GHOST SQUAD

CHAPTER 15-DISGRACE

Knave glared at her. "Mendaline, now is really not the time."

She chuckled. "Well, we still cannot kill her! At least, not without destroying her power source."

"So, basically like Voldemort and his Horcrux." Said Tristan.

"Like Volde who and what?" Mendaline said, looking at Tristan as if were an alien.

"It's a Harry Potter reference." He explained.

"Harry who now?" Mendaline asked, looking annoyed. Tristan began to explain, but she cut him off, "Don't answer that!" She warned. "Unless this Harry guy can help us defeat Cora, I have no interest to learn about him, whatsoever." She shook her head. "For now, we can rest assured since she would take days to heal." She said, returning her attention to Cora. "Till then, we find a way to figure out her power source," She looked at Alice. "And I think we might have a shot now!"

Ignoring everyone's stunned faces, Mendaline clapped her hands. "Alright horses, giddy up!" She shouted, making her way towards the door, but not before kicking Cora on the leg.

Knave had no idea why Tristan had decided to stay the night with them. Knave knew he had a house, and a mother who would be worried. Still, Tristan had been adamant to spend the night in Mendaline's cave, much to the witch's horror. She had grumpily produced two extra mattresses and had watched in dismay, as they had taken up more space of her vast cave.

Knave could bear all of this, but what he could not stand was the fact that Alice had been avoiding him. She would not even meet his eyes. Even now, she sat at a great distance from him talking to Tristan, which only made Knave feel more worthless. It did not help matters that he could no longer see the twins, or even Maria. At least he could've joined her in sitting glumly, staring into the distance.

The only person he could talk to was Mendaline who as usual, was sitting by her fire, staring at it as if it were the most interesting thing on earth. He wondered if she were alone, or if Charlie was with her. Whatever the case, he made his way towards her and sat beside her.

"Juliet is busy with her new Romeo, I see!" Mendaline said, making Knave wonder if coming by her was a wise choice after all.

"Can we talk about anything but that?" He pleaded.

Mendaline sighed. "Okay!" She was silent for a while, before she finally said, "I suppose you want to run to your parents."

Knave shrugged as if he was not at all dying to meet them. The truth was that the first thought he had when Tristan had seen him, was to run to his parents. The only thing holding him back was the fact that they would not recognize him. Or maybe.....

"Do you think they would remember me?" He asked desperately.

Mendaline shook her head, which crushed Knave's tiny hope. "Their part of the curse is not yet lifted." She informed him. "If it had, your parents would be standing outside my cave, begging for help." She shrugged. "I suppose their curse would end with Cora," Mendaline glanced sideways at him. "You will be with them soon enough, Wentworth!" She assured.

Knave felt a little odd hearing someone call him by his last name after so long. He had almost forgotten he had a last name. He looked at her. "Earlier on when you said we now have something we did not have before, did you mean Alice?" He asked.

"What is it that you humans say?" She asked. "Right," She said, clicking her fingers as she remembered. "Duh!" She completed, looking pleased with herself.

Knave ignored her smug look. "But Alice was with us from the beginning."

Mendaline stared at him as if he had uttered the most ridiculous statement. She put a hand to his forehead, as if checking for a fever. "I guess having your curse broken messed with your brains." She gave a sly smile. "Or perhaps you were dumb from the start, and it was with the help of your ghostly powers that you were smart."