Hexed

by WildwindVampire

The Hex Girls are a local band in the small town of Oakhaven, MA. While Thorn, Dusk and Luna enjoy making music, the cheap venues they are forced to play in cause them to wish for more. After the girls are discovered by a music executive, they find out that rising to fame isn't quite how they envisioned it when they get tangled up in a dangerous mystery involving a cursed object.

19. Echoes on a Frozen Pond

"Holy shit!" Thorn exclaimed.

"I knew it! This is a sacrificial ritual." Luna let slip in horror.

"She knows we're witches?" Bridgit snarled.

"Well, yeah… Can't you guys read minds?" Thorn asked. She knew the answer to that question, but she wondered if prodding Bridgit subtly would cause her to reveal the extent of her mind-reading abilities.

"Only when we want to." Sam admitted.

"Wait a minute…you really didn't know she knew, did you?" Gus interjected.

"We read minds through doing a collective ritual. We're not doing it constantly!" Bridgit snapped.

"Don't tell them!" Nia cautioned.

"It doesn't matter now. We're about to carry out the plan we've been waiting for months to execute." Bridgit said, tightening her squeeze slightly on Dusk, causing the blonde to yelp. She looked like a crazed maniac with her two hands gripped firmly around Dusk's neck.

The tidbit Bridgit let slip, even though it was incredibly small, gave Thorn some insight into why Bridgit reacted so rashly to any hint of possible disruption to their plan. It wasn't that she was fixating on the little details; it was that she actually hadn't been listening to their every thought like Thorn had previously believed. Maybe Bridgit could only hear bits and pieces of conversations through her rituals, and that's why she reacted so strongly to every digression against her plan. Maybe those digressions were all she was hearing.

"Bridgit…isn't resurrecting your mother and sister a little rash?" Dusk asked. "Couldn't you just try…I don't know…visiting their grave every Sunday or something?"

Bridgit let out a cute, high-pitched laugh, which made it even more terrifying than if she would have simply laughed normally.

"For what I'm trying to accomplish? Hardly." Bridgit smirked. "Alright, it's story time with Bridgit, so gather around."

The Hex Girls and Gus didn't know what to do at first, so they simply sat there.

"I said gather around!" Bridgit raised her voice, causing all of them to immediately do as she said. "Shortly after I was born, my mother and sister died. Not from natural causes though…they were killed by some uber-religious nut who said my mother was the spawn of Satan for practicing witchcraft. You see, she had accidentally slipped up and used her powers in front of her best friend, who was extremely religious. My mother's best friend was convinced that my mom was possessed by an evil spirit after she saw my mother use her powers, so one night, she came to her house and killed her. My sister tried to intervene and save our mother, but that fucking nutcase killed her too! That's why I want to bring them back. So we can take revenge!"

"You mean they didn't imprison her after what she did? That's horrible." Thorn said. She wasn't exactly sure how to express sympathy to someone who was clearly out of their right mind, but she thought she did a decent job.

"Oh no, they imprisoned her." Bridgit confirmed.

"Then who are you taking revenge on?" Gus chimed in.

"Oh, I don't want revenge on just my mother's best friend. I want to eliminate all religions that are not witchcraft, and with my mother's powers, she will help me gather supporters to kill everyone who practices a religion other than Wicca! Religion is just indoctrination, and it only creates oppression, ostracization and hatred. After this ritual, my mother, sister and I can have the life I've always dreamed we would have together! Things will be how they should have always been…we'd sit in the park like my mother and sister used to do before I was born, and we'd talk about nothing and everything together." Bridgit said, with a bit of whimsy and hope in her voice as she expressed the last sentiment.

"End all religion?" Gus gasped. "Doesn't that seem a tad…unattainable?"

"Perhaps at first, but I'm in this for the long haul." Bridgit clarified. "If I can spend three months manipulating some stupid talentless band into being world famous, I think I can wait a few years for my ultimate revenge plan to play out."

The last comment Bridgit made admittedly hurt Thorn's heart a bit.

"Wait…why did you need to make us famous if this was your plan? Wouldn't it have been easier to do this in private and just force us to do the ritual?" Thorn inquired.

"What do you think this is, fucking question time?" Bridgit's nostrils flared in anger. It was clear to Thorn that the woman was truly insane. This was accentuated by the fact her tone immediately became soft and sweet again like it normally was. "Alright, I just want to make sure everyone's comfortable before I do this ritual."

No one bothered responding.

"I'll just tighten my grip a bit and make Dusk's neck feel all snug and warm." Bridgit smiled, as Dusk let out another yelp when she squeezed tighter. "Now, having your soul possessed by my mother's spirit will only hurt a little, I promise."

Thorn looked over to Luna, who looked like she was so terrified and uncomfortable that she was nearly in tears.

"W-w-hat happens when your mother is inside Dusk?" Thorn stuttered. She didn't want to make Bridgit go even more insane with her question, but she'd never forgive herself if she didn't do everything possible to save her best friend.

"Good question, sweetie!" Bridgit exclaimed. "It's quite simple. Dusk's soul will be able to withstand the possession for a little while. Eventually, the two spirits might be too much for her body, and her body will kill off Dusk's spirit. Then, my mother will be able to host a body for a little while until she's strong enough to be back inside her own body again. See, it's a win-win for everyone!"

"Now, don't anyone try to revolt or do anything to disrupt the ritual, because that won't be good." Sam warned. "If you did that, we'd have to kill you, dispose of your bodies in some lake, you know, all that unpleasant stuff."

"We won't." Gus said in a defeated tone. "What do we have to do to abide by your ritual?"

"Oh my gosh; positive vibes, cooperation, I like it!" Bridgit got a big smile on her face. "Well, all you have to do is join hands while I say a few words. I'll make sure Dusk keeps the necklace on, and that'll take care of the rest."

"Ready to start?" Nia asked.

All of a sudden, a man came in wearing a FedEx uniform. He was carrying several large boxes.

"Delivery order for The Hex Girls. We've got 1,000 t-shirts here." the FedEx man said. "Is Gus Boggs here? I need him to sign for this."

"Um, this is awkward, but we're kind of in the middle of a Satanic ritual here." Bridgit tapped her foot impatiently. Sam pointed to the fact that Bridgit's hands were currently around Dusk's neck in a stranglehold.

"Ah dammit, I always come at the worst times." the FedEx man shook his head. "Uhh…I'll just leave these on the ground here."

The man placed the several boxes on the floor and quickly sprinted out of the building.

"Sam, can you lock the door so nobody else bothers us?" Bridgit inquired.

"Already on it." Sam rushed over to lock the door to the theater. She quickly hurried back over and joined hands with Nia and Gus.

"Dusk, remember to focus all your energy into the necklace." Bridgit instructed, as she let go of her grip on Dusk's neck and tightly gripped her hand instead. Dusk moved into position and let Luna hold her other hand. "Remember, I can still choke you even if I'm not holding onto your neck, sweetie, so don't try anything."

"I won't." Dusk whispered, still hoarse from Bridgit's chokehold. Thorn had never seen Dusk so weak.

"Now, the ritual can finally begin!" Bridgit announced, as she closed her eyes and began speaking again. "Goddess of time, goddess of light, bring me back my mother and sister tonight. Open the portal so that the world may see that they should still be with me. Now, I need everyone to close their eyes and visualize the opening of a space of some sort."

Thorn didn't want to do it, but she knew if it didn't work, Bridgit would go psychotic and probably decapitate them all anyway. Thus, she imagined blackness at first, and slowly shifted that vision to include a small portal opening up in mid-air.

"It's working. It's working!" Bridgit squealed in excitement. "Keep imagining!"

Thorn did as she was told, and kept visualizing the portal slowly turning into a tangible door made of wood, which she opened up in her mind.

"We're to the final stage!" Bridgit exclaimed. "Open your eyes and repeat after me: wasyshoo ikaydo shamaroo, tumbarious stratoodo bramery!"

Everyone repeated the gibberish words Bridgit said. Thorn's jaw dropped in horror as a swirling black hole opened up in mid-air right in front of their very eyes. It seemed to open up wider and wider with every word they said.

Suddenly, Thorn had a realization. It wasn't a "solve everything, get rid of the witches" epiphany, but she knew it was the only way they could get out of this alive. At this point, remaining alive wasn't even certain, but she knew this was the best chance they had. They didn't have any chance as long as the witches were around…which is why they had to go in the portal before Bridgit could.

Before Bridgit could do whatever she was planning to do with the portal, Thorn immediately dove towards it, continuing to keep an extremely tight grip on Gus and Luna's hands.

"Thorn…what are you doing?" Luna shrieked.

"Necklace!" Thorn simply responded. "Grab it!"

Luna quickly yanked the necklace off of Dusk's neck, as she allowed Thorn to pull her inside the portal with her.

Gus, however, struggled and tried to get Thorn to let go of his hand. Just before she jumped inside the portal, Thorn looked deep in Gus's eyes with a vulnerable look.

"Gus, you have to trust me." Thorn softly said. She noticed the portal was beginning to close. She very well knew that if he didn't trust her in the next few moments, he would struggle free of her grip and remain with the witches. Thankfully, he nodded his head with a look of trust and understanding, as Thorn pulled him into the portal with her. Perhaps they would be killed in the portal, but both Gus and Luna now realized she was giving them a chance to live.

"Luna, hold onto Dusk!" Thorn said, as her body was going into the portal.

"No! What are you doing?" Dusk shrieked. Thorn saw her let go of Luna's grip.

The last thing Thorn heard before fully being consumed by the portal was Bridgit screaming.

"FUCK! FUCK YOU!"

---

Luna

Thorn, Luna and Gus found themselves in a strange universe that was comprised only of empty space. It was almost as if they were on a white backdrop, as their only surroundings were a complete white-out. Their bodies and clothes were the only thing that had any sort of color in this universe; everything else was simply nothingness. There appeared to be no gravity here, as all of them were simply floating in the air.

