Chapter 25: Gothy And The Witches

Though this story is primarily about Audrey, it's safe to say that transitioning to Gothy's perspective was an essential break. After all, it was her personal quest to find her sister Cassandra. And things weren't going well ever since the team split to find Audrey and get a head start towards the Seussian lands. Ozzy, Beatrice and the Bloody Bambi were facing delays due to an unexpecting landslide damaging Elvis the ROCKINGTROLLTOISE's shell scales; Ozzy had said it would take at least two days for his shell to self-repair. Gothy and Crystal had taken a fine lead on train until an encounter with a dragon nest led to severe train damage. The conductor made a stop at the Boiling Stones Stations, some landlocked location thousands of miles north from Villainapolis and a hundred thousand miles west from the Seussian Lands. Anyone who had plans to go to the train's next stops had to stick around in the emergency suites of the station's four-star hotel, with permission to move around and play tourists, of course. It would take two or three days to repair the damages and no other train would be stopping by. Sometimes Gothy questioned why common transports were so complicated in these lands of anarchy.

If things had been different, Crystal would have enforced that they didn't leave the hotel or the train station. From what Gothy understood, the Boiling Stones Station was in the outskirts of Witchachusetts (hybrid of 'Witch' and 'Massachusetts'), a landlocked community based on a giant island within a lake that had to be nearly the same size as the ocean that surrounded the Isle, nearly giving Gothy some nauseous thoughts. Crystal said that a massive portion of witches, sorcerers and warlocks lived there and a lot of them weren't necessarily friendly. Crystal didn't want to go out and encounter them, so Gothy didn't initially disagree with her.

Things turned to a turmoil when the hotel dining hall broadcasted a tad bit late the newest hit on the Villainapolis morning. Apparently, not only had Audrey gained a high popularity and got her own turf but was also revealed to have bonded with a demon… who happened to be her betrothed. Naturally, Gothy had undergone a turmoil of emotions and ran out of the hotel to deal with them. Audrey had lied to her, it seemed so obvious! She didn't know how to respond, since Audrey wasn't here and Gothy didn't know how long Audrey had kept it to herself. She should have told her! They were friends! Audrey was Gothy's first real friend, surely Gothy had some entitlement to honesty! Now she found herself crying in the shadows of the red pine trees surrounding the hotel.

"How'd you like some chocolate?"

A teary Gothy looked up, thinking she was being addressed. To her surprise, no one stood before her.

"Milk chocolate? With pinches of salted caramel, raspberry flavors, and a delicate touch of mint?" Now Gothy managed to pick up a near German accent in the voice that came at least four pine trees away from her. Gothy got up and cautiously stepped to see from behind a pine tree. Between it and the empty parking lot was a girl talking to a child. The preteen had her back turned to Gothy, but Gothy could tell from her small figure that she had to be at least in her early teenage years, possibly younger than Beatrice. Her small black dress with blue puff sleeves, blue and purple striped leggings, purple gloves and hat, black high heeled shoes, and curled hair might have given away a feeling of aristocracy. She couldn't see the gloved girl's face, but Gothy could tell that she was politely asking some child if she wanted some candy.

"Really?" The child asked.

"Made it myself. I only give it to nice children though…"

"I've been good!"

Gothy took a few steps to the right and saw some redheaded nine-year-old girl eagerly accept a bar of chocolate. This would have seemed like an act of altruism but even Gothy knew all too well that you should never accept candy from strangers. Under the midday sun, Gothy caught a glimpse of the gloved girl's brown eyes covered in blue eyeshadow, her dark red lips accompanied by strange lines reminding Gothy of a Glasgow grin, and her probably too eager smile. The child proceeded to chew up the chocolate bar… and scream in midway when she coughed up green smoke. The gloved girl cackled as the child turned into a redheaded mouse.

"YES!" The gloved girl screamed so loudly and gleefully, the flesh on her cheeks' lines ripped apart, revealing dripping blood and pointy teeth drenched in ink-colored saliva. "Another child to eradicate! I'll fancy myself some roasted mouse for dinner!"

Anger went through Gothy. She pulled out her silver dagger and immediately overshadowed the gloved girl. Another on her limited list of tricks she learned from Mother Gothel was how to sneak up on someone for potential stabbing, and Gothy's dagger went straight onto the girl's left side. The bitch screamed as Gothy pulled out her dagger drenched in black blood and ran to catch the little mouse with her spare hand.

