The door broke down, unable to withstand the blows. Like sleepwalkers, the staff members  entered the cabin, searching for Velvet.

Cornelius stood back, not wanting to take a surprise attack. He didn’t bother to keep any person close, a row of knives surrounding him.

“She’s not here…” One of them said, going towards the next cabin, followed by the others.

When they arrived in the middle of the cabin, paper birds jumped at them, sticking to their eyes, ears and mouths, making them fall.

Some of the birds went to the other cabin, attacking Cornelius, who just waved his hand, the row of knives cutting the birds to pieces easily.

Cornelius sighed, realizing that spell was of the inoffensive type, just made to restrain a few humans. Then he waited for a moment, to prevent any sudden surprises.

He was going to start walking when a white thing caught the corner of his eye. 

A paper figurine was in the window.

Not one, four. One on each window around him.

The first paper figurine waved at him. Then, it exploded.

Covering his face with his arm to prevent crystal shards from damaging his eyes, the sudden wind pushed Cornelius back.

A shadow came running straight at him from the paper birds on the other wagon. It was Velvet, with a knife in hand.

Cornelius moved his hand, the rows of knives launching themselves in her direction.

Velvet ignored them, a red thing coming out from the notebook and taking the direct hits. It didn’t prevent some from cutting her, but it shielded her organs.

Are they using Doyle's corpse as a meat shield? He thought, seeing Velvet throw her knife towards him.

Using a normal weapon against him was useless, and, even when Velvet used some strengthening charms, he had nothing to fear from it..

Making a motion with his hand to move his knives and intercept it, he froze for a moment.

A paper figurine was grabbing the knife!

Boom!

Velvet kept on running, then she jumped at him, planning on kicking him and pushing him down.

Her boots hit something hard and metallic. A hand grabbed her leg, bringing her down and slamming her to the hard ground.

Velvet gasped, the air in her lungs forced out.

Coughing, she looked up. The smoke cleared slowly, and she saw that part of Cornelius' clothes were destroyed with the explosion, leaving a metallic thing below.

Is he wearing armor? It’s not fair… 

Blood and bones, not hers, covered her leg, making it so that she could escape his grasp and slide backwards.

“Didn’t we agree to not fight him?!” Baraviodos scolded her.

“I wasn't trying to fight him! I just wanted to push him away to run in his direction!”

Cornelius lifted one hand, pointing to his ears.

He wants to tell me something? … Does he think I’m that stupid…?

She didn’t try to use the revolver on him. If he could control metals, that would be wasting bullets.

Velvet got up slowly, licking some blood on her lips, that one was hers.

I’m really outmatched here… Not only was she way weaker than Cornelius, but his paradigm completely bested hers on direct combat.

Controlling metal is not from envy, it’s from pride… Haha, I was wrong at that too.

Velvet laughed. She had lost, before even reaching the Mergifari. 

Looking at her blood running down her clothes, she took off the sound insulation charms, just before two shadows walked behind Cornelius. Siberina and Nathaniel.

Siberina got closer, directing a soft smile to Velvet.

“There was nothing you could do, you did your best.”

“Then why,” she gasped, the pain intense, “are you still controlling him? You don't need him anymore.”

“Oh?” She laughed. “My control works differently from Cornelius. Nathaniel is already dead.”

Velvet opened her mouth, too stunned to speak.

“You wanted to save him, didn’t you? Fancied yourself a hero?”

“Since when…?”

“Since Iren’s murder, of course!”

Had Siberina been puppeteering Nathaniel’s corpse all this time? Velvet felt sick, the blood loss not helping.

That meant everything, him getting nervous and scared upon discovering Iren’s murder, him going to her room for help and not remembering anything, was a lie. It was their doing all this time.

She looked at him, noticing that he was carrying a long, strange knife.

“I made him throw it from the train, you know? To keep in character,” she said, noticing where Velvet was looking. “Then I went back for it. Took me a few hours, but I found something interesting!”

“Stop playing.” Cornelius interrupted. “Grab the notebook and kill her, this has gone on for too long.”

“True. We should stop playing, right Velvet?” She beckoned to Nathaniel, who started walking towards them.

“Are you even going to make him kill me? Can’t you do it yourself?”

Do you even have some humanity?! Was what she wanted to say.

She didn’t cry. She was too angry for that.

Never having felt so powerless, so helpless.

“Velvet, you are so expressive.” It was all Siberina said. “I like that, Cornelius is too serious, he is the kind that needs a hand to show emotions.”

“Your face when you hate someone, it’s so cute.”

Velvet saw Nathaniel raising his knife, his face expressionless.

Stab!

Velvet closed her eyes, a normal reaction. 

Something hit the floor.

Someone cursed something.

Someone laughed.

“Siberina!” She heard Cornelius shout, which made her open her eyes.

There was blood. Nathaniel had chopped off Cornelius' arm.

The metal that covered his body couldn’t protect him from the knife, the same way that bones couldn’t protect Iren.

Knives flew, some digging on Nathaniel’s body, pushing him away, and some went towards Siberina, who gracefully jumped backwards, evading every single one of them. It reminded Velvet of those contortionists that went with the circus. 

Velvet forced her body to also get away from the knives. She was now in the middle of a battle between two official mages, close to the wall and gasping.

“Why are they betraying each other now? Is it for you again?!” She asked Baraviodos.

“I don’t think so… But it works for us.”

Something nailed to her skin. Hyde had come out, using his spiderweb to stitch her bleeding cuts shut.

“Siberina, I order you to stop!” Cornelius said. His wound had been closed with metal, but he now lacked an arm.

Still, Velvet doubted he would go down just for that.

Siberina stopped for a moment, the order taking effect, but then, she laughed, her body shaking.

Nathaniel’s body got up, knives impaled deep on him. 

“Cornelius, oh Cornelius! It’s so sad you couldn’t see it! But don’t worry, I’ll take you down below soon.”

Below. Velvet froze at the word.

So did Cornelius, before twisting his mouth in disgust.

Down below.

Velvet looked at Siberina in silence. Her bun had messed up a bit, and her smile, even when it had that politeness from before, now it had a hint of madness.

She took special note of her eyes. Siberina’s eyes were purple, an elegant color. Now, in the middle of the purple, something red was looming.

Mental corruption.

A sinked.

A witch.