‘Have you heard?’ I said shrilly. ‘Have you heard of Henry Myers’s passing?’

It had been two weeks since the disastrous attack on the boy, and I would not stop going on about it.

‘How about that of Maltor Confussée?’ I continued. ‘Have you heard their tales? Two young lads from opposing sides, fated to meet in the same clash…I like that, don’t you, Robert?’

He stood three feet in front of me, five bloody bodies at his feet. They had been his comrades, my workers. I had killed them. It was a somewhat fun habit, killing, that is. I found it to be a nice pastime. If I ever got angry, it did not hurt to kill off a few of the weaker soldiers. Maybe even some of the stronger soldiers if I got really angry.

‘Yes, madam,’ he said, staring at the bodies at his feet. ‘It certainly has a nice ring to it.’

‘I knew we shouldn’t have trusted Confussée,’ I snarled quietly. ‘He promised he could get us to the boy and then come out alive. And how did that turn out? He promised that even if he could not keep the secret, even if he told the boy about his betrayal, he promised that he would not kill him.’

‘And now they’ve heard the prophecy that we fought so desperately to hide from them,’ Robert added. He was about to continue, but he stopped after catching the look on my face.

The room we were standing in was dark, so dark that it was difficult to even see Robert, who was only a few feet away from me. This was the same room that I had killed Patrick in all those months ago.

‘Ma’am,’ Charlie said from behind me, ‘if I may add-’

‘What?’ I shrieked, rounding on him, and firing a spell blindly.

It hit his right hand, which disappeared instantly. A faint trace of a wince appeared on his face before disappearing quickly. His blood began to fall to the ground and he looked me in the eye.

‘If I may add, ma’am,’ he repeated, ‘Taking everything into account; the deaths of Eric, Maltor, and our failur-’

He fell to the ground. His brown eyes lost all of their colour and even his black hair seemed to wilt.

‘He was a tad bit annoying, was he not?’ I said, turning back to Robert.

‘Indeed he was, madam,’ Robert said, evidently trying his hardest not to look at Patrick’s body.

‘Don’t you think we should take revenge?’ I said, looking Robert in the eyes. ‘After everything they’ve done to us? Killing your dad. Trying to kill me. Killing Eric. Killing Confussée. Killing countless more of my soldiers.’

‘I think it would certainly be wise,’ Robert said slowly, choosing his words carefully. ‘But when, madam?’

‘This war has gone on long enough,’ I said, stepping forwards and putting my head next to Robert’s ear. Whispering quietly as I knew that that drove him up the wall, I continued, ‘Tonight. We attack the city tonight. And we make it. We’ll kill Steven and the boy.’

‘T-Tonight?’ Robert murmured weakly. ‘A-Are you sure?’

‘Yes, Robert,’ I said, still whispering quietly into his ear. ‘We can do it, can we not?’

Robert gulped. ‘We can, madam.’

‘After everything they’ve done to us,’ I whispered softly, letting my warm breath flood into his ear, ‘we can do it, Robert. Let your anger fuel you. They killed your dad, darling.’

‘I- I’ll gather our fighters,’ Robert said weakly. ‘We’ll be ready to attack at a moment’s notice.’

‘I want them to be ready to attack now.’

Robert gulped again. ‘Y-Yes, madam.’

He hastily left the room. After a short while, I heard him close the front door and then I heard a bang; he had sent out the signal.

I thought back to everything that boy and Steven had done to me. When Steven and I had fought after I had killed his wife, he had damaged me beyond repair. He had left me with a permanent limp in my left leg. He was a powerful man back then. Now, however, it would be simple to bring him down.

He was weak. He had his problems. I doubted that the boy knew. There’s no way that Steven would have told him.

And then there was the boy himself. The wonder boy with ‘the might to kill the killer’. The last time the two of us had met, it had embarrassingly been a close fight. I just had to get the sword off of him. Once it came down to a magic duel, there was no hope for him. I was a forty-two-year-old woman, and he was a small twelve-year-old boy. There was simply no chance he could even attempt to fight me once he didn’t have a sword.

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‘I wish I could turn back time!’ I shrieked to nobody but myself. ‘Back to that night! And I’d actually kill him! I want to this time!’

If it hadn’t been for that stupid prophecy, I would have done it. After hearing the prophecy, it felt more like a chore to kill the little rat. I had wanted to, but being ordered around by a few mystical words made it feel as though it was not my own will.

And then Alfonso had heard it. I had not been sure that the boy and Alfonso actually had a special connection until I learned that the boy had heard the prophecy. The only way that he would have heard it would have been through Alfonso. Those two had their connection. The connection that crossed boundaries. The connection that defied everything.

I thought back to my mother, Mary. She had died when I was just eighteen, and the trauma of the event had arguably sent me down the path that I stood on today.

