Avalon's room was cast in eerie shadows thrown by the lamp on her nightstand, which was the only source of light; apart from the lightning brightening the darkened sky, that was. The expected storm from the afternoon had finally hit Castelldefels and was doing its mighty best to make going outside a very uninviting and stupid idea. Not that anyone would have such an idea. There was virtually a "world's end" atmosphere out there.

In the room as well, come to think of it.

Apart from the typical noise of a storm – rain, wind, thunder, the rattling of the window shutters –, the only other sound came from Gil's hasty steps. He was pacing from one end of the room to the other and back again, his shoes making squeaks whenever he turned around on the parquet floor in a quick motion. Avalon's carpet that usually covered the floor was currently drying in the washing room; thanks to an incident involving Zelo, Neymar's dog Poker and a wild cat-and-dog chase through the house the other day that had ended with a bloody snout in her room. Poker's, naturally.

"We're screwed," Gil said, and not for the first time. "As in, royally screwed." A groan. "I mean, what can we do, right? She knows. It's basically over for us. Right?" His shoes squeaked when he turned around. "Because why wouldn't it? It's never going to work now. We're never going to free my best friend. Who will be miserable for the rest of his life. Without actually knowing it, of course. And I'm going to be Nina's bitch for the rest of my life too. She wins. Misery does love company, doesn't it? 'What's a Vega witch without her powers'? Isn't that what Zelo keeps on saying? Where the hell is he anyway?"

Lying face down on her bed, Avalon looked up from her smartphone to give the Brazilian a reproachful look. "Oh, thanks a lot, Gil. Now I'm a hundred percent sure we'll make it! Votes of confidence from all around!"

Like Avalon's level of fear hadn't reached a new level of anxiousness already. No, that wasn't right. It was panic, to be honest, fed more and more with each passing moment. Here they were, completely out of their league, against a woman that could – and probably would – do with them as she pleased. The question was would the bracelets hold, or would Nina be able to outsmart the protection charm in them?

Gil scoffed, stopping his frenzy walk for a moment. "In the absence of your feline teacher, I'm just stating the obvious."

Avalon gaped at him. "Stating the–! Are you serious? I'm trying, if you hadn't noticed!" She raised her hand, wiggling the phone she was holding to underline her statement.

Another scoff, then the walking continued. "Yeah, I see that, but don't you blame me for calling a spade a spade. I'm the one that's doomed! I'm the Normal-Joe here, and I'm the one that's gonna be Nina's puppet thanks to this!" He went to her, held up his wrist and practically shoved the bracelet Avalon had given him to initially protect him from magic into her face. "And don't even get me started on Davi. Oh God, Davi! The little guy's too young to be in the clutches of evilness!"

Avalon shoved his arm away. She didn't reproach Gil for saying what he was saying; naturally, everyone's nerves were on edge. Or, you know? Over the edge. And quite frankly, she wasn't that far behind.

"And you reminding me of what's at stake isn't exactly helping me here," she retorted with a heavy sigh. "I know what's on the line..." she added softly.

"Yeah, yeah," Gil said dismissively, continuing his frantic walk up and down the room.

They'd wanted to barricade themselves in their headquarters on the roof upon coming home. But according to the notification spell that Avalon had prepared to let her know if another magical being had gone inside, the little bar slash witch kitchen had, in fact, been compromised by Nina not too long ago – confirming soundly that the witch from hell was aware of Avalon's otherness. So they'd dug for cover in Avalon's room instead. How Nina had known about the obfuscation spell on the door was beyond her. Then again, suspicion of something being awry was enough to make a schooled eye notice something off.

Stupid witch, she scolded herself for the umpteenth time. I'm not even strong enough to hide properly.

Upon coming home, Avalon had been frantically searching the witch wide web and the shadow book app for something, anything, that would help them uphold the protection of the charm bracelets – or at least prevent Nina from twisting the charm to her favour. A charm or spell to deny her access to her room would be pretty nice as well. It wasn't much of a cover if she could simply waltz into here, after all.

For a while, Gil had been helping her on her laptop, using her personal access to look through the witch wide web. But since many charms and spells, especially the older, powerful ones, used Latin or Norse words and phrases as incantations and he didn't understand either, he'd been forced to give up. He'd chosen to follow the "we're screwed" road instead ever since.

