Only a few minutes had passed since I had entered The Null.
Cathy was still in her room, thinking about all that had happened and regretting it. Erika was nowhere in sight, suspiciously, and Amelia was cleaning the downstairs hallway with a mop, jauntily humming a tune.
Jack had finished raking the grass of the lawn back onto the dirt patch the three of us had destroyed the previous day by landing unceremoniously outside.
"Whew..." Jack said as he wiped his forehead of non-existent sweat and threw the rake down, making his way back inside the house. "Man, I've gotta take a pee break after all that!" he muttered to himself, pulling out from the pocket of his jacket an earphone case, putting in the two earbuds and listening to famous artist and musician 'The Weekday'.
Jack made his way upstairs, to the second floor bathroom. The house had at least six different bathrooms — three downstairs and three upstairs. He decided to use the one closest to his room, the upstairs hallway bathroom.
He walked down the hallway, enjoying his music and smiling, and he passed by Cathy's room. Out of pure curiosity he decided to take off his right earbud and press his ear against the door. Nothing — she must've been asleep.
"Oh well!" He shrugged and continued walking down the hallway and into the bathroom.
He had locked the door, but unbeknownst to him, a strange energy had begun flowing through the walls of the room.
Jack then started to pee.
"Yes, yes, yes…" The sound came from the toilet. Jack was not paying attention and was looking at the ceiling, enjoying his music.
Jack glanced down at the toilet.
"What…"
Out of the toilet rose a man's head. The man had short black hair and eyes and looked to be in his thirties — a complete stranger. But something felt familiar about him.
A shiver ran down Jack's spine and he started feeling nauseous.
"Yes… Yes!" The man uttered once more.
Jack's eyes widened. He blinked once, twice. And screamed as the realization hit him.
"Huh?! W-where did you come from?!" Jack fell backwards, his fall broken by the door. He quickly pulled up his pants as the stranger opened his mouth.
A jet of water came from his mouth and shot out at Jack's head. With a huff, Jack dropped to his knees and onto his palms, dodging the jet.
"Oh boy… I'm sorry for peeing on you! But what the heck is this about?! Who are you?! Ah!"
"Yes! Yes… yes…" The stranger in the toilet responded, shooting out more water at Jack.
Jack reached for the door handle, but out of the keyhole came out the head of the same stranger, except smaller. There were now two matching heads of this stranger in the same room of different sizes and in two different places at once. This had to be the work of The Syndicate.
"Ah! Another one?! I didn't know they hired freaks like you!" Jack punched the keyhole, the tiny head retreating back in and then popping back out, its mouth opening to spit a spray of sawdust at Jack.
"Yes, yes... yes…" the head in the keyhole said as it shot out a stream of sawdust towards Jack's head. It was pressurized like a laser beam, so Jack once again dropped to the floor and pushed himself up, kicking the door open.
"Yes what?! Ah! James?! Erika?! Who — damn it!" Jack looked around the hallway and hid behind the now open bathroom door.
He peeked inside, once. A jet of both water and sawdust aimed right for his eyes. He fell backwards just before it could hit him, a speck of it entering his left eye.
"Ack! This — who are you weirdos?! Leave me alone!" Jack said as he rubbed his eye, getting the sawdust particle out.
He stood up and shut the door, leaning against the wall.
"Phew... I didn't think I'd get to have another battle so soon, and in my own house too… This isn't good, we're in danger. I've got to tell the others."
The hallway itself was very beautiful. Flower vases lined the hallway as they were laid on top of small wooden tables with drawers. A head came out of the vase in front of Jack, his eyes widening again at the sight of it.
"Yes, yes, yes…" it muttered to itself as its mouth opened wide.
Jack took the chance to sprint down the hallway. Every subsequent vase alongside the right wall had a new head growing out of it, all resembling the same strange man and all uttering the same sentences. They began shooting at him from their mouths with flower seeds — many pressurized jets of flower seeds.
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" they all chanted in unison.
Jack took off the jacket off his arms and raised it above his head like a covering to protect himself from the onslaught.
