Episode 37:

The Pain of Regret

-Twyla-

Twyla slowly lifted her head and scanned the room as her breath came out in small pants and her heartbeat echoed in her ears, "Billy, I need you to make yourself visible, I can't…I can't see you."

Billy groaned from somewhere on the floor, "Hard…to…focus. Ugh. I can't…"

Twyla shakily rose to her hands and knees and felt around for him, "Talk to me Billy, please."

Billy grunted, "Hold on."

Twyla heard some shuffling noises on the floor then felt a great weight on her shoulder. Billy mumbled in her ear, "Sorry…ugh. I didn't protect you."

Twyla wrapped her arm around Billy's waist. A massive amount of heat emanated from his midsection as she walked him out the door, "Billy, you protected me just fine, don't worry about it. Come on, one foot in front of the other, you can do this. We just need to make it to the infirmary. It's right down the hall."

The late bell rang as an invisible Twyla and Billy headed towards the infirmary. She fought back tears as his breathing became more labored and his steps slowed. Three steps away from the infirmary door he collapsed on top of her.

Twyla panicked, "Billy?! Billy wake up, I need you. I need you to stay awake!"

She flailed when he didn't respond, "Billy, no one can see us right now. Billy. BILLY!"

The infirmary door opened and Monotya stepped out.

Twyla clawed forward and latched onto Montoya's foot, "Down here! It's Billy, he's unconscious! He got electrocuted really bad. I think it went through his heart; I don't know but he's not breathing."

Montoya knelt down and touched Twyla's face, "Sombrita!? Oh my goodness, where is the boy?"

Twyla moved Montoya's hand towards him, "He's right here."

Montoya opened her hand and then closed it, "Sombrita…how well do you know this boy?"

Twyla shrieked, "What does it matter, he's not breathing!"

Montoya's face tightened as she asked, "Is he undead?"

Twyla cried, "No! He's a second generation science experiment. He'd be normie otherwise."

Montoya opened her hand, "Let's hope undead weren't involved in it then."

A warm light engulfed them. Twyla felt herself lighten, almost as though floating as Montoya used the full extent of her healing powers.

Twyla embraced the light and she felt amazing, every ache and pain eased away and she never wanted to let go. But as suddenly as it started it stopped and Twyla was on the floor once more but she wasn't the same. Her wounds had been completely healed and Billy, as she felt, was breathing just fine.

Billy became visible and stood up, he lifted his shirt and looked at himself, "Whoa."

Twyla stood up and rubbed Billy's chest, "Just like new…"

Montoya wiped the sweat off her brow, "Wooh, that spell is exhausting, I haven't had to bring anyone from the brink of death since… well, it's been a long time."

Billy pulled his shirt down and helped Montoya stand up, "Thank you ma'am, for healing me and my Twyla. For sending most of my friends back to me, and for always working so hard, especially in the late hours of the night."

Montoya covered her mouth with her hand and blushed, "Look at you, acting like the patrón of the school, thanking me like I work for you."

She put her hands on her hip, "You get to class now Patrón and take care of my Sombrita. And if you feel inclined, you can write me the proposal letter."

Billy raised his eyebrow, "Uh, okay. Well, off to class we go ma'am. Thanks."

Twyla waved goodbye to Montoya as they walked down the hall. Billy and Twyla stopped by the latrine to grab their bags before they entered class. Delahaye raised an eyebrow at Twyla and Billy's late arrival but when she saw the state of their clothes she smirked and continued the lesson. Billy and Twyla sat down at their desk. Twyla glanced over her shoulder and glared at Crecha. Crecha narrowed her eyes as she snapped her pencil in half and bucked her shoulders like she was going to jump Twyla.

Twyla avoided Crecha and Frankie for the rest of the day as she did not want a repeat of that day's events.

Once inside classroom one, Abbey bombarded Blondie with questions about the cave incident.

Blondie held up her hands, "Whoa, too many questions Abbey girl, slow down."

Abbey huffed, "I apologize, but this morning you say Evie threw spell. It seem weird that she try and kill you. Why she do that?"

Blondie furrowed her brow, "No idea. She was hanging out with Faybelle all year, I never talked with her. We weren't exactly close either but I certainly didn't do anything to warrant being attacked."

Lagoona hummed thoughtfully, "So, Evie attacked you…and then Evie was poisoned. But the only witness to the attack didn't see it…Unless, was Faybelle there as well?"

Blondie tilted her head, "I…I don't think so…"

Billy furrowed his brow and leaned forward with his cheek resting in the palm of his hand, "Faybelle… hmmm. That girl was so much trouble."

Blondie snorted, "Yeah I think I developed an allergy to fairy dust because of her."

