“Let’s… back away slowly… before it tries to do what it said… maybe it won't notice us...”

Mariah was damn near hyperventilating and when Isla grabbed her arm, she didn't respond. Slowly, she looked down to Isla's hand a few seconds later, then followed the hand up to look into Isla's eyes. It was then that an urgent rustling picked up from the treeline as Kara, at breakneck speeds, came dashing into the forest.

Upon the surface of the Apparition, the skulls and bones arranged themselves to form a gory 𝓞𝔀𝓞 as Kara came right toward it., "(¯`*•.¸,¤°´✿.｡.:* ⓌⒽ𝔸t'𝓼 ｔ𝐡ιᔕ-- 𝓎๏υ Ｃ𝑜ϻє 𝓣Ø ρｗάⓎ? *.:｡.✿`°¤,¸.•*´¯)," screeched the apparition, as Kara took a step into the mush, and it "reached" toward her. It was then that Mariah began backing the fuck away with Isla, as the Apparition formed a (っ◔◡◔)っ shape, whilst saying in it's many voices and chirps, "♥ όн 𝐌𝕆𝓂мЎ Ｈค𝐯ⓔ yiff ℱⓄŘ 𝓶𝐄 ♥ •´¯`•» ℍⓊᵍ𝐆𝕚ε ฬỮģ𝑔ιＥｓ «•´¯`•"

Of course Mariah's pace of back-the-fuck-away picked up then. She watched Kara's foot get stuck, which caused the butchery to lash and splatter bits of itself toward her, and then-- as if a catapult had just launched a bunch of ground beef-- the Apparition lept up to cover Kara. "No-- FUCK-- WHAT--" Mariah screamed as she watched Kara get covered in blood and gore. "o0×X×0o. Ⓘ ŴỮ𝓥 ᵐᵒ𝓜𝓂ｙ! .o0×X×0o.," declared the Apparition as Kara's tree-branch-wood thing sent bits and pieces flying in a spray of gore and gristle.

Now, Mariah had never done such a thing before, but when the adrenaline is high, weird stuff happens. This is how she ended up possibly scooping Isla into her arms and sprinting them both the hell away-- if there was no immediate resistance or teleporting, of course. And if she wasn't able to do that then, by god, she was going to run as fast as she could away from that mess, and leave Kara to defend herself-- surely she'd be alright.
Probably.
Maybe?

---

“Eh?” Maya turned her head as Lyss’ shout actually took her attention away from her cat fight with Emily. Oh. Shit was really going down and she hadn’t noticed any of it.

She couldn’t really bring herself to give much of a fuck about it.

And it seemed like they had it under control and all since the Leviathan disappeared and was replaced by a very loud and screaming Vashti. Yeah, she should probably head home and get to a hospital… Could she even drive like this? She looked down at her broken finger with a frown. Yeah, it’d be fine.

"What the hell?!"

Maya’s head snapped up because she was certain Emily was about to go off at her again… but it was Madison going off at Vashti. In a very much “I’m going to kill you way.” It might be hypocritical for Maya to be against it but she hadn’t quite tried to kill Emily… yet.

“What happened to watching out for each other and that shit?!” She shouted as she ran over as if she hadn’t just been ripping out another member’s hair. “Get off her!”

Unsure if it would have any effect on the Jaws, who seemed pretty fucking powerful, Maya shot out as powerful of a sound blast as she could at Madison in the hopes it would dislodge her and stop the jaws from ripping into Vashti.

And hopefully wouldn’t turn it on her.

---

---

Mariah screamed, Isla screamed and the godforsaken creature basically screamed (its words were as painful as if it had). It was the most horrifying sight she’d ever seen as Kara was practically turned into little bits and became one with the apparition. It was among the worst things she’d seen and honestly she’d rather go right back into Paradise.

“THE FUCK- DID IT JUST- I-”

She was completely frozen with her mouth fallen wide open, trying to process what had just happened and trying to make sense of the words it was saying that seemed far too much like things she’d read on forums at 3am while delving into places she couldn’t. It struck more fear in her than anything else ever had.

She didn’t protest as Mariah picked her up and started running, instead she actually clung to the much taller girl as if she was a lifeline against the owoing fleshy mass. She certainly had longer legs…

Wait, she could teleport! Screw nearly passing out afterwards, drastic times called for drastic measures.

Thankfully she was in Mariah’s arms, which meant she didn’t have to worry about contact. Her beanie glowed a bright purple as she concentrated and teleported them both away from the swamp and right back to where the capture the flag game had been going on (because she’d definitely take godzilla over getting yiffed).

Her eyes immediately closed once she’d teleported them, incredibly glad that she wasn’t standing so she didn’t fall right on her ass. She was absolutely exhausted from using her abstraction too much… nevermind teleporting others tiring her out even more. Fuck, she needed a nap.

“I hope… it didnae follow us…” Isla panted out, accent thickening with her tiredness and not even bothering to open her eyes (or politely get out of Mariah’s arms, this was payment for the teleportation). She had no idea if that lizard was still raging but honestly she didn’t care. “I… dinnae wanna… see tha’ again… Am pure done...”

---

---

Madison could hear the various shouts of the girls as they screamed at her. "Jaws!" Madison screamed as the tried to get the Jaws under control, however, she just couldn't. What the fuck got into the Jaws?! They all probably thought she was the one responsible for this. The Jaws continued to maul the already shocked Vashti as Madison was seemingly helpless to stop him... the other girls on the other hand. Maya's sound blast hit the Jaws' various snakelike necks as all Madison could hear was the ringing aftermath. The Jaw's neck was cracked it tanked the physical attack, but it was more or less useless against the sound aspect. If she could move in this prison that the Jaws locked her in, she would.

When the sound blast hit, the Jaws was released off Vashti, most likely out of his own volition as the three heads turned towards Maya and loudly roared at her. Around this point, Quinn's summon grabbed Vashti and pulled her away. The Jaws roared at her too as it allowed Madison to finally move as it released control. Immediately the Jaws disappeared and Madison fell to her knees as tears ran down her face.

"M-Mademoiselle!" Claudette almost spits out as she was standing there in shock. "What has gotten into you?"

"It wasn't me, it was..." Madison trailed off for a few moments before she dug into her shirt for the T-Rex keychain that she made into a makeshift necklace. She stared at it for a few seconds before she yanked it off so hard that it snapped off and then she chucked it far as she could. "... The Jaws, you gotta believe me, I didn't..."

Emily merely crossed her arms and let everyone else do the work as everything went on. Maya and Quinn probably had more useful abstractions in this situation than she did. Did the Jaws really do this? From what she heard from Babylon that brute is more than capable of thought. Or did Madison want to kill Vashti and blame the Apparition for it? Honestly, there wasn't a whole lot of information here... but with the way, Madison's been acting lately...

She heard a car pulling up to the field and Emily immediately turned around to see a big SUV with... Oh, God. FBI on the side. Good. Lyss' DENS buddies were here at the knick of time. Emily had to roll her eyes, she not looking for that. Emily watched as their ringleader, the tall Chinese woman wearing a suit and sunglasses, stepped out of the vehicle first. She had her hands in her pockets and a toothpick in between her lips and an aura of "I am in no danger right now". Next out was her cronies... Cindy, Trevor, and Helena.

Cindy was walking alongside Meifeng as the two approached the group, while Trevor and Helena hung back at the SUV. However, Helena stuck her hand out and a transparent, glowing blue, Ferruginous Hawk appeared out of thin air and perched itself on her forearm.

Meifeng walked up to the group as she looked around at all these sad and horrified looking people... then she eyed Vashti who looked like she was in the worst state. She rolled her eyes.

"Good grief," Meifeng said, "Every time I show up somebody is hurt."

She looked back at Helena and said, "Agent Paige, please attend to her."

With a nod of her head, Helena's hawk flew into the car and came out with a white first-aid kit and Helena walked over to Vashti with the bird floating overhead. "Hey, hey, hey, take it easy." She said as she began by cleaning off her wounds with antiseptic wipes before she began bandaging them up.

