Chapter 7

Desperation

I wake up having now understood fear. There is a puddle in my bed. I’ve passed my sheets. I haven’t done that since I was 7 years old. But I realized the worst was over. Whatever spell they had put on us had worn off. I understood pain. I understood sadness. I walk over to the room and notice the others. I’m the last one awake.

I walk in the room where all the others already are. They are scattered everywhere. You can tell we survived an attack, we all looked like wounded birds. I want to say something like the worse is over to cheer them up.

I don’t get the chance.

Notch hands me a tablet. I hadn’t known at this point that Eden had an interweb system that all the students signed on to.

“It’s everywhere…”

There are videos of the white witches. You didn’t see their face but they were recording us while we were asleep having nightmares. In the video, we were tossing and turning. Some of us were sweating through the nightmare the white witches gave us. I notice surprisingly seeing Jagger of all people crying in his sleep.

And then there was me. There was a video of someone sneaking into my room the night before. They undress me. They play with me.

I push the video away unable to watch anymore.

“What the fuck…” I state.

None of them say anything back to me. Fatima has made something for her and her brother Blanco to eat in the kitchenette area. They don’t even acknowledge me when I walk into the room. Jagger is sitting on the couch with his head dragging between his legs. Notch is posted up against a wall staring at the ceiling. Then there were the Atwood girls. Circe was tearing up and Aviva was slowly stroking her back.

It looked like we’d just walked out of a funeral and I knew we had.

“Did they really just do that to us?”

Notch looks obsessed with his tablet. Out of everyone here, he was supposed to be the popular one. He had that swag that a lot of girls liked plus he smuggled shit into school. He should have been popular except for one thing.

And he says that one thing out loud, “We are red witches. They think they can get away with fucking with us…”

I felt violated more than I have in my entire life. These people not only entered my dreams but they entered my fucking room while I was asleep!

“The blood. The blood. The blood,” Circe states.

“What’s wrong with her?” I ask.

“The blood. The blood.”

She repeats it over and over, ignoring my question. It’s her sister who shakes her head.

“She’s been like this since she woke up,” Aviva responds, “I think we are all having some trouble getting over the dream attack.”

“I’d rather a physical attack,” Jagger states, “I rather they have taken a fucking club to the back of my head then what happened last night. They can’t fucking treat us like this.”

There was the look of true rage on his face. He gets up and starts pacing back and forth. His eyes were a bloodshot red and he was breathing uncontrollably. I can feel the tension streaming off of him. It makes me wonder what he saw last night.

“Look. I’ll smooth things over,” Notch states, “I got some product that I know the White witches will go for. It’ll get them off our back.”

I can’t believe Notch. Here he was thinking his resourcefulness would get us out of trouble. He says it as though it’s nothing as well. He had to have been in pain about what happened last night. If he experienced a quarter of what I experienced then he had to be livid. But he still had to find a way to “Hustle” his way out of this.

There were some things that his hustle couldn’t fix though. And the violation from last night was one of them.

“Smooth things over?” I ask, “They entered our dreams...and mindFUCKED us!”

“You still want to fight?” Aviva asks, “Don’t you get it? We are weak compared to them. These people can go to your dreams. Look at my sister.”

Circe has her hands pressed up against one another, “I still see the blood...everywhere…”

She slaps at her hands over and over. There is this nervous twitch about her. Circe was always bitchy. She was always angry. But she always seemed in control. This wasn’t a witchdoctor that was in control. Not anymore.

“Maybe we can tell mother,” Aviva tells Circe, “Maybe she can help.”

“She can’t protect you,” I assure Aviva, “We are under attack. Listen I wanted to tell you guys this since I discovered it.”

“Don’t…” Blanco states.

He doesn’t trust the group. I know he doesn’t. He wants the coven to be strong but it’s only so he could be strong. Blanco wasn’t about the group.

I couldn’t let him stop me.

“We have discovered a secret room. It holds a book of forbidden blood magic called the Bloody Scrolls.”

It doesn’t matter. Aviva takes Circe and they leave the room. I notice Notch get up. He looks over at me. His eyes connect with mine and he just looks so fucking defeated.

Jagger raises his eyebrow, “You have the Bloody Scrolls? I thought those were lost during the Unholy War.”

“It’s clearly not fair the sorts of magic they can use the kind that is considered forbidden to us. It’s almost as though people want us weak,” I explain.

