Double Down

"You're sure this will work?" Quentin asked Julia.

She took in a sharp breath before her dark, hooded eyes fell on him. He couldn't help but look for a little bit of the old Julia in them. The Julia that he knew long ago, before real magic entered their lives. The Julia before the Brakebills Entrance Exam. The pre-hedgewitch Julia. The Julia who only read about monsters in books.

"It is as good a plan as any other. Trust, Q. We do not have many options left." Her stony gaze looked past him at the rest of his friends. "They are strong magicians. If nothing else, you can at least put your faith in them and their abilities."

Quentin turned his head toward the rest of the group. Alice and Penny were each in their own zen zones, distance between each other, and distance between the rest of the group as well. Alice's lips were moving rapidly. She was either going over spells or convincing herself that she was strong enough to do this. Quentin couldn't tell which. Penny had his arms folded, his bandaged stumps (he lost his hands in the previous battle with the Beast) making him look more angry than he already was to begin with. He was glaring at Eliot and Margo, who were giggling obnoxiously over some private joke.

"Okay, can we just go? Please." There was no politeness in Penny's request.

"Yeah, let's do the damn thing!" Margo agreed. "We're running out of time."

Quentin turned back to Julia. "Alright. This is it. No turning back now."

"Sit down in a circle, everyone," Julia instructed. The magicians did as they were told.

Julia began chanting and casting while the rest of them focused and waited until it was their turn to join in. They were relying on extremely old hedge magic that would hopefully help them kill The Beast from Fillory who was terrorizing Brakebills School for Magical Pedagogy. Quentin still wasn't over the shock and awe of all of his childhood fantasy adventures actually being true. He didn't know he would accidentally unleash evil into his own world. He didn't know he would invite in a force that threatened all of his friends' lives, and magic entirely. He only knew that he had no choice but to try and fix it now.

The spell was a time-bending spell, which was way above Quentin's magical skill level and nothing that Brakebills taught anymore anyway. Not only would it allow him and his friends to go back to another time loop, but it also allowed them to be "in two places at once." They were going to put their present selves into a previous battle with the Beast and see if the doubling of their strength and powers would be enough to eliminate him completely. Julia was a new addition to this cavalry, however. Quentin would never know how to thank her for helping them out like this. He was mostly just glad that she was there, and that she didn't appear to be upset over the fact that he got into Brakebills and she didn't anymore.

Before Quentin could even worry if he was getting the words of the spell right, he opened his eyes and Fillory appeared before him. He took a deep breath of the fantastical air and couldn't help but smile a little in spite of himself. Fillory felt like home even more than Brakebills did.

"Spot on," Eliot noted.

He was right. The spell landed them right outside of the cave where the Beast lay.

"Duck!" Alice cried. "Um. We're coming!"

Sure enough the group saw the past versions of themselves heading into the cave. They scrambled behind rocks and shrubs to remain undetected. Quentin felt deep admiration for his friends in that moment. He felt they looked ready enough for battle. He hoped their present selves were just as prepared as their past selves.

When they were out of hearing range, Penny, straining to look at his own back, realized he didn't feel the pressure of the cacodemon--tattoos Dean Fogg had given them to aid in the battle that held ferocious members of the underworld.

"We don't have our cacodemons." He looked slightly fearful. Then he realized that he still didn't have his hands. "Perfect. I can't do shit. Great plan, geniuses." He kicked at the rock, aggravated.

"Fantastic. We're demon-less," Eliot said nonchalantly.

Throughout history, most warriors went into battle knowing their chances of being defeated were great and would probably have considered themselves godless. Here in Fillory, gods-less. It was pretty fitting that Quentin and his friends were heading in to the fight of their lives demon-less.

"You can still do some verbal spells," Alice suggested.

"Yeah, sure, I can make a little wind here and there. That'll teach the Beast." There was no getting through to him when he was that angry.

"We have to go. Now." Julia rose upon hearing the sounds of battle magic being cast deep within the cave. "Penny, I will do what I can to protect you."

"Time to show this six fingered freak that twice isn't always nice." Margo led the group into the cave's entrance, a look of pure determination on her face.

Inside the darkness of the cave, mayhem ensued. Battle magic spells were being wielded haphazardly, the group was busy trying to shout chants or instructions to each other over the Beast's menacing taunts and cackles, and smoke from past Margo's released cacodemon was making it hard to see.

"Ugh," Margo retched. "Powering up for that looks like a big fart. But, my ass looks so good in those pants!"

She moved closer to her previous self to get a better look, Eliot right behind her.

"My hair really is fabulous," he said. "And you act like you've never seen yourself before. The Margolem incident comes to mind."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot. That's actually her," Margo confessed. "I sat the whole battle thing out once I found out how dangerous this all was."

"Bambi, you didn't!" Eliot gasped in mock horror.

"You're right. I'm not a wuss--"

Margo's voice cut out as she and Eliot were flung like rag dolls against the back cave walls. Their past selves stared in shock, thrown off guard by the presence of well, themselves, and the Beast blasted them against the wall too. They were lifeless heaps of glamour, not a hair on either of the Eliots out of place.

"Vanity," The Beast boomed. "What a way to die." He revved up to start casting again and then too much happened at once. Quentin seemed to freeze as he tried to take it all in.

Alice was heading toward her past self too, blocking a spell that bounced off and nearly took Julia out but she dodged and fired back toward the Beast.

"It's supposed to be Popper 47, not 32," Alice lectured her past self. "No wonder it didn't work. Try again."

Past Quentin wasn't doing much better either. He was distracted by the fact that there were now two Alices battling next to him and even though he attempted to shield them both from the spell, the Beast snapped both of their necks in unison. They crumpled to the floor before Quentin could even react.

Present Penny noticed a spell heading toward his old self and his old hands and jumped in front of himself to try and block it. A horrible gash spread down his side and he fell in front of himself. The shock and horror of seeing himself die made past Penny stall and a rogue cacodemon latched onto his neck, killing him as well.

"I didn't need his two cents anyway!" The Beast joked.

Julia did what she could to help him but was pinned down by falling rocks from a spell that past Quentin misfired. His face was the face of a confused and scared puppy dog. He didn't know where to turn, what was going on, or why he was watching his friends die all around him. And twice for that matter.

Quentin's traumatized trance was broken when he noticed his past self powering up to fire a spell in -can it be?- his own direction. He quickly countered and watched his past self fall at the feet of the Beast, who was hysterical with laughter.

"Quentin Coldwater," he cawed, stepping over past Quentin's dead body. "Of course you killed yourself. You've robbed me of the pleasure of being able to enjoy doing it myself twice in one round."

Quentin waved his hands in an attempt to fire off a battle magic spell but it was too late. The Beast fired a neon blue ice ball in his direction. The pain seared through him, an all-consuming freeze from deep inside. Everything turned blue, then black and cold. He had failed again. Doubly failed this time.