The Jar

[The Cedar Witch]

For Brooce
Continued from here


Sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the pile of bricks, Astrid composed a brief message, fingers shaky with exhaustion and barely-contained fear.

Sorry to bother you but I might’ve bitten off more than I can chew here.  Found something in the basement of 13 Broomfield Crossing (South) and I don’t think I can leave. 

She would've written more but she was on the last bit of battery while composing the message.  The phone died after the text sent successfully and Astrid’s face was blanched white.  The fact that she even had to reach out for help made her feel some level of inadequacy.  She should have been able to do it--and would have, had the moon been right.  The blade needed a twin for this very reason.  Something forged in shadow.

The copal smoke from the censer bowl curled slowly up into the air from its spot in front of the crumbling wall, and she tipped a few more nuggets of resin onto the charcoal disk.  Her black dagger had been drawn across the floor behind the bowl, creating a barrier between the secret room and the rest of the basement, and was now thrust point-down into the floor.  The barrier waned occasionally, though she had fortified with as much strength as she could muster. 

How long would it hold?

Astrid watched the swirling mass in the jar.  She could have sworn that there were a pair of eyes peering back at her, but she chalked it up to being tired and seeing things.  A third, maybe more, of the sealing wax had crumbled to the floor and the witch exhaled in frustration.

The contents of her messenger bag were dumped unceremoniously off to the side on the floor.  There wasn’t much there that would’ve helped her in this particular situation.  She had packed light today.  There were a few other bundles of herbs, empty glass vials with cork stoppers, a few small mason jars filled with different kinds of salt or incenses (most for meditation), a stack of notebooks, a handful of pens and pencils, a dozen or so reference books, a spool of wire, and a pair of pliers.  Nothing to deal with this.  Would've been great if she packed some snacks at least.

With every door and window in the house open, sound traveled readily.  The piercing wail of a baby coming from upstairs made her jump.  It was still in the crib then. Because it had completely slipped her mind.  Of-fucking-course.  That was the least of her concerns now.

Astrid took a slow breath and closed her eyes, stilling her mind.  After a few measured inhales and exhales, there was a blinding flash of pain as a vision pressed into her mind.

Three hooded figures stood before her in front of the demonic sigil on the floor.  The room was not yet walled off, cement not yet sunken in and no shelves lined with jars of things could be seen.  The room seemed to barely contain them, but there was enough space to walk around easily.  The three were mid chant, making a slow circle around the sigil while holding black pillar candles dripping wax steadily onto the floor.  One of the figures stopped suddenly and pointed directly at her, as if they had seen Astrid through the vision.  She was frozen in place, filled with the urgent need to flee.  The other figures turned to face her, and one took a step toward her.  Then another.  Still she could not move, and soon the figure was at arms reach.  She could see beneath the hood now: pitch black eyes, leathery skin with deep wrinkles, the tips of what looked like horns breaking through skin.

There was a hand on her shoulder and the paralysis finally lifted.  Astrid jolted away from the touch, spinning around a struggling to get to her feet.  Her mind was slow to leave the vision and she pressed her hand firmly against her forehead.

[Harlequin]

Since the turn of the century, anything newer than a rotary phone tended to crumble in Sabrina's hands. Smartphones melted. VHS tapes, cassettes, toasters, radios and televisions (as long as they were made before 1998) were the only exceptions.

She technically had a phone, but Tansy held onto it. So it was Tansy that received the text, and she that excused herself from the table at her BFF's apartment and breathed onto the bathroom mirror, transcribing Astrid's message with her finger in the fog. Sabrina received it in her vanity mirror, where she was applying one last swipe of bordeaux-colored lipstick.

Of course it was a basement.

She capped her lipstick and set about gathering her tools. Hopefully Kerr didn't mind her canceling their get-together last minute.

***

The witch felt the house far before she approached, its malice spread through the pavement beneath her feet like a many-limbed parasite; a sickness. Then came the reek of death and terror, then the blight itself.

The stairs didn't look trustworthy so she skipped them with a step. Somewhere a dog growled, an infant wailed, and the house lay before her like the pried-open fist of a dead man. Astrid had begun with a cleansing. As she entered the house and moved to the basement, she ignored the spectres that didn't hide from her. She was not the source of their malice, but a target. The misery permeating the house rubbed against her aura, somewhere between slime mold and ground glass.

