Earlier

“There’s only one way this ends, isn’t there? When I bring you Davenport’s head on a platter, you’ll thank me.”

Amara’s sinister words rang in Chloé’s ears, and the knot in her stomach twisted tighter and tighter. After Amara had blown a crater in the nearby pillar, the resulting cloud of dust had forced Chloé to retreat as far away from tangibility as she could.

The strain from her most recent manifestation was hard to ignore. She’d been so caught up in trying to talk Amara down that she’d failed to think about the effort it would take to do so.

Now, as the real world faded into the background, she found herself fixated on Amara’s actions.

What happened to her? Back before I disappeared, she was a little edgy, but nothing like this. It can’t just be that she thought I’d died… can it? No, Vee told me they’ve been through a bunch recently.

This isn’t her. I know it isn’t.

By the time Chloé felt strong enough to focus on the world around her again, Vee had already left, and Palesa had been freed from her bonds. Based on everyone’s posture, it almost seemed like they’d been talking for a while.

Shoot. How long was I out?

Everyone suddenly looked towards the elevator, and Chloé took this opportunity to engage her hearing again. Moments after sound appeared once more, she heard a woman’s voice call out.

“Palesa!”

Footsteps echoed through the chamber as Coven Head Bishop sprinted closer, her appearance spurring Palesa to her feet. The two women teared up as they embraced, their lips meeting over and over as they celebrated each other’s company.

“I thought I’d lost you,” Elizabeth whispered. “That horrid demon, she said she’d spared you, but—”

“And leave you alone, Liz? Never.” Palesa kissed Elizabeth again before pulling her even closer, burying her face in her shoulder. “I’d almost forgotten what you felt like outside of my dreams.” A few seconds later, Palesa flinched before pulling back to look into Elizabeth’s eyes. “Wait! You talked with her? What happened? Are you okay?”

“I intercepted her at the manor. We had a feeling she would come back, and evacuated just to be safe. Once she showed up, I disguised myself as her blonde friend to try and pull information out of her. She figured me out, though, and tried to fill my head with lies about Davenport.”

“Lies?” Palesa asked. “What do you mean?”

“Something about her not actually sealing the campus. She honestly thought I’d believe that Davenport was trying to siphon magic away from all the planes.” Palesa’s silence, accentuated by nervous glances from Nick and Tessa, caused Elizabeth to gasp. “No. You can’t mean—”

“That’s why Amara’s doing all this,” Tessa said. “She doesn’t understand the politics of the coven, and she’s convinced you’re all in on it.”

Palesa nodded in agreement. “I only learned of it myself very recently, but I didn’t know the siphons would cause problems for the students here. After waking up here, Tessa and the others told me the process also required leaving the campus exposed.”

Elizabeth went quiet for a moment, looking deep into Palesa’s eyes before redirecting her gaze. “Tessa, I hate to ask this, but… what is Amara to you? How can we trust you’re not… enthralled?”

“Because she’s a fucking idiot!” Tessa yelled. “I tried to talk her down, but she’s determined to make this all about her, as usual. Yes, we’ve fucked a bunch of times, but as far as I can tell there aren’t any side effects to that. Plus, she’s only fed on Nick, Vee, and myself. She’s never fed on Chloé, and that’s who first told us about Davenport’s plans.”

“Wait, I’m sorry, did you say Chloé?” Elizabeth asked, looking around in concern. “Isn’t that—”

“I didn’t die, if that’s what you’re asking,” Chloé said. The elder witch flinched in surprise before turning towards Chloé, who briefly reappeared to lessen the confusion. “Well, I might have? I still don’t really understand it myself, as I only got my memory back a few hours ago.”

Several tattoos across Elizabeth’s body began to light up, though some were hidden from Chloé’s view by the witch’s clothing. She raised a hand, focused for a brief moment, then directed a pulse of energy at Chloé. Strangely, Chloé was able to track the magic as it moved through the air, something she hadn’t been able to do when she’d watched Tessa use her magic before their fight with Brandon.

