Addy hands me a lemon cupcake.
We're outside the Witch Doctors Inc building. The night sky is veiled with cloud. I can't see a single star.
"Do you think the orb is up there?" Addy wonders.
"Up there..." I munch thoughtfully. "I don't know if it's still near our planet, or even in our solar system. But it's sealed and it's safe. It won't bother anyone again."
"Now all you have to worry about is the report."
I'll have to tell a good few lies in the case report. If anyone looks into it, really looks into it, they'll find that Andreas Lisbon doesn't exist. So let's hope no one gets too interested.
"At least I got away with taking all that fire quartz," I muse. "That's what I was really worried about."
"That's the thing," Addy says through a mouthful of cupcake. "It turns out Ruby has cameras all through the store room. They're charmed to be invisible. Some of the other witch doctors were talking...Ruby knew about you taking the fire quartz, and she reported it to Big Boss."
I frown. "That's strange. Big Boss hasn't said anything to me."
"Maybe he's cutting you some slack. It's your first case since you came back, after all."
"If he wanted to cut me some slack, he wouldn't have given me this case in the first place."
We both laugh.
A part of me still wonders if I made the right choice by deciding not to use the dark power on the orb. Onyx's words stick in my mind: I know the orb will return one day.
I don't see how he can be right though. The orb is sealed with Scion inside it. No one can undo the seal except a Phaedrean, and I'm the only Phaedrean left.
I knew I couldn't handle the dark power that Scion had used on Lazarus. I don't think it was weakness. I saw the truth and I faced it.
I'm done with worrying about being strong enough. Maybe I'll never be strong enough. Maybe I'll end up as another name on Onyx's list of doomed witches.
There are so many maybes, and I can't see into the future. All I know is that I'll never give up. If darkness wants my soul, it'll have to fight me for it.
END OF EPISODE TWO
(Episode Three coming up!)