Nightmares Vs Magic

They didn't have the nerves, just as she deduced. She finally took them away from the area, and Chris could then get to his burning questions.

The media always makes it appear so easy to take a life. And honestly? It is. But the most difficult part, surprisingly isn't about getting away with the crime or hiding the evidence. It's getting the nerve, the right motivation, and the courage to take a life. It feels funny to write that, considering how throughout history, plenty of people have killed, and plenty were men or women who would then go back to living as any normal person. 

Killing isn't a personality, it's an action. Some have done it once and either never looked back or are haunted everyday by their actions, others have done it multiple times, and either forget their victims, or keep records of them, like little trophies or souvenirs because they like remembering their actions.

Some kill as a job or a form of duty, others as a hobby. You should fear both. Many ordinary people who have never killed, love to romanticize the idea of killing, and certain killers, with some thinking they have a secret powerful part of them who can do it if given the right reasons, or other who think they will be spared by the killers they like, because they think liking the macabre makes them special. 

I can't go in too deep a detail about all of that, but what I can say for now, is that Savannah and Georgie were the types of people who thought they were powerful and could kill easily. They could, honestly, they could and I have full belief that if the need ever rose, they would kill in order to defend their friends. 

But the main reason is that deep down they didn't want to. They are still young, younger than me, and as rightfully angry as they are at the world, there are still parts of them saying not to do it. 

They are good people. Just in a very vengeful and stressed-out mood right now.

Dove lied when she said Joon was waiting at the car with her keys. She told the other kids about her lie when she pulled them out of her pocket. 

"To prevent any of you from pickpocketing, I can tell at least a few of you must be good at that." She said while quickly starting the engine in her car. 

Most of the teenagers have never seen a vintage car before, and it was like their childlike wonders were brought back. The shine coming back into their formerly dim eyes filled with dread, fear, and negative energy before. Replaced with curiosity as they were all beginning to have fun. Even with the looming presence of one of Savannah's kratts around, since she gave it the command to keep watch over Joon and Dove's actions.

Dove normally was not social, but she knew she had to make an exception this time. Even willing to rev the engine just a bit, entertain them and also make some noise that would be louder than the painful screaming of someone far away getting burned. 

Any brave and willing campers would take turns in the passenger seats with her as she drove them past the gates and showed them around the area. Since Chris gave them all their phones and items back, they of course took a lot of pictures. They refused to take photos of the kratt that would run alongside the car, keeping an eye on them.

"And if you look to your right, you'll see more trees and roads and empty spaces." Said Joon who sat in the backseat and narrated each short trip like a tour guide. The two teenagers sitting beside him found it entertaining. 

The one sitting in shotgun beside Dove looked to her right, looking for something.

"The camp is farther out then I thought." The girl said. 

"Did you guys see any towns or anything when coming here?" One of the campers in the back asked with a worried or hopeful tone. 

Dove looked at Joon from her rearview mirror.

"Were none of you able to see the route or areas when taken to this place?" Dove asked the girl.

The girl shook her head, using her phone to record still. Her phone was the only that she was able to charge quickly enough, the others don't have much battery. 

"This isn't all of us, but some kids were brought here because their parents paid the farmers to kidnap and bring them here. So, some were brought here blindfolded. I was one of the kids whose parents saw an ad for a behavioral correction camp. They picked me up using a bus, but when I went inside, I noticed the windows were tinted from the inside."

"The inside?"

"Yeah like, most cars have tinted windows to prevent outsiders from looking in. The bus that picked us up also had tinted windows, but in reverse, so none of us could see anything outside. None of us could even use the driver's window or the front window because there was a wall between us and the driver. It was like a cop car but in bus form. The man sitting with us behind the driver's wall said it was to protect the driver from misbehaving kids, but if that were the case, then why was it necessary to make sure they didn't have any windows?"

There was silence after. It sounded like such an obvious kidnapping, but with parental consent, but even though the teenagers must've already known that from the start, there wasn't much they could do.

"So, ah, as you know, the camp was a farm, and a farm requires a lot of land." Joon started, speaking more softly. 

"You guys were pretty isolated, and you know how Maine is, with easily getting lost in the mountains or rural areas."

"Not to mention that this farm was an unlicensed distillery, so it had to be pretty hidden. Had all of you left the place sooner, you wouldn't have gotten far unless you had multiple vehicles or one big bus to carry all of you, but you'd be driving for at least a couple hours."