Just as well, because thus far her search had yet come up with something useful. She had nothing. Niet. Ingenting. Nichts. Nihil. Nada. It would've been a help to have Zelo there to scan through the databases. Unfortunately, the cat had yet to be seen, and Avalon was growing more and more worried that something (or someone) might have happened to him.

She didn't want to think about what would happen when Nina got back from wherever she was. Avalon had expected the woman to wait by the front door for them, throwing spells their way or at least bespelling Gil into– well, whatever Nina wanted him to do. Kick Avalon in the shins or something. Or set the house on fire, preferably with her inside.

Avalon sighed yet again, turning her attention back to her phone. Time was running out, and Nina would eventually be back. The free will of several people was on the line; as Gil was adamant to remind her. But no pressure, she thought miserably, feeling cold sweat prickle the skin of her forehead.

Fidelia hadn't been much of a help either. On the contrary. They'd been ushered out of the shop by the bewildered and scared out of her mind shop manager not long after Nina had left. She hadn't even said anything about what Nina had bought or ordered. Instead, she'd only repeatedly told them to get out and not come back. Gil had limped home from the VME after she'd jammed the door while he'd been trying to make her stop her distraught act of sacking them.

So now not only did they know that Nina was far more dangerous and informed than she'd led on, but they also were out of a safe meeting place outside (or inside) the house, they didn't have a witch with contacts to the local coven, and their nearby source for magical equipment seemed to have slid out of their reach as well.

Oh, and Lars hadn't picked up his phone even though Gil and Avalon had tried to call him for what felt like a hundred times in a row. Which left them without the help of their Viking friend and potentially his store in Barcelona too.

VME really should have invested into an online shop like they'd had planned a few years ago, as Lars had told her once. What use was an expanded network of offline stores if you were all but banned from entering one?

Didn't things look just absolutely rosy right now?

Suddenly, there was a scratching noise on the balcony door frame. Avalon immediately jumped off the bed to open it when she recognised the form on the other side of the glass.

"Where in the name of the Mother were you?!" she exclaimed.

Her eyes followed the small black figure trot into the room, shaking itself profusely like a dog would get rid of the raindrops on his fur.

"We have far more serious problems than my coming back late," Zelo retorted. "Which is actually a good thing."

Instead of hopping onto the bed and sitting down on his hind legs like he usually did after returning from one of his excursions, the cat walked toward Avalon's room door, looking over his shoulder expectantly when he found it closed.

"We need to grab as much of your stuff from the headquarters as we can and get you out of here, Avalon. Gil, grab her laptop and the throw in as much of her clothes into her suitcase as you can manage. It's in the far corner of the wardrobe. Now!" the cat urged when neither human showed any reaction.

Irritated and grumbling something under his breath, Gil jumped into action, grabbing the laptop from the desk in the corner and then disappearing into Avalon's walk-in closet.

Avalon stood by the balcony door, her hand resting on the handle after having closed it to keep the cold out. The other tucked the phone onto the back pocket of her jeans. "Nina's been up there, so I'm not sure it's safe anymore. And exactly why do I need to get out of here?"

Zelo tapped the door leading into the corridor impatiently with his front paw. "Open the damned door and I'll tell you while you get your stuff!"

"Okay, okay!"

Doing as he told her, Avalon watched him scoot out onto the hallway and toward the door that should have hidden their secret witch kitchen on the roof with an obfuscation spell. Following the cat with quick steps, she could faintly hear Gil collecting her clothes, unpleasantly aware that he'd not only see but also touch her underwear. She shook her head, unlocking the door to their headquarters. What a weird thing to concentrate on now.

"Nina's making her move. She put Fidelia under a mind control curse," Zelo started his explanation when they all but ran up the stairs. "Using some of your stuff for it, I take it, if she's really been into our headquarters. She invoked it as soon as they were in the back room. Poor, weak-minded woman didn't even see it coming."

Avalon halted her steps, flabbergasted, ignoring Zelo's insult for the moment. "You're kidding."

Zelo didn't stop his ascent. "I'm not. I was lucky she didn't notice me there. Gave me the opportunity to watch and listen."

