Bzzzt! Bzzzt! Bzzzt!

Luna rolled over and groaned. She hit the alarm on her phone and brought the annoying buzz to an end. With the alarm off, she rolled back over and sighed. As much as she wanted to sleep in, she was certain Gus had something planned for them today. The redhead sat up and rubbed her eyes. Still groggy, she turned and saw Thorn's empty bed and heard the shower running. Huh, I'm surprised she's up already.

Luna yawned, pulling the blankets off her and climbing out of bed. She briefly flinched when she stepped on a pillow from Thorn's bed.

"Weird," she mumbled as she picked up the pillow and returned it to Thorn's bed.

Yawning, Luna made her way to one of the dressers by the TV. She picked up a menu and skimmed through it. The hotel would deliver breakfast and dinner to guests and Luna was certain to take advantage of that. But as she was looking through the menu, she happened to notice some clothes outside the bathroom door.

"Those are new," she said, placing the menu down.

She walked over to the mysterious clothes and examined them. They looked good and felt rather comfortable. While the color scheme matched what Thorn would wear, Luna didn't recognize them. And if they were Thorn's, leaving them in a pile outside the bathroom wasn't something she'd do. Without much to go on, Luna shrugged; she could ask Thorn about them when she got out of the shower.

She headed back to the dresser and looked over the menu once more before deciding to have an omelet. Luna yawned as she then opened a drawer and picked out her clothes. Given she had no plans other than relaxing on the tour bus, she opted for a pair of black sweatpants and a purple t-shirt. She dressed and once she was done, she used the TV screen as a makeshift mirror to fix her hair. She sighed as she combed her hair so it would obscure her bruised eye she received the other night when escaping from the cultists. She wasn't fond of this look, but it was an easy way to hide her black eye from the public and avoid people questioning her about it.

She finished with her hair and turned toward the bathroom. "Jeez, she's still in there." Shaking her head, Luna sat on the end of her bed and checked her emails on her phone. There was nothing but junk and her attention soon drifted toward the book on the nightstand. Dark Secrets of the Forgotten Gods by Alexander Levre. The only book on magic that Thorn didn't throw out, and only because Luna took it. Part of her wished she'd let Thorn trash it so that the memory of what happened to them would be far behind them and they could move on. But Luna was cautious. She figured if there was one group of cultists, there'd be others. The book was quite clear on that. There were others out there and Luna wanted to learn everything she could about them so she could protect her friends from them. But details were scant; Levre was cryptic, writing in metaphor more about the Fallen and the other deities rather than the cult when he wasn't rambling on about nonsensical rituals and cosmologies.

"Hey did you guys order breakfast yet?"

The sudden but familiar voice broke Luna from her thoughts and she quickly turned to face the door. The door swung open and Dusk walked in carrying two hastily packed duffle bags which she tossed into the corner of the room. She was wearing a black jacket and a dark green skirt with black knee-high boots that had too many straps on them.

"Good morning to you too," Luna quipped. "And no we didn't. I just got up and Thorn's in the shower."

"Oh, well get on that. I'm feeling some pancakes today," Dusk replied as she briefly stepped back into the hallway before returning with another two duffel bags that she proceeded to drop in the middle of the floor.

"Can you not leave them there?" Luna with a sigh.

"Where do you want me to put them?" Dusk asked, picking up her bags.

"Um, your room," Luna said.

Dusk shrugged and just dragged the two bags she brought in to the other side of the room. "Can't. Gus canceled the payment on my room."

"And what did you do to make him do that?" Luna asked.

"I accidentally used the band's credit card to buy booze," Dusk said, dropping her bags in the corner of the room.

Luna shook her head. "So pay back the band and give Gus the card."

Dusk nervously laughed. "Well, um, that's gonna be difficult."

Luna rolled her eyes and sighed. "What on earth did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Dusk exclaimed as she went to get her remaining bags. She returned a few seconds later with two more bags. "But the guy I hooked up with last night after the show might have stolen the band credit card and my own."

Luna shook her head and palmed her forehead. Such a scenario could only happen to Dusk. "You have terrible taste in men."

"Eh, it was worth it," Dusk said with a shrug as she tossed her last bags onto the others before hopping onto Thorn's bed. She grabbed the TV remote and started flipping through the channels.

"Did you cancel your card and do you remember the guy's name?" Luna asked, knowing full well she'd have to fix this mess.

"Yup. I called and it's canceled," Dusk answered as she continued to scroll through the TV channels. "And no, I don't remember his name."

