June, 2019

I was barely aware of my surroundings when I opened the door to the sitting room; my thoughts still caught up on what I just read. Was the study really still ongoing or was it simply yet to be updated? I knew my parents weren't great people, but surely they wouldn't still be pushing Rüdiger's agenda? Surely they too didn't want to get rid of humans... I thought they were merely going along with it before to appease him and save themselves.

But if so... why was there a project dated after his death? Why hadn't it been cancelled along with everything else?

The only thing that really brought me back to the present as I took my seat back beside Olivia was my mum saying, "I get that you're upset, Olivia. I know that forcing you to forget your feelings for Lukas had consequences. But I only wanted you to leave Lukas alone so that he wouldn't be swayed by you anymore and wouldn't continue to chase after a girl who couldn't be his. Your bond was almost over. I just needed him to find that final confidence to sever it, and he would never do it if your feelings were still there. I never intended for what I did to hurt Ben."

"Hurt? He died because of—"

"I know. You've told me multiple times, and Lukas has also scolded me enough for the spell."

"You knew what she did to me?" Olivia then threw at me, before shifting away on the seat.

"I..." I mumbled, still not quite present as I tried to catch up with their conversation.

"He found out about the anti-love spell after you left," my mum came to my defence, which had the fairy's venomous eyes turning back on her. "Look... if you're really that upset about Ben being gone, then all you have to do is bring him back."

"Like it's that simple," Olivia muttered.

All the while, my mind completely forgot the records room as my back straightened and eyes widened.

Glancing my way, my mother cocked a curious brow as she took in my shock.

I shook my head at her, warning her to not go there.

Though Olivia didn't miss the exchange. "Wait, you're serious?" she asked, looking at me for confirmation. But when I refused to meet her gaze, she turned back to my mother.

"Of course," mum said. "There's always a spell for everything in our world, Olivia. If you're willing to pay the cost."

"What's the cost?" Olivia demanded, a little too eagerly.

My mum sighed. "I'm afraid I don't know."

"If you don't know, then how do you know that such a spell even exists?"

"Because Lukas went searching for it once."

Once again, Olivia turned to face me. "You did?"

· · ───── ∘☽༓☾∘ ───── · ·

October, 1982

My eyes felt heavy as I stared at the ceiling, refusing to close them in case the visions returned. But no matter how much I fought it, eventually I'd drift. And eventually I'd relive her murder again, and again, and again.

Her funeral was a week ago. My uncle fashioned some lie to tell her parents about the reasons behind her death and beheaded state, whereby humans conducted a witch hunt on her. They easily bought it. Who'd dare question Rüdiger?

Though I was too afraid to go. I didn't know what I'd do if I saw her parents' faces. Moreover, going meant facing my uncle, and I didn't trust myself to not try to get revenge if I saw his face again. But most importantly, I couldn't stand the thought of watching her body being lowered into the ground. Because if I kept denying she was really gone, maybe it wouldn't be real.

Which was why, the moment my uncle unchained me, I ran straight home, to my room, and locked myself away from the world, remaining there since.

I refused to feed, regardless of my parents bringing me fresh blood every day.

I refused eat, even if mum left food at my door.

I only left for the bathroom... and that became less of a necessity as the days went on without any form of sustenance.

Ten days after her death, another knock sounded at my door: my mum's. I expected her to walk away as per usual, but this time she unlocked the door and invited herself in, carrying the tray of food and blood to my bed.

"You have to eat," she said softly as I shifted myself to a seated position.

I shook my head before pulling my knees to my chest, staring blankly at the wall ahead. My room wasn't much of a sight. I only used it in the summer, so it adorned the necessities: a wardrobe, a bed, and a desk. I had always longed for this moment when my uncle finally released me from his studies, and I could live like any normal kid and make something of my room—a sanctuary, a place for me, a place I belonged. Now, I no longer saw the point of redecorating. Who was I without her? What was the point without her?

"I get that you're in pain, Lukas, but Anja wouldn't have—"

"Don't you say her name," I snapped at her, tears welling in my eyes. "Don't you talk about her like you understand anything."

Her own gaze pooled, hand extending to cup my cheek. But her gesture faltered as she rethought her actions, arm then dropping by her side. "I didn't know he'd go this far."

