A/N: THE BIG CHAPTER!
Tessa flew as fast as she could to the store. Instead of buying her food for the week, she collected all the ingredients she needed for the two potions, then flew home. Her mind was racing. She had a theory; she wasn't exactly sure if it would work, but she had a shot. Panting, she set up the pots in the kitchen. She just hoped that the spirit wasn't watching her. The potions needed a week to mature properly, which Tessa thought was way too much, but she couldn't do anything. She dashed around the kitchen, feverishly chopping and dicing and pouring and straining. As the first potion stewed, she sat down and contemplated what she was planning to do. The only thing that could reverse the process without leaving her dead was extinct. There was a lonely life ahead of her. She would lose nearly everything, and even if she could still attend Mage Secondary, there would be so many limitations. But what other choice did she have? She was pretty sure that the spirit would start killing for fun soon. Plus, if the spirit got tired of Ella, he would kill her, and even if he didn't, she would be in pain for eternity, since if a spirit possessed someone, they would never die. She couldn't let any of that happen. Tessa stood up and got back to work. An hour passed, and she was sweating bullets from nerves and the high temperature required to make the potion. When the potion was finished, she stuck it in the fridge and started working on the other one. With this one, she had no qualms about planning to use it. She hurriedly worked through the recipe, her free time nearly gone. With fifteen minutes to spare, she put it in the fridge. Panting, she rushed upstairs, showered, and brushed her teeth. A minute before the shocks would begin, she came out of the bathroom. She tried to think through what she had just done. The customary announcement came, announcing bedtime, and Tessa climbed into her bed. She was too wired to fall asleep, though. She couldn't believe she had just come up with a plan to get rid of their overlord, gone through with the first phase of the plan, and resumed life like there was nothing wrong, that what she had in the fridge couldn't have her killed, like her friends and family weren't sitting, frozen, in a cellar, like her whole life wasn't a jumble of anxiety and uncertainty.
. . . . .
Ella was growing weaker by the day, having panic attacks about her personality fading away and her body belonging to the spirit forever. Every day, she thought about her best friend, Amelia, her dad, and Tessa, and that helped her bear it. As she paced her mind-space, her hands trembled, she felt faint, and the ice knives seemed to pierce her skin even more every hour. Today (or was it night? She couldn't tell, since the spirit kept all the blinds closed and she didn't want to focus on sounds outside the mind-space anymore), she didn't even get up off of the floor where she had collapsed earlier. Meanwhile, the spirit was plotting an extinction of the normals by increasing the amount of lightning coming from the storm clouds covering the world. "Every single one of those ungifted loons will be wiped out!" he had crowed while gloating to Ella about his plan. Ella felt like all of it was her fault. If she could be stronger, she could have pushed the spirit out- no. It was no use thinking like that. But all she had to think about was her captivity, the destruction the world was going to see, the possible death of everyone she loved... so, depressing stuff (A/N: OMG I USED THE WORD STUFF I'M SUCH A REBEL MY ENGLISH TEACHER MUST BE DROPPING DEAD RIGHT ABOUT NOW). The only other thing that she could really think about was potions, but that generally led to thinking about potions that the spirit could use for more destruction. She couldn't even sleep for too long, since her mind needed less rest than her body. The only thing that needed to be added to her situation was her having to kill her best friend Amelia, her dad, and Tessa, then it would be her own personal hell. She was stuck in a hole, hating every moment of her continued existence, and there was nobody to get her out.
. . . . .
An increasingly nerve-racking week had passed, finally. Throughout the week, at work, Tessa had been hearing about raids on houses that left people injured and dead for small things like going to bed a minute late five days in a row, or having candy, or going to the bathroom in the middle of the night. She turned on the TV and switched to the news channel. In the normal world, lightning was coming down five times a second. This is not good, she thought. I have to stop this. Tessa ran to the fridge, put the potions into two water bottles, and put them in her bag. She would drive to the Head Mage's house- well, now the spirit's house- and drink the first. potion. Then she would execute her plan and use the second. She was about to enter the garage when she heard a pounding on her door. "OPEN UP!" somebody yelled outside. "WE'RE HERE TO QUESTION YOU ABOUT THE WHEREABOUTS OF ARYA CHATTERJEE, MOTHER TO TESSA GREYTHORNE AND MARK GREYTHORNE!"
Tessa paled with dread. Shit, she thought. She dashed to her room, locked the door, and started thinking out her options. Suddenly, a loud boom echoed through the house; the officials were using a battering ram. SHIT, Tessa thought again. Her options were to turn herself in, which she would never do, fly out of the window, which would get her caught even if she was invisible- officials always carried mage radars to catch invisible criminals- or she could try to make a portal. They would be able to trace her, but they wouldn't think to check for portal residue- after all, the member of the household with the needed experience was the one missing. Even though Tessa only had a slight chance of it actually working, it was her best shot. Gold, white, and black sparks shot from her hands. She heard the door splinter and the officials enter the house. Suddenly, a whirling gold circle appeared on her wall. It worked! she thought, surprised. She grabbed her bag and jumped through, and the portal sealed behind her as she left.
She landed in the entryway of the house. She pulled out the first potion, ready to chug it down at a moment's notice. Hearing something, she crept up the stairs. The noises were coming from the first room. Tessa took a deep breath, preparing for the life that was to follow, and burst through the door.
Ella turned to face her. "What is this, Tessa?" she said. Tessa knew it was the spirit, but she felt herself go weak at the knees all the same.
Tessa took the potion.
A thousand ice shards buried themselves in her.
They melted away, leaving Tessa as a shining golden spirit.
She used magic to pull her bag with her. She threw the bag and tried to possess Ella.
Tessa and the spirit had a battle of wills. It only lasted a split second, but it seemed like forever to Tessa.
Finally, the spirit shot out of Ella and Tessa was in full control of Ella's bodily functions.
She could sense Ella, confined in a section of their mind, but Tessa had to focus on catching the bag.
She fumbled with the strap.
It fell through her hands.
Falling to the floor.
She grabbed it by the top strap.
She had it in her hands.
She pulled out the potion.
She unscrewed the lid and dumped the whole spirit-killing potion on the evil apparition.
With a wail, a curse, and a flip of the middle finger, he was gone.
Tessa stopped her possession of Ella.
Ella regained control of herself and collapsed on the floor, crying.
Everything culminated in those few moments.
He was gone.
Really, truly gone.
They were free.
A/N: Hoped you liked it, but the ride's not over yet, kiddies! Tune in tomorrow for the resolution! Vote, comment, share, follow!
-Deepio the Slytherin
