Chapter Four: Home

The following morning Alfred woke the group up as the doors had opened, Prudence and the Spellman family laid passed out on the floor. With the help of the group, Alfred and Brodie carried them to the spare bedrooms upstairs where they could rest. The Star Cage was nowhere to be seen all that remained in the room was a burnt piece of parchment in the middle of the floor. Brodie picked it up and looked at what was written on it,
"What is it?" Harvey inquired,
"Coordinates" Brodie answered before hurrying out of the room and to the library, he searched for a map of Greendale laying it out on the table once he found it. He pinpointed the location on the map in seconds.
"Sweetwater River?" Theo said aloud,
"That's where Nick will emerge" Brodie stated,
"Emerge?" Roz asked,
"When he and Lucifer are separated he will be returned to this world, he must return through water; otherwise he will burn up" Brodie explained, and the trio looked at one another concerned.
"So they already sent the Star Cage to Hell?" Harvey assumed out loud, and Brodie nodded,
"It was the final part of the ritual; they couldn't have finished without doing so" Brodie explained.

Alfred kept a close eye on the Spellman family and Prudence, they were freezing, sickly even but just after midday they all awoke simultaneously seemingly recovered; they weren't talkative though, and so everyone sat around the table in the dining room in silence, sipping on the hot cups of tea they had been served.
"What happened in there?" Theo asked finally breaking the silence, Zelda stood up and walked over to the nearby window,
"We completed the cage that is all that matters!" Zelda said abruptly obviously not wanting to talk about it further,
"Was it that bad?" Harvey pressed looking at Sabrina who lifted her head and met his gaze. She nodded a few times before finishing her cup of tea; she rose to her feet leaving her cup on the table
"Thank you for your hospitality," Sabrina said looking at both Brodie and Alfred before quietly walking towards the front door.
"Where are you going 'Brina?" Roz asked concerned, Sabrina came to a stop her hand gently gripping the door handle.
"I'm going to wait for Nick" Sabrina answered softly still traumatised by what she had seen during the ritual
"It could take hours to days for Nick to be released Sabrina" Brodie stated,
"If I have to wait days, then I will wait days" Sabrina made clear.
"I strongly advise you rest Miss Sabrina. I shall prepare the necessary supplies and set up camp while you regain your strength" Alfred explained, but it did nothing to deter Sabrina.
"Let her go" Zelda advised still looking out the window, and everyone looked over at her,
"We'll go with her, Theo and I can go get some equipment from my place once I've dropped her and Roz off" Harvey planned confidently.
"Yeah!" both Theo and Roz agreed standing up as they did so,
"In that case, stop by here on your way back I'll prepare some food and drinks" Alfred insisted, and Harvey thanked him. When the four of them had left those that remained lingered quietly in the dining room,
"How did you get your hands on a spell such as that?" Hilda asked, and Brodie looked at her and sighed,
"It has been in the oldest, deepest corner of our archives for who knows how long" Brodie answered, and Zelda scoffed,
"That sort of magic does not belong in this world" She claimed returning to the table and standing next to her chair.
"Well, let's hope it only needs to be used once" Brodie replied hopeful,
"I don't imagine even he could break out of it. The Angel bones were hard to tame; it was like they resisted the ritual; it took everything to complete the ritual so I could only imagine the strength it would require to break them." Ambrose said,
"Saying that we should return home and look to our defences, should the Dark Lord be freed who knows what he will do to us" Zelda insisted,
"Yes Sister, you are right. Thank you for your hospitality" Hilda kindly followed,
"I do hope it doesn't come to that" Brodie insisted,
"There is very little hope will do for you if the Dark Lord gets out" Zelda concluded before the four of them gathered together whispered the required enchantment and vanished before Brodie's eyes. He sat back in his chair and chuckled
"This could very well be the end of days" Brodie whispered looking up at the roof, "are you hopeful Alfred?" Brodie asked, and Alfred walked around the corner,
"High Priestess Zelda is right; there is little hope will do you if the Dark Lord gets out" Alfred answered, and Brodie again chuckled,
"And so we shall see" Brodie concluded.

