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Alright here's the part you've all been waiting for ya'll. Begins with Manfred POV and then to Zelda and then maybe to someone else who knows! I know the last two chapters were incredibly OC heavy and I appreciate your patience with me as I try to weave my own world into the Red King's. Honestly part of me doing this is a test run of these OCs, which is why I wanna ask ya'll a favor. I don't usually beg for reviews but if you could leave a review letting me know what you think of them and the little bits and pieces of my world that I've revealed, and my general writing style in general. This is always what I've always wanted to do but my adult ADHD really prevented me from doing it for almost eleven years, and I'd appreciate feedback of any kind even if you hope Rachel and Alice get in a car crash and explode. I promise I won't be offended lol. So if you've been reading since the first part of the finale and you like me and my shit let me know lol.
playlist for this chapter:
100 gecs - fuck teeth (intro)
my chemical romance - this is how i disappear
nancy sinatra - bang bang (my baby shot me down)
orville peck - ever you're gone (ft teddy swims) (2)
tropical fuck storm - who's my eugene? (2)
jimi hendrix - all along the watchtower
emilie autumn - opheliac (3)
band of horses - the funeral
tove lo - stay high (habits)
linkin park - numb
ednaswap - torn (2)
aerosmith - dream on (2)
tropical fuck storm - antimatter animals (live in chicago)
all time low - remembering sunday (2)
black rebel motorcycle club - beat the devil's tattoo
ajj - white face, black eyes
cage the elephant - ain't no rest for the wicked
coheed and cambria - welcome home
conor oberst - lenders in the temple
the used - bird and the worm
rihanna - desperado
mumford and sons - little lion man
muse - stockholm syndrome
lee hazelwood and nancy sinatra - some velvet morning
caribou - odessa
lord huron - the night we met (no, I will not beta your thirteen reasons why fic. I didn't watch it.)
crystal castles - empathy
cocteau twins - persephone (5)
kitten - g# (2)
beirut - the rolling tide
miley cyrus - malibu
chelsea wolfe - flatlands
elisa toffoli - ancora qui (from django unchained) (2)
cashmere cat - mirror maru
marie laforet - la voix du silence
bright eyes - the calendar hung itself...
selah sue - this world
lily wood and the prick - prayer in c (robin schulz radio edit)
santigold - disparate youth
lykke li - tonight
my chemical romance - im not ok (i promise)
xiu xiu - i luv the valley OH!
yeah yeah yeahs - heads will roll
modern baseball - tears for beers
city and colour - waiting
my chemical romance - the sharpest lives
chelsea wolfe - feral love
death cab for cutie - i will follow you into the dark
tropical fuck storm - stayin' alive
death cab for cutie - the ghosts of beverly drive
dr. dog - heart it races (cover version)
crystal castles - untrust us
grizzly bear - sleeping ute
chelsea wolfe - dusk
favored nations - the set up
brother dege - too old to die young
yeah yeah yeahs - heads will roll (a-trak remix)
king gizzard and the lizard wizard - billabong valley
arctic monkeys - brianstorm
la roux - bulletproof
awolnation - sail
thxsomch - SPIT IN MY FACE!
tropical fuck storm - braindrops
king gizzard and the lizard wizard - the grim reaper
" " - sadie sorceress
j. roddy watson and the business - brave man's death
wavves - nine is god
black rebel motorcycle club - hate the taste
the doors - light my fire
taylor swift - cruel summer (2)
neon indian - change of coast (3)
tegan and sara - closer (2)
100 gecs - stupid horse (remix) (ft. GFOTY and Count Baldor)
angel olsen - hi-five
rihanna - if it's lovin' that you want
carly rae jepsen - call me maybe
rihanna - umbrella (ft. jay-z)
michelle branch - everywhere
sweet trip - milk
indigo de souza - take off ur pants
blondie - maria
avril lavinge - slipped away
azali - theme of a shop that sells you things you don't want (2)
jenny lewis - late bloomer
ra ra riot - can you tell
shawn mendes - lost in japan (remix ft. Zedd)
zedd, alessia cara - stay
damien rice - the blower's daughter
iron and wine - flightless bird, american mouth
manchester orchestra - the only one
laura stevenson - the pretty one
no doubt - hey baby
michelle branch - all you wanted
lfo - summer girls (2)
frida - i know there's something going on (outro Author's Note)
Night Keeper (part 3: meet cute)
Manfred Bloor had rarely left his study since Zelda was gone. He blamed himself, because of course he did. He had to, logically speaking. If they hadn't fought, she wouldn't have left, and she wouldn't have been attacked, hypnotized, and forced to go all the way across the ocean to some shithole beach up North. Who the fuck goes to the beach in the middle of the January, anyway? Why did Yewbeam send her there in the first place? He didn't know, because Asa was the only one who he was still willing to talk to who was still willing to talk to him.
His father recuperated and pretty much went back to the way he was, his grandfather's lapdog til the very bitter end. Dr. Bloor was even more vicious to Charlie Bone and his cohorts than ever, especially poor Emma Tolly, who was weakening day by day from the constant emotional and mental abuse. Tancred Torsson, frustrated by the perceived lack of movement in the adults around him that were supposed to be helping him, full of piss and vinegar and tired of his friends and possible girlfriend being injured, that he stormed literally up to Dr. Bloor's office himself, wind billowing behind him and lightning shooting out of his fingers. This was the most powerful he had ever felt, but what his teenaged brain failed to realize that he was still grossly outnumbered and outmatched by the adults around him.
...lips pressed against his in surprise...
"Tancred, we really can't." She said sadly. Her eyes were so beautiful, even when she was sad...
"Why not? I'm out here trying to cheer you up because I can't stand to see you like this anymore. Your smile is...it's great, Emma. It's always brightened my day, you know that. And I haven't seen it in a while...and my days went dark." She smiled, but it wasn't the same. It was a sad, yearning smile.
"It's too dangerous now..."
Tancred furiously knocked on the door to the Headmaster's study, blinking back tears that would show weakness. Fear. Uncontrolled, unmeasured anger. He needed to stay in control. For Emma. He just wanted to see her, and the rest of his friends, happy.
And with the good Judge Sage and his family leaving the country completely after Zelda was hypnotized, leaving him without his best friend and with a bitter hole festering in his heart, he knew he was going to have to go it alone.
"Mr. Torsson." The Headmaster said when he opened the door finally, a sadistic smile curling onto his face, filling Tancred with a sense of dread. "To what do I owe this viist?" He noted the singes on his door from where Tancred had burned it with his electric hands, which were still storming and twitching as he punched the Headmaster straight in the jaw. Dr. Bloor flew five feet across the room before crumplng down onto the floor, but he wasn't down for long, and Lucretia Yewbeam was already across the room to incapacitate the unruly youth.
Tancred pulled Emma into his arms.
"I promise it's gonna be okay, alright? Look at me." He looked into her tear-stained and rapidly hollowing eyes and kissed her one more time. "Zelda will be back. Your uncle knew what he was doing when he sent her to live with that Rachel woman. Her mother? I've heard of her. They're powerful witches, Em. They'll set her straight and send her back in no time."
Emma shook her head.
"If they're so powerful and benevolent, Tanc, why aren't they here helping us now?"
Tancred didn't have an answer for her.
"No, Lucretia, stay back." He grinned maniacally, his face burnt all the way up on one side. "Let the Lord deal with him. Let's drown him in the little hurricane he's whipped up for us…"
And after Tancred sustained critical injuries and remained in the hospital, there was no one left to fight back and Manfred was seen even less from his study. It was almost as if Dr. Bloor had locked up there without actually doing so, because he knew if he came down he was next. It was only after everyone was asleep did he go down and wander the grounds aimlessly, sometimes with Asa, but mostly without, thinking of how his father had almost come to his senses in a way after Manfred accidentally knocked his head against a wall during training, kickstarting this whole mess.