"Leave me alone! You… Yes weirdos!"
Jack made his way to the end of the hallway, where Cathy and James' guest rooms were. Jack barged inside of Cathy's room.
She sat up startled from her sleep and instinctively threw a pillow at him.
"What...?! Oh, it's you... What do you want, you bloody idiot? Can't you see I'm sleeping? What's with all the yelling anyway…?"
Jack took a deep breath and slid down the door, lying at the bottom of it with his legs stretched out to the other side of the door, forming a sort of barricade with his body.
"Yikes… Okay, so… There were heads coming out of everything! First there was a head in the toilet and then the keyhole and then the vases shot at me and—"
Cathy rose from the bed, throwing another pillow at him.
"Slow down! Blabbering buffoon. Hold on… So, you're telling me heads started coming out of holes to shoot at you? Wow, that's so funny. Go away."
"Yes! With increasingly smaller projectiles in pressured streams! They have… optimal velocity!"
Cathy snickered and shook her head.
"Wow, getting all sciency on me? Ha, ha, very funny, Jack... Why don't you go tell Amelia or Erika? I'm going back to sleep… This pillow's gonna haunt me with its softness, forever."
Just as Cathy turned around, yet another head rose from the opened pillowcase of one of the pillows on the bed.
"Yes, yes…" the strange head uttered and opened its mouth, shooting a stream of pressurized sharp feathers.
They didn't stop on Cathy's aura. Something strange happened — they passed through it. She quickly put her hands to her eyes, but it was too late. A few of them had already stabbed her stomach and arms.
"Cathy! No! First Step: Apex!" Jack moved in a blur, his eyes began glowing. He quickly kicked Cathy's shin as the aura began flickering. His foot connecting with her leg made her drop down to the floor. Jack caught her and they both rolled underneath the bed itself.
"Wh — what the fuck?! Jack?! What was that?! It — my arms! Ahh... It hurts. Why didn't you warn me sooner, you asshat?!"
"What?! I literally just told you! You didn't listen to me! But anyway — how did the feathers get through your aura?"
"I don't know! Shut up! Maybe it'll leave if we're quiet..."
The head on top of the bed looked around, being unable to find its targets.
"Yes…" It said as it retracted back into the pillow.
The room was suddenly very quiet, other than Jack and Cathy's heavy breathing. Her aura seemingly flickered to life again, pushing Jack back against the foot of the bed.
"Ow! I'm fine..." He rubbed his head as they both remained quiet.
Suddenly, a deep voice could be heard behind them.
"Yes yes yes... yes... yes..."
They both slowly turned to see a giant head forming from the back of the wall under the bed, glowing into existence from the wall itself. The head's large black eyes stared back at them. Something seemed familiar to Jack about them. The head's mouth opened.
"Quick! Move your arse, you moron!" Cathy grabbed Jack and threw him towards the door with too much panicked force. The door flung open and Jack fell back against the railing of the staircase leading downstairs.
Cathy flew out from under the bed, pulling the blanket from up top with her to cover the underside of the bed with, but it was too late. From below the bed, the head began shooting out a massive beam of wooden blocks, about the same size as a nightstand's legs.
Cathy shut the door with a flick of her wrist, but the wood burst through it anyway. She threw herself down onto the floor and to the left of Jack, both ducking from the beam. The beam itself hit a large window just above the foyer with a beautiful mosaic design. The window broke, shards of glass flying everywhere as the wooden blocks flew outside onto the lawn. The mosaic was no longer recognizable.
"Holy crap... Look! They're glowing!" Jack pointed to one of the stray wooden blocks that fell alongside them. It had been glowing with the same white light as Jack's eyes, a faint white mist around it.
"Cathy, I think these are imbued with Flow! It doesn't look like they know how to use The Ten Steps… This is raw, that means it's super dangerous."
"Is that really that important right now?! If we die, I'm suing you! W-what's Flow anyway?!"
