“Come on,” Juliet urged, waving Veronica over to the gate, “before someone sees you!”

  “Are you sure about this?” Veronica asked, shuffling towards Juliet. She pushed a long strand of hair out of her face, eyeing the gate like it would bite her.

  Juliet pushed the creaky gate further open, huffing in impatience. Now was the perfect time! The other children were playing in the field and the teacher had turned their back! They never got to explore the small forest beyond the locked gate. They couldn't just sneak in either, it was ‘unladylike’ to climb the fence. Not that they could, mind you, their skirts got in the way.

  Today someone had left it unlocked. It had to be a sign. This might be their only chance until they were ‘big kids’, and who knows when that would be!

  “I’m sure, come on!” Juliet begged, “They won’t catch us if we’re quick enough. I want to see the forest. Please don’t make me go alone, Ronnie.”

  The brunette sighed but relented. She could never deny her adventurous friend. She slipped through the opening between the gate and the fence and joined Juliet on the other side. She smiled at her companion, the expression nervous but only around the edges.

  “If we get caught, it was your idea,” Veronica stated, taking Juliet by the hand. She set off toward the treeline at a brisk pace, casting a glance behind them. They had to start moving before someone noticed they were gone.

  “Hey!”

  “Because it was your idea, Juliet.”

  The blonde girl hid a mischievous smile behind her hand and looked away. She let Veronica lead her down the sun-speckled path without further protest. They wouldn’t get caught. Veronica was the teacher’s pet. They never got caught. It was irrelevant anyways, any amount of whacks with the strap would be worth the adventure.

---

  The canopy of healthy summer leaves filtered sunlight into a jade green. The flora around them absorbed the blistering heat and left the shaded path cool. It wasn’t dark and it wasn’t muggy. No biting insects had come to play. It was perfect, beautiful, peaceful.

  Juliet thought this might be their best adventure to date. Veronica bemoaned not saving some of their lunch to bring a picnic. Their conversation was comfortable and familiar. They were so different but so alike.

  It didn’t matter what the forest was actually like, it could have been hot as the desert and full of spiders. What the girls really loved was that it was forbidden. To make something off-limits was to make it irresistible to a child, especially two so consumed with adventure. The best part to Veronica, however, was that it was just her and Juliet. This was their adventure. Just the two of them without the rest of the world to worry about. It made her feel special, because Juliet had chosen her to come along. As long as Juliet chose her, she’d follow her best friend anywhere.

---

 

  They’d found a clearing not soon after. The spaces between the trees grew to allow more puddles of golden light to hit the grass, but there was still plenty of cool shade to sit in. The grass was lush and free of sharp rocks. Most of all, there was a clear view of the blue sky directly above.

  The two girls had wasted no time removing their shoes and stockings, manners be damned. The grass was soft against their bare feet and the ground solid underneath it. They took off their bonnets and let down their hair. It felt nice to be free.

  They lay on the grass, side by side, in silence. They didn’t need to chat to enjoy each other’s company. They just needed to count the clouds, listen to the cascadas scream in the distance, and maybe steal a catnap before the school bell sounded.

  “Do you ever think about what it would be to be all grown up?” Juliet asked, glancing at Veronica.

  “All the time,” Veronica said, smiling, “I think I want to be a school teacher like Miss Bell. She’s so smart. And it would be so strange to see the class from the front!”

  Juliet grinned, looking back up to the clouds. “My mother says Miss Bell is a spinster. It’s so sad she has no husband or children. She’s already twenty one, you know!”

  Veronica shrugged. “There’s still time… Besides, she seems so busy. I don’t think she’d have time for a husband if she’s taking care of us too.”

  “Are you going to be too busy to get married too?” Juliet asked. Veronica jumped a little at the blunt question. Juliet had turned onto her side fully to watchher. Veronica bit her lip as she thought of an answer.

  “I don’t know… It would have to be someone very special.”

  “Special?” Juliet asked, blinking. She didn’t hear that often; getting married was what concerned people most, not who it was to.

  “I’d have to love them,” Veronica said, sounding a bit more sure. She kept her eyes on Juliet and tried to gauge her reaction. She was worried her friend would think she was weird.

  There was a limit to free-spiritedness, after all, and sometimes Veronica had thoughts. They were thoughts she knew she had to keep to herself but... saying that felt so, so close to saying one of those thoughts out loud. It felt good, but she was ready to take it back in an instant. She didn’t want her friend to not like her anymore.

  Juliet just grinned at her and rolled onto her back again. Veronica always was a bit of a romantic; her father had read to her before school even started and raised a freethinker in the process. Sometimes she even asked Veronica to recite poems to her. Juliet had to admit, marrying someone you loved sounded grand.

  “Do you ever think about marriage?” Veronica asked, the words falling out of her mouth like leaves from a tree. Gentle. Quiet.

  “Sometimes,” Juliet answered, “but Papa says I’d be an awful wife. I talk too much, I run off too often, and I don’t know my place. He said getting me to settle down would be like trying to put a donkey in a dress. No one would want to be my husband, so I guess I wouldn’t care to be someone’s wife either.”

  Veronica frowned and watched her friend from the corner of her eye. Juliet was squinting at the sky as the sun peeked out from behind a cloud. The sun lit up her blond hair until it looked white and reminded Veronica of molten metal. Bright and beautiful and burning.

