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"No way, man, like, no way!" Al said, crossing his arms.

Julius sighed. He hadn't thought that Al would object so openly to him and ... well, a dead woman going on a journey to save Delilah. Naturally, he had assumed Al would shove him out the door, and wish him good luck on his quest! But instead, the Academy head forbid him to leave.

"Come on, Scarlet," Julius pleaded desperately, turning to her. "I'm not a kid, and I know what I'm doing!"

Scarlet shook her head. "Do you, kitten? All you know is you're looking for something called The Light. You don't know where it us, or even what it is."

Groaning, Julius turned in a circle, as if that would convince Al and Scarlet. "Yes, you're right. I don't know anything. But Usha -"

"The dead cat?" Al interrupted.

Julius shot him a glare. "Yes, the dead cat. Anyway, it's true that I have absolutely no knowledge of this Light. But Usha does. She's been with the Dark One for ten centuries, I think that she -"

"Hold up!" Al interjected. "You're telling me that this kid was with the guy who did that to Delilah?"

Julius mentally kicked himself for letting Usha's past loyalty slip. He took a deep breath, and let it out. "Was is the key word here. Usha was with the Dark One."

"So why the change of heart?" Scarlet asked.

Rubbing his arm, Julius continued. "She's, uh, she's jealous."

"Jealous?" Al and Scarlet echoed in unison.

"Yeah, that. Delilah's, um, counterpart kinda took her job."

Al let out a laugh. "So the only reason she's helping is because she's mad!"

Scarlet was a bit more gentle with her reply. "Child, what happens is she changes her mind halfway through the trip? Then where does that leave you?"

Julius couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I can't believe you guys won't trust her! She's our only option!"

Placing a hand on his shoulder, Scarlet tried to reason with him. "Honey, there's other choices. We could tell the police -"

"And then what?" Julius ranted. "What will they do? Open up a magic portal and arrested a bunch of dead people? How will that help, even if it were possible?"

"There's doctors ..." Al suggested.

Julius frowned. "They'll put us away, Al. They'll think we're crazy. Hell, maybe we are crazy."

As he turned to walk away, he heard Scarlet caution him one last time. "Kitten, don't do anything Delilah wouldn't."

"Don't worry," he called over his shoulder, "I won't."

She'd do this for me.

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Julius walked into Delilah's room - his current base of operations - to find Usha sitting between piles of books and scrolls. The demon looked up as he entered.

"Well?" he asked.

Usha stood up. "I've got everything we need. The only thing I don't know is exactly what The Light is."

Julius slung his already-packed backpack over his shoulder. "Okay, so where are we headed?"

"To a remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean." Usha replied. "But before we go, I feel it is my obligation to warn you that you are going to face unimaginable peril."

"Me?" Julius laughed. "What about you?"

The demon rolled her pale grey eyes. "I'm dead, remember? I can't die again."

He blushed. "Oh. Right."

Usha walked towards him, her clouded eyes gazing into his. "So," she said in a whisper, "are you ready?"