Sabrina found Astrid frozen, staring agape at something in front of her; something Sabrina couldn't see. Instead, she saw the jar and the things on the shelves, and the circle. She knelt and placed a hand on Astrid's shoulder, mouth set grimly. She lifted her hand when the other witch recoiled, and asked "What do you see?"

[The Cedar Witch]

"Ugh, fuck."  Both hands pressed to her face now as the vision fully receded.  She looked up at what had touched her, squinting against the spots until she recognized Sabrina.

"Oh, thank fuck it's you."  The relief was palpable in her, pushing against the fear still quivering inside.  Things would probably be okay now that she wasn't alone.  Astrid looked back to the jar--there was about a quarter of the seal remaining.  The barrier created by the knife pulsed weakly and she could feel it pulling at her for more power. 

What do you see?

"Three people--or maybe demons?--performed some sort of ritual here."  She motioned in the direction of the secret room.  Something definitely blinked in the jar, she couldn't have been imagining it this time.  "You--you saw that, right?  I have no idea what is in there."

[Harlequin]

Sabrina nodded. Whatever it was, it was winning the fight against its current bindings, and seemed to be getting to work on Astrid's barrier.

Sabrina was dressed for a night out in a cream linen pantsuit that clashed terribly with the sledgehammer strapped to the worn leather pack on her back. She toed off her white ballet flats and tested the circle with a bare foot as she plucked a butterfly knife from her chest pocket. The barrier would hold; Astrid had done good work, especially under duress.

Her eyes flashed, catlike, in the spare light a she looked down at Astrid. "I'm going to take a closer look."  She stepped over the barrier, and the darkness held at a breaker by the Astrid's barrier lapped at her ankles. She hummed a note low in her throat, both warding herself and giving Astrid an idea of where she was in the low light. The sigil sang back in time to the slow beat of her heart, louder as she approached.

She knelt and picked up a loose brick before stepping over the low wall into the room, crouching to avoid bumping her head. The sigil was more binding magic, but what was in that jar was something else entirely. Something not of this world or any Sabrina had visited. The eyes inside the swirling mass glowed up at her, unblinking.

Astrid would hear the scrape of a metal on stone as Sabrina carved another mark into the brick she held. When finished, it produced a faint sodium glow, helping illuminate the space as she placed it on top of the jar, momentarily replacing the crumbling wax seal.

She retreated to the protection of Astrid's circle, "The circle is another binding, " she said, "Demonic. I don't know what's in that jar, but disturbing the house disturbed it and we are going to have to deal with it before long."

[The Cedar Witch]

Astrid watched Sabrina work, squinting against the low lighting of her flashlight pointed up at the ceiling from its place on the floor beside her.  The hum sent a tingle of static through her and she held her breath as Sabrina stepped into the room.  There was another wail from upstairs as if disturbed by Sabrina's intrusion into the small space.  Astrid was about to say she'd run up and take care of it, but she didn't want to miss anything down here.

When Sabrina added the glowing brick to the top of the jar, Astrid felt a bit of pressure release on the protective barrier.  So whatever was in that jar had been trying to get past it.  Great.

Her body was coiled with tension now as she listened to Sabrina's summation of what was in that room.  It didn't sound good at all.

"Fuck."  She breathed softly, terrified of how close she was to serious danger.  She should've reached out sooner--she knew there was something else here besides the spirits she had been in the process of sending to rest.  Astrid definitely didn't come prepared to deal with anything demonic with just the average supplies she had with her on the way to class.

"I heard the same chanting upstairs in the fireplace as in my vision,"  she began thoughtfully, remembering the growl when she tried to stick her hand inside.  "There was... something metal in there, in the ashes.  I couldn't touch it.  I don't know if it's related or not." 

"What should we do?"  Her voice was serious as she looked up at Sabrina.  It was her intent to see this finished to the end, no matter where it lead. 

[Harlequin]

“Well, it seems that they’re  after the same thing we are: keeping this thing contained. Maybe it’s part of the binding.” Sabrina shifted her bag off her shoulders and set it next to the the supplies Astrid had spilled from hers. She took a deep breath, finding comfort in the heavy scent of the copal smoke.

“Couldn’t touch it how?” She asked, concerned, “did it harm you? Mentally or physically?”

[The Cedar Witch]

"No, I just-"  Astrid paused as if trying to remember, exhaling heavily.  The cleansing process and setting the barrier had been exhausting and she pushed off the feeling of it catching up with her.  The fireplace in the living room downstairs had a huge pile of ashes and what looked like fire damage all around on the ceiling. 

