Chapter Text
Odalia frowned.
She had gone to Osran in the hope that he would alleviate her worries. If someone could tell her about the future, it was the new Coven Head. Amity would reach her third birthday in a month. Considering how badly the twins were turning out, she had wished for reassurances that her youngest would at least prove a worthy child. She had performed a fortune telling of her own in her private office, but it had proven to be unsatisfying. She hoped that Osran could give her a more accurate (and more acceptable) prediction.
So far, it had only been a source of more frustrations.
Osran shook his head again. “I cannot foresee Amity joining the Emperor’s Coven. If anything, she is more likely stand against you in the future.”
Mittens turning against her? She could barely imagine this happening. But then again, Amity was only a toddler. She had not expected the twins to be such disappointments either, yet here they were at five years of age, barely able to do magic. Whether it was due to laziness or incompetence, it was disappointing. The thought that Amity could also waste her life was unacceptable.
“I need another reading,” she insisted. “Maybe you missed something. Again.”
“I did it thrice already, child.” Odalia hissed at this. No matter what she achieved, the older man would only look down on her as a member of his coven. “A fourth fortune will not change the result.”
“But it could be wrong! I need to make sure!”
It was Osran’s turn to get frustrated. “I did this as a favor, Odalia. I will not stay here while you question my abilities as Coven Head, abilities that could currently be of better use to the Emperor.”
Odalia wanted to insist, but she recognized how futile it would be. Instead, she offered him a political smile and returned to her usual professional demeanour.
“Of course, Coven Head. Your willingness to spare time for me is appreciated. And never would I dream of doubting your talent.”
“Good.” Osran nodded and pointed at the door, clearly waiting her gone now that their business was over. But she stayed put.
“Before I leave, I hoped that you would be at least willing to tell me what might go wrong.”
“Hum…” Osran seemed in deep thoughts for a moment. Odalia was unsure if the Coven Head was wondering if he had the answer, or if he was weighting the pros and cons of telling her. “It is a bit blurry, but the influence of someone your daughter admire will most likely be the cause of her ‘waywardness’.”
It wasn’t much, but it was something.
“Thank you for your assistance, Osran. And your fortunes were appreciated, as always.”
Osran simply frowned and waved at the door, making it clear that their meeting was over. Odalia exited the Coven Head’s office as she analysed his answer in her head. She quickly made her way to her airship to leave the Heart. Her private meeting with Osran now finished, she had no reason to stick around. Besides, she had so much on her mind.
Her daughter had barely left the house so far, except for the occasional social events when Odalia showed off her daughter to investors. Odalia was already planning her daughter’s social circles once she was old enough to make useful friends, and she would make sure that Amity was only taught by competent and serious instructors at Hexide. She would make sure that everything went right with her daughter, that she would be the perfect child that would bring prestige to the Blight Family. The right friends, the right teachers, the right values. It was only what was best for the girl, of course. With Amity being her last hope, Odalia couldn't afford any missteps.
Osran’s prediction had thrown a massive wrench into these plans. It sounded like all her efforts to make her family great would be for naught. Everything she had worked toward would be abandoned by Amity, even if Odalia could not understand why. This could not be tolerated. Thankfully, she learned a lot about fortune telling since joining the Oracle Coven. She knew that the future wasn’t set in stone. And she now had a lead on how to fix it.
Amity would stray from the right path due to bad influence from “someone she admires”. Those were Osran’s words. If she could find this influence and cut it off permanently, then Amity would be safe.
Odalia stepped out of the airship still contemplating the situation. She didn’t even remove the cloak she had been wearing while visiting Osran, having put it on to avoid being recognized by people outside her coven. She did not need people seeing her asking the old man for help. The abomination Alador had turned into a butler opened the door for her as she entered her home. She did not even give it a thought.
Who could be such a threat to her daughter’s future? Considering that Amity almost never left home, it couldn’t be some external influence. Alador? While he had always been too soft on the children, she doubted that he would go against her will by ruining their daughter’s future. And it couldn’t be her, of course. Odalia was the one working to build up their family, after all.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed the disgusting hand marks on the ground and walls. I looked like it was made of the same mud that Alador used for his abominations. Someone small had decided to ruin her home by dirtying it. She angrily followed the trail of hands, which grew more frequent as she approached the living room. She eventually found her husband asleep on the sofa, probably tired from watching the children after a full day of work. On his laps was Amity, nested against his chest. A touching picture, only ruined by the sight of Amity’s muddied hands. So, she was the one responsible for the mess she found.
