Lyla was cut in half.
At first I thought so, but turn out Millie blocked the silver scythe’s attack with her own weapon.
,,Millie…?”
,,Don’t hurt her! Not…yet…she doesn’t mean anything..I..I made a mistake!” my sister yelled. I turned my head around.
Behind me, Lyla was frozen in place. She was staring at the person that had protected me from her attack all while mumbling something about a failed plan.
The person retread their scythe.
,,Very well.”
I fully turned around to get a better look at mystery person.
She was a tall woman, with bright green eyes and my haircolor. Her hairstyle was somewhat similar to Millie’s, but she only had one side tail, just like Carter.
,,But she is corrupt” the mystery woman added.
,,Then…do something” Millie pleaded.
,,There is one way to do it…but…she’ll die.”
Lyla was prepared to run away but I grabbed her clothes and made her stay in place.
,,I mean” the woman added ,,she’ll get reincarnated. Are you willing to go search for her once that happens?”
,,Listen woman” I said ,,I dunno who you are, but do whatever is necessary for us to escape this calamity of a girl.”
,,Gee thanks…” Lyla said. She seemed to be scared of the newcomer.
,,Then Luna, you do it.”
,,You mean kill her?” I asked the lady.
,,Hate to disappoint but yes.”
I turned to Lyla. Lyla was scared. I raised my sword.
,,Promise to find me in the future” she said.
The scene felt surreal. But again, this was Elizabeth’s world. Nothing made sense.
I stabbed Lyla and the lady placed her cold body on the ground. Millie fell down next to her.
She murmured a “I’m so sorry”.
The lady patted Millie’s head and Millie let her. I didn’t really know what to say.
,,Seems we came at a great time” Mily joined the scene, grinning. I had never seen Mily grin.
,,So the kid died. Finally” Saki commented.
Millie gave him an angry stare. I figured Millie might’ve remembered something and that’s why she suddenly decided that Lyla was our sister and that Lyla deserved to be saved.
Just then, Mily called forth the souls from Lyla’s bag. Eric fell on the ground with a loud thud and Kevin and his cousin fell on top of him.
Edgar fell down like a prince. I didn’t understand why he got special treatment.
,,Where were you?” I asked the witch duo. Saki looked half dead and Mily looked tired but happy.
,,Mily…?” I looked at the mystery lady ,,Who is she?”
,,Oh no” Erika said as she woke up ,,Oh big no.”
,,Betty?” Edgar was blinking excessively. He then rubbed his eyes and blinked again.
Betty laughed at this.
,,Yeah her. I’m right here and I’m not going anywhere” she said.
Edgar stood up and tripped a little but quickly composed himself. He reached out his arms and smiled awkwardly.
Betty’s scythe disappeared into thin air (sound effect: WHOAAAAAA) and she run towards her husband.
I didn’t want to see a cheesy scene, nor did I want to believe that Edgar was actually married. I chose to demand an explanation from Mily instead.
,,Congrats” I started by saying something nice ,,Is this really Betty?”
,,Absolutely, or do you not take me for a necromancer?” was Mily’s kindhearted response.
,,But of course I do your highness” I flattered her ,,You are the most powerful witch the world has ever seen!”
,,Please do not joke about that” Betty interrupted ,,Mily has advanced quite a lot since last time we saw eachother. She’s a bit meaner too…”
,,I am not mean Mrs. Betty, thank you very much.”
,,OMG YOU CALL HER MRS.? IS MILY BEING RESPECTFUL OR AM I DREAMING?” Midari yelled. She had woken up and was now jumping around Betty, inspecting her. She poked her once to see if she was alive, but Betty didn’t mind and instead patted her head.
,,So…your plan all along was…?”
Mily cleared her throat.
,,To revive Mrs. Betty and to lure out the person that was following us.”
,,Isn’t it a bit suspicious…?” my sister asked ,,Lyla could have attacked us whenever she wanted. I suspect that stealing our souls or whatever she said was just a lie.”
,,Smart girl” Betty commented.
,,In any case, we should head back” Saki reminded us ,,I’m very tired and Erika’s about to cry from frustration.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Erika mumbled something like: ,,Mily never calls me Mrs.!”
⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆
Edgar got an extra room. Not that I minded but Eric wasn’t the most talkative person and I really needed some company.
My first companion was busy spending time with his wife and catching up. Whenever I saw them together, they were talking. Betty tried to get me to join, but I decided that it wouldn’t be polite to interrupt them, after they were apart for sooooo many years.
My sister befriended Eric and that resulted in my companion to also befriend her companions. Which left me kind of alone.
You’re going to say: But oh Luna, why don’t you spend time with your dearest friend Midari, or with Lord!
Midari basically moved at her brother’s house. And Lord…we don’t talk about Lord.
,,Luna why are you hanging upside down from the couch?” Saki asked.
I then remembered that I was sitting in the position Saki mentioned. I didn’t bother to change it though.
,,Just hanging around, what about you Saki? Where’s Mily? Usually she’s always one meter behind you, ready to strike down anyone who even dares to speak with you.”
,,Mily’s not like that” Saki said. From my point of view his face was upside down, so I couldn’t help but laugh.
,,Stop it! You’re a bully, Luna.”
,,Sorry, sorry. So where’s Mily?”
,,In the kitchen, preparing lunch.”
I raised a brow.
,,Then what are you doing here?”
,,I actually came to prepare the living room. Mily and me are going to watch a movie after lunch. And you’re standing in my way.”
I rolled over and stood up.
,,Fine, fine, I’ll get going, I’ll get going.”
,,Good. Also Carter’s coming over for dinner.”
,,Ooh great, my favorite cousin.”
,,He’s not even your cousin.”
,,I know, but he’s everyone’s favorite and I deemed him as my cousin as well.”
After that I left to roam the hallways of the school.
On my way I passed by Erika, who was sitting in a corner, while drinking coffee.
,,Erika…?”
,,Shut up, I’m suffering” was all she said before I ran away. I did not want to face Erika’s wrath.
Instead I went to ask what was up with her. And I know, I know I previously said that I would be polite and not disturb them, but I had to choose between bothering Mily while cooking or bothering Betty and Edgar, so I naturally chose the second option.
⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆
,,Knock, knock!” I said instead of actually knocking.
,,Pff, enter!” Betty yelled. I opened the door carefully and entered.
Betty and Edgar’s room looked much nicer than mine. Their wall color and furniture matched perfectly. Next to an obviously fake window (with fake sunlight), Betty and her husband were sitting at a table. Betty was drinking tea, while Edgar place his newspaper down the moment I entered.
Betty waved in an excited manner.
,,Hi! What brings you here?” she asked.
,,I know I’m disturbing but…could I sit with you? I want to ask something.”
Betty pulled a third chair for me to sit on.
,,Tea?” my companion asked.
,,Uhh sure.”
Edgar nodded and stood up. Turns out, the room-creation-spell had been kind to them and offered them a room with a kitchen. I want to be this lucky.
Edgar took a while to prepare the tea (bro’s not good at this). So while he did his thing me and Betty got comfy and started talking.
,,So...Edgar told me, no, us, a lot about you!”
,,Did he really?”
,,He said you’d adopt me if you knew me” I told her ,,So…adopt me!”
Betty started laughing and then she calmed down.
,,Yeah, I could be your mom.”
Edgar came back with the tea.
,,So…I wanted to ask you two…what’s up with Erika?” The two looked at eachother. Edgar frowned while Betty tried to give a sympathetic look.
,,Erika…uhm…” Betty tried. I think she was trying to be nice.
,,No need to be kind” Edgar told his wife ,,Erika’s just jealous that Mily, the witch, likes betty better than her.”
,,What can I say, it’s her problem. I don’t dislike Erika at all” Betty informed me ,,I think she’s cool. And I didn’t mean to…I don’t know…steal her student or whatever. It’ Mily’s choice whose subject she prefers. And as far as I’m concerned, she chose magic.”
Edgar cleared his throat.
,,And that is why I dislike Erika.”
,,Because she dislikes your wife?”
,,Exactly, well observed.”
I laughed a bit. Though the situation wasn’t funny.
,,So…what else is new…?” I asked ,,I didn’t get the chance to properly talk to you Betty.”