"But you expected he'd at least torture her?"

Mum's mouth opened and closed several times; she never found the words she wanted to say.

"Just leave me alone. All of you. I want nothing to do with any of you anymore. And now that Rüdiger is done with me, the moment I find the will, I'm leaving here and never coming back."

"Lukas," mum's voice croaked.

"Leave already!" I screamed in her face, spit flying in all directions before the sobs quickly followed. Then I cradled into myself, arms gripping my body as I shook and heaved out my pain.

Despite my demand for solitude, mum stayed steadfast by my side, wrapping herself around me as she pulled me close. "I should have run away when I had the chance," she breathed into my ear as the magic swirled around us, locking us in a cage of secrecy. "Then you never would have suffered. I'm sorry, my son. But I promise you, I'll never let you get hurt like this again. I'll do whatever it takes."

I didn't say anything back for a while. Instead, I sat in my pain, letting the waves of it roll through me and out of me. Until eventually I went numb.

Then my mum pulled back, her hands wiped my face, and she leaned in close, the veil of secrecy still hovering around us. "As far as I know, it's just a rumour. But I once heard there's a powerful witch who lives in Czechoslovakia. Prague, I think. It's in the Eastern Bloc, so you'd have to ensure you have a passport and permits, but... supposedly he can bring people back from the dead."

My gaze met hers at once, voice quivering with hope as I whispered, "How?"

She shrugged. "I've only heard the rumour. But, Lukas... to bring someone back involves really dark magic. And dark magic often has a cruel cost."

"I'd give anything to have her back."

Mum's gaze softened before she said, "If it works, you'd have to run forever. Your uncle will never let you keep her. The moment he knows you have someone you care about that much again, he won't stop trying to take it from you in the chance to uncover your powers. Even if he has given up now... You'll never be free. He will watch your every move after this to see if there's any one worth threatening."

"I hate him. I hate him so—"

"Careful... Play his game, Lukas."

I took a deep breath. "I can run. Just tell me where I can start to find this guy."

· · ───── ∘☽༓☾∘ ───── · ·

June, 2019

I nodded as the memory flashed through my mind, while Olivia's eyes mirrored my hope I had back then.

"And?" she pressed when I didn't elaborate.

"And... there is a witch there."

"Can he do it?"

With a shrug, I tried to feign indifference before stating, "I wouldn't know. I didn't go through with it."

"Why? You found him, right?"

"I did."

"Was the price to pay that bad?"

"I..." Glancing at my mum, I watched a smirk spread across her face and an eyebrow lifted challengingly, like she was daring me to tell her the truth. But instead I said, "I don't know. I didn't go into his shop."

Olivia's face fell, but with it came a knot in my stomach. My hands were starting to tremble. My teeth were gritting. And suddenly I wanted to be far from both of these women in the room. But I couldn't just leave Olivia here... especially not with my mum's apparent scepticism of her. So I forced out, "Well, you got what you wanted. Let's go."

"But I need to know where—"

I wanted to dispel the idea from her head. Tell her to just let Ben go, like she had been implying she had already done. But clearly she couldn't. Or wouldn't. Why does that bother me so much?

Though before I could say anything, mum interjected with, "He's in Prague. A shop called 'The Cursed Cauldron'."

The fairy's face flattened as she mumbled, "Original." And then, "Thank you, Christina."

Mum grinned with malice, which didn't go unnoticed by the both of us, before she sneered, "My pleasure." Then she was quickly on her feet, ushering us out the door.

Though as Olivia walked ahead into the foyer, mum's fingers gripped my arm, a veil of magic clouding us as she whispered in my ear, "I don't know what sort of dark magic you've dabbled in to make this possible, but nothing good will come of you two rekindling your relationship. Stay away from her, Lukas."

Glancing down at my mother with raised eyebrows, I softly replied, "I'm not sure what you're talking about. I haven't done any spell. And what's so wrong about Olivia and I being friends again?"

"Friends... you sure what this is?"

"Yes. Our bond broke, remember?"

Though she didn't seem phased by the reminder. Nonetheless, before I could press her about it, she released me, the bubble of silence breaking just as Olivia turned around to see where I was.