With a click on the switch, the spots on the ceiling cast the tiny bar-like room in a soft light. Immediately, Avalon started rummaging through the cabinets in search for the cardboard boxes they'd used to move her stuff from her room downstairs. Which hadn't been that long ago, come to think of it. How lousy a secret agent on a mission did that make her?

She found the boxes folded together and stuffed underneath the little sink. She grabbed one, folding it back into a box. "So what'd she say?"

"One box will have to suffice," Zelo said when Avalon made to grab another. "We don't have time to fill up your car with more than one go. Where's Neymar?"

My car?

"He's downstairs in the living room with his parents and Davi. They've been in there ever since we came back. Rafaella's still out. Nina's not with them, which makes me uneasier by the second."

Opening up one cupboard after another, Avalon searched through her equipment, picking herbs, utensils and items at random; her mind was too preoccupied with the sudden packing to make such a decision. She cursed wildly when she noticed the decidedly less number of yarn threads; Nina really had served herself to some her stuff for the mind control curse. Avalon growled angrily. How could I ever think to outsmart someone without scruple?!

Zelo grumbled. "And you're right to feel so. Nina actually didn't buy anything of interest at the VME. She's cursed Fidelia to help her by making her contact her coven and calling them here. I assume you know what that means."

Abruptly, Avalon stopped throwing things into the box, eyes widening in realisation. There was only one conclusion that made sense.

Nina was on her way to get backup.

Which meant that she not only knew of Avalon's witch origins but also that she was a Vega witch and that the Vega coven was known to be among the most powerful ones in Europe. Fidelia must have told her that much under the curse.

I guess it's just my luck Nina's overestimating me right now, Avalon mused. That could be an advantage for them, so long as she could uphold appearances. She thinks I'm powerful. Guess that power play at the store didn't give her the estimation of me that she'd wanted. My eyebrow piercing must have confused her... She'd be here kicking my ass if that weren't the case. Yepp. I shouldn't be here when she comes back. Or my bum's gonna get it.

Standing up from where she'd crouched to reach the stuff under the bar, she threw the box on the counter. Then she made a come-hither motion and clapped her shoulder, at which Zelo jumped up from the floor on a bar seat on the counter and from there on her shoulder.

"Forget about my things," she said.

Avalon spun on her heels to return downstairs, then – because of some peculiar urge to do so – she turned around once more, heading toward the end of the counter on the opposite side of the stairs. From the far-end corner of the shelf below the counter, she grabbed the Tigers Eye stone on its leather band, thrown there haphazardly earlier. She closed her fist around it once, then she tucked it into the back pockets of her jeans. "Now I really gotta get out of here before–"

There was a sudden tug on her midsection, coming from inside of her, unpleasant like a bad stomach ache. Immediately, she knew what it was and wanted: for her to go toward the door, to leave the room.

Avalon cried out, the sensation growing more painful by the second, until the tug became a pull. As if a rope had been tied around her centre and someone was pulling on it eagerly. Glancing down to her stomach, she saw what she felt: a magical robe, reaching right into her, different colourful strings twirling around each other to form the strings.

A spell.

The tug of the rope became stronger. Avalon gripped the counter to keep her knees from giving out from under her when the pull grew more painful when she refused to move. Gritting her teeth, she managed to say, "Zelo!"

"Damn it, they already started!" He jumped off her shoulder, searching her eyes. "Don't fight it, Avalon. You know what this is. You want to go outside anyhow, remember that."

She took a deep breath, anguish filling her with each passing second. "Easy for... you to say," she all but moaned in pain, trying to remain standing.

Breathing through the pain, she let go of the counter, wrapping her arms around her midsection protectively. Then, ever so slowly, she shuffled her feet across the floor, toward the door and the stairs.

Finally succumbing to the will of the spell, the pain, at the very least, didn't grow worse.

As long as she kept moving.

- - -

And we're back with Bewitched, girls and girls! Sorry for the yet again cliffhanger, it just couldn't be helped. We're jumping right into the next bit of action here, and Nina has made her move fast! But what IS her move...? We'll find out next chapter... ;)

Who's excited for the CL match tomorrow? Real versus PSG! Deeply rooting for Ney myself, can't wait for it, what a Valentine's Day Special! :)

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Published on: 12 February 2018