Melinda was back in her room far faster than she thought she'd be. Amanda escorted her quickly, leaving her alone almost immediately after, and after that, Melinda didn't have much issue when it came to entering the room, except for the numbness and pain that she still felt. Expecting this to last for at least a little while more, she let out a deep sigh, trying to ignore the intense ache within her bones, not knowing why she felt it so profoundly when she'd felt pain so many times before in her life. Soon, she noticed that Frank and Agatha were standing like statues in the centre of the room, their eyes widening in horror the moment they saw the state she was in.

"Don't worry about me, my friends," she said with an awkward laugh, unwilling to wait for them to start bombarding her with questions. "Amanda has taught me a new spell, and this one is a little more difficult than I'd expected, but I'll be alright soon. It's just a regular side effect of the spell, nothing more."

Agatha stroked her chin. "Now that you mention it, it seems familiar to me for some reason. What spell did she teach you?"

Melinda shrugged limply. "Oh, nothing special. She just tied a ragdoll to a piece of wood and showed me a negative spell that makes the victim spin in a circle on the ground for a minute. When it was my turn to cast the spell, I caused the ragdoll to burst open on accident, and she seemed rather upset about it for some reason, almost as if she were scared of me. That was ridiculous of her, right? She seems like an insane person who imagines things that aren't there."

"Yes," said Agatha, her voice wavering. "I'm not sure why she acted like that. She doesn't have a reason to as far as I know."

After saying that, she looked at the bloodstains on her coat for a second, making Melinda raise an eyebrow. The blood stains were peculiar from day one, given that Agatha was a peaceful person who lived a mundane life, and the stark contrast never stopped confusing Melinda. Now that she looked at the bloodstains while talking about her, things became a little clearer, even if the possibility of her knowing Amanda unsettled Melinda more than a little bit. 

In these turbulent times, nothing was safe or certain, and she wished more than anything else for it to stop. She didn't seem to know anything anymore. She yearned for simpler times, times when conflict was distant and reality was understandable to her, but she wasn't convinced that they were ever truly there in the first place.

"Are you alright?" Agatha asked softly, waking her up from her thoughts.

Melinda nodded hesitantly. "Yes, I am. I was just thinking about something that isn't important. There's a lot of time left in the day, so I believe that we really should relax while there isn't anyone to visit us. Rest is the only thing that matters at the moment after all."

Agatha smiled brightly at her. "I love your philosophy, my friend. In fact, it reminded me of a lovely discovery I made recently. Patrick's walls don't deflect magic, so we can burst a hole through a wall and visit your parents whenever we want. That's great, isn't it?"

Melinda was overjoyed to hear this news. In hindsight, it seemed rather obvious, but her paranoia, along with her being overwhelmed with so many things to think about, causing her not to remember the possibility that often, never let her test it for herself. It didn't matter, though. All that mattered was that they now had a huge advantage, and she was so rejoiced that she instantly jumped to hug Agatha tightly, despite all the pain it caused her. 

They hugged for quite some time, and they found much comfort within that warm, friendly embrace while Frank watched them awkwardly, ignored as he always was. It was over after a couple of minutes, but the moments they'd spent in the embrace were those of pure bliss that couldn't be replaced, and it immensely soothed them to have engaged in the revelry of friendship as much as they could in these depressing surroundings.

"Here, let me show you," Agatha said without skipping a beat the moment she got out of the hug, starting to cast the spell required to burst a hole through the wall.

Melinda watched in awe as she swiftly found the subtle shadow of the wall, drew a circle and an x in the air, and then proceeded to clench her right hand into a fist for the following minute, her face reddening in pain for all of it. It entailed more skill than one would think at first glance. That day, aside from having learnt of some secret detriments to Agatha's character, such as deceptiveness, mysteriousness and shadiness, she'd also learnt of her ingenuity, marking her as quite the brilliant ordinary person in her mind.

In no time, the spell worked, leaving a giant hole in the wall and a lot of debris on the floor, but it didn't matter because they'd reverse the spell later. As they made their way into the room where Melinda's parents were being kept, Frank doing so normally and Agatha making Melinda wrap a hand around her neck so that she could drag her along, the parents noticed how much pain Melinda was in, their shock written on their faces as she sat on the floor with her friends.

"Hey, Imelda," Agatha said with a forced smile. "Hey, John. It's so nice to see you. How are you today?"

"Not the best, but it could be worse," Imelda said plainly, and while she was talking, Agatha couldn't help but notice her scarred face. Of course, she was still beautiful with her thick golden locks of hair, brown and grey eyes that shone with passion and life, thin raspberry lips, and overall dainty, admirable appearance - it was no wonder who Melinda had inherited her incredible beauty from - but, along with her age, the scars Hemingway had given her weren't exactly unnoticeable. It was kind of sad to look at.

"How is my daughter doing?" she continued, her voice low. "I've been so worried about her. She doesn't visit us often. I know she loves us very much, and we love her too, therefore our concern for her isn't small. I hope she's alright."

"I'm fine," Melinda responded, ever so slightly embarrassed by this display of affection. "This whole situation may be a raging battle, but that's just my life in general. Nothing will happen to me, I promise. I'd be more worried about the two of you if I were in your place."