"YOU BARBARIAN!" The gloved girl sat up and straightened her hair. Gothy stared confusingly as the gloved hands shifted her hair to the left until she realized that the hair itself had no roots. She grimaced at the realization that the monstrous girl was bald. "I'M ERADICATING THIS BRAT FAIR AND SQUARE!"
"Fair and square? What kind of crap is this?" Gothy protectively held the mouse close to her chest. "You gave drugged candy to a child! And turned her into a mouse!"

"Give the brat back!" The gloved girl got up, her dark eyes brightening up. She hissed as if to prepare a pronunciation but took a step back and shielded her nose. Gothy sniffed the air herself and noticed that for some reason, a pinch of poop was added to the pine aroma.

"GET BACK!" Crystal had run into the scene. Her hands juggled a crystal ball the size of a basketball, but as it moved, it released some pungent trails behind it. The poop smell came from the crystal ball and Crystal was juggling her stink ball at the gloved girl. "Get back, Leona! Stay away from her!"

"GROSS!" Leona kept shielding her nose. "CHILD STENCH!"

"Girl, it's just poop," Gothy frowned.

"DOG'S DROPPINGS! ECH!"

"Get lost! Go back to that mother of yours before I fill the lake with dog's dropping scented waters! Or I'll turn you into mice and send it to Penna De Mort's pet snake through the express mail!" Crystal's threats menaced Leona enough to run away. Her side didn't bleed much and didn't seem to cause her much pain, thus explaining why she easily disappeared into the forest's shadows. Crystal got rid of her stanching crystal ball and used a regular, shiny one that she tossed at the mouse. The redheaded child appeared as herself and ran back to the hotel, screaming for her mommy to save her from the witches.

"I can't believe that you ran out on me and messed with Leona Ernst! You realize her mother is the Grand High Witch? I hate these Hell-raised witches, so self-entitled, hideous, and child hating!"

"That makes no sense." Gothy bent down and wiped the blood off her dagger with the grass. "Why would you have kids if your life goal is to murder children? That's like making a career as a hair stylist when you don't even like washing your own hair!"

"DON'T DO IT AGAIN!" Crystal pulled Gothy up and forced her hands on the latter's shoulders, nearly shaking the latter to the point of losing her senses. "Witches here come in mixed moralities from good to evil! I don't want you to get hurt! We already lost Pink Fingers, and I'm not losing you!"

"Alright, alright! Jeez!" Gothy removed Crystal's hands off her. "I lived on an isle surrounded by villains, some including witches!"

"Your witches were stripped of magic and babyfied!" Crystal rolled her eyes as they walked through the parking lot. "Need I remind you that anarchy reigns supreme? In Witchachusetts, nobody would bat an eye if a witch harms a human." She shook her head. "I might lose my mind."

"Look, I'm sorry for running off. I got… I just don't know how to react anymore. I mean, Audrey…"

"Gorgeous, as much as I agree that this is a lie I should have uncovered myself, I wouldn't punch the guilt stamp on Pink Fingers. You've seen Macabretown with its outright adoration for demonic visits and you just met Leona."

"I thought you said she was a witch."

"She is. On the common man label. But if you had to pull the world's records of magic and thoroughly classify everything, you'd see that witches like Leona and her mom, the Grand High Witch, fall into the category of 'minor female demons sent to make Earth and Hell insane for petty reasons', so they're superior to imps and average demons but inferior to Overlords. And I mean really petty! The whole reason they kill children is because clean kids smell like dog dung to them!"

"And I thought the Evil Queen and Lady Tremaine were stupid." Since Gothy had run off before they could eat, the girls tried to head back to the dining hall only to discover that an unexpected mouse infestation led to the dining hall being temporarily closed. One of the waiters suggested that the girls try having a meal at the Stranded Hearts Inn by the port and enjoy the evening fireworks and festivals (the locals were celebrating today another year of being separated from Auradon).

"Could be fun," Gothy said.

"No."

"I promised you a date, remember?" Gothy pointed out the price she had promised when Crystal had used her wish-casting magic to have a gargoyle fly her pesky brother away. This seemed to convince Crystal enough.