  Juliet was all those things; her life would forge her into something sharp and cunning. If she turned out to be someone's wife or not, she'd be fierce and loyal.

  “You’re beautiful, I think you’d make a lovely bride. Don’t you listen to him," Veronica said all in one breath before she could take it back.

  Juliet said nothing, but smiled. She reached out and took Veronica’s hand and Veronica’s heart stuttered in her chest. It felt like the forest path again. Forbidden and special. It was just a hand, but this time it was different. She knew she’d follow Juliet anywhere, even if it killed her.

  “Thank you.”

  In the blink of an eye, the inland sea had boiled to nothing. The water bubbled, evaporated, and rose in a cloud of thick steam. The air should have been unbearable right now. It should have burned skin from flesh, if any of those present had flesh to burn. It should have been, but instead it was as cool as the sea breeze always was. It was by design, it was how they wanted it, forged by the will of the four. The control of the Gods was perfect even as they scraped the life from the seabed. The deities that had created these fish, these years of coral growth, were now obliterating it.

  But they were not destroying their world. Not today. Not for a long time, in fact. Today they were terraforming.

  Jessimae watched with bated breath, wringing her segmented hands. Vhalshei had finished stripping the flora from the dollite’s country yesterday. The entire quartet had relocated every animal before that. The iridescent shield they had placed hovered over Nu Marmorarius like a dome. They had to be careful about this, lest they disturb the natural order outside of Jessimae’s allotted land. They left nothing to chance; food chains, soil, plantlife, air. They had accounted for it all.

  Harlei lowered their hands, the thick cloud of steam reducing to a few wisps of water. They looked over to their friend and smiled with sharp teeth. It wouldn't take four eyes to see the Dollite was nervous. “Don’t worry, Jessimae, it’s not like we haven’t done this before.”

  “I know, but-”

  “We’re deities.”

  “I know, but- it’s a lot, ya know?”

  The Chaos God paused a moment before they nodded. They closed their eyes and sighed. It was a lot; they didn’t do this often for a reason after all. If they made a mistake, it could be dangerous for the entire planet. Despite this, omnipotence was omnipotence. They had made this world in the first place, it was their right to change what they liked. Jessimae would like to have her home back and she would.

  “You said yourself that only the end of this land's First Life could reinstate Marmorarius,” Harlei reminded her.

  Jessimae nodded slowly. This was necessary, no matter how much of life they had to rewrite. It was what she'd wanted for so long. The Dollite took a deep breath she didn’t need, putting her hands by her sides. She lifted her chin and clenched her hands into fists. “That’s right, we have to do this to bring back my kin!" she said, reminding herself of that fact. "Let’s get this over with.”

  Harlei grinned again and gave a sharp nod. Jessimae turned to the portal she’d summoned; a pocket dimension. She’d stored the blood of Agápē inside of it for all these years, protecting it with her endless life. It had to have been millennia since Armageddon destroyed Marmorarius. The 13th clan’s heir, Jessimae, has been the only survivor. When it was happening, all Jessimae could do was save the sea with the hopes of one day reviving her planet.

  The three other deities watched on as Jessimae slide her finger over the seam of the rift. The portal opened easily, like a zipper, and a clear liquid poured out into the waiting seabed. The result was immediate; teal foam swirled from where chemical touched dirt. Jessimae smiled, an old sadness in her eyes.

  “It’s been so long since I’ve seen that color…” she breathed. The camera-shutter click of her blinking the only sound beside the rushing ‘water’. Emilice put a comforting hand on the doll’s shoulder.

   A new mist rose from the inland sea; not water vapour this time, but toxic fumes. The magical shield above hummed softly as it fulfilled its design. None of the poison air left Nu Marmorarius where it belonged. The shield protected the rest of the world, although visitors would need gas masks.

  “How long will it take to regrow the plants?” Jessimae asked, turning to Vhalshei. Her eyes were shining with hope again. The God of Prosperity shrugged with four shoulders.

  “Be patient,” Vhalshei advised, “It shouldn’t be long. We’ve already planted the seedlings. Once those chemicals soak into the soil, my magic will do the rest.”

  “The animals will come back,” Harlei answered the question before it left Jessimae’s mouth, “A few thousand years of evolution is nothing to me. Once the land can sustain them, you’ll have all the nightmare-inducing devil insects you could wish for.”

  Jessimae smiled. If she could, she’d be crying happy tears.

  “And after that?” she asked with a quiet voice. It spoke volumes for the brash goddess. It was like she thought this would all turn out to be a dream. Something would rip her planet from her hands as it had many times before. They all knew the answer to her question, but it was another thing to say out loud.

   “Then we form your people new bodies and call their souls back from Aedris,” Harlei assured.

   Jessimae hugged Harlei tightly. She rocketed into their arms so suddenly the two of them almost toppled over. She pulled back, grinning like a supernova, before repeating the action with Vhalshei and Emilice.

  The Doll God laughed, watching the sea fill up with her mother’s blood. Her people would live again. ‘Immortal Dolls’ hadn’t been a lie after all. 

  “Happy Birthday, Marmorarius,” she said fondly.

  “Welcome home, Jessimae.”