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Vashti was thankful for the sheer terror brought upon by the wendigos that rampaged outside the clothing store she and Emily had hidden in. It forced the two to be absolutely silent, and the adrenaline that shot through her body anytime there was a loud crash negated whatever other tension she would’ve normally felt being stuck in a changing room with a girl who absolutely hated her. Rightfully so, too, at least in Vashti’s mind. She avoided eye contact with Emily and let her scarf hang low over her face. Earlier, as they passed by the mirror, she had seen her own reflection; already, her body was reverting back to the way it was before the Leviathan’s curse. Still, it was difficult to be happy when she could either die from a wendigo or from Emily’s withering stare at any second. 

Vashti had almost screamed when the door to the changing room rattled before she recognized Madison’s voice. Madison told them that it was all over, but it didn’t feel that way for Vashti. Sure, her curse was cured and the monster that had been rampaging through all of Florida was no more, but as she watched Emily get scooped up by Madison she could only feel like it was a hollow victory. She allowed Madison to lead her away, and as the adrenaline faded Vashti realized she felt absolutely exhausted. They moved past ransacked buildings and shredded bodies and burning cars. She had thought the Leviathan had been a threat, but compared to this it was nothing.

She asked Madison to not bring her back to the others, but insisted that she wasn’t abandoning the Coven just because she had been cured. She doubted Madison actually believed her, but she obliged Vashti either way. Vashti had a goal, two of them actually,  but she didn’t have a plan for either. The solution to the first was fairly easy: she found a place to stay at a storm shelter. The amount of other people there was alarmingly small, and already wild stories were popping up over what exactly had happened to the city, none of which were as crazy as the truth. Still, she found a place to sleep, but before she went to bed she did something she hadn’t done since being cursed: she called her mom.

The phone rang as Vashti sat on the edge of the cot inside of the basketball stadium and chewed on her lip. Her dad had stopped reaching out to her even before she had started ignoring them, but despite his coldness he still covered her accounts and paid her cards off in full every month. Maybe he just forgot to cancel the autopayments. The phone continued to ring. Her mom had kept trying to reach out to her, although the calls got less and less frequent as time went on. The last time they had spoken Vashti had gone off on her mom about how she hated how controlling they had been as parents, how she wanted to be her own person, and how she didn’t need them. Really, she was just being a self-centered brat, and now she just wanted to let her mom know that she was sorry and that she was alive.

The ringing stopped early and it went to voicemail. The call had been ignored. She tried calling again, but immediately it went to voicemail. Blocked. Vashti chuckled, shook her head, wiped her tears, and set the phone down in her lap. She looked at the reflection of the overhead lights on the waxed floor and then flopped back into the cot to stare at them directly. She didn’t blame her mom. If anything, the treatment was deserved. Forgiveness should be earned. Besides, it got the message out: [color=darkcyan][i]I’m alive.[/i][/color] She continued to stare at the lights until her eyes hurt. Shutting them, she watched the fireworks explode as she drifted off to sleep.

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Vashti didn’t lie to Madison. Three days later, she went to join with the Coven at the top secret DENS base. A part of her felt like it was the stupidest thing she could possibly have done. As the Leviathan, she had not only destroyed government property but had attacked a couple of their agents. Still, if they decided to arrest her then so be it: that was what she deserved. Before, she would’ve said it wasn’t her fault, but really she could’ve done more to prevent the things the Leviathan had done. What if she’d gone to the authorities in the first place? They likely wouldn’t have believed her at first, but it’d be hard to ignore the evidence after the first time she changed. 

Still, at the time her mind had been filled with conspiracy theories and hoaxes. She thought the government likely would’ve just experimented on her. Maybe it had been a wild thought at the time, but considering that she was now going to a meeting at a top secret government facility where their team of supernatural hunters operated out of then maybe it hadn’t been such a farfetched idea after all. If anything, it reinforced further asinine ideas and conspiracies. The Man not only knew about magic, but had magic as well. Anything was possible. 

Vashti shook the urge to delve throughout the corridors of the facility looking for secrets and exposing them to the world for a few reasons. First, she was a guest. Second, she was thankful that they hadn’t arrested her yet and didn’t want to give them a reason to do so. Third, she wanted to be useful to the Coven, even if she doubted there was anything she could actually do now that she was little more than One-Eyed Opened. Finally, she wanted something out of the DENS and it was difficult to ask for favors if she got caught trying to snap a selfie with ET and Tupac. 

Vashti was quiet during the meeting. She was no longer wearing her headscarf or her jacket, her hair tucked behind her ears and her bare arms showing off their complete lack of scales. She watched the faces of Madison, Lyss, and the others as the DENS agent went over the plan to attack the Forgiven.  Normally, Vashti would be thrilled to be a fly on the wall as stiffs in black suits discussed setting up what sounded like another Waco, but given the reality of the situation she just felt uncomfortable. She was way out of her element here. If she still had the Leviathan perhaps she could’ve been a (very dangerous, very chaotic, and very awful choice for a) distraction, but now she was just a weirdo with no real skills. 

"Any questions?"

[color=darkcyan]“How can I help?”[/color] said Vashti, a nervous tremor in her voice. [color=darkcyan]“I feel like I’d be utterly useless going in, but it sounds like you’ll have a lot of indoctrinated victims to take care of once you bag Saul. I could help with the setup of like a...a trauma center or a food line or...I don’t know.”[/color]

[color=goldenrod]“We’d have to bag Saul first. How do you plan to sneak in without alarming the whole compound? Dressing up like homeless people or survivors of Annabelle’s attack and seeing if they let us seek refuge?”[/color] asked one of Kim’s friends. [color=goldenrod]“Because I’m pretty sure they know what most of us look like and I doubt they’d fall for it again anyway.”[/color]