Luna attempted to move a few inches by making a swimming motion with her hands, which seemed to allow her to move where she wanted to go.

"Where the hell are we?" Thorn said, looking panicked. Nobody was more panicked than Luna, though. She still had no idea why Thorn pulled them into this awful hellscape.

"It appears we've gone into some sort of parallel universe." Gus observed.

"Why would you pull us into that awful universe, Thorn?" Luna questioned, urgency present in her tone.

"It was the only way we could have escaped." Thorn said. "If Bridgit's mother would have been able to come through, Dusk would have been dead."

"She might be dead now." Luna panicked.

"Dusk didn't come with you?" Gus asked with concern.

"She didn't hold onto my hand tight enough. I couldn't bring her with us." Luna hung her head, feeling bad that she couldn't bring her friend with.

"We can't think that way." Thorn said. "Dusk is fine and I refuse to believe otherwise until we see proof."

"What do we do now?" Luna cried out. "Being trapped in a parallel universe seems like even less of a plan than remaining in our world and dealing with the witches."

"We intercepted their plan, though." Thorn argued. "Now they can't have Bridgit's mother possess Dusk, and their plan won't work. It's not certain, but at least this gives us more of a chance."

"What if they just kill Dusk out of anger from us ruining her plan?" Luna questioned, tears of fear starting to well up in her eyes.

"I don't think they will." Thorn seemed confident. "There's still a chance of their plan working in their minds, so they won't want to kill Dusk when they need her for the plan. One thing I still don't understand is why they needed the two of us. We didn't really seem to have any purpose other than being a part of Bridgit's ritual. It was Dusk they wanted."

"I hardly think now's the time to process through this, given we're swirling around in a parallel universe that seems to defy the notions of gravity." Gus dryly stated.

"Well, let's process what we should do then." Thorn changed the subject. "Does anybody see anything?"

Luna looked from side to side, then behind her. Everything was so blank that it didn't appear there was anywhere to go.

"I can't see anything." Luna gasped.

"Nor can I." Gus sighed.

"Wait…what about over there?" Thorn pointed. Luna had to do a double-take when she saw a set of two swirling masses that looked like doors.

"That wasn't there a minute ago!" Luna blurted in shock.

"How is that possible? It's literally right there." Thorn argued.

"Actually, she's correct. I looked in that direction a moment ago as well, and nothing was there." Gus confirmed.

"I don't trust either of those doors…why would they just appear like that when they weren't there before?" Luna became suspicious.

"I don't know. Would you rather stay in the empty space and wait for the doors to disappear again?" Thorn responded.

"She's quite right, you know." Gus sided with the black-haired Hex Girl. "Perhaps the doors could lead to danger, but staying in an empty space forever hardly seems like a favorable alternative."

"Okay…" Luna still wasn't convinced, but she also didn't want to be trapped in nothingness. "Umm…which one should we try?"

"The right one?" Thorn suggested. "You might say it seems like the right choice to make."

"Please Thorn, this is hardly the time for puns." Luna rolled her eyes.

"I thought it was quite clever, actually." Gus chuckled. "I'm fine with the right one if you two are. It's not like we have much of a way of guessing the correct option."

"Sure. What do we have to lose…except our lives?" Luna gulped.

"We're all afraid, Luna." Thorn assured. "But we've all got each other, right?"

"I guess." Luna said. She was somewhat comforted by Thorn's remark, but also just as terrified that going through this door would lead them into some unimaginable universe of torture. Performing in concerts was nothing compared to this. She'd rather perform three shows in a row every night than be trapped in a parallel universe like this.

"Are we ready?" Thorn said, as she was about to take a step through the door on the right.

"Yes." Gus confirmed. He was not whimsical or warm like he usually was, he simply said everything in a very monotone, rational voice.

Luna took a deep breath before responding. She ultimately knew Thorn was right: if they didn't take their chances through this door, they may never escape from the world of nothingness.

"I'm ready." Luna put on a brave face.

---

Dusk

"How the fuck could they do this to me? HOW?" Bridgit screamed.

Dusk was more frightened than she'd ever been before. Typically, she presented a strong outer shell and hid all her emotional troubles and daddy issues inside, but nothing was coming through except fear. Bridgit was clearly mentally unstable and Dusk had no idea what she might do. Moreover, Thorn's revelation that they had actually been touring with witches was terrifying to the blonde.

"Did you know anything about this?" Bridgit snarled in Dusk's face.

"No! No! I promise I didn't!" Dusk whimpered as Bridgit got closer and closer into her personal space. "I didn't even know you guys were witches!"

"Well, should we do our ritual to read her mind and see if she's telling the truth?" Sam cackled.

"I mean, there's not much else we can do right now. They can't stay in that portal forever, though. Maybe they'll even bring your mother and sister back." Nia suggested.

"Sure. I think doing a ritual would do me some good." Bridgit agreed, her psychotic tone dropping back to her normal voice. "Besides, we can torture her if she's lying!"

"I mean, we can torture her if she's not lying too." Sam pointed out.

"Aww yeah, but that's not as fun." Bridgit said in a playful voice. Dusk didn't understand how the pink-haired witch's moods could suddenly switch from enraged to playful in a matter of seconds. "I like torturing people better when they really deserve it, y'know?"

Dusk wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but all three of the witches gathered in a circle and closed their eyes. They didn't say anything aloud, which made Dusk even more confused as to what was going on. Had the mind-reading started yet?

"Yeah, it's started." Nia responded.

That made Dusk panic even more. It had started! Nia just directly answered one of her thoughts! Which of her other thoughts were they reading?

"Hmmm…it seems you are telling the truth." Bridgit smirked, her tone becoming softer and gentler. "The poor thing had no idea any of this was happening! Seems she's got some daddy issues too. Do you want to tell us about any of those?"

"Well…" Dusk stuttered. This felt completely surreal to her. She didn't know what to answer, although they could just read her thoughts to know if she didn't tell them anyway.

"Oh c'mon. You can tell us. This is a safe space, you know." Bridgit comforted in a terrifying way.

"Umm…I've never told anyone about this before…but my dad acts like he doesn't love me. He always praises my other siblings over me, and seems like he's always disappointed no matter what I do." Dusk said, becoming emotional as she said these things aloud. She had never even confided in the people she considered her best friends about this. In general she was a very guarded person who rarely confided in others for comfort. Her motto was that you could never rely on anyone except yourself, so why bother trying?

"Ah man, that sucks. Dads can be such pieces of shit." Sam said. "My old man cut me off years ago for being a witch."

Quite frankly, Dusk could see why. She wouldn't support evil witchcraft if she were Sam's father either.

"Ordered me out of the house and shit, and said witchcraft was just some magical fantasy thing out of children's storybooks. I showed him." Sam continued.

"You killed him?" Dusk guessed, her face recoiling in horror.

"No, I just put a spell on his house. Now, he's got the highest mortgage rate possible, and always ends up owing something back on his property taxes." Sam rubbed her hands together evilly, causing the other two witches to give her odd looks. "It's called financial witchcraft. Sometimes the worst curse of them all is being crushed by the pressures of adulthood."

Bridgit returned back to the subject at hand and looked at Dusk. "If you help us carry out our plan after your friends fucked it up, maybe we can help you with your dad. Kill him, torture him, whatever horrible thing you want done with him."

"I don't want him dead!" Dusk cried out. "Or tortured. I just wish he'd be more accepting of what I love. It makes me happy to make music with my friends, and I think we can be just as successful doing that as we could be working in a bank or starting a small business."

"Aww, that's no fun." Bridgit pouted. "People rarely do what you want, you know. It's much more effective to make them do what you want."

"Speaking of what you want…" Dusk tried to change the subject away from brutalizing her father. "You said you want me to help you carry out your plan. What exactly do you want me to do?"

Bridgit simply smirked and approached Dusk, causing the blonde's heart to race. "I'm so glad you asked."

---

Thorn

When the three comrades entered the door on the right, what Thorn saw was more shocking than she could have ever expected: normalcy. Luna, Gus and Thorn were standing outside Jack's, just like it was a normal day and none of this madness with touring and witches had ever happened.

"The portal led back to Oakhaven? How the fuck is that possible?" Thorn exclaimed.

"Is it possible we've been in a portal this whole time? Maybe we never left Oakhaven and the touring stuff was all just us in an alternate reality?" Luna hypothesized.

"It appears you girls are performing here tonight, as well." Gus pointed to a banner hanging above the door to Jack's.

"Wait…what? How? What time is it?" Thorn looked around frantically. She had no idea what was going on.

"The only way we're going to find out is if we go in." Gus said, heading into Jack's and holding the door open for them.

Jack's was just as it usually was: moderately busy, with people eating at every few booths. About half the booths and tables were empty, but that was pretty typical for Jack's. Even on nights they had concerts, the place was rarely packed. Jack was over in the far right corner serving a man and woman two sandwiches with side salads.

"Hey girls!" Jack said as soon as he saw Luna and Thorn. He didn't act excited as if he hadn't seen them in a while; rather, he acted just like he always did whenever the girls would come in every day to write music and wait for Dusk's shift to finish.

"Hi Gus." Thorn greeted, feeling a bit weird adjusting to her surroundings. She tried to just accept that maybe everything that had happened in the past week and a half with touring was a dream, even though it was unlikely she, Luna and Gus all had the same dream.

"I'm so excited for the performance tonight!" Jack said. "I have a feelin' you girls are gonna bring the house down!"

"Seems like a pretty nice crowd." Gus commented.

"Yeah, business has been great lately!" Jack replied. "You girls are gonna make a ton with this concert!"

"Thanks, Jack." Luna smiled. "We'll go set up our instruments."

