It took nearly twenty minutes for Tessa to confirm that nothing had happened here yet, and Chloé did her best to rest while she waited. After Tessa packed up, and restored the illusory wall, they headed out to their next destination: the Science Building.

Chloé only vaguely remembered the basement here. She knew the Coven had briefly visited here once when Tessa was showing them around, but without all of her senses back, Chloé had failed to realize just how cluttered the basement was. The section closer to the staircase was more organized, but the entire back half of the floor was a mess of old plumbing. Thick pipes, many of them rusted, hung from the ceiling and jutted out from the walls at awkward angles. Phasing through the pipes revealed they were no longer in use, and the insides were even more gross than the outsides. The one thing she didn’t see, however, was a Coven Head anywhere. Flying back towards Tessa, she reported her findings and the two started off towards the circle behind all the plumbing.

Waiting for Tessa to weave through all the pipes took longer than Chloé had expected. Unable to effortlessly phase through the rusted metal, Tessa needed to carefully climb, crouch, and slide around everything while she crept ever closer to the secret room in the back.

It took Tessa significantly longer to study this circle. While all the others had been plainly visible, this one only appeared once she used her magic to reveal it. She needed to take several short breaks, and most of the work involved comparing the circle to the diagrams she had in her notebook. Chloé certainly didn’t mind the rest, but she was starting to grow anxious. How long had it been since Vee left to deal with Amara? Had she been successful?

She wanted desperately for her friends to be safe. For Amara to realize that she didn’t need to do this alone. She regretted that she hadn’t done more to help the last time they’d all been together, but what could she have done? She didn’t understand Amara’s transformation, or how it affected her.

When Tessa announced that she was finished, Chloé eagerly sprang a few feet into the air and prepared for the next phase of their plan. She even flew several circles around the room to test how she was feeling, and was pleased to see that all the rest was helping. The thought of extended manifestation still gave her pause, and she was sure any significant effort would quickly exhaust her, but she was happy that her current level of focus wasn’t draining her.

Her excitement to continue checking other circles, however, was quickly stifled when she realized she needed to wait for Tessa to navigate the pipe maze again. Mentally groaning to herself, she lazily floated beside her friend while she waited. Part of her wished she could just pick Tessa up and carry her, phasing her through all the pipes herself, but that idea didn’t make any sense.

Wait, does it?

Stopping a few feet in front of Tessa, Chloé pulled her phone out of her pocket and studied it closely. After Amara had stormed off the first time, Chloé had flown home and grabbed her phone to make sure she could stay in touch with everyone else, and she’d never stopped to think about the implications of that action.

Her phone hadn’t been with her when she’d been scattered. Despite not being exposed to those energies, however, it had stayed in her pocket the entire time she’d been flying around and phasing through walls.

Holy shit, I can make other things phase!

How does this work? Do I need to be touching them? Can I do it with people? I should ask Tessa if I can—no, don’t be silly, Chloé. There’s too much going on to start playing around with your powers. Besides, what if you mess up? I don’t want to get Tessa stuck in a wall or something. Ooh, maybe the next time we’re near the Lysander Circle, we can—

Footsteps broke her train of thought. They weren’t Tessa’s, as she was still stuck navigating the pipe maze. No, these footsteps came from the entrance of the basement. They echoed around the chamber, a foreboding prelude to the sinister laugh that appeared seconds later. Chloé started to fly towards the exit, hoping to figure out who might be approaching, but she got her answer when the stranger called out.

“Little Blackwood,” the feminine voice said. It had a slow, playful cadence to it, and carried a light French accent.

“No!” Tessa gasped. She quickly looked around her, hoping to find a place to hide, but she was completely encased in old metal pipes.

“I knew your true colors would shine through eventually. Just like your parents, you’ve proven that you never cared for this coven, or what it stands for.” Coven Head Simone Gautier let out another laugh, this one even louder, and Chloé saw the tattoos underneath her clothing start to glow.

“You’re the ones betraying everything we stand for!” Tessa shouted back, trying to maneuver to a less cramped space in the middle of all the pipes.

“Insolent whelp!” Simone shouted. “You dare question our judgment? You, who lies with demons and angels? How quick you are to forgive the sins of the Church; I’m sure you were just as eager to sell your soul for cheap thrills. What did the demon offer you? Power? Fame? Or are you truly just that desperate for a fuck?” Magic began to swirl around the Coven Head at a rate far faster than Chloé had ever seen before.

