Part 1: Interlude - Lay’s POVA few days ago. Outside the house.

  It’s warm out today. Currently, I’m sitting in the shade, resting my back against the old tree in the yard. The grass makes me itchy, but otherwise it's surprisingly comfortable. I'm out here watching Dad; he's doing one-handed pushups in the sun, counting under his breath. I watch him for a while, then look down.

  I pick up a stick and start drawing in the dirt. Nothing specific, just poking around, digging up little rocks.

  Recently, Mira’s been going back to the attic. She doesn't know I noticed. She waits until Mom and Dad are outside, then sneaks off. Sometimes she stays up there for hours before coming back down. I've been trying to cover for her... I probably shouldn't.

  I want to be the big sister. I want to protect her. But I don’t think she needs me to. I don’t think she needs me at all. Mira's always been better at things than me. She’s better at walking, talking, everything. She can read and write, while I still struggle. And now she can do magic too. I just wanted to be a helpful big sister... so why does it feel like I'm useless? I hate it.

  I don’t want her to know I’m sad.

  I don’t want to cry in front of her.

  Part 2: Morning 2 - Nyxie’s POV

  Morning light slowly begins to brighten the bedroom. I am ying in bed, my arm resting over my forehead as I stare upwards at the ceiling. It’s been getting warmer tely; the change happened pretty fast... maybe summer started? Either way, these bedsheets are getting way too hot. I push them off with my foot. That's a lot better.

  I hadn’t slept much st night. I’d spent most of the day yesterday sleeping in the attic, so I wasn’t really tired. Though, I'll admit most of the reason I couldn't sleep was from stress.

  Rolling to my side, I gnce across the room. Lay’s still asleep, drooling all over her pillow as she hangs half off the side of her bed. Her bnkets were thrown around, barely covering her. One arm is hanging loosely over the edge. Her long bck hair is messily spread across the bed.

  "She’s not going to wake up for quite some time," Rose comments, sounding tired. "She sleeps like a rock."

  Lay has always been a heavy sleeper. For the longest time, she's relied on us to wake her up. Though recently, we haven’t exactly... talked much... If at all. It’s not like we fight, argue, or anything like that. Instead, it's more so that she's been... actively avoiding me. Every day she’s out in the yard with Dad. Sometimes, I catch a glimpse of her through the attic window. Usually, she's sitting under the tree, drawing in the ground with a stick.

  I roll myself off the bed and lower down onto the floor, careful not to make too much noise. I shuffle across the room, then sit with my back against the bedframe, right next to where Lay's hand is dangling off the side.

  Ashley speaks up. "Sooo... Are you gonna share that whole big pn of yours, the one you came up with days ago and just never told anyone?"

  "Yeah yeah. I was getting to it," I mutter, keeping my voice low. "I just… needed to make sure I could actually do it first."

  "Ohhh, so you did have something," Ashley says, with a slight inflection in her voice. "Here I thought you were putting it off."

  Yeah, I probably could've got away with doing it a few days ago. I wanted to be fully prepared before doing this, It could be dangerous. Although, that's not really an excuse. If I'm being honest, I just wasn't ready to face her.

  "I might've, just for a bit..." I say meekly.

  Rose sighs, "You know you don't have to push yourself to do this, I already offered to do it for you."

  "Eh, I'll be fine. It's not like my pn is anything too hard to pull off. Honestly, it's not too much of a pn at all" I say, leaning my head back against the bedframe.

  Rose’s voice takes on a more curious tone, "You've been brooding about it for days. So I'm quite intrigued."

  "Brooding? Is that what that was? What am I, Batman?" I say jokingly.

  "Who the fuck is Batman?" Ashley says confused.

  Celia cuts me off before I can go on a long tangent about it, "Observation: Nyxie, your idea is reckless, considering we don’t have enough information... but given our choices, it’s efficient for our goals and most likely to succeed."

  "See? Celia already figured it out," I mutter.

  "Yeah, but she's some kind of weirdo genius," Ashley says, completely ignoring Celia's presence. "But now you got me curious."

  I exhale slowly. "Right… guess there's no point in stalling anymore."

  I tilt my head, looking at Lay’s hand still dangling loosely off the bed. I can see her face too, her closed eyes looking so rexed. If she woke up right now, the first thing she'd see is me just... sitting here. She looks so peaceful; if you ignore how much she’s destroyed the bed in her sleep. Looking at her sleeping face makes me feel a lot better; I really missed waking up with her next to me.

  I let out a long sigh, stretching my arms. Then I finally respond, "I’m going to help her cast magic."

  It takes a moment for them to process what I just said. Then my head explodes with everyone's voices. It's enough to make me reel back, hitting the back of my head on the bedframe.