Notch shakes his head, “Or they want us safe.”

Aviva stands by her man, “Everything was fine before you got here.”

“You call being the weakest, inconsequential coven in the city fine?” I ask.

“We were safe,” Aviva assures me, “C`mon Circe. We’re getting out of here.”

Circe is still out of it, “The blood. The blood’s everywhere…”

I see how she ushers Circe out of the room. Her sister isn’t taking well to what’s happening. She looks bad. Really bad. And the truth was I wasn’t sure if Aviva was the one who was going to help make Circe any better.

Notch is the next one to leave. He just turns to Jagger with the same defeatist attitude, “I can fix this.”

He turns and leaves. I turn to Jagger next.

“You ok with this?” I ask him.

“Of course not…”

I watch the way he looks at me. There is all this passion behind his eyes.

“Then do something. You say you want to take me out. I don’t date cowards.”

“Coward? I’m not afraid of the white witches. I want the power to defeat them too. Your father was dangerous. Supposedly he dabbled in some dark things. We can find another way.”

“You’ve had long enough. Maybe you aren't that guy. Maybe none of us are.”

“I can be that guy.”

That guy. He wanted to be “that guy.” We don’t have to define who that person is. We already knew it was Genesis Bah. But for some reason, everyone was scared of the power that came with that. And I don’t get it.

“You could be that guy. You’re so handsome. And every part of me has been captivated by you from the moment I met you.”

I glide my fingers up against his chest. My mouth is inches from his neck. I don’t care that Blanco and Fatima were there watching. I think it turned him on that he was actually.

“Really?” he responds back, his warm breath entering mouth as he embraces my close touch and stares hauntingly at my lips.

“But now I see that handsome face is really no face at all. It’s the back of the head of a coward as he runs from battle.”

Jagger is pissed. I can feel him flaming as he pushed past me. His anger builds up in him like wildfire and he leaves the room slamming the door behind him.

There is an awkwardness as he leaves.

I can feel some eyes on me. I turn to the Blanco and Fatima Ferris. They were the only ones left again. It seemed like the others were so spoiled. Is strange that the two weirdest people in the coven would be my only allies left.

I’m concerned with the stares and call it out, “What?”

“You have an effect on him,” Blanco notices not looking up from his plate.”

“Good. He’ll be dangerous when he can channel that anger.”

Fatima smiles at me. It feels good that she is still able to muster up a smile after what happened last night.

“I’m glad you made it through,” Fatima states, “Circe was asleep the longest. I thought she wasn’t going to make it. I just wanted to tell you, Gene, that I don’t blame you for what happened last night.”

After seeing how everyone else was reacting, I needed to hear that.

“Thanks, Fatima.”

“I think we should find a way to bring your father back. I heard stories of him being able to transform that old great coven. We believe in you, We think you’re amazing, Gene.”

The fact that someone saw what I was trying to accomplish here meant the world to me. The fact that she was on my side alone was moving but then I pick up on something else…

I raise my eyebrow, “We?”

She looks over at her brother all of a sudden cusping her hand around her mouth. I look over at Blanco who has this horrified look on his face.

He dismisses his sister quickly, “Fatima can you please get ready for class? Now!”

We’re alone and that doesn’t seem to shake his horror. I can see him already starting to gather himself when he realizes we are alone. He has all his witchdoctor books in hand and seems like he’s looking for the quickest way to get out.

“Amazing?“ I tease.

He doesn’t smile. It’s like pulling teeth to get the guy to show any emotion. There was no reading Blanco Ferris. It was all muscle, discipline, and ambition with him. Mixed with the most handsome face in the entire coven and that was saying a lot.

“Can you stop tooting you’re own horn? I meant amazing in that you are good for the coven. That dream attack was a violation and would have never happened when Genesis led this coven.”

I find myself grabbing on him, “What’d you dream about?”

He shakes his head, “I’d rather not say.”

“You don’t trust me.”

“No I don’t,” he responds relatively quickly.

He’s halfway out of the room when I stop him.

“I dreamt about the witchdoctors before me,” I explain, “My ancestors. They had me relive the death of so many of them...all through the night. The very moment of their deaths. And you know what? I think they were real…”

He does stop when I tell him what I dreamt about. He turns back around and comes back. He seems hesitant but he drops his books. I’m shaking still when he returns to me. He doesn’t comfort me. Nothing like how Aviva comforted Circe. Instead, he just stands there but still, I realize this might just be the kind of support that he was used to.