As far as his mother was concerned, Manfred had pretty badly fractured their relationship once again after he blamed her for what happened to Zelda at first. In his blind anger, he said terrible things about her being a nag who drove Zelda out and he had wished she had remained hypnotized. Dorothy Bloor merely shrugged her shoulders, sighed, and left without a word. He had gotten a terrible chewing out from poor Cook when it happened, but he didn't care. He was numb to almost everything now, short of the gaping hole in his heart where Zelda was supposed to be, aching and clawing at his chest.
"Just get out, Cook."
The boys had been separated and sent to separate safe houses. Joshua had been sent with Idith and Zelda's very French mother (who was bitter and angry and adamant that Zelda shouldn't have had to go to " le pays des idiots" for safety and care) to Leeds to hide from a very angry and vengeful Ezekiel Bloor. He wanted them all to pay for Manfred burning his cozy little tower down and forcing him into the basement of Bloor's. Fairy Tilpin had been first, then Beth got caught up in it as well, although her death wasn't as gruesome.
She was merely strung up on a tree outside Manfred's study just long enough to see as a message. Manfred was next, eventually. Eventually the protective enchantment Alice Angel had put on his study before fleeing with Olivia (who had been acting strangely, but that was beside the point) would give or break, and he'd be left to face his great grandfather.
Joshua was a big miserable git now, hardly leaving his room, where everything was sticking to him and frustrating and angering him further. His mother was dead and all anyone cared about was if Zelda was coming back. His mother's insides were cut out of her and now he was separated from the only person he could talk to about it, his best friend. Sometimes he'd look over at Idith drawing and a twinge would strike his heart, but he didn't have time to sort out those feelings, because he was still feeling some type of way about his mother being dead in such a horrific way (it was seriously all he could see when he closed his eyes sometimes).
Meanwhile, at Zelda's very French aunt's house, another problem was arising. Her one daughter was with her, yes, but Idith was not, and as Zelda an Inez had been incredibly close, something was definitely wrong with the already moodier twin now moreso than ever. She hardly came out of her room except to eat, and even that was a rarity. Despite her mother's insistence that she practice her telekinesis, it seemed Inez was getting weaker and less accurate than she was. They had always called her "little Zelda" for her demeanor, but also for her already growing prowess. The twins were only fourteen now, but Inez had far surpassed her sister and was promisingly on her way to being evenly matched with her older cousin.
Now she was so weak she could barely move a pencil box across the table, and not without whizzing in several different direction before dropping and sliding across the table over its edge, spilling its contents.
Dagbert sighed.
"Babe, you know it's not forever, right?" She glared at him.
"I'm not you 'babe', Dagbert, okay? Knock it off with that shit." She said icily. "I'm not in the mood." Dagbert grinned at her, reaching out to run a hand up her arm. It still gave her goosebumps when the drowner showed affection, as he rarely showed it to anyone else, having not really learned about it from his father, who was the more Frollo-y "scorched Earth obsessive lover" archtype. She had thirdhand knowledge passed from Cook to Zelda to her about Lord Grimwald and it scared her, but she couldn't help but have a strong affection for the drowner nonetheless.
Even so, she yanked her arm away. Dagbert turned away with a small laugh.
"You used to be in the mood for my shenanigans, you know." He said. Inez shrugged.
"I don't know, Dagbert. We witnessed the brutal murder of your best friend's mother, then a good friend of ours was literally hung from a tree days later. I can't see my sister, you can't see Josh, my mother is driving me fucking nuts, and..." She was in tears now, unable to control what she'd been holding in all this time in front of what was left of her fractured family.
"And Zelda...Zelda is just fucking gone, and I need her so bad Dagbert. She was my big sister, she was the balance! Without her, I can't..." She was uncontrollably sobbing now, and somehow in Dagbert's embrace as she cried on his shoulder.
"I can't...I can't..." She said repeatedly until Dagbert kissed her suddently. She pulled away, eyes wide.
"Don't you ever do that again, Dagbert Endless, or I shall throw all the knives in the house at once." She said angrily, yet half-heartedly. She knew she didn't mean it, knew the kiss had snapped her out of her hysterics, and was secretly grateful he had done it, and kind of wanted him to do it again, which he promptly did, just to be a little shit.
When he pulled away, both of them were smiling.
"Empty threat."
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Manfred's fear of his grandfather was driving him mad. The old man was regularly threatening to find Alice Angel and make her meet the same fate as Fairy Tilpin (with Olivia dying, too, for good measure) and then her "stupid, silly little spell" would break and he would instruct Count Harken to bust down that door and break every bone in Manfred's pathetic body.
Manfred was certainly pathetic now, cooped up in his little cubby hole, watching from there as everyone else almost came and went as they pleased. He had lost pretty much everything in his miserable life besides his best friend, and he could tell Asa's frustrations with him were mounting. He had lost his adoptive little brothers, especially Joshua, who felt Manfred was responsible for Fairy Tilpin's death by driving Zelda away, thus creating a distraction for everyone else to worry about while something had snuck in and terrorized poor Miss Chrystal.
He had lost his adoptive sisters, who also blamed him for driving Zelda out and leaving them without a real guardian. Both their mothers were endowed, yes, but they rarely used it for anything other than menial household chores. They couldn't be called to battle the way Zelda could. The girls didn't think anybody could replace her, and now she was gone.
He had lost his mother, cruelly pushing her away when they all needed each other the most. He knew it wasn't Dorothy's fault that Zelda had gone, although deep down he also knew she certainly didn't help. But by that end they all could have blamed Zelda's mother and aunt as well, and spreading blame wasn't going to help anybody. No, Manfred's own cruelness and selfishness toward Zelda was thr last straw. He caused this to happen. Even if he hadn't driven Zelda away, the nasty accidental injury he had given his father kicked this off in the first place.
Manfred had even lost Dr. Bloor, he guessed, in a way. His behavior in the ruins that morning was proof there was still some good in the man. Some empathy. Some compassion or mercy or something that made him blurt out those words that day. Everything about forgetting Sam Alveriola, about repeating his father's mistakes, about taking everyone and running. About what his grandfather had destroyed in him. He already knew what his father had said was true, that something was gone in him now, although he didn't want to believe it then. He certainly believed in now. Dr. Bloor had even instructed him to marry Zelda.
Zelda. A large lump in his throat that he could never swallow and tears he couldn't stop from falling every time she came to his mind. All those years ago when they had met, when he was sixteen and she was thirteen and had been transferred to Bloors, he tried to deny how he felt. He tried to distract himself with Lydia Pieman, who was actually rather vain, he would come to find out. No surprises there; girls like her always liked being the center of attention. But Zelda was never like that. Sure, she was smitten from the start by the tall, dark boy with the coal black eyes. This also meant she was really fucking annoying, always up his ass, always picking on Charlie Bone and his compadres to impress him. But as she grew older and more into her own power, Manfred would catch glimpses of her teaching Idith and Inez how to properly control where they moved their pencil boxes, or consoling her now dead best friend when she cried, or when she would ruffle Dagbert's hair because she knew how much it annoyed him, and he slowly fell in love with her.
It took him too long to admit how much she meant to him. Even back then, when Beth and Zelda had been carried into the sky by Emma Tolly due to the machinations of people old enough to have known better, he should have just run with her. He should have known something was up, He should have had the courage to stand up sooner, when Gerard and Angelina had met their terrible ends. None of this had to happen, least of all to Zelda, who never wanted anything more than his love and the safety and happiness of the family she made for herself in this madness.
"You and Zelda have something that Ezekiel has thus far not broken."
His father's words, which had filled him with hope when he said them amongst the panic, now filled him with rage and bitterness. What use was the bond now? It was certainly broken beyond repair now, and he had little hope that Yewbeam's little American witch friends would be able to help Zelda snap out of it. He was broken beyond repair now, only held together by Johnny Walker and spite.
The last night he went down to the ruins, he came back up at about five-thirty in the morning. He was about to go to his usual routine of drinking himself into a stupor with a fresh bottle he'd bought at the 24 hour mart, and moping about his study, when he was met at the door by a very startling sight.
Asa Pike and Sam Alveriola were standing at the door, Asa's arms crossed, and Sam with a wide grin spread on her face.
