Serpantha looked across the table to Calen, full glass in hand. 'Calen you probably shouldn't drink that, you've never had it before, you could have a bad reaction.'

'You're right.' Calen said, drinking the whole glass in one gulp. 'I wouldn't want to damage my body for my old age.'

'Calen you know what I mean.'

'Serpantha it doesn't matter now.' Calen poured herself another glass, and then turned to Larpskendya, who sat in the corner silently, arms around Zina who was laid on him. 'Don't want any monkey lover?'

Larpskendya didn't respond, he barely moved except to breathe.

'You're finally on Orin Fen,' Serpantha said. 'In my family's home, our dinning hall. You did it Calen. I'm sure your mother will appraise you in hell.'

'I hope not,' Calen laughed. 'I hope not to go wherever my mother went, she wouldn't stop yelling at me for all entirety for all this. It's OK, chances are we'll end up in the same place right?'

But in fact, Calen found herself wanting her mother more and anyone. She would know what to do, she thought. And she treated me better than any man every would.

'Probably. We could all have a meal together – your mother and my brother could resolve their differences, we could get drunk – it could be a fun time.'

Calen downed her second glass. 'Don't forget my sister now! I wonder if given your father made me look like her but skinny she would mistake me for her and I wouldn't get murdered.'

Serpantha looked to his father. 'Does it work like that?'

'Why would I know?'

'You may,' Serpantha shrugged. 'I mean you seem to think you're a God anyway.'

'I'm leaving.' Oriliagh's voice wavered as she got up from her seat and began to walk away. 'Just get this over with.'

'Stop,' Safeke commanded, and she did. 'I'm letting them drink it off so it isn't as bad to deal with and you get one last talk with them. We did it with everyone else, took them away just before their deaths and let them go through this.'

'Fantastic.' Serpantha muttered. 'I'm sure everyone appreciated it.'

Oriliagh turned around to look at her son. 'It isn't right, I've never thought that, but he has been kind before. When Áraliná died—'

'Don't talk to me about Áraliná!' Serpantha burst.

Oriliagh ignored him. 'We made her think this was some kind of heaven, told her how proud we were and how she was always perfect.'

'And that makes up for her dying because she was glad to be ill? Glad to be throwing up anything she attempted to eat?' Serpantha swallowed a lump in his throat. 'Funny, you could have gotten what you wanted, father, if you hadn't have pushed her too far. You were trying to make her too perfect and desired, purely because you didn't want me to rule. Look where it got you. Unloved by anyone.'

'At least any lovers of mine aren't dead.' Safeke replied bitterly.

Serpantha put down his glass. 'You killed anyone I've ever loved and you take superiority on that? At least I had family.'

'Serpantha!' Oriliagh reprimanded him.

'Can you stop doing that?' Serpantha turned to look at her. 'I'm not a child anymore.'

'You're still my child no matter how old.'

'Then why are you allowing this to happen? Mothers protect their children it's what parents do.'

'Most parents would kill for their children, or kill anyone who hurt them, let alone murdered them.' Calen chimed in.

'That doesn't excuse your mother's actions.' Larpskendya replied, not looking away from Zina.

Calen snapped, looking into the wizard's eyes threateningly despite her lack of weapons against him. 'My mother, sane or not, was angry and wanted revenge on those who killed her daughter. When your girl died tell me what did you do? You became a little murderous, didn't you? Oh wait – I forgot! You're Larpskendya, you can do whatever you want and still be so beloved by everyone!'

'It isn't like that.' Larpskendya replied firmly.

'Isn't it?' Calen crossed her arms and gave him a condescending look. 'Is that because you're a wizard? You can kill because you're doing it for good. I forgot. As always, I seem to be wrong, it's not like you're a parent who killed as revenge for the death of their daughter.'

Larpskendya did something he very rarely did. He got angry. 'It isn't like that! My daughter did nothing wrong, and thanks to Heebra' – he almost spat the words, as if they themselves tasted bitter – 'my daughter killed herself. Because I couldn't be there for her. She was innocent. We all know no High Witch can be given such a title.'

Serpantha looked genuinely concerned. His brother never acted like this. Never.

'But I forgot, you care about me, don't you?' Calen added.

'For the last time,' Serpantha slammed his hand on the table to catch her attention. 'If we didn't we wouldn't bother with you.'

Calen looked him in the eyes. 'If you cared, genuinely cared about me or anyone else who isn't on your side you wouldn't have done things you have.' Serpantha went to speak, but she wouldn't let him, instead turning back to Larpskendya. 'You killed my mother for no good reason.'

Larpskendya gave a half-hearted reply, 'She left us no—'

'Let me finish! You killed her for no good reason other than to save the lives of maybe four people and some tiny planet that – in the grand scheme of things – means nothing.'

