"I'm no stranger to death, but that doesn't mean I want to talk about it. Once a year for Remembrance Day, we're asked to write letters to our lost loved ones. We sign our names, fold them up, and scatter them throughout the cemetery. I usually don't see the point in it. Why write to the dead? I'd rather not think about it at all. Except lately... Death keeps knocking on my door."

Hope and I are sitting in the Memorial Library as I draw the Necromancer. Raf puts his letter in the bowl before walking over to Hope and I so I quickly pack my stuff and we walk out of the Library. Raf grabs my hand in his as we're walking out. I see a girl with curly hair walking into the building and Raf immediately pulls his hand out of mine. "Cassie?" Raf asked and Hope grabs onto me when she sees my eyes flash. "Raf." Cassie said "Cassie? Isn't that your..." Hope asked trailing off. "My ex-girlfriend." Raf said walking to her hugging her. "I'm going to see Dr. S and maybe take a swing at the Necromancer so I don't kill her and make her dead again." I say quietly to Hope and she nods.

I walk down to the basement and hear Dr. S screaming as I get to the Necromancers cell. I see the Necromancer with a butchers knife in his head. "Was that really necessary?" Necromancer asked "He told you that he needs answers and quite frankly, I would like them too. Dr. S can I take anger out on him?" I ask "Why, what happened?" Dr. S asked "Pretty sure he brought Rafs ex-girlfriend Cassie back from the dead." I say "Yeah go ahead." Dr. S said stepping out of the cell and allowing me to step into it. "Now what are you going to do to me?" Necromancer asked "Things that you couldn't even begin to comprehend." I say as my eyes go pitch black and dark magic begins to swirl in my hands.

I push my hands forward and yell out as the dark magic shoved the Necromancer back into the wall. "Why would I help any of you? You have me in chains and allow her to blast me with dark magic. This indignity will not go unpunished." Necromancer said and I use magic to pull him back to the center of the room. I lean forward towards him with my eyes pitch black. "We have been at this for days. Answer our questions, or I'm gonna peel your skin off like a grape and shower you in battery acid. Or I could do much worse." I say "A rather grotesque effort, considering it will feel like the delicate tickle of a feather." Necromancer said handing me the butchers knife back. Dr. S comes into the cell. I growl and turn to the table of Dr. S' weapons grabbing the blow torch. "All right. Let's see how this feels." I say holding up the blow torch. "Dr. Saltzman, Lia." Hope said walking down the stairs and I turn the blowtorch off.

"Oh, there you are, lovely girl. I was wondering if you'd come visit me again. How's your friend, the one I saw you with earlier, trying to steal an illicit peek at me?" Necromancer asked and I growl with my eyes flashing going towards him but Dr. S grabs me shoving me outside the cell with Hope. "As we speak, he's having an emotional reunion with his dead ex-girlfriend. I assume we have you to thank?" I ask "Poor dear. Her spirit was clinging to him like a vine in winter. It took barely any effort. Just a little wrinkle of the nose, and poof. Young love reborn." I growl loudly at him. "You're lucky that's all I did. The way you've treated a man of my stature, you should be ashamed." Necromancer said "Literally nobody knows who the fuck you are." I say and he scoffs. "That's impossible." Necromancer said "I'll check on Raf. Khalia come on." Dr. S said and we walk to the door. Hope stays there with the Necromancer. "Hope!" I yell and she follows us.

"I take it things aren't going well?" Hope asked "He's a diva." Dr. S said "So what's the plan? I know you don't want to give over the knife, but we can't have him raising the lost loved ones of every person in this school." I say "I will handle it. I have questions that need answers." Dr. S said "Okay, well, I'm not sure your methods are the most effective." Hope said "Hope. I said I will handle it. Now, just stay away from him." Dr. S said before he and I walk in the room with Rafi and Cassie. Dr. S sits down in front of the two and I stand behind Dr. S. I see Raf and Cassie holding hands causing my eyes to subconsciously flicker. "Cassie, is it? Cassie, I'm Dr. Saltzman, and this is Khalia Mikaelson. We are here to help you." Dr. S said and I scoff quietly. "You might be but I'm not." I say quietly where the only people that heard me was Dr. S and Rafi because of Rafi's wolf hearing. Rafi looks at me in confusion when he heard me. I shrug my shoulders and turn back to listening to Dr. S.

