Path of Night

Post Memoriam

"Cousin! You're awake!"

It was the first thing I heard. I opened my eyes and saw Ambrose. I was about to say something but Hilda and Zelda entered the room, so I stayed quiet. I don't know how am I going to pretend like nothings wrong when I know the truth.

"Love are you alright? I can make you a nice little tea, hmm?"

"I am fine aunt Hilda. What happened? How long was I out?"

"You were unconscious for a week. Every now and then you would scream, but that's it"

"Do you know why you passed out?"

"Maybe I used too much magic when the Thirteen were attacking."

I said looking directly into Zelda's eyes. She is the hardest to fool, she notices everything, every detail.

"We will leave you to rest, ok love, and I will be back soon with that tea"

With that, the two of them left. Ambrose was about to leave, but I stopped him.

"Hey, Ambrose, wait."

"What is it, cousin?"

"What happened while I was, you know."

"Well, a lot of things happened. First, we had to deal with Gryla..."

"What! Why?"

"Our dear aunt Zelda stole one of father Blackwoods' twins, a girl, which is beside the point. But, someone put out the fire in the log so the Yule Lads came in. We had to make a deal with Gryla, which resulted in giving her the babe, who was actually some doll we found and put a glamor."

"But she left, and it was too late, right?"

"Well yes, but, Sabrina's friend, Susie was kidnapped by a demon who traps kids in wax. So we called Gryla again, which could have resulted in a much, much worse scenario may I say, but she was willing to forgive our little trick..."

"Because you gave her a demon that she despised more. Ok, is there anything else?"

"Yes. But long story short, Sabrina went for a Top Boy"

"What! You are kidding!"

"I wish I was. She and Nick were competing. During this competition, Sabrina was attacked by the Kings of Hell and she was sure it was Blackwood's fault. So, in the last challenge, she and Nick summoned the Kings together, but it wasn't Blackwood who summoned them, they came by themselves saying how she cannot ascend or something. Anywayyy, moving on, father Blackwood elected me the Top Boy."

"Really Ambrose that's amazing! Congrats!"

I literally jumped out of bed to hug him and forgetting the part where I just woke up from a coma.

"Agh!" I yelled as my head hurt

"Lie down, and rest. You just woke up. Aunt Hilda will be here in a few minutes with her tea and herbs."

"About that, do you know..."

I was interrupted by Hilda and Zelda. They entered the room asking me how I was, again. It's hard for me to pretend that everything is fine, after those memories I experienced. I really want to just leave the house, maybe go to the academy and see Prudence. If there was an election for a Top Boy, that means that soon will be the school's play and I really want to see it. I was always behind the coulisse so I never really saw the play. I hope that now, because of what happened I will finally be able to see it properly.

*****

I got dressed and made my way down to the kitchen. I saw everyone there. They were in some deep conversation.

"What is going on?"

"The Dark Lord made his appearance last night and gave Sabrina a task to prove her devotion," Zelda explained.

"Nice, so when are you going to do it?"

"I don't know if I will. I mean, there has to be a way to not do it, right?"

"I'm sorry love, but there isn't. And the consequences are, well, no one knows, but they certainly can't be good."

Here we go again. I just woke up from a week-long coma and they are already jumping on my nerves. I shut myself out of the conversation and started to think about what should I do. When I heard that Dorcas is Lilith, I decided to go to the Academy.

*****

Everyone was at The Desecrated Church practicing for a play. Apparently, Father Blackwood changed the play to be a little more, well... I don't know how to explain it. I came in, no one noticing as always, and found a place to sit and watch the rehearsal. To say Dorcas was bad would have been an understatement. Don't get me wrong, I love Dorcas but her acting skills are not on a good level. Zelda was pissed, but in the middle of her yelling, she started to choke. A minute later she took a frog?! out of her mount. Oh, how funny was that to watch. She ran out of the Church and then everyone saw me, everyone that matter that is. Prudence and I talked a lot. She kept asking me questions about my coma and the spell when she heard I cast it successfully. She told me everything I missed, how she helped Sabrina in the first round for Top Boy just to spite her father. We had a great laugh and I think we would have talked for hours if Sabrina didn't start to choke on the apple...

I knew why she started, it is obvious, she keeps on defying the Dark Lord and he is making sure that she knows the consequences.

*****

After the play was finished, I went to bed. I was still really tired and didn't want to see anyone, the Spellmans in particular. I need to find out everything they know plus there is that teacher, Wardwell, that I need to keep an eye on.