All of our lives, my mother and I had been tormented for being ‘weird’. We weren’t normal. Whilst learning at Apercaput, I was accepted by my peers. But during the summer, when I stayed back in London, I was harassed for not being ‘normal’. Growing up, all I had ever wanted was to be a normal kid. But as I began to accept that I never would be, I turned down the path that I had continued down for the rest of my life.

Now that I was thinking about it, I realised that it all truly did begin after my mother had died. Two years after her death in 1996, I had lashed out at two Mortals, killing them both. It felt good; revenge. They would soon feel my wrath, as was the way that the world was intended to run.

It was not my fault that the entire Santrrer family had brainwashed the entirety of RoCity into believing their propaganda scheme that promoted equality for all. It was not my fault that that pitiful place had the nerve to attack anyone and everyone that had slightly differing opinions to their own.

I began to chuckle to myself at the thought of the boy flying into a rage upon seeing me. He would want revenge for everything that I had done. I had made Maltor betray him. I had killed his parents – no, I had killed his entire family. And the few of his relatives that I had spared had their memories wiped so that they would not remember the boy or anyone else that they were related to.

I wondered if he had ever passed one of these relatives on the street, unbeknownst to the fact that they were related. Surely it had to have happened at least once. The odds of it not happening were astronomical.

Eleven years ago, I had not wanted to kill him. I had only tried because the prophecy told him as the boy that could kill me. It had felt like a chore when I fired the Killing Curse at him, and that is why I had failed, and I knew that that was the reason. Now, however, I had more than enough reason to want to kill him. The next time that I fired the Killing Curse at him would be the time that I succeeded. This time I would do it.

***

It was only an hour before my forces were ready. We all stood outside of our main base, roughly two miles north of RoCity. Hundreds of them stood beneath me, as I hovered in the air, staring down at them all.

I thought about what had happened the last time the boy and I had fought. All I had to do was get rid of his sword. Without the sword he was nothing. He was as useless as Alfonso would have been without his Power.

‘Now, now, everyone!’ I shouted, beaming down at my impressive forces. ‘Tonight is the night! The night we take RoCity! The night that our true conquest of eradicating Mortals begins!’

A huge cheer erupted from the crowd. Many of them pointed their wands up into the air and shot beams of light that burst like fireworks. I was unsure that any of them truly had even the slightest understanding of just how much this meant to me. How important this was.

‘Tonight is the night that Steven shall fall!’ I screamed, and the crowd cheered. ‘The night that the boy shall be slaughtered where he stands! The night that RoCity falls into my hands! The night that all of my mistakes are remedied! The night that we take back what is ours!’

Between each of my sentences, I took a short pause, allowing my followers to let out their hearty bellows of joy.

I dreamily pictured Steven’s and the boy’s bodies lying bloodily at my feet. I smirked to myself. Tonight. They would both fall.

The prophecy did not say that the boy would kill me. It just said that he could. There was a drastic difference. Even if the two of us got close enough for him to attack me, he would need that final spark to fuel his rage for him to actually be able to do anything.

Robert, who had been hovering on my right, whispered, ‘This is a surprise attack, isn’t it?’

‘What else would it be?’ I retorted. ‘They’ll have their stupid guards, but look at our forces! Some border guards don’t stand a chance against this! We get past the guards and then ransack the city. When the city is destroyed and the Santrrers are dead, we’ll just rebuild it. Bigger and better. And with the two of us in charge.’

Robert visibly shivered as I added the last sentence. ‘Yes, madam.’

I nodded slowly. ‘Now, my loyal followers!’

Everybody stared up at me once again.

‘Tonight – no, now – we attack!’ I bellowed, resulting in a loud cheer of celebration from my soldiers.

Robert turned in the air so that his back was facing the crowd and he was looking in the direction of RoCity.

‘Now!’ he screamed, pointing his wand forward. ‘It’s now or never! Tonight we take back what’s ours! Push forward, my soldiers! Fight!’

There was another loud cheer from the crowd as they each enveloped themselves in the swirling black cloud; it was our method of flight. Everybody rose up into the sky, the black clouds helping disguise them in the night. I could just barely see them spiralling towards RoCity.

It felt like the end of the world, watching hundreds of whirling black masses rise into the sky and soar over the land towards RoCity. It sent a shiver down even my spine.

Only Robert and I remained.

‘So…’ he began somewhat awkwardly, ‘…this is it, huh, madam?’

‘Indeed it is, Robert, darling,’ I said soothingly, slowly twirling my finger in his long black hair. ‘Tonight is the night.’

I leaned over and kissed his cheek. Before he even had time to react, I cloaked myself in the spinning blackness and rocketed away.

I cackled to myself as I flew. I knew what that simple kiss would do to him. It would be his drive. His drive to do something. To kill them all.

I thought again of Albert’s bloodied body lying at my feet, and I cackled even harder. Tonight. He would die. Tonight.

My hair flapped wildly in every direction, obscuring my view somewhat. The wind stabbed into me so harshly that it almost became a chore to keep my eyes open.

‘I hope you’re ready, Albert,’ I whispered. ‘The great Amy Wright is making her return.’