"I... I don't understand what's happening. Why am I here?" Cassie asked "I didn't know what to tell her." Rafi said "Um, well, do you mind telling me the last few things that you remember?" Dr. S asked "Um... Raf and I were driving home from a track meet. The roads were bad, it was wet, and then dark, and I heard this voice telling me to open up my eyes, and then I was here." Cassie said "The memories you have, those are from two months ago. You and Rafi were in a car accident. You died and tonight, you were resurrected from the dead." I say "Khalia." Dr. S said scolding me slightly. "What? I'm not gonna sugarcoat shit. I'm just telling her how it is. She died and now she's back alive and everybody gets a fucking happy ending. I'll be with Dorian, Kaleb or Jed if you need me." I say before walking towards the door.

"Alia!" Rafi said grabbing my arm stopping me from moving. "What, so now it's Alia and not babe, now that she's back from the dead?" I ask "Alia-" Rafi said before I cut him off. "Just don't. I don't have time to argue about this with you. I have to figure out how to get rid of the Necromancer and keep him from bringing people back to life." I say before walking away from him towards the library to talk to Dorian.

I walk to the memorial library to see Dorian and he is on a ladder looking at books. "Find anything yet?" I ask "Necromancy is everywhere in occult literature. It's a form of sorcery that dates back to Ancient Greece. It involves the ability to communicate with and raise the dead." He gets down off the ladder. "But there's birthing about a specific Necromancer, so whoever this dude is, he's been erased from history like every other monster that comes looking for the knife." Dorian said "Is there any way to stop him from bringing back dead people?" I follow him. "Because if this week is any indication, it's kind of becoming a thing." I say as we stop at another bookshelf. "I'll look into it, but tomorrows my day off, so it might take a minute." Dorian said "Evil never takes a holiday, Dorian." I say "Well, every year on Remembrance Day, I do. I write my letters, pack my lunch and I head to the cemetery and ring that bell in honor of my dead family. So for the next 24 hours, ask Dr. Saltzman." Dorian said "Fair. But I'm worried about him. Do you think he's okay?" I ask "I think after the week he's had, he needs a nap. And a therapist. Maybe even a vacation of his own. Also you should talk to Emma about Nate coming back. Even if he was only here for a short amount of time he still came back." I nod and he hands me books. "Take these to him for me, would you? Thanks." Dorian said and I take the books from him. "Thank you." I walk to where I last saw Dr. S and he is still talking to Rafi and Cassie so I keep walking and don't stop until I end up in the basement.

I stop in front of the Necromancers cell. "Ah. Ooh. You have a powerful scent of death on you. Uh-huh... It's quite lovely, really." Necromancer said "I thought maybe we could talk." I say twitching my hand to unlock his chains. He stands up. "Such a puny creature dares to dalliance with The Almighty Necromancer?" Necromancer asked "Well, here's the thing about that. You don't exist." I say "I won't fall for your mind games." Necromancer said "This isn't a game. Let me lay it out for you. You died, you were in a dark place for what felt like an eternity, until suddenly, you were pulled into the light with a singular, inexplicable mission to retrieve a knife." I say "Do continue." Necromancer said "It's been the same with all the creatures that came before you. A dragon, a gargoyle, a... an Arachne, a dryad." I say as I walk towards the cell. "Bah. Such creatures exist only in fiction." Necromancer said "No. They've been erased from history, and so have you." I say and he laughs. "That's preposterous. I'm world-renowned. People tremble at the sound of my name." Necromancer said "Don't believe me." I stick the books from Dorian through the bars. "Read up." I say smirking a little. He grabs the books quickly. I sit down in the chair across from the cell.