Jack grabbed the wooden block and stood up, moving to Cathy's left side. He took a deep breath and threw the wooden block back into the beam, not before imbuing it with his own Flow. Jack didn't know what he was doing — it just felt natural.
Every single other wooden block in the beam exploded in splinters. Cathy quickly ducked behind Jack, no longer confident in her aura to protect her. Jack took off his leather jacket and used it as a shield, closing his eyes. The wooden blocks burst all the way into the room, and into the head's mouth, causing it to explode.
"Ye-Yeeeeessss!—" the head yelled out as it popped grossly, flinging the bed upside down and throwing wood and debris everywhere through the room.
"Hah... oh man, I think we killed it." Jack put his leather jacket onto Cathy and went over to the now fallen door.
"Be more careful! Don't lose your eyes, idiot! We have no idea what this is! Ack… damn it… They did a number on me." Cathy clutched her abdomen in pain and pulled out the earlier feather that got stuck in it. The aura quickly flung it away, embedding it into the wall.
Jack gave her a quick nod and made a shush gesture as he peeked inside the room. The head was simply gone — no blood, no guts, just destruction and wood. Everything suddenly felt way too quiet.
[The Daniels Estate, Havok, Piasu, Ryomania, 10:40 AM, May 7th, Tuesday, 2025]
"It vanished back into the wall! We're clear." Jack went out into the hallway again, his gaze landing on Cathy. "It's gone, for now, whatever they are. Ay, you alright, girl?"
Cathy winced in pain and stood up.
"Don't 'girl' me, or you're losing a ponytail. And yeah, I'm fine. We should... probably get help."
Jack chuckled and stepped closer.
"Hey, I'm just trying to make you feel better. You got hit in the 'gas tank,' so… do you want to be healed?"
Cathy's eyes widened, her arms crossing.
"What? Gas tank — excuse me? What did you just say?"
Jack stepped closer until he was face to face with her.
"The Third Step, Ruach, allows me to heal myself or others… I mean, that's how I healed myself at school. You know, in the inner courtyard? Before… Ahem, anyway. So, do you want to be healed?"
Cathy's eyes narrowed further in anger.
"You?! You could heal yourself and us all this time?!" She paused for a moment.
If he could heal himself, if he can heal me… Could he have healed Normand?! Could he have done something?! was all that was going through her mind.
"Just… answer me this! Could you have done anything about Normand?!"
Jack sighed and leaned against the staircase's railing.
"Nah. Sorry. He didn't look controlled like Keito did. And he even healed himself in battle! Probably using Ruach. That was just him being devoted to a lie. He must've liked The Boss a lot."
Cathy shuddered and ran a hand through her hair.
"I… Fine... Whatever, just make it quick. I'm only agreeing because of this stupid aura that's somehow dumber than you. I swear, if I end up starving because of this, I'm eating one of you."
Jack smirked and reached out, closing his eyes. The faint white mist still radiating from them, his hands began glowing with a white aura as he muttered.
"Third Step: Ruach..."
The white glowing aura stretched out, enveloping Cathy's purple aura. The wound on her stomach and arm began healing quickly, tiny white glowing particles floating from her pores.
Jack opened his eyes and turned, looking down at the now broken mosaic on the foyer floor.
"Oh man... Erika is gonna kill me for that."
"Yeah… Hey, thanks, I guess."
Jack glanced back at her, sensing her tension. Pulling back his hands, the aura withdrew back onto him and disappeared.
"No problem. You know, I've been meaning to ask, now that we sort-of have time to breathe... What happened to Jasmine? Where is she? She hasn't called us."
Cathy turned to face him, a dawning look of realization across her face.
"Fuck... I... J-Jasmine got taken. By The Boss."
"Oh." Jack paused, going very still as he looked away from Cathy. "I'm sorry to hear that… We'll get her back though! We're fast and strong! And yeah! Okay? No crying, please?"
Cathy sighed and punched the wall weakly.
"I feel so weak! Ugh, it's annoying! Shut up."
"You're fine. You're one of the strongest people I know. That's why you're still here, isn't it? That's why we're here. You've been helping us."