"W-what?" Manfred could only stammer out. He froze further when the very attractive, very busty blond girl pulled him into a tight hug.
"Manfred, it's been such a long time!" Ah, her Scottish brogue was still as strong as ever, but he was frankly shocked as all hell that she was even here. He couldn't even look at her at the moment, instead rounding on Asa.
"What's going on, mate?" Sam smiled even wider.
"We're here to help you go find Zelda and bring her back, silly."
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The first song Anika learned how to dance to was Persephone by Cocteau Twins. Kata was pleased, as she had been doing more higher tempo stuff as of late and could have used the breather, plus she was also instructed to help Rachel train Anika for now. They were getting along fine now, so it wasn't an issue, but Anika was nervous and frankly surprised when she heard this supposed "training" was in dance. She had always been too tall and gangly and awkward to dance previously, prefering sports much more to the arts. She didn't even know how to move her feet properly and she was going to be taught how to dance for some reason, instead of something more useful like how to shoot a gun or knock someone out with a can of beans in a sock.
"Why are we doing this?" She asked in frustration after her third attempt at doing a high kick that swung into her curling it back into herself. "How is this supposed to help me do anything?" Rachel sat on a stump on the beach, admittedly grateful that Zelda had chosen a good day to wake up. The last four days had barely broken forty, but today it was a cool but sunny fifty-six degrees, and the warm weather would continue into the next week, giving Rachel plenty of time to at least get her started on her journey back to herself.
"Sit." There was a rock next to the stump that she motioned for Anika to sit on. Anika did so apprehensively, feeling a lecture coming as Kata continued her much more difficult choreogrophy for the same song, nailing every jump, kick, descent to the ground and back up effortlessly.
"Now. Everyone has natutal kinetic energy in us. It's how we move, it's how we flow. You, however, have much more kinetic energy than others." Anika tilted her head.
"And you know that because?" Rachel laughed slightly, thinking on her feet once again to give Anika a false but plausible reason why she would know this.
"I had Coop watch you sleep a couple times. You must know by now we're...a little different." Anika groaned.
"Great, so you let your husbamd watch me sleep." Rachel frowned at her, looking away.
"Listen, being smart with me isn't going to help you here. Just..." Anika looked at her, and she looked more weary than usual, which made Anika feel slightly guilty. Even though Anika was here essentually against her will, she knew that was no fault of Rachel's and that her presence was just an extra burden on top of Kata, the little ones, and her aloof husband. The other woman was older than her, but only by a few years, and she was already the head of a very busy household. Anika could never, even if she was completely back to normal. The very thought of it made her head spin.
"Sorry, Ms. Rachel." She said quietly. "I know it's...a lot, having me here. And you've been nothing but kind so far, although it has only been a few days and I'm still not quite sure why I'm here." Rachel smiled weakly at her, and it was then Anika noticed how waifish the woman was despite possessing a commanding presence. She then spoke again.
"Different...how, though?" Rachel smiled wider, looking at a patch of grass about three feet in front of them. She outstretched her hand. After mere seconds, a bright purple flower grew out of it. Anika would have jumped out off the rock if she wasn't completely dumbfounded. She had never seen anyhing in it in her life. Real magic, right in front of her eyes. It had to be some kind of trick, someone underground pushing the flower up, but there was no dirt around them. She thought she must have been delusional, but it really was real. She slowly turned to Rachel.
"Ms. Rachel, why am I here?" She asked, her voice low. She remembered the airport again, the only memory she had clung to since waking up the previous day. She thought about it over and over again, how it had to have been a dream, except Kata had boldfaced apologized for it days later. She was moving things just by looking at them and looking at Kata, throwing them directly at her in an attempt to get away. "Can I...can I do...things like that?"
Rachel nodded, taking Anika's arm as she almost fell over in shock. So it was true, then. She had some kind of magical powers that she couldn't access right now, that had something to do with her memory. She realized how much of everything she couldn't remember, this being a big one. She had no idea what her address was, her parents names, the names of any of her friends, or where she went to school. All she had was her name, and right now that's all she could cling to.
"Anika, we're going to help you get it back. The first step is to get you up and moving, using your naturally high kinetic energy to help your body get back into a flow and a rhythm. Dance is a great way to do that; it really helped me all the times I was down and out, too." They both observed Kata, whose Primary Ability was already being able to move fairly quickly and abnormal strength, absolutely destroy the moves Rachel had set for her. Anika looked at Rachel.
"Am I gonna be that good?" Rachel laughed and shook her head.
"No, probably not as good as me or Kata, but we both have natural advantages you don't." Anika sighed, standing back up. She was a mix of what felt like forty different emotions at that moment. First, she was scared, because she still had no idea what the hell was going on, and if she had been sent here and also had magical powers, then whatever had left her crazy and half dead on the beach probably knew that and was still out to get her. She had no way of fighting, not yet, and she didn't have any clue how long Rachel's methods were going to take to get her back to where she was at the airport, which was admitedly impressive. Secondly, she was frustrated, because she had no way to access or unlock these powers at the present moment after she had used them so easily before. She didn't know what she was going to have to do to get her powers back, besides slowly learn ro dance, she supposed. How she was going do that, she also didn't know, because she felt insanely hulking and awkward compared to Kata and even Rachel, who was older but still about as small as Kata but could have easily passed as her age or even younger.
The main thing she was feeling, that she couldn't believe, was excitement. She had never felt particularly special in life up to now. Sure, she got good grades and did decently well at sports, but she was never a standout. Her looks were never particularly anything to write home about, although she had grown into herself as she got older. It wasn't any day someone told her she had magical powers, though. If she could just tap into them, she'd be interesting finally. If she had done well at field hockey and aced an important exam she thought she would fail due to her hard work, surely dancing and getting something back she had already had would be much easier than that.
She stood up, motioning for Rachel to stand up with her.
"Let's do this, then."
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After a month of bruised knees, sore calfs, and tired arms, Anika was making enough progress that she had mastered the choreography that Rachel had composed for her for Persephone, enough so that Rachel decided to finally change the song. The new song was Smokey Taboo by CocoRosie, a song from the previous year that was similarly chill and low tempo enough that Anika could dance to it easily if she worked hard enough. Anika was certainly working hard, even with the harsh January sea winds whipping around her. She was never permitted to go to the beach on her own for fear something would happen to her, but she often practiced with Kata at home as well, out in the backyard of the trailer, or sometimes even alone at night, wishing her powers would come back every single day so she didn't have to desroy her body as badly.
Two weeks after Anika had arrived, Rachel made the decision to let her train later in the day and work a few hours in Vera McAllistair's shop in the morning, before coming back to help with the kids at night. The day she went with Rachel, a cold morning when the boardwalk was almost complete deserted, she followed behind the petite woman all the way to almost the other end from where they'd started, the less populated end. There was a little shop with rugs of all different designs in the store front, as well as little knick knacks and other odds and ends.
"Ah. Rachel. I've been hearing you're going to bring me some help for quite some time now. I see you've finally done what you've said you're going to do." The tall woman with another thick Scottish accent that sounded familiat to Anika (although she couldn't place why) swept her into a hug and laughed before standing back to look at her properly.
Vera McAllistair, even in her mid-40s, was still a bombshell and could have modeled if she hadn't spent the 80s and 90s gunslinging all over the UK and United States with her best friends Matt Merdiian and Aurora Ashcroft. Tall, thin, busty, and with a bubbly, fun, and wild personality reflected in her large smile, she lit up any room she entered. She was boisterous, audacious, and even less willing to put up with people's shit than she was in her life, being too old for all that now and content with running her little enchanted boardwalk shop, which couldn't be seen by anyone without some sort of supernatural bent, and watching over her boys: Declan and Leon, nineteen and twenty-one respectively. Her long, dark hair was French braided and she was generally just the most beautiful woman Anika had ever seen.