“My god, this isn’t an illusion,” Elizabeth gasped, stepping closer. “This is unprecedented! So many questions, so many possible explanations, I wonder if—no, this isn’t the time. Setting aside the specifics of what happened to you, how can I trust that you’re even telling the truth?”

Chloé disappeared again to save energy, then tried to think of a way to convince Elizabeth she wasn’t lying. “Um… oh! I was there when Davenport told you to ask Tessa what else she was hiding! You were all like ‘But Imani’s report said there was nothing!’ and she was like ‘Blah do it anyways or we’ll have to increase our Dreamscape protection!’ and then she left.”

Elizabeth gasped, holding a hand to her mouth.

“Wait, Davenport put you up to that?” Tessa asked, clearly hurt by this discovery. “You told me it was necessary for closing the Gate!”

“I didn’t have a choice, Tessa!” Elizabeth pleaded. “You know the hold she has on all of us!”

“You’re trying to lecture me about trust, but you’re letting her—”

“ENOUGH!” Palesa shouted, stepping between Elizabeth and Tessa. “Tessa, this isn’t Liz’s fault. As you’ve probably just pieced together, we’ve been seeing each other in secret. We were trying to keep this from Davenport, to prevent her from using it against us, so we only met inside the Dreamscape. Based on what your friend here is saying, Davenport likely knew the whole time and was sitting on the information until she had a use for it.”

Palesa turned to look at Elizabeth next. “And Liz, I trust what they’re saying. I have no sympathy for that thing that invaded my dream and kidnapped me, but Tessa stood up to her; they all did. Whatever plans that demon has for the Coven, they’re entirely of her own creation.”

“She’s not a thing!” Chloé said, floating closer. “Her name is Amara!”

Elizabeth looked towards Chloé again. “I know she’s your friend, Chloé, but she’s also a demon. We can’t ignore the influence that blood is having on her. I fought her at the manor, and it was terrifying. She wields a truly frightening level of power, and she’s not pulling her punches. I believe, with every fiber of my being, that she would have killed me had she caught me.”

At this moment, Nick stepped forward as he cleared his throat. “Um, look, I know it’s not exactly my place to say this, but don’t we have bigger problems right now? Amara’s rage, however untempered it may be, isn’t entirely misplaced. Even if Vee can talk her down, we’re still planning to try and stop Miss Davenport. If you two believe that what she’s doing is wrong, isn’t this the perfect time to stand up to her?”

“Nick’s right,” Tessa said, stepping next to him. “Miss Bishop, you already told me that Davenport is nervous about the other Covens, and that was before we knew about her true plans here. If we can stop her before she finishes her siphons, the other Covens might have enough ammunition to strip her position from her!”

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air as Elizabeth looked to Nick, then to Tessa, and finally to Palesa. “I…”

“If not now, love, then when?” Palesa asked, cupping Elizabeth’s cheek in her hand.

Elizabeth finally nodded. “Alright. We’ll never have a chance like this again. It’s not going to be easy, though. Gautier will do anything Davenport wants, and I’m sure she’s itching for a chance to grab for more power. However, even if we stop them from installing their siphons, they’re still both frighteningly powerful witches. If Palesa and I fought them on even footing, we wouldn’t last five minutes.”

“And I’m in no condition to fight,” Palesa said. “Whatever that dem—I mean, whatever Amara did to me, I’m utterly exhausted.”

Nick squeezed Tessa’s hand in encouragement as he sighed in relief. “Vee is an angel; she might be able to restore your strength. For now, you two should get somewhere safe, maybe see if you can pull any strings to gather more information.”

“And what about all of you?” Elizabeth asked. “What about Amara? We only have one shot at this, and she could easily ruin everything. I can’t pretend I understand what a demon is doing here, and how an honest-to-God angel is okay letting her walk around, but I’m willing to defer to all of you when it comes to handling her.”

“For now, we’re going to trust Vee. If anyone can talk Amara down, it’s her,” Nick said. “In the meantime, we need to gather as much information as we can. Tessa?”

