It was about thirty minutes to midnight. The witching hour. Studies were inconclusive on any actual efficacy of the witching hour, but if nothing else, it was a time when you were less likely to find any interference. That, at least, would serve them well.

Giger and Prissy were the first ones to get to the old training grounds. Next to arrive were Mordekai and Alpha Kamellia with Ramstein. Giger and Kamellia exchanged uncomfortable glances but said nothing. Mordekai had the decency not to say anything either.

Yugo brought Beta Kamellia and Mordekai's alter ego, Rosicrucis Reis. Unlike Mordekai, Rosicrucis had no memory of his past life. A timid child, he had none of Mordekai's confident bearing. This was going to be difficult for him.

Lastly, it was Happy who came with Gamma Kamellia. Wearing a threadbare dress and shawl, she must have twisted her ankle at some point because she was limping. Of the three of them, she had had the worst of it and it seemed no less true now.

With the lot of them assembled, Mordekai looked to Alpha Kamellia said, "Thank you for coming willingly, Kamellia." He looked to the others and added, "All of you."

She looked to her counterparts, who nodded solemnly. They may have been in separate bodies, but they did share a single essence and seemed to be of one mind. Rosicrucis, however, was not on the same page as Mordekai, not even in the same book.

Clinging to Beta Kamellia's skirts, Rosicrucis whined, "I don't want to do this, Mama."

Mordekai rolled his eyes.

She ruffled Mordekai's hair, much to his annoyance. In his own mind, he was still the great Master Mordekai Grummond and any reminders that he was just a twelve-year-old kid was most unwelcome.

Rosicrucis seemed to welcome the proposition about as well as an offer to jump into a pool of sharks.

Mordekai was quite unsympathetic.

Beta Kamellia, as his mother, had a much softer touch. She stooped down to meet him eye-to-eye and said in a gentler voice, "Rosie, you were a great man in your previous life and you'll have all that back again."

Tears were welling up in Rosicrucis' eyes, earning him a scornful look from Mordekai.

Although he was as tough as gristle in an overcooked steak, Mordekai was not entirely heartless and his counterpart's tears succeeded in moving him, if only a little. It was a rare thing to see Mordekai relent and Giger was quite sure he could count all the times he had witnessed it on one hand.

Rosicrucis looked at Beta Kamellia. The thought very nearly brought him to the point of open weeping.

Barely maintaining his composure, he weakly replied, "No."

Hesitantly, Rosicrucis accepted Mordekai's hand. Mordekai clasped his other hand over theirs and gave Rosicrucis' arms a few good pumps. It was as much of an accord as they could hope for.

With that taken care of, Mordekai was quick to return to the task at hand. He let go of Rosicrucis and clapped his hands.

Once everyone was in position, he said, "Giger, test the connection, if you would."

Testing a magic circle this big and complex was no different than any other. You summoned a small pulse of energy and sent it through the lines. If the pulse made its way back to you, then the connection was good. However, in this case, the connection was not good.

Giger knew better than to offer to help. Mordekai would insist on doing it himself. It was a wonder he let Giger help make the circle in the first place and that was with minute checking, double-checking and triple-checking his work.

Mordekai soon found the break.

He took out a stick of ring chalk and went to work fixing the lines broken by Happy's slithering. He worked quickly, checked his work a couple times, then said, "Let's try it again, Giger."

Giger tested the connection and this time there were no problems.

Most of the work was already done. As Mordekai said, all that remained was channeling energy into the circle. The two main concerns were Rosicrucis gumming up the works due to his inexperience or the Kamellias failing to synchronize. All Giger could do was let the energy flow through him, lending as much of his power as he could to the Kamellias. Because his eyes were closed in concentration, he did not see what happened. Only when the currents reversed did he know that it was over, for better or for worse.

In the center of the circle, surrounded by three empty piles of clothes, was Kamellia. One Kamellia, whole and complete. Giger rushed over to her side, throwing his cloak over her.

Rosicrucis stared at Kamellia in disbelief.

Giving him a sympathetic look, Kamellia went over to him, stooping down as she did before to comfort him, resting her hand on his cheek.

Rosicrucis started tearing up again and hugged her tightly. Giger did not fail to notice an annoyed look from Mordekai—jealousy? If it was, it served him right.

She held her head. Giger was worried she was still unsteady from fusion spell. It might be dangerous to continue, but Mordekai took her at her word.

