Max was long gone. Not physically, his body was very much still on same the Island he had been on for the past month. It was his mind that was deserted, hazy, and shattered to pieces. The lease was up and it wasn't looking for any new tenants.

A secret he had held for as long as he could think and something he wanted to ease into, had been dragged out of him and into the open. Hedgehog was the one to admit it for him, for as blatant and as bad as it sounded coming from her. Now Oscar thinks he was a manipulative waste of time and life. That wasn't the truth. Not really.

At first, he had devised that little scheme, to try and coax Oscar into liking him in that way, but that's not where his mind was when he last saw Oscar. Who he was at the beginning of their troubles wasn't who he would turn out to be. His hasty, love-inspired actions weren't representative of his character now or what he felt for Oscar overall.

"I wouldn't do that." Max sighs, running a hand over his distant eyes. That was the first bit of emotion he's shown since Oscar abruptly stormed out on them.

"He's not in here," Oliver says, stepping out of Oscar's cabin with Jason close behind him. Since Oscar's sudden departure into the woods alone, the group was out looking for him. Though, they've yet to come across the slightest hint of where he might have been.

Their first assumption was that he'd head back to the blood drive, for one reason or another. Oscar never thought about what he was doing during an emotional fit, so it'd be possible to find him there. But the same could be said for anywhere in the camp.

The boy was too unpredictable whenever he was upset. Him not being in his cabin proves that much. All they knew for sure was that he was out wandering around camp with a less-than-happy mindset.

They had hoped to find him soon. The group was worried sick, Hedgehog and Max especially. They don't want to see the boy hurt, more than he already had been hurting.

"Where could he be?" Hedgehog lets out an agitated groan. She was the most concerned out of the bunch, seconded only by Max. "It isn't like him to just run off with no goal in mind. He has to have gone somewhere." She turns to Max and sees the dissociated look on his face.

She goes to say something, endeavors to think of anything that could help ease his mind, and put his worries to rest, but she had nothing. Her mouth hung silently open with no words of encouragement, no reassurance, not even a quick, quip to lighten the mood.

"Where could he be?" Oliver shrugged, repeating a question they'd been asking all night. Yet no matter how many times it's brought up, there's still no clear explanation.

"We should go back to the blood drive," Jason suggested. "We could probably get the witches to help with finding him. It beats getting annoyed when nothing turns up." They each look in between one another, taking a moment of consideration as they shear nods and shrugs all around.

All say for Max, who was still a little lost in his own head. His mind was caught up in trying to justify his actions with Oscar the past few days, while also tearing them, and him, apart. He knows the pain he was feeling was deserved however and no amount of positive reinforcement was going to change his mind.

Max, you're a jerk, Max you're self-centered, Max you're worthless, etcetera. They even begin to grow louder and louder until he could just barely hear them as clear as day. Max, you missed up and there's no second chance, Max you're an awful person. "Max! Max!"

The bat snaps out of his train of thought as Hedgehog's voice breaks through to him. "Come on, we're getting help." He stood stupefied before her. "Did you hear me?" She said and he nods in response. "Come on." She and the others walk off, leaving him behind.

He shakes the vile, self-deprecating thoughts from his head. He had to keep it together, at least until they found Oscar. He starts walking, trailing slightly behind the others. Space was still something he felt he needed.

They meekly trudge through campgrounds until they eventually come back to the place where they should have stayed that night.

Betsy was trying to keep more than a few kids in line, turning her head in every direction. She held her hand around two boys, struggling while also trying to keep one group of kids away from the other.

"Hedgehog!" The witch shouts, gesturing to the girl with a nod once she sees the recently departed group walk up. "Where have you been?" She asked, almost scolding Hedgehog for disappearing like she had.

"We..." Hedgehog grits her teeth. "We went to go check on something." The girl explains quickly. It wasn't her best, but Betsy was too busy wrangling kids to care. "But we lost Oscar along the way, and we were wondering if Susie could lend a hand.

Betsy chuckles a bit. "I'm looking for Susie now. I can't find her anywhere." She bit her bottom lip as one of the boys gets loose. Though he doesn't get far as the witch pulls at his collar and places him back into position with her hand locked around his neck. "These kids are giving me a rough time."