“The divination witches control the past. They can easily feed those memories to you,” He explains to me, “I’m sorry you had to experience that.”

I try to shake the thought, “It wasn’t that bad. What happened before made it bearable. I felt like I had something to look forward to coming back.”

I press my hands up against his chest. I remembered kissing him. That was one thing. That was intense enough. But then I remember him kissing me back. That changed everything.

“That was a mistake,” he states.

“You kissed me.”

“I tried to keep you awake,” He responds, “I figured that’s what you wanted. Seems like that’s all you think about anyway. So I did it. It was simply for the best interest of the coven. It meant nothing.”

I find myself grinding my teeth realizing how he threw away that kiss as though it was completely pointless to him. Every part of me just wants to bash Blanco in that perfect face of his but I know that it probably wouldn’t even hurt him.

“Blanco, I felt something.”

“Power,” he states, “That’s what you felt. You’re right. Me and you have something in common. But nothing like you want. Our goal is to make this coven strong again. And I believe you can help do that.”

“So the kiss meant nothing?”

He turns away, “No. It didn’t. You mean something to this coven, Gene. I can’t deny that. But you mean absolutely nothing to me.”

~

There is a point in your life when you realize you are the talk of the school. The Witch Towers were huge and the hallways swelled with the robed creatures of darkness. They were shitty people with purple, white, and black robes depending on the types of magic they practiced.

I’m with Fatima who has been spending a lot of time whoever since letting me know she agreed with me seemed to want to form some sort of friendship. She was a sweet girl with a good spirit so I didn’t mind.

As I’m walking someone bumps into me. I’ve been getting stares ever since I entered this school but before they were curious. Now they were mocking me, teasing me.

“Move!”

This time it’s a purple witch. According to the books Micko had us studying the purple witches studied the art of the Talisman. They used inanimate objects as mediums for their magic. Most were these voodoo witches. They all had deep accents either from Africa, New Orleans, or the Caribbeans back when they lived in the human world. In the monster world, they wore solid purple robes with patterned print underneath and loud gaudy jewelry.

“I didn’t fucking touch you,” I respond.

Fatima grabs my arm, leans forward, and says, “That is Abel. Don’t take it personally. He’s always messing with me.”

“He messes with you?”

Messing with me was one thing. Messing with innocent Fatima was something completely different. I jerk forward and just when I do I feel something pulling me back. Something forceful and strong and I realize it’s none other than Blanco.

“Don’t do it,” he strictly tells me slamming me hard into the nearest wall making me feel like I was the one under attack for a second.

“He is messing with your sister…”

The truth was the red coven was being targeted. They made it seem like this wasn’t happening before I showed up but I knew that this wasn’t something that I was going through alone. If they were messing with Fatima then they were probably messing with all of us.

There is laughter in the background. Abel is cracking up with his friends and then he says, “That’s the one that pissed his bed!”

The hallways are crowded at that point and it becomes immediately clear everyone is laughing at me. All of them. Many are still laughing even after it’s funny. They are laughing on purpose, forcing this moment wanting it to be something haunting for me.

“Don't. We will handle it. When the time comes,” Blanco grabs me and states, “We are on the radar of the Witch Counsel already because of your threat to Northcliff. You don’t need to respond to a whole different coven and get kicked out of school. I need you.”

The way he has me held down in this protective way feels so personal. It feels so awesome.

“You need me? I didn’t know you cared so much.”

“The coven needs you,” he corrects himself, “Don't think I’m protecting these people either. I’m keeping a list. Trust me. Our time will come.”

The way he says it makes me think he is different from the others.

“Ok.”

All of a sudden as though calming down and realizing how passionate it looked for him to have me pinned up on a wall he quickly scurries back and outs as much distance between the two of us as possible.

Then awkwardly he says, “Get to class.”

Fatima whips her arm around me pulling me. I turn back tower Blanco looking over at me. Did he really care or was it all about the coven with this boy?

~

Somehow he still managed to get to class before me. When I walk in I see Jagger's hands in Micko Boss’s face.

“You aren’t going to do anything?” I walk into the auditorium to see Jagger in Micko Boss’s face, “Aviva was hair is suddenly falling out, Circe keeps seeing blood everywhere she goes and Notch has gotten death threats. We are being harassed!”

I figured it was getting worse. Last night was just the beginning. For some reason me being here has put a target on my entire coven.