-time skip-

"No! No! No! No! No! No! No!" He starts having a tantrum throwing and breaking his chair while shouting. I lean back in my chair smirking. "A lifetime's work, my legacy, reduced to something as-as pitiful as a brand of sorcery? Where I am barely a footnote?" He moves towards the cell bars. "Who's responsible for this vile affront?" Necromancer asked hitting the cell bars. I stand up from my chair still smirking slightly because of his tantrum. I walk towards the cell bars. "That's what I'm hoping you can help me figure out." I say and he picks his chair up and sits down. "Well, then, I'm all ears." Necromancer said "if you want to get to the bottom of this, we need to know who's communicating with you." I say "No one's communicating with me. My mind is a steel trap." Necromancer said "But you knew to resurrect Dr. S' dead fiancé right after he mentioned her to the dryad. You also raised one of his dead students that was also my ex-boyfriend. That's why he had questions. It can't be a coincidence. You're all coming after the same thing, communicating in some way, so who's pulling the strings?" I ask and he quickly stands up. "I am no puppet." He starts walking around. "It's less a voice, more an instinct. I simply know things." Necromancer said

"Like you know you're here to retrieve a knife and return it to a place called Malivore." I say "I return the knife to Malivore, I will be free." Necromancer said "Of what?" I ask "The blackness. The void. The empty oblivion." Necromancer said and I stand up. "Do you ever just say things once? And more importantly, do you know how to get there?" I ask walking towards the cell. "Only that the knife will lead me." Necromancer said and I open my journal to the drawing of the Malivore symbol. He backs up a little. "I'm assuming you know this symbol." I say "It is the sign of the worse existential nightmare. The ultimate hell. The.." Necromancer goes to say before I cut him off. "You're doing it again. Focus. What does it mean?" I ask "That symbol represents what you say has happened to me. It means no one remembers you. No one celebrates you. No one mourns you. Loosely translated, it means "permanent death." Necromancer said

"Do you remember how you died?" I ask "I was wandering the beach of Normandy in need of a pick-me-up, so I thought I'd resurrect a few G.I's to toy with some Nazis." Necromancer said "I'm glad to hear even evil creatures don't like Nazis." I say sarcastically. "Nobody likes Nazis. One minute, I'm dancing with the dead on the sand, and the next, there was just blackness." Necromancer said "But you don't remember who killed you?" I ask "No, although that's not uncommon. The subconscious has a way of protecting the mind against the trauma of death. I see it all the time in my line of work." Necromancer said and I get a hint of an idea. "But theoretically, that memory still exists." I go closer to the cell. "Right? What if there was a way to access it?" I ask "You want to take a walk through my subconscious? Oh, oh, oh. Well, at your own peril, my dear. Cause I'm not sure you're quite tall enough to ride the scary rides, huh?" He gets right against the bars and I flicker my eyes black and then back to normal. "I assume you've got a powerful vampire handy?" Necromancer asked "Absolutely, but I won't need one. I have a spell that I can use." I say "No normal magic would work." Necromancer said and I make my eyes go completely black. "What about dark magic?" I say smirking before walking out.

I walk towards the gym where I know MG and Kaleb are. I walk in and see Kaleb walking towards me. "Hey, Alia. What's up?" Kaleb asked "Do you know how to head dive incase I need you?" I ask "Yeah I could figure it out. Why what's up?" Kaleb asked "Our visitor downstairs has a memory locked in his subconscious that I need to access in order to hopefully figure out how to stop the monsters and get rid of him and our lovely newest resident dead girl." I say "Hell yeah I can be there incase of you needing me. How are you getting into his dead though without me at the beginning?" Kaleb asked "Dark magic spell. Like always." I say "Makes sense. Just let me know when you need me." Kaleb said "Of course. Now to go break the news to my sister that I'm doing a head dive." I say "Have fun." Kaleb said "Loads. See you soon K." I say backing up and walking out.

I find Hope in the library reading something. I go and stand beside her chair. "Hey sis. What's up?" Hope asked "I need to talk to you." I look around. "Privately." I say and she nods getting up. We walk upstairs to our room. I quickly put a silencing spell on the room. "Okay, what's going on? You're concerning me with the silencing spell." Hope said "I'm doing a head dive on The Necromancer. Kaleb is going to be there incase something goes wrong. If you want you can be there too but I don't want you to do anything." I say "Khalia are you crazy? You could get hurt." Hope said "Maybe but we need to figure out what's going on and this is the best way to do it. I don't want you to stop me." I say

