The rest of the trip was made in silence, besides the sounds of fighting back at the bridge. After a bit, Hannah had asked Gracie about a "Gumbie."

"The hell is a 'Gumbie'?" Ray asked, looking at her. Hannah wrung her hands.

"He's my bat... My father hurt him, so I asked Gracie to take him somewhere safe." She explained.

Gracie stole a glance to Sahira and Embry, who perked up and rushed forward to catch up to Hannah. "She brought the bat to us." They said to Hannah. "He's doing well, very well. He started flying again the night after he came." They explained. "I left him in my do-"

A squeak was heard from above.

A blue of black fur darted down from the sky and settled into Hannah's hood. Startled, Hannah fumbled to get off her cloak and looked inside. Nestled in peacefully was Gumbie.

Hannah looked like she could cry, immediately stopping and cooing to the little bat like it was a child. CJ fell back as well to check up on Gumbie. Gently, she pleaded with the bat to go somewhere safer, but he refused and flew up to the rafters of a nearby house. Satisfied with at least that, she pulled back on her cloak and waved.

Gumbie gave her his little one-toothed smile right back.

When they got to the cottage, the Horned King was waiting for them in the kitchen. It seemed to confirm Gracie's theory that he never left there.

Sahira tried to hide her grimace, looking at the demon. It looked like he was rotting right in front of them, teeth yellow and black and skin a dark greenish-gray. His sunken red eyes glowed under the shadows of his sockets. His horns jaggedly stuck up, making him look even more like he was towering over them.

Ray did not try to hide his expression, visibly recoiling in disgust and wrinkling his nose. "Ew..." He whispered under his breath. Embry nodded in agreement, averting their gaze awkwardly.

The Horned King looked at him for a moment, like he was an irritating fly buzzing in his ear.

Then he looked back to his daughter, staring at him defiantly.

"You disobedient child..." He muttered, disgusted and annoyed. Hannah made no move, her eyes never leaving his. "I gave you a chance. You had a chance."

Hannah almost felt amused by the idea. "Now, don't lie. We both know I never did." She retorted. "I just stopped playing your game."

The King scoffed, shaking his head. "Well then... I have no use for you anymore, do I?"

Twyla's eyelights went to the ceiling, observing the wooden beams just ready to rot and fall. It was a risky gamble- a wrong move could tumble the whole cabin. That wouldn't be great. But if she could just get one room- weak enough to topple while the others would be strong enough to resist just that, she could trap the King somewhere while they got to the Cauldron.

She looked over to Sahira, trying to silently communicate to her. Sahira glanced over, then to the rafters that Twyla was looking up at. They caught on quickly, nodding at her. They turned to Embry.

"Find where the weakest room is, we'll trap him there." She whispered to them, and they nodded and bolted off. The King looked at the small, blue-and-white blur for a second, before scoffing. Embry clearly couldn't lift the Cauldron on their own, he decided. Besides, the Cauldron would consume them before they could make a move.

Not worth his time.

Embry ran about the house, their eyes flicking all about at an alacritous. They examined the rafters, the termites eating through the wood, the fungi and other things spreading about the insides, turning the dark wood light with mushrooms and mold.

All of it looked rotting.

But then they stumbled into a room that looked like it was ready to collapse with a quick few jabs.

Perfect.

Then, they noticed a little door at the end of the room. Slowly - almost with hesitation - they approached the door. Probably a storage closet, or something miniscule and unimportant. But...

Embry's heart hammered in their chest- a dramatic reaction to a door.

But as they approached it, they could swear it was getting smaller.

Their hands reached for the knob, their nails bitten through to the very edge before they bled. A nervous habit, one Embry knew they should stop. But every time that small taste of metallic entered their mouth, they felt more grounded to the world.

Not trapped and floating in the world they'd been dragged to when they were ten.

Gripping the doorknob, Embry imagined rabbit claws digging into their wrists. There were still scars. They felt themself being pulled in- dragged into that world. And with a swift tug, they pulled themself out of the grasp.

They opened the door.

And there was the Cauldron.

Embry's eyes lit up- the Cauldron was right across from the unstable room. They could easily lead the Horned King in, trap him in the room, then...

Honestly, they didn't know what would happen then.

They were sure Hannah knew what to do- how to stop the deathless warriors and get rid of the Horned King. It would be simple; at least, they hoped.

Something simple and heroic, like the storybooks they desperately tried to read before their mother burned them.

But curiosity would kill, they decided, running back to where their friends were. They'd let themself stall long enough, time to get back and help.

"Room down the hall- second the last door on the right. Looks ready." Embry whispered to Sahira. Hannah and her father were still in their stare-off.

The minute one made a move, that was it.

No more chances, for one or the other. Only one of the Horned demons was walking away that day. They both knew it.

