Chapter 6.6

By the time Fujiko and Reiko left the memory space created by Elio, the imaginarium above the clock tower was already almost gone.

At first, Lisa Everest took it as a sign that her plan was working. She only needed to weave around Baba Yaga’s attacks for a little longer and victory would be hers. By the time she realized that the clock tower was releasing the imaginarium it had captured, it was far too late.

“No!” she shrieked. “Where’s it? Where’s my imaginarium gone? You meddling shits! What have you done with it?”

In her despair, Lisa Everest didn’t notice the chains clamping around her wrists and ankles. The disparate mirrors merged back to form a refractory cube, with the chains inside stretching into another infinite labyrinth.

Baba Yaga approached towards Fujiko and Reiko.

“I presume everything is settled on your end, captain?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Reiko answered.

“Then wait here,” Baba Yaga said. “I will go free the others.”

“Looks like she’s really gone this time,” Reiko muttered after the witch vanished into the cathedral. As the last vestiges of imaginarium cleared the skies, the stone eyelid slid over the clock dial one more time.

“What are you talking about?” Fujiko replied. “She said she’ll be back–Oh. Right. You meant Natsuko.”

Reiko nodded.

“What’d you two end up talking about?” Fujiko asked.

“She said that would be the first question you’d ask,” Reiko chuckled. “She said if Miyuki hadn’t stopped to talk to you, you would have hid in the tall grass to eavesdrop.”

“I didn’t know Natsuko had that low of an opinion of me,” Fujiko frowned, “but never mind that! That’s not important. Did you two get to say what you wanted to say?”

“...I’ve had ten years of things I wanted to say,” Reiko shrugged. “I don’t think I could have said everything I wanted to.”

“But some things are more important than others.”

“True. In that case, I think I got to say what I wanted to say.”

“Back then,” Fujiko said. “Part of me wanted us to all be together. The three of us, but I think Natsuko knew that wouldn’t happen. If we were all together, it’d be too hard to say goodbye. Even back there, it was you and her. Natsuko and I. And now it’s just you and me.”

Reiko pulled Fujiko in for another embrace.

“I’ll look after you,” she said.

“And I you.”

“Hey!” called Mamoru’s voice from above. He blinked down from the walls and ran up to them. “What’d I miss? The battle? Everything? Fuck!”

Reiko rewarded the boy with a strong pat on the shoulders.

“Not bad at all, kid,” she grinned. “You really showed your stuff today.”

“Nevermind that,” Mamoru glared at the Egregore trapped in Baba Yaga’s cage. 

“The punishment of an Egregore is not in your jurisdiction, Mr. Fujimoto.”

Fang Fang and the other members of Egregore Seven appeared at the top of the cathedral stairs. They sauntered down to the smoldering plains and brushed past Mamoru and the others to greet their fellow witch.

“It’s over, Lisa,” Fang Fang said.

“Yes,” Lisa nodded. “It is over. You’ve all condemned yourselves to being slaves of the Mysteries.”

“As opposed to being your slaves?” Khali said. “At last the imaginarium’s never made a mockery of my work.”

“Enough,” Fang Fang said. “Put aside your quarrels, sisters. We must decide what punishment befits her.”

“Just ask Gentiane,” Lisa sneered. “We all know you’ll only listen to her anyway.”

“This country’s courts should try her,” Dahlia suggested. “We’re too close with Lisa. We’re bound to either be too lenient or too cruel. Not to mention, none of our home countries were endangered by her. We weren’t harmed.”

“We weren’t harmed?” Khali scoffed. “This bitch put us in a fucking fantasy world, made us fantasize about our ideal lives while she tried to pull a fast one.”

“Did you not read Lisa’s letters?” Dahlia said. “She promised us a Story, and she delivered one, as dangerous and unconventional as it was. If that was to be her defense, I would not find her guilty of any serious wrongdoing. It was an intriguing Story.”

“Lisa has been a good friend,” Gentiane nodded. “I concur with Dahlia. Her destructive project caused the most harm to the people of this country. They should be adjudicating, not us.”