“We know whose fault that is…” Micko states looking over at me.

“Well YOU, as our instructor need to deal with it!”

The attack was something that hurt all of us more than we admit. But I don’t think anyone took it as hard as Jagger. I don’t know what happened to him in that dream but I knew that he was stressed. I knew that his eyes were all watery and red.

I find myself sitting next to Blanco and Fatima.

“What’s happening?” I ask.

Blanco seems unloved during the spectacle Jagger was causing. “Jagger told Micko about what happened with the dream attack. Micko isn’t going to do anything about it. He says no one got hurt.”

Notch is trying to calm Jagger down in the most Notch way ever. He was basically offering him drugs. It’s wild how opposite all three boys were. Blanco was quiet, composed, and disciplined. Jagger was frantic, angry, and hot-tempered. Then there was Notch who was cool, confident, and cocky.

“I know he’s come in here stirring things up but we were fine before he came,” Micko states clearly talking about me, “We were safe.”

“We aren’t safe anymore. You won’t even teach us real blood magic.”

“I am protecting this coven. I am teaching you all about your heritage. Something that means something. Blood magic is dangerous. You go deep into it and there’s no telling what comes back out…”

Jagger wasn’t having it. Seeing Jagger so upset stirred something in me.

He walks out on Micko. It was a clear sign that things were changing. It was a sign that now was the time to take action and turn things around.

“What are you doing tonight?” I ask Blanco.

He raises an eyebrow at me, “I already told you I’m not interested in you in that way.”

I turn to him, “Seriously man? For someone not interested you sure have that on your brain. I was simply just saying tonight is the night things change."

“What do you mean?”

“Tonight we are going to bring my father back. Whether we have back up or not.”

~

Circe Atwood was afraid of blood. Ever since she was a child and she’d woken up to see her father in a bathtub of his own blood after committing suicide. It wasn’t something common to her. See sacrificial magic was normal. But when someone committed suicide there was no sacrifice. There was no better good. It was just an acknowledgment that life had gotten too hard and it was time to give up.

And that’s what Circe felt like.

“Damn blood,” she can still see the dreams every time she blinks.

“Stop with that bullshit,” Jagger growls at her.

They are at the dinner table. It’s night time and the dinner meal is always much better than lunch so the dining hall is crowded. That included the white witches. It made her feel uncomfortable. She’d always been close to Notch and Jagger.

Notch shakes his head, “Ignore him, Circe. Hey l...by the way...have you seen Aviva?”

He asks. At least he cared. That was the thing about Notch. Sure he might have looked at other people but he treated Aviva nicely. Too nice. He treated her nicer than Jagger ever treated Circe.

“No,” she states, “I’m sure something came up.”

He looks worried. There’s silence. Today is awkward. It’s tense. Something about the white witches being in the same cafeteria or maybe Gene making it his mission to let them all know how disappointed he was with them. He sat on the other side of the cafeteria even now ignoring them like a fucking child.

“You think he’s mad at me?” Jagger asks.

“I’m still your ex, remember?” Circe tries to remind him, “Kind of rude to be pining over someone else in my face.”

She was irritated about how Jagger had all of a sudden had this convenient reconsideration of his sexuality because Gene Bah had joined the inner circle.

“It was never real,” he tells her.

Notch turns to Jagger, “C’mon man that was uncalled for…”

It’s a sad reality. It was sick, but it was the truth.

And now she couldn’t even eat her food. She looked down at the steak in front of her. She tried to get her appetite but every time she thought about it she saw blood.

She won’t give him the honor of pretending to be upset by his comment, “Fine. Since you are so worried about him. Do you guys think Gene can really bring his father back?”

Notch glares at her, “Not you too.”

Her voice gets rasp.

She turns her face, “They made us relive memories. Do you know the memory I had to relive? Notch, it was the day that you asked me out on a date but I said no.”

“Yeah, I remember. You said you liked me but Aviva had a crush on me so you didn’t want to step on her toes,” Notch remembers.

“I should have gone with you. Because I stayed home and there was a man. An older man. And the day he did some things to me and there was a lot of blood and…”

She stops talking. Where the hell was Aviva? Where the hell was her sister? She starts breaking down at the table. It was bad enough they were being bullied but now it was clear to everyone they had broken her.

Jagger and Notch both look over at her but of course, it’s Notch who seems more concerned, “Oh my got C. You were raped?”

