"Sure. Let's see this witch, then."

Well, that's her cue. Swoop down. "Good afternoon."

"Okay. So there's the witch. Hi. I'm Lydia Martin, I hope they haven't biased you against our town already."

"I am trying to keep an open mind and everyone's arteries closed. Has he explained things to you at least in as rushed a way as to me?"

"He barely explained that he was coming here. Scott?"

"Magic is real. But her kind of magic isn't local. Sometimes, ours makes people change into stuff. Like werewolves. I turned into one a while back; you can probably guess when."

"So Jackson was right. You were enhancing your performance. I mostly dismissed it as jealousy."

"Jackson recently started to turn into something too, but not a werewolf. He's a lizard thing. He's in the Jeep."

"When will he change back?"

"He can't control it, and it's dangerous. He needs to resolve his issues so he can change back."

"So it was me or his parents and you thought I'd handle it better," she summarizes.

"I would like to note that I only know what I've been told about this world. Well probably run into culture differences sooner or later."

"Noted. Scott, what do you think I can do here, exactly?"

"Try talking to him, tell him that you understand why he broke up with you-or that you want to understand, and he should explain to you what went wrong. Maybe talk him through his feelings about adoption?"

"I don't really know how it feels to find out you're adopted. Complicated, but not enough to turn you into a lizard monster."

"The problem seems to me to be about love. A lack of it."

"Okay. Can I see him?"

And Scott brings him out, placing him on the ground.

"Jackson. I love you, and when you gave me back the key, it hurt. If you had told me what was going on, maybe I could have helped. So here I am, helping. I know it was hard, hearing how you did, but your parents chose you. My mother loves me, but she couldn't be sure she would like me. But your parents selected you over everyone else. You were chosen by them, and by me, if you think that means you're alone or unloved, we'll prove you wrong.

Gren is definitely not forbidding herself from falling asleep after a long day. Nope.

"Jackson, I've never met you properly but I still found lots of people who care, who want you to be happy, to help, even when it's hard. Please listen to them."

Inspired, Lydia places both hands on the kanima's face.

She can't quite pull off a sob, but anger at the unfairness of the world isn't hard.

Her boyfriend dumped her and became a lizard and she's going insane.

"Please, Jackson, we need you to come back."

And Jackson...

...comes back.

...Gren is just going to wait until he calms down a little bit more before untying him, yeah.

It doesn't take very long.

He looks around nervously when he realizes his situation.

"McCall, what did you do?"