The longer she stared out the window the more the trees and other greenery would be blurred together like a painting. It started to make her head hurt. Rose looked away from the window and turned to the witches in front of her—Nora Del Luna and Dilara Arslan sat quietly opposite of her. Despite their calmness and fake normalcy, calling them 'witches' was such a tame word in comparison to what these two women were capable of. 

Rose had witnessed their destructive power and the many, many, precious lives they took.

Now, Rose sat across them and would be stuck with them on this train for two days and eight hours. She was grateful for the spacious private room Nora had paid for them. There were at least two roll-out beds if they wanted to sleep later at night. Rose doubted any of them would. They all still felt the need to be on high alert. The good thing was she had a lot on her mind to think about. 

Her mind was more awake than ever.

Dilara busied herself winding Nora's fingers in silver wire to keep them from stiffening and then wrapped her entire hand into a black bandage. Rose thought gloves would be a better solution for concealing The Crier's hands. Perhaps, she should tell Dilara in the future if The Crier still wanted to hide herself. Meanwhile, the lion-witch tended to each of Nora's fingers, she stared out of the window with an unreadable expression as the rabbit laid in her lap curled.

She didn't want to know what Nora was thinking. But it did make Rose wonder a little because Nora had been missing for three days, and she had changed in that time. It wasn't her physical appearance anymore, it was her entire personality. And she hadn't changed for the better but for the worse. Something had broken inside of Nora. Her eyes were lifeless than before—more colder than a winter night—colder than a corpse.

Rose shivered despite not meeting her eyes.

It had only been two days since Nora returned, but she vividly remembered those three miserable days without Nora. It sprung an impatience and panic into Dilara when she realized her friend hadn't come back even after sunrise. The lion witch didn't waste any time and tried every spell she knew to find Nora until on the day of Nora's reappearance, she almost used dark magic.

Dilara came marching into the living room with thick, old books coated in black and plum. She placed them on top of the vintage polished coffee table with a loud thud. Rose nearly fainted at the sight of one of the table legs wobbling. It seemed as if Dilara had no idea the coffee table wasn't just any ordinary house decor. 

She remembered seeing a similar one at one of her mother's friend's mansion. He claimed it cost him twenty thousand. Most of the items in The Carpturer's home were of exquisite and expensive taste, from the carpet to the sofa to a flower vase to a teaspoon. Everything in here was valuable. But that didn't matter to them.

The fireplace produced more orange flames as Dilara sat closer to it. The lion witch released a breath as she stared at the books. Rose slowly walked and stole a glance at the books. They were leather-bound with engravings of symbols and sigils drawn on top of each other except for one. Its unique lines resemble the moon. Rose got closer.

"Are those Nora's spell books?" she asked.

Dilara seemed hesitant to answer. "They belonged to her father, but yes they're her books now." she paused, then said. "The spells in this book are not of simple magic. It's made of dark magic, and anyone who uses it always has a price to pay." she swallowed.

Rose still didn't know much about Dilara or Nora, but from the days she spent with them she quickly gathered their differences. Dilara fought her way through the darkness, unlike Nora who danced in it. And yet, they protected each other like sisters.

Dilara turned to meet Rose's gaze. "Nora is the living embodiment of dark magic. What if I have to use dark magic to find her? It would gravitate towards her. It should work." she nodded as if trying to convince herself. "I need to try everything." her jaw locked.

Rose also wanted to find Nora, but she knew Nora wouldn't want Dilara to use dark magic to find her. She wouldn't like Dilara having to pay the price for anything.

There had to be another way to find her. But what other options did they have? They sat in the middle of nowhere and were isolated from everyone. No people, no ghosts, no demons. She understood the safety and precautions The Capturer of Souls took to prevent anyone from finding Nora, but that's what bothered Rose most of all his disappearance.

Rose didn't want to think something happened to them both. But what if? Her brain chewed on that thought like a snail. The Capturer of Souls didn't know how to exist without The Crier of Souls. The only one who found this all amusing was Lena Haven. That awful horrid girl was enjoying every second of Nora's absence and getting ready to control Rose's body again. Her stomach churned.

Just before Dilara opened the dark magic book, the door swung up, and glass shattered everywhere. Rose ducked and placed her hands over her ears. Dilara beckoned the flames from the fireplace and swirled down her arms. Rose's heart pounded viciously. Dilara's gaze narrowed towards the intruder's direction with anticipation. She was ready to set them on fire, and Rose was prepared to run.

More glass was crushed beneath the intruder's footsteps, uneven and slow. Then the intruder finally stumbled into the living room and—her eyes widened—she couldn't believe it. Less than six feet away stood Nora Del Luna.

The Crier of Souls had returned.

Rose felt Lena's spirit quiver and slipped back into whatever hole she made for herself. An uneasiness rolled off her shoulders. She pulled her hands down and slowly stood up. Dilara extinguished her flames at the sight of Nora, her expression was torn between shock and delight.

Only Nora didn't look happy to be home again. She didn't look well either.

Her clothes were torn and tattered as if she had been mauled off by a beast. There were unrevealed parts of her skin that were ghastly pale and her lips were almost blue. Her brown eyes were sunken and dull. Nora looked beyond heartbroken—beyond a grieving woman. She looked as if she crawled out of a hellhole, and had been reborn once more.

Dilara was the first one to speak. "Nora, where the hell have you been? I've been worried about you! Dammit, what happened to you? Did you run into more marvos? Where have you been?" she exclaimed.

But Nora's eyes wandered throughout the room as if she was looking for something, or perhaps someone. Then her eyes landed on a porcelain vase near her, and with broken fingers and scarred palms, she picked it up and slammed it upon the floor. Rose flinched and took a wary step back.

Dilara remained where she stood.

