Alice was already dead. She had summoned her brother in an attempt to use him to fight the Beast. Something went wrong, he had become a poltergeist of sorts in the process. He strangled her; Quenten had tried to contain him before he could kill anyone but his fingers fumbled. His casting was too slow to save her. As her body fell limp, Alice's eyes rolled up in Quenten's direction telling him to run.
Quenten shook his head, pushing past the memory. He had three others with him; they needed him to keep his head in the game. Julia and Margo were trotting ahead of him. They needed to make it to the Neitherlands, where they would meet Eliot and Penny. Praying, he and the two women reached a gateway to the Neitherlands.
Margo cocked her gun, ready for the attackers Penny warned them about. No one was there to greet them but dead bodies. The Beast had already been there.
A clicking noise came from the surrounding shrubbery. Immediately, Margo's gun pointed at the bushes. Julia and Quentin both held knives. The clicking morphed into bird calls which gave way to Eliot's voice.
"Hurry up!"
The three rushed to the hedge and greeted by Eliot and a horse sized dragon. "I own a dragon now- it's cute." Eliot didn't explain, nor was it expected. "Where's Alice?"
"Dead," Quentin said.
"Okay then," Eliot nodded and led them to a shed. It had been vacant for years by the look of it. "As you can see there is no liquor here- terrible, I know. Penny has a sword that comes out of his arm, and now we're missing the best magician we know." Eliot laid out the situation mostly to himself.
"Why isn't Alice here?"
"She died."
A knock broke the resulting silence. "Hello? I thought you could use some help." A voice familiar to Penny came from outside. He opened the door, inviting her in; the librarian came in with a sword and a stack of books.
"I read your stories and I want to change them."
"Our..stories?" Eliot pried.
"Yes, and yes they do tell your ends. However, I want to help; maybe my change in the story will be enough to win the fight."
Intrigued, Margo tried to get her book. The librarian swatted her hand, "You don't want to read it. Sometimes people get distracted and other emotions arise because of how their ends go."
"Is that Martin Chatwin's?" Quentin nodded at the one at the bottom the stack. The librarian nodded.
"I've read through it. He's The Beast; there isn't much that can stop him though."
"Is there anything in it that could help?" Margo asked.
"Well, he's still sensitive about Mr. Plover. Maybe we can use that to distract him," the librarian offered her advice. "I also have a magical sword if things get messy. It doesn't do much outside the normal sword work but it does burn white hot when it makes contact with flesh."
"Alright then, we have our sixth person. Is everyone ready?"
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Julia asked. She had read a lot on summonings and many ended terribly.
"This is the last option we have."
"Julia has a point; it's common sense not to mess with necromancy and summonings," Margo chimed in. "Besides, Quentin, you saw what happened to Alice."
"She was summoning a niffin; we're after a faerie. She's not even dead, so it's not necromancy."
"Summonings are basically the same thing," Eliot pointed out. "Besides, what if she doesn't want to come? It's not her fight."
"Okay, we don't really have many options right now. Let's send out our call and hope she answers," Penny was fed up with bickering over a plan they already approved.
"We're in the Neitherlands, can't we just take a fountain to the Faerie Realm?"
"No, we don't have access to their lands. They have other ways between worlds," the librarian replied. "She may not be in the Faerie Realm to begin with though. She has a life on human Earth."
"Let's just summon." Penny sat down on the floor, sprinkling rose petals in a circle.
Eliot and Margo set down an offering of candied roses and milk with honey. The six sat around in a circle, chanting. Soft footsteps joined their chanting, signalling a successful answer. The group opened their eyes to see a tall man standing in the middle of the circle. His long white hair sparkled in the sunlight. He wore skinny jeans and a snug fitting t-shirt.
"Sorry, she's kind of busy. I can, however, offer my help in her place."
"Who are you?" Margo asked.
"I'm her friend. I'm not faerie though. I'm kind of a warlock to you humans. Er- what is it you need help with?"
"We're fighting The Beast," Quentin stood. "I-"
The sunlight was blocked by shadow. The wood flooring shook beneath their feet. Warmth was sucked out of the room; the scent of fear filled every corner.
"Miss me yet?" a voice called in taunt.
"You think too much of yourself," the warlock replied. The humans in the room, save for the librarian, were confused. How did these two know each other?
The door opened and the well dressed Beast stepped in. Moths swirled about then settled to reveal Martin's face. "Let's get this over with." His arm shot out, sending Margo flying across the room. Quentin ran towards him, whispering an incantation. He was cut off by The Beast.
Air flooded his lungs; he tried to breath out but he couldn't. Choking on fresh air, he fell to the ground.
"Who's next?" The Beast exclaimed.
Eliot's dragon attempted to maul The Beast. Its neck was snapped clean off and its head was tossed to Eliot. A horrified scream slipped from his mouth. "Why aren't you doing anything?" His question wasn't aimed at anyone in particular. Penny appeared behind The Beast, sword protruding from his arm. He was able to cut The Beast's shoulder before receiving the same end as the dragon. With Penny's distraction, the librarian was able to slice through The Beast's leg. She raised her sword to cut at him again, but the cut was immediately cauterized.
"Humans keep forgetting the irony of this sword. Every cut gets healed; you've got to cut me all the way through if you want it to harm me. It was a cute attempt though." With that he bashed her head against the wall, killing her on impact.
Julia had her back against the wall. Witnessing her companions' deaths took every bit of courage out of her. Why wasn't the warlock helping them? Why was he standing by as they all got killed? She looked around for Eliot. He was hiding behind the bookshelf. They shared a knowing look. A look that knew what would happen.
In an attempt to distract The Beast, Julia yelled out, "I know what Plover did to you!"
The Beast looked at her, "Is that supposed to distract me? Oh you poor thing, you've a lot to learn. Pity you'll be dead soon."
In an act of distress, Eliot and Julia ran at The Beast yelling about Plover and casting whatever spells they could before they were killed. Two spells hit The Beast before Julia was torn in half. Another two hit The Beast before Eliot was suffocated.
"What a pity you couldn't help them; you would make for an interesting fight," The Beast addressed the warlock.
"It certainly is a shame the law restricts me from getting rid of you. But as agreed, you stay away from my people and I will keep from killing you," the warlock spoke softly. "You're lucky she didn't come. They were trying to contact her."
"Fate once again has acted in my favor."
The warlock clapped twice, producing soft sparks. "I'll be calling your sister for the loop. Maybe next time she'll contact the faerie herself."
In reaction to the claps, Jane Chatwin appeared. She looked at the bodies and the lack of a faerie. "The faerie- she didn't come?"
"Obviously not; I'm still here, aren't I?" The Beast greeted his sister. "Now, I would kill you but-"
Jane reset the time loop for what she hoped was the last time.
