Zelda had every faith that Sabrina and Hilda and Ambrose could manage things without her. She knew that if anything happened she could astral project back to Greendale at a moment's notice. Samael had offered to help with the school and Zelda, in an act of trust, allowed him this post for the time being. They had come to a great understanding, had even shared cigars and whiskey together one late night at the Academy.

Their journey began in New York City, as Mary had traveled there once as a young girl to see a stoic aunt. She only ever remembered playing on a narrow balcony of a tenement building, staring longingly out at the romantic slope of the city skyline. She'd wished to venture further, but her aunt had been elderly, choosing to stay inside.

Now they had free reign to venture where ever Mary's heart desired. They stayed at the Plaza Hotel. Indulged in long baths together with the windows wide open, undressed one another and made love on white sheets, ordering room service so that they needn't leave unless they wanted to. They walked through Central Park, they stared at the apartments along its edges, they basked in the silent nature about them. They went to see a show on Broadway, they traveled down to a dive bar in the Village where Lilith put her hand up Zelda's skirt beneath the cover of the bar, Zelda had slow danced with Mary, touching her furtively so that they took a flustered taxi ride back to the Plaza.

They left late one night from JFK and landed in Paris the next morning. Mary was beside herself so that she wasn't even tired after the flight. She led a tired Zelda and Lilith through the streets and promenades so that they had nearly seen the Arc de Triomphe, The Louvre, Notre Dame, and Centre Pompidou in the very first day.

They had to convince Mary to take a moment and relax at a café, where Lilith and Zelda sat sipping noisettes to stay awake and smoking cigarettes while Mary put her French to use and planned out the entirety of their stay using French guidebooks. They saw Faustat Opera Bastille, all three laughing at the imagery of Mephistopheles. They made love in a cozy little flat they had rented that overlooked the Eiffel Tower, which shimmered and sparkled in the darkness of night.

They took a train to Germany, stopping in Berlin to take in the sights, to delve into ladies only bars. They walked through museums – Mary endlessly fascinated with the history – they stared at the Berlin Wall. A haunting feeling enveloped them, brought them back to have yet more bacchanal nights in bars, touching openly, laughing, loving freely and all the people about them seemed enraptured by them.

They traveled to Italy where Zelda took them to the grounds where once the Unholy Vatican had stood. It had all but disappeared, shriveled up and died along with Lucifer. They met several witches in Rome who expressed confusion by all that had transpired, but upon learning that the Zelda Spellman was before them, their eyes widened and they thanked her profusely, greatly for what she had accomplished. Word had traveled quickly in the witching community. They attended a pagan celebration in Burgos where they stripped down to nothing and ran through the groves of orange trees in the moonlight, taking the fruit from the trees and eating the oranges lazily, stickily laying atop blankets. Lilith dropped the juice of the orange over Mary's breast licking its sticky sweetness from about her nipple. Zelda sucked the fruit from Lilith.

They traveled to India where they concealed themselves more conspicuously, yet felt a majestic, magnetic pull towards the brightly colored temples, the curried foods, the warmth of the days. They stayed in a half-ruined building atop mats, a delightful courtyard offering a small pool where they lounged, feeling one another's bodies, smoking beedi, swimming naked in the hot afternoons.

They traveled to Moscow – Mary finding it endlessly romantic from her reading of Anna Karenina - where they stayed only a few days before boarding the Trans-Siberian railway, taking it all the way to the boarder of Russia. They shared an uncomfortable sleeper car, smoking and drinking too much vodka – Zelda getting motion sickness so that she drank more - delighting in the old-fashioned feel of being on a train. It was much less romantic than the movies made it seem, but they still managed to make delicious love in the stuffy, conservative air of the train cars. A man on the train tried to charm Lilith and Zelda watched it unfold before her, feeling more and more aroused the more the man paid attention to Lilith. She sat holding Mary's hand discreetly beneath the table, knowing that Mary was watching, felt the same way. Zelda took Lilith with an intense fervor that evening, Mary equally possessive, Lilith basking in the attention.

They went to Tokyo, delighting in the loudness, the lights, the hustle and bustle of the streets. It was a world so foreign to them, yet not so different from New York. They went to the Imperial Palace, delighted in the East Garden where they sat beneath a cherry blossom tree. They took tea at Kantoku-tei, they went to Roppongi in the night to erotic shows that left Mary wanting, needing, and they took her back to their hotel to have their way with her.