"Ah, wee thing." She said dismissvely, clicking her tongue. "Are you even feeding her, Rachel?" Anika was slightly taken aback by this, having just been hugged by the woman and then insulted by her in one fell swoop. Besides, the way she had been training her body the last month had to have given her some muscle to speak of, anyway. She certainly felt stronger than she had when she arrived. Vera must have noticed Anika nonplussed look, since she smiled sympathetically at her.
"Ah, love, it's not you. Not you, 'tall. I'm just wondering if you're going to be up to helping me around here, that's all. It's not for the faint of heart. Some of these jackasses bring me obviously cursed shit, and you never know how nasty the magic behind them is until you crack it open, ha." Anika bristled slightly at the language, a trait inherited by Alice Meridian, but nodded nonetheless.
"No, I'm ready. I want to work. Plus, all that honestly sounds fascinating to me, Ms. McAllistair." Vera laughed.
"You may call me Vera, dear, but I don't seem to have caught your name, yet." She winked at Rachel, who rolled her eyes. Of course Vera would treat this like a game, like her famous streaks on the roulette table or in blackjack. Even at her old age, she treated everything like a gamble, like a thrill, like a rush of dopamine.
"Oh! Anika, Anika Camico. It's...um, really nice to meet you, Ms. Vera." She held out her hand, which Vera quickly shook, beaming, but also scoffed.
"I told you, ir's just Vera. Ms. just makes me feel terribly old and reminds me I don't have a husband. Which I don't necessarily mind, but all the same."
Anika was beaming too. This was actually going to be fun.
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It was February, now, and unusually cold. Temperatures never broke thirty most days, and the five of them were often cooped up in the trailer as the wind creaked around them, often scaring Dylan into crying. Even with the lack of sleep and proximity to everyone, Rachel noticed Anika was adjusting fairly well. She hadn't made any friends outside the trailer, really, but she and Kata were almost inseperable most days, speaking in code sometimes, even. Kata had her own friends outside the trailer, yes, but no one she had really considered a best friend yet until Anika came along. Still, she was sad for her dear friend for not knowing who she really was, and truly worried that if Anika came back to being Zelda she wouldn't be her friend anymore.
Anika was also excelling at being Vera McAllistair's assistant at the shop, although with it being the winter season it wasn't super busy. Higher volume of cursed objects brought to them to destroy, of course, that had been given as mean spirited Christmas gifts during the previous holiday, but not super busy nonetheless. She hadn't really made any connections working at the shop, though, besides Vera, who was an absolute joy to be around. She was always cracking jokes and teaching her how to properly dispose of cursed items, inventorying everything, and anythng else she needed to know around the shop. She even made Anika lunch every day before she went and trained with Rachel.
Training with Rachel was becoming second nature to Anika, now, with the new song easily conquered. Although she was dismayed she couldn't go outside in the weather, she nonetheless danced as hard as she could in her bedroom, which had been Scout's, who was now forced to share with Dylan. Still, Anika perservered.
The only thing that frustrated them pretty consistently, especially Cooper, who was obviously the main one working on it, was when the sleep study began. Coop had read the book containing the story of the man with the illusions in his mind cover to cover several times before he began, and even considered bringing Rachel's little shithead cousin Dean into the mix to assist, but he knew the young man, who was barely twenty and already a nuisance to the superscientific community, couldn't be trusted as far as he could be thrown, so he was mostly alone in this endeavor.
Every night, Anika would go to sleep as Anika, and Coop would attempt to enter her mind exactly as the book had instructed. First, give her a lighter version of the sleepytime tea so thar she didn't accidentally stir during the study, then use various spells and incantations to find where he needed to go in her mind, and then exiting his own consciousness to enter hers. This was dangerous work, because if she saw him in her memories she would know something was terribly wrong and either a) wake up and have a psychotic break or b) attack him in dream, destroying his consciousness and essentially leaving him a vegetable. He had to be silent and nondesctipt as he moved through the halls of her fake school, up the stairs of her fake house, sitting in the fake stadium watching the same fake winning goal be scored. It unnerved him, but also tugged at the very few heartstrings the twenty-eight year old man had developed over his time with his wife. Zelda truly believed all this was real, that she was Anika Camico, a normal college student from a normal boring town in the suburbs. She didn't know the horrors of her old life, what all her old friends were going through, how much she meant to everyone in her old life.
Would it really be the worst thing in the world if she stayed like this? He would wonder sometimes, but a combination of fierce desire to crack a medical mystery open and the fear of disappointing his wife kept his concerns to himself.
Something was blocking him, though; he wasn't finding anything and he was getting incredibly frustrated. Anika would notice these frustrations in the morning and ask about them and if he had made any progress, and he would bitterly tell her he was just going to bed for a few hours and not to bother him some mornings. He knew he shouldn't take his frustrations out on the poor girl, who had done nothing wrong besides be badly hypnotized, forcing his children to share a room (which came with its own separate frustrations as well). He wasn't angry at her, just the situation.
On the morning of the first day of the second month Anika had been staying with them, Kata looked nervous at the dinner table, as if she had something important to ask but didn't want to disappoint or inconvenience Rachel. Rachel noticed the young girl chewing her lip and picking at her salsbury steak.
"Penny for your thoughts, kid." She said, not even looking up from her food. If it was something rruly concerning, Kata would have come to her privately, not flitting her eyes all over the kitchen in an attempt to avoid everyone else in the room's eyes. Kata looked pensive for a moment, unsure what to do. If Anika/Zelda could train properly at the right beach, and Kata had the perfect beach in mind, she might get back to normal faster. Going to work and then coming straight home evety day to study telekinesis in theory wasn't going to help her anymore. Kata couldn't take it anymore.
"I wanna go to Babette Island." She blurted out, which she immediately regretted when Rachel gave her an icy stare and gripped her fork so hard that her knuckles turned bright white, stabbing at her food now, the plinking of the metal against the ceramic echoing through the kitchen.
"Why do you want to go there, Katerina Tatiana Sokoll?" She asked, her personality no longer warm and kind. Instead there was a cold fury on her face, as if she would make Kata (who had been called by her full government name and was now piss pants terrified) regret even uttering the name of her grandfather's private island, named after her great-grandmother, whom everyone supposed loved dearly. Rachel wouldn't know; she barely knew any Ashcrofts besides her Aunts Roxanne (who was a persistent thief, drug addict, and general nuisance) and Caroline (who had been in a state much like Zelda's, although it was brought on by trauma and last much longer, leaving her older looking and haggard now, although she was the youngest of the three previously beautiful Ashcroft sisters) and her slightly younger than her Uncle Dean (born of an affair between her grandfather and a random stripper before his death), and briefly, her cousin Soren (Roxanne's son, abandoned at birth). Not exactly a gtrat family track record, and although she knew the change of climate would be good for Zelda and maybe give her a chance of getting her powers back sooner than later, she really had no desire to go anywhere related to the Ashcrofts. Rachel was abandoned with her father and a literal evil stepmother from hell who forced her to dance until her feet bled sometimes and constantrly enter competitons. This had made her very accomplished, but it also left her broken and pliable, perfect to be molded by Ivan Sokoll.
She was getting off track. Ivan's sister sat in front of her looking on the verge of tears, awaiting a brutal chewing out by the woman sitting next to her, who looked like she was about to explode in anger.
Instead, Rachel sighed and looked at Cooper.
"We need to talk."
xxxxxxxxxxxx
"Again, I'm asking you, Asa, what the hell is going on?" Manfred asked bitterly. He couldn't believe what was happening right now. Sam Alveriola, the woman that Ezekiel and Harold Bloor wanted him to marry over Zelda, was standing before him, full of smiles and hope and it was already annoying. Sam was always a ray of sunshine, and although he hadn't seen her in three years, she looked honestly great, all things considered. But how did she get here undetected?
"I just said, dummy, we're going to bring you to the beach and rescue Zelda!" She snapped. She had shades of Zelda in her, but not enough to make her truly interesting to Manfred. She had Zelda's commanding presence, but that was about it. Still, she was speaking utter nonsense. There was no way he was leaving his filthy, stinking hovel of a study, littered with whiskey bottles and fast food wrappers. Sam was pretty and charming, but she wasn't going to be able to use that to make him come around on this. Zelda was gone, as far as he knew, forever. He had almost zero faith that the little band of American supergirls was going to be able to do anything to help her, and he was in fucking mourning and just wanted to be left to die in here eventally, like Gerard had died in the cellar.