The twins, who were sitting in the middle of the room doing who knew what, were quick to notice their mother’s arrival. They jumped in joys and raced toward her. Their hands were just as dirty as Amity’s, though they didn’t seem to have made a mess like her. The handprints she saw were too small for to be theirs. Odalia tried to keep them at bay. A hug would ruin her clothes. Unfortunately for her, the twins failed to understand this, and she found herself with their tiny arms around her legs.
“What happened?” Odalia demanded.
Edric smirked. "Mom! Amity was sooo bored, and Dad was super tired! So, we had the best idea! We showed Amity how to finger paint!"
“It was Ed’s idea,” Emira quickly pointed out.
"Nuh-uh! It was your idea! But it was soooo much fun!"
The sister nodded in agreement. “And Mittens is getting super good at it. You should see the paintings she made around the house!”
She looked at her children hugging her, their face exuding pride for no reason. Her eyes turned to her youngest daughter, then at the mess she had done. Her eyes went wide in realisation.
“The twins.”
Edric and Emira looked at her in confusion. Not wanting them to question why she was saying this, she simply patted their head. This brought smiles to their faces, and they responded by dirtying her clothes with another hug. She hated it, but Odalia didn’t push them away. She instead simply smiled as she shuffled their hairs with her hands.
It made perfect sense. They were already causing problems and failing to live up to the standards she had set for them. Not only had the twins been nothing but complete disappointments so far, but they were also going to drag Amity down with them. She needed to stop this from happening.
But how? Her attempts at keeping these two on the right path had proven useless. They were slow learners and were barely keeping up with their baby class. Especially Edric. What a failure he was proving to be. Even she doubted her own abilities to put them back on the right track. And this was how they were currently. They might prove ungovernable once they reached their teenage years. Odalia could never imagine them turning into productive role models for Amity.
She looked at Alador and Amity, both of whom were soundly asleep. It was likely that they didn’t even notice her entering the mansion. Nor would they notice if she left. Slowly, but surely, a new solution started to formulate in her mind. There were only three persons awake in their home: herself, and the twins.
“Mom?”
She glanced down and noticed Emira’s worried expression. Shifting her gaze towards a mirror on the wall, she realized that she looked afraid and hesitant. She quickly corrected this facial betrayal and offered a warm motherly smile to her children.
"It's nothing, sweetheart," she reassured them, deciding to kneel down and lower herself to their eye level. It was an act that she rarely performed. “Say, how about we leave your father and sister to rest?”
The two glanced at each other with guilty expressions and nodded. "Okay... We'll go back to our room,” Edric said softly.
“Sorry about the mess,” Emira chimed in.
At least they recognized their fault, though they didn’t look remorseful. If anything, they seemed overjoyed. Yet they still recognised their wrongdoing. For a moment, she wondered if there was a chance that she could rectify them. But then she remembered what was at risk.
“Now, now. Your father will easily clean this up.”
“So, we are going to our room.” They sounded saddened, as if this wasn’t warranted.
“I was actually thinking that we could use this as an opportunity. Why don’t we go fly the airship, just the three of us?”
“You never want us to come with you.” Emira pouted, her little brows furrowing in confusion.
Odalia felt a pang of worry but quickly composed herself. “You have recently turned five. I just wanted you two to be old enough to be worth my attention.” she lied, trying to mask her real motives.
“For real?” Edric asked.
She nodded, a small smile forming on her lips as she witnessed the twins’ hesitation be replaced with pure excitement, with the two jumping multiple times as they held hand.
“Yes! Airship time! Airship time!”
“Mom’s never this nice!” Emira blurted out, which made Odalia's smile fade slightly at the remark.
“Though I might reconsider if you end up waking up your father,” she warned them.
The children quickly stopped their expression of joy and looked at their mother, gesturing with their fingers the motion of zipping their mouth. She waved at them to follow her, smiling at them one last time before turning her back on them. For a moment, she worried they might refuse to come, but the chuckles of excitement and the chatters coming from behind her confirmed that the twins were indeed following.
