Young Writers Society

The queen considered him, her neutral expression twitching with irritation before returning to form, "I don't know what dark magics gaurd my husband. I have no way of knowing. He's a very secretive man."

Megara lost interest at the words 'I don't know'.

She hopped down from the table, putting on a rather impressive unbothered act when her leg flared up in pain, and went to stand nearer the prince.

"How about you? Do you know anything useful about your boyfriend-murdering dad?" she asked, annoyed that she had to stick around here any longer than she had to.

The prince looked between his mother and Megara, his expression once again unreadable.

Then his gaze remained on Megara.

"I don't know too much," he said. "He doesn't like to let me know much about his strengths and weaknesses. From what I've seen, he has some kind of defense against magic."

I gave a metaphorical frown

"Well that rules the possession off the table," I said.

The prince blinked and stared at me.

Megara shook her head, "You don't want to know." She turned to address the group as a whole, considering the queen for a moment before saying, "So, it's clear we have some planning to do, so would someone please get her out of here before I stab her." The potential downside - the queen having some kind of vital information that would help them remove the king's head from his body - was far outweighed by the benefits of removing the distracting urge to use her as a pincushion. Slowly.

Megara filed that idea away for later. Tailor's shops apparently had quite a few benefits to her job if she thought about it. If she got a thematically appropriate job, she'd have to try that sometime.

Adrian glanced over at Jacob.

"She could come upstairs with us," he suggested. I felt sorry for the two - they had been in such a good mood earlier, but it was clear that the queen and her little scheme had completely ruined it.

"Wonderful idea, have a chance to chat about this new development in your relationship." She gave them a dismissive wave and turned to Skull, "You ever done anything like this before?"

If she was working with an absolute rookie, she was going to have to make some 'keep-Skull-from-screwing-everything-up' adjustments to the plan.

As the three left for upstairs, I mulled over Megara's question.

"...No," I reluctantly admitted. If I wanted to get back to the world I had been on last, I needed to be truthful - it was the only way we were going to come up with a concrete plan. "I've killed people before, but never in a situation like this. It was a little more desperate and spur-of-the-moment."

She groaned and rubbed a hand over her face, "Alright," she sighed, "I can coach you through it. First things first, what skills do you have? I know you can possess people, and yes you are going to have to use that, but do you have anything else that could possibly be useful?"

The beginnings of a plan began to form in her mind. Fidel and Kirux had uniforms, Skull could possess someone, and they were in the shop where many of those uniforms were created. She looked around. Unfinished uniforms were everywhere now that she was looking for them. A jacket on that dress form, a shirt laid across that table. She could put together a pretty good disguise with the things around her.

As a bonus, she had an excuse not to incorporate a wig.

"Possession is my best skill right now," I said. "I'm also pretty good at intimidation and moving things without having to touch them, but let's just say that's the kind of thing I'd want to use in a worst case scenario."

I wasn't going to let Megara know just how vulnerable I'd be afterwards; it was a nightmare waiting to happen. I'd just play it safe and give vague details on the scope of my powers - that way, I wouldn't have to be watching my back 24/7.

A few feet away, Kirux nervously watched the exchange. He looked like he was about to cry again, but was somehow managing to keep back his tears.

She thought about it for a minute.

"Alright, this isn't going to be my best work, but short notice and all. Fidel, do you know how to sew?" he nodded, "Okay, I need you to get to work on one of those uniforms for me. Kirux, do you have any abilities aside from the strength thing?"

If Kirux could get away quickly, or just fight his way out, he could provide a distraction. Something big, flashy.

Skull was incredibly recognizable, but if he possessed one of the trusted servants he could get anywhere he wanted. He could go in first, pave the way for Megara and Fidel to give him back up for the main fight.

"I can also manipulate living things, plants and stuff," Fidel chimed in.

Megara nodded in acknowledgment and adjusted the plan.

Skull would have to get the king near something living. The garden, maybe, or somewhere else. She'd have to trust him to figure it out.

She waited for Kirux's answer.

Kirux thought for a moment, then gave a big nod.

A second later, his key from earlier showed up again - just as big and as unusual as before. I stared at for a good moment this time around; I still had absolutely no idea why he had it and what it was supposed to do, but something told me he wouldn't give me a straight answer.

"I can also make corridors of darkness," he signed.

"Corridors of what?" I asked.

"Corridors of darkness," he repeated. "I used one earlier to get us out of the castle!"

After that excited signing, he pointed his finger in Fidel's direction.

I turned to Fidel for further explanation.

Fidel shrank back, embarrassed at the sudden attention.

"He, um, teleported. Kinda. Like the Rianga twins?" he looked to Megara.

She frowned, "Alright," she said. She was in a 'just-accept-it' mood, at the moment. Besides, they didn't have time to dwell.

She explained her plan to the others, specifying that Kirux could use his powers to get away after causing whatever distraction he could.

The plan was dangerous, but I was used to danger - or, at least, that was what I wanted to say. But before I could even make that comment, I realized that Kirux looked nervous. Too nervous, even for a situation like this. A little bit of nervousness was expected - especially from him. But this felt almost like terror, and I wasn't sure how to deal with that.

I faltered.

"...Are you okay?" I hesitantly asked, the words strange and unfamiliar.

Kirux shook his head.

Megara gave Kirux a hard look.

Her first instinct was to scold him. This isn't the time to be childish. You are not going to be the reason I can't get home.

Her second, more thought out instinct was to leave him be. Comforting him would only end in disaster if she was the one doing the comforting, and besides, a screw up from Kirux was a much better reason to get stuck on this gods-forsaken world than just giving up.

She looked to Skull and glanced from him to Kirux, her meaning clear enough, deal with this.

The lack of care Megara had for this situation was concerning, but I realized that there wasn't much I could do about it - I just had to deal with it on my own, if the look was anything to go off of. I could have probably asked Fidel for help, but Fidel didn't know sign language.

I turned my attention back to Kirux.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"What if we get caught?" he asked. His fingers were beginning to shake a little as he signed, and his eyes started to grow moist again. "I don't want to be in prison, or...or..."

He faltered, bit his lip, and then stared down at the ground.

"...I don't want to die..."

...Oh.

"We won't get caught," I reassured him. "Megara has a foolproof plan - or mostly, anyways."

"...But it could still go wrong," he signed. He raised his head a little, found a chair to sit in, and promptly pulled his legs close to his chest. For someone who had to be six feet tall, he looked so small sitting like that.

Fidel didn't know what, exactly, was bothering Kirux, but he went over to him and put a comforting arm around his shoulders, "It's alright, we're going to get back to our worlds," he said, a shot in the dark.

Megara frowned, crossed her arms. "Foolproof isn't how I would describe any plan. Things go wrong all the time, but none of you are going to die."

After she said it, she realized that she sounded just a little too encouraging to keep the uncaring attitude she preferred to display. She chose to ignore that. She hoped the others would too.