"Fine. But I'm seeing this as a blackmailed date and not the ideal kind." The moment they left the hotel and started making their way through the forest's trail, Crystal had enchanted their clothes to make them look less like travelers and more like commoners trying to have a good time: dark purple or red reefer coats for both of them, a beige and black riding uniform complete with tight pants and boots for Crystal and a red knee-length tunic dress with thigh-high black boots for Gothy. Crystal ditched her preferences for fancy jewelry and merely put on simple purple earrings and an amethyst hairband to tie up her hair in a ponytail. Gothy ran her fingers through her black hair, untied and curling its way to stop barely an inch and a half after her shoulders. She went through her purse and managed to find a loose ribbon.

"Why do you do that?" Crystal asked when Gothy pulled her hair up in a bun with the ribbon.

"I don't like keeping my hair down. Reminds me too much of my mother."

"Bummer." The trail ended to a staircase of stones covered either by moss or rune carvings and going all the way down a hill. At the end of it, a bridge could be seen going from where they were to the community of Witchachusetts at the heart of the lake.

"I already hate this town already," Gothy immediately declared. "The geography itself reminds me of Corona."

"Except Corona isn't full of witches who live in surreal and living architecture, wacky creatures, and unorthodox biases." The two went down the stairs.

"I still don't get why Audrey didn't tell me she made an agreement with a demon," Gothy said. "I mean, we opened up about so much when we first met. Sure, it was weird that she immediately jumped to the idea of helping me find Cassandra and she didn't even bat an eye at the notion that she'd never return to Auradon, but I still felt like it was the closest to a healthy relationship I ever had once I left the Isle."

"OK, first off, ouch." Crystal frowned. "Second, you're equally guilty yourself; even after the life-threatening encounter, you still haven't told her about your psycho little brother. And third, considering what Audrey went through, I can't imagine what she must be going through." The two stopped when they realized that the staircase was now going from a straight format to a zigzagged one with less structured rocks. They took some precautions with their next steps. "Most of the time, mortals don't even realize that there's at least a million different ways to summon a specific demon who'll expect you to pass a contract with the demon or else become the demon's slave in the afterlife. I knew this French guy who accidentally summoned a demon during one of my parties by riding a unicycle into the Bog while juggling jam-drenched brownies." Gothy gave her a skeptical look. "What? I said there were a million different ways! Fine, you want a better example? Take Beatrice's dad. He's technically a ghost, but he functions like a high-class demon. Say his name three times and he'll pop up for anything. Same rules apply to Beatrice as a half-human, half-ghost hybrid."

"Any chance you know the demon, aka Audrey's intended?" Gothy air-quoted the last two words.

"Alastor? Never met him in person. Anybody I knew with demon involvement primarily used words like 'powerful', 'slasher smiler', 'cannibal', or 'using power for his own entertainment.' Or even the occasional 'if I had to pick between Alastor the Radio Demon or Kory Lokisdottir in the category of evil psychos, I'd rather pick that guy because at least he has his own standards.' I heard nearly every single demon in Hell cowers at the sight of him, but on Earth, demonic witches and the entirety of Macabretown outright adore him."

"Guess he goes to Chez Lecter very often." They finally reached the end of the staircase. By the main road, witches and humans were walking on foot with suitcases, pulling chariots full of basketed fruits (probably for poisoning), or driving cars that carried barrels of potions. The closest bridge leading to the lake town was a Cantilever bridge of gothic architecture fashioned to resemble a serpentine ribcage complete with cement composed of a thousand eggshell pieces. While crossing it, Gothy and Crystal cringed as they picked up the actual smell of rotten snake flesh and eggs.

"He mostly goes to Beatrice's house whenever he's allowed to visit Earth. Alastor and The Ghost With The Most were very well associated back in Hell… Hell Hierarchy is so complicated… You know how Auradon is run by one family but is divided into kingdoms run by other families?"

"Yeah?"

"Same thing in Hell. Lucifer and his family run all of Hell but the Overlords run their own empires within it. Even Jareth doesn't understand how most Overlords die and turn from casual sinners into demons with god-like powers. Wait, I'm getting sidetracked! Long story short, Deetz family and Radio Demon are highly associated." Crystal counted with her fingers to make sure she didn't miss out on a piece of information. "Beatrice and her dad usually go to Hell in demonic holidays to visit him and Lucifer… Lots of favoritism at play since B.J hopes that Beatrice will be an Overlord herself…"

"Well that's something you don't hear every day!" Gothy freaked out. "Who wishes that their kid will become an all-powerful demon when she fully dies?"

