[Fay’s perspective]

  After being treated like a dispenser of different fruit and vegetables for the entire day I finally got tired enough to fall asleep. And I began to dream.

  A very lucid dream.

  As in: I'm sleeping right now.

  I see bubbles moving up every time I take a breath, sand at the soles of my feet, if I try to move the sand locks me into place as if I was connected directly to the ocean floor. My breathing is clear and crisp, as if I'm not surrounded by water.

  Stretches of glass patterns fill the floor, looking like rivers, connecting to each other and then splitting, somehow I can tell a spell caused this phenomenon to happen.

  My arms begin rising, someone's hands lifting them by the elbow, behind me I can hear bubbles. A red string floats up, wrapping around my wrists, pulling my arms up further, pulling to the point I feel my legs stretch.

  “Fay.” A drowned-out voice impossibly close to my ear speaks to me, “wake up.”

  I wake up covered in sweat, my eyes sting like they had had salt rubbed in them. Anne is beside me, I remember sleeping on the floor uncomfortably, Anne taps my shoulder twice, “thought you were dead.”

  Why aren't my clothes making me dry?

  “Hey Anne... I need blood... for my clothes...” I feel a sting at every part my clothes connect to my body, spikes piercing through the skin rather than being threaded.

  “Let me ask Noah.”

  She hands me a flavourless apple, “thanks.” I eat without caring much about the fact it tastes of nothing, I was never one to care about the taste of things, only the nutritional value.

  She uses her arms to push herself up, stepping away with her hands behind her back, she waits a few moments before swinging her body towards the exit.

  “Hey.” I say, which stops her, “that swim... it was a trick, right?”

  “The swim?”

  “When we first got in the water... it was to get whatever I had in my pocket.”

  She chuckles, “sure, seeya Fay.”

  She leaves, I knew it, I should stop expecting people to be on my side in any of this, heroes in the stories don't do what they do to have everyone like them, they do what they do to save everyone, and I will save everyone.

  So, my plan, the original Null is a perfect angle, she wants to use me as merchandise, so my body has some use to her unlike the boss and Lilith who only see me as an intriguing specimen. If I can leverage that deal with her to somehow transfer everyone in this town to the modern world, I'll be good.

  Then she can do whatever to me, I don't care.

  Noah comes in with a vial in his hand, his hair wet from swimming or sweat from working, “your clothes are killing you?”

  I nod.

  “Okay.” He unscrews the cap of the vial and pours it on my shirt, it stains for a second then disappears, I feel the change almost instantly, the threads connecting to me loosening, my body feels relaxed, like I had just gotten the best massage of my life.

  The sweat on my body falls off, my hair returns to its silky-smooth texture, the fog in my brain clears. I didn't even realise how much cognitive decline I had.

  “Thanks Noah... what's the plan here by the way?”

  “What do you mean?”

  Should I tell him of my plan? Would he even understand? ”You planning to just keep me here forever?”

  “We plan on using you as a hostage, if anyone comes by, we threaten to kill you. Hope you don't mind.”

  “Bold of you to assume I matter at all to these demons.” I get up from the floor, the original Null will be here in 2 days, maybe sooner. “Sounds good, just don't fight back.”

  “Don't tell me what to do.”

  What a stupid thing to say. “A leader who doesn't listen to advice is more like a dictator.” I sit on the chair in the middle of the room, “but what do I know right? I've only had the most experience with how these demons function.”

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  I'm being petty, but Noah is clearly not handling any of this well.

  “We aren't friends anymore Fay.”

  He has fully reverted to how he was before, why? “Hey instead of trying to be like Jackson, you be your own person.”

  He lets out a breath of anger, “considering you killed Jackson... nevermind...” He looks at the door, “the clone wanted to speak to you, is that okay...? She is right outside.”

  The clone must've been accepted while I'm still locked in this building, that's awesome, “sure.”

  She walks in, her head low, her hair had been cut short, ragged, uneven lines for bangs, one side obviously longer than the other, the hair reaching only to her nape and ears with faint longer strands, “hello Master fay.”

  “Hey.”

  “I was... I'm here to enquire about a name, you named my creator so I thought it would be fitting... Jackson had suggested the name Lily... because I'm pretty like a Lily... is that acceptable?”

  I nod, “go for it, Lily.” Why does she even care?

  She lifts her head, “Thank you Master Fay... if it's okay... I want you to tell Master Lilith I died at the dinner party.” Her smile breaks through the facade of professionalism, this place is probably a lot better than working under Lilith.

  “Yeah? Like when you started the carriage that boy shot a piece of lightning at you, and you died instantly?”

  “Exactly... such a shame...”

  “You should change out of that dress, it'll make it easier.” I smile back. Noah stays in the corner of the room looking back and forth between us whenever we talk.

  “Yes. I should.” She bows, “may I ask something defamatory?”