-time skip-

I walk downstairs to the Necromancer with Hope, Kaleb and MG. MG decided to tag along to see what we were up to. I'm unlocking the door to the cells while MG is rambling. "It's so cold. It would be like compulsion, but while I'm on the surface of his mind, heroic-like, I'm plunging you into the deep end..." MG stops at the door after Kaleb, Hope and I walk in. "Holy Mary, mother of demons." MG said "What in the hell is that?" Kaleb asked "Hello, Milton, Kaleb. Milton, your great-nana Imogene is waving hello just over your shoulder." Necromancer said and I face palm a little when MG moves from the doorway. "You can see my great-nana?" MG said "Oh, I can see everything." I start walking towards the cell door. "She's most disappointed in you for forsaking Jesus, who I can also see, but, oh, I know, that's another can of worms. Shall we begin?" Necromancer asked sitting down as I unlock the door. I feel MG come up behind me.

"We're going in there? With him?" MG asked "I'm going in there. You three are standing out here." I say "With me, The Almighty Necro..." He says before I cut him off. "Please. Can we not do all that again?" I ask "Did you steal them keys from Dr. Saltzman?" MG asked "Yeah, I did." I say "Oh, boy." MG said "MG, either pull it together and stand over there or get the fuck out." I say "You have no reason to fear me, I assure you." Necromancer said "You're basically the Grim Reaper." MG said and I roll my eyes shutting the cell door. "Oh, the Reaper is a carnival sideshow hack! No, you.... you dirty your mouth mentioning his name in my presence. Perhaps I should summon Nana to wash it out with soap?" Necromancer asked "No, you leave my Nana be. Don't nobody need to be whupped by Nana right now." MG said moving to Hope and Kalebs side.

I put my hands on his shoulders. "Oh." Necromancer said "Now open your mind to me. Like, lifting a window to let the breeze in. Legilimens." I chant and then I open my eyes in his subconscious. I hear jazz music at first and then notice we're in Rousseau's in New Orleans. "I'll be damned. I mean, I'm obviously damned, but it worked." Necromancer said "What the hell are we doing here?" I ask "You are the one who invited yourself along." Necromancer said "Here. This restaurant is in New Orleans. I've spent half my childhood here." I say walking towards him. "Yes. Rousseau's. I spent a good amount of time here before the 1920s. Your father was good for my business, always killing people." Necromancer said "How do you know about my dad?" I ask "Well, he's standing right behind you." I quickly spin around causing him to laugh. "Kidding. Kidding." I feel my eyes start flickering. "But his spirit is all around you. Plus, he and I did our fair share of drinking here when he was at his most murdery." Necromancer said "Are you fucking with me right now?" I ask "Frankly, I think you're the one messing with me. All this talk about solving the mystery of Malivore. I think you and I both know which mystery you'd like me to solve. You want to know how your dad is. Or should I say, where he is? Huh?" Necromancer asked walking past me. "No. No, I don't." I say

"Sure you do. You want to know if he's at peace or if he's suffering. Regretting his sacrifice. After all, he did die to save yours and your sisters life." I try and make it seem like I'm not about to cry. "A lovely gesture for such a mercurial man. Hmm. Not to bother. I'm not telling you anything until we've finished our journey. Now, let's get started, shall we? This is my conscious mind. We need to find the door to my subconscious. Look for a hallway to nowhere, an endless staircase. Something like that." Music starts to play. "Ooh, a second line. My favorite." We go outside and there's a lot of people dressed up as skeletons and people holding cutout skulls. "Yeah! How I love the macabre! Oh, oh, the dance of death. I wonder, who's the guest of honor?" He points to the casket in the middle of all the people. "Let's take a look. Perhaps, Klaus Mikaelson?" Necromancer asked "No!" He opens it and it's a black pit inside the casket. "There's nothing there." I say starting to get annoyed. "You're not ready for the truth." Necromancer said "No, like, literally, nothing." I say "Hmm? Ah, clever girl. May I present the door to my subconscious? Well done, you." Necromancer said and he jumps in the casket and it closes. I quickly open it and it's a normal empty casket. I turn away from the casket and the people dancing disappeared and it's just me in the streets of his conscious New Orleans.

