MADISON'S LEG JITTERED AS SHE DROVE. She battled herself on whether or not her good intentions were truly a good idea in the grand scheme of things. She brushed it off, clearing her throat to fill the void of silence in the car between herself and Zoe. She opened her mouth to tell the other girl that she could turn the radio on if she'd like, but immediately chose not to as she realized that they were coming up on their turn into the parking lot for the city morgue.
She pulled into the lot, parking her black 2013 Jaguar XKR across from the morgue's door with a safe enough distance that it wouldn't seem like anyone was inside the building. Quickly exiting the car, she spun her keys around her index finger as she sauntered across the parking lot. Zoe climbed out of the passenger side and took in her surroundings just as confused as she had been when the blonde had invited her out that morning.
"I was supposed to play a cat burglar in this movie once," Madison made small talk as she moved towards the door, trying to disrupt the silence between the two of them. "But the funding fell through." She shuffled through her bag, a small smirk on her face as she found what she was looking for. She stood in front of the door to the morgue and pulled her lock picking kit out of her purse.
"But not before I learned how to do this." Removing a set of lock picks, she hesitated for a moment before turning to Zoe. "Hold that," she handed the other girl the rest of her kit before jamming her lock pick into the door's lock. She fiddled with the positioning, grunting softly as she tried to find the right spot. As the door clicked open, she chuckled triumphantly.
"Go," Madison whispered as she pulled the now unlocked door open, ushering the meek girl inside the building. She checked behind them, making sure they weren't followed or being watched— a habit she'd picked up on her adventures with Corey— as she followed Zoe inside. She turned on the industrial lights as the door creaked shut behind them, the loud click of metal against metal causing the newest addition to the coven to jump slightly. The blonde took the rest of her kit back from Zoe, placing her lock picks back into their respective spots in their pouch before placing the pouch back into her purse.
"Madison, what are we doing here?" Zoe tugged at her sweater anxiously as she watched the other girl move ahead of her. The actress removed her sunglasses, her tall boots clicking with an echo across the sterile brick floors.
"I'm gonna pay you back," Madison spoke matter-of-factly. Her eyes scanned the building with the mint green and dingy yellow tiles that covered the walls. She searched for anything reminiscent of a refrigeration system— drawers, fridges, cabinets, etc.— that the frat boys could have been stored in.
"Pay me back?" The brunette paused, still slightly confused. "For what?" She followed the blonde as she moved, stopping in her tracks when the shorter girl turned to face her.
"I know what you did for me, dealing with that asshole," Madison forced a slight smile as she pursed her lips. She was once again frustrated with having to discuss her trauma with another person. "And I know you couldn't have done it without Corinna allowing you to sneak off like she did, so I'm gonna return the favor."
She returned her attention to her purse over her shoulder, digging through it until she found the folded parchment that she'd taken from Corey's office. She held it out in front of her for Zoe to see. "Stole it out of Corey's stash." She smirked as the brunette pulled it from her hands, unfolding it only to furrow her brows at the weathered and aged parchment.
"Well, I mean," she fumbled with her words. She looked up at the tile ceiling as she bounced her head back and forth for a moment. "She knows I borrowed something, she just doesn't know what."
"It's in Latin... What is this?" Zoe shook her head as she looked up at the blonde, earning an eye roll from the other girl. It was as if the brunette couldn't add the situation together.
Morgue plus old-latin-parchment equals...
"Resurrection spell," Madison held in her groan, trying to understand how one person could be so naïve in a situation like this. "We're gonna bring your boyfriend back to life." Her devious smirk only grew as she took the spell back with two fingers. There was a spark in her eye as she turned back to the mission at hand: finding where the bodies were kept. She continued to wander throughout the building, groaning as she finally found the door to the large metal refrigeration system.
"Bingo," she hummed. Her lip bottom lip slipped between her teeth as she jogged over to the large, heavy door. It took a moment for her frail body to muster enough strength to pop the handle on the door downward and pull it open. She stepped through the plastic curtain that separated the sanitized portion of the morgue from the stench of death and decay inside the refrigerator. Her eyes grew wide at the sight before her and for a moment she considered telling Zoe not to follow her inside.