"I'm not going." He said icily. "You two can get the fuck out of my sight! Especially before old Zeke and my dad find out you're here!" Sam grinned widely, while Asa gave his best friend a pleading look. He had just transformed back into his human form, he was tired, and in no mood to actually argue.
"Actually, Dr. Bloor let me right up here, along with dear Asa. Even Matron Yewbeam smiled at me and did the most utterly foul hand gesture I've ever seen a woman of here age and stature even do in my entire life. I think she thinks I'm going to come up here, make passionate love with you, and convince you to 'come to your senses', so to speak." She shrugged. "I've no interest in being married right this second, anyway, so I guess you're off the hook." She winked then, causing Manfred to roll his eyes.
"Didn't I just tell you to leave me alone? Just let me die in peace." It was Asa's turn to scoff and roll his eyes.
"Enough, mate, I'm tired of hearing it. You've been fucking miserable since the day Zel was sent away. You're no use to anyone like this, moping about in what's left of this study, mourning someone that's not even dead! You have to stand up and fight eventually, but I know you're a great stupid git who needs a woman's touch in his life, so you need to go to her!" Manfred knew Asa was right, but the whole idea was very stupid and very dangerous. He couldn't even leave his miserable room, let alone go all the way to America without being detected.
But Sam looked determined and Asa looked desperate and hopeful, so he supposed there wasn't any harm in hearing them out; if the idea was truly stupid and truly dangerous he would merely go back into his study and slam the door in their faces. He motioned for them to enter quietly and discreetly and closed the door behind them, ready to throw them out if he had to, but also curious as to what Sam's plan was.
"Alright, what do you got?" He said, sitting on a decrepit chair behind his desk, Asa sitting crosslegged on top of the desk, and Sam standing in front of them,
She procured a small sketchbook from her bag, full of different pictures she'd drawn when she was young and had really abused her endowedment, especially at school. If she needed to pass a test, she would merely draw a picture of herself at her school desk, an aced test sitting proudly in the corner. After that, it didn't matter how poorly she'd actually done, she'd always get the A. They briefly considered kicking her out of the public school she was attending and having her attend Bloor's, but after much pleading and repenting, she was able to stay at her school, having promised not to use her endowdement to cheat ever again.
She turned to the second to last last drawing she had made, a picture of her and Asa at Manfred's door. This was just insurance; she knew all the Bloors adored her, even Ms Dorothy (even though she would prefer Manfred be with Zelda) and would let her in easily, but she wanted to secure the bag, so to speak. The drawing all but ensured she would make it to the door, but not that Manfred would agree, of course, to her plan.
"Listen, I don't know where she is exactly. But I, um, I went on my laptop late at night and looked at beach houses around where she might be. I searched high and low for one that was discreet, meets your needs, and is close enough that you might be able to find her. It's winter now; barely anyone is down the beach, Manfred. You actually have a shot of finding her. Just take it, you dumb idiot." Sam said frustratedly. She turned to the last page.
It was a white beach house with several rooms he probably wouldn't use, black shuters, and only a few windows in inconvenient places for people to spy on him or worse, try to break in. It was honestly perfect, Sam had done a really good job on it. He had always admired her art skills, as had Sam Sparks, who shared her name and talent, who was extremely disappointed when her heard Miss Alveriola wasn't going to come to Bloor's and study art under his tutelage. It looked perfect for his needs, and if anyone else needed to hide there, he would certainly have the room. Standing outside the house were him and Asa. Alright, at least he'd have company and an extra pair of eyes to seek out Zelda with. It wasn't a bad idea. And if Sam had drawn him standing outside the house, thatr meant it would happen. His heart was pounding out of his chest. This really was his one shot at finding her, he was tired of waiting for Paton to wait for word from the American bitches, and he was impatient. He had to do this.
"When? And how am I gonna get out of here? Everyone's about to be awake; I wouldn't be surprised if Father's up now, pacing his study like a blue asswipe." Asa chuckled.
"There's the Freddy I know and love." He poked at his friend, who glared at him.
"Shut the fuck up, I'm trying to see what the manager says." He turned to Sam. "Well?" He asked sharply.
"Tonight. I need time to prepare one more drawing...dunno how detailed it's going to be or how well it's going to work, but if I can at least get the line work done, I think we'll be okay." Sam said determinedly. Manfred cocked his head to the side.
"What are you going to draw?" He asked. Sam gave him a wicked grin.
"You'll see."
Manfred and Asa spent the next sixteen hours idling around, playing video games and watching dumb memey YouTube videos (boxxy never got old, honestly), but nerves and tension were high, as evidenced by Sam furiously scribbling in her sketchpad, ripping out sheets occasionally in frustrated anger and starting over completely. Manfred empathized with her frustration, because he knew it was out of her desire to help him any way she could, but he couldn't help but also be a little annoyed with her perfectionism. He understood it, in a way, because he knew this was delicate magic and any wrong stroke of the charcoal pencil could mean certain death for all three of them. But they really didn't have time for this, although it felt like time was going agonizingly slow, as if Kata had messed with it herself. 9pm was so close yet so far away, he was tired, he was frustrated, and he didn't know if he wanted to leave or stay in his misery, waiting to die.
"It's done." Manfred had dozed off around five, Asa watching TV in the meantime. In the two hours Manfred was asleep, Asa's mind wandered to his sister. How she had killed almost the entire Strong family save Beth in a rage that made her transform during the day and then laid down to die with Gerard. He didn't know why he was thinking of this now; he supposed now was a good time to spare a thought for his poor, lovely, misunderstood sister.
"I'm sorry, Lina. I promise I will do everything I can to avenge you both." He said out loud, almost bitterly.
Then Sam had spoken up, announcing that her comparatively quick sketch of everyone in the school who would stop them in a deep sleep, each little room she had drawn containing Lucretia Yewbeam, Dr. Bloor, Mr. Weedon, his great grandfather, and even Senor Alvaro as extra insurance, all sleeping like baby logs. He looked at it, marvelling at how detailed and precise the line work was, even if that's all it was. But was it going to be enough to get them out of here in peace?
"Sam, are you sure?" He asked intensely, looking into her deep blue eyes wirh his own coal black ones, looking for assurance.
He got it and much more.
"Manfred, I promise she's coming home to you, okay. Well...you and Asa are going to make it to her, and I'm going to disappear into the art community at Temple University. I'll be getting on the plane with you two, but unfortunately, after that, you two blokes are on your own." She said frankly. "And i don't want to hear another word about it."
That was certainly the end of that conversation.
The last two hours went abnormally slow, but when the clock struck nine, as it was in Sam's drawing, everything in the academy seemed to go still. Weedon was nowhere to be found, Lucretia Yewbeam wasn't seen in her usual window, looking for children to punish that had been late coming back from the grounds. No one was around, and it was highly unusual. Manfred couldn't believe it. Samantha's plan was working, and she was grinning as she realized what he had almost at the same time.
"See? Told you so." She stuck out her tongue and Manfred rolled his eyes but couldn't help the corners of his mouth from twitching slightly. His heart pounded. Was he really going to get out of here at last?
Manfted packed quickly and he packed lightly, as Sam had instructed. She explained that he could probbaly just get everything in the small beach town he was going to be living in, so he didn't need anything major, just a few sets of clothes and important IDs and paperwork. He was still dumbfounded by what was happening, and moved almost on autopilot in both excitement and dread. The last thing he felt he needed to grab was something hidden in a secret compartment that no one would ever find. It was a poem for Zelda. He had written it ages ago, when they were pracicing iambic pentameter in English class, and it was around the time that her feelings for him were becoming mutual, and she had done something to her hair that was driving him wild and he couldn't keep her out of his head. So he word vomited his feelings for her, not in iambic pentameter, mind, although he had certainly tried at first, but there was still a certain poeticism of his tone and diction, how he conveyed his longing for her.