Farrah blinked, "Really?"

Blondie shook her head, "No. Not really, but Billy boy was always covered in it and I mean always. From head to toe, covered in it. I was beginning to think he took a bath in the stuff. Always coming to the meetings like a big blue glitter stick. Well a muscular stick but a stick nonetheless."

Farrah furrowed her brow and looked at Billy, "Was Faybelle blasting curses at you all year?"

Billy put his head down on the table, "That's a loaded question."

Farrah tilted her head, "What?"

Billy sat up, face completely red, "Any ways. What are we going to do about Crecha, she attacked me and Twyla today and I can only imagine what she's going to do next."

Abbey nodded, "Billy is right in this. Crecha is danger to herself and to others, we must do something about her."

Lagoona shook her head, "But what? Getting her alone seems to be impossible."

Blondie shrugged, "Well you could always just come to our dorm. Cause you know, I'm officially all alone with them." Everyone blinked and stared at her.

Billy sat up straight and tall as he stared intensely at Blondie, "You should come to our dorm and sleep in there. We have an extra bed you can sleep in and once the new school year starts in a few weeks we will be in the junior dorms. We can just move you into a safer room."

Lagoona shook her head, "I don't think we can go around making our own room assignments."

Blondie nodded, "Fact. If LT Ching does inspections, she's going to know who belongs where."

Abbey tapped her palm with her finger, "You miss point. We discuss Crecha."

Twyla furrowed her brow, "Yeah we still have no idea how or why Crecha would kill Evie, so it really doesn't make sense, especially since there was magic involved. It had to be a magic user. "

Blondie nodded, "Well that could be true or Crecha could just be really vindictive. I mean she really seemed to hate Evie."

Farrah tilted her head, "What? I am officially confused."

Blondie sighed, "You don't remember? Crecha was super pissed that day when Frankie returned to the clubroom with the shard of ice in her chest."

Lagoon gasped, "Crickey how right you are, I almost forgot about that."

Abbey slammed her hands down on the table, "What! Explain, no time for guessing games."

Blondie folded her arms on the table, "Well, I think it was the night you ended up in infirmary. We were all doing our thing when Frankie came back with a huge chunk of ice in her chest. Apparently, Evie threw it."

Farrah shook her head, "Evie had just teleported in from somewhere else covered in ice, she was just cleaning herself off, she threw it without looking."

Twyla nodded and tapped her chin, "So that's the link between Crecha, Evie, and Faybelle but what about Darling?" She shook her head, "Nothing adds up here. I remember the hallway there were magical signatures everywhere… Billy."

"Yes?"

"Since you spent a lot of downtime with her-"

Billy groaned, "Phrasing."

"Did Faybelle ever mention anything at all about how she felt about Evie? I remember they had that big fight in the chow hall and they seemed like enemies up until Darling died then suddenly they were best friends…" Twyla furrowed her brow, "Too suddenly actually…"

Blondie shrugged, "Misery loves company. I know that when I used to hang out with Evie she loved nothing more in the world than talking about herself. And Faybelle, oh Faybelle is the exact same way. Every day in the dorm with them was like a who's the baddest contest. That much ego needs stroking and they did that in abundance."

Billy shook his head and mumbled, "Don't I know it."

Lagoona scrunched her nose, "That's gross mate."

Billy blushed and looked at the table.

Abbey rolled her eyes, "So Crecha hated Evie and Faybelle for hurting Frankie. Now she hates all of us for Robecca's disassembly. What we do?"

Farrah wrung her hands, "I…I don't know. I never thought I would have to consider how to discipline a murderer in our class. It feels like Freddie all over again."

Twyla sighed, "Yeah and Melody begged us to kill Freddie."

Lagoona leaned forward, "But Freddie is terrible to everyone, so Melody's suggestion was at least valid. Crecha, she is simply terrible to those that harm her loved ones." She tilted her head, "Although I'm a bit curious about what she would have against Darling if anything. I feel like Twyla is onto something about the whole magic user thing."

Billy held up his hands, "I am not going to kill Crecha. It's not an option, let's just take it off the table and think of something else. We have had enough deaths this year. Killing someone else is not the answer, alright?"

Twyla nodded, "All right. I think we can all agree to that. But what can we do?"

Billy sighed and put his hands on the table, "I don't know, but I'm not leaving Blondie in the other dorm with them. It's too risky."

Blondie held her hand up, "Whoa, slow down big fella, nice to see this side of you but if you take me away from that dorm Crecha's going to get angrier. I'll be fine. Don't worry."

Lagoona giggled, "Nice to see you period. You know, I think the only time you've been invisible today was in class and even then, I still knew you were there. Good on you mate."