"Oh, shit," her voice dragged out. Her jaw dropped slightly as she took in the collections of limbs, torsos, and heads that rested on the seven separate steel tables in the large refrigerator. She held it together as she turned to Zoe, though her voice had a playful tone to it. "I guess that crash was even worse than I thought."
Madison dug through her purse again, this time to put the old spell back as to not misplace it. As the other girl pushed back the plastic, her mouth opened slightly in a combination of shock and horror. Ready to just get the job over with, Madison moved to the closest body bag and unzipped it. Zoe's attention immediately moved to the blonde, her eyes wide.
"No, don't!" Zoe begged, though it was too late. She took a step forward to place a pleading hand on Madison's shoulder, but at that point the blonde was already pulling the body bag open. Zoe gasped, her hands flying over her face as she stepped away, shielding herself from the sight of Kyle's head amongst a collection of other dismembered parts.
"He's still kind of cute, though." Madison winced slightly, realizing that the one innocent person out of the group could have had one of the most painful deaths at her own hand. Her hesitation was evident in her voice as she tried to make the best of the situation. She shrugged, a what can you do pout jutting out for a fraction of a second.
"Madison!" Zoe cried out as she continued to stare at a corner of the metal wall. The blonde swallowed hard as she stepped away from the body bag, leaving it unzipped and pulled open as she took in the rest of the bags that surrounded them.
"Guess they're trying to figure out where everything goes," she took a few steps towards the next table, trying to see how everything was divided. If she could figure out the system they had in place, she could help Zoe put Kyle back together the right way. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head.
"Can we please just get out of here?" The brunette whispered. Her lip trembled as she tried to muster up her words without letting her tears fall. The blonde's face changed from a look of amusement to one of frustration as she turned to the other girl. She sucked in her cheek as she rolled her jaw, shifting her weight as she tilted her head.
"Zoe, look around this room," Madison stomped lightly. The click of her heel echoed throughout the room. "Okay, what do you see?" Zoe refused to look around and instead picked a piece of the tan colored brick flooring to look at. Madison moved her hands around as a signal to take in their surroundings.
"A tragedy?" The brunette shrugged, her arms crossed over her chest. "What... what do you—" Madison cut the other girl off with an eye roll.
"I see potential," she looked back at the tables covered in plastic behind them. She raised a single brow as Zoe finally looked up from the floor, her brows furrowed. "Look," Madison began to move around the room as she talked, pointing as she mentioned things. "Nice legs over here, a great set of guns." She pulled the plastic on one of the tables upward to get a better look at the parts collected on the table in front of her.
"I wonder if he's a show-er or a grower." She looked back at Zoe for a second as she raised her brow upward, a flirtatious smile gracing her lips. You couldn't tell from the outside, but she hated every second of being in that room. Looking at the faces that had once all melded into one gave her an ache she never knew she could feel. It was a dull pain at the base of her chest, almost as if her heart would cease to beat if she continued.
"What's your point, Madison?" Zoe snapped at the other girl. The tears that had previously threatened to fall began to slowly trickle down her cheeks. The blonde threw the tarp back down against the table. A quiet but much needed breath of relief escaped her lips as she turned to move towards the brunette.
"We take the best boy parts," she took a few steps forward. The same flirtatious smirk remained plastered on her lips as she spoke. "We attach them to Kyle's head," her arms swung at her sides slightly as she moved, closing the distance between herself and Zoe.
"And we build the perfect boyfriend," her sentence ended in a whisper as her bottom lip slipped between her teeth, her brows arching upward. She knew that, if Corey was around, she would be able to see right through her tactics. She was trying to use her body language and tone to her advantage.
"Is this just a joke to you?" Zoe stepped forward threateningly, her arms still crossed over her chest. Okay, Madison thought. Her demeanor changed as she tried to shift tactics. So maybe flirting doesn't work with everyone.
"No, it's a challenge," Madison sighed. She dug through her purse once more to pull the old spell parchment back out. "And all we have to do is follow this recipe." She glared at the brunette for a moment as she pulled the spell from the actress' hands.