  "…What?" Ashley blurts out. "No no no no no, we are not doing that. Absolutely no fucking way are we doing that. Even I'm not that reckless!"

  "For once, I agree with Ashley," Rose says, taking on a serious tone. "Why even consider that as an option? The book clearly stated that it could seriously hurt her."

  Ogma perks up at that, her voice sounding scared. "N-no… we c-can’t." she whispers, starting to sob. "I-I don’t w-want her to get h-hurt…"

  "Okay, maybe I should've phrased that one better. That's entirely on me..." I say, pressing two fingers into the spots between my eyes. "Look, I know the book said it could hurt her. But that’s only if she tries to cast something way beyond her mana capacity. I’m not doing that."

  "So what exactly are you doing then?" Ashley demands, she sounds frustrated.

  "I was just getting to that," I respond, checking the back of my head for any bumps. "So, in the book, they briefly mention something about catalysts. Which are external substitutes for your mana. So basically, it's like... if you don't have enough mana for a spell, you'll borrow it from something else. It clearly states that you could use mana in the air, monster corpses, and drumroll please..... Okay, tough crowd... It says you can use other people's mana."

  "Hold on, you're pnning on Lay using our mana?" Ashley says, sounding confused.

  "Yup, that’s the gist of it." I say simply.

  "Is that possible, like, do we even know how to do that?"

  Celia jumps in, responding for me. "Answer: Yes, it should be possible. Theoretically, there are multiple methods that should work. One, you input the mana directly into the person; this should function the same way as with the magic circles. If that doesn’t work, then inputting mana directly into the circle to make up for the difference would also be viable. If it fails, then the mana will disperse before Lay can over-exert herself. Thus, it has a chance of not working, but it's safe overall."

  "Exactly," I say proudly. "That’s what I’ve been doing these past few days. Testing what kinds of spells are the safest but also the coolest for her to try. I’ve been building up our mana as much as possible. Yesterday, we spent the whole day firing icicles at a barrel using summoning magic, just so I could get used to controlling the mana input. Basically… I pnned all of this out."

  Rose sighs. "Next time… just tell us what you’re doing."

  "Alright, alright. Sorry. I will."

  I hear Lay stir in the bed above me, groaning and stretching. I look up to see her slowly opening her eyes. Immediately I realize where I am, but it's a little too te; she's already looking at me with her golden eyes. She processes for a moment, then quickly pulls her arm away from me. Shit... she woke up earlier than I expected.

  "Umm, h-hey Lay... Good morning."

  She doesn't say anything in response, just stares at me.

  I clear my throat, "Umm, Can you maybe uh... try and meet me in the attic after breakfast? I... I need to talk to you."

  Lay blinks, then her expression turns sad. "The attic?" She says yawning.

  "Yeah, it’s important," I say quickly, trying to escape. "I want to apologize, okay?"

  She hesitates for a moment before responding, "Okay... I'll go." She says weakly.

  "Great... thanks," I say quickly, awkwardly standing up and darting out of the room.

  Okay, step one complete: get her to agree to come up to the attic.

  Part 3: My own way.

  I sit on the floor of the attic, watching the hatch intently, waiting for Lay to arrive. The attic is a lot hotter than usual, so I'm slightly sweating from the heat. My heart is beating loudly in my chest, and I feel a little light-headed. I made sure to set up everything so that it'll be easier. The elementary magic book lies open in my p. In the corner, there's a extremely beat-up looking barrel that I pn to continue to use as target practice.

  Everything I've been learning over the past few days was for this very moment, to give myself a chance to apologize my own way. But it was still stressful, sitting here waiting.

  I hear the sound of footsteps below me, then the sound of Lay climbing the dder.

  I try to keep myself calm, counting to five while slowly breathing in and out. Then, Lay's small head pokes out from the hatch. Her eyes scan the room before nding on me. We lock eyes, and then there's an awkward silence. She pulls herself up, struggling a little before plopping down on the floor. She gets up and slowly approaches me. I don't really know what to say so I just pat the floor next to me, signaling for her to sit down.

  She wobbles over and sits; not quite where I patted, but close. Though, it was a little farther away than I’d hoped... She meets my eyes again, then looks down at the book in my hands.

  "I’m um, sorry... for not reading to you earlier... I wanted to, but well... I was being stupid," I say awkwardly, starting to fidget with the pages of the book as I'm speaking.

  Lay doesn’t say anything, just looks up into my eyes with hers. Once again, her beautiful, glistening golden eyes see through me.

  I look away, staring back at the ground below. "I shouldn’t have ignored you these st five days... I wanted to tell you... I'm sorry, I truly am. Shutting you out was wrong of me."

