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*****
"So we can go home now?" Enid asked, looking at Ethan. Her eyes immediately landing on the Book of the Dead in his hand.
Ethan nodded slightly.
"Yes, we can. Wednesday already found a spell in this book that could send us back to our era."
He paused for a moment, glancing at the pages.
"But before that, we have something to do."
Enid frowned.
"What work?"
"Nothing difficult," Ethan said. "We just need to make sure the loop closes properly so there won't be problems in the future."
The group went quiet.
Ethan lifted the book slightly.
"We're going to place a curse on this," he continued. "So that in the future Lucy is the one who opens it, gets pulled into this era… and we follow her."
Lucy blinked, realizing she was part of the plan.
"So that we can stop the invasion here," Ethan added, "and protect both the past and the present."
Selene crossed her arms, thinking it through.
"Ummm… how can we be sure Lucy will be the one to open it?" she asked. "It's not like we'll be there to keep an eye on the book."
Ethan smirked slightly.
"That's the part I already handled," he said, lifting the Book of the Dead a little. "I've made sure this book won't open unless it's Lucy who opens it."
He had already sealed it.
A blood seal layered into the pages themselves, binding the mechanism of the curse to a single condition. No matter who found it, no matter who tried to read it, the book would remain inert.
Unless it was Lucy.
He glanced at her for a brief second.
It wasn't exactly a kind solution. Forcing a nine-year-old into a role like this—into something that would drag her through time and into danger—wasn't something he would normally consider.
But this wasn't normal.
Lucy had already become part of the event.
A fixed point.
Remove her from it, and the sequence would collapse. And if the sequence collapsed, the consequences wouldn't stay limited to one timeline.
They would spread.
Wednesday understood that immediately.
The others didn't.
Enid frowned slightly, clearly trying to follow what he was saying, while Selene's expression showed she grasped the danger but not the mechanics behind it.
Ethan didn't bother explaining further.
"There's no need to understand the process right now," he said. "What matters is that the outcome is secured."
He closed the book.
"We protected the world," he added. "Even if no one will ever know it happened."
His tone stayed casual, but the meaning was clear.
History wouldn't record this.
No one would remember that they had prevented something far worse than a simple disaster.
The world would just continue as if nothing had ever come close to ending it.
"So… who's excited to go back to our era and actually use modern technology again?" Ethan asked.
There wasn't even hesitation.
Enid raised her hand immediately. Selene followed, and even Lucy lifted her hand with a small nod. After everything they had been through, none of them wanted to stay in the past any longer.
Wednesday didn't raise her hand.
She simply opened the Book of the Dead.
Her eyes moved across the pages as she found the spell she had memorized earlier. The wind around them shifted slightly as she began reading, her voice steady and precise.
The words echoed.
The air in front of them distorted, then tore open.
A portal formed.
The pull started immediately, dragging at their clothes and hair as the space behind it twisted.
"Time to leave," Ethan said.
The force of the portal increased.
One by one they were pulled in.
Just before stepping through, Ethan turned back once and threw the Book of the Dead forward with full force. The book spun through the air and vanished.
Time would take care of the rest.
The loop would complete.
—
They landed hard.
The pull vanished instantly, and solid ground replaced the swirling void.
They were back.
Ethan's mansion.
The familiar interior stood around them, clean and untouched, like none of the chaos they had just experienced had ever happened.
Enid exhaled deeply and dropped onto the floor.
"Finally," she said. "I missed this place."
Lucy looked around, clearly relieved.
Selene straightened, checking herself out of habit.
The Book of the Dead lay on the floor where they had left it before everything began.
Wednesday picked it up. She was taking it—there was too much in it to ignore, and along with her Book of Shadows, it could help her understand and control her abilities better.
Ethan had already moved toward the landline.
He picked it up and dialed a number from memory.
The line rang.
Once.
Twice.
Then it connected.
"Hello?" a voice answered.
"Uncle Mike," Ethan said. "We found your daughter."
There was a pause on the other end.
"…Really?"
"Yes," Ethan replied. "She's safe."
He turned slightly and held the receiver toward Lucy.
"Here. Talk to him."
Lucy hesitated for a second, then took the phone.
"Dad?" she said softly.
Her voice trembled just a little as she spoke to her parents on the phone.
"Are you sure you want that book?" Ethan asked, looking at Wednesday. "It's dangerous. It's better to lock it away."
"Yes," Wednesday replied.
"I prefer understanding dangerous things over pretending they don't exist."
"Locked away, it remains a threat. In my hands, it becomes useful."
"And if anything," Wednesday said, glancing at him, "the laughing skull on your waist is far more dangerous than the book."
Ethan rubbed his forehead, already knowing where this was going.
"Wednesday… at least promise you won't try anything out of line," he said. He knew she didn't listen to her parents, so expecting her to listen to her boyfriend wasn't exactly a strong strategy either.
Wednesday looked at him.
"I promise," she said, a faint smile forming.
It was the kind of smile that meant the exact opposite.
Ethan stared at her for a moment, then sighed.
"Right. That's reassuring."
He gave up arguing and shifted approach instead.
"Fine. At least call me when you decide to try something," he said. "I'm not stopping you anyway, so we might as well do it properly. Think of it as… controlled chaos."
"I prefer the term intentional damage."