Billy smirked, "Thanks. It's weird always thinking about being visible while holding a conversation but it has gotten less draining."

Abbey sat back and tilted her head, "Draining? Is difficult?"

Billy raised his eyebrows and tilted his head forward, "Ah yeah, pretty hard, being invisible is way easier for me but for you guys, you're worth it. I genuinely want to be there for you."

Farrah, Abbey, Blondie, Lagoona and Twyla all cooed, "Awwww. So, sweet."

Billy rolled his eyes and sat back, "Ugh."

Close to curfew everyone walked upstairs to the dorm and parted ways with Blondie. Twyla entered the dorm and tossed her bag onto her bed. They were still no closer to a solution to the Crecha problem and Twyla wasn't one hundred percent sure that Crecha did it. Sure, she had the motivation but it was Blondie's account of Evie that had Twyla reeling. Something was off, something that she must be missing. Why would Evie attack Blondie? Plus, the night Blondie ended up in the infirmary, Evie left a note saying to meet because she knew who the killer was. It didn't make any sense.

Twyla sighed and readied herself for bed.

When the lights were turned off and everyone had fallen asleep, Twyla got out of bed.

"Twyla where are you going,"Billy became visible standing next to the wall with his arms folded.

Twyla stepped out of shadow and stood in front of him, "How did you know I was going somewhere?"

Billy scoffed, "I told you, the shadows shift when you move around. It may be subtle but I know when you're under the bed because the shadows are just a tab bit too long there and I can tell when you move because the shadows shift in that direction. It's really obvious to those that know you."

"So you've watched me long enough to notice such things," Twyla swayed from side to side.

Billy nodded, "Most times yes, only way I really know you're there. You worry me, you know."

Twyla leaned close to him, "Really?"

Billy pushed off the wall and towered over her, "Yeah. So, where were you going?"

Twyla twirled her hair around her finger, "I was just going to make Blondie a nightmare catcher, five months of bad dreams is no joke and my silk felt just about ready to spin."

Billy shook his head, "I don't think I will ever get used to your extra arms."

Twyla tilted her head, "Get used to? Like, you're going to keep seeing them?"

Billy nodded, "I was referring to the whole web making thing, not your actual arms. Not gonna lie though, the web surprised me the first time."

Twyla giggled and bounced up on her toes, "But you liked it."

Billy raised his eyebrows, "There was a lot to like." He sighed as he focused on the ground, "Be careful in there Twyla, I hate it when you disappear on me."

Twyla held her hands over her heart, "I could say the same thing to you. I thought I had lost you forever…"

Billy folded his arms and leaned back against the wall, "Yeah to lose my girlfriend, my best normie friend and my best ghoul friend all in one year. It was a bit rough."

Twyla looked at the ground and bit her lip, "Girlfriend…do you think…we could ever…."

Billy shrugged, "Date? Sure, just don't disappear on me ever again."

Twyla looked up at Billy and covered her mouth with her hands, "Oh, okay well great. So, it's official then?"

Billy pushed off the wall and shrugged, "Sure."

Twyla hugged him, "See you later Invisi-bear."

Billy smirked and hugged her back, "Take care shadow-bunny."

Twyla melded into shadows and entered Blondie's dorm. She climbed up the wall and spun her web, careful to keep her eyes closed. She didn't want Frankie or Crecha to look up and see a pair of glowing blue eyes floating in the corner. It was hard being the embodiment of childhood fear, and scaring your friends for life was the worst.

She completed her work then flung herself into the other room and crawled into bed. If what Billy had said was true, then that meant most of her classmates knew when she moved around in shadow.

Twyla sat up in bed and gasped. Evie and Faybelle knew I had entered the latrine. Which meant they knew I was there and since Evie couldn't talk… Faybelle.

She clenched her fist.

Faybelle misdirected me and I totally fell for it. But why the lie? Why would Faybelle lie to calm Evie? Had Evie been the killer? But then why would Evie poison herself with an apple no less? And who poisoned Faybelle? Someone clearly hated Faybelle when they slipped her the apple.

And those apples weren't there when we went through the line. It doesn't make sense. I know Billy said he didn't but he's the only one with a motive for hurting her. I… I want to believe him but...maybe he was under a spell. Farrah said she detected dark magic on him.

She furrowed her brow.

Blondie said Billy was always covered in it and Farrah wanted to know if Faybelle had cursed him all year. Billy did do a lot of favors for her, what if… when he was hit with that spell in LT Delahaye's office he was cursed to hurt Faybelle?

Twyla tossed and turned as her thoughts plagued her tilled dawn.