"Uh, when I tried to get a closer look there was something growling at me so I backed off."

[Harlequin]

“Well, whatever it is, I think it’s best left alone for now. I didn’t feel anything from the fireplace when I entered.”

Apparently satisfied, Sabrina nodded. Astrid had done well in heeding that warning. “I’ve heard that as well. Have you seen a dog?”

Sabrina’s gifts, natural and otherwise, had never included Sight without ritual assistance. By merely setting foot inside, Astrid knew much more about this place than Sabrina ever would.

As for a plan of attack: “I’d err on the side of action. Lay a little more groundwork out here to make sure what we let out doesn’t get past us. After, let’s get into that room together, where I can pull you out while you Look if it gets too much— that will give us at least a little more information — then smash that jar when we get close to running out of time. What do you think?”

[The Cedar Witch]

"Not Here but Before,"  Astrid said in reference to the dog.  "I think the body is in the backyard."  She said softly, calling to mind the abused corpse and flies with a shudder.

As for the plan, Astrid nodded in affirmation.  Hopefully smashing the jar wouldn't also mean freeing the thing without destroying it, but she trusted that Sabrina knew what she was doing.  Astrid shrugged off her jacket and laid it on top of the pile of stuff she had emptied from her messenger bag.  She rolled her shoulders and tilted head from side to side, resulting in a series of cracks and a minor release of tension.

"Okay.  I think that sounds like a plan to me."  Already she began to draw deep into the well of her energy reserves.  She was definitely going to sleep like a fucking rock when it was over.  Ideally, anyway.

[Harlequin]

"Then lets get to work."  Sabrina opened her pack and fished around until she'd produced a bundle of herbs -- which she lit from the charcoal disc in the censer, joining the witches' energies and intent with the shared flame.

Few words were exchanged between the two women as they went about securing the basement, weaving their energy together with carved sigils and murmurs instead. Sabrina whistled to ground herself, and the clear, bright sound grated against the malcontent suffusing the house. The barrier they produced was far from iron clad, but it was better and larger than a wax seal.

That part of their work done, Sabrina knelt next to her pack and unclasped the sledgehammer. Astrid would see the old marks in the worn wood; simple runic symbols of striking and destruction, carved deep and inlaid with resin. On either steel head of the hammer were marks she wouldn't recognize. Less simple, more sinister. Sabrina hefted the hammer easily in one hand, and gestured with the other for Astrid to enter the previously bricked-over room.

[The Cedar Witch]

The warding went smoothly.  Astrid was pleasantly surprised by how smoothly.  Working with Sabrina felt easy, moving and twining together energy in a familiar dance as if they had practiced together numerous times before.  Being far from her family now, she had been working magic alone for years and she had forgotten just how different it was with another.  She missed it, honestly. 

As soon as she laid eyes on it, Sabrina's hammer seized Astrid's attention with an electric zing.  Her fingers twitched with the memory of holding her own.  They'd been stashed away, unused for too long.  But those were for creation.  This was for destruction. 

"That is a beautiful piece."  She said, almost starry-eyed and voice full of awe.  It took her a beat to snap out of it and refocus on the task at hand. 

The witch cleared her throat, turning an uneasy eye on the room with the jar.  She hesitated.

"Do you want to establish a link or should I just tell you what I see after...?"  It was a bold suggestion, surely.  It was also the most direct.  Inviting Sabrina to see through her mind's eye involved a bit of trust so she wouldn't have taken offense if the other witch declined.  Besides circumventing the time it would take to explain her vision, the link would lessen the possibility of missing anything important that Astrid might otherwise overlook.

[Harlequin]

“Thank you,” Sabrina’s half-smile at the praise was just this side of...shy, perhaps? But was quickly replaced by a grimace.

“Ah, the latter, I think, for now. I have a—“ she sighed. She would have to get used to it explaining this, now that she was out of the house, “I’m the host for an intelligent ectoplasmic entity. It has thoughts of its own and I don’t want those clouding your Sight. Once this is said and done, though, I’d be interested in experimenting.”

The Treacle hissed obscenities into the folds of her brain, and gave her a sharp jolt that she felt like an ice pick just behind one eye. It didn’t like being denied a toy.

