Linked

Warehouse

* * * Adam, Erica, Taylor * * *

They got out of the cab when they arrived at Erica's house.

“Follow me.”, Erica commanded, with them following behind her.

They went inside the house to see that it was in the same condition as it was in the last time they were there. Memories of the night were brought back to the minds of Taylor and Adam.

“You need to get this place cleaned up Erica.”, Adam suggested, looking around the place.

“Don't I know that already.”, Erica replied, rolling her eyes at his comment.

She then went upstairs to her room with Taylor following. Adam was still downstairs investigating. She slowly pushed the door open before entering.

“It's OK Erica. No one is here.”, Taylor assured her. She realised she was being a bit too careful.

“This is where I was when Nikolai and his brother kidnapped me.”, she said softly as she looked around.

“Did they hurt you?”, Taylor asked with concern.

Erica shook her head.

“It was more like me hurting them.”, Erica admitted, making Taylor give out a small laugh.

“But I'm alive, and that's all that matters.”

Taylor gave her a half smile in order to comfort her. Erica returned the smile.

“Ah... the skull is under my bed.”, Erica said breaking the silence.

-Taylor: Really?

Erica nodded.

“There's a section under my bed where I hide things. Important things.”

“Why didn't you tell us about the skull?”, Taylor questioned, sitting down on the chair at a desk in the room.

Erica sat on the edge of her bed. She sighed before answering.

“A part of me wanted to, but I was just so focused on using it that it didn't occur to me to tell you guys. I didn't want it to come between us because... we all lost someone, and it would be unfair for me to resurrect my parents, knowing that it wouldn't be possible to use it twice to bring back your loved ones.”, she explained, becoming a bit teary.

Taylor got up from the chair and went over to Erica. She then brought her into her arms and hugged her, comforting her.

“It's OK. I understand.”, Taylor assured her, wiping away the tears from Erica's eyes.

Erica managed to calm down.

“Alright.”, Erica said standing up. “Let's get this over with.”

Taylor nodded. Adam came up a few seconds later with a sandwich in his hand. The girls looked at him in disbelief.

“What?”, he managed to ask with a mouthful. “I was hungry. You're outta bread by the way.”, he added before taking another bite out of the sandwich.

“The skull is under the bed.”, Erica informed him as she took a couple steps back.

She then stretched her hand out, focusing on the bed.

“Nebu mobulus.”, she chanted soothingly, as her eyes glowed blue. (pronounced Ne-boo mo-byu-lus/a spell used to move objects.)

The bed immediately shifts across the room, banging against the chest of drawers beside it  giving space for them to see underneath. She went down on her knees, looking for a small crack in the wooden floor.