"What happened anyway?" Oliver asked the struggling witch.

"They started it!" Two separate groups of kids would point out to one another. Shifting the blame for whatever incident that had occurred while they were gone.

"Quiet!" She hissed, tugging at two of the ring leaders. "These kids got in their right minds that if they think they should have something, the best way was to take it. I'm not sure who it was but one of them had gotten a gift the other was eyeing, and there was only one left. All of a sudden, fists start flying, and next thing you know, each of their friends got involved." Betsy moans in discomfort as she keeps her hands gripped around the necks of the fidgeting boys. "I'm trying to find Susie so we can handle this the right way, but she's nowhere to be found."

"Oh, that's great." Hedgehog huffed. Not only was Oscar missing but Susie too. She thinks maybe he had run to her in his time of need and that she was taking care of him. The best she could take care of a kid anyway. It doesn't really make sense for him to do so but he was upset.

"So... what now?" Jason steps up.

Hedgehog puts a balled fist to her chin and scrounges around in her thoughts. "Well, you heard Betsy. Susie's missing too." She spoke up. "My best guess is that she and Oscar must be at her cabin, right? Like she's comforting him Maybe?"

Max could feel the muddled expression twist up his face. "That doesn't make sense." He speaks. "Why would he go to Susie and why would Susie offer to help?"

"Max." She begins thinking back. "Susie's more complicated than you think. She's more complicated than I thought." She utters, her eyes darting slowly in thought. "We should at least try." There was no reason for her speculation, but they had no other lead besides the fact that both Susie and Oscar were nowhere to be found. Going to the cabin was her only option, so they would start heading toward the witch's homes.

Hedgehog looks through a window, cuffing her hands around her eyes to get a better look at the inside of the cabin. It was empty, dark. No Oscar, no witch comforting him. Not a soul in sight. Only the chirping of crickets and a dark night.

She steps over to the cabin door, reaching a handout to twist the knob. It doesn't budge. Not that it worked the first time she tried, though some inner turmoil was desperate for the outcome to be different. Alas, no such luck for the desperate Hedgehog.

"They aren't here," Oliver said, stating the utmost obvious of facts.

"No, that can't be right." Hedgehog denies the evidence that lies before them. "They must be in the basement, or something. If I could just get inside. I can find them, or something that could lead to where they went." She reasons with herself.

Giving up was out of the question for her. The girl felt that if they weren't in the cabin, now or before, then they most likely weren't anywhere, say for a few places she could think of. Heartford, the mountains, or the alien kingdom. Though those places were too far out of reach. Surly Susie wouldn't think to take Oscar on such a long trip just to cheer him up and without his best friend at that.

Her only answer lies within the seemingly vacant cabin.

"Then what are you wanna do?" Oliver stands beside her. She already had an idea in mind. One concocted long a while ago for when she ever needed to get into Susie's cabin without the witch knowing. Just in case she needed something Susie wasn't willing to give up.

"I'm going in." She spoke bluntly and without delay.

Oliver chuckles at her, thinking her answer was only a joke. He only gets the inkling that there was no joke to be had once she turns to him. "I'm sorry, how?" He asks. He should have seen this coming. Of all people, besides Oscar, of course, he knew her the best, even if their relationship was fairly fresh in their minds. She smirks, patting him on the cheek. No words needed to be shared.

Susie was always confident in her security measures. She always had spells on top of spells cast at any given time to keep her home locked down like her own personal fortress. The place was virtually impossible to sneak into if she wasn't there. Though there was always one quirk she could never bother dealing with.

The chimney to her cabin was out of reach anyway. No kid would dare to traverse her rooftop to reach it. The witch would be proven wrong when Hedgehog comes crashing down headfirst into the cabin.

"Oooh..." She groans, turning and body in the fireplace, slithering out like an unwelcomed, ash-covered snake. "Could have been worse." She coughs, patting down her outfit, leaving black ash and bits of cole along Susie's pink carpets. "Okay."

