as Del gets cleaned up. Her younger sister then descends the stairs and downs a glass of water from the kitchen sink first before grabbing her jacket.

The two sisters step out into the chilly night and Del pulls out an ancient tin and opens it to reveal Abuela's stash of cloves. She offers Anita one, and Anita accepts. They light up and Del declares, "Walk and smoke." Anita nods and the sisters head out on Pine Street Court, walking west to Pine Street. Del says, "Peter dropped by to give me an update on the legal crap. I… I think he forgave me." Anita replies, "He forgave you a long time ago." Del grumbles but adds, "Oh, he said to tell you he's still residually angry at you. Something about the Fanta incident?" Anita snickers but doesn't explain anything further.

The sisters turn north on Pine Street and Del adds, "Oh, that creepy Goth chick was with him. Does she actually call herself Gothi?" Anita nods and replies, "Yeah, but she's actually really good for him." Del snorts but doesn't comment on that. Instead, she says bluntly, "Oh, and there was a second visitor. Your buddy, Silas Black." Anita stops dead on the side of Pine Street and demands details. Del shrugs and tells her, "He actually only left maybe half an hour before you got home. He broke down the SPD's offer and how they want the botanica in their pocket. I have to admit, some things make sense retroactively now. He also helped me make a decision. Well, I'd already made it, but he helped me to articulate it."

Anita resumes walking but side-eyes her sister. Del adds, "So tomorrow - well, technically today, is Thanksgiving. I assume you're opening the botanica on Friday?" Anita nods and Del continues, "Cool. Starting Monday, I'll be spending time there." Anita demands, "Why?" Del stops and looks at Anita straight in the eyes as she says firmly, "To start learning how to run it." Anita reels back with a 'comme ça what the fuck?' expression and Del snaps, "This is happening. So, how is Josh?" Thrown for a loop, Anita retorts, "He shot himself in the foot tonight. Literally, not figuratively. So, he's not very talkative right now." Del sighs and mutters, "Cute but dumb. Yeah, that tracks."

Anita snorts before demanding, "And why, exactly, are you learning to run the botanica?" The sisters resume walking and Del says flatly, "So I can take it over." Anita immediately protests but Del shakes her head firmly and states, "This is why Abuela was so upset this morning. Josh helped get it all out, but the long and short of it is, you're a walking corpse. You can't have babies. I have to take it over to keep it in the family. Get preggers, take over the store." Anita snaps, "Not in that order!" She's still stunned by this, and Del says softly, "Abuela thinks she doesn't have much time left. She wants to make sure the family continues and keeps the botanica, and this bullshit with the SPD illustrates why. Also, let's be honest, whatever you have sharing your meatsuit, Abuela hates it with a passion. She told me tonight that her husband brought her into the land of the dead to meet his buddies! And apparently brought her to some creepy hallway which had a brothel."

Anita groans but says, "Has. It has the brothel, it's still there." Del demands more information, but Anita evades her. Annoyed, Del snarls, "Stop treating me like a kid!" Anita snaps back, "You're still eighteen." Del stops once again and says coldly, "I've already seen this world you live in. Tell me. About tonight in Cummington. Now." Anita glares at her sister but is startled when Del returns the expression without flinching. With a sinking heart, Anita realizes the Montoya relentlessness passed down from mother to daughter is now awake in Del.

Anita sighs but patiently outlines the events of tonight. She refers to bear-fucking, and Del murmurs, "I'm going to blame that one on the demon." Anita nods and replies, "Yup." She breaks down the attack on Merat-Su's cult and how the-thing-that-should-not-be waited in line for bear dick. She jokes, "This is the weirdest 'birds and the bees' talk ever." She expands her explanation a bit, but when she gets to future-Northampton, Del explodes, "Time travel? Really?" Anita nods soberly and says, "Yes. 2040-soemthing. Apparently, you and I are fighting over Springfield, but somehow, you're also Silas Black. The Silent Duke wasn't entirely clear on that."

