Kait landed on the balcony, unsure if the spirit would stand up.

“OWW! What in the world…ahhhhhg!” Hailey writhed in pain. “What just hit me?!”

Kait blinked in surprise, recognizing her voice. “H-Hailey, is that you?”

“Yes, it’s me. Why in grass blades am I on a balcony?!”

Kait looked between the startled inhabitants of the apartment and Hailey. “Wait, just a moment. Hailey, you got out?!”

Taylor scrambled back up after falling face-first into the balcony railing, rubbing his head as he stared wide-eyed at Hailey. “You’re out?!”

“Yeah! Now answer my question!”

“Well, you were possessed and stuff…” Kait said uncertainly as Taylor nodded in agreement.

“Again?” Hailey growled and stood onto her feet. “Well, you better hope I don’t have a concussion from whatever you hit me with.”

“You mean my punch?”

“Sure, that.”

“So before the pleasantries, can we get this ritual a-going?” Jaine asked.

Kait looked at the runes. “Oh, sure, so you all thought of a way to save Alchemia?”

Jaine hesitantly said, “We need a soul or two for our current method.”

Kait placed a hand on her chest, where the Witch’s Catalyst lay. “And you want this?”

Jaine nodded.

Kait smiled. “If it has any chance of helping someone, it’s no problem.” She carefully took the necklace off, then handed it to Jaine. “Be careful with that. Protect it with your life.”

He held it with a tight, steady grip.

Hailey smiled and energetically stretched, happy to be back, as she watched Jaine place the necklace on one of the chalk runes and the jar of mercury on the other.

“Now, I just need to activate my magic.” He placed his hands on the ground between the two, activating his necromancy. The six runes glowed, then dimmed. “And she’s transferred, easy as that. Next, we…need to break apart the mercury.”

Kait saw no one else would do it, she picked it up and got ready to pour the mercury over Jaine’s desk.

“NO! What are you doing?!” Jaine yelled.

“Breaking it apart?”

“That’s dangerous, you dimwitty witch!”

“I doubt the mercury will soak into the wood.”

The room slowly came to a realization that Kait didn’t know how dangerous mercury was.

Taylor chuckled. “Mercury lets off toxic fumes, Kait. If you poured it out like that…”

Kait handed the jar to Jaine. “Oh.”

“Thank you!” Jaine said. “I think I can just pour it into two jars. If I do that, the souls should lose coherency and return to The Consciousness.” Jaine did just that, carefully dripping about a third into another jar before sealing them both off. “And there they go.” He said, watching the souls disappear.

Kait’s expression grew grim as she looked away from it. Two people she had once known had finally met their ends, as they should have centuries ago. Their souls were aged and decayed, their humanity wholly unsalvageable, but she felt a sense of finality in the deed.

Jaine wiped his hands together, signaling they were finished. “So, Kait, I’m going to need that soul item thingie you’re wearing once I have the transplant ritual set up.”

“Because you placed Alchemia’s soul inside it?”

“Yeah.”

“No problem, I’ll hand it to you once you have it prepared.”

“Then it’s a date.”

“So…” Hailey began. “Enough with the serious talk I don’t understand! I’m out, bois! Whoohoo!” she cheered. She looked at Taylor, then ran at him, hugging him. “I mildly like you, Taylor!”

Taylor reeled back in surprise but reciprocated the hug with a smile. “I mildly like you too, Hailey.”

Hailey quickly ran off to do something, leaving Jaine to usher everyone out of his apartment to walk back through the city to the ritual center.

Taila and Mrs. Kukui, being long-time acquaintances, were discussing what had happened as they walked ahead of Kait and Taylor.

“Well, that sure was hectic!” Taylor said.

“No doubt it was! It was so stressful fighting Kaethy like that.”

“Yeah, who even was that?”

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

“Well, every magic has its representative spirit, and Kaetha is the Spirit of Witchcraft.”

“Like the one from the legends?”

“Yep! Long story short, they were trying to release Alchemia to avoid some penalties.”

“They sound real selfish.”

“They have their reasons, so I wouldn’t hold it against them. I swear they’re a nice person.”

“If you say so…though I’m surprised.”

“About what?”

“Well, I just saw one of those primordial beings possess my sister. It’s a little surreal to think about.”

Kait laughed. “Oh, everyone says that the first time they meet a spirit. I’ve gotten so used to her, it seems natural.”

“I guess you know her pretty well.”

“Yeah, though I don’t know if I’d call us friends or something else. Our relationship is a little strange.”

The conversation briefly paused. “So, I guess you can teleport?”