They hummed in disappointment and thinking. Had they honestly escaped sooner, they would have had to a lot of hiking, camping, and traveling, leading to most likely getting lost in the woods, especially since none of them were able to see or learn about the routes that took them from their homes to this camp. 

"Why does a distillery need a license anyway?" The boy asked.

"A distillery makes alcohol, alcohol causes people to act funny and not smart, so you need a license to prove you're gonna be responsible when making it. Like, all of the workers are to be trusted not drink the products while on the job and cause a bunch of safety hazards." Joon answered in simple terms. 

"Is that really the reason?"

"Well," Dove cut in as she began checking her side mirrors. The teenager sitting in shotgun watched her, genuinely trying to watch and learn. 

"There's also things like a permit to show which location you're operating in, taxes, and selling it responsibly to buyers, but yeah, what he said."

Dove turned the car around after checking for no cars coming her way and drove back to the gates. The teenagers watched her make a tight U-turn in silence.

They gave several of the willing campers turns for a ride. The only ones that still stubbornly rejected, were Savannah and Georgie. 

Joon and Dove knew they had to force them. 

"We already know how to drive." Savannah said, her arms crossed. 

Dove raised an eyebrow in disbelief, standing and leaning against the hood of her car.

"We can! I used to drive my mom's car lots of times when I got upset, and I'd drive away for a night."

"And how slow were you driving?" 

"The streets must've been really empty at night!" Joon said, taking his turn to mock.

If it were possible, there would be smoke coming out of Savannah's ears. 

Dove opened the doors again and gestured to the seats. 

"We can practice here if you'd like, no need for a road. Drive around that office cabin, and test your parking. Joon will even draw some lines int he dirt for you."

She scoffed but also looked hesitant to take the keys that Dove was holding in her open palm. Georgie decided to go instead, about to snatch the keys from her palm to practice, but like a Venus flytrap, her hand closed around his. He tried to pull away, but it was like Dove was giving him an aggressive handshake with no shaking.

He visibly as she pulled him closer, looking him dead in the eyes.

"You can crash into the office cabin if you want."

"How did you know-"

"My car is vintage, not delicate. We can go a little crazy if you want, so long as no one gets hurt."

While Dove and Joon were getting the kids to open up, and Chris was busy interrogating the adults, Bence was figuring out how to train his new necromancer apprentice as they dealt with the dead.  

Vernon listened to mother nature, who helped him find all sorts of remnants of death within the soil, buried deep thanks to weather and time. There were, far too many to sift through than expected. He had to depend on the revenants instead and had to help each of them mark the places where they died. The rare flowers throughout the forest acted as his eyes, but there weren't much to work with when the bodies themselves already left their burial places.

Annabelle was mopey about having to follow her revenant to its unofficial grave, so Ursa ordered the girl to work beside Vernon. The half fae needed to be around at least one of her friends in order to be in a working mood.

The revenant Ursa followed led her to a river. Leon's revenant led him to a pile of large stones that were moved, indicating that its body was buried underneath, and they had to claw their way out. This explained their clothes being more torn than the others, and why the bones of its fingers appeared shorter.

"It looks like the poor child was buried alive, based on the state of my revenant's corpse." Leon said into his phone as he looked around the pile.

The groups were split up but stayed connected through their phones.

"Mine had their body tossed into a river. I should've known considering they looked awfully soggy." Ursa's nonchalant voice was heard replying back through her device.

"Can we switch? Mine was buried in a random place in the forest, so I don't have anything interesting to look at. Just a hole in the ground where they dug themself out of." Another voice replied.

"Lucia." Leon's voice called sternly in a warning tone.

"We found the dead and empty tree trunk where ours died. Considering how decomposed he looks; this kid must've been killed at least at least a couple weeks ago." Annabelle said next.

"The tree trunk looks like it was hollowed out years ago and the bark is very dry. I can still bend it to form a gravestone." Said Vernon.

Bence had his phone on speaker so both him and Green could hear all of this, the seventeen-year-old was frozen beside him, so was Cody. 

Cody insisted on coming along, wanting to know where Martin was taken and buried when he last saw him, Bence only gave in because Cody seemed like the type of boy to be haunted unless he had answers, so it would help his trauma if he had some type of closure. After all, it's not like he's going to see how his Martin died, just where he was taken. 

Bence had his free hand out and in front of Green, to prevent them from unconsciously leaning forward to look further into the deep pit they found. Martin the revenant kept a hold on Cody's shoulders to keep him going further towards the pit as well. You would think it'd be creepy, feeling skeletal hands on you, but it wasn't like that for Cody, who actually felt comforted by the presence of someone he loved, even though his fingers didn't have much flesh on them.