"What exactly happ..." Meifeng began to inquire before she stopped herself and faced Lyss - as in her eyes she was the leader (or better be that leader). "Know what? Nevermind. I don't think it was a great time to drop in and ask for a favor, was it?"

Vashti turned back into herself, but she was screaming, completely freaked out. Herik didn't get the chance to go to her like he wanted to, because in the next intent Madison attacked her. She knew they weren't going to be friends anytime soon, but to maul her was passed any limit of animosity he's seen the girls display to each other.

"As-!" He was on the verge of calling Asta to his side to go help her when Sin's fox friend hit him with fire. He didn't feel pain, but he did feel Asta's presence leave him. He went back onto his arm and he couldn't call him out again. He didn't feel him at all, like before he existed but now he felt empty. He doesn't know what Sin did to him, but it looked like whatever it was helped, because she rescued Vashti and carried her to safety.

FBI pulled up, they seem to be everywhere when they have an emergence. This time and last time he couldn't complain, because they were injured, but he's suspicious about how they always manage to find them. Them playing capture the flag shouldn't have been something on their radar. It didn't matter. He had to get to Vashti. It was slow going because of his broken leg, another five weeks in this cast, but he made to her and the agent that was assisting. He hadn't seen the extent of Jaws' power from afar, but up close it wasn't good. Her arm and leg were torn up. It was bloody and he's not certain if he saw bone or not. He'd hoped the injuries weren't that deep.

He got the on ground next to her the best he could with his cast and grabbed her hand on her uninjured side. "Vashti, we're going to take care of you, okay. You'll be alright." He said, because he believed it. Even if she wasn't alright now, she would be if he could help it.

Mariah's eyes squinted against the purple glow and she felt hot tears streaming down her face. By the time they were teleported back to the field, she was panting heavily, and full on sobbing. “I hope… it didnae follow us…” It was then that Mariah's adrenaline fueled body recalled that she was a weak skinny bitch-- her knees buckled and she shook, before practically falling to one knee with Isla still clutched fearfully in her arms. A loud sob left Mariah as Isla told her, “I… dinnae wanna… see tha’ again… Am pure done...”

Shaking her head, Mariah choked through her tears, in a very thick Cuban accent, "I don' kno' what you even say but thank you. Jus-- Oh, dios mío, bebé, por que... por que yo?" Covered in mud, blood, and smelling like the thick of a Florida swamp, Mariah kneeled there and sobbed in an ugly way as she looked up toward the others. Madison was crying, Vashti was mangled, the fucking FBI was here?

Weirdly instinctively, Mariah held Isla, as if she were a poor mother on the steps of the Cathedral and the inquisition had come for her BABY. At this point, she was sobbing and cradling Isla, while mumbling for mercy in Spanish. What a day.

---

“Drop the barrier.”

Lyss looked over at Claudette. She could still feel Vashti and the Leviathan crashing into her barrier. Every bump took more and more energy and she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep it up. Still, she worried that the Leviathan’s fear would turn into rage towards the one who trapped it.

She released the trap anyways. Claudette’s darkness was there to protect Madison, but that still left her trapped with the Leviathan too. Lyss heard rapid footsteps approaching and braced herself for any attack by holding her forearms up in front of her. Instead of seeing the lizard’s jaws appear from the dark, Lyss was shocked to see that Vashti herself emerged. Her sister was terrified. To the point that she didn’t even know what reality was anymore. Lyss was shaken by her terror. She stepped back and dropped her arms. Is she still aware of what the Leviathan does? Does she feel it’s fear too?

The others began to console Vashti, but Lyss wasn’t sure what to do. Twice in one day had she stepped in to help, and both times she’d somehow felt like the bad guy in each situation. First for using necromancy during a misunderstanding, and now for turning Vashti into an emotional wreck.

The chaos wasn’t over, still. Lyss watched The Jaws maul Vashti and she instantly worried that it was going to be another Babylon situation. Lyss ran towards the two women. No plan in mind but to try and trap only The Jaws and Madison this time. The sudden blast of sound from her left came before she could attempt it and Lyss was grateful. The Jaws retracted. Vashti was being taken to safety. Now they’d just need to make sure that The Jaws wouldn’t attack again.

The look on Madison’s face proved her innocence to Lyss. She’d seen that look before. The Jaws had taken over, much like the Leviathan took over Vashti time and time again. Had the apparition acted in defense? Was it getting revenge? Either way Lyss knew that Madison hadn’t ordered it to do this, but there was still a threat that it would happen again. She wouldn’t let another sister die because of a rogue apparition. Not after Ellie, and almost Emily, died because of an apparition with it’s own goals. Lyss pressed her lips together and turned to go to Vashti, to help her, but she heard the sound of a vehicle approaching and groaned.

What now??

Lyss didn’t even bother checking to see who it was. She has a feeling she already knew who. Instead she moved to kneel on the other side of Vashti. She gave Herik a concerned glance before checking the wound. She sucked in some air through her teeth as she saw the damage and rested a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “I’m sorry,” she murmured.

She looked up again and Agent Paige was there to play doctor again. Lyss nodded thankfully before moving out of her way. She stood and looked towards Meifeng and her eyes glanced over the other agents present as she moved back towards them. One agent in particular was missing. Was Meifeng leaving him out of this on purpose, or was something wrong. Why would the DENs just show up to the Coven’s training? It’s not like they were doing anything wrong.

A favor?

Lyss raised an eyebrow and then crossed her arms. She glanced over at Claudette to make sure she’d heard Meifeng right. A favor?? When she looked back at Meifeng she shrugged. “I wouldn’t say any of us are happy to see you at the moment anyways. Although I’m grateful that Agent Paige is here to help my sister.”

“What did you think we could help you with, Agent Liao?”

---

---

“Vashti, are you okay?”

She wasn’t. Vashti was never okay after coming out of a Leviathan onslaught anyway, but the panicky feeling was amplified by knowing that the people it had just tried to eviscerate now surrounded her weak, shellshocked body. Her response to Claudette was only a rapid increase of her breathing and her hands digging into the mud as Madison approached. She flinched like a chihuahua with an anxiety disorder as Madison reached out to her and drew her knees in tighter, bracing for the immediate hit.

Only there wasn’t one. Madison was offering to help Vashti up. For a moment Vashti began to feel control return to her body as her breathing slowed. The Coven didn’t seem outright angry with her; they seemed concerned. Perhaps Herik was right about them after all. She owed them all an apology, especially Madison. If they could get through this, maybe they could pave over their past tiffs. Perhaps they could even become friends. Maybe Madison would buy her booze! She looked up at Madison with bright, hopeful eyes that envisioned a future of water bottle vodka and shitty lagers.

The look quickly turned to horror as her dark eyes reflected the triumvirate of the Jaws snapping towards her. Her scream shattered and broke into a rattling gasp as the heads began to rip at her limbs. Vashti’s one free leg ineffectively kicked at the ground, trying to push herself away from the woman who was trying to murder her. Goddamn it, why wouldn’t her body let herself blackout? She felt every tooth as it shredded her useless scales and ripped at her flesh. The pain was unfathomable. She had to hit a threshold at some point, but the roof kept rising and rising. For once in her life Vashti wished for the Leviathan, but it wasn’t there. Didn’t it realize that if she died it would too?

Wouldn’t it?

The world went silent and the tearing stopped thanks to Maya’s handy work. Briefly, Vashti thought she was dead, ascending to heaven as she was lifted from the ground, except the continuing pain proved that she was still alive. Alive, but delirious, judging by the giant construct that was playing keepaway with the increasingly miniscule Madison. The not-quite iron giant set her down as the sound returned to her ears, although the noises made no sense and the world was all but fuzz and blobs by now. Something touched her. The Jaws? Vashti kicked at it. "Hey, hey, hey, take it easy," said the blob. Vashti felt a sting and then some pressure on her arm, followed by the same feeling on the other. It wasn’t pleasant, but when compared to being chewed at like an overcooked steak it was delightful. She let the world start to go black.