“You heard her,” Lisa laughed.

“No,” Fang Fang shook her head. “What Lisa has done stays among us. Among you three as well.”

Fang Fang glanced at Reiko and Section Eight.

“Why?” Dahlia asked.

“Setting aside the politics of an American tried outside of their home country,” Fang Fang answered, “What Lisa has done constitutes a threat to magic around the world. If the public learns of her actions, her methods, it would begin an arms race. Everyone would be looking to forcibly ascend their best and brightest to Egregore. It would cause unnecessary deaths. None of us want this.”

“You’re making it sound like we need to… silence her,” Dahlia frowned.

“I’m simply saying we decide her fate amongst ourselves,” Fang Fang said. “That’s all.”

“I have a proposition,” Baba Yaga stepped forward after a moment’s silence, “especially since I am partly to blame.”

“Oh jeez,” Khali rolled her eyes. “Let’s hear it from the accomplice.”

“Lisa is a good storyteller,” Baba Yaga said. “I, like many of you, have no wish to kill one of our sisters. Fortunately, lest we not forget, we Russians know where to send our novelists. If you think about it, this can be Lisa’s final Story.”

Concern emerged on the faces of each Egregore. Even Lisa wore a nervous look.

“What’s she talking about?” Mamoru murmured.

“You’re willing to take the blame,” Gentiane said. “You know what this means, yes?”

“Of course,” Baba Yaga smirked. “Catch me if you can, Gentiane.”

“It’s risky,” Fang Fang said, “and the Americans are likely to retaliate. You won’t just be fighting us.”

“The Americans are in love with mass production,” Baba Yaga shrugged. “They will ascend another Egregore in no time and forget the name Lisa Everest.”

“You guys aren’t seriously considering this?” Lisa gasped. “I mean, sealing me away? Are you fucking serious?”

“You did the same to us,” Khali shrugged.

“For a matter of hours!” Lisa screamed. “I would have let you all out eventually. How long will I be sealed for? Years? Decades? What’s the flow of time like inside of Baba Yaga’s prisons, strange enough that you’ll all forget that I exist?”

“If we do this,” Fang Fang murmured, “we should discuss contingencies before the next tea party.”

“Fang Fang!” Lisa begged. “Don’t let her do this to me.”

“I already warned you. You went too far,” Fang Fang sighed. “Sisters, are we in agreement, then?”

“I am,” Khali said.

“If we have no other suggestions, then so am I,” said Dahlia.

“I’m with the others,” said Gentiane.

“You can’t do this to me,” Lisa sobbed. “It’s not fair. I was only doing what’s best for you all. I wanted all of us to be free together.”

Baba Yaga stepped in front of the cage holding Lisa Everest.

“I’ll make it quick,” she murmured. “As for which prison, I have just the one.”

“Wait!” Lisa cried. “How about this, Baba Yaga? How about I tell you another Story–”

“Sorry, I only read Russian novels, remember?”

Baba Yaga stretched out her hands.

“For you, Lisa Everest,” she recited.

“I cast you,
To frozen lands,
The home of comrades,
Alexandr and Fyodor,
Let that be your prison until due time,
If fate permits,
Dasvidaniya.”

At the end of the chant, a vortex whirled behind the prismatic cage. Loose snow sloshed around its edges. Reiko spotted a frozen wasteland beyond the portal’s icy mouth. An unrelenting blizzard howled into the depths of an everlasting night.

But Baba Yaga was not cruel enough to cast Lisa Everest into this world with no hope or salvation. At the end of a tundra, there sat a cave. Inside, there was a kerosene lamp, ordinary pens and pencils, and notebooks plentiful enough to document a century.

Baba Yaga pressed against the mirrored cage. It slid into the portal, carrying Lisa into her final prison. The prison dematerialized and Lisa landed in a snowfield that rose to her knees.

“Don’t leave me here!” she screamed. “Please don’t leave me here!”

Baba Yaga clenched her hands, and the portal to that eternal winter sealed shut.