She put the hood of her cloak back over her head as she left the mansion, ensuring that she wouldn't be easily recognized should anyone happen to be watching. The night sky stretched above, with a faintly visible moon and stars that offered little spectacle. Odalia hoped that it would help them stay discreet. She got back into the airship, which was still where she had left it upon arrival. Edric and Emira chattered excitedly about the night trip, while Odalia grunted in frustration as she struggled to start the transport. Alador had always been better with these machines. Then again, he did design them.
Her struggles gave her time to reconsider, to contemplate the weight of what she was about to do. It was drastic, possibly even immoral. And even if they were failures, Edric and Emira were, sadly, still her children. The idea of what she was about to do weighted heavily on her heart. But it also seemed a necessary measure if she wanted to save her family. The fate of her company was at stake, as was Amity’s path toward greatness. Things would go fine. She would not be caught. And in the process, the loss she would suffer today would be compensated by immense profits if Amity made it into the Emperor’s Coven and became a worthy heir.
What was it that Emperor Belos always said? “To be great, you have to make sacrifices”?
Odalia refused to give up her greatness, nor would she accept the notion that all her children were doomed to mediocrity. While two of them were, Amity could still rise above the fray. She might yet prove worthy of her ambitions for their family. Yes, this was a better way to see it. She was simply discarding distractions that would hinder her child. Seeing her decision from this angle made it far easier, even liberating.
She focused her attention on driving the airship, barely even giving looks at Emira and Edric. She could hear them being amazed by the areal sight of the Boiling Isles. It was a good thing that she was still refusing to buy them scrolls, or they might have taken pictures.
She needed to be fast. As the airship gained altitude, she directed it toward her wanted destination as quickly as possible. The longest she was gone, the most likely it was that Alador woke up.
She felt someone tugging her cloak. Her eyes shifted down to an excited Edric.
“Mom, Mom! Where are we going?”
“I want to take you both somewhere worthwhile. Now go wait with your sister.”
“Can’t wait!” Emira shouted from behind, her excitement just as high as Edric’s.
“I know! I love when Dad takes us on the airship!”
She could hear them chat behind her. Odalia steeled herself one last time as she brought the airship in a more stationary position. It was high enough to do the trick, she hoped.
“This should be the right spot,” she whispered to herself under her breath
Odalia turned toward her children. Whatever smile she had offered them previously had disappeared, replaced by a cold and decisive expression.
“We’ve reached our destination, children.”
“But Mom, there’s nothing special here.” Edric joyfully pointed out. “We’re just in the middle of the sky.”
Odalia didn’t answer. She simply stepped closer to the twins, glaring down at them. While Edric still looked excited, Emira’s smile vanished at the sight of her mother’s expression, and she even took a few steps back.
“Mom, you’re making me feel scared.”
It seemed that Emira was a lot more perceptive than Odalia had given her credit for. She caught on that something was off. Maybe she had potential after all. She let out a sigh. Sadly, this was too little, too late. She had brought them here, after all. There was no going back.
“Edric. Emira. A decision has been taken to ensure the good of our family.”
“Cool!” Edric exclaimed. “We wanna help! What can we do, Mom?”
“Excellent. Please jump.”
“J-Jump?” Emira looked around. They were in the middle of the sky, as Edric pointed out. “Jump where?”
“Down.”
“Oh, it’s some courage test! You’re going to catch us! Right, Mom?”
“No, Edric. We are simply getting rid of the failures of this family.”
Edric scratched his head in confusion. “I don’t get it.”
No, he didn’t. But Emira seemed to catch on. The girl’s eyes went wide. “W-What? Mom, this isn’t funny.”
“And it isn’t supposed to be.” If it was the last time she saw them, then she might as well let her frustrations out. “You two have been nothing but disappointments. You are lazy, incompetent and unworthy of our family. You destroyed every hope I had for you. You are failing to learn magic at the appropriate pace. Neither of you can respect basic etiquette!”
Edric seemed to catch on, wrapping his arms around her leg in a hug. As if this show of affection made things different. “I want to go home. Can we go home?”
Or maybe not… Odalia couldn’t stop herself from burying her face in the palm of her hand as she growled.
“Edric, you’re not going home. I can’t have you make things worse for this family.”
Edric’s eyes started to blur, and tears began to roll his cheeks. “Mom, if we did something wrong, we sorry!”
“Is that all you have to say right now? Beg me? I should have gotten rid of you two a long time ago.”
“I wanna see Dad!” Edric pleaded.