  Lay shuffles a bit, wrapping her arms around her legs. Curled up into a ball she looks up at the ceiling.

  Still nothing.

  I guess I deserve that.

  "Look, I uh… wanted to make it up to you," I say, showing her the book. "I- um... wanted to read the magic book to you, because… I know you can do it. Honestly, probably better than me."

  Her head turns towards me, I can see her eyes light up, like I said something she'd been waiting to hear. She looks back at the book, then at the ground again. "Reawlly?" She whispers, tears welling up in her eyes. "D-does that mean... you need me? I c-can help you?"

  "I- uh... Yeah, I mean..." I clear my throat. "I need you, to uh... help me with the... hard spells in this book." I improv out.

  She blinks, her eyes wide with surprise, then suddenly she starts to cry. Tears falling from her eyes onto her legs. I reach over to try and calm her down but I notice she's smiling. Did telling her I would read to her really make her happy? Either way Lay suddenly perks up, wiping the tears from her face. She scoots over closer next to me, looking at the book and then at me, her eyes puffy from crying.

  I spend the next half-hour or so reading to her, carefully going over the basics while omitting some of the stuff that could endanger her or make her too scared. For example, I avoid mentioning the incantations because I'm scared she'll try them immediately or when I'm not around. I also leave out how using too much mana could tear you apart. Instead, I reword it so It's less scary for her. She listens to me, absorbing the information like a sponge. Seriously, it's impressive sometimes just how smart she is.

  I finally finish with the whole theory section of the book, and I flip to the page with the "Ice Bolt" spell listed. "This is the spell I wanted you to try. It shoots out a spike made of Ice."

  "Okay!" she says loudly, raising her arm up excitedly.

  I guide Lay to a standing position and show her the target, the beat up barrel in the corner. Then, I hand her the book, open to the page with the intricate circle drawn on it. I pause, stopping still.

  I whisper in my mind, slightly nervous, "Hey, um... Celia? Are we ready?"

  "Response: Yes, all you need to do now is pour your mana into her while she’s casting the spell. If it doesn’t work, shift the flow into the circle instead."

  "Do you think she'll notice?"

  "Unlikely." She says simply.

  Ashley cuts in, "You should stop stalling, we've come this far, and Lay's waiting on you."

  Yeah Ashley knows me pretty well... I look back to Lay, who is annoyingly taller than me. She's standing there, patiently waiting, watching me stand there still. I reassure myself and prepare to force mana into her body, as gently as I can. "Alright, just... focus. All you need to do is shove your mana into it, thinking about how fast it'll hit the barrel, and it’ll work. Controlling your mana is easy, just take a moment to feel around for a bit and you'll find it. To shove it into the circle, just imagine it being forced into the ink, taking it's shape."

  There’s a long pause. Lay just stands there, her arm outstretched toward the barrel. Doing absolutely nothing.

  Then, without warning, the temperature drops. The heat of the attic begins to fade. In front of Lay an icicle slowly starts to form, bright cyan beads colliding in front of her, forming ice. I start to slowly flow my mana into her, using my own to repce the mana she's using. It seems like it works! A fraction of her own mana and mine seem to both be used to form the spell. Though it seems my mana isn’t able to stay within Lay for long before it's forced into the spell. The icicle hangs idly in the air, fully forming as the st beads collide. [ICE BOLT]

  After a short pause, BOOM!

  It shoots through the air like a missile, slicing through the air. It strikes the barrel and shatters across the floor, leaving a clear indent on the wood. Mom and Dad should be outside still, so hopefully they didn't hear that... Lay took a lot of mana out of me to make it fly like that.

  Lay is extremely happy. She starts jumping up and down, ughing excitedly. "Did you see me!? I did it!"

  Before I can even say anything, she runs at me and throws her arms around me, hugging me tightly. She's crying a little while smiling, squeezing me so I don't let go. I wrap my arms around her, hugging her too. I can feel her body warmth as she presses into me. Her ughter starts slowing down, her grip loosens and she falls into me.

  "Lay?" I say panicked.

  She leans into me, her head resting on my shoulder. Her body goes limp and she starts snoring super loudly. Phew- She's just asleep...

  I feel Celia push trying to take control so I step to the side, she lowers Lay down and pces a hand on her chest. "Observation: She fainted, just like we did on our first spell. Other than that she's fine, her mana capacity is also growing." She says calmly.

  "Thank god..."

  I take control back from Celia and brush a bit of hair out of Lay's face. She's happy, smiling while asleep. That went... so much better than I could've possibly imagined. I y down next to her, looking up at the celling and smiling. That was fun.