She felt like she was overheating, even though the first thing she’d done when she’d retreated up to her bedroom was open the window to let fresh air in. Alice sat cross-legged on the quilt that her Aunt Ruby had made, she was staring down at the photo in her hand, anything to distract her from thoughts about what had just happened. The same phrases kept going round and round in her brain, things like, it wasn’t his fault and you can’t fight magic but she’d discovered over the last hour that the problem was her. She wanted to be mad at him, she wanted to scream at him, call him a cheating bastard and slam the door in his face. She couldn’t, how could she? But the image of Sara kissing him kept popping up, kept replaying in her head like a horrible movie. Why did he have to let her approach like that? Why couldn’t he have been more assertive when she first started talking to him? Why couldn’t he have told her to get lost?

                She huffed out a frustrated breath and tipped over onto her back, trying to remember that in spite of the magic, he’d still pushed her away. He’d still retained enough of himself to realize that the kiss was wrong. It took amazing force of will to resist a spell. She knew that, so why did she keep wanting to get mad at him?

                Because my anger effects him.

                It was true. She’d seen the look on his face when he’d realized what had just happened, he’d looked stricken, horrified.

                He looked afraid.

                That was why she wanted to lash out at him, because it was effective. She was simply transferring her anger at Sara, because she knew Sara wouldn’t care. Sara wouldn’t be hurt or afraid if she screamed at her.

                Although her nose will hurt for a while…

                She couldn’t help but smile at that particular thought. Sara had had that coming for a long time, and she wouldn’t hesitate to admit it had felt good.

                “What would you have done, Aunt Ruby?” Alice murmured.

                The grey-haired woman in the photo beamed back at her with rosy cheeks. She didn’t look like someone who would have gotten herself into a scrap like that, then again…Alice peered more closely at the rosy cheeks, at the hint of a sparkle in the woman’s eyes. Her aunt had definitely had a big personality, there was no doubt about that.

                “You probably would have bashed her too, huh?” Alice grinned, then her smile faded slightly as she caught sight of something she hadn’t noticed before, a tiny blur of silver around Aunt Ruby’s neck. The photo wasn’t super close up, but if she squinted, she thought she could make out a necklace, a little silver half crescent hung around her Aunt’s neck. When she scanned the rest of her Aunt’s companions she saw the same necklace on each one of them.

                “What…”

                She put the photo down on the quilt in front of her and grabbed the links of her charm bracelet, tugging it around her wrist so the little half-moon charm was resting on the back of her hand. The moon, the one charm on her bracelet that had never done anything. Of course, she’d spent time wondering what it meant, what the charm did. Her and Azura had even joked about it, saying it must affect the tides, or it meant Alice would turn into a werewolf someday. But she’d never guessed that it might be some kind of…symbol. The bracelet had been Ruby’s, something her aunt had given her at a very young age. So what did the half-moon mean? Were these people some kind of cult?

                She pinched the charm between her thumb and pointer finger, staring at it more closely, trying to figure out what it did, what it meant. She should feel uneasy about it, she realized that. A mysterious delivery of an expensive knife, a faded photograph of a group her aunt had kept secret….but somehow, she wasn’t scared. The charm bracelet had always protected her, it was somehow an extension of her Aunt, a benevolent force for good. Magic that stood in for Ruby once she was gone.

                She released the charm and picked up the photograph carefully, making her way over to the nightstand in the corner, sliding the photo into the top drawer. It would be safe there, it was nice to look at sometimes, even though it was mysterious and puzzling. It was good to see Ruby’s face, to put a name to all she had left behind for Alice, a niece she’d hardly known.

                Alice was turning away from the dresser when there was a gentle knock on the door. For a moment she tensed, and everything came flooding back, the vibrant picture of Sara kissing Altair flooded her brain, making her fingers curl into fists at her sides. For just a few minutes the photo had made her forget about it, or at least, pushed it to the back of her mind.

                “Yes,” she forced the word out from between her teeth.

                “Alice?”