Sabrina sat on the water's edge occasionally she would creep her toes ever so forward and let the water wash over them, as time passed a campsite was constructed behind her, a supply of spells and herbs from Hilda's garden slowly built up with each visit she made. Sabrina rarely ate or slept a factor that concerned her friends and family at which point Zelda and Hilda were be deployed as a team to rectify her situation. Salem remained at camp by Sabrina's side the entire time. On the eighth night, Sabrina sat by the fire as it was rather cold, she was alone for now, Harvey and Roz had been with her but left to go shower and freshen up. Her eyes hadn't even gazed from the river for a moment,
"Hellfire isn't raining down so I'd say things are going pretty well" Brodie commented as he approached the camp, Sabrina looked over and watched him walk up to the fire immediately enjoying its warmth.
"Nick isn't back yet" Sabrina replied, and Brodie sat down in one of the camp chairs,
"Don't worry, he'll come home, you just got to have a little faith" Brodie replied smiling at Sabrina.
"I'll stop worrying when he is home."
"Your devotion and love for him are admirable."
"Does it surprise you?"
"I don't think that there is anything left in this world that actually surprises me, but I think it's rare, I feel most people if they were in your position would have honoured the person's sacrifice and not risked everything to bring them back."
"You think so?"
"I'm confident; I've met a lot of people in my long life."
"Oh eighteen years, such a long life."
"Twenty-three actually, but thanks for thinking I was eighteen" Brodie jested, and Sabrina sat in disbelief,
"You're really twenty-three?" She asked, and Brodie nodded, "wow, I seriously thought at the oldest you were eighteen" Sabrina continued, and Brodie was complimented. Sabrina turned her attention back to the river, she sighed, and Brodie could see the concern in her eyes.
"You know the Walker Institute was founded on the grounds of love?" Brodie asked fully aware she didn't know,
"No, I thought it was about helping the good on both sides?" She confirmed, Brodie chuckled and was filled with excitement.
"Well that's what we aim to do, but my ancestors who started the Institute were actually lovers and were eventually married."
"How does that lead to them starting something like the Walker Institute?"
"She was a Witch, and he was a Hunter; her Coven and his Company of Hunters went to war, but before that, the two were a real Romeo and Juliet. They met and had no idea who the other actually was. They fell in love; eventually, though they discovered each other's secret life and instead of joining the war they ran away together, got married, took the Walker name and started a family. Eventually, it was their story that inspired them to found the Institute, a place that would do what it has been doing, and in doing so it would bring about the end of the senseless fighting and warring between both sides."
"Huh, and they lived happily ever after?"
"Oh no, the fighting continued for a while, people weren't happy, and so they were hunted, but together they proved themselves and held true to the tenants of the Walker Institute and by the time their kids took over things were looking up for us," Brodie answered, and he looked at the fire happily,
"What about you, have you ever been in love?" Sabrina asked once again looking away from the water, and a solemn look overcame Brodie.
"I was once, a lifetime ago it seems" He answered quietly,
"What happened?" Sabrina inquires hesitantly,
"Your Dark Lord doesn't like his enemies being happy, he took her from" Brodie replied haunted by her lost that Sabrina could see was playing in his mind as he stared at the fire, seeing such hurt she decided not to press any further on the topic.

Two days later Brodie, Harvey, Roz and Theo sat around enjoying lunch Alfred had prepared for them while Sabrina yet again was seated on the water's edge. They called out to her insisting she get something to eat, but Sabrina refused, though fearful of her Aunties showing up again she knew that sooner or later she'd have to cave and eat something at least in front of them. Eventually, Sabrina gave in, got up and walked over taking a seat with the group Salem sitting on the ground next to her, she picked out an egg and lettuce sandwich for herself and put some chicken on a plastic plate which she placed on the ground in front of Salem. As they ate Sabrina wasn't really sure what it was, they had been discussing as she had zoned out although they fell silent when the sound of water bubbling could be heard coming from the river. Together they jumped to their feet and ran to the water Brodie the furthest away yelled out to them, stopping them from entering the river which started going red in the centre as the bubbling spread in all directions steam rose from the water's surface. Nick suddenly and with great force emerged from the water gasping for air, he was naked and redraw, with his eyes still closed he threw his hands around splashing the water and getting an idea of where he was. The water began to cool down, and Nick submerged himself occasionally coming up for air while the group stood in shock, once the water had stopped bubbling Sabrina jumped in and made her way to Nick, she pulled him up and out of the water and Nick screamed in a panic having not opened his eyes yet.
"Nicholas!" Sabrina yelled, "Nick open your eyes; it's me!" She tried to reassure him, he shivered with fear and was panting but had stopped tossing and turning. Sabrina placed both her hands on his face and kissed him when she pulled away Nick opened his eyes the almost blinding light of the day made it incredibly difficult for him to see Sabrina at first but slowly his eyes adjusted. Sabrina brushed his wet hair from his face and waited for him to notice her; his eyes opened wider and couldn't help but smile when he could finally see her properly.
"Spellman?" Nick whispered, and Sabrina nodded,
"Hey, you" Sabrina greeted Nick started chuckled,
"Sabrina" He continued although after he did his chuckle turned into a cry and tears began streaming down his cheeks, the pair hugged one another tighter than ever before, both of them crying on each other's shoulder
"It's okay, we're here" Sabrina comforted him,
"Thank you," he was able to say, "thank you so much!" Nick continued before becoming overwhelmed by some many emotions that his cry became a sob. The others stood comforting one another as they also became emotional, Brodie still the furthest away watched on a single tear escaped from the corner of his left eye and ran down his cheek, but he quickly stopped it with his hand. Brodie looked at the teardrop on his finger for a few moments, he closed his hand and dropped his arm down by his side releasing his fist and turning his attention back to Sabrina and Nick, he cracked a half smile and watched on with a feeling of joy warming him inside.
"Welcome home" Sabrina whispered in Nick's ear.

Author's note: Hey everyone, hope you had a good Easter. I'm back. I hope you enjoyed this chapter much more to come! In the meantime if you're interested, my book Liberation by Brayden Lamaka is available on Amazon, you can follow me on twitter Brayden_lamaka to stay up to date on when I release stuff. Please leave a comment with your thoughts/opinions and any criticism or feel free to message me always happy to hear from my readers! Thanks,

Brayden L