"Heh. You have any ideas for the roadtrip? I've never thought much about touristy stuff... I think Route 66 passes near here maybe? That's kinda a classic."

"Me neither, to be honest.  I think my family's always so tired out from traveling for work that none of us ever want to do it for fun," she laughs.  "But Route 66 could be interesting, yeah!"

"It goes near a lot of cool stuff, too. Crosses a pretty good chunk of the country."

"Sounds fun!  Once school ends I'll be able to get my driver's license - did I tell you, my sixteenth birthday is the last day of school this year? - so you won't be stuck chauffeuring me all over the country."

"Neat! Are you having a party?" She starts planning Kaylee's gift in her head.

"Not this year."  'I don't really feel that close to people in my year right now, because of - magic stuff.'  "But you can come over, if you want?"

'Yeah, same.'

Out loud: "I'd love to!"

"Cool!  You wanna just get off at my stop on the last day?  Assuming your mom goes for it."

"I'll have to ask, but yeah, that works for me!"

"Fingers crossed!"

"I'm excited for that! You know, my birthday's at midsummer, we could try to find a really neat stop for that - "

"Yeah, I'd love to!"  And now she's planning Lianne's present.  "I can look up places, or if there's anywhere you've always wanted to see...?"

"Don't know! I like hiking. 'Grand Canyon' might be too cliche - and too hot - and we'll probably have passed it by then... Some cool mountain or another, maybe."

She giggles a little as Lianne finds herself backpedaling.  "Hiking sounds fun!  I've never been hiking in the mountains, I bet it's really pretty."

"It's a date! Well. When we pick one."

"Sounds like fun."

She agrees, and then goes about her day.

And then it's time to talk to mom. Her mom approves going to Kaylee's for her birthday, and the road trip, on the caveat her grades stay up.

And then it's time to talk to Emma.

Lianne waits for her mom to be out, then sort of goes to awkwardly hover in her sister's doorway.

"Hey squirt," Emma calls from her desk. "Need something?"

"Uh. Yeah. Need to talk to you. About something really important."

"...Come in, then. Guessing mom can't know, since you waited for her to be gone?"

"Yeah. It's - I need you to promise you won't tell her. Ever."

"I won't." Might make lying complicated if something catches fire and she needs dear old mom's help, but Emma also isn't against breaking promises.

She comes in. Sits on the bed. Takes a deep breath.

"So. Something happened. Around December of last year." She pauses, bites her lip.

"Who do I need to kill."

" - No one! It's not like that! It's - I should just show you - "

Curtain are drawn, so - 

She transforms in a shimmer of light.

"I got magic," she says, weakly.