For about five seconds, everyone just stood there and stared at the figure in front of us. I was pretty sure none of us even breathed in that time. We sure as hell weren't saying anything. No one moved, no one did anything at all besides gape at the girl who had just made that dramatic announcement. A dramatic announcement that she’d put out in the world like it was nothing big.

  Well, most of us were staring at her. Laein, on the other hand, was watching the rest of us. She didn’t talk either, mostly because she was too busy snickering into her hands. It was a nearly silent laugh, her shoulders shaking violently. Seeing all that from the corner of my eye (and barely registering it), I could tell she was trying not to fall over.

  “Laein.” The sound of my own voice startled me a little, since I hadn’t actually consciously meant to say anything. But the words came anyway. Belatedly, I realized it was actually Mountebank talking right then. “If this is just another one of your jokes, like with the Miranda thing, I swear…”

  Laein, for her part, huffed in indignation. “Two fake-outs like that so close together? What do you take me for? If I was going to trick you again, it wouldn’t be another joke about someone you know being something dramatic. That’s just repetitive. When I trick you again, you won’t see it coming.” Another firm huff came as she folded her arms. “And I don’t lie about things like this.”

  The next voice that came was mine as well, but also wasn’t from me. The blueish ghostly figure of Skywalker had appeared slightly next to Marian. “Yeah, she’s telling the truth. They both are. Turns out the only reason giving her one of the Flique-- uh, me-- to save her life before actually worked is because we’re related. We’re genetically similar enough that I could bond to her.”

  We all took a moment to absorb that as well. Then I found myself giving a quiet, rather quick explanation about how Marian had been in really bad shape, her mind falling apart after a rough encounter with a magical curse while she was helping Larissa, Haiden and me deal with one of the rifts. Giving her one of the Flique to help hold her mind together was a desperation move, one we’d only come up with after Larissa found a book that mentioned the idea of merging one person’s soul with the afflicted to help hold them together. We’d had no idea if it would work or not. And, come to think of it, I wasn’t even sure where the book with the idea in it came from.

  The point was, Marian had been suffering a worse fate than dying. Her mind, her memories, her very being had been breaking apart. We were desperate to find a way to help her. Then Larissa found that bit about curing the effect by taking someone else’s soul and merging it with her. That led to the idea of giving her one of the Flique to fix things, and that… well, had seemed to work.

  Marian’s head was bobbing. “Yeah, sorry, I was err, sworn to absolute secrecy until we made it to the present. You couldn’t know about the whole being related thing, because then you’d know about the Jacob bit and-- uh, yeah. It’s complicated. Anyway, surprise, Jacob’s my real father.”

  Randi was the one who spoke next, sounding understandably dazed. “I still have so many--”

  A loud, sustained squealing noise interrupted her. At first I thought it was some sort of alarm, the assumption making me jump as my staff appeared in my hand and my eyes snapped around to look for the threat. A hint of motion from one side made me jerk that way, just in time to see a small, very familiar figure go by in a literal blur of movement. It was going too quickly for me to process what exactly was happening before the squeal was met by a grunt, then a thump.

  It was Tabbris, of course. She was the source of the squeal, and the motion, as she’d used her boost to race right at Marian. Now both of them were on the ground, after Tabbris crashed into her and they went down together in a tangle of limbs, the smaller girl perched atop the other.

  No sooner had the rest of us taken that in, than Tabbris started to babble apologies. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry! I was just excited and I was trying to get closer but then I got distracted cuz I was thinking about birthdays and cake and then you were right there and I couldn’t stop in time but hi! Hi! You’re my niece! I’ve got a niece, hi! Are you okay? You’re okay, right? I’m sorry, but hi!”

  With a light laugh, Marian shifted a little to look up at the girl. “Hi there, Aunt Tabbris. Don’t worry, I’ve taken much harder hits than that. Also uh, Dad told me this would probably happen.”

  “Aunt Tabbris!” the girl in question crowed in delight, looking over her shoulder at me. “Didja hear that? She called me Aunt Tabbris! I’m really an aunt now! I’m gonna be the very best-- wait--” She looked back at Marian, practically quivering with excitement. “Can I hug you?”

  Marian, for her part, turned her head just a little. The glowing form of Skywalker, also laying on the ground since she was partially fused with her, offered a slight shrug, then a thumbs up. So, Marian turned back to Tabbris and smiled. “Yeah,” she agreed, “I think we’re okay with that.”