It was on their third day in Japan that Lilith looked to Zelda. They were sharing breakfast atop mats overlooking a serene forest on the patio of the little hut they were staying in the Miyazaki Prefecture. They could hear the birds flying about in calm, stillness of morning, the distant sound of a stream. The light floated serenely through the trees before them. Mary sipped her tea, studying a book of Japanese that she had picked up. She was enamored with the language, with the sounds the vowels made -almost Italianate in their pronunciation.

She was glowing, looking radiant from good sex and traveling. It had agreed with her to see the world. She wore her hair down, unashamed. Her cheeks were colored in well, her lips red and swollen from their previous night's activities. Lilith and Mary looked at her admirably, enjoying her equally.

Zelda flipped the edge of her newspaper and sat it down atop the table. She lifted her tea cup to her lips and Mary glanced up at her. Mary seemed to notice then that they were both looking at her.

"What is it?" She asked.

Lilith smiled at Zelda and then covered Mary's hand. "There's something I've been wanting to show you. Today is the day for it."

Mary's brow creased.

"Come on. Put on something to hike in. We have a ways to go."

They hiked to the first tier of stunning blue waters, Mary enchanted by the glassy green surface of the water. It was picturesque, quiet here in the mountains. "Is this it?"

Lilith shook her head. "No, it's up further."

Zelda groaned under her breath, but followed along. Knowing what it was that Lilith was getting at. So it made the ascent worth it. They walked past several other pools, the day's heat catching up to them, making sweat pool on Zelda's forehead, between her breasts, her legs. She'd rather have been working up this kind of a sweat back at their lodging, but she trudged forward.

It was some time before they reached the curve of two pools, the sound of flowing water greeting them.

"It's beautiful." Mary commented, not grasping it significance.

Lilith turned to her and smiled, reaching for her hands. "Have you ever heard, Mary, about the Fountain of Youth?"

"Well," Mary frowned, "certainly. Ponce de Leon tried to find it in Florida."

Zelda laughed, catching her breath. She really needed to cut back on the cigarettes. "What a fool. To think it could possibly be in the New World."

Lilith smiled at her. "Yes, it wasn't there at all. It's always been here. Asia has always held mystical powers. They've had spiritual practices that stretch back further and longer than Christianity. I've known of them for years, have always delighted in visiting to feel their energy." Lilith breathed in the fresh air about them. "This, this is the true Fountain of Youth."

Mary looked from them to the pools, beginning to grasp what it was that they were doing there.

Zelda smiled, put her arm about Mary. "We cannot make you a witch, but we can give you the gift of slowed life so that we can age together. But only if you want." She pressed her lips to Mary's warm, sweaty neck. "The choice is yours, but we do hope that you would want to grow old with us. We couldn't imagine…"

Mary had tears in her eyes when she turned to face Zelda and Lilith. She was shaking her head. "Of course, of course. It feels…it feels as if my life has only just begun."

"You'll do it?" Lilith was beaming.

Mary nodded, wiping at her cheeks. And Zelda pulled her against her, kissing her as Lilith undressed Mary. Zelda turned to undress Lilith as Mary undressed Zelda and the three stood at the edge of the silent, abandoned spring, all taken by the luminous waters that shown blue-green in the gleaming sunlight.

They clasped hands, Mary between them. Stepping into the water, ripples moved out from them, disturbing the surface of the water. They took Mary deeper, further into the spring. When they reached the middle of the pool, Zelda and Lilith stood on either side of Mary, placing their hands on her. Lilith looked to Zelda and they whispered the sacred words, chanting in Latin, a wave of energy passing from one to the other through Mary. The feeling grew stronger and stronger until the spell was cast and then they dunk Mary in the water, submerged her beneath the life-giving surface.

And when she emerged she was beaming, laughing.

"Do you feel any different?" Zelda inquired.

"Not at all."

"Then I think it's worked." Lilith laughed, pulled Mary to kiss her.

Zelda wrapped them up in her arms, kissing them both in the coolness of the water.

And then she flipped onto her back, staring up at the cloudless sky, floating in the calm, stillness of the water. And everything felt perfect as it had never felt before.

There would be trials ahead, there would be uncertain nights, demons to battle and wrestle with, but something told her that the worst was behind her.

Now, now she could live as she had not before, truly herself.