Psyche sits in the school clinic. Her focus is on the girl lying down on the bed. Joy radiates in from the windows towards her as the children play outside. She lets the feeling freely flow from her to the small girl, hoping it will dull some pain.

The darkness in her mind continues to grow. Psyche reaches a hand forward to touch it, and the girl winces. There is nothing she can do about it. Just sit here and pass the feeling of joy from others to her. She can't do for Kit what others did for her. Psyche can't make her a goddess. Can't make her immortal. Can't protect her from death.

"You can care for her," Eos's voice whispers.

Psyche's body lifts from the ground. Her eyes flitter to the window. Just more feathers.

"Coward," she mutters to the wind.

Kit groans slightly on the bed, and Psyche extends a hand, causing the girl to fall back asleep. The minutes tick by until two female voices are heard outside the room. A middle-aged woman walks in with a unicorn backpack slung over her arm.

"You're sure she didn't throw up?" The woman asks.

The other woman, probably in her forties, with a school ID badge on, shakes her head. "No, we've been monitoring her since recess. The rest seems to be helping her, Ms. Marsalis."

Ms. Marsalis nods to the nurse and walks over to her daughter. She scoops her up into her arms and steps for the door. "Thank you again for your help Ms—"

"Anderson," Ms. Anderson smiles. "I would definitely call the doctor. Just to make sure."

"I will," Ms. Marsalis confirms. "Just need to get her in the car first."

Ms. Anderson holds the door to the nurse's room open. She looks back towards the bed where Kit slept and gasps. "Don't forget the robot!"

Ms. Marsalis stops mid-step in the hallway and tries to look through the strands of her child's hair as the nurse waves at her frantically.

Ms. Anderson tucks a toy robot in with Kit, softly smiling. "From what I hear, this is a prized possession amongst her friends. They were outside doing dances for it today."

"These kids," Ms. Marsalis shakes her head, beginning to walk again down the hall. "At least they had their fun."

"Agreed," Ms. Anderson nods, holding a door open for the mother as they move towards the school entrance. "I hope she feels better soon."

"Thank you," the mother smiles as the nurse opens the last door for her. "Me too!"

Psyche touches the nurse slightly on the shoulder, causing a burst of joy to spread through the woman's body before floating behind the young mother and girl. She knows she shouldn't stay away from Lucilla for too long, but she needs to be sure Kit will also be okay.

All of her little followers need her in different ways. She didn't expect to need to extend herself when she left the abyss. Psyche just knew she didn't want to return to the darkness. And, now, she can't expect her followers to come to her. Most of them don't know how to tie their shoes; nevertheless, they navigate independently to the temple. It isn't like the old days. Children just don't wander around on their own anymore.

"I need to expand myself to be in multiple places," Psyche muses, floating behind the speed-walking mother.

Psyche stretches her spirit, causing her form to expand from a lady of about 5'8 to 12 feet tall. Her face turns bright red.

"No," she whispers and returns to her typical height. "That is too hard."

The goddess pulls out one of her eyes and holds it out to look around. She covers the one on her face and marvels at her genius idea until her protruding eyeball turns to see the gaping, bleeding hole on her face.

"Not cute!" She screeches, slamming the eyeball back into place.

Psyche bites her lip and crosses her arms as she watches Ms. Marsalis settles Kit and the robot in the car with a speed and expertise only a seasoned mother could accomplish. She observes the girl, clutching onto the robot.

"Perhaps," she whispers, floating halfway through the door and touching the robot. Its eyes glow. The goddess closes her eyes.

She finds herself looking up at Kit from the robot's position. Psyche opens her eyes, once again looking down at the sleeping girl.

Rest up, Psyche whispers to the sleeping girl. I'm with you.

Ms. Marsalis turns on her car. She takes a moment to put on her sunglasses and then waits for her phone to connect to the car's Bluetooth. Ms. Marsalis scrolls until she finds the name of Kit's pediatrician and hits the green phone icon. Hands and feet move unconsciously to put the car in reverse as the phone rings.

Psyche lets the mother drive away, ringing still echoing in her ears. She turns her golden eyes back to the school and drifts inside. Her spirit settles in the back of the classroom, watching Lucilla warily. How is she going to tell her about this?

Lucilla's dark braid bobbed slightly against her back. She colors so roughly that the paper crumbles underneath her crayon. Lucilla doesn't feel uneasy; it is more of a need to complete this picture. Something needs to be fixed with Kit. She can feel Psyche's concern, even if the goddess doesn't say anything. So, Lucilla needs to finish this for her friend. Kit needs to feel happy.

Lucilla's hand drops a light green crayon into the bucket. She rises slightly off her seat to weed through the crayons until she finds the dark green. The color green makes Kit happy. Lucilla sits down and makes harsh lines across the page. Still not accepting that she could be perturbed. Just aware that something wasn't fair. As the priestess for Psyche, Lucilla would bring joy.

A soft cough makes Lucilla drop her crayon and turn. Two girls stand behind her. The shorter one with a pug face smiles while her hawk-featured friend with a tight black ponytail stands beside her patiently.

"Hey Luci," the pug-faced one starts. "We thought that it would be good for all of Psyche's followers to have—"her cheeks flush as she giggles slightly. "Boyfriends!"

