ACT I — CHAPTER XVIII
Tʜᴇ Rᴇᴛᴜʀɴᴇᴅ Mᴀɴ

───  ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅  ───

"Roz said that her grandma told her that she has these visions because she's going blind. She said that their family was cursed by a witch years ago so it happens to the women in their family at least once every generation. She called it the Cunning."

Lydia and Sabrina Spellman were walking home from school. Lydia had been unable to attend the WICCA meeting that day because she had to go to study hall for her math class, so Sabrina was catching her up on the conversation she had had with Roz.

"Wow," Lydia muttered, "Does Roz actually think it was a witch who cursed her?"

"No, she thinks her grandma has lost it. But, it would make sense if she was cursed by a witch and why so many people in her family have gone blind," Sabrina said.

As they walked, Lydia couldn't help but notice how tense Sabrina seemed.

"Has Tommy come back yet?" she asked.

Sabrina shook her head, "No. I need to go check his effigy to see if he has. You want to come with?"

Lydia shrugged in agreement and they went off their regular path and into the woods. Sabrina led them deep into them. Finally, they approached a small clearing, where it was clear the ritual had been held. However, Tommy's effigy was still there, lying in the middle of the pentagram Sabrina had drawn the night before. Sabrina's shoulders sunk in defeat.

"It's been over thirteen hours and nothing," Sabrina sighed. Lydia put her hand on her sister's shoulder.

"Well, at least nothing terrible happened. This is probably one of the best possible outcomes we could have hoped for," Lydia said, trying to be supportive.

"I guess," Sabrina sighed, again, "Let's just go home."

The twins left the woods and went back onto the road, continuing their walk home. As they walked down their driveway, Lydia could see Ambrose sitting on the porch, shining his shoes.

Upon seeing Sabrina's face, Ambrose gave out an exasperated sigh.

"Oh, sweet hell. What happened with Tommy?" he asked.

"Nothing happened, Ambrose," Sabrina answered, "It's been over thirteen hours, and it didn't work."

"Consider it a blessing," Ambrose said. Sabrina leaned against the side of the porch steps, as Lydia went farther up the stairs to stand by her cousin.

"Lydia and I went back to the woods and the effigy was just lying there," Sabrina continued.

"What do you mean, 'back to the woods'?" Ambrose asked, continuing to shine his shoes, "No, the soul returns to the body — wherever that is."

Lydia rubbed her hands over her face, realizing what this meant. Of course the soul would go back to the body. The body that was currently stuck under who knows how many rocks.

"What? But the rite didn't say —"

"You're playing with life and death and you don't even know the basics, Sabrina!" Ambrose yelled, standing up. Lydia backed away slightly, scared he might actually explode with anger.

"Oh my gosh," Sabrina muttered, "He's at the mines."

This prompted Sabrina to turn around and run off before Lydia or Ambrose could stop her. Ambrose turned to his cousin.

"You and your sister are the most irresponsible people I have ever met," he told her, before grabbing his shoes and walking into the house.

Lydia knew that she didn't always have the brightest ideas, and most of her and Sabrina's ideas were, in fact, very stupid. However, she also knew that she had tried to talk Sabrina out of bringing Tommy back, and she shouldn't be blamed for this. Maybe Lydia should have told someone who could stop her, but she also had a commitment as a sister not to rat her out.

She turned around and stormed into the house, angry with Ambrose's words. Lydia walked upstairs up to her room and slammed the door shut, immediately collapsing on the bed, staring at the ceiling and sighing in defeat.

Lydia loved her sister. She would follow Sabrina into the very depths of Hell if she asked her to. However, for years and years she had just been listening to Sabrina and her ideas. Lydia never would have left her Dark Baptism unless Sabrina hadn't. Sabrina had always been more confident than her, and while Lydia did have her momentary bursts of confidence, it wasn't even comparable to Sabrina.

Not long later, Lydia was about to fall asleep when Sabrina burst into the room.

"Tommy's alive!" she exclaimed, running over to Lydia's bed and shaking her.

"What?" she mumbled, but Sabrina was already walking out the door and up to Ambrose's room. Lydia begrudgingly stood up and followed her.

"And how is Tommy feeling himself?" Lydia heard Ambrose ask once she reached his room.

"Fine," Sabrina answered.

"You are a liar," Lydia said, walking past her to sit on Ambrose's bed.

"I am not!"

"Yes, you are. You hesitated when you answered. You're a liar."

"Does he have any sense of what happened to him?" Ambrose asked, cutting off their argument.

