Amber and Patricia headed to investigate the sound, Amber remaining as silent as she possibly could in those heels of hers. She followed closely behind Patricia who led the both of them to Alfie and Joy's location. There, Alfie and Joy stared up at the ghostly figure towering above, who they would soon enough come to realize was Neith herself.
"What do you think you're doing?" Neith asked in an icy tone as Patricia and Amber hid, watching from a discreet angle.
Neither Joy nor Alfie could come up with a response.
"Well?" Neith continued.
Neith grew impatient and with a wave of her right hand, serpents came slithering out from behind her, each of them hissing in their own threatening tones.
"I don't have the time to waste on fools like you," Neith declared softly. "But sadly, I do anyway."
Neith snapped her fingers, and Alfie flinched, assuming the snakes were coming after him, but instead they slithered to the doorway, unveiling Amber and Patricia who were then forced inside the room.
"Trying to fool a goddess, were you?" Neith sighed. The snakes came back to her, swarming around her presence. "It's a shame to see people so skilled in this...mystery solving, and yet, they never seem to think. It's almost counterintuitive, wouldn't you say so?"
"You can't do anything to us," Joy declared.
"Joy-" Patricia warned, but it was too late.
Neith snapped her fingers and suddenly Alfie fell to the ground, clutching his chest.
"Your friend's heart rate is slowing down second by second," Neith informed. "Say your goodbyes; he has seven minutes." With that, Neith rolled her eyes at Joy and turned around, vanishing in thin air.
Amber, Patricia, and Joy all knelt down to Alfie whom they turned over.
"Joy, why would you say that to a goddess?" Amber interrogated. "And not like, Amber Millington-goddess, but an actual goddess!"
"I-I-"
"Let's not worry about that right now," Patricia interrupted, saving Joy from having to respond. "We just need to save Alfie."
"Yup, there's a dying Alfie here!" Alfie yelped out in pain as he felt his heart rate decrease.
"Okay, Alfie," Joy stated as calmly as she could, "just keep breathing. We won't let you die."
Patricia pulled both Amber and Joy away for a moment, outside the vicinity of Alfie's hearing. She whispered to them, "He's going to die."
"Way to be optimistic, Patricia," Joy scolded.
"And how do you suppose we save him?"
"Nina or Eddie can do it...right?" Amber asked. "Or Jerome...or a god might come..." Patricia and Joy both noticed Amber's voice wavering as her eyes growing heavy with tears.
"Amber-" Joy began.
"I just don't handle well knowing a friend will die," Amber sniffled, gesturing over to Alfie.
"I'll go get Eddie or someone," Patricia sighed anxiously. "You two stay here with Alfie."
Patricia hurried back upstairs.
~~~~~
Meanwhile, the others were discussing what they'd do to save the children and themselves. KT remained silent in it all, and Daniel watched as they bickered, almost certain he knew what their decision would be.
"We have to step through," Jerome pointing to the portal. "We can't let those children die."
"And what about ourselves?" Nina asked. "We're Sibuna, there's always a way out where everyone lives."
"Time is ticking," Daniel informed. "I'd say...we should give Willow a good ten minutes and those poor innocent souls will be dead."
"Nina, this is kind of what we signed up to do," Eddie argued.
"Signed up? I don't remember signing up for anything-"
"-but you did choose to save the world, didn't you?" Eddie reminded. "You chose not to walk away; you chose to fulfill the role of the Chosen One. And I know you adopted Sarah with the greatest intent to protect her at all costs."
"You think I want Sarah to die? Don't you think I'd rather protect her the best I can?" Nina retaliated. "Because I really do want to protect her. But do you really think I want her to grow up without a mother?...And a father? Do you really think I want to rob her of her childhood in such a way that one night, her parents left her and they never came back?"
Eddie stared her in her eyes sympathetically. "Do you really think there's an easy way out of this?"
When Nina didn't respond, Fabian butted in and sided, "I'm kind of with Nina on this one."
A split second later, Patricia busted in, drawing everyone's attention.
"Eddie, I need to speak with you."
"Now?"
"Eddie."
Eddie nodded and hurried out with her.
Everyone else in the room turned back towards eachother.
"Well?" Daniel smirked. He continued after an absence of response, "Here's a bargain...I'll stop mind-controlling Willow as long as one of you steps through."
Jerome blinked and faced the portal, but Nina yanked him back around by the arm.
"Don't you dare," Nina whispered, glaring him in the eyes. "Your life isn't worth this."
"But Nina," Jerome replied, "I'd have to say it is."
Nina didn't say anything else, accepting the fact she couldn't change his mind and just pulled him into her embrace. In her ear, Jerome whispered, "Tell Amber I love her," and they pulled apart. Jerome also gave a final hug to Fabian before turning to face the portal, its glow illuminating the entire room. Jerome began to blink excessively as tears welled up in his eyes, and deep inside, he knew he was second-guessing himself, but he wouldn't let that get the best of him.
~~~~~
Patricia led Eddie by the hand as quickly as she could, but just before they could go into the room where Alfie and the others were, Eddie pulled back and stopped them both.
"Wait, you didn't tell me what was going on," Eddie reminded.
"Come on; you'll see it," Patricia urged anxiously.
"Patricia, wait," Eddie held her back again. "In case either of us die at any point tonight-"
"-wha-"
With that, Eddie pulled Patricia close and kissed her as though it was their final kiss, because in all fairness, it could have been.
They both pulled away. "Um..." Patricia said, recollecting her thoughts. "Okay, come on." She pulled Eddie along with her.
~~~~~
So, I'll be ending this chapter here, meaning there will be a few more. I never how long to plan these endings, so at this point I'm just going to say - a few more chapters-ish.
Also, that competition on Saturday...well our team placed first! By one point as well which is insane, but anyway, top three teams advance to the next level which will be towards the end of this month, February. So, whoop! But you're here to read a story, aren't ya?
So anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. And for now, discussion questions!
What do you think will happen if/when Jerome steps through the portal?
Do you think Eddie can save Alfie?
Until next time, Aristocrats!