Hedgehog begins to look around. Nothing was out of place. The cabin was as calm as it ever was. No misplaced sofa pillows, no kicked-up rugs. It looks like no one had been there since daylight.

She had to keep looking.

Her top priority was the basement. That was the only other place she figured they could be. She repeated to herself over and over again that they would be.

It was the perfect spot for getting away from the world, Susie's entire cabin was admittedly. It was a great place for Oscar to run off to, combined with the head witch's hidden affection for them, Hedgehog's postulations must have been correct.

When she opens the door to the basement and mindfully descends the stone steps, however, those beliefs she stubbornly carried would go right out the window.

The basement was empty. Noting but the usual cobwebs nested in the corners of the ceiling, spare furniture with black cauldrons and crystal balls to go along with the decor. No sign of a witch or a friend, or anyone at all. She turns to leave the basement, distraught.

She opens the front door of the cabin to a few disappointed faces. Some more than others. The bad news had been broken for a while now. There was no need to reiterate. She didn't want to believe it herself, but she has to.

"No then?" Jason spoke, though she was sure the answer was clear enough on her face.

"No." She moved her head from side to side, resentment slowly creeping across her face. They had come all this way, done all of that walking and searching tirelessly with nothing to show for it. How irritating she thinks. "They haven't even stopped by."

"So... now what?" Max asked spurring to life, passing the other two boys to come face to face with Hedgehog. In truth, she doesn't know and part of her wanted to tell Max that outright. That the best they could do from there was wait for their friend to come back home on his own once he had cooled off.

"We could check back with Betsy." Though her pride was too adamant on no surrender. If she couldn't find Oscar now, it would wight on her conscience for the rest of the night.

"Right," Max replied softly. He looks at the ground with a heavy heart. He was demotivated, they all were in their own way. Jason keeps his eyes on Hedgehog, in search of any kind of guidance. Oliver rubs the back of his neck with a long sigh, and she was determined not to stop.

Just because she wanted to keep going didn't make it a good thing on her end. That's just how Hedgehog managed whenever she was upset. She'd turn her brain off and throw herself head-on into her work. It was the only thing that made any kind of sense.

"Well... let's get-" A sudden rumbling cuts her off and a loud cracking would leave her even more confused. "What the!?" Her eyes, along with the eyes of everyone in her group would snap toward the booming sound.

A beam of bright red light shines toward the sky, breaking apart the night like a shattered mirror. It connects with the moon and something sinister begins to take place. It contorts and shifts, its face morphing from a kind happy old friend to a red screaming terror that loomed above with an inky black substance lingering from every orifice. It was a blood moon and non like she's ever seen before.

A splitting pain echos through Hedgehog's head suddenly and she brings her fingers to her tempos. She had nearly collapsed to the ground, but she was caught by Oliver before she could go down tumbling down.

"Somethings wrong." She whispers to Oliver, still holding her head with one hand, clutching at the pain that had come to her so violently.

"What's happing?" Max says as the bright red-light fades, leaving the sky in a tinge of deep crimson. From it, almost out of thin air, emerged something. An onyx castle or fortress that rests on the edge of the Island and from its peak, bright red orbs begin to flow down and toward camp.

"I don't know..." Jason pauses. "But whatever it is. I'm gonna guess it's not good."

"Oh man," Max whispers, watching the bright red orbs of light gradually waft down from what used to be the night sky and into the camp.

"We gotta get back." Hedgehog huffs out, still depending on Oliver for support. The sudden spark of pain had sent her into a brief shock before, but she could feel her body recuperate enough to know that they couldn't stay out in the open.

"She's right." Max agreed, frantically motioning to the group. "Let's go."

"Don't worry Hedgehog." Oliver looks at her, adjusting her arm around his shoulder. She was still too weak to walk on her own. "It's probably just a show. A prink by Susie maybe." Oliver wanted to remain positive, but even she could hear the uncertainty in her voice.

Whatever was going on, her weakened body, the strange lights, and the castle setting on the edge of the Island. She doesn't like it.

