Protector | Ambrose Spellman and Nicholas Scratch [1]

23 | a life is owed

twenty-three
a life is owed.

"IT STARTED LAST night," Prudence informs Hilda the next day as them, Selene, Dorcas, and Ambrose surround Agatha, who's still coughing up dirt.

"Oh, I see," Hilda nods, gingerly touching some of the dirt Agatha had thrown up. "Well, the Cain Pit is a miracle, really, but if you come back too soon, it will make you ill. It's a form of decompression sickness, like when divers get the bends. Do it too fast and you're gonna vomit up half the cemetery."

"What do we do?" Prudence asks as Hilda exchanges troubled glances with Selene and Ambrose.

"Well, I reckon she has too much earth in her system, so we need to rebalance her elements. So, I suggest a tonic of fizzy water, which will give her water and air. And a dash of cayenne pepper for fire. Three times a day, for a week. She'll be right as rain."

Everything Hilda says is a lie, and it's obvious that Prudence doesn't believe it. "That's it? Fizzy water?"

"Oh, but you'll serve it with love, won't you, darling?" Hilda questions with a smile. Prudence grits her teeth and nods before Hilda grabs Selene and Ambrose's arms, pulling them out of the room. She closes the door firmly behind her, before Ambrose allows himself to gape at her.

"Not to question you, auntie, but you just prescribed Alka-Seltzer to a girl who came back from the dead," Ambrose exclaims as Selene bites her lip guiltily.

"There's something to be said for keeping them busy," Hilda whispers. "The dirt she's coughing up is practically gravel, which tells me that Agatha shouldn't have been brought back in the first place. The earth is owed a soul, it means to collect. So, you two, pray, tell me. What was Agatha doing in the Cain Pit in the first place?"

Selene and Ambrose exchange troubled glances, before Selene sighs. "Let's tell her everything."

And that's exactly what they do. Selene tells Hilda everything in great detail, from the mine collapsing to her sending her and Sabrina's familiars to check up on Agatha and Tommy.

But still, Selene feels guilty that evening as Sabrina walks into the Spellman household, completely unaware that Selene and Ambrose had ratted her out. "Aunties? Selene? Are you here? I need-"

"I frankly don't care what you need, Sabrina," Zelda cuts her off angrily. "But I'll tell you what I need. An explanation. For why a Spellman was practicing necromancy on a mortal boy in Greendale."

"We told them everything," Selene admits from where she sits besides Ambrose on the staircase.

"And why, in Satan's name, she would drag other witches into her reckless, stupid, selfish plans?" Zelda scoffs, narrowing her eyes at Selene disapprovingly. "And Selene, of all people. She's supposed to protect you, so you knew she would help you. You used the one person who will literally do anything for you."

Selene shifts uncomfortably, because she hadn't thought that Sabrina was using her. She helped Sabrina willingly, but apparently Sabrina thinks she used Selene, because she pales. "I did it for Harvey."

"Did you? And tell me, did he ask you to do it?" Zelda rolls her eyes. "No, because no one in their right mind would do what you did. This one action made you a murderer, Sabrina."

"Murderer?" Sabrina echoes in confusion.

"You killed a witch, didn't you?" Zelda asks.

"Just for a few minutes."

"This is not a joke, Sabrina," Zelda remarks. "You've thrown off the balance."

"Not me," Sabrina shakes her head. "Agatha and Dorcas. They killed Tommy. This wasn't some natural disaster. I was undoing what witches did."

"All you did was make things worse," Zelda corrects her niece.

"I'm going to fix this. I'm going to save Tommy."

"Fix what?" Zelda huffs. "There's nothing to fix, and he can't be saved. It's done, Sabrina. He belongs in the ground, and that's where he's going."

"Not if I pass over into mortal limbo and bring his soul back," Sabrina clarifies. "I'm half-mortal, I can go there."

"If you what?"

"I just need someone to anchor me here on the physical plane," Sabrina informs, successfully making Selene want to cry. They've gone too far this time.

"Sabrina, I have just spent the very last of my credibility with the High Priest," Zelda retorts. "Begging, begging him to let us clean up your mess, to take care of this atrocity ourselves, to save our family in the eyes of our coven. We're standing in a grave, young lady, all of us, and you want to dig it deeper?"

"I don't care about Selene's father, Aunt Zee," Sabrina yells at her aunt. "I care about what's right. And about Harvey. And his brother. I'm going to cross over."

"You're not capable of the magic required to cross the barrier."

"You don't know what I'm capable of."

"You're a sixteen-year-old child, not some grand magus!" Zelda scolds.

"And you're not my mother, Zelda, so stop acting like you are!" Sabrina shouts back, making Selene gasp, knowing Sabrina has gone too far.

"Sabrina!" Selene cuts her friend off, jumping to her feet. "Don't-"

"It's fine, Selene," Zelda insists, tears shining in her eyes. "You heard her. She's not a child, and I'm not her mother. She's a grown-up witch now, and it's time she's learned about the world. Everything has a price. Edward learned that lesson. I learned it. It's your turn now. Try to save this mortal, even if it rips the membrane to pieces. But don't pretend it's not for selfish reasons. And don't come crying to me when it all blows up in your face."

Zelda then storms out of the room, and Hilda trails behind her. Ambrose and Selene are the only ones who don't move, so Sabrina looks at them helplessly.

"There's nothing I won't do for you," Selene forces a smile, wiping the tears from her face. "But I'm not gonna help you get yourself killed, Sabrina."

"No one will help you, just as Aunt Zee says," Ambrose adds, gently rubbing circles on Selene's arm.

"You're both wrong," Sabrina says, feeling as though she can't move. "There's someone."

"We went too far this time, Sabrina," Selene shakes her head. "If you wanna fix this the right way, then let me know and I'll help. But I'm not gonna help you cross over into mortal limbo, because it's a suicide mission."

UNEDITED