I open my eyes and suddenly I'm back in the school and Hope, Kaleb and MG are looking at me. "I'm glad that's over." MG said and I walk in front of the chair. "Unbelievable." I wave my hand in front of the Necromancers face. Then I turn to face the others. "He fucking ditched me." I say "What do you mean he ditched you? Hope asked "He jumped in an endless casket and I got kicked out. I'm going back in." I say "You've already been once, why are you going back?" Hope asked "Because if he's going in search of answers, I need to be there when he finds them. Now I'm going back." I say "Be careful." Hope said "Always. Legilimens." I wake back up in Rousseau's. I run around the building checking two of the doors and they're locked. I see a picture of the Necromancer with two woman and I hear his laugh. I go to a door opening it and I walk in the door a little and I see an endless staircase. "This is a little much, don't you think?" I hear myself being echoed. I scoff. "And you said you didn't like mind games." I start walking down the staircase. I get to the end without realizing it and I fall off screaming.

3rd Person POV (Back at the school)

Lizzie busts into Rafaels room causing Rafael and the newly awoken from the dead Cassie to spin to look at her. Rafael could instantly tell something was going on. He jumps up walking over to her. "Liz, what's wrong?" Rafael asked "Have you seen Alia?" Lizzie asked "No. Not since when she first came with your dad to talk to Cassie. She said she was going to try and find a way to get rid of our guest downstairs. Why do you think something happened?" Rafael asked "I just have this feeling that something is wrong. Have you felt it?" Lizzie asked "Yeah I have but I've had other things to worry about." Rafael said slightly moving his head towards his bed where Cassie is sitting. "Well while you deal with the dead ex girlfriend, I'm going to go see what's wrong with our soulmate." Lizzie said turning around walking out of the room.

Khalia's POV

I wake up at the bottom of the stairs and I sit up. "First of all, bitch that hurt." I stand up. "Second, I'm here. Okay? I climbed your endless fucking staircase down into your bottomless pit of despair. Let's call an end to the torture. Okay? Hey, Almighty Necromancer, we're supposed to be in this together." I keep walking starting to get pissed. "Hello? Hello? Hello! Hello!" I shout but nothing comes back except the echo.

3rd Person POV (back at the school)

Hope, Kaleb and MG see Khalia start breathing erratically with black magic swirling around her body. "Something wrong." Hope said "What do you want me to do?" Kaleb asked "I don't know what you can do. It's a very risky process." Hope said and Lizzie comes to the door. "What the hell is going on? What is she doing?" Lizzie asked "A head dive." Kaleb said "And you three let her?" Lizzie asked coming through the door of the cellar. "It's not like we can stop her." MG said

Khalia's POV

"Okay..." I laugh a little. "Enough of this. I get it, you want me to admit what I want from you. But you're wrong. I'm at peace with my dad. Yes, he died because of my sister and I, but that was his choice. I've come to terms with it. You're wrong about me. I don't need to know anything. Screw this." I stand still trying to focus on my magic to get me out of here but nothing is working.

3rd Person POV (back at the school.

Hope, Kaleb, MG and Lizzie see Khalia start crying with the magic still swirling around her body. "I'm going in there." Lizzie said and Hope grabs her arm. "No. Don't." Hope said "She's my girlfriend, I'm going in there." Lizzie said yanking her arm out of Hopes grip. "You know she doesn't like you being near her when she uses dark magic." Lizzie stops and looks at Hope. "I can't siphon like you. Let me go in there." Hope said and Lizzie nods. Hope quickly opens the cell door and shuts it back. She walks over to Khalia. "Lia. Come on. Come on. Come on out. Lia. Lia." Khalia shouts. "Lia! Kaleb get in here." Hope said and he quickly comes in front of the Necromancer grabbing his hands. "Head dive's over. Come on, man. Let her out. She's scared. Come on. Let her out, man!" The Necromancer starts laugh and his eyes go white. "It's not working." Kaleb said "MG or Lizzie go get Dr. Saltzman. You may need Rafael too." Hope said and they both run out. A few minutes later Lizzie, MG, Dr. Saltzman and Rafael come running into the cellar.