They rush from the witch's cabins, speeding their way downhill and off toward the rest of the camp. Jason and Max had made sure to stop whenever Oliver seem to be lagging behind them. Despite how scary the situation was, they wouldn't leave their friends behind because of it.

They had been running, or doing so the best they could for a few minutes now. The group wasn't quite near the cabins yet, but they could already see that the entire camp was in disarray.

Fire erupts from on from budlings and on the horizon, the screams of many a child bellow out as the orbs continued to descend from the sky.

"What is even happing?" Jason says. They couldn't see what was going on for sure, though they couldn't just stand around, making up deductions of what it could be.

"It doesn't matter." Max response. "Let's keep going." He had been effortlessly taking charge since Hedgehog was down and almost out. It was the first time she had seen the old caring, selfless Max in a week.

"Right, but maybe we shouldn't just stroll into the obvious kill zone... right?" Jason mentions. The smartest thing they could, and probably should, do was avoid the cabins, avoid the camp entirely and head off into the woods somewhere to hunker down.

However, before a plan could be formulated, one of the red orbs that'd been floating into camp guilds its way to them. It briefly passes by the group and hits a tree, embedding itself into the old oak as the light disappears.

They look at it for a moment. An odd, low moan could be heard. The sound of wood snapping and contorting sends shivers throughout their bodies and the large tree begins to move. Turning its large mass in their direction with a twisted angry scowl.

"Or Maybe camp sound's just about right actually." They turn and run as the tree pulls its roots from beneath the surface of the ground, tugging itself free from the restring dirt. It crawls off after them.

The large thing had sprung a pair of arms and extra legs in its pursuit. "Oh, that's horrifying!" Jason had made the mistake of looking back at the monster tree chasing them and was regretting it wholeheartedly.

When they run into the camp, it had been no batter, not that they were expecting to see anything good. Though it was worse than anything they could have imagined. Inanimate objects had sprung to life and not in their usual way.

These were different, more violent, uglier, and bloodthirsty. They attacked anything and everything about their surroundings, chewing at the flagpole, and trying to swipe kids, though lucky none were successful. They were wrong on so many levels, demonic imitations of what the camp witches had in mind for magic.

They kept their pace through camp, evading monstrous objects that try to bite at them and keeping away from the tree that'd followed them in from the woods. Although the tree might now have been the least of their problems.

Out of the corner of her eye, Hedgehog spots something much faster coming towards them. Unlike the objects before it looked more dangerous. It had more fur, longer claws, larger teeth.

For a moment she thinks their efforts to get away all in vine until her eyes come to spot Alice and Betsy guiding kids into the mess hall. "Children this way!" Alice calls out to them. She and Betsy had been fighting off whatever had sprung these creatures to life, casting spells to burn them away as they approach the mess hall.

"Get inside," Betsy says and they don't argue with her. "I think that's everyone. Come on Alice." She looks over and the other witch nods back. Their bodies stiffen up, raising their arms in a sort of salute. Alice held out her left arm to Betsy and kept her right pointed up to the sky. Besty would do the same with her right held out and left aimed upward.

On cue, the witches would rotate the positions of their arms at the same time. Bringing the ones that were held out up and vice versa for the other arm and a missive shield of golden light is raised over the mess hall and its surrounding area.

They were safe, for now. But there was no telling what might happen next.

Olver sits Hedgehog down on a bench and begins to inspect the girl's body for any injuries. "You okay Hedgehog?" He lifts up her leg slightly and she winced at him.

"Ah! Be careful Oliver." She yelps.

"Right sorry." He gently returns her foot to the floor and stays crouched next to her. Despite not doing much, Hedgehog had managed to over-exert herself.

She couldn't believe what was happening. She didn't even know what was happing. It was like a blood spatted nightmare they couldn't wake up from, try as some of them might. She looks around the mass hall, hoping against all hope that she'd be able to spot Oscar amongst the crowd.

Hedgehog sees a few kids she knew in passing and some more recognizable faces as well. Alexa and Lucy had been sitting on a bench with each other and had been comforting one another by the looks of it.

Pepper was there and already fast asleep. She thinks, how could the young boy be sleeping during a time like this? It was astounding to her. He'd always found a way to sleep through his problems even at the worst of times. She almost envies him.