"Vashti, we're going to take care of you, okay. You'll be alright," she heard Herik say as she began to drift away. He almost sounded like he believed it. In a way, it was kind of sweet. If she was going to be lied to like that, at least Herik sounded genuine about his bullshit. But he always did, didn’t he? He shouldn’t worry about taking care of her anyway. She was a big girl. Rather, he should really worry about how Vashti would take care of Maidson. Dreams of sharing cheap beers with the girl were now dead. New dreams, vivid and dark, began to creep out from the shadow of its tombstone.

Vashti smiled.

And then passed out.

---

Maya’s ears rang as she stepped forward, completely unable to hear the Jaw’s roar at her right before it disappeared. She kept an eye on Madison as the others went to check on Vashti. It seemed that she wasn’t going to do it again… or the Jaws wasn’t going to, since she claimed it wasn’t her at the time. Maya kept her judgements to herself. She’d just soundblast anymore attacks if need be.

She had been ripping Emily’s hair out just moments ago after all (and would do so again if she was given the opportunity).

The sound of a car pulling up broke through the loud ringing and she turned with narrowed eyes to find bi- Agent Liao stepping out looking like she was attempting to be some kind of cool business woman. It just made her look like an asshole (or maybe she was going for that too).

"Every time I show up somebody is hurt."

“Maybe if you turned up earlier each time, we wouldn’t be,” Maya snapped, unable to hold it back after whatever the fuck had just happened. She was constantly switching between anger, shock, exhaustion and intense fucking pain and it was making her even more grouchy than she had been.

She didn’t even look all that happy that Trevor was there. It was partly because he was hanging back and also because the adrenaline of everything had been drained from her body, and she was in intense pain from when she’d slammed into the ground after being thrown through the air. Still she gave him a (very pained) smile and a half assed wink. Flirting wasn’t really in the equation so much as getting treated and in bed.

Her injured hand was throbbing now, and a quick glance told her that her already broken finger had been bent even more out of place thanks to fighting with Emily. Worth it.

She walked over to the people gathering around Vashti, mostly addressing Herik and Claudette rather than the DENs agent tending to Vashti.

“Can’t we just go to a hospital?” She held up her hand, with a very visibly bent backwards and broken finger. “It’d be better for Vashti and I need to get a splint or whatever for this. Aside from whatever they’re talking about,” she waved in the direction of Meifeng and Lyss having a conversation she couldn’t care less about, “I think the rest of us need rest and not stupid government interrogations.”

---

---

Isla had absolutely no clue what Mariah said but she could tell that it was probably something panicked considering how much she was crying. She didn’t even mind that she was being held and rocked as if she was a baby because she was still very much in shock herself. She’d never been one to care about physical contact, even in this weird situation, and she was far too tired to do anything but crack open one eye.

That creature wasn’t something she’d get out of her mind anytime soon. She was going to have nightmares of it, she could tell that already. What if it followed her home? She didn’t even have a home. What if it found her on the streets one night? She’d had enough non deadly glomping from twelve year olds on the internet back in the day, she didn’t need it from a flesh eating creature.

She turned her head slightly to look at the others, freezing in panic at the massive van with FBI clearly on the side. Fuck, was she about to get deported?! Wait, wouldn’t that be a good thing? She wasn’t sure.

“Aw fuck, is that the cops, I ain’t here for that, how the hell did they end up here,” she started rambling quietly while trying to figure out if she had the energy to scramble away before they noticed her and her definitely not legal ass. “Am no on any kinda visa, what if they kick me out, that’d be shite.”

She really didn’t have the energy to move. Maybe if she stayed here in Mariah’s arms and pretended to be dead the other girl would carry her away and she wouldn’t be noticed at all.

---

---

“Maybe if you turned up earlier each time, we wouldn’t be,”

Meifeng looked at Maya in dead silence as she stared at her for a few seconds before she cracked a smile and laughed. She kept her hands in her pockets as she said, "Maybe if you all weren't so batshit, we wouldn't need to show up." She chuckled afterward. "But, you should refrain from such comments Ms. Choi, you're just inviting me to pry..."

After she said this she looked around, one girl looked like she had been mauled by a wild animal, another looks like she was in shock, someone has a giant monster - or is a giant monster, who knows - and everyone looks like somebody had died... her eyes fell upon two stragglers in the wood lines that were just about freaking out. Most notably her aura sensing had activated for one of the boyish-looking girls and she had a knife... in front of her pants. Meifeng stared at her for a few moments as she tilted her sunglasses downwards at her.

"... And I can tell you don't want that." Well, neither did Meifeng, but Maya didn't need to know that.

"Shit, she passed out!" Helena shouted as she realized that Vashti had passed out. For a second she thought that she had died from her wounds before she checked her pulse by jamming two fingers into her wrist. She still had a pulse... a faint one. Not for long, however. "Meifeng, we gotta get her to the hospital."

Meifeng pointed towards the SUV as she said. "Go, we'll catch up." Part of her wanted to say that they weren't in any danger, but Meifeng didn't want to send the wrong message to the Coven. Though, she didn't want to part with the second-most powerful member of the DENS... just in case.

"Trevor!" Helena called as she grabbed onto Vashti's upper body, and Trevor sprinted over and grabbed Vashti but her legs as the two carried her to their SUV. The Flock manifested and opened the door as the two lifted Vashti inside.

“Can’t we just go to a hospital? It’d be better for Vashti and I need to get a splint or whatever for this. Aside from whatever they’re talking about. I think the rest of us need rest and not stupid government interrogations.”

"If you need to go; go," Claudette spoke to Maya, not really in the mood for her bullshit for once. That was probably why her tone was so short and to the point. It was a general command for anyone in the Coven at the moment. However, while Maya wasn't interested in the interrogation, Claudette was. This was probably the basis of Madison, Emily, and the other's distrust of her - and Claudette didn't like the DENS. However, Claudette saw the gigantic shadow of Quinn's summon looming overhead. She didn't think it was a smart idea to summon something this big for such a small task but Claudette was going to keep that to herself. She looked up at Quinn as she shouted,

"Quinn!" Claudette started, "Put the summon away!"

When Vashti was taken away, Claudette drifted a bit over to the conversation with Meifeng and Lyss subtly. She used her abstraction to cloud her feet with a dark mist that muffed their sound.

“I wouldn’t say any of us are happy to see you at the moment anyway. Although I’m grateful that Agent Paige is here to help my sister. What did you think we could help you with, Agent Liao?”

"I doubt we'll ever reach a point where you'll want to see us, but this important," Meifeng said as she put her hands on her hips and walked around Lyss. "I'll start from the top; last night Annabelle Heart wiped out the Greenwood Estates. Agent Mayfield and Cornell engaged her to buy time for the rest of us to get there but Annabelle Heart critically wounded Maximilian in the ensuing fight."

Meifeng sighed.

"I'm asking you if you have a healer in your Coven. It's important because he might be our only hope."

Taking a deep inhale, Mariah didn't need to know entirely what Isla said, because the important bits like “Aw fuck-- cops-- visa--shite--” were easy words to understand in any accent. She had seen enough "illegal immigrants: in Miami get dragged off by I.C.E. to know exactly what Isla was going on about. Swallowing hard, her tears falling silently, the clear and present danger was sobering-- how jarring it was to go from "Extra-Normal being threatening your life" to "shitty regular feds threatening your well-being". It wasn't right-- so she felt the need to do something about it-- and it was threatening. Here, the birthplace of that fear-born courage, and Mariah's exhaustion started to wane ever so slightly.