"Unclear," Sabrina said. Lydia pointed at her.

"Called it! Liar!" she shouted.

Sabrina glared at her, "I am not! Look, I didn't really talk to Tommy, but apparently he's in shock, which the doctor says is totally normal."

"Unless that doctor is a witch doctor, I would get a second opinion," Ambrose advised, "I knew you shouldn't have performed that resurrection. Everyone told you not to, even Thing Two over here."

"So you agree that this isn't my fault?" Lydia asked, sarcasm laced in her voice.

"No, you definitely played a part in this. You should have told someone that she fully intended on performing the ritual."

"I just don't understand why I have to take so much blame for something that I didn't even —"

"Tommy will be back to himself in a couple of days. He'll be talking, he'll be eating," Sabrina said, cutting her sister off.

"He's not eating?" Ambrose questioned, standing up from his seat at his desk, "Oh, we have to tell the aunties."

"You mean you haven't told them yet?" Lydia questioned, putting on a British accent, "You knew Sabrina had done the ritual and kept that information to yourself? How irresponsible of you, cousin."

"Not now, Lydia," Ambrose sighed.

"We can't tell them. Neither of you can," Sabrina said.

"They'll find out eventually. This is a small town. A man coming back from the dead is big news," Ambrose told her.

"He didn't come back from the dead. He dug himself out of the mines."

"Yes, except that our aunties will know that that is bullshit because Mr. House Arrest over here astral-projected," Lydia said, reminding Sabrina of that incident.

"Yes, you're both right, they will find out, but by that time, Tommy will be back to normal, and they'll be mad, yes, but they won't be able to undo anything," Sabrina said, "Please, Lydia, Ambrose. Harvey got his brother back. That's all that matters."

"I hope you're right, cousin. If not for your sake, then for Harvey's," Ambrose sighed.

Sabrina didn't say anything, just silently left the room. Lydia fell back onto Ambrose's bed.

"You're such a hypocrite," Lydia said. Ambrose sat back down at his desk.

"When our aunties find out, you're going to be in just as much trouble as Sabrina for not telling them," he told her.

"So are you. I don't know why you're acting so high and mighty," Lydia retorted.

"No, I know. They're going to kill us," Ambrose muttered, making Lydia laugh a little.

"I can see Auntie Zee's face now. Somehow looking calm but incredibly pissed at the same time," she said.

Ambrose didn't say anything. For a few minutes, they just stayed there, enjoying the silence.

"Well, cousin, you should probably go. I have things I need to do in order to prepare for tomorrow."

Lydia sat up, looking at her cousin, before asking, "What's tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow, I'm going to begin as an apprentice for Father Blackwood at the Academy. It'll count towards community service, and with that Blackwood is going to try and get me pardoned," Ambrose explained. Lydia smiled brightly.

"That's incredible, Ambrose!" she exclaimed, jumping up and walking to her cousin. She hugged him tight, and he hugged her as well.

"Thank you, Lydia. Now, if you don't mind," Ambrose thanked, shooing her away.

Lydia stepped back, putting her hands up in defense, "Alright, alright. Sorry for being supportive."

She bid her cousin goodnight and went downstairs to her room.

Lydia opened the door and was about to ask her sister if she knew how to do the biology homework when she saw Nicholas Scratch talking to Sabrina.

"Hello?" Lydia said, confused as to why he was in their room.

"Hello," he said back.

Lydia's brow raised, "What's going on?"

"Agatha is coughing up grave dirt," Nick explained. Lydia pinched the bridge of her nose and shut the door.

"Of course she is. Well, isn't this just perfect," she muttered.

"How's Tommy?" Nicholas asked.

"He's fine. He's up and about," Sabrina answered.

"You're a terrible liar," Nicholas said.

"That's what I'm saying!" Lydia agreed.

"You need to leave," Sabrina demanded.

The room got very tense, and the sound of a bird made Lydia turn to the window. There were two psychopomps sitting on the windowsill, which meant Nick was astral-projecting. It would explain how he got into their room.

"You must really love that mortal boy, to risk everything for him," Nick said.

Lydia did not understand why Nick insisted on having these conversations with Sabrina whenever she was around. It made her very uncomfortable.

"What's his name again? Harry?"

"Harvey. And, yes, I do," Sabrina told him.

"I hope he was appropriately grateful for what you did," Nick said.

Shen neither of the twins said anything, Nick continued, "Oh, wow. He doesn't know. That's incredibly dangerous, if it all goes south with his brother."