"B.J himself. And Alastor. Besides her father, he's also her chief mentor in demonic mischief and powers, the insanely fun uncle slash demon godfather, which is, you know, the obvious contrast of a fairy godmother… Hey look, the Stranded Hearts Inn!" As if out of pure luck, the girls had crossed the bridge and found the Stranded Hearts in. It was a strange sight since the inn itself seemed to be annexed to an eight-stories tall castle, complete with Bavarian architecture, grey stone walls, and wooden beams that seemed to have been recently polished so its darkness could stand out. The inn had an outdoor patio with tables and chairs filled with customers enjoying their refreshments and their view but the semicircular garden at the back of the castle was shrouded by the colorful clouds formed by the planted wisteria tree, purple violets, reddish white roses, and pink carnations. The moment they stepped inside the Stranded Hearts Inn, the scent of thyme, ambrosia, and lavender mixed in one perfect fragrance delicately touched Gothy's nostrils.

"Smells good," she said, a bit too swooned. She looked at the main desk and wasn't sure what struck her the most, the fact that an orchid-colored clay monster was handling the machine or that there was a nicely sewed picture hanging just above the desk with the orchid-colored words saying 'Stranded Hearts Inn. Warning: the inn smells like your love. We casted no spell that could explain this.'

"Smells a lot like you." Crystal was probably unaware that she was saying this out loud as she inhaled and took in the inn's scent. Gothy took a step back in shock.

"What?" Smells a lot like you. The inn smells like your love. Gothy wasn't sure why this was making her feel unhinged, but she got cut out of her thoughts when the front desk golem grunted at her. "Sorry. Table for two? Maybe outside?"

The golem led them outside, leaving behind a trail of orchid-colored clay behind it that got swept by sentient broomsticks with no arms but at least thirty different colored eyeballs the size thumbs, blankly blinking on the wood as it swept the clay away into a perfect sphere. The sphere itself turned into mini-clay monsters that proceeded to pick off the dirty dishes from an abandoned table.

"Wow! I feel better!" Crystal took a deep breath the moment they sat down at a table. Gothy cringed when the clay golem suddenly pulled out two menus from its stomach and placed them on the table. The moment she saw it, Crystal's eyes beamed at the golem. "Hey, the waiters at this inn are abominations! High class, dare I guess?"

The abomination nodded and grunted. Crystal looked at the menu and noticed the particular glyph and night stars used to frame the lavender colored paper.

"Oh, the Stranded Hearts Inn is owned by the Blight-Noceda family! I'm so stupid! Well, my best regards to them! Oh, and we'll both have the non-alcoholic apple blood cider."

The abomination nodded and went back inside in all its grunting glory and trail-swept-into-tiny-abominations glory. "The abomination employees make much more sense now."

"Reassure me that they aren't the child hating type of witches." Gothy looked confusingly at their table's otter vase filled with purple violets.

"Nah. Witches that used to be split into magic-restraining covens by an emperor that the Auradonians wisely left him in Hell. They now vary between sticking to one type of magic or explore a diversity of magic. A bit macabre, but generally morally-bound. I wonder…"

A fiery ball flew out of the garden and landed right onto their table. Gothy nearly fell off her chair, but Crystal quickly caught her in one arm and tossed a crystal ball that drenched the fiery ball with cold water. Gothy blushed when she felt the Fae fingers clutch onto her waist in a rather deep approach that almost threated to create holes in the fabric. Out of nowhere, a giant clay abomination suddenly appeared from the garden and stepped into the inn's patio, hardly scaring off some customers. The creature groveled down until its head touched the ground, letting the people who rode on it step down.

"I told you it was a bad idea to teach Amar that fire glyph. He's still little," one of the women said as she jumped off the abomination, carrying a small boy in her arms. Crystal let go of Gothy and proceeded to pick up the soaked ball.

"I believe this is yours?" She quietly asked and handed the ball to the other woman.

"Lo siento." The pixie haircut Latina nodded as she took the ball. "We're very sorry. Amar might have thrown that ball a bit too high…"

"Yes, it's a miracle you still have customers," Crystal retorted drily. Gothy wasn't sure if Crystal knew what she was doing by being snarky to nearly every single witch she met, but the green-haired woman with brown roots who carried the boy caught her attention. Dressed in black all the way from her dress to her makeup, the only exceptions being her orchid-colored hairband and amethyst wedding ring, Gothy realized that she had seen her picture somewhere on the Isle.