“Your father doesn’t have time to waste caring about you two. He’s a busy man. He has more important things to worry about than you two failed witches. So, you do not need to worry about him. He is perfectly fine with the current situation.”
Or at least he would be. Eventually. The business did need to continue.
Unlike Edric, Emira had distanced herself from her mother, creating a gap between them as she leaned against the edge of the airship. “W-What about us joining the Emperor’s Coven? You said we could be super amazing witches."
This caught Odalia off guard, her eyebrows arching in surprise. Emira still had this in mind? She had already given up on them ever achieving this a year ago. What a surprise to see that her lazy daughter somehow still believed she had a chance to make her proud.
“Mittens will happily fulfil this goal. Unlike you, so you can rest in peace knowing she will make this family proud.”
“Mom… P-Please don’t…”
“I wish things were different, but you two are a bad influence for her. Unlike her, you are both failed witches, incompetent fools and a danger to this family. Really, this is the best thing you two can do for us. We will all be happier once it is done.”
She tapped her necklace. As it flashed purple, a ghost appeared out of tin air. She quickly ordered it to seize the twins, holding on in each hand. It was better this way. If she did it herself, she might hesitate at the last moment. Better to be safe. The children struggled and started crying.
“Now be good and accept what is going to happen.”
The ghost was now holding the children over the edge, though she doubted that they could see anything with the tears in their eyes.
“MOM! PLEASE!” Emira begged. “W-We’ll never talk to Amity again. We’ll do what you want. We’ll work hard. Please… Mom…”
“I WANT TO GO HOME!”
“This is all for the good of our family.” Odalia offered them one last maternal smile. “You will be remembered fondly. I promise. After all, a Blight always upholds their end of the deal.”
“DON’T GET RID OF US! PLEASE!”
“WE’RE SORRY! PLEASE MOM! WE’RE SORRY!”
“Time to fulfill yours.”
And then the ghost disappeared. Odalia held her breath, barely able to blink. She saw the twins crying as they plummeted, desperately reaching for anything to hold onto. Emira made a futile attempt to grab the edge in a desperate attempt to save her life. Edric grasped for his sister, still winning and begging to be saved. And then they vanished from her sight.
Gone forever.
Odalia took a moment to regain her composure. She didn’t hear their screams all the way down, but she was confident that the fall killed them. And if, by any chance, they did survive the fall... Well,she had chosen this spot for a reason. While in the Emperor’s fortress, she caught a discussion among scouts. This area had a small infestation of trash slugs, and the scouts would clear it within a week or so. The beasts would undoubtedly feed on the twins, whether they were still alive or already dead. That way, if their bodies were ever discovered, she could effortlessly fabricate a story about Edric and Emira wandering out and getting caught by the creatures.
She quickly turned the airship around and went back to Blight Manor. Now that the difficult part was done, she just needed to return home. She would easily be able to pretend that she had just returned from her first outing, ensuring that no one suspected a thing. Then she would ask Alador to summon the twins for some trivial reason. Or maybe she would let him realize their absence at his own pace. It was unfortunate that he would likely blame himself for their disappearance, but it was necessary. Alador would eventually get over it. Or maybe he would throw himself into his work as a means of distraction. That would be a nice outcome.
This time, she didn’t let the abomination butler open the door for her. She made sure to open it as loudly as possible.
“Honey! I’m home!”
“Junk, junk, junk… Oooh! Sellable junk!”
Eda put the weird object to the side and continued to look through the trash slug’s entrails. These things always ate so much treasure. It would be a shame to let it go to waste! And with the Emperor’s goons soon to clean the area, she only had so long before she would lose access to these corpses. In fact, the area was currently “off limit”. As if that ever stopped her. Even so, better to do it at night. She didn’t want them to add illegal trespassing to her growing list of crimes.
Unfortunately, this one held little promise. She had hoped to find some truly wild items in its belly, but so far, she had only encountered a disappointing assortment of junk. While some of igt might get her a few snails from gullible idiots, there was nothing truly worth her time and effort.
Well, it could be worst. She could have run into a live slug. These things were a pain to deal with without salt.
“Hoot. Hoot.”
She turned around to look at the door beside her, watching as Owlbert emerged from the portal, reentering the Boiling Isles with a bag filled with goods Eda had decided to make the most of her time by sending him to the Human Realm to fetch goods while she went through the dead slugs. Lowering herself, she reached for the bag while her palisman perched on her shoulder. Hopefully Owlbert had been more successful in his search than she had been.