Larpskendya tried to brush it off. 'You would have destroyed billions of lives, how is that better than sparing one?'

'You're only defending the place because your lover comes from there – at least we don't breed outside our species. But that's not even why you're so twisted.' Calen tried to calm down and her speech became less fast paced. 'In killing Heebra you condemned me and my species; if you had let her live and let a few meaningless children die your species wouldn't have died. It's your own fault yet you expect sympathy? All because you apparently value life – you don't. You value yourselves and those who benefit you.'

'The lives of the innocent and venerable had to be prioritized; it doesn't make any life less important.' Larpskendya replied gravely. 'Do you think we took such a decision lightly?'

'Oh God you're full of it.' Calen paused before adding, 'Does that make such a decision right to make?'

'The decision wasn't a guiltless one.'

'Oh – I know that!' Calen's face could no longer hide emotion. 'I don't believe I've ever met a Wizard without a conscience. But that's why you were willing to help. Guilt. So don't pretend it was out of the goodness of your heart. You put my sister through needless torture for a joke and then got angry at my mother for being completely just in revenge?'

'I was ignorant then.' Larpskendya admitted. 'I didn't know how it sat in a heart to lose a child, and when I met her on Earth I did.'

Calen wanted to scream. 'That doesn't excuse your actions.'

'Sister, would you just sit down.' Safeke said, sick of hearing their argument.

Oriliagh obliged.

'Why are you calling her sister? You never do that.' Serpantha looked at them both, inspecting their every move.

Safeke smiled. 'You never worked it out?'

Not wanting to be patronised more, Serpantha said, 'Forget it, I don't care.'

'We're brother and sister, son; we both carry the name of Rakafae.'

A thick silence filled the room.

'What?' Calen smirked. 'You're brother and sister?'

Oriliagh took a sip of her drink, angry at her brother for revealing their secret, he never had before. 'Yes.' She said bluntly.

'You're a product of incest,' Calen grinned, and then added thoughtfully, 'I suppose that's why I didn't recognise Larpskendya at first. All you Rakafae's look the same – same skin tone, big eyes, hooked nose, girly big lips – but he didn't look like that, because he's not the product of an incestual relationship.'

'How…?' Serpantha asked, frozen.

'My parents never loved me.' Safeke replied, still smiling. 'I tried to kill them and they sent me away, locked me away like an animal, so when I returned as an adult we could finally be together. We killed them.'

Serpantha didn't know how to react. He eventually said, 'You ensured the death of my first lover for being male, that disgusts you but this doesn't?'

'That's you, this is me. I refused to support you in something like that. It's OK, you can go see your best friend in the afterlife.' Safeke shrugged, almost looking proud of himself. 'Drink up, I'm growing impatient.'

'Mother…' Serpantha said desperately.

'Safeke stop it.' Oriliagh said firmly. 'Serpantha has done nothing wrong in loving someone and we can hardly speak for what's right and wrong.'

'Oh Serpantha it was years ago, get over it.' Safeke grinned to himself. 'You've had four children since then, other lovers and friends, move on.'

'It doesn't work like that.' Serpantha ran his hand through the back of his hair, trying to contain emotion and frustration.

A dagger flung across the room, with such unexpectedness that even Serpantha flinched, and it took him a moment to process where it came from or what just happened. Safeke's shoulder was pierced with the blade, and his face drained of colour as he froze, too shocked to react yet.

Serpantha lifted his head and looked to his brother, who stood up and looked to Safeke, having thrown the knife moments before. He looked to him sternly. 'I have had enough of this and I'm not even a victim of your petty dealings. I don't care if he's your son he's my brother first and you don't talk to him like that.' Zina stood up and grabbed his hand, supporting him. Larpskendya looked at her briefly in thanks.

Silence once again flooded the room. 'You two are brother and sister serial killers, and you, Safeke, abused your children. And you think you have the right to talk down to anyone? Get it over with; kill me now, because if I die I'm taking you with me.'

Safeke regained himself, and removed the blade. The wound healed instantly. His expression never changed as he threw the blade back, towards Larpskendya's head. Larpskendya braced himself for an impact that never came, and when he opened his eyes he saw Zina looking petrified, arms thrust in front of her, and blade on the floor.

She used and spell to stop it.

Not knowing what to say, Larpskendya said, 'Holding your arms out isn't necessary.'

'Yeah well I'm gonna do it anyway.' She replied, equally shocked. 'Makes me feel safer.'

'Fine.' Safeke stood up. 'Let's get this over with.'

Oriliagh choked back tears. This was so wrong. Maybe doing it this way wasn't best.

'We have one sword, none of us are trained to use it, and we don't even know if we can take it with us.' Venibilles said. 'We may as well drown ourselves here.'