  So, with another happy squeal, Tabbris did just that. She dropped down to embrace Marian tightly. I saw Skywalker give me a glance and a wink, before she disappeared back inside her host. Was that because Marian was too distracted to sustain her appearance, or because she wanted to get the full experience of hugging Tabs? Honestly, it was probably equal parts of both.

  A hand touched my shoulder, and I turned slightly to see my dad there. He squeezed it lightly before gesturing for me to come with him. So, the two of us moved that way together, walking right over to where the other two were still embracing. I was still trying to come to terms with the idea that I had… what really was basically a niece. Jacob was another version of me. He was, for all intents and purposes, a brother by this point. A much, much older brother. So yeah, his daughter would be my niece. I had another niece, like Koren. I… I… oh wow, this was a lot.

  Without a word between us, Dad and I went down to our knees on either side of that pair. As Tabbris blinked up and looked at either of us, we both reached out to gently pull both of them into a sitting position, so we could embrace them too. And just like that, all four of us were locked in that hug. Yes, there was more to do, so much more. But in that particular second, this was all that mattered. I had another niece. I-- a version of me had had a daughter, a daughter.

  As we stayed like that, I heard the door of the Haunted Mansion open, before Puriel and the four Committee people started to emerge. Before any of them could say anything, Laein made a soft clicking noise with her tongue and teeth. A second later, that big armored tiger of hers rose from where it had been napping. It walked right over, looked at Tabbris, Marian, Dad, and me, then positioned itself between the four of us and the mansion entrance before lying down once more. The giant cat was turning itself into a barrier between us and those people, to give us a little bit of privacy. It probably wouldn’t mean much to literally anyone over there given the powers they could pull up if they actually wanted to watch us. But still, I really appreciated the sentiment. Just as I appreciated that Laein didn’t feel the need to do that with Randi, Percy, and Cerberus.

  Dad had one hand on Marian’s cheek, shaking his head in wonder. “I’m a grandfather. I’m a real grandfather. You-- you’re…” He made a sound of disbelief, glancing at me briefly before turning to her as he managed a weak, “You’re the actual Maid Marian, from Robin Hood. And you’re descended from King Arthur and Morgan Le Fay’s little brother. And you’re my granddaughter.”

  Marian, for her part, gave a slight chuckle. Her magical hood had fallen back so we could see her face more clearly, and… well, to be perfectly honest, I wasn’t sure if it was just the fact that we knew the truth now, but I really thought I could actually see some family resemblance there.

  “Yup, that’s me,” she confirmed, a faint blush touching her cheeks. “Though uh, I sort of don’t really care for the Maid part. It sounds silly. Just Marian is fine. I um, I’ve kinda been going by Marian Sky these days. You know, because of the um, my other self.” That came with a shrug.

  “Marian Sky,” Dad echoed, absolute awe in his voice. He still had one hand against her cheek, tracing his thumb along it. “My granddaughter. Who has a version of one of my daughters in her.” After getting that much out, he gave me a glance and muttered, “We have quite the family.”

  “You’re just working that out now?” I teased before looking back at Marian herself. “I-- did you always know who your dad was? I mean, when you were a kid and you met the Robin System--”

  “I didn’t actually know Jacob as my real father when I was a child,” she hesitantly replied. “You see, my mother didn’t exactly know she was pregnant after they, err, had relations. He saved her from men who were trying to take her to… honestly, I don’t know who. Either Boschers or Seosten, it hardly matters which. She didn’t want to go with them. They tried to force it, and Jacob stepped in to stop them. The two of them had a lot of adventures together, it grew intimate, and eventually my mother… was with child. But she didn’t know that at the time.”

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  After giving us a chance to absorb that, she continued. “Right after she got pregnant, before she actually knew about it, Mom found out her childhood friend had been killed, along with her husband, and left her own kids without anyone. So, she told Jacob she had to be a mother to them, and that he should keep going. She knew he had more to do, so she let him go. It wasn’t until almost a month after that that she actually realized she was pregnant with their child. By then, he was long gone. Neither of them knew about it when he left. And by the time she found out, it was too late.”

  My mouth opened and shut, as I tried to think of how I would feel if I found out all that. “She was pregnant with his child, and he didn’t know until… until… how long did it take? When did he find out he had a daughter?” My throat felt dry. Suddenly, I really wanted Jacob to be here. Not just to answer all the many, many questions I had about everything, but also so I could hug him.