[The Cedar Witch]

That would explain the thing she sensed when they first met.  Astrid nodded in understanding.  She was very interested in experimenting later, preferably after food and rest.

"Alright,"  she breathed, turning toward the room and taking a few steps forward.  Taking a second to send energetic tethers into the earth, she came to a stop in front of her knife.  Should she take it with her?  It still served a purpose as a layer of the protective measures that had been placed, but now with the room fully warded and Sabrina's presence, Astrid wondered if it was still needed.

Best to leave it alone.

Her throat felt dry now and she swallowed uncomfortably.  Closing her hand around the fox jaw hanging from her neck, she gingerly stepped through her barrier and over the short wall into the room with the jar.  There was a heaviness that sucked the breath from her lungs and threatened to press her to her knees, but she stood steady and fought to acclimate to the pressure.  She could see the eyes in the large jar clearly now, the dull light from Sabrina's sigiled-brick reflecting in the orbs with a glint.  That wasn't the most unsettling thing about being in the room.

Astrid was filled with the need to reach out and touch the jar.  To open it.  It was like the most intense hunger she had ever felt and she trembled with the effort of resisting it.

She threw a glance back at Sabrina for reassurance, gripping the necklace tight, before turning back to the jar.  Giving a quick tug on her mental tethers, she focused on feeling the ground beneath her feet and the pulse with the earth.  Astrid took a steadying breath in through her nose and out through her mouth.  Then she closed her eyes.

Struck with the feeling of crashing into ice cold water, her eyes flew open.  The room was mostly empty, save a single hooded figure dipping a paintbrush into the viscus, crimson contents of an ornate metal bowl.  Astrid was grateful for the release in pressure that was palpable through the vision.  The air felt static and alive, and without the distraction of the heaviness she could feel that The Veil here was perilously thin. 

The hooded figure dragging the paintbrush across the bare cement floor looked up at her suddenly, and for a moment Astrid was convinced that she had somehow been discovered.  The figure's face was the same as the first one she had seen, with pitch-black eyes and horns.  They stood hastily, leaving the paintbrush in the bowl and bowing their head in a gesture of reverence.  A cold chill passed through her as a tall, muscular man in a suit passed through her non-corporeal form.  His hands were clasped behind his back.

"Chtah--" the figure began respectfully but was cut off.

"How long before you are ready?"  His voice was steady and commanding.  It set Astrid on edge.

"A few hours,"  the hooded figure replied earnestly.  Fearfully.  Deepening her sense of dread. 

Astrid blinked and the scene before her changed.

It was dark now, air thick with a distinct metallic scent.  The sigil on the floor in the room was complete.  Three hooded figures held pillar candles in front of them.  As they began a chant, she realized that this was part of the vision she had seen before.  They began their slow circle, chanting in perfect unison that increased in tempo as the chant progressed until it was impossible to make out individual sounds in the din.  One tipped the candle sideways, a stream of black wax pouring onto the floor.  The others mirrored the action, one after another, and they continued their trek around the sigil.  The room began to vibrate but they continued the chant, undeterred. 

At the sound of a loud crack, the chanting stopped and one of the figures looked up directly at her.  Just as the vision before, pointing.  The two others turned and looked, and the first began to approach her.  Astrid held her breath, heart pounding as she pressed the fox jaw to her chest.  The figure passed through her and she whirled around to see what they were walking toward. 

Filling the empty basement were tendrils of twisting blackness reaching out from what looked like a rip in fabric hanging in the air.  The heaviness began to build, a steadily rising tide.  There was an indescribable sound coming from the rip like nothing she had ever heard and it pierced through her.  It felt almost as if it were also emanating from within her.  Building in the back of her mind, joined by a crescendo of whispers.  She almost missed the panicked movements from behind her.

"Quick!  Contain it!"

Astrid gasped when Sabrina snapped into focus and the heaviness pressed down on her again fully.  She scrambled out of the room, tripping over the wall and catching herself just barely.  Now separated from the room by her barrier again, she leaned over, putting both hands on her knees and fought to slow her breathing.

[Harlequin]

Sabrina watched the other witch avidly. The hand not holding the hammer remained raised, ready to pull Astrid out of the room if things went well and truly bad.

And bad they went, but Astrid pulled herself a half-second before Sabrina chose to act, and the tall woman’s tension shifted. She placed a steadying hand on Astrid’s back, waiting until she was ready to speak.