“I’m not the one throwing the entire campus under the bus just for a chance at more power!”

“Oh, you poor thing, you think this is about power? This is about safety, it’s about standing up to everyone that wants to make the world a terrible place. Your parents disagreed with me just as vehemently, and look where that got them. Slaughtered like pigs.” As Simone finished speaking, the magic swirling around her lashed out. A horrid metal screech filled Chloé’s ears, and she watched as the section of plumbing closest to the Coven Head bent and twisted out of her way.

“You leave them out of this!” Tessa said, fighting back tears. She tried to back up, but there was nowhere to go.

Simone kept walking, and more sections of piping bowed to her magic. A twisted metal arch slowly formed around her as she forced her way closer, talking all the while. “They were cowards! Weaklings! Your mother conned her way into being Headmistress, and she set the Coven back years!” Simone threw out another burst of magic, this one much larger, and it cleared a path directly to Tessa.

A second, smaller burst of magic shot out from Chloé’s right, and she saw one of Tessa’s switchblades flying towards Simone. Just before hitting her, it stopped in the air, the Coven Head’s magic easily overpowering Tessa’s.

“Pitiful. You hold the power of the cosmos at your fingertips, and you use it to throw knives around? What a waste.” Simone flicked a wrist, sending the switchblade hurdling back towards Tessa. She immediately screamed out in pain as the knife embedded itself in her shoulder, and before Chloé had time to react, she saw another burst of magic. It grabbed a collection of nearby pipes, snapping them off and twisting them around before launching them at Tessa, who had nowhere to run. The myriad pipes latched onto her arms and torso, pinning her against the pipes behind her as Simone continued walking closer, her pace slow and ominous.

Fuck. Fuck! I need to do something, but what? I can’t call for help, they’d never get here in time, but I don’t know how to fight!

One last piece of iron piping flew into Simone’s hands, but she didn’t twist this one into makeshift manacles. An immense, concentrated telekinetic force sawed one edge of the pipe off, turning it into an impromptu spear, the edge glowing white-hot. Simone spun it around before glaring at Tessa.

“I’ve been waiting to do this for years. You don’t deserve the honor of dying to my magic; I’m going to skewer you with my bare hands.”

No!

Stricken with fear, and with no other ideas, Chloé flew at Simone. Despite having never thrown a punch in her life, she balled her fist and threw it at the Coven Head, manifesting herself at the last possible moment. Her punch landed on Simone’s jaw, and while the impact seemed to catch her off guard, it likely hurt Chloé just as badly as it hurt the witch.

“What the fuck was that?!” Simone asked, spinning around to look for Chloé. “That wasn’t magic. What unholy force assists you now, Blackwood?”

Her wrist still throbbing in pain, Chloé decided to change tactics. She watched Simone’s magic flare, looking for something to attack, and waited for an opportunity to strike. A few seconds later, she remembered that literally nothing could touch her, and she flew in for another attack. This time, she thrust her knee into the witch’s gut, trying to knock the wind out of her and disorient her magic.

“Leave my friend alone, you bitch!” Chloé shouted.

A rusted pipe flew through the air, passing harmlessly through Chloé, and Simone yelled in frustration. “What are you?!” Her magic flared again, and this time a veritable torrent of rusted iron began to swirl around Simone.

Able to ignore it completely, Chloé flew in again and kicked Simone as hard as she could, trying to knock her to the ground. This time, although Simone still seemed frustrated by the interference, something in her demeanor shifted. With a smug laugh, she released her magic and let her makeshift metal barrier fall to the ground with a shrill clang. “I may not understand you, but I’ve been in enough fights to know that you’ve never done this before. Do your worst, phantom, you can’t stop me from killing Blackwood.”

Simone’s magic shifted gears, and it now clung to her body in a manner Chloé had never seen before. As the Coven Head took her first step towards Tessa, Chloé tried to knock her off balance with another strike, but the magic in the air seemed to reinforce her stature. Although her foot landed, it did nothing to deter Simone from her goal.

She tried again, flying around the basement to pick up speed, but even that failed to faze the mad witch. Simone held her spear aloft, a twisted grin on her face as she looked towards Tessa. With each step she took, Chloé tried something new, but nothing worked.

“Stop it! Leave her alone!!” Chloé shouted again.

Simone gleefully wrung the pipe in her hands as she closed the distance, and once she stood in front of Tessa, she raised the spear over her head. “Time to die, Little Blackwood.”

