✓ 𝐖.𝐈.𝐓.𝐂.𝐇. | ʜᴏᴄᴜꜱ ᴘᴏᴄᴜꜱ

𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻

     "SAY WHAT YOU WANT, JUST DON'T BREATHE ON ME."

     "billy!" winnifred called, still trying to get him to kill me. "i killed you once. i shall kill you again, you maggoty malfeasance."

     billy instead threw his arm at her, shoving her aside. he let me go, surprisingly, and i didn't feel threatened by him much longer.

     "hang on to your heads!" winnifred shouted as we ran away.

     ran was an understatement. billy wasn't so accustomed to running, so instead he sort of just limped his way in front of me, leading me somewhere.

     i finally saw everyone and ran to them. they must have thought that billy was chasing me because they held up their shovels and started to swing at billy.

     "wait, wait, no!" i yelled, putting my hands up in defense of billy. "he's a good zombie!"

     max threw his shovel down, followed by the rest of them. billy even handed me my pocket knife back, and i put it into my sleeve where it usually was.

     theo ran to me and grabbed my arms, most likely checking for cuts or bruises or some sort of blemish showing that i had been hurt.

     "theo, i'm fine," i told him, but he continued searching. "theo, i'm okay!"

     he kept ignoring me, pulling up my sleeves and moving my hair. i kept trying to reassure him that i was fine and nothing had happened.

     i grabbed the side of his head and looked him in the eyes. "theo, i'm fine."

     this was his cue to kiss me. to wrap his fingers in my hair; enclose them around my neck. hard. just hard enough to feel my pulse, the quiet beat beating. i wouldn't always be this vulnerable, this open. right now my trust was in the palm of his hand.

     this was his cue to pull me closer. place a gentle thumb on my bottom lip and breathe.

     "i'm okay," i said.

    "okay."

     we were interrupted by allison and max laughing their brains out. clearly, they weren't accustomed to people actually liking each other.

     but i digress..

     "we'll have to hold them out until dawn," thackery said, walking through a grave.

     dani laughed. "you mean hold them off of each other!"

     thackery jumped on top of a headstone and yelled at them to get their heads out of the gutter and help.

     billy helped dani enter a small grave they had been digging. it was just her size and the witches shouldn't have been able to get to her. especially after allison created a salt ring around the grave.

     "here they come!" thackery yelled as the sisters flew above us on their (broom?)sticks. "billy, guard dani. the rest of you, spread out!"

     we did as we were told and each went to a different part of the clearing, ready to fight these witches. dawn was coming closer, so all we had to do was hold them off until then.

     "for the last time," winnifred prompted, "prepare to meet thy doom!"

     max tried to swing at her, but she snatched the wooden baseball bat right out of his hands and chased him down. he managed to dive just before she grabbed him by the collar.

     winnifred then used her zeus magic to strike the branch of a tree down right beside the hole that dani had been hiding in.

     "go to hell!" billy shouted.

     winnifred giggled. "oh, i've been there, thank you. i found it quite lovely."

     she then took advantage of the moment and swooped down and kicked billy's head clean off. i half-expected blood to start spitting from his head like in the movies. granted, he had probably lost all of his blood 300 years ago.

     whenever a sister would come flying at us, we managed to duck down right before they could grab our shirts and dangle us in the air.

     dani, however, was not so lucky. while she was giving billy his head back, winnifred sanderson managed to grab her and fly up, dani screaming and shrieking as she flew.

     "dani!" max yelled, jumping up, doing his best to try and grab her.

     winnifred cackled, setting dani on her broomstick. "bye-bye, big brother!"

     everyone stood at the highest point in the clearing, all of us silent as we thought about the best way to handle the situation. i figured we could just tell dani to jump, but she could do it wrong and end up busting her head open.

     "all right, you little trollimog," winnifred said, pulling out a green vile.

     dani screamed, but winnifred covered her mouth. she was probably planning on pouring the elixir right into her mouth if it wasn't for thackery jumping on her shoulder and knocking it out of her hand.

     max rushed forward and caught the green vile before it could crash and break. but instead of the vile breaking, thackery binx was thrown to the ground and was crushed on a rock.

     even though i assumed he would be fine, i still made a promise to him that i would protect him no matter what. i rushed to the cat and held him in my hands. he would come back. he couldn't be dead. he couldn't be.

     "put her down or i'll smash it!" max threatened, holding the vile above his head.

     winnifred held dani, and a single wrong move could kill her if she wanted to. "smash it and she dies!"

     allison tried to get to max, but billy held her back. he was surprisingly strong for a zombie. and that came from experience.

     max had a very important decision to make. he could either smash the vile and risk killing his sister or he could give her the vile and kill his sister.

     but then max did something that was very brave and very stupid.

     he drank the elixir.