When Astrid did speak, Sabrina’s expression darkened, lips twisting into a snarl as she finished. “Zeus,” she spat, with a hard shake of her head. She continued, half to herself, voice heavy with venom, “Clearly I was amiss in thinking his taking the West off Jake’s hands was a positive.” She shifted her with a painful-sounding crunch. “That sounds like The Blackness; where my…passenger, originated.” What Astrid described was impossible; or should have been. Sabrina had seen to it that this realm was severed entirely from The Treacle’s birthplace. The Treacle itself coiled tight in her belly at the thought. It wanted to know what would happen if they went back as little as she did.

“That door is shut. If he tried to open it, he’s either a fool or a child.” Everything she knew of him said he was neither, but actions spoke louder than rumors.

Meanwhile, the tug of the thing in the jar became more intense. Sabrina felt it as the gentle lapping of small waves turned to the pull of a tide. They were running out of time.

“If you want to Look again, do it now.” Her attention turned fully back to Astrid, focus as intense as the beam of a lighthouse.

[The Cedar Witch]

Astrid was starteled by the venomous mention of the Greek god and her face showed this.  But the context that Sabrina added was enough to clue her in to who she was talking about.  She hadn't been following the local politic too closely but knew enough that the West District had gone to another leader.  The tone of the other witch's words filled her with unease.  It reminded her of how Sabrina was at The Trial.

She wanted to ask questions--there was so much that she didn't understand.  But Astrid could feel that time was running out as well, and she was nearly beyond the point of exhaustion.  She trembled.

"I... I'm not sure if I should,"  her admission was extremely reluctant and spoken barely above a whisper  "But I could!"  She added quickly, not wanting to let the opportunity slip past her fingers.  And there was a bit of desire to impress Sabrina, foolishly pushing that decision as well.  There was a quick mental digging in of heels as she straightened, crossed over to her knife's barrier again.  She took a single step over and felt the stir of a breeze as the past washed over her vision.

The other hooded figures rushed past her, fingers crackling with deep red static of spellcasting.

"You idiots!"  it was the deep voice again, filled with anger.  The one Sabrina named Zeus.  Astrid whirled around to watch, eyes catching a massive demon instead of the man in a suit.  It felt like something was squeezing her heart and her hand flew to her chest as if to steady it.

The shadowy tendrils reaching from the rip had spread further now, touching nearly every corner of the empty basement.  The first hooded figure was busily trying to push the creature back into the rip but to no avail.  The others joined, adding their magic together with sparks flying.

"That thing is not what we planned for!"  the floor seemed to shake as Zeus crossed the distance between where he was standing and joined the hooded figures by the rip.  They seemed to shrink beside him.

"Must I do everything myself?"  In his hand was a glint of metal--something that Astrid could not see clearly.  He took the wrist of one of the hooded figures, who cried out in pain.  There was a flash of blood spilled onto the metal object and the room began to vibrate, filling with the rushing sound of a jet engine. 

Then everything went black and Astrid slipped to the floor.

[Harlequin]

"Don't--" But Astrid was already back in the room. And clutching her chest. And falling to the floor. Dropping her hammer, Sabrina took a long step forward and caught the other witch before she crumpled, then hefted her limp form into her arms. The thing in the jar shifted, and a low hiss escaped the seal.

Ducking below the lintel, Sabrina hurriedly carried Astrid upstairs, and a vicious growl came from the direction of the burned-out fireplace as she settled the young woman onto the dust-covered couch in the living room. Sabrina turned, and the specter of a large, liver-and-white hound dog shivered into view, slavering and hackles raised.

Sabrina knelt slowly, breathing measured. She moved her white-out gaze to at a point just beyond the dog,  avoiding eye contact. "We don't have time for this," she explained patiently, hoping that whatever the animal had become had the capacity for reason. "I need to get rid of what's hurting this house, and I need you to protect this young woman while I do it." The dog continued to advance, but the growl had receded to a low rumble. Sabrina's eyes moved to its face, "Can you help me? Can you remember what you are?"

Because a dog was a dog was a dog, dead or alive; a friend, a protector.

The ghost sat down, and canted its head to once side. Foamy drool ran in ropes from its flews as it flickered in and out of view, reminding Sabrina of degraded videotape in the way angry ghosts did. Finally, it chuffed once and lay down, watching Astrid.

The struggle in the basement Astrid would experience as a dream.

