Witch Doctors Inc: SEASON TWO (Ongoing)

Part 3.16

"We need a real plan." I glare at my friends one by one.

"Don't worry, Lily, we'll make one," Addy assures me. "And none of this is your fault. You healed the first victim too, remember? So no one was harmed in the end."

"The skreevar was harmed," I say quietly.

Silence settles around us. We're outside the Laran Valley crater, baking alongside the red rock. Our coolness charms shimmer in the air above us.

"No one blames you for that," Maya says. "The skreevar was about to kill someone. It was absolutely natural to panic."

I blame her, Onyx says.

I scowl. "No one asked you."

I swear, I should have just left him in the valley. The Laran children would appreciate a pet cat.

"It was pretty stupid to go near those skreevar eggs," Ruby backs Onyx up. "And going into the forest alone, without telling any of us? That was a dumb move."

Do I regret what I did? Yes. But I had to do something. I still have to do something. "I need to get Scion without disturbing the skreevar," I say, not bothering to respond to Ruby.

Addy scrunches up her face. "Scion? Lil, I thought we were here for Onyx's orb."

Onyx scowls. Lily has taken it upon herself to remove Scion and the fire demon from the Laran Valley.

"I thought this was a quiet in and out?" Maya frowns. "Scion wants us to free him, remember? We'd be eating right out of his palm."

"It doesn't matter what Scion wants," I argue. "It's about keeping the Larans safe. The skreevar won't leave them alone until all intruders have left their territory."

"But the Larans have nothing to do with Scion," Addy says.

"Tell that to the skreevar," I mutter.

Ruby folds her arms. "Does anyone else find it completely dumb that we came all this way just to do exactly what Scion planned? Does anyone think it's maybe a bad idea to release two of this planet's most dangerous enemies?"

I think it is an absolutely infantile idea, Onyx says.

I turn on him. "You want your orb? Yes? Then we're doing things my way."

You mean Scion's way, he shoots back.

"I mean the only way," I clarify.

He can't stop me. If I choose to take Scion out of the prison, he can't do a thing about it. He's not powerful enough to stop me in his current form.

Very well, he relents. But if all goes wrong, everyone here must remember to blame Lily.

I throw a pebble at him.

He sniggers and dodges.

"How are we going to find the prison?" Addy wonders out loud. "You don't want to run into any more skreevar eggs. And is there any way the rest of us can help?"

I can find the prison by sensing the illyrite's energy, Onyx says.

"You can?" I say, surprised. Maybe it wasn't a bad idea to take him along after all.

Yes, Lily, I can. If you had asked me in the first place, you would never have ended up with eggs instead.

"Whatever," I mutter. "So I'll teleport to the prison, then I'll find the orb and teleport it back, then I'll -"

"Whoa, hold on," Ruby cuts me off. "There you go trying to do everything on your own again. You have a magic cat. Make use of him."

Ruby is right, Onyx says. We will both enter the prison. I will find the Orb of Phaedra and teleport with it out of the valley. Lily, when you are close enough to Scion and the demon, quickly teleport the three of you to the same location. I shall be waiting in my true form.

"Why can't I get the orb too? You're weak and puny in this form. If you get caught before you get the orb, you won't stand a chance."

If you go on your own, the whole plan will unravel if you make a mistake.

I don't like what he's implying here, but he's right all the same. We need options if something goes wrong.

"Fine," I say. "We'll do it the idiot cat's way. Both of us will go."

I am relieved that the infantile witch finally sees sense, Onyx says.

I narrow my eyes at him. "It's you and me, cat. Don't stuff this up."

Onyx yawns into the heat. I was about to say the same thing to you, he says.