Sitting in the Samanos sisters living room, surrounded by magic he'd never seen before as Lucia helped Caroline and Merideth setup herbs and charms and amulets for the spell they'd use to send them home, all River could think about was how relieved he felt when Cami walked out of the woods. Granted, she'd been covered in blood, but the fact that she was alive had his knees buckling.
He'd tried to blame it on the infection, the malnutrition, but he'd given up with excuses. She was his friend, and he was glad she wasn't dead.
She sat knee to knee next to him, face washed and clean of blood, facing Rena and Lily, who were also clean of gore and mud, thanks to Caroline's strange cleaning glitter. They sat in exhausted silence, all of them too tired to try to make conversation. River assumed they were all reeling from the information Cami had shared. That Klaus was from another world, and he wanted to return. River was too drained to really think too hard on it, but he wondered how he'd ended up here in the first place.
"It's ready," a soft voice interrupted his thoughts. He looked up to see Lucia standing in front of the fireplace, motioning them to join her.
"We'll be sending you home two at a time. Who wants to go first?" Meredith asked.
"We'll go first." Rena stepped past him, her brown ponytails brushing his shoulder. Meredith nodded and guided them to the center of a magic circle that was drawn on the ground. Caroline stepped forward.
"We wanted to give you guys this," she said softly. She held up a necklace that held a multicolored crystal. It glittered with gray, amber and green as she set it in Rena's hand. "And one for you too." Caroline turned around and set one in Cami's hand.
"These pendants were made with our combined magic," Caroline explained. "If you ever need us, contact us with this."
"We'd like to repay you for helping us," Meredith smiled gratefully.
"You didn't give us much of a choice," Cami grumbled next to him. River stepped on her foot, and she growled at him.
"We're glad we could help," Rena responded loudly, shooting a glance at Cami. River chuckled.
"I'm glad we got to meet you guys," Lily said, her purple eyes pooling with sadness. "If only it were under better circumstances..."
A small silence fell over the group.
"Well," Meredith spoke first, "hopefully we will meet again. Now off you go, before time runs out." Rena and Lily nodded.
"Bye Camilla, bye River!" Lily smiled brightly at them. "See you next time!" Rena waved at them with a bright smile of her own.
River couldn't resist beaming back at her. And when he looked beside him, it shocked him to see Cami smiling widely at them as well. It was a conscious effort to keep from staring, and he tore his eyes away to watch the other girls leave. With a flash of white light, the two girls vanished.
"Alright. River, Camilla, we can send you back now." Meredith waved them into the circle.
River felt Cami's rough fingers slide into his own. "Anytime now, witch," she said. He shook his head. Great Goddess, this woman needed to learn to be at least a little nice to people.
Meredith just smiled cooly back, before a bright white light blinded him, and the darkness swept them away.
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