Ties to its realm severed, Sabrina needed to kill whatever had come through the door Zeus had opened to the Blackness. She could hear it hissing laughter as she descended the stairs, the pull of its darkness a riptide. She picked up her hammer in one hand, stepped through the door, and brought the hammer down on the jar, glowing brick and all.

Absolute darkness exploded outward from beneath the hammer's head, and all the air left the room, leaving Sabrina momentarily choking. When it solidified, the thing in the jar briefly took the form of a black rabbit the size of a puma with eight glowing sodium-yellow eyes, and the rest blurred into brutal, oil-slick horror.

**
When it was over, and the thing lay oozing in the center of the circle that had summoned it, Sabrina cleansed it with fire from the still-burning censer's embers, mixing its ashes with the what remained of the copal and the herb bundle she'd set alight earlier as the Treacle stitched her wounds closed from the inside out. The most prominent of these was a bite to her midsection that slowly leaked too-dark blood, and a set of claw marks across her chest and throat. Scars would remain, but not for long. Her white linen suit, on the other hand, was well and truly ruined -- torn and crusted with blood and salt and other, unnamable substances.

When Astrid awoke, she would find Sabrina in the basement, raspily humming to herself as she sat cross legged on the floor, polishing the head of her hammer with a soft cloth.

[The Cedar Witch]

Astrid awoke slowly, aware of a weight on her thigh and the pressure of a headache behind her eyes.  She groaned as she stirred, reeling from what she had seen in the dream and unwilling to open her eyes.  Sleepily she hoped that the entire afternoon had been a dream.

Reality crashed into her awareness, pulling her entirely from the nightmare she had awoken from.

She peered out from under her lashes to investigate the strange pressure on her thigh and jumped when she found the silvery spectral bloodhound. Scrambling reflexively into an upright position, Astrid pulled her legs out from under the large head of the creature.  Her pant leg was soaked with drool.  How did she get on the couch upstairs?  The hound shook its head, sending ghostly spittle into the air, and padded over to where Astrid had collected herself.  It rested its head on the edge of the couch near her, large silvery eyes gazing up at her. 

“Uh, hey.”  She swallowed nervously and reached out her hand.  The hound sniffed it intently before placing two large paws up on the couch as if it meant to climb up on her.  It was a huge thing, and Astrid shrunk away.  There were no malicious feelings that she could detect from the creature, but the sheer size of the apparition was intimidating. 

“H-Hang on!”  Astrid scooted to the side and stood from the couch, backing away from the dog a bit.  The hound moved off the couch and turned toward her, staring. 

Shit.  Sabrina. 

Clarity of what transpired in the dream flooded in, driving away the cobwebs and filling her with concern.  Taking one last look at the hound, she took off at a quick pace to the basement door.  There was a humming coming from downstairs that became louder the closer she approached.  The spectral dog was close behind but came to a stop at the top of the stairs.  She turned to look back, having only descended a couple of steps.  The hound laid down, its huge head perched atop folded paws, and let out a sad whine. 

“I’ll uh, be right back?”  It was weird to explain herself to a ghost-dog, but for some reason, she felt like it wanted to lead her somewhere else.  She had to check on Sabrina first.  Astrid thudded down the stairs, not realizing she had been holding her breath until she reached the bottom and let out a loud exhale.

“Hey!”  semi out of breath, she went to Sabrina’s side.  The first thing she noticed was the hammer, emanating a kind of tired-satisfaction of a won battle.  The next thing she noticed was the wounds, the torn and bloodied clothing.  Her heart leaped to her throat.  Surely this was her fault somehow.  She shouldn't have gone into the room again.

“I am so sorry--are you okay?”  Guilt washed over her.

[Harlequin]

The lingering scent of the Copal was nearly overwhelmed by the smell of ozone, and more subtly, of fresh blood. Sabrina turned her body as she heard Astrid approach, and a flick of her wrist illuminated the bare bulb hanging from the ceiling, despite the lack of electricity to the house. She smiled warmly with one side of her mouth, and a split in her bottom lip cracked open. If she noticed, she didn't let on.

"I'm fine," Sabrina assured her. Her voice scratched and caught as she spoke, and she cleared her throat. The scratches on her throat were clearly more than skin deep. But if Astrid looked closely, she could see filaments of blackness busily knitting the flesh together.

