CHAPTER 17: THE WIZARD AND I

As Jill walked down the hallway, she saw a floating, wispy form like a translucent balloon. The shape snored softly with a deep voice that Jill recognized as Gregg's. As it turned out, ghosts somehow also needed to sleep, and when they did, they became… this. Jill almost jumped out of her skin the first time she saw a snoozing ghost in the middle of the night, but now she didn't even blink. She briefly wondered if anything would be able to startle her anymore.

She moved past Gregg and locked herself in her artroom. A faint ray of dawn was forming outside her window, lighting up everything by the smallest amount. But it only made all her art projects—her distractions—seem more lifeless than before. This place no longer felt like her sanctuary.

"If Mr. Crowley found a way home, he'd tell me…" Jill said to herself. "So he doesn't know the answer, either… nobody knows the answer…" Again, she thought of the faint leads: Malleus's promise to talk to Lilia, the idea of contacting magical authorities, her friends' desire to not give up… but they were still just thin spiderwebs. They couldn't hold her.

So if her way home was blocked, if she was doomed to stay in Twisted Wonderland forever… Jill had to be a grown-up about this. She had two options. She could continue to research possible ways home, finding dead end after dead end, until she finally snapped and overblotted… or she could let go of her past and move on.

She was a mortician in training. One of the key parts of being a mortician was helping others move on from grief. Her grandfather was gone, so was the rest of her family, so was her old school and friends, and so was the entire planet Earth. She wasn't dead, but had still reached a new state of existence. Not an afterlife, but a new life. Acceptance was the final step in grief… if she accepted her new life and didn't look back, maybe the blot would finally go away…

Jill approached her sketches of her old life. All the places and people in Kentucky that she would never see again… she couldn't bear to look at them anymore. She removed the picture of her family and held it between her thumbs and forefingers. With just a twist of her hands, she could crumple this paper into a ball, or rip it into confetti! Her fingers shivered as she tried to work up the force… it would be simple, right…?

But she couldn't do it. If she destroyed any of these pictures, she'd never be able to replicate them the same way if she changed her mind. Her memory was beginning to fade—these sketches and the old pictures on her phone were all that remained of her previous life. Could she really say goodbye so easily?

"Ughhhh!" Jill grunted with frustration as she took all the Kentucky sketches off the wall, holding the stack in her hands… and yet, she couldn't harm them. Not even a small tear in one of the paper's corners. So instead, she shoved the papers into one of her notebooks and slammed the cover. Now the papers were all sticking out awkwardly, so Jill shoved the notebook into one of her drawers. Out of sight, but not out of mind. Her old life would always be out of reach, always reminding her of her pain, and her blot would continue to drip like the beating of the Telltale Heart. It was never-ending.

"Isn't there any hope?" Jill asked herself bleakly. "Isn't there anyone who can help me…?"

And then, just as the room grew brighter, she heard a scratching sound.

Jill walked to one of the windows and pulled away the curtain. There on a nearby tree were two brownish squirrels. They chased each other and then ran off into the graveyard behind the dorm, chittering all the while. Jill managed a small smile when she saw the little critters play around.

"What a funny pair," she remarked. "They remind me of…"

And then it hit her like a freight train.

"The Sword in the Stone…" Jill murmured. It had been so long since she'd seen that Disney movie in particular—it didn't hold her attention at the time, and she might've only seen it once or twice. But now hazy memories penetrated her thoughts. A boy named Arthur, destined to be king but treated as a peasant… turning into different animals and having misadventures, including being chased around as a squirrel… pulling the sword from the stone and becoming ruler of England…

But there was one figure at the heart of it all: Merlin. The greatest wizard in the world.

And Jill had met a Merlin in Twisted Wonderland! Ambrose the 63rd, who was the headmage of Royal Sword Academy!

She had only met him once, before the VDC. It was a contest between Royal Sword and Night Raven, and she was soon standing in front of the blue-robed, bespectacled man. He had shaken her hand and spoken so kindly to her, almost like a grandfather…

"I hear you're quite the accomplished young mage," Ambrose had said. "You know, I've been contemplating the idea of female students in Royal Sword, myself…"

"Really? That's great, sir," Jill had said.

"Of course, if you ever want to transfer, you need only ask!" And Ambrose had laughed.

Jill didn't get a chance to respond.

"She's a Night Raven student," Crowley had corrected rigidly.

"Of course, I know that. Only a bit of jest, right, Miss Bones?" Ambrose asked.

"Of course," she repeated quietly.

"Jill!" Vil called from a distance. "Jill, where are you? We need to get ready! Come backstage at once!"

"Coming, Vil! Mr. Ambrose, sir, it was a pleasure to meet you…" And then Jill ran back to her friends so they could perform their rehearsal.

And what a waste of time that turned out to be. Night Raven lost by a single point, and Vil had overblotted after rehearsals, even trying to kill Neige out of jealousy… the whole event was bloated and fetid like a rotten apple.

Jill wished she could've talked to Ambrose more. The wisdom he must have! The magical power he must wield! And didn't Royal Sword constantly beat Night Raven in all their shared events? Maybe that wasn't nepotism, as the Night Raven boys complained about… maybe the truth was, Royal Sword was just better. Meaning their headmage, Ambrose the 63rd, was better than Dire Crowley. And why wouldn't Ambrose be the superior choice? He was Merlin! Everyone in this world was similar to Disney characters, even in some tangential way. If there was any wizard who could help Jill back to Earth, it would be Merlin… it would be Ambrose.

Jill's chest felt light. The future was no longer bleak and full of spiderwebs. It was shining like the coming sun. Because now Jill knew exactly who to turn to.