The day that Nyx leaves for Virtupets is bright and sunny, with only the slightest of breezes rustling the branches of the trees on the horizon, but Ozzy can hardly register the glory of the day. He spends most of the morning in his bed, under the covers, pretending he’s still asleep. Wishing he was. The only thing that breaks up the long, dreadful morning is when Nyx knocks on his door and gently asks him if he’ll come down for breakfast—“I just opened up a fresh box of Islandberry Crunch,” she says—but he just pulls the covers tighter over his head and ignores her.

Eventually, though, it’s time. He hears, through the sheets, voices coming from the kitchen. Nyx and Mr. Hornelius, probably. He can’t make out what they’re saying, other than the word “care,” but he doesn’t want to know, anyway. They’re probably talking about him and what a brat he’s being. 

But he’s not being a brat. He can admit that maybe he’s not being entirely fair, retreating to the comfort of his bed and the darkness under the covers, but why should he be fair? It’s not fair that Nyx is leaving him. It’s not fair that she never told him she had applied to work at Virtupets. It’s not fair that she expects him to be happy for her when she’s taking away the only real source of comfort he’s ever had in his life. 

No, they shouldn’t expect him to be fair, and they shouldn’t be surprised that he’s not coming out to say goodbye. Nyx probably doesn’t want him to, anyway. She’d been looking forward to this day for so long—looking forward to getting away from her big burden of a little brother as soon as she possibly could. 

There’s silence in the house for a while, and then footsteps. The front door opens and shuts. For a moment, Ozzy curls in tighter around himself, tugging at his ears to fight off the indecision warring in his heart—but he eventually wiggles out from under his bedcovers to look out the window, to where… where…

Where Mr. Hornelius is standing a few steps along the path leading from their house, one arm raised to wave goodbye. 

Ozzy scrunches his eyes shut again, not wanting to see what’s up even further ahead, but… But this might be the last time he sees his sister until she comes back. She’d said it would be a few weeks for training, and then a few more after that… 

He opens his eyes. All he can see is Nyx’s back, small and getting smaller with every step. She looks tiny in the vast frame of his bedroom window, even though she had always seemed so big. So safe. 

Tears spring to Ozzy’s eyes, and he tries to turn away, just like she’s turned her back to him, but he can’t. It’s too hard to move, suddenly.

But then, Nyx stops. Her feet come to a halt on the path, and she just… stands there for a moment. One moment, and then two, and…

She turns. Nyx is too far away for Ozzy to see her whole expression, but not far enough he can’t see the enormous smile on her face. Despite it, though, she lifts both hands into the air and waves them wildly, criss-crossing at the wrists, and yells so loudly that Ozzy can hear her even through the window glass:

“Goodbye, Ozzy! I’ll be back soon, I promise!”

Ozzy turns away. He slinks back into his bed, and pulls the covers over himself again.