Ophelia walked into Alaric's office in search of Alaric to find Cassie, Rafael's girlfriend, in the middle of dialing someone's number on the phone, "I don't think that's a good idea, sweetheart." She spoke up, causing Cassie to immediately turn to her.
"I need to call my mom," Cassie informed her, gripping the phone tightly in her hand.
Ophelia could immediately sense Rafael entering the office without even having to turn, "I thought Alaric and I told you not to leave her alone." She told Rafael, who walked in with a cup of tea in his hand.
"I got her some tea," Rafael replied, walking over to Cassie. He sighed when he saw the phone in her hand, "Oh." He said, quickly taking the phone from her hands before giving her the tea.
"Cassie, this...Situation, I have an inkling that it isn't going to be permanent and I don't think it's fair to your mother to hear your voice right now." Ophelia explained to Cassie, who didn't seem happy about it.
"So you think I'm going to die again?" She asked Ophelia concerned.
"There's a definite chance, yes," She replied without a care in the world, causing Rafael to sigh in defeat, "What? I'm being honest with her. I'm sorry, okay? Cassie, I understand that that is an emotional experience for everyone involved, but I promise you that Alaric and I will be for both you and Rafael every step of the way. Is there anything I can get you at the moment while Alaric has stepped out?"
"I'm hungry. I need a shower," Cassie told Ophelia, who nodded her head in understanding.
"That's not a problem at all," She replied calmly.
Cassie turned to Rafael, "And then, I'd like to get to the bottom of how you murdered me," She said, causing both Rafael and Ophelia's eyes to widen in alarm.
____
Down in the basement, Hope and Valerie were still conversing with The Necromancer, "Do you remember how you died?" Hope questioned him.
"I was wandering the beach of Normandy in seen of a pick-me-up so I thought I'd resurrect a few G.I.s to toy with some Nazis," The Necromancer began to explain to the two girls.
"It's good to hear even creatures as evil as you hate Nazis," Valerie commented, crossing her arms over her chest as she spoke to him.
"Nobody likes Nazis," He replied, causing Valerie to nod her head in agreement before he continued his story, "One minute, I'm dancing with the dead on the sand, and the next, there was just blackness."
"But you don't remember who killed you?" Hope asked him, a confused look on her face.
"No, well that's not uncommon," He informed them as he began to walk around his cell, "The subconscious has a way protecting the mind against the trauma of death. I see it all the time in my line of work."
"But theoretically, that memory still exists," Hope responded, "Right? What if there was a way to access it?"
"You want to take a walk through my subconscious?" The Necromancer asked as the same time that Valerie had said, "Hope, no!"
"It's fine, Val," Hope assured her best friend before the Necromancer spoke up.
"Oh, oh, oh," He began to laugh in amusement, "Well, at your own peril, my dear. 'Cause I'm not sure you're quite tall enough to ride the scary rides, huh? I assume you've got a powerful vampire handy? Well, one that excludes your friend's mother."
"Absolutely," Hope replied before Valerie could argue with her.
____
After leaving the basement, Valerie hesitant followed Hope to the gym where MG was lifting with weights with Kaleb. After Kaleb left, the two girls entered to find MG sitting down and immediately walked over to him, "MG? Do you know how to do a head dive?" Hope asked the boy curiously.
"Is that a thing?" MG replied with a confused look on his face.
"It is. It just takes a little, um, precision," Hope informed him.
MG looked up at Hope, looking uneasy, "I don't know," He told her, "I mean, you might want to get Kaleb."
"Kaleb's not on our all-powerful kick ass squad, now is he?" She retorted, helping Hope out with her persuasion skills even though she wasn't totally okay with the plan.
Hope took the books in her hand and pressed it against MG's chest, "Here. But not a word of this to Dr. Saltzman or Ophelia." She instructed and MG was hesitant at first before he finally began to read from the book.
_____
As they walked back down to the cellar, MG followed close behind, talking their ears off about what they had read, "It's so cold. It's like compulsion but while I'm on the surface of his mind, heroic-like, I'm plunging you into the deep end--" He gasped when entering the room that held the cell for the Necromancer to see the man, "Holy Mary, mother of demons."
