It's been three days since Abigail Henson spoke to Nicholas Scratch. He tried once to talk to her once, but the girl merely walked away awkwardly before he could get any words out, so Nick though, 'oh well.'

Clearly, however, that was wrong.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Abby snapped, barging into the man's room one day after classes.

Nick jumped up and dropped the book he was reading (staring at), surprised to see the girl he's been thinking about nonstop standing at the foot of his bed.

He had to rub his eyes to make sure this was real.

"W-what are you doing here?" He asked, mentally punching himself in the face for stuttering.

Abby ignored his question, and continued to glare holes into his head.

"Answer my question first,"she growled, standing firm with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

Nick looked flabbergasted, "I don't even know how to answer your question!" He defended, throwing his arms up in the air in frustration.

Abby furrowed her eyebrows in anger, looking like she was close to literally bursting. Nick is glad he was able to help her control her emotions a few weeks ago.

"Why haven't you talked to me?" She clarified, still looking upset, but less so.

The color in Nick's face drained instantly. "I-I-What do you mean I haven't talked to you?" He chuckled awkwardly, playing innocent. When the girl gave him the 'don't test me' face, he sighed and tried another approach. "I thought you got pissed off when I come to get you every single day, so I decided to give you some space." He said, proud of his on the spot answer.

"Bullshit!" She screeched, and Nick is pretty sure his heart stopped. "You can't just kiss a girl and not talk to her again, Scratch, that's not how it works." She said, sounding like she was just about ready to pounce.

Nick did a double take, and was silent for a few moments. Just as he was about to speak is when she said, "Save it, I got my answer." And left.

*

Nicholas paced the hallway outside the High Priest's office nervously. He was summoned twenty minutes after Abby stormed off, and he doesn't know what for. Something tells him it can't end well, though.

A few minutes later, he was called in, and there Father Faustus stood, sitting in his chair, back straight and face stoic, holding a photograph.

Nick didn't take him to be the sentimental type.

"You wanted to see me, sir." Nick said, walked into the office slowly. The older man nodded and motioned for the boy to sit down.

"I have a few things I would like to discuss with you, Scratch," he started, still holding on to the photograph. Nick's nerves grew, and the High Priest spoke again. "Has training Henson been going well?"

Nick nodded, unable to find coherent words.

"Have you earned her trust like I asked you to?" He asked.

Nick gave his superior a sheepish look, "About that..."

"What happened, Scratch," the High Priest pressed, losing patience my the second.

"Nothing, sir, I'm taking care of it." He said quickly, not wanted to tell the man the details of something as intimate as this. The High Priest raised his eyebrows, but nodded his head, accepting the answer.

"Do you know what this is, Scratch?" The man asked, placing the photograph he was holding in front of Nick. The boy peered down to see an old looking photo of, what he's assuming is supposed to be a large family. Only three people were actually in the photo, but the way they were positioned in a line made it look like there were supposed to be people standing in between them filling the gaps. He did notice one person, though. Standing next to a large space in between two older looking people, was Abby.

"I do not sir," Nick answered truthfully.

"When we originally took away the memories of the Henson family, we placed a spell on this photograph so we can keep track of them all. This photo is of the entire Henson family, but those who's memories are still gone have vanished. If, and God forbid when, they come back, the witch reappears in the photo. Do you understand?" Nick nodded. "The fact that three people have appeared, only five decades after the spell was cast is a problem for us."

"All due respect sir," Nick started, "but what does this have to do with me?"

The High Priest rolled his eyes, as if the answer was so obvious. "I'm sure you at least noticed that Abigail is one of the witches who's face reappeared?" The man asked rhetorically. Nick nodded anyways, scared for his life. "Well, with all the progress you've hopefully made with her, I need you to convince her to get on the good side of the other visible witches in this photo. They're probably her aunt or cousins."

Nick's head started to spin, a million and one questions running through his head all at once. He had a feeling he knew what his task was, and he didn't like it. He almost didn't hear the end of what the High Priest had to say.

"I need you to get her to end their lives."

(note!)

oof a lot happening in this chapter -_-
the next one is going to be even more dramatic than this one, you can count on it

also im sorry that these updates are taking so dang long. my goal for this month is to finish this book off, but knowing me and these tendencies, it won't get finished till february next year 🤦🏽‍♀️

let's hope that doesn't happen

DONT FORGET TO VOTE GUYS

BEFORE YOU LEAVE
one last thing:
i wanna publish another fanfic (you're all prob rolling your eyes at me) ik i should prob finish one before i start another but i started watching House of Anubis again and i got really excited for this idea

quick fun fact, i got the idea of writing fan fictions after watching house of Anubis for the first time last year ish.

let me know if you'd be interested PLEASE because no one answers the conversations on my profile (:( ) so im hoping to get some answers from here.

okay now im done you may leave.