Betty smiled and took a sip from her own tea.
,,Well, what should I tell you about myself. Ask anything you want!”
I thought about my question for a moment.
,,Why did you marry Edgar? He’s lazy.”
,,I am not!” he protested.
,,When I married him, Edgar wasn’t lazy at all. He was quite the opposite actually, very hardworking. But now that he’s got nothing to do, he’s just slacking off all day!”
,,I feel like we’re oldies talking behind everyone’s backs.”
Betty snickered.
,,My husband is such a fun subject to dicuss.”
,,Am not.”
,,Is it just me” I asked ,,Or is Edgar suddenly a lot softer. Not that he wasn’t before, because he was literally the dad of the family, but now he’s more..gentle..?”
,,Much nicer, I would say.”
,,Indeed.”
,,Stop talking about me. Let’s change the subject.”
I thought about another question.
,,Got some juicy gossip regarding Mily?”
,,I don’t know your sister that well yet” Betty calmly replied.
,,I meant the other Mily.”
Betty grinned and took another sip from her cup, finishing her tea. After that she responded:
,,Mily’s actually very childish. She absolutely adores dolls! Like, she likes to play with them and do their hair. But this hobby of hers turned into something more sinister. At some point, back in Salem, she used to collect haunted puppets or objects. When she couldn’t find any, she would perform spells to call spirits to posses whatever object she liked. Come to think of it, I should ask her if she still does that.”
,,So what you’re saying is that there’s a cutesy-horror side to Mily I never knew about? I mean, I figured out the horror part but the cutesy…I don’t know how to react to that information.”
Betty chuckled.
,,I mean…I wouldn’t be surprised by it. We all have an inner child. But now, I would much rather talk about your endeavors.”
I looked at Betty then at Edgar and then back at Betty.
,,You mean…the story of my life…?”
,,Yeah. Or whatever you all did while I was dead. I would like to hear your perspective, since my lovely husband’s is full of critique towards Mily and Erika.”
,,What should I start with…? Ask me some questions.”
As you can already tell, I am very bad at storytelling.
,,Well…how about you tell me…hmm…stuff regarding your very lively encounter with Elizabeth.”
I told her all about the phone call and how Bethany answered instead of the head librarian. About how Elizabeth had tricked us into thinking we actually have free will. And about the fact that Mily felt safe enough to cry in front of us.
Betty listened enthusiastic, even laughing at some of my most amazing comments regarding Elizabeth’s fashion sense.
,,And I would like to end my storytime with a question.”
,,And what would that be?” Betty propped her head on her hand.
,,Where did Elizabeth even get that beret?”
Betty blinked, taken aback by the question.
,,I dunno. She showed up at work with it one day.”
,,Wait, work?”
,,I was a librarian too.”
,,So does that mean that you and Edgar had a basic “I met my soulmate at work” trope?”
,,Yes, very cliché right?”
I started imagining how their love story took place. Maybe they were keeping their relationship a secret, so that Elizabeth wouldn’t find out.
I didn’t dwell on it too much though, and proceeded in asking the REAL questions.
,,What happened in Salem in year-I-don’t-remember?”
,,I think you mean 1693” Edgar enlightened me.
Betty shifted uncomfortably in her chair.
,,I can give you an overview if you want.”
Then suddenly Edgar gasped.
,,Can’t you do the thing?”
,,What thing?” I was confused.
,,I don’t think my energy has been restored yet” Betty replied.
,,Then take mine” Edgar said and reached his hand towards Betty. She was taken aback.
,,But Luna needs it. And she’s more important than I.”
I was genuinely confused. How could I be more important than Betty? The woman frowned and pushed her husbands hand away.
I then reached out and touched Betty’s shoulder, thus exchanging energy with her. Betty gasped just like her husband.
,,There we go” I smiled. Betty didn’t look pleased, but her only reaction was to sigh and then smile.
,,Well then. Prepare to be amazed” Edgar looked at his wife with awe.
Betty cleared her throat.
,,The sensation might shock you” she warned me ,,May I take your hand?”
I was expecting a tarot reading (that doesn’t make sense you idiot).
Betty took my hand and chanted something.
Then I blacked out. Or more like blued out because I saw blue.