She nods, “Last night I had to relive that. Over and over. He took my virginity. It was all blood. Last night wasn’t a prank to me.”

All of those assholes who did this to her last night l deserved to die.

“Fuck…”

There’s silence. It’s quick and haunting. The boys are looking at her with some real emotion. Regardless of what they went through at the end of the day, they were a coven.

And Jagger snaps.

“Fuck this…” Jagger states.

Jagger has his hands palmed into a fist. He looked like he was about to go do something but she had no idea what. Was he going to attack Blanco? Was he that crazy and that obsessed with Gene?

She doesn’t get to see what happens next. She’s far too because just at that moment. Because in that next moment she stares at her steak and she sees blood in it. Blood.

It was raw.

And just at that moment, she realizes she isn’t afraid anymore.

“Circe! Why the fuck are you just eating that bloody steak! You need to get out of here!”

She hadn’t realized it but some sort of altercation had broken out. It’s most likely Jagger. Something had caused him to flip out. It didn’t take much witch Jagger.

It’s Notch who grabs her, gets her out of there before the other covens turn on them as well. He ushers her into the hallway.

“Get back to the room,” Notch tells her.

She looks at him. Notch was the most perfect person in her mind. If only he would look at her the way he did before he got with his sister. But Aviva was never going to let Notch go. That was clear to Circe.

“Come with me…please…” she places a hand on his chest.

He moves away, “I have to go back to help Jagger…”

It occurred to her at that moment that these altercations wouldn’t stop. Now that Gene was back they were going to be targeted. And that meant Notch would be in danger. She longingly watches as he leaves.

If only she knew back then what she knew now. She would have gone on that date with Notch.

She goes back to the room. Her mind is overwhelmed by everything that happened that day.

And that’s when she opens the door slowly. There is this heavy sound of moaning that is filling the Sacrificial Witch

And that’s when she sees something. Something that’s changed everything.

~

The night goes fast and I find myself in the room with Blanco. It’s the same secret room that he showed me that held the Bloody Scrolls. This week has led to one of the lowest points in my life. Having to experience all those deaths took such a toll on me but it also drove me. I felt connected to those people in a way that I hadn’t had before.

I felt a need to honor them. And what better way to honor the bloodline of my ancestors then through a show of power?

“You sure you ready for this?” Blanco Ferris asks me.

“You sure you are?” I ask, “Why are you doing this? Doesn’t seem like Blanco Ferris to be going against the grain like this.”

“You don’t know what I’m capable of,” he states.

I find myself licking my legs turned on by how deep his voice gets and how truly masculine he was.

“I’d like to find out. We might fuck up this spell. It’s forbidden magic. We could burn a hole through time for all we know. I might die. So fuck it. What’s stopping me from kissing you right now.”

“From doing what?” Blanco's eyes get wide, his firm face shocked when I say it.

I smile back, teasingly moving closer to him, pressing my hands up against his muscles, “Will you stop me.”

“I never consented to this,” he shutters, “I...I…”

“You’re not stopping me.”

My lips lock around his lips. My tongue enters his mouth. He doesn’t kiss me back but he isn’t stopping me. He doesn’t stop me when we end up pressed against the pedestal. He doesn’t stop me when I circle my hands on his dick through his ritual clothing and notice it hardening to my touch. My tongue goes deeper and deeper into his mouth.

Slowly I think of going further. I reach my hands into his crotch about to touch the skin of his dick with my hands when he finally stops me.

He clears his throat, “I told you, it’s not happening. Ever. Give it up man. If you try that again I’m going to hurt you…”

I raise my eyebrow, “Hurt me.”

He flusters at that moment. I love how he got tongue-tied at times. He stops talking, takes a deep breath as though he’s seconds away from finding a spell in the Bloody Scrolls to kill me and turn my body into a million ashes. I get under his skin and he gets under mine. And for some reason, I’ve never been so turned on.

“I’m not going to give you what you want. I’m going to pretend like that just never happened and refocus. I think we have everything for the ritual.”

“Seems less is more. I didn’t know we had to wear so few clothes for the ritual.”

I was barely naked. My body was tight and firm but I felt intimidated next to Blanco who had an outfit similar to mine. So much was showing from his muscular thighs to the beginning of his crotch area. He was shaven down which just seemed like the strict Blanco personality. I find myself worshipping what little I can see of the body and forgetting for a moment why I was there in the first place.