"Tommy's fine."

"No, he's not," Lydia interjected.

"Whatever's going on with Agatha will pass," Sabrina continued, ignoring Lydia's words.

"You hope," Nick said. Another psychopomp appeared at the window.

"I'll keep you posted," the boy told them, before turning to Lydia, "Thomas wanted me to say hi, by the way."

And with that, Nick disappeared, as if he was never there. Lydia looked at Sabrina, tilting her head to the side.

"What did I tell you? This was the stupidest idea you've ever had," she said.

"I'm sure Agatha's fine," Sabrina reaffirmed, before turning to Salem and Muertos, who sat on Sabrina's bed, "Salem, you need to go to Harvey's tonight and keep watch."

Salem meowed in response.

"To make sure everything's okay, to make sure Harvey's safe," Sabrina explained. Salem meowed again.

"I'm sure it's all fine, this is just a precaution, but go."

"You should probably go, too, Muertos. Just in case he needs backup or something," Lydia said.

Muertos meowed, and both cats jumped off the bed and ran out the door.

"'Backup'? Really?" Sabrina asked. Lydia scoffed.

"You're seriously judging me on my choice of words right now?" Lydia questioned, "You are currently dragging me into your serious shit show, and you're going to make fun of me for saying backup?"

Sabrina rolled her eyes, "Everything's fine, alright? Don't worry about it."

"Sure," Lydia agreed.

Everything was not fine. In fact, Lydia could see everything falling apart very quickly. But, she was tired, and didn't want to argue anymore, so Lydia got ready to go to sleep. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

─ ༓ ─

The next morning, the five Spellmans sat at the kitchen table. Since there was no explosive argument, Lydia assumed that their aunts had not found out about Tommy Kinkle's second coming yet.

The phone rang and Hilda stood to answer it as Lydia shoveled food into her mouth. She wasn't really paying attention to what her aunt was saying, so when Hilda hung up the phone Lydia was a bit surprised to see her looking dismayed.

"Well, it seems that most, if not all, of the miners bodies have been recovered. So they'll be arriving later today," Hilda told them.

Lydia began to eat her eggs a little slower. The three youngest Spellmans all exchanged wary looks.

"And, Satan willing, they'll bring some closure to those young men's families," Zelda said, putting her newspaper down, "By the way, Sabrina, how is Harvey coping with it all?"

"He's hanging in there," Sabrina answered, a tight smile on her face.

"Hey, Aunt Hilda, what time are the bodies getting here again?" Lydia asked.

"Sometime this afternoon," Hilda said,  "I'm going to be at the bookstore, though."

"I can receive them," Zelda said.

Once again, Lydia, Sabrina, and Ambrose all gave each other looks. If Zelda saw that Tommy wasn't there, she might start to figure out that something was up.

"Uh, but do let me handle them, Aunt Zelda, when I'm back from the Academy," Ambrose told her.

"Which is where I'll be later today as well," Zelda said, a proud smile appearing on her face, "The High Priest has appointed me Directrix of the Satanic Choir."

"When did he do that?" Hilda asked. Zelda picked her newspaper back up.

"Never you mind that, Hilda," she responded, "You stick to cleaning up 'spills on aisle five', or whatever you do in that tawdry little shop. In the meantime, Ambrose, Sabrina, Lydia, and I will be restoring the luster to the Spellman family name. Good things are coming. I can feel it in my bones."

Ambrose took a shaky drink of his tea, and Lydia had resulted to pushing her food around on her plate. All she could think about was how they would all likely be murdered by their aunts within the next 24 hours.

─ ༓ ─

Later that morning, the twins headed off to school. Sabrina needed to return The Book of the Dead back to Wardwell's office, and somehow she had convinced Lydia to go with her.

They snuck into the office, and Lydia carefully closed the door behind them. Sabrina walked over to the bookshelf, pulled the book out of her bag, and put it back into its place. As soon as Lydia began to believe the coast was clear, a voice almost made her jump.

"Did you feel it, too?"

The twins turned to the door to see Wardwell, peaking her head in the doorway.

"Ms. Wardwell. Feel what?" Sabrina asked.

"The Santa Diabla," Wardwell said, stepping fully into the room.

"The Santa Claus what?" Lydia questioned.

"It was the ill wind that blew through Greendale last night, like a frisson of electricity," Wardwell continued, "As though the curtain between worlds had been torn asunder. Neither of you felt it?"