  What? “Go for it.”

  “When you killed 10 of us, did you feel anything?”

  I lean back in the chair a bit, I genuinely don't have an answer, yes? I do? I rarely think about any of them.

  Noah pats Lily on the shoulder, “Fay is the master of bottling up memories and acting like they never happened, isn't that right Fay?” He stares into me.

  “I guess...” that is probably true... why am I not freaking out about seeing my parents? I had a whole day to myself... why don't I feel bad about Jackson? Why is none of the stuff Lilith does to me make me feel miserable?

  That doesn't matter right now. I'm too busy to focus on the past.

  Lily and Noah walk out, leaving on that uneasy note. The entire day feels the same as the last.

  Anne comes in, I grow plants, we got a vine of passionfruit which grew way too quickly and had to be moved outside, there was also a cactus that I grew that almost shot into Anne’s eyes, I don't bother to talk during all this.

  And then it must've hit nighttime because nobody visits, another day down. I lay in the corner, the door is locked again, not like it would stop me.

  I close my eyes.

  Goodnight...

  ...

  ...

  Drip, a faint trickle of water comes from a barred window, the metal shimmering with yellow and pink, an unnatural combination, there is a bed and a toilet, both having that same shimmer.

  I'm sitting on the bed, its comfortable, there are no bars like you'd see in a normal prison, the walls are pure concrete rather than medieval, there's a red door with the words 'CAPTIVE' on the inside.

  Beside the door there are symbols made of purple blood, the makings of a spell, several lines are crossed out, it looks incredibly complex, like those university equations I never got to do.

  I feel the mattress move behind me, the weight shifts, my neck and head stays locked in place looking at the red door, the same voice in the water whispers in my ear, “thank you for your sacrifice.”

  I wake up back in the food clinic, red pooling at the place I was sleeping, I feel dehydrated and dizzy. I don't try to decode whatever that dream meant, my arms have cuts on them, specifically around my wrists pulse points. I wrap my hand around it to not cause any more bleeding.

  I get up and to the door, it's not even locked as I use my shoulder to push it open, I can see through the food clinics makeshift door its nighttime, the fireflies out filling the seams of the door with rays of yellow light.

  I need bandages, we don't even have bandages, do we?

  I step down the steps and towards where I think Anne is, the grass path is bigger now, almost reaching every hut, it looks nice. The place Anne usually stays at has no grass path, so I step into the mud, it was an incredibly nostalgic feeling.

  Wait why am I going to Anne instead of Noah’s? What can Anne do?

  I walk through Anne’s door, she is sleeping, her chest rising slowly, my body moves without my permission, I dip my fingers in my wrist wound, drawing symbols on Anne’s forehead. My clumsy movements wake her up.

  “What are you doing?” Her eyes are wide alert.

  I can't speak, my body moves towards her as she pushes herself against the wall, I grab her whole face with strength I didn't know I had.

  My mind gets shot back into my body, like whatever had possessed me disappeared.

  Anne slaps my hand away, “what the fuck Fay? Get the hell away from me.” She stands up and leaves the hut, I'm left alone.

  Something drips from my eye, purple blood landing on my hand, burning me a bit before I wipe it in the mud.

  Purple blood. I know exactly who has purple blood.

  That spell she placed on me to connect our hearts... what could it-

  Noah runs in and grabs my shoulder, pushing me into the wall, my head hitting the side with a thud, “did you just try to kill Anne?” He spits out while reaching for my throat, “I should throw you in the water.”

  I grab at his arms, he is significantly stronger than me physically, I try to get my words out, “I... didn't...”

  “Oh? I trust you so much, especially after escaping in the middle of the night and writing cryptic shit on Anne’s forehead, must've been a prank, right?” He pulls me outside, towards the water, “should've known.”

  Blood drips from the wound on my wrist, if I used my innate magic he would die. But if I let him kill me, I won't be able to help everyone right? No that's stupid, I just don't want to die.

  “STOP.” I yell, he squeezes further, people begin leaving their huts to watch the witch trial. My feet begin to enter the water as he pulls me further.

  He doesn't say another word, Jackson and Anne watch from a distance, I need to find the right combination of words, something that will make Noah calm down.

  “Noah... if you don't stop, I'll kill everyone here...” it's just an empty threat, they’ll understand when I save them all. He obviously won't listen to me pleading my innocence, I need to play the part he thinks I am.

  He lets go, throwing me to the side, I fall back on the mud, he looks at me completely different, like he isn't looking at me anymore, “you’re... you’re just not anything anymore, you’re nothing.”

  He leaves, taking my threat completely seriously, I'll let him know it wasn't a real threat later, I'll tell them everything when we are in the modern world, eating at a nice restaurant, hanging out as friends, this is just a means to an end.

  I need to figure out what caused me to get possessed.