"Multiple revenants led us to a large and deep hole in the ground. It appears to be filled with barbed wire, spikes, and it's all dark. I had to shine a flashlight in and found it was filled with ash. Someone set fire inside this pit multiple times as evidenced by why most of our revenants have bones that are dry or nearly nonexistent. Looks like the most common area used to get rid of bodies."

He looked up to see the multiple revenants surrounding them. 

"Revenants are like a version of zombies, but instead of being mindless dead walkers, they are conscious, especially with the help of a summoner, and are fueled with purpose, which is vengeance." He explained calmly to Green.

The kid nodded, and Bence gave them a concerned look since he wasn't sure why the kid wasn't talking, but he didn't pry for now.

Green was frozen with all sorts of emotions as they continued staring down at the pit, and even though there are no corpses inside because they are all out and floating around them, they were still disturbed by how pitch black it was. Even after Bence turned his flashlight off. He gently pulled the kid away. The sun was coming up anyway, but this part of the forest they are in, is deep in the woods, where the trees have enough branches to block out the sun for longer.

"My my, it looks like we'll have many funerals to work on. Alright, I'm going to start working on making a proper grave for my child. The rest of you get working on yours. Lucia, take this seriously, and Bence? I don't know how many bodies you have, but start with yours first, and we'll be waiting for you to visit each of us so we can learn the names of the children. Good luck." Leon said, before the sound of rock and dirt was heard in the background, getting moved.

"I'll figure out something, good luck." Bence told everyone before ending the call. 

He put his phone away, and as the pit was getting less dark thanks to some morning light creeping in, he then held out the necromancy guidebook. Flipping it open to a specific page like he'd done it so many times before. 

He looked to the two children.

"Were any of them by chance, religious? Or had any preferences for their funerals?"

Green didn't answer. They didn't know. 

"None of us were really religious, since I don't remember seeing anyone pray, but I can help with Martin's funeral, since I know what he liked." Cody hesitantly answered. 

"Alright. I'll see what we can do."

On the opened page was a chapter about instructions for how to defeat revenants, circled in red, his eyes were on the option that taught how to give them a proper burial. Bence remembers well all the proofreading he did on the book.

"Giving dead spirits a proper burial is one of the simplest ways to prevent them from rising back up as evil spirits again, but not enough to prevent zombies from rising." He told the kids, knowing that Cody would want to learn this too, now that he knows about the paranormal.

"Before we begin however, I'm going to teach you a way to communicate with the dead." He attempted to say in a cheerful tone. As cheerful as a mortician with a firm baritone voice can manage. 

Green seemed to perk up anyway. 

Whether it was the wind or Bence, the pages of the book then moved on their own, flipping to a chapter on how to reveal the original faces of the dead. 

"Do you think you can recognize any of the dead here? You or Cody?"

Green shook their head again. Cody could only recognize Martin, but only because Martin had his t-shirt with his name, and a memento in his pocket that only Cody would know of. 

"Let's start with the one closest to you. Greet them like you would any person, hold out your hand for them."

Green faced the revenant to their left, hesitant. Bence gently guided them with a flat hand on their back, like a parent gently coercing their shy child into greeting someone new. He handed the kid the guidebook to read.

The revenant Green stood before was only a skeleton, darkened from repeated burnings, and hardly any clothing on them. No eyes, no skin, no semblance of what they used to be. 

Green nodded their head and waved shyly to them; the skeleton made no movement. But when Green lifted their hand out for the skeleton to take, they moved and placed their burnt boney hand in their palm. Bence had his hand lightly on Green's shoulder.

"May we see your face? May we have your name?" He said as another book appeared in his free hand. 

A used spiral notebook it seemed, flipping its pages on its own. Look closely enough and you can see lists of names, ages, and descriptions of small and specific locations. It stopped at a blank new page. 

The revenant shook their head to his questions, and spoke in a hoarse, terrifyingly dry, voice filled with pain and aged by time. 

"Not... Until... The workers... Join us.."

"I'm afraid if I let you kill the ones you wish to enact vengeance on; you will be weighed down by your sins before you can even pass on."

"We... Deserve... Justice." The revenant argued back, it's jaw only hanging open each time it spoke. Like a marionette poorly puppeted. It's voice as quiet as the hushed sound of distant wind.

"And you will receive it."