  Shifting a bit so Tabbris could perch somewhat on her lap, Marian replied, “Not until after I met Robin. My mother had found a man to marry soon after she discovered that she was pregnant, to avoid the way people would react if she was alone. He knew the truth though, she never lied to him. Just as I knew growing up that he wasn’t really my birth father. But he still treated me as a daughter. He was a fine man. He helped raise both me and the children of my mother’s friend, even though none of us were truly his. He couldn’t actually have children himself, physically.”

  Looking away for a moment, Marian smiled a little at the thought of what was basically her stepfather, I supposed. “He was very protective. Some would say too protective. I sure did, back then. All I wanted to do was get out in the world, explore, and find my birth father. I…” Her face fell a little. “I didn’t truly appreciate the man who raised me until he was gone. I don’t think I’ll ever really get over that. Not fully. I was too interested in seeing other things in the world to pay attention to what I had. He was a good man, and he took care of all of us like we were his own.”

  It was Dad who spoke then, his voice as certain as I had ever heard it. “He knew you loved him. Even if you wanted to meet your birth father, even if you had your head in the clouds and were always trying to move out into the world, he knew you loved him, and that you would understand when you were older. Never doubt that, Marian Sky. Your father, the man who raised you, was never more proud than when he thought about how much you were going to do in this world.”

  Biting her lip, Marian looked at him. She didn’t ask if he was sure, or how he knew, or anything like that. She just stared that way for a brief moment before replying softly, “Thanks, Grandpa.”

  Tabbris had to squeak then, as Dad leaned in to hug them both tightly. His voice sounded a bit strained, like he was trying his best not to cry. Maybe because he was also thinking about how Jacob would have reacted to finding out he’d had a daughter he hadn’t known about for so long. “You said something about meeting Jacob after the Robins. What happened there, exactly?”

  Marian was quiet for a moment, looking off to the side with a pretty intensely thoughtful expression. And yet again, I felt like I could see part of myself in her. This time, it was clear that this wasn't just the Skywalker thing. And by that point I was also willing to bet it wasn't only because I knew the truth. I really could see our physical resemblance in that moment. Was it weird that it was really most apparent when she looked wistful? I had no idea, but there it was.

  Finally, the girl replied, “By the time I met Robin, my mother had already passed away. She got sick for a long time, and then she was gone. So it was just me, my stepfather, and my siblings. I mean, the ones my mother went back to take care of, from her friend. I was rebelling pretty heavily by then. Part of it was because I missed my mom, but I was also just really anxious to get out in the world and see everything. And meet my birth father. When I found the Robins, it was an adventure. Just like the adventures I'd heard my mom talk about having with my dad.”

  Her expression turned sad, voice regretful once more. “My stepdad didn't want to rock the boat. He didn't want to fight back against the horrible things the sheriff was doing. No, that’s not right. He wanted to fight back, but he couldn’t. These days, I know that's because he was afraid of what would happen to all of us, the kids he took on as his own, and the other people he was responsible for. He was worried about what would happen to everyone else, the people who would have actually suffered from the sheriff’s retaliation. But back then, I thought he was a coward. The Robins fought back. They helped take down the sheriff and all his awful people. And I was just glad to be a part of that. Except, that was when my powers started to manifest.”

  I gave a sharp glance that way. “You actually had powers yourself with-- right, of course you did. Jacob and I are Fae, not human. You would've been at least half.” After a brief, slightly awkward hesitation where I tried to figure out how to ask, I went with, “But what exactly did you inherit?”

  Rubbing the back of her neck a little, she answered, “I was never affected by the Bystander Effect, for one. I mean, obviously. And I was always able to create Necromantic energy from the very start, as soon as I started messing with spells. That much all came easily. So easily. But what I really inherited, the big thing, was part of the Reaper gift, the one that meant any time I killed something, I’d pick up some of their powers, and some of their memories. Not all of them, not the full thing. I was only half-Ankou Fey. But that was enough to be pretty shocking the first time it happened."

  “But you didn’t know about that before… before you killed something that first time?” Tabs put in.

  Marian’s head shook. She swallowed slightly before explaining. “The Robins took care of most of that before. Them and their people. The first time I actually killed someone was after the sheriff was dead and gone. I was home with my siblings and one of his people came for revenge. Just… just like my stepdad thought they would. He was a Rakshasa, and he tried to take my brother, Wilfred. I got in his way, and he shoved me aside. He thought it knocked me out, but I picked up an axe that one of our guards dropped and… I hit him in the back with it.”

