Forever And Always

Chapter 97

The next morning Callie woke up before Sweet Pea, and Betty was over before she could call.

" Betty!" Callie jumped when she saw when she walked in the kitchen.

" I used Jug's key," Betty said. " You think my dad is still alive?"

" I know he is still alive," Callie said as she started to make coffee.

" How can you be so sure?" Betty asked.

" I saw him with my own eyes," Callie answered as she looked at Betty. " I lived next door of 16 years, I'm pretty sure I know what your Dad looks like."

" That's impossible," Betty denied. " All they found was his hand, just a couple of days ago, you said that nobody could have survived that crash."

" I think he caused the crash," Callie answered. " I think he killed everyone on the bus, chopped off his own hand and then set the whole thing on fire ."

" You saw the inside of that bus as much as I did," Betty said.

" Betty, it's like in Harry Potter," Callie said. " Sweet Pea was thought the same as you did till he made a parallel. Which I was surprised he could in the first place."

" He's smarter than you think," Betty noted.

" Always surprising me," Callie smiled. " Anyways...Do you recall Peter Pettigrew?"

" Yeah, he was Marauder. Sold Harry's parents out. He cut off his own finger so everyone would think that he was dead...just like how all they found was my Dad's hand," Betty connected. " But that's impossible, you saw the bus."

" Harry's house practically blown up as well," Callie said. 

" I really hope you are wrong," Betty said. 

" Just be cautious," Callie warned. " Have everyone be cautious."

" Betty?" Sweet Pea yawned as he walked in the kitchen.

" Sweet Pea," Betty greeted as she looked at him and then back at Callie. "Me and Jug are going to question the tattoo artist that tattoed Kurtz's back. Meet us at the Serpent Den."

" Got it," Callie said. Betty left.

" Tattoos?" Sweet Pea asked.

" Kurtz had those gothic gargoyle tattoos on his back," Callie informed. " Almost as if he was trying to sneak his way into the kingdom."

" Coward," Sweet Pea commented.

" I thought the same thing," Callie agreed.

*****

Hours later Callie was at the Serpent Den, Betty caught her up on everything they learned.

" Cal, the tattoo artist said that a guy with blonde hair and blue eyes got a Gargoyle King tattoo about a year ago, right around the time the Farm moved to town, and right before any of this game stuff started to happen. Add the fact that my mom just got a tattoo...per Mr. Evernever's request." She held up a slip of his name.

" Okay," Callie breathed as Betty went to go pin up the name. " But if the Gargoyle King is Edgar, then how does that explain your mom seeing him during Ascension Night nearly two decades before Edgar got to town?" She recalled the previous night, seeing Ms. Blossom and hearing her voice.

" Who says that the new Gargoyle King is the same person as the old one?" Betty asked as she sat back down. " My mom gave testimony to the Farm about the Midnight Club. Edgar could have taken on that persona."

" I know that Edgar has been messing with your family," Jughead noted.

" Think about it," Betty insisted. " Edgar bought The Sisters of Quiet Mercy, where the game originated. Both he and the Gargoyle King preached Ascension. Both of them have followers that they manipulate, and they're both really, really creepy."