Luna sighed. At least Dusk somewhat fixed her own problem, even if she probably didn't learn anything from this ordeal.

"Ya wanna order breakfast now?" Dusk asked without looking up from the TV.

"Phone's right next to you," Luna replied

Dusk groaned and Luna simply ignored her. The redhead turned her attention back to the clothes on the floor. She picked the dress up and searched the collar for a tag or something similar that could identify the brand but there was nothing.

"That's a wicked outfit, whose is it?" Dusk asked. Luna turned and saw Dusk jump out of bed and walk over to the clothes.

Luna shrugged. "I think they're Thorn's but I don't recognize them."

Dusk knelt down and started rummaging through the clothes. "I love these boots, just need them to be green," she said holding up one of the boots. "I gotta ask her where she got these."

Dusk went to the bathroom door and knocked. "I'm loving your new outfit. I wanna know where you got these boots."

Thorn didn't reply.

"Hey, Thorn did you hear me?" Dusk asked as she knocked a bit louder than before.

Something's wrong. Luna quickly made her way to the door and knocked.

"You alright in there?" Luna asked as she knocked on the door. She was begging for a response. Praying even. Anything to let her know that Thorn was okay.

But there was nothing.

"Thorn open the door!" Luna pleaded as she tried turning the doorknob but it was locked.

There was still no response. Luna continued to frantically turn the doorknob in a vain attempt to open it and her desperate pleas were only met with the patter of water hitting the bathtub.

Luna felt a sudden tug on her shoulder as Dusk pulled her out away from the door.

"Alright Thorn, we're coming in whether you like it or not!" Dusk shouted. She raised her leg and gave the door a strong kick. The cheap, wooden door cracked and buckled around the hinges from the force of the kick. Dusk kicked again, this time closer to the knob.

Crack!

The two girls were hit with a cloud of steam as the door swung open and they entered the room. Luna ran to the bathtub and her heart nearly skipped a beat when she saw Thorn. The Wiccan was passed out in the bathtub, her arm drooped over the side of the tub and her bat necklace on the floor.

"Oh jeez Thorn!" Luna shrieked. Her heart was racing as she quickly shut the water off. Luna propped Thorn's head up and Thorn's eyes half-opened.

"Hey Nightshade, you're back," Thorn mumbled. She reached out and started petting Luna's hair. "Your fur is sooo soft!"

Luna sighed. At least Thorn was alive, though clearly under the influence of something if she mistook Luna for her old cat.

Luna pulled Thorn's arm away and that's when she noticed the symbol burnt onto Thorn's shoulder. Luna shivered. It was the same one the cult wore on their uniforms. She looked back at Thorn, who was giggling as she tried to pet Luna's hair again.

"What did you do to yourself, Sally?" Luna asked. She anxiously looked at Thorn for a response.

"I didn't know you could talk Nightshade," Thorn said as a giant smile spread across her face. "I know cats and dogs don't like each other, but there's a talking dog you should meet. His name's Scooby. He eats a lot."

Luna grabbed Thorn's arms and pulled her up, much to the Wiccan's delight as she burst into a fit of laughter.

"Let's get you out of the bathtub," Luna said, doing her best to remain calm.

Thorn took one step out of the bathtub and nearly fell down; Luna barely caught her while Dusk quickly wrapped a towel around Thorn. Thorn groaned and tried pulling the towel off of her.

"I don't want any," Thorn said.

"Leave it," Luna declared.

Thorn stopped. She looked toward the ceiling and recoiled in fear. "Tell Gus to stop crawling on the ceiling, he's freaking me out."

Luna looked at the spot where Thorn was starring and of course Gus wasn't there.

"She's tripping badly," Dusk snickered.

Luna glared at Dusk. "This isn't funny."

"I know, but I can't stop picturing Gus crawling on the ceiling like Spider-Man or something," she replied.

Luna sighed. The two girls walked Thorn to the odd chair that was in the bathroom and sat her down.

"Why'd we stop?" Thorn asked. "Oh, I'll order a number seven. What do you want, Nightshade?"

Luna shook her head. "What did you take?"

Thorn just giggled and reached into the air as she tried to grab something that wasn't there. She tried getting up but Luna quickly sat her back down.

"Answer the question. What did you take?" Luna repeated.

"You let it get away," Thorn said, frowning. "I'm not talking to you anymore." She crossed her arms and turned away from Luna.

Luna sighed. Getting answers from Thorn in her current state was impossible and there was no way to determine how long her trip would last without knowing what drug she was on. And bar the occasional drink, Thorn didn't use any drugs, so Luna was left worrying if Thorn took some herbal mix.