“This is the traditional garb of the witches in our coven,” he explains to me, “It’s serious business.”

If anyone knew about tradition it was Blanco. I thought I loved being a witch doctor but he took this shit seriously. I knew there was no one else I’d rather be with.

“Or maybe you just wanted to see me naked.”

He gets uncomfortable again. I honestly smirk loving how angry I was able to make him when I flirt with him. He hated it with every ounce of himself.

“I’m not going to put up with this shit today…”

“Don’t put it up. Just let me put it down,” I grab my fingers shoving it between my legs.

I’m just messing with him but the slightest provocation from me sends him into a frenzy. He loses that perfect Blanco composure almost immediately and turns away from me.

“I’m leaving.”

“Don’t,” a voice says walking in to stop him.

He seems confused, “Fatima. What are you doing here?”

“I brought you guys a sacrifice,” Fatima states, “I had to go into the city for it but it was the best I could find.”

I’m shocked when the girl has a pig in her hands. She marched the pig in the room causing her brother to cross his arms confused.

“You went into the city for it?” He asks, “You know how dangerous that is for witches.”

I notice how protective he is of her. It's cute. He’s the kind of guy that can get away with being overprotective because he’s so damn intimidating.

“I’m sorry,” she responds, “I just wanted to help. I’ll leave.”

It’s so unique to know someone to be so humble. in a situation like this where power is everything.

“No, wait. Stay. You can do the ritual with us.”

“My family doesn’t allow me to do magic.”

I look over at her brother. He seems unsure of what is happening at that moment but when I stop her he remains completely silent more interested in what I’m saying then his sister’s actions.

“Stay. You are a part of this inner circle,” I assure her.

Blanco doesn’t stop his sister from sitting even though her eyes keep looking at him as if pleading for affirmation. When he doesn’t express an opinion either way she sits.

The book is in front of us. The spell is in front of us but for some reason, we are all hesitating.

“Gene. It’s not enough. We need more people,” he states, “We need more magic.”

We sit there for a minute brooding over it. I trusted Blanco when it came to magic. He knew more than the rest of us. I look at the door. They all knew what was happening. They knew now was the time. I shake my head and turn to Blanco and his sister. At least the Ferris family were here.

I look down on the book, “Let’s begin.”

“Wait!”

All of a sudden the door opens. Surprisingly I see Jagger walk through the door. I’m shocked that he’s here. I’m even more shocked at his appearance. He has bruises everywhere and his robes are halfway torn off of him. He seems out of breath.

“Jagger—-you came. What happened to you?” I ask.

He shakes his head, “I attacked the White Witches. It didn’t go so well. But fuck that! I came to warn you.”

“About what?”

“I was in the nurse's office. I overheard some Councilmembers talking. They know what you’re doing...they are on the way here…”

“Fuck…”

“Someone snitched,” Blanco rises up pointing to me, “I told you we couldn’t trust these fucking people!”

He’s pissed. Real pissed.

I open the door. It was too late. Just as I open it we are being surrounded. These men with sticks walk in the room wearing all black. There had to be about a dozen of them. They were older people and it was clear these weren’t students. The school had sent the calvary for us. Then point their sticks at us. Fatima mentioned all the kinds of things she saw these castors do with those sticks.

Blanco was right. We had been betrayed.

I notice someone with them who wore white with the men in black. It was clear he was leading them. It was the same instructor from the DIvination witches of Salem.

“Salazar Brothers,” Blanco states.

The man doesn’t respond. He has this fake outrage on his face when he walks into the room.

“This is a blood magic ritual room,” Brothers states, “Who sanctioned this to be built?”

He seems surprised by the hidden room. One of the men in black take the Bloody Scrolls and brings them back to Brothers.

“You boys have no idea how illegal the magic you boys were about to perform was. Do you know where Genesis is? He’s in hell. You open a portal to hell do you have any idea what comes back?”

Hell. Genesis was in hell? Like literal hell? I’m confused by what Brothers says.

Blanco stands in front of me, “Don’t blame the other two. It was my fault.”

“You realize the punishment for someone attempting this sort of magic is death right?”

I hadn’t known that. All of a sudden I’m panicking. I figured at worst we would get into a bit of trouble. But the idea of death. I look over at Blanco nervous wondering if he knew but his face doesn’t change. He stands there boldly. Blanco nods.

“I know…”

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