Khalia's POV

I'm kneeling down on the ground and I've started crying a little. "Why are you doing this to me? Okay, fine. Yes. I want to know about my dad. My family said that he must have died with love in his heart and that he should've found peace. But how am I supposed to know if that's true? I need to know that he's not alone. Because I can't live with myself if he is alone. No one should ever have to be alone like this. Please." I say and then I hear footsteps and immediately my eyes flicker and I become pissed again. I spin around standing up. "Oh, hey." Necromancer said "Don't "hey" me. Get me the fuck out of here or you won't like what happens next." I say "With pleasure." He snaps getting us out of there. "Oops. Daddy's home." Necromancer said and that's when I notice Hope, Kaleb, MG, Dr. S, Lizzie and Rafael in the cellar. "Fuck." I whisper quietly.

I step out of the cell and immediately Lizzie throws herself at me. "Don't ever do that again." Lizzie said hugging me and I hug her back. "No promises." She backs away from me and Rafi hugs me tightly. "Hey, I'm okay. I promise. But I have a feeling Dr. S wants to talk to me." I say and Rafi pulls away from me. "You would be correct about that." Dr. S said "I'm going with you." Hope said and I nod. We walk out of the cellar and to Dr. S' office. As soon as Dr. S opens his office door he starts his rant. "I mean, how could you be so reckless?" Dr. S asked and Hope and I walk in behind him and I shut the door. "You weren't getting anywhere. You were too busy with dead resurrected girl." I say "And so you took it upon yourself? And how did that go?" Dr. S asked "Not well." I say "Yeah? Well, I have it under control, Khalia." Dr. S said "Oh, really?" I walk over to his desk to pick up an empty liquor bottle. I sit it down on his desk. "Or this?" I grab another one and sit it on his desk. "Or anything else that would explain your utter lack of fucking progress?" I ask

"I am grieving, Khalia. And maybe you should try that sometime instead of pushing everyone away." I laugh a little. "Look, I am trying to protect you. That thing is a master manipulator." My eyes flicker knowing where he's going with this. "It resurrected my fiancé, it resurrected Nate, it raised a cemetery of zombies and it brought back Rafael's dead girlfriend, so let's just talk about the ways in which it could torment you and your sister, starting with your dead mother, ending with your dead father, and how about all the ghosts of all the people that you killed in between, huh?" Hope grabs my arm knowing I'm getting pissed off. "I can't believe you'd do this." Dr. S said and I yank my arm out of her grip. "Don't do that." I walk towards Dr. S pointing at him. You don't like that I broke your oh so precious fucking rules as a headmaster? Fine, punish me. But don't you dare play disappointed dad, because you are not my father." I say "Oh, I know that." I turn around and go towards the door where Hope is at. "And where are you going?" Dr. S asked "To finish what I started." I say opening the door and Hope quickly goes through it. "Like hell you are." Dr. S said "Cloditay." I chant making the door shut. "Khalia... Khalia!" Dr. S said hitting the door.

I turn to look at Hope and she looks at me. "Im going back down there. Either you go with me or you stay up here. It's up to you." I say "I'm going with you. Obviously." Hope said "Okay. But let me do the talking." I say and we walk downstairs to the cellar. "Back for more?" Necromancer asked "Tell me where our father is." I say going towards the cell. "I will tell you everything you want to know, but wouldn't you like to hear about what I've just learned of Malivore first? After I left you, I returned to the scene of my death. I saw a shadow. I felt a searing pain. And when I looked down, there was a knife in my heart and emptiness all around me." Necromancer said "A knife?" I ask "The knife." He stands up. "Interestingly enough, that which I seek is that which did me in. You've got to understand, to be killed by such a trifle of an object- - I was curious as to its power, so I jumped out of my subconscious and summoned the spirit of the man who forged the knife in the first place." Necromancer said

"You left me in there on purpose?" I ask "Oh, I had work to do, and you had lessons to learn. From this man, I heard the remarkable story of Malivore, created to wipe the scourge of the supernatural off the face of this Earth. Malivore consumed us, erased us. It was permanent death. And it was in Malivore that we were left to perish. Until recently, when the knife started beckoning us to bring it home." Necromancer said "But why a knife?" I ask "Decades ago, Malivore was contained. Three locks created to seal Malivore shut. The knife is one of those locks. When all three locks return home, Malivore is free to open its jaws of death once again." Necromancer said "What does that even mean?" I ask "Oh, my dear... let's just hope you're not still alive to find out." Necromancer said