"I don't think so. We pretty much stayed in last night," the twins answered, simultaneously. Lydia was grateful that they were both able to think of the same lie. Sometimes being a twin had its advantages.

"Oh, but surely you heard the dogs?" Wardwell asked, walking over to the twins, "Why, it sounded like every dog in Greendale was howling all night long. It was exhilarating. Positively life-giving. Now, you two weren't thinking of borrowing my Book of the Dead without permission, were you? Not when all you need do is ask."

Lydia gulped and immediately shook her head. Although, she was a bit surprised to hear Wardwell say she would just give them the book.

"Go on, take it," Wardwell urged.

Lydia gave her a confused look. Just a couple of days ago, Wardwell was telling Sabrina how stupid an idea bringing Tommy back was, even if she did tell them exactly where the book was, but still. Now, however, she was telling them to take the one thing that could help them? It didn't make sense to her.

"Ms. Wardwell?" Sabrina prompted.

"Yes?"

"We were actually here for — for the Occultist's Almanac," Sabrina said, picking up another book from the bookshelf.

"Yeah, it's for some extra credit stuff we're doing for Father Blackwood," Lydia explained, adding to Sabrina's lie, "Is it okay if we borrow it?"

Wardwell nodded, "Of course, take it for as long as you need."

Sabrina thanked Wardwell, and then the twins left the room as quickly as possible. Once Lydia closed the door to the office, she glared at her sister.

"What?" Sabrina asked, in response to Lydia's face. Lydia didn't say anything, instead walking past her and towards their lockers.

"What do you want me to say? That I'm sorry? Because I'm not. It worked, and everything's going to be fine," Sabrina said.

"No, it's not all going to be fine. And you wanna know how I know that? Because nothing ever works out for us. Agatha is coughing up dirt, for Lucifer's sake," Lydia seethed, reaching into her locker and pulling books out.

"Lydia, it's —"

"Sabrina, Lydia, is it true what everyone's saying? That Harvey's brother is alive?"

Lydia turned to see Roz, who now stood by them. The twins exchanged a glance.

"People already know?" Sabrina asked.

"Mr. Baterman was delivering a UPS package across the street from Harvey's and said that he saw Tommy through the window," Roz explained,

"Yeah, it's some sort of miracle," Lydia said, trying her best to hide her sarcasm.

"Or the exact opposite," Roz mumbled. Lydia raised her eyebrows, once again exchanging a glance with her sister.

"What do you mean?" Lydia asked. Roz looked around the hallway, making sure that no one was listening.

"I had the most bizarre dream last night," Roz began, "It was snowing. I was walking through the woods, and I heard this horrible sound. And I came through, into this clearing. And there were these dogs fighting over —"

Roz stopped talking. She seemed scared.

"Fighting over what?" Sabrina asked.

"The dogs were tearing Tommy Kinkle apart."

"Roz, was this dream-like — like the vision you had? Of the girls in the mine?" Sabrina asked. Roz nodded.

Lydia almost stopped breathing. Based on how accurate Roz's other vision was, it was safe to assume that this dream would be accurate as well. Sabrina grabbed Roz and Lydia's arms and pulled them into a corner where it would be less likely for people to hear them.

"Okay, real talk, I'm worried about Harvey and more specifically, I'm worried that something might be wrong with Tommy," Sabrina blurted.

"Really?" Lydia fakely gasped, "I never would have guessed. You seemed so calm and collected when you told me about it."

She could tell that Sabrina was trying to ignore the condescension in Lydia's tone.

"Like what?" Roz asked, not noticing Lydia's insincerity.

"I'm not sure yet," Sabrina said, "But maybe you could help us figure it out, Roz."

"How?"

"Eith your, what did you call it?"

"I can't control the Cunning," Roz replied.

"Are you sure?" Lydia asked, catching onto her sister's plan, "I mean, you did see the girls in the mine when you touched Tommy's hard hat. Maybe, if we were able to get close enough to Tommy —"

"To, like, establish contact with him?"

"You could see, immediately, if something is wrong with him," Sabrina said. Roz thought it over for a moment before nodding her head.

"Alright, meet us outside after school. We'll go to Harvey's house and maybe he'll let us talk to him," Sabrina said.

Roz nodded again and then walked off to class. Lydia turned to look at Sabrina.

"I knew you were a liar," she said.

Sabrina glared at her, "So I'm a little worried. There's nothing wrong with being a little worried."

Lydia shrugged, "Okay. Come on, Let's go to class."