Cathy chuckled weakly and smiled at him.
"You cheeky bastard, you always know what to say… I'd hug you if I weren't in a metaphorical straight-jacket."
"Dunno, sis says my charm's hereditary!" He shrugged and continued looking down into the foyer.
Suddenly an even louder sound came from Cathy's room than before — a loud growl and the same repeated words in an even deeper voice than the Bed Head.
"Yes... ye-ye-ye!"
A ginormous head grew from the room, pushing out of it and almost knocking Jack and Cathy down over the railing, but Cathy managed to grab Jack and float above the stairs with him.
"Wah!? These stupid things… Ugh! What sort of ability is this even?!" she growled in frustration.
The head opened its mouth. She lifted both of her hands and closed her eyes. The entire staircase railing flew up, ripping the metal supports and pressing them together again to make a giant sword with spikes.
"Yes-ye-yeeeeees!" the head yelled as everything from within the room itself began flying out of its mouth, including the paint on the walls.
Cathy also acted, throwing the railing into its mouth, spearing the giant head, but it was too late. The bed flew out of its mouth and knocked both Cathy and Jack down into the foyer.
"Ow... I think we killed it, but your room is destroyed… My back's fine though."
"It's only a guest room, dummy. Get up."
Cathy flew up again, looking over the stairs. Indeed, the head vanished again in the same glowing light. She sighed and flew back down.
"I'm getting tired of this little back and forth. We have to get to the bottom of this. Let's find Erika."
They both nodded and made their way down the ground hallway, bumping into Amelia who was mopping the floors.
Jack's eyes glowed, his hands shot out, grabbing the mop mid-air, spinning it and putting it back in the mop bucket.
"Hey Amelia! Be more careful, someone could lose an eye." He smirked and glanced between her and Cathy.
"I-I'm sorry, Master Jack, you startled me! I heard loud noises... Is everything okay?" Amelia squeaked.
Cathy scoffed and shook her head.
"No, we need to find Erika. Where is she?"
"I wouldn't know, Miss Ariston. Mistress Erika always disappears during this time of day. I could assist you with whatever problem you're dealing with!"
As if on cue, another head emerged from the mop bucket.
"Yes... yes..."
It quickly shot out a jet of pressurized water. Jack moved in a blur. Amelia squeaked in surprise and backed up.
"Second Step: Titan!" His skin hardened in a crystal-like white matter. He took the stream of water to the face — it broke through the defense, for it was coated in Flow.
Jack fell backwards onto Cathy's aura, bleeding from his cheek.
"Yes! Yes!" It turned and shot a pressurized jet of water towards Amelia. She ducked, but it was too late. Her right arm was hit by the water, which now had Flow in it.
"Ah! M-m-my arm!!" She fell backwards onto the floor, a large chunk of flesh had been taken off.
Cathy growled again, trying her best not to get angry. She lifted her hand, slamming the bucket onto the ceiling and then flipping it and slamming it onto the floor, crushing the head. It dissipated once more.
"Damn it! Are you two okay?" Cathy groaned and ran a hand through her hair again, a nervous habit she had to calm herself down.
Jack was bleeding from his cheek but he got up, tugging on his jacket and then helping Amelia stand. Amelia slowly stood up, her bleeding hand shaking terribly.
"Good as can be! Heh…"
Flow was now within her bloodstream, awakening her body.
"Oh my goodness... Master Jack! We're... we're bleeding! W-w-what was that? Was that a fabled 'rat'? I've never seen one before—"
Jack chuckled and patted her shoulder.
"Nah, rats are smaller. I'll bring you one next week if you'd like. That was a... let's call it a Head. Ay? A Bucket Head." He looked back at Cathy for approval. She rubbed her forehead in annoyance.
"She's bleeding, you absolute moron! Do something with your... crazy kung-fu… Ugh, I can't believe I just said that. This whole thing is messed up."
"Ay, cap'n," he said, smirking.