While Kamellia was fishing around the piles of clothes from her former selves, Giger took hold of both Rosicrucis and Mordekai and turned them away from her. Yes, he may have been tempted to look himself, but he would be damned if he was going to let either of them do so.

Giger found himself squeezing both of them a bit in annoyance, though not quite enough that Rosicrucis would start whining.

After a few more moments, Kamellia said, "Alright, boys, you can turn around now."

They did so and saw that she mixed different pieces from the three sets of clothes, a fairly effective statement of her newly unified persona. She handed Giger his cloak back.

They went over to the second magic circle that had been prepared. Uniting two would be much easier than three, at least in theory. In truth, Mordekai and Rosicrucis' personalities were at such odds that it might prove to be an even greater challenge.

If Mordekai was concerned about this, he made no sign of it. As before, he directed everyone to their places.

When they took up their positions, he said, "Now test the connection."

This time Happy was in his human form, so he did not disturb the lines, and Rosicrucis apparently obeyed Mordekai's warning not to drag his feet.

Mordekai held Rosicrucis by the shoulders and told him in a level voice, "Rosicrucis, this is very important. You must not resist. You must not cling to yourself as a separate person. I am you and you are me. Pour your essence into me as I pour my essence into you.

"Think of your favorite milk tea, the tea and the milk poured into the cup, mingling, becoming something new, something better. Remember that by reuniting, we will enjoy a nice long life with your mother. Let your love for her be your inspiration, your guide."

Rosicrucis nodded, which was enough to satisfy Mordekai.

The load was balanced differently, but the task was the same as before. All Giger had to do was focus and let the energy flow through him. Mordekai and Rosicrucis would do the rest. It would be a lot of work. Mordekai was very much the same old master in a new body, but Rosicrucis was a completely different person, a babied momma's boy with no apparent magic training. Would Rosicrucis simply be bullied into giving up his existence entirely so that Mordekai could take over with his new lease on life? Giger supposed it did not matter much, but what would happen afterward?

Giger thought of Mordekai's confession at the cafe, about how he was willing to accept Kamellia's feelings for him. It was sick. Kamellia gave birth to him. She may not have been his mother by blood, but it was no different. She seemed to resist the idea, but what would happen in a few more years when he became a man? Would all her lingering desire come flooding back? They could move to another town and she would just be seen as a middle-aged woman with a taste for younger men. She would not even be forty when he came of age. No one would say much of anything.

Giger knew he could not have her, but that did not stop him from feeling possessive. Even after what she said to him that day, he still loved her. He still wanted her. She was his, or at least that was what he wanted.

It was Kamellia. Giger opened his eyes. Mordekai and Rosicrucis looked like they were in pain. Their hands were glowing and merging together, but the fusion appeared to be going no further than that. The looks of desperation on Kamellia's face made Giger forget about everything else. If anything went wrong, it would hurt her and that was something he could not bear to see.

Giger feared that her conflicting feelings were the source of the problem. After all, how could she possibly reconcile a woman's love for a man and a mother's love for her child in the same person? It was a conflict she had to sort out later.

Giger felt a lead weight in his chest. Of course he was part of the problem. Fear, anger, jealousy, resentment, respect, admiration, and, yes, even love. If Giger was being honest with himself, he was even more conflicted than Kamellia. How could he possibly find harmony in that swirling vortex of emotion?

The words came easily, but the reality was not so simple. There was no bottle for him to retreat to. He could not hide out in his basement and brood in his chair. If he could not bring himself under control, there was no telling what might happen to Mordekai or what it would do to Kamellia.

They say that love is about sacrifice and it was in that moment that Giger realized that it was not about him. He might have paid lip service to the idea before, but now it was clear that so long as he remained fixated on himself, he would never be able to go forward. He then did the most difficult thing he had ever done. He let go.

Giger had no idea how much time passed after that. He was jostled to his senses when he fell to his knees. Looking over his glasses, everything was out of focus. Lazily he raised his hand to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose to see more clearly. Kamellia was huddled over the now singular Mordekai, holding him close to her chest. He was lying there limp as a corpse and for a moment, Giger feared they had only succeeded in joining the matter without the essence. That fear was short-lived as one of Mordekai's hands reached up to feebly return the embrace. Kamellia pulled him back to see if he had truly come around, then hugged him again even tighter.

