SUNNYVALE

(53) HOME SWEET HOME, OR NOT

The Circle looked exactly the same than it did in the original dimension, at least that was the first thought that came to Sam's mind when she and her sister Kristie entered the bar, followed by Alex and Leah. Already inside, laughing their asses off, were Becky, Megan, Allie, Lynn and Lindsey and, a little further, familiar faces like AD and Quinn were discussing a pretty serious subject, that probably had to do with the philosophy of the world that is truly fucked up, or something. 

As soon as she spots Christen in the table with her friends, Sam sighs in relief, before throwing herself inside the dark-haired arms - although they did not know each other that much, so be honest. But Christen nonetheless hugs her back, happy to see a familiar (living) face. When she spots Krisite, however, she frowns, immediately breaking the embrace.

Before she can say anything, Allie Long exclaims:

"C'mon, you two, come and sit: we've got some catching up to do, 'cause you don't understand shit about what's going on in Sunnyvale, do you?"

As her ghosts-friends laugh, Christen and Sam exchange a suspicious look, before sitting down slowly next to each other. Kristie sits right next to her little sister, holding her hand tight. Although Sam knew they were in another dimension, the love she felt for her sister felt more real than ever. 

But they would catch up later: for now, Megan was staring at them, losing her smile when Sam recaps:

"So, what we learnt so far was that, 1) Shelina isn't the witch's heiress but her reincarnation - therefore she's a hundreds-of-years-old witch and we still haven't found her in this dimension, 2) Kelley is an evil bitch and wants to take over her father's throne for whatever fucked up reason, and..."

"Slow down" Christen lets out, confused, "what do you mean she wants to take her father's throne? What about the curse?"

"Spoiler alert" Lynn jumps into the conversation, smirking, "the curse doesn't exist: rather, Ophelia Mollis Zora, aka Shelina Zadorsky as you know her, was indeed burnt to death for being gay, but she never spelt any curse. Satan fell in love with her and got jealous, therefore, when she did not feel the same way - well, she's a full-on lesbian - he decided to damn her for all of eternity."

Sam and Christen were making weird faces.

"In each one of her lives, the witch would fall in love with the reincarnation of the love of her life - in this one, our dear friend Crystal - before losing her all over again and then it starts over, and over, and over again." Becky finishes the explanation, clearing up their minds. 

"That's awful" Sam breathes out, deeply moved. Of course she couldn't stop thinking about Abby and Tierna when she adds: "Poor Ophelia... I mean, Shelina."

But Christen wasn't that moved. 

Not only did she just find out that the girl she was starting to fall for before getting propelled into another dimension only to find out she was the Angel of Death's daughter, but she also realised that they were wrong since the beginning, and that only gained Kelley some time to kill as many people as she could to then do whatever she has to do.

Frowning, she asks:

"If the witch isn't killing people to then murder her own heir, then Kelley is? (The ghosts-girls nod, as she adds:) Why, though?"

"Because" Lindsey takes over, "Kelley created the shadows thanks to her power, and each time they kill someone, she sucks in their energy and uses it to channel her powers. She's already murdered 14 people, and she only needs one more to achieve her maximum strength, and then she'll be able to confront her father."

"Does she have to, like, kill him or something ?" Sam asks, raising her eyebrows in shock. 

Megan shrugs.

"We're not sure, but one thing is certain: since celestials cannot kill their own siblings, the only person with as much powers as Kelley needs to defeat Satan is the witch herself, so Shelina - once the fifteenth victim is dead, Kelley will go after her." she says, dramatic. 

Christen rolls her eyes.

"And what are we supposed to do then, uh?" she aggressively asks, getting on her feet: "it's not like we are powerful enough to defeat her or something - hell, she's like a modern version of Satan."

"All the other reincarnations of the witch were murdered because The Five and the witch did not ally: in this life, the five of you have found each other, and I do believe that it might be enough to stop Kelley from achieving her plans." Becky says, setting her jaw. 

"But now we're in another dimension, how are we supposed to get the five of us together?" Christen asks again, defeatist. As everybody sigh, she adds: "I mean, Abby is too emotionally unstable to control her powers, Shelina and Tierna just discovered theirs, and Sam doesn't even know hers at the moment - (she turns toward Sam, saying:) no offence, Sammy."

A long silence follows her words: indeed, they had no idea how to save the whole town - hell, the whole world - from what was about to happen...

But Sammy suddenly turns to her sister, and asks:

"Wait a minute: if you put yourself in a coma willingly, does how did you find out about all that?" 

Kristie smirks. 

"Because when I was possessed by Kelley, I had visions..."

***

Shelina wakes up on the ground, in the middle of the Black Forest, feeling an oppressive feeling taking over her whole chest.

The ground was colder than usual, and the trees darker than they usually were. A cold wind was blowing around her, going through her hair and making her shiver. She was dressed with a black gown, that she had never seen in her life. Frowning, she slowly gets up, only to almost fall again, her legs shaking like never before. 

Feeling a light pain in her chest again, she looks up at the tree in front of her, and realises with horror that words start drawing themselves on the tree's trunk, with a colour that resembles blood:

YOU CANNOT HIDE

I WILL FIND YOU