"I think I found what Thorn took," Dusk said. Luna turned and saw Dusk holding a bag containing several seeds. They were in an unlabeled bag, which was unusual since Thorn labeled all her herbs.

Luna raised an eyebrow. "What are those?"

Dusk shrugged and took a couple of seeds out of the bag. She walked over to Thorn and showed them to her.

"How many did you take?" Dusk asked.

Thorn looked at the seeds and smiled. "Five."

"And what are they?" Dusk asked.

"Woodrose," Thorn giggled.

Dusk closed her hand and grabbed the remaining seeds from the counter. She then walked over to the toilet, dropped the seeds into it, and then flushed them.

"So what's Woodrose?" Luna asked.

"It's Hawaiian Baby Woodrose," Dusk began. "It's a plant whose seeds, when ingested, cause euphoria and hallucinations; it's like an organic LSD."

Oh fuck. If what Dusk said was true, then something was really troubling Thorn. Luna's attention was drawn back to the symbol cut onto Thorn's shoulder. She's still struggling with that night. Luna didn't blame her. What they faced was traumatizing; hell, she had several nightmares over the past few nights herself. But Luna could barely imagine how difficult it was for Thorn, especially after she killed Cyrus. Luna had hoped getting back into their tour would help but clearly it wasn't if Thorn was taking drugs and self-harming; She needed help.

"How long does the trip last?" Luna asked as she tried to control her breathing.

"Up to eight hours," Dusk said.

"Great," Luna mumbled to herself. "So what do we do?"

Dusk shrugged. "We just have to wait it out." She turned to Thorn, who was laughing at some hallucination. "We should probably dry her off, get her dressed, and then get her to bed."

Luna nodded. "Do we know if Gus has anything scheduled for us today?"

Dusk nodded. "He said there was something, but he didn't say when. Hopefully, it'll be after she comes out of her trip."

The two girls helped Thorn up and led her out of the bathroom. They walked her to her bed, where they sat her down. Thorn continued to giggle as she stared in awe at something nonexistent.

"Let's get her some clothes," Luna sighed. "Check the dresser over there."

Dusk nodded and ran over to the other side of the bed. Luna searched the dresser and grabbed the first things she saw, which were a red crop top and black jeans. She placed them on the bed next to the black bra and panties Dusk had found.

Luna sighed as she glanced at Thorn. "Let's get you dressed."


Thorn groaned. Her head was pounding and the cramping in her legs was terrible. She turned over and buried her face in her pillow in a vain attempt to get comfortable. The visions and euphoria had stopped maybe half an hour after Luna and Dusk dressed her. Surprisingly, the nausea was bearable—she didn't vomit once during her trip— and even now she didn't feel the need to puke. But the side effects were worth it as the seeds did their job. While her trip paled in comparison to the surreal sense she felt when she encountered the blue-gray entity, it took away the pain and gave her a sense of euphoria. For a few hours anyway.

But as she writhed in bed, she felt guilty. She put her friends through needless panic because she couldn't cope with what the Fallen did to her. She should've gone to Dusk and Luna right after the Broken freed her and told them what happened. Instead, she took the quick and temporary route, and then they had to dress her like she was a toddler.

"Are you feeling better?" Luna asked.

"Ugh, a bit," Thorn said into her pillow.

"At least you're sober now," Dusk said.

Thorn groaned. "Don't remind me."

"Do you remember what time you took the seeds?" Luna asked.

"I don't know," Thorn muttered. "Maybe around midnight but I couldn't tell."

"What do you mean you couldn't tell?" Luna questioned, the agitation in her voice was clear.

Thorn swallowed. She had to tell them what happened. Despite how uncomfortable it physically made her, Thorn rolled over and sat up. The room spun around and she felt dizzy. She blinked a few times before the dizziness faded.

Thorn sighed. "The Fallen was possessing me."

Wide-eyed and mouth agape, Dusk and Luna each took a step backward and gasped.

"What!?" Luna gasped.

"A small piece of the crystal landed on me when I destroyed it and that's how the Fallen was able to possess me," Thorn explained, and she started to tremble. "I was trapped in a dark void and the Fallen told me he was going to impersonate me and use the Hex Girls to manipulate everyone into freeing him."

Dusk and Luna were too stunned to speak.

Thorn felt a tear roll down her cheek as she continued. "He would've succeeded. He had access to all my memories, thoughts, and skills. The Fallen was a better me than me." Thorn lowered her head and sniffled. "Then he went to erase me and I'd be gone forever." She couldn't hold back the tears anymore. "Nobody would've known I was gone."