Storming away from my mother and whatever she was plotting, I then placed a hand on Olivia's shoulder and started nudging her towards the exit.

· · ───── ∘☽༓☾∘ ───── · ·

Thankfully, the fairy had enough commonsense to not speak on our drive out of Windeck. The last place I was going to take us after that ominous visit to the facility was back to Stephen's, which may be bugged by now. If my parents were still planning something or continuing my uncle's mission, then I had to take extra precautions to not alert them to our new knowledge.

Once we were a few towns over, I finally pulled over and all but threw the door open.

Olivia rushed after me, fumbling with the seatbelt as she stumbled over the rocks, several steps behind.

"Why are we here of all places?" she called out as I kept marching deeper into the grounds, weaving around the upturned earth and tombstones.

"Because," I replied, just loud enough for her to hear. "No one bugs a cemetery." Once firmly in the centre of the graveyard, I came to a halt.

Though Olivia didn't notice, too busy looking at her feet as she navigated the bumpy terrain while saying, "Surely that's some urban leg—"

THWACK! THUMP!

I turned around to see her body on the ground, hand rubbing her head that was already turning red from running into my back. "Why didn't you catch me?" she demanded.

"I didn't know you were going to throw your body into me."

"I didn't throw my... Vampires have keen senses. Surely you knew I was falling, and you could have—"

"You're strong enough to look after yourself now, aren't you?" I retorted, voice flat.

Her brows were pinched together, anger clouding her gaze as her mouth opened to throw something back at me. But before she did, a cloud passed over her. The lines in her head softened, her eyes glistened, and her body slumped into the ground a little more in defeat. "I guess I am," she mumbled, before pushing herself back to her feet and looking anywhere and everywhere but me.

I felt a bit of guilt that I had upset her. But I couldn't shake the misplaced bitterness rotting me to the core. I knew she didn't know what bringing Ben back would entail. A part of me believed she wouldn't go through with it if she knew. But a small part wondered... That same small part that felt betrayed that, even though he was gone, she still wanted him back and not me.

How could she want you back? Your bond is broken. It's impossible, the voice in my head reminded me.

So I shook the feelings away, and focussed on why I had brought her here. "Supposedly, ghosts mess up audio," I mumbled, trying to lighten the mood a little after our quarrel.

"Ghosts?" she repeated, a little too shocked. "Do you... they're real?"

There was something off about the way she asked that question, but I put it down to her learning that, once again, another creature she read about in fictional tales actually existed. "Of course they do. Everything from the stories exists somewhere. The stories are of course not always accurate about what they can and can't do, but..."

She nodded, then glanced away, a touch of morose tainting her face.

Is she wondering if Ben is a ghost? I couldn't help but think.

But before I could jump down that rabbit hole once more, I said, "There's no cure."

· · ───── ∘☽༓☾∘ ───── · ·

We had found our way back into the town and were waiting for our meals we had ordered to arrive. Olivia sipped at her coffee, while I played with the straw in my tea. With the bad news of a lack of cure and potential disease project weighing down our moods, we were back at square one. And what chances would we have even if we caught a Made? A team of expert scientists couldn't find a cure, so how would we?

As if reading my mind though, the fairy mumbled, "We will do it."

"How?" I asked, already knowing what she was talking about without her having to be clear.

"We go with your original plan."

"But it's risky. As you said, people could get hurt helping us catch one. And even if we do, how is a team of inexperienced—"

"Because we're a team." She looked back at me. "And I believe in us. We took out your uncle, which was impossible. And we will do this."

"Olivia... your blind optimism was refreshing once upon a time, but eventually we have to realise when we've lost—"

"How have we lost when we haven't even tried?"

"We have been trying. Since you left, we've been—"

"Trying to eradicate the problem instead of fixing it."

I closed my mouth at that.

"I get we aren't scientists. But we know quite a few amazing witches who can create all sorts of potions. There's a school in London with really experienced teachers who may also help us. And, most importantly, why should we give up just because the researchers who made the disease tried three times to make a cure before giving up?"

"They didn't give up," I mumbled, hating that I was already starting to side with her after her pep talk. "My uncle—"

"Even better. They were just getting started and were told to stop before even knowing if it was a simple task. We will do it."