Amelia was horrified. She squeaked as Jack stepped closer. Jack stepped up and grabbed her right arm, putting his hand over the wound.
"I was planning on showing you Flow later but... I guess it's necessary. Third Step: Ruach..."
Small glowing white particles, the same ones the heads emitted upon disappearing, started coming out of Jack's very skin, from every pore and from Amelia's wound. The skin, the flesh, the muscle tissue all began healing quickly, from both of them.
Cathy trembled visibly at the sight, still thinking of Normand.
"Good? Fine. Hurry up." She spat out the words, glaring into his back, hoping it would burn a hole through him.
Amelia's hand quickly healed, the glowing particles fading away.
"Master Jack... T-thank you... I don't know what to say... W-why do I feel so tingly?"
Jack put his hands in his pockets and stepped back, leaning against the wall.
"M'well, ya see... I've been paying attention. These things, whatever they are, seem to be utilizing either a very basic level of The Ten Steps, or Flow itself. But as far as I could tell, it's most likely just raw Flow. You've got that water in your blood right? Well, it had Flow in it. So, consequentially, your body is now producing natural Flow. You've been awakened, Amelia. Your core is now producing Flow."
Jack raised his hand for a fist bump. Before Amelia could bump fists with Jack, Cathy threw the mop at him. He ducked, chuckling.
"Don't you dare laugh, you mole. This isn't the time or place for — ugh! Whatever, does this help us in any way?"
"Nah... I've come up with a few theories though. One: we're completely alone. There's only five people in the house including me. Everything is relatively quiet, police haven't shown up at our door. Can't be an attack from any outside forces, it must be someone in the mansion. Two: these head thingies are either using Flow or they're made from it, that means that whoever is causing this also is well-versed in Flow and such... Three: Flow means the natural awakening of a Holiness in someone, so..."
He looked at Amelia.
"What'd ya get? Your first Holiness should manifest. If you get lucky though you might get all three awakened, but I doubt it. So… what'd ya get?" He rubbed his hands together, chortling, to which Cathy hit him on the head with her right hand.
Amelia stepped back, clutching her newly healed arm to her chest.
"M-master Jack... I don't understand, this is all too much! A Holiness? I don't think I have any such th—"
She backed up until she hit something — the tinkling of a bell.
The three of them turned to look at a floating golden hand-bell with a purple handle and a white cursive text on it, reading 'Amelia Orwell'.
Amelia glanced between the bell, Cathy, and Jack, clearly scared.
"U-u-um... Is this m-my...?"
Jack laughed and stepped closer.
"Wow. I didn't think my theory was correct!" He reached out to touch the bell, but before he could, Cathy dragged him back to her.
"Wait! You idiot. We have no idea what this is or what it could do... Be careful."
Jack smiled and stepped closer to the bell. Cathy let go of him.
"Thanks, but I know what I'm doing. This is just a normal bell. Kinda." Jack picked up the bell, turned it over a few times before handing it to Amelia. "Yeah, I have no idea how this works. It's your ability though! Try it out! Make a wish or something."
Amelia extended her hand out to shake the bell, staring in disbelief at it and nodding gently. She was scared, but wanted to be helpful anyway.
"Very well... I... I wish for a new mop?"
She rang the bell. It began glowing in a golden light, and suddenly, the mop that was on the floor suddenly transformed. It looked entirely brand new — the mop threads were golden and the wood was a dark shade of acacia, white markings and lines dotted it. It looked expensive for a mop.
"Oh my goodness! I-It worked! Yay! Oh, this makes me feel like opening gifts for Saturnalia!" She laughed and clasped her hands together, picking up the mop and handing it to Jack, who turned it over a few times.
"What's Saturnalia? Is that some sort of holiday?" Cathy asked.
"Oh, it's the day they celebrate in memory of The Fracture and the appearance of Saturn's Blue Eye. I'll fill you in later, you wouldn't know 'cause you're Risian. But, this... this seems pretty useful... Hey, what are you going to call it?"
Cathy scoffed, snatching the mop from his hand.