Thorn covered her face and cried. She wanted to get high again, as just speaking about what happened brought back the shame and disgust. She heard Dusk and Luna sit next to her; she felt their hands on her shoulder and one of them was rubbing her back.

"It's okay, none of that happened; you're still here," Dusk said.

"We beat him," Luna said. "The Fallen is gone."

Thorn's sobs lightened and she looked at them.

"No, he's still out there," Thorn said. She pulled her sleeve up and pointed at the mark on her shoulder. "He did this so someone could find me."

Luna sighed. "The Fallen isn't here and he's not possessing you." Luna paused for a few seconds like she was trying to figure out how to say what was on her mind. Thorn lowered her head. She knew what was next was going to be bad. "I know these past few days have been tough, but what you're doing to yourself isn't right. You need help and we'll be there for you no matter what."

Thorn froze. She…It was like getting stabbed in the back. She doesn't…Despite her leg cramps, Thorn pulled away from Dusk and Luna and got out of bed. She couldn't face them.

"You don't believe me," Thorn stammered, her eyes teary.

"I believe you believe that the Fallen possessed you and made you do terrible things but…" Luna paused.

"You were tripping on Woodrose," Dusk added.

Dusk too. Thorn clenched her fists and closed her eyes as if she was expecting to wake up from a dream and they'd believe her. Her best friends in the entire world, who went through hell and back with her, didn't believe her.

She finally turned around and faced them. "I can't believe you both don't believe me! I took those seeds to cope with what the Fallen did to me!" Grunting from the discomfort, Thorn limped over to the outfit on the floor. She picked up the dress and held it to them. "The Fallen fucking made these!" She rolled the dress into a ball and threw it at Dusk and Luna; it landed at their feet.

The two girls looked down at the dress. Neither of them spoke. Thorn turned and made her way into the bathroom.

"Thorn wait!" she heard Luna call out but Thorn ignored her. She found the crumpled paper with "Love's Cure!" written on it. Picking it up, she went back out and tossed the paper at Luna.

"The Fallen wrote a goddamned song!" Thorn shouted.

Luna unfolded the paper and she and Dusk read it. After a few minutes, they both looked back at her.

"Thorn...I'm sorry," Luna stammered.

"Yeah, sorry for not trusting you," Dusk said.

Thorn sighed. "I should've come to you both as soon as I was freed. I should've never taken those seeds, but I was hurting so much..." She began to whimper. Luna put aside the paper and she and Dusk brought Thorn back to the bed.

"I wish you came to us first, but I understand," Luna said as she and Dusk hugged Thorn.

They remained in silence for a few minutes until Thorn calmed down enough to continue their conversation.

"Okay, if the Fallen did this, why did he leave you?" Luna asked, breaking the silence

"I prayed and I think the Broken saved me," Thorn said, wiping her eyes.

"The Broken?" Luna asked.

"You mean that creepy tentacle thing from the museum?" Dusk added.

Thorn nodded. "Well, I think it was him; the thing I saw had the same color scheme." She looked up at the ceiling, half-expecting the Broken to be there. Of course, it wasn't. She looked back at her friends. "It was the same thing that saved us from the rubble."

Both Dusk and Luna looked at each other in shock.

"Wait, we were saved by a god?" Dusk said, scratching her head. "Why didn't you tell us about this?"

Thorn sighed. "I didn't know what was happening at the time and I just accepted it as a miracle. Since neither of you remembered it, I left it at that."

Luna took a long breath and slowly shook her head. "Well, this isn't how I expected this conversion to go." The redhead stood up and sighed.

"So, um, why did the Broken save us?" Dusk asked.

"I don't know," Thorn said with a shrug. "When he appeared to me last night, he told me to go to the Regal Hotel."

"Where's that?" Dusk asked.

Thorn shrugged. She had no idea where it was nor how to get there.

"Apparently it's nearby, about ten blocks from here," Luna said looking at her phone.

Thorn was surprised. Why does the Broken want me to go there? Clearly, something—or perhaps someone—was there and if an actual deity mentioned it, it was probably significant.

Luna kept scrolling and then abruptly stopped.

"You found something?" Thorn asked, her excitement rising.

"Yeah, according to legend, a cult used to gather at the hotel and perform rituals. Supposedly a lot of rich and powerful people stayed there and were involved in these rituals," Luna explained.