In a panic, Chloé flew in between Simone and Tessa, desperation guiding her movements. Everything she’d tried had failed, she’d even managed to return from an endless void between dimensions, but what good was she if she let Tessa die? Had she returned purely to sit eternally on the sidelines again? She so rarely got angry, but in this moment, with her friend’s life on the line, she unearthed a fury that had been buried deep inside her for years.

“Leave her ALOOONE!!!”

Releasing all her anger, Chloé shouted as loud as she could. The line between herself and the world around her blurred, and the nearby space buckled to her fury. It rippled out, bending and warping in on itself before colliding with Simone and knocking her back, the spear flying from her hands and clattering to the ground.

In shock, Chloé briefly looked back at Tessa. After seeing her friend was okay, Chloé turned back to Simone and closed in, taking another deep breath and loosing another discordant shriek. This one was even louder, and it knocked Simone off her feet, sending her flying into some nearby pipes. The Coven Head shook in pain as Chloé’s voice rattled her, and she tried to cover her ears to block out the noise.

Behind her, something clattered to the ground. Footsteps ran past Chloé, and Tessa shouted, “I’m out, let’s go!”

Amazed she’d managed to turn the fight around, Chloé kicked Simone one last time before flying after Tessa, who sprinted towards the exit as fast as she could. Behind them, Simone seemed incredibly disoriented, and the sound of clanging metal echoed through the basement as she tried to recover. Tessa had just reached the exit, and was about to pull the door open, when Simone’s voice filled their ears.

“BLACKWOOD!!”

Chloé glanced back just in time to see Simone’s impromptu spear rocketing through the air at an impossible speed. Tessa managed to turn around to see it coming, but wasn’t quick enough to dodge it. The spear flew directly through her chest, only stopping once it embedded itself in the door behind her.

Her eyes wide, Tessa looked down at the spear. She was nearly frozen in shock, her panicked breathing almost completely drowned out by the reverberating twang of the spear as it shook from the impact. No blood sprang from her chest, no cries of pain echoed through the chamber; the spear didn’t even seem to be affecting her breathing. Instead, as Tessa recovered from the shock of the impact, she raised a hand and tried to grab the spear. When she did, however, her hand phased effortlessly through it. She looked to her right, finally seeing that Chloé had grabbed her shoulder at the last second.

The girls briefly locked eyes, and once Tessa pieced together what had happened, she stepped to the side. The spear, still embedded in the door, phased harmlessly out of her body as she walked away.

From across the basement, Simone screamed in frustration, and the noise pulled Chloé and Tessa back to their senses. Tessa pulled the door open and started sprinting up the stairs, while Chloé lingered just long enough to see the Coven Head in hot pursuit. Chloé flew through the ceiling, catching up with Tessa just as she left the staircase. She started running towards the entrance to the Science Building, the door opening itself in front of her with a burst of magic, and Tessa ran outside.

Instead of letting Tessa continue, however, Chloé flew behind her and grabbed her, covering her mouth and holding tight. Chloé shushed her friend, and seconds later, Simone burst through the main entrance, her head darting back and forth as she looked for the girls.

In Chloé’s arms, Tessa was practically hyperventilating with fear, but she managed to stay quiet. Despite looking directly at them several times, Simone saw nothing. Chloé had successfully pulled Tessa out of visibility, and a moment later Simone shouted out in rage. She stormed off, pulling a phone out of her pocket as she began to dial someone. Once she was out of sight, Chloé released Tessa and gasped in exhaustion, her entire body shaking as she struggled to hold herself together.

Tessa fell to the ground, tears falling from her eyes as she grabbed at her chest, clutching the spot where the spear had impaled her. “Chloé, I… Oh my god, you saved my life. That was incredible! How did you do that?!”

Looking down, Chloé saw her body flickering back and forth. She didn’t know what would happen if she overexerted herself, and she didn’t want to take that risk.

“Tell… you later…” Chloé gasped. “I’ll follow, but… need rest…”

Stress overwhelmed Chloé, pulling her away from reality. She tried to detach from as many senses as she could, and even found a way to distance herself from her body. Her form grew fuzzy, invisible even to her, but she immediately found relief in the action. A worry briefly splintered her thoughts, a fear that overusing her powers would cause her to disappear forever, but she didn’t feel like she was disappearing. It felt more like falling asleep, though without losing consciousness. She happily watched Tessa from afar, ecstatic she’d been able to save her friend’s life, and followed closely behind the witch as she ran off.