Twyla looked at Sahira, who gave a nod. Ray glanced at Embry, who seemed laser-focused, yet glossy-eyed. The Horned King was paying him no mind...

She then looked to CJ- behind Hannah and ready to make a move the minute something happened. He looked back at her for a second, that look in her eyes confirming they had a plan.

Gracie moved first, then Ray in quick succession. She bolted forward, ramming her body into the Horned King. Her childish kandi bracelets caught on his robes and she was sent toppling forward with him into the table. Ray had already grabbed his dagger and rushed at him, jamming the weapon into the fallen King's shoulder- the closest part to him.

He'd been aiming for the chest, but this was fine. He had to deal with a shoulder stab, the Horned King could take one as well.

Embry moved as soon as the knife was brought down, and started running for the door. The others followed her.

"I've never even seen him leave the house I'm sure we have ti-" Hannah was interrupted by a horrified scream from Gracie.

She spun around and froze.

Faster than she'd even thought possible - by human, demon, whatever - her father had jumped from where he fell and was running after him. As cruelly human as he usually seemed, he looked animalistic. There was a hateful, crazed look in his eyes that struck all of them in that place of primal fear.

"Here! Here!" Embry shouted, bolting into the unstable room. They'd left the door open, leaving the Cauldron's darkness to be an ominous, ever-present shadow, spilling into the other room like a thick goo that sucked the light out of everything.

The group all stumbled in, while the King came to a skirting stop, catching himself from slamming into the wall and grabbing onto the doorframe.

"You all will DIE!" He howled with rage. His shoulder was dripping a dark, chunky liquid that might've been blood. He had a murderous glare as he stormed further into the room.

"All of you FOOLISH, STUPID, PATHETIC sub-creatures! I will RIP YOU APART!"

They all moved toward the back of the room- maybe there was some sort of organized plan, but now everything was being fed from pure adrenaline and fear. He came closer, and closer...

Then Sahira gave the wooden support beams a final, fatal kick.

Immediately, the beam splintered apart, sending shrapnel-like pieces of rotting wood all across the floor. It was damp and soft, crumbling instantly to the floor. Caught off-balance, that part of the ceiling seized. It dipped downward, dragging down the rest of the support beams with it. The ceiling collapsed on all of them.

One of the pieces of wood hit Ray in the back, forcing him to the floor. Unintentionally, he had grabbed for the wall for support but instead dragged down Embry. Panicked, CJ rushed before the group and spread his wings, letting them take the brunt of the force. Screams and shouts and curses Gracie didn't even know existed were heard.

Then it settled.

Everyone looked up and surveyed what had happened. The dark, ragged form of the Horned King was trapped under the remnants of the chaos.

"Is he dead?" Ray asked, some hope in his tone.

THe Horned King's body shot up from the rubble and seized him by the shirt collar, lifting him up. "I will never die, insolent child." He snarled. With a sudden push, he tried shoving Ray closer to the Cauldron. He immediately felt the pull of it, as if there were invisible hands trying to claw him closer and closer until he fell into the spiraling mess inside.

Ray's fingers dug into the doorframe that separated him from the Cauldron, but with the King shoving him closer and closer, he couldn't stop.

Suddenly, a rush of wind was heard and something settled onto the Horned King's hand. Everyone looked at the small bat sitting on the King's hand.

The King shook his head and arm, trying to get Gumbie off. "Shoo! Shoo, you little beast!" He growled.

Gumbie bit into the King's hand with his one little tooth. He shouted, recoiling his hand from Ray's collar and tried to swat Gumbie off. The bat clung on further, not seeming to stop until he reached bone. Once satisfied, he let go and flew into the massive hole the collapsed ceiling had left. Ray was able to get out of his grasp with that and Sahira grabbed his hand, pulling him out of the Cauldron's pull.

Clutching his now-bleeding hand, the King looked at the group.

He made a move to try and grab them, attack them, whatever- but whatever it was made Hannah jump up. With her panic a single bone shot through the wall and into her father's back. With a strangled gasp, the Horned King was stuck through with the bone. Still alive. Still rageful.

With him writing and shrieking to find some way to get out, the group turned their attention to the Cauldron.

Hannah took a deep breath. "Alright..." She looked back to the others. "When I get into the Cauldron, you all get out of the house as soon as you can. Last time, that thing destroyed a castle. So get back to Auradon." She ordered.

CJ's whole body tensed. "What...? What are you talking about?" He stepped closer to Hannah. Hannah shut her eyes and shook her head.

"I have to. It won't stop the warriors without a body." She pleaded, taking his hands and looking at him. "I know it's difficult, but-"

"I don't want you to- I can't let you do this..." He begged for her to reconsider the choice, but he knew Hannah wouldn't listen.

With a sudden sigh, someone pushed past Hannah towards the door. "It's not happening."

Their attention turned to Gracie.

"I'll do it."