"So let me get this straight. You left me inside your freaky twisted mindscape so you could... what? Stall me?" I ask "My apologies for the melodrama, but I needed to buy myself some time." Necromancer said "To talk to some dead knife maker." I say "That, and to retrieve the knife your friend Dorian had hidden behind the stacks in the library." Necromancer said "What?" I ask "Because while you were trapped in just a small semblance of the blackness I suffered, experiencing just an ounce of my agony, and while your sister was focused on you, I was busy doing what I do best: controlling the dead." Necromancer said and my eyes flicker when I realized which dead he means. "I don't understand." I say

"The answer, my darling, is yes. I was stalling you. Just as I'm stalling you now. Did you know that there's a lot of Bennett witches buried in the local cemetery that excel in the art of mystical transportation? I summoned a little help to ensure the knife returned to Malivore quickly and without incident." Necromancer said "Oh, my god." I say "Come on, look on the bright side. You can get back to the daily grind of your young life. And in moments, when the knife is returned to Malivore, I will be free to find peace. As for your father, he watches over the two of you every day. He did die with love in his heart, and he doesn't regret his choice." A tear runs down my face. "But he won't find peace... until you do. Eh, good luck with that." The cellar starts rumbling. "The knife is destroyed. One lock is released." He bows. "And with it, so am I." Necromancer said and suddenly he disappeared. I back away from the cell trying to stop myself from crying. "I got to talk to Dr. S." I say walking out.

I walk to his office and he's cleaning up the liquor bottles. He stops when he sees me and he looks at me. "He took the knife. Had Cassie doing his work this whole time. I knew we should've got rid of her when she first got here." I say "Her being here gave Rafael a chance to get closure." Dr. S said "At this point fuck closure. Anyways I just thought you should know." I say walking out and to the library.

Dear Dad,

I'm no stranger to death, but that doesn't mean I want to talk about it. Once a year for Remembrance Day, we're asked to write letters to our lost loved ones. We sign our names, fold them up and scatter them throughout the cemetery. I usually don't see the point in it. Why write to the dead? I'd rather not think about it at all. Except lately, Death keeps knocking on my door. Today I messed up, bad. I messed up in ways that if you were here, you'd be so disappointed in me. I'm not sure I know how to fix it.

I was told today that you would never find peace until I found it in myself. I hope that was a lie told to punish me. God knows I deserved that. But if it's true, I'm gonna do better. Today I saw a glimpse of what true loneliness feels like. Of what lord in store for me if I don't find my own peace. So I'm gonna get to work on that. I'm glad to know you're with me, but I look forward to the day when you're not. I promise to take care of Hope.

I love you.

Khalia

I place my flower beside of Hopes as we stand beside each other and she's holding my hand. I see Rafael walking over to us and I drop Hopes hand. "Hey." Rafi said "Hey." I could tell he was upset. "I'm sorry I didn't have your back today. Apparently, I was too busy launching phase one of Mali-pocalypse. And I also let my anger and jealousy get in the way of making sure you were okay." I say "It's okay. Dr. Saltzman, he... he had my back." I glance over at Dr. S who is at Jo's grave. "Oh... he still mad at you, huh?" Rafi asked "He's never not mad at me. But he's probably gonna be mad about this for a while." I say turning and walking out of the cemetery. He walks up beside me grabbing my hand. Hope walks on the other side of me. "Yeah, well, at least with the knife gone, maybe we can finally get some quiet around here." Rafi said and Hope and I laugh a little. "I wonder if that's possible." Hope said and she looks down at her glowing bracelet and suddenly mine starts glowing too. "What's wrong? Why are they both glowing?" Rafi asked "Landon's in trouble." Hope and I say in sync.

AN
Hope y'all like this chapter. Sorry it's been so long since an update high school and dual enrollment classes have been killing me. But it's now the summer and I'm hoping to get more chapters done before I go to college.