"Okay," Smokewell said, "Let's talk in a language that I understand. Tell us how many steambolts will you give for that piece of gold."

Zir'Zulec tapped his chin with a bony finger. "If I was to buy this from you, I'd offer to buy this for ten thousand steambolts without hesitation."

For the first time, Smokewell's expression was something I could read by looking--she was shocked. Lily hopped up in joy. "Yay, we are rich! How about you rattle some coins for us now, Mr. Big Money Lich?"

"Certainly," Zir said and raised his hand as if to summon the money out of thin air but Asmod sprang up to snatch the piece of gold from him.

"Later, Zir," he said.

The lich stared down at the short man. "I thought you wanted to sell it."

"We do, but not yet," Asmod said, tossing the piece of golden finger back at me.

"Why not?" Lily said, her shoulders slouching.

Asmod didn't answer her, he just turned to leave after saying to Zir, "We'll meet again, old friend. We might have some business to do then."

Smokewell, Lily and I followed him out of the big office and out into the dining hall again.

"What was that, Asmod?" Lily put her hands on her hips and knit her eyebrows.

"Yes, what was that?" Smokewell said, "I thought I was finally going to see some good money."

Asmod scoffed as he led us out of the restaurant and back to the surface. "Trust me, this isn't how you want to make your money," he said as we all got into his steam carriage and headed back to his place.

"Is this about ethics and morals, Asmod?" Smokewell said we entered his apartment. "Are you mad that we are making money off of some immortal man's bones. Well, that's still not the worse way of making money, you know?"

Asmod shook his head. "Ethics and morals have nothing to do with this." He pulled up a chair over to the coffee table and gestured us all to huddle around it. He tossed the piece of gold onto the table and said, "Didn't you hear what Zir said? That thing is not from this world. You and I know that it isn't from this world. It's not gold but it costs a lot more than gold. And Zir didn't have any problem paying thousands for this little pinkie sized thing. What does it all mean?" He threw a gaze at each of our faces.

"I'm sorry, does it not mean that we get rich?" Lily said.

"Yes, you get rich. But at a much higher cost than you get paid," Asmod said and leaned further. "If this thing is so potent and valuable, don't you think it will have people come sniffing for more? All magic leaves behind a trace in some way. If Zir or anyone else uses this thing in something, it is going to leave a trail. Someone will come following that trail. Where is it supposed to lead them?"

"To us," I said.

"And you have an entire skeleton made of this thing. What will that lead to?" Asmod said.

"Whoever comes looking for more will try to take it, possibly by force," Smokewell said slowly.

"That's just the appetizer, I'll serve you the dessert right away," Asmod said, "Imagine its the Inquisition who gets a whiff of this thing's existence. They'll come looking for it and find that the skeleton is in the possession of a bunch of witches."

"Wait, so we aren't going to be getting rich?" Lily asked.

Asmod sighed. "You will. I mean you can if you are clever about it. There are hundreds of ways in which you can get caught with this. But there might just be one to actually get away with getting rich quick."

"Which is?" Smokewell asked.

Asmod paused and regarded us all with caution before saying, "You should think of getting your name cleared from the Inquisition's priority burn list."

Smokewell burst out laughing, rolling around on the couch. "I knew you were a great enchanter but I didn't know you were just as good at being a jester."

Asmod wasn't amused. "Really, Alana?"

The cat stopped laughing to catch her breath. "Yes, I'm serious. Look at me, Asmod. And I mean take a long, good look at me. I became a cat. I used to be the great Alana Smokewell, aging like fine wine--"

"Not really," Lily quickly added.

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"And I became a cat. A damn cat, Asmod. Why do you think I did it?" Smokewell said.

"Because you like back rubs?" Lily said.

"You like to sleep all day?" Asmod said.

"No, you fools! It's because it was getting dangerous to live as Alana Smokewell," the cat snapped. "And it wasn't just me but it was the girls I was putting in danger." She pointed a paw at us. "They would've been burned by the Inquisition just because they were my apprentices. I would like to believe that I managed to throw them off our trail by killing my human body. But I wouldn't be surprised if the witch hunt is still going on for the girls. Do you think the Inquisition will just clear our names like that?"

"Um, there's a way to clear our name," Lily said, nervously rubbing the back of her neck. "What if we just...come in peace and sign the Regulated Practices Agreement?"

"No," Smokewell said in a heartbeat. "A thousand times no."

"But--"

"I said no!" Smokewell snapped.