“Right,” Tessa nodded. “I’m going to start checking all the circles. I’m the most familiar with how they’re built, and I’ll be able to tell if the siphons have been installed yet. If they have, I might be able to disrupt them, but there’s always a chance I run into Davenport or Gautier while I’m checking.”

Finally seeing a chance to be helpful, Chloé chipped in. “I’ll stick with you, Tessa. I can help scout ahead and stuff!”

Tessa smiled. “That sounds amazing, Chloé. Nick, any chance you can contact everyone and campus and tell them to stay indoors for a bit? We can’t risk them getting caught in the crossfire. I also think it might be a good idea to get in touch with Imani.”

“Imani?” Palesa asked. “She’s wrapped up in this too?”

“Well… not exactly. I have a hunch she figured out Amara’s identity, and I’ll bet she’d be willing to help if we tell her what Davenport is really up to.”

“She lied on her reports?” Elizabeth looked away from Palesa for a moment. “Gods, is anyone in this coven actually trying to work together? I swear, if I make it out of this alive, I’m taking the longest fucking vacation in the world.”

“Liz!” Palesa gasped, playfully hitting Elizabeth’s arm as they started walking away.

“What? It’s one thing after another with this stupid coven. We just finished dealing with Alaric, and now this? I’m allowed to swear once in a blue moon, love.”

The two elder witches slowly walked out of earshot, and once they made it safely into the elevator, Tessa and Nick began formulating their plan. They were hoping to make contact with Imani first, then see if she’d be willing to rope in other coven members. Listening to them, Chloé realized that quite a few witches were in town, not just the six or so she’d seen previously. A few minutes later, after Tessa double checked the circle in the chamber, Chloé followed her to the next destination.

Together, the two of them checked a few different circles, starting with the Purgatory Circle under Lysander Hall. Thankfully, revisiting that circle gave Chloé a chance to catch her breath, and she had a feeling that Tessa lingered slightly longer than she needed to.

Their second destination was Brandt Hall, which held a circle hidden behind another illusory wall. True to her word, Chloé made sure to keep a fair distance in front of Tessa, scouting the area for any potential threats. After reporting back that Brandt was clear, Tessa removed the illusion and started checking the circle for signs of tampering.

The minutes passed quietly as Tessa worked, and Chloé again noticed that she was able to see small pulses of magic coming from her tattoos as they lit up. Chloé was lost in concentration on these strange sensations when Tessa broke her focus by speaking up.

“Um, listen, Chloé…” Tessa muttered.

“What’s up? Everything alright? Did I miss something earlier?” Chloé asked, growing worried.

“No! Nothing like that, I just… look, I know I wasn’t the best friend before. I could have spent more time with you, and taken more of an interest in your hobbies and stuff, but I let myself get lost in all the secrets I was keeping from everyone.”

“Tess, I never thought you were a bad friend!” Chloé protested.

“Oh, come on! How many times did I blow you off to go to a party? Or try to rope you into doing things I found fun? I had so many chances to learn about you, what you like, all those games of yours. You’re a wonderful person, Chloé, and when… when I thought we’d lost you, I couldn’t stop blaming myself for all the time I’d missed with you.”

Chloé floated closer, placing a hand on Tessa’s shoulder. “Okay, so we didn’t spend as much time together as we could have. So? I still treasured your company, and I was happy that you made me feel included, even in spaces that I struggle to feel comfortable in. You helped push me out of my shell, just a little bit, and I really appreciated that. Besides, I’m here now, aren’t I? If you want me to talk your ear off about obscure video game lore, then I’m your girl!”

Tessa laughed, then quickly rubbed her eyes with her sleeve. “I’m really happy you’re back, Chloé. Aurelius just isn’t the same without you.”

Manifesting for just a second, Chloé happily gave Tessa a quick hug. “Thanks, Tess. That means a lot, really. Now, come on, we’ve got a campus to save, don’t we?”

Nodding, Tessa took a deep breath and looked back at the large magic circle in front of her.