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Chapter 36 Part 3 - The End
Between the chanting, Hilda looked up from maintaining Sabrina’s vitals. Hecate, the Dark Mother, stood at the threshold to the cavern. Hecate didn’t look away from Hilda’s gaze through her veil, as she silently took a single step forward.
“It’s time to call Marie, Zelda,” Hilda spoke softly, not daring to release the Dark Mother’s gaze.
“Continue the chant, Hilda, Agatha.” Zelda closed her eyes for a moment, and from her pocket, extracted the Sennet di, and gave it a shake in its cup. “Marie, it is time.”
A wind and fog whip into the space, a handsome, tall Haitian man stepped from the fog with one foot, and within the next step transformed into a beautiful, tall Haitian woman, her hair bound in a colourful scarf, her jewelry gently clinking as she stood beside Hilda.
“Ma chérie.” Marie held out a hand to Zelda and Hilda, covering the space over Sabrina’s head as Agatha moved toward the feet, continuing the chant. “Hecate cannot have her yet. She has much to do.” The Haitian Ioa of Death and Rebirth, Baron Semedi, known as Marie, held Sabrina’s soul in stasis, her will against the will of the Goddess Hecate.
Hecate stood still, a dark shadow in the room. Through the chanting, Hilda began to cry, hearing Sabrina’s whispered good-bye’s.
The arch containing the Void blustered with activity. Miners who were lost to the Void stumbled out, Roz and Prudence came out in a run, and Ambrose and Harvey followed, shouting about Nicholas opening Pandora’s Box.
Hilda, Zelda, Agatha and Marie continued their chanting. Marie swayed in deep trance, speaking Haitian to the spirits, keeping Sabrina’s souls in her hands. Hilda and Zelda openly wept over the prone, dead body of Sabrina, just as the Void was violently sucked into Pandora’s Box. Nicholas rushed to Robin, gripping his shoulder.
“Get Sabrina’s body, quickly.” Robin nodded and within the blink of an eye was gone and back again. He held Sabrina Spellman’s enchanted body in his arms, and laid it down on the blanket prepared by Nick, beside the altar that Sabrina Morningstar laid upon.
“Marie, do you have both their souls?” Zelda’s voice was harsh and strained, her tears now out of fear, rather than sadness.
“Oui, ma chérie.” Marie nodded stiffly, gritting her teeth in concentration. In each hand, Marie held a soul, one for each Sabrina. It pulsed and grew brighter with the chanting. She fought for control of the souls, knowing that a moment of weakness would mean that Hecate would take them to the Underworld, and they would be harder to reach there.
“Roz, Prudence, Nick and Robin, surround Sabrina’s body, start the ritual.” Hilda called out, as she began pulling the blood back into Sabrina Morningstar’s body. Her hands shook with power and determination, her murmuring coaxing the blood to flow back into its vessel.
“Ambrose, Theo,” Zelda ushered another command. “Call him.”
Ambrose grabbed Theo’s hands and together they began their own chant, calling out to Lucifer. Theo’s ability to see and speak to ghosts had left him open to use his personal magic, just like a witch. The chanting in the room continued, the cadence of the voices and the words flowing through and around the participants, building the magic higher and higher.
But instead of Lucifer, Lilith answered the call.
“What is this?” She gestured around her, at the scene of Chaos, resurrection, and Souls in stasis. She glanced at Hecate, their eyes meeting for but a moment.
“Lilith. Where is Lucifer?” Ambrose, pulled his wand, unsure of what his next step should be.
“Lucifer is dead.” Lilith eyed him and grinned, “Did you need him for something?”
“Sabrina Morningstar’s body is too damaged to hold her soul. We were hoping he could use his Celestial power to fix her.” He rubbed his face, tired and empty. And now hopeless, knowing that Madam Satan will do no such thing to help his cousin. Theo held his hands to his mouth, tears filling his eyes.
“I will help her.”
Startled Ambrose watched her face for deception, a lie, anything to give him a glimpse into her thinking. Theo paused, frozen in fear and an inkling of hope.
“On one condition.”
“Anything.”
“You will barter anything for her life? Hear me first, little Witch,” Lilith snarled, then laughed. “I am no Lucifer. I will not trick you, and I will not let you walk blindly into a deal with the Devil. I owe your Aunties the life of myself and my child.”
“Ask then.” Ambrose ground out the words, the chanting had crescendoed, the magic in the air thick with tension, unable to release.
“Sabrina Morningstar will never be ruler of Hell, nor will she ever attempt to take the throne. And I will save her.” Lilith raised a perfect brow, waiting for the agreement.
“Yes, yes, agreed!” Ambrose grabbed her hand in a shake and then gestured to the Stone Altar, where Marie held the souls of the Sabrina’s in her hands. She had begun shaking, a sheen of sweat upon her brow, her eyes closed in concentration. The souls in her hands lit the room like two small suns, their peak growth almost ready for the resurrection. Hecate was a few steps closer in the room now, hovering dangerously close to Marie and the two souls.
Lilith swayed up the steps, gently moving Agatha aside at the foot of Sabrina Morningstar. Agatha continued her chant, her skin pale and drained. With the placement of her palms to Sabrina’s legs, Lilith closed her eyes and concentrated.
“There isn’t enough blood within her,” Hilda sobbed, concentrating on closing the wound upon her chest.
Lilith tsked and with her own blade-sharp nail, sliced the side of her hand open. Another slash and Sabrina’s leg was open but not bleeding. Placing a few drops of her own blood into the wound, she waved her other hand, closing both cuts and nodding. “Her body is ready.”
Hecate, in her dark robes, her face shaded by a veil, was directly behind Marie now, and she cocked her head, meeting Lilith’s amused smirk.
Marie lowered the soul of Sabrina Morningstar to the open mouth of her body. Moving stiffly to the side, she knelt and lowered the soul of Sabrina Spellman within the body.
The magic snapped tight, constricting the air as the chanting died down. For a moment magic lay heavy in the space, until a loud cracking release of the spells, followed by a rush of fresh air filled the cavern.
“And so it is.” The witches in the room spoke as one.
Both Sabrina’s gasped and sat up.
The room burst with noise and laughter, crying and tight hugs. Lilith stepped into the shadows, at the same time as the dark figure of Hecate. Lilith nodded in respect. Both of them were gone before the chaos settled down.