“Alright, let’s see what you brought for mama.” She looked through the bag with a frown. It was even more junk than what she had found here. This had not been a good night. “Not your best find, Owlbert.”
“Hoot. Hoot.”
“Oh sure, blame the economy!”
“Hoot.”
“You’re lucky you’re so adorable,” she mumbled as she patted him on the head. “Wanna go for another spin or you’re staying to help me with this ‘treasure chest’?”
Owlbert was about to respond, but his head turned around to look at something else that caught his attention. Eda heard it too, though she was a bit slower to look at what was coming their way.
It was a kid, a girl who looked to be barely four or five years old. The piercing sounds of her cries filled the air. She was bloodied and injured, her broken arm dangling at her side as she ran in panic. Eda wasn’t sure that the kid could even see where she was going due to the tears in her eyes and the blood leaking from that gash on her brow.
Behind her was another child, looking strikingly similar to the girl. However, he moved at a much slower pace, and Eda was quick to understand why. He was limping, occasionally stumbling as he tried to keep up with the girl. Just like her, the boy was crying and afraid, oblivious to his surroundings except for the girl, who was steadily growing distant from him. Eda guessed that these two were siblings, possibly even twins.
It was evident that they were desperately fleeing from something, something that gripped them with such terror that their only instinct was to run. Eda didn’t have to wait long to see what it was. Slithering behind them was an enormous trash slug, the beast clearly intent on devouring the children as it grew closer to them.
“Kids, wait—”
But her words fell on deaf ears. The girl simply accelerated and ran past Eda, consumed by panic as she raced toward the door in search of shelter. Eda, realizing the girl's intention to pass through the door, reached out to grab her, but her hand failed to make contact with its target. Within second the tearful child vanished through the magical portal. While Eda’s instincts urged her to pursue the child and bring her back, something more pressing stopped her from going through the door.
Unlike his sister, the boy was not going to make it. His limping leg and bleeding body only slowed him down, with the slug only inches away from him. If things continued like this, the boy was not going to make it to the door or to Eda. He wasn’t going to make it anywhere.
Eda didn’t hesitate. She sprinted toward the boy, determined on saving him. In an instant, Owlbert transformed into a staff, and Eda swiftly mounted it Clinging tightly to the staff, she raced towards the child, the wind crashing against her face and causing her to squint. His bleeding knees gave way, with the slug’s gapping maw right behind him, opened wide to devour him whole. Eda's hand reached out in desperation
“EM!”
“Got you!”
In an instant, Eda's hand closed around the boy's clothes, and she pulled him tightly into her arm, hoisting the staff upward with her free hand. They narrowly avoided the slug as they took to the sky. Relief washed over Eda, but it was short-lived as the boy began to panic and squirm in her grasp. His eyes darted around as he let out distressed screams. He even grabbed her ginger hair at one point, prompting a growl of pain from Eda.
“Ouch! Hey, stop moving! You’re gonna fall down!”
She was puzzled by his frenzied reactions. He was out of immediate danger, yet he still wailed around like his life was threatened. She didn’t know how to react to this. Was he scared of height or something?
The slug paid no heed to the fact that its prey had vanished. It continued its relentless advance, It continued its advance straight forward, eventually reaching the portal and swallowing it whole. Her attention focused on the boy; Eda only had the time to react before the beast ate her most prized possession.
“Hey, that’s my door! I need that!”
Well, this night was only getting worse. She had to get a handle on the situation. Ok, new plan. She needed to end this slug and get her stuffs back. But first, she needed the boy to stop. She hated doing this to him right now, but she saw no other option. She couldn’t put him down with the slug still around, and if he continued to panic like this, the boy might slip and get hurt. With some hesitation, she threw a sleep spell at the child. His erratic movements quickly slowed as his face took a serene expression. His eyes finally closed, leaving him hanging passively in her arm.
“Alright, now your turn,” she declared as her gaze fell on the slug.