Manfred blinked back tears. He hadn't given it to her, because he thought it was the dumbest thing he'd ever writen, but he couldn't bring himself to throw it away. He promised himself he'd give it to her if they ever truly got together, but then they kind of just fell into each other randomly one day and he never got a chance to give it to her amidst all the chaos. He made it a point to give it her as soon as he knew she was well again.
As soon as he was ready, the three of them looked at each other, Manfred with a plain black duffel bag, Asa a tattered leather backpack, and Sam with just her very large purse. She explained that she could get anything she wanted or needed in Philadelphia. Even if she didn't have friendly neighbors, the fact that one of her father's private planes went there on business was proof she would have contacts there if she needed them.
They quickly and quietly descended the staircase and crossed the grounds, almost breaking into a run as they made their way past the ruins, past Gerard's cell, past the charred remains of the tower where Ezekiel cruelly suspended Emma Tolly in a cage from, poking her over and over with an electric wand, leaving burn scars that traumatized her to this day. Where his brother died. Why was he reminsicing about the worst times of his life right now? Why was he returning to the scenes of what he perceived to be the biggest crime of all: failing to protect those who needed him the most?
They piled into Sam's rental, easily obtained with one of the burner cards she'd opened under her father's account, and started driving toward the airport. Everything was quiet. Too quiet. Too still. They knew it was late, but it wasn't like it was the middle of the night. They did weave around a few cars, yes, but it was still unusually dead in the city for 9pm, even on a Tuesday.
A coldness started creeping down Manfred's back. Samantha had done a good job on her drawing, but she had to make it hold its shape and drive at the same time. While Manfred pondered this, in his stupor, he heard a loud THUD! from in front of them. Sam screamed. Asa swore. Manfred snapped out of his trance at the commotion and groaned loudly at what stood before them.
Taking the form of some sort of half-Balrog half-human type creature, as far as Manfred could tell, was the one...being...Sam hadn't enchanted. It was Count Harken Badlock, and he was here to kill all three of them very gruesomely. There was no way they would be able to fight him. They just had to get away, but how? Manfred's stomach turned. In the back of his mind, he knew his safety was secure, because Sam had drawn it. But she hadn't drawn herself in the picture, had he?
"Sam. if anything happens, run, okay? I mean, we're already gonna run but-BLOODY HELL, WOMAN!"
Sam was already back in control, making a sharp left to avoid Badlock, her tires screeching horribly. People were coming out of their apartments to see wbat the noise was, only to mostly scream and run back into their homes when they saw the horrors going on outside. Badlock chased them constatntly, no matter how fast Sam raced through the city, hitting ninety miles an hour once they hit the highway, whizzing straight past the airport.
"Change of plans." She said shakily, and Manfred could tell she was frightened. He immediately regretted getting her tangled up in all this, putting her in potential serious danger, and silently prayed to whatever deity that would listen that she would make it through this. He didn't give a damn whether he lived or died, although he was too old to die young now, but Sam had never had hurt anybody in her life, had always been sweet and kind and patient to him even when he certainly didn't deserve it, like right now. It wasn't that he hated Sam; that wasn't the case, at all. Zelda was simply the love of his life and nothing was going to change that.
He didn't have much time to process that as a double decker bus came hurtling toward them, the driver bewitched by the Count. Sam dodged it right it on time, but looked at the gas meter morosely.
"I knew I should have filled up before I left, but that shouldnt matter. It doesn't matter. We're gonna go through Da's private entrance to the airport. It's tight enough that he shouldn't be able to get in unless he can change form quickly enough. We just have to - SHIT!'" A car had almost landed on top of them, Sam peeling away to quickly avoid it. Badlock had lifted it telekinetically.
"Dude's cracked." Asa said blankly. "If this was a video game-" Manfred and Sam looked at him incredulously.
"Well unfortunately for us, mate, it's not! Any ideas?" Asa shrugged.
"For escaping a 900 year old half man half evil spirit of the night with powers he stole from our ancient ancestor who gave us all our powers? Nah, mate, haven't a clue. You?" Manfred took his seatbelt off so he could have freedom of movement. He knew this probably wasn't a good idea, given Sam could crash into anything at any time and send him hurtling through the windshield. But he had to see where Badlock was now, and the report was quite grim. But Asa had said something that piqued his interest. Badlock was half viridee, hell, his father was the biggest swinging dick of all the viridee apparently. They did have exploitable weaknesses, even if Badlock was playing on god mode, as Asa would eloquently put it if he wasn't about to throw up in the back seat of the rental car.
Unfortunately for Manfred, it was the complete opposite of his endowedment. Manfred dealt in fire, much like Badlock himself, much like his ancestor, Borlath. Borlath wasn't going to help him in this one, and Asa turning into a puppy dog wasn't gonna help either. Sam was still whizzing around in the rental, avoiding every single obstacle thrown at her. Kathleen Giordano would have been proud.
"Sam, I have an idea, but you have to trust me, okay? When I say GO!, switch with me, okay?"
"ARE YOU MAD?" She hollered back, narrowly missing a large fireball coming their way. "WE'LL ALL DIE IF WE TRY THAT!"
"I need you to trust me, Sam, okay? Breathe...ten...nine...eight..."
Sam was taking slow, shallow breaths that became deeper as Manfred counted down, his voice low and calm.
'"...five...four...three..."
Sam was calm, now, too, dodging the last fireball until Manfred reach "...one. GO!" He bellowed.
She rolled into the passenger seat as Manfred leapt into the driver's seat from the back, speeding away from Badlock in perfect sync to Sam falling into the seat.
"Now, get your sketchbook out. Draw an icicle, and then hand it to Asa." He turned to Asa.
"I can't do this because it'll melt in my hands. You need to throw it right at his stupid fucking face."
Asa nodded. "Roger, mate, I've got this. I can do it." Sam's hands were shaking, but she swore as she did what Manfred told her, crying onto her sketchbook, hands shaking so badly she couldn't hold her pencil.
"Sam, love, it doesn't matter what the shape is. Just make it sharp, okay?" Sam steadied herself and quickly scribbled the sharpest ice spear she could muster, quickly coloring it in. After a bought of concentration that lasted an agonizingly long time, finally, just as they were really about to meet their doom, the icicle flew off the page into Asa's waiting hand.
"HEY, ASSHOLE! CATCH!" He yelled out the busted window before hurling the spear with all his might right into Harken's chest. The creature hissed horribly, a horrendous gaping wound appearing where Asa had thrown the spear, and he retreated as the trio sped away one more time. Sam was sobbing and rocking back and forth in the back seat with Asa now, who had awkwardly wrapped his arms around her in an attempt to comfort her. Manfred was still driving, but unsure of where. He had heard Sam say something about a private entrance to the airport, but he obviously had no idea where it was. He glanced at her through the front mirror, shaking his head before hearing a loud POP! like a firecracker or a car backfiring and prayed it wasn't theirs.
It was even worse than that though, as whizzing next to them in Ezekiel's shiny black car, was none other than Mr. Weedon. He was alone; Ezekiel knew an unfair fight when he saw one. If the three youths had managed to best the Count, there was no way he was taking them on with just an unendowed man, although the beefy groundskeeper certainly had a surprise for them. No, he had told the other evil adults, best let the man do their dirty work. It was, afrer all, what he was paid to do, and one of the things he was paid to do was shoot the tires out on the rental car.
Time almost stopped for Manfred as the car spun out of control and with quick thinking he slammed into a guard rail, stopping the car from skidding further and hitting the other cars on the highway. The airbags deployed, smashing into Manfred's face. He glanced back at Asa and Sam in the back, who were tangled up in each other and blushing furiously, but otherwise unharmed. He was gonna defimitely have a black eye from this, but before he could assess other injuries, Weedon was at the driver's side door, gun pointed directly ar Manfred's head.
Weedon pulled the trigger. Sam screamed. "NO!" Asa yelled. Manfred closed his eyes and accepted his fate.