The revenant had no response to this, but as if on cue, a loud shrill and scream was heard far off int he distance. The scream pierced the wind sharply with how much agony it was filled with.

Green and Cody jumped at the sound, feeling very alarmed. Bence stood still, like he was expecting this. In fact, he had a much lighter expression on his face, as he continued to give eye contact to the revenant they were speaking to. The revenant stared back with its unhinged jaw, looking as though it's close to falling off were it not for Green's unconscious magic. 

Green was still holding the skeleton hand, and appeared to have squeezed harder.

"Ask, and you shall receive." The necromancer answered simply with a polite smile. 

"All of you likely died from labor, or by the hands of the workers at the camp, yes? Then why waste your newfound energy to revolve around them or the camp again?"

"We... are.. not-"

"Forgive my interruption but I already know, you're not doing this for them, but rather to get back at them. I'm aware. But let me tell you this, the one thing that certain villains love more than anything, is knowing that their victims still think about them. That they still take up space in their victims' heads. Now, with this in mind, how do you think your perpetrators would feel once they realize they still occupy your minds, even in death, to the point that when you miraculously come back to life, your next actions revolve around them?"

The revenant was silent again. Bence quietly sighed, at peace, knowing these corpses were most definitely children, and he would likely have an easy time convincing them. 

There came another scream of agony, followed by a very distant wailing or pleas. Too far to hear, not loud enough to be coherent for anyone too far to listen.

"They already took your lives, there is no need for them to take any more of your time or space in your head because you were all tempted to do unto them what they did to you. Please, think about yourselves first, your all children, let the adults who are here now, handle the shameful adults."

He looked down to Green, who switched from staring at the revenant in front of them to look up at Bence. He pointed to a paragraph on the page they were to read and then nodded his head. 

He looked back up to the floating skeleton still cooperating as they never let go of Green's hand.

"May we see your face? May we know your name? Please?" He reiterated right as Green focused on trying their first official spell. 

Green's hand, unlike their name, glowed a faint color of blue, like teal. It crawled up the skeleton's arm, all the way up to their shoulder, past their neck until the glow reached their face, and there came a bit of color, and then flesh. 

Tanned skin, the unnatural kind that was developed due to being underneath the sun too much, as it's redder than it was brown. Dry, thin, almost cracking lips, a small nose, a mole on the edge of the ear, brown eyes, and brown hair. Cut short, in a puppy tail. 

The face and head of young teenager with a lifeless face, even with her flesh returned to her, her eyes have no sparkle. 

"Sarah." She answered. 

Bence nodded in silent greeting, then looked down to check on Green once more. 

They stood there in shock, most likely now recognizing the dead woman in front of them. Bence kept them grounded. 

Back to where Dove and Joon were, dealing with the living kids the area they were working at now had a log cabin that's been crashed into and destroyed multiple times. 

First the inside was ravaged, and then it was crashed into. The sun was rising, just like everyone's spirits.

Georgie slapped the hood of Dove's convertible, genuinely impressed. 

"Didn't realize old cars could take all that and still be fine." He said, looking up at Dove with less anger and now speaking in a lighter, upbeat tone. 

She had her hands on her waist, proud of her car.

"Built to last, newer cars are built delicate nowadays." 

"Because they have built in features to protect the driver." Joon cut in, arms crossed. 

He too was impressed with how much Dove's car was able to handle with all those crashes, even letting Savannah do donuts and accidentally crash into a thin tree, but the tree went down instead. 

"Still, delicate." Dove argued back. 

Georgie smiled, he genuinely had fun and got to blow off some steam, but his face changed back into a serious one when he noticed Dove looking at the only kratt she caved and let Savannah bring along. He leaned against a nearby tree as he waited to get Dove's attention. She was watching Joon pop open the hood of her engine as he began going on a rant to the other kids the difference between the safety of old cars versus modern cars.

"I'm guessing you're still gonna try and convince me and Savannah to give up on our kratts?"

She nodded quietly, stepping closer and sitting against the tree, gesturing with her hand for him to sit beside her. 

"I know you're not gonna like it, because hey, who would want to give up on servants that they signed a literal demon contract to bring to life?" She said with a shrug. Her face then frowned into a gentler but still serious expression. 

"I know you guys were planning to use them as protection and as servants and stuff to help you survive. Use them as you guys traveled or hiked or camped until you found the nearest small town, or was there another plan I hadn't considered?"