Looking up to Giger with tears in her eyes, she told him, "Barz, thank you. For everything."

Giger tried to shrug it off, saying, "Yeah, well, the things we do for love..."

Kamellia took the robe from the pile of Mordekai's clothes and helped him into it. Now that he was at least partially dressed, she helped him to his feet.

Giger was about to leave, but he stopped. Mordekai looked up to Kamellia and said, "I'm sorry, Kamellia, but it seems I have a new star pupil." He looked to Giger with a proud smile on his face. "Thank you, Giger."

It seemed so strange to get such an unfiltered expression of gratitude from Mordekai. Giger was not entirely sure he liked it. Rather than deal with any potential awkwardness to follow, he made a little theatrical bow and took his leave, motioning for Yugo and Prissy to follow.

Hopping up on his shoulder, Prissy asked him, "Are Happy and Ramstein going to stay with them now, Giger?"

Prissy affectionately rubbed her cheek against Giger's and added, "If we can get Yugo to marry that woman and take her away, it'll be even lonelier."

A flustered Yugo could only sputter, "Prissy, it's still far too early to be talking about such things!"

Giger laughed. Things were definitely going to change for them, but perhaps it would be a change for the better.

After a brief pause, the voice became more insistent.

And so began another day in the life of the outlaw wizard Giger Taus. He still had learned nothing of the wisdom of Benjamin Franklin, waking well after the point most productive citizens were well into the business of the day.

A basin was waiting on his nightstand so he could wash his face before changing out of his bedclothes. He headed downstairs with Prissy following at his heels. His breakfast was waiting for him. Toast that was slightly burnt, bacon a little too crispy, and eggs that were too indecisive to be either over easy or over well. In other words, another meal prepared by one of the least reliable housekeepers in all Bonaventure, or at least that was what Giger kept telling her.

Giger shook his head and told her, "Oh, I don't imagine anyone would say anything stupid like that, not even three hundred years ago."

Their back-and-forth was interrupted by a knocking at the door.

She did so while Giger started to eat. It certainly was not the best breakfast a man could ask for, but it was hardly the worst either.

He could hear Gally from the entryway, "Master Grummond, good morning. And... Miss Reis, right?"

Giger got up from the table with a start. It was one thing for Mordekai to stop by, but the last thing he expected was Kamellia too. He went into the living room to see not only Mordekai and Kamellia but also Ramstein and Happy in their human forms. All of them were carrying various bags and trunks, like they had packed up and were moving somewhere.

While they were talking, Ramstein and Happy were setting down their loads and then relieving their masters of their burdens. Giger had a bad feeling about this.

While there was a risk of them all getting scooped up together, with their powers combined, they could elude detection and stand a better chance of resisting any attempt to bring them in. The debacle at the lycée could very well cost Inspector Andress his job, but there would be a new Witch-hunter in town to replace him and he could be just as obsessed as his predecessor. Being together like this would paint a bright red target on Giger's little cottage and that was only scratching the surface of the issues and complications that would come with Mordekai and Kamellia moving in with him.

Giger made a sweeping gesture to the room around him and said, "Even if I agreed to it, can't you see how tiny this place is?"

Undeterred, Mordekai told him, "Giger, three of the greatest minds of the Phoenix Mages' Guild are assembled here—you're welcome, by the way. I'm sure we can figure out some arrangement." Before Giger could raise any further objections, Mordekai sniffed the air and asked, "Is that bacon I smell? Galatea, would you be kind enough to grill up some more? I haven't eaten yet this morning."

She was enjoying this, damn her. He should have left her as a statue. Maybe he could figure out a way to turn her back.

While Giger was plotting his revenge on Gally, Happy reverted to his snake form and coiled up on the couch.

Kamellia sat down beside him and settled into the cushions.

Happy rested his head on her lap while she stroked him as if he were a puppy.

Ever oblivious to such teasing, Happy replied with complete sincerity, "No, Kamellia. I've just been so lonely since you've been gone."

Kamellia lifted up his head and gave him a kiss on the nose.

Happy may have been a complete innocent, but Giger had his doubts about Kamellia. The thought of the great tangle of all his tenants in one bed was hardly the stuff of pleasant dreams in his book.

Prissy—who had been unusually quiet while all this unfolded—looked up to him and asked, "What was that you said about being lonely, Giger?"

Just another day in the life of the outlaw wizard Giger Taus.