'Oh come on Venibilles,' Heiki said. 'We just need to do something you're good at: stick him with the pointy end.' Heiki finished off the joke with a wink.

Venibilles suppressed a smile. 'Not even Serpantha could beat his father in combat.'

'Did you just call your father by his name?' Rachel's brow creased.

Venibilles seemed indifferent. 'Force of habit, I mean all the kids he's raised haven't been his so it's just what everyone's used to.'

'Hm.' Rachel mused. 'If we can return to the present surely we can come get it.'

'No this place is caved in in the future.'

'Why is it caved it?' Rachel looked at him suspiciously.

'This place is older than we thought it stands to reason.'

'Well then where can we put it?'

'Rachel's idea is worth a try.' Heiki was impressed. 'Venibilles where's best?'

'I've got it.'

'Your bed?' Heiki smiled at first, but the quickly cleared her throat when no one responded and regained herself. 'Take us there then.'

Venibilles took them to the least expected of places. The living room where the three of them had first met.

'This is it.'

'Seriously?' as soon as the words came out Heiki decided she needed to be nicer. 'Are you sure? Where?'

Venibilles gave a half-hearted smile. 'Thing about this house, it's old, things stay the same.'

He moved over the sofa, which looked more like a double bed with the arms of a sofa than what would be on Earth, Heiki thought it looked more like a therapist's couch, but embroidered and big enough for two people to lay on. Venibilles took the sword, and slid it under.

'…really?' Heiki tried to contain her frustration. 'I know you have a lot to live up to in terms of family intelligence and planning but…really?'

'I'm not the brains in this family.' Venibilles said firmly. 'But no one will find it just trust me, please. I'm not totally incompetent, even if I am a family failure who can't do anything.'

Rachel and Heiki looked at each other, and then back to Venibilles.

'Oh shut up, you're fine Veni. We need to work on getting back to the present.' Heiki said firmly. 'I swear to god I'm gonna cut that man's head and bollocks off for putting us through this.'

'We should leave.' Rachel said, purely to stop Heiki saying more. 'Now.'

The three of them shifted to outside the white hole.

'Ready?' Heiki asked.

Rachel gave a single nod.

As soon as they entered the white hole, the three of them thought of where they wanted to go. When they tried, however, familiar pattern of Safeke's magic took over, transporting them.

The three of them found themselves in the dinning hall with Safeke, readying himself to kill. 'You had your chance to get away, and you chose to come back.' He said.

Rachel took in the scene around her in disbelief. There wasn't any getting out of this.

Heiki made a snap decision, and darted out the room. She just had to get the sword. Safeke couldn't keep and eye on everyone at once, and he might mistake her running for cowardice.

But I'm not afraid, she told herself. I'm better than that. Than him, than all of this. I'm getting out of this, and I'm going to Orin Fen and staying with Serpantha.

Heiki never made it before Safeke slung her across the room with a spell. Thanks to the tracksuit, she felt nothing. That was it, she could be stabbed and hit but he suit would protect her. The same for Rachel or Venibilles. She would be the one to face Safeke, he couldn't hurt her in sword combat easily. Heiki knew she was going to win this.

Until Heiki tried to move, and realised she couldn't.

She began to feel tightening around her throat, and realised why everyone was looking at her so agonized. Her vision depleted, and all words became blurred, returning to how they were before she ever had magic. The tightening increased, and Heiki realised she was being strangled.

Rachel shouted Heiki's name, but all Heiki heard was white noise. Heiki tried every spell she could to try and break free, and grasped at her throat. She felt a rope around her neck. Heiki began to fire every spell she could at the rope, and began clawing at her throat until it bled, and resisted the urge to kick her legs, not wanting to exert herself. Breathe, she told herself. Breathe.

Heiki was able to make out one voice.

'Please!' Serpantha shouted.

Serpantha will save me. Then I'll chop Safeke's—

Heiki's thoughts were interrupted by the pain of the rope tightening, and tears began to fall down her face.

Of course you'd kill me like this, you bastard.

Heiki felt herself slipping away from consciousness, and used one last spell to fix her hearing and sight, not that it was easy to see through her tears. She needed to know if Safeke had been harmed, if she would make it. He wasn't. She looked to Rachel, who was screaming hysterically. Heiki always thought she would die kicking, screaming and crying. She would never just lie down and take it – she didn't have that kind of dignity, and she was too scared of death to possibly be calm.

But here she found herself up against the wall, being strangled to death by a spell, legs not touching the floor, and once she realised there was no escaping, she did, indeed give up. Tears brushed down her face as she had to face the fact there wouldn't be a way out this time. This was it. This was how she was going to die. She didn't want to, she wasn't ready – but Heiki never wanted to die with bad thoughts.