It was then she caught herself beneath the gaze of a shades-wearing Milf. As Mariah stared at Meifeng, she followed the woman's gaze upon her downward, squinted, then made a face of utter revulsion at Meifeng. Taking a breath, Mariah shook her head and turned her attention back to Isla. Before she even tried, she knew she wasn't strong enough to lift Isla up bridal-style anymore, so she started turning the semi-concious woman about, positioning her into the carry one piss drunk drag-queen gives to another when they've gotta get out of the club. As she stood up slowly, she realized Isla's feet were slightly off of the ground, then scoffed a very Cuban curse at their height difference.

Patting herself down a few times, Mariah eventually found her phone, wiped some drying meat off of it, then started hobbling along with Isla, while sending a call to Tory. As she turned toward the direction the road was in, of course she didn't get a fucking answer, so she launched Uber. It was in the middle of being distracted , as she ordered her Uber, that the subtle noise of a wet mop being slapped against a wall caught Mariah's attention.

That mass of flesh and bone was throwing tendrils at nearby trees, pulling itself forward by them, dragging itself along the ground to move more rapidly, as it approached Mariah and Isla. They were far enough away from it that Mariah was confident she could escape in time-- but what about the others? Swallowing hard, Mariah began crying again, as she pulled out her channeler, flourishing the fan as her abstraction powered up.

As loud as she possibly could, Mariah shouted, "Necesitamos ayuda!" Hoping that it drew attention as she charged her abstraction, pointing her channeler at the monster, shouting, "Andate a joder," so loudly and furiously that her voice cracked. In a display of ridiculousness, Mariah's center stage abstraction practically flared yellow-orange energy, like a damn firework. A stupid amount of orange arrows pointed at the Apparition as it screeched, "•?((¯°·._.• ⓗєｗώᵒ 𝐆ｉᐯ𝒆 𝐌ⓔ ᕼⓊﻮǤ𝕀𝔼 ʷⓊᎶ𝕘丨𝐞𝓈 •._.·°¯))؟•." And then a rather obnoxious "stage light" kept its place over the horror as Mariah's abstraction locked in. "Now.. all th' Coven know you're here," Mariah hissed at the creature.

Job done, Mariah proceeded to continue vacating the goddamn premises as fast as she could-- out pacing the apparition even though she was hobbling along with Isla. When eventually she made it to the street, the pool of blood on the sidewalk and scraps of Tory's shirt caused her mild alarm, but the Uber was already there.

"Wooooah," began the Florida Man driving the Uber, as he helped Mariah put Isla into the back seat, "We gotta hide the body or what? I got an gator in the basement..."

---

---

“How bad is he?”

Meifeng stopped on her heel almost immediately as she turned towards Lyss as she was quick to answer. "Bad. Really bad. As in he could pass any second now. We have plans to give his Collecti-" Meifeng was stopped midsentence when she heard...

"Necesitamos ayuda! Andate a joder,"

Meifeng saw those two weirdos that were ducking into the treeline (real inconspicuous, those two were), and coming out was a horrific flesh mass. A disgusting mess of flesh, bones, and animal parts... and there was a giant spotlight put on it. Meifeng sighed as she did not come here for that, but she rolled her eyes as she looked at Cindy.

"How much change do you have?"

"A few pennies, a quarter," Cindy said as she dug into her pockets and passed what change she had in her pocket to Meifeng... before the giant stone construct completely crushed the creature in one hit. It gradually faded out of existence and that told her that it was an Apparition. That was not the way Meifeng would have handled it, but she shrugged nonetheless.

"That works," Meifeng said as the coins in her hand began to float up into the air, and she turned on her foot towards Lyss. "... You should inform your friend that thing will just respawn." She shrugged. Not that it was any of her concerns.

"How about we talk somewhere private while the rest of your friends rest up?" Meifeng suggested as she put her hands in her pockets. Fortunately, Trevor and Helena didn't leave with their SUV yet.

---

---

"... Quinn!"

Claudette shouted at Quinn as she decided to ignore her instructions. It was great to see how little respect she had for Claudette's leadership. And also how stupid and unsubtle she's being. That giant ass rock monster could probably be seen and heard for miles and while the DENS seemed cool about it, Claudette did not want to attract any more unwanted attention. Claudette thought that they were on the same page after the DENS first showed up... but she guessed not.

The Golem crushed the Apparition that appeared and Claudette wished that they could, at the very least, seal it inside of something. Well, at least they didn't have to worry about it. This entire meeting was a disaster! There was, quite simply, no other way of putting it, at this point it might just be better to just cut and run. The DENS were leaving, and the Coven should be no different.

"Everyone! Let's get out of here!" Claudette commanded. Whether or not they were going to the beach house was of little to no concern to Claudette - they should just leave before someone comes to investigate the racket. She looked and saw Madison still in shock on the ground.

"You-You... Okay...?"

It took a second to register that Grace was even talking to Madison. She turned her head towards Grace and was snapped back to reality for a moment. Just a second. She looked at Grace in absolute silence for a few moments before she said,

"... I don't even know anymore."

"We have to go!" Claudette shouted as she grabbed onto Grace's forearm and then Madison's to pull them towards where they parked the cars. However, she stopped when she came across a particular necklace... a quirky necklace of a dinosaur. Which Claudette recognized as the Jaws. Now, she was unsure of whether or not the Jaws attacked Vashti or not... but, it would still have been a waste to leave the Jaws out here. If Claudette had to think tactically, Madison and the Jaws were a powerhouse that was likely only second to Quinn. As much as Quinn was hardheaded at times and Claudette was realizing that Madison's mental state was... deteriorating, it would be foolish to lose any of them. Especially with the threat of Annabelle Heart looming around the corner.

As much as Claudette didn't anything to do with her and the DENS, she felt like they were already in the middle of it. Whether they like it or not. She sighed as she temporarily released the two as she quickly grabbed the keychain-

"... You are not worthy."

The Jaws spoke to her, but Claudette knew that she was not worthy of his power, nor was she aiming to. She opened up her purse and dropped the keychain inside before she grabbed the girls and hauled ass out of there. Everyone else should be leaving, well, should be. Claudette watched as Maya left... and suddenly some of Emily's earlier concerns were starting to come back. Again, Maya was an adult and capable of making her own choices... but Claud hoped that she stayed safe.

Even if it was silent.

---

---

---

---

Emily found herself staying the night in the Beach House, and found the appeal of it. Of course, she was from an upper-middle-class environment so living lavishly, at least for a little bit, was not something she was unused to. Though, she grabbed her laptop, found the nicest room (damned who claimed it earlier), and locked herself in there, only coming out to grab some food or use the bathroom. Most of the time Emily was enjoying some Netflix or something, but she was keeping her ear to the ground on any potential leads to Babylon. Far as she could tell, Babylon was last seen in Orlando, but who knows where she was heading next. As time passed, she could be in Virginia. Which was why Emily... gave up.

If she had to be honest without, it would be next to impossible to track Babylon down... Even if she stayed in Orlando, that city's big. And with the threat of "Annabelle Heart" (if she even existed) looming it would be stupid to go digging in that city. Someone like Babylon came to you... and she knew that there was no way that she would do that.

She found herself sitting on her bed with her legs crossed watching anime wearing shorts and a tank top... her phone buzzed for a second and she wouldn't have even noticed it if it wasn't face up. Emily grabbed onto it and saw that the group Snapchat got a message. After the disaster yesterday... it was understandably pretty fuckin quiet. It came from Claud...

frommontrealwithloveNo1 - Just Now
Girls, please assemble by the pool, it's important.

Important, eh? Emily doubted that, but at least if it was a waste of her time she could retreat in here and watch anime. At least until the fireworks started. Well, might as well put on something cordial...

---

Emily walked up to the poolside where everyone had gathered in a circle around the unlit firepit, with Claudette being the only person standing up. For once Emily took her sweet time because everyone in the Coven just loved doing that themselves. She had to go find the right outfit... which was a green dress and Puma sneakers that clashed with each other. However, Emily just wordlessly sat down on a chair and wondered what Claudette had to say that was so important.

Maybe she was ending her term as the leader early.