"Alright, I gotta get this next order through!" Jack said, hurrying back into the kitchen.

"How are we going to do that, though?" Thorn asked. "We don't have any instruments with us."

"Excuse me, young ladies!" a voice said before anyone could respond to Thorn. The black-haired goth spun around to see it was Elmer, the old man who always had asked them about when they were putting out a CD at their previous concerts.

"Hey!" Thorn smiled. "Elmer, right?"

"That's right!" Elmer responded. "I wanted to ask you girls if you'll be puttin' out another CD anytime soon! Martha's sick of me groovin' to the same CD everytime we go out for a Sunday drive."

"We're working on it." Thorn lied. Honestly, she was still completely weirded out by the fact she had no idea what the fuck was going on or what had been happening in the last week.

"Great! I'm sure you wonderful young ladies will come up with somethin' so good that the world will be twistin' more than they have since Chubby Checker!" Elmer exclaimed.

What was so eerie about this scenario is that everything seemed completely normal. Thorn honestly wasn't sure what she believed anymore. Had they actually been on tour and gone through a portal, or had their reality of performing around Oakhaven and being a semi-famous band around town never changed?

The one thing that still deeply bothered Thorn is that there was no mention of Dusk at all. Surely Jack would have asked where Dusk was when he saw she wasn't with them…unless Jack knew something that they didn't.

And then there was still the problem of not having any instruments. They couldn't exactly be expected to find their instruments when they didn't even know what reality was.

Thorn took a glance over at Jack for a moment, until she noticed something a bit odd: he was serving someone a sandwich that looked like it was a fourth of the size it should be. It wasn't even big enough to be fairly called a snack.

"I've heard of people asking for half sandwiches before, but that seems like a little much." Thorn joked as Jack came back over her way. "That poor woman must be starving."

"Well, we've all been having to make sacrifices lately, you know, in these surreal times." Jack sighed. "Ever since the war, I've had to cut back the portion sizes to abide with the rationing laws."

"Did you say war?" Luna gasped.

Before Jack could respond, Elmer stood up on a booth and began to speak. "Alright all you whippersnappers, listen up, because your Supreme Ruler is about to speak to you!"

Suddenly, the door to Jack's flew open with great force, as a few autumn leaves blew in the restaurant. Everyone in the building immediately sat up straight with a look of fear present in their eyes. Thorn became fearful as well, unsure what in the world could possibly be going on.

"Alright all you archaic mortals, stand at attention!" a voice commanded. The man had golden blonde hair and wore very sparkly looking pants with stars on them. His purple suit also appeared to have stars on it, accentuated further by his purple cape.

Thorn's jaw dropped when she saw who it was.

"Jeff?" she gasped.

"I used to be called that, starting back in the days I was producing that archaic music on instruments." Jeff informed. "But then, I discovered the wonderful world of electronic music. It's so simple! All I have to do is hit a button on my computer, and I can have the sounds of any instrument in the world at my very fingertips! Recently, I realized that - ugh - instrumental music was so inferior that it needed to be eliminated…forever. Thus began my crusade of waging war on the outdated, archaic devices you call instruments in every country! Some of them are still fighting, but I'll have them kneel to me soon enough. I spent months creating an electronic beat so hypnotic that all of the world's armies couldn't help but surrender to me. I am ruler of your puny universe now! Call me Lord Jeff!"

"That hardly seems like grounds for taking over the world." Gus chuckled.

"You dare mock the wonderful magic that is electronic music?" Jeff challenged. "Well, I'll show you! Play me a beat, loyal followers!"

A middle-aged man wearing a button-up shirt got up from his seat. Jeff handed him some sort of CD, which he handed to Jack.

"I'll get the boombox, Lord Jeff!" Jack excitedly said, hurrying in back to grab the boombox out of the kitchen.

"I'll film you, Lord Jeff!" another man whom Thorn recognized in a blue collared shirt and khaki pants replied. It appeared to be Jake, the cameraman from the Milwaukee morning show they were on. He quickly pulled out a camera and began filming.

"Excellent! Thank you my loyal followers, thank you!" Jeff exclaimed. "Wait…Jake, did you turn off the camera without telling anyone again?"

Jake's face grew a mischievous smile on it, before turning the camera back on.

"You mean to say these people like being enslaved by you?" Gus inquired in surprise.

"Enslavement? Hardly. I prefer to call it progress! You know our motto, right, loyal Jeffinators?" Jeff called.

"Jeff is progress! Jeff is the future!" the entire restaurant called.

"I got the boombox, Lord Jeff!" Jack exclaimed with glee.

"Well then what are you waiting for, loyal follower? Press play, my boy, press play!" Jeff instructed.

"Oh gosh! I don't know if I can take it! I just can't wait to see what you've come up with, oh great leader!" Jack looked more excited than Thorn had ever seen him before.

A generic-sounding electronic dance beat began playing from the boombox. Thorn couldn't believe it when she heard the lyrics.

"Dance in my pants! Dance in my pants! Don't be afraid when the demon chants!" Jeff's extremely autotuned voice shouted over the beat from the CD recording.

Jeff began oddly dancing around in place as the beat played. After his followers watched for a moment, they too began dancing with him in an almost hypnotic way.

"C'mon, join in!" Jeff encouraged Thorn, Luna and Gus.

"Umm, no thanks, J- I mean, Lord Jeff." Thorn said, slowly backing towards the door.

"Oh c'mon, darlings, call me by my dancer name: Fantzee Pantz!" Jeff said, his voice shifting from commanding to fabulously feminine as he flailed about.

"I think we'll be leaving now." Thorn said, hurrying to the door.

"I'm with you!" Luna scurried to escape with Thorn. Gus was quick to follow. Before they could escape out the door, another man entered the restaurant. His face looked absolutely terrifying with long black hair and a ghostly white face.

"Hey diner man, I'm lookin' for something to e-hee-hee-at!" the man inquired.

"Great to see ya again, Michael! And how would ya like your eggs today?" Jack inquired.

Michael's face slowly got a huge smirk on it. "Just beat it!"

Thorn maneuvered around Michael as quickly as she could, and hurried out the door with Gus and Luna.

"Was that Michael Jackson?" Luna said, looking shocked and confused.

"In this universe, I would hardly be surprised if it was." Gus replied. "We need to get out of this universe, as clearly this is not where Bridgit intended to go. To put it bluntly, nothing makes sense here."

"This must have been what that book I found in the library meant. The medallion doesn't send people through time, it alters the space/time continuum by allowing you to go to alternate timelines!" Luna realized.

"The portal's still open!" Thorn exclaimed with relief as she ran towards it.

"Thank god." Gus said, jumping through the portal. Luna and Thorn quickly followed, diving back into presumably nothingness.

---

Luna

The redheaded Hex Girl looked around, and once again saw nothing. Though it seemed odd, the calmness of their whited-out surroundings was somewhat of a relief compared to the insanity of the previous nonsensical universe.

"Well how was that for a right choice, Thorn?" Luna teased.

"That was…not what I was expecting." Thorn admitted, still looking very disoriented.

"I suppose the logical next choice is to try the other door." Gus suggested.

"I don't know if I want to…" Luna felt nervous. "What if the other door is even worse than whatever that weird Jeff universe was?"

"Well, what's our other option?" Thorn asked. Luna quickly found out the question was a rhetorical one. "Stay in nothingness? Go back to our universe and be killed by Bridgit, Nia and Sam? The only thing we can do is go into that other universe."

"And do what?" Luna questioned. "We have no plan."

"Bridgit's plan was to find her mother and sister. Perhaps we could find them first and convince them to stay in their own universe?" Gus suggested.

"I like that idea." Thorn said.

"What if Bridgit's mother and sister are even eviler than her?" Luna felt a rush of panic course through her veins.

"It's a chance we'll just have to take." Thorn sighed.

"How are you so calm about this?" Luna questioned.

"Well, it's not like we can come up with much of a plan. We have to try, though. We can't let our friend be killed by Bridgit." Thorn said. "I'm ready to go through the other door. Are you?"

Luna took a deep inhale and stayed silent for a moment. After a brief silence, she exhaled. Ultimately, no matter how terrifying this was, she knew that Thorn was right. This was the only way.

"Yes." the redhead finally responded.

"As am I." Gus stated.

"Alright, then here I go." Thorn took a deep breath as she walked through the door and disappeared. Gus was the next to follow.

Luna didn't know what horrible dangers might lie ahead through the door on the left, but regardless, she knew that she had to do anything possible to save Dusk. Luna fixated on that thought to give her the bravery to go into the next universe, and followed in her friends' footsteps.

---

Thorn

This universe looked a lot less normal than the previous one had…though perhaps that was a good thing, as the last one's normalness turned out to be more insane than Thorn could have ever imagined.

Luna, Thorn and Gus found themselves in the middle of a field. It appeared to be some sort of a park. Green grass and beautiful blossoming trees were all around. A small lake appeared to be within about a mile's walking distance of where they were currently. However, there was one peculiarity about it…despite that it was only a mile away from the beautiful greenery-covered park, the lake was completely frozen over and surrounded by snow.

"I've heard of localized weather, but this is ridiculous." Gus remarked.

"Wait…is this the park Bridgit was talking about?" Thorn wondered aloud. "The one she wanted to spend time at with her mother?"

"Brriiiiiiiiiiiiiiidgit." a female's voice howled from far away, sending a chill down Thorn's spine. The eeriness of the voice almost made it sound like a trick of the wind. Thorn knew the wind couldn't talk, so it had to be a person…right?"

"Should we see what that is?" Thorn shuddered.

"I'd prefer not, thanks." Luna said. "It's probably just the wind."

"Where should we start then?" Gus inquired.

"Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidgit?" the voice called again, almost sounding as if it were asking a question.