The mention of a cult sent a shiver down Thorn's spine. There was no doubt in her mind that the hotel had to be related to the cult that worshiped the Fallen. And after all, the Fallen did say he had thousands of followers out there, so perhaps the Broken wanted her to meet a follower there.

"Is there anything else?" Thorn asked.

"Legend also says that there is a treasure hidden there," Luna added.

"Oh cool," Dusk said. "Maybe we need to find that treasure."

Could be. Thorn wondered what the treasure could be. A magical relic or something similar could be important enough for the Broken to tell them to get. Maybe whatever item was there would keep them safe from the Fallen.

"The place is also said to be haunted," Luna read. "There's been lots of paranormal investigations over the years.."

Thorn frowned when Luna mentioned the hotel being haunted. She'd already encountered two genuine ghosts, Sarah Ravencroft and Alexander Levre, and both had tried to kill her and her friends. Please just be a rumor.

"Paranormal activity has spiked within the last ten months after a fire broke out on the second floor, destroying most of the historic building," Luna continued. "Some claim that the ghosts are disturbed by the ongoing construction."

There was silence for several minutes as each girl processed this information. Do I have to meet a ghost? What's the treasure? Do I need to find it? Ugh! What does this all mean!? So many thoughts ran through her mind yet she had answers to none of them. It was frustrating, especially since the Broken was rather cryptic. But, as she recalled from the occult museum, the Broken worked from the shadows, only intervening when it was absolutely necessary. In all likelihood, there were things going on behind the curtains that she couldn't understand.

"So what do we do?" Thorn asked, breaking the silence.

"Well, if a god said we need to go somewhere, then I guess we should go," Dusk said.

Thorn flinched. While she wanted answers, the last time she went to find them didn't go the way she wanted and they almost died. Multiple times. All of them painfully.

"Absolutely not," Luna said standing up. "We're not repeating last time."

Thorn sighed. She was glad Luna shared her thoughts.

"But last time, we didn't have a god on our side," Dusk added.

"What do you mean?" Thorn asked. "The Broken isn't on our side."

"He saved Luna and me before, and you twice," Dusk responded. "Maybe he's watching over us. Like protecting us from harm. Or at least you. Plus, he wants us to go to this hotel, I'd like to imagine that he won't let us get hurt."

Thorn didn't know how to respond. It was true that in the Broken's presence she felt safe and comfortable, so it wasn't too far of a stretch to think the entity would protect them. But then again, the Broken had only intervened when the Fallen was the threat, and even then, it was only after Thorn prayed; he didn't prevent Alexander Levre, Matella, Cyrus, or the other cultists from nearly killing them. There was no guarantee that they would be protected from a ghost or cultist if they encountered such.

"That's ridiculous," Luna stated standing up. "We're not going."

"It's possible," Thorn muttered.

"No, we are not going," Luna affirmed.

"Okay, what if we don't go and the Broken gets pissed off," Dusk said. "I mean how many myths have a god getting angry at people and then punishing them. Sorry, I don't want to piss off the only thing helping us."

"I never considered that," Thorn said flinching. She didn't think the Broken would do anything bad to them, but she didn't know for certain. He was a Dark One and sided with the Fallen in the ancient war, not to mention the ominous warning he gave her, though she was unsure if the warning meant he'd do something to them or just something bad would happen in general if they didn't go. Thorn sighed. " But the Broken said an unfortunate fate would befall us if we didn't find whatever's hidden at the hotel."

"Fuck," Luna grumbled as she walked toward the nightstand.

Thorn shared Luna's frustration. She didn't want to go either, but she knew they didn't have much of a choice. Go and face uncertain dangers or stay and guarantee themselves a bad fate.

"We have to go," Thorn sighed.

"You're in no condition to go anywhere," Luna stated.

"I'll be fine, I just need to eat something and take some willow for my headache," Thorn said. Indeed, the few side effects she had from the seeds were wearing off and would probably be gone within the next hour or so, which was odd given how long they should last, but she wasn't complaining. "We have to go Luna."

Luna scowled. "This is a bad idea."

"Hey, it's quarter to nine; if we order breakfast now and leave around ten, I'll get some more time to recover," Thorn said.

"Yeah, we can use that time to prepare for any dangers," Dusk added as she ran over to one of her bags on the floor and started rummaging through it.

"She's right," Thorn said. "We have a much better idea of what we're up against so we can prepare for it." She smiled at Luna. "Whaddya say?"

"Ugh, fine, not like we have a choice," Luna conceded. "I just hope you're right about this."

Thorn nodded and thanked Luna, though inside, she hoped she was making the right decision.