Rose blinked open her eyes. She was not in the room above the antique shop anymore, the ceiling was too white for that. Moving her head, she saw curtains around her bed. A hospital? She checked her body and saw tubes and wires connecting her to several machines. Yep, a hospital. Yay.

"Let's see how you're doing today." A voice spoke from behind the curtain before it was pulled aside and revealed a young looking nurse in dark blue scrubs.

""Oh! You're finally awake! Great!" He scribbled something on his clipboard, and then continued: "I'll call the doctor, so stay put for a little bit longer, okay?"

"Sure. Say, how long have I been out?"

"Three days. It's the 18th today."

Realization set in.

"Shit, we missed the new moon," Rose murmured to herself.

"Miss, please don't swear in the hospital," the nurse reprimanded and then left through the curtains.

After a few minutes the nurse came back with the doctor, a woman in her forties with sleek, shoulder lenght hair. If she were a bit younger, she would definitely be her type.

"So, how do you feel?" the doctor asked, "You sustained some minor burns and you sprained your ankle. You're lucky not to have suffered any other injuries judging from the condition the firefighters found you in."

"Was it that bad?"

The doctor nodded. "Almost the complete house burned down before emergency services could arrive. You and your friend were covered by heavy debris, it really is a miracle neither of you died."

"Is Eliza here too?" Rose worried about the state her friend was in. At least she was still alive.

"She is in the bed next to you, sleeping. Yesterday she woke up, she only has some minor burns."

Rose sighed. Thank the Moon Bunny she survived. Then the doctor pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Now that you're awake, are you okay with answering some questions from the investigator? I promised to notify him when both of you were consious."

The girl nodded.

"Alright, I'll let you know when he'll be here."

The doctor left and then Rose asked to nurse if she could see her friend.

"Sure, just let me unhook you from the machines. You'll probably still need the morphine, so I'll leave that one in."

After he fixed all the tubes, stickers and needles, Rose scooted over to the edge of her bed and set her feet on the floor for the first time in three days. She felt a bit wobly and the man hurried over to support her.

"Careful, your muscles may have weakened a bit."

She nodded and with the help of the nurse she pulled away part of the curtain and revealed the rest of the room. Just as the doctor had said, Eliza occupied the other bed. They must have woken the girl, as she was sitting in her bed. In her lap laid the mysterious black book, seemingly unharmed by the fire. The nurse pulled a chair close for Rose to sit on and then left to give the two some privacy.

"We missed the new moon," Rose mentioned.

"I know. Nothing we can do about it now."

"Do you think we should wait for the next one?"

Eliza shook her head.

"We'll find an other way, no worries. We need to heal first. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, the doctor told me we were very lucky."

Eliza caressed the small book's cover, that now had a title written in silver lettering.

"Grimoire of the Void? Is that what it is?"

"It says so. Still, I've got no idea what actually happened and what it all means. At least we are safe."

Rose nodded. She looked at the girl, noticing red spots along her hands and arms, and on her face. The wounds had already started to heal.

"Oh thank the heavens you're both awake!" Through the door the doctor and nurse had left, Sybil came running to the two patients.

"Sybil!" Rose exclaimed.

The woman hugged them.

"I'm so glad both of you are okay, I waited in the waiting room the whole time until the doctor told me the good news."

The girls returned the hug and smiled, happy Sybil was alright.

"What happened?" Eliza asked, "You didn't get hurt by the fire, did you?"

The shopkeeper shook her head, the black curls bouncing with the movement.

"I had just returned from my evening jog when I saw the fire blazing from your room. I called 911 and prayed you found some way to escape. I was surprised when the firefighters found you still alive under all the rubble."

"I feel like this book protected us," Eliza confessed, showing the grimoire to the ex-witch. She saw the woman's face falter.

"How did you got this?" Sybil asked with a more serious voice, a hint of worry showing through.

"Belle's sister gave it to us. She said she got it from a girl in a cloak fifteen years ago, and that she should give it to the first girl mentioning traveling to Salem."

"Hm."

Sybil looked as if she remembered something bad, her frown deepening by the second.

"What is wrong, Sybil?"

The woman sat down on Eliza's bed and sighed.

"The Grimoire of the Void used to belong to my best friend in highschool. She suggested starting a coven, but when on the previous Blue Moon Halloween our ritual failed and my soul got stolen, she abandoned us. I haven't seen her for the nineteen years since."

"That sounds so sad," Rose blurted out.

Sybil shrugged.

"It's only a distant memory now. It hurt to hear, but there's nothing I can do about it. At least the other girls got me back, and that's what counts."

The girls nodded in agreement.

Before they could continue, the doctor came back with the inspector.

"Good you're here, Ms. Rathz," the doctor interupted, "the inspector wants to ask you some questions too."

The man, his hair revealing a much older age than his face, pulled up two more chairs and sat down on one, the other for Sybil to occupy.

"I'm inspector Evans and I want to ask some questions about the fire."