"As much as I hate to say this, I think our best bet is following the voice." Thorn admitted. "We have no other sense of direction or idea of where to go."

"I believe Thorn's right." Gus nodded. "What do you think, Luna?"

"Yeah." Luna cautiously said. "I guess nothing makes sense in these parallel universes, so we might as well follow the one thing that does."

"It sounded like it came down from that frozen lake." Thorn replied, leading the others down in that direction. Despite her confident demeanor, she was incredibly terrified of what the voice might lead to. Was it some sort of demon calling to help Bridgit find her mother and sister?

"Oh gosh, I really don't want to go down there…" Luna whimpered.

"We have to, Luna. For Dusk." Gus reminded.

"Okay." the redhead meekly said. "For Dusk."

Thorn, Luna and Dusk continued to follow the mysterious howling voice, which continued to occasionally say Bridgit's name. That's all it ever said, though. Once they had walked about a mile, the beautiful summer day quickly turned into frigid winter. Several inches of snow made the ground around their feet quite slippery.

"Ugh, can't this universe manifest coats for us or something? It's freezing!" Luna complained.

"I'd much rather be cold than have something else horrible happen in this weird universe, so I'll take the cold." Thorn replied.

"Yeah, me too. I was just complaining about something else to distract me from what I was actually scared of." Luna admitted.

"Briiiiiiiiiiiiiidgit!" the voice howled against the wind again. This time, it sounded significantly louder than it had before.

"And that would be it." Luna giggled nervously.

"We're getting closer." Gus observed. "Much closer."

"I think I can see who's doing it!" Luna pointed towards the frozen river. There were two shadowy-looking figures standing at the very edge of the river, near a large snowbank.

"You're right." Thorn said. "We've got to go over and see who that is."

"Briiiiiiiiiiidgiiiiiiiiiiiit!" the voice became as icy as the frozen lake which they had nearly approached.

"I think we'll have to physically walk on the lake to see who it is." Thorn stated, realizing they could go no further on land.

"I'm scared, Thorn." Luna whispered. "What if I fall through?"

"You don't have to be scared, Luna. I promise I'll protect you." Thorn hoped she was doing a good job being the brave, protective one. She certainly didn't feel brave inside, though. If Thorn was honest with herself, she felt incredibly small and like a terrified little girl. Who was she to be leading others when she had no idea what the hell she was doing? Nonetheless, she had to persevere and be strong for the others. Even if she wasn't going to survive this, she cared so much about Luna and Gus that she would do anything to make them feel safe and secure.

Thorn was the first to take a step on the frozen lake. The ice looked thick, which assured Thorn that she wasn't going to fall through. She just had to make sure to be careful as not to trip on the smooth, glassy ice.

"We've got to be incredibly careful. This ice is so treacherous that one misstep would likely cause you to fall. If you think having the wind knocked out of you is bad, just imagine how horrible it would be if you were knocked unconscious in a parallel universe!" Gus warned.

Thorn made sure to watch her steps carefully, as she moved closer to the figures on the other end of the ice. It looked like a long trek across the lake, so she would have to be extremely careful with her steps so as not to trip, or worse, slip and fall through the ice. Although it probably looked incredibly silly, Thorn proceeded to shuffle her feet like a penguin across the ice. Gus seemed to follow in her lead, while Luna continued to take tiny steps.

The three of them had nearly made it across the lake together, when all of a sudden, Luna took a step in the wrong direction.

"Damn!" Luna cried out in a panic. Thorn knew that Luna never swore for any reason, so the simple act of her doing so let the black-haired goth know that something was terribly wrong.

"I've got you, Luna!" Thorn shouted. She disregarded the idea of being careful and went into protective mode, as she wrapped her arms around Luna to catch her just as she was about to stumble to the ground.

"Thank you." Luna panted. Thorn was so glad that Luna was so close behind her, otherwise she could have fallen and either hit her head on the ice, or even worse, been knocked unconscious.

The three girls had nearly gotten to the other side of the river now, the figures looming ever-closer. They all had their backs turned to Thorn, Luna and Gus.

"Come closer, distant travelers." the taller of the individuals said in a gentle voice. As they got nearer, Thorn could make out some of the physical features of the figures: the taller individual who spoke to them had light brown hair, and wore a blue coat and brown pants. The other individual stood at a distinctly shorter height than the other person. She appeared to be around five feet tall. Her brunette hair was tied up neatly in a bun, and she wore a tie-dye colored sweatshirt.

Luna gave Thorn an uncertain look, as if to say "can we trust them?" Thorn hesitated for a moment, and nodded after a brief pause.

Gus, Luna and Thorn slowly moved closer to the figures, both of whom had a ghostly transparency to them. The light brown haired one who spoke turned around. She looked like a sweet, kind motherly figure, which confirmed Thorn's guess: this must be Bridgit's mother.

"Is Bridgit with you?" the woman softly inquired.

Clearly Gus did not have the same guess as Thorn, as his jaw dropped for a moment.

"You must be Bridgit's mother!" Gus exclaimed.

"Indeed." the woman said. Thorn had been expecting Bridgit's mom to be some sort of evil-looking hag or perhaps a large Godzilla-esque monster, but she simply looked like a kindly old lady who might bake you a batch of cookies. "My name is Sofia."

The brunette spun around as well. "Hi. I'm Bridgit's sister, Marissa."

"Nice to meet you both." Thorn smiled. "And to answer your earlier question, no, she's not with us."

Thorn worried what was going to come out of Sofia's mouth next. It was probably something along the lines of "take me to Bridgit so I can rule the world with her."

"Good." Sofia smiled.

Thorn wasn't sure whether to be confused or worried. Did that mean Bridgit's mother was even more evil than Bridgit?

"I have seen into your world, and am aware of what Bridgit has done and intends to do." Sofia continued. "I am quite sorry for what she has done to you. Her intentions come from a place of hatred and malice, which as her mother, I cannot condone."

"What?" Luna stuttered. "You mean you don't support Bridgit? Why would she do all this planning if she didn't even know if you'd go along with it?"

"Honestly, this will sound weird, but I don't think she thought about it." Marissa responded.

"I believe Bridgit is so blinded by hurt and rage that she made the assumption I would automatically support her, or share her feelings." Sofia added. "Marissa and I died shortly after Bridgit was born, so she knows very little about us."

"I am glad you see how harmful your daughter's actions have been." Gus chimed in. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive myself for leading these girls on for months."

"I know it is difficult, but the fault is completely on Bridgit." Sofia assured. "She only brought you all to fame because the spell to open the portal required making three people's dreams come true."

Sofia's words hit Thorn hard. That meant that Bridgit's entire manipulation was only giving them what they most wanted. This wasn't some twisted version of Thorn's fantasy like she had believed. Dusk's sudden narcissistic behavior, Luna being unhappy touring, and the huge fight Dusk and Luna had was real. It would have happened regardless of if they had risen to fame by legitimate means or not.

"You mean she only gave us exactly what we wanted?" Luna gasped.

"Yes. All she did was manipulate the charts and Gus into signing you. The rest happened on its own." Sofia confirmed.

Thorn needed a moment to process this. Did that mean they really did have all those fans, or did the artificial chart success brainwash people into liking their music?

"So if you believe everything she's doing is wrong, how can we stop Bridgit?" Thorn asked. "We don't have powers like her…well, I mean, I am 1/16th Wiccan on my mother's side, but I haven't tapped into my powers nearly as much as her yet."

"Marissa and I will come back with you." Sofia responded. "However, we cannot do it in this form."

"What do you mean?" Luna inquired.

"Unfortunately, we must possess the bodies of two of you to be able to cross over into the other realm." Sofia clarified. "I am sorry about that, and I will let you choose amongst yourselves how you would like to handle this."

"I'll do it." Gus quickly spoke up, with a brave look on his face. "I've led you on all these months. The least I can do is make this sacrifice for you."

"You don't owe us anything, Gus. It wasn't your fault. Bridgit forced you to." Thorn assured.

"I know, but I still feel bad for not being more selfless. I knew what I was doing, and I could have chosen to let them torture me to prevent you all from getting involved in this awful situation. I'm doing this, Thorn. End of conversation." Gus replied, his tone very urgent and serious. He was usually somewhat lighthearted and whimsical, so Gus's incredibly serious tone took her a bit aback at first even if it was an appropriate response for the situation.

"We have one volunteer." Sofia stated. "Who would like to be the other?"

"I'll do it." Luna volunteered. "I feel kinda bad about almost ruining your guys' dream."

"Why is everybody doing this because they feel guilty?" Thorn questioned. "I can do it too. Besides, Luna, it's not like you made up that this was your dream. You thought touring was what you wanted to do, but you realized maybe it wasn't."

"My point still stands, though. That ruins your guys' dream." Luna said. "Besides, someone's gotta do it, and it's either you or me."

Thorn honestly didn't even know what her "dream" was anymore. She liked the idea of the band making it big and touring around the country, but she most certainly didn't want it to happen like this. Especially not if it was at the expense of one of her friends' happiness.

After a long period of silence, Thorn took a deep inhale and closed her eyes, before opening them again. "Okay. If you really want, you guys can be the ones to be possessed. It won't be long enough to hurt them, right Sofia?"

"No, it won't. It takes a few hours before the energy of being possessed by a magical being will begin to take a toll on the mortal body." Sofia confirmed.

"Good. So they'll both be safe then?" Thorn asked, just to make extra sure. Despite that she told others to not feel bad about something beyond their control, the black-haired goth felt bad about not telling Luna and Dusk about Bridgit, Nia and Sam. She knew that it was silly to feel even an ounce of guilt about a situation this far out of her control, but her anxious mind attempted to convince her that maybe if she had, Dusk wouldn't be trapped with Bridgit, Nia and Sam, who could be doing god knows what to her at this very moment.

