Tame Your Fears

Death's Hand in Mine

Lilia was angry. She was more than angry, she was furious. First, she had her mind hijacked by one child and then she was thrown in the mud by the other one, who just so happened to be Agatha fucking Harkness' bastard child. And now, his fucking familiar wouldn't leave her alone and refused to walk at all. Jen at least could be bothered to carry the damn thing but Lilia could not. They were in a tunnel system, the roots of the trees on the Road stuck out at odd places and tried to snap their necks or have them trip over their ankles. She blinked and-

Darkness. Surrounding every side of her. The wind, rushing by. Hands, out reached, looking for something to hold on to. There was nothing for her. Her time was over. She was dead. She was-

Her eyes opened. "I was falling."

"Yeah, we both were." Jen looked back at her, covered in mud. They were in a new tunnel now, the walls cracked with yellow, dripping something wet. Lilia looked around, when had they strayed from their original path? Where-

"Where are we?" She asked, looking at a small songbird perched on Jen's shoulder. Talis. Those beady eyes looked back at her with amusement.

"You very clearly said we had to follow this gross tunnel and look for shelving." Jen replied, pointing at the walls on either side of her, sounding annoyed. Lilia was used to that at least, her gift was not something she enjoyed much nowadays either. Always losing track of time, of people, of the path they were all heading on.

Screams. Someone was screaming. Hands grabbing at each other. A orange light-

"Shelving?" Lilia shook her head, enough with the visions, "I don't know what the means."

"Neither do I," Jen groaned, "But I listened to you."

"Where's Agatha? Where's Rio?" Her head hurt. Lilia needed answers. What was true and what wasn't?

"You told me that they were-" Jen but then the pieces clicked for Lilia. "Teen kicked us off the Road."

"The son of the Scarlet Witch kicked Agatha off the Road." Jen corrected, "And then the son of Agatha Harkness kicked us off the Road right after."

"What?" Lilia's voice echoed through the tunnel, louder than she should be, her mind catching on bits and pieces of Jen said before formatting it into something she could make sense of, "Teen is the son of the Scarlet Witch? How do you know?" Jen made a confused face and didn't answer, letting Lilia fill in the blanks herself, "I told you."

"Yeah." Jen said softly, looking at her with apprehension before heading further into the tunnel. Leaving Lilia alone. Lilia hurried after her, "I'm filthy." She looked at Jen, "You're filthy."

"Yeah." Jen snorted, "Fittingly, you and I had a very grounding heart to heart conversation."

"Us? Really?' Lilia couldn't believe it. She didn't tend to get along with witches in the best of times when they all loved each other and all that kumbaya crap. She liked Jen more than she liked Agatha, sure, but that was a low bar most people tended to pass with flying colors.

"Okay, rude." Jen muttered, "Five minutes ago Lilia would never say something like that." She stopped and turned around to face her yet again, "You said this might happen, but you're being extra...wispy."

"Wispy?" Lilia said in disbelief.

"Kooky." Jen replied.

"Which is it? Am I wispy or am I kooky?" Lilia was saying to...to Alice. Not Jen.

"A bit of both if I'm honest." Alice said, looking confused.

"Alice." Lilia felt relief surge through her. She could fix this and none of whatever was happening would be happening, "Alice, don't."