"Amity Blight and Luz Noceda!" She said. The thirty-something women and Crystal looked at her in confusion.

"Do we know you?" Amity asked.

"No. But… I kinda used to cut your mom's hair… on the Isle of the Lost… And…" Gothy didn't know how to finish that sentence. She had her share of doing home services for cutting villains' hair, but Mrs. Blight hadn't been one of her favorites. Besides the poor tips, Gothy had to endure the whole patient-rambling-about-her-imperfect-children-to-the-hair-stylist conversations. It didn't help that Gothy had seen Amity Blight's picture impaled by knives and covered by the graffiti 'TREACHEROUS DAUGHTER'. Gothy had once dared to ask her own mother why Amity Blight had betrayed her parents. 'She ran off with the human she was in love with. This is why I only love myself. Having to worry about someone else gives you wrinkles.'

Yes, Mother Gothel had uttered those words in front of Gothy. Obviously, it wasn't the same case with the Blights, but Gothy saw Amity Blight as the kind of person who took her life and happiness in her own hands after abuse had done a number on her. And here was that same person two decades later, married to her crush, running an inn themed on love, and raising a son. Great Golly, the son. Gothy could see the mothers' mixed features in little Amar: tan skin, mismatched brown and golden eyes, two-toned brown hair that started off straight but ended in curls and play clothes that consisted of purple other-themed pants and a THE GOOD WITCH AZURA T-shirt. He was adorable. And Gothy's gut pained at the idea that across the Auradon Wall, his grandparents would probably be repulsed at the idea of their grandson being half-witch, half-human.

"Gothy?" Crystal gently tapping her hair snapped Gothy back to reality. "You OK?"

"Sorry. Poor memories…" Gothy shook her head.

"Why don't we invite you in?" Luz gestured to the garden. "Lunch on the house, maybe?"

Minutes later

Gothy had to go through the scent of thyme, ambrosia, and lavender again. For some reason, the Blight-Noceda women were against using an abomination to go back to the garden since a second trip could make Amar woozy, so they went out the inn to go back to the manor (yes, the eight stories tall castle was actually a manor). As an abomination let them in and the family escorted them towards the garden, Gothy noticed the humble décor. Sure, some of the furniture looked either medieval or with a macabre touch second to Macabretown, but overall the Blight-Noceda kept things simple either for comfort or to make comfortable space for raising a child.

The garden had to be the best part. All the plants Gothy had seen were planted in a semi-circular pattern, giving enough orange grassed space for a dining area and a personalized playground. Luz Blight-Noceda and Crystal were running after Amar, who had somehow managed to sneak up on Crystal and steal a crystal ball she had juggled. Amity Blight-Noceda served Gothy some chamomile tea while an abomination brought in paella, devilled eggs, and churros from the kitchen.

"My siblings and I lost contact with our parents for twenty years," Amity said solemnly.

"I don't really blame you. Your mother wasn't exactly one of my favorite customers." Gothy took a sip of the tea; it had a pinch of lemon zest that Gothy surprisingly found appealing.

"I'm surprised she let a human do it. I'm sure you're talented, but my parents were always picky about only having the best and ensuring that their children would increase their social status." The woman sighed as she poked her paella. "The days when Auradon was formed, we were given the chance to live away from them. My siblings and I didn't hesitate to leave…" Amity turned to look at her wife as the latter struggled with Amar, who had tossed the crystal ball at a crow, turning it into a winged otter. Amity let out a chuckle.

"They wanted you to stop using magic, is that it?" Gothy tried out some of the devilled eggs. A bit spicy, but surprisingly delicious.

"What? Oh, that. Well, it was one of the reasons. For all its hopes of creating an ideal utopia and claims of being modern-minded, Auradonians are way too old-fashioned… And rather stupid…"

"They didn't promote witch and human relationships? That's stupid, considering the Fairy Godmother has a daughter."

Amity narrowed her eyes at Gothy's slowness. "Gothy, what's the first thing you noticed about me and Luz?"

"That you two looked like a happily married couple and sweet mothers to Amar, which partially makes me jealous because I never had that with Mother Gothel?" Gothy grimaced a bit.