  “Wait, you didn’t know you’d absorb memories until you… until you killed someone who was about to kill your brother?” I winced at that thought. “That must’ve been a pretty nasty surprise.”

  She coughed. “Yeah, tell me about it. Wilfred and I weren’t exactly the youngest people he ever went after, if you know what I mean. And killing wasn’t the worst thing he did to them. That Rakshasa was one of the most… horrific people I’ve had the displeasure of absorbing memories from. And it was the first time. I-- I lost myself for awhile. Catatonic, just… I lost all sense of anything, trapped in those memories. When my stepfather came home and the others told him what happened, he tried to find a healer who could help, but no one knew what to do. So, he started to try to find my birth father. He thought the man I came from might know something that could help. I suppose my mother told him enough about Jacob that he could guess that whatever happened to me must’ve involved him.”

  “Something tells me it wouldn’t have been easy to get any idea about where Jacob was at any point,” I murmured, with a glance at Dad and Tabbris. “I doubt he left a forwarding address.”

  “He didn’t,” Marian agreed. “But my stepfather was resourceful when he wanted to be. And motivated. Somehow, he got a message to him. I don’t even know what he did to pull that off. And my father-- Jacob, he came back. He’s the one who pulled me out of that… he’s the one who pulled me back to myself. He helped me find my way back to the real world. Then he told my stepfather that I needed to go with him, to learn from him. And my stepdad let me go.”

  “Wait,” Tabbris put in, “what about the Robins? They’ve been looking for you for a long time.”

  Marian flinched, head shaking regretfully. “Something happened to them, at the same time that the Rakshasa came after my family. That’s why he felt confident enough to do it. I still don’t know what, exactly, but they were gone through all that. I didn’t know if they were alive or dead. They just disappeared. By the time they made it back, I suppose I was… already gone with my father. I needed help sorting out the memories in my head. The… the Rakshasa’s personality was so strong, I still almost lost myself a few times after being pulled out of it. Jacob helped me find myself for good. But we had to wander the world a lot while we were doing that. It took months before I felt right.”

  She looked lost in thought again for a few seconds before shaking it off. “Anyway, my father helped train me for a few years while we traveled all over the place. He told me all sorts of things about his past. I mean, both his past and the one you both share,” she added with a glance toward me. “Not as much as I learned when you had Skywalker save my life, but still. I stayed with him, and learned from him for those years. He was… upset that he wasn’t there when I was a child, and he tried to make up for it. But eventually, we came across a warp in time. Not one of your rifts, something else. It was a rip in time that was getting bigger. And the only way to close it was for someone to go through.”

  “And Jacob couldn’t,” I realized. “After he went through the one that sent him into the past, he couldn’t do any more time traveling.”

  Marian nodded. “We were the only ones there. He tried to say he’d find someone else, but I convinced him there wasn’t time. It was getting bigger by the second, and I didn’t want to sentence anyone else to it. I… I had to go through. So, I told him… everything I could about what he meant to me, then I went through it. That took me to the sixteen hundreds, where I spent some time being a thief and pissing off people who deserved to be pissed off. But that whole time, I was trying to use blood tracking spells to find my father. I knew he tended to hide himself to make that hard, but he said he’d turn the protection off once in awhile to give me a chance to find him. We knew it’d take awhile, so I just kept trying. I mean, I showed up over four hundred years after I left him, so I figured it might take awhile for him to turn off his protection again. Eventually, I got a hit.”

  “But it wasn’t him,” Tabbris piped up, looking my way. “It was the Flick who went to that rift where you met her, the one with Aunt Larissa and Uncle Haiden.”

  Again, Marian nodded. “Yes. I figured out what happened and just… pretended I didn’t know anything about Jacob. I knew what the risks were if you found out too early. And… well, that’s what happened before we met. I met up with my father again shortly after you and I had our whole thing in Salem, and then… uh, I basically split my time since then with either the Roundabout or traveling with him.”

  “I have so many questions still,” I informed her. “But I guess we don’t really have time to get into them right now. This is just… uh, a lot. And we’ll get into all of it. Right now, we have to save Gaia, and we need your help.”

  Meeting my gaze, Marian offered a faint smile. “Yeah, I knew that’d happen eventually. So yeah, let’s do it. Let’s go save Gaia.

  “I can’t wait to see her face when we tell her what happened to the family trees.”

  Joke Tags: After Ending The Last Chapter On That Cliffhanger I’m Pretty Sure The Audience Would Violently Object To It Being A Joke From Laein Too!