"Yes, they will be safe. However, we must hurry." Sofia warned. "Mortals cannot survive more than a few hours in the realm of the departed."

"Oh dear. I don't quite know how time works in this universe, but I fear we've nearly exceeded our time here." Gus said. "We'd better get back to the portal."

While everyone began walking back up the hill towards the sunny side of the park, several nagging thoughts still lingered at the front of Thorn's mind. She wanted to ask questions, though she'd never exactly had a conversation with a powerful departed being before and didn't want to offend her.

"Is it okay if I ask a question, Sofia?" Thorn inquired.

"Ask as many questions as you would like, Sally." Sofia replied.

This caught Thorn off-guard. She hadn't remembered telling Sofia or Marissa her stage name, and she certainly knew she hadn't told them her birth name.

"You know my name?" Thorn said with a look of surprise on her face.

"Yes. I watch over my daughter in the mortal realm regularly. I have seen all of her actions in the past several months, so thus I have gotten to know you all as well." Sofia smiled. All of her words were said in a very formal way, but there was still a motherly warmth in her voice with everything she said.

"Okay." Thorn wasn't sure what else to reply to that. It wasn't everyday someone told you they already knew you months before you even met them. She proceeded with asking her question. "Is this the park Bridgit was talking about? The one you and Marissa always used to sit in?"

"It is." Sofia answered. "When mortals open this portal, the surroundings they see are a representation of what they have constructed in their mind related to the departed person they seek."

"So this is a representation of something in our minds?" Luna inquired.

"Not exactly." Marissa jumped in. "The surroundings are constructed by the person who opened the portal, which is Bridgit. One of the most prominent memories of us she had in her mind is that park. However, with all the hatred and anger she's let fester in her mind about our deaths, the memory of the park has been clouded over by darkness."

"So that's why the pond where you two were standing on is covered in ice and snow?" Thorn put it together in her head.

"Exactly." Marissa's face lit up with a smile upon seeing Thorn had made the connection. "Although Bridgit loves us, she's let her coldness about losing us cloud her memory, leaving us in a state of forever winter in her mind."

Thorn found Marissa's explanation extremely poetic. It made her mind even more curious, and gave her a stronger desire to ask another question.

"Is it okay if I ask another question?" Thorn said, trying to not come off too overexcited.

"Of course." Sofia warmly replied, as they began to approach the other end of the icy pond.

"So if Bridgit didn't manipulate anything other than the charts and Gus, was our fame real?" Thorn asked, feeling very excited to find out the answer. "Were all the fans we had real, or were they just influenced by the fact our song and album were charting?"

"I'm afraid that's not a question I am able to answer." Sofia replied.

Thorn's heart felt a little hurt. Although she presumed Sofia hadn't meant to hurt her, she felt shut down given she was told she could ask any question. "Why not?" she finally mustered out.

"I cannot predict how things would have worked out in alternate scenarios; I can only see what has happened. I do not know how to separate Bridgit's manipulative actions from your band becoming famous, because the fame was the result of Bridgit's actions." Sofia explained, her voice still warm and motherly despite the disappointment that her answer brought. "This is something you will have to decide for yourself, knowing the extent of Bridgit's manipulation."

Part of Thorn felt the need to know the answer. Marissa seemed a bit less formal and more personal to Thorn's previous question, so she wanted to lean on Marissa to see if she would give a different answer. However, she didn't want to act as if she didn't respect Sofia's answer, so all she did was shift her gaze over to Marissa's eyes.

"Sorry, Thorn. I don't know either." Marissa informed, with sympathy present in her voice. "I'm sure you and the band will come up with an amazing way to figure this out that will make sense to all of you!"

"Thanks! That's really sweet." Thorn smiled.

"We are approaching the portal." Sofia informed, as the girls and Gus came close to the spot in which they came into this universe. "For us to go back into the Room of Doors, the possession will need to take place. Are you both prepared?"

"I'm not exactly sure how one prepares for a possession, but I suppose I'm as ready as I could be." Gus joked.

"Yeah." Luna said, seeming quite on edge. "I'm ready too, I guess."

"Alright, then let the possession commence!" Sofia announced, as her transparent body changed into a luminescent burst of energy. The ball of energy rapidly shrunk as it moved towards Gus. Thorn expected the energy to knock him down or somehow enter his body, but instead, his whole body lit up as the energy consumed him.

"The possession has been completed." Sofia said in Gus's voice. Thorn was a bit wigged out by this.

"Alright, I guess it's my turn. I'm sorry about this, Luna." Marissa apologized, as her body transformed into an amalgamation of bright light and lit up Luna's body.

"Hi, it's Marissa now." Luna said. "Well, I mean, technically it's Luna, but it's Marissa speaking for her. Are you ready to go into the portal?"

It was a very bizarre concept to Thorn that there were actually four people she was traveling with, but only two of them were physically present and conscious. It was even odder that the two people who were physically present and the ones who were conscious didn't align. She was waiting for the other two to respond, but realized she was the only one besides Marissa and Sofia that could respond.

"I guess the others can't respond anymore, so I'm ready." Thorn chuckled nervously. She walked in the portal, and quickly arrived back in the 'Room of Doors,' as Sofia had called it.

"We need to go back through this final portal to get back into your realm." Sofia informed, as she - or rather Gus - went through the last portal. Marissa/Luna was quick to follow.

Thorn didn't know what would happen once she got back into her world, but she had a lot of faith in Sofia and Marissa. Both of them seemed to be incredibly knowledgeable about the realms and Bridgit, so all she could do was hope things would turn out alright and that Dusk would be okay. However, that didn't help the black-haired Hex Girl be any less worried. Thorn closed her eyes dreading the worst, as she stepped into the portal one final time to get back to her home world.

---

When Thorn popped back out on the other side of the portal, she saw an unsightly view: Bridgit, Nia and Sam had tied up Dusk. Although she felt horrible Dusk was being put through this, she was frankly just thankful that her blonde friend was still alive. It appeared they had wrapped the ropes from the stage curtains around her wrists, and tied a piece of black cloth around her mouth. A closer glimpse showed Thorn that the cloth appeared to have part of their band logo on it.

"Ah, the traitors return." Bridgit hissed in a sinister voice.

"Is that a band t-shirt in Dusk's mouth?" Thorn asked.

"Yeah, there wasn't any tape around so we had to improvise." Sam shrugged.

"Shit! The portal's closing!" Bridgit exclaimed.

"Well, we can do the ritual again, right? As long as we've given them their wish?" Nia inquired of Bridgit.

"No need." Sofia spoke with Gus's mouth. "They have already brought me back."

Bridgit's jaw dropped at first, followed by a smile slowly creeping across her face. The smile wasn't creepy or disturbing as Bridgit's facial expressions often were when Thorn had seen the pink-haired girl excited in the past. This seemed like pure joy.

"Mother?" Bridgit said, her voice almost squeaking with excitement.

"Yes, Bridgit, it is I." Sofia said.

"Mom!" Bridgit ran up and gave Gus's body a gigantic squeeze. Thorn had expected her to let go within a reasonable period of time, but Bridgit clung on tight. "I've waited all my life to meet you!"

"Don't forget about me." Marissa said from Luna's body.

"What's so special about you?" Bridgit snapped, as she kept hugging her mother in Gus's body.

"Oh nothing much. I'm just your sister, that's all." Luna's voice chuckled.

"Marissa?" Bridgit gasped. "Oh my god!"

She quickly let go of Gus's body after a few more seconds of hugging, and ran over to embrace her sister.

"Maybe you girls aren't traitors after all. You brought me everything I could have ever wanted!" Bridgit exclaimed. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

It was bizarre to see Bridgit acting so excited in a way that wasn't fake or creepy. She had never really seen the vulnerability hidden within Bridgit's sadistic personality.

"It's great seeing you again, Bridgit." Marissa said to her sister.

"It's so great seeing you too! I love you so much! And I love you too, Mom!" Bridgit exclaimed. "I've got so many things I want to do with you both! But first, don't worry, we're going to avenge your deaths together! We're going to gather a huge group of supporters and wipe out all the goddamn churches in Oakhaven. Then, we'll expand and wipe out all the churches and all the religions in the world except Wicca!"

"Bridgit, we cannot wipe out all religion." Sofia scolded.

"Well, maybe we won't be able to do it right away, but we'll do it eventually! Just you wait! I'm going to make you proud, Mom!" Bridgit exclaimed.

"Wicca is not a violent religion, Bridgit." Sofia firmly said.

"Aww, c'mon, mom. We've gotta take some revenge on the puny mortals, right? Maybe after we're done, we could sit in the park together, get some ice cream, and catch up on everything you and Marissa have missed from all these years!" Bridgit suggested. It seemed to Thorn like Bridgit was reverting to a state of childhood whimsy, probably trying to make up for everything she'd always wanted during her childhood, but missed out on because of her mother and sister's absence.

"NO, Bridgit!" Sofia shouted. "I will not be complicit in your plans of carnage, and there will be no revenge taken for my death. Marissa and my deaths were a true tragedy, but over the years, I've come to realize it is just on account of human prejudice. We cannot punish everyone for the actions of one person. My friend has seen her justice, and no one else shall suffer your wrath. You've also been manipulating these girls for the past few months, which is absolutely horrible. You should be terrified of who you've become, Bridgit. A healthy, sane person does not knowingly manipulate others for months to achieve personal satisfaction."

It was right then that Bridgit did something that Thorn would have never expected to happen: she started to cry. This wasn't a psychotic cry or Bridgit faking being cute to seem creepy. These were real tears. Thorn thought Bridgit was so tough and strong that nothing could make her emotionally affected to this level, which made it all the more evident to Thorn that this was something that hurt her on a deep, psychological level. More than anything in the world, all Bridgit wanted was her mother's approval, and not getting it caused her to break down.