Madison let her hands drop to her side. She quickly turned away and moved back to the table she had stood at previously. She threw the plastic off, standing with her weight shifted to one side as she called back to the other girl. "Find me a saw." She looked back to the pile in front of her a slight tilt to her head as she scanned the potential inventory accumulated before her.
Madison wheeled out one of the metal tables, and Zoe followed behind her as she wrung her hands together anxiously. "You know, you could help me move this table," she groaned as the wheel caught against a misaligned brick in the floor. She used her hip to free the wheel from where it had been stuck, letting out a pain filled hiss as she finally got the table to budge. "He's a lot heavier than you'd think."
Zoe rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest as she continued to follow behind the blonde. "You seem to be handling it just fine on your own," she muttered. She took slow mini-steps as she watched Madison continue to struggle to push the table-turned-cart across the uneven floor. The blonde pulled the cart to a stop as she approached the large metal slab table that would usually be used for an autopsy examination. She let out a huff, stopping to catch her breath for a moment.
Zoe shifted her weight behind her anxiously, which led to Madison's break being cut much shorter than she would have liked. She let out a frustrated groan as she turned to the cart and began transferring the mismatched Kyle puzzle pieces onto the table. The brunette helped her line them up, making sure each piece's jagged edge would line up with a little assistance here or there.
Madison took out a large leather needle and some yarn and began stitching the pieces together as well as she could, though she would admit that sewing wasn't her strong suit. "I need you to draw some symbols around the body," she focused on trying to get the stitching as perfectly as she could while she spoke. "They're on the back of the paper in the places that they need to be on the table."
"What if I mess it up?" Zoe asked quickly. She swallowed hard as she hesitated to move forward. She flexed her fingers in front of her, truly unsure of what she needed to do in that moment.
"Fucking hell, do I really need to do everything around here?" Madison groaned. She put the needle down for a moment to nudge the brunette out of the way. She drew the symbols in their respective places across the table with the blood that covered her hands.
"At least light the candles at the corners of the table. My fourteen year old cousin is better at taking orders than you." She scoffed as she shook her head, returning her attention to the last of the stitching needed around Kyle's neck and chest. Zoe lit the three candles— white, red, and black— with a match from Madison's matchbox in her purse. She placed them accordingly around the makeshift altar, making sure the picture of Kyle that Madison had found on the internet wouldn't fall off the edge of the table.
"I need a bowl and some hair from his head," Madison sighed as she wiped her hands with a rag before quickly taking some scissors and cutting a chunk of Kyle's hair. Zoe took a step back to turn off the light, assuming that the spell needed to be completed in the dark. She returned with a small metal bowl, quickly placing it on the table in front of Madison.
The blonde pulled some test tubes from her purse and added them to the metal bowl as well— wormwood and horehound she'd stolen from Cordelia's greenhouse. "The salt," the blonde nodded, handing the vial to the other girl. "Draw a circle around his body with it." Zoe nodded, popping the cork top on the bottle before quickly tracing a circle around Kyle's new body.
Madison lit a match, gently tilting it into the metal bowl in front of her. She panicked with how quickly the bowl caught fire and pulled the match back towards her face to blow it out with a gasp. Grabbing a clean washcloth, she turned back to Zoe. "Okay," she spoke quietly, placing the towel over the bowl to snuff out the flames. She lifted the bowl up towards both of their faces, hesitating for a moment.
She had no idea what the spell would actually do. Whether it would bind the three of them, resurrect Kyle, or just cause the two of them to be haunted by the ghosts of the frat boys for the rest of their lives. She took a deep breath before slowly looking up at Zoe. "Breathe in the smoke."
Both girls took in a deep breath as soon as Madison removed the cloth. It took a few moments for anything to happen and the blonde questioned whether or not the spell was a dud. Suddenly, she felt the ripples of her nerves throughout her body. She assumed that Zoe had felt the same when she doubled over, both girls letting out a shrill scream. Zoe's cries rang out longer as Madison bit back the pain that rippled through her body. The pain that Kyle and each of the parts attached to him had felt as the bus exploded, she assumed.
"Give me your hand," Madison reached out. She flailed as she felt another ripple course through her body. She now understood why Corey had warned her against dark magic in the past, "Blood is our sacrament."
