A giant circle sat on the ground of the rundown church the mysterious beldam and her followers lived in. With its battered walls that allowed leaks of all types from rain, sunlight, moonlight, and the sounds of the neighborhood around them. 

Even in the dead of night, the sounds persisted as automobiles and carriages rolled past the main roads. The last bits of construction just before the workers clocked off to return to their homes along with the urchins that littered the streets. 

The crone watched with careful eyes as her acolytes perfected the circle, filling in any gaps as the others placed the correct stone to correspond with each compass point, a total of eight. Once it was done, a simple hand raise from her was all the arcane hopefuls needed to stand back. 

The sound of her low-heeled shoes echoed throughout the place as she carefully stepped over the line and approached the smaller circle that sat in the middle of it all. This is where the very important stuff would go. And by important stuff, it meant locks of hair from Elvira, the Crone, the Crone’s acolytes, and (unbeknownst to her) Faye. Lastly was a lock of hair that was mysterious even to her students. 

“Madam…are you ever going to tell us whose lock of hair that is?” One of the students asked in a soft voice that could be mistaken for belonging to either a young man or a woman. 

The Crone laughed. “All will be revealed in due time, my children. I will concern myself with our fourth party. All you have to do is find your way back to me. And since you now know where I'm hidden, it’ll be vastly easier than it was your first time.” 

Another acolyte spoke up. “What if we run into some issues? I came from Lyona and getting here the first time was…rough.” 

“Well, you’ll all still remember what I told you. Use it to your advantage now in a way that you in the past wouldn’t even dream of. Now…join hands.” 

Her students did all she said, interlocking their hands as the Crone’s own hands hovered high above the pile of hair. 

The students were in awe as a bright white hue slowly enveloped her boney hands. It then felt like the air was gradually picking up around them. 

She then began her incantation. “I call upon the corners…”