"Hello, Milton," The Necromancer greeted the young vampire with a wide grin on his face, "Your great-nana Imogene is waving hello just over your shoulder."
MG had a fearful look on his face as he moved away from the door, looking over his shoulder, "You can see my great-nana?" He asked worriedly.
"Oh, I can see everything," he informed the boy, "She's most disappointed in you for forsaking Jesus, who I can also see, but, oh, I know, that's another can of worms."
"Can you just shut up already?" Valerie complained loudly
"Shall we begin?" The Necromancer asked, deciding to ignore Valerie.
As Hope tried to unlock the cell door while Valerie stood next to him, MG was quick to walk over to them, hoping they give him some sort of protection against the Necromancer, "Um...We're going in there?" MG asked the two girls nervously as he pointed inside the cell, "With him?"
"With me," The Necromancer confirmed, "The old might Necroman--"
"Please. Can we not do all of that again?" Hope asked him annoyed, almost as if she was reading Valerie's mind. Both girls were annoyed for his need for the dramatics.
"Did you steal them keys from Dr. Saltzman?" MG asked the two girls as The Necromancer finally shut up.
"More like borrowed. But yeah, we did," Valerie replied as Hope slid open the cell door.
"Oh, boy," MG worriedly commented as he stood outside the cell, scared to enter.
"MG, pull it together," Hope insisted as she turned to him.
When MG still didn't answer, Valerie sighed, grabbing the boy by the arm before pulling him into the cell with her, "You have no reason to fear me, I assure you," The Necromancer reminded MG.
"You're basically the Grim Reaper," MG replied, an uneasy look on his face as he stared at him.
The Necromancer began to become angered by MG's comment, "Oh, the Reaper is a carnival sideshow hack!" He exclaimed, "No, you...you dirty your mouth mentioning his name in my presence. Perhaps I should summon Nana to wash it out with soap?"
"No, you leave me Nana be," MG insisted, turning to Valerie before walking over to her, "Don't nobody need to be whupped by Nana right now."
MG walked over to stand in front of the Necromancer while Hope stood in back of him and Valerie stood off to the side, being the one to make sure nothing went wrong with the whole process, "Okay," MG said, taking a deep breath, "I stand here, hands on his shoulders," He told Hope, who immediately put her hands on the Necromancer's shoulders before he looked over at the Necromancer, "You and I join hands."
The Necromancer grinned, opening his hands up. His joints cracked, causing Valerie to cringe in disgust when she also saw how long his nails were. They were longers than even hers. She watched closely as MG cautiously joined hands with The Necromancer before he took a deep breath, crouching down to be at eye view with him, "Now I look into your eyes. Open your mind to me. Like, lifting a window to let the breeze in."
Hope closed her eyes, immediately getting into the Necromancer's mind.
After a few long moments, Hope suddenly opened her eyes, "I'm glad that's over," MG commented as Hope went to go stand in front of the Necromancer, "I'm shaking, my hands are sweaty, I..."
"Hope, what's wrong?" Valerie asked her best friend concerned.
"Unbelievable," Hope finally spoke up as she waved her hand in front of The Necromancer's face before turning to MG and Valerie, "He ditched me."
Valerie frowned, turning to look at The Necromancer, whose eyes were open.
"Send me back in," Hope suddenly insisted, causing Valerie's frown to grow.
"Wait, what?" She questioned confused as Hope walked over to stand behind the Necromancer.
"I'm not good at this," MG tried to tell Hope.
"You will be fine," Hope assured him, "If he's going in search of answers, I need to be there when he finds them." She paused, causing MG to sigh in defeat as she placed her hands down the Necromancer's shoulders, "I'm ready."
"Cool, that makes one of us," MG replied before finally grabbing ahold of the Necromancer's hand. Both Hope and MG closed their eyes, causing Valerie to let out a sigh, having a bad feeling about it all.
Valerie waited several moments in silence until MG suddenly opened his eyes, "What's wrong?" She asked him concerned when Hope's eyes remained closed. Her eyes widened in alarm when Hope began to breathe heavily, "Hope?" She called out, immediately rushing over to her, "MG, what's going?"
"She's not waking up!" MG exclaimed worriedly.
AN: Lemme just say, MG is literally so funny and such a smol bean😂 he is such and likable character.