"Don't you dare make fun of my country. Ugh! Is that seriously important right now? Fine, we'll talk later. Amelia, try and wish for us to know where Erika is or something… She might be able to help."
Amelia smiled and twirled, clearly happy.
"Okay… I think I'll call it… Tinker Bell! That's a fitting name!"
[The Daniels Estate, Havok, Piasu, Ryomania, 10:45 AM, May 7th, Tuesday, 2025]
Cathy rolled her eyes and hovered closer.
"Okay, great, whatever. Can you use it to find Erika?"
Amelia nodded gently.
"I can try... I wish to find Mistress Erika!"
She rang the bell. A strange golden line started showing itself to Amelia, hidden from the sight of everyone else. It glowed like a thread, just above the floor, but Amelia could see it. She pointed to it.
"Look! There's a golden thread leading the way. S-should we follow it?" She glanced between them for permission. Both Jack and Cathy looked down, trying to find the thread but couldn't.
"A thread, huh? And only you can see it... Alright! Lead the way, pipsqueak!"
Amelia blushed at Jack's words, but started leading them down the hallway anyway.
"M-Master Jack, I'd appreciate you to not belittle me with such vocabulary... I'm not that tiny..." She glanced back at him. Cathy rolled her eyes again.
"Just keep walking, don't listen to him, that's just how he jokes."
"Speaking of which... A dog walked into a bar..."
Cathy turned to Jack. He glanced away pretending not to see her, while smirking.
"So annoying!" Cathy sighed in frustration.
They continued walking down the left hallway, Tinker Bell gently tinkling as it followed behind them, under the stairs leading up to the second floor.
"Hey, Amelia? Where's Erika even been? We haven't seen her in hours since we had breakfast."
"Mistress Erika likes to workout after breakfast, that usually takes a couple of hours, and after that…" She paused, looking back at them as they kept walking. "Between ten and eleven AM, Mistress Erika usually spends her time in the basement... I'm not allowed down there."
Jack leaned in, whispering to Cathy.
"I snuck in there, once, when I was like six or seven. All I saw was a bunch of dirt and dust, maybe even a few wooden beams? But that's it."
"Dirt, dust, wooden beams... Sounds like a mineshaft. Got it."
They continued walking, past the maid's quarters, Amelia's bedroom, and down past a large iron door leading beneath the mansion. The room they entered looked unfinished — there was no covering to the floor, it was dirt, as Jack mentioned. A few lone barrels sat in the corner with bags of flour, potatoes, and other ingredients.
"Wow, you weren't kidding. This place looks like something out of CraftMiner, ugh... and it smells earthy."
"Nothing like how I remember it!"
Wooden beams held up the ceiling, also made of dirt, roots sticking out from it from outside trees and plants. The center of the room had a large dug out tunnel with lanterns and rocks, roots, and even more dirt.
"Wow... it's beautiful, in an eerie sort of way..."
Before the three of them could even take a step, the entrance door swung open, revealing another giant human head peeking out from it, like those from earlier, followed by a bunch of smaller heads. They all came out of various vases, pots, jars, things from the kitchen, Amelia's bedroom and bathroom. This time, they all had long spindly legs. They all continued chanting.
"Yes, yes, yes, yeees!!"
Jack grabbed Amelia's hand and the three of them ran down the tunnel.
"Hah?! We gotta go! Oh man! So much running... I haven't done this much cardio in a while… Hah…"
"Waaaaaah! Ack… bleh… Oh dear — I would suggest not speaking! I may have accidentally swallowed a bug... I don't like it here… Ah!" Amelia whined, glancing back at the rapidly approaching creatures.
"Shut up! Just focus on running! Turn left here!"
They made a left. The tunnels seemed to go on in multiple directions, lanterns and rooms everywhere, with wooden crates, tables, weaponry — everything wooden.
"Amelia! Use your Tinker Bell, try and stop them!"
"Okay? I wish these spiders would f-fall!"
Tinker Bell rung once, twice — the ceiling shook and lots of spiders began falling from the ceiling, as if an earthquake was happening.