                A girl’s voice, muffled and timid from behind the door. Alice relaxed, “Hi Maya, come on in.”

                The door creaked open, and one of Maya’s soft brown eyes peered through the crack, “Um, are you okay?”

                “I’m alright,” she flopped back down on the end of the bed, “trying not to be mad, but it’s hard.”

                “You know, you can report her,” Maya edged into the room, her face cautious, as if she was expecting Alice to snap and start throwing punches wildly, “with the Council of Magic for Jasper.”

                Alice tried to give her a reassuring smile, “you can come in, I’m calm.”

                “Okay,” Maya came over to sit beside her, the bed creaking as she crawled onto the quilt, “I mean it though, you should report her. What she did was technically illegal. It’s magical manipulation…”

                Alice rolled her eyes, “Yeah, but we both know that nobody pays attention to that. Maya, we practically sell illegal stuff if you think of it that way. Love potions? Nobody pays attention to the councils or their laws. People don’t kill one another because of the magical repercussions, because they’ll find themselves with a nasty spell on them if the murder victim had any friends. The magical world is worse than the rest of the world that way. It’s pretty much anarchy.”

                “Well,” Maya said primly, “she probably won’t bother you again. I’m fairly certain you broke her nose.”

                Alice grimaced, “Guess you guys saw everything, huh?”

                “Well, you did sort of jump up really suddenly and run outside, we were wondering what on earth was going on. I looked out just before you punched her,” she bit her lip, “um, that was awesome by the way. I never could have done that.”

                Alice smiled in spite of herself, “thanks. I guess I should be ashamed that I resorted to violence…but I’m not.”

                “Don’t be. She had it coming,” Maya stood up suddenly, “come on, let’s do something to take your mind off it. I hear there’s a great winter market going on downtown right now.”

                Alice raised one eyebrow, “there’s a ‘downtown’ to Jasper?”

                Maya just grinned, “come on, let’s go.”

                “Alright,” Alice glanced back once, at the nightstand which held the photo, telling herself she would push that out of her mind as well, just for a day, and then she’d ask Azura about it (though Azura didn’t seem to know anything about the photo either). For now, she just needed to think about something else.

                The winter market was definitely distracting. There were little booths set up all the way down the main street that were decorated in glowing fairy lights. They hung like icicles from the edges of the canvas roofs, and the cheery white light they cast made the falling snow shimmer and dance. People walked in groups together, some dressed in the long, black robes of sorcerers and witches, some in heavy fur coats and hats. Snow coated the ground and made it seem serene, even though there were crowds of people laughing and talking, standing in lines together for hot chocolate and fresh baked goods, or haggling with the owners of the booths over silver jewelry and wooden carvings.

                “It’s beautiful,” Maya breathed, and the words coming out on a cloud of silvery, white. The girls walked down the street, boots crunching on the snow, and Alice felt herself relax. Maya was right. The winter market was beautiful.

                “Let’s get hot chocolate,” she said eagerly, “the line isn’t too long.”

                Maya looked pleased, “Oh yes, good idea!” she tugged on a pair of red mitts as they walked towards the hot chocolate stand, “and we should get some of that biscotti, the stand is from the bakery down the street. They have such good biscotti.”

                “They have good everything,” Alice agreed.

                The two girls got into line behind a wizard in a tall pointed hat, and Alice amused herself by watching him while Maya talked. The wizard’s hat was so tall that the tip of it kept flopping over, and each time the man would reach up and tug it upwards so that it stood up straight again. Then, sure enough, in the next minute or so the tip of the hat would droop down again and he’d yank it back up.

                “I smell donuts,” Maya was saying, “I bet they have those mini donuts over there, the ones with the sugar and cinnamon on them. Those are so good.”

                “You’re making me hungry,” Alice said, then she nudged Maya and pointed out the Wizard’s hat, trying to be subtle.

                Maya’s eyes widened as she watched the little drama unfold, and Alice had to start talking loudly so the hat-wearing wizard couldn’t hear her friend giggling.