"Well, can we see him?" Star asked the second Toffee returned. He had his hands behind his back.

"Momentarily," said Toffee. "He's very excited to see you. But first... I want my finger."

"That wasn't the deal," Tom growled."

"The Butterfly family has had my finger for years! Please. I can't bare to be so close and have it denied me... Even for a few minutes..."

Star looked at him, and saw the genuine yearning in his eyes. She sighed deeply.

"Fine," she said, producing the bag. "But you give us Marco and my wand straight away after."

"Of course," said Toffee. When he took the bag, Star noticed that his fingers were blackened and smelt of... Metal. A second later she saw the thin trail of scarlet drops following Toffee's feet from where he had walked across the polished floor.

Blood.

She realised and clapped her hand to her mouth the very same second that Toffee tried to reattach his finger and found that it was made of Plasticine.

They both looked up at each other, and it was harder to see who was more filled with rage and hate.

"This is a fake!"

"What have you done to Marco?!"

"You lied to me!"

"What have you done??!!"

"I was so close!!"

Star screamed.

"Marco is DEAD!" Toffee screamed back.
He was about to leap on Star, but he was suddenly blasted to smithereens and reduced to a tiny pile of ash.

Star gasped.

Slowly, she turned around and saw Tom, raised off the floor, engulfed in flames. His eyes were wide and pure white hot, and his arms were outstretched- clearly he had just blasted Toffee with the strongest spell he knew.

"Tom!" Star cried as he dropped, falling to his knees and panting. "Tom, that was amazing! You destroyed him! Are you okay?"

Tom was breathing very heavily, but Star suddenly realised it wasn't only from the spell. Tom was sobbing.

"...Tom?"

"He's dead?" Tom howled. "HE'S DEAD?"

"Tom!"

"Marco... Oh, Marco..." Tom cried quietly, sinking to the ground and beating the floor with his fists, leaving small smoking holes where his flaming hands were.

"Tom, Toffee might have been lying," Star mumbled, trying to convince herself as much as him. She tried to fight off the numb feeling that had been spreading through her since Toffee's dying words. "I... We need to look her him. There's still a chance."

Tom sat up on his heels, gave an almighty sniff and rubbed all three of his eyes.

"...Okay," he said.

"Hey," Star said, holding out her hand. Tom looked up at her with red eyes. "It's okay to be afraid."

He nodded.

Star helped him up and they set off through the castle to find Marco... Or what was left of him.