"No! No! Why would you say those awful things to me?" Bridgit said between tears. "I love you, mom! I love you! Do you hear me? Nothing bad can happen if we love each other!"

"I love you too, Bridgit, but behavior like this cannot be tolerated. Your actions towards these girls and many others have been truly horrible." Sofia said, a hint of sorrow in her voice. "A mother cannot condone such atrocities."

Bridgit continued to sob to the point of being unable to compose herself.

"How could this happen? This is all I've ever wanted!" Bridgit sniffled, the waterworks continuing to flow. All of a sudden, the tears stopped almost completely. "Wait…I get it. I know what happened."

Thorn was quite confused. By the looks of it, even Nia and Sam seem confused.

"You bitches tricked her!" Bridgit snapped, pointing at Thorn, Luna, and the tied-up Dusk. "That has to be it! My mother would never say these things! You had to have tricked her!"

Thorn was confused for a moment, unsure of why Bridgit would think this. After a second of pondering, the black-haired Hex Girl made one of the most terrifying realizations of all: Bridgit wasn't trying to psychologically confuse them in the way she had so many times before. Bridgit was clinging onto the idea of ruling the world with her mother so tightly that she refused to let go of the thought.

"No one tricked us, Bridgit. We just don't agree with what you're doing." Marissa kindly clarified.

"No! You would never say that! Those bitches tricked you, I know it!" Bridgit shouted.

"Bridg, calm down." Sam reasoned. Thorn always thought of Bridgit as an evil, delusional monster, so it was weird to hear Sam call Bridgit such an affectionate nickname. "They didn't even know we were manipulating them for all those months. They wouldn't know how to trick your mom and sister into turning against you in a couple of hours."

"Yes they would! There's no way my mother would say any of these things! Isn't that right, Thorn? You played some sort of mind trick on her, didn't you? It's probably just Luna and Gus pretending to be them! Maybe Gus just has a voice modulator or something." Bridgit presumed.

"We're not tricking you, Bridgit. We went into the alternate reality and found your real mother and sister, and didn't manipulate them at all." Thorn assured. "Besides, how would we even know their names?"

"Lies! All lies! I'm sick of your lying!" Bridgit snapped. "My mother and sister love me and we're going to be together forever!"

"This isn't a trick, Bridgit. I've been watching you, Nia and Sam and what you've been doing for all these months." Sofia informed.

"She's telling the truth!" Thorn interjected, as she saw the craziness build in Bridgit's eyes.

"Stop lying to me or I'll have to kill you!" Bridgit screamed. "That's right! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!"

"Bridgit, calm down. It's going to be okay." Marissa assured. "I'm your sister and I love you so much, and that's the way it's always going to be. Your mother loves you too."

"I love you too! But if you love me, why won't you help me avenge your deaths? It's not just you guys that were punished by your deaths. It punished me too, because it took you away from me!" Bridgit argued.

"I know. I know, sis." Marissa said, a lot of sympathy in her voice. "It's horrible and so unfair it took us away from you, and I'm so sorry. But we can't take it out on innocent people, right?"

"They're not innocent!" Bridgit snapped. "All religions are guilty of bigotry and hatred! They're all just indoctrinating people to hate and kill others!"

"Religion can also provide purpose, and help people find a framework for what they believe about life." Sofia argued.

"No! It's all evil!" Bridgit claimed.

"Bridgit, you need to get this idea out of your head immediately." Sofia scolded. "Wicca is a religion of healing and helping, not impunity and revenge."

"You did trick her! My mother would never say that to me!" Bridgit shouted, getting more worked up by the second.

What was especially sad and frightening to Thorn is that Bridgit's mother and sister had died right around the time she was born, so there was no way she could know how they'd behave or react to certain things. It was clear Bridgit had made up a fantasy in her head, and built it up so much all these years that she had gotten emotionally lost in it.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU ALL FOR CORRUPTING MY MOTHER AND SISTER!" Bridgit screamed in Thorn's face. "Do you hear me? I'M GOING TO FUCKING SLIT ALL OF YOUR THROATS!"

Bridgit dug inside her boot and took out a knife, which Thorn was completely unaware she had.

Thorn didn't wait any longer. She immediately started to run.

"Holy shit, Bridgit!" Sam exclaimed. "Have you gone insane?"

"There's no way they corrupted Marissa or your mom. Thorn's the only one that knows anything about Wicca, and she doesn't know enough to do anything like that." Nia reasoned.

"Oh, so they corrupted you guys too? I don't know how the fuck they did that, but I'm not going to allow that!" Bridgit shouted, as she started chasing Thorn with the knife.

Thorn didn't blame Nia and Sam for being freaked out. She had always thought of Bridgit as being pretty psychotic and evil, but the black-haired Hex Girl never realized she was so close to completely separating from reality.

Bridgit proceeded to chase Thorn with the knife she had pulled out of her boot, as Thorn attempted to duck around corners to lose Bridgit. It was unlikely to work, but at this point, she was desperate to do anything to stay alive.

"If you don't cooperate, then there will be no more Ms. Nice Witch. I'll have to use my powers to choke you until you're dead, and you don't want that, do you?!" Bridgit threatened, returning to the creepy, sadistic tone Thorn was used to.

"Bridgit, don't kill me! I'll do whatever you want!" Thorn pleaded, as she kept running. "I don't even know what it is you want."

"I don't want anything from you, bitch." Bridgit screamed. "The time for talking is over. You're just trying to trick me into thinking that's my mom and sister, when it's not! I know it's not! They'd never say those things to me!"

Thorn heard a second set of footsteps running behind her, causing her to spin around and see Nia chasing Bridgit.

"Bridgit, how do you know this isn't your real mother and sister? You've never even met them! You don't know what they'd say." Nia argued.

"Wait a minute…you have a point." Bridgit realized. Thorn desperately hoped that maybe Bridgit was finally coming to terms with reality. "Why am I chasing this bitch? I should be killing Gus and Luna for pretending to be my mother and sister. They're the ones who deserve to be killed first!"

Thorn panicked when she realized she was wrong. Bridgit wasn't coming to terms with reality at all; she was only becoming more and more deluded.

"No! Don't kill them!" Thorn screamed.

"The fact that you're so passionate about this only proves to me I'm right that it's really Gus and Luna, and not my real family!" Bridgit snapped. "So you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to kill them right in front of you, and make you watch them bleed out on the floor. That will be the best punishment of all for you, and then just when your heart is broken from losing your friends, I'll kill you too!"

"Bridgit, no! That's not what I meant!" Nia exclaimed, as her psychotic pink-haired friend turned around and began heading back towards the others. Thorn was shocked, but it seemed Bridgit must have pushed past the point of evil that Nia was comfortable with.

"You don't want this to happen either?" Thorn gave Nia a surprised look, as they ran after Bridgit side-by-side.

"No. The plan was to bring Bridgit's mother back. Sam and I were just trying to help our friend and make Wicca rule supreme as a religion, but Bridgit's completely lost her grip on reality! If she kills her mother and sister, she'll never forgive herself! That was like the main part of this whole plan. Besides, clearly she misjudged her mother, and we'll have to find another way to make it work. Going on a mindless killing spree isn't going to do anything."

It was weird for Nia to talk to Thorn as if they were on the same level, especially after Nia and her friends had been using their power to manipulate her for the past several months. Thorn was incredibly glad Nia recognized that Bridgit had flipped.

Bridgit had now arrived back over by the stage area where Gus was standing, and drew her knife to Gus's chest.

"So, mother, do you want to lie to me one more time?" Bridgit taunted.

"Bridgit, stop! The girls did not trick or manipulate me, and no one is pretending to be me." Sofia pleaded. "I am your mother!"

"Say that one more time! I'll do it, you know! I'll kill you!" Bridgit threatened. She was so angry now that her hands were shaking. "I want you to look me right in the eyes and say it."

"Bridgit, what do you want me to do? How can I convince you?" Sofia begged, tears coming out of Gus's eyes.

"Wait…you're right." Bridgit looked like she had an epiphany. "There isn't anything you can do to convince me, because there's no way this is my real mother or sister. Oh well. Guess I'll just have to kill both of you immediately."

Gus let out a carnal scream as Bridgit drove the knife into him, her face wearing an intensely crazed expression. Thorn and Nia had run over just as Bridgit took the knife out of his heart.

"Noooooooo!" Thorn screamed. "You killed him, you hideous monster!"

Bridgit looked certifiably insane, as she panted with rage. She quickly took the knife and attempted to stab Luna. Thorn was not feeling an ounce of bravery in this situation, but she knew what she had to do. She jumped at Bridgit just as she was about to stab Luna. Although Thorn's weight knocked Bridgit down, the pink-haired psycho still managed to slash Luna's shoulder with the knife. Thorn knew Bridgit would probably torture her or worse for this, but she wasn't going to let another one of her friends die from this fiend.

Suddenly, Gus's body lit up with the same luminescent energy it had when Sofia had first possessed him. The burst of energy quickly separated into its own form as Gus's body collapsed on the floor. Sofia's transparent form manifested from the ball of energy in front of them.

Bridgit's jaw dropped in awe, as she began crying. "M-m-m….mother?"

"Yes, Bridgit. It is I." Sofia answered. She sounded much weaker than she had before.

"Oh my god!" Bridgit screamed, looking down at her hands. There was a bit of Luna's blood that had squirted out on Bridgit's palms from the botched attempt to kill the redhead. "What have I done?"

Although Luna remained conscious, her body also lit up with the same luminescent energy that quickly separated from her. Marissa's transparent physical form appeared in front of them.

"I'm so, so, SO sorry!" Bridgit cried, her face turning red and completely covered in tears. "I didn't think it was really you! I thought they were tricking me!"