There was another reason to her calmness, however. Rachel. Even Heiki, with her oxygen starved brain, knew they had to get out of there. They would have to leave Heiki behind. Leave her to die. Serpantha looked to Heiki with an indescribable look on his face, somewhere between anger, misery, and self-hatred. But he knew he had no time to dwell on emotions, let alone say anything, and Heiki knew it too.

Heiki, knowing she was dying, flooded her mind with thoughts of Rachel, all the times they spent together, what she looked like, everything about her. Until one thought crossed her mind. I'm done with you.

Not knowing what else to do, she bashed her fist against the wall to make Rachel look to her hand. Trembling, Heiki formed a loose fist, and tried to smile. She then lifted her pinkie finger, and then waited a moment before lifting her index finger, and then moving her thumb out the side. She kept her hand like that as long as she could, trying to ignore the hysteria around her.

While Rachel looked to Heiki in confusion and agony, Venibilles took his opportunity to sneak away to get the sword. Safeke was too amused to notice, and why would he suspect Venibilles? He was useless after all.

No one but Calen and Safeke took their attention away from Heiki when Venibilles ran back in baring a sword, holding it with both hands, charging towards Safeke.

Safeke tossed him away with a quick spell, not caring to look at the sword. Calen, however, did. Calen had always had a fascination with swords and blades, and this coupled with her obsessive memory meant she recognised the legendary blade straight away. She just had to get to it. Serpantha saw her out the corner of his eye, and knew what she was thinking.

'We need to leave.' He said firmly.

'No!' Rachel shrieked. 'Heiki…Heiki just stop it she can still be saved she's just unconscious we need to—'

'Now!'

'I'm not leaving her!'

Serpantha grabbed Rachel's waist, and swept her off the ground, dragging her away, as he let the others reluctantly run ahead, except Calen, who, amongst the chaos, when to retrieve the sword, and then hide under the table. Rachel kicked and elbowed him, no longer caring, shouting as loudly as she could, 'I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!'

Serpantha near enough threw her into the next room where everyone else took shelter, where Larpskendya had to hold her back. Rachel found herself fighting even him to try to get to Heiki, something she never thought she could do.

Serpantha stood and faced his father, Heiki behind him, blood drained from her face. Oriliagh looked at him, and both of them shook slightly.

'Fight me. To the death.' Serpantha demanded, voice cracking.

Safeke smirked, and made his way towards Serpantha. Once he was only a metre from Serpantha, Calen dove from under the table, and pierced Safeke's back with the sword.

Oriliagh screamed.

Calen kicked him to the floor and turned his still in shock body face up, removed the blade, and began widely stabbing at him.

A failure of a High Witch.

You will never be queen.

What a wonderful leader, give her a black eye and she'd give up any information the Griddas wanted.

Unlike Calen, who is absent in both aspects.

I expect better judgement from one who is to rule after me.

Calen eventually stopped stabbing, and Oriliagh ran over to what remained of Safeke's barely in tact body, sobbing violently.

'How did it come to this, my love?' she managed, stroking his blooded face, not caring for the blood leaking onto her skin and her dress.

Calen walked away, looking down, and then dropped the sword on the floor. She looked through to the next room where Rachel had stopped struggling from the shock.

Venibilles threw up.

Oriliagh just remained over Safeke's body, crying and whispering to him.

A new presence entered the room.

'L'hara…' a voice said, terrified.

Serpantha looked to the small boy stood there in an orange robe. 'Yemi!'

The boy looked curiously to him, and then back to Oriliagh. Without moving, he destroyed the walls between him and everyone else in the next room, revealing the others.

Oriliagh looked to him and said through tears, 'Detriar…'

'What did you do?' he shouted, in perfect English. He looked to Serpantha, and then to the others. 'I know who you are. And now you just killed my father!'

'He isn't your father.' Serpantha said cautiously. 'I need you to listen to me.'

'Shut up!' Yemi walked towards the corpse of his father. 'You better run. I will kill you all. You destroy Orin Fen, now this?'

'Whatever my father told you is wrong.' Serpantha pressed. 'You just have to listen.'

'Serpantha's right…' Oriliagh added, standing up shakily.

Detriar looked to his mother, drawing back. He forced himself to regain himself, and said, 'Fine. You die to.'

'Well done on creating a psychopath.' Calen muttered.

'I'll give you a head start.' Detriar grinned. 'I'll chase you through the white hole, there's only one of me I'm giving you a good chance.'

Serpantha swallowed. 'Agreed.'

He shifted them all to the white hole. He just needed time to figure out what to do. Pushing all thoughts of Heiki or anyone else away, he desperately tried to think of ways to save Yemi.