Zelda. I'm so sorry. I loved you so much, and I wish you would have known that. I wasn't the best at showing you, and I wasn't the best at protecting you, or anybody else, but dammit I loved you so much...
The gun jammed. Somehow, some way, the gun jammed, and Manfred knew now was the time to turn the tables if he was going to get them out alive.
His palm outstretched in front of him as Weedon frantically messed with the gun, but it was already too late for the groundskeeper. Seconds later, a fireball the size of a large dresser shot out of Manfred's hand, point blank into Weedon, whose skin made a horrible hissing noise and produced a foul smell as he flew backwards into Ezekiel's car and the car exploded. The explosion caused Weedon's head to fly right off as he was hit in the back of the neck with a sharp piece of shrapnel. Manfred winced at the sight, but as there was no one left chasing them at the moment, he finally took a deep breath and exited the car. Sam and Asa weren't far behind, and all three of them observed the charred remains of the car solemnnly before Manfred turned around and blew the other car up, leaving no trace of any of them being here. As far as Ezekiel knew, the explosion was mutual, killing them all, and Weedon had done his job even though he had sacrificed himself in the process.
"Now what?" Asa asked. Sam was frantically on her phone's GPS trying to find the airport with barely any signal in the middle of the highway, but eventually she found it and sighed deeply.
"Main airport entrance is about a half a mile back. We must have been going back and forth enough times that we stayed close. If we cut through these woods here-" Manfred shook his head.
"No woods. That's probably where Badlock went to recuperate. We'll just walk on the shoulder."
xxxxxxxxx
A month later, Manfred sat on the couch of the beautiful beach house Sam had bought he and Asa, feeling bored and frustrated once again at his lack of results. After he, Asa, and Sam had landed at Philadelphia International Airport and the boys and sweet, kind young woman parted ways for the last time, the young men departed for Delaware using a combinaton of train, bus, and rideshare services. When they reached the beach house, even in thr winter time it was more amazing than they could have imagined. Everything was state-of-the-art with a smart fridge, Alexa across the house doing whatever she could to be a convenience, there was even a PS3 for them to play when they were cooped up inside due to the harsh weather.
But they weren't here on vacation, and if Asa wasn't going to take this seriously, he was. That was a lie; Asa was taking this seriously, Manfred supposed, but it obviously wasn't the same obsessive hunger he had to find Zelda and bring her home. Asa had personally helped him ice his eye, went out with him to look for her every day, and dealt with Manfred's moodiness born out of bitter disapppointment that his love had eluded him again. He didn't know where to start looking. Sam had only made sure they made it to Frankfort, Delaware safely; she didn't have the power to know where Zelda was and draw it. Manfred and Asa were pretty much on their own, going to grocery stores, coffee shops, movie theaters, anywhere they knew she might be. They looked on every inch of the beach every other unless it was raining heavily or snowing. Even in the fog, they took flashlights to the dreary shore and searched for her, not daring to call her name. They knew last time they had seen her, she didn't even know it, so there was no point.
After about a month of looking, it was February, and Manfred was growing increasingly impatient with himself for his utter failure at doing anything that was important to him. In fact, even at the things he didn't want to do for his grandfather, he was completely useless. The more he looked and the more he didn't find her, the more he wished he had just stayed in his study and drank himself to death. Then, a brilliant idea came to Asa of all people. They were playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on the PS3, idly trying to beat the same train mission for the fifteenth time, when they found themselves on rhe sidewalk of Vespucci Beach, where the boardwalk was in view. Asa put down the controller suddenly, running a hand through his hair with a grin.
"Mate, I just thought of something we haven't. That boardwalk has been open this whole time and we haven't stepped foot on it once." Manfred shook his head.
"That wouldn't make sense. There's barely anyone here. Why would Zelda be on the boardwalk if literally no one else is?" Asa shrugged.
"Worth a shot, Fred. Honestly, we're big stupid gits if we don't even try, you know. It's the only place we haven't checked." Manfred considered this, almost inisisting it was impossible, that they must have just missed her at every diner, post office, and upturned rock they checked. But after three rotations of checking the town and the beach, they were both tired, disappointed, and desperate for results. Still, though, he didn't want to get his hopes up. Asa gave him a detrmined look.
"Listen, mate, we'll go once and then I'll dtop it and we'll keep looking on that bloody beach until we're dead." Manfred looked at him exasperatedly. It was clear the younger man wasn't going to drop it, and it was already bad enough seeing Asa have to transform on the lonely beach every night and run all his energy out.
"Alright, man. We'll go tomorrow."
The next day had threatened rain, so the men donned heavy coats and took the lonely, arduous walk to the empty boardwalk. Most of the shops and restauramts were closed for the summer, although a couple were open year round, their neon lights reflecting off the fog and mist in the air. Manfred would have thought it was quaint if it wasn't so damn cold. He put his hands in his pockets and drew warmth from Borlath into his fingers to keep them from going numb. It couldn't have been more than forty degrees, and damp on top of it.
"Let's get going." He said gtuffly. They traipsed the boardwalk for two hours, going into every open building, checking under the boards, going underneath where they could, where all they found were barnacles and seaweed. Asa jokingly said that at least they didn't find a body, but Manfred was in no mood for dark humor. He was on a mission. But his heart was sinking. This was such a stupid idea; he was cold, hungry, and tired and just wanted to go back to the beach house and at least eat food and be miserable in the warmth.
They climbed up and searched for another hour before Manfred stopped short and looked at his best friend. He looked even worse for wear than Manfred did, but was trying to keep good spirits nonetheless, though. That was Asa, though. Everyone thought he was this big, scary wolf, but Manfred and Zelda knew better. They knew he was more akin to a golden retriever: boundless optimistic hopeful energy. He looked like he was starving, though, and Manfred could have sworn he heard the other boy's stomach growl a few times. He took out his wallet, pulled out a crisp American ten dollar bill, and handed it to Asa.
"Here, mate. Go get some fries or a burger or something if you can find something open. Think you've earned your keep for the day." Asa shook his head.
"Nah, mate, I have a really good feeling about this. We have to keep looking,. Besides, I can't take your money, dude..." Manfred smiled, shook his head, and pushed the bill into Asa's coat pocket.
"Nonsense, Ace. You've been doing nothing but help me look for my woman in horrific conditions, transforming by the beach every night, and barely complaining the whole time. Go get food. Trust me. I'll keep looking while you eat." He looked out in the distance. They were almost to the end of the boardwalk, and although he was grateful they could go home soon, he was also massively depressed that they hadn't found them. He looked at his clock. 10:20. Oh well, they'd probably be back by eleven by the time they finished the boardwalk and did the walk of shame back home.
He walked around aimlessly for a few more minutes until the rain had that been about to burst from the clouds all morning finally decided to fall.
"Damn." He muttered under his breath. He ran around for a minute trying to find the closest open shop to at least idle in until Asa caught up to him, settling on a shop with an assortment of rugs and odd objects on a table, walking inside and looking like he was looking around.
He did actually take the time to look around, though. The little shop was charming, he had to admit, with all sorts of weird items and books, some of them claiming to be spellbooks. Whatever, he knew half the women in this godforsaken country (and even back home, he had to say) pretended to be witches. Still though, he was starting to get an odd feeling about the shop the deeper he went in; it definitely wasn't your ordinary Blackpool-esque boardwalk souvenir shop. He saw a young blond woman, hair in a French braid with a clipboard in her hand and a pen behind her ear, and decided to ask her what kind of store this was, exactly, picking up a cool-looking metal police badge in the process.
"Excuse me, ma'am?" He asked. When the woman turned around, he couldn't believe his eyes.
"Yes?" Zelda Dobinski asked, looking right at him and not recognizing him at all. Bis heart nearly stopped right then and there. He couldn't believe it. She was here, under his nose, this whole time, and he wouldn't have known if Asa hadn't told her to check tbe boardwalk. He looked at her for a moment, trying to take in as much of her as he could. He hadn't seen her in months. She was here. He had found her.
Manfred didn't know how he felt about the blond, to tell the truth.