Madison walked up wearing an Adidas pullover hoodie with the symbol on the front and some Adidas track pants with the three stripes on the side of her leg. It was hot but she was here long enough to be used to the heat... this was mostly because they had the AC on so high that she had to put on slightly more layers than usual. However, she wasn't exactly in the most talkative mood... she kept her mouth shut as she stayed on the outskirts and she made sure to avoid people like Vashti and Herik. She made sure to stay standing up just in case this ended up being what she thought it was, and it was the decision to vote her out...

Not like that would be tragic.

After the Coven had assembled - or mostly assembled, Claudette barely cared to wait for everyone to get here - Claudette signed. She was standing in the center over the fireplace as she had everyone's attention. Her hand was trembling a bit as her voice cracked for just a moment.

"Hello, hello, hello," Claudette greeted everyone and she found her Montreal accent slipping in unintentionally. She cleared her throat as she knew yesterday was a disaster and she was more than certain they were probably thoughts of supplanting her already. So be it. Claudette did what she thought was right and she was, at least, going to try to get the people who need help, some help. "I know yesterday was a bit rough... it didn't exactly go as... I originally planned." She coughed a bit.

"However, I take full responsibility for everything that occurred yesterday," Claudette started with her speech. "I was attempting to break out from the mold set by the previous Coven leaders where we barely accomplish much of anything other than getting into more trouble. And then replace the leader with another and the cycle continues."

She sighed.

"If some of you dislike me, so be it, I am trying to better the Coven, especially with the likes of this... Annabelle Heart character," Claudette started. "However, I think it's best we stop wasting time and address the obvious facts; many members have joined the Coven to either learn about magic or cure their various afflictions and I think we can accomplish both today."

Claudette scanned the Coven for reactions.

"The agenda for today-on will be finding a way, finding somebody that can cure Afflictions and Curses and heal people... however, I am not sure of where to even start," She sighed again, "Does anyone have any ideas?"

---

If Maya was honest, the last thing she wanted to do was go meet the rest of the Coven. She’d gone to hospital the night before with Vashti and after a long wait for her much less life threatening injury, had gotten a splint on her finger. Which meant that she’d basically lost the use of her left hand which wasn’t annoying at all for finishing school work.

Or, like, everything.

She had ended up going to the Beach House in the morning, mostly because she was hungry and it was easier to buy food on the way than figure out cooking with one hand. So she’d turned up earlier than planned with breakfast in hand, finding an empty bedroom to take for herself while just relaxing.

Sadly, because of her decision to actually go relax at the Beach House, she couldn’t just ignore the message from Claudette with some excuse that she was too injured to drive (she probably was since it was her hand, but that hadn’t stopped). So she forced herself out of the silent comfort of the bedroom and down to the pool.

---

Isla slept half the day away after the adrenaline of the night before, dreams filled with horrendous flesh creatures and weeby whispering. She’d pretty much collapsed in a random bed after Mariah got them both back there and hadn’t emerged until the sun was high in the sky.

Once she woke up and dragged herself out of a far too comfortable bed, she showered and found the room she’d actually claimed as her own (and thankfully without anyone else in it). She’d changed into a way too baggy t-shirt and some shorts she hadn’t stolen before merrily blinking her way down to the pool area.

It was far too hot for her poor Scottish ass, and how better to cool down than sticking her feet in the water!

She looked up as others started to enter, figuring that they wanted to lounge around the pool too and continued to sit on the edge splashing her feet in the water.

Maya looked very much like she wanted to kill someone when she entered, though her grumpy expression was kinda offset by the fact she was wearing a simple white summer dress and looked like some kid who didn’t get given chocolate. She let out an exaggerated sigh as she sat down, waiting silently for Claudette to actually explain what was going on so that she could get on with her day (which she knew was unlikely).

"I know yesterday was a bit rough... it didn't exactly go as... I originally planned."

“You mean you didn’t plan for it to end up with a massive lizard creature trying to kill us, some dinosaur bones mauling someone and the DENs on our ass again?” Maya raised an eyebrow. “A bit rough is an understatement.”

She folded her arms as she listened to the rest of what Claudette said, while Isla craned her head to realise that it wasn’t just people lounging about but some kind of meeting.

“Accomplish both today? In one day?” Maya continued with her general negativity, because she was in a bad mood anyway (when wasn’t she), but it seemed pretty unrealistic. She was phrasing it as if they could just do both right there. “And you don’t even know where to start…”

“Maybe if we just look hard enough we’ll find someone!” Isla piped up where she still sat splashing her feet in the pool. “I bet there’s some back alley supernatural healers or shit like that. Or if we hunt down on the internet… Like, I don’t know this area well but I can get into all sorts of places if we need to when trying to find someone!”

Maya rolled her eyes at the Scottish girl’s rambling. It was basically a whole load of nothing… not that she had anything useful to add. “I hate to suggest it, but what about DENs? Don’t they have tabs on a whole bunch of supernatural. Not that I’d want to be more in debt to them or anything.”

Vashti's smile didn't put him at ease, then she passed out. They were wasting time sitting around to get her help. The fed that was helping her and another carried Vashti to their truck. Herik hobbled along after them. She couldn't go to the hospital alone while she was unconscious and couldn't fend for herself. He grabbed her possession she left behind, felt the pocket of her sweater for the quarter, it was still there, then followed them to the into the truck. They didn't leave right away, even though he wanted them to. He knew when to keep his mouth shut, especially when he didn't doubt they'd make him disappear if he made too much noise about it.

On the journey to the hospital he hadn't moved from Vashti's side, didn't take his eyes off of her, and held the hand that wasn't injured. When they got there he made up a story of how she was attacked by a pack of wild dogs. He couldn't think of anything else that might have looked like the bites and bone breakage that Jaws left behind. He had to lie about them being engaged for the staff to tell him anything about her care and condition. He didn't think too hard about it. He also got a new pair of crutches, because he left is in Madison's car. He didn't want to have to ask her for anything, even to get something he needed back. She wasn't worth the conversation, not after what she did to Vashti.



The next day he stuck to Vashti's side like glue. He wasn't going to take the chance of Madison or anyone else attacking her like yesterday. His mood was the worst it's ever been. He could let the way they all spoke to each other slide, because everyone gave as much as they got but malicious assault was different. Vashti could've been killed by a member. That's not what the Coven is. It's the first time it's ever happened and hopefully the only time. Claudette called them to the poolside. He sat next to Vashti, watching everyone else join them. He glared at Madison, and scooted closer to Vashti. He didn't care that she looked upset over what she'd done. She should.

While Claudette spoke of her leader role, he kept a close eye on Madison. He didn't stare at her, but she was in his peripheral. Someone had to make sure there wouldn't be a repeat of yesterday. Claudette asked if they had suggestions on how to help fellow members with their Afflictions and curses. Finally, a leader that took them back to what was important. Why they got together in the first place. He had an easy answer, one he's talked about before that didn't involve looking for shady people in back alleys.

"What about Kimberly Walton? She was in contact with Agatha before she left. I'm sure she could help us."

Outside, the sound of some Cuban music bumped, and the noise of a party-drunk bunch of stragglers came through a dirty apartment window. Steam curled over the cup of coffee as Mariah stared down into the street below. Behind her, the floor creaked, and a voice asked, "How a fuck you up so early?" Mariah looked over her shoulder at Tory and, as usual, he was topless.

Squinting heavily in the morning light, he walked over to the fridge with a yawn, saying, "You never up early."

Raspily, Mariah replied, "No duermo. No sueño--"

Her voice caught and she took a long drink from her coffee. She'd tried to sleep but kept seeing it every time she closed her eyes.
Hearing it whenever the silence moved in-- Had Kara screamed?
Or was that just the voice of the monster?
Both?
Were those the sounds of her bones breaking-- fizziling and popping-- flesh curdling, sloughing off, being dissolved. Was it joy for the beast? Would it have laughed as it killed her too?
A strangled noise of distress left Mariah unconsciously.

