Abruptly, Amy stood up, rubbing at her collar. “Looking up at you is giving me a crick in the neck. Um… if you came to check on me, you’ve done your duty. I’m sticking with it, I’m staying out of her way, as much as that leaves me cornered, nowhere to go. I’m sufficiently miserable, so, y’know, people can be happy about that.”

“I don’t think anyone wants you to be miserable, Amy.”

Amy made a face, shrugging, and paced on the rooftop of her apartment. She went to the kettle, and filled it.

Crystal remained where she was, sipping at her tea. There were leaves in the bottom of the mug, so she had to be careful she didn’t drink them.

“You can go, I said.”

Crystal put the mug down.

“Uncle Mark isn’t sure where he wants to end up either.”

“Uh huh,” Amy said. She looked annoyed at this point.

“I told him he should move on. That he needs to break the cycle. He does care about you, and he’s not the worst parent ever when he’s separate from Carol.”

“It didn’t suck, in those years before the barbecue.”

“What if you left? Catch a flight, cross the ocean. There’s a hospital there. There’s a settlement.”

“Would I be going there as a healer or a patient?” Amy asked, her smile wry.

But Amy’s eyes were open wider. She was making eye contact, her gaze searching Crystal’s face.

Crystal shrugged. “Both. Neither. But you and Victoria wouldn’t be looking over your shoulders. It would be a clean break. Away from her, away from Marquis, away from people you knew in the Birdcage.”

“I don’t think I get a break like that.”

“You don’t get a break, no. But you can move on. Not like you did with Shin. Not diving into being your power and just your power. Being Amy. Or Amelia, or…”

“Amy,” Amy said, quiet. She picked up the kettle, and then set it back down.

“Think about it.”

“I am.”

“I mean, over days. There’s no rush.”

“If I wait, I’ll talk myself out of it. I’m really good at deluding myself. So I’m going to say yes. If my therapist says yes.”

“I think he might,” Crystal said. “Provided there’s someone available on the other side of the ocean.”

“She, and I think she will say yes. So maybe you could pass that on to Victoria. Let her know she doesn’t have to watch her back anymore? Because I’ve had a taste of it now and it sucks.”

“I’ll break the nondisclosure rule for her, in that event, so I can tell her,” Crystal promised Amy. In a firmer voice, she added, “Once it’s done.”