Welcome back to Ashes of Midnight. Last time, Cynder met up with Scarlet Witch at the shrine of Agatha Harkness, and the two were visited by Agatha herself, invisible but still audible. Agatha confirms that, somehow, Lilith was right in telling Cynder that Agatha can help her, but there's a catch. A ritual needs to be completed to bind Agatha's soul to The Abbey, but to do so she needs a memento in Caretaker's possession. And she's not even sure what it is. A little odd, don't you think? But no time to worry about that, as Cynder and Scarlet Witch have to go into heist mode and get the memento out of Caretaker's room. So, how's this little heist going to go? Read on to discover...

(Our scene opens up outside of Caretaker's quarters. Nobody's around, only for Scarlet Witch to enter the scene and look around. Seemingly finding the place is deserted. But then she signals to no one, only for something to move out from her shadow at the signal. The shadow slips under the door, and once in the room reveals itself to be Cynder.)

Scarlet Witch: (Whispered through the keyhole) I'm outside the room. Once the coast is clear, I'll give you the signal.

Cynder: (Whispered through the keyhole) Got it.

(While Scarlet Witch keeps watch, Cynder starts searching Caretaker's room for whatever the memento could be. But there doesn't seem to be much to find. The desk is purely functional, the dresser has some personal effects, the bookshelves are full of treatises on magic though none are Agatha's, but then, on the nightstand, Cynder spots it, a heart-shaped locket. She doesn't even need to look at the thing for very long to tell that this is the memento that Agatha was looking for, so Cynder stuffs it into her shadow and heads toward the door, but unbeknownst to her, Caretaker walks back in startling Scarlet Witch)

Scarlet Witch: Caretaker! What are you up to?

Caretaker: It's been a long day, I think I'm about to head to bed.

Scarlet Witch: I was thinking the same thing but, there was something I wanted to talk to you about before I did.

Caretaker: That being?

Scarlet Witch: I wanted to talk about Agatha.

Caretaker: (Thinking she knows where this is headed) Wanda, you know that topic is off limits.

Scarlet Witch: I'm not looking for forgiveness. Goodness knows I don't deserve that. I just was thinking, in the time we knew each other, Agatha had a few good memories of you she shared with me. I figured after everything that I've held onto them long enough, it's about time to let you know. Could we take a short walk, so I could recount them?

Caretaker: (Not sure that something isn't going on, but going with it) Alright, a short walk.

Scarlet Witch: I can guarantee that. Won't be more than a few minutes.

(And as those two leave, Cynder interprets their footsteps as a signal that the coast is clear and slips out from under the door in shadow form, only to be immediately caught by Spyro.)

Spyro: Cynder? What on Earth were you doing in Caretaker's room?

(Cynder's just about to panic, but realizes that Spyro's almost certainly going to be in her corner)

Cynder: It's a long story, so I'll try to make this quick. Agatha's a ghost who according to Ignitus in my dreams has the key to defeating Malefor. But nobody can see her though she can be heard. She has a remedy to fix this, some kind of ritual, but in order to perform it I needed a memento of her that Caretaker was keeping.

Spyro: (Taking all this in) Honestly, I buy it. That's probably the most Agatha Harkness thing I've ever heard.

Cynder: Good to know. Please, don't tell Caretaker about this.

Spyro: Sure. On one condition.

Cynder: Name it.

Spyro: I want to get in on this. I may not have known Agatha as well as you or Wanda did, but I still honestly miss her.

Cynder: Gladly.

Spyro: Then this meeting never happened.

(As Spyro walks away, Cynder sees Caretaker heading back their way through a window, and immediately heads out to meet up with Scarlet Witch at Agatha's Shrine, ending our scene for today)

And that looks like a good place to wrap up for now. Admittedly, there could have been more detail in this. And in the original draft, there was. Unfortunately, I closed the tab without saving it on accident. So here's take two. Not as pretty, but it does get the beats of the original. Anyways, looks like Cynder's got the memento, now to meet up with Wanda and end this quest. So, what awaits at Agatha's Shrine? Tune in next time to find out! Same time... same channel!