Sighing, I said, "Why are you so determined?"

"Because we can't just let people die. And we can't let them win."

"You know it's a distraction though." When I had told Olivia about Project Infection and Stephen's warning about their presence only being in London, we were quick to put two and two together that the Mades were something to keep us preoccupied while they went ahead with Stage 2 of Operation Eradicate Non-Mutants.

"Even so... We can't keep letting innocent people die."

"And... the other thing? Their main project?"

"Is still in progress."

"We don't know that. I didn't get to look at all the—"

"It's not a problem right now. But it will be. The moment we stamp out the Mades, we will stop Stage 2 before it is released. They won't win."

My gaze fell to the table as I struggled to get sucked in this time to her hope.

"Hey," she then said softly, leaning across as she waited for me to look into her earnest, emerald eyes. "They may not be as bad as they seem. Maybe they're trying to figure out how to cancel what was already set in motion, just like they cancelled everything else."

Of course she knows what's bothering me... Of course she figured out that I was at odds with wondering if my parents would be capable of continuing my uncle's plans. She knows me best, even if she forgets me. Even if she moves to the otherside of the world, I thought as I still stared back in disbelief. "Or they are focussing all of their efforts on it..."

Olivia shrugged. "I'd be prepared to believe that someone there would do that. Maybe even your father, considering he told your uncle about Anja. But your mum..."

"She let—"

"She loves you so much, Lukas."

"What mother bewitches someone to stop loving their son?"

Olivia shook her head before grabbing my hand in her unelectrified one. "A mother who knows that person is already bonded to someone else. Even if I did love you, even if it was more than Ben, I was never going to be able to stop loving Ben. And while I don't agree with what she did to fix it because of where we ended up that night as a result... I get that she didn't want you to be with someone who couldn't give their full heart to you."

Then why is my mother so desperate for us to still be apart? I couldn't help but wonder.

Though immediately after, I reminded myself, It's impossible for us to be like that again. That's why. And for some reason, I'm still caught up in the past and letting it drag down my mood.

So I heaved a sigh before stating, "Okay then. We should fill in the others on our plan the moment we get back to London and start putting the pieces in place to develop a cure."

She nodded, red locks bouncing with her movement. But she wasn't meeting my gaze anymore. And her next words started to explain why. "You get started on that. I will be another day or two."

"What do you mean?" I pressed, not quite liking where this was going even if I didn't clue in straight away.

"I've... got something to see out first."

"In Windeck?" I sought, hoping, for the first time, she'd say yes.

But then she shook her head before meeting my eyes again, her face already seeking forgiveness. "I need to know if it's possible... and what the cost is."

"You really want to bring him back?" My heart thudded in my chest as I awaited her answer.

Though Olivia merely shrugged.

"How can you not know?" Better yet, why is she being so brief with me? If she misses him that much, why can't she fucking say it?

"Because... a part of me feels like I owe it to him to try." She was getting frustrated now. We were far from our previous conversation, and she clearly didn't want to debate this. But I couldn't drop it, even if I wanted to.

"What do you mean—"

"I mean, if you and I stayed together, he never would have gotten tangled up in—"

"So when you said you don't blame me anymore, that was a lie?"

"No! I don't blame you at all. This isn't about blame anyway or who is at fault... even if I do know who really did cause this mess. Which I know is not you."

That brought me to a halt. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, I don't think your actions caused Ben's death."

"But... you think someone did?"

The frustration fled her face, slowly being replaced by a solemn stare. "I do. And I'm... I'm so sorry Lukas that you got hurt because of it. I—"

But as she waffled her apology, the noise drowned out as my brain stewed.

How did she find out?

Did Emma tell her? Erica?

Did she remember?

Unable to withstand the unanswered questions, I interrupted her with, "Please don't blame yourself, Ollie. You couldn't have known we'd all end up like this when you came up with the plan. Ben's death is not your fault."

At first she seemed taken aback, probably because her nickname slipped out of my mouth again. But very quickly the despair rolled in. Her mouth opened and closed several times, eyes welling with tears before she choked out, "I... I came up with the plan? It was my idea to wipe my memories?"