"Bridgit…I don't know what to say." Sofia sighed. "It seems you have almost completely detached from reality. Even your friends attempted to convince you it was your sister and I, and you didn't listen."

"I'm sorry! It's hard to trust people, you know, and you were so important to me and I wanted to make sure it was really you, and your deaths made me grow up not trusting people, and I love you so much, and I just…" Bridgit was unable to finish her lengthy sentence due to being enveloped in her own tears.

"I thought you said you weren't able to be in this world without possessing someone." Thorn pointed out.

"We aren't." Marissa confirmed. "Gus and Luna's bodies were no longer inhabitable without killing them, because they were weakened by the wounds Bridgit inflicted."

"What do you mean, without killing them?" Thorn questioned. "Bridgit killed Gus."

"Your friend Gus is still alive, but he is badly wounded." Sofia revealed. "Bridgit just barely missed his heart with the knife."

"Oh thank god!" Thorn exclaimed in relief.

"We must hurry, though." Sofia warned. "Our spirit forms cannot survive in this universe for more than a few minutes without combusting."

"Shit! What do we do?" Thorn panicked.

"We must do the ritual again, and quickly." Sofia responded.

"Okay, everybody, gather hands." Marissa instructed.

"Are you okay, Luna?" Thorn inquired, as everybody got up and began sitting in the same circle they had previously when they opened the portal.

"Yeah. My shoulder is killing me, though." Luna informed. She sounded a bit weaker than usual.

"Good. At least there's one less thing to worry about." Thorn said. "Can someone untie Dusk?"

"I can do it." Sam said. "We had only tied her up as a way to threaten you when you got back."

"How can we open it again?" Nia inquired. "You have to make someone's dreams come true to open it, and we didn't make anyone's dreams come true again. Can we open the portal again with the same dream as last time?"

"We did make someone's dreams come true." Marissa cryptically stated. Everyone had confused looks on their face, causing Marissa to clarify with a gesture of pointing at her sister.

"She's right." Bridgit sighed. "This was all I've ever wanted. Can you hand me the necklace, Dusk?"

"Sure." Dusk said in a monotone, emotionless voice. Dusk had a hard time expressing emotions as it was, and it was hard to have a respectful conversation with someone who had tried to kill you and your friends not more than five minutes ago.

"Thanks." Bridgit appreciated, as she put the necklace around her neck. "Goddess of time, goddess of light, bring my mother and sister home tonight. Open the portal so they may go back to the world they've always known."

"Everyone, close your eyes and visualize a -" Marissa instructed, before letting out a yelp.

"Marissa, what's happening to you?" Luna shrieked. Thorn opened her eyes to see that Marissa's form was slowly starting to disintegrate.

"I'm afraid the ritual isn't happening fast enough. We will need to possess another two bodies, and…." Sofia's voice suddenly went silent.

"What's wrong, Sofia?" Thorn asked. She worried that perhaps Sofia was starting to combust as well when she stopped speaking.

"Those two bodies must come with us to the other realm. Once the portal is closed, those two people will be unable to come back to this world." Sofia said, sorrow and regret present in her voice.

"Can't whoever stays behind just make someone's dream come true so the others can return?" Dusk asked.

"No." Sofia firmly declared. "This portal has been opened enough because of my daughter, and it will not be opened for selfish purposes again. Opening a portal too much in a short period of time may also tear the very fabric of our universe."

Everyone remained silent for a while knowing the extremely difficult choice that had to be made, until finally, an unexpected person stood up.

"I'll do it." Nia said.

"What?!" Thorn exclaimed. "Why would you do this? You're the one that's been leading us on all along."

"Well…" Nia said.

"Should we tell them?" Sam asked. Thorn looked over to Bridgit, who was still consumed by her tears. Bridgit looked at Sam and gave a slight nod.

"I don't know if you guys will believe it, but we relate to your situation more than you'd think." Sam cryptically shared.

"Bridgit's been manipulating us too." Nia revealed. "We're not really her best friends…or at least, not anymore. Three years ago, Sam and I met Bridgit at a Wicca coven meeting. Sam and I had been best friends since we were kids, and had been getting into Wicca around that time, so we decided to go to a coven meeting. After the meeting, Bridgit came up to us, we got to talking, and hit it off. We got to know Bridgit and started hanging out with her. One night, she revealed to us about her mother and sister's unfortunate passings, and she started talking about how much she hated religion and how it indoctrinated people. We both agreed with her. That night, all of us came up with a plan to try to convert everyone in the world into Wiccans. It was just us fooling around for fun at first, but then, we liked the idea and decided to pursue it. As time went on, Bridgit's hatred grew and her desire to see her mother and sister again got stronger as our plan became more developed. She told us about this amulet - the one you found at the Autumn Fest. The amulet's purpose is to bring people back loved ones that have died from the spirit world."

"So you guys planted that amulet for me to find?" Dusk questioned.

"Yes." Nia confirmed. "For the amulet to work, we had to grant someone's wish. We heard your performance at the last Autumn Fest - the one with Sarah Ravencroft's ghost and the giant turkey - and we thought your music was amazing. You guys are such an awesome band that we felt like you should be known around the world. When Bridgit said we needed to grant someone's most desired dream, you all were the first people that came to mind for me. Bridgit said we'd give you your dream, make you guys top the charts and become famous around the country, and then we'd get you to open the portal."

"What about that other necklace you gave me when you first met us?" Dusk questioned.

"It's just a regular necklace that we left for you to find as an excuse to talk to you. We gave you that other fake necklace we claimed was from Bridgit's mother just to make sure if you ever figured out our true motivations, you'd be thrown off the trail if you tried to research the necklace. It was just a decoy."

"What was the other world we saw in the portal? The weird alternate reality one with Jeff?" Thorn asked.

"It was simply another portal connected to the spirit world. Many dimensions within the universe are interconnected by portals and doors." Sofia explained.

"Nothing really felt wrong with the idea of making you guys famous at first." Sam returned to the original subject. "Maybe there'd be a little manipulation and trickery, but in the end, you'd get what you wanted and we'd get what we wanted."

"As things went along, Bridgit became more and more determined to make sure her plan happened. It felt like she went crazy with the prospect of seeing her mother and sister again regardless of the cost. She recommended we force Gus to sign you, rather than just introduce you guys to him and see how things played out." Nia continued speaking.

"We questioned Bridgit on the idea, and asked her how exactly we'd force Gus to sign The Hex Girls if he didn't want to. Bridgit said we'd use Wiccan rituals and the magick we'd learned to torture him into complying." Sam explained.

"We weren't on board with that. Manipulation seemed okay if you were at least benefitting in some way, but this was too far. We expressed concern for Bridgit's behavior and admitted that we felt she'd changed as a person in the past few months. That's when…" Nia was cut off by Bridgit.

"I can tell them." Bridgit sorrowfully said. "I threatened to torture them too if they didn't do everything I said, because I thought our plan was so brilliant that it was a sure way to get my mother and sister back, like I'd always wanted. I couldn't let it fail."

"Things got pretty weird after that. We still cared about Bridgit, but things had changed. She started becoming more and more sadistic and volatile, but we didn't know what to do. We didn't want to be tortured or killed, and still liked what our friendship was…or at least what it used to be…so we just went along with everything she told us to." Nia admitted. "That was wrong, and we caused so much hurt."

"We kinda desensitized ourselves to the hurt we were causing." Sam informed. "It felt a lot easier to go along with the stuff Bridgit told us if we didn't have to think about how it was affecting you guys. That being said, I'll volunteer too."

"We caused enough hurt and pain, and because of our own cowardice about standing up to Bridgit, we affected six other people's lives, and that was so wrong. This is what we deserve." Nia bravely stated.

"Are…are you guys sure about this?" Thorn questioned. "I mean, I didn't tell Luna right away either, and I didn't tell Dusk at all. I think all of us were afraid in one way or another."

"You guys didn't actually do any of the torture, though. We choked Gus to the point of nearly being unconscious several times, not to mention psychologically tormenting Thorn. We directly went along with her plans just so we wouldn't be tortured." Sam hung her head.

"Somebody's got to do this, and given we caused this, I think it's the most fair outcome." Nia sighed.

"Have we reached a consensus? Time is quickly running out." Sofia warned.

"No…you don't need to do this for us. Nobody should have to." Thorn argued. "You were just as much manipulated by Bridgit as we were."

"Yes, we have reached a consensus. We're doing this, end of story." Sam gave an ultimatum.

"I just want to say we are so, so sorry for manipulating you guys and torturing you all these months." Nia replied. "I don't expect you to forgive us, but I hope our apology at least means something."

"We must join hands again." Sofia jumped into the conversation.

Everyone rapidly did as they were told to ensure Sofia and Marissa would be safe.

"Goddess of time, goddess of light, bring my mother and sister home tonight. Open the portal so they may go back to the world they've always known." Bridgit repeated.

"Now everybody, we need to close our eyes and visualize the opening of a portal." Nia reminded.

Thorn imagined the portal opening, just as she had seen it do before she'd gone in the first time. She imagined the wooden door again, and made it open with the power of her mind.

Thorn felt a sudden warmth sunkiss her body, prompting her to open her eyes. The portal was beginning to slightly open again.

"It's working, it's working!" Sofia exclaimed happily, as she began to transform into a ball of light once again. The energy moved towards Sam, until it lit up her body and consumed her.

"Thank you so much for everything. Although Nia and Sam will be trapped on the other side of the portal after we leave their bodies, they'll be able to live fulfilling lives in the spirit world."

"Repeat after me: wasyshoo ikaydo shamaroo, tumbarious stratoodo bramery!" Bridgit said.

"Goodbye Bridgit! It was…nice meeting you." Marissa stuttered a bit, clearly unsure of what to say to her psychotic sister.

