Swan Song

Greensleeves Part 3

Alice was being taken to the place where the ritual would take place.

"It's pointless, you know," she said, looking over her shoulder at her brother. "You can be as ready as possible, but without a Baskerville boy, it's all for nothing."

Narcissa chuckled at that. "Haven't you wondered why Oscar isn't with us?"

Alice frowned.

"Silly girl. Lock is your best friend, and you clearly care for Oz, too. They must be quite willing to go to great lengths to keep you safe. We let Oscar go after I healed him. He's bound to go to the safe house and tell them what we put him through."

"I don't follow," the redhead replied, and Sebastian smirked.

"We gave him a fake location for our ritual. Your group of pals is bound to head there as soon as they can. Abaddon will be ready for them once they do."

Fist clenched, Alice turned around and swung. Glen intercepted, and caught her punch with ease.

"How unbecoming," he said. "The only reason you're still alive is that the master wishes so. However, I very much doubt he considers your safety, which is something I personally don't care about, more important than his return. If you become too much of a hassle, he's bound to give is the ok to start chopping away at your extremities."

Sebastian glanced between the two, a frown on his face. He put a hand on Glen's shoulder, then whispered something in his ear, which Alice couldn't make out. Once he was done, a small smile crept up the dark-haired man's features.

"Can you three idiots move?" Narcissa scoffed from a few meters ahead. "I'd like to actually get the ritual ready on time, if you don't mind."

"Testy," Sebastian replied, and got an eye-roll in return.

"Just move your ass."

Back at the hideout, Lock found himself pacing.

"Ok, that does change a few things," he said. "For once, we can go to the public now, and the knaves are bound to be on our side. That's more protection than we'll get here. My father being on our side doesn't really matter, so long as he's not on theirs."

"What a loving family," Allen whispered, then had a shoe thrown at him. "Also, was it smart to let Rem go?"

"Yes," Lock replied. "He works best when he thinks he's in the right. All I can hope for is that he comes to his senses and decides to join us.

Ted cleared his throat, then raised a hand. "I hate to be he who asks the obvious, but are we gonna have to bury your aunt?"

Oz winced, but Lock remained composed.

"That depends; If we want Crispin to remain free, we bury her. If we don't care what happens to him, we let the knaves do it, after which they'll start hunting him down. Another thing we might do to help him is say he was here with us when she attacked, trying to take Oz. We can say a scuffle happened, and that he wound up killing her."

"That won't work," Chris piped in. "We have no way of getting that story close to Crispin's ears, so he'll just mess it up by either telling the truth or using a different lie - one we haven't rehearsed."

Lock sighed. "So, which of the two remaining options do we take?"

"I say we bury her," said Lily. "The guy's had it rough. No offense, but auntie dearest had that shit coming."

Oz looked away, not having the stomach to cast a vote.

"I agree with Lil," Ted added, raising his hand.