Without a word, Nora reached for the next breakable object she could grab and threw it onto the ground. She moved frantically, breaking everything she could. Thousands, perhaps, millions were being destroyed by Nora, and each shattered object didn't seem to satisfy her. Dilara somehow managed to grab her wrist before she could reach for another flower vase.

"Nora, what's wrong?" The lion witch asked.

The Crier of Souls' chest heaved with her head turned away. "Why are you doing this?" Dilara begged. Nora slowly turned her head until she met her gaze evenly. Rose then saw it and a gasp escaped out of her mouth.

She quickly placed a hand over her mouth. Dilara didn't look startled by Nora's bloody red eye, but her right eye stayed brown. A demon lived inside Nora, and she didn't know about it either. Unspoken questions were left in the air.

"I'm going to kill him." Is all that came out of Nora's mouth and tugged out of Dilara's grip. She smashed everything she saw and was hellbent on destroying the entire house.

Rose cried out. "Stop it!" Nora and Dilara whipped their gaze towards her. She pointed at the golden encase candle holder in Nora's hands. "It's worth fifty-six thousand and six hundred ninety-five," she said breathlessly.

Its remarkably intricate designs made it so beautiful and luxurious. Nora looked like she wanted to kill her for interrupting her rampage, but then there was a gleam of mischief in her eyes. "How much did you say it was?" Nora's mouth twitched upwards into a smile.

Rose quietly repeated the value of the candle holder. Nora smiled with all her teeth showing. "Do you know how much everything costs here?" she asked, and Rose mutely nodded.

She knew because her mother liked spending money so carelessly. And Rose was rich. She was still rich, but she didn't need money. She needed something else entirely that couldn't be bought with money.

Her lips curled, wickedly. "Walk with me and tell me how much everything here costs." Rose eyed Dilara with a nervous glance.

Dilara firmly pressed. "What are you planning now?" Nora looked at her friend like a mad woman. "Isn't it obvious? We're going to sell everything in this fucking house, and become more rich." Rose wondered if she heard her wrong.

"Um, what do you mean sell?" Rose quietly asked. "Doesn't this belong to the—"

"Say his name and I'll cut your tongue." Rose clamped her mouth shut. Nora looked between Rose and Dilara and eased back into her cruel smile. "Come on, now, don't you all like money? I love it." Rose frowned. She loved money too, but she wasn't greedy for it. And neither had Nora ever shown she was. "Come on along, Rose. We have a lot to talk about," she ordered.

Nora never spoke about what happened to her, and Dilara and Rose never uttered The Capturer of Souls' name. Anything that related to him or involved him was removed. He disappeared like Nora wanted. But the moment they left the house, Rose encountered some ghosts and heard them talk. The dead were divided. Some chanted for The Capturer of Souls' name. Others whispered The Crier of Souls' name. Who would rule, the same old king? Or the new queen?

Rose looked at Nora now, pretending to imagine her as Queen of the Dead. She sat on the blue cushion seat and made it look like a throne with one hand gripping the armchair. Her chin was lifted and her gaze low enough to make you feel you could be trampled under her foot. Then there was her black dress and her thin laced veil. She was just missing the crown.

"Are you done looking?" Nora uttered, not sparing a glance toward her. Rose lowered her head as her cheeks flushed. "If you are, have you thought about what I said? Can you do it?" she said stiffly.

Despite being on in the more spacious rooms of the train, it felt suffocating for Rose. She felt the urge to run. But she couldn't. She had made a deal with Nora, and couldn't leave so easily.

Rose folded her hands tightly. "Yes, I can," she answered rather weakly.

She made a grimacing face, but whatever her voice sounded like she had to perform this task for Nora or else Rose would be stuck with Lena's spirit forever. 

Even though Rose made Nora richer and tried giving her some of it, Rose didn't take it. She required something else that was invaluable to money—Nora's magic. Only she could remove Lena's spirit from her body. Her father was supposed to do it, but Mr. Nicolás Del Luna tragically died. But his daughter lived. She didn't mind waiting for Nora's recovery. She just needed to be close to her. It was enough to scare Lena away. Not even The Capturer of Souls was capable of scaring Lena away. Or at least he hadn't tried hard enough.

Nora agreed but on the condition she did something else for her. It was an impossible task for an ordinary human girl.

The cold queen nodded her head and continued to look out the window. "Good. As soon as we arrive in Chicago, I want you to look for one." The sun caught into her brown eyes, and she shut them. She leaned her head into the cushion. The rabbit remained unbothered, sleeping away at Nora's lap. "Oh, and Rose," she opened her eyes slightly, peeking through her lashes. "Don't come back to me until you've found a vampire. Don't even bother to show your face at all," she warned.

Rose's stomach churned at the thought of even finding a vampire. She didn't even know where to look first, and out of all the places in the world they were going to Chicago. She hardly knew anything about the city. Rose had traveled to New York, Los Angeles, Milan, and Paris, but Chicago?

The only time she had ever been there was to catch another flight. But that was before she became possessed and did whatever she wanted and liked. She wasn't that girl anymore. Sweet Rose died a long time ago. Perhaps, it was better that her mother was dead and didn't have to see her daughter lose her sanity.

Dilara pulled her out of her thoughts as she sat next to her. "Here, have some of these." she handed her squared pinkish powdered candies. "You haven't eaten anything either. I think we should get off at the next stop and grab something to eat," she said, and Rose agreed.

Nora stayed quiet.

Rose sighed and plopped one of Dilara's candies into her mouth. She did wonder why Nora wanted a vampire, but she wasn't in the position to question her. Nor did she care. Rose only hoped she found a vampire quickly. She had nowhere else to go. Half the ghosts they passed earlier had seen her walk with Nora, and they probably had run off to tell the king. There was no turning back.

She had declared her allegiance.