"You're sweet… and I relate to your pain. But the fact that Luz and I, a same-sex couple, doesn't surprise you first?"

Gothy frowned confusingly. "No."

"I don't believe this; the Isle of the Lost is more progressive than Auradon…" Amity muttered.

"You're telling me the reason you left Auradon and moved to Witchachusetts… is… I can't even say it out loud…"

"Yeah, don't bring it up too often. Even after two decades, Luz doesn't like to talk about how her mother didn't want her to date a female witch… We were still teenagers when we ran away, assisted in the creation of this community, and worked for years until we made the Stranded Hearts Inn a success, settled, and raised Amar…" She shook her head, trying to change the topic while her wife and Crystal were still struggling with Amar as he entertained himself with turning birds into flying otters. "So, you're searching for your sister Cassandra…"

"Her riddled address ends with getting help from a guy with three hearts." Gothy nodded. "Beatrice Deetz is supposed to lead us to his house in the Seussian Lands but we got some difficulties because our friend got tossed into Villainapolis…"

"The Queen of Mean?" Amity guessed.

"You heard?"

"Hard to miss it." Amity created a luminated circle with her index finger and a magazine landed on the table. Sure enough, the cover had the imagine of Audrey battling Kory plastered in perfect contrasting colors and paired with the bold title 'WITCHES WEEKLY. RADIO DEMON'S BETROTHED TAKEOVER!' "I can't believe an Auradonian sorceress, let alone a teenager, got betrothed to an Overlord by a curse. Then again, I doubt that Lady De Mort was anticipating that. Must have been one heck of a musical number."

"I don't follow." Gothy held the magazine in her hands.

"The Radio Demon's summoning procedure is calling on him three times while singing. Problem is, nobody has ever summoned him for a contract, not even by accident, so fate must have intended for your friend to unknowingly call on him." Amity chuckled. "Good luck to the poor demons and witches who swoon on him. How an aroace even managed to get some squealing fan clubs remains a mystery, imagine the anger!"

"Wait… you're telling me that Audrey is betrothed to a demon who's not only all-powerful, the mentor slash godfather of Beatrice Deetz, and a cannibal, but also a guy with no interest in sex and romance?" Gothy blinked. The irony, she thought. She had no luck dating two princes, now she'll be the wife of a demon who probably won't even touch her. Unless he wants to eat her. "That's creepy."

"What? He died in his early thirties and he's rather civilized for a chaos-hungered demon." Amity shrugged.

"Got you!" Luz had finally caught Amar in her arms and gave Crystal her enchanted ball back. "Sorry about that."

"Hurry along, the paella is getting cold!" Amity called out to them.

"Man, that kid is fast!" Crystal dropped herself on the chair next to Gothy. "So, what did we miss?"

"I was suggesting to Gothy that you two should stick around for the evening festival." Gothy glared at the witch, who had obviously pulled out such a random lie. Why would she do that?

"That's a great idea!" Luz gave a churro to an eager Amar.

"It's tempting, but we should go back to the hotel at the train station in case they manage to fix the train," Crystal shook her head. "And Gothy already pissed off Leona Ernst."

"I said I was sorry!" Gothy protested. "Excuse me for stabbing a witch who turned a child into a mouse!"

"You stabbed the Grand High Witch's daughter?" Amity exclaimed at Gothy. "Remind me again, how old are you?"

"Seventeen-and-a-half."

"You're still a child on human standards!"

"I think what Amity is saying is that we'd be more reassured if you two spent your stay at Witchachusetts in our house. You know, until your train gets fixed." Luz used a napkin to wipe off the sugar stuck on Amar's cheeks. "We know a guy who works at the station's hotel. Why don't we call him, have him bring over your belongings, and let us know when the train is fully repaired. That way you get to stay safely… until you leave and hopefully Ernst forgets she met you."

"Luz, her kind of witches never forget an escaped child!" Amity said. "Fortunately, they'll be staying away from the festivities. Mixed crowds lead to other witches bringing human relations and Ernst would rather avoid a party that stinks of dog poop!"

Gothy looked at Crystal. The Fae princess had said nothing, but seeing how she nervously tapped her fingers on her knee and bit her lip, it was evident that she was forcing herself to agree with the Blight-Noceda.

Put into immediate danger, Gothy mentally groaned. Now I know how Audrey feels.