She ran a blade across Zoe's palm. She pressed it against the skin enough to be able to squeeze out the right amount of blood that they needed for the spell but not too much that it'd leave a scar. She dipped her finger into the puddle that quickly formed across Zoe's palm, knowing better than to use her own in a moment like this. As she chanted, she drew a pentagram on Kyle's chest.
"Colpriziana, offina alta nestra, fuero menut. Azazel, we submit to you, body and soul, the lord of the underworld, we offer you our obedience and everlasting devotion until death sanctifies this unholy union." Madison waved her hand over Kyle's chest, her doubts taking over in that moment. She had no idea what can of worms she could be opening with the spell she chose and was starting to panic, but she wouldn't let it show.
"Did we just marry the Devil? 'Cause I don't know if I'm down with that." Zoe's opposite hand landed on Madison's forearm in hesitation. It distracted the actress from making sure she summoned the correct spirit to the body before them. Before the blonde could say anything else, the pentagram that she had drawn in Zoe's blood caught fire. The flames that danced upwards burned the palm of Madison's hand that rested above it. She gasped in pain, quickly pulling her hand back and massaging her palm.
"Berald, Beroald, Balbin, Gab, Gabor, Agaba." Madison panicked. She ran out of time during her request for assistance and skipped a step all together. If anything went wrong in the end, she'd blame Zoe. At least she'd tried. The brunette looked frantically between Kyle and Madison as the blonde chanted in Latin.
"Berald, Beroald, Balbin, Gab, Gabor, Agaba." Zoe joined in. They repeated the chant three more times, each one getting louder than the last until both girls were shouting, the lights flickering all around them.
"Return to the mortal coil! Arise!" The electricity cracked one final time as Madison reached her hands out above the body on the slab before her. She waited hesitantly as she struggled to catch her breath. Reaching out, she grabbed the arm closest to her and lifted it before letting go and watching it immediately drop back down to Kyle's side. She huffed, shaking her head as she shifted her weight. "Well, that was a bust."
Zoe reached out, shaking Kyle lightly as she waited for something to happen. Madison pulled out the parchment and read over it once more, making sure she'd gone over the combination of Latin and Hebrew words correctly. Zoe furrowed her brow as she stood up taller. "Are you sure you said the spell correctly?" Madison glared at the other girl, crinkling the parchment in frustration unintentionally.
"Hey, I've been acting since I was five. I know my lines." The blonde spat, quickly gathering her things and preparing to leave.
"I guess we're just not powerful enough." Zoe's hands fell to her sides in defeat as the blonde draped her purse back over her shoulder. She folded Corey's olive and black leather jacket over her arm as she walked off in frustration. The brunette started to follow her before hesitating once more. "Hey, I'll, I'll meet you in the car. I, I left my phone in here somewhere."
"Hurry up," Madison groaned as turned away from the other girl, quickly flinging the jacket over her shoulder. As she pushed the front door open, she dug through the hidden liner of her purse for a joint. She tossed Corey's jacket onto the convertible top of her car and leaned against the door, but was quickly interrupted by the sound of a car pulling into the parking lot behind her.
"Shit..." She quickly shoved her things back into her purse and grabbed the jacket before opening the door and climbing into her car. "Tough luck, bitch," Madison muttered. She used her push-start to easily take off before the other car even pull in behind blonde wondered what had been taking Zoe so long to find her phone as she headed back to the Academy.
The repeated pinging of a cellphone grabbed the redhead's attention. Reluctantly, she reached out at scrolled through her notifications. One message after the next was a panicked thread of consciousness from her band and management team. She furrowed her brow, completely confused over what was happening.
She opened her most recent notification thread, a collection of multiple headline mentions on twitter.
Corey Luna spotted getting cozy with Madison Montgomery.
COULD COREY LUNA & MADISON MONTGOMERY BE MORE THAN BESTIES?
PIC: Corey Luna and Madison Montgomery get handsy!
COREY LUNA AND MADISON MONTGOMERY REACHED PEAK CUTENESS AT LOCAL NEW ORLEANS ROLLER RINK.