Lily went silent. Old Elsa's memories told me about the Regulated Practices Agreement. Apparently, the government hadn't completely banned the practice of dark magic. The Agreement was their way of keeping magic users like us in check--which involved placing restrictions on how we practiced our magic. I had a hazy recollection of some witchcraft covens signing the Agreement rather than risk getting burned.

"Is it really a good idea?" I asked carefully. "We are always on the run. And if we want to buy a house, we would have to forge new identities. We sure aren't going to be able to sign our real names anywhere."

The cat's pupils dilated and her back arched. "No, student of mine is going to be a dog on the government's leash," she said.

I went quiet.

Asmod let out a sigh and stood up. "If that isn't an option for you then the second option is you do what Elsa suggested, you forge new identities for yourself and keep living with your heads down."

"I'll take it," Smokewell said, licking her paw.

Lily's body turned stiff, she gripped her skirt as she kept frowning at the floor. "Wouldn't that mean, we'll all retire from...practicing witchcraft?" she said in a small voice.

"Would you rather get burned, Lily?" Smokewell said.

"I'd rather be a dog on the government's leash!" Lily snapped.

The cat stared at the girl silently. This time Lily held her gaze without flinching. Even that wasn't enough for the girl since she decided to speak up. "You said, you were only giving up the title of a witch, not its practices or spirit. How can you just be ready to 'keep your head down' and forget it?"

The cat's mouth opened. She seemed ready to say something that would've hurt Lily a lot more, so I decided to butt into the conversation. "Stop before this becomes a full blown argument," I said, "I get it, we don't want to stop being witches, we also want to be rich and we don't want to get burned just for existing. For that, there's a third, more dangerous option we can take."

"Well?" Smokewell said, "If we are going to sit and discuss all the worst ideas, might as well hear you out as well."

I took a deep breath and started talking.

When I was done, everyone stared at me with wide eyes, pale faces and mouths hanging open.

"Why?" Asmod said. "Do you have a death wish, Grimly?"

"No, quite the opposite, in fact." I grinned.

"But it still sounds dangerous, Miss Elsa," Lily said. "And I mean, we aren't even sure if it will work. And if we fail, we'll all probably die."

"Let's do it," Smokewell said.

Asmod and Lily gawked at the cat. "You've lost your mind too!" the man said.

"I'll give Elsa's plan a try before even considering to sign that damn Agreement," the cat said.

"So it's settled then," I said stretched my back and looked out the window. The sun was slowly rising above the clouds. "We'll need to do some digging before we put the plan into action. But before that, I'm gonna get some much needed sleep," I said and went to get one of the spare mattresses from Asmod's bedroom.

I slept like a baby till the afternoon.

And when I woke up, my head wasn't spinning, nor was it heavy--something that I always felt when I slept (which wasn't very often) and woke up in my previous life. I sat up in the spare mattress I'd rolled up the floor and stretched my back. I looked out the window. The sun was bright in the sky. The clock said it was quarter past two in the afternoon. Lily and Smokewell were still asleep on the mattress next to mine. Asmod was probably downstairs in his shop. This was my chance.

I didn't bother brushing my teeth. I simply grabbed my suitcase and carried it into the empty bedroom and locked the door. The events of last night's dinner and everything that happened flashed into my mind. The things that had happened before that dinner came to my mind. I remembered what I'd felt while riding the steam carriage through the empty streets of Orowen at night.

I knew I didn't want to go back to the world that I had memories of living in. I also knew that it meant I was going to live in a world where the Inquisition existed and I had to be careful to not get caught and burned on a stake. But I also possessed magical powers in this world, for God's sake! I'd seen what heaven was like and summoned a giant ethereal being that spoke to me like a humble servant (he'd also gone on to flatten about fifty people at once cuz he misheard my command, but that was a different matter.)

But that was the thing. I had the power to survive and change things for myself in this world. And with that golden skeleton that we'd retrieved, I was probably going to end up living a comfortable life if I played my cards right. I couldn't have had this chance in my previous life. So the fact that I wanted to be here and live a good life was clear as day to me.

But that meant, I had to become Elsa Grimly to live the life that was practically hers. I also felt like I owed it to her since she was the one who had committed the liberation ritual, which had somehow allowed me to end up as her (and also allowed me to summon that Abyssal form named Yazara En). It would've been a waste if I decided to give up all these oppportunities.

Yes, I wanted to be here and live as Elsa Grimly. But for that, I'd first have to figure out who she was. Which meant uncovering as many of her memories as I could.

So I started to unpack her belongings.