Aubrey and Michael had made it in, however unfortunate that may have been to her.

Yet no sign of Oscar anywhere. Her heart sinks at the thought of him still being out there. She couldn't accept that he didn't make it. Not while she was still breathing.

"Woah, Hedgehog?" She had gotten up off the bench. Her body was still in slight pain, but she could manage it just fine. Just until she found Oscar. "Where are you going?" Oliver asked as she continues to limp away.

"To get answers." She says, not looking back. The witches had to know something she didn't. They had to know what was going on.

They were conversing quietly near the mass hall's front door. Betsy looks over to the kids every once in a while, to check in on them before turning back to Alice.

Hedgehog did her best to stay upright, though she could just barely manage. She fell onto one of the walls of the mass hall, taking a second to breathe. Instead of stopping for a proper rest though, she would pull herself along the surface of the wooden wall, using it as a crutch to help her stand.

The girl moved along, only coming to a stop at a window when she sees something pressed up against the magical barrier. It was the thing that had jumped out at them earlier, slowly running one of its long claws down the shield.

The thing sort of looks like Blanche to her. "Oh, god." Hedgehog recoils. It was Blanche, she could recognize the same door-like pattern on the fur around her lower body. Only now the normally friendly monster looks less so. Her claws were longer, limbs extended and stretched out unnaturally. Her fur was matted, horns larger and smile more crocketed and toothy. She really did look like a monster now. It was uncanny.

Hedgehog contains forward. She needed to talk to the witches before she passes out.

Before she could make it though, a rumbling comes at the doors. Hedgehog freezes, the other kids in the mess hall do as well and the witches prepare their wands for what might come in through the other side.

The door burst open, and instead of there being a flesh-eating abomination gnawing on their bones right about then, it had been another, older witch.

"Ramona!" Hedgehog beams as the older witch enters the building.

"Ramona!?" Alice and Betsy say more confused.

"Yes, it's me." Ramona groans, shutting the mess hall doors barge her. "Just look at all this mess. How could you girls have let this happen? How could Susie?"

"W-what? But we didn't-" Ramona held a finger up to Betsy as she tries to explain.

"Ugh... as always, her problems are my problems as well." She takes off her hat to fan herself down. In her other arm had been stacks of books, scrolls, and documents. All pretty impotent looking from what Hedgehog could see. "Are you alright Hedgehog." Ramona turns her gaze to the girl leaning on the wall.

"Yeah..." She sighs with a smile. "Just feeling a bit woozy."

The older witch walks over to the girl. "Oh yes... you are a witch. Of course, it would be affecting you." Ramona whispers, pulling out something small from her inner sleeve. "Here, eat this." The older witch offers her the item. A green herb of some sort.

"What... is it." Hedgehog questions only after accepting the aid.

"It should help with the state you're in now, trust me." Hedgehog shrugs. Ramona was the smartest out of Susie's witches and the girl wouldn't deny the help.

She doe's as told, swallowing down the herb in one gulp. Nothing appears to happen at first, but soon a jolt of energy is sent coursing through her body. Her stamina returns tenfold, and the pain dissipates instantly. She feels better than ever before and then some. "Woah... thanks, Ramona."

"Think nothing of it." She smiles and turns to the other witches. "Okay follow me." She gestures to the two of them as she makes her way to the center of the mess hall. The older witch takes the items she'd been holding under her arm and lays them all out on the floor.

"Woah." Hedgehog breathes out a perplexed sigh. "What is all this?"

"An explanation." She spoke. "I had warned Susie that something like this was going to happen. I could see it in visions that had come to me just a few days prior. I would have investigated myself, but I couldn't. Time had become too distorted for me to leave my cabin until recently."

"Wait a minute." Betsy stops her. "Susie knew this would happen. Why didn't she didn't tell us anything?"

"Oh, Susie!" Ramona sputters out a disappointed sigh past her lips. "How could you've let this happen?" She mutters, questioning Susie's sense of logic over and over again.