Lucilla's eyes widen, and her mouth dries. "Uh—Ophelia," she swallows quickly. "I don't think that's what Psyche wants."

"How do you know?" Ophelia crosses her arms and stamps a foot.

The taller friend nods and mimics Ophelia. "Yeah," she agrees. "How do you know?"

Lucilla leans back in her chair to avoid the girl's dark gaze. "Well, Faye and Ophelia, Psyche told me."

"But you don't have the robot," Faye counters. "You gave it to Kit, and she went home sick. So, you can't talk to Psyche."

"Yes I can!" Lucilla hisses.

"No, you can't!" Ophelia hisses back.

"Can so!"

"Unt-uh!" Ophelia and Faye counter in unison, their voices getting louder with each exchange.

Lucilla jumps up from her chair and places her hands on her hips. "Psyche isn't a goddess for love and relationships! You can go follow someone else for that."

"Doesn't change that you're a robot-less plain freak who can't talk to her!" Faye snaps.

The lights flicker in the room as the three girls standoff. Psyche rises from her position to stand beside the three. She raises the crayon bucket on the table behind Lucilla and drops it loudly. Ophelia and Faye gasp as the room goes dark.

Don't test my presence, Psyche whispers to Ophelia and Faye. The two girls snap their mouths shut. My followers don't require boyfriends. Go follow Aphrodite or Eos if you want to find love that much.

"But," Ophelia whines. "I don't know Aphrodite and Eos. It'd be such a fun game!"

Psyche sighs and covers her face with her hand, five-year-olds.

"Then go find someone to play that game with," Lucilla hisses. "Don't bring Psyche's followers into it. We have important things to do. Like dancing to bring joy. And, whatever the boys did today with their kicking to make people happy."

Ophelia and Faye press their lips together. Ophelia's hands form into little fists at her side.

"Maybe we will," she hisses back. "Maybe, we will go to the temple, and it'll be cooler than when you did. And we will have a pretty doll for our goddess's vessel. Not a dumb robot!"

"Robots aren't dumb!" Lucilla screams.

The lights flicker in the room again.

Ms. Anya pauses while walking toward the front of the room. "Again?" She mutters before turning to the girls. "Is everything okay here?"

Faye pouts. "Lucilla isn't being nice. She won't let us make up rules for the goddess game."

Ms. Anya's eyebrow twitches slightly. "Well," she swallows, trying not to let her voice show how much she hates hearing about this dumb game. "I think that you could all play different games. Maybe find one that doesn't involve possibly hurting yourselves?"

"We weren't going to jump off anything," Ophelia responds. "I wanted us to all get boyfriends!"

Ms. Anya's eyebrow twitches again. "Well, dear, I think that is something many people will want for a long time. Even when you're Ms. Anya's age."

Ophelia and Faye pause, looking at their teacher thoughtfully.

"But," Faye responds. "My mommy says that when women aren't married by 25, they have something wrong with them. That's why they all get desperate and go on TV."

Lucilla watches Ms. Anya's face freeze as her hand opens and closes tightly. "Well," the teacher starts, licking her lips. "Everyone has an opinion. Let's be kind to each other for the rest of the day. Okay?"

The girls nod, and Ms. Anya walks away to the front of the class. Ophelia and Faye turn to look at Lucilla. They scrunch their noses at her before joining hands to walk away. Lucilla clenches her hand into a fist. Her mind begins to fuzz, watching the two walk away, noses high in the air.

Don't let them bother you, Psyche whispers while touching her shoulder. Just let them go.

Peace washes over the little girl as she takes a few deep breaths. The fuzz on the edges of her vision begins to clear, and she turns back to the table, focusing again on her picture. Her hand returns to the crayons and coloring green everywhere on a page.

Ezio walks over to the table and sets a white feather on it. "Here you go," he says, sitting down beside her.

Lucilla's hand drops the crayon and turns to him. "What's this?"

"I just found it outside today and thought you'd want it," he shrugs. "That's a ton of green," Ezio says while reaching for a green crayon. "Is it for Kit?"

Lucilla nods and sits back down in her chair. "Yeah, I thought it'd make her happy."

"I'll make her one too."

Ms. Anya claps her hands at the front of the class, bringing everyone's attention to her. "Five more minutes of free time, and then we will all need to start packing up to leave."

A series of "yes, ma'am" s filters through the classroom in response. As the children finish their work, Psyche goes around the room, placing thoughts in each one's head.

Tomorrow would be a day of firsts. The first day all her followers would come in clashing shades of green. The first time they would leave school with their Psyche vessel. And it would be the first of many that Psyche would work extra hard to keep the teachers' anxieties low due to concerns regarding the cult-like activity of the kindergarten classes.

***

Kit stares at the robot on her bedside table as the morning sun flashes through her blinds. She presses her eyes closed as another wave of nausea hits her. Psyche hovers at the end of the bed. She floats closer and places a comforting hand on the blonde girl's head.

"This has to be one of the few times I wish I was human," Psyche sighs. "Then maybe I could hug you."

Kit turns away from the window to see the shimmery outline of a woman standing beside her. "Psyche?"

Psyche smiles down at the girl and nods. I'm here. Go back to sleep.

Kit returns the smile and falls back to sleep. She dreams of her friends wearing pretty greens and dancing in the field under a shower of flower petals.