Georgie shrugged. Savannah came up next to sit by them, having quickly gotten bored or Joon's rants while the others were immersed or entertained. 

"No, it's true, that was the plan." She confirmed as she sat down across from Dove, crossing her legs. 

"But what else could we have thought of?"

"Well,,," Dove paused, thinking and coming up with her words carefully. 

"Actually, allow me to answer your question with another. You know how people nowadays are always looking for the latest or newest thing to talk about? Or conspiracy theorists and ghost and alien hunters?" She asked, resting her elbows on her knees. 

"You guys have made some impressive living dolls. Seriously, the materials must not have been easy to get, not to mention building them up to the scales that they are. Yours, Savannah, is practically reaching seven feet, and yours, Georgie, are pretty much tanks." 

They both grinned at the compliments. 

"Now just think about how noticeable they are. And how easily photos can travel online. And then all the ghost hunters and content creators who will start tracking the location of your kratts, and potentially you, to get a glimpse of the weird things." 

There was a pause, the two kids were frowning but they didn't retort, nor did either move away. She still had their attention. Dove only looked up briefly, to see Savannah's expression. The girl was still listening. She changed her sitting position before continuing. 

"These servants of yours will be useful, depending on how specific you can make your commands, until you start attracting attention with them. Let's be honest, do all of you plan to live in hiding? Camping around, this big group of you along with your mini army?"

"Thank goodness we can just command them to disassemble themselves, make them look like piles of junk or tools."

"Until you need them again." Dove retorted. 

"Plus, how do you expect to hide every single kratt you've made when you get to a town? Are you just gonna, stay at the edge, camp there? Only use your kratts when no one is looking? Which sidenote, always assume someone is looking because small town folks are nosy and always looking for "fun", not every small town is filled with compassionate people willing to hear out your story and then help you." Dove said, air quoting with her fingers the word fun before crossing her arms. 

"First there will be nosy people, then people with cameras trying to get attention, then mystery lovers, and then questions upon questions until spectators are chasing you down, wondering about your creepy servants made of objects and animal skeletons. Treating you like a circus." She sneered with venom in her voice. 

"Imagine trying to get away from that town, forget how none of you fully know how to drive much less have money to fuel up on gas, do any of you know how to hotwire a car? It's more difficult than the movies make it to be. You'd have to hotwire a new car each time one runs out of gas or blows out, and you'd need at least multiple vehicles or a big one to carry all of you, including your kratts."

"We're not idiots." Savannah answered, also crossing her arms as she sat across from Dove, sitting up straighter. 

"We were planning to look for one of the camp workers' keys, specifically for the bus."

"Do you know where the bus is? Because considering how secretive this place is, and how this place has no issue with killing any of you, that bus was rented and isn't here. It's a big vehicle, with a license plate that can be tracked once caught on street cameras. Now, why would they allow such a trackable thing to stay in this location if they were worried about this place being found?" She asked. 

Although, the question was more rhetorical, so there was no need to answer. She only paused to make sure she still had their attention.

"Well, we would've found that out eventually and then went for all of their cars instead." Georgie shrugged, beginning to see what little of a plan he and Savannah scrounged up, begin to unravel. 

"None of you know how to drive."

"We would've figured that out too." 

"And if you had crashed while figuring it out? After somehow getting enough cars to transport all of you, including your kratts, what would you have done if one of some of you got injured? Car crashes on highways can happen, especially with sleepy drivers who've been traveling for hours." Dove sat up and asked in a hushed but still audible voice. Like whispering with an urgent tone.

She knew if she were to raise her voice in any way, the conversation would turn into fighting, and fighting solved nothing, only made things worse. 

"Unless you know first-aid and know how to give proper directions on it, your kratts can't help you. They are mindless servants whose only purpose are to do as they are told, not understand, not be your companions or caretakers, if you give a vague command such as 'get help!' or 'save them!', chances are, they won't get the kinda help you need."

"We'll learn as we go. We've survived this much, and like you said earlier, they're like our mini army, I can just command one of my heavier servants to keep us safe on the road." Georgie fired back, also in a hushed whisper tone, copying hers. 

Dove only raised a doubtful eyebrow at his remark. 

"One of your heavier kratts, how fast can they move exactly?"

Georgie was silent. Savannah groaned in frustration, rubbing her face from all the frustration in the nitpicking of their plans, or, intended goals. 

"Kratts don't work well for travel, especially in a big amount unless you know what you're doing and don't have to worry about hiding... Unless.." She paused, making the two kids look at her, wanting to her any kind of positive thought she suddenly had, so that they can consider it. 