Her first move was to unleash a barrage of magical attacks at the creature. Throwing beams while maintaining balance in the air and holding the child proved challenging, but Eda managed. After a few minutes of relentless assault, her magical onslaught proved enough to force the slug to retreat. But there was no way Eda was going to let it escape with her portal. Swiftly employing her plant magic, she commanded the vines to emerge from the ground, immobilizing the beast. Although itmight not last for long, it would buy her enough time to reclaim her door. The question now was how to retrieve it…
Then the realization struck Eda, prompting a hearty laugh at her own forgetfulness. She already possessed the solution to reclaim her door.
“Oh yeah, the key.”
With a grin, she reached for the key and pressed its eye. Suddenly, the slug started to make weird noises, his mouth opening and closing as if on the verge of vomiting. Eventually, the folded door shot out from its maw, safely flying toward its owner. It was actually a bit hard to grab, with one hand holding her staff and the other focused on keeping the boy with her. But she managed.
Determined to avoid any else going wrong, she quickly flew back to her house. While the kid was calmer now, his injuries were still concerning. She needed to make sure he was okay. She didn’t even pay attention to Hooty upon arrival, simply kicking the door open as she carried the child in her arms. Carefully, she laid him on the sofa, as there seemed to be nowhere else to tend to him.
Eda quickly went through her kitchen. Surely, she had some healing potion lying around. She could try Healing Magic, but she was more confident in her potion skills. After a brief search, she found a bottle with the right label, right next to one of the potions she had obtained for her curse. She raced back to the boy, who was gradually regaining consciousness.
She put the potion to the boy’s lips. "Here, kid. Drink slowly," she urged him.
He coughed slightly as the liquid entered his mouth, though it appeared to have the intended effect. His expression turned from pain to relief, just long enough for him to look around and be overwhelmed with panic.
“A new friend!” Hooty declared with a smile.
“Hooty, you’re going to scare the kid.” She pointed to the crying child as proof.
“W-Where am I?” he mumbled. “W-Where—”
She put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. “Hey, hey. It’s okay. You’re safe, kid. You’re out of danger.”
The look he gave to Hooty made it clear that he remained unconvinced. Even so, he slowly nodded at her, trying (but failing) to stop the tears falling from his eyes.
“I’M HOOTY!”
“HAH!” The kid's horror grew as Hooty brought his face closer, only for Eda to hit the house demon on the beak.
“Hooty, what did I just say?” She turned to the boy once more, trying to offer him the kindest smile she could. “What’s your name?”
“E-Edric… Edric Blight…”
Eda blinked in shock. Alador and Odalia’s kid? What was he doing out there like that?
“Ok Edric. I know your parents…” Well, that was one nice way of saying it. But at least she knew how to contact them. She extended her hand to grab the crystal ball on the table. “I’ll contact your mother right now.”
“M-Mom?” Edric's face was filled with terror, causing Eda to pause. In that moment, the injured child grabbed hold of her arm, his grip tight and desperate. “NO!” he cried, tears streaming down his face. “NO! NO! NO!”
He looked scared, even more scared than he had been of the slug. Did Odalia harm her own kids? A wave of unease washed over Eda, confirming her instincts that something was undeniably wrong with this situation.
“It’s alright. I’m not going to call her.”
“PLEASE NO!”
“Kid, I won’t! It’s okay!”
He looked at her with hesitant eyes. His tears still flowing as he rolled himself into a ball on the sofa.
“Em… EM!” he shouted. “EM! WHERE’S EM?”
“Em?”
“EM! WHERE ARE YOU?”
Who was this Em… The girl! The boy had been such a priority in her mind that Eda didn’t have time to check on her after she went through the portal. She immediately threw the door open and grabbed Owlbert. Her attention shifted to Edric, the frightened five-year-old who continued to panic as he looked at her.
“Hooty, stay with him! I don’t think the poor boy should be alone right now.”
Hooty nodded with confident grin. “Comfort Hooty, ready for duty!”
Eda responded with a nod of her own. Hooty might be a bit of a weirdo, but she could rely on him to keep Edric safe. She raced through the door, forcefully swinging it open on the human side. The sky was dark and cloudy, obscuring visibility and necessitating the use of a light spell.
“Em!” she shouted. That was the name Edric spoke, right.
However, there was no response. The girl was nowhere in sight. Eda looked around the old house, but it remained just as abandoned as always. She tried to follow the path for a while, hoping to catch a glimpse or hear the girl's cries, but there was no trace of her. After a dozen minutes of looking around the woods, Eda finally paused, taking a moment to sigh in defeat.
The girl was gone.