Hector sloooowly looked over the open refrigerator door at her, squinted, then pulled out a jar of peanut-butter-- that he insisted on keeping in the fridge for some Peruvian reason-- with a bunch of eggs, and some milk. "You fuck? You fuckin' high-- what," Tory asked as he took down a HUGE container of WHEY protein from atop the fridge, "What you mean? Is four-- you the sleepiest bitch?"

Mariah didn't say anything as she watched him crack open several eggs, scoop peanut-butter, protein powder, and dump milk into a nearby blender and, to sweeten the deal, dump a bunch of used coffee grounds into the mix. As the blender WHIRRRRRR'd, Tory locked eyes with Mariah, and her gaze dropped to his waistline.

"Ya belly button's a spike," Mariah informed him.
"Fuck you," Tory replied with a frown, "What you go do today?"
Right on cue, Mariah pulled her phone out of her pocket, and showed him the Uber arrival notification. Again, Tory frowned, "But is four-- what you. WALK AWAY FROM ME? Walk away-- FUCK YOU IS FOUR--" With a not-so gentle slam, the door to the apartment closed behind Mariah, and she walked out.

Around five in the morning, Mariah arrived at the Beach House, but she didn't go up to the door or walk in, because she needed to have a nervous breakdown on the beach instead. Yeah, there were some tears, some water kicked, some sand thrown, and she eventually found herself walking-- just walking-- all the way to the nearest coffee shop, then another, then a hotdog stand, then a boardwalk.

By the time she ended up on her way toward the Beach House for the meeting, she had peed at least seventeen times in random places around town or on the beach, and she was more than twenty-four hours without sleep. What was it now? When had she last slept? Was this how time traveling worked?

Because she entirely didn't recall how she got to the poolside with the rest of the Coven, but she sure as hell was knees deep in meeting, and was staring directly at Claudette as she was talking. Mariah looked down-- what the fuck was she wearing? A set of beat-up sneakers, some paint-stained sweat pants cut into shitty shorts, a bright ass tank top that had a very crunchy coca-cola logo on it, and... a cowboy hat. Mariah pat herself down, feeling the weight of her knife in its usual place, then she opened her fan sharply, and began to give herself some breeze.

"Does anyone have any ideas?"

Mariah continued to fan herself, shaking her head in response with a mumbled, "Nah sis," and letting the others speak up. And, of course, they did. She was glad for it because, as everything in her body seemed to be vibrating from a continued sugar-caffeine-sleep-deprived high, Mariah extremely wasn't catching any words or conversation, as she stood there sweating her damn underwear boggy. She was pretty sure that her voice would come out high pitched like one of them sped up cartoon characters if she said a full sentence at this point. Her gaze grew distant again, behind her dark ass shades, and the thousand yards was stared at once more.

Had Kara screamed...?

---

“Accomplish both today? In one day?”

Now Claudette was starting to understand why Agatha left cursing them out and Kayla ghosted them. "Your negativity is noted, but unwarranted." Claudette had to resist rolling her eyes and putting a bit of venom in her words. "I should have said we will take as much time that is neccessary." That was the keyword here... unfortunately a lot of the Coven was unaware of what the word necessary meant.

“I hate to suggest it, but what about DENs? Don’t they have tabs on a whole bunch of supernatural? Not that I’d want to be more in debt to them or anything.”

"You just want to see your little girly-boyfriend, Maya," Emily spoke as she had a cocky grin on her face and crossed her arms. Now, she didn't trust the DENS, not one tiny bit... maybe that had something to do with getting tear-gassed and then shot in the ass, but she would still be skeptical without those little incidents. What was more concerning is that they managed to turn one of their sisters to their side. Emily turned her head towards Lyss for a second and held her tongue.

"I would prefer not to involve the DENS," Claudette softly yet surely answered. Even if the DENS had an easy way to solve their problems, Claudette knew that it would just open a whole new can of worms. It would be the same with making a deal with the Hound. Not to mention if they'll even help in the first place. "They seem to have their hands full anyhow..."

However, Herik came up with an idea that Claudette didn't think of.

"What about Kimberly Walton? She was in contact with Agatha before she left. I'm sure she could help us."

"Kim..." Madison muttered to herself as she realized that she hadn't talked to that girl in awhile. It kinda felt selfish to ghost her like that after she got what she wanted. However, she kept her mouth shut for now.

Now, Emily had her doubts about Kimberly, given that she was a big celebrity but honestly she'd take some weirdo Ghost Hunter over the DENS at this point. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news," Emily spoke up as she tried to put this in the least harsh way she could. "But, Agatha isn't with us anymore nor is she even responding to us. And to be honest; good riddance. It sounds like a good idea but how are we supposed to even get in contact with her? She probably has trillions of horndogs and simps vying for her attention. How are we supposed to stand out? Line her fucking pocke-"

"... I got her number, calm down," Madison cut Emily off because she was starting to get on her nerves with all the talking. Suddenly, the opposite of what she wanted to happen at this meeting happened. Not the whole "voting her out" question because, honestly, she wasn't worried about that (she did kind of want to take all their booze before she left). What she didn't want was to draw attention to herself after what happened yesterday. However, that was the price she had to pay for getting Emily to shut the fuck up.

Emily tilted her head at Madison. First Lyss is in bed with the DENS, now it turns out Madison had a famous Ghost Hunter at her beck and call - but never mentioned it. "... And you know her how?"

"She helped me out awhile back, it's a long story," Madison answered.

"Can we even trust her?" Emily asked.

Claudette didn't think about asking Kimberly for help before, but she wasn't particularly opposed to it. Honestly, it would be a better bet than asking the DENS for help, even if Claudette was scorned by the gal last time they encountered each other. The supernatural expert probably knows somebody who can help them without having to deal with a shady government agency or the Hound. Though, she could understand Emily's concern... even if Emily is a pain in the ass a lot of the time.

"She assisted me before," Claudette started, "I can say we can trust her... if not, then I will deal with it."

"Fine," Emily shrugged. Honestly, if it blows up in their face, it wasn't like she was losing anything! "Maybe we shouldn't call her-" Emily cut herself off after realizing there were probably far worse people out here that knew their location.

Probably Madison's sisters were a bit... hesitant to call Kimberly. However... like Maya was probably thinking, they didn't have a whole lot of other options right now. Maybe she might be able to save face. So, Madison pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts...

---

---

After the disastrous attempt to gain information from Luther Saul, Kimberly was scrolling the internet. She was sitting on her bed, hunched over while typing away at her laptop. She went through all sorts of social media, and chatted with her various fans - some of which she knew was Extra-Normal. Kimberly knew it wasn't a good thing that people out there were willing to share their darkest secrets with a person that they never met before, and that she shouldn't exploit it at all.

Yet to save Annabelle's life, she would try anything.

She was still wearing the same clothes that she had wore to bed, and she still intended on wearing it. It was a pink polka dot bra and panties, and her hair was all over the place.... and she also kinda stank and needed a shower. However, she didn't want to even miss the possibility of a lead on Annabelle or finding someone that can cure her.

"Yo Kim," Rowan said as he walked into the motel room holding a red and white Chick-fil-A bag. "I got extra honey-roasted, like you asked."

"Thanks," Kimberly said as Rowan handed her a chicken sandwich as he sat on the side of the bed eating chicken tenders. He dipped it in ranch sauce as Kimberly went right back to work and Rowan looked off to the side awkward.

"Soooo...." Rowan trailed off.

"So?"

"How are things going?"

"Terribly," Kimberly answered, "Annabelle's probably gearing up for another murder spree... if she hadn't already gone on one. Saul's cult will probably create more problems. And we're in the middle of it trying to make sense. But I'm holding on. If... that's what you're wondering." She awkwardly smiled at Rowan through her glasses.

"Yeah," Rowan said.

However, their discussion was interrupted when the phone buzzed for a second. Maybe it was Penny voicing her annoyance as per usual but after grabbing it, it was a familiar name.