Is Madison Montgomery Dating Musician Corey Luna—And Which One Are We Jealous Of?
IS MADISON MONTGOMERY SECRETLY DATING COREY LUNA? INSIDE THEIR RELATIONSHIP.
PROOF: Madison Montgomery and Corey Luna 100% In a Relationship.
COREY LUNA AND MADISON MONTGOMERY: ARE THEY MORE THAN JUST BFF'S?
Madison Montgomery And Corey Luna Dating? Tabloid Rumors Heat Up Once Again.
IS THE MADDEY SHIP AFLOAT? THESE IMAGES MAY BE PROOF!
"You have to be fucking kidding me," Corey groaned. She let a hand run across her face, taking in a deep breath. She should have known how quickly their privacy would be invaded. She wondered who could have taken and spread photographs for a moment, knowing she hadn't spotted anyone out of the ordinary the day before. Her brow creased as she tossed her phone against the desk angrily. She couldn't come to a conclusion, a rumble deep in her bones catching her off guard.
A ripple of energy rolled across Corey's spine. Her muscles felt like flames itching to escape as her nerves spasmed under her skin. She clenched the edge of her desk, white knuckles spread quickly as her brow furrowed. She could feel her bones rattling, whatever energy spike she could sense making her teeth vibrate. It didn't stop until Madison walked through the door, the blonde oblivious to whatever had been going on in that moment.
"What the fuck did you do?" The redhead spat. She flexed her jaw as a numbness rolled across her entire body. She blinked rapidly, looking down at her desk in front of her. The blonde froze, her brow furrowed as she stopped in the doorway to Corey's office. She went to speak but was cut off by the other girl's fiery glare. "I have never felt that much pain in my entire life, Madison. What. Did. You. Do?"
"I thought you said you untethered?" Madison asked in a hushed tone. Her eyes were soft as she furrowed her brow. She couldn't understand how Corey could have felt the same pain that both she and Zoe felt during the ritual.
"I did," the redhead's jaw dropped slightly in anger. Her hand reached out to point to the blonde's purse. "The spell you took," she made a come here motion with her fingers as she spoke. "Give it to me." Corey didn't understand why she had trusted the other girl to not get into things she shouldn't have, but she did, and now she was paying the price for it. Madison nodded as she pursed her lips. Quickly, she dug through her purse to take out the spell.
"I wanted to help Zoe get her boyfriend back," Madison sighed. She spoke quietly as she shuffled across the room. She handed the spell to Corey, swallowing hard as the other girl snatched the paper from her hand. "It didn't work anyway," she shook her head. Her tongue jutted out as she sucked in her bottom lip.
Corey's eyes scanned the paper for a moment. A few seconds was all she needed to realize that she was holding a Necromancy ritual in her hands. Her anger fell from her peach face as she grew paler. It was something Madison didn't even know was humanly possible. The redhead swallowed hard, pursing her lips as she placed the parchment down on her desk. "Do you realize what you've just done?"
Madison's brows furrowed. The confusion was written all over her features as she tried to figure out what her girlfriend was accusing her of in that moment. "Corey, I told you, it didn't work." Corey rolled her eyes. Her head tilted to look up at the other girl as she rested her elbows against her desk, her hands folded in front of her.
"Necromancy requires a trade of life energy to manifest correctly," her tongue jutted out to wet her bottom lip as she tried to choose the words she said carefully. "From the looks of it, since she's not here with you, Zoe made that trade. If she didn't, then you just abandoned her after making a deal with the devil." The words at the end of her sentence were louder, almost a shout, as she spoke through her teeth and lost control over her temper for a moment. Madison nodded, her tongue propping her jaw open as she tried to find the words to say.
"Right," the blonde pursed her lips. An angry huff escaped her nostrils as she looked down at her feet. "Sorry I tried to help a friend." She shook her head, looking back up at the other girl, her face void of any emotion. She quickly stepped back and left the room, her jaw rolling in anger as she nodded slightly. She needed to get out of Corey's office before the other girl ripped into her any harder than she already had. Luckily, or not so luckily, her phone trilled. Trinity Pine scrolled across her phone's caller ID.