After our shocking revelation, Nessa, Charlie, and I talked for hours while we waited for the right time to go meet up with the queen of evil. I felt like Charlie was the most shocked out of all of us, as he couldn't form a single sentence for ten minutes. When his tongue finally untied itself and his mind became a little less like much, he said, "You are Emma's son. I-I am so sorry. I didn't know....I wanted her to be okay, I, I....will she be there still?" His eyebrows knit together so fiercely that he grew a monobrow and his forehead wrinkled until it resembled a piece of crumpled paper.
Nessa and I looked at each other. We had no idea if my mom would still be alive. Her soul had been trapped for a decade, and the sites that we looked at said that letting the demon inhabit the body for longer than a year was extremely dangerous and that it was unlikely that the host mind would survive.
"Well, we don't actually know if she's alive. Only unnaturally strong souls can ever survive for a year. Nothing's ever been documented where the host's body even survived that long. The demon either destroys it or the host's family and friends do. There's a chance, but...." I grimaced. "I really have no idea. I can only hope, you know?"
Charlie smiled sadly and nodded his head.
"Guys, we'd better get a move on. Zephyras is going to need us in three hours, so we'd better start setting up everything. It's going to take a while to get it all ready." Nessa stood up from her seat on a black tombstone and walked over to the car. I got up off the ground and stretched. Charlie held out his hand and I pulled him up.
"I hope she's okay, Robin. I really do. I hate what I did." he whispered so quietly that I barely heard him. I nodded and hugge the vampire. He stood still, probably shocked, but then hugged me back. I smiled into his shoulder. Everything has to be okay. I won't let it end any other way. I thought to myself.
We got into the car and Nessa used her witchy powers of maniacal car driving to get us to Lexicon in less than fifteen minutes. When we got there we told the man at the ticket booth that Zephyras wanted us to set up some props for her. He let us in the gate and as he passed he said, "See you in Erkir." I grinned at him, trying to mask my confusion and fear.
When we passed all the people near the gate setting up, I pulled Charlie's arm and asked, "Does everyone here think that Erkir is a magical wonderland? Is that why she's able to do all her weird freaky stuff?" He nodded somberly and whispered, "Yeah, everyone here thinks that Erkir is the most magical thing that's ever been imagined, that it'll make all their dreams come true. That's what she told them, at least. They trust her though. I'm not sure why."
Nessa frowned and pointed at the cult member standing at the entrance to the room where we wanted to set up. "Uhm, we need to set up for the, uh, sentience ritual for the queen. May we use this room?" she asked.
The cultist took of their hood and grinned. Her skin nearly matched the darkness around us and we couldn't make her out until she spoke. "Of course. And I'm Amy, one of Charlie's friends. We go way back. Like, about half a century back." She giggled and placed the hood back on her head. "And you, darling, with the pink hair. If we all survive this, we must go out and get coffee sometime." She winked at Nessa and giggled once more. Nessa blushed and bit her lip.
"Hehe, I'd love to! Thanks for some more incentive to save the worlds." Nessa said, sounding like a child on Christmas with all the excitement in her voice. I rolled my eyes and chuckled. Charlie did the same and pushed Nessa through the doorway.
"Before you can go on a date with a vampire you gotta kill a demon, Nessa." I joked. Rolling her eyes at me and sticking her tongue out, she dropped the backpack from her shoulder and began pulling our supplies out. The silver chains and holy water soaked ropes were placed in a star pattern so that we'd be able to easily tie Zephyras' arms and legs down. We staked the ends of the ropes and chains to the floor so that she wouldn't be able to pull them out.
While we did that, Charlie backed away and hid in the corner. Apparently, stakes were one of the only ways to kill a vampire, and our vampire was very worried whenever he was anywhere near the wooden spikes. Nessa wanted to pretend to stake the poor frightened guy, but I persuaded her not to. "He may have not killed a human in the entire century and a half that he's been turned, but that's bound to change if you threaten him with death, even jokingly. There's always a first time for everything." I warned her. She exhaled loudly and agreed with me, though reluctantly.
While Nessa and Charlie finished placing the ropes and chains, I put on the priest costume and placed the Brown Scapular on my neck. It was one of the more foolish steps in the exorcism, but we weren't going to take any chances. Nessa read over the words that she had to say until she could literally say them forwards and backwards.
We were ready for the ritual. All we had to do was wait. I held one of the bottles of holy water in my hand and rolled it around and in between my fingers. I was really nervous. I wanted to get rid of Zephyras, but I didn't know if doing so would kill my mom or not.
I just wanted my family to be whole again. What would my dad say? Would he be okay? Would he become himself instead of the empty shell that I'd left sitting on the couch earlier?
Could I be happy?