"You would've ended up staying at this camp, using it as your base and new home. I assume none of you have any good homes, and this place is sort of perfect for runaways."

Savannah nodded along.

"Yeah, we would've totally ended up with that conclusion eventually." She said while nodding.

"That's also like, the easiest answer, it's totally why we hadn't left this place yet. We were gathering resources."

"Savannah." Georgie groaned with a disbelieving tone that said, 'please stop', all while rolling his eyes. 

Dove merely chuckled, humoring her.

"But then, what would you have done with the camp workers? Aside from, you know, the usual tactics of taking their IDs, wallets, keys and stuff?"

"Yeah, yeah, the usual, the things we were totally gonna do..." Savannah nodded along and repeated again, snapping her fingers to prevent from spacing out. 

"I mean- kill them, obviously."

"You don't want to kill them."

The two then gave her a doubtful look, almost sneering. 

"Yes, we do. Those douchebags did awful things to us, we were literally gonna kill them before you and the other supernatural police force or something showed up."

"You couldn't bring yourself to kill me."

"Because I didn't have to-" 

"-No, you didn't have the nerve to." She quickly retorted. 

"You and the others are teenagers who have been hurt, abused, and traumatized, you are angry at the world and want to hurt all those who have hurt you. But, deep down, your inner child is screaming at you, 'Don't do it', you're too young to have blood on your hands, and to spend the rest of your lives, thinking about the people you killed, which will become addictive." She said, mirroring a phrase she remembered Chris told her.

"Is this going to lead to a lecture about us going to hell again?" Georgie asked, leaning against the same tree as her, yawning. 

"No, this is going to bring me to the subject of debt."

Savannah also looked rather tired, cradling her face in one hand as she kept listening, intrigued.

"What debt? Also, you've got a relaxing voice."

Dove gave her a small smile.

"Thank you." She said in an even more relaxing and gentle tone. 

"Your kratts are servants brought to life through multiple contracts with the devil. One contract for each kratt, and that is the first reason for why you both will go to hell straight after death. That is the first debt, and it will keep increasing depending on how many services you ask of them. Do either of you have parents that are gambling addicts, or a habit of incurring debt?"

They were both silent again, but not because both were feeling sleepy. Georgie snorted as he crossed his arms and looked away. 

"Does a pig who spends every scent he earns on weed and strippers count?"

"Sure. He knows he's incurring more debt that he'll eventually have to pay off but refuses to acknowledge it, right? Well, you're pretty much doing the same thing." 

Georgie grunted, and she let him sit to think about it. 

I finally found a nerve to hit with Georgie. Debt, incurring it, and doing bad things that would only give temporary solutions. As for Savannah...

Savannah scoffed, rubbing her face to wake herself up more as she argued, albeit weakly, again with Dove. 

"Ok, so, hell is guaranteed, and I'll probably get a serious sentence depending on how much stuff I make my servants do for me. I don't care! I live in the moment. I just gotta make sure I enjoy my life to the fullest before I die!" She said cheerfully and in a relaxed, uncaring tone. 

"Your kratts will kill you themselves if they are left without a task as soon as the prior one is finished."

The girl's eyes widened. 

"You're lying." 

And another nerve was hit. Damn, I really should've brought that up sooner. Or did I and it just didn't work at the time because of the high and tense emotions? Either way, my social battery was drained. I need more practice at interrogations and stuff. How does Laurence do this?

Dove pulled out her phone and used her data, doing a quick online search on kratts from Estonian folklore. She showed the girl the zoomed in facts on the screen.

"They have to be occupied at all times, or else they'll just assume everything you've ever wanted has been granted, and then immediately collect your soul for Satan. You could destroy their bodies before they kill you, I guess, but there's no record about saying that you wouldn't still be hunted for your soul afterwards, you just won't know who's hunting you, and how close they are."

Savannah, tired and having less fiery energy, read it, took in the information, and now filled with both exhaustion and fear, finally gave in. Not verbally, but Dove could tell she finally got through to her too when Savannah cautiously looked over her shoulder at the tall kratt she ordered to come along. It's a good thing she gave it the order to keep watch, for that task would've only been completed when she said so or gave another command. 

The skull it had for a face did nothing to ease her mind even though she personally found the skull. She only just now noticed how long the jaw had been hanging wide open, like it's waiting for the right opportunity to attack her.

"Now just gotta wait for Bence." Dove covered her mouth as she yawned.