TETHER

Sophia spent an entire week locked up in her room, having all her meals delivered there, and barely sparing a minute to shower or change.

It was all worth it, though, because after her eighth day locked inside, she finally figured out the answer.

With Leonidas' ritual, it would have called back the closest soul to the body to bring back inside and attach once again to it, but it had been too long since Selene had disappeared for Sophia to bring her soul back that way.

If there was some sort of homing beacon, however, some way to specifically call for Selene's soul, the ritual would work.

The answer came in the form of Bitey, or more precisely, Selene's sorcery that still lingered in Bitey's body. Using Bitey hadn't occurred to Sophia until she saw him lounging on the window sill. She'd barely paid him any attention since Selene had left.

She was vaguely aware that he would follow her around sometimes, asking for her sorcery now that he couldn't consume Selene's anymore, but Sophia was not in the proper mindset to acknowledge him.

It was a good thing she didn't, if she'd fed Bitey her own sorcery, all traces of Selene would be gone, and the ritual was impossible. It was a good thing she was such a heartless bitch sometimes.

Sophia wasted no time once she figured out what to do. She plucked Bitey up and hurriedly told James to take the reins of a carriage and bring her to the woods, fast.

He did so without protest, and got her there in record time. She informed him to stay out of the fog, and that she would be fine if she went inside, then left without waiting for a reply.

Bitey drooped slightly when they both entered through the fog, the thick oppressing feeling probably affecting him too. Sophia sped to the centre of the woods, bringing them both through the cocoon of smoke without any hesitation.

Selene's new body had seemingly finished being put together. It was a truly horrific image, but Sophia didn't care, and she knew that Selene wouldn't mind, in fact she might even enjoy how scary she looked.

Sophia set Bitey down on top of Selene's new body and began the ritual. The sorcery and magic she had to summon made her lightheaded, but she pushed through the feeling, focussing her thoughts on Selene and the image of a thread reaching out from the magic inside Bitey to her soul, adrift somewhere in space.

It took a while, but eventually she felt a tug on the other end of the thread, and with a triumphant grin, she reached her own sorcery out and yanked, hard, pulling the thread and whatever was on the other end of it down towards her and the body.

When the soul collided with the body, there was an explosion of magic and sorcery, knocking Sophia off her feet and sending her flying into one of the nearby trees.

She groaned through the pain, struggling to sit herself up, blinking furiously as she tried to see past the spots in her vision.

Another groan came out, only this time it didn't come from her.

Sophia felt her chest close in as she saw a blurry body in the distance begin to rise. She couldn't breathe, not even as the figure stepped closer and closer.

By the time she reached Sophia, her sight had already fully returned to her.

"Sophia?" She asked. "You stink."

It was Selene. It was her Selene.

Sophia laughed, loud and hysterical, while crying at the same time.

Selene let her laugh and cry as much as she needed, not talking again until Sophia collected herself.

She asked for Sophia to fill her in on everything she missed, and so she did. Afterwards, Sophia asked Selene what happened to her and if she felt anything just as a floating soul. Selene revealed that for her it only felt like one second she closed her eyes to fall asleep and then suddenly woke up here in the woods the next second.

They spent hours catching up in the woods, uncaring of the time passing. Selene could see clearly how her disappearing had weighted on Sophia, and so she didn't pester her to get them both home, knowing that she needed this time alone with her.

Selene couldn't imagine what would have happened if the roles were reversed. If she had lost Sophia, she would probably have just went mad, and she certainly wouldn't have been able to figure out a way to bring her back.

When Sophia revealed that Elliot was the one who cut her hand off after thinking that she had murdered Selene, Selene laughed. Despite how much of a scaredy cat Elliot was, it seemed when push came to shove he was still able to act out properly. Sophia frowned at her, complaining about her lack of a right hand, and about how she still can't write as neatly with her left hand, but Selene just said that she could put cooler things at the end of her arm instead, like a hook for example.

Sophia rolled her eyes. Of course Selene would go there.

Selene for some reason seemed jealous. "It's a battle wound! It's cool!"

And she was upset too that her body didn't stay ugly and disturbing. The moment her soul returned the magic seemed to revert her body back to the way the book intended for her to look.

James came looking for them then, only to stop in his tracks the moment he saw Selene, alive and well, sitting next to Sophia on the ground.

"I- What-"

"How'd you get through the fog?"

"The fog dispersed. Is that-?"

"Yes. It's Selene."

"But- but her- her body- we buried her-"

"I got her a new body, it's fine."

"Your family, they-"

Selene and Sophia exchanged a glance. That was a good point, how exactly were they supposed to explain her miraculous return?