─ ༓ ─

As agreed upon, the twins met Roz after school and they walked to Harvey's house. As they neared the Kinkle residence, Lydia could see Tommy Kinkle, alive once again, standing outside and looking up at a tree.

"Tommy?" Sabrina called. Harvey walked out of his house and down the porch steps to meet them, holding a football.

"He won't answer you," he said.

"How's he doing?" Sabrina asked.

"I'll show you. Watch," Harvey sighed. He threw the football at Tommy, who wasn't even facing them. Tommy reached his hand up and caught the ball, his arm fully extended.

"At first, I thought he was getting better. That he was remembering," Harvey began, grabbing the football from Tommy's hand, "But that's all he'll do. React, like a robot."

After that, all five of them went inside, with Harvey leading Tommy to their dining room table. They all sat down.

"Harvey, where's your dad?" Roz asked.

"At the mines. He's already trying to get it back up and running, but he could be home any minute," Harvey answered.

"Has Tommy eaten anything?" Lydia asked.

"Not yet. Just water," Harvey said, shaking his head. The three girls all exchanged a worried look.

"Do you have any soup?" Lydia asked.

"I think we do."

"That might be a way to get him to eat," she suggested.

"Let me try that, I'll be right back," Harvey said, leaving the room.

Lydia, Sabrina, and Roz all turned to Tommy, who was staring forward, emotionless. Roz took in a shaky breath. Lydia put her hand on Roz's arm to help reassure her. Roz gave her a grateful smile.

Roz reached out and grabbed Tommy's hands. Then, she inhaled sharply. They all sat in silence, listening to Roz's deep breathing.

"Roz, do you see anything?" Sabrina asked, after a couple minutes of silence. She put her hand on Roz's other arm.

"Any sign of Tommy?" the twins asked in unison.

Suddenly, Roz jumped back in her seat, removing her hands from Tommy's and shaking the twins' hands off her arms. Lydia backed away from her slightly, surprised by the sudden outburst.

"What happened? Are you okay?" Sabrina asked, but Roz moved away from her when she tried to place her hand in her arm again. She was still breathing heavily, and looking back and forth between the twins.

"Uh — I'm not sure," Roz said.

"Did you see anything?" Lydia asked.

"I saw Tommy. Uh, he was lost in the woods and there was a fog. He was confused," Roz explained, her breathing calming down as she spoke.

"Was anyone else with him?" Sabrina asked.

"No, no, he was alone," Roz answered quickly, shaking her head, "But I heard a baby crying."

"A baby?" Lydia questioned.

Before Roz could say anything, Harvey's dad walked through the front door. Lydia immediately tensed, nervous he might get angry with them.

"What's going on here? Where's Harvey?" he asked, seeing them at the table.

"The kitchen, Mr. Kinkle, we just came to check in on Harvey and Tommy," Sabrina told him.

"Dad, they were helping," Harvey said, walking back into the dining room.

"Like they know more than Doc Phibes?" Mr. Kinkle questioned.

Immediately, the three girls stood up. Lydia did not want to be involved in the middle of a screaming match between the father and son, and it seemed that she was not alone in her thoughts. Sabrina said goodbye to Harvey, and with that, the three of them were out the door.

"I don't understand what the crying baby means," Lydia stated, as they walked away from the house.

"Yeah, me neither," Roz agreed. Even though she had calmed down a little bit, Roz still seemed pretty tense.

"Roz, are you okay? Did you see something that you're not telling us?" Sabrina asked.

"No. Just what I said," Roz answered, quickly. She walked ahead of them. The twins looked at each other, but shrugged it off.

At a certain point, the twins split with Roz on their walk home.

"Once we're back at the house, I'll ask Ambrose if I can look through some of his books to see if I can figure out why Tommy is acting this way," Sabrina told Lydia.

"Ambrose is at the Academy," Lydia reminded her.

"Then I'm sure he won't mind me looking through his books," Sabrina said. Lydia sighed and shook her head.

"I knew you shouldn't have done it. Tommy's acting weird and Agatha is literally coughing up dirt. This has only caused more problems," Lydia said.

"I'm sure everything will work out in the end," Sabrina said, but the confidence she had displayed earlier was gone. Lydia sighed, once again, and placed her hand on Sabrina's shoulder.

"Sure it will."

─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───

REWRITTEN: march 2024
EDITED: october 2024
WORDS: 4,061

AUTHOR'S NOTE! happy halloween!! and happy birthday to the spellman twins!! how fun

i am drowning in homework so i won't say much but i hope you enjoyed this chapter!! please vote and comment if you did :)