Del sighs in resignation as the sisters reach the gates of the Springfield Cemetery. They walk into the cemetery as Anita sums up the final details of her night before her drive home. Del mutters, "So, my baby-daddy-to-be shot himself in the foot. Wonderful." Anita retorts, "I think Abby may have something to say about that." Del shrugs and retorts, "She's a walking corpse too. If he wants kids, it ain't happening with her." Anita sucks air through her teeth in anger, but Del ignores her and laments, "Why is he a DILF?" Anita quickly figures out she means 'dumbass I'd like to fuck' and she snorts, "Apparently, that's been a problem since the 1600s."

Del demands to know how William could possibly be Josh's grandfather; Anita replies, "I know he looks like he's in his late forties, but he's actually seventy-five. When I first met him back in February, he was even younger - he looked eighteen. This was something about angel blood and the True Fae, and that orange tabby cat turned out to be a cat-angel. He also healed our succubus. Or incubus, I can't remember the difference." Del retorts, "That's easy. An incubus puts it in, and the succubus sucks." Anita grumbles but admits inwardly that actually helps. She continues and tells Del of how William now possesses the marks of another mummy, one that was married to Merat-Su! Del groans and then Anita sobers and tells her, "Oh, another problem. So, vampires are real, and we've pissed them off."

Del says flatly, "I know. Silas Black told me." She then turns to Anita and demands, "And how was Carlos mixed up in all of this?" Anita sighs but explains, "So the Troys are hunters. Well, sort of. Anyway, Carlos was a hunter too, part of some group that hunted vampires. They went after Black, thinking he was a vampire, and he killed everyone but Carlos. You were in the car last month⁶⁾ when he laid out an ultimatum, protection money in exchange for Carlos's safe return. Well, we learned of another threat, a big one. A dead True Fae named Sethic. It destroyed the brothel Abuela was talking about and abducted a lot of ghosts under our protection. It's poised to do some really nasty shit, like 'destroy everything we hold dear' level of nasty."

Anita takes a deep breath and says softly, "I struck a deal with Black; he located information about this True Fae in exchange for weekly payments from me. I paid for information, not protection. It… it boiled down to Carlos or the information. One or the other. I deemed the information far more vital. We needed it. And you know the rest, Black killed him and set it up to look like Carlos was a hero. It was meant for us, a gift to soften the blow. Also, to rid Black of some corrupt cops, although I don't know anything more about that."

Del remain silent as Anita continues, "I agreed to pay Black a weekly sum for eighteen months. It started the last Monday of October, so we're about one month in. You have to understand, I've dealt with the True Fae four times now. The first time was when I met William and Josh, and it walked past our wards like it was nothing. Abby died then. The second time, we got trapped in some weird-as-hell half-realm in Shelburne Falls. The third time I met this dead True Fae directly in the Underworld, and it fucking threw a train at us! The fourth time, Abby died again to protect Josh, and the backlash was what destroyed the wards on the botanica."

Del remains silent for an agonizing minute before she says flatly, "Anything else I should know about?" Anita replies glibly, "I joined a werewolf pack. Their totem told me about your learning disability." Del snaps, "I don't have a disability!" Anita sighs, "According to her, you do. Dyslexia." Del cries out, "I don't have dyslexia, I'm just not good with school… oh my God!" Her eyes go wide as she suddenly realizes she may in fact have a disability, one that has unknowingly hampered her for her entire life! Anita adds, "This is the same spirit that made you pee your pants last month." Del grumbles in outrage, "You live in one of those old Universal monster movies!"

Anita frowns but jokes, "You may be right. I guess that would make Josh Brendan Fraser from the Mummy. And Abby is definitely Evie the librarian." Del snorts but Anita warns her, "Don't play knifey-spoony with Abby. There won't be any spoons." Del remains unrepentant as the sisters resume walking around the cemetery, and Anita fills her in on more about the True Fae, werewolves, mages, and other things that go bump in the night. However, she does not share anything about Kanchana Ranjip; that she keeps private.

Finally, Del asks Anita, "What was he like? Carlos?" Anita considers the question carefully before replying, "When not strung out, he was… fun. Goofy. I'm sorry you never saw that side of him." Del sighs deeply but then asks," So is Black a friend or an enemy?" Anita shrugs and replies honestly, "No idea. I'm lost on that one. But I can tell you he brought us into the Underworld just after Halloween to rescue Josh and Leta, and he grew wings. Fucking metallic wings!"