057 Enemy Among Friends

"There came more weird people..." The wizard suddenly gave out a plaint. Kitty wanted to laugh at the fact that HE was calling other people "weird", but she didn't want to make the situation worse so she pressed that urge.

Erebus turned to look following his sight at that comment before Kitty could press him on the question.

It was Winnie.

"Do you know who she is?" Winnie asked the wizard.

The man was hesitating.

"Your silence IS the answer." Kitty shook her head at the wizard.

"I cannot give her to you!" The wizard yelled at her, ashamed into anger by Kitty's pointing out his mistake.

"You will not be leaving here alive if you don't give her up." Erebus said coldly with a calm voice.

"I won't be alive either if I lose her! Do you understand? I might as well take my chances with you!" The wizard yelled in a weirdly sissy voice.

"Who is your master?" Kitty suddenly asked.

"No one!" The wizard answered fast with horror in his voice now.

"It's the Queen, isn't it?" Kitty squinted her eyes at him.

"No!" He yelled.

"You were gonna kill Emma yourself just now! Why didn't you think about your master's order back then?!" Kitty demanded.

"My order was to capture her, and kill her if I cannot keep her." The wizard said, "Don't make me do it."

"You cannot do it." Kitty said, "You would have done so by now if you could. You cannot breach the protection spell."

"..." The wizard was not happy to been seen through.

"You use decent space spell." Winnie suddenly said, "But you cannot leave, now that I'm here. Give up, you lost."

The wizard stared at Erebus for a while, as if trying to make a hard decision. Erebus didn't move a muscle, but the wizard gave up for something in Erebus's eyes.

"Okay. You can have her." The wizard said, "But you let me go."

"Only this once." Erebus said.

The wizard hinted at the woman who was holding Emma, and she brought the bubble with Emma in there forward as Kitty went up to make the exchange.

The bubble took both Kitty and Emma in.

"Your master," Kitty suddenly said when the Wizard was about to leave, "She's the new Queen, isn't she?"

"What?! W-what are you talking about?!" The wizard exclaimed with fear on his face.

"She is the princess, no?" Kitty shrugged.

"I'm not her on the Queen's order." That woman suddenly claimed, as if somehow offended by the title given her.

"Interesting..." Kitty nodded, stepping backwards to Erebus with Emma held in her arms.

"Kitty..." Emma called her name over and over again, obviously happy to see her.

"Yes, little Emma, it's me!" Kitty held her up once she was by Erebus's hand. They were in a confront with some deadly people with ill intention, but somehow Kitty just felt safe and free when Erebus was there.

"May I?" Winnie suddenly stepped up.

"No." Erebus said.

"I'll leave you to it then." The wizard said as he bowed at them and disappeared into a crack in the air.

"I..." Winnie's hands were held in the air awkwardly at Erebus's simply and straight forward rejection.

"You sold her out." Erebus looked Winnie in her eyes, "She trusted you."

"I'm sorry I lied to you, but I didn't sell you out, I swear!" Winnie protested in a haste, "I only wanted you to get Emma because I knew no one can get through the spell, not a witch nor a werewolf--"

"Why didn't you tell me from the beginning? You know I cared about Emma, too." Kitty sighed. She was not as mad as Erebus to Winnie, but she was not trusting Emma with Winnie either, not before Winnie could provide a decent explanation.

"Because it's dangerous. I was worried you might chicken out. Also, this one won't let that happen if I had told you beforehand." Winnie hinted at Erebus, "But I gave you a lot of protection, and I would have been here to protect you if you did what I said."

"I did. I broke the twig, and you didn't come." Kitty said calmly.

"What?!" Winnie exclaimed with surprised on her face, "My spell was broke? I had every intention to come and save you, I swear! If only I could come in the same way you did, I would have! The spell on the twig only works if someone summons me, so I have to get you in here first, but you shouldn't be in any danger--"

"Yet she was. Your spell failed, and she was here facing a space spell master all alone. You have no right to endanger her like that." Erebus said coldly.

Kitty patted on Erebus's arm to hint him to stop. She didn't want to be too harsh on Winnie.

"..." Winnie dropped her hands and nodded slightly, "You are right. That was my bad. But I would have done that all over again if I have to. Emma is too important and I won't let anything happen to her!"

"Tell us about everything, and we will decide whether we can trust you." Kitty turned to Winnie, "And this time, I want the whole truth."

"Emma's mom, the Master of the Sea, Lilith, she had been on a great cause, and she knew, she won't be the one to finish it. It would be her daughter." Winnie sighed and started, this time very genuinely and naturally. It didn't seem like a lie, or a part truth.

Kitty and Erebus exchanged a look.

"What's the cause?" Kitty asked.

"I don't know." Winnie said, and she quickly added when she saw Erebus's eyes, "I truly don't! She kept as much as she could from me to keep me safe..."

"..." Kitty thought for a second, and handed over Emma.

"Kitty!" Erebus stepped up and stood between Kitty and Winnie to stop her from doing so.

"I trust that at least she means no harm to Emma." Kitty said, "I think she generally cares about her, too much to care about what method she uses to keep her safe."

"Thanks!" Winnie was shocked at Kitty's words and there were tear filling up in her eyes, "I... I'm sorry, sweetie. The worst part is that I almost got you killed..."

"Except that WAS your goal." Erebus growled at her.

"No! I swear--" Winnie exclaimed, but Erebus cut her off.

"Kitty came right into their lap. They were waiting for her! How could you explain that?!" Erebus demanded.

"I... I don't know..." Winnie stammered.

"And you told Kitty to hide the twig spell not because you were worried that I might object," Erebus said, "you would have told me your plan by the time Kitty insisted on coming to save Emma."

"I..." Winnie mumbled.

"You didn't want me to know," Erebus paused, "Because you wanted to take Emma yourself."