"You don't have to lie to me," said Imelda, placing her right hand on her chest. "I'm your mother, which means that you don't have to hide your emotions in front of me. If you need a shoulder to cry on, I'll be there. Even brave soldiers like you need to cry at times. I know that you don't want to hear this, but you didn't look like you were in good condition when you entered the room. What happened? Are you alright? You can tell me, if you want to, of course."

Melinda let out a heavy sigh. "I love you, Mother, but I must admit that I find you overly dramatic at times. I know that I don't look like I'm in good condition, but that's no cause for concern. I've simply learned a more difficult spell than usual, which has stunned my body, but not that much and not for long. See? Nothing to worry about."

John laughed dryly. "I knew that would be the case. I love you, woman, but you really can be overly dramatic at times. Of course nothing would happen to Melinda. She's strong and persistent, and try as it might, the world can never break her. Isn't that so, my dear?"

"I don't see your point," Imelda said, shaking her head. "Aren't you concerned for Melinda? Are you trying to minimize the gravity of this situation? Hemingway has locked us all in here until she turns to the dark side or we all die, and we're really lucky to even be able to have this conversation in the first place! I don't know how she'll be able to handle all of this. I don't know how any of us will. This is like a nightmare that won't end!"

"It's alright, my dear," John said, massaging her shoulders. "I don't know how, but good will win and evil will lose. That's how it tends to go. We can't do anything because we're normal people, but Melinda and her friends will surely think of a way to save us all, and we'll live happily for the rest of our lives. Just don't think about it and soon you'll see that everything will be fine in the end."

Melinda, Frank and Agatha all watched them showing loving gestures to each other for the next few minutes. Although they were scarred and beaten, neither of them dared to lose gentleness or faith. They loved each other deeply, more deeply than would be expected of an old married couple, but it was obviously intensified by the bleakness their condition otherwise contained.

They looked so mirthful with their soft hugs and kisses, and it warmed everyone's hearts to see the joy shining in their eyes at the moment. It was also nice to observe how they blushed when they noticed that everyone was looking at them the whole time, and they all burst into laughter at the end.

"Hey, Mother," said Melinda in the middle of laughing. "Did you notice how Agatha stared at you when we entered the room?"

"Stared at me?" Imelda said, her mouth agape. "Why?"

"I don't know," said Melinda with an angelic smile on her face. "I suppose it's because of how beautiful you look, despite all your facial scars."

Agatha frenetically looked everywhere around her, evidently very embarrassed to have been caught in the act.

"Me? Beautiful?" Imelda said, laughing awkwardly. "No, you must be saying that out of mere niceness. I'm nothing special, really."

Melinda snorted. "Sure, and I inherited my beauty from Father's side of the family."

While John himself didn't look hideous or anything - in fact, he looked like countless other brown-haired, blue-eyed men - people from his side of the family tended to look ugly, causing both him and Imelda to laugh heartily at their daughter's joke. Agatha and Frank laughed as well, even if they didn't fully understand what the joke was about, but they had enough context to find it good, and so they did. 

"Alright," Melinda said the moment they all stopped laughing. "Do you want to hear a story this made me remember? My mother and father met many years ago when she was still at the peak of her youth, seducing many people with her womanly charms and-"

Imelda swallowed. "I don't understand why they need to know that story. It's a part of my youth that I'm rather ashamed of. I really should have been-"

"More modest?" said Melinda, raising an eyebrow. "I don't understand. You were simply having fun, and you didn't hurt anyone. You didn't make false promises or ruin anyone's happiness, and syphilis cannot even sustain itself in this realm. I don't know everything, but you seem to be emulating the morality of Victorian England, and I think we really should strive to be better than humans, who have only stopped executing witches less than a century ago."

"Alright," said Imelda, shrugging limply. "Tell them then."

"Thank you," said Melinda, smiling brightly. "So, as I was saying, many men wanted her, and she tended to dance for them and all the other people that could be found at taverns, content only to see her graceful dancing to the enchanting notes the bard played on his lute, and she was merry to display her passion in front of a huge audience. My father didn't come from this town, or this country at all. He came from the human world in search of a better place, randomly visiting her favourite tavern, 'The Rose's Thorn', on the day she had her biggest performance.

He was immediately enraptured with her, even if he was a bit reluctant to acknowledge it at first because it was he who came from the human world. This convinced him to visit her many more times, and also try hard to get to know her as a friend, which she found very admirable. Not many people did that. The rest is obvious from here. She falls in love as well, they get married, my mother gives birth to me, and they remain happy forevermore."

"That is so sweet," said Agatha, placing a hand on her heart. "I'm so happy for them."

Imelda and John blushed like little children upon hearing all that.

This all was supposed to have lasted a lot longer, but unfortunately, someone knocked on the front door, harshly reminding them of the position they were in. With much haste, Melinda and her friends returned through the hole to where they came from, Imelda and John watching nervously as Agatha covered up the hole. Melinda and her friends stood sternly in front of the door, eagerly awaiting what was going to happen next, afraid of what would happen if they'd been caught again this time.