"Well, what exactly is happening? And how are you even here Ramona?" Hedgehog butts in, still wondering about everything that had been occurring, about what'd gone wrong with her body earlier and about Oscar's whereabouts. "I'm a little lost and have been for a while. I'd really like an explanation please."

Ramona stays quiet, waving the girl over to take a peek at everything the older witch had brought along with her. "For a long time, magic has been this natural thing. It had been so integral to life, so much so that any being retaining magical gifts were held to the highest standard in society." She opens up a book of magic and its importance to the world and hands it over to Hedgehog. "But where there is magic."

"There are also those out to exploit it." Hedgehog finished, recalling her conversation with Susie.

"Yes, but fortunately and ratter, unfortunately. Magic has been on a decline in recent years. As people come to rely on non-magical means for daily life, the perception of what is natural shifts drastically. Thus, sending magic into a recession."

"Wait, recession?" Betsy wonders aloud. "I thought magic was ending, like ceasing to exist." She scratches her head.

"No." Ramona quickly corrects her. "We got it wrong all those years ago. Magic isn't vanishing. It's hiding away. I came to understand that our objective wasn't to save it. It was to reintroduce it to the world." She brings her tone down. "With a proper balance."

"Balance?" Hedgehog lefts a perplexed brow.

"Yes." She responded simply. "That is the reason why every year, for the past one hundred years, Susie would shepherd children to the island. Kids with natural magic." Hedgehog goes to ask another question, but Ramona was quick to explain. "Inside each and every child here has magic backed into them somewhere deep. It's your magical identity. A big part of what makes you, you." Ramona held a hand over Hedgehog's chest.

"Hold on. So, what you're saying is..." Hedgehog trails off in thought.

"You have always been a witch Hedgehog." The young girl's mind is blown somewhat. She always thought that her struggle to become a witch was a losing battle she wouldn't stop fighting anyway. But this entire time, she had already been one.

"Okay, so... why is magic still hiding away?" She questions. "It's been a hundred years, what happened?"

Ramona smirks at the inquisitive young girl. "That's the thing of it. Like a side, before there needed to be a specific balance, brought together. Me and Susie figured it out fifty years in."

"Fifty years!?" Besty shouts. "And you didn't tell us?"

"Susie was supposed to." Ramona sighs again at the absent witch. "I don't know why she didn't. I don't know why she does half the things she does." She remarks. Hedgehog, and everyone really, had to admit that Susie was a bit of a chaotic, unpredictable entity. "But back to the matter at hand." Ramona regroups the conversation. "The balance had to be a perfect representation of magic. Light, dark, and something special in between to bring it all together. A glow worm."

Hedgehog tears her eyes away from the book and brings them over to Ramona. "A... glow worm?" She mutters.

"Yes. A being of pure magic that can bring out the joy in anything. Not only that but it is a much too powerful catalyst that can enhance the strength of magic far beyond what is normally capable. We just needed one but with each year that would pass, no glow worm would appear. That is until-"

"This year," Hedgehog says, closing the book shut. "A being that can bring out the joy in anything. A powerful catalyst?" Her brows furrowed. There was only one person who matched that description for her.

"Okay, but what does any of this have to do with now?" Betsy looks at Ramona, her eyes begging for a straightforward answer.

Ramona pulls out another, smaller book and opens it. "All of that is the reason why the island is in the shape it is now. It's the reason why I'm able to be here now. Magic right now on the island is in a raw, primal state. Not restored but not quite right either. It's how I was able to step inside the boundaries of time. And Elizabeth is the one responsible." Hedgehog freezes. She's heard that name before. "I had only heard stories about her and none of them were good," Ramona says. "And somehow, she had gotten her hands on that glow worm child, and she is now using them to corrupt the land around us."

'What?" Hedgehog spoke suddenly. "She has Oscar?"

"What?" Max, hearing what Hedgehog had just mentioned, rushes over. "Wait, what? What are you saying? Oscar was kidnaped?"