Setting the hammer down in her lap, Sabrina's looked turned stern, "Don't push yourself so hard, you could have been hurt. If we'd had less time --" She clicked her tongue against her teeth, and shook her head, "Promise me you'll listen to your body next time."

[The Cedar Witch]

Sabrina didn't look fine, but Astrid would just have to trust her word.  She didn't know anything about the other witch's healing capabilities and fought the urge to openly stare at the stitching shadowy tendrils working away at her flesh.  There was the pull of guilt and worry despite Sabrina's efforts to reassure her.

That stern look caused Astrid's face to turn a deep shade of red that moved to her ears as Sabrina spoke.  She fixed her eyes firmly to the floor.  It was true.  She did push herself, knowingly, in spite of the danger. 

"Promise."  She nodded, still not quite ready to meet Sabrina's eye.  Why was she trying so hard in the first place? Sure, with knowledge so tantalizingly within reach, it was hard to resist charging ahead.  Even though she knew full well that it was dangerous.  But what she did was downright reckless, especially after expending a great deal of her energy on the spirits in the house and setting the barrier.  She knew her limits. 

Stupid, foolish, stubborn...

"I.. I'm sorry I got carried away."  Astrid sighed slowly through her nose and finally lifted her gaze from the floor. 

Noticing her knife laying on its side near where she had plunged it into the cement, she crossed over to pick it off the floor. 

"I saw him before I passed out.  Zeus, the demon."  She began, going over to her pile of Stuff and kneeling to fill her backpack up with her supplies.  Astrid recounted the events of the vision slowly, being careful to include as much detail as possible.  The words spoken.  The metal object.  The blood.  By the time she had finished, all of her things were back in the bag save one of the empty bottles that she gripped in her hand.  She grunted and sat on the floor, back to the wall, and let out an exhale.

[Harlequin]

Sabrina nodded her approval in response to the promise, and the sorry. If it happened again, there would be A Lecture — but she was satisfied for now.

She listened intently to Astrid’s retelling of the vision.

It told her that whatever Zeus had been trying to do, it wasn’t this. Which was good. But he had been trying to do something that accidentally resulted in this, which was...possibly worse. The Blackness, as Sabrina understood it, was less a world and more a world-eating disease, and this...demon had come a hair’s breadth from infecting theirs. Moreover, he’d left his mistake here for someone else to clean up.

They would have words.

Later.

When Astrid finished speaking, Sabrina’s lips had pressed themselves into a thin line of displeasure, but her expression softened when she finished, clearly still exhausted. Sabrina strapped her hammer back to her pack, and hefted the whole thing onto one shoulder. She stood — a little stiffly — and offered a hand to Astrid.

“I think I’d like a slice of pizza. Or maybe a gyro. What do you think?”

[The Cedar Witch]

With a grateful expression, Astrid took Sabrina's hand and was pulled to her feet.  After slipping the small glass bottle into her bag, she slung it over her shoulder.

"That sounds amazing," She stooped to collect her jacket and held it draped over one arm.  "There's just... I didn't finish what I began but I'll have to come back later."  Astrid sighed through her nose, lips pressed firmly together.  It felt like admitting defeat but she wasn't about to suggest that she just push a bit longer to follow through.  Not after passing out like that.  Certainly not after Sabrina had just chided her for pushing herself. 

As Astrid made her way up the stair the hound at the top drew itself into a standing position, tail wagging gently as she approached.  She smiled tiredly at it.

"I'll be back."  she spoke softly.  The creature whined and sat, form flickering, and Astrid felt a pang of guilt.

[Harlequin]

As Astrid ascended the stairs, a sharp snap of fingers and a bright light followed her as all the all the ichor Sabrina had left spilled and spattered across the basement simultaneously immolated. Her blood was toxic at best, and with a bad witch running around collecting fluids from people, one could never be too careful.

Well, person, so far. Perhaps she was being paranoid.

Sabrina looked down at the ghost dog as she passed, but it only had eyes for Astrid. "You've made a friend," Sabrina said with a smile. She nodded at Astrid's words, "It will keep until tomorrow." Her voice was already less hoarse, though it still scratched slightly.

Astrid might also notice that Sabrina stood at a bit of a distance. The wound on her midsection had stopped leaking thanks to the Treacle, but it was still wise to limit others' exposure to what lived inside her. Especially if the others in question were human.

Exhaustion hit the tall woman like a brick wall, then, and she sagged. "Let's order in."