Madison Brown 4:43 PM.
Yo Kim i know its been awhile. I kinda need your help

Madison Brown 4:43 PM.
Well a few people need your help

Me. 4:44 PM
Who?

Madison Brown 4:45 PM
The Coven i heard that you met Agatha when she was the leader

Madison Brown 4:45 PM
Sis bailed

Well, that would explain why Agatha stopped answering her text messages, but Madison Brown was somebody she hadn't heard from in a few months... from what she can infer, she was apart of the Coven.

"The Coven..." Kimberly muttered to herself as she finally found them. Or they found her

Me 4:47
What do you all need help with?

Me 4:47
... None of you made a deal with the Hound, right?

Madison Brown 4:48
God no. Some of us have curses and they think you can help us

Kimberly narrowed her eyes for a second. It took a few minutes of thinking before she came up with a reply.

Me 4:52
Send me a picture of where you are and give me a few minutes

Madison Brown 4:52
rd

That was before Kimberly went from Madison Brown to Penny and shot her friend a text message.

Me 4:53
Penny, can you come to my room? It's important.

Kimberly might as well have just yelled out the window to where Penny was snuffing out the remains of a cigarette on the cracked asphalt of the parking lot while trying to avoid looking at any of the other motel guests. Penny knew she had no place to complain—really she should be grateful that Kimberly had even put her up in a room—but couldn't someone with that YouTube afford a place where "Free Cable TV!" wasn't the only amenity? It didn't even have a pool. Not that Penny would set foot in the same water with the family of seven that were crammed into the room next to hers, regardless of the amount of chlorine. Not that Penny would have time for a leisurely swim anyway, all things considered. Still, it would've been nice to have known that there could've been a pool for her to miss out on.

Her sun hat provided her the shade needed to see Kimberly's message in the otherwise oppressively bright lot. Important? Penny's heart sank. So Rowan had snitched on her after all. What a punk. It wasn't like she had taken all of his waffle fries and, besides, she had been joking about sending the bag of food across the state line and, more importantly, he should've asked her if she wanted anything anyway. She wiped her mouth with the back of her lip to disperse any betraying salt and prepared herself for the tribunal.

Slinking across the lot, Penny knocked on Kimberly's door without even hesitating to grab the handle and try to open it. It was still unlocked from Rowan entering just moments ago. As she stepped in she said, "Look, if this is about the fries then I'm sorry and I'll go get some"—Penny turned her head the second she saw Kimberly sitting in her underwear and her already high-pitched voice managed to squeak into a higher octave—"Son of a bitch, why'd none of y'all ever wear any clothes!"

"It's okay," Kimberly shrugged as she seemed blase about it. "We're all friends here." She said completely nonchalantly like that was a normal thing for her. It was unimportant to Kimberly. Because she had more important things to care about other than modesty right now. Penny, however, had taken to rummaging around the room, looking for a shirt or a towel to chuck at Kimberly.

"I don't know if you know, but there's a Coven of Witches here in Tampa aaaand... one of them just... contacted me," Kimberly started rather awkwardly as she just shook her head as she cut to the chase. "... You remember Jordan, right? My... best friend."

"Oh. Shit,"said Penny, letting the shirt that had to be Rowan's drop to the floor. She turned towards Kimberly and sat on the edge of the bed. She toyed with the hem of her sundress. Penny didn't have the greatest of memory, in part due to her Abstraction, but how was that even a question? Penny hadn't been close to Jordan, but Jordan had been one of them. Penny let her shoulders drop and gave Kimberly a soft, if pained, smile.

"Of course I remember her," said Penny gently. She remembered everyone they had lost, even if she couldn't recall their faces. "But what does she have to do with witches?"

Kimberly paused for a few seconds as she was about to say something that Penny wasn't privy to, nor did she plan on informing her.

"... It's her cousin, she's asking for our help," She said and she knew from the look on her face that wasn't good enough. "I think we should at least hear them out, they might have somebody that can help with Annabelle... I mean I literally have no other leads right now."

"Well, if we have no other options then we gotta take it, right? But..." Penny trailed off. She was about to say that if they couldn't help them with Annabelle then the two of them shouldn't waste their time helping the Coven, but then she thought better. Penny wouldn't listen to someone tell them that she shouldn't help out the family of her dead best friend, so why would she try and do the same to Kimberly? She exhaled, leaned back, and snapped as she pointed at Kimberly.

"But you're doing the talking this time," said Penny.

"Good," Kimberly finally got up from the bed and headed towards the shower. "I'm going to take a shower and then we'll go."

---

In a flash of light, the three appeared at the beach house at the pool-slide. Kimberly stood there wearing an Adidas T-shirt, camouflage shorts, and combat boots and she had her polaroid camera in both hands. Rowan was at her side wearing tan cargo shorts and a black shirt... while Penny was wearing her sundress. She looked around at the various faces and then she smiled...awkwardly at that.

"... Hi." Kimberly tried to break the silence.

"Hey Kim," Madison said. "You... thank you."

"We thought you weren't showing up for a second there," Emily crossed her arms as she said. Now, they only asked for help from Kimberly, not her little entourage. Thankfully, they kept the cameras away.

"I tried to get here as soon as I could," Kimberly recognized Vashti and Claudette... small world, eh? She had no choice who anyone else was. "So, what do you all need help with?"

She tried to feign that she would help them... honestly if they didn't have anything useful she would have no choice but to turn and leave. Some part of her was hoping that they would be the key to stopping Annabelle.

Little did she know she would be very disappointed.

---

"You just want to see your little girly-boyfriend, Maya."

"I don't need to see and tolerate the rest of DENs to see him," Maya retorted with a roll of her eyes. It was true, since she literally had daily meetings with him and had his phone number. She didn't bother denying that he was her boyfriend... Because she honestly couldn't care less if that's how they were viewed (and it was what she wanted in the end, anyway). "But I'm fine to not involve them, it was just a suggestion."

She stayed silent as she listened to the rest of the conversation... It was a better option than the DENs, and less likely to end up with with them landed in jail. Or being killed off. She was pretty sure that a Internet ghost hunter was less likely to have a kill order available to her.

Not that she wanted to deal with this now, but it wasn't like she had a choice.

Isla shaded her eyes at the bright flash of light as three strangers appeared outta nowhere (wow, nice, she wished she could arrived in style like that). First there was a nerdy looking girl with a camera, then there was some guy, and then…

She let out a strangled yell, automatically flinching backwards without thinking about where she was sitting. With a loud splash she fell right into the water. She floundered about for a bit, spluttering water and her mind going a mile a minute. Her only clean clothes were absolutely drenched and she was swallowing so much water and she'd completely forgotten how to swim and why the fuck was Penny here in front of the coven rather than miles away in whatever Jimmy Buffet filled place she came from. Fuck, fuck, fuck, she was screwed if Penny recognised her how was she supposed to explain that? Oh yeah I lied I was actually in someone's pocket dimension like, she'd be laughed out! This was it, it was time to bail and flee for the hills before they turned on her for hiding the strange supernatural knowledge she had.

While Isla was floundering in the shallow end of the pool, Maya was eyeing the newcomers with barely concealed suspicion. Sure, she'd heard of Kimberley Walton like every other supernatural person had. She was sure she wasn't out to actively screw them at least... Her concerns were more the two strangers that had turned up with her (one of which was a man, instant alarm bells).

"Why don't you introduce your two friends," Maya said, pointing to the girl and guy with Kimberley. "So we know they're not going to try anything." Then, as an afterthought, she added, "we can do the same, but there's a ton of us and only three of you."

"So, what do you all need help with?"

"A lot," Maya replied bluntly when no one else spoke up. "You know, one of our own turns into a massive lizard that tried to kill us. Another of our own can't control her dinosaur and also tried to maul a member. There's also the murderous cannibal who killed our only healer and our weird, ugly bat allies. The list goes on."