“It’s just meant to teleport me into the sky…it’s a witch’s spell I’m not all too familiar with.”

“If you aren’t familiar with it, how did you cast it?”

She touched her necklace. “That’s a secret.”

“Gotcha’. So I’m curious about something.”

“What is it?”

“Hailey will be a witch, right?”

“Well…there’s some politics in The Consciousness that might stop me from training her. I will see what I can do, but…we’ll see.”

“Oh. I hope she gets to be one. What even happened to her in there?”

“A lot, I’m sure. I-I’m sorry for putting you all through all of this.”

Taylor shook his head. “No, I’m actually happy it happened. She looks…happy, and I didn’t know if I’d ever see her like that again, so I’m happy, too.”

“Good.”

As they approached the ritual center, Taylor smiled.

Linne heard a yell downstairs and walked down to see Hailey standing in her doorway. Suddenly, Hailey lunged forward and bear-hugged her. “I’m back, Linne!” she said, practically choking her friend.

“T-thach’s cood” Linne coughed out, unable to speak in surprise and breathlessness.

Linne stumbled to the floor as Hailey released her. “Are you surprised?”

“Yeah,” Linne coughed again. “How did you do it?! Kait said it’d take you a week!”

Hailey smacked a hand on her friend’s shoulder, “I threw myself at every problem with single-minded determination, like I always do!”

She chuckled. “Sounds right.”

They stood in silence for a moment as Hailey thought about her following words. “Uh…hey…Linne?”

“Yes?”

Hailey didn’t hesitate once she found the right words. “I’m really sorry for what I said to you.”

Linne blinked. She’d never even considered that Hailey needed forgiveness. “It’s alright.”

Hailey smiled, then tackled her friend in another bear hug. “I’m so sorry, Linne! You’re such a good friend, and I could never hate you!”

“I-I ghet it–”

She released her friend. “I’m going to Abigail’s house to tackle her too. Want to come?”

Linne smiled, happy to see her friend happy again, then cheered, “Tackle her!”

Their bear hug wasn’t very effective on Abigail, as she was significantly taller than both of them.

“You’re back?!” she asked Hailey as she clung to her.

“I’m back in no time flat!” she responded proudly.

“That’s…that’s great!” Hailey and Linne backed off. “I was really worried about you. I’m happy to see everything worked out,” she said with a resigned tone.

“So, do you want to go do something?”

Abigail tilted her head with a mixture of surprise and confusion. “Something?”

Hailey nodded. “You know, eat at a restaurant or go to a park.”

She hesitated. “Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to get between the two of you.”

Hailey shook her head. “No, it’s really fine. I know we haven’t really been close friends before, but...” she hesitated before giving Abigail the most inviting smile she could. “We can change that, right Linne?”

“Yeah!”

Abigail looked between the two of them, her mouth gaping. “Well, then...of course! I’d love to go with you two!”

“Then let’s get going! And you two better not slow me down!” Hailey dashed through the front door.

After Abigail scurried to get her shoes on, she and Linne ran after Hailey, Linne yelling for the far quicker, more athletic girls to slow down.

This was what Hailey thought she could never regain.

This was what she grieved for.

This was her present.

Kaetha arrived in a white realm, furiously stomping her foot.

Abbie cautiously approached the spirit. “Kaetha? You’re back?”

The spirit turned around, her face turning calmer as she accepted what had happened at an unsettling speed. “I’m back,” she answered with some projected annoyance lacing her voice.

“So…thanks.”

“For what?”

“For everything.”

“You’re still going to die.”

Abbie smiled, tears still streaking her face. “But I got to see my friend again. I don’t need anything else.”

Kaetha let out a nearly inaudible chuckle. “At least I don’t feel as guilty for trashing you.”

“You shouldn’t feel that way. I died, and that’s it.”

“You know, I like you. You’ve been rather compliant for someone who’s dead.”

“I’d be staining my good name if I died without dignity.”

“Dignity…huh?” Kaetha muttered thoughtfully.

“What about dignity?”

“Nothing at all. Say, before you’re reborn, do you want to have a little feast with me and the others who helped Hailey get as far as she did?”

“I’m dead, so I’m not sure why I’d need to eat, but I can’t say no to a spirit’s generosity.”

“I wonder if Appenne prepared any of his food…oh, and we need to make one stop along the way,” Kaetha thought aloud as she placed a hand on Abbie’s shoulder.

“I wonder if the food will actually be good this time,” Abbie asked before the two disappeared and left the slowly fading remains of a future witch’s psyche.

The End...