"Ahh! They're in my hair! They're in my hair! Master Jack, help!" Amelia yelled as hard as she could, trying to swat the falling spiders off her hair and clothes.
"Oh damn. We should've tested that out more… What? — ah, sorry! I can't really help while they're still after us! Just keep running…"
Cathy grumbled and began throwing the spiders off of both Jack and Amelia. She was unaffected by her aura which pushed the spiders off of her.
"If I had those on me, I'd scream too!"
The trio continued running from The Heads, which were completely unaffected. They weren't shooting like the others, however — these were a different type.
There was a room at the end of the hallway. It looked like there were no other tunnels, and the door itself had a bunch of strange markings on it. It was made of mahogany.
Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, giant roots shot out from the left wall, pushing the trio over and cutting off The Heads.
"Yeees—" they yelled as rocks fell upon the tunnel from the impact, blocking it off.
Jack stood up first, helping Amelia stand as Cathy hovered up.
"I-Is it over? Those roots stopped them..."
The room at the end of the hallway opened.
"Hey, homewreckers~ You're not meant to be down here."
Erika leaned against the doorframe, chewing bubblegum loudly and resting her wrists on her baseball bat as she pushed it into the ground.
"Yeah?! And what the hell are you doing down here? You've been gone for hours! We had to fight off a bunch of—"
"Creepy heads? I know. I sent them after you. They're a part of my first Holiness." She chuckled and stepped closer. Cathy closed her eyes, fuming, but trying to be respectful.
"What? No way… That was Hey, Soul Sister?! I thought it would've been way, way more normal, actually. Cool!"
"Why would you do that? And what's with the roots then... Is that also you?"
Erika patted Jack's shoulder, smirking.
"Relax. I was just testing you, remember? You need training. So, I decided to give you an early start. And it technically counts as training for me too. It's been a while since I've had to use something other than my Divinity." She peeked over his shoulder at Amelia, who was brushing her hair with her hand. "And you, sweetie, I wanted you awakened. You've been with us so long, I felt as if it was time you'd get your own powers. What'd you name it? Is it a Holiness or a Divinity?"
"Um... It's this bell over here. I can make wishes to it and things happen..." Amelia pointed to Tinker Bell as it hovered behind her.
Erika reached out and grabbed it, shaking it a few times before handing it back to Amelia.
"Aww, your first Holiness… Cute. I'll take a picture of it later. Anyway, you two should follow me to the garden for training. Amelia, you stay here and clean up this mess. You can do it way better now with your little bell, right? Oh, and don't go through that door back there. Ever. I mean that for all of you."
"V-Very well, Mistress Erika, I'll do my best, cleaning here...!"
Erika then walked past them, lifting her hand. The roots that blocked the tunnel suddenly went back into the wall, taking a few fallen rocks with them. The Heads were no longer there.
"More training, huh? Hey wait — you didn't explain the creepy heads or the roots! How are you doing that? What's your Divinity? I had a sort of embarrassing issue in the bathroom, so I gotta know!"
"You peed on one, didn't you?"
"Accident. Plus, it appeared there while I was peeing, what was I meant—"
"Okay! We get it! No more pee talk! Erika, what the hell was all of that about?"
Erika smirked as she opened the basement door for them, leading them back up into the left foyer hallway.
"Relax, I'm still on your side. I'll explain my ability once I talk to James. He should be around here. You two should wait outside in the garden. I'll be in my room, preparing... Okay? No hard feelings?"
Cathy sighed and nodded gently.
"Yeah, sure, okay... No hard feelings. But you could've just done all this by talking! You freaking weirdo… Fine, we'll go outside, right, Jack?"
Jack was collecting dust off the wall with his finger, not paying attention. Cathy cleared her throat and Jack turned to her.
"Huh? Oh yeah, yeah, training, I'm in." He grinned and did a fist bump, glancing between the two of them.
"Welp, I'm gonna go... See ya later, kids."
She turned and walked away, leaving them with their own thoughts.