She paused, glancing at Claudette before looking back at Kimberley. "But today we're concentrating on finding someone that can cure curses or whatever, and heal people. We were hoping that you, with your large network of supernatural simps, could help us find someone with that ability."

---

---

Don’t start a fight.

Those four words were the only thought that repeated through Vashti’s mind as she rubbed her fingers of her left hand over the ridges of Herik’s quarter. Normally she favored her right hand, but with her arm in a sling thanks to the Jaws lunching on her joints it made that a little inconvenient. The mantra echoed through her head as the sun beat down on her, the pleasant heat doing little to warm the coldness she was feeling towards the Coven for even allowing Madison to attend this stupid meeting. Don’t start a fight. At least Madison was wise enough to keep her distance. It didn’t stop Vashti from giving her the evil eye, so the girl closed her eyes instead.

Don’t start a fight.

She shouldn’t have come today. She should’ve forced a transformation earlier. She should’ve stayed in the hospital instead of lying about how hospitals violated her beliefs to get discharged early. Only she couldn’t. If she had stayed, she would’ve been a threat to the hospital staff and patients if the Leviathan woke up. If she transformed, she would have no control over when it’d end, where she’d go, what she’d do, and what it would mean for her fractured elbow when she reverted. If she didn’t come today, then she wouldn’t be able to defend herself against any accusation thrown her way—and she fucking knew that Madison would try to blame everything on her if she wasn’t present.

Still. Don’t start a fight.

Vashti could feel Herik scoot closer to her. It was calming and nerve wracking at the same time. She tried to listen in but could hardly parse out the conversation over her mantra. She pretended to be sunbathing, as if her thick jacket could even allow a single UV to penetrate through to her skin. She pretended to be asleep, as if her knitted brow or twitching lips suggested anything but buried anger. Despite the storm brewing inside of her, Vashti knew she could keep it under control as long as she focused on the quarter, her breathing, and those four little words: Don’t. Start. A. Fight.

---

---

It didn’t matter how many times she had been ported by Kimberly, the arrival always caught Penny off guard. Thank god for the cheap dollar store sunglasses that hid her startled expression. One second they had been inside of a crummy motel room, the next they were standing by a pool next to a lavish house surrounded by a ragtag group of witches. She sucked in her bottom lip as she tried not to let envy instantly color her opinion of the Coven, who must’ve been loaded to afford such a swanky place. The silence let her hear the sound of the waves crashing on the nearby beach. Wait, this place was beachfront? Goddamn! The Coven must’ve been doing something right.

Penny turned to Kim expectantly, ready to see how she’d handle breaking the ice when it was a crowd of rich witch strangers.

"... Hi."

Masterful. Penny chuckled as she removed her sunglasses to get a better look at the Coven that, somehow, needed their help. They had a Thor cosplayer taking a day off, a brand cowboy trying to avoid fainting, and a mall goth dedicated enough to commit to the dark clothes even in this freaking heat. Continuing the trend of inappropriate summer gear was a girl wearing a winter cap that was knitted and yell—oh! Penny beamed brightly as she recognized the girl in the yellow beanie. Her smile quickly died as Isla locked eyes with her, yelped, and fell backwards into the pool. With none of the others going to help the girl out of the pool, Penny sighed and began briskly walking around the edge.

"Why don't you introduce your two friends,"said one of the Coven members who’d been giving them the stink eye. "So we know they're not going to try anything. We can do the same, but there's a ton of us and only three of you."

Penny shot her a look, smirked, and forced herself to hold her tongue. C’mon, they ask for help and then threaten them? If they were going to try anything it would've already been over, and if the loudmouth tried anything then it would most definitely be over for all but the three of them. Penny wanted nothing more than to challenge the girl, but she had told Kimberly that she’d let her do the talking so she let it slide. Water off the back. She was so damn untouchable not even words could get through. But, Kimberly had failed to introduce…

“Penny Lawson. Don’t mind me, just here for the pool,” said Penny loudly, dismissively waving away the girl with the back of her hand. She squatted down with her hands on her knees in front of where Isla was splashing, kicked on her abstraction, repulsed the little flecks of water away from her sundress to keep it dry, and smiled a shit-eating grin.

“Hey stranger, how about you just try standing?” she asked dryly.

She gave Isla a second to stop floundering, and then with a click of her mouth her finger went in for the kill, targeting a fatal boop towards Isla’s nose.

---

---

Don’t start a—Kim?

Vashti’s eyes snapped open at the sound of a voice she’d heard hundreds of times before coming out of a laptop speaker. Kimberly Walton? The Kimberly Walton? She was here? She had come? She was so excited she nearly dropped the quarter, fumbling and catching it at the last moment before it bounced into the pool. There was a fleeting moment of anxious terror as she stood up, nearly knocking over her deck chair, but it was gone within the second as she set her eyes on Kim. The girl had sealed the Leviathan once, she could seal it again. As long as she was here, things were safe. Thank god!

“We were hoping that you, with your large network of supernatural simps, could help us find someone with that ability."

“Dude! Don’t be a dick just because you only have one superlame simp following you around,” said Vashti, managing to critically fail her attempt to hide her fangirling giddiness. She pointed at Kim. “Kimberly’s cool. She really helped me out. If it wasn’t for her I…”

Vashti’s head tilted as she trailed off, her finger drooping ever slightly. Since Kimberly had sent her to the Coven, her life had only progressively gotten worse. She’d almost been hunted down by the FBI, got stuck in an elevator with a drunk jerk, never really got to enjoy the fine cuisine of a Red Lobster, was nearly killed by a ghost lady, was nearly killed by a drunk jerk’s ghost dinosaurs, and lost a game of capture the flag. A look of confusion crossed her face. She let her hand drop. The excitement in her voice faded. In a way, wasn’t Kimberly kind of to blame for this shit?

“Bro things have totally sucked since you sent me here. Maya’s under exaggerating. You didn’t...you didn’t stop this thing in me at all and it made me attack them and then this girl”—Vashti gestured at Madison—“who is...who is your friend!? What! Your shitty alcoholic friend tried to kill me and these girls are just cool with pretending like it didn’t happen and, and, and…”

Vashti inhaled deeply, paused, and exhaled slowly. Her hand rose and fell with her breathing like she was conducting a band, playing out the stress and anger before something bad happened. Don’t start a fight. Where was that quarter? She fished it out of her pocket and gave Kimberly a chagrin smile.

“I’m sorry. We’re all just a little on edge because bad shit keeps happening to us. First it was outsiders, which we could handle, but now it's each other. Honestly, if I could I would’ve left but I know it would just make me come back and I really don’t want to hurt anybody because of my curse,” said Vashti, shaking, her voice raw. She glanced at Madison. “It’s the same, right? You can’t control yours either, can you? That’s gotta be why. That’s gotta be why.”

“Look, I know what we need, I just don’t even know where to find it or what it even really is, but we need someone who can use blue...light?” she said to Kim, looking over at Emily and Herik for affirmation. “Just help us find that. I know you’re busy but, please, you gotta help us find that. And then we go on worrying about the asshole ghost who stole Elise’s body and the monster bitch that fucking ATE Izzy and you can go do your famous person thing. But, seriously, you need to help us,” begged Vashti, her eyes watering.

Then she stepped forward and jabbed an accusatory finger at Kimberly’s face, her words growled, spit flying, as she added, “Because when I kill your fucking asshole friend, it’s going to be your goddamn fault!”

Vashti stepped back, shocked at her own tone.

Don’t start a fight, dumbass.

“I’m sorry. Please don’t leave, we need you. Really. I’m so sorry. I’m scared. Please help us. Don’t go, please,” she said, her words drowning in desperation as she began to back away, continuing to apologize under her breath. Vashti prayed that this wasn’t real, that it was a dream. She prayed that she was still in the hospital. Better yet, the Jaws had killed her, this was all a dying delusion, and she hadn’t just cursed out her idol.

Either way, she probably wouldn’t be able to get a signed photo after this.