Anika saw Rachel sitting at the kitchen table coloring with Scout and Dylan when she finally decided to ask her.
"Um...Rachel?" Rachel had insisted weeks ago that Anika drop the "Ms" for two reasons: one, she was a legal adult and although she was under Rachel's tutelage had more privileges than Katerina. If Anika had been at full strength (aka back to being Zelda) they would honestly be equals. Rachel knew this, but Anika didn't. Not yet. Two, it made her feel incredibly old, and besides, she was married. She had never taken a man's last name because she loved her incredibly doting father so much, who still wrote her and sent money all the time, but Ms. Rachel just didn't feel right.
"Yes, love?" She asked, looking up from her admittedly medicore drawing with a heavy sigh. Dance, she was great at. Drawing, not so much. She figured she should just leave it to the professionals, like her six year old daughter, who had mastered cars and moved on to little planes that occasionally flew around the room, delighting her, her little brother, and even her mother.
"Can I dye my hair blond like Kata and the other beach girls?" Rachel smiled.
"Of course, dear. But you don't have to be blond to be pretty. Just look at me." She laughed, flipping her jet black hair behind her shoulders dramatically. Anika shook her head.
"No, you don't understand. I wanna do it because...they're my friends. I'm not trying to conform, I'm just..." Rachel shook her head and took Anika's arm motherly.
"Don't explain. We'll get the dye tomorrow."
But the braid was simply sublime, and fit her thin face perfectly. Her brown eyes had the spark he had come to know and love, but it was...different, somehow. He didn't want to think about this long though, as his eyes trailed her body. She was even thinner than he remembered, her meager cleaver hanging out of a low-cut sweater, but had gained significant muscle in her legs and upper arms.
In short, she was different, but still as beautiful as he remembered, and he couldn't take his eyes off her, which must have creeped her out because she folded her arms in a way reminiscent of her new best friend and gave him a look.
"Can I help you? Or are you just gonna stand there staring?" She said, putting a hand on her hip. He blushed slightly, his hands shaking so badly he almost dropped the police badge, whicb he promptly put back on the table for good measure. "I wouldn't touch that if I were you. It's technically display only; I only have it down because I needed to move it to inventory the stuff behind it. It belonged to Matt Meridian, the best friend of the woman who owns the shop." She explained.
Manfted couldn't believe the situation. Here was Zelda, going about mundane chores in a weird shop on the boardwalk in Delaware of all places, and she was rapidly explaining the stoty of the badge as if she hadn't loved him all these years. It would have broken his heart completely if he hadn't just realized she was probably at least partially hypnotized. He cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, wishing he had washed his hair or ironed a shirt or something. It was just that he had almost compltely given up hope of finding her, so he hadn't felt the need to not look like a total drunk shitbag in front of others.
"Oh, no, just looking. Um...say." He said, not knowing what he was going to actually say yet, knowing he was completely fumbling the bag but not caring. He wished he could reach out and push a stray hair behind Zelda's ear, touch that favorite spot on her shoulder that she loved. But he couldn't. She didn't know him from Adam at the moment, and he didn't want to freak her out more than she clearly was.
"Yeah?" She was tapping her foot impatiently, looking like she was on the verge of throwing him out of the store.
"Uh...sorry. Just moved here. From Britain. I, uh, guess you're from there too?" He said almost bitingly, thinking this whole situation was a complete joke, having to stand there and pretend he didn't know her like clearly everyone else was doing. How was this supposed to help her, exactly? And now she was basically being used as cheap labor. The whole thing sickened him and, frankly, pissed him off, but he had to keep his cool in frotnt of her or not only would she likely throw him out, but also probbaly call the boardwalk cops for good measure, and that wouldn't do him any good.
No, now that he had found her, he wasn't going to do anything to lose her. Not ever again.
Zelda laughed, brushing the stray hair behind her ear herself shyly, causing Manfred to almost melt into a puddle right then and there. He hadn't heard her laugh in so long, and he missed it dearly.
"Yeah, I guess you could tell from the accent, huh? Dunno from exactly where I'm from...um..." She turned away briefly and then turned back with a sad smile that almost broke him again.
"I seem to have a case of amnesia, ha. I obviously don't know how I got it, but apparenrly I slept for days and woke up in a strange trailer on the beach. Rachel Bailey, great lass, really, she found me babbling on the shore about to be swallowed by the waves. She and her husband, Coop, brought me back to their home and nursed me back to health. They're...lovely, really. They feel like my real family. Apparently my family home is too dangerous right now, so they sent me here."
Well, at least that part was true, he thought bitterly, angry that they had made up so much bullshit when they could have just told her the truth and gotten her to snap out of it. But alas, that was not the case, and he wasn't about to try now. Clearly, these strange witches had a plan, and if he disrupted it, there was no telling what at least three angry women he knew of would do to him.
"Oh, I see. I'm sorry to hear that." He said quietly. Zelda smiled.
"No, it's okay, really! Sometimes it's nice to only remember your name." She joked. "Really gives you perspective, you know?" Manfred could feel his heart beating against his ribs. Her name. What was she calling herself now?
"Anika, by the way." She said, holding out one of her dainty, spidery fingered hands. "Anika Camico. And you are?"
Manfred quickly took her hand, not believing the oppotunity to do so had fallen into his lap. It was so much warmer than he remembered when she was hypnotized fully, and color had even returned to her knucles. He wanted to stay in that moment forever, but he knew he couldn't and he also figured he should come up with a false name in case "Anika" (he did admit the name rolled off the tongue; she was always good at coming up with names for characters she wrote in the stories for English class at Bloor's) went home and told her new family that she made a friend that day. He didn't need anyone to know he was here, not yet, anyway, or else they'd probably boot him back where he belonged.
"Uhhh...Fred." He said blankly.
Good one, prat. No one is gonna guess it's you from that. Brilliant, really.
Anika cocked her head to the side and laughed, still shaking his hand. "Fred what?" Manfred's eyes whizzed around the room, grasping at straws for ideas. Nothing he saw really seemed to work until his eyes settlled on a knife sharpener.
"Uh...Sharpener. Fred Sharpener." Zelda grinned.
"Bit odd, isn't it? Sharpener as a last name. Guess I'll roll with it." She said, pulling her hand away finally.
Suddenly, a woman with dark hair, also in a french braid, poked her head out of the back.
"Zelda, can you help me move this mirror?" She eyed Manfred suspiciously, causing him to honestly almost shit bricks, not wanting to be caught out already.
"Sorry, love, we're closing in a few. Why don't you come back tomorrow?" Manfred nodded slowly, knowing it was time to quit while he was clearly ahead. He gave Zelda/Anika one last lingering look and then turned away quickly. It had stopped raining, and it even looked like the sun was poking out of the clouds.
"Yeah, um...I could. Uh, see you Anika.'" He said, and with that he was gone, almost running down the boardwalk to find Asa. When he did, in an ice cream parlor, eating a breakfast sandwich and some fried oreos, he nearly dragged him away the remains of his food, out of the restaurant, in the direction of their house off the boardwalk.
"Mate, what the hell? You okay? Where are we going?" Asa asked, pulling his arm away. "Also, don;'t do that, bro, everyone is gonna think we're a fucking cou-"
"Home. I found her." Asa's eyes widened and he grinned widely.
"Really? No shit, man? You sure it was her?"
"Positive. She works at some weird shop almost at the very end of the boardwalk. That's why we couldn't find her. But I did. I'll explain when we get back."
Somehow, despite the cruel weather, his ruined family, the fact that he was far from home, and all the shit he'd gone through so far, Manfred couldn't help but have a spring in his step all thr way back to the beach house.
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HOWS THAT FOR BRINGING YOUR FAVES BACK, YA'LL?
Okay so I know this one was super long, way longer than it had any right to be lol. I hope ya'll get through it okay and remember to leave me a nice review because I worked really hard on this part of the fic. I hope ya'll enjoy it and I'll take constructive feedback as well.
also, I know it's in a few hours, but happy birthday to me anyway. Getting this behemoth done was my present to myself LMAO
peace, love, happinesss
love,
belf