"Unfortunately," Ramone responds bluntly. "And I fear she may be using him to extend the outreach of her power." She hands the book over to Hedgehog which held lots of talk about dark and old magic, ancient prophecies, and sinister deals with someone named Daven. "And if we don't stop her now, the whole world is going to look like summer camp island. And what's even more unfortunate is that Elizabath's new home has a dark magical barrier around it that will prevent anyone or anything from passing. So, we are unable to teleport inside. Not without magic as equally powerful."

"Oh no," Max mutters. His eyes gloss over every book and scroll on the floor in wonder. He wasn't so concerned about the rest of the world, though that didn't mean not at all. His worries lie mostly with Oscar.

Hedgehog had felt much the same. He doesn't need to say anything for her to understand.

"But I have the solution, I always do," Ramona said, lying out a large scroll with illustrations of three different shapes. "Three items in three separate kingdoms. The tetrahedron, The sphere, and the torus. Said when brought together could warp the users to anywhere and everywhere at any time past any magical defense. No matter how strong." She flashes an admittedly cocky grin to herself. "With it, we can pass the dark shield and save Oscar. Thus, saving the entire world."

"Okay... that sounds good," Betsy said.

"Only one last issue." Ramona squints with a sheepish smirk. "I need you and Alice here to hold up the shield and protect the children."

"What?" The other witches gasped in unison. "Ramona, you can't be serious." Uncertainty riddles Betsy giggling fit, but Ramona was clearly not in the mood for joking around. Not with the world at stake

"Always." She stands to face the crowd of kids, clearing her throat before addressing them. "Now I know you are all afraid right now, and that things aren't looking at their best outside." She motions to the window and the red sky that covered the island. "But I beg you to have faith and place your trust in me. We will make it through this together." Ramona looks down, taking in gentle breaths to calm herself. "Now what to do?" She whispers. She needed volunteers but she could never ask a child to undergo such a monumental task like this.

"I do it." Ramona looks up to see a young bat staring at her. "I'll go." He repeats.

"...Are you sure?" Max nods, dead set on his resolve. He wasn't going to set around while his friend was in trouble. Hedgehog could respect that.

"I'll go too." She was the next to step up and offer her service. Like Max, she'd do anything for Oscar. Even if it meant walking through a literal monster infestation.

"Sign me up too." Oliver came running in, chuckling and playfully shoving at Max's shoulders from behind before stepping over to Hedgehog. She was so lucky to have him.

"Well if we're doing this in pairs, I'll tag along." Jason approaches last. He hadn't gotten to know Oscar long, but he knows the kid is worth saving.

"Huh... Okay..." Ramona hums. "We only need two more now." She searches the room in search of anyone who looked capable enough to traverse the outside. "What say you two? The wolf and the koala?" She points out Micael and Aubrey, huddled up near the back.

"What?" Michael looks over shocked and Aubrey was in much the same boat.

"Us specifically or..." Aubrey tries to wriggle his way out of helping like a usually does. But there would be no running this time.

"I think it's perfect." Their handler, Alice, spoke as she walks up with a sly smirk on her unassuming face. "It would do them plenty good to participate in this team-building exercise." The witch gestures them over with just a finger and the boys obliged.

"Fine, just as long as I'm paired up with Aubrey." He said finding his way over to the group.

Hedgehog giggles lowly. "That's fine, no one wants to be near you anyway." She teased.

"Yeah, bite me." He retorts, flicking a hand off the bottom of his chin at her.

"Okay." Ramona takes up the large scroll and tears it into three pieces, handing one piece to Max, Aubrey, and Oliver. "Show these to the leaders of the domains you wind up at and they shall guide you." She steps back and looks over the group of volunteers once more. "Okay stand shoulder to shoulder, backs straightened please." She orders, which the kids follow to a tee as they each stand near the parson they were traveling with. Hedgehog with Oliver, Max with Jason, and Michael with Aubrey. "Alrighty." She waves her wand around in a circular motion. "This teleportation spell has a ninety percent chance of scattering your molecules through the ether."

"Right," Hedgehog says before he faces converts into fearful discomposure. "Wait, wha-"

Ramona had brought the wand down and in a sudden flash of dust, the kids were gone. She sighs as her shoulders drop. "Gods, I hope they succeed."