"Goodbye, my daughter. May you find the Wicca way once again through much self-reflection and discovery." Sofia waved. It was a bit of an awkward thing to say to her daughter whom she'd never met before and would never see again, but Thorn supposed with only seconds left in this universe, there were few meaningful things a mother could say to her daughter who had clearly lost grips with reality.

"Bye Bridgit." Sam awkwardly said, as Sofia's energy entered her body.

"Bridgit, I just want you to know that even if you did get lost in the prospect of getting your mother back and changed as a person, I really appreciated our friendship and it meant a lot to me. I hope you can find happiness and peace in yourself through Wicca." Nia heartfeltly waved goodbye, right before Marissa's energy took over her body.

"Marissa, Sofia, thank you for everything." Luna said before the two spirits departed back to their world.

"Yeah, thank you. You've been so helpful to us." Thorn smiled.

"Thanks, guys." Dusk chimed in. "We really appreciate it."

"I'm happy to help. I think you will find all things will become as they were intended." Sofia warmly smiled.

With Sofia inside Sam's body and Marissa in Nia's body, the two spirits walked through the portal. Once they had almost fully entered the portal, it started to close.

"No! Without them, I have nothing! Nothing! Well, if they think they're leaving me, the joke's on them! I'm not going to let them live without me again!" Bridgit screamed, as she suddenly jumped in the portal after Nia, Sam, Marissa and Sofia. "Now we can finally be together like I've always dreamed! Mom, sis, I'm coming home!"

Bridgit's body barely slipped in the portal just as it was closing, but she was able to fully enter the other world before it completely shut.

Thorn would have thought she would feel better knowing that Bridgit was gone, but she felt almost sick to her stomach. She sort of hoped Bridgit's realization of her horrific actions would lead her to go on a path of self-discovery, but it was clear Bridgit was completely unable to think rationally or in a healthy way. She was too far gone.

"Holy shit." Luna gasped.

Thorn was surprised at first by Luna's uncharacteristic choice of words, but it was certainly quite warranted after everything that had happened.

"What the hell did Sofia mean, 'all things will be as they were intended'?" Dusk inquired.

"I don't know. Honestly, I don't even know what to say or do right now." Thorn stood there looking at the space where the portal was, in awe of the events that had transpired.

"We need to get Gus to a hospital." Luna reminded.

"No, I'm fine." Gus said, nonchalantly sitting up. The blood on his shirt from where Bridgit stabbed him had completely disappeared.

"Wait…what? How is that possible?" Thorn questioned. "Bridgit stabbed you near your heart. You were unconscious!"

"Really? I suppose that's correct, given I don't remember anything that's happened in the past half hour." Gus shrugged. "The last thing I remember is we were about to go through the portal, and Sofia had just possessed me. Did we stop Bridgit, Nia and Sam?"

"I mean…kind of. I don't even know how to give an abbreviated version of this…but, Bridgit tried to kill you and Luna because she didn't believe it was really her mother and sister. She only slashed Luna's shoulder, but she almost stabbed you in the heart. Sofia and Marissa left your bodies, because you and Luna weren't strong enough to hold their energy anymore, but that made Sofia and Marissa so weak that they had to possess Nia and Sam. They did the ritual and now all four of them are back in the spirit world. Nia and Sam are stuck there, because opening the portal too much could damage their universe. Bridgit jumped in after them because she didn't want to be without her mom and sister." Thorn took a deep inhale. "Did I get everything?"

"Don't forget Nia and Sam revealed Bridgit had been manipulating them too." Luna reminded. "They'd been friends before, but Bridgit got so lost in the fantasy of bringing her mother and sister back that she manipulated them and threatened them with torture until they complied."

"I don't even remotely know how to begin processing all that, or how I'm suddenly uninjured, but I suppose the fact that we've all survived is what's important." Gus replied in a disoriented and confused manner.

"Hey, the slash on my shoulder is gone too." Luna said, feeling her previously injured right shoulder with her hands to make sure it was healed.

"Maybe that's what Sofia meant?" Thorn questioned, processing as she spoke. "Maybe the harm Bridgit inflicted by her manipulative magick was reversed when she left this world and entered the other."

After a moment of pondering in silence, Luna finally spoke up.

"Umm…so what should we do now?" Luna awkwardly asked.

"Well, we do have a show in a half hour we should probably set up for." Dusk laughed as she glanced at the clock.

"Oh boy." Luna rolled her eyes. "Even after a homicidal witch tries to kill us, Dusk is still focused on our fame. Talk about being blinded by the limelight."

"Blinded?" Thorn joked. She certainly didn't feel in a jokey mood, but maybe a little humor would lighten the emotionally confusing and distressing mood. "More like she drank the limelight as if it were medicine. Dusk loves her fame, that's for sure."

Thorn realized her last comment came off extremely awkward, but she figured no one would blame her. It was a very confusing thing that had just happened.

"Ummm…yep. I sure do." Dusk said. "Fuck, can we get like a day off to emotionally process what happened to us? I feel like I need it."

The girls spun around when they heard the door handle rattling. The source of the rattling was quickly discovered when the door swung open. A man wearing a light blue button-up shirt and khaki pants entered.

"Hello, how may I help you girls?" he inquired.

Thorn was grateful someone had found them, as quite frankly, she had no idea how to begin setting up. She found it very odd that no one was here yet despite the fact they performed in an hour. She supposed maybe it was because Sam had previously locked the door, but now she wasn't sure given it had opened. Perhaps that was reversed when Bridgit went into the portal too. It was all very confusing to Thorn.

"Hi, we're The Hex Girls. We're performing here tonight at 7." Thorn informed.

"Not according to our records." the man challenged. "The Backstreet Boys perform here tomorrow, but there's no show tonight. In fact, I've never even heard of The Hex Girls. Who are you and why are you here?"

"Wait…you've never heard of us?" Luna questioned.

"Um, how is that possible? We're #1 on contemporary hit radio right now." Dusk challenged.

"No you're not!" the man snapped. "'Shape of My Heart' by the Backstreet Boys has been the number 1 song for weeks now! I follow the charts on a daily basis, so I know what's popular."

"Sir, we're telling the truth!" Dusk pleaded. "Our album is even #2 on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart right now."

"Now it's obvious you girls are lying. Some random band no one's ever heard of is not #2 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart. What did you call yourselves, The Hex Girls? What a silly name." the man taunted. "Since you're obviously just here to cause trouble, I have no choice but to ask you to leave this building immediately."

"What the hell do you mean…" Dusk started to challenge.

"Let's go, Dusk." Gus patted the angry blonde on the shoulder, as he began walking out with the other two. "We're very sorry to bother you, sir."

Once they had left the building and gotten far enough outside to be out of hearing range of the man, Dusk exploded.

"Who the hell does that guy think he is calling us nobodies? We're one of the hottest bands in the world. What chart is he following? The one measure how much of a raging asshole you can become?" Dusk vented.

"Dusk, I don't think he was lying. Remember how we guessed everything Bridgit did with her magick was undone when she jumped in the portal?" Gus reminded.

"Yeah, but I don't see what that has to do with that fucking guy being a dick's weiner." Dusk snapped.

"A dick's weiner. Very interesting phrase." Gus muttered to himself. "What I'm saying is that she made your band famous by manipulating the charts, right? And if everything she did was reversed when she went in the portal, then…"

Gus didn't even have to finish his sentence for Thorn to realize what he was saying, and it seemed like he was terrifyingly correct.

"Nobody knows about our band anymore?" Thorn finished Gus's sentence.

---

Author's note:

I really hope you enjoyed this penultimate chapter!

I'm going to take a little break from publishing next Friday, as I'll be spending time with family for Easter. Not publishing next week also ironically causes the last chapter's publish date to perfectly align with Earth Day, which feels like too good of an opportunity to pass up given the girls are eco-goths. Besides, I've got to keep you all on the edge of your seats waiting since it's the last chapter, after all haha.

Since the girls didn't visit any new cities in this chapter, I don't have any notes providing a history of the location like has become the norm, but I do have a couple of miscellaneous notes about several scenes in the chapter.

For those wondering, yes, I was hinting Jeff is the same person as Fantzee Pantz. I thought it would be a fun little nod to "In Fear of the Phantom," which is one of the two episodes that feature the Hex Girls in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.

Thorn's awkward comment about Dusk "drinking the limelight like medication" is a reference to the musical episode of the 1996 live-action Sabrina the Teenage Witch television series, titled "Ping, Ping a Song." I'm a big fan of that show and have a lot of nostalgia around it, as I loved watching the show growing up. The episode referenced is so corny and flaw-filled (including an extremely poor cover of "My Lovin" by En Vogue where it is painfully obvious it was lip synced), but I love it so much and it's one of the most memorable episodes to me for some reason haha. The episode features Sabrina and her friends Roxie and Morgan getting discovered as a girl group, but Sabrina takes magical "limelight pills" which cause her to become extremely narcissistic. The premise felt like it sort of fit in well with this fanfic, given they both feature the characters getting discovered as a band and one of the characters losing themselves a bit in the fame, hence why I thought it would be fun to include as a reference here.

The part where Jake turns off the camera without telling anyone is sort of an in-joke I chose to include. In chapter 13, I didn't think to include a line where he informed anyone about turning off the camera, which created some unintentionally amusing scenes where he just turns the camera off without ever saying anything lol. Someone pointed it out to me and I fixed it, but that scene was what inspired me to include it in this alternate reality.

If you've read my previous fanfics, you know that the running joke is to always work a reference to Don Knotts, Michael Jackson and Camp Rock into the fanfic somehow. I referenced Don in chapter 1 and Camp Rock in chapter 18, and now the Michael Jackson item has been checked off the list in this fanfic too haha.

Thank you so much to everyone for reading, and I hope you're excited for the final chapter!