Come Back Witch

Vinces didn't hope for an answer or even her understanding, but he felt like he must tell somebody or he might explode.

Walking back towards his temporary house, he noticed a lot more activity going on. Cloves had moved down from the roof and was talking to Professor Roseberg, his head in his hands.

It made sense Lers had died, and even if Cloves didn't want to show it, he was hurt by it badly. A few faint memories of him and his friends pushed up to the surface, uninvited.

When they were at the beach during summer camp or when half of them had ditched Roseberg's class only to meet the professor in the same mall, they were shopping.

But he pushed those thoughts away; he could be sad when all of this was over. Wiping away some small tears, he stopped just next to his teachers.

Before he could even speak, Professor Roseberg pointed towards the house. "Perl and Finley have already woken up." There was a silent "You should leave for now" inside her voice.

And Vin listened to her advice; moving inside the house, he could see that every door was slightly opened, but he only walked towards his own room, opening the door slowly.

But Lysandra already seemed to have been woken up before. Now sitting on his bed, swinging her legs, she seemed to be waiting for him. ''Back from your morning walk?'' Her voice seemed to hint at something that he couldn't quite grasp.

''What do you want?'' Vinces asked, his tone flat.

Lysandra opened her mouth and then closed it again as if she were debating about something.

''I feel like I have forgotten something, something important.'' She finally spoke, her voice soft and calm.

Vinces didn't move. Had she forgotten something? Was she talking about what happened with World yesterday? He had already been wondering why she didn't ask him about that yet.

''Do you..'' He wanted to tell her, but his voice gave up; it felt like his heart was about to explode as the faint memory of his handshake with the world appeared in his mind and only after a long second could he finally breathe again.

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Lysandra stared at him, her face full of confusion, but Vinces didn't dare to speak again and instead turned around to leave, ignoring her calls towards him.

Something was wrong. He felt it before the shiver even reached his spine.

Roseberg and Cloves seemed to have finished their talk, as Roseberg was sitting on the ground and there was no sign of Cloves anywhere close.

Roseberg looked like she was bothered by something. ''Can you assemble all of us? We need to make some plans.'' Vinces simply nodded, still hearing Lysandra call out behind him as she had caught up to him.

Walking inside, he let Lysandra, standing outside; she seemed furious but stopped following him instead of sitting down on the ground.

Vinces opened the first door; the room was similar to his own. The only difference was that some suitcases were lying on the ground and Finley was sitting on the bed holding some cards. Looking around the room, there was nobody else inside.

Shaking his head in confusion Vinces called out to Finley. ''Miss Roseberg wants us all to talk.'' Finley jumped up from his bed embarrassed and instantly walked over to Vinces.

Clearing his throat, he said, "Sure, we can't let them wait, right?" as he hurried out of his room before Vin could even answer.

Vinces was too tired for all this, so instead he continued to the next room; Perl was sitting inside it alone. Vinces only realized he hadn't seen the giant's twin yet. But he wasn't going to ask him.

"You probably already heard it, but Miss Roseberg wants us all to assemble for a talk,'' Vinces said softly. Seeing Perls simply nod, he decided to leave him alone.

Checking the last room, which was still empty, Vinces left the house once more. Meeting most of them outside.

After a few minutes of waiting, Ami too came back, her gaze stone cold and just shortly after Cloves followed. They didn't seem to wait for David to return as Roseberg led them towards the church.

After maybe a minute of walking, they arrived at their destination. Vinces entered last through the giant gates, waiting for a second to see if David would be coming too, but to no avail.

Letting out a sigh as he followed them inside, Cloves had already positioned himself at the altar, ready to give a speech, so Vinces just sat down in the first row.

''We need to all work together to get out of here.'' He spoke loudly as if he were teaching his class.

''Why is all of this even happening?'' Vinces asked, only knowing some part of the answer from Lysandra. ''Why did we even go here in the first place?'' He continued.

''We were forced into a process called the first instance, as far as I heard from the elder.'' Cloves answered, evading his real question.

"Then why are you so different from us, Doctor? You feel a lot stronger than all of us, maybe even combined...'' Vinces felt like Cloves was hiding something big and hoped that pressuring him in front of everyone would clear the situation.

And it seemed to be working, as he could even see the questioning faces of his friends all staring at their professor. The silence was heavy as nobody dared to speak until their question was answered.

Probably realizing lying won't work, Cloves finally spoke. ''I have already cleared the first instance in my youth and even the second.''

His voice echoed through the great hall, sending everyone into a shock.

Nobody spoke.

Nobody even blinked.

Vinces could hear someone inhale sharply behind him.

But Vinces didn't let go so easily as he continued questioning.

"Cloves, was it part of your plan for us all to arrive here and enter the